Play ball ...

Back in August, Pam and I had the opportunity to celebrate our wedding anniversary in a rather unique way -- we went to a minor league baseball game. This was #48, nothing special, but well on our way to #50.  You know, I used to see a lot of articles in the paper highlighting couples celebrating their 50th, but not so many lately.  Either they have already been there and are steaming toward even bigger numbers, or there might be a whole lot of them in the same boat as we are (all of us Baby Boomers).  But it could be, too, that maybe not as many stay together that long or maybe some have died off before they made it.

Regardless, we have made it this far, and one thing I have learned over the years is that if you want to have a long and happy life together, treat each other as though there is nothing you wouldn't do for the other and nothing is too good for that special person in your life.

So having said that, I spent a great deal of time thinking what I could get her to make #48 somewhat special.  Finally, it came to me -- I'll take her our for a show and dinner...two of her favorite things.  Boy, do I know how to treat my woman!!

I called the box office at the Dayton Dragons and got two seats behind home plate (remember -- nothing but the best) and even got the Jeep washed before we went.  I always like to take my sweetie out in clean wheels.  It seems that Dayton was playing the Lansing Lugnuts that night -- doesn't get much better than that.  OK, OK -- if you don't think that a good minor league baseball isn't a good show, you have never been to a game at that level.  The players hustle, there are dancing mascots and vendors shooting T-shirts up into the crowd.  I remember going to one of the Columbus Clipper's games back in the 80s and when a player hit a home run, everyone got up and danced and rang cow bells.  Tell me you've got something that compares with that!!  BTW -- in this picture of us in our seats, is that lady behind photobombing us?

Oh, yeah, back to the dinner part.  Well, ballpark hot dogs and popcorn usually top the night off.  Sometimes I'll even go for a slice of (highly overpriced) pizza and a beer.  And if it is a really good game and the evening is a good one, I might even spring for a foam finger. Uhhh -- probably not.

 So that pretty much wrapped it up for #48.  And as the old Left-hander used to say, "We're rounding third and heading home."  Making our way toward the big 50!

I found this picture (below) which kinda sums up the two of us... just a couple of old prarie dogs making our way through life.  This was a fun twist on a wedding anniversary celebration.  Not something we would do all the time, but definitely fun.

Our wedding was many years ago. The celebration continues to this day. (Gene Perret)


Hooah

Never trust a phone posting ...

Early last week I saw on my phone in the Google section that is supposed to keep me up to date on tracking my favorite sports teams, a thing that said that OU was playing Clemson in basketball.  I thought -- well it's possible, so I looked some more and the ap said that the game was at Ohio at 5:00 p.m.

I thought it a bit strange that Clemson would come to Ohio for an early season game.  If it had said that Ohio was going to Clemson I would have believed that.  OU isn't really the kind of team that would draw Clemsonesque  teams, especially in what is usually the "let's play a patsy to get the kinks out" time of the season.  Usually teams such as OU are the "patsy" teams others want to schedule.  But what the heck -- two levels of this ap said "Clemson at Ohio" so I told my wife I would take her down to Athens for the game.  It was a decent day and might be kind of fun.

So we drove the 3 hours to Athens.  My first clue that there was something wrong was that I  didn't see any "Event Parking" signs as I drove up to the Convo.  But we were a little early so I figured maybe the signs weren't out yet.  However, as we found a parking place and walked up to the doors of the Convo -- and there wasn't a soul around, well I knew something must be up.  So we walked over to Baker Center and asked the gal at the book store check-out counter if there was a game here tonight.  The deer in the headlights look should have been a sign.  After all, I couldn't smell any "weed" in the area.  Well, she looked it up on the computer and sure enough, her computer confirmed that there was a Clemson team that was to be playing Ohio at 5:00 p.m.  She then looked one other place -- the Athletic department website -- and it said the game was in Charleston, SC.  The "at" part was since both teams were part of an early season  tournament and neither one was actually the "home" team, they just assigned one as home and the other one as the visitor... thus the screwy wording on the phone ap.

So --------------- we bailed the car out of the parking garage and headed home.  All was not lost however, as we were able to listen to the game on the radio until we got to about Logan where it faded out.  I think that's also about when the team faded.  They lost the game pretty handily.

But again, all was not lost as we decided to stop at the 94th Aero Squadron in Columbus for dinner.  This is one of our all-time favorite places in the world to eat.  Great food and super atmosphere.

Might look a little ragged but by the time I took this picture we had driven about 6 hours for dinner -- a trip that might have taken 1 1/2 hours max on any other day.  But like I said -- good food, good wine, good story.  The radio guy said they would play again tomorrow night against Dayton. Now we're trying to figure out if we should try to drive to Charleston, drive to Dayton, drive to Athens or just stay home and go to the Sidney Ohio Winter Wonderland parade.  Chose the parade.

You know, every once in a while you just have to have something crazy like this in your life to give you things to look back on and laugh.  We were only out a few bucks for gas and some time, and got a free pass on the stadium hot dog and popcorn.  Pretty good trade for dinner in Columbus.

All great stories in one's life become grander at the dinner table.

Hooah

Refurbished and ready to go ...

About 20 years ago or so, our son made us a sign for our back yard area -- a piece we put over by the pond to show off the Bailey's Harbor area.  It was there year-round and really took a beating over the years.  Winters in Ohio can really do a number on outdoor things.

