A Touch of Summer....and the baseball break, not so fast....

When I finished off writing Friday's Blog, I headed to the Nitro and began to unload the gear and clothes so I could clean out the back of the vehicle and get the gear in order for the coming Summer baseball season...."Not So Fast"...

Within an hour of clearing things out, I got a call from Crestview and a e-mail from Leipsic, both schools wanting me to work another game.   So this afternoon I will join Garry for the 15th time and work a game between Crestview and Ottawa-Glandorf, two teams who will participate in various districts later this week.  O-G takes on LCC in D3 and Crestview, in a return to the D4 District at Coldwater will take on two time defending State Champion Minster, where they lost 3-2 in the District Finals last year..that was the game I was umpire 3rd base, and with the bases loaded, the Knight batter his a slow ground ball, and I called the final out of the District on a "Bang~Bang" play at 2nd base.,,,this year they will take on each other in the Semi-Finals...

On Saturday after receiving a request to umpire the BVC Championship Game at Leipsic, I headed north about 70 miles and worked the plate in a 6-2 win by the host Vikings over McComb, which secured the outright crown for the home squad....McComb however is still alive at Findlay in the D4 District up that way.

The remainder of the weekend saw me drink too much beer, mow mom's lawn with the majority of work done by Patricia, and BBQ in my self made pit twice, putting out some great steaks and pork

chops, if I don't say so myself....I just tossed some cement blocks together, build around a back yard stone, then I added the old grill plates from the retired Gas Grill, and made a serviceable, if ugly, outdoor grill, without a lot of work.

The Rest of the Week....

After the game tonight, taking Patricia's Nissan up for an Oil Change tomorrow, on Wednesday, I will head to the Capital City of Columbus, and the VA Outpatient Clinic.  Here I will begin my transition from the regular insurance plan to VA Care....way?

Pretty simple really, with the likelihood that my wife will retire after this school year, although that has not been decided for sure yet, and the implementation of the disaster and cost killing beast called Obama Care{how sweet that the Kenyan Bastard will have forever this monstrosity named after him} ... So even though I have avoided many of the benefits from my service, exceptions being my college being paid for and my first house through the VA Loan, it is time to see how VA Care works.

I could have chosen Lima or Dayton, both closer, but settled on the 100 mile drive to Columbus and the Chalmers P. Wylie Center...a place where brother Mike has had reasonably good service, including his cure from throat cancer.

After then, I can begin my two weeks of "rest" between baseball's spring and summer seasons....will be interrupted by a couple of days over at Kokomo, for the Vietnam "Mini Reunion"...the prequel of the much larger main reunion on September....this will be my first time for the Indiana Mini, less crowds, but still the same faces at the Boar's Next...just less of us.

Today, for the last Spring game it promises to be a Hot one....Garry gets the plate, it's his rotation,

which is good news for me....I won't have to don the heavy plate equipment in the heat and humidity, until at least June 3rd.....and some of the early games are up in the air, depending on how far Crestview and LCC go in the tournament.

Photos-I got up early this morning, after heading to bed early last night, and just after the 6:25am Sunrise got these hazy shots of the morning sun and waterfowl over Grand Lake on Celina's West Bank....

The Baseball Break before the next Go Round....

At least for the time being we are getting an early hint of Summer....a month away on the calender, we are now hitting June~like conditions in West Central Ohio, and that is good....fog this morning, cancelling school for Patricia and many schools in the area and south towards Dayton...nasty wreck down that way on I-70 east bound due to the fog...20 car/semi pile up and they are still counting the damage and injuries.

Last night I umpired my last High School Varsity game of the season...and did it fly by!.  Made all the quicker due to the cold and early season rain outs, which numbered over a dozen, probably the most I have had, or most I can remember in any one Spring.   Also, with just two Sectional Tournament games, and no District, Regional, or State games....the season ended early...Hell this year I could have went Michigan Mushroom hunting, but Rick has some health issues, a son getting married next month, and a cold spell in May in the state up north, so this year...no

baseball, no mushrooms for my mid~May.  That leaves the next two weeks with some interesting "duties".

First off I will haul out the ladders and paint, left over from the house painting I did three Summers ago, and get ready to paint the garage...I skipped it back in 2010, and it needs some serious paint and wood repair...when it was built back in the 1980s they used some cheap ass boards on the front above the doors....and it needs work.

Still need to get the Kitchen Floor done, that's been nearly a year in the making....Nick and I may have a go at it...thus saving me $3000 or so....not sure I have the skill, but I do have the time...June will be busy with Summer baseball, but those games are in the late afternoon during the week, so I will have the early hours of the day to get things done...if I can talk myself into it.

Meanwhile on today's agenda, I will pull my baseball umpire gear out of the Nitro, hang the dark blue shirts away in the basement, and get out the summer~wear of lite blue, cream, breathable black and red shirts....and get ready for Summer Ball which is slated to begin June 3rd....

That will do it for today....just stepped outside to take a couple of garage photos...and damn the humidity is in full force now that the Sun has burned off the fog....might be some sweating doing that lawn work....back later>>>>

Photos-My Dark Blue OHSAA Jackets and cooler weather umpire gear will give way to the stuff I put on for Summer Baseball, ACME and American Legion style....a frest coat of paint, and some wood repairs are in order for the garage, and I plan on getting up earlier in the cool of the mornings to head down to Grand Lake and snape more sunrise photos as the weather heats up.

The Summer of Obama Scandals...let it be Long and Hot!

Umpiring on Monday at Ottoville, it was in the mid 50s and windy on the flatland of Putnam County...today at Convoy, I will put the gear on again, step behind the plate as that same Ottoville Big Green team will face Lincolnview for a Sectional Title and a chance to play at Coldwater in the D4 District.  The wind will be blowing again, but today the temperatures will be in the low to mid 80s....then tomorrow, weather permitting, I will finish my Spring season at Spencerville.  The end of the season that began in the cold and rain, with more than a dozen rain~outs, is ending with a couple of dozen games in a row in a mixed bag of conditions.   My Summer ACME and American Legion games begin when I return from a Vietnam "Mini-Reunion" at Kokomo the weekend that sees May end and June begin.

The Summer of Obammy.....

I have to admit that a smile has been on my mug the past week or 10 days...most of that is because of the "scandals" going on in DC...Benghazi, IRS/Tea Party, Associated Press, and I'm sure more to come....

