Old Ironsides vs. New Blindsides

[Bob Boze Bell]

January 4, 2012

I just made a very unique telephone call to the Curtis Wineries near Los Olivas, California. Got their answering machine and left this message: "Hi, my name is Bob Bell and I visited your winery last September when my daughter got married in nearby Buellton. I bought a Curtis 2007 Reserve bottle of wine which I was saving for my daughter's one-year-wedding-anniversary. Unfortunately a gang of javelina's broke into my studio and busted the bottle. Can you help me?"

 

I have a hunch there will be several conversations along the lines of, "Hey, you're not going to believe a phone call I got this morning. . ." 

 

U.S.S. Constellation?

 

Correction on U.S.S. Constellation: Old Ironsides vs. New Blindsides

"It must have been really cold (a temporary brain freeze?) in the Inner Harbor at Baltimore. Sure you weren't standing in front of the U.S.S. Constitution? You and I are about the same age, but even I remember the actual name of 'Old Ironsides'. I suppose you will have plenty of emails reminding you of this on January 2."

—Allen Wallace, LaFayettte, Georgia

"Sometimes history takes things into its own hands."

—Thurgood Marshall

 

[Jim Pettengill]

Actually both right/both wrong.  Bob's got the Maryland ship right, it's the Constellation, built 1854, Alan's got the Old Ironsides - Constitution right, it's the Revolutionary War ship, and it's in Boston.  Both great vessels!

[Neil Waring]

This ol' school teacher read it as, Constitution, and kept on going-mind and eye trick of old age.

The Wine v. Javelina story reminds me of the old--the dog ate the homework line. Hope after the laughter died down they found a new botttle of wine for you.

 

[anthony martin]

  For years many thought that the 1854 Constellation was the original heavy frigate Constellation of the 1790's.When the 1854 ship was built it was a longer,more heavily armed sloop of war.Now here's the interesting part-in the U.S.navy it was the practice to decommission and then scrap or sink a vessel before giving the name to a newer ship but the old Constellation was found to be so rotted that only a few structural components went into the new ship.The old one was not stricken off but dismembered to provide a bit of itself to the new vessel.Whether the original vessel was rebuilt in 1854 was a debating point for generations of naval historians but research revealed that the old ship was being taken apart right beside the new one a building .

[Sue Cauhape]

BBB, I can see a pretty young thing at the winery scratching his/her head and thinking "did I hear that right? A gang of javalinas or gang with javalines? Huh?"

[anthony martin]

  Sue,

    Someone at the winery turned and said"We gotta get this guy a new bottle of wine because his old one was run over by an AMC Javalin."

[Bob Boze Bell]

Actually I just talked to them and they said, and I quote, "So a dog destroyed your wine?" Ha.

[Sue Cauhape]

Sorry BBB, southwestern fauna just aren't that well known in other parts of the country, especially east of the Hudson River. (Uh oh, now I'm going to catch hell from Murray. Sorry Murray, you're one of the exceptions.)