It was a wooden sign, and the surface was coated with several coats of marine varnish,  But, again, Ohio winters extract a pretty heavy price for being outdoors.  I am not sure how long this sign lasted before it became unstable.  It was followed by another sign he made and that one lasted for a number of years too.  But for the last 4 or 5 years we have been without anything there and it looked prfetty bare.

So, I took the original sign to a wood shop and had them remake it.  They did a pretty good job of using a lot of the original wood and putting it back together.  It sure looks good hanging out there. 

I had planned to surprise my wife with this for our anniversary.  She liked that sign and really missed it.  She is pretty good at surprising me with Christmas, anniversary and other gifts.  And since she says I am not very good at surprising her, this was my chance to pull one off on her.  Well ----- let's just say that I moved up the ladder of surprise presentations a bit with this.  Totally caught her off guard.  Worked out rather well, if I do say so myself.

Having that sign back is like having an old friend come back into our lives.  We like it for the memories of our trip to Bailey's Harbour, Wisconsin; for memories of the GREAT brown lab named Bailey who was part of our lives for 16 years; and for our son having made this for us.  Good stuff.  Welcome back old friend.

To be with old friends is very warming and comforting. (Ian Zierling)

Hooah

To be with old friends is very warming and comforting. Ian Ziering
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/i/ianziering563308.html?src=t_old_friends

To be with old friends is very warming and comforting. Ian Ziering
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/i/ianziering563308.html?src=t_old_friends

Got a little catching up to do ...

Well, it certainly has been a long time since I sat down behind this keyboard.  In fact, it's been too long so I plan to go on a marathon to catch things up.  This first article will deal with a subject that kinda rocked my world for several months.

About this very time last year, I went in for one of those Medicare wellness check-ups.  First of all, they were going to pay for it, so I figured that since I had not had a physical since I retired from the Army in 2008, what the heck.  I figured the worst he could do was yell at me for being about 20 pounds overweight, but I could take care of that.  Also figured that he would order some blood work and that was nothing new so -- I called and scheduled it.  You know, it's easy to make phone calls, but it's another thing when it gets down to a few days before the appointment.  Maybe I won't feel good that morning and have to cancel.  I guess I can't say I just forgot, because then they would charge me.  So I was committed.  Besides, my wife knew about it and she would make sure I made it there -- on time.

OK.  Yep -- he yelled at me for being overweight, and said that could cause diabetes (which I knew already ran in my family). But that was not what he was most concerned about -- it seems my PSA results were over the moon.  He was sending me to see a urologist to get this looked at. Like real soon.

OK.  I have been told before that I have an enlarged prostrate, and that we just need to keep an eye on it.  'Course that was 11 years ago when I was leaving the Pentagon.  So after about a month or so, (so much for real soon), I was able to get in to see the doctor.  After about an hour of poking, listening, and digesting what was being said, I walked out of his office trying to get my head around the "C" word.  Yep --"prostate cancer ... aggressive ... need to do something about it soon ... real soon... I am ordering more blood work and I will see you back here in a week."  Boy -- what a drive home !!

So in a week, we were back in his office and things had calmed down a bit.  The world hadn't come to an end, California hadn't fallen into the ocean, and I had settled down a lot.  This time, he outlined a plan which called for radiation treatments (no surgery -- too old and not positive it would do the trick) and meds.  My wife and I went home, Pam did a lot of research on doctors that were recommended and hospitals for radiation, we talked to some guys who had had this before -- both surgery and the procedure he outlined for me, prayed, and decided to go with his plan.

So that was in late April.  Radiation started in May and ended in mid-July.  One treatment every week day for 45 days (10 weeks).  I had my work done at the Premiere Health Facility in Troy and those doctors and technicians and nurses were absolutely the best !!   You know, going into this you don't have any idea what the outcome will be, what the side-effects could be, you just know it probably isn't good, but hope it will all work out.  I met people there who were really hurting and in a bad way.  But you know what -- I never heard one cross word, saw one sour-puss expression or any short tempers from the techs, nurses or doctors.  They really made it  an OK experience -- at least for me.  I thanked God each day I left that place that my condition was no worse than it was and was, hopefully, getting better each day.

Well, after the treatments ended, the doctors wanted more blood work to check to see if the PSA numbers had really improved and the treatment had done what it was supposed to do.  Well ----- my numbers went from the upper 20s to 0.6 !!  The meds were working and the doctor thinks the radiaiton did what it was supposed to do. Thank you Lord.

I cannot thank all those involved enough -- the doctors, technicians, nurses, neighbors -- my wife.  On the last treatment day, my neighbor had made some signs and sent them in with one of the techs who lives up near us.  So when I got back to the room for the last treatment, it was quite a surprise.

The neighbor boys who go fishing with me all the time at our pond made some of these signs.  They even put them in our house while we were gone.  Great neighbors!!

So this is something I will have to keep an eye on for the rest of my life, but as long as the numbers stay good, I think I was/am pretty lucky.  I know mine wasn't anything, and I certainly think about those people I met at the hospital, but it got my attention. 

When I had my heart attacks, when I had my issues in Iraq, when we had that bus wreck on one of our Vet trips to DC and they all worked out OK, I told myself that God still had something He wanted me for.  It wasn't my time yet, and for that I thank Him.

