2008 in Review/November-December

I noticed yesterday was my 400th post...a milestone of sorts in about 1 1/2 years. #401 will be a last look and the last one for 2008...at the bottom, my outlook/hopes for 2009.


Another windy day...but this one rather than being warm and windy is cold and pretty raw, with snow flurries from time to time. Tomorrow for our Indiana Fest it looks about 'normal' for January 1st...30 degrees, but no snow or ice in the forecast for a few days.....



November-December 2008
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For the first decade after we returned to Ohio in 1980, Patricia, I, and the kids, as they came along, would trade Christmas and Thanksgiving between Ohio with my family and Wisconsin, with hers. One year Christmas here, one there....during the 1990s we decided that Christmas weather with a car full of kids was to risky with bad weather and heavy traffic, so we would spend Thanksgiving driving to and from Wisconsin...Christmas we would spend here and Thanksgiving at the lake near Oconomowoc.


This year, after a decade of fighting traffic in and around Chicago on Thanksgiving, we came to the conclusion that any kind of driving around the Chicago Tollway area was a lost cause on Holidays....so we headed up 2 weeks before Turkey Day....probably not fair to Patricia's folks, but, since she and Anissa go up for a week during the summer anyway, it saves us the headaches of travel around the land of corruption called Chicago, which is bad anytime, but especially so around Thanksgiving and Christmas.


November 4th of course saw the beginning of our coming National Nightmare...that being the election of one Barry Obama as 44th President of these United States. The GOP offered the usual warmed over RINO, John McCain, and with the economy in the shitter, Obama was given a free pass by the voters and the media...it was his for the taking, and he did. 2009 won't be pretty.


I basically turned towards my basketball classes and scored high enough(as did oldest son Sam) to get my license in high school basketball officiating, making this my 3rd and final sport that I will be licensed in. Once secure, I filled out my schedule. Being a long time baseball and football official, it was easy to fill my basketball schedule with area Athletic Directors, they know me fairly well, and getting the contracts were not hard....let's hope I can live up to their trust.



With the coming Obama Administration, many fans of our 2nd Amendment, for good reason, believe a gun/ammo grab are not far away....Democrats, Liberals, and in particular Obama, hate guns in the hands of law abiding citizens, especially citizens that might actually fight back against a tyrannical government. That was one reason my friend Rick, his youngest son Guy, and I, decided to meet at Fort Wayne the end of November, for the final Gun Show of 2008....by the time we got there on the second day, the ammo had been picked over, and the handguns, and even the rifles and shotguns were priced pretty high....another show coming up January 3rd...I expect them to be worse, prices that is. Even with the grim outlook, we had a good time, and I plan on heading over Saturday for 2009 show #1.


December----we have had our share of ice, but not much snow to speak of so far in this final month of '08'. Lucky for us, most of the ice storms have been followed by a warm up, so it doesn't stick around long. On a personal front, right after the regular basketball season began, I came down with my first bad cold in years....and it has stuck around for the duration of the month. In sad news, my first cousin Gary Houseworth, the only other surviving Houseworth male, besides Mike and me, from dad or his brothers, passed away at his home in Venice, Florida, just days before his 62nd Birthday....Gary and I had been roommates back in the early 1970s...before he headed back to our childhood home in Venice. Earlier my buddy Eddie Bonifus of Coldwater, Ohio, passed away after a long battle with cancer...Eddie and I had joined the Air Force together on the "Buddy System" in the summer of 1968.


Patricia made her usual batch of 60 dozen or so home baked cookies, the back yard Marsh Hawk returned for visits, trying to catch the feeding sparrows, and the nations economy went in the tank, with Bush helping Democrats push us into hard core Socialism, and tax payer funded bail outs, which our kids and their kids will never be able to pay back......the economy is in deep trouble, as are we as a nation, with the likes of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi, in charge.....meanwhile "The One" in the name of change appointed Clinton retread after retread to his cabinet.




