___prh...a day in the life....

My "Back" Pages

2012-01-27T11:06:00.000-05:00

Bob Dylan wrote, but The Byrds performed the best version of this song from "The Sixties" that hits home in a lot of ways:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FUGzwUTN80

The{my} Back____

However, the back I'm talking about this morning is the one where my spine is situated....

"Soft Chair, Hard Chair, Standing, Walking, laying down"...which seems to be the best for my aching lower back? So far either laying down or walking seems to be the best, although none are great. I worked the girls middle school double header last night on the old hard wood floor at the Junior High in Celina...both games were close, with the teams Celina and Marion Local splitting the games, the host Bulldogs winning the 7th grade contest, and the visiting Flyers taking the 8th grade game by 2 points....the teams with the best record lost both games.

When done, I was scheduled to head to Van Wert for an informal baseball meeting with our association, however the fog had rolled in, and with the back issues, I opted to skip that and head for home....where after a hot shower, I sat for the remainder of the evening, sipping on a couple of dark stout beers...after a decent, but still painful at times, nights sleep, I awoke to more back pain...and frankly wasn't sure if I could work the JV game at Spencerville tonight, or the double at Wayne Trace Junior High tomorrow morning. After dressing and heading out to feed the birds and back yard Squirrels, things seemed to be loosening up, but the pain is still with me....the longer I set, the more pain I have.

Now mind you this is not in the same ballpark as the back problems some 4 years ago, or those 20+ years, not even close....but the longer it goes, the more cause for concern there is....fortunately I only have 3 nights of basketball next week, and will put on hold any weight lifting sessions for a week or so, to allow some healing time. I have had a few set backs over the past 4 years since the epidural in December 2007, with this one the worst of those so far. Being as active as I am, and like to be, as I near my 63rd birthday in March....I can say, I'm not happy about this...at all!

So....I have some projects and other things to get done this morning and early afternoon....most likely will try to work the games tonight and tomorrow, then rest up as best I can over the weekend....with no game on Monday hopefully the issue of back pain will be once again in my rear view mirror.

enjoy the weekend...

back later>>>>

Gloomy Weather....and the back feels it

2012-01-26T10:26:00.000-05:00

The winter, while mild compared to last year, and most others in recent memory, is still a bit "uncomfortable" to say the least....the past 24 hours is no exception. Yesterday, while the temperature hovered around the freezing mark, I ventured out to the back yard to give the freeloading Sparrows and Squirrels their daily ration of seed and corn, at that time I noted, while not cold temperature-wise, the dampness of the morning went right through to your bones and inner body. I also noted that for the first time in quite awhile, my back felt it as well.

Perhaps a combination of weather, and wear and tear from the area basketball courts, but none-the-less, I felt a noticeable soreness in the lower back...and that is never a good sign, as many of you who have visited this blog since it's early days of 2007 know.

Shortly after starting this "daily rant" that Summer, I came up with a sever back problem that fall football season. I had, for the most part, given up my other retirement gig of driving RVs across the country, and was settled in with good part time, post retirement, employment. Officiating football as well as my usual baseball work, I had began driving to Greenville two or three times a week to do inventory for a company that supplied manufactured cardboard and boxes to the Honda affiliate down that way...the extra money was welcome, the walking was beneficial, and the hourly salary for waking, counting, and doing some computer math work, was excellent. Anyway, about the same time, for some unknown reason, my back went "out".

Having two major motorcycle wrecks, one in 1975 and another in 1987, I am no stranger to back problems...this one however had my previous ones, one which lasted for about 5 years, beat all to Hell....it became almost unbearable. From October of 2007 until just before Christmas, when I went to Fort Wayne Orthopedics, I staggered up and down the football fields in major pain, and when home, I couldn't drink enough beer to ease the torment. After a bout of high blood pressure set my procedure back, they finally set a date for an epidural the week before Christmas...once done, the back slowly improved, and by the time baseball season rolled around in late March, I was once again able to live a somewhat normal life.

Over the past four years I have had some setbacks, but with the BP down and weight the same, they have been more mild and shorter in length.....hopefully this setback with be likewise.

Back to the Weird Weather_____

I have the Nitro this morning, taking it uptown in the next hour for an oil change...something that I was going to get done, but was sidetracked the day before the appointment, but the wreck in Van Wert. So Patricia took the van, and I will have the SUV for the day, and tonight for the baseball meeting at Van Wert. Before that trip however, I am back at Celina Middle School for a girls basketball double header...games at Spencerville tomorrow, and a rescheduled boys junior high tournament at Wayne Trace on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile the weather, which was supposed to be the major subject this morning anyway, continues to be strange. The mixture of rain and snow started before dark yesterday, and continued through the night...finally changing to all rain before sunrise, well what sunrise, you could not tell by looking out the windows? Most schools were delayed an hour or two, but not St Henry, so Patrica drove the van before daylight to her location. The rest of the month looks to be normal or above temperature wise.....with no major storms on the horizon, but of course that can change...Mother Nature doesn't read the Weather Channel forecasts, it seems.

Football Changes_____

Over the past 6 or 7 years I have worked 40 or so football games per season, and usually a handful are varsity, filling in on crews from around the area....I was not really interested in being on a set schedule for Friday nights. It appears that will change this coming fall.

One of the crews from our association was changing a couple of members out, and inquired if this old man would be willing to join them....since they have a set schedule, and I would be working the same position each week, I agreed...with the provision, that I will be 63 years old come March, and that I would work with the crew one year/season at a time...not wanting to commit myself or them, if the aging back and legs cannot keep up.

Speaking of age, you would not believe the average age of Varsity Football Officials in Ohio, last I looked the crew members around the state average age was 56! As I mentioned before on this site, the one crew I filled in for on 3 occasions last season was in total, with me as head linesman, 282 years old, and that included a 27 year old line judge....this new permanent crew will be much younger, with me being the "old man" at 63.

Enough rambling...time to take the Nitro out and head uptown....

back later>>>>

Photos-The Nitro, shown here last Spring, now looks better than even then, thanks to the repairs, following the early winter icy wreck...back problems, off and on, have been a part of my life for over 35 years...I do not want to undergo another epidural, let alone surgery, so I will do what I can to rest it, when I can....and football officiating changes are in my future, but first there is basketball to finish, and baseball season looms ahead, so I won't be getting ahead of myself.

"Running On Empty"....another Vietnam Reunion beckons

2012-01-25T11:53:00.001-05:00

"Running On Empty"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJYRtOPUonA

And the "Summer of 69"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f06QZCVUHg

The songs above are two of my favorites...great beats and lyrics....not a big fan of Jackson Browne and his left wing politics to say the least, but I always try to separate the actor or musician from their politics, if they are good....if they suck, then I'm not going to watch or listen to them anyway, and for sure won't spend a dime to buy or watch their products.

One of the reason I like both of these songs is they take me back to my days when the future, while not clear or defined, was definitely ahead of me...if I could manage to survive what lay ahead. Also the year 1969 was prominent in both....that was the year I went to Vietnam, and like no other, the pre Vietnam tour and the post Vietnam days were the dividing line in my life. No, not because I had some soul revival, or saw the world differently, but because I was 20 years old....and like Bryan Adams and Browne, the world was coming into focus, and what I believed in was slowly but surely in my forward looking view....both politically and socially...it would take a few more years of raising Hell, but at least by this time I was understanding what I thought life was all about.

Another Vietnam Reunion______

The past couple of years have seen more and more get togethers with fellow Vietnam Veterans, not only those Sky Cops from my Air Force Vietnam Days, but grunts, ground pounders, and squids, from those days as well, guys I have met at the past couple of Kokomo Reunions...

As I have stated on here many times in the past 4 and 1/2 years of postings...I was not a gung ho type military guy....I despised the Air Force and it's rules, regulations, as well as the spit and polish of the Security Police field...which is why I was much better off working Security as opposed to Law Enforcement, they could hide me there, and I could lay much lower in the boondocks frequented by Security than I could ever do in LE. This makes it all the more strange that my favorite time in the Air Force was the 6 month stint working Law Enforcement, daylight shift to boot, at Nha Trang, RVN. I was lucky enough to have a solid NCOIC, the late Phil Lange, and a good shift boss in Staff Sgt Melvin Sloan...they kept me out of the brass asses way, and allowed me to live my life and work within the rules laid down, without giving much in return.

Once I headed south to Tan Son Nhut....I was once again in Security, but at night, working 8pm to 6am....I could pretty much hide, whether it be in the bunkers, flightlines, towers, or the beverage and food patrol I ran with Blue Flight the last 3 months of my tour there...when I was discharged at Griffiss AFB in upstate New York in May 1972, I am not sure who was happier...me or the AF brass who were more than happy to see my leave, Buck sargent stripes and all....May 5, 1972, the day I walked out of the gate, was, to that point, the happiest day of my life.

Times change however, and now, some 40 years and more later...I embrace the time I spent in service...no, it doesn't make me wax nostalgic and want to live those days again...I still hate the military life and rules, but I have gained a greater appreciation for those of us, most who would not have joined, if not for the draft coming after us. It is with that in mind, I really enjoy, and I believe Patrica does as well, these get togethers we have.....with another one coming up in Dayton.

March 9th through 11th_____Hope Hotel

Just 5 months out from our VSPA Reunion in Dayton, which attracted some 200 or more guests, I am in the process of setting up another "Mini" Reunion back at Dayton and Wright-Patterson. We last met two years ago at the Hope Hotel on base, after skipping a year because of the main reunion in Dayton last fall. We have decided to toss another party this March. How many will show, I do not know....but Patricia and I, along with at least Sam and Ruth Lewis from Virginia, and Doug Davis from Michigan will be there, as will others I am sure....once again we will down a few cold ones, break some bread, and let the BS fly. As our numbers dwindle, these meetings become all the more important, before we all have faded away.

back later>>>>

Photos-The Defender Fortis Statue at the Air Force Museum is our usual meeting, greeting, and photo shooting stop at each of our Dayton Reunions....I doubt if I ever looked that sharp, spit, and polished, as that dude does.....Wayne Dezarn, shown with me at the statue, the late Larry Dotson, Mike Tillman, Rick Adams, my son Sam, and I held the first mini reunion at the museum for a few hours back in February 2007....the next two photos are from the frozen reunion in January 2009, and a bit warmer view from March 2010, inside the museum. And these next two show my Nha Trang buddy Harry Bevan{right} and me...first in "That Summer of 69" then seeing each other for the first time in nearly 43 years at the Dayton Reunion last October...

Just a quickie...

2012-01-24T11:45:00.000-05:00

quickie: As in a quick post and I'm outta here....

Running behind____

After a Boys JH double header at Celina last night, I made a quick run to Dartball at St. Johns....lucky I did, a couple of the kids were sick and we would have had to forfeit....I was on time and made just enough players to get started on time and 3 games played.

As it was, we played better than last week, but still lost 2 of 3 to Mendon, to drop our second half record to 2 wins 7 loses....I went 9 for 19, all singles, with an RBI, to raise my average to .415, somewhere near the top of the league, depending on what the three guys ahead of me did last night. Hopefully our players on the injured list, Martin and Cowboy, along with Sam, will be back in time for us to make a tournament run.

As far as the basketball, two good games with Celina defeating Fort Recovery in both the 7th and 8th grade games, both were close, as Celina's 8th grade team remains undefeated. More whining than I like, by coaches and players, my partner Kathy, "teed" up the Celina 8th grade coach, and I warned a couple of players on both teams for showing too much emotion when a call went against them....but kept my record of no technical fouls called this season....although four of my partners have called "tees"....not that I am against calling them, I dished out five last year, but would rather let the game played out without those, if I can help it.

Tonight I am at Crestview for a girls JH double with their country rival, Lincolnview....off tomorrow and back at it Friday Night at Spencerville, then Saturday a double header boys 7th grade tournament at Wayne Trace....

Gotta go...back later>>>>

The Grandson and Wacky Weather...

2012-01-23T10:10:00.000-05:00

The title just about describes the weekend just passed, in full.

Friday afternoon I slipped and slid my way north to Columbus Grove, up highway 66, US 30, and Ohio 65, the 54 miles to Putnam County, arriving about a half hour before the JV game between Grove and Spencerville....the visiting Bearcats led most of the way, before falling by four points to the host Bulldogs, the varsity game went much the same...Spencerville leading early only to fall behind and lose...but by that time I was on my way home. The roads had not cleared off, and a nasty layer of ice was beneath the 4 inches of snow that was deposited. The trip usually takes between 55 minutes and an hour...both trips, to Grove and back took about 1 hour and 15 minutes each way, a testament to the roads and there lack of treatment. I'm not sure what's with the road crews this winter, not enough practice I guess? It seems that the few snows, albeit not a heavy one in the bunch, they have not be able to keep the roads safe...that goes for in-town and out in the boon docks.

