Growing Up in Venice Florida(parts 4/5 ....from 2008)...Storms Rolling Through

I was awakened overnight by some pretty loud lightning and thunder clapping, as storms rolled through West Central Ohio...those had to be pretty strong to wake me.  The Winter Beer season had arrived, and with no games to officiate and the World Series on a one day break, I grabbed a six pack of Sam Adams Winter Lager, and proceeded to down a few of those....they do produce a kick, so I dutifully sauntered off to bed about 10pm.  Only to be awakened first by the ancient Airedale, Reagan, wanting out about Midnight, then by the lightning flashes in our upstairs bedroom windows around 3am....those strikes had to hit somewhere close by, because a couple of them rattled the windows and shook things up.

This morning, Patricia took the Van and I drove the Nitro up to the dealer, to have some wheel locks removed...seems they "key" to those theft protection devices was nowhere to be found when Patricia took the Dodge in to get the oil changed and tires rotated....so rather than spend over $100 to get the old ones removed and new ones installed, just get rid of the damn things...another pretty much useless invention, especially if you don't have custom wheels and don't live in or near a large city...ain't many people in small town Ohio stealing you average stock wheels and tires.  So, while that is getting done, I'm driving a loaner, 1996 Caddy with less than 80,000 miles on it....pretty nice ride, if I needed another vehicle, I might consider it, the price seems right...but I don't so I won't.....

Back on the Airway______
 
It been a few years since I worked in radio...I believe 2004 was the last time I got behind a microphone.   My buddy "Wulfie"  asked me to be on his WKKI Radio Sports Show tonight, live from the Celina Moose Lodge at 7pm,....wants to talk Sports in general and Officiating/Umpiring in particular.  So, back on the air for a few minutes tonight....causing me to miss the first Basketball Rules Meeting of the season at Van Wert...still plenty of time to get my required meetings in however.

Growing up in Venice, Florida parts 4 and 5_____-

 Back to looking at my childhood in the 1950s and early 60s on the Gulf of Mexico....links to my posts from 2008 are below{click links}:

Part 4-

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

Part 5-

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

The final two segments coming tomorrow...

back later>>>>

Photos-Top...A view of the old Venice Beach and Casino from about 1950...this photo was taken from what is now the location of The Inn at the Beach....in 2000, I took the second photo from the location of the Beach Casino(a "new" one built in 1960} looking back at the Inn, from where the first photo was taken....in the late 1990s and early part of this new century, we vacationed at The Inn on several occasions, the kids loved the place and location.  Winter Lager from Sam Adams is now in stock...a good brew, with the taste of a hardy stout...the final photo is another I puchased on Ebay...taken from the current location of the beach near The Venice Jetties...a massive Devil Ray was taken by these guys in 1928.  I saw one swimming between the South and North Jetties in the late 1950s...probably bigger than this one.  Sadly those fishing days are gone in the Gulf, fished out by so called "sport fisherman" and foreign interests.