The 1978 "Blizzard of the Century"

 

While the Bengals are back in Kansas City for another AFC Title game vs the Chiefs...we, unlike last year, will opt out of this one...KC is a nice visit, it was great weather and good food and of course the Bengals won...hopefully the same outcome and perhaps a Super Bowl win this time, but that is far from certain...hard enough to beat a good team 2 or 3 times in a row, this would be 4 should the Bengals prevail.

Go Bengals...Who Dey? 

The Blizzard of 78...My Short Story as posted on one of my Motorcycle sites...

Hard to believe it's been 45 years ago this week the Blizzard that crushed the Midwest and New England was kicking ass...wife and I were living in Northern Wisconsin, a dozen or so miles north of Wausau, out in the sticks...while we didn't get the amount of snow that Ohio, Indiana, and much of New England received, the winds made sure what we got was blowing around drifting and piling up. My very pregnant wife was working in Wausau and had opted not to drive that morning to Wausau South Hospital where she was a social worker, I was a DJ a few miles north at WJMT Radio in Merrill, but had the day off. When it was time to pick the wife up I, and the 2 Airedales, left early to see the scenery and drive the remote back roads to Wausau.

A few miles into the drive, I turned and DAMN here was some fool sitting right in the middle of the road...I swerved to avoid him[you couldn't see shit from the blowing and falling snow}and ended up with all 4 wheels off the road in a snow bank...that damn Cherokee would go thru more stuff than the Wranglers I have owned since, loved that thing...but nothing goes when all 4 wheels are off the ground. Turns out the damn fool in the middle of the road was a "roadman" for the school district and was out checking roads, I told him I was stuck, and he looks at me with a blank stare...and as I walked back to the Jeep, the son of a bitch backs up and takes off...leaving me, the Dogs, and the Cherokee stuck...MFer if I could have caught the SOB I would likely have beaten him to black and blue...

What to do, I didn't know much about the road and area I was stuck in, having just moved to the area the year before, but I knew there was a farm house about a mile back and that I was screwed if I didn't get help...so off I jog, leaving the dogs in the Jeep ... I arrived at the farm about half hour or so later...talked with Mr and Mrs Farmer...he had an old Allis Chambers tractor that he said was a power pulling machine...he fired it up, I jumped on the back and down the road we went...the snow blowing in my face {no cab on this puppy} felt like needles in my face...but arrive we did. We hooked up the chain to my rear under carriage and it took only a few seconds to pull me out...Thank God for good hearted Farmers...I offered him $20 it was all I had on me, he just laughed and said, "Do me a favor sometime"{ ... and we went our separate ways...

Me and the pups continued on into Wausau with a story to tell the wife and to repeat for the rest of my days...

Photos from Western Ohio that were in our local rag at the time...I remember mom telling me they couldn't get to the store for 3 days, even in town, while it wasn't as bad in the Northwoods, it did leave me with that story to tell

Top Photo is along I-70 not far from Indianapolis while ...bottom 3 from our local newspaper and the area around and south of Grand Lake...

2023 Looking Forward...

Looking Ahead to 2023...

Here we are almost 2 weeks into the new year...so far I've already taken in a Bengals game vs the Ravens in Cincinnati last Sunday with youngest son who has season tickets...the previous Monday, they, Hal and his Wife, took the managers of their business and some of the spouses to the Bills at Bengals game, they had a full enclosed suite with all the trimmings for a fee somewhere north of $10,000, far north to be exact, turned out to be for about 10 minutes of action, as the Bills defensive back dropped to the turf after a tackle...they will be reimbursed but still what a bummer.  I won't rehash the story, because I'm sure you have seen and read what happen...thankfully, although he will never play football again, it appears that Hamlin will survive his brush with death...

Unlike others I will not say this was from the "Jab", but who really knows at this point? 

What's in store? ... 

Nearing 74 years old, with what the VA says in Agent Orange related D2 along with accompanying Neuropathy, I have to admit, compared to most my age, I feel pretty damn lucky, and still am far more active than most...I, God willing, will turn 74 on March 16th.

January 28th I will head back to Dayton and the Air Force Museum, but this time with son and at least one of the grandsons, to take in the Red's Caravan, where several players and coaches talk and sign autographs...back in the 80s and early 90s I attended the Reds Media Caravan on many occasions, interviewing many of the Reds and having a beer or two with others, including the recently passed Tom Browning and the Hit King, Pete Rose...

My riding and 50+ year comrade, Nick had planned on a Pick Up ride to Florida, hauling the TW Dual Sports down to ride...looks like late January plan has been shitcanned for now, I my go solo in May, but time will tell, meanwhile Nick and I are now looking at a Summer or late Spring run to the Black Hills Area...depending on fuel costs, health, and time...neither one of us is getting any younger...

