Identity is not bought but earned...

1886


1984

Watch Man's Auction

$40,000 - $60,000 Estimate

$10,000 - $15,000 Estimate

$20,000 - $30,000 Estimate

$6,000 - $8,000 Estimate

$2,500 - $3,500 Estimate

Doyle in NYC has a jewelry auction coming up tomorrow. From a Palm Beach collector, it strikes me as very South Florida looking.  I remember working in the Castillo de San Marcos fee both.  As park rangers, no one liked working in the fee booth but it was required duty for a least an hour a day.

Entry fee was .50 cents - A true bargain in the National Park Service but one day I heard this guy complain, " Geez, I pay my taxes and the government's hitting me up for fifty cents?"  He stood in  sock-less alligator Gucci loafers with the red and green canvas under the bit.  Bleach blonde hair and over sized Porsche sunglasses on his head with a Corum signal flag watch on his wrist.

He and his wife get to the fee booth window where he throws a dollar at me.  I push it back to him, "That's alright, sir.  No charge."  He cocks his head, "No charge."  "That's right, sir.  I heard you complaining and so I figure you're having some tough times.  Not to worry -- I'll pick it up."  What unfolded is another story but I do believe it was documented in the Ranger Log.

Michael Bastian said in an interview that it was important nowadays to wear a nice watch since everyone dressed so poorly or how else could you judge a man. That seemed pretty shallow to me -- Until I remembered that day in the fee booth. 

Coming To New York: Madras & Popped

Castillo de San Marcos Ranger Log: Sept 1, 1984 Dr T. (John Tinseth) last day at the Castillo (old fort). Tomorrow he's off to the 'Big Apple" N.Y. Good luck Dr T from the gang.

6:00 PM Labor Day 1984- Big shot, Statue of Liberty Foundation contributor, offers yacht to NPS employees for a tour of the Hudson and East River. Third day working at the Statue and I figured this would happen many times -- hence my smile. It never happened again. Maybe because of my trousers.



How embarrassing. I 'popped' until meeting a nice girl from Chicago. She told me it was affected. I never 'popped' again.

Seasonal Ranger

Castillo de San Marcos Ranger Log Book Summer 1982

Castillo de San Marcos Ranger Log Book Summer 1983

You had to work as as 'Seasonal' ranger in order to get a full time position. These were usually at parks where visitation was heavy during Summer. I did three seasons during college at the Castillo de San Marcos in St Augustine. After the Army, it was the only job I had where time off was spent with the people I worked with. Odd that the two lowest paying jobs were the happiest jobs -- The soundtrack of that Summer of 1983 didn't hurt.

Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!

Ranger Log - Castillo de San Marcos, St Augustine, FL - 4 August 1984

Night 1964 by John Koch

My Fridge - 22 July 2020

It seems extreme heat has been a companion most of my life. Born in a record breaking August, the early wonder years were spent in the Southwest and Southeast. Basic, Infantry and Jump School were poorly timed and placed over a single cruel Summer at Ft Jackson and Ft Benning.

I saw heat index temps north of 107 as a Summer seasonal park ranger in Florida. Thermal inversions were commonplace with days of 100% humidity and no breeze. Adding to the misery was a paper mill north of town that cranked out a smell so ripe you could walk on it.

Still, truth be told, I'd rather deal with Summer than Winter. It's hard to lose an ear or finger because of the heat. Yesterday, I saw a young couple in their late teens French kissing on the sidewalk at the corner of 56th St and 8th Avenue. I was thinking it's too damned hot until I saw they were wearing jeans and black tee shirts -- Then they were just too damned stupid.

I'm old enough to remember sleeping without A/C and I can feel that John Koch painting like a trickle of sweat sliding down the crack of my ass. Rumors of a black out in NYC this weekend give me serious pause as I wonder if I have enough ice and talc. I'm pretty sure I have enough beer. I hope it ain't warm beer.

Jan Michael Vincent Returns

When I worked on Ellis Island, I had about 12 guys who were union movers reporting to me. They were making four times what I was making as a GS-4 and there was this one guy who was the laziest motherfucker I had ever seen. I've seen worse since then. Oddly enough, in NYC as well but I don't think PR has unionized yet...

We all ate lunch together, wherever on the island we might be, and I told this guy, while eating my can of tuna fish,  he was what we called in the Army a "Buddy Fucker," since he wasn't carrying his weight… which was significant. I'd have added he could lose some weight by only eating a can of tuna fish at lunch but he was furious and all six foot three and 300 odd pounds of him stood up and said, "No fucking Yuppie (this was 1985) calls me a Buddy Fucker."

I stood up and said, "Yuppie?! I make $12,600 a year." His face went from anger to pity in a half second and he said, "Shit man, I thought you were a big deal around here. Hey, if you want, I can get you in the union." And then he said, "You look just like that mother fucker Hawk on Airwolfe." So, I had that going for me. Although, Jan Michael Vincent's Twitter shows him doing far better than I am...