Today was forecasted to be warm and cloudy…seemed like a good day to skip a walk and go on a field trip instead.
I’ve been occasionally checking the sandhill crane webcam over in
Whitewater Draw to see if the cranes are still hanging around. Thought maybe today would be a good day to
drive over and see them. When I checked the webcam this morning, I heard some
but didn’t see any; we decided to take a chance anyway. Two years ago, there were oodles (defined for
my purposes as less than a million but more than one hundred) of cranes as well
as numerous other types of waterfowl. So, while it’s a rather substantial drive
to make to just see a Northern Shoveller or an American Coot, from experience we
knew we’d see something if the cranes weren’t there. Coots and Shovellers are still fun to watch.
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It’s about a 2 ½ hour drive to Whitewater Draw; we left about 10:30 a.m.,
which put us in the town of Benson at about lunch time. After a quick stop at the Walmart, we looked
at our nearby food options. Burger King
was staring us right in the face, so we indulged in a ‘Whopper, fries and a
drink, please’. Haven’t been to a Burger
King in ages…we try not to do fast food when we’re out here but flame-broiled was
a good decision today.
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About an hour after leaving Benson, we pulled up to the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Refuge. In 2022, our first time there, we heard the cranes as soon as we got out of the truck…not the case today even though we could see some in the distance. A gentleman passed by us on his way back to his car and with a smile, assured us that “they’re out there, lots of them.” And he was right, a mighty flock of
The lake formed a type of divide between two large groups, with another very
large group gathered at the far end of the water. Some cranes were standing in the
water, but most were standing on land…the Shovellers were cruising through the
water and the snow geese mostly hung out on one side of the lake. From the viewing stand, we watched as a group
of 5 long-legged cranes broke from the larger group and started very purposely walking
across the shallow lake to the other side. “Oh, look at that. It’s almost
like they’re going over to see what kind of trouble they can stir up. Like a scene out of West Side Story.” But nothing dramatic happened, much to my
dismay. Five birds walked to the other
side of the lake…end of story.
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One thing that was more plentiful today than before is the number of
humans and dogs out enjoying the afternoon. There was a birding group that had just
plopped down on the ground to watch the cranes, all of them armed with either
binoculars or cameras. I’m amazed at the
length of some of those camera lenses. One
woman showed me a picture of a hawk in flight that she’d just taken. Very impressive shot but I’m not sure I’d
want to be loaded down with the equipment she and her husband were carrying
around. Plus, I don’t have the patience
to fuss with f-stops, apertures, manual focusing, etc. But I do admire those who do.
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In the truck, we listen to Sirius XM Classic Vinyl station. Songs from our youth. Now that I have google at my fingertips, I can
search for so many things musical: lyrics, band members’ names, etc. Today, when a song by Chicago came on, I
googled ‘what does the song title 25 or 6 to 4 mean’. Google coughed up several articles to read, but
the most credible comes from Robert Lamm, the songwriter. Some version of this story was found on
several websites:
American jazz rockers Chicago were building a name for themselves
as one of the most exciting young bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s. With
a ripping lead guitar player in Terry Kath and three distinctive vocalists
backed up an emphatic horn section, Chicago was as unique as any band at the
time was. But they were missing something essential: a signature song.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Keyboardist
Robert Lamm often recalled staying up late into the night trying to chase the
artistic muse. One night in 1969, Lamm was up into the wee hours of the morning
trying to get something together. It was only when he gave up and looked at the
time that inspiration finally struck.
According to a 2019 interview with Mix
Magazine, Lamm actually glanced at an antique clock on the wall to see what
time it was. Whether because he was extremely tired or because the clock was so
ancient, Lamm had a hard time making out the true time, hence the indecision
between 25 and 26 to four.
“I couldn’t quite tell where the hands of
the clock were pointing,” Lamm explained. “It was 25 or 26 minutes before 4
a.m. I didn’t expect to keep those words. I expected to replace them with some
actual lyrics. But it ended up working out OK.” That last sentence is an understatement.
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Later, when listening to ‘Down on the Corner’
by Creedance Clearwater Revival, Kim picked up on two lines of lyrics which
mentioned ‘a kalamazoo’ and being joined by Willy on a kazoo. That prompted him to wonder out loud if “Kalamazoo”
was a generic reference to a Gibson guitar since Gibsons were made in Kalamazoo,
MI. Being in the passenger seat it was
my job to Google it. Found this little
tidbit on chicagomusicexchange.com:
You may have heard of Epiphone as Gibson’s budget brand of
guitars, but before Gibson bought out this competitor, the brand produced
budget brand guitars under the moniker of “Kalamazoo.” From 1933 to 1942,
Gibson produced archtop and flattop acoustic guitars, lap steels, banjos, and
mandolins under the Kalamazoo name.
During the guitar boom of the late 60’s when
Rock ‘n’ Roll was king and everybody wanted to get their hands on an electric
guitar, Gibson produced electric solid body guitars and basses with Kalamazoo
on the headstock. After Gibson’s buyout of Epiphone, Epi’s were marketed as a
middle-tier electric guitar, whereas Kalamazoo was strictly marketed as a
low-cost, beginner guitar. “U.S.A.” was added to the headstock of these guitars
to differentiate them from the cheap import guitars that served as competition at
the time.
So, there was an actual line of Kalamazoo
guitars, which was new information for Kim.
In my searching, I also found that in 1974, Gibson opened a plant in
Nashville, TN; at that time, production of Gibson guitars was split between TN
and MI. In 1983, Gibson left Kalamazoo and production was exclusive to the Nashville
plant.
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Every time “Drift Away” (Dobie Gray) comes on, Kim turns it up and I sing the wrong lyrics as a way of paying homage to Jeff Glasscock, a good friend who passed away in 2022. Jeff loved music but had his favorites, which meant that he was sure that his favorites were everybody's favorites or at least he'd argue that they should be. Many was the time he’d call Kim, turn his favorite song on in the background and sing out the words he knew and then just mumble along with the words he didn’t know. Jeff was convinced that the line “Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul” in the song Drift Away was supposed to be “Oh, give me the Beach Boys and free my soul”. It's a minor disinction but nothing could dissuade him from the sure belief that those were the right words. So, to honor Jeff, I always sing it his way. 😎
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A big Yay!! from my
tired backside on the delivery of our chair cushions today. Such an improvement! But Kim made an additional discovery…one
cushion is good, but two is better. So, until my mom gets here in late March,
we’ll each be sitting on two cushions.
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No imaging tonight
due to clouds.
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