Oh yeah, I know none of you who are reading this are as dumb as I was and have not had your PSA checked.  This is one of those things that can be pretty much a non-issue if caught early.  So, as Larry the Cable Guy would say -- "Git 'er done."

From the bitterness of disease man learns the sweetness of health. (Catalan Proverb)

Hooah

P.S.  One more thing -- in this process I have lost 25 pounds.  Guess that first doctor won't be able to yell at me now :-)

Pioneer woman at it again...

Just catching up on some of my old pictures and post ideas from earlier this spring.

As you know, I spend a great deal of time out by the fire ring -- some weeks at least 3-4 times, especially during the early summer and early fall.  Sometimes, I feel that between that and cutting the grass and fishing, the neighbors think those are the only things I do around here.  Hmmmmm ... they might be right.

But enjoying the peace of the fire ring doesn't come without some work on the front end.  It seems I have to order my firewood early in the spring, before the farmers get out into the fields.  My wood guy has a farming business which has him spraying fields for a number of people.  He is pretty much busy 24/7 for a while and if I don't get my order in and delivered before he hits the fields, it might be some time in June before he gets around to me.  So anyway -- this is what everything looks like once he delivers and after I split it all once.

Now it is time to take all of this back to the woodpile and stack it.  That's where the pioneer woman came into the picture.  She helped me load the wagon and then she would drive it to the back yard where I would stack it.  What a team !

Pretty good looking wood pile, huh ?  This was in March I think.

So here is an update -- it is now August and that wood is pretty much down to the last row.  Might need to get another load so I will make it through the fall.  Won't use it all, but it won't spoil being out there all winter.  Besides -- who knows -- maybe we'll have a mid-winter wiener roast or need a fire to keep warm while we're trying ice fishing again.  Stay tuned.

Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. (Athenaeus)

Hooah

At least it's not on the front porch of "The Home"...

From looking at the picture, you can tell that this was taken earlier this year prior to all the leaves coming out on the trees at Tawawa Park.  Pam and I like to walk there, and it seems they have some nice swings located near the creek, and along through the woods.  It is very relaxing there and we often indulge ourselves when we are ready to leave...just  a relaxing swing session before heading out.

As you already know, both of us like to spend time in our hammocks behind our house -- both the one on the deck and the one out by the pond, under the maple tree.  We would probably spend a good bit of time in a swing on our front porch if we had one, but the porch is too narrow.  Wouldn't work.  So, that's why we like this one at the park.  Does that mean we're geezers? Ehhhh -- I don't know, but at least we're there enjoying ourselves somewhere we had to drive and walk to and not at "The Home" . 

Never, ever, ever lose the desire to climb a tree, to run through a sprinkler, or ... to swing with your sweetie in the park by a babbling brook.

Hooah

Kinda like a Norman Rockwell thing...

Well, it's that time of year here in Shelby County -- time to gather the wheat and as always, time to see huge rolls of straw in the fields.  For a number of years we would jokingly say they looked like big elephant turds lying all over the place.  Not so anymore...

We have come up with a new description -- Tootsie-roll Minis.  They look like huge Tootsie roll pieces .  Another name we came up with was those little round pretzel things with cheese in the middle, only much bigger.

Anyway, another marker of the passing of time is out there for us to enjoy.

 Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. (R.L.Stevenson)

Hooah

How about a little stroll down memory lane...

Not too long ago, maybe a month, Pam and I took our WWII friend, Warren, to the Carillon Park down in Dayton for the afternoon.  It had been a long time since we had been there and Warren said that it had been many years since he had seen any of it.  After the War, Warren went to work in a coal mine, helping move coal out of the mines and out on the rail tracks to whatever market it had been sold. He said he worked quite a bit on the trains themselves, and since the park has some trains and train cars on display, I thought it would be a good afternoon out of the house for him and us.

First of all, the trip is now pretty easy since about 90% of I-75 construction is completed through Dayton.  However, that last 10% deals with the off-ramp area around Edwin C. Moses Blvd. which is where one has to exit in order to get to the park.  Either the BIG orange sign showing the correct way to exit the interstate was confusing, or I wasn't paying enough attention.  In any event, we had a slight detour -- about a 5 min. add-on to the drive.  But we got there, and that is all that matters.

Overall, the park is very nice.  Broad sidewalks lead to very well-done and interesting displays.  There is plenty of shade from the huge trees and several benches scattered around for people to use.  That is important for people of Warren's age.  Also, everything was Dayton-related -- the old school house (one room, log school house), the row of "store front shops" related to the Wright Brothers bicycle business, the excellent display building recounting the horrors of the 1913 flood, etc.  One of the most cool things in that display was the TV sets that were inside showing "weather broadcasts" done in today's technology by TV Newsman Brian Davis (TV2).  He was in period costume and it was really cool.  (FYI -- Brian was a student at Troy High School while I taught there.  Also I knew his dad as he was a fellow Ham Radio guy).

 The park also featured a reproduction of sorts of an old restaurant from downtown Dayton,  It seems it was quite famous "in the day."  We ate lunch there...they had a nice outdoor eating area.

As the afternoon progressed, we went into one building that highlighted Dayton's considerable contributions to the WWI and WWII effort, as well as earlier conflicts. As we worked our way through these displays, Warren was in his element.  He could rattle off the distinguishing facts about certain kinds of guns and vehicles on display, and he could tell me about some of the different kinds of situations portrayed in a lot of the pictures around the walls.  