Christmas at sister Marty's house went well...with almost all the immediate family on hand....after that older brother Mike took mom to Florida for the winter, to stay with youngest sister Kelly and her husband.

New Year's Eve....Patricia and I will keep it at home...we stopped going out an fighting the hangovers and drunk drivers years ago...If lucky we might stay up until Midnight, but seriously, I doubt it! Tomorrow, along with Clint, and maybe Hal, I will head the 60 miles north and west to Rick's house, where we will eat, drink, and fire up a couple cigars, while watching football.......then maybe I'll think about dropping the 15 pounds I've put on over the past 2 years....that, like everything else, gets harder as the years pass.

A look at 2009.......

I turn 60, if God is willing, come March 16th. I have to believe that with the new Socialists coming to power in Washington, we will be in for a rough ride....the hand outs and bail outs will be in full bloom, and our individual freedoms will be sacrificed. I hear so-called Conservatives claim to want President Obama to be successful...NOT I! He is a Socialist/Marxist....I want no part of his type of "Change" and hope he fails miserably....I don't want my kids to be left with his type of hope and debt...he is a dangerous phony, his followers are sheep.

Sounds harsh doesn't it? So be it....I think America will look much different in the next months and years....we have been falling slowly into a moral and economic valley for years, the likes of our new leaders will send us deeper and faster into just that.

So, that's my opinion, and my personal look back at 2008....I plan on being around in 2009 for better or worse, and give you my views.

Have a great New Year, and my God Bless you all.

back in 2009>>>>>>>>





photos-A salute to Obama and his Kool-Aid Drinking
lemmings. Basketball is sport #3. The parking lot in front of the Fort Wayne Coliseum and inside at the Gun Show on November 30th. Ice hangs off the lines and limbs outside our house. A batch of Patricia's Christmas Cookies....

And a Happy New Year to all......

2008 in Review/September-October

The weather is continuing to be "Not Bad"....reached 50 with wind and sun yesterday, getting me a chance to walk, and also with the cold finally improving(although not 100% yet) a chance to head to the basement weight room and do a little lifting....not sure how much good it does at this age, but what the Hell?, I'll keep at it as long as I can.

Hal has been home for the past couple days, working for Celina Moving(Atlas) before heading back to school and teaching at Fairborn next week...today he is back near Cincinnati for a loading/unloading job.

Ok, today on we move back to the fall of 2008..............
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September-October

2008

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September began and stayed warm...and pretty dry, I think the entire football season, I only had to wear the long "knickers" pants one time...the rest I could enjoy the weather(albeit sometimes too hot) and shorts. The best thing about the football season, unlike last year, was my back held out the entire season...a few minor aches and pains(who doesn't have those at 59?), but it held out for the season. My gig at the Honda Satellite plant in Greenville ended..it had been a great run, $60 an hour for doing a couple hours a week of spread sheet and inventory work, way too good to last, but I enjoyed it for 18 months...it got me off the road from my RV travels, just when that started to tank. So, what to do next for a part time gig for this semi-retired one?

I was already doing 80+ baseball games a year as umpire, 40 or so football games...should I take on basketball? The hard court is definitely the most strenuous of the 3 major sports(and hardest on feet and back)...I had also officiated soccer, but really couldn't get back into that, since it went up against football, which I enjoyed way too much to share with soccer....so Sam already decided to do round ball, and I would take the classes starting in October and join him in getting my license....I would not have visions of doing Varsity though...I can do baseball and football, but no way I can keep up with the boys running up and down that fast hardwood...Jr High and Freshman, with a few JV games thrown, in was what I envisioned....and so far it has worked out.

September also saw the heating up of the Presidential race, with McCain and Palin getting trashed by comics and of course Obama's Lap Dog Media, lead by Charlie Gibson and a few others.....the American Media has become a Marxist Joke....but if you didn't already know that, you are one yourself, or completely zoned out. The media and the left were so damn afraid of Sarah Palin(a True Conservative) they would do anything to trash her....they are scared shitless of the Alaska Governor.

