Summer winds down

I know, I know, it's still July, but with the end of the Lake Festival, I usually consider summer to be on the wane. Variety was the theme today....drove down to Greenville and put in my hour or so...then back to plug the results into the spread sheet...over to mom's to pick up brother Mike and head to the Columbus VA Out-patient Clinic...results were about the same, come back in 2 months and continue to go easy on the leg...does not look good, more surgery may be the end result. Stopped by his daughter Lori's place in Gahanna, and took my first look at my 2nd Grand Niece, Olivia...she is 2 months old. After a brief visit, Mike and I headed for Waldo, Ohio....Waldo is interesting for several reasons....lying about 23 miles north of Columbus on the Marion-Delaware County line...Waldo is famous for G&R Tavern with it's world famous Bologna Sandwiches....and don't bother thinking yeck...."I hate baloney"....these are fixed the way you want them, and taste nothing like store wrapped or deli bologna...washed those down with a Miller Lite each, and headed out of town...had to stop by the Waldo Cemetery to show brother the graves of our forefathers...the Houseworth clan lived in Waldo in the 1860-1890 peroid, and GG-Grandmother Ursala and a number of her kids and cousins are planted in the ground there.....It's one of the few Ohio towns where the small Houseworth Clan has deep roots....my Great-Grandparents married and lived there before moving northwest to Paulding County.

After Waldo we wound our way through the back roads of central and western Ohio before arriving back in Celina around 6PM.

On a much sadder note, I read in the paper than a Well Contractor whom I worked with and have known for many years lost his 16 year old son in a Saturday night car crash, not far from his rural Willshire home.....the young man was a catcher on the Parkway baseball team, and as a umpire I had stood behind him on several occasions this season while working the plate.....sad, sad, indeed, I pray for the comfort for Jim and his family.

I just don't believe 16 year olds are old enough to make good driving decisions...speed on a rural road appears to be the cause of this tragedy, and it really sucks.....I believe nighttime driving should be limited until 18.....unless a work permit and set hours are part of the process.


37 years ago

________________Really didn't/don't plan on dropping this a year with each post, but it just is working out that way for now.....

July 1, 1970 was the day I arrived home from Vietnam....took the "freedom bird" from Tan Son Nhut to San Francisco(Travis AFB), then grabbed a red eye to Chicago...and a morning flight to Dayton.

I had 39 days leave(30 leave, 9 days travel) before I had to get to my unwanted next base, Griffiss AFB in Rome, New York.....just what I didn't want, a cold sorry, SAC Base with Gung HO lifers, and me with no interest in what they had to say or do....it would be a long 20 months until discharge.....I planned on living it up as a civilian wannabee until early August.

To get it started, I took in the 3rd ever game at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, (with dad, one of the few things we did those last years together, besides a couple of fishing days)...brand new then, hard to believe it's been gone for 6 or 7 years already. After that, things were pretty much a blurr...didn't save up enough money in Nam for that new Plymouth Roadrunner I wanted, so settled for a 1968 Mercury Cyclone...it got the job done. Spent the rest of the leave drinking hard, driving fast, usually with my neighbor and classmate Jerry Jones....Jonsey had a new 70 Dodge Charger 440 six pack....that thing did run, by the time I headed back to the Air Force, Jerry had his licensed pulled....seems we decided to cruise Main Street in Celina, and Jerry pulled a "hole shot" for about 3 blocks through a couple of lighted intersections....by the time we got home a few hours later, the County Deputy was waiting on us.....Jerry was busted for reckless op and evading....so much for the fast times....we used the Cyclone the rest of the month, and I kept it down speed wise....but that didn't stop us from the party life...I also had a couple of dates with old acquaintances....after over a year from any interaction with the opposite sex, I was like a shy 6th grader....so much for the returning warrior....lol.

All-in-all a summer(or part of one) to remember....the rest of my Air Force time until May 72 would be a time to forget....I headed off to Rome, NY, in my Cyclone about August 7, 1970, would report for duy a couple of days later.

prh

July 30, 2007