Prolific contributor

[Ozstatman]

I know John(keiser31) is a prolific contributor, but didn't realise to what extent even though his post total accompanies each of his posts. It's only now, after the changes/upgrades to these Forums, that I note at the bottom of the page he's immortalised by having the greatest number of posts by a fair margin. Congratulations John, looking forward to many more after you're settled back in after the fires. 👍

 

[wayne sheldon]

I had to laugh, and fully enjoyed the short and to the point to me comment. A few years back here, there was a thread, I don't recall who started it or exactly the point of the thread, but John (keiser31) was being congratulated on reaching some significant number of postings (may have been 25,000?). I had been posting here on and off for awhile then, and had only I think a bit over 200 posts here at that point. I made some remarks about his impressive count, and went on to mention that on another antique automobile (model T) forum that I spent too much time on but did not have an accurate total count, then adding some known numbers and a few approximations (an earlier site crash had lost their counts!) put me at about 10,000 postings on that site. John replied with a single word "Piker!" I almost spewed my hot chocolate, swallowed hard and laughed out loud! I knew he meant it in jest, and a few more words confirmed that. I loved it!

 

He must be one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on cars in general of the mid '20s through the '30s, and Chrysler products in particular. The minute details he can spot in photos, and which months in less than a year a specific gas-tank cap was used continues to impress me. So many models in so many years, and he can respond in minutes if he happens to be online. Simply wonderful!

 

We all are hoping and praying for the months ahead to go easy on John and his wife. It will be difficult for them. Even if they get to return to their home, and find all their place intact, they will be surrounded by the devastation that is around them. Power, water, and other conveniences may be off for some time, maybe months. Some roads may be closed. Past experiences in fires near us suggests that cleanup will take months, possibly more than a year. Eventually, reconstruction will begin. With that will be noise, trucks, and all the various sounds of construction. While not losing all the irreplaceable "things" that mean so much to us that care about the past will be a blessing. The next couple years for them will be difficult regardless.

Sometimes I know that to not care would be easier. However, the past, whether we are talking about human history or our own, IS important. It IS why we are who we are. All the mistakes we could make in the future have been made in the past. It is only learning from them, the mistakes, and the past, that we can become better in the future!

There is NO guarantee that our society, our machines and knowledge, will continue. It is only by understanding how we got here, and avoiding mistakes of the past that we can have any chance of making our world as we know it continue for future generations. In that way, those "things" ARE important.

I, and I think we all, hope that the road ahead is not too difficult for them. I think we all hope John can and will continue to spend some quality time almost everyday with us. We hope he will continue to grace our lives with his knowledge and humor. We all hope he drives that posting count ever so much higher yet. We also hope he gets that "high school" Dodge restored as well.

 

Be well John. Take it easy, and enjoy what you can along the way. I wish I was closer so to lend a better hand.

[edinmass]

Wayne......the wife and I were discussing the exact same thing last night........very lucky to have their home, but the town and neighborhood will probably not fully recover for years. Favorite stores and restaurants gone from lack of population. I’m sure a bunch of other things we couldn’t even guess at. Best, Ed.

[hidden_hunter]

4 hours ago, edinmass said:

Wayne......the wife and I were discussing the exact same thing last night........very lucky to have their home, but the town and neighborhood will probably not fully recover for years. Favorite stores and restaurants gone from lack of population. I’m sure a bunch of other things we couldn’t even guess at. Best, Ed.

 

We had really bad fires 12 years ago (nearly 175 dead) and you can still see signs from it - That said, places that were badly affected did recover and in some cases are bigger than they ever were (there were a lot of grants etc that helped everyone get back on their feet) - will never forget the day for the rest of my life, 120F and 60mph winds you could barely see the end of the street and everything had an acrid smoke smell for months