By the time I arrived home I was ready for a beer....youngest son Hal and grandson Kasyn had arrived earlier in the afternoon, so Hal and I had a beer and I sat down to watch more basketball on the tube....shortly after I sat down, the cell phone rang, and it was Jim the Wayne Trace Athletic Director, telling me the 7th grade tournament games at WT for Saturday morning had been cancelled, and could I work them the following weekend? It happened to be I had next Saturday the 28th off, so I told him I could, cracked open another Black Lager, and knew that Saturday would bring no basketball, just a chance to get out the snow blowers and work on the drive-ways and sidewalks.

The walks and drive was passable, so I figured I would get mom's Toro out and do my place then load it up and head over to her place and take care of business....Foiled Again! For some reason, her machine just wouldn't start.....in retrospect, I have to believe the gas/oil mix for that 2-stroke had settled and I poured a amount that the mix had jelled into it.....so, I gave that up, and pulled out my Big Machine and took care of my place...loaded her Toro up and took it over there, where while it still wouldn't fire, I noted that not much snow had piled up....so took out the snow shovel and made short order of the carport and sidewalks....I will have to drain the fuel in her machine and probably change the plug....at least before the next snow, which isn't yet in the forecast....meanwhile Mother Nature took care of the rest of the snow on her own....early today.

The temperatures rose to 54 overnight, the wind picked up, and a batch of heavy thunderstorms rolled through about 3 this morning, taking care of all the snow, except the few amounts that had been piled up by the plows in town.

The K-man spends the weekend____

With Hal's wife Lisa out of town in Tennessee with friends to prepare for one of those friends wedding, they decided to give the Houseworth grandparents a chance to spend our first long term quality time with the newest member of the Houseworth family.....

Hal, Kasyn, and the two dogs, Kam and Avery, arrived just before I left for Columbus Grove on Friday afternoon, and stayed for almost 48 hours, heading back to Centerville about 1pm yesterday. While Patricia and Hal took turns getting up with Kasyn during the night, and changing the diapers, I had the opportunity to hold him when I wanted, while spending much of the weekend watching roundball and playing the racing game on Hal's IPad....a pretty easy and enjoyable weekend, once the Saturday basketball was cancelled, and the snow blowing finished.....

By the time they packed up and left, Patricia seemed just a depressed for a few hours, missing her grandson, after getting to spend quality time with him...truth be told, I missed him as well....but quickly fell back into my routine, as I spent the remainder of Sunday, sipping on a couple of cold brews, and watching two pretty good football games, which both went my way, as the Giants and Patriots move on to the Super Bowl in two weeks. Not that I'm a big Giants or New England fan, frankly I could care less...except I never have like San Fran or Baltimore, and their two coaches, the brothers Harbaugh, rub me the wrong way.....just something about those two that I don't like.

Anyway, that was the weekend past....now back to the usual routine. Tonight I stick around Celina, and will work a boys Junior High double as they take on Fort Recovery....tomorrow girls at Crestview, before a final day off for the week on Wednesday. The rest of the week will be busy, including running up to Van Wert on Thursday after another Celina JH double to attend a Baseball Association organizational meeting....another sign that spring cannot be far off.

back later>>>

Photos-Kasyn, who turns 2 months tomorrow, spent the weekend with the grandparents...while not have a snow filled winter, like last year{pictured here}, the Snow Machine, now about a dozen years old it working fine...while the newer Toro leaves something to be desired....lightning/thunderstorms in January are a rare sight, but for a couple of hours the winds howled, the rains came, and we got a mid winter show overnight....and Grandpa and the "K-man" relax in the leather recliner yesterday before the boys headed back to the Dayton area....

Winter hits it's Zenith

2012-01-20T10:47:00.001-05:00

Zenith:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith

Tomorrow January 21st is what most consider the point historically in Winter, where we hit rock bottom{isn't that the opposite of "zenith"?}...being on average this will be the coldest day of the year.....As I woke up a bit late this morning{isn't retirement great?} I noted 8 above zero...which in my recollection was tied for the coldest morning of the season....and if this is as bad as it gets, that is not too bad.

They are calling for 2 to 4 inches of snow tonight, which could make my drive north to Columbus Grove{not to be confused with or anywhere near the state capitol of Columbus}, and back 'interesting" again...it seems every time I get a Friday night game a long distance away, Mother Nature decides to toss me a curve ball. I was hoping that if the snow was coming, it would come early and cancel the game...otherwise, stay the Hell away....because tomorrow early, I have to climb out and head back north for a 7th grade tournament double header at Wayne Trace....and I really am not looking forward to anymore sliding this winter, one crash is already one too many.

Speaking of icy roads....

Despite only an inch or so of snow locally yesterday, it made a mess of the streets and roads. The inch was the small flakes of ice type, and Celina and Mercer County were slippery as it gets....heading to Convoy to work a girls double header last night, it took me 50 minutes as compared to the usual 35 or so....the trouble was strictly in Mercer, by the time I reached Van Wert County, the roads were better, and the light snow had ended. Coming home I opted for the main roads, and despite some slippery spots, they were drivable.

The Weekend Ahead____

Patricia is pretty well ready for the coming weekend....Hal and the "K-man" are coming this afternoon, and spending most of the weekend, through Sunday afternoon, with us. Hal's wife Lisa is joining some friends driving to Tennessee to prepare for their friends wedding in Georgia in March...so the boys are on their own, and Kasyn, just a few days away from being two months old, will spend some time with the Grandparents on this side....it's been many years since we had one that young staying here, his dad being the youngest, so make that some 27 and 1/2 years.

Hal, Kasyn, and watching the NFC and AFC playoffs is about it....the games themselves, without much interest, although I will tend to root for New England and the Giants, just because the Harbaugh brothers, coaching Baltimore and San Fran, tend to rub me the wrong way....

That's is about it for the week.....back later>>>>

Photos- The first 3 photos are of our drive-ways in winter, after an Ohio and Wisconsin Blizzards...By all accounts, as winter, reaches it's mid point temperature and snow wise, this has been a mild one so far...compared to the top photo from 1984(the year Hal was born) when we lived out on the old Andrews Farm on Coldwater Creek...that was a winter! As were the years living in the boondocks on northern Wisconsin, on a farm located between Wausau and Merrill....the next photos are from a Blizzard in March of 1979, I was lucky to escape with my life driving home that night...it was close. And finally Hal and Kasyn, youngest son and first grandchild, will be staying with us this weekend while wife and mom Lisa is out of town....we are looking forward to the "K-Man" spending some time with us....

Dogs of War.....Vietnam to Afghanistan

2012-01-19T09:41:00.018-05:00

More winter-like weather is here, but even that is not supposed to be anything severe, or to even stick around for any length of time...rain by Monday, and mid to upper 40s by the middle of next week. On average Saturday is not only the day of the shortest amount of daylight in this part of the world, it is also on average the coldest day of the year...meaning, beginning Monday, the average high and low temperatures will start to rise...the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel{winter}. I can't say I won't be happy for warmer temperatures, but as mild, as opposed to the dire predictions, as this winter has been, without much snow, I cannot complain so far. Love me some Global Warming!

Less than two months away from my first baseball scrimmage umpire gig, and my schedule for the coming spring season, is pretty well full....topping it off yesterday contracting for a March 31st Triple Header{weather permitting} at Delphos St. Johns on that Saturday. Meanwhile, with three of the last four days off, I am back to basketball tonight with a girls JH double at Crestview, tomorrow north to Columbus Grove for a JV boys game, and finishing off the weekend with a morning 7th grade tournament double at Wayne Trace.

The Dogs of War_____

Being a member of the Air Force Security Police from 1968-72, I had a chance to see the working dogs of war, especially during my time at Tan Son Nhut in 1970, working both perimeter security and the Blue Flight protection of the inner workings of that largest of Air Bases in Vietnam during the war.

When assigned to SP School at Lackland AFB, Texas, in the summer of 1968, we were given the opportunity to be dog handlers, and even though my family had always had dogs, from Coon Hounds, to Airedales, to toy types, to mutts of all varieties, I wasn't inclined to be a dog handler. One main reason, I knew where dog folks ended up....that would be Vietnam, working the outer and inner crevices of bases such as Nha Trang and TSN...if I was going there, and I did, I wanted to be in a somewhat safe location...dog handlers did not get those "perks". Being an Air Force SP Dog Handler was among the most dangerous of duties one could draw in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.

The regular Sky Cops, both Law Enforcement and Security didn't hang around the puppy patrol guys much during the war, they were their own click, and any conversation we might have had, was usually reserved for my time on Jeep patrol, when I would stop and give the handler a cup of coffee...from what I remember, the dogs provided better conversation, than many of the handlers.

fast forward to 1999 the VSPA____

When I found and joined the Vietnam Security Police Association, I noticed that many of the members, and most of the founders of the organization were from that group of Dog Handlers at Tan Son Nhut and other bases in Vietnam....and to this day, 13 years later, they are still the heart and soul of the VSPA. John Langley, who signed me up, Phil Savage, and Doug Davis, are among the former handlers that I consider friends, even though we never met until after Vietnam, and see each other only on occasion at Dayton or Kokomo, during reunions. Yesterday I received an e-mail from Doug concerning the hotel accommodations for this March and our annual Mini-Reunion at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton.....while we were exchanging e-mails he sent me a short video and photos of Remmy.

Here is the e-mail I received, along with photos and a short video of Remmy, from Doug Davis:

"Don’t forget to mention that these Retired Military Working Dogs and Contractor Dogs are available for adoption.

I didn’t have a dog until November 08 since I got out in September 70. My last dog was 831F Bullet at WPAFB 6-69 to 9-70. (Mike M401 6-67 to 2-68 Lackland (dog school) & SJAFB- Smoke 978X Phu Cat 3-68 to 3-69)

November 08 we got Ringo C261 and had him until 2-11. (unfortunately we had to put him down due to illness) In 6-11 we got contractor dog Remmy. These two dogs have changed our life. They give so much to families with their hearts. Both dogs have at least 100+ friends because we take them everywhere and tell the story about their duty.

These dogs are so happy to be free and able to roam in the house and not be stuck in a run. Most dogs are in a run six months before they end up with their family from adoption. Like anyone, freedom is a big deal and they show it after reaching a home".

Doug

When meeting men like Doug, Phil, and John, you realize that even though it has been 40-45 years since they were Air Force Dog Handlers, they never really stopped being one. They remember the dogs they trained and handled during the war years, even for a short time(usually less than one year), they never stopped remembering those days and dogs....

Frankly the dogs from Vietnam were treated like shit when it was time to retire them, not by the handlers, but by the Military and the US Government....the same so called "leaders" that treated the men of war like crap, treated the dogs that saved many a life, like so much disposable garbage...just one more reason I have no respect for military authority, or our Government...but most of my regular readers know my thoughts on those, so I will move on....here now is a video of Remmy in the war zone.....

http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x255/garacer/?action=view&current=OEFIV064.mp4

The cousins of the Vietnam dogs of war are now treated much better than those of my era....and by chance if you would like to give one a home.....I am sure Doug will be glad to help you....e-mail here{no spam please}:

dedavis@charter.net

Contact Doug if you are interested in helping out one of these heroes of war.

Photos-"Remmy" in Michigan this past fall, and Remmy in Afghanistan Doug at the Dayton Reunion last fall, and with Remmy shortly thereafter in Michigan, and Remmy with his American Contractor handler in the Afghanistan front.

Just Reflecting.....

2012-01-18T10:12:00.001-05:00

Reflecting...http://thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning/reflecting/

I guess today's blog can be dedicated to Cars, Wrecks, Beer, Sports and a combination of same "reflections"

"Topper" 1937______

I sit here this morning, watching one of my old comedy favorites..."Topper" the Cary Grant, Constance Bennett, Roland Young, vehicle from 1937....it comes on Turner Movie Classics from time to time, and by today's standards is anything but politically correct...can you imagine the bean counters, and Liberals that ruin, er run, Hollywood today allowing a comedy that makes lite of drunken driving, in anything but a crude way? Anyway, Grant and Bennett meet their demise in what is nothing less than a drunk driving accident, then proceed to "haunt" their stuff shirt banker buddy, Roland Young ...aka: "Topper"...well acted and classic....needless to say they don't make them like this anymore. Sure the movie calls it a tire blow out at high speeds, but given the opening, it doesn't take much imagination to realize that the couple had been partaking more often than not in liquid delights before getting behind the wheel.

The Nitro Returns_____

After the January 2nd wreck on the slippery streets of my birth town of Van Wert, Ohio, with no alcohol involved on my part, Patricia's Dodge Nitro went into the shop at St. Henry's Carriage Werks...the body shop is a busy place, and one of the best....finally the Nitro was returned last night, thus allowing Patricia to have her vehicle back, and me to sleep in....which I still couldn't do this morning...the aging Airedale, Reagan, got me up at 6am, while the wife was working out at the Snaps Fitness Center...and that was it, I was up, and not heading back to the sack.