I have been doing family genealogy for 10 years now, have written a family book, and researched the Houseworth Clan back to my GGGG-Grandfather Jacob Hauswirth's arrival in Philadelphia on the "Ship Janet" in 1751. I have put much of that on another blog:

http://israelhouseworth.blogspot.com/

In September I did some more work in Paulding County and Blue Creek Township, in October I would head to central Ohio and visit the family roots in Waldo and Millwood, 2 small towns steeped in Houseworth History. Millwood was founded in part by my GGG-Grandfather Israel Houseworth(who changed the name from Hauswirth), Waldo is where he died and many of my direct ancestors are buried in the Town Cemetery...Waldo is also home of the very best Bologna Sandwiches in the world...bar none! The weather was great that day I traveled 100 miles south. and east....I didn't find much in new family nuggets, but enjoyed the travel and food none-the-less.

Football finished up for me in late October, and before the month ended, Nick Hromish and I headed for the Au Sable River in northeast lower Michigan to try our luck at Salmon fishing between the river and Lake Huron....It was the first time we had done that in 24 years.....we had varied success.

Also in October my old drinking buddies from the 1990s at the Lake Front Racquet Club came back to Celina....

Dick Finke now lives in St Peterburg, Florida, while Tom Friedly trains trotters and pacer ponies near Columbus in warm weather, and at Spring Garden Ranch in the winter, at DeLand, Florida. We got together in mid month, along with Dick's son Ross, the Celina lawyer, for a few(or more) beers at the Moose Lodge and Smedley's....the meeting was only a few hours long, but we had a great time reliving our recent past.....I miss those days at the Club with those guys...but don't miss the money we spent on beer and raising Hell....boy did we drink beer in that 10 year time period! Both Tom and Dick are settled in sunny Florida for the winter.

Late October saw things cool down, and I will look at the final 2 months of 2008 tomorrow....Thursday we head for rural Auburn, Indiana, for our annual New Years Day food/football fest.

back later>>>>>>>>

photos-Top is the winding AuSable River from our October Salmon Run....below that me with a couple we brought back from Michigan. Then a September Sunrise out our upstairs window, one of the baby squirrels on our back fence...the neighborhood cats took care of a few, but I believe 4 survived and can be seen daily in our back yard fighting the birds for the feed. My Great-Grandad Nelson Houseworth(1832-1887) Civil War gravestone in the Blue Creek Cemetery in Paulding County, Ohio. The Koskoing River flows outside Millwood, Ohio, a town that Israel Houseworth lived in and help found back around 1825. G&R Tavern in Waldo, home of the Houseworths beginning in 1850-until WW2 when Civil War Vet Maish Houseworth passed away at the age of 98 in 1944. One of the hugh sliced Bolonga Sandwiches from G&R....great with a beer. And bottom photo Ross and Dick Finke, Tom Friedly, and me on our 'day outing' in mid October.

2008 in Review/July-August

In the news this morning, I see Israel is continuing to kick the crap out of the ragheadz on the Gaza Strip....Go Israel! The Jews and Americans have been pandering to these murdering bastards long enough.....The PLO, Hamas, and their allies are like cockroaches, exterminate them(a little harsh? tough shit). Once "King Obama" is in charge, the Islamics know they have a friend in the White House, so Israel needs to take care of business, now, while the time is right.

Meanwhile things are pretty damn boring around the homestead....my cold is finally getting close to the end, hopefully no relapse....3+ weeks of this is long enough. Sitting around, gaining the Holiday weight, and watching football hours at a time, is not something I enjoy doing....easy yes, enjoyable in the long term, no way. I am however looking to our trip to Indiana on Thursday for the boys food, beer, cigars, and football on TV outing....that's a bit different than gluing your butt to the recliner for hours on end.

OK, off we go on my trip back in 2008....

July-August 2008

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Summer, while not my favorite season weather wise, is my favorite season for activity. Baseball continued in July, mostly with ACME Tournaments and American Legion Districts....Sam and I both got gigs in the District Tournaments of ACME and American Legion...and I did some of the State Junior ACME games as well....always good to do the better more competitive games on occasion. Baseball lasted through July 31st and then thoughts turned to Football in August.

