Rick McBee's Writings
Explore the magic of new ideas and books to read as well as see what books I have written, my favorite photos, my opinions on may subjects, including Science, Africa, the Caribbean, the Civil War, my Book Reviews, and Much More!
What do the Simple Folks Do? Essay #1
Reminiscent of one of my favorite songs in the 1960 Broardway Musical, Camelot: This article and the next few will focus be on things that we, the simple folk of America can and still do in order to keep our sanity and drive fear away from the door as we pass the time while Nero and the Senate go on Fiddling and deal with long stretches of semi-solitude during our home stays being mandated by the competent State Governments who hope to keep us from spreading or acquiring the COVID -19 virus.
So what can we, the simple folk do?
1. .Start off by reading a bit about the Musical at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/camelot-the-musical-synopsis-characters-songs.htm On Wiipedia you will find a number of related searches.
Camelot (musical) Camelot is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe (music). It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White novel The Once and Future King. Wikipedia Related searches include the legend of Camelot and King Arthur, the Musical Overture and much much more.
| 2. If you want to watch the later movie of Camelot from 1967 with Richard Harris and Vanessa redgrave, check this out https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061439/ then you can rent the movie on netflix see: https://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Camelot/345890 |
3. Now you’re ready to start making your own list of things that we simple folk can do to help us from becoming so blue.
See my Next Blog Post #2
Enjoy! Rick McBee
The Fox, by Frederick Forsyth a Book Review
The Fox by Frederick Forsyth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Writing master, Frederick Forsyth, is back at it again with a great book linking IT to current and past events in the world of international intrigue and power games. The occurrences that happen worldwide are real. The methodology by which Britain’s IT genius, Luke Jennings, pull off the intrusions are fictional, but not that far-reaching in a world where the race to build the ultimate quantum computer to spy on others is going full blast. Adrian Weston, the resuscitated former MI-6 chief, running Jennings and the global intrusions is also a picture of a truism that the old ways of running spies and deceiving the enemy may still be needed in a world where every movement can be traced using our cell phones, our credit cards, camera facial recognition, etc. Kudos for this work to a writer who understands that the spy world is not an adrenaline rush of dodging bullets but rather a cat and mouse game of piecing together seemingly unrelated bits of information and making the chessboard moves with the knights and pawns before the opponent recognizes the deception and the true plot. Woe unto the Russians, the Iranians and the North Koreans. Loved it!
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The Silence of the North by O.A. Fredrickson and B. East: A book review
The Silence of the North: The Incredible Story of a Woman’s Fight For Survival in the Wilderness by Olive A. Fredrickson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Olive Fredrickson’s story of her early life growing up in the Canadian wilderness is an exciting adventure suitable for both young and old, male and female as she deals with the death of her mother at an early age, grows up knowledgeable of the world of trapping and hunting in a part of the world almost completely unknown to the majority of North Americans. The knowledge she gained from her hardscrabble family upbringing in the wilderness carries her through to adulthood and marriage to her first husband, a trapper named Walter Reamer. Olive and Walter follow the trails of the Canadian North on trapping expeditions that place them and their young child in danger of drowning in the icy waters of Lake Athabasca and the Slave River as they treck into the wilderness for a winter’s trapping and hunting. Fate steps in during the winter as the young couple makes one slight mistake after another in their choice of cabins, food supply, and preparation for living off the wilderness. On the doorstep of starvation and death by exposure to the elements, the couple set off in a desperate attempt in the subzero weather to reach another trapper’s cabin. Lady luck peeps out for a moment as they stumble through a twenty mile ordeal. Returning to civilization, Olive remains in the safety of town with her children as her husband continues to trap each winter. When she is widowed, Olive moves briefly to the States and then returns to Canada, working hand to mouth for a number of years until she meets her second husband and they are able to make a living in a less hostile section of the wilderness up the Stuart river where they pan for gold, encounter grizzlies, and fabulous fishing. It’s a memorable story with lessons for all of us about the realities of making choices in life and the consequences of making the wrong choice in the unforgiving climate and environment of the Canadian wilderness. An excellent read-aloud book!
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THE TIME FOR ACTION! Political Robocalls
Trust Me! You will NOT get my vote with a Robocall, 
Three times per day. That shouts in my ear
“THIS is —— —–, IT’S TIME FOR ACTION!”…….etc…….
Who gave you my phone number anyway? Is a record being kept of home many times you call me? Are you paying the phone company for all these calls? Are you just another scammer? Nigerian? Russian? Ukrainian?
Robocalls can be stopped if we have the political willpower. Do your Jobs Congress and POTUS!
Trust me, You aren’t getting my vote with this Hogwash! 