 

At one point, we couldn't help but notice these two rather dashing soldiers who happened to be guarding the hallway and the entrance to the men's room.

It seems Dayton was a pioneer in the early production of automobiles.  Warren couldn't recall ever owning or driving any this nice, but he sure liked them.

All in all, it was a pretty good afternoon.  We only spent about 4 hours there, because Warren (and I) were getting tired.  But it was a pretty good day trip.  I have another one I plan to take him to -- the "library/museum" at the Dayton VA that I just happened to discover one day when I was taking down some boxes of books (old military related things) to donate.  I think he will like this one too.  Stay tuned. 

Never judge someone by the way he looks or a book by the way it's covered; for inside those tattered pages, there's a lot to be discovered.    (Stephen Cosgrove) 

Hooah

Birdhouse building 101...

All winter long Pam and I sat in our pentagon room watching the birds come and go, and then watched them build nests this spring.  There were some who built them in trees, some who found a spot on the pergola to nest, and some who were fortunate enough to build in one of the bird houses we have back along the fence and the wood pile.  Other than an intrusion by one of the farm cats or a raiding starling, things go along pretty routinely as far as the spring reproduction cycle goes.

So, then we were getting ready to go visit the grandkids in NY and wondered how all of this happens there.  After all, this is the Big Apple...things have to be more hectic, grander and maybe a bit more dangerous there, don't they? 

They have a small back yard, and it is constantly patrolled by cats and squirrels.  I expect it is quite a struggle for some of them to have a successful hatch.  So -- I thought, why not do something to change some of that and give the kids a little project.

I went to the local hardware store and bought lumber, screws, nails and painting equipment and decided to make some bird houses. 

Of course, I had to make each one of them unique and different for each of the kids, so I chose the ones shown above.  The top one is the "Q" house (for Quinn), the middle one is the "H" house (for Heath) and the bottom one, naturally, is the "V" house (for Vivian).  I cut them all out one day prior to the trip, pre-drilled them and got them all ready.  All they had to do was finish nailing or screwing them together and paint them, and they would then be ready to hang up in the trees in their back yard.

Assembly went pretty smoothly, but painting was the best part.  All of the kids got to paint their own house.  Quinn was all business -- paint it and move on to something else.  Heath was pretty particular and spent a good bit of time squatting over his, getting into the cracks and making sure it was all covered.  Vivian, on the other hand, was bound and determined to do it her own way.  She, too, was very particular and made it clear that she needed no help from anyone.  She was going to paint  that house no matter how long it took.  She had a tendency to do one spot for quite a while and when Grandpa tried to help or move her to another spot that needed paint, she let me know that she was in charge.

One funny thing that came up was when Vivian finally got to a point where she was "done" with her work, I took the brush from her and she started to cry.  I think she wanted to keep painting, and painting, and painting. 

Well, when she was still crying, I used my best Tom Hanks voice and said: "Vivian, there's no crying in painting."  Well, she found that pretty funny, and broke out in a laugh.  I adapted that line to a couple of other situations over the weekend, and each time she went from crying to immediate laughter.  Tom Hanks -- eat your heart out. 

 So, when all the houses were dry, we "hung" them in the trees.  

We added the appropriate identifier to each house so the bird housing authority could keep them straight.  The latest report is that they have not been occupied yet, but we missed the nesting season so they may get to weather for this year and will be ready for occupancy next spring.  We'll get periodic updates.


If you do not do enough fun, silly things while you are young, you'll have nothing to talk about when you are old.
Hooah

Quinn earns his Bear Badge...

I got a text from my son last night telling me that my grandson, Quinn, had earned his Bear Badge in Cub Scouts.  That is quite an accomplishment and we are very proud of him. 

I am so glad he took up scouting and has stayed with it.  I have always been a big outdoor enthusiast and am so glad to see that he has taken an interest in scouting, which will lead to an enjoyment of the great outdoors.  Perhaps one of these days, he and I (and maybe his dad and brother Heath) will be able to go camping somewhere.  That would be super.  I think it is good for young boys to learn a sense of fieldcraft at an early age.  Probably not going to be a mountain man, but those skills come in handy and the respect one comes to have for nature and things outdoors really helps to round out one's development. They are things one remembers all through their life.

I won't start packing up the tents and poles right away; my wife might think I am getting a bit close to the edge.  But all that stuff is out in the barn and I know right where all of it is.  Probably wouldn't take more than an hour to gather it all up and load it in the Jeep.  Wonder what Quinn and Doug would think of trap shooting. Hmmmmm.

I still remember the entire Boy Scout motto. I don't remember the serial number of my gun in the army. I don't remember the number of my locker in school. But I remember that Boy Scout code. Tommy Lasorda
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tommylasor610903.html?src=t_scout

I still remember the entire Scout motto. I don't remember the entire serial number of my rifle in the Army.  I don't remember the number of my locker in school.  But I remember that Scout Code.  (Tommy Lasorda)

Hooah

I still remember the entire Boy Scout motto. I don't remember the serial number of my gun in the army. I don't remember the number of my locker in school. But I remember that Boy Scout code.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tommylasor610903.html?src=t_scout

I still remember the entire Boy Scout motto. I don't remember the serial number of my gun in the army. I don't remember the number of my locker in school. But I remember that Boy Scout code. Tommy Lasorda
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tommylasor610903.html?src=t_scout

I still remember the entire Boy Scout motto. I don't remember the serial number of my gun in the army. I don't remember the number of my locker in school. But I remember that Boy Scout code. Tommy Lasorda
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tommylasor610903.html?src=t_scout

More about my latest hobby...

