Spring "Cleaning"/More Venice Growing Up...

It finally dried off yesterday, well at least it stopped raining...as far as drying, that is still going on....the next few days will be above normal with plenty of sunshine, then the rain will return for the weekend, and temps will cool down.

After Sunday washed out day, yesterday they were calling for sunshine, that finally came after 3pm...another miserable start to the week.  My game at Ada was a wash~out, which caused my game today at Paulding to be cancelled as well, as the leagues are scrambling to get games in....not to worry however, I quickly got a call and the Wayne Trace Athletic Director called asking me to travel to the north side of Defiance to Tinora High School for the completion of a GMC game...I had to scramble, but made the 67 mile drive, and arrived about 15 minutes before the scheduled game start at 4:30, my partner Bruce took the plate as he was already there...we started the game in the 2nd inning, and we were done within 75 minutes, a run rule win, 11-1 for Tinora.  I was home before 7:30pm, in time to watch the Reds slip by the Cardinals 2-1....

With tonight's cancellation at Paulding, so they can make up last nights game at Ada, I quickly picked up another make up game, this one as well is far north of Celina, the little berg of Continental.  The school has a nice field, it's been a couple years since I worked a game there, but I like the atmosphere, and will join my old comrade The Racster for a game with visiting Miller City tonight at 5.

Today, once done here, I will get to mowing the lawn...finishing mine this morning, and probably waiting until tomorrow to take care of mom's....both yards need it...but the heavy dew will slow things down.

Making Contact with the Past....

A few weeks back I wrote about receiving an e-mail from the son of an old Air Force friend of mine, Carol Marcelle, who had passed away years ago....Sunday his youngest son, Matthew, called me from Virginia.  We talked about life and his dad for about an hour....a good conversation, but saddened by the realization that "Yul" Marcelle had passed away nearly 40 years ago, just a few miles south of here, at Wright~Patterson AFB, where I organize the  Vietnam Security Police "Mini" Reunions each year...Carol Marcelle, Tech Sargent Retired, was but 45 when he passed away.

Matthew, the father of 4 with another on the way next month, also told me his mother had passed away some 20 years ago of cancer....time flies by in the blink of an eye.  Regardless it was good to talk the young man, who was born just before his father's death, and tell him what I could remember about his father....a man I considered a friend, back in those cold days at Griffiss Air Force Base, in upstate New York....

Back on the Plan....

For some reason{s} I gained weight over the winter...too much dark stout beer/Winter Ale, too much food/chocolate, too much sitting on my aging ass, or whatever the reason, the 40 pounds I had dropped between the fall of 2009 and 2011 came a creeping back.  No, I didn't gain it all, but I have gained about half of it back, peeking at 200 over the weekend...time for that to end, and yesterday was the beginning of the end.....

No more sweets, and back to the 2000 calorie 175 carb a day diet...a few less dark beers, and with the shoulder and elbow feeling better, it's back to the weight room, although not nearly as heavy on the weight, more on the reps....we will see how it goes, but the first day, I dropped 2 pounds, even though I had a couple of Sam Adams Cream Stout beers that were left in the frig.....

That will do it for today...time to put the mowing shoes on....meanwhile I will put up another in the "Growing Up in Venice, Florida, 1954-63" posts from 2008 back up today...here it tis:

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

back later.....

Photos-The Inn at the Beach, the place in recent years we have called home when visiting my old home town of Venice, changed it has over the past 60 years....much like America, and not really for the better in either case.  Carol "Yul" Marcelle, my old supervisor and friend, passed away nearly 40 years now....and "The Plan"...my basic breakfast more or less, which I used as a start of the day on my quest to drop the 20 pounds I have regained over the past 18 months or so.....it will be gone within 6 to 8 weeks, bank that!

Growing up in Venice, Florida, The School Street Years!

Looks like it will be sunny and a bit warmer, for today and tomorrow at least...not warm, but warmer, closer to normal....yesterday was cold again, and wet to the north, thus my game at Sherwood Fairview became my 18th rain out of the season which began on March 30th, just 4 weeks ago tomorrow.  This, as far as I can recall, is the worst Spring season I have ever experienced, as far as cancellations....not good at all for my cigar, beer, and gas funds.

Tonight looks better, I have another long drive, 60 miles or so north to Glandorf, where Ottawa~Glandorf will take on Kenton in Western Buckeye League action, tomorrow a double header is scheduled at Allen East vs Lima Perry, the weather looks good again...Sunday will probably be reserved for lawn mowing.  May and seasonable weather, we hope, cannot come soon enough.

Today I will give you the link of the stories and photos I blogged about back in the Spring of 2008, about growing up in Venice, Florida, the little berg{at that time} that I spent my youth during the years from 1954 to near the end of 1962...eight excellent years  in a place, like so much of America, that has been lost, lost not for the better:  Click the Link Below:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/2008/05/venice-florida-328-school-street.html


Two more stories to go and I will finish them up next week....or you can link on the posts section on the right, and search for the stories that were typed back in April and May of 2008:

Enjoy the weekend....back later>>>>

Photo on Top....Mrs Holmes 5th grade class back in the days of Venice Elementary...I'm the guy on the  top far right, with the goofy smart ass grin...the original class clown!

Watching America Crumble....