Book Review: The Shell Collector, by Anthony Doerr
The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I wrote my initial notes on this book, I was only half-way through and thought that I had already read the best of the author’s short stories within the first 120 pages. Not so! In fact, the two fishing stories were yet to come and both kept my attention to the end. In particular, the story entitled “July Fourth” got my best laugh of the book upon reading the last page of that story. No skipping ahead and cheating allowed on this one! The other fishing story is a work of brilliance showing how we all eventually reap the rewards of continual lies that build and build as we cheat on others. Excellent bedtime reading one story per night.
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Personal (Jack Reacher #19) by Lee Child. A book Review
Curacao is always a great place for me to catch up on my reading between dives. (More on that when I get back and have time to edit my videos and pictures. I’m also getting a lot of writing done on the next book(s).(:>)
Personal by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The sniper has always been one of my favorite themes to read about whether that person is a villain or a hero. Author Lee Child has found his firm niche for the second time with a book that gives insight into the psyche of the sniper/killer and all of the factors that go into tracking down a single human being who has decided to do someone in, long-range style. Because of the international setting and the weeding out of possible sniper candidates from Israel, the U.S., Britain, and Russia, our hero, Jack Reacher spins his wheels for a while stateside before venturing to the European theatre where the killer is due to strike next at an international trade convention. Who is the killer really after? One of the big-wigs of the conference? One of the numerous members of the international team of GRU, CIA, MI6, etc. investigators who have gathered to share intelligence and hunt down the murderer? It’s a cat and mouse game, and as the author says, “It’s not the same with a sniper out there.” When the Russian GRU man gets taken out the hunt turns toward the Russian rogue sniper. Reacher isn’t sure and ends up in London with his sidekick Casey Nice hunting for at least two snipers being hidden by the ‘Romford Boys’ under the leadership of a giant of a man whose presence intimidates even the husky physique of Reacher. It’s a hunt through good old London and enough twists and turns are there to keep you and Reacher thinking about the outcome. Lovely Casey is pretty good with holding up her own end of the deal, saving Reacher’s neck by improvising with a shard (no pun intended) of London glass to off a dude. I enjoyed the fast pace, the changes of venue and the ability of the author to get all those characters amply described and fitted for their various nefarious and savior roles. Enjoy the voyage and enjoy that final take-down of the bad guy at the end. A non-stop page turner for rain or the plane!
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The Midnight Line (Jack Reacher #22) by Lee Child. Book Review
The Midnight Line by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Midnight Line is a must-read for the many of us who have been military, been associated with a war, or have been related to a friend or family member who has been damaged physically or psychologically by war or military experience. So that’s to say, pick it up and read it, America and the rest of the world. Author Lee Child hits the nail on the head with his phraseology about addictions: “You should never underestimate the appeal of an opiate high,” and the military: “you never really leave.” The entire book illustrates how the simple act of looking through a pawn shop window and seeing a class ring can lead to a fascinating vision and train of thought for an author to follow up on and develop an entire book. I’d like to sit down with Lee Child in one od his lecture and fins out which came first, the plot of the drugs and the missing West Pointer who pawned their class ring, or the stimulus of looking in a pawn shop window, seeing an old class ring for sale, and jumping from there through hyperspace to the gist of a disabled veteran hiding out from the world. Well written, one of the best in many ways for those of us who know and have crossed the high and wide of the Wyoming plains and mountains around Laramie. Enjoy!
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Never Go Back: Jack Reacher #18, by Lee Child – A Book Review
Never Go Back by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this Jack Reacher book with its twists of plot and the fact that author Lee
Child has created a co-protagonist for Jack in Major Susan Turner, new CO of the 110th MP. Turner, a no-nonsense Major with many of the traits of Jack in a lightweight fashion, is a good foil for Reacher and gives some further humanity to the guy. The book gives readers a strong awareness of the problems we will face in the future with records and the ability of materials to be redacted or changed by persons in the government to tell the story they want us to hear, rather than what has actually happened. It also gives an indication of how easy it might be to falsely twist facts to have someone incarcerated with no hope of beating the system without breaking the law because the enforcers of that law are cautious about going against what they believe to be the actual facts, when in reality they may only tell one side of the story. Only Jack Reacher could break out of jail the way it is done in the book, but of course, we all know what he alone is capable of in comparison to everyday humans. Read and enjoy the fast-moving read and plot twists!