The Bush Stimulus Checks finally arrived in July...being down the list number wise, we had to wait for a check I was not in favor of....and I don't want the next one that King Obama has promised...but if he hands it out, we will sure the Hell spend it on something....in July we took ours and purchased a new stove and new chest type freezer. The stove Patricia needed, hers was getting old, the freezer we put in the basement...we long ago decided food was a must in case the recession becomes a depression....we have a freezer full of meat, and a large stock of can goods and non perishables in the basement.

Meanwhile in the Good Ol' Summertime, I always drink more beer than I should, and I smoke 90% of my years supply of good cigars, during the 3 or 4 months of warm and hot weather....why? Because I can smoke em' outdoors...no smoking in the house, and I wouldn't want to. I probably partake in 50 quality hand rolled cigars per year...and 40 or more are in the months May through September.

The end of July always brings the Celina Lake Festival....I don't head up town often, but did take in the car show and watched the fireworks from the upstairs.....the old days(1970s) I would spend the entire 3 days uptown, sitting in the Red Door, in our celebration of Summer on Grand Lake.

August--

The final full month of summer saw one of my blog buddies Jeff aka The Fat Hairy Bastard and his partner Denise visit Ohio...I met up with them one afternoon for a couple of beers and lunch down in Dayton...always great to meet someone you "visit" with but have never met in person....they were just like they are in the blog world...great people. With Baseball ended for another season, I set my sights on my 4th year doing football...I had a full schedule which started in mid-August with scrimmages, and looked forward to a full year(unlike last season) of a pain free back....at least I was keeping my fingers crossed. Mid August was time for the Bar Stool Open around Grand Lake....4 on a team, 8 on a boat, you drink and mini putt your way around the Lake...our team led by Nick sucked, but we stayed somewhat sober, and finished without sinking the boat, and made it to his house where Patricia drove over and picked me up....still smart enough never to drink and drive these days

The end of August John McCain came to Dayton and introduced his Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin to the GOP....McCain did this at the Nutter Center on Wright State University, where but 10 weeks before we had watched our youngest, Hal, march on his graduation from WSU. For my money Palin was the only bright spot during a dismal Presidential year....between Obama, Hair Plug Biden, McCain, and Sarah, she was the only one worth a damn...felt so then, still do today.

Tomorrow--Fall Beckons/September-October 2008

back later

photos-Top Captain Nick and me halfway through the Bar Stool Open 2008-then the 3 things we used our "Stimulus" Check for....Stove, Freezer, and to re-stock the basement Armageddon Shelves-Some of the summer cigars I purchased, Lake Festival Fireworks and my friend "Whitey" Klosterman and his Classic Buicks at the Lake Fest Car Show. Sarah Palin, the only good thing to come out of politics 2008, and some of the boats lined up at Carta Villa on Grand Lake during the "Bar Stool Open", also me, the Fat Hairy One, and his Denise at Dayton...and one of our backyard Sunflowers that bloomed late this past summer.

2008 in Review/May-June

Yesterday we approached 70 degrees...a December 27th record for sure...much different that the day we buried dad on December 27, 1972....a cold bitter windy day, as we laid him to rest in the Scott Ohio Cemetery. Yesterday dawned windy but warm, it actually felt like May or early June rather than late December. Patricia and I even walked the Fairgrounds....the first non-basketball related exercise that I've had in 3 weeks. Last night I finally slept through the night in bed, without getting up coughing, and moving to the Lazy Boy that I parked next to the bed to get through the sleep without waking everybody in the house up....maybe, I will start to get back to normal before basketball officiating resumes January 5th.

Today it's back to normal weather wise...windy and mid 30s, but no snow anytime soon on the horizon for west Ohio.

