Merry Christmas. I hope you and your families and friends are enjoying all the blessings of the season. As I write this Sunday, the house is still in a high state of chaos, with presents yet to be bought, wrapping behind schedule, and countless last minute errands to run as well as greetings to write. And yet somehow it will all come together ready or not by tomorrow eve. We celebrate Christmas eve with my wife’s family, and the day with mine. Christmas eve traditionally was at Joan’s parent’s house. There, in a small stucco bungalow, the MacKenzie clan would gather for T-bone steaks, mashed potatoes, fruit soup, and ever so much more. Hazel would never sit down, pushing mountains of food at any plate half empty. Art offered everyone a glass of Mogan David wine, perhaps the only day of the year such beverage was shared in the house. The kids table was always loud, in the now ever so small living room. It’s dimensions indented by the gloriously lit, always perfectly decorated Christmas tree. Even more constricting were the mounds of presents in every other corner and stacked along the walls. After dinner, Hazel required a carol or two to be sung before the presents could be opened. And then the walls would reverberate with the shredding of wrappings, giggles of excitement and politely pronounced thank yous crisscrossing the room. As the loot was unwrapped, each item was exclaimed about and thanked for and stashed into piles, every so careful to make sure the to-from tags were neatly tucked within each box. The bedlam would last till nearly eleven when it was time to sneak out and start warming the frozen cars, and load the trunks with the incoming, now that the outgoing was dispersed. Got to get the kids ready for bed, cause Santa Claus is yet to come. Mrs. Claus always managed to whip up a great reason for the kids to wake us the next morning. Even with fresh piles of yet to be played with gifts from the night before, there was always something special under the tree. I hope that you were able to both give and find something special under your tree this year. Best wishes and Merry Christmas. etn

Recent and Future eBay Listings: You can find all my current eBay auctions and my eBay Store items in my store by searching the following link. ETN Covers eBay Store I also have a significant collection of ship covers at … www.shipcovers.com

USS California USS California ACR 6. It's keel was laid 5/7/1902 and commissioned August 1, 1907. It's named was changed to the San Diego on 9/1/1914. As the San Diego, it was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-156 off Fire Island Inlet, July 19, 1918. Postal markings from the California or San Diego are scarce to rare. Above is a postally used non philatelic cover from a crew member of the USS California BB44. The cancel is a machine cancel. Battleships, in essence small floating towns, handled enough mail to warrant automated canceling equipment. In this example the ships name is in the top of the dial which gives this particular cancel a designation as a type 7t for those who are interested in not just getting a cancel from each ship, but also examples of all the different types of cancels used. This particular cancel rates a “C” value in the ship cancel catalog which puts it in the scarce category. The California BB44 was launched in 1919 and was on battleship row on Dec 7th 1941 where she was sunk, killing 100 crew members and wounding an additional 62. She was refloated in early 1942 and largely rebuilt in time to participate in the May 5th 1944 invasion of the Marianas. During subsequent action she was hit by shore fire and suffered a Kamikaze attack, both with fatalities. But not put out of action again until being put into the reserve fleet in 1946 and ultimately sold until 1959. The above cover is from the USS California CGN 36. It celebrates the 200th anniversary of the US Navy. This ship was originally designated as DLGN 36 but was changed to the Cruiser class July 1, 1975. This California, nicknamed the Golden Grizzly, was deactivated in August of 1998. An excellent web page about her is located at http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6636/. The CGN36 was the 7th US Naval ship to bear the name USS California. Four others pre-dated the ACR6. etn

The Battleship

A battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest caliber of guns. Battleships are larger, and better-armed and better-armored than cruisers and destroyers.

Battleship design continually evolved to incorporate and adapt technological advances to maintain an edge. The word battleship was coined around 1794 and is a shortened form of line-of-battle ship, the dominant warship in the Age of Sail. The term came into formal use in the late 1880s to describe a type of iron clad warship whose design culminated in the 1890s with the generation of ships now known as pre-dreadnought battleships. In 1906, HMS Dreadnaught heralded a revolution in battleship design, and for many years modern battleships were referred to as dreadnaughts. The key distinction being the focus on being a platform for strictly big guns.

USS Texas BB35

Battleships were the subject of a major arms race in the early 1900's and remained so until World War II when the aircraft carrier emerged as the primary vehicle to extend military power at sea.

For more information on Battleships go to Wikipedia.

I am currently featuring a nice selection of 127 Battleship Covers Battleship covers on eBay. A number of these majestic ships were placed in and out of service multiple times, coming back for the Korean and Vietnam wars, primarily as gunfire platforms.

