Category Archives: Family Legends

Return to Gilroy:

One of the joys of living like vagabonds is the ability to change locations quickly. The weather in western Oregon was turning downright cold and damp. One morning recently I went to get something out of the shop trailer and I perchance looked at my lathe and behold it had taken on a distinct red hue. My tools are rusting away before my eyes; Oh the shame of it. A sheet of 600 grit sandpaper and some oil put things right, but it is time to seek a warmer and dryer climate. Continue reading Return to Gilroy:

Family Legends

In the big inning there was the typewriter and gelatin transfer mimeo. In that era Judy and I were the leaders of a square dance group called the “Sage Hoppers.” I produced the monthly news letter on “spirit transfer stencils” and a tray of transfer gelatin. Believe it or not, the product is still out there. I Googled it and was directed to a tattoo supply company. The product is used to transfer designs to the skin to guide the creation of the tattoo.

Next came the ham radio and QSL cards for spreading the words. I sold my ham radio intending to buy a better one but instead purchased a CompuColor II computer based on the intel 8080A CPU and 32 kilobytes of memory. With a 300 baud modem we could have posted notes on the popular bulletin boards of the day but that was not exciting to us. Glen and I were both learning to program in Basic and Assembly languages. We were computer geeks with a capital ‘G.’ Continue reading Family Legends