Cape Girardeau History and Photos

January 20, 2016January 21, 2016

FL Van Sees Snow; Surrenders

My Odyssey van took a dusting of snow on Tuesday afternoon in stride, even making me switch the heated seat setting from High to Low and turn down the heater.

Predictions had been all over the place for the days leading up to the “snow event,” as the TV folks like to dub it. At first, we were going to get a mix of sleet and freezing rain; then they thought snow would be 1-2 inches, then 2-4, then 4-6, and once it went all the way up to 10-12, before dialing back to 6-8 or thereabouts. In reality, I doubt if we got more than two inches.

“Asking for a friend”

Since I’d been gone a bit, the cupboards were mostly bare. (Question: if you’ve had milk in the fridge for, say, six or eight weeks, and it has lumpy stuff floating on the top of it, is it safe to call it cottage cheese and eat it if you pour on enough sugar? As Bill Hopkins would say, “Asking for a friend.”) Even I know that if something in a plastic zipper bag has something green growing in it like these plants at the old Plaza Galleria, it is best to carry it outside immediately.

I wasn’t looking forward to braving the lines in the stores to stock up, but it wasn’t too crazy. I DID note a lot of bread, milk, chips and toilet paper in the baskets fore and aft. I didn’t see much beer or booze, however. I guess Cape folks keep plenty of that on hand just in case someone slips Prohibition back into the lawbooks without anybody noticing.

“I give up! Take me home”

What did I see the next morning? My poor van was holding up its little arms like a dying cockroach and begging to leave the land of Wind Chill to go back to a place where they talk about the Heat Index in January.

Actually, the idea of lifting my wipers was something Kid Matt passed on: “The lifting the wipers thing seems a new trend based on this article from Cleveland. Everyone in Oregon and Washington seemed to be doing it…”

I’m not sure I’d do that in a parking lot where it might tempt vandals, but I was cool doing it in my driveway. I didn’t go anywhere today, so I didn’t test how well it worked. We’re supposed to get some indeterminate amount of snow Thursday and Friday, so I’ll get another shot at it.

It BETTER snow this winter. I bought 50 pounds of ice melt. The way the woodpile is going down, I may be trading it for firewood soon.

January 13, 2016January 13, 2016

Kim’s Christmas Present

The Steinhoff family was never big on jewelry. We’ve had our wedding rings, and I inherited my grandfather’s ring which had been passed onto Dad (and which will go to Son Matt), but Mother was still wearing clip-on earrings until well after Wife Lila and I got hitched. Not long after that, she had her ears pierced which brought her more options.

After Mother died, Sis-in-Law Robin bagged up all of her earrings, broaches, etc. Various family members took things that had special meaning, then the rest of it was sent to Niece Kim.

Christmas surprise

Kim turned the jewelry into neat displays that she sent to family members for Christmas.

Kim’s message

This note accompanied the display.

Thanks, Kim.

January 11, 2016

Gussie Phillips (Maybe)

I’ve never paid much attention to genealogy. Part of it was that we had such a small immediate family we weren’t hard to track. The other part was that I never could understand all that stuff about third cousins twice removed. It sounded too much like math, and I never cottoned much to math.

Anyway, I opened a file drawer looking for something else (sound familiar?) and found a packet of photos wrapped in yellowing paper. From notes scrawled on the back of some of the prints, I gather they must have been of the Adolph and Gussie Phillips branch of the family. I vaguely remember Mother talking about some relatives who lived out in California, but I let it go in one ear and out the other

I got the impression that they were relatively well off. Well enough off that they had a water tank big enough to serve as an impromptu swimming pool.

That must be Gussie

There was no info on the back of the water tank photo, but this couple was identified as “Shorty & Gussie taken at St. Pedro.” When I looked at it closely, the woman looks like the one on the right side of the swimming picture. (Click on it to make it larger.)

She’s quite striking looking in both pictures.

I’ll have to see what else I can dig up on that side of the family. There are plenty of fascinating photos in the collection.

January 10, 2016August 24, 2021

Dad’s Secret Stamp Stash

I got a package in the mail this morning from Brother Mark. It contained two plastic bags of U.S. postage stamps and a letter that read, in part:

“Dad had put away several boxes of stamps years ago in the basement. He put them in old checking account check boxes and sealed them with tape. That was good and it was bad. Good, because it kept anyone from using them, but even though he separated most of the with a piece of waxed paper, the humidity i the basement got into some of them and caused the glue to become sticky.

Bought them in sheets

“Dad used to buy stamps when he went to the post office to pick up mail for Steinhoff & Kirkwood Construction. He would buy them a sheet at a time and he wanted ones that had a block number on them, probably because he thought it might be worth more like that.

“I took them to some folks in St. Louis who appraised them to be worth about $65 [he didn’t say how much more than face value, if any, they were worth]. I didn’t think it was worth selling them for such a small amount to be split three ways [Mark, David and me]. I’ve done my best to equally separate the stamps so that everyone gets a fair sample of what was there.”

Lila and I collected stamps

When I was a kid, I collected stamps, but never had anything that was worth a whole lot, then Wife Lila collected commemoratives for awhile. She checked with Sons Matt and Adam, but neither of them were interested in them, so she was going to offer them up for sale. None of mine were rare, and most had been cancelled, so I don’t think they’ll move us into a better brand of cat food.

I told her the ones Mark sent had no real sentimental value for me, so why doesn’t she just use them on mail. She pointed out that we send very few snail mail letters these days, and, even if we did, most of the stamps are of such small denominations that you’d have to cover the whole front of the envelope with them.

Got any stamp collectors out there? Or snail mailers? (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)