2008 in Review
May-June
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We began May by receiving Hal's "Sheepskin" from Wright State University...he graduated in March, received his diploma in early May, and finally marched in the ceremony in June. He would return in the fall, and is currently student teaching at Fairborn High School(near Dayton) and taking grad courses at WSU....he will receive his Masters in High School History Ed in the coming spring.

I also made my final RV delivery for Hoosier Transit...at least for now. I took a BT Cruiser from Nappanee, Indiana, to Piqua, Ohio...Piqua is just a short drive from Celina, so I took the run....my last, unless things change in the RV world....I decided instead to pick up my Basketball officiating license from the State of Ohio. This would give me the "tri-fecta", Baseball, Football, and Basketball....so now, I'm doing all 3...it would work out, especially since my part time contract gig at the Honda Satellite plant in Greenville would come to an end later in the fall, as well.

On the blog I finished up work on my look back at growing up on the beaches of Venice, Florida, in the 1950s and 60s. In sports I finished up my spring baseball season...doing several tournament games, including a pair up in Bascom, Ohio, with son Sam, in Sectional Finals. June would see ACME and American Legion baseball take over. I also followed my 2 favorite hockey teams...the NHL Philly Flyers made the east Semis...while my area minor league team, The Fort Wayne Komets rode their regular season domination of the IHL into the finals of the Turner Cup, winning that by coming back from a 3-1 deficit.

The personal highlight of May came in the later part of the month, with my annual travel to west central Michigan, Mesick, to be exact, with the Pearson men, Rick and sons, Clay and Guy, and Clint Thompson...our Mushroom hunt wasn't all that successful from a gathering standpoint, but we did have a grand old time, hunting them, drinking beer, and telling our usual BS stories to the youngsters. We already have our dates worked out for 2009....and it's not all that far away.


June meanwhile, saw the wedding of my sister Marty's middle daughter Molly, to former Celina and Ohio University football standout Aaron...who, along with his older brother, now coaches football at Hillsdale College in Michigan. First time in many years we have had all the family and most of the nearby cousins together at one time....it was a good time. Molly and Aaron are now expecting their first child in March.

Baseball continue in the heat and while dodging thunderstorms. We had Hal's graduation party and meal at The Back 40 in Decatur, Indiana. It was a busy and warm June...I got to drink plenty of beer and smoke good cigars on the back steps and front porch, watered the flowers when needed and spent as much time outdoors as possible. After the wedding and Hal's graduation, Patricia and Anissa made their annual summer trip to Wisconsin for a week in the middle of the month. I stayed home with the dog, cat, and on occasion the boys. It was a good summer start, and I can't wait for the next one to begin...did I mention I HATE WINTER?

back later>>>>>>>>>>












Photos-The 3 Amigos...Pearson, Thompson, Houseworth...one of our few get togethers as a trio since our days in Athens, Ohio, in the mid 70s. Rick and his boys and Clay's friend from school. Grub on the outdoor grill....cures the common hangover. The Jeep in the Green of the National Forest near Mesick. The June wedding...Uncle Jack with his 3 grand nieces Megan, Molly, and Miki....sisters Kelly the youngest, and Marty....me and the boys..Hal, left, and I had a few beers by this point, Sam was sober as a Judge...the only smart non-drinking male around. Patricia and Anissa at the Dayton Airport getting ready to head to Wisconsin for a week...and a nest of Robins...a couple of many young critters that lived in and surrounded the back yard and fence area in the late spring and early summer.

2008 in Review/March-April

62 degrees in Celina, Cincinnati headed for 73 F. December 27th and this is what we are scheduled for today in the Midwest. Of course that hint of Global Warming won't last...storms, high winds, and then a cool down will follow for tonight and tomorrow, but we get one day at least where the Global Warming Alarmists will get their day to cry like Chicken Little.

The weekend between Christmas and New Years is usually found watching Bowl Games and looking at the extra notch taken out of your belt...wondering "Where the Hell did that weight gain come from?"