The Teflon Kenyan is starting to see a few scratches in his cover, and the Lap Dog Press that has dutifully followed his every word like well trained French Poodles....this guy is more corrupt than Nixon, LBJ, and The Killintons {yes spelled wrong to piss off the stray Liberal that might stop by}, combined.

I'm not sure how it all will all end....I am sure Obammy will survive, way too many hard core Leftists in the halls of Congress and Courts....but somebody will take the fall...will it be Holder, Hillary, Big Sis the Iron Dyke of DHS?  All, some, none, more?  Either way, it is going to be fun watch the Kenyan Squirm, and his underlings run for cover...let's hope my former Congressman, Speaker John Boehner, and his underlings grow a set and fight this bastard named Barry Soetoro to the bitter end.

Either way, we can at least hope for these scandals to keep the Tea Party alive, and the GOP in firm control of the House, and maybe even the Senate....and if that happens and Hillzilla Klinton's Presidential hopes crash and burn, it will be indeed a good Summer, even if long and hot!

Out for a walk in the sun and wind.....back later>>>>

The Spring Baseball Season Winds Down

Somehow Friday we managed to play at Rockford....plenty of rain from Celina south, but about 2 or 3 miles from Parkway High School the rains never came, and we finished up our MAC Game between the host Panthers and New Breman....7-0 final in one hour and 25 minutes, with the home team coming out on top.....

The rest of the weekend would be either cool, wet, or both, for this year editon of Mother's Day.  Sam made it home from Chicagoland about 11 Friday Night, stayed for the weekend until about 3pm yesterday and headed back to Illinois, arriving early last night.

Today, after getting the Oil changed and new wiper blades put on the Nitro, I headed for the MRSI Board Meeting....now I will post this and get ready to head for Ottoville, as the Big Green will taken on Delphos St. Johns in a tune up game for both squads....both will play for Sectional Championships later in the week....DSJ in the Lima Perry Sectional, while Ottovilee takes on Lincolnview at Convoy in D4 there...that game takes place on Wednesday and Ron Golemon and I have that one...with me working the plate to see which of those teams move on to the Coldwater District.....

That's it for now....back later>>>>

Photos-From Friday at Parkway High School....top, me contimplating the meaning of what the Hell am I doing here?  and in the other photo, former college player, and Trent Boeckman,older brother of former Ohio State Quarterback Todd Boeckman smirking at the camera for Pat Agler, of  pantherzden.com    who I thank for the use of these photos.....

Thank You to those that Stood at Allan "Keith" Workman's Funeral

After predicting mostly sunny and pleasant conditions for the week and next week, the Weather Channel  aka: "Global Warming is not a Hoax Channel" are as bad as predicting the future as they are about the fake Science Global Warming....rains have been around most afternoon's, some of getting hit hard, while others are just getting nicked.  I was in Delphos last night, and much like the night before in Spencerville, we had rains, although not enough to cancel the games.  Last night however, we did shut the JV game down for a 45 minute delay due to lightning and thunder.  Finally getting the 10-9 Crestview over DSJ game in at around 8pm...making it a long three hours.

While by OSHAA and Federation rules we kept our teams off the fields and into the dugouts for the allotted time{30 minutes after the last lightning/thunder event} the idiots on the Pony League and Little League Diamonds had the kids out, with lighting flashes hitting within a short distance away...as a parent I would have been pissed!  Some of these guys coaching at these levels are morons....and that is a fact!

Tonight back at Delphos for a Varsity contest between St. Johns and visiting Wayne Trace, but that contest and tomorrow's MAC game at Parkway both are facing 60% chance of showers and storms...so we will see.  Next week ends if for me on the Spring schedule...with no District or Regional assignments this year, for the first time in awhile, I will finish up with a couple of Sectional games and some league make-up contests...frankly this has been one of the most dissatisfying springs in a few years...weather partly responsible, and other factors putting it in the crapper.

Having turned 64 in March, I am frankly thinking about how much longer I will do my hobby and beer money officiating...I thought I would do baseball until I died, and perhaps give up football and round ball in the next couple of years...now, I am looking at chucking them all before the next couple of years are past.  The political BS and power brokers are beginning to bore me.

But who knows?  This may just be a mid season rant...time will tell.

Salute and Good Bye....

Although I didn't make it to Al Workman's funeral in Louisville yesterday, just no time to dump games and find replacements this time of the season...at least 8 of our VSPA life members and wives, along with a handful of our Dayton Group were on had for the funeral of our Vietnam/Thailand
Brother...some driving from as far as Columbus and Chicago....

I will coordinate the efforts to find a suitable memorial honor, such as a brick at the Defender Statue, in both Allan and John Galinac's honor...John another of our Dayton Group passed away after a long battle with brain cancer...

Our numbers are growing smaller it seems, but the days and weeks....never to be replenished.


back later>>>

Photos-From the Dayton Mini in March 2010...left to right Allan "Keith" Workman, Rick Holstein, "Cowboy" Jack Smith, PRH, and Denny Evans....and the badge of the Air Force Air/Security Police from the late 1960s....

Passings.....

I finished up a blow out double header Saturday afternoon at St. Henry, with the home team, using many of it's younger players torched their over matched opponent in two run ruled games...scores were 24-0 and 26-4...we took about four hours to complete them both and have a meal for the teams and umpires in between.

After the second game, which I did the plate, I climbed out of my gear and into the Nitro.  Checking my Cell Phone, I noted a Voice Mail, and clicked the button as I pulled for the lot...it was a message from one of our VSPA and Dayton Vietnam/Thailand Sky Cop women, asking me to give her a call...I hit redial and Sheila answered the phone...giving me the sad news that one of our group, the youngest member as far as I know...Allen K. Workman had passed away that morning.  Needless to say I was shocked and saddened, I had just "spoken" with Al on Friday night on Facebook...making his passing in Louisville all the more hard to believe.

Allen was just 59, and served in Thailand at NKP in 1974-75...I had first me him and wife Martha at our Frozen Mini Reunion in January 2009 at Dayton, they had attended three of those, and I saw them at the Dayton VSPA Reunion back in October 2011 as well.  His funeral, which will be attended by about a dozen of our guys and wives will be Wednesday, viewing will be in Louisville tomorrow, and the burial will be some 30 minutes west of Louisville, Kentucky, at the VA Cemetery near there.