Covers and post cards from these ships are not uncommon, after all they had crew comparable in size to many small towns. At the same time, because of the volume of mail and time in service there are many opportunities to collect different postmark types as well as events. Dread naught the battleship, it makes a fine collecting topic.

etn

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

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Steps Newsletter - an ETN Covers Publication Featuring this week: Alabama, Nuke Boats, and Christmas at Sea Squidoo Stamps Group Colorano Christmas Collection & misc topics

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Volume 2 Issue #50 December 18, 2007

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Table of Contents This Past Week. Recent & Future eBay Listings: Alabama, Nuke Boats, and Christmas at Sea Squidoo Stamps Group Colorano Christmas Collection Poem: Two Inches by Robert A Swart Court Jester: The Definitive "Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?" Contact us: (Send jokes, Humorous stories, comments, etc.)

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This Past Week: I had a great week since my last newsletter. I hope you did as well. Made a few forays into my neighborhood mall, the Mall of America and to the former local champ, Southdale, with few acquisitions. After all it's not shopping day yet, aka Christmas Eve. Went to an enjoyable Christmas party with my fellow Toastmasters last Saturday. If you are either terribly afraid of or enjoy the prospect of public speaking, I recommend Toastmasters. Great environment in which to conquer fears, and learn valuable skills. And you can't help but make friends. I have been negligent in advising my newsletter readers that I am running a sale this month. If you buy three or more covers from my eBay store, eBay auction or my Ship cover site, I will pick up the shipping and handling charges. Free Shipping and Handling on all non bulk lots till the end of December when you buy three or more lots. Much of my time lately has been focused on my non philatelic pursuits. It's Christmas time and I have been experimenting with pay per click advertising using Google, Yahoo, MSN and others. I'm still in the learning stages, but have done quite well, particularly with a campaign focusing on products from the Discovery Channels online store. My best seller has been the Planet Earth Series DVD's. They made it on Oprah's list and sales have been brisk. I started by promoting Meerkat Manor after being captivated by the show a couple of months ago. While my sales of Meerkat did okay, the landing page also showed the Planet Earth product so I decided to promote that as well. I'm glad I did. I've also been having success with the Amazon Kindle, although it's harder since they are only taking waiting list orders as their first production run was immediately sold out. This newsletter is intended to capture the journey I am on, which includes non philatelic side adventures. But the major focus will remain on the philatelic front. I welcome your feedback on content and format or anything else for that matter. Let me hear form you. etn

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Recent and Future eBay Listings: A lot of material is currently online. At the time of writing this I have over 400 items listed on eBay auction as well as a ton of stuff in my eBay store. The mix includes some higher value Artcrafts, a blizzard of better used UX's with various varieties and usages. I'm still pushing my Magazines of course and have many listed on auction. This week I added a ton of Nuclear Submarines . Then in keeping with the season I searched my entire inventory and came up with just about everything I could find with Christmas in the title. You will find that was quite a bit. Of special note is a Colorano Silk Cachet Christmas Maxi-Card Collection , but I discuss that below. You can find all my current eBay auctions and my eBay Store items in my store by searching the following link. ETN Covers eBay Store I also have a significant collection of ship covers that dwarfs my eBay store at www.shipcovers.com

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Alabama, Nuke Boats, and Christmas at Sea It turns out I have next to nothing in my inventory readily identifiable as being from Alabama. What I do have are submarine covers from the USS Alabama SSBN 731 and a few others. Alabama Covers The above cover was launched not just because it is the Alabama, but because I am featuring Nuclear submarines this week to follow up on last weeks diesel boat focus. There's a lot of dolphin food listed I hope those of you interested will take a good look. See all my eBay Ship covers. Next week, I will dig though my inventory to see what I can find from California. Should be able to find a bit more than I did for Alabama. etn

