Weekend Rains, Waldo, Ohio, Baloney, Basketball, Darbtball, and a Wedding Reception....

Friday dawned wet, like it has been so much of late....and the rains continued through Saturday, before turning to some wet snow on Saturday night....

Friday Night____
Celina boys basketball team moved it's record to 18 wins and 3 loses and headed for District action later this week, after defeating WBL rival Wapak 72-40, for the Sectional Championship.  The Bulldogs fell behind 9-0 early, but owned the Redskins the remainder of the game and will face Tiffin Colombian in the District Semi Finals.  Van Wert also moved on to the same District....

Saturday_____
 It was still raining when I awoke in the morning....a trip to Columbus was in the offing.  I had to take Sam's Nissan back to him, after getting the vehicle a new alternator installed.  I had talked Nick into taking the trip down...he would drive his vehicle and follow me down to OSU, then after getting Sam's car back to the complex, we would head to Waldo for some famous Bologna.  

Waldo, Ohio, Population 300____
 The small berg of Waldo is located some 25 miles north of Columbus, on US Rt 23....nestled on the north side of the Marion-Delaware County line...12 miles south  of the County Seat of Marion, Waldo has some pretty interesting history, you can find much of that if you search my Houseworth Genealogy Blog:


http://israelhouseworth.blogspot.com/

My great-great Grandparents on both sides of the Houseworth family, along with GGG-Grandfather Israel Houseworth arrived in Waldo in the 1850s, one of the stopping points on the family travels west from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that began in the late 1700s.  If you drive through the Waldo Town Cemetery, plenty of gravestones, with the names of Ursula, Maish, Henry, John P, Maria Houseworth, and others from those that came before me.  My great-great Grandmother Ursula owned the acres which US 23 now pushes past Waldo between the Capitol and Marion.  She also owned, according the land records and maps of 1880, the land where the town park now sets...just down the street from the Cemetery.  I used to stop at Waldo, looking for graves and records in my genealogy research, now days I stop by at least twice a year in search of G&R Tavern, and a taste of their "World Famous Bologna"(not to be confused with grocery store sliced "Baloney", the two are not even close).

Nick and I arrived about 11:30 in the morning, ordered up a couple of Bologna Sandwiches, mine with sweet pickle, hot pepper cheese, and mustard....we also ordered a couple of beers and sides of deep fried mushrooms, and onion rings.  I have never had a bad meal at G&R....always worth the trip back to the "Homeland of the Houseworths", both the heroes and villains of the family.  You can find both on my genealogy blog.


More Flood Waters____

 Once done with business at G&R, we stopped by the graveyard to say "Hello" to the family, and headed out of town on Ohio 47 towards Indian Lake and then home to via 33 to Celina.  The farm lands and parts of 47 had plenty of standing water.  Prospect, another small town along the way with Houseworth family ties, was on the route.  When we arrived in the town of 1100 folks we saw the Columbus TV station, Channel 6 had arrived....the Scioto River was out of it's banks and had flooded the north end of town.  We worked our way around, snapped a couple of photos, and continued on our trip home...the rain was still falling. Moving on west and north where  the flood waters near Indian Lake were as deep as we had ever seen them along US 33...with the extra inch of rain we are slated to get on Wednesday, I'm not sure when they will recede.


By the time we arrived back in Celina, the early 50 degree temperatures had dropped to the mid 30s...and it didn't take much imagination to figure out, the rain, if it continued, would turn to snow.

Wedding Reception____

 After a quick shower, I dressed, and Patricia and I headed over to St. Marys, which had flood problems of it's own last week, for the wedding reception of Garry and Lisa's daughter Lindsey.  The USWA Union Hall(imagine me stepping foot in a Union Hall these days) was the place of the reception....it turned out well, nice meal great time, saw some people I had not seen in years.  To top it off, Garry had brewed several barrels of his own home beer, including a Red, a Lager, and a dark bock style....I managed to pour a couple of pitchers, which I enjoyed over the next several hours.


It had been a long day, so around 9:30 or so, Patrica, who had been suffering from a cold, and I decided to head out...with her driving of course....I had passed my limit.  After saying our goodbyes we walked out, and noticed the cars were covered with about an inch of wet snow....the roads were just wet, and the 10 mile trek back to Celina was no problem.

Basketball Finals_____
 I arrived home in time to watch much of the second half of the Duke/UNC game.  It was for all the marbles, sadly Duke was outgunned in this match up at the Tar Heels home....UNC would take the game and the regular season ACC Title.  I hate UNC!...I didn't have time to dwell on it though...I was ready for a good night's sleep.


Sunday would see a mixed bag for me....after the Duke loss on Saturday, I looked forward to the Flyers vs New York Rangers NHL game...the first place Philly team was slumping, but they had owned the New Yorkers all season...not yesterday however.  The Rangers scored early in the first minute, and the Flyers never recovered, a 7-0 blowout was the result, Philadelphia's fourth straight loss, but still leading the East.


OK, 0 for 2, in a 18 hours period...maybe the Ohio State Buckeyes, who had clinched the Big Ten regular season when Purdue got knocked off by Iowa the previous day, and who had revenge in mind when they hosted Wisconsin, could make things better.  First in football, then last month in basketball, the Badgers had knocked off the Buckeyes when they were undefeated and ranked #1...the one great thing about basketball is, you usually get to extract some revenge.  Ohio State did just that, coming away with a 93-65 Victory.  Hitting 14 of 15 three point shots(the last 14 in a row) led by John Diebler, who hit 8 of 9, on his way to 27 points.  The hot shooting senior has now knocked down 17 of 19 treys in the last two games.  The Big Ten Tournament begins Thursday...Ohio State, back at #1, is playing as good as anybody in the nation right now.


Dartball, one more time_____
 The last night of Dartball is at hand.....due to snow, they will have both boards running at once at Hopewell Lutheran.  Schumm will take on Mt Carmel for the regular season championship...meaning 4 of the 8 teams will trophy.  Hopewell won the Tournament, with us(Celina St. John Lutheran) coming in as runners up.

 With the finals starting at 7pm, the All Star Game will begin at 7:30, the players on the participating finals teams will be moving back and forth between boards.  Playing for the south, I managed to make the team for the 14th time in my 17 years of playing in the league.  Next week the season ending banquet will see the final Dartball activity until next October, when season number 76 of The Wabash Valley Dartball League will kick off.


Baseball meeting tomorrow at Indian Lake High School, and then the rest of the week is open....for now!


back later>>>>


Photos-Me posing at the famous G&R sign in Waldo, Ohio....now that's a Baloney Sandwich!  The typical meal served at G&R...everything goes down better with a cold brew....the inside of the restaurant in sports oriented, the food however, is the highlight, not the surroundings.  The Map of property owners and plots at Waldo, Ohio, in 1878....my Great-Great Grandmother, Ursula Houseworth owned large portions of the acres in and near the town.  US 23 runs through parts these days, the western property is where the town park in located now.  And Flood Waters...from the Scioto River in Prospect on Saturday, and last week when our Grand Lake neighbors at St. Marys at their own issues...including Skip Bachman Stadium under water into the stands and as high as the cross bars of the football goal posts.  More rain is on the way for Wednesday.