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BUZZ: The Nature and Necessity of Bees! by Thor Hanson – A Book Review
Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees by Thor Hanson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed how author Hanson mixed hard factual science and knowledge of the Bee world together in a well-organized book for laypersons and members of the science community with broad backgrounds for understanding the reasons why certain grown adults charge around deserts, forests, savanna and jungles flailing the air with nets and patiently pinning nearly microscopic bugs on balsawood boards for study and posterity. As a former bug-kid who did a lot of net swinging while my compatriots were shooting balls at nets, I can empathize with the author as he describes run-ins with Border Patrol Agents wondering why a bunch of folks would be thrashing about the cholla cactus regions along the Mexican border looking for bees. Hanson has interviewed with and studied under, a number of the cutting edge entomologists who have traced the history of human-bee relationships back to earliest times, calculated the calorific contribution of honey to hunter-gatherer tribes, chased the ghosts of ‘colony-collapse’ in our own time, and those who have begun changing their farming methods from bee-adverse methodologies to bee-enhancing practices. I enjoyed every chapter. There is something for everyone in this book which opens our eyes to our bee/human interdependency and gives us reasons to go out and look closely at our own flower beds and try to make them as bee-friendly as possible and help this vast group of friends prosper.
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8 Hours Left to Get a Free Copy of “Rough Enough”
You still have time, since I live on the west coast of the USA. it’s just past 4PM Pacific Standard Time and the Free Offer through Kindle Books for your PC, or Phone, etc., is still available until midnight PST. That’s still 8 hours away!
When you start a book you may only have a few resources. I actually began this project back in 1994 when my father, Richard Sr., handed me several boxes of old pictures, a couple of Civil War knives, and a writing box. Within the box were 14 letters and a small badly battered diary, written by Richard Headley Clow, my Great Grandfather. The letters were all from the period of 1864 through 1869. The pictures were labeled with full names in some cases, and in others they were scribbled on the back with cryptic words like “Clow’s First Wife, Larpenteur’s Daughter”.
I sat on these clues to another man’s life and times until I retired in 2006, over ten years after the death of my father, the last living soul to my knowledge who had a personal relationship with my Great Grandfather. Of course I had read them and looked at them, but until I began doing research into the actual life and times of Richard H. Clow I didn’t understand fully the breadth and depth of his long, adventurous, and fulfilling life from 1847 through 1926. Oh! That I had started 20 years earlier on this book, when so many others were alive to tell and reinforce his tales.
Below are pp. 215 – 218 of my Copyrighted book so you can see how a man can be born in Nova Scotia and die in Oregon 79 years later and cover a lot of territory before passing on.
Chronological Timeline for Richard Headley Clow’s Life
1847—May 25, 1847: birth of Richard Clow in Nova Scotia, Canada. [The military records are incorrect in stating that Richard Clow was born in Boston, see below].
1853—Richard Clow, at six years of age, travels from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with his sisters, Agnes (22yr) and Alice (8yr) on the Brig “Belle” to Boston. [Note passenger list (fig. 39) gives the country of citizenship for the three as “Nova Scotia” and the country which they desire to become citizens as “U.S.”]
1853—Approximate year of birth of Mary Bingham, first wife of Richard Clow, in Little Sioux, Iowa.
1861—June 6, 1861: Birth of Melinda Story, second wife of Richard Clow, in Tekamah, Nebraska.
1864—August 18, 1864 to November 2, 1864: Clow’s first enlistment in Civil War (100 days) in 22nd Massachusetts Volunteers. He was not assigned to a unit from this enlistment.
1865—January 1865: Clow’s second enlistment in Civil War (a 3-year enlistment which only lasts 7 months) in 56th Massachusetts Infantry, serving at Petersburg through July 1865 when he mustered out at the end of the war.
1865—1967: Clow moves west to live with his brother and family in Minnesota and Wisconsin and farms with them.
1867—1870: On April 26, 1867, Clow signs his third enlistment, a 3 year period in the 13th Infantry, Company C. He joins in Minneapolis, Minnesota, enlisting from his home in Wisconsin. Known postings are: Ft. Shaw, Camp Cooke and Ft. Buford. Clow’s possible other posting is Ft. Ellis. On April 26, 1870, Clow musters out of the 13th Infantry, Company C, as a First Sergeant in Dakota Territory and goes to work as a clerk for Charles Larpenteur at the Ft. Buford trading post. During the year of 1870, Clow marries his first wife, Mary Bingham (Charles Larpenteur’s stepdaughter).
1871—May 15, 1871: Clow, his wife, and the Larpenteur family close the trading post at Ft. Buford and travel together from Ft. Buford down the Missouri to farm outside of Little Sioux, Iowa. Clow buys land for a farm and also works for Charles Larpenteur.