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Squidoo.com As you know, I have generated a number of Squidoo lens over the past year. Just as I am prepared to crank this newsletter out each week full of error and faults, I haven't waited to understand the best way Squidoo works before I dove in. I'm no slave to perfection. My strength and weakness is in my willing to push ahead beyond my limits and my willingness to not have to do everything right. Let me tell you why I like Squidoo, and then let you know about the Squidoo Stamp and Coin Group, and finally why I think you should do a lens of your own. Squidoo was set up to make it possible for anyone to easily create meaningful web pages on anything they had a little or a lot of knowledge about. If you have a collection of any type, you have some knowledge that caused you to organize it in a certain way. That's all that is required, a tidbit of organized knowledge. It's set up so that if people want to build their sites to earn money, they can. In fact, it's encouraged that you do so for charity even if your site is a purely non-commercial effort. Now frankly, I've made less than $20 off my Squidoo sites in the past year. So it's not just for money, but rather as a place to display material and showcase our hobby. That said, I understand that others who take the time to design and build their sites properly are doing extremely well. My efforts will improve over time in quality and hopefully financially. Most importantly, Squidoo offers a free open format for anyone- whether interested in profit or not - to share their accumulated knowledge in what ever field they may choose. I show philatelic topics and would like to encourage you to do so as well. I'd love to see examples of your collection. Show me your favorite covers. Tell me a story about some aspect that I could refer to and learn. You don't need to do a 16 frame exhibit or have material to win the World Series of Philately. (Although if you have such an exhibit, why not make it available for the public to see, admire and learn from?) Recently, as I was exploring Squidoo more I came across it's Stamp and Coin Group. I applied for membership and now several of my various philatelic lens are officially members of the group. Unfortunately it is a very lonely place. There are only 17 lens and some of these are on coins. I want you to consider learning how to join us. It may require learning a new skill or two, but basically it's all very simple. It's a busy time of year, but if you have some time, check out Squidoo. Check out my simple lens. See how all you really need to learn is how to take a few pictures or scans and tie them together with a bit of narrative. I think you will find it fun, and a great way to share your hobby. etn

Colorano Christmas Collection This week I am featuring a Colorano Collection of Christmas Maxi Cards. This collection includes an early pre-silk cachet from 1965. Colorano did not start their famous silk cachet line until the American Wool issue of 1971 (Scott 1423) Prior to 1971 they produced a line of maxi cards for almost six years. These pre-silk maxi-cards are not all common. From the beginning Colorano made maxi cards, so when they started their silk cachet lines they continued with the maxi cards along with traditional first day covers. In my experience there are far fewer Colorano Maxi-cards than covers in the secondary market. As such this collection has a scarcity factor going for it. The US has been producing Christmas stamps only since the early 1960's. Over the years, a tradition of a secular and religious themed stamp has developed. In recent years issues of four and more stamps have become more common. The collection I'm offering is starting at $250. I expect it will sell at the minimum bid to the person who sees the beauty and value of this collection. It is almost complete for the period 1971 to 1995, and has a pre silk Christmas Maxi Card. It is thematic, and as such will always command a collector interest. It includes pioneer cards from a modern classic first day cover producer. Any missing elements, while they may be difficult to readily find are findable and not so dear as to be out of the question financially. These would display nice in vario sheets in three ring binder. The auction closes Wednesday. If necessary, I could priority or next day mail if you want to give a philatelic gift appropriate to the season. Just email me that you need it for Christmas, paypal me and I will hand carry it to my neighborhood post office. The first scan shows five cards, the 1971 and 1972 Colorano Christmas issues and the Pre-silk card. They are worth the asking price by themselves. The remaining 9 scans of 8 cards each are gravy. Early Silk Coloranos from 1971 and 72 retail from $25 to $300 each. Although over a decade old I think the values are appropriate. Far fewer people subscribed to these in the early years, and their desirability continues to grow. The values I quote are from 1995-96 Colorano's catalog. Considering it's over a decade old, the values may be a bit higher today. http://images.marketworks.com/hi/33/33063/fdc7968m.jpg etn

Two Inches? Sitting on thin ice hoping it will freeze No sudden movements, don't sneeze The first ice of Winter I just had to fish A dry walk to shore is all that I'll wish -Robert A. Swart

Court Jester: (My humor file needs help. Send me suggestions, I need them. ) Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, it depends who you ask: PAT BUCHANAN: To steal a job from a decent, hardworking American. JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Isn't it obvious? Can't you people see the plain truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the "other side." That's what "they" call it-the "other side." Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And, if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other side." That chicken should not be free to cross the road. It's as plain and simple as that. DR. SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes! The chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed, I've not been told! ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die. In the rain. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question. GRANDPA: In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough for us. ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road. KARL MARX: It was a historical inevitability. SADDAM HUSSAIN: This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it. CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK: To boldly go where no chicken has gone before. FOX MULDER: You saw it cross the road with your own eyes. How many more chickens have to cross before you believe it? FREUD: The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity. BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken 2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook -and Internet Explorer is an inextricable part of eChicken. EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken? BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by "chicken"? Could you define "chicken" please? GEORGE W. BUSH: I don't think I should have to answer that question. LOUIS FARRAKHAN: The road, you will see, represents the black man. The chicken crossed the "black man" in order to trample him and keep him down. THE BIBLE: And God came down from the heavens, and He said unto the chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And the chicken crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing. COLONEL SANDERS: I missed one? ----------------------------------

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CONTACT US: Contact and Subscriber Information

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Earl Netwal: enetwal@gmail.com

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