Recent photographs of Sexton Mountain.
When my son and his partner, Lisa, were with us, just over a week ago, Alex suggested that he and I explored Sexton Mountain; some three miles to the North-East, as the crow flies. Normally the final stretch has to be walked because of a locked gate across the trail. However, that day the last 8/10ths of a mile were driven. It was a beautiful place with that summit 3,833 feet above sea-level (U.S. Geological Survey).
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It was a grand occasion.
Learning from Dogs 
These are fantastic photos, Paul! And guess what?… It looks very much like the countryside of Vermont. I meant to mention when your son visited, that I was very pleased you were getting to see him. The two of you make a handsome pair! Best wishes. – Paul Kruse PS: we are having an unusually rainy spell this spring (I guess summer just officially started with Memorial Day). It’s a bit frustrating to deal with after a long winter, but I have no doubt that sunny days are ahead. Take Care and Be Well.
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PPS: I suspect you have higher mountains than we do (though I have not checked). The highest mountain peak in the Green Mountain range of Vermont is called Mount Mansfield… 4393 feet.
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Mount Sexton is a local mountain in the Western Cascades. It stretches all the way down from Washington to California. The highest point is the peak of Mount Rainer in Washington at over 14,000 feet, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Range
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Paul, I had to look up on my wall map exactly where Vermont was (I’m at the age where remembering stuff is becoming harder!). Although many years ago, when I was running my own company I visited many US States, Vermont I have not been to. Is it regarded as a rural State? Jean, my dearest wife, does not travel well these days so my son comes to me, thank goodness. He and his partner, Lisa, have been together for 20 years. In mid-July, we have my daughter coming across, with her husband, Marius, and their son, Morten, that will also be a splendid visit.
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Absolutely! Vermont is a rural state. It’s a small state by square miles, but the total state population is only 640,000 people. The city of Burlington is our largest city at 50,000 people.
It used to be a small dairy farming state. When I was growing up, there were more cows here than people. Sadly, the small farms can’t compete, and many of them are gone now. But not all of them 🙂
I’m very glad to hear your daughter and family are visiting this summer!
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That’s a population similar to Southern Oregon. Quote:
You sound as though you are past your prime, in terms of years, and I too sense the ‘lost’ years of the past. I was born in North London in 1944 some six months before VE Day (Victory in Europe).
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I am indeed past my prime. I was born in 1962, and will be 63 next month, so I feel like I am just starting the “fourth quarter of my life”.
My instincts tell me that where you live is very similar to where I live… In terms of what the countryside looks like, and the fact that we both go through four seasons every year.
Various challenges in my life have prevented me from doing much traveling, and I hope to do that very soon, or it won’t get done. Like most people, my life has taken me on journeys that I never expected to take… Some full of joy… And others extremely challenging.
I try to take one day at a time, and make the most of each day.
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Please, please do that travelling! When I was in business I was selling a word processing program for the Commodore PET. It took me all over the world and I adored that travelling. As a starter, please come to Oregon and stay with us for a while!!
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Thank you for the kind invitation, Paul. I recall you worked in Sales at IBM. There used to be a large IBM facility here in Vermont that manufactured memory and logic chips. I wrote software there for 20 years. Like many other locations, IBM sold this plant a long time ago. By Vermont standards this was a huge facility with 8000 employees.
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That is correct, Paul. I worked for IBM Office Products at their London North branch selling the golfball typewriters. Started there in 1970 and was with IBM when they launched the first word processing machine in 1977. 8000 employees! Wow! Presumably you were writing in machine code? I guess that talent never fully goes away? Do you do any coding for fun these days?
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When I was in high school (graduated 1980) I learned how to type on those “golf ball typewriters”… Known to me as “IBM Selectric”. I loved typing on those machines… To this day they had the best feeling keyboard I have ever used.
I worked at IBM from 1981 to 2001. Wrote computer graphics software that allowed electrical engineers to draw pretty pictures of the computer chips they were designing.
I learned machine code in college (I went to night school while I was at IBM), but never used it on the job. Over the years, I worked in seven or eight different programming languages, the primary ones being: Fortran, Pascal, and C. C++ was beginning to be used when I left.
I have not written a single line of code since 2001. And my programming skills are completely obsolete now. I am a dinosaur. New programming languages are constantly being developed, so every couple of years you have to learn a new language… That continues to this day, so in addition to doing your job, you have to continuously educate yourself on the latest programming techniques. You end up working a lot more than 40 hours a week to keep up with all the changes that are happening constantly.
I loved my job back then. Before the days of social media and artificial intelligence. All we had was email.
I have very mixed feelings about computer technology advancements that have occurred over the past 25 years. (Things like social media and artificial intelligence.) These days, computers can be used to do a great amount of good or a great amount of evil. I’m not convinced that my quality of life is better now than it was in 2001.
My parents were born in 1925, and if it weren’t for World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, etc.… I think I would have preferred to live in those times. Life was simpler. Families could live on a single income. These days both parents have to work (in most cases) to pay the bills. The pace of life is so much faster now. I miss the simpler days of my youth. Having said that, I suspect many people feel that way regardless of when they were born.
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The Selectric was a great electric typewriter and you are correct in saying it had a very good keyboard.
I did not realise that programming languages were advancing at such a pace. Plus I agree with you totally in the sense that the world, our lives, are changing so quickly these days, and you are spot on in saying there is both good (and it is very good) and evil (and the evil is frightening). I flipflop over whether society will be alright or these are the end of our days!
This has been a great conversation!!
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Re: “I flipflop over whether society will be alright or these are the end of our days!”
AGREE!!
Re: “This has been a great conversation!”
INDEED it has! Thank you, Paul.
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I have spent my entire life in Vermont, with five previous generations doing the same.
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So you are the sixth generation to be in Vermont! Wow!!
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What a wonderful reunion Paul…. And what a view, no wonder that location was the best lookout position for fire detection…
I hope you all had a wonderful time.. ❤
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Sue, as I said in my reply to The Flying Lizard, it was a fabulous time with Alex and Lisa. Yes, the views were fantastic, and the more modern buildings are still in use during the hot, dry summers.
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Wonderful xx Much love to you and Jeanie xx
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Thank you, dear Sue. Your response is very precious! xxxxxx
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