This sadly makes three members of the VSPA and more particularly our "Vietnam/Thailand Sky Cop" Dayton Group that have passed in the last couple of months...Don Howard passed just before we were to meet in Dayton this past March, John Galinac lost his long battle with cancer in April, and now our youngest member Al Workman dies suddenly from a heart attack this weekend.  Our

numbers continue to dwindle...and they{at least those living Veterans of that war/conflict} will not grow.

We are looking for ways to honor those that have just passed...but for now, those able to attend will take our prayers with them to Louisville....

Garry and I head north this afternoon, and in between some light rain will try to get our NWC game in....it's an hour or so drive up I-75 to Bluffton...it will be a late night.

back later>>>

Photos-Allen Workman, a larger than life man....standing some 6'6" or so...on the two photos from the Statue at the Air Force Museum...in the top outdoor photo Al is in the back row, 5th from right to left as you view it...in the bottom photo from that bitter cold day in January 2009, he is the sixth standing as you go left to right.

Strange Weather Patterns ..... and Rosenberg's 12th Imam

Hard to figure out the weather this early to mid Spring....after a miserable March and April, things appear to be gaining "near normal" status, in fact the weather for western Ohio these days is a bit, more than a bit, above normal, temperature wise.  We reached 83 on Tuesday and the upper 70s yesterday.  Today we will be in the 70s again, and near 70s for tomorrow and Sunday....

Meanwhile....

The Southern Plains from the Texas Panhandle to the northwest corner of Wisconsin are still receiving snow...!  Yep May, albeit early May, it is snowing...we are not talking Mountain Snow in Colorado, although for sure they are getting that out west, we are speaking of Midwestern Snow, up to a foot and more in some places, including Minnesota....

To make it all the more strange, the cold and snow, and it even appears now, the rain, will not make it this far...and if it does, the rain that is, the temps will still remain seasonable for the time being....after the lengthy Winter, that is a welcome forecast....

Last night Garry and I headed for Delphos, my second straight game at Jefferson...the home team, after defeating Fort Jennings 17-1 in a run rule game on Wednesday, played a league game with Columbus Grove last night, and Grove's Bulldogs turned the tables on Jefferson, defeating them 14-3 in a 6 inning run rule..Grove's bats were on fire, and the game not as close, between two pretty good teams.  Grove remains undefeated in league play.

Tonight I head for Van Wert, where the home team Cougars take on Defiance...the northern Bulldogs of Defiance have not lost a WBL game in about 7 years...something like 65 or so wins in a row.  They have lost to fellow WBL teams, but those have been in the tournaments, not in league play.  Tomorrow I finish up the week with a varsity double header at St. Henry.....

America and the World....

I will finish up listening to the third installment of Joel C. Rosenberg's 12th Imam series this morning...these days I prefer to listen to books, especially when driving to some far off game where I have a half hour or more drive....

The Rosenberg 3rd book in the series "Damascus Countdown" is reaching it's conclusion, and that city has just been wiped off the map by a sabotaged nuke that the goat fornicators head Imam was sending towards Israel....gotta admit, it was with guilty pleasure that I smiled on that one...no wonder the Liberal press ignores these books...well written and possibly telling of future events, or at least close to them.  If you sympathise with the child and women abusers of Islam, you may want to stay away from these....you won't like the slant...as for me, great stuff!

As for Rosenberg's view on America and it's President "Jackson"?  Let's just say, the President in his series is a dead ringer for the flaccid asshole currently in the White House, a sympathiser with radical Islam and gutless and nutless as they come....Rosenberg hits a Home Run.  Rosenberg 1 Obama and Company 0....

This series, in many ways, rings true with events in the Bible, and it's final chapter "Revelation"...with plenty of blood, guts, gore, and murder, mayhem, and finding one's own beliefs.  "12 Imam" is worth your time.

If you are interested in seeing what the future may, or may not, hold...the series, starting with the

Speaking of Time....

I mowed our yard Tuesday and mom's Wednesday....I look out yesterday and less than 48 hours later, the damn stuff needs mowed big time...so over to mom's and get the mower, the next few weeks, if the weather holds.....lots of mowing is going to be happening.

"Let's Roll"...BACK LATER>>>>

A final look at growing up in Venice, Florida{from 2008}....Spring Perfect Weather

Living in the flat lands of Western Ohio, I've always noted, that out of 365 days a year, you can usually figure to maybe, maybe, get 25 or 30 that are "perfect" as far as weather goes....those being days that are not too wet, cold, humid, hot, snowy, windy, etc....yesterday was one of those, today may be another...most however, are relegated to the early Fall months of late September and Early October, but May has a few most years....it appears that this "May Day" will be one of those...80 with sunshine and light breezes.

Yesterday, as Athletic Directors, scrambled to pick up umpires for make up league games, I had one non~league contest cancelled at Paulding, but quickly picked up another at the tiny berg of Continental.  I have an old Air Force friend, Bob Kohli, who lives near there, and it was the home of my Uncle Furl's wife Marvel and her family back in the day...nice little town of a few hundred, with a beautiful ball diamond...small, simple, but well maintained.  I had not done a game up that way for a few years, and was glad to visit the place again.  The game went 8 innings, as the home team tied Miller City late, but MC scored two in the top of the first extra inning to pull out a 6-4 win over the host Pirates.

Tonight I head for Delphos Jefferson, tomorrow I will be working at the same diamond.  Tonight with Mark Stechschulte, who worked the State Tournament last year, tomorrow back with my usual partner, Garry, for a NWC game with Columbus Grove...next week the season, at least the Regular season, winds down...but plenty of make up games remain, and they will be sprinkled in with the Sectional Tournaments, which begin May 13th...my first Tournament game is at Crestview on May 15th.  Looking forward to a few days off before the ACME and American Legion seasons begin,

Hopefully the Summer will not be as brutally hot as last year.

Off to mow mom's place...I got our lawn done yesterday, and it already looks like it needs it again...once the growing starts, it's here for the duration, unless we have a mid summer drought, once again like last year.

