Stages...........1949-1970

We took 3 of 3 last night at Dartball...getting a piece of revenge from Mendon, a team we dominated in year's past...but lost to in the tournament last year, and whom we lost 2 of 3 to at home earlier.....

My oldest Sam had the hot hand last night going 7 for 14 with 4 RBIs.....playing part-time he now leads the team in average....I finished 5 for 13 3 RBIs and a rare "walk"...and also threw into a double play, my 3rd career base on balls, and my first ever double play in 13 years.....I stand 2nd on the team in average and also in RBIs...recovering from a real slow start, due in part to my earlier back problems. Those still haven't gone completely away, but I've learned to work around them....and am throwing much better.

Sam left with my mom this morning for Naples...she will stay with youngest sister Kelly for a few months....Sam drove her car down and will fly into South Bend from Fort Myers on Saturday.....I usually take her down, but with the back, decided not to test it just yet, and Sam took over.

Back to Doc Bergman tomorrow...my regular doctor...check up on how my blood pressure is doing....and with the home monitoring system and one pill a day...it has been doing well...usually in the 120-130 over 70 range...much better than a month ago.

Note: In case you read the Hermit's Helms Deep Blog....he informed me that it has crashed....and he will be bringing it back in a different(non-blogspot/Goggle) format....he's is not happy....he puts out good stuff, hopefully he'll have it back up and running real soon.

Stage One_________

I've always looked at life in stages....not so much where you live, but age wise, or state of mind wise.....the first state I guess, began when I was born in Van Wert, Ohio, some 59(in March) years ago....we lived in the little burg of Scott(dad's hometown) until 1952...moved to mom's state of Delaware for a year. Then back to Scott, before heading to the Florida west coast, Venice, Florida, for the next 9 years. Back we came to western Ohio, this time Celina, where I was to stay until joining the Air Force at the age of 19.

This was stage 1....actually, I consider stage 1 up until the day I left for Vietnam....Stage 2 was Vietnam and several years after....not that Vietnam was a horror story for me....I was a Air Force Cop(Security Police), and yes that was the most dangerous job on the ground(being in the air was far worse as far as AF duty was, in my opinion) in the USAF...but I can't complain...I grew up, didn't end up with PTSD(post traumatic stress disorder), didn't come down with AO(Agent Orange) problems, and didn't become a total drunk or druggie....I drink no more now than I did before my time in the service...so I've always liked my beer, since I was 18.... a year of so before I joined.

It was just a different, not necessarily better me, that came back....more confident, less likely to take crap from anybody, as I tended to go along to get along before 1970...after I got back stateside in July of that year....I was a changed person.

Stage one-The Photos(1949-1970)..........(top left) Mom and me in the fall of 1949 in Scott, Ohio(2)Brother Mike and me holding up some kind of fish, I'm sure we didn't catch, in Grandma Houseworth's living room in Scott...summer of 1954(3)Guess this was mom's idea of a "glamor" shot...I actually remember getting this and a stack of others taken by a professional photo guy...I think it was our first full summer in Venice that would be 1955(4)Mike and me with Uncle Forest(Smokey), dad's oldest brother(1912-1964)(5) Back in Scott for summer vacation in 1957....that's me on the right with my buddy Al Foust....we were both 8 and had gigged these bullfrogs out of my Uncle John Houseworth's pond.(7)Summer of 1958...Mike was on the Venice Elks Varsity Little League Baseball team....I was on the Junior Elks.(8) Summer vacation in Ohio in 1960....Dad and me fishing in the Auglaize River, near Defiance, Ohio.(9) Sitting on Dad's Dodge Charger...the day before I was inducted into the Air Force....I rememer it well, June 22, 1968(10) June 29, 1969...me and mom...a final farewell photo, before I headed to Dayton for my flight to San Francisco and sunny Vietnam(11)...the large one at the bottom...me in the fall of 1951 in Scott...Grandma Houseworth had a bunch of these blown-up to 8 x 10s...so she must have liked them.

Stage 2 will be coming up later in the week.......