I am glad the Dodge is fixed, however, not sure if I want to drive it again, at least anytime soon....feeling much more at home in the 98 Buick Montana...hardly a classic vehicle, but it suits me for now....however, with winter finally here, I realize that I do miss the Jeep Wrangler, although it's been gone for 6 months and I had not driven it in almost a year now...oh' well, what the Hell? I'm sure I will need another "manly" vehicle one more time before I die, but at this point I am content to drive the "Soccer Mom" vehicle....{he writes while rolling his eyes}.

Winter Brews____

Regular or casual readers of this blog know I enjoy beer....lots of beer. No so much I get drun very often, but enough over the years if not for partaking in the liquid hops, I probably would be financially better off....but I'm sure I would have spent my extra cash on something else.

Anyway, during the summer and baseball umpire season, I am usually content on downing large quantities of American Large brews such as Miller Lite...however once the air turns cooler, about October, I switch taste buds....from the flavorful Oktoberfest brews in the fall, to the Dark Lager and Stouts from European recipes in the winter....Sam Adams, Blue Moon, and Guinness, are among the regular brewery selections I frequently purchase...but I am always looking for a new favorite, at a reasonable price....It appears that I have found a new one...but sadly, having found it, it's hard to keep in stock, seems I, and one other person, have bought out the local stock.

Kostritzer is the brand name and Schwarzbier, a German Black Lager, is what it is. I had some over a year ago, when my buddy Bill Clem treated me to a Columbus Blue Jacket hockey game in October 2009...I liked it then, but had not been able to find a suitable bottle of it until a couple of weeks ago....then, once found, and purchased, the few six packs were gone within a week, and the local speciality beer barn is waiting on it's next delivery....so in the meantime, I will stick with Guinness Dark Larger, Blue Moon Abby Ale, and others that I find appealing. One thing I have discovered, is I do not enjoy the Dark Amber, as opposed to Black shaded Lagers....it just comes down to taste. But you can be sure, I will be on the lookout for Kostritzer's Schwarzbier, and buy out the stock when possible.

Basketball last night___

Back at Wayne Trace last night...where they were playing five games....a Junior High double header, a Freshman game followed by the JV and Varsity games....the JH games were on the small court, while the rest were in the main gym. My young cousin, Aaron Hockenberry, and I had the Freshman boys(they all were boys contests) game....which went down to the wire, as the home team was upset by visiting Continental 29-27. I was home by 7pm. No game tonight, then Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, will see me officiate four Junior High games, sandwiched around a JV Boys game on Friday night at Columbus Grove. Aaron, who was a good HS roundball player and played some in college, has the potential to be a good basketball official, hopefully he will stick with it in the coming seasons.

Baseball Umpiring____

With the first local baseball rules meeting just two weeks away, and the on-line state rules meeting up and running on January 26th, I have been checking out my gear and uniforms, and deciding what new purchases I might need to make....at the least, at least one pair of base pants, and a new facemask are in order....and perhaps other items as well. When checking out the dealerships, one thing is obvious, the costs of replacement items is not going down.

Haircut Time?

That is enough "reflecting" for one day.....

back later>>>>

Thunderstorms, Debates, and Dartball....

2012-01-17T09:36:00.000-05:00

Out of bed at 7 this morning, I checked "The Weather Channel" on the Internet. I long ago gave up watching that "Global Warming Science is God" Network on TV. Since NBC took over the original Weather Channel, it has become a mix of left wing political junk, mixed with fake global warming 'fact', and endless stories of people surviving or chasing tornadoes...what ever happened to the damn forecast? Anyway, I checked the Radar, and noticed a large batch of heavy rain coming our way...and it did arrive minutes later. I also noted that the temperature was a balmy 53 degrees, on January 17th no less...it was actually one degree warmer than my old hometown of Venice, Florida, some 1000 miles to the south....go figure!

The rain will end today, and be replaced by 40 mph winds and much colder temperatures by the time I awake tomorrow morning....more like 20 degrees, with a windchill factor probably below zero....that too won't last, by Sunday they are predicting temps back into the 50s...crazy weather indeed for this winter season.

Dartball_______

Sam drove home from Columbus yesterday, basically just to play Dartball, so he would be tournament eligible at season's end...and that is basically our reason to play. We were swept, by Rockford last night, not that they threw that well...but without our leading RBI man, we are a very bad team....I pushed my Average back above .400, going 6 for 12, but even with me batting .404, we are not hitting together, and appear in for a long second half of the season. Gene, "Cowboy" Linn is down after back surgery, and 93 year old Martin is also out...our aging team, even with some new blood, is but a shell of our glory years of the late 90s and early 2000s. Hopefully everybody will be back and playing well, so we can make a tournament run, much like we have done the past three years, where we have placed tourney runners up in two of those years. For now we will muddle on, hopefully winning a game or series, here and there.

The South Carolina Debate_____

I got home in time to watch the last hour or so of the GOP/Fox Debate in South Carolina....and the first thing I saw happen was Newt Gingrich knocking a question by race baiting Juan Williams out of the park....Seems Juan, like every other dung-for-brains Liberal cannot figure out why you might need to show some identification if your are going to vote...duh! Sure the corrupt Obammy Administration wants illegals and criminals to vote, he has that vote locked up, which is where most of them should be....locked up that is.

While Newt was kicking Juan's ass, Ron Paul was proving again he is a doddering old fool when it comes to Islamic Terrorism, and National Defense. The guy is a senile relic and cannot be trusted to figure out what day it is, let alone how to fight terrorism. All of his freedom and economic issues aside, he is clueless, and his supporters, at least in large part, are becoming nothing more than hate filled, free speech preventing, radicals, out of the 1960s mentality. While I agree with his "bring the troops home, close down the Europe Bases" stance....he, or anybody else that thinks the radical Islamic hordes will live beside us in peace...is a Gawd Damn Fool.

With the debate over, I gave Newt a narrow win, from at least the parts I watched, Paul was the loser, despite the crying and denials from his rabid supporters like Patriot Radio host Mike Church....Ron Paul was laid open like a beached whale...his campaign is done, the only thing he can do now, is lead his mind numbed followers on a mission to re-elect Barack "Insane" Obama.

So for now, my support remains with Rick Santorum....but I am open to just about anybody, except Obammy the Kenchurian Candidate....even Ron Paul, while getting us killed by Islam, he would at least cut our taxes and Government spending.

The South Carolina Primary is up Saturday, then regardless of outcome, it's on to Florida....for me it's.back to basketball tonight, a Freshman boys game at Wayne Trace.

back later>>>>

Photos--The Radar as it looked at 7am...the heavy storms rolling across Indiana into Western Ohio...meanwhile, mid January and our temperature was a degree warmer than down in Venice...go figure~The Dartball season drags, personally I'm having my usual season, a .400 plus batting average or above, but the team continues to struggle to win on a consistent basis...and the GOP Debate, thanks to a photo from The Blaze, droned on in South Carolina last night...Florida is next.

Political Views Part #6, a final look....Winter Makes a Showing

2012-01-16T09:57:00.002-05:00

The weekend finally saw a taste of winter, although nothing out of the ordinary...we ended up with perhaps three inches of snow, and plenty of wind. Yesterday the temperatures finally settled in the single digit range, about 8 above by the time I awoke...things will warm up for a couple of days, probably melting the snow, then colder for middle and late week.

As I traveled back from Ada Friday night, after officiating, Interstate 75 was a mess...the lite snow was being blown across the north-south highway, and the cars and 18 wheelers were packing it into a thin icy mess....the usual idiots with front wheel and 4WD vehicles thinking they cold go the speed limit were ending up in the various ditches and guardrails along 75...with my experience two weeks ago, while having a fender bender, driving 5 mph, I took it easy, and made it home safe and without incident.

Saturday with JV games, Girls in St. Marys, and Boys at Crestview, I finished off my 10 game week...this coming week it gets a bit easier, less busy, and will stay that way until my season is completed on February 24th. Frankly I am tired, and ready for the fews weeks off between roundball and baseball, which for me begins on my 63rd birthday, March 16, 2012, with a scrimmage at Lima Central Catholic.

Speaking of baseball, I have already received my first post season assignment, a Sectional Game on May 9th...with the new rules concerning the post season and who works it, I'm pretty pleased that I was among the first to get an assignment. More sectional locations will select their picks, then the District, Regional, and State games will be handed out come April..and by that time, hopefully the spring will have turned warm and somewhat dry.....unlike last year, when it remained wet throughout the early baseball season.

Political Views....a final look!

After the 1976 disaster, known as the Election of Jimmy Carter, I finished up studies at Hocking, moved back to Celina, where I attended Wright State Lake Campus for a year, then when finished there, I chucked it all and Patricia and I along with the Airedales, Rag and Max, the mutts, Ginny and Dixie, and the stupid cat, moved to the frozen north country...Wausau, Wisconsin, where I worked on the ski hills, bartended, and took classes at Trans American School of Broadcasting....finishing up there in the summer of 1978. For the next few years I would be "living on the radio" in such places as Wausau and Merrill, Wisconsin, Kokomo, Indiana, and Dodge City, Kansas, before returning to Celina, where I would play Program Director at the local station, before turning my attention to Environmental Health work full time, and broadcasting would become a second and part-time paid hobby, for the next 20 years.

My politics became pretty well solidified by this time....While in Dodge City, early on in the 1980 Presidential Campaign, I had the chance, during the Kansas Primary, to interview, George Bush 1, Reagan, and Ted "The Swimmer" Kennedy. But by that time I had already decided to cast my lot with Reagan. Kennedy was challenging Carter, because he was not "Liberal" enough...lol, can you imagine that? Jimmy "F-ing" Carter, not liberal enough?...meanwhile Bush and Reagan were doing fierce battle...George Bush one, the ultimate RINO, and Reagan, a true Conservative...both were far superior to Carter, or the bloated man-slaughtering Kennedy.

Reagan would to on to win that primary, the nomination, pick Bush as his running mate, to placate the moderates in the GOP, and easily defeat the dimwitted Carter, despite the appearance of another RINO, liberal John Anderson, as a 3rd party candidate. We would have eight great years, bringing America back to respect, slap the shit out of Islamic Radicals, and repair the economy. Sadly however, it's been all downhill since Ronald Reagan left office in 1989. The past 22 years have seen nitwits, RINOs, fornicating hillbillies, Marxists, and Jackasses, hold office, and all variety of same have served in the White House....topped off by the Marxist Kenyan son of a Kansas whore we are currently saddled with...a man, in name only, that has as his Mission #1. destroying the Republic, his main goal...there are no Ronald Reagan's on the horizon. Only a group of self absorbed Socialist Ambulance Chasers, and worse....even the most Conservative of the Republicans running for President in 2012, is less "conservative" than John F. Kennedy was...that's how far we have sunk as a country. The media, the so called "5th Estate" has become nothing more than a sound bite filled bankrupt voice of the Democratic Party and the infiltrating filth of what's wrong with the USA these days.

So, there you have it....a rambling look at my politics, from Ike to Reagan...I've become more conservative{see far right} over the 55 years I have followed politics...and I've come to despise Liberals and the Government more....

My opinions include one which would surly piss off some of my fellow veterans and conservative patriots....I told my boys, when they were in high school, not to enlist in the military....because frankly, a people that would elect Bill Clinton, not once but twice, to the office of President, was probably not worth fighting for....and now, with one illegal Marxist named Barry Soetoro, aka Barack "Insane" Obama, in the highest office in the land....that opinion has intensified...while I love this country, and love it's history, the current "Nanny State" with career political hacks is not what our founding fathers had in mind....if alive today, they would be leading a second American Revolution....and their muskets would be aimed straight at Washington DC....we have become a nation of "entitlement slaves", one were less that 40% of it's citizens actually work, or if they work, work on the taxpayers dole....and frankly I was one of those for 20 years...a fact that doesn't dim my distaste for what we have become at all.

I'm not sure what will happen this coming November, I suspect that by hook or crook, Obama will be re-elected....and if that happens, you best be prepared, because if the Mayan Calender is wrong, and the world doesn't end....what is coming to America and the World, is not for the weak and cowardly. Let the game of war for our soul begin.....

back later>>>>

Photos-While Reagan and George Washington, both American Heroes, rode horses, today we are saddled with Horse's Asses, like the departed Ted Kennedy, who drank and fornicated his way through life, and Hillbilly Bill Clinton, who screwed anything with a skirt on in his 8 miserable years in the White House...What would our Founding Fathers, like Ben Franklin, of yesteryear think? I suspect, "Washington DC?...let's get out the rope and find the nearest tall Oak Tree"

My Political Views, Part 5, along comes Ronald Reagan...

2012-01-13T12:10:00.000-05:00

A taste of winter has come....the lite amount of snow, maybe 3 inches, was not the problem. it was and is the wind...45 mph when gusting, making the small amounts of snow blow, and dropping the chill factors below zero for the first time this season.