Venice, Florida, "Growing up, the Final Look Back"

One last look back at the 2008 blog series of my life as a kid in Venice, Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico....Click Below for the Story:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/2008/05/growing-in-venice-florida-epilogue.html

Just picked up another double header for this Saturday at wife's school, St. Henry, hopefully the weather will not be what they are calling for...rain and cooler, but that has been the norm so far this season....gotta enjoy the good days while you get them, so I'm heading out to get some grass cut...

back later>>>>

photos-1955, one of the few photos of me all slicked up, with a bath and combed hair...I loved south Florida in the wilds of the Gulf and open spaces of the 1950s...Sadly, there are few of those left these days...even the Everglades is getting crowded....and the Tulips have arrived in the back yard and along the fence...3 weeks late, but they have bloomed as they always do.

Spring "Cleaning"/More Venice Growing Up...

It finally dried off yesterday, well at least it stopped raining...as far as drying, that is still going on....the next few days will be above normal with plenty of sunshine, then the rain will return for the weekend, and temps will cool down.

After Sunday washed out day, yesterday they were calling for sunshine, that finally came after 3pm...another miserable start to the week.  My game at Ada was a wash~out, which caused my game today at Paulding to be cancelled as well, as the leagues are scrambling to get games in....not to worry however, I quickly got a call and the Wayne Trace Athletic Director called asking me to travel to the north side of Defiance to Tinora High School for the completion of a GMC game...I had to scramble, but made the 67 mile drive, and arrived about 15 minutes before the scheduled game start at 4:30, my partner Bruce took the plate as he was already there...we started the game in the 2nd inning, and we were done within 75 minutes, a run rule win, 11-1 for Tinora.  I was home before 7:30pm, in time to watch the Reds slip by the Cardinals 2-1....

With tonight's cancellation at Paulding, so they can make up last nights game at Ada, I quickly picked up another make up game, this one as well is far north of Celina, the little berg of Continental.  The school has a nice field, it's been a couple years since I worked a game there, but I like the atmosphere, and will join my old comrade The Racster for a game with visiting Miller City tonight at 5.

Today, once done here, I will get to mowing the lawn...finishing mine this morning, and probably waiting until tomorrow to take care of mom's....both yards need it...but the heavy dew will slow things down.

Making Contact with the Past....

A few weeks back I wrote about receiving an e-mail from the son of an old Air Force friend of mine, Carol Marcelle, who had passed away years ago....Sunday his youngest son, Matthew, called me from Virginia.  We talked about life and his dad for about an hour....a good conversation, but saddened by the realization that "Yul" Marcelle had passed away nearly 40 years ago, just a few miles south of here, at Wright~Patterson AFB, where I organize the  Vietnam Security Police "Mini" Reunions each year...Carol Marcelle, Tech Sargent Retired, was but 45 when he passed away.

Matthew, the father of 4 with another on the way next month, also told me his mother had passed away some 20 years ago of cancer....time flies by in the blink of an eye.  Regardless it was good to talk the young man, who was born just before his father's death, and tell him what I could remember about his father....a man I considered a friend, back in those cold days at Griffiss Air Force Base, in upstate New York....

Back on the Plan....

For some reason{s} I gained weight over the winter...too much dark stout beer/Winter Ale, too much food/chocolate, too much sitting on my aging ass, or whatever the reason, the 40 pounds I had dropped between the fall of 2009 and 2011 came a creeping back.  No, I didn't gain it all, but I have gained about half of it back, peeking at 200 over the weekend...time for that to end, and yesterday was the beginning of the end.....

No more sweets, and back to the 2000 calorie 175 carb a day diet...a few less dark beers, and with the shoulder and elbow feeling better, it's back to the weight room, although not nearly as heavy on the weight, more on the reps....we will see how it goes, but the first day, I dropped 2 pounds, even though I had a couple of Sam Adams Cream Stout beers that were left in the frig.....

That will do it for today...time to put the mowing shoes on....meanwhile I will put up another in the "Growing Up in Venice, Florida, 1954-63" posts from 2008 back up today...here it tis:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/2008/05/growing-up-in-venice-floridapart-5.html

back later.....

Photos-The Inn at the Beach, the place in recent years we have called home when visiting my old home town of Venice, changed it has over the past 60 years....much like America, and not really for the better in either case.  Carol "Yul" Marcelle, my old supervisor and friend, passed away nearly 40 years now....and "The Plan"...my basic breakfast more or less, which I used as a start of the day on my quest to drop the 20 pounds I have regained over the past 18 months or so.....it will be gone within 6 to 8 weeks, bank that!

Growing up in Venice, Florida, The School Street Years!

Looks like it will be sunny and a bit warmer, for today and tomorrow at least...not warm, but warmer, closer to normal....yesterday was cold again, and wet to the north, thus my game at Sherwood Fairview became my 18th rain out of the season which began on March 30th, just 4 weeks ago tomorrow.  This, as far as I can recall, is the worst Spring season I have ever experienced, as far as cancellations....not good at all for my cigar, beer, and gas funds.

Tonight looks better, I have another long drive, 60 miles or so north to Glandorf, where Ottawa~Glandorf will take on Kenton in Western Buckeye League action, tomorrow a double header is scheduled at Allen East vs Lima Perry, the weather looks good again...Sunday will probably be reserved for lawn mowing.  May and seasonable weather, we hope, cannot come soon enough.

Today I will give you the link of the stories and photos I blogged about back in the Spring of 2008, about growing up in Venice, Florida, the little berg{at that time} that I spent my youth during the years from 1954 to near the end of 1962...eight excellent years  in a place, like so much of America, that has been lost, lost not for the better:  Click the Link Below:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/2008/05/venice-florida-328-school-street.html


Two more stories to go and I will finish them up next week....or you can link on the posts section on the right, and search for the stories that were typed back in April and May of 2008:

Enjoy the weekend....back later>>>>

Photo on Top....Mrs Holmes 5th grade class back in the days of Venice Elementary...I'm the guy on the  top far right, with the goofy smart ass grin...the original class clown!

Watching America Crumble....

For the most part of late, I have stayed away from getting overly involved into politics on this blog.  Over the nearly six years, at least the early years, the blog was filled with politics and rantings about same.  I started in July 2007 when George Bush II was finishing up his disastrous last years of a Presidency...an honorable man, who caved to Islam,Wall Street, and the left, Bush slinked out of Washington DC with tail firmly tucked between legs, and turned the reins over to a Kenyan{?probably?} Born Marxist, with ties to radical 1960s America and a penchant for worshipping the gutter religion called Islam.