I think I mentioned a while back that I took up the sport of trap shooting.  Well, things have been going well and I have really had fun doing it.

Recently, Larry (a friend of mine) and I went up to the shooting club and went after it again.  It was just the two of us, but we put some shot down range.  We fired in 10-round groups -- I used my 20-guage and Larry was using his 12-guage.  Both of us did pretty well, considering how relatively new we both are to this sport.  We're not quite in the 100 hits out of 100 shots category, but being that good is expensive and we're just in it for the fun (no -- we're not too cheap!).

My score breakdown was:  7/10, 7/10, 9/10, 8/10, 4/5.  35/45 isn't really "too" bad.  Kinda like that whole "beauty is in the eye of the beholder (shooter)" thing.  I really like using that 20-guage.  It just fits my shoulder really well and the barrel does not feel heavy.  Larry went 28/40  with his 12-guage, and then borrowed my gun (ran out of his shells) and went 5/5 with it.  Think he might be looking at buying a "20."

Just like any sport you get into, there are lots of "sayings" thrown around by the old hands.  These guys and gals have thrown more shot downrange than most armies, and they usually come up with some pretty good one-liners regarding their ability.  One that I recently heard was:  "They aren't hard to hit...it's just that they're so easily missed."  That one was quickly followed by this one:
"They all broke, even the ones I missed"

Since most sports have a lot in common, that last quote quickly reminded me of Rule #1 from our recent golf trip...
"I didn't miss the putt.  I made the putt...the ball just missed the hole."

Hooah

Do these look familiar...?

I was actually cleaning out my Army room the last couple of weeks, much to the delight and surprise of my wife who will tell you that I have not even scratched the surface.  In the process, I came across some of these old things.  Some of you will remember them.  They were coins used in Iraq and Afghanistan in the PX stores.  Made out of cardboard, they are light and easy to carry in your uniform pockets. 

Contrary to popular opinion that they were introduced into the system because they could easily be thrown away, lost or not taken seriously (a.k.a. Monopoly money), their actual value to the logistics guys was they didn't weigh much in bulk -- at least not as much as the equivalent value of real metal coins.  Remember how much a roll of pennies or quarters actually weighed?  Do you actually remember what a roll of coins was?  So imagine rolls and rolls of coins going back and forth to the theaters, stores and banks.  That cut down weight loads on planes that would be traveling to those countries, and would allow the more valuable cargo quantities like "bullets and butter" (remember that old saying?) to be increased.

Check these out:

 I suppose they are still good at the PX.  Might have to check that out some day.  Regardless, the idea must have worked -- I still have a few dollars wroth of them.  I gave some of these to my grand kids, and still have some left over.

Probably won't throw these out.  I can find a place to hide them that won't take up too much room.

Used to be that a penny saved was a penny earned.  Today, it's all about the Benjamins.
Hooah

"Man Trip" 2017 -- what can I say ? What a trip!

Yes, Man Trip 2017 was quite an outing.  All the things that make for a good trip were there -- 12 good guys who all get along with each other, great weather (despite the predictions the week before the trip), very nice courses (more about that later), good food (more about that later), nice hotel facilities (they throw in a hospitality room for us for free), and some pretty good scores (yep -- more about that later too).  Can't really ask for much more than that.

First of all, let me present to you the guys who went on the trip:

Pretty good looking group of old golfers.  Each of them adds a unique flavor to the mix.  They are funny, they all enjoy the game and play pretty well, and when they don't they are not dip sticks about it.Nobody gets excited about their score.  It's just fun to get out and be with the guys.

I have found over the years that the measure of how well the golf is being played relates directly to how many pictures were taken of the players on the course. 

Believe it or not, these were the only ones I took during the whole trip.  I guess I was having too much fun playing and talking.  When my game is going "OK to Well", I get in a zone and pretty soon the holes just zip by.  I also find myself really enjoying the scenery, especially on new courses. Although I like my home courses, I really like to travel and play different courses with unknown-to-know challenges.   And I am not talking about only playing wimpy courses when we are on the road.  The scores might be good, but there was no challenge, and those rounds do not improve your overall game.

Oh, yeah, speaking of improving one's game -- my brother-in-law, Chuck must have really been out practicing prior to the trip.  On the second day out, he hit a hole-in-one on a par-3.  Fortunately, Dave had his phone with him so he could take a picture of the event.  Way to go Chuck! 

 That is his first ace.  He is in his 70s.  Not bad.  I Googled the odds of an average golfer having a hole in one:  "Actuaries at such companies have calculated the chance of an average golfer making a hole in one at  approximately 12,500 to 1, and the odds of a tour professional at 2,500 to 1."