I got my double header Junior High game in at Wayne Trace, and headed the 35 miles home..Paulding County had some icy roads, but as I traveled south, conditions improved....it appears that continued overnight, while the schools here were on a two hour delay, the schools to the north cancelled classes....including Ada, where I am scheduled to officiate tonight, however since they are hosting nearby Allen East, the game is still on, at least for now....a decision will be made later in the day. Two more games on the agenda, one in St. Marys and a night JV game at Crestview, will finish off my 10 game schedule for the week.

My Political Views..part #5...The Coming of Reagan___

As the sixties moved into the decade of the 1970s, and I finished up my four year Air Force stint, I had pretty set my ways and my views on politics....I had become a far right kind of person, but with the notable exceptions that included the following:

I hated authority, and refused to follow or bow to it. I was in constant trouble in the military, frankly, because I though most of the rules and regulations were pure BS, that had nothing to do with national security or serving my country. Some of my battles with so-called "superiors" are chronicled in the past four and 1/2 years on this blog. I also had a Libertarian streak....with the notable exception of Abortion, I came to believe that whatever one did, if it didn't affect others in a negative way, was OK by me....I have modified those views over the past 40 years, but basically they remain as they were in my later years in the Air Force.

After the Air Force days which lasted from 1968-72, I "enjoyed", for the most part, my next 4 years, raising Hell, working as a bartending, bouncing, manager of a youthful nightclub in Celina, and really not caring or thinking much about politics. Nixon came, and I voted for him in 1972, back when you had to be 21 to vote, but could drink at 18...those of course have been reversed, why I don't know....the fact of the matter is, 18 year old kids are to naive and stupid to vote, of course given the fact the 53% of the voting population voted for Barack Obama in the last election, the kids were not the only dumb asses pulling the switch for a half wit fool in 2008 election.

Nixon went down in 1974, and was replaced by the inept Gerald Ford, not a bad guy, but nothing special...and when Ronald Reagan challenged him early in 1976 for the GOP nomination...I jumped on board. By this time I was in college, spending my first years at Hocking Technical College, majoring in Environmental Health. When Reagan was narrorly defeated by Ford for the nomination, I held my nose and supported Ford over another inept fool, one named Jimmy Carter. A peanut brained clown that made LBJ look competent. Carter won, and America sank into the deepest bowels of a recession, and to our lowest level of respect as a nation...Carter was indeed, and still is, a pitiful clown of a man and President...by the time 1980 rolled around, despite a 3rd party effort from a RINO named John Anderson, Ronald Reagan would win the White House...the next 8 years, despite a Carter caused bumpy start, would look pretty good for the country and Republic...the "Reagan Years" were some of the best in the later part of the 20th Century, and as good as it would get for years to come. We are still waiting for better days.

More next week, beginning with Part #6, on Monday.....

back later>>>>

Photos-Our first real taste of winter, with a bit of snow and winds to move it around, came last night. Ronald Reagan, the actor came on the National Scene as Governor of California in the 1960s...then after a failed bit to take the GOP reins in 1976, defeated a useless Jimmy Carter in 1980....Carter, has to rank in any honest persons estimate as one of the 5 most useless Presidents in American History.

My Political Views, Part 4....JFK, LBJ, Goldwater, Dick Nixon, and Vietnam...

2012-01-12T10:58:00.001-05:00

It appears that our spring-like weather, which has been with us much of the late fall and early winter season, is about to take leave, for awhile at least. Near 40 as the rain ends this morning, but by tonight, snow will have moved in, and temperatures will drop to the low 20s...and by this time tomorrow, a few inches of white stuff, somewhere between 2 and 5 inches will cover the ground...that should stick around for awhile, with cold temperatures to hang around through the weekend at least.

LCC Freshman game last night, tonight back to Junior High Boys at Wayne Trace, where I will work with a cousin, Les Hockenberry, whom I have never met...or at least I don't recall meeting him, perhaps at a Waldron Reunion, the common family link, but I don't recall...guess I'll find out tonight.

My Politics, part #4_____

The family left Venice, Florida, and returned to western Ohio, late in 1962...early in my 8th grade...while politics had interested me during the 1960 Presidential Race, I became enthralled by it by the time 1964 rolled around.

JFK was shot down in Dallas, shortly after we moved into our new home near Montezuma, Ohio, in the fall of 1963. I remember walking into Freshman Algebra class and our teacher began the class by telling us "President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas, he is presumed dead"...after getting home, I would spend the next days watching the news from Dallas, mostly CBS coverage....and was even watching when Lee Harvey Oswald was gunned down by Jack Ruby, as he was being taken away...looking back I think to myself, "Where the Hell was Security"?

As far as the assassination? I was not a JFK fan, but I certainly didn't want him dead...especially with that criminal knuckle headed Texan, LBJ, now as President....no doubt the most evil, corrupt, son of a bitch to hold the office of President, save perhaps Woodrow Wilson, and the current Kenyan assclown now running the country into the ground. Lyndon Baines Johnson and his "Great Society" was the biggest mistake ever foisted on this Republic, making even the policies of FDR look tame by comparison. Needless to say, when 1964 came around, I was supporting Barry Goldwater, with my 15 years of experience in life.

Goldwater had no shot....with Kennedy's death, and the media's support, LBJ would win in a breeze. Looking back at Goldwater, at that time he was a solid rock ribbed Conservative voice....and he would change the GOP forever to the party of Conservatism...at least compared to the Democrats. However, Barry Goldwater, as he would prove later in life, was really no Conservative at least in my opinion...by the time he became a doddering old fool, with his mind gone, his Liberal leanings, especially on social issues, would come seeping through. His first wife was Queen of the Arizona Ghouls...a stanch supporter and funding arm of the murderous Planned Parenthood, and Barry supported them to the hilt...as the years moved on, his second, younger wife, and her far left politics would influence the man even more. As I grew in my political knowledge, I came to realize that Barry Goldwater, was not really the man I thought I admired...but he still had LBJ beat all to Hell.

I would meet Barry Goldwater in Vietnam later on....he, while still a General in the Air Force Reserve, would fly into Nha Trang late in 1969, and stay for a night on base....as one of the not-so-elite Law Enforcement Security Police, Phil Lange my old friend and NCOIC, would give me a shift watching Goldwater's quarters....I did get to salute him once. Knowing what I now know about him, a middle finger might have been more appropriate.

As for the war, or conflict, whatever the Hell you want to call it...LBJ foisted that on the American People...sure Kennedy and Ike had advisers there, and JFK basically overthrew the South Vietnam Government, but Johnson was the bastard that lied about the Gulf of Tonkin, and thus sowed the seeds of defeat and the useless deaths of 60,000 men and the destruction of lives of thousands more...and for what? I supported the war, supported those I served with, we won that damn war on the ground, the bastards back in DC, and the gutless protestors, lost it for us, and will forever have blood on their hands.

Dick Nixon to the Rescue.....

After his presidential defeat at the hands of John Kennedy, Rich Nixon limped back to California and was soundly defeated in an attempt to win the Governorship of that state in 1962.... and despite his claims to the contrary, we had not seen the last of Dick Nixon, but the press still would "kick him around", and still do to this day.

Nixon, winning by the narrowest of margins in 1968, defeated the sitting Vice President, a laughable Hubert Humphrey, and states rights candidate Alabama's George Wallace. But before this we had to sit through the resignation of LBJ, well not really resigning, he just choose not to run, beaten down by the War in Vietnam, Johnson chucked it all, and would die a handful of years later, in disgrace, only to be propped back up by the press in death as some kind of good President, he was anything but.

Then Robert Kennedy, while running against Humphrey and others, was gunned down in California...that and the murder of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, turned the late 1960s, especially the year 1968, into a time like no other....it would also be the year I was handed my draft notice, and choose instead to join the Air Force. 1968 also saw my cousin, Jack Poling killed in Vietnam, and my brother Mike's best friend, David Kim Deeter, gunned down in Vietnam as well.

1968 would not be a year I would forget....it would be the year I would realize just where I stood politically....despite some fine tuning over the next 40+ years, I had pretty much became an independent right, hard right, radical thinker.

more on that next...

back later>>>>

Photos-Goldwater, JFK, minutes before he was gunned down, me at Nha Trang, about the same time as the Goldwater visit, and "Tricky" Dick Nixon....a conservative? Not Really, but more on that tomorrow....

My Political Views, Part 3...We Like "Ike", JFK, Nixon, and LBJ...

2012-01-11T10:05:00.000-05:00

It appears that the "spring-like" conditions will end by tonight...rain moving in, then a couple of cold days, before things settle into a more January-like mode....cannot complain, in two months plus a week, my baseball scrimmages will begin. Meanwhile the basketball season, for me at least, is about one half way done. Seven weeks down, seven to go....take a few weeks off, get the baseball gear ready, and move outside.

Youth sports 'fans', never cease to amaze me....

Last night I was back at Lima Central Catholic, working a Junior High double header...the home team, LCC dominated both the 7th and 8th grade games, and we were out of there by 7:15, after a 5pm start. There was a good size crowd, and several in the stands, didn't like the fact that I wasn't calling enough fouls or blowing the whistle enough to suit them. I am sure these so called fans{mostly parents at this level}, would have been pitching a bitch if we had let the games become a foul shooting, drawn out contest. My theory in basketball is: "Let the kids decide the game on the court. If it gets too physical, or starts to get 'chippy", I'll start blowing the whistle, otherwise I am letting them play". The game has changed over the years, and if the kids aren't cussing, or fighting, for the most part, I'm calling only what obviously affects the play or game, otherwise..."Get Er Done". Tonight back at LCC for a single Freshman boys contest. This week contains 10 games, after tonight I will be half way there.

Politics Part #3

With the completion of the New Hampshire Primary last night, it appears that Mitt Romney is closing in on the 'coranation' as the GOP standard bearer, thanks to money, the Republican establishment, and the media, who desperately want an Obama-lite running against their chosen "Messiah"...if Mitt wins the nomination, I will support him, unless he chooses Ron Paul or John Huntsman as his VP running mate, if that would happen, I will either sit this one out, or vote 3rd party. The way I figure it, we are on the track to reaching "Hell in a hand basket" one way or the other....Romney will just get us there a bit slower, than Obammy The Wonder Kenyan.

Growing up in South Florida, I remember my first taste of politics....

Dad and mom were Republicans, and my early recollections included watching the 1956 election returns on the fuzzy black and white screen, with WFLA Channel 8 out of Tampa/St Pete bringing in the re-election of Ike Eisenhower, with ancient graphics. At that time I really don't think it mattered much...Hell we were pretty poor, and lower middle class, and I don't think if would have meant a tinkers-damn difference if Adlai Stevenson had been elected. However, by the time 1960 rolled around, I was in 6th grade, and pretty damn Gung-Ho about the upcoming Kennedy-Nixon campaigns.

Several of our "gang" of buddies in the Edgewood Section of Venice, picked sides....most of us were for Nixon, but a few others supported Kennedy, it no doubt had everything to do with our parents politics. Back in those days, as I recall, unlike today, there was no hatred just because we disagreed on the Republicans or Democrats....today, sadly, you cannot have a friend that disagrees with your politics, it is next to impossible. If family members disagree or have a far different view, you pretty much either don't see them, or avoid political discussions if possible at family get-togethers.

The Halloween before the 1960 Election, we headed out on "Trick or Treat", and in our group, the Nixon camp began pasting bumper stickers, we had picked up at the local elections headquarters, on any available window, store or car, that we could find...the Kennedy group did like-wise. I guess we would be accused of being "JDs" or Juvenile Delinquents these days....we weren't, just young and stupid. Those were the days when kids could still walk the streets of small town America, without worry....thanks to the man who would replace JFK upon his assassination, Lydon Baines Johnson, our world would change forever. America would never be the same, thanks to LBJ and his Presidency, "The Great Society" would change America, then the Vietnam War would divide us, like no other...by the time I reached High School living back in my birth state of Ohio, my politics would begin their never ending slide towards the radical right.....today that lean gets more pronounced by the day.

Tomorrow, part #4, LBJ, Goldwater, The Vietnam War, and Nixon....the seeds of my political views had been sown....they would and will continue in the "right direction" for the rest of my days.....

back later>>>>

Photos-The 1960 Bumper Stickers like the ones we pasted on store front windows and cars in Venice, Florida....1956, liking "Ike" was my first taste of presidential politics, JFK, although I didn't like him, now seems Conservative, compared to the infected Marxist Democrats of today, and even most "Progressive/Liberal Big Government Republicans...and LBJ...I despise the man in 1964, I still despise what he did to this country....as bad as FDR was, Lyndon Johnson was perhaps the worst President of my lifetime, although one Barack Obama is giving that moniker a run for LBJ and his outlaw politics.

Entertainment Costs...through the roof!