I ranted about Barack Obama for the first two years or so of his outlaw Administration, before realizing that the GOP/RINOs had little guts to fight him or the media, meanwhile the open flood gates of immigration were letting the lowest common denominator crash the shores of America...and no I'm not talking about the Mexicans, who for the most part, come into this country looking for jobs and "benefits"...sure the vast majority are not contributing anything to this country, except to fill the voting rolls of the Democrat Party, but they, while a nuisance, are not really bad people.  Then you have the Euro and Middle Eastern Muslim Trash that are coming to the streets, schools, and Mosques of America, and they are coming for one reason...The Destruction of the Republic as we know it!  In that vein they are the same as one Barack Obama and his Administration..their goal is to wipe out Democracy and Christianity in America......

Of late I have kept most of my political opinions on facebook and an occasional visit to Twitter...these days however it is like talking to yourself while looking in the mirror.  There is no doubt that between the courts, the school, the media, and the Liberal churches, the youth and the older freeloaders, {hooked on hedge funds, retirements, Social Security, and Obama Care} are to blind or perhaps to complacent to see or care..to them this is the new normal...I wonder if any of them  really think the Founding Fathers would approve of what we have become?  A friend of mine

told me the other night he thought they would {approve}, after all he reasoned, The Constitution is a living, breathing, changing, work...."indeed" I said!   "I don't think that is what they had in mind".

When my GGGG-Grandfather came to this country in 1751 from Zweibrucken in Southwest Germany, I doubt that Jacob Hauswirth was looking for "benefits" and welfare...the same can be said I am sure of my Great-Grandfather Patrick Feeley when he arrived via boat from Ireland in 1860...those men, came to America looking for opportunities to succeed, and they did...not one drop of Welfare, Social Security, or Universal Health Care did they receive from the Government, via the working taxpayers of this once proud Republic.

No, the Republic as those men knew it, and where I grew up in, is doomed...there will be no recovery for the next generations...the dye has been cast, the seal broken...America as we know it, created by God Fearing Christians and men, who if they really didn't believe, at least knew the populace did, that America is gone....it will not return to the one created by the Founding Fathers, at least in my life time.  It is said, all great societies, last about 200 years...we declared our freedom some 238 years ago...it's been a great ride, but it is over. 

A Revolution, perhaps, can change all of that, but the freeloaders, the perverts that support gay marriage, along with the unfettered slaughter of the unborn, have taken over the courts, the schools, and the political seats in national and state elections, Revolution is the only way to turn the tide...and frankly I don't think the populace, even the 40% or so that agree with my views {and even most of those are not near as radical as me and my views}, have the guts or will to do what needs to be done.  Revelation, the final book in the Bible, pretty much is playing out in our very lifetimes, .and frankly, I think the future of this Republic and the world was penned long ago, whether you believe or not, by a higher power,

The ride is coming to an end...I just hope I am around to see the final battle....

Back tomorrow with a happier blog, I will go back looking at my youth "growing up in Venice, Florida"...

Later....and no need to take my post as doom and gloom...there is still time to take a stand, if you have the guts!

Growing Up in Vencie, Florida, {part #4 from 2008}...More Rain!

14 games in, 17 more cancelled...that is my count, if you include scrimmages, for baseball so far this Spring....I don't recall ever getting more games cancelled that I umpired in the past 14 years since I re~entered the officiating wars.

I picked up Garry just before 4pm yesterday...it was cloudy in Celina, but the rains looked an hour or more away, so we figured we would at least get the game, a WBL Conference bout between host Van Wert and visiting Elida, started, but by the time we got within a mile north of the city, we noticed it had rained a bit, or maybe more.   A lone shower had hit the city and Smiley Park just before we got there, but it was just enough to lay down the dust on the diamond.  I donned the plate gear, and we headed to the field where we started just before the scheduled 5pm start....the light rain came shortly after the start, but the sky never opened up completely, and we were done within 90 minutes, a 6-4 Van Wert win.

My plate shoes were a mess and today will require some major cleanup work...there will be no game for me today...frankly there will be few if any games played today.  The rain started in full about 10 last night, and it's still coming down, light, but steady.  It will last through Noon at least.  I was not scheduled to umpire anyway, this being my last non Sunday day without a scheduled Varsity game between now and Sectional time in mid~May....with the way things are, I am sure I will get a game or two, or more rained out between now and the end of my Tournament run....a short one this year, only my second year in the past 8 without a District game, not to mention no Regional or State game...one of those years, guess I didn't do enough butt kissing{insert, that never has or will happen, icon}with the powers that be giving out those prime assignments.

Tomorrow, if it dries off, I head 55 miles north to Sherwood for a GMC game with my former

Football Crew Chief Steve, then Friday another long trip north, 60 miles to Glandorf, as O~G hosts Kenton in another WBL contest.  Saturday a double header between Allen East and visiting Ada over in eastern Allen County.

Meanwhile we wait out today's rain, and coming cold....it appears the entire mid section of the nation is still in late winter mode....with that I look back at some warmer times, part 4 of my 2008 Blog Series, "Growing up in Venice, Florida".

Click the Link below:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/2008/05/growing-up-in-venice-floridapart-4.html

Photos~Venice Beach {Florida} as it looks these days....and I don't think many games will be played this afternoon on area diamonds...

Sunny and Seasonable Monday

After a bitter Friday and Saturday{which saw me lose three more baseball games, worst Spring I can remember for cancellations in years}, Sunday crawled towards 50 with some sunny skies...I managed to get mom's lawn mowed, but it did not do my back any good at all.  The mower probably needs new back tires, and the pushing instead of the usual walking behind it, has put my back on alert!  Of course as luck would have it, Patricia also did something to her back, and we are both walking a bit stiff.

Today looks better...Sunny and 65 or so, about normal for this time of year, but it will not stick around long...by the afternoon tomorrow showers will be around, and another game is in danger of getting washed out.  Cold on Wednesday, then things slowly move back towards normal late April conditions and hopefully drying is in store, if the forecast can be believed.

This morning I was up at 6 and jumped in the Nitro, headed for the south side of Grand Lake, hopeful of getting some good sunrise photos...blah!  Some looked good, but really nothing out of the
ordinary, I've got hundreds of them that look like the ones that I snapped this morning...gotta find me a few new sunrise locations within easy driving distance, that I can pick out, so I can get a different view to photograph.