Following each of the day's golf, we focused on having a pretty nice dinner and a relaxing evening.  No trip to the Winston-Salem area would be complete without chow at Little Richard's Bar-B-Q.  The food is really good and they treat you right, even if we are Yankees and we don't all drink sweet tea with our hush puppies.  Dave tried to bail us out by ordering half sweet and half unsweetened tea which they had obviously heard of before.  And some of us ordered our beers two at a time (saved on the waitress running back and forth so many times). They had heard of that too and it was highly encouraged!  On the second day, we went to a nice dinner club, just down from the motel.  They were having three specials that night:  a shrimp dish, a blackened salmon dish, and an oyster entree.  Some had the shrimp, I had the blackened salmon (very good), but nobody wanted to try the oysters.  One of our guys ordered up some Ouzo after dinner and passed it around.  Oompah!

And then, came the dinner on the third night...our steak cook-out.  The menu consisted of char-coaled steaks, baked potatoes with all the fixings, salads, french bread, wine, beer, and cherry and apple poes for dessert..  Sounds good, right.  Well, that doesn't tell all the story.

I go shopping that afternoon and buy all the fixings.  I managed to get the motel to do the baked potatoes for us (they included the sour cream and butter too) (That place is very accommodating and really is a great place for golf groups like ours.).  We also bought a small charcoal grill and cooked the steaks out back of the motel near the pool.

What this picture doesn't show is how windy it was that day.  It seems that one of the guys was standing by one of the doors to the motel, holding it open and a big gust of wind came along and blew a bunch of smoke into the motel which, in turn, set off all the smoke alarms.  All the fire alarms went off, the doors all shut and the fire department was alerted.  Fortunately, the front desk was able to get the big trucks stopped before they got to the motel, but one of the little ones was already there.

This falls into the category of "No harm, no foul."  the fireman just asked us to move the grill out farther away from the motel which we gladly did.  It was all pretty exciting and gave us a lot to talk about for a couple of days.  The motel manager said that this happens several times a year when people cook out.  Maybe they should have a designated area where patrons can do this.

This was the final outcome for the evening.  They look like they are having a good time don't they.  Again, thanks to the motel for the room and taking such good care of us.

So ---- that one is under our belts.  Looking forward to the next one, hoping everyone is still around and able to go.

Every one of hundreds of thousands of cities has a special course, unique tourist attractions, some claim to fame, and generally it is worth going there, if only once, to see these things.  But it is so much better when you have friends with you, and you might only be there to watch the sun go down.

Hooah 

Better late than never...

How many articles have I written over the years with that lead-in?  Hmmmmmmm.

Well, this one will just have to be another one in the series.  Today, tonight, and tomorrow the talking heads of local and national TV stations are predicting the end of the earth.  It seems that a snow storm, not unlike the ones of our youth, is poised to hit the east coast.  Some of the extreme prognosticators are calling it the storm of the century.  Don't know that it is much different from the one by the same name last year, but that's how they make their money and ratings so let's drive on.

Daylight savings time just took place this past Sunday, and now Spring is only 7 days away. Don't know why it waited till now to come, but maybe this late season snow is something we really need.  Seems any time I get around my farmer friends, they say we really need some snow to build the ground water table a bit. OK.  I know the ski lodge guy at Mad River is really diggin' on another blast, especially since his business has been up and down (get it) the last few years. So, given all that and more, I guess a late snow should have been anticipated.  All I know is it really was fun being around here today.

Snow started around 3 p.m.  My wife told me that most of the stores had sold out of everything on the shelves by then (we're only expecting less than 3 inches).  As it proceeded to snow a bit harder, I sat in the pentagon room and watched it.  The bird feeders were full, so we had quite a bunch of hungry flappers out there.  The whiter it got, the brighter the birds showed up against the background.  We had a large assortment of wrens, brilliant cardinals and their mates, scores of morning doves, woodpeckers, red-winged blackbirds, fat robins, and some that were passing through that I didn't get a chanced to look up in the bird book.  The last couple of weeks, we have been having a couple of mallard ducks stopping by for a morning swim.  We also have rabbits who live between the underside of our deck and the woodpile by the "waterfront cottage (a.k.a.the shed by the pond).  They run around, chasing each other -- wonder what they are up to?  Today, we had two of our owls flying on hunt over the field just behind our house.  Those are majestic birds when they are soaring on the winds.  And, of course, there is always the red tail hawks that swing in occasionally for the possibility of a meal, which could be fish or fowl.

So, even though it was/is snowing, and it is getting too close to golf season for this stuff to hang around, I don't mind it that much.  I have the luxury of staying in the house if I want.  So a day or two won't hurt.  I'll just keep reading, talking on the ham radio every once in a while, and maybe, just maybe, taking a nap if the spirit moves me.

Man trip in two weeks.  Can hardly wait.  Knee is about 95% now.

 Snow and a bad day on the golf course are the only things that "go away" if you ignore them long enough.

Hooah

Boy does this bring back memories...

The annual Pinewood Derby was held in Brooklyn last week.  Thought you might want to see my grandson, Quinn, winning one of his races.  I bet a lot of you have done this in the past.  Great memories.

The coolest thing is that the other guys all cheer for each other, and the memories often last into adulthood.

"When I was in Cub Scouts, I got stuck on Webelos for three years because I kept losing the Pinewood Derby."  (George Costanza)

Hooah

March comes in like a lion...

For the last two days, we have had some pretty cold weather.  Add to that, we have also had tornado watches, 12-15 m.p.h. steady winds all throughout the last three days with gusts up to 40 m.p.h.  And yesterday, we had snow squalls throughout the day and night -- of course, it is sunny and all melted now.  Sounds pretty much  like typical weather for the first of March here in McCartyville.  I tell my friends from Troy, where we used to live, that this is the land of 100 m.p.h. winds everyday of the year.