2012-01-10T10:26:00.000-05:00

So they call this "Entertainment"?

I call it "Highway Robbery"
---------

More Sunshine, and above normal temperatures through at least early tomorrow....upper 40s, before a cold front pushes through by Friday leaving us in the lower 20s for highs, but even those colder predicted temperatures won't last for long.....every day of decent conditions brings us closer to spring....and the time, she is a flying.

When I got done working a basketball double header yesterday afternoon, a girls junior high roundball get-together, I headed for Dartball....we ended up losing 2 of 3 to start off the second half of the season, I arrived late in the first game, and had a total of 13 at bats, just 4 hits, 3 singles and a triple, with a run batted in...dropping my season average to .390 with 8 RBIs...the average, my lowest of the season. At my, or any age, it can be pretty tough to run up and down a basketball court for 2 and 1/2 hours, jump in the car, drive 35 miles, and be ready to toss underhand heavy darts...sorry excuse I know, but I have noticed my level of play drops drastically, as the basketball season wears. I've been especially pathetic at home, batting about .280, while hitting over .600 on the road...next week, no basketball, due to MLK Day, and we are on the road at Rockford, so maybe the hot road shooting will continue.

The Cost of "Entertainment":_____

When I got home, Patricia came downstairs and wanted to show me a couple of items. The main one being the bill from Time-Warner. TM is our TV, Internet, and Digital Phone provider. It's prices have been going up like a hot air balloon. In December, the bill for all services was a {IMO} outrageous $141.58. Mind you the TV package is on for basic and standard services, we have no premium channels, just a Digital Variety package, with no digital TV? WFT??? Well, that's not the half of it....the 2012 year kicks off with an increase of $44.47 per month, to $186.05!!!! Gawd Damn!

Needless to say, that won't stand....I don't watch much TV, so I sure the Hell am getting rid of some of the channels, maybe the digital phone, and wherever else I can save. When you combine the Internet from Roadrunner, the Digital Phone, TM Cable TV, XM Satellite costs and two cell phones, it runs us about $300 per month. I call that Bullshit...so here I sit, looking at other options...and nothing looks good, so the only option is to dump some services.

Any suggestions, except to dump the entire mess, and start over with Internet, and cell phones? Because that is the way I am leaning.....$300 per month? That's more than our current mortgage payments...since we paid the house down over the years. I'm not a cheapskate, but I sure the Hell am not a rich man, and even if I was, the cost of cable and other "perks" has become a joke over the past decade, since the Internet became a major part of all of our lives.

OK, today's rant, got me away from my Political View look back....I'll get back on that track tomorrow, but I had to vent on this today....meanwhile with eight games left to officiate this week, of a total of 10, I am feeling every bit of my 62 years and 10 months.

Meanwhile the Dodge Nitro still sits in St. Henry waiting to be repaired, I did get the check from Nationwide Insurance yesterday for the damages....just under $3000...which means, there was really not a lot of damage outside the bumper and A/C Radiator unit....as for the other driver's damage? I'm guessing it was a bit, Hell, a lot more.

back tomorrow, with the political side of life>>>>>

Photos-Grand Lake back in July, the mild winter has made the switch from hot to cold more bearable than in past years, especially last year and it's bitter winter season. Last night 's Dartball was pretty mediocre for me and the team, we went 1 win 2 loses, personally I was a below average 4 for 13, with a triple and a run batted in. Time Warner's fees are soaring, but checking around, others are just as bad...and the Nitro at the shop for a week, is now waiting on the $3000 in repairs to be completed.

My Political Views, Part 2

2012-01-09T10:24:00.000-05:00

The lack of winter weather continues, "I love Global Warming!"...fake science and bullshit it might be. Sunny and upper 40s today, back in the 50s by mid-week, before finally another short round of Winter weather arrives for the weekend....but even then, it will be around "normal" as we head into mid-January, by average the coldest time of the year. After all, once January 21st hits, the sun and moon say our average temperatures will start to rise, and will continue on that upward move, until July 21st.

I suspect the only thing that drives the left as bonkers as refuting Global Warming, is one Denver Bronco Quarterback, named Tim Tebow....he's a wacky Christian you know:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/another-sunday-miracle-tebow-connects-game-winning-80-013306463.html

Gotta love it...Tim Tebow is the Atheist/Progressive world's worst nightmare....so much fun watching them lose it when he wins....The Broncos, with the Bengals out as of Saturday, are my "new" team to root for down the stretch in the Playoffs...taking on New England next weekend.
---------------------
While the loser left hates Tebow, it worships Mother Earth, and the fake science of Man-Made Global Warming..."Chicken Littles" that they be.

For folks like me, with an education in Biology and Environmental Health, I smile when the losers on the left side of politics go bonkers when people like me refute and make fun of their gods that claim that man-man Global Warming{or now it's climate change, I guess}is fact. The only fact is, it's a lie and a money grabbing, people controlling lie at that. Man Made Global Warming is a lie, a hoax...don't let the dimwits in the media, or that half wit in the White House, tell you different. It's about power, money, and control, and that is what the left, in this country and out, is all about...Controlling your and my lives, through regulation, money, and power.

My Political Views part #2____

I guess you could say I got my early poltical views from my Grandmother Houseworth....Wilda Waldron Houseworth was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, on December 22, 1883, she passed away in Van Wert Hospital on April 15, 1975, at the ripe old age of 91.

Going through many of her papers, photos, and post cards, after I took possession of her home, that she shared with daughters Cecil, and Eva, back in the late 1990s. Her political leanings, which I had a bit of knowledge about before, came into full light at that time. Wilda was not only a Republican, she was a far right one. A member of many right leaning organizations, she especially, disliked the policies of FDR, and the progressives like Woodrow Wilson, that came before Roosevelt.

I found and kept, invitations to political events, including a personally signed one from newly elected Governor of Ohio, John Bricker, inviting her to his Inauguration in early 1939.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Bricker

Bricker served as Ohio Governor from 1939 through 1945, was the VP Candidate for the GOP in the 1944 Presidential Election, a losing effort to FDR and his Socialist cohorts. He went on to become a Ohio/US Senator from 1947 until 1959.

Grandma's politics rubbed off on her kids that were interested...I know Eva, Cecil, and Stan Houseworth, my dad, were conservatives...not so much as I would become, but for back in the FDR madness, when America was coddling Communists, they were pretty far to the right. The others, my uncles John and Forrest? I gotta believe John was a Republican, and believe that Uncle "Housie" Forrest, didn't really give a rat's behind about politics.

While the Houseworths and Waldrons were Republican Conservatives...mom's side of the family, consisted on mainly Irish Democrats, with one notable exception. My GG-Grandfather Patrick Feeley, who immigrated from Ireland in 1860, was a rock ribbed Republican from Chester, Pennsylvania, who served in the City Council or as Ward Chairman.

On the other side, the DeVores...well, as much as I love Grandad William DeVore(1900-1970), and my uncles, Bill(1925-1998), and Uncle Jack, who still is alive these days, in his 80s...I never have agreed with their politics. Mind you they were or are not "Liberal Democrats"...just plain old fashion, union supporting Dems, who seem to think that the Democratic Party of today favors the "working man". Of course nothing could be further from the truth....for all it's faults, the GOP at least favors American workers, while the Democrats favor the lower forms, that freeload off the backs of others....including the illegal interlopers, who work for low wages, and steal the bread off American workers tables.

The Democrats are not the friend of the working American, or any American, that I know...in fact both major political parties, have major issues, that I find disturbing. ..I guess I should note that at least two members of the DeVore clan were Republicans...mom, certainly is not a Democrat, and never has been in my years of knowing her.

Tomorrow, I will recollect how my political views have moved from center moderate to far right semi libertarian over the years.....

back later>>>>

Photos-Tim Tebow, whether at Florida or with the Denver Broncos, drives the Liberals and Atheists nuts.....Yep,Global Warming, as fake as Barack Obama's Birth Certificate, Grandma Houseworth, standing, in her days at the Scott, Ohio, Phone Company(around 1920), was an early political force for me. John Bricker, Governor and Senator from Ohio from 1939 through 1959, was the GOP VP pick in 1944...and my uncle Bill DeVore, a World War 2 combat veteran, was a union Democrat...other than that, there wasn't much I didn't like about Uncle Bill....we just choose not to discuss politics when I stayed with him and Aunt Agnes, some 40 + years ago, instead talking about our favorite subject, baseball.

My Political Views, Part 1

2012-01-06T10:41:00.002-05:00

The "January Thaw" has arrived in western Ohio...except for one thing...There is nothing to thaw! So far the purveyors of that fake science, Global Warming, have to be gnashing their collective teeth....way above normal temperatures thus far...today Celina and Grand Lake will reach 50 degrees under sunny skies. Although a bit cooler for the weekend, the skies will remain sunny, with mild temperatures through the middle of next week. Then the clouds return and a chance of snow with colder temperatures return...but even then, nothing below normal on the horizon...we have yet to see a day in the single digits or lower, and here it is a week into the new year.

Boys JV game at Lima Shawnee tonight....and back at Lima Central Catholic tomorrow for a morning Junior High double. Last night I worked a double header JH Boys here in Celina with my friend Kim, a women official from the New Bremen area...she always does a good job, and we needed to be on our toes last night...both games, especially the 8th grade contest were up and down the floor. Elida took the 7th grade game 30-29 withholding a late Celina surge, while in the second game, Celina's 8th grade remained undefeated by pulling away late to win by about a dozen, after a close first three quarters. Seven weeks in, 7 weeks to go in my Basketball schedule.....frankly I am ready for both the meetings and season to start in Baseball, by far my most skilled{IMO} and favorite sport to officiate/umpire.

Politics 2012_____

To be honest, I really don't like talking or arguing politics...I am a political junkie, but not so much as my younger days, because frankly most politicians and both major political parties are corrupt, and lawyers/courts rule both the Republicans and Demo-rats.

Yesterday I posted my reasons for not agreeing with or supporting one Ron Paul, on my facebook page. The comments came rolling in....that name, Ron Paul, brings out the passion in both sides. While I may agree with RP on his economics, I think he is Bat Shit Crazy when it comes to appeasing Islam and Islamic Terrorism. Paul is the favorite of the Constitutional Party, which like Paul, supports limited government, and bringing our troops home from foreign soil. Once again I agree with those points...here is where I disagree with them, to the point, that I left the Constitutional Party, and cannot support Ron Paul, unless it would come down to him vs that interloping Kenyan Bastard Child in the White House.

Both Ron Paul and the CP are of the mistaken notion that Islam and it's radical elements {about 90% of Islamics are radicals in my view} are peaceful and would be so if we just left them alone...Talk about Naive! Once this country opened it's door to these murdering bastards, our fate was sealed...you cannot live in peace with Islam, no way, shape, or form, can we coexist. They have a foothold in this country, and we are on the fast track to becoming what Europe and Canada have become, that being held hostage to Sharia Laws and radical Islam...anybody that thinks otherwise is a damn fool, and part of the problem.

I have watched the worshippers of their pedophile leader for over 35 years now...first taking note of the smelly bastards at the College Inn at Athens, Ohio, and Ohio University, when I was living there back in 1975-76...I have never forgotten my first impression of them....I never will. And don't go calling me a Islamaphobe, because I am not afraid of them...but I do know what most are, and they are not peaceful or friends of America, Christians, Jews, or Women and Children. And if you're gay or lean left...what the Hell are you thinking? These Sons of Camels Fornicators will have you killed off first.

So there you have day one....my main concern this coming November is not jobs, or the economy, it will come and go...we survived the Great Depression, we will survive the ecomonic plundering of Obammy and Company. The question is: Will we survive the Islamic onslaught from the monsters of the Middle East? This is my problem with Ron Paul and his naive "Let's smoke dope, lower taxes, and we will all be happy" crowd....Bullshit! Grow a set, and wake up, because it will soon be too late, if it's not already.

Monday, I will start with my political beliefs and how they got to be where they are....part #2 up next.

Photos-As I grow older I tend less to give a rat's ass what people think of me or my politics...not that I ever gave much thought of what came out of my big mouth. Basketball Season is about half done for me...moving quickly. And my #1 political concern as I see happening to America what has happened to the fools in Europe, THE CANCER CALLED RADICAL ISLAM! and how do we, as a people and nation fight against it?

My Day In Court....

2012-01-05T12:19:00.000-05:00

It's been interesting since I had my wreck on Monday....with the Nitro in the repair shot for probably a few weeks, and with the Jeep Wrangler sold....Patricia and I are down to just one running car....the 77 Buick is not near ready, and thus only the reliable 1999 Montana Mini Van is usable. With Patricia needing to get to and from work in St. Henry, a 25 mile round trip each day, and me having games most nights and Saturdays...it's kind of a pain in the ass, to say the least. It's also not like us, usually with 3 vehicles running, the selling of the Jeep to my neighbor is looking, not as good as previously...but this all will work out.