Wife officially retires today from nearly 40 years of teaching, the last 8 1/2 doing mostly on line teaching, giving her a second income to invest...of course with the Demented Fool, Joe Biden, in charge{we know the SOB isn't really in charge, he's just a sock puppet for his Kenyan Born Master, Obammy and likely George Soros} who knows if any of us will have anything left to invest by year's end? But her 2nd teaching retirement as of now looks good for our future...especially with having every thing paid off and what I bring in from my retirement and other incomes...

The spring and summer will likely see us take a couple of short 3 to 4 day vacations, and she will likely take a 2 week outing to Wisconsin to visit with her family...PRH will stay at home watching the critters and house for that one...we will also see the 2 older boys and their sports, and I plan on taking the oldest grandson, now 11, to a Space Camp in Alabama for a week...giving me the chance to visit with some old friends down that way, who have moved from Ohio to warmer climate...

As I mentioned in the last post, this year's Dayton Vietnam "Sky Cop" Reunion will be shorter, with less activity, and likely the last of these which started in 2007 with 5 of us {2 now passed} on a cold February afternoon at the Museum for Coffee and grew in numbers to near 100 by 2019...I will likely attend the June and September Reunions in Kokomo but won't spend as much time as the old days for sure...those to have changed over the years, and are just not the same...

After September, it's to far in the future to worry or even contemplate what will be forthcoming in the year 2023...I hope to stick around and find out though. 

back later>>> 

Photos:{1} View from son's season ticket seats at Bengals game last Sunday {1-8-2023}, {2} Me and the late, great, Tom Browning, from the 1989 Reds Media  Caravan, {3} Middle Grandson, Kam, at Reds Fest in December, showing off his pitching style for a couple of Reds starting pitchers, {4} Dayton Sky Cop Reunion 2016, this spring will see the 15th and probably last of those...and bottom, Yes, Joe Biden is one Anti American Asshole...

Looking Back 2022, Look forward 2023...

 

2022?  Less Blog Posts than 2021 but a few more than 2019 or 2020...nothing approaching the Glory days of Blogging, when I posted/penned more than 265 stories back in 2008, the first full year of this ... the first 5 years in fact were busy, I often wonder how is it that I even took the time to do that stuff, but I was newly retired and had some time on my hands...what will 2023 bring?  I suspect somewhere between 15 and 25 posts depending on how the again brain and fingers feel.

2022...

My mom passed away in mid January, the 19th to be exact, in Naples, Florida, mentally in good shape right up until the stroke two day prior, she passed peacefully at 97 years 9 months and 5 days...a long and good life indeed.  I had been to Florida the previous October {2021} so I got to see her one more time, and talked to her with my wife and middle grandson, just 2 days before the stroke.  We would hold a celebration of life, drinks and food included, in June, about 150 family and friends showed up...it was a grand time to celebrate her life.

Youngest son Hal and I got a chance to see the Cincinnati Bengals play and win the AFC Championship game in Kansas City...after years of misery, the Bengals finally made the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989...the close last minute lost to the Rams did little to dampen what was a great comeback season.

The rest of the winter was kind of a blur...winter when I was young I didn't mind, I knew how to Snow Ski and keep myself busy...now days in my 70s {74 this coming March}, I despise the long months and short daylight days of winter.  Youngest Grandson turned 1 on my and his birthday March 16th.

With Spring came our first Vietnam "Sky Cops" reunion since the phony COVID Bullshit and lies began, we held the 2022 version, first since 2019 at the Hope Hotel on Wright Patterson AFB and the Air Force Museum the last weekend in April...it went "OK" but I realized that old farts don't drink or stay up late, except for a few of us, like me...I have decided {with very little help for this year} to scale this year's back and likely end the practice...to many folks have passed and to many are aging not so well.

Got to see the two older grandsons do well in their sports throughout the Spring and Summer...Kasyn was a top notch soccer player in both seasons, and had an excellent summer swim season as well.   The middle grandson, Kam, came in first in his age group at the Cincinnati Red's camp in Centerville, thus qualifying for the "Top 10" competition at Great American Ballpark after the Reds vs Brewers game in late September...he also had a great swimming season.   Their combination Home Schooling and Christian Schooling is serving them well...in athletics and academics.

Patricia and I took a quick vacation to Brown County, Indiana, after missing the cabin getaway in 2021...this was in early August...that came in~between Vietnam Reunion visits to Howard County in both early June and mid September...those, like the Dayton Reunion, are not what they once were...sadly.

No Florida trips or Rick Pearson Pond Visits this year either...but the fall was fairly busy..

In early October we headed to Wisconsin for a couple of days, and wife's step mom celebrated her 90th birthday, then a few weeks later I soloed it to the Chicago Bergs and stayed with oldest son Sam for a weekend as we took in the Ohio State at Northwestern game...The Buckeyes won, but not by much over a weak Wildcat squad ...foretelling what was to come, as a loss to Michigan was followed by a 1 point lost to eventual National Champion team, Georgia, on the final night of 2022.

That was 2022 in a quick look nutshell...

2023 will come up in the next post...Stay tuned...