2008 Review

March/April

March of this past year saw my back make major progress after the December Epidural. I was scheduled to begin the Varsity High School Baseball Season on March 31st, and as the month began, I was still not 100% or 100% sure I could make it a whole season...but things were looking up. First off however, I decided to make a RV run....I had not been on one since September, so along with Sam, Hoosier Transit offered us a combination run...I would take a Class C BT Cruiser to Albuquerque, while Sam would take a large 40 foot Diesel Pusher to the hills outside L.A. in Southern California....I would pick another up in New Mexico and proceed with that one to SoCal. As things turned out, we left March 6th, one step ahead of a large March snow storm in the Midwest.....we circled around it, and made our way west, taking I-44 to Oklahoma where at OKC we hit I-40 and headed west. The back held out as we arrived in the Big A a couple of days later...my pick-up unit wasn't ready, so I jumped in with Sam(after a stay at the Route 66 Casino), and we headed through Arizona towards California. As we crossed into the Illegal Alien State of Ill Repute we came in contact with our first $4 gallon of gas...$3.99.9 to be exact, at the desert city of Needles. The rest of the trip, including train, plane, and bus ride back to Nappanee went with little sleep, but no major back issues, and a pretty good profit.....as it turns out, the economy would end my RV Delivery days, not the back. Other than a couple of short runs...my days of delivering RVs is probably done. In addition in March...Ohio held it's Presidential Primary, which saw Hillzilla Clinton aka "The Hildabeast" and Juan McCain aka "The RINO" win their respective primaries. Gas Prices, even in the Midwest roared toward $4 a gallon. We had a variety of ice and snow storms, but other than the large one, which I missed, early in the month, nothing major...and even that one melted fast. Finally on March 26th Sam and I did a baseball scrimmage at Sidney Lehman High School...I did the plate for over 2 hours, and the back, albeit somewhat sore, proved it could handle the stress, and I was ready for Opening Day at Delphos Jefferson.....I would go on to do 83 Varsity, ACME, and American Legion games over the next 4 1/2 months...both me and my back made it through.

April saw Kansas win the final 4 in college basketball, and the opening of the Major League Baseball season...the Cincy Reds were pretty much eliminated on day one. The weather warmed up in the middle of April and the High School season, after a rainy start, saw pretty nice weather through the tournaments in May. Patricia, Anissa, and I, went to Lima, and purchased a quality treadmill for Anissa, which I also use as I get time during bad weather. For the house we got 2 new leather/oak recliners, replacing our "Lazy Boys" we had(and still do) for 10 years.....my back was indeed ready for the quality leather chairs. Expensive(for us anyway), but well worth the cost.

My highlight in April came on April 5th....when 35 years after I quit bar tending/managing at the Red Door to head off to college, the new owners(no longer called the Red Door, now after several name changes, it's the FUSE) of 211-213 South Main Street, decided to have a 40th Reunion...and invited back all the old bartenders, hangers on, and clients of the place.....over a thousand showed up, including me and another 20 or so former employees....we had one great time, and closed the place down around 3AM.....it took me at least 36 hours to recover, and it was worth it! Many old friends, some that I had not seen in years, were on hand.

The rest of the month saw temps and gas prices rise, flowers bloom, and me concentrating on writing stories of growing up in Venice, Florida, and my days at Nha Trang AB, Vietnam.....the final destruction of the old Mersman Factory was completed as well.

Tomorrow-May and June 2008.

back later>>>>>>>>

photos-Top...The Red Door Bartenders from the past 40 years(those of us who survived anyway)-Me next to the BT and Sam's Diesel Pusher in Illinois on our way to New Mexico and California-Mersman's Table Factory, almost down in total-Needles, California, gas in the Desert hits $4 a gallon in March 2008-Sam in his home plate umpire gear at Delphos Jefferson for Opening Day-Back Yard Spring Flower, one of the new leather/oak recliners, and old buddies/fellow bartenders "Ponzi" and Rick Tester...both one of a kind, at the 4/5/08 Red Door Reunion.