Attached to today's blog are the results, well at least a few of them....tomorrow I will be back with the 4th installment of my 2008 looking back at growing up in Venice, Florida...

back later>>>>

Growing Up in Venice, Florida, Part #3 1957-58 {from 2008}

Today's Blog post will take another look back at my 2008 postings about growing up in the Gulf Coast town of Venice, Florida...that and a look at the Boston Bombings can be found on the link below:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/2008/04/venice-floridapt-3-venice-by-way-1957.html


Back Later...enjoy the weekend!

Growing up in Venice, Florida, part 2 1954-57{originally posted April 2008}

Here we go...

80 degrees and windy today, the warmest of the season, but only for a short few hours...major storms by late this afternoon, early tonight, and then more cold wind by tomorrow, with a high only 50....

Now back to looking at my 2008 blogging, taking a look at "Growing Up in Venice, Florida"  this is part 2 from our early years 1954-57

^^^^^Venice Beach Casino about 1950^^^^^

Click Line Below:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/2008/04/growing-up-in-venicept-2-alston.html


More looking back later this week and next:

back later>>>>

___prh...a day in the life....: Growing Up in Venice Florida(part 1) Redux....from...

With the rain and miserable conditions, the Spring from Boredom Hell continues...rained out yesterday, and taking a look at the forecast, I suspect today, tomorrow, and Friday, will not likely be played either.  One Rain Out all last Spring, when I could have used the rest, after Carotid Artery Surgery.  This year 7 already, with 3 games picked up, with the rest of this week and next looking cold and/or wet:

With that I am going to re~post some of my early blog works....I am approaching 6 years doing this{July 2007 it all started} and here is some of what I used to blog about...enjoy:

back later>>>>

Click on the Link Below:



___prh...a day in the life....: Growing Up in Venice Florida(part 1) Redux....from...: Interesting weekend...somewhat! I did get my double header in at Hicksville on Saturday...couple of more injuries, sorry to s...

More Reflexting Than a Person Outta....

Last Week was most miserable, weather wise than early to mid April than it should be....very little sunshine until late yesterday, rain and wind most of the week.  The wind began Monday, the rain by Tuesday Night, and it continued into Friday, early it was warm, but by Friday and the Weekend is was blustery, and miserably cold....games cancelled Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then my double header at Wayne Trace was called off for Saturday Morning.  That happened early Friday afternoon, so I cleared the Calendar, and soon enough I had calls from Wapak for a single varsity game at 1pm Saturday, as I was heading the 22 mile drive for that one, Celina's AD called and asked if I could fill in for a second game of a Varsity Double Header when I returned to the home base.  The game as Wapakoneta was brutally cold..I did the bases in 40 degree cloudy, windy weather....I headed home, Garry and his partner, who had to leave early were done by the time I arrived back in Celina, so I donned the plate gear, and finish off the contest with visiting Sidney, we were done soon after 5pm...so the total loss of games was somewhat dented, but the conditions were less than ideal.

Yesterday Patricia, Anissa, and I, were back over to mom's taking care of getting her stuff out and ready....cleaned off the carport, the front porch, and more sticks in the yard needed picking up....while doing that I received a text message from the head of the Lima Umpire group, asking me if I was open, and could I replace him for tonight's varsity game at Coldwater?  What the Heck?  I had left open today and April 24th for rain out make~up games, so if the next batch of approaching rain holds off long enough, I will join our association secretary for the Coldwater vs Ansonia game...the rest of the week, while my schedule is full...does not look good.  In fact it looks like a repeat of last week, middle of the week wet and seasonable, while Friday and the weekend look much colder than

average, but drying out....I HATE SPRING IN OHIO!  It really is, most years, a miserable time...winter is over, but the warm just doesn't want to make a permanent appearance.  This year, at least so far, worse, than most.

After getting finished at mom's I sat outback and listened to the Reds drop their 5th straight, after a great start to the season, injuries and a porous bullpen, has Cincy on the ropes, heading into tonight's lengthy homestand, beginning with Philly.  I walked inside and turned on the Masters....let it be known, I am no golf fan...probably because it is a sport I have never mastered...I just don't have the patience.  As far as watching it on the tube...yesterday was about it...the last four hole of the legendary Masters Tournament is about all I can do...watching so called "fans" mostly out of shape 40 year old jump men up and down and scream at the players, cheering and yelling like 12 year old girls at a Justin whatever the Hell is name is concert, is something I can just not figure out.  It's one thing to watch a sporting event and root, but golf fans who sit for hours watching other guys{and women} chase and slap a little white ball, is something I cannot figure out.....

Doesn't matter though, it was an great finish, with the young Aussie topping out the old veteran from Argentina in 2 playoff holes....I then showered and kicked back and watched one of the all time great movies, with Bogart, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"....A certified classic....then off to the sack.

This morning I actually made myself get up and do things I needed done...the two most important, setting up an eye appointment, something I have not had in 2 years or more...probably more like 4, and a call to the VA Hospital in Columbus, where I made an appointment for a physical.  That will begin the process of getting me off Patricia's insurance, when she retires, and keeping ahead of Medicare, which would come along next year, if I don't opt for the VA....the center in Columbus has been good for brother Mike, and most of the other folks I know who use it....so that is the plan for now.  Both the eye check and the VA check up are slated for late May.

So that was my excitement for the weekend past and early today....time to get ready for baseball...

back later>>>>

Photos-Old Poster of the "Treasure"...what is funny about this one...the photo of Walter Houston, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, is a photo of him about a dozen years younger, without his grizzled beard...he never appears like that in this film...he looked like he does in the bottom photo, throughout the movie....Bogart, Tim Holt, and Houston, were all outstanding in this classic.

{Almost} A Bittersweet Reunion...finding Carol "Yul" Marcelle

The miserable spate of weather for the past few days just isn't getting any better, and nothing on the near horizon appears to be going to change that fact..at least 3 to 4 inches in the past 40 hours, with more on the way for next week....and cold has moved in as well.  I can't really complain though, talking with my friend Jim up in Minot, North Dakota, this morning, he says it is 30 this morning with five to 8 inches of snow on the way....that we can do without!

Games have been cancelled for the past two nights, tonight's contest, at least here on the JV Diamond at Westview Park has probably a zero chance of being played....and tomorrow the varsity double header north at Wayne Trace is probably not going to happen either, just not enough sun, wind, or warm, to dry things out anytime soon.   Next week doesn't look all that good either....

A Bittersweet Reunion, of Sorts.....

