CLYMER REVISITED

Yesterday, Wikipedia provided information on the George Clymer Columbian Press, one of which is located at Quyle Kilns in Murphys. Pam Quyle very graciously sent me more information on the press, which follows: Hello Mary, The press is an 1825 George Clymer Columbian Press. Clymer patented the press design before the war of 1812. It is considered an American invention. However, the Colonial printers rejected it preferring the ease of mobility (and cost savings) of the wooden press (getting out of town before being tared and feathered...) Clymer took his wooden prototypes and moved back to England in 1817 and set up a foundry outside of London and produced the cast iron presses there for many years. They sold very well in Europe where print shops stayed in one place. Clymer changed the ornamentation on the presses from year to year. First changing the coiled serpent of the thirteen colonies for a sea serpent and adding a cornucopia of fruits around the brass face plate, and offering other counterweights other than the American Eagle . (The French however preferred the American motifs as they were geared up for revolution also. ) The presses sold throughout Europe and were widely copied. The press we have here in Murphys was sold to a print shop in Nottingham England in 1825 and is one of 12 remaining made by Clymer himself. Paul Quyle (Pam's father) heard it was for sale (in 1962) through an English printing friend, and cabled a bid of two hundred dollars for it which they accepted, boxed it and shipped it to us. Six of his presses have been brought back to the Americas and the other six are still in Europe. In California there are 5 presses, one at UC Davis, ours and three at a printing museum in Los Angeles. The sixth one is at the university at Reno Nevada. Clymer died at age 80 in 1834. The Columbian press continued to be manufactured for many years after his death. However every year shows progressively less ornamentation and the presses became strictly utilitarian. Our press is in perfect working order and sits in our pottery show room in Murphys where it's story entertains (and surprises) our guests daily. Eventually we plan to donate it to a library who will cherish it as we have. The Smithsonian had one on display for many years and just closed their printing section and sent theirs to that printing museum in LA. (Humph!) Thanks for your interest, sincerely Pamela Quyle

PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE ABOUT FIRE ALARMS

I have a friend, Richard Patton, who is a veritable crusader against the current fire alarms installed in most homes. He crusades against them because they are ineffective. He worked in the industry for years and knows of what he speaks. To condense the danger I'm repeating information from this website: www.hbsslaw.com/smokedetectors . Another is www.smokealarmdisclosure.org
Early warning is the key to surviving smoldering fires, the deadliest kind of home fire. Ionization technology to sense the presence of smoke is slow to warn, if it warns at all, especially smoldering fires which typically happen while occupants are sleeping. Most smoke detectors work on the principle of ionization. Smoke particles enter the chamber and the alarm triggers. Burning toast for instance, generates a lot of small particles and sounds the alarm. But smoke particles from a burning couch, for instance, are large and fewer in number and don't set off your alarm. Having a detector that doesn't work efficiently lulls you into a false sense of safety. And, in fact, many lives are lost each year because the industry continue to sell devices that don't do the job they were intended to do.
I'm an activist and that is a part of my personality, so message delivered.
On the personal front, Jim and I enjoyed a bike ride and picking fresh organic oranges. I also completed an interview with Bob Gambol who backpacked to 128 countries and one Sultanate in six years, in his fifties. He visited communist countries and places where tourists didn't and couldn't go. He avoided the usual European destinations. An amazing feat.

YUMA AGRICULTURE

Yuma is an agriculture area. We see vast fields of lettuce, kale, cabbages and alfalfa plus orchards of citrus and dates. Packing houses with iconic names like Dole and US Packing Company are evident about the area.
Sheep in herds of undulating wool are visible in the background as the individual sheep cruise the fence lines and seem less sensitive to traffic.
We drove out to the edge of town, crossed the Colorado River that put us in California for a couple hours as we visited Bob Gambol and man who lived and worked in Las Vegas at one point in his life. He claimed that people, when they found out his name, advised him that it was a lucky name and he should put a lot of money out there. He wisely didn't. Some of those quirky superstitious gamblers did. Much to their chagrin.
Bob Gambol is a WIN, a rambler like Jim, and an interesting individual who back-packed 128 different countries over a period of six years. He avoided the most traveled spots, such as Europe. He chose instead, the off beat, small towns, communist countries and revisted Viet Nam where he spent two years at war.
The wandering culture of the RV world is an interesting phenomena that I have yet to explore fully and to understand.
But, I'm working on it.
Chaio

Planet Earth, Local Herons On The Road

A Fabulous 14 hour video entitled Planet Earth provides an extraordinary view of our living quarters and the fact that we share it with so many creatures and places of great beauty. Its been a joy to see many birds as we roamed. The most spectacular at this time of year are the sitings of blue and white herons. The pictures don't always do them justice and the smaller birds are the back-up chorus that we hardly ever see fit to photograph and so often take for granted, even the loudmouth crows. Egads! The Matzek's have a few loudmouthed members if I do say so myself.
Cedric Puleston's family are bird people from way back and if you go to
http://puleston.osprey.bnl.org/OspreyFund/ospreycam.php
The ospreys are now hatched in his Grandmother's backyard. The fledgelings have left but if you click that link at Brookhaven, NY you'll get a number of interesting cameras for birds that you don't have to register to see. There are live cams and some not so live for kestrels, great tits, barn owls, peregrine falcons, black storks, gentoo penquins. Too many to list.
We are still at Pio Pico Thousand Trails. Pio Pico was the Governor of Mexican California. He owned this property as a Spanish Land Grant. Interesting man of mixed decent, African, Mexican, Indian, Spanish and European. When California became a state an assigned a new governor, Pio Pico fled. His land got promptly gobbled up.