For the most part of late, I have stayed away from getting overly involved into politics on this blog.  Over the nearly six years, at least the early years, the blog was filled with politics and rantings about same.  I started in July 2007 when George Bush II was finishing up his disastrous last years of a Presidency...an honorable man, who caved to Islam,Wall Street, and the left, Bush slinked out of Washington DC with tail firmly tucked between legs, and turned the reins over to a Kenyan{?probably?} Born Marxist, with ties to radical 1960s America and a penchant for worshipping the gutter religion called Islam.

I ranted about Barack Obama for the first two years or so of his outlaw Administration, before realizing that the GOP/RINOs had little guts to fight him or the media, meanwhile the open flood gates of immigration were letting the lowest common denominator crash the shores of America...and no I'm not talking about the Mexicans, who for the most part, come into this country looking for jobs and "benefits"...sure the vast majority are not contributing anything to this country, except to fill the voting rolls of the Democrat Party, but they, while a nuisance, are not really bad people.  Then you have the Euro and Middle Eastern Muslim Trash that are coming to the streets, schools, and Mosques of America, and they are coming for one reason...The Destruction of the Republic as we know it!  In that vein they are the same as one Barack Obama and his Administration..their goal is to wipe out Democracy and Christianity in America......

Of late I have kept most of my political opinions on facebook and an occasional visit to Twitter...these days however it is like talking to yourself while looking in the mirror.  There is no doubt that between the courts, the school, the media, and the Liberal churches, the youth and the older freeloaders, {hooked on hedge funds, retirements, Social Security, and Obama Care} are to blind or perhaps to complacent to see or care..to them this is the new normal...I wonder if any of them  really think the Founding Fathers would approve of what we have become?  A friend of mine

told me the other night he thought they would {approve}, after all he reasoned, The Constitution is a living, breathing, changing, work...."indeed" I said!   "I don't think that is what they had in mind".

When my GGGG-Grandfather came to this country in 1751 from Zweibrucken in Southwest Germany, I doubt that Jacob Hauswirth was looking for "benefits" and welfare...the same can be said I am sure of my Great-Grandfather Patrick Feeley when he arrived via boat from Ireland in 1860...those men, came to America looking for opportunities to succeed, and they did...not one drop of Welfare, Social Security, or Universal Health Care did they receive from the Government, via the working taxpayers of this once proud Republic.

No, the Republic as those men knew it, and where I grew up in, is doomed...there will be no recovery for the next generations...the dye has been cast, the seal broken...America as we know it, created by God Fearing Christians and men, who if they really didn't believe, at least knew the populace did, that America is gone....it will not return to the one created by the Founding Fathers, at least in my life time.  It is said, all great societies, last about 200 years...we declared our freedom some 238 years ago...it's been a great ride, but it is over. 

A Revolution, perhaps, can change all of that, but the freeloaders, the perverts that support gay marriage, along with the unfettered slaughter of the unborn, have taken over the courts, the schools, and the political seats in national and state elections, Revolution is the only way to turn the tide...and frankly I don't think the populace, even the 40% or so that agree with my views {and even most of those are not near as radical as me and my views}, have the guts or will to do what needs to be done.  Revelation, the final book in the Bible, pretty much is playing out in our very lifetimes, .and frankly, I think the future of this Republic and the world was penned long ago, whether you believe or not, by a higher power,

The ride is coming to an end...I just hope I am around to see the final battle....

Back tomorrow with a happier blog, I will go back looking at my youth "growing up in Venice, Florida"...

Later....and no need to take my post as doom and gloom...there is still time to take a stand, if you have the guts!

Growing Up in Vencie, Florida, {part #4 from 2008}...More Rain!

14 games in, 17 more cancelled...that is my count, if you include scrimmages, for baseball so far this Spring....I don't recall ever getting more games cancelled that I umpired in the past 14 years since I re~entered the officiating wars.

I picked up Garry just before 4pm yesterday...it was cloudy in Celina, but the rains looked an hour or more away, so we figured we would at least get the game, a WBL Conference bout between host Van Wert and visiting Elida, started, but by the time we got within a mile north of the city, we noticed it had rained a bit, or maybe more.   A lone shower had hit the city and Smiley Park just before we got there, but it was just enough to lay down the dust on the diamond.  I donned the plate gear, and we headed to the field where we started just before the scheduled 5pm start....the light rain came shortly after the start, but the sky never opened up completely, and we were done within 90 minutes, a 6-4 Van Wert win.

My plate shoes were a mess and today will require some major cleanup work...there will be no game for me today...frankly there will be few if any games played today.  The rain started in full about 10 last night, and it's still coming down, light, but steady.  It will last through Noon at least.  I was not scheduled to umpire anyway, this being my last non Sunday day without a scheduled Varsity game between now and Sectional time in mid~May....with the way things are, I am sure I will get a game or two, or more rained out between now and the end of my Tournament run....a short one this year, only my second year in the past 8 without a District game, not to mention no Regional or State game...one of those years, guess I didn't do enough butt kissing{insert, that never has or will happen, icon}with the powers that be giving out those prime assignments.

Tomorrow, if it dries off, I head 55 miles north to Sherwood for a GMC game with my former

Football Crew Chief Steve, then Friday another long trip north, 60 miles to Glandorf, as O~G hosts Kenton in another WBL contest.  Saturday a double header between Allen East and visiting Ada over in eastern Allen County.

Meanwhile we wait out today's rain, and coming cold....it appears the entire mid section of the nation is still in late winter mode....with that I look back at some warmer times, part 4 of my 2008 Blog Series, "Growing up in Venice, Florida".