When the Internet was getting into full swing, back in the late 1990s, I was working on my family genealogy probably 40 or 50 hours a week at the beginning{winter of 1998-99}, I worked hard core on that and finally penned a book on my family from my GGGG-Grandfather's{Jacob Hauswirth} arrival in America back in 1751...notes from the book and Genealogy findings surrounded around my GGG-Grandfather, Israel Houseworth and family, and can be found here:

http://israelhouseworth.blogspot.com/

Feel free to browse this blog, best to start from the beginning and work your way forward.....

Anyway I am getting off target/course/etc....while I was working on my genealogy and roots, I came across the VSPA{Vietnam Security Police Association}....I had pretty well ignored my four years in the Air Force and my year in Vietnam for nearly 30 years.   The VSPA Changed all that, and I joined, and immediately begin to find guys I was stationed with in Vietnam, especially my time at Nha Trang, the little base on the South China Sea.  It also gave me the opportunity to begin, along with other Internet Sources, to find guys I was stationed with elsewhere, and over the past 14 years.  Claflin, Gates, Bevan, Payan, Walsh, Dei, Howie

Prichard, and others have been found...sadly others have passed away.  I found Jack Friedl's wife, he had died tragically in 1992, managed to find my Nha Trang boss, Phil Lange for a few years, before he passed away, my old Basic Training TI, and fellow Sky Cop at Tan Son Nhut, Joe Prokop, had passed away in Wisconsin.  Others I still occasionally look for, Melvin Sloan, my supervisor at Nha Trang, guys from Tan Son Nhut, Dover, Griffiss, etc....as we get older, I realize many have passed on....I found one of those a few days ago, or at least he, in the form of his son, had found me.

I was checking my e-mail the other day, and as I was deleting the spam, smut, and repeated jokes, I came across this e-mail from a name I didn't at first recognize:

Hello Mr. Houseworth
I found your blog online while doing research, I'd like to talk to you
about someone
you mentioned and commented positively on from Griffiss. That was
Carol Marcelle of the 416th SPS
I'm his son Matthew, he died when I was 11 months old. I would really
love (want and need to) to talk to you. Please email me back and let
me know if you'd be willing and the best time to get ahold of you..
Thank you

Bingo! 

Carol Marcelle was 20 years my senior, a jovial black Staff Sgt with 20 years in the Air Force.  He was one of the Senior NCOs on our shift at Griffiss, AFB, NY, when I returned from Vietnam.   "Yul" as we called him, because of his shaved head, looking like a black version of Hollywood's Yul Brynner...today lot of folks have shaved heads, back then we guessed Marcelle's was natural.  He had returned from Germany with a wife and they had a few kids at the time...and Yul was one of the guys the Air Force pretty much screwed over....20 years and 4 stripes, while smart asses like me, who despised the Air Force and it's "Mission" had made NCO with 3 stripes...in 18 months.  What the Hell were they thinking?...."Mission, Mission, F**k The Mission"

Anyway Carol had gotten me and my main fellow traveler, Jack Friedl, out of many of tight spots....I won't go into most, but one time he went to bat for me, was not pleasant...and I'm sure he paid the price for it from the brass.  I had just came back from leave back in Ohio, and had not had a haircut in probably months....SAC frowned on Air Force Cops who refused to stay "Spit and Polished".  Jack and I were assigned to guard a B~52 going through a Nuclear Upload...Marcelle was our shift supervisor.  I was standing outside the "No Lone Zone" when a one star General came strolling up to me....

This asshole really wasn't interested in if the B~52 and Nukes were safe, he was more interested in me and my haircut, or lack of....with less than a year to go in the AF, I really didn't give a rat's ass whether this clown liked me or my haircut.  I had been pushing the envelope with the hardcore SAC Lifers for quite awhile, and this tin horn cowboy was right down my alley...I
showed no respect and didn't give any.  Anyway, Carol Marcelle, payed the price....Ol' Yul had to try to make excuses for my hair...I think his line was "Well Sir, Houseworth here, just got off 15 days of leave"...that didn't cut it with the General, so Yul had to take my place while I was relived to go get a haircut...lol, I did, but just a trim...I never saw that General again, and Carol Marcelle, never seemed to hold it against me...in truth I believe he had as little respect for the SAC and AF Brass,as I did.  He was indeed a great guy, and a true friend.


So, I was excited to see that one of Carol Marcelle's family had found me via this blog....but of course it was with a bittersweet note, he had passed away, many years ago it appears....hopefully young Matt will call me one of these days, soon and I can fill in the blanks on my late friend, Carol "Yul" Marcelle.

back later>>>

Photos-Carol "Yul" Marcelle's Air Force ID that his son Matthew sent me...The VSPA has helped me recall my time in the Air Force, both good and bad, and find friends, both still alive and those passed....The dreaded B~52, not my favorite work site/station....and here I am "Captain Hair"  It all seems funny and juvenile these days, but I wore it long, just to piss off as many of the brass ass as I could.

Going Rogue, Celina a City on the Brink...

Rogue....

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rogue


That's exactly what the city I call home, where I graduated from High School from 46 years ago, and the town my kids grew up in has become...it's not pretty, to say the least. 

But first a look at the weather....

After sun, clouds, wind, and warmth, all heavens opened up yesterday afternoon, and lasted into the early hours of this morning....by best guess, we got 3 inches of rain in a 12 hour period, the rivers are coming out of their banks and the Grand Lake Spillway is pouring into the Beaver Creek and will wind up in the mighty Wabash River....meanwhile to the east then flowing north, the overflow to the St. Marys River will wind it's way to Fort Wayne's Three Rivers and eventually to Lake Erie....sometimes I wonder why in the Hell I moved back to Ohio?  Of 365 days each year, you can probably county on your fingers and toes the days you call "Good Weather".  It's either too cold, too wet, too humid, too windy,or too damn hot to enjoy or a nasty combination....the few good days

usually come in May, June and maybe late September or early October....No Sir, Ohio is not a great place weather wise...not the coldest nor the hottest, or having the most wet or snow days, but the nice days are few and far between most years.

Needless to say my game at Lima was rained/stormed out yesterday, and I'm 99.9% sure today's at Antwerp will be also...tomorrow at Westview here in Celina is  looking iffy, and the double header at Wayne Trace for a Varsity Saturday looks cold and windy, even if the fields dry off...which is doubtful.  Next week looks wet again....this is going to be one of those springs, where the cancellations equal the games played....maybe worse than that, taking a look at the future forecast.