So, I'm getting up earlier, driving Patricia to SH, then back...picking her up again around 3:30, then heading to my game, or like last night, to Van Wert for a final Basketball Rules Meeting. Next week it will be real busy, as our schedules collide...but this will pass as well, it's just a pain, in the ......, well you know.

Court Day_____

I, after much thought, decided against paying the $115 bond plus court costs for my accident....instead opting to drive the 22 miles back to Van Wert. I arrived at the court location on South Walnut Street in plenty of time for the court session....at least a dozen of us in traffic situations, many from the icy Monday morning past. However before we got our 'day in court', a couple of felonies, and some not-so-minor misdemeanors. The felons were accused of selling Heroin to youth in Van Wert, near the juvenile detention center no less...both the male and female had multiple convictions, mostly drug related. We also got to hear from a "lovely young lass" accused of doing something on New Year's Eve, which resulted in a charge public something or other, indecency, I believe....then a few DVIs, fictitious plates, etc....finally we mere minor traffic violators were called one-by-one. I was up 3rd, and the judge and officer read the charges, I gave my story...the judge says to me....you have an excellent record, no charges, speeding in 2002..."Guilty fine $30 plus court costs"...I thanked her and walked out paid the fine, which including court costs, was an even $100.

So, even with the time and drive up and back, I saved at least $75 bucks....nothing to sneeze at....plus the points, which would have been 2 or 3 will not show up on my records....hopefully my 45 year association with Nationwide Insurance, with only 2 claims against it, will continue with no increase in my rates. And hopefully as well, the Nitro will be repaired in a timely manner....saving miles on the van, and stress on our nerves.

So games aplenty on the schedule, including a double header at Celina vs Elida Junior High Boys tonight.....

In other news....I am focusing on the coming Presidential Campaign, and the radicals that have taken over the Ron Paul movement....while many of my friends, including my life long best friend Rick, support Paul, however others have become Bat Shit Crazy in their support...radical Homosexuals, radical Islamics, and other elements have imbedded themselves in the campaign....some it seems are nothing more than Obammy supporting Liberals, who just happen to hate paying taxes....

More on this as the year moves towards a November election, which in-my-opinion, will either save or, more likely, destroy the republic....

back later>>>>

Photos-Traffic Ticket, Getting the Nitro back on the road is job #1 at this point, and Ron Paul has some crazy supporters.

Let the Political Game Begin....

2012-01-04T10:23:00.001-05:00

Sitting here this morning, waiting on the towing company to pick up the Nitro for transport to St. Henry, where Nationwide and the body shop will decide what needs to be done and how much to pay for the repairs....hopefully it will be in the shop and out in a couple of weeks tops....but with the rash of wrecks in the area on Monday, I am sure the shops, especially this popular repair place, will be backlogged.

The Iowa Vote____

I have not written much about politics or the coming presidential race much of late, because frankly, the entire process makes me wanna puke....this circus is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. We have a probably foreign born illegal President in Office, a lawyer I suspect, although this half baked/half wit Marxist, releases no college records along with a fake birth certificate, while the lap dog media has his back covered. Meanwhile on the GOP side, you have mostly a group of lawyers with the morals of snakes. I however was surprised, pleasantly so, to see Rick Santorum come on strong in Iowa, and as at last look, out of 140,000 or so votes cast in the Iowa GOP Caucus, Santorum trailed front runner Mitt Romney by just 8 votes...and amazingly close vote count...meanwhile 'Crazy Train' Ron Paul was in third....the excuse maker for Islamic terrorism, has his hard core supporters, many who are nothing more than spawns of the 1960s radicals that hated those of us who served in Vietnam rather than cut tail and run off to college or Canada, like many of them did.

Newt Gingrich came in a distant 4th, Rick Perry, likely to drop out, was fifth, and Michelle Bachmann trailed far behind in 6th. In my view it becomes a four man race...basically you have Romney, and Paul, then the anti Romney vote for Santorum and Newt. I have, from a distance, supported Santorum for awhile now, but could vote for, Romney, or even Gingrich{while holding my nose} if I have to...if it would come down to a Ron Paul vs Barack Obama contest in November....I would likely vote third party. At this point I can't see myself voting for the Crazy Train...and I sure the Hell won't be supporting that interloping Kenyan bastard currently sitting in the White House.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2012/iowa-caucus-jan-3

So the race for November now moves on to New Hampshire, compete with all it's new Liberal voters, most being refugees from Taxyer2shits, and following that, South Carolina, with a more Conservative base. Things should start to work themselves out in the next few weeks, and I suspect by the time March 1st rolls around, it will be much more compacted and clear, this GOP race for the White House.

Meanwhile the tow truck from Van Wert, same group that delivered the Nitro home on Monday, has arrived and taken off with the vehicle for estimates and repairs....I will lift weights later today, then head back to Van Wert for my final Basketball Rules Meeting of the year....baseball meetings begin in just 5 weeks, that I am looking forward to.

back later>>>>>

Photos-I'm not sure what the Hell is wrong with Blogger, but it is not posting the photos from my folders...which is wasting my time and pissing me off to no extent, so I'll post a photo of the Nitro and Rick Santorum, from old postings and see where we go from here.....exasperating to say the least...so now I can add new photos??? Anyway here we have added the Captain of the Crazy Train, Ron Paul, and the Nitro has it get a ride to St Henry for repairs....

The New Year Comes in, Crash, Boom, Bang....

2012-01-03T03:36:00.001-05:00

It is now 3:19AM on 3 January 2012....Happy New Year to all, albeit a bit late.

Yesterday, January 2nd, was to be, by all accounts, my New Years Day, after all it was the holiday and Bowl Day...I would get up fairly early, pack a duffel bag, jump in Patricia's Nitro, and head north and west to near LaOtto, Indiana, where I would go to Rick's place, and spend the day with the same gang that does the annual Mushroom Hunts each May in Michigan...Rick, his sons, Clay and Guy, and Clint, our old Celina friend, and college buddy that was at Ohio University when we roamed the grounds of Ohio U and Athens, back in the middle 70s. A lite snow had fallen, and Patricia, after her workout, had warned me that the city of Celina streets were slippery, with a coating of ice under the half inch or so of fresh snow that was being blown by the wind....this was the reason I decided to take the four wheel drive vehicle.

After pulling into the Northside Marathon station, where I filled the tank and got a large coffee to go, I headed north on US 127 towards Van Wert...a mile out of town I called Rick, letting him know I was on my way, telling him that the city streets in Celina "sucked", but that 127 didn't seem bad, and I would/should be there in a bit over an hour, if things went well... they wouldn't". He told me if the roads were bad that we could always do our annual football, beer and buffet, pig out at a later time...."nonsense" I say, "the Nitro will make it fine".

I drove the 20 miles to Van Wert without problems...a few slippery spots, but I was cruising about 58 miles per hour and made it behind a 18 wheeler, it was about 10am when I entered the city limits. The big rig crawled along Washington Street(127) so when we got into town, I decided to jump to Jefferson Street, north to Bonnewitz Avenue, and then pick up the four lane US 30 and head west to Fort Wayne, and beyond...I should have stayed on Washington Street.

As I turned north onto Jefferson I knew that the streets in VW, like Celina, had not been treated. Near 3rd street, as I drove north, I had to do a slight swerve to avoid a car sliding though the intersection....then as the new GPB system (which Hal and Lisa had purchased for us for Christmas), was yapping "stop ahead one quarter mile, then turn left", I began to slowly break....nothing, but a sickening sliding as the wheels locked up....I was going maybe 5 MPH for God's sake, this wasn't happening was it? Yes it was....another 18 wheel tanker truck was heading east on Bonnewitz....I was either going to slide into him, he was going to broadside me or I had to make a quick maneuver....I decided to tap the gas and turn right onto the Avenue, instead of crashing through the intersection(which was a T) or taking on the semi. I turned right, but nothing was gripping, and in slow motion I watch the Nitro slide into the north side of Bonnewitz, hitting the curb with all fours....that would have been OK, but as I looked up, I saw a silver Saturn, heading right for me....the driver had no chance in these conditions, and as I watched in super slow mo....she crashed head-on into me.

"Damn"! The high sitting Nitro crashed over the top of the hood of the smaller car, sending the hood of that vehicle into a crumbled mess....fortunately the air bags on neither vehicle deployed...frankly the speed was just too slow. I sat for a second, then jumped out to make sure the women driver, about my age, was OK....she said she hit her leg, but was OK....I went back to my vehicle and called 9-1-1. The emergency operator ask me where we were, and when I told her, she replied..."Hold on, somebody will be there real soon, there are now three accidents on that same street, the other two with injuries". As it turned out, by the time we had the accident report done, there had been at least six accidents in town in a matter of minutes...it would be a long day for police, and tow truck drivers.

The officer, Jeff, who I had met back in my Health Department days, apologized when he told me he would have to charge me for "failing to control"....I didn't think much about it at the time...a minor traffic violation, and he was following routine procedure. As I assessed the accident scene, her car appeared totaled or close to it...the Nitro received some front end damage, and the radiator unit at the bottom was trashed...both vehicles would be towed. With AAA plus, I would received a trip back to Celina...I cannot tell you how many times over the past 25 years that AAA has towed me or the boys home, without charge,after a wreck or breakdown. Expensive yes, at some $100 per year, but it has been well worth it in the long run.

The Aftermath____

So I arrived back home about Noon, via the Mace Company tow truck, and watched the bowl games at home....basically without interest, as Ohio State and the not-so Big Ten, once again had a bad day of football, but no nearly so bad as mine.

Calls to the Nationwide Insurance got the ball rolling on getting the estimates of damage and repairs taken care of.....the home office and adjusters will be around in the next day or so.....meanwhile, I am scheduled in Van Wert on Thursday for a court appearance for "failure to control"...I though about that, and perhaps that is why I got up at 2:45 in the morning. I'm not pleading guilty or no-contest to that, Hell, the only thing I could have controlled was not being in that spot at that time. Minor misdemeanor or not, I, while my insurance company needs to take care of the other driver, could have done nothing, except stay home, or on 127/Washington Street, to have avoided the mishap. So that will also be on the Tuesday agenda, after I take Patricia to work in the one remaining drivable vehicle....that, check out my standing with the local insurance office, and get ready for basketball tonight....I will call the courthouse in Van Wert, and see how I can move the date back, because, at this point I have no intention to pleading to something, that could not have been avoided. I say this without anger....except for at myself, but frankly, except for staying home...I'm not sure how I could have done anything to avoid this New Year's mess.....

Stay tuned....updates on all of this exciting installment of "Pat's Daily Rant"....I know it could have been worse...check this out from a 100 miles or so to the south of us:

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/emergency-crews-scene-crash-along-interstate-75-involved-photo-235321325.html

I-75 is always and adventure.....I have driven that portion, south of Cincinnati maybe a 100 times or more.....always a lot of traffic, and if one person screws up on ice, fog, or snow, this is usually a common result.

back later>>>>

Photos-All though the photos of the wreck don't look bad, the other driver's Saturn is probably totaled...the Nitro, while it doesn't appear bad, is going to need some front end work and a new radiator at least....the first two photos are from the crash scene, and the last, while the Dodge was sitting in our drive, after being towed home.

Winding down 2011.....Here comes 2012 part #4....year of the Grandson

2011-12-31T12:55:00.000-05:00

As the final hours of 2011 wind down, the weather continues to be unseasonable warm and wet....not much snow, probably less than an inch thus far this season, but plenty of rain...one look at the end of our driveway, torn to Hell by trucks backing across it, attests to that. It is a muddy mess....with broken street parts and deep holes in the gravel....not a pretty site.

Yesterday, after officiating four games the day before, I finished off the basketball week with a single freshman boys contest at Minster....I am now off until Tuesday. We will head to Centerville tomorrow to visit with Hal, Lisa, and the new Grandson, Kasyn, who turned 5 weeks old on Thursday. Monday, I will head to northern Indiana to eat, drink, and watch bowl games at Rick's....an event usually held on New Year's Day...but with the Holiday and Bowl Games being celebrated on January 2nd this year, we will have moved it. Meanwhile the Cincinnati Bengals try to nail down a playoff spot tomorrow hosting Baltimore...it won't be easy, but unexpectedly, the Bengals, with 9 wins, at least are in the hunt...a win, they are in.

The final months of 2011, and the new Grandson____

After the Vietnam Reunions and football officiating of September and October, November came a calling, and with it, we waited on the arrival of our first grandchild. Before that however, Patricia, Anissa, and I, headed for lake country in southeast Wisconsin, for our annual "Thanksgiving" celebration. These last few years, we have taken to going to Pat's parents place in Oconomowoc, a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, to celebrate then....thus avoiding the traffic, and possible bad weather travels that come later in November. Usually snow doesn't arrive in significant amounts until after mid month...and the traffic is considerably less.