Click the Link below:

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

Photos~Venice Beach {Florida} as it looks these days....and I don't think many games will be played this afternoon on area diamonds...

Sunny and Seasonable Monday

After a bitter Friday and Saturday{which saw me lose three more baseball games, worst Spring I can remember for cancellations in years}, Sunday crawled towards 50 with some sunny skies...I managed to get mom's lawn mowed, but it did not do my back any good at all.  The mower probably needs new back tires, and the pushing instead of the usual walking behind it, has put my back on alert!  Of course as luck would have it, Patricia also did something to her back, and we are both walking a bit stiff.

Today looks better...Sunny and 65 or so, about normal for this time of year, but it will not stick around long...by the afternoon tomorrow showers will be around, and another game is in danger of getting washed out.  Cold on Wednesday, then things slowly move back towards normal late April conditions and hopefully drying is in store, if the forecast can be believed.

This morning I was up at 6 and jumped in the Nitro, headed for the south side of Grand Lake, hopeful of getting some good sunrise photos...blah!  Some looked good, but really nothing out of the
ordinary, I've got hundreds of them that look like the ones that I snapped this morning...gotta find me a few new sunrise locations within easy driving distance, that I can pick out, so I can get a different view to photograph.

Attached to today's blog are the results, well at least a few of them....tomorrow I will be back with the 4th installment of my 2008 looking back at growing up in Venice, Florida...

back later>>>>

Growing Up in Venice, Florida, Part #3 1957-58 {from 2008}

Today's Blog post will take another look back at my 2008 postings about growing up in the Gulf Coast town of Venice, Florida...that and a look at the Boston Bombings can be found on the link below:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/2008/04/venice-floridapt-3-venice-by-way-1957.html


Back Later...enjoy the weekend!

Growing up in Venice, Florida, part 2 1954-57{originally posted April 2008}

Here we go...

80 degrees and windy today, the warmest of the season, but only for a short few hours...major storms by late this afternoon, early tonight, and then more cold wind by tomorrow, with a high only 50....

Now back to looking at my 2008 blogging, taking a look at "Growing Up in Venice, Florida"  this is part 2 from our early years 1954-57

^^^^^Venice Beach Casino about 1950^^^^^

Click Line Below:

http://patsdailyrant.blogspot.com/2008/04/growing-up-in-venicept-2-alston.html


More looking back later this week and next:

back later>>>>

___prh...a day in the life....: Growing Up in Venice Florida(part 1) Redux....from...

With the rain and miserable conditions, the Spring from Boredom Hell continues...rained out yesterday, and taking a look at the forecast, I suspect today, tomorrow, and Friday, will not likely be played either.  One Rain Out all last Spring, when I could have used the rest, after Carotid Artery Surgery.  This year 7 already, with 3 games picked up, with the rest of this week and next looking cold and/or wet:

With that I am going to re~post some of my early blog works....I am approaching 6 years doing this{July 2007 it all started} and here is some of what I used to blog about...enjoy:

back later>>>>

Click on the Link Below:



___prh...a day in the life....: Growing Up in Venice Florida(part 1) Redux....from...: Interesting weekend...somewhat! I did get my double header in at Hicksville on Saturday...couple of more injuries, sorry to s...

More Reflexting Than a Person Outta....

Last Week was most miserable, weather wise than early to mid April than it should be....very little sunshine until late yesterday, rain and wind most of the week.  The wind began Monday, the rain by Tuesday Night, and it continued into Friday, early it was warm, but by Friday and the Weekend is was blustery, and miserably cold....games cancelled Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then my double header at Wayne Trace was called off for Saturday Morning.  That happened early Friday afternoon, so I cleared the Calendar, and soon enough I had calls from Wapak for a single varsity game at 1pm Saturday, as I was heading the 22 mile drive for that one, Celina's AD called and asked if I could fill in for a second game of a Varsity Double Header when I returned to the home base.  The game as Wapakoneta was brutally cold..I did the bases in 40 degree cloudy, windy weather....I headed home, Garry and his partner, who had to leave early were done by the time I arrived back in Celina, so I donned the plate gear, and finish off the contest with visiting Sidney, we were done soon after 5pm...so the total loss of games was somewhat dented, but the conditions were less than ideal.

Yesterday Patricia, Anissa, and I, were back over to mom's taking care of getting her stuff out and ready....cleaned off the carport, the front porch, and more sticks in the yard needed picking up....while doing that I received a text message from the head of the Lima Umpire group, asking me if I was open, and could I replace him for tonight's varsity game at Coldwater?  What the Heck?  I had left open today and April 24th for rain out make~up games, so if the next batch of approaching rain holds off long enough, I will join our association secretary for the Coldwater vs Ansonia game...the rest of the week, while my schedule is full...does not look good.  In fact it looks like a repeat of last week, middle of the week wet and seasonable, while Friday and the weekend look much colder than

average, but drying out....I HATE SPRING IN OHIO!  It really is, most years, a miserable time...winter is over, but the warm just doesn't want to make a permanent appearance.  This year, at least so far, worse, than most.

