Author: Ken Steinhoff

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My $3,498.34 Honda Odyssey

That gray 2000 Honda Odyssey van with a bike rack and a Florida Share the Road license plate sporting my amateur radio callsign was ready for pickup at LeGrand Transmissions Friday right before noon. I should get a lot better gas mileage on my way back to Florida because my wallet is $3,498.34 lighter.

The good news is that the rebuilt transmission is guaranteed for 50K miles or five years. That’s one less thing to worry about. Now I can worry about the engine blowing up, the AC giving out or the wheels falling off.

Click on the Amazon ad, please

I guess now might be a good time to mention that Amazon ad on the left side of the page. If you normally buy stuff from Amazon, please click on that ad. It’ll take you to Amazon just like you had gone there directly, but I get about 6% of whatever you buy without it costing you anything extra.

So, if you need to buy a tattoo kit with plastic practice skin (been done), a camera, a tire pump, pet food (got friends who do), or anything else that Amazon carries, please, click the ad to place your order and help me pay for my transmission. Oh, and don’t worry. I get a report that shows WHAT was purchased, but I don’t know WHO bought it.

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Central High School Marching Band

Wife Lila and I spotted some great clouds when we left dinner Thursday night. My car’s still at the transmission shop, so she’s driving a rental car. After shooting a dozen or so frames, I asked her to follow my cryptic directions to get to the new Central High School. When I passed it on I-55 the other night, I noticed the stadium lights were burning, so I thought maybe I could get a shot with them in the foreground and the neat sunset in the background.

When we got close enough to see the field, we noticed activity on the field – it was the Central High School Marching Band practicing for their September 2 opener. [Click on any photo to make it larger.]

You can’t beat a three-fer

I had been thinking all day that I should do something to commemorate the first day of school. Here was a chance to get the first day of school, the new football stadium and a weather shot all at one time. (I’m saving the earlier cloud shots for filler when I’m on my way back to Florida.)

Lining up to practice last routine

I got there just as the sun was setting and the band was getting set to practice their last routine. I’m pretty sure I recognized some of the kids from the Sikeston-CHS football game I shot last fall.

Band alums keep eye on practice

Former band members Billy Keys (seated) and Josh Lamar keep an eye on the green troops.

Band boosters like what they see

The woman in the front row, second from left, said she had three grandkids on the field.

Human lightning rod

When I first got to the stadium, there was an occasional flash of lightning in the clouds way off in the distance. It was far enough away that you couldn’t hear the thunder. Still, I was a bit uncomfortable as I was making my way across the metal bleachers. That’s when I spotted the human lightning rod at the very tip-top of the press box. I figured it would get him before it got me, and I felt a little better.

The lightning rod turned out to be veteran band director Neil Casey.

Casey’s in 29th year

Casey has been band director since 1983. This is his 29th and final year, he said. He followed Bill Ewing, Tony Carosello and William Shivelbine.

Megan Peters, color guard coordinator, said that her group had been practicing together since July.25. The band started August 1. They explained that the musicians received their music earlier, so they could start working on their pieces individually. Megan’s group has to be able to work together on their routines.

Marching Band Photo Gallery

Here’s a gallery of photos of band practice. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

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“Not Mallory,” What’s the Story?

I’m a sucker for graffiti and unanswered question. I also like to watch people and try to make up stories about them to pass the time in airports and shopping malls.

Bro Mark and I used to play a game. We’d sit somewhere to gauge the interaction between two people at a nearby table. We’d watch their body language and try to determine if they were a new couple, a couple on a first date, if they were just friends, if they were headed for a breakup (or in the middle of the one at that moment). Once, to the dismay of someone who was with Mark, we flipped a coin to see who would walk over to the table to see whose theory was correct. His date won (or lost) the flip, but refused to go, so I was elected.

Of course, I reported back that my theory was correct: they were on a first date. That’s why she was laughing at his jokes they were both learning forward toward each other and they were gazing deeply into the other person’s eyes.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. They had been going together for some time. They were just disgustingly infatuated with each other.

Who is “Not Mallory?”

So, what’s the story behind the chalked message “Not Mallory, Will you give me a second chance?” [Click to make larger.]

Did someone scream out the name “Mallory!” at an inopportune time with they weren’t WITH Mallory? Is that why “Not Mallory” is being addressed?  Did “Not Mallory” give the person a second chance?

Speculation welcome.

In case you didn’t recognize the location, that’s the floodwall on the right and the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge in the background.

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Fountain Street Community Garden and Robert Harris

I was riding my bike through South Cape when I spotted the Fountain Street Community Garden not far from Fort D. I had seen it before, but it’s a lot easier to pull your bike up on the sidewalk and go exploring than it is to park your car.

Flowers and food

I’m not someone who is good at identifying plants. I divide the world of green into poison ivy and not poison ivy. I DID recognize tomato plants that didn’t appear to have any tomatoes on them and hordes of okra.

I know what okra is because Daughter-in-Law Sarah was the second Okrafest Queen in the small Central Florida town Apopka. It’s only been in the last couple of years that she’s dispensed with the requirement that we bow and curtsey in her presence.

Robert Harris, a remarkable man

When researching the history of the garden, I ran across a number of stories about Robert Harris, a bus driver with the Cape Girardeau School District and a Master Gardener. The man helped create the Cape Girardeau Community Garden Project beginning with this plot of land. Later, he took over the Red Star Baptist Church garden on North Main Street. The vegetables, one story said, goes to senior citizens or people with health conditions unable to leave their homes. Some of the vegetables, including squash, tomatoes and green beans are left in small bins next to the gardens for anyone who needs them.

Here are just a few of the Missourian stories and editorials about Mr. Harris. I would like to have met him. Comments to stories generally contain at least one disparaging or contentious remark. It’s worth noting that there’s not one negative comment in any of the stories about Mr. Harris. Every one is effusive in praise for this man whose life’s mission is to help others.

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