1872—Baby Bertie Clow is born January 19, 1872, and dies on March 4 of that same year. She is buried on March 9 according to her tombstone. Clow’s first wife, Mary Bingham Clow, dies on April 6, 1872. Following Charles Larpenteur’s death on November 15, 1872, Clow moves in with the Driggs family after selling off his land.
1873—1875: Clow stays in the Little Sioux, Iowa area and works the farm for himself and his mother-in-law, Rebecca.
1875—Richard Clow leaves the Little Sioux area and passes through Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory en route to the Black Hills.
1876—1879: During the next three years he stakes a claim and mines the Golden Seal Mine outside of Deadwood.
1879—1882: Clow buys and works a small dairy farm in the Black Hills near Deadwood. He rides a guard on the Deadwood to Rapid City stagecoach.
1879—December 24, 1879: Melinda (Linnie) Story, the future wife of Richard Clow, leaves Tekamah, Nebraska, arriving in Deadwood, Dakota Territory on May 15, 1880.
1880—The census of 1880 documents Clow as owning a small farm in an unincorporated town outside of Deadwood, Dakota Territory. It documents Melinda Story as a seamstress in the town of Deadwood.
On November 25, 1880, Richard Clow marries his second wife Melinda Story. The Methodist/Episcopal Pastor, Rev. R. H. Dolliver, presides at the wedding in the town of Deadwood, Dakota Territory.
1881—November 4, 1881: Daughter Cora Cochran Clow is born to Richard and Melinda Clow in Deadwood, Dakota Territory.
1883—April 15, 1883: The Clows leave Deadwood and travel by wagon to Bear Lake County, Idaho, arriving on June 3, 1883.
1888—April 16, 1888: Son Robert Denton Clow is born to Richard and Melinda Clow in Montpelier, Idaho. The birth is documented in the log of births kept by the county midwife Mrs. Francis E. Bridges.
1891—February 13, 1891: Richard Clow applies for and receives a homestead, Certificate #1096 for lots 3 & 4 of Sec35Twn13SR46E and lots 1 & 2 of Sec2Twn14R46E. This is 158 acres with a contiguous four mile stretch of land that runs along the Idaho/Wyoming border near Raymond Canyon and Raymond Mountain, Wyoming. The Clows begin sheep farming.
1895—Richard Clow incorporates his ranch with two other men, Beckman and James Redman, to form the 320-acre “CBR Sheep Company” outside of Montpelier, Idaho.
1896—The ranch dissolves and Clow goes to court. Richard Clow assigns his stock to his wife Melinda. The final ruling by the Supreme Court of the State of Idaho, March 24, 1897, rules against the Clows.
1898—March 2, 1898: The Clows sell out and leave Bear Lake County, Idaho, traveling by wagon to Granite, Oregon. They arrived on May 5, 1898. Richard Clow takes out several mining claims and tries mining for gold a second time.
1899—July 31, 1899: The Clows leave Granite, Oregon and travel by wagon to Eugene, Oregon at urging from their daughter Cora Clow who was teaching in Eugene. They arrive August 18, 1899. They remain in Lane County, Oregon for five years.
1905—December 26, 1905: The Clows depart Eugene for Mapleton, Oregon, arriving on December 29, 1905. In Mapleton they run a livery stable and a small farm. They then begin managing the Mapleton Hotel about 1907. They do this up until about 1909, after which time they go back to running the horse stable and small farm. Their son, Robert Denton Clow, runs the mail boat between Florence and Mapleton for a period of time.
1907—1913:The Siuslaw River freezes over during the winter of 1907. During this period Richard and Robert Clow are documented in a photograph swimming in the Siuslaw River during the summer of 1907. In 1913, new construction in Mapleton includes Joe’s Warehouse, New Hotel, Bigelow’s Pool Hall, and Noffzinger’s Boat Shop. On April 11, 1913 the ship, Anvil, runs aground on North Beach near Florence, Oregon. The Clow family goes down river by boat to see the stranded ship on the beach and take photos.
1915—July 3: Richard Clow returns to Granite County, Oregon to mine for gold with his son, Robert Clow. A relative, Oma McBee, cousin by marriage of Clow’s daughter Cora to Elmer McBee, travels through Mapleton on her way to teach in the tiny town of Earl.
1921—October 28, 1921: Richard and Melinda Clow move from Mapleton to Eugene, Oregon and buy four acres of land on River Road where they live until August 11, 1925.
1926—March 1, 1926: The Clows buy land from their daughter and son-in-law, Elmer and Cora (Clow) McBee.
1926—November 19, 1926: Death of Richard H. Clow in Eugene, Oregon.
1946—May 25, 1946: Death of Clow’s wife, Melinda (Story) Clow in Eugene, Oregon.
I hope you enjoy the book!
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