So I was up early this morning, getting ready to go to Columbus for a meeting for committee work I do, and happened to look out one of our windows overlooking the pond.  There were lots of birds out there, all huddled up, down on the ground, trying to stay out of the wind.  Might have also been waiting for the wind to blow the snow cover off the seed on the ground.  After all, it was breakfast time.  I think birds eat breakfast -- it seems they eat all the time.

Anyway, I thought I could hear one of the robins up in the tree saying, "I can't believe I left Florida for this."  Guess they're paying the price for the trick Mother Nature played on all of us the last couple of weeks.  Can't wait for my brother-in-law and his wife to get back from Southern Florida where they have been hanging out for the last week or so.  Boy are they going to be in for a shock!!

Oh well, the man-trip is only 3 weeks away and we'll be playing golf in the sunny, warm North Carolina countryside.  I hope.  We've had some pretty bad trips down there too.

So, since all my golfing buddies except Dave, have been playing already for at least 15 rounds this year, and I have not because I had my knee scoped and had to plan it out so I would be able to go on this trip, I thought I had better come up with some good one-liners to use on the course just in case this doesn't go as planned.  So here goes:

1.  I didn't miss the putt.  I made the putt.  The ball just missed the hole.

2.  (This is a take-off of the XX beer guy).  I don't always one-putt.  But when I do, it is usually for a double bogey.

3.  I was one under today.  One under a tree, one under a bush, and one under the water.

4.  May the fade be with you.

5.  Should I look where I think it is, or where I hope it is?

6.  (Pre-round prayer): God, grant me the serenity to accept the shots I miss; the courage to try, try, try again; and the wisdom not to throw my clubs in the dag-gone lake.

7.  (If, by chance, I lose a ball):  Just remember -- golf balls are like eggs -- they are white, they are sold by the dozen, and you usually have to buy more next week.

8.  Life is short.  Go for it in two!!

9.  (For all the environmentalists I might happen to play with): Save the earth.  It's the only planet with golf courses.

And, last but not least...

10.  (Back to the XX Beer guy):  I don't always make birdies.  But when I do, the next hole is always a double bogey.

Any of you golfers out there can certainly feel free to use these as the need arises.  Our plan on this trip is to play 4 solid days of golf.  However, if that doesn't work out, well, there is always Crosby's Lounge and the free drink coupons.  I figure these sayings might get worn out by the end of the week.  More to come in April in this matter.

Hooah

Getting one of my wheels repaired...

For about the past year or so, my right knee has been giving me a hard time, so I decided to bite the bullet and get it fixed.  Figured it couldn't be too big of a deal -- a little cut here, a little snip there and good as new.

RIGHT!!!

I went through all the hoops with the doctors and finally got an appointment with the surgeon.  He seemed like a good enough guy -- he is a duck hunter and we talked a short time about hunting and his recent luck on a trip.  OK.  We're off to a good start.  He told me that this would be a 15 min. deal at most and I would walk out of the surgery recovery room after about an hour of shaking off the sedation.  OK.  That sounds good.  I kinda laid out my tentative timeline of when our golfing man-trip would begin and then backward planned this deal so that we could get this done, rehabbed, and ready to go.  He said that he does pro football players who are back to playing within 4 weeks.  OK.  That sounds good.  He said he also does young high school athletes who are up and around sooner than that.  OK.  I figure I'm tougher than most high school football players, so sounds like this is a "GO."  If it went as well as he said, I figured I might still be able to try out for the QB position for the Browns -- after all, they need help.  The Doc said I might want to set my sights a little higher!!  He must not be a Browns fan.

So, everything went pretty well and I did, indeed, walk out of the place shortly after the procedure.  Oh, did I tell you how well that pain killer they gave me worked.  Well, when it wore off later that evening, I had a pretty different outlook on the whole thing.  It actually hurt like heck.  He did a repair of a meniscus on the outside of the knee, and scraped off some arthritis on the inside part.  Here is the contraption I had around my knee for several days.  It circulated ice water and really worked pretty well.

The bruises shown in the picture on the left are from the tourniquet they put on at the beginning of the procedure.  I'm taking their word for it because I was somewhere else at that time, sleeping very comfortably.  Anyhow, that was really a deep bruise in the muscle and it took several days to work its way out and feel somewhat better.  Notice the two little marks on the kneecap -- that is where all the work was done.

So now, it has been 4 weeks since the procedure.  He said that I would be 100% in 5 weeks.  So that means I will be able to hit my drives 300 yards straight down the fairway  and make every putt on the first try.  That's my definition of 100%.  Anybody know a good malpractice attorney who plays golf!!

So, I've had a better time with this than I expected.  The Doc was great, and the procedure went right according to his plan.  How will the golfing go?  We'll see in a couple of weeks.

Golf is a hard game to figure. One day you will go out and slice it and shank it, hit into all the traps and miss every green. The next day you go out and, for no reason at all, you really stink.  (Bob Hope)

Hooah

One thing I forgot...

When I was doing the Civil War articles, I mentioned the hardtack that the event organizers prepared and passed out to all who attended.  To the best of my knowledge, I did not see anyone try to eat one of these "biscuits," but I did mention that there was a Confederate surgeon on site just in case someone tried and broke off a tooth or worse.  Of course, I'm not sure the treatment would have been better than the actual injury.