We always eat well, both at Bill and Bevs, and there is usually a classic Wisconsin "Fish Fry" on the agenda as well....this year was no exception. The food, at home, and at a local restaurant, are the highlights of the weekend....this year it was the case again

The weather cooperated and we made it back safe and sound, just in time for my first basketball scrimmage...we also made plans to do the regular Thanksgiving at Hal and Lisa's in Centerville, those plans however, came a cropper, as grandson #1 would arrive on Thanksgiving evening. Kasyn Timothy Houseworth would arrive just before 9pm on Thanksgiving....big and healthy, he arrive via C-Section weighting 7 pounds 12 oz, and 20.75 inches long....Thanksgiving meals would have to wait.

That birth would be the highlight of 2011 without a doubt....2 weeks later, my niece, Molly and her husband Aaron would celebrate the birth of their second child, and first boy, Luke Patrick, would come in early December and arrive at 9 pounds 10 oz, and just over 21 inches....the two new great-grandsons of my mom, would be on display together on Christmas Eve, at the family get-together.

2012_____

I'm not sure what the new year will bring....I do not have a good feeling about the direction of the country, especially if one Barack Obama, the Kenyan Marxist, is re-elected....but unless the Mayan Calender and it's Doomsday prediction is correct, we will ride out what comes, if God decides to keep us around...either way, I will be around for the duration, ranting, bitching, complaining, and reporting, what goes on around my little corner of the world.

That will wrap it up for 2011....have a safe New Year's Eve{I'm sure I will be in the sack by Midnight again this year}....I probably will be back here with photos and stories to begin the beginning of 2012, most likely on Wednesday morning....back later>>>>

Photos-Top/Parents and Grandparents shortly at the birth of Kasyn on Thanksgiving Evening in Kettering, Ohio....Patricia and her 88 year old father, Bill Callies, a WW2 Veteran of the Pacific Theater, at the Golden Mast for our annual Friday Night Fish Fry, Wisconsin Fish Frys are the best, always plenty of and a big variety of baked and deep fried fish, and just about any kind of beer you might want to try...and I always do. And Cousins Kasyn Houseworth and Luke Sheffler on Christmas Eve.....my grandson and grand nephew, together for the first time.

Winding down 2011.....Here comes 2012 part #3/Marathon Man

2011-12-30T10:47:00.001-05:00

Marathon Man....

Four games yesterday, four full basketball games officiated....after games Tuesday and Wednesday, with a wrap up game for the year tonight....yesterday, with two Girls JV games at the Holiday Tournament at Parkway High School, and a full house in the small gym at Wayne Trace for a Junior High Boys double header, I was ready to rest my tired butt and legs, with a couple of cold ones last night... and still feel it this morning. I won't do that much more...yesterday was an accident, having not have the second set of games posted on-line. But I got through them, and after a Freshman Boys contest at Minster this afternoon, I can relax over the New Year weekend.

The weather remains mild for late December....a front rolled through this morning about daybreak, and deposited another batch of unwelcome rain...still less than an inch of snow so far on the season...and with each passing day, we get closer to Spring....just 83 days to go! With this coming year being a Leap Year and all.

2011 in Review, part #3____

As the summer of this year passed into early fall, several milestones occurred. The highlight, at least for me, in September and October, were the Vietnam reunions, and a chance to see some guys that I had not tossed a drink back in over 40 years.

The first reunion was the annual Howard County Indiana/Kokomo Vietnam Reunion and camp out....4 or 5 thousand campers and hotel staying Vietnam Veterans, family, and friends, get together each mid September, for a chance to tell war stories, down some friendly Moonshine, listen to music, eat, and just have a damn good time. 2011 was my first {it been going on for 30 years or so}, but only spent 24 hours...this time I stayed for 2 nights and 3 days. In 2012 I plan on driving over the 85 miles for the June mini-reunion, and then again for a longer stay in September.

September was a full month, in addition to the Kokomo gig, I worked a full set of youth, Junior High, and High School football, both at the JV and Varsity level....I stayed busy, usually working football 6 days a week. As October approached, the weather stayed "summer-like" and it was indeed perfect as the annual Vietnam Security Police Association Reunion took place from October 5th through 9th....this year Dayton and Wright Patterson AFB was the site, and Patricia and I headed down for most of the activities.

This year was different...in addition to old friends that I had met through VSPA, like Sam Lewis, Dave Ramey, and Jackie Kays....I hooked up with guys like Harry Bevan and Tony Niemotka, who I was stationed with at Nha Trang Air Base in Vietnam in 1969....42 years later, we were still kicking...it was a great reunion.

As October cooled off, I worked one final Varsity game in Football...traveling with a crew that I fill in on, all the way to Ironton, some 225 miles from Celina...to work a game at their classic old semi-pro football stadium, in the rain and mud....that night was the same night as it turns out, that the St. Louis Cardinals topped off their meracules turn around from early season woes to win the World Series....I still hate the Cards! November would usher in the arrival of our first grandchild, Kasyn, and the holiday season....more on that tomorrow, with a final look at 2011.

back later>>>>

Below-Members of VSPA from Nha Trang....Sky Cops from Security and Law Enforcement from 1968-1970

< Sam at Ruth Lewis at the final Banquet on Saturday Night....they left for Virgina shortly after the banquet...Patricia and I headed

From the Top....Pat Houseworth and Harry Bevan at Dayton, and the before shot with me and Harry at Nha Trang in 1969...from Kokomo in September, Houseworth, VSPA photographer, Tony Morris, Sam Lewis, Tom McCandless, and "Sweety Pie"...Beven, Houseworth and Tony Niemotka at the Banquet in Dayton, and Tony in 1969 at the Nha Trang Main Gate,

Seems I've freaked out Blogger with all the photos...so here we go with descriptions of the rest: After the Sam and Ruth Lewis photo, from Dayton we have Doug Davis at the Banquet, Howard Yates with Bagpipes in hand at the Statue Bench Dedication, A portion of the attendees at the park dedication, old Sky Cops, Mike Tillman and Rich Adams, who started the first Dayton Mini Reunion back on 2007, me and old Scott, Ohio Alumi, Bill Marshall....Bill's mom and my Grandma Houseworth were best of friends back in the age of innocents, from the 1940s and 50s....and finally from Kokomo, Sky Cops from Vietnam, Houseworth, McCandless, Lewis, and John Langley, a Tan Son Nhut K9er, who got the VSPA started, John lives in my old hometown of Venice, Florida.

Winding down 2011.....Here comes 2012 part #2

2011-12-28T10:07:00.000-05:00

The snow and rain took turns yesterday, but as I headed out to Convoy for a Girls game between the host Crestview team and Hicksville{yes Virginia there really is a town called "Hicksville, Ohio"....}most of the precipitation had ended....just a damp cold had settled in. On the way home I thought about firing up a hand rolled cigar, but thought again, and decided not to stink up the van or my clothes....it's been at least two months since I had a cigar, which in a good way keeps my stock in the basement in full supply. Don't smoke often in the winter months...just have not been one of those cold weather outdoor smokers.

Back at 2011____

After the February 5th wedding of Hal and Lisa, we returned home to Ohio to await the reception, which was slated for Dayton/Centerville some two weeks later. As opposed to the wedding, which was just a family affair, with 15 total, counting bride and groom, in attendance, the reception at the local American Legion would see a "normal" sized crowd....I can't remember exactly how many, but somewhere between 150 and 200 is my guess, but I really wasn't counting. Considering the bulk of Hal's friends were from Mercer County, it came as no surprise to me that we shut down the "free" part of the bar much earlier than anticipated....this Western Ohio County is well know for it's Catholic Beer Consumption tradition, and the guests did not disappoint. It didn't matter, they boys from Hal's childhood quickly went into the pay as you go portion, without missing a beat, even the Legion bartenders were impressed.

As the reception put an end to the months of work for the bride and groom, and planning for them and parents, especially the mothers, it also marked the winding down of the long basketball season for me, and we could see the light at the end of the bitter cold and snow filled winter. Baseball and moderating temperatures were just around the corner, as was the announcement that we would become first time grand parents by year's end.

March and April came and went...despite much wet weather, I did manage to get most of my scheduled baseball games in...I remember some as bitter cold. One in particular, at Defiance College, where Garry and I worked was as cold as I can remember in recent years working a game. Early in the season, the day of the Reds traditional home opener to be exact, we worked the game in 35 degree temperatures, with a northeast wind...Garry was lucky, he was at the plate on this rotation, and got to wear the gear, making his day a bit more bearable than mine....even with the Underall winter clothes, I froze. By the time I finished the Summer American Legion and ACME season, some cooler weather would have been appreciated. Things warmed up considerably as the season progressed into June and July. My spring season didn't see as many tournament games as usual, guess I didn't stroke enough egos of those making the decisions...aka Kiss Enough Ass...but if you know me, you know that will never happen.

Summer ball, was a different story....working both multiple districts and the State Tournament here in Celina, at Montgomery Field, and also the District American Legion Tournament in Sidney....I stayed busy throughout the Spring and Summer Baseball Season.

Back to early Spring, where we usually have our Easter Dinner at sister Marty's place...{we do the same at Christmas}, it's a good place with enough room for all to move around, eat, and BS. The newlyweds, Hal and Lisa were there, and at the end of the day, took us out to their car, and presented us with "Grandparent" gifts...announcing that they were expecting around Thanksgiving....on a Father's Day family get together, we found out the sex of the baby on a trip to Cincinnati and a Reds game...it would be a boy. And as it turned out...Kasyn Timothy Houseworth would be born Thanksgiving evening....more on that later.

In addition to the "Baby News", back in March I turned 62, so I would receive a small stipend from Uncle Sam, called Social Security. Working much of my adult life for the local and state governments{hard to believe with my political leans I know}, my small SS checks each month wouldn't do much, but it would be enough to make the payment with a bit left over for a new vehicle....so in April, Patricia and I purchased a Dodge Nitro for her. I gave up the ghost and sold my old Jeep Wrangler to the neighbor kid, Derek, and took over Patricia's Mini Van....imagine me, drinking a "soccer mom" type vehicle...well, gotta admit, it is more comfortable than the Jeep. Also Rick, Clint, and Rick's boys and I went on our annual Michigan Mushroom Hunt in mid May, for me it followed a two year hiatus....the mushroom pickings were slim, but I did manage to meet face to face with a Hog Nose Snake, thinking it was a Michigan Timber Rattler at first. I got some good photos, before I dropped my camera in the stream, while reaching for a cold beer, from the bag of beers we had cooling....thus ruining it, but not the disk which included the snake photos. The wet and mushroom-less weekend still was a good time, as it always has been.

We wound down the Summer with a trip to Wisconsin for another wedding, this one for Patricia's nephew...Hal and Lisa, would join us for this final fling of the Summer....more tomorrow as the summer turns into fall.

back later>>>>

Photos-The Mushroom Hunt in Michigan mid May, didn't yield many "rooms", but did give me a chance to get up close and personal with this Hog Nose Snake, which yielded one of my best photos in recent memory. Turning 62 gave me a little pocket change via Social Security, enough to purchase Patricia a Dodge Nitro, to replace my Jeep and the Intrepid, the Jeep, as much as I hated to depart with it, was sold to Derek the neighbor{bottom photo} I spent many summer morning at Grand Lake snapping photos of the glorious sunrise above our polluted lake...the lake stinks, but many photo were taken, and many came out excellent....baseball went from March until the end of July, here I am in July working the ACME District at Lima Central Catholic....and in Michigan, in addition to meeting up with the "Snake"...I finally got a chance to meet my cousin "Big Moe" Houseworth...we had talked via phone and e-mails for years, but we finally got to share a beer and a handshake.

Reflecting back on 2011 part #1

2011-12-27T10:03:00.000-05:00

A post Christmas white "event" occurred overnight, at least in Celina...south a few miles in Montezuma, the event was rain....north 20 miles towards Van Wert it appears that it was all snow, while we, with a half inch of slushy white snow on the ground, had a mix of rain and snow. That snow however won't last, rain today, then back to snow tonight, so by tomorrow we may have another dusting of winter.

Back to basketball tonight, and the aging body will work 7 games, 4 of them on Thursday{what???}this week....the four on Thursday might be a mistake, but, I will work two in the AM and two more in the late afternoon, a combination of Girls JV and Boys Junior High games....I will need the New Year and weekend break again. This morning I awoke with a stiff neck, big time, and despite getting out of the house early, moving around, it refuses to go away....

The week after Christmas and before the new year has usually be reserved on this blog for looking back at the year past....so here we go:

2011....Looking Back part 1

Despite my dire predictions and thoughts about the coming year, 2012, last year, 2011, was a pretty decent year. Despite my Cholesterol being listed as "High", and the 30 pounds I had lost since the fall of 2009, now being more like 17 pounds...health wise I felt pretty good over most of the year. I got back into weight lifting, which resulted in some of the gain I am sure....because the diet really wasn't changed much since the previous months. I also got back into a walking routine, and that added with the 150 to 200 games officiated, has kept me in pretty good condition, at least in my mind, over the past 12 months. No major injuries working the games, and I have noticed that other minor things, skin infections, etc, have lessened.