After getting finished at mom's I sat outback and listened to the Reds drop their 5th straight, after a great start to the season, injuries and a porous bullpen, has Cincy on the ropes, heading into tonight's lengthy homestand, beginning with Philly.  I walked inside and turned on the Masters....let it be known, I am no golf fan...probably because it is a sport I have never mastered...I just don't have the patience.  As far as watching it on the tube...yesterday was about it...the last four hole of the legendary Masters Tournament is about all I can do...watching so called "fans" mostly out of shape 40 year old jump men up and down and scream at the players, cheering and yelling like 12 year old girls at a Justin whatever the Hell is name is concert, is something I can just not figure out.  It's one thing to watch a sporting event and root, but golf fans who sit for hours watching other guys{and women} chase and slap a little white ball, is something I cannot figure out.....

Doesn't matter though, it was an great finish, with the young Aussie topping out the old veteran from Argentina in 2 playoff holes....I then showered and kicked back and watched one of the all time great movies, with Bogart, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"....A certified classic....then off to the sack.

This morning I actually made myself get up and do things I needed done...the two most important, setting up an eye appointment, something I have not had in 2 years or more...probably more like 4, and a call to the VA Hospital in Columbus, where I made an appointment for a physical.  That will begin the process of getting me off Patricia's insurance, when she retires, and keeping ahead of Medicare, which would come along next year, if I don't opt for the VA....the center in Columbus has been good for brother Mike, and most of the other folks I know who use it....so that is the plan for now.  Both the eye check and the VA check up are slated for late May.

So that was my excitement for the weekend past and early today....time to get ready for baseball...

back later>>>>

Photos-Old Poster of the "Treasure"...what is funny about this one...the photo of Walter Houston, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, is a photo of him about a dozen years younger, without his grizzled beard...he never appears like that in this film...he looked like he does in the bottom photo, throughout the movie....Bogart, Tim Holt, and Houston, were all outstanding in this classic.

{Almost} A Bittersweet Reunion...finding Carol "Yul" Marcelle

The miserable spate of weather for the past few days just isn't getting any better, and nothing on the near horizon appears to be going to change that fact..at least 3 to 4 inches in the past 40 hours, with more on the way for next week....and cold has moved in as well.  I can't really complain though, talking with my friend Jim up in Minot, North Dakota, this morning, he says it is 30 this morning with five to 8 inches of snow on the way....that we can do without!

Games have been cancelled for the past two nights, tonight's contest, at least here on the JV Diamond at Westview Park has probably a zero chance of being played....and tomorrow the varsity double header north at Wayne Trace is probably not going to happen either, just not enough sun, wind, or warm, to dry things out anytime soon.   Next week doesn't look all that good either....

A Bittersweet Reunion, of Sorts.....

When the Internet was getting into full swing, back in the late 1990s, I was working on my family genealogy probably 40 or 50 hours a week at the beginning{winter of 1998-99}, I worked hard core on that and finally penned a book on my family from my GGGG-Grandfather's{Jacob Hauswirth} arrival in America back in 1751...notes from the book and Genealogy findings surrounded around my GGG-Grandfather, Israel Houseworth and family, and can be found here:

http://israelhouseworth.blogspot.com/

Feel free to browse this blog, best to start from the beginning and work your way forward.....

Anyway I am getting off target/course/etc....while I was working on my genealogy and roots, I came across the VSPA{Vietnam Security Police Association}....I had pretty well ignored my four years in the Air Force and my year in Vietnam for nearly 30 years.   The VSPA Changed all that, and I joined, and immediately begin to find guys I was stationed with in Vietnam, especially my time at Nha Trang, the little base on the South China Sea.  It also gave me the opportunity to begin, along with other Internet Sources, to find guys I was stationed with elsewhere, and over the past 14 years.  Claflin, Gates, Bevan, Payan, Walsh, Dei, Howie

Prichard, and others have been found...sadly others have passed away.  I found Jack Friedl's wife, he had died tragically in 1992, managed to find my Nha Trang boss, Phil Lange for a few years, before he passed away, my old Basic Training TI, and fellow Sky Cop at Tan Son Nhut, Joe Prokop, had passed away in Wisconsin.  Others I still occasionally look for, Melvin Sloan, my supervisor at Nha Trang, guys from Tan Son Nhut, Dover, Griffiss, etc....as we get older, I realize many have passed on....I found one of those a few days ago, or at least he, in the form of his son, had found me.

I was checking my e-mail the other day, and as I was deleting the spam, smut, and repeated jokes, I came across this e-mail from a name I didn't at first recognize:

Hello Mr. Houseworth
I found your blog online while doing research, I'd like to talk to you
about someone
you mentioned and commented positively on from Griffiss. That was
Carol Marcelle of the 416th SPS
I'm his son Matthew, he died when I was 11 months old. I would really
love (want and need to) to talk to you. Please email me back and let
me know if you'd be willing and the best time to get ahold of you..
Thank you

Bingo! 

Carol Marcelle was 20 years my senior, a jovial black Staff Sgt with 20 years in the Air Force.  He was one of the Senior NCOs on our shift at Griffiss, AFB, NY, when I returned from Vietnam.   "Yul" as we called him, because of his shaved head, looking like a black version of Hollywood's Yul Brynner...today lot of folks have shaved heads, back then we guessed Marcelle's was natural.  He had returned from Germany with a wife and they had a few kids at the time...and Yul was one of the guys the Air Force pretty much screwed over....20 years and 4 stripes, while smart asses like me, who despised the Air Force and it's "Mission" had made NCO with 3 stripes...in 18 months.  What the Hell were they thinking?...."Mission, Mission, F**k The Mission"

Anyway Carol had gotten me and my main fellow traveler, Jack Friedl, out of many of tight spots....I won't go into most, but one time he went to bat for me, was not pleasant...and I'm sure he paid the price for it from the brass.  I had just came back from leave back in Ohio, and had not had a haircut in probably months....SAC frowned on Air Force Cops who refused to stay "Spit and Polished".  Jack and I were assigned to guard a B~52 going through a Nuclear Upload...Marcelle was our shift supervisor.  I was standing outside the "No Lone Zone" when a one star General came strolling up to me....