 Most generally, the hardtack biscuit was a 3"x3" concoction that was intended to feed soldiers or sailors.  They would last for long periods of time, and generally traveled well.  You can Google the word "hardtack" and get a whole page of articles on how to make these things, how to attempt to eat them, and some of the ways they have been "improved." 

Below is a short excerpt from one of the articles, courtesy of Wikipedia (note the underlined section -- yum, yum!):  

During the American Civil War (1861–65), three-inch by three-inch (7.5 cm by 7.5 cm) hardtack was shipped from Union and Confederate storehouses. Some of this hardtack had been stored from the 1846–48 Mexican–American War. With insect infestation common in improperly stored provisions, soldiers would break up the hardtack and drop it into their morning coffee. This would not only soften the hardtack but the insects, mostly weevil larvae, would float to the top, and the soldiers could skim off the insects and resume consumption. Some men also turned hardtack into a mush by breaking it up with blows from their rifle butts, then adding water. If the men had a frying pan, they could cook the mush into a lumpy pancake; otherwise they dropped the mush directly on the coals of their campfire. They also mixed hardtack with brown sugar, hot water, and sometimes whiskey to create what they called a pudding, to serve as dessert.

 

Given the size of these things, a foot soldier in the Civil War could have carried a whole week's supply of food in a shirt pocket.  I pounded this one (shown above) on the desk here by the computer.  Hit it pretty hard for about a half dozen tries and didn't make a mark on it -- the desk has some scrapings though.  I wonder if these were ever tried for resoling shoes or playing Frisbee.  These even made the old "John Wayne" bars of our C-rats look good.

I know -- if this was all you had to eat, you would make do and would have gotten creative.  The old saying, "Adapt and overcome" takes on a whole new meaning in light of this.  And I had to laugh to myself when I had a flash back to my story of the "hard boiled eggs and bananas" we had one morning in the field.  I guess that was gourmet dining compared to these.

I think I am going to take this up to the bank and put it in our safe deposit box.  Can't imagine the comments and surprise when they open that box some years from now.  I'm sure it will be in the same condition as it is now, and just as tasty!

"You are fools to make yourselves slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hard-tack, and a little sugar and coffee." (Attributed to Chief Sitting Bull)

 Hooah

Civil War camp struck at Tawawa Park...

In September of 2016, a little over 150 years after the end of the American Civil War, a group of reenactors, sponsored by the Shelby County Historical Society and the City of Sidney, set up camp in the Tawawa Park area.  This was to be a weekend of reenactments, period music, education, and time for our local residents to actually come in contact with "Billy Yanks" and "Johnny Rebs".  The weather wasn't very cooperative, but I guess that depends on your point of view.  I thought it added the final, best touch of reality.  I know for a fact that it rained more than once on me when I was in the service, so this just added a whole lot of reality to everything -- at least from my perspective.  Can't speak for everyone else.

In the bivouac area, there were lots of tents spread throughout the woods, broken down into the Yankee and Rebel camps, separated by a respectable distance and suitable terrain and guards.  The coolest part of the separation was the two sides each occupied a side of the old red covered bridge.  They had bales of hay and barricades set up and yelled things back and forth at each other.  Of course the "observers" were allowed to cross over into the various camps, but only after being warned about the "low life so-and-so" troops on the other side.

One of the first tents I came to in the Union camp was that of General Burnside.  This gentleman had him down pretty well, even to the famous sideburns.  It seems we interrupted the General as he was inspecting his rifle  prior to going into battle later that afternoon. 

The tents looked like every other tent I have seen at battlefields and in books.  Nothing fancy, and probably not very dry or warm.

After walking around, talking to some of the soldiers there, we went over to the Rebel side of the creek and had a look around.  Things looked pretty much the same.

There was a small boy over in the Confederate camp.  He traveled with his parents on some of the trips during the summer or to some of the bigger events.  This was September, so it must have qualified as one of the bigger events.  He looked pretty wet and tired.

One point I was really glad the group emphasized was the medical aspect of being a field hospital on a Civil War battlefield.  There was a "surgeon" who set up a tent with a lot of visual aids and lots of antique period medical pieces.  He spent lots of time talking to people about the horrors of his part of the war. He really emphasized that a lot of his "medical training" was hands-on and field expediency.  You don't see it in this picture, but he had a big pile of "arms and legs" piled up to the side of the tent.

Later that day, after walking around for the whole afternoon, talking to people, learning a lot more about their craft, we were treated to a concert by a Yankee band (made up mostly of college students and National Guard and Reservist band members from current day units around the states).  They did this all over the place and were very good.  It was still raining off and on, so the band played under a tent.  It was an evening performance, and it really just felt good to take it all in and listen to the dialogue as well as the music.  The director wanted to use kerosene lights in the tent to continue the mood, but the musicians were unable to see the sheets so they settled on one spotlight aimed up at the tent.

And just before the night battle, we walked around the night campsite.  People were settling into their nightly routines.  Cooking, building campfires, and singing some songs and playing old music instruments.

I know a lot of you probably aren't in to this very much, but it was an absolutely fantastic weekend for me.

"Here, in the dread tribunal of last resort, valor contended against valor. Here brave men struggled and died for the right as God gave them to see the right." (Adlai E. Stevenson I)
Hooah