I read the 1927 book, very well done, he kind of goes through each month 
and covers head lines.
73
Butch
WA0VJR
Node 3148
Wallace, ks.


On Tue, 17 Feb 2015, Jim Gammon wrote:

> Butch, you are correct about the title.  His latest book is
> called, One Summer, America 1927, I think, and it's also a great
> read.  He goes off on some great tangents about baseball, some
> high society murders, Charles Lindberg, the stock market etc.
> Also one called in a Sunburned Country relates his travels
> through Australia.  Jim WA6EKS
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Butch Bussen <[log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date sent: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 15:43:14 -0800
> Subject: Re: OT, a great book about growing up in Des Moines
>
> I have read that book and it is good as much of his stuff is.  I
> have
> read and reread his "a short history of almost everything" which
> has a
> lot of interesting stuff in it.  Come to think of it, I think the
> title
> is "a short history of nearly everything"
> 73
> Butch
> WA0VJR
> Node 3148
> Wallace, ks.
>
>
> On Tue, 17 Feb 2015, Jim Gammon
> wrote:
>
> Phil, have you ever read a book called The Life and Times of the
> Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson? If not, you should get it from
> NLS.  He grew up in Des Moines and wrote about his childhood
> there.  He has also written numerous other books all of which
> are
> great in my opinion.  Jim WA6EKS
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Phil Scovell <[log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date sent: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 15:55:19 -0700
> Subject: My Favorite Tall Tower
>
> I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa where one of the radio and TV
> stations had a
> building downtown with a weather tower, so called, on top of the
> building.
> It was a 4-legged tower that tapered up from the 4 corners of
> the
> building
> to something like heavy gaged rohn tower at the top where the
> lights were
> displayed.  This weather tower was seen from all over and about
> 20 miles,
> and more, in most directions.  I recently typed in the old call
> letters of
> the TV station but couldn't find info on the tower today so I
> typed in the
> newer call letters and found it listed as a weather beacon.  A
> youtube short
> video talked about damage to the tower during one winter of
> harsh
> cold
> tempes and ice build up on the tower.  When ice chunks broke off
> when
> melting, it broke 250 of the 4500 lights so they had to be
> replaced.  The
> tower, I learned is 500 feet plus the 2 or 3 stories of the
> building below.
> No guy cables; it is free standing.  Each of the 4 colors of
> light has a
> little rhyming jingle but I don't know if I can recall them all.
> Let's see.
> When it shines red, it means warmer weather is ahead.  Green,
> nothing new
> foreseen.  White means colder weather is in sight and I believe
> blue refers
> to rain.  If anything is blinking, precipitation is in the
> forecast.  I
> lived in far northeast Des Moines, almost where the highway I80
> crosses
> north of Des Moines, which wasn't there when I was born but
> built
> later in
> the fifties.  Anyhow, I went to a friend's house out in the
> country, north
> of the highway, and standing in the yard, I could see the tower
> during the
> daylight hours without any trouble and I would have been at
> least
> 20 miles
> north of the weather tower.  I'd sure like a 3 element 40 up on
> top of that
> baby.  I was please to see the tower was still up and being
> maintained and
> used by Ioeans to check the weather.  Even during my tower
> climbing days, I
> wouldn't have touched that tower with a ten foot pole.  I'm
> guessing an
> elevator is used internally but I believe I heard once, years
> ago
> from a
> commercial tower guy I knew, that you have to stop at one point
> and climb
> the 110 foot top to manually change the bulbs that are a foot
> apart but I'm
> not certain of that.
>
> Phil.
> K0NX
>
>