This asshole really wasn't interested in if the B~52 and Nukes were safe, he was more interested in me and my haircut, or lack of....with less than a year to go in the AF, I really didn't give a rat's ass whether this clown liked me or my haircut.  I had been pushing the envelope with the hardcore SAC Lifers for quite awhile, and this tin horn cowboy was right down my alley...I
showed no respect and didn't give any.  Anyway, Carol Marcelle, payed the price....Ol' Yul had to try to make excuses for my hair...I think his line was "Well Sir, Houseworth here, just got off 15 days of leave"...that didn't cut it with the General, so Yul had to take my place while I was relived to go get a haircut...lol, I did, but just a trim...I never saw that General again, and Carol Marcelle, never seemed to hold it against me...in truth I believe he had as little respect for the SAC and AF Brass,as I did.  He was indeed a great guy, and a true friend.


So, I was excited to see that one of Carol Marcelle's family had found me via this blog....but of course it was with a bittersweet note, he had passed away, many years ago it appears....hopefully young Matt will call me one of these days, soon and I can fill in the blanks on my late friend, Carol "Yul" Marcelle.

back later>>>

Photos-Carol "Yul" Marcelle's Air Force ID that his son Matthew sent me...The VSPA has helped me recall my time in the Air Force, both good and bad, and find friends, both still alive and those passed....The dreaded B~52, not my favorite work site/station....and here I am "Captain Hair"  It all seems funny and juvenile these days, but I wore it long, just to piss off as many of the brass ass as I could.

Going Rogue, Celina a City on the Brink...

Rogue....

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rogue


That's exactly what the city I call home, where I graduated from High School from 46 years ago, and the town my kids grew up in has become...it's not pretty, to say the least. 

But first a look at the weather....

After sun, clouds, wind, and warmth, all heavens opened up yesterday afternoon, and lasted into the early hours of this morning....by best guess, we got 3 inches of rain in a 12 hour period, the rivers are coming out of their banks and the Grand Lake Spillway is pouring into the Beaver Creek and will wind up in the mighty Wabash River....meanwhile to the east then flowing north, the overflow to the St. Marys River will wind it's way to Fort Wayne's Three Rivers and eventually to Lake Erie....sometimes I wonder why in the Hell I moved back to Ohio?  Of 365 days each year, you can probably county on your fingers and toes the days you call "Good Weather".  It's either too cold, too wet, too humid, too windy,or too damn hot to enjoy or a nasty combination....the few good days

usually come in May, June and maybe late September or early October....No Sir, Ohio is not a great place weather wise...not the coldest nor the hottest, or having the most wet or snow days, but the nice days are few and far between most years.

Needless to say my game at Lima was rained/stormed out yesterday, and I'm 99.9% sure today's at Antwerp will be also...tomorrow at Westview here in Celina is  looking iffy, and the double header at Wayne Trace for a Varsity Saturday looks cold and windy, even if the fields dry off...which is doubtful.  Next week looks wet again....this is going to be one of those springs, where the cancellations equal the games played....maybe worse than that, taking a look at the future forecast.



Celina, Ohio...What the Hell has gone wrong?

Not more than a decade ago, my town of Celina was named in a book as one of the "One of the 100 Best Small Towns in America"  .  The locals were kind of amused, but we believe it more or less....these days, nobody in their right mind would agree with that statement.

The town has let it's streets and alley repairs go to Hell, a new administration has picked up where the old one left off...buy up any building that is vacant or a local business wants to dump and then claim to the citizens and taxpayers that "It's a Great Deal".  The latest being a bank building on Main Street that the local bank wanted to unload, so the city agrees to unload $2 million to buy up this "great deal" and turn it into a City Hall....because of course the old stone one, built back in 1898 or so, just ain't good or big enough...forget the streets and the outlaw police department in disarray...we gotta have some new digs.

Yesterday was a shinning example of what the Hell has gone wrong in "Pleasntville, Ohio".....

One of my best friends and I were moving some furniture and talking about his dimwit of a youngest daughter, who at 23, along with her outlaw boyfriend, were among 12 of the newly arrested fools in Celina....they were charged with dealing and possession of Heroin...seems this is the drug of choice, along with Meth, for the white punks on dope crowd in Celina and the surrounding bergs....anyway, he was bummed, but agreed that he was not going to "pony up" the money to pay the 10% of her $50,000 bail.  Pot, booze, and a few minor drugs were the things that were swapped around Celina when I got out of the Air Force...but nothing like the crap these days, where kids of friends, and kids I coached are getting busted left and right...the problems of inner city America have come to the small towns....The America of Obama and the Clinton's has spread it's ugly face to Middle America.

Rogue Cops....or just a screw up?

As we drove back into Celina, we noticed a crowd of people and other cars "rubber necking" at the goings on at a small used car lot on Market Street....Cops, Yellow Tape, Rescue Squads, etc...we knew this was no ordinary traffic accident.....turns out, it wasn't!