2008 in Review/January-February

First off, I hope all that read these words had a Merry Christmas, and you took time out to remember the real reason we celebrate the Holiday....and it sure the Hell isn't because of Winter Solstice or the coming resident of the White House, who(and his worshippers) thinks he is the New Messiah.


Our Christmas Eve went well....we celebrated at my sister Marty and her husband Pat's(yep, another Pat in the family....seems Pat and Mike were the names we got or migrated towards). Cards, food, drinks, and Wii games, Patricia, Anissa, and I stayed until about 11pm, the boys hung around till about 1 in the morning. The only one missing was youngest sister Kelly...down in Naples, and mom and brother Mike will be heading that way tomorrow...mom will stay for a few months, and Mike will return after the New Year. We had a quite time Christmas morning, Anissa as usual was ready to open her stash....Hal stayed until 10AM, but had to leave for Dayton....he choose to make some good money by working the noon to 8PM shift at his part time gig at the Carry-Out. I spent most of the day cleaning out my desk, and watching the endless Christmas showing of "A Christmas Story" on TBS, a annual tradition.

TIME FOR A LOOK BACK!

With "King Obama" and the new year looming, I will for the next 6 days take a personal look back at 2008...2 months at a time.

2008__________

January-February


The new year began with my annual trip to the Pearson's north of Fort Wayne...Rick was my best man in 1976, and I returned the favor some 5 years later....we have gotten together at least once a year since that time, usually on New Years Day to eat plenty of food, watch football, and catch up. The past few years we have been seeing more of each other as time becomes more available, both of us "retiring" in our 50s. We usually get together in May for the Michigan Mushroom hunt near Mesick, and see each other a few more times a year, usually, when he is visiting his mom in Celina.


Youngest son Hal usually goes with me, but this year he was working, so I picked up Rick and my college buddy from our days at Athens...Clint Thompson, and we headed over. We ended up drinking more than a few beers, smoked a few cigars, watched too much football, and ate more than our share...Clint and I stayed the night, and drove home through the snow, in Jeep, the next morning. We plan on making our annual trip this coming Thursday.


January also saw me recuperating from my Spinal Stenosis Injection at Fort Wayne Ortho. I was slow to recover, and was still in a "tender" state while at Rick's...I improved slowly as the month went by...before February ended I was about 75-80% better, and was believing I could start the baseball season on time(which I did).


January was the first appearance of our back yard Hawk...a young male Marsh Hawk, who took to feeding on the sparrows and pigeons when he got the chance....he made for entertainment and photo opportunities. January and February also saw the continued demise of the old Mersman Table Factory....built in 1905, the factory across the street, closed in the mid 90s, and the destruction took about 6 months....January and February saw the progress on the project pick up full steam.


The middle winter months saw quite a few small snow and Ice storms, but nothing overly large despite predictions to the contrary....Global Warming(which doesn't exist) was not present in western Ohio. More than the snow February saw on major rain event which cause Grand Lake to leave it's banks and cause havoc to the south and west parts of Celina. I used to opportunity to get some flood photos.


In sports, Ohio State embarrassed themselves in a 2nd straight BCS Bowl Championship Game, losing to LSU. In the Pro Super Bowl, the underdog NY Giants upset the previously undefeated and heavily favorite Patriots. Personally in Church League Dartball, I suffered through my worst season since my first one 13 years ago. The back, and tossing large feathered darts did not match up well....I did improve well enough towards the end of the season to make my 12th straight All-Star Game....but personally and as a team, we pretty much sucked.


I was not doing a lot of RV delivery in January and February, the back issues and the slow down of the industry keep me off the road most of the time....Sam would keep at it into the late summer, before giving the hard hit industry up, and returning to school at Ohio State.

Tomorrow I will look at March and April.....2008

back later>>>>>>

photos-Me standing at the Meyer Road intersection during the height of the February 2008 floods/Ice Jams.-OSU loses in the National Championship...AGAIN!- The Marsh Hawk guards our back yard-the Mersman Smoke Stack comes down at 103 years old.-Dartball Darts!