Celina, Ohio...What the Hell has gone wrong?

Not more than a decade ago, my town of Celina was named in a book as one of the "One of the 100 Best Small Towns in America"  .  The locals were kind of amused, but we believe it more or less....these days, nobody in their right mind would agree with that statement.

The town has let it's streets and alley repairs go to Hell, a new administration has picked up where the old one left off...buy up any building that is vacant or a local business wants to dump and then claim to the citizens and taxpayers that "It's a Great Deal".  The latest being a bank building on Main Street that the local bank wanted to unload, so the city agrees to unload $2 million to buy up this "great deal" and turn it into a City Hall....because of course the old stone one, built back in 1898 or so, just ain't good or big enough...forget the streets and the outlaw police department in disarray...we gotta have some new digs.

Yesterday was a shinning example of what the Hell has gone wrong in "Pleasntville, Ohio".....

One of my best friends and I were moving some furniture and talking about his dimwit of a youngest daughter, who at 23, along with her outlaw boyfriend, were among 12 of the newly arrested fools in Celina....they were charged with dealing and possession of Heroin...seems this is the drug of choice, along with Meth, for the white punks on dope crowd in Celina and the surrounding bergs....anyway, he was bummed, but agreed that he was not going to "pony up" the money to pay the 10% of her $50,000 bail.  Pot, booze, and a few minor drugs were the things that were swapped around Celina when I got out of the Air Force...but nothing like the crap these days, where kids of friends, and kids I coached are getting busted left and right...the problems of inner city America have come to the small towns....The America of Obama and the Clinton's has spread it's ugly face to Middle America.

Rogue Cops....or just a screw up?

As we drove back into Celina, we noticed a crowd of people and other cars "rubber necking" at the goings on at a small used car lot on Market Street....Cops, Yellow Tape, Rescue Squads, etc...we knew this was no ordinary traffic accident.....turns out, it wasn't!

Our local Police Department, earlier this year, had it's rogue chief suspended, with pay of course, for activity unbecoming a Chief of Police...the guy has been a joke and an
 

embarrassment since he was appointed 20 years ago....unqualified, except in the eyes of the Civil Service, he should not have been promoted/appointed....to this day, he remains on the payroll and off duty.

At the same time this fool was suspended, a 12 year veteran officer was suspended as well...his was for "Unusual Behavior"...it appears that he was  reinstated, something that was not published in the local rag....or if it was, it was buried deep.  That is where yesterday's "incident' comes into play:

http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/Police-Action-Shooting-In-Celina-Under-Investigation-202385281.html

So here we have it...a cop with "issues" of a psychological nature, is sent out to handle a guy waving a gun around and a guy ends up dead....nice move Celina PD....nice f**king move!

You can smell the lawsuit coming...and you know who is going to pay for it...?  The Taxpayers of Celina....

Heads need to roll....from the top on down.  I'll probably be pissing off more than a few of my "Friends" on facebook and on this blog for my views on this...but so be it!  "We Have a Problem Celina"  and somebody better get their heads out of their collective asses....this town is heading for Hell in a Hand Basket....and somebody with some leadership sense better figure it out...pronto!

back later>>>

Photos-Celina City of >>>>>>??? Who the Hell knows these days?  The Hail came late yesterday afternoon, this pile was next to my garage door, just before dark.  The Spillway from Grand Lake if Flowing...and the quite streets of Celina are not looking so good these days.

Pictorial of a Baseball Game

 

Yesterday was the first game that we got in, where jackets and in some cases total winter gear and wear were not needed...of course even though it was in the mid to upper 60s by the game's beginning, it was still cloudy and windy, so not all together that great for baseball...today they are still calling for storms, although most are north of Ohio in Michigan and Wisconsin at this hour...tomorrow looks wet, and Thursday looks downright nasty, with cooler temps and a 100% chance of rain and storms.

Yesterday Garry and I worked our 3rd game together of the young season, we have another dozen of these partnerships to go which saves us gas money at the least....it was his turn to drive and work the plate, so he picked me up before 4pm and we were on our way to Van Wert...the town where we both were born many years ago...me more many than him....

We arrived in plenty of time, decided to wear short sleeves and headed to the diamond at Smiley Park, on Van Wert's west side...going through the pre~game we got to talking to area photographer Pat Agler, who I played Dartball against for a few years....he is a freelance photo guy and does great work...many of his photos of me, including football and baseball close~ups have been posted on this blog...today shots are from his collection at:

pantherzden.com

Pat let's me download them for personal use.....and I want to give him credit for that before I go farther....

The Game....

Visiting Parkway {located in Rockford, Ohio} jumped out on top 4-0 in the 3rd inning, before the hometown Cougars battled back with 6 runs to take a lead....a couple of more scoring innings left the score at 7-5 Van Wert as we entered the top of the final inning, the 7th...a couple of close calls, a collusion at first base, resulting in an out, and the Panthers had forged a 8-7 lead as Van Wert took the bats out for the bottom of the 7th...loading the bases with just one out, Parkway's pitcher go a foul pop and a fly ball to center to end things, with the visitors coming out on top by that final 8-7 score.  A rather long 2 1/2 hours game, but entertaining none~the~less.

Tonight, if the rains hold off, I meet up with my old buddy from Rockford, Jimmy R...up north at Ottoville...I think it's his turn to take the plate as well, but will drag my gear along, just in case I'm wrong.  Tomorrow at Lima Central Catholic and Thursday back with Garry at Antwerp in a Green Meadows Conference game....those are both very "Iffy" at the point due to the weather....Mother Nature will make that decision.  Friday, one of my rare weekday JV games back here in Celina, then Saturday north at Haviland Wayne Trace for a Varsity Double Header....the temperatures look cold by dry for the weekend.

back later>>>>

Photos-Pat Agler's photos...he took some 160 yesterday and has them posted on his site at:

pantherzden.com/

Top is my mug...big frown, not from the game, but more likely fighting the wind and dust from the diamond in my face...second is Garry{L} and me discussing the pre~game plan, or laughing about somebody messing up during infield practice...and bottom is me in the "C" position as the Parkway hurlers delivers to the plate and the Van Wert runner takes off from second.  And Bottom is me in the "C" again{in the shortstops way between second and third base}....