Our local Police Department, earlier this year, had it's rogue chief suspended, with pay of course, for activity unbecoming a Chief of Police...the guy has been a joke and an
 

embarrassment since he was appointed 20 years ago....unqualified, except in the eyes of the Civil Service, he should not have been promoted/appointed....to this day, he remains on the payroll and off duty.

At the same time this fool was suspended, a 12 year veteran officer was suspended as well...his was for "Unusual Behavior"...it appears that he was  reinstated, something that was not published in the local rag....or if it was, it was buried deep.  That is where yesterday's "incident' comes into play:

http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/Police-Action-Shooting-In-Celina-Under-Investigation-202385281.html

So here we have it...a cop with "issues" of a psychological nature, is sent out to handle a guy waving a gun around and a guy ends up dead....nice move Celina PD....nice f**king move!

You can smell the lawsuit coming...and you know who is going to pay for it...?  The Taxpayers of Celina....

Heads need to roll....from the top on down.  I'll probably be pissing off more than a few of my "Friends" on facebook and on this blog for my views on this...but so be it!  "We Have a Problem Celina"  and somebody better get their heads out of their collective asses....this town is heading for Hell in a Hand Basket....and somebody with some leadership sense better figure it out...pronto!

back later>>>

Photos-Celina City of >>>>>>??? Who the Hell knows these days?  The Hail came late yesterday afternoon, this pile was next to my garage door, just before dark.  The Spillway from Grand Lake if Flowing...and the quite streets of Celina are not looking so good these days.

Pictorial of a Baseball Game

 

Yesterday was the first game that we got in, where jackets and in some cases total winter gear and wear were not needed...of course even though it was in the mid to upper 60s by the game's beginning, it was still cloudy and windy, so not all together that great for baseball...today they are still calling for storms, although most are north of Ohio in Michigan and Wisconsin at this hour...tomorrow looks wet, and Thursday looks downright nasty, with cooler temps and a 100% chance of rain and storms.

Yesterday Garry and I worked our 3rd game together of the young season, we have another dozen of these partnerships to go which saves us gas money at the least....it was his turn to drive and work the plate, so he picked me up before 4pm and we were on our way to Van Wert...the town where we both were born many years ago...me more many than him....

We arrived in plenty of time, decided to wear short sleeves and headed to the diamond at Smiley Park, on Van Wert's west side...going through the pre~game we got to talking to area photographer Pat Agler, who I played Dartball against for a few years....he is a freelance photo guy and does great work...many of his photos of me, including football and baseball close~ups have been posted on this blog...today shots are from his collection at:

pantherzden.com

Pat let's me download them for personal use.....and I want to give him credit for that before I go farther....

The Game....

Visiting Parkway {located in Rockford, Ohio} jumped out on top 4-0 in the 3rd inning, before the hometown Cougars battled back with 6 runs to take a lead....a couple of more scoring innings left the score at 7-5 Van Wert as we entered the top of the final inning, the 7th...a couple of close calls, a collusion at first base, resulting in an out, and the Panthers had forged a 8-7 lead as Van Wert took the bats out for the bottom of the 7th...loading the bases with just one out, Parkway's pitcher go a foul pop and a fly ball to center to end things, with the visitors coming out on top by that final 8-7 score.  A rather long 2 1/2 hours game, but entertaining none~the~less.

Tonight, if the rains hold off, I meet up with my old buddy from Rockford, Jimmy R...up north at Ottoville...I think it's his turn to take the plate as well, but will drag my gear along, just in case I'm wrong.  Tomorrow at Lima Central Catholic and Thursday back with Garry at Antwerp in a Green Meadows Conference game....those are both very "Iffy" at the point due to the weather....Mother Nature will make that decision.  Friday, one of my rare weekday JV games back here in Celina, then Saturday north at Haviland Wayne Trace for a Varsity Double Header....the temperatures look cold by dry for the weekend.

back later>>>>

Photos-Pat Agler's photos...he took some 160 yesterday and has them posted on his site at:

pantherzden.com/

Top is my mug...big frown, not from the game, but more likely fighting the wind and dust from the diamond in my face...second is Garry{L} and me discussing the pre~game plan, or laughing about somebody messing up during infield practice...and bottom is me in the "C" position as the Parkway hurlers delivers to the plate and the Van Wert runner takes off from second.  And Bottom is me in the "C" again{in the shortstops way between second and third base}....

Weekend Wind...Plains Blizzard

I got 3 baseball games in, one on Friday, and a double header on Saturday....Saturday's JV Games(I have 4 total JV contests for the year scheduled, as opposed to 40 Varsity) at Celina were a lesson in contrasts.  My much younger partner, the son of a veteran umpire took the plate in the first game on the artificial turf...at the games outset, with the wind blowing off Grand Lake the temperature was about 48 degrees, even though they were calling for a high near 65...you could have fooled everybody in attendance, as the fans were wrapped in blankets and dressed for winter weather...on the basepaths it never warmed up....but the time we finished, just after 2pm, my Nitro still read 48.  Where the Hell is the warm?  So I dressed for the second game of the twin bill with jacket on over my gear...It seemed like the thing to do, but by the time we hit the 2nd inning, the predicted warm weather  finally hit, and I sweated my way through the contest, eventually ending about 4:15.  The Celina JV team, after losing 12-6 in the opener, came back, scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th in the nightcap, winning 8-7 for a split of the games.  

