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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>On Wed, Oct 28, 2020 at 10:03 PM BillK via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org"><span style='color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'>extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</span></a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> On Wed, 28 Oct 2020 at 21:45, spike jones via extropy-chat <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>>> OK perhaps it is an America thing.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Oh no! UK and EU collectors also pay small fortunes for ordinary<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> objects that have a famous name attached to them. I just don't see the <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> point myself.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>...<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>BillK, my grandfather was a coal miner. When the war started, Uncle Sam wanted him, but he was too old to be a soldier (39) so they sent him to Trinidad to build airstrips.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>When he returned in 1945, he went back to his mining job, but soon decided he wasn’t going to do that kind of work anymore. On his way out of the mine that day, he picked up a piece of slate.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Years went by. When I was about 7 or 8, I could tell that wasn’t from Florida: we didn’t have that kind of rock anywhere around there. I asked what that was for. He explained that this was the last rock he would ever haul out of the ground.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>He passed away a few years later (black lung) and my grandmother passed on about 20 yrs after that. The Last Rock ended up with my mother, who didn’t know what it was. Somehow it moved with them to Oregon, but didn’t make the move back from Oregon to Florida.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Monday and Tuesday I was up at the Oregon property and recognized it. Now the Last Rock is in my back yard.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>I have an appointment Friday at 11 with a local engraver to carve the words THE LAST ROCK into this thing:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><img border=0 width=472 height=349 style='width:4.9166in;height:3.6354in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D6AD56.0CD4BE70"><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>Is it silly? Ja. It is just a rock. But my grandfather picked up with a vow 75 years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>spike <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>