Arriving home, the wind and cold had wore me out....I had a couple of Miller Lites, watched the Louisville/Wichita State Game in the NCAA Semi Finals...a close game with favorite Louisville pulling it out late, in come~from~behind fashion.  I was bushed, and didn't bother watching the second game between Michigan and Syracuse.  Frankly I despise Michigan and wasn't interested in watching them win or lose, they won, and play Louisville tonight for the title...the game starts at 9:30 eastern, and I won't be watching that one either...give my preference I hope Louisville wins, but really I don't care.  My teams, Duke and Ohio State lost last weekend, and really why watch something that you can only root for one team to lose...?  Really, if that is not a waste of time, what is?  As much as I enjoyed watching the early rounds of  "March Madness"...I don't have the stomach to watch scUM{aka: University of Michigan} hoist a trophy....Go Louisville!

Sunday, Patricia, Anissa, and I, headed over to mom's and cleared the yard of stick, and broken limbs from her trees...that took an hour, and wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...honestly my wife did most of the work, so of course I wasn't complaining of the chore....

I hit the sack early again last night...perhaps too many beers, old age, wind, sun, etc....or a likely combination of all of those listed...I was however up before dawn, hoping perhaps I could get some sunrise photos taken at the lake...no such luck.  I saw some red skies, and jumped in the Dodge and headed to the West Bank Road...but those red lines were quickly fading into the clouds, and I only got 2 photos...one was blurred, the other, take from the car is what you see on the top of today's post.

MRSI Board Meeting, which I forget, was on today's agenda...our secretary called once I didn't show, reminding me...and they needed me for a quorum, I jumped in the Nitro and was at the office within 5 minutes....another chore done, another that took about an hour.

The 70% of storms has missed us, for now, and Garry and my game at Van Wert, with visiting

Parkway is still on as I type this at 2:20pm....if we get the game played, it might be the last for the remainder of the work week....as the forecast only gets more grim....of course looking west, I see western Nebraska is slated to get 18 to 24 inches of snow before Wednesday dawns...so who am I to complain....that amount of snow, outside the Rockies is rare indeed this later in the season.

So, rain or shine, storms or not, the new week has begun...back later>>>

Scavenger Hunt!

Yesterday was the beginning of the weather "turn around"...still not near normal for early April, but the wind had died down and the sun was shining...with no game to work{one of only 3 days, besides Sundays in April} it was a good day to clean out the basement and garage of all the unwanted "stuff" and junk for this Saturday and the first of four pick up days the city sets aside in April.  Living on the far west portion of the City of Celina, we have the first Saturday in April as our day...usually the coldest of the pick up days and sometimes, more often than not, a wet one as well....you have a 72 hour window to package up your unwanted stuff and place it beside the curb for pick~up on early Saturday.

So yesterday I took about 3 1/2 hours, beginning at 11am to get it done...beginning in the basement and finishing in the garage, I had a nice collection of "stuff" to get rid of...and trust me, once you place the material out, like Radar, the Scavengers are on it like stink on a skunk....rooting through your nice neat pile, and turning it into rubble....note photo.

I tried to keep the appliances and other items, metal, etc separate, because the roving scavengers will pick that stuff up, never to see the landfill....sadly, even though I tried to tell them, "The stuff in the cardboard boxes is useless junk", they seldom listen, and as soon as I head back to the house, they rip through that as well....resulting in a mess.  At least it appears dry until the junk gets picked up on Saturday morning....and I still have more to toss, and I'm sure more scavengers will roam and pick through that.  There is a law on the books, totally ignored by city officials and the scavengers themselves that prohibits the practice....but alas!

I don't begrudge people taking the stuff, Hell I put out a couple of bikes, one that had been tossed in yard a decade ago and I hung it on the garage wall waiting for someone to claim it...never happened.  The other was the wife's Huffy Tandem, some 20 years old...Patricia wanted to trade it in for a new one...but looking at it yesterday, I decided to give it the toss...both were gone before I set the second one out...some young guy in a pick~up stopped and asked if he could have them...."Hell Yes" I said, and I helped him load them in his truck....I knew they wouldn't last....I still have some larger items that need to go, and will take care of them today and tomorrow, as time allows.

Once done with the junk thing, I headed up and grabbed me a nice cigar...an Acid "Blondie" Torpedo, and a six pack of dark beer, a variety mix...I settled down in the back yard sun in my lawn chair and
smoked and drank the afternoon away....That was my first Cigar since last October...and I've gotta tell you, I enjoyed the Hell out of it!!!

The Week That Remains and Beyond...

It appears it will remain dry, at least until Sunday and be somewhat warmer, 50s and maybe 60s by the weekend, before turning wet next week and colder by the end of next week...April!  What can you say?  At least I should get my games in, a varsity contest at Delphos tonight, another with Garry at Fort Recovery tomorrow, then a JV doubleheader here in Celina for Saturday at Noon...after that, it appears to be a crap shoot at this time.  Rain may play havoc, then again, when are the forecasters 100% correct?

Tomorrow morning I get up early and head for the Lima area to see the Cardio Docs and have the ultrasound readings "read" to me from the first year check up since my Carotid Artery Surgery last March...frankly I'm not too concerned, hopefully it's looking good, but if not, I will have to deal with it in my own way and with my own terms...after all, it's my life and my neck....only I can decide what, if anything I

would do if the results are somehow not what they should be....

Got some errands to run, bills to pay, etc....then more junk and baseball...Back Later>>>

Photos-My nice pile of "Junk" didn't look so nice after the scavengers got done with it...and only about half the stuff I put out was left..."One Man's Junk" as they say, is another's treasure....The best part of the day was sitting with "Blondie" and a nice dark ale...and tomorrow I will find out what has happened to my Carotid area since I had the stint put in 13 months or so ago....I really don't feel like going back through that again, frankly I've never felt completely back to normal since.

And the Hawk Blows....and Changes come with that.

After getting in a cold and windy game in at Delphos last night...today's encounter at Spencerville was cancelled, the AD there called me and said it was just too cold, and sadly I agreed...it would not have been fun.  So after going 0 for 7 in scrimmages, I am 2 out of 3 in regular season games, off tomorrow, then games on Thursday, back at Delphos Jefferson in a game with town rival St Johns, Friday Garry and I are at Fort Recovery, and Saturday I stick around Celina for a JV double header...those game look, at least at this point, to be played in warmer weather...at least 50 and maybe near 60 by Saturday...not great, but better than the 40 with a 25 chill factor that we faced last night and would have today.  Rain is in the forecast for next week, but we will play it one game at a time.

For those that are regular readers of this blog, you may have noticed my posting is down to 3 or so per week, and it is mostly nothing more than a daily diary these days....

I have been at this nearly 6 years not, and frankly have been doing it(almost 1500 blog posts) much longer than I thought...for now, I will keep it going, just not in the way I have in the past...I have noticed that this last month, March, after seeing my biggest hits and page views the previous March, was down considerably.  It seems to me that "Blogging" and reading same is a somewhat dying art...there are just way too many out there...and even I, after getting out of the habit of reading those people I originally connected, don't stop by a lot of them these days....Mushy, Buck, Fat Hairy Shrinky for the English Isles, Lin from the sticks of New Mexico, Bruno, and the late Sarge Charlie, were some of my favorites...most of those either have stopped completely or only do so on a limited basis...others have moved on to facebook, twitter, and other social media, and sadly some, like my Vietnam friend Sarge, have passed on.

Bastard, Jerry from Indiana,

As for me, I don't write as much about politics..why bother?  With still 50% of the people supporting that Marxist Bastard in the White House, you know you will not change their minds...they have been sucked into the "system" of the free loaders and nanny state...there is no turning back....so I will continue to post photos, when I get some good ones, stories, talk sports, maybe a bit of politics, and hopefully stories of my travels, when I get a chance, like the proposed Boundary Water revisit this July.

If you are interested in my past life and stories of growing up in Florida, my Air Force and Vietnam Days, Genealogy etc, you can simply click the links to past years and months, and there they will be...so for now, I'm not going anywhere, but the stuff, for the most part will be from my day to day activities...and trust me folks, the wanderings and jotting downs of a 64 year old semi~retired white guy, are not the stuff of Hemingway.

back later>>>>

Out with Roundball in with Baseball....

The Easter Weekend ended up being mostly sunny, despite a brief shot of rain both early Sunday morning, and for a few minutes last night, as Mother Nature welcomed another shot of colder air...the weekend itself was near normal temperature wise with plenty of sun.

Garry and I opened up the regular baseball season Saturday morning with a single game at St. Marys vs Bellefontaine beginning at 11am...he did the plate, and there were no arguments or even close calls during the two hour game, a win 9-0 for the visitors...after getting Zero games in during the scrimmage season, it's always good to knock the rust off...it will be 15 degrees colder with some north winds tonight as I take the position behind the dish for the Kalida and Delphos Jefferson game tonight at Delphos.  Despite some colder weather for the early week, it appears we will get most if not all games in....next week?  Not so likely, that looks wet, but we will take it one game at a time....and one week at a time.  On Friday morning I am scheduled for a check~up and reading of my Carotid Artery yearly check, some 12 1/2 months after last years surgery.

Yesterday we had a small get together here, sister Marty, brother-in-law Pat,  all three of the daughters and the two Grand kids, stopped by for a few hours, along with Anissa, Hal, daughter-in-law Lisa, and Grandson Kasyn...we ate well, watch the grand kids play, both indoors and out, and watched as both Duke and Florida were dumped from the NCAA Tournament....joining Ohio State and Marquette on the sidelines....hated Michigan, Louisville, Syracuse, and upstart Wichita State, will battle next week for the title.  With my teams, Duke and OSU out, and my brackets busted, I
have no reason to find much interest in the tourney...but will root for the Wichita/Louisville winner to take it all....

Hal and family left about 7, Anissa was picked up at 8....and we settled in for the night...I watched the end of a Hockey game between the Blue Jackets and the Ducks, a Columbus win...while Patricia took in the last segment of the History Channel Mini Series "The Bible"...I will catch that remainder of that well produced series later in the week, as it will be re~played a few times this week.

Today, a day off from school for the wife, and she is back Centerville watching the Grandson....I'm sure she would do that full time if she could....and if she decides to retire after this school year, I'm sure she will be wanting to see more of him.

Later today the Cincinnati Reds will kick off the season with their annual Opening Day....the old tradition of the Reds having the National League opener all to themselves is long gone...but they still get "Opening Day" at home...this year the first ever Inter~League Opener as the take on the Los Angeles {nee'} Anaheim Angles...I should be able to catch the last couple inning, at least on radio, after my game at Delphos.

back later>>>>