2011 began as usual with a trip to Rick's place...but this time it would be the new home on 17 acres in Northeast Indiana, a few miles from their old homestead, where we had celebrated New Year's Day by drinking and eating too much....Rick, Clint, Rick's boys and me, spent New Years Day and that night, eating, drinking, and watching football, smoking some cigars, and generally doing not much else....next week, this time January 2nd, because that's when the bulk of the Bowl Games are played, will, I am guessing, see much of the same.

By the end of January, it was time to begin preparations for the coming marriage of youngest son Hal, and his fiancee' Lisa...they would get married at a resort of sorts in the mountains of West Virginia in February ...but prior to that, there would be a Bachelor Party for Hal on the Ohio River. First a day at a southern Ohio/Indiana Ski Hill, then to the Kentucky Side of the River, where we would stay....that followed by a night in Cincinnati, where way too much booze was consumed.....however, we all, Hal, me, Sam, Lisa's dad and brothers, and Hal's Celina and Dayton friends, would all survive....a couple of guys got lost, but were found by Sunday afternoon.

Fast forward to West "By God" Virginia, the first weekend in February.....

Hal and Lisa had decided to get married in a private lodge in the mountains near the Great Gorge in central West Virginia. We had two large lodges, where the families would stay....the wedding would be on a Saturday evening, with the reception back in Dayton two weeks later. In West Virginia, we would have a pre wedding dinner on Friday night, then the boys and the dads would head for a Ski Hill on Saturday afternoon, with the wedding and dinner to follow...Sunday Lisa's dad Tim and his mate would fix us a Sunday Breakfast Buffet, then everybody but the bride and groom would head for their various homes.....it was an outstanding weekend.

The couple were hoping for some snow for the wedding, but other than the Ski Hills, there was none, at least until we headed home for Ohio, where there was plenty here in the flatlands. Patricia and I had a rented SUV, which Hal and Lisa had paid for as a Christmas gift....the big Ford worked wonders for the trip.

I came home to finish out the basketball season, and prepare for the beginning of baseball...all-in-all, the winter was bitter cold with plenty of snow.....with the spring thaw, and Easter, we would find out that we would become first time Grandparents.....

more on that tomorrow....back later>>>>

Photos-2011 started off with Hal and Lisa's wedding and reception....here are some from the Wedding in West Virginia and one of me and the boys on the Ohio River for Hal's Bachelor Party in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati....

Winding down 2011.....Here comes 2012 like a thief in the night....

2011-12-26T11:01:00.001-05:00

Now that Christmas is fini' we can look down the road a week and get ready to dive head-on into 2012....a year that IMO may not be that far off the Mayan Predictions. Not so much as I believe they had super physic powers, but because only a fool would believe that the direction this once great Republic, note once, is taking. As the last great hope of mankind, the USA has fallen into a heap of misery...not because we are starving or are living in the streets, but simply because as a society we expect too much, too much help from the Government, led by a foreign born interloper and Marxist, named Barry Soetoro, Barack Obama, or whatever the Hell this Kenyan born, Indonesian raised Islamic worshiping bastards real name is. It is safe to say the majority of the people living in this country are now wards of the state....the freeloader, and government workers of all ilks, and their families are now in the majority. Those earning a living from work and the Capitalist system are now in the minority. Toss in 20 million illegals, and you have a recipe for disaster, a disaster of Biblical proportions, that cannot likely be reversed.

So 2011 is ending on a downer....2012 will begin on the same course.....if the likes of Obama and those that follow his lack of leadership are allowed to be re-elected, and in control,the end of the Republic as we know it is a certainty...there will be no turning back from this course....the end times, whether it be the one predicted in The Book of Revelation or the Mayan Calendar cannot be denied for long....it will indeed come, and the people that continue to demand of their government and the taxpayers that make it possible, are, along with the political hacks they elect, 100% to blame.

Those dire predictions aside, 2011 was a great year in retrospect for PRH and his world....so for the next few days of this week we will look back and enjoy those memories, while waiting for the other shoe to drop in 2012, because unless I miss my guess, it will be a disaster, not only for America and her people, but for all of the western World, and the freeloaders that live off the fruits of those that work day in and day out, in this land of last hope.

So, the post Christmas, "legal" Holiday is here....back tomorrow with a beginning look at the year past, and forward to what may indeed be the worst year in any of our lifetimes....

back later>>>>

Photos-As 2011 winds down, I will take a look back at the year in review this week, and a look forward to what I believe will be a year of disastrous consequences, Mayan, Biblical, or something else, if we continue on our current direction.

The Ghosts of Christmas Past...part #4....Merry Christmas to All!

2011-12-23T10:40:00.000-05:00

Cloudy, but somewhat normal conditions for late December...32 or so, with a high approaching 40 this afternoon...by which time I will be making the hour or so drive to Ottawa-Glandorf High School to work a final basketball double header before Christmas....then off to celebrate the birth of Christ for a few days. Next Tuesday back at it, before taking another short break for the New Year holiday. January will be full basketball wise, then in February the lower level games will slow, and both spring and baseball season will be on the horizon.....I am looking forward to it. Not sick of winter just yet, mind you, but without a doubt, the shorter this cold weather season is, the better. I picked up another varsity baseball game for the coming season...leaving me with just 3 open dates on my calendar from mid March until tournaments start around May 10th....if it is a dry spring, I will be one busy 63 year old. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Last night Don, a 33 year veteran basketball official, although a few years younger than me, and I worked a Freshman boys game at Crestview...I have to say it was one of the strangest games I have worked of late. 11-7 Crestview over LCC at the half. Now mind you these are two good programs, but neither could hit the broad side of a barn it seemed....the second half only got worse for the visiting T-Birds....the final ended up 34-7 Crestview. Yes, despite being a talented team, LCC did not muster a point in the second half, getting outscored by the Knights 23-0. The game itself lasted just over an hour, and I was home sipping a cold drink by 7:30. I have the LCC Freshman squad two more times in the next couple of weeks, at their place, and I'm sure I will see a better brand of roundball. This afternoon, as mentioned, at O-G, working a 3 man crew, a freshman game against Bowling Green, followed by a JV game of the same schools, which both precede the varsity contest which completes the triple header, I will work the first two.

The Ghosts of Christmas, a final look____

After the Christmases of my childhood and later youth, things became more focused...The kids were that focus.

Christmas 1979, Patricia, Anissa, me, and the Airedales, Rags and Max, celebrated Anissa's first Christmas at the apartment complex where we lived in Kokomo, Indiana. Anissa was about 10 months old, I was working as the morning News Anchor at WIOU radio, and Patricia was a waitress at the Kokomo Country Club. This is one of those, sure the heck doesn't seem like 32 years ago, moments. For the next few years, as the family grew, we would eventually move back to the Celina area, after a short stop in Dodge City, Kansas, where I played News Director at KGNO Radio...Sam came along in December 1981, a day before our 5th anniversary, so Christmas that year was memorable...as was the following weeks, when by chance the furnace at the old farm house quit on us, while we were both at work....the pipes didn't last long, and while the repairs were taking place, we spent about 3 weeks living at mom's, in that coldest of all winters I can ever remember. Well coldest in Ohio....because nothing can ever top the winter of 77-78 in northern Wisconsin for cold, and the Air Force winter of 70-71 at Griffiss Air Force Base, where we received upwards of 250 inches of snow that season...the piles along the flight lines didn't melt completely until early July.

For the decade of the 1980s, as the kids were born and grew, we spent each Christmas at the drafty old farm house on Coldwater Creek Road....I cannot imagine a more suitable place to raise the kids....or to celebrate the Christmas seasons of their youth. The all seem to mix together, those 10 years, I remember then being cold, with vehicles that didn't start at times, just two channels on the TV, because cable didn't come out that far, and where we celebrated not only Christmas, but all four seasons. It was where Patricia and I changed jobs and careers. I went from radio program director and cable television news and sports anchor, to Environmental Sanitarian at the local health department, putting my college work to use, and where Patricia, while working two jobs completed her studies at Wright State, traveling to Dayton on many winter nights, thus changing from social worker, to secretary, to finally a school teacher.

Finally we moved into town in 1990, bought the house we currently reside in in 1995, just a block from where we started when I bought the house on North Brandon in 1974....now a days, with the mostly empty nest, we usually have the Christmas Eve family get together at sister Marty's...this year I think there will be 17 of us, including the newest arrivals, Luke and Kasyn. Then Christmas Day is usually spent at home, with the TV blaring "A Christmas Story" in the background, and after presents are opened, we celebrate with our usual breakfast cassorole meal, followed by a larger Christmas dinner....pretty basic stuff. We certainly don't indulge with budget busting Christmas gifts...but frankly we never have. Sure the kids, in their younger days, always go plenty of gifts....perhaps not as expensive as they would like, but always plenty of them.

This year, with the first grandchild Kasyn, he will be the focus for the most part, as will Anissa, even at 32, given her childlike life, she will always be the child around our tree at Christmas, at least as long as we are around to celebrate with her.

That's it, for the look back...and that's it until at least Monday or Tuesday of next week....in the meantime.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.........

photos- Christmas pasts...Anissa, in her younger days and Christmases...Christmas on Sugar Street in the early 1990s, .Kasyn, the newest Houseworth will have his first Christmas, meanwhile Reagan, seen here on her first Christmas back in 1998, will see her 14th this weekend.

The Ghosts of Christmas Past...part #3/Winter Arrives?

2011-12-22T11:00:00.000-05:00

Still lots of excess water in the fields, streets, and yards of western Ohio...not to mention the brown muddy water flowing over the banks of the various rivers and streams, full of fresh rains and runoff from the rich soiled fields, some still with corn in them...a late harvesting season for many of the locals. No White Christmas this year....in fact, after today, it is supposed to be near 40 and sunshine, with lows near 30, through the end of December.

With no games yesterday, I had a couple of errands to attend to.....so early in the afternoon, I headed for Wapakoneta, hometown of moon walker Neil Armstrong, some 20 miles to the east of Celina. I dropped my 25 year old leather coat off for some repairs. The worn brown leather is in prime condition, but it needs new cuffs and front zipper. I've had the coat for many years, but only the past 2 winters have I been able to fit back into it....with years of weight lifting and weight gains putting me at 220 pounds, I gave it to oldest son Sam, when he outgrew it, he gave it back to his shrinking old man. When I reached the 185 pound mark two years ago, I could fit back into it....but it needed repairs, so my gift to myself this Christmas it to get it back in shape, since I did that to myself.....the coat might as well join me for the duration of life on this earth.

Back at basketball tonight...boys Freshman at Crestview, then tomorrow I head north 55 miles to Ottawa, where the host Titans will play three games....a Freshman Boys contest with Bowling Green, followed by a JV then Varsity games. I will work the first two games, but with a 3 man crew, the wear and tear should be minimal....unlike 2009 when I did those games with just one other official. With O-G and their type offense and defense, it was a war on my legs and body....3 man, it should be much easier. That will end the games until Tuesday of next week when I get back at it....

Christmas Gifts part #3_____

After we left my childhood home in Venice, Florida, in the fall of 1962, for western Ohio, the Christmas memories of those high school days and beyond have become less vivid, with a few notable exceptions.

For instance, from 1963 through 1968, I spent Christmas at the folks home in Montezuma....and frankly the only one I can really recollect is the last one...and that only because I was home on a 5 day leave from Dover AFB, in Delaware. With little sleep, after working the graveyard shift at Dover, a Air Force buddy of mine, Robin Lippencott, from New Philadelphia, Ohio, and I began our five day Odyssey, driving through the cold, and snowy mountains of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, staying awake on No-Doze, and coffee....I dropped him off some 6 hours later, and drove the last 3 hours on US 30 towards home. Later Lippencott and I would get our orders from Vietnam at the same time, and spend the two week combat training school at Lackland AFB together in Texas, during the summer of 1969, along with Steve Walsh, before heading our separate ways....although I have talked with Walsh since then, I never did know what happened to Robin....I do however, remember that Christmas leave like it was, well, like it was 43 years ago. However, the next Christmas, 1969....gotta tell you, as much as my mind remembers from that year in Vietnam...I don't recall Christmas at all. I tell myself I was in Nha Trang, having received my orders to transfer to Tan Son Nhut {Saigon} Air Base...and my orders say I left on 27 December 69. I do remember New Year's Eve working the perimeter bunker in Echo Sector of TSN....but amazing as it might sound, I do not recall Christmas 1969 in Vietnam, at all.

Fast forward to 1972....this one is etched in my mind forever. I was in upstate New York, when I received a call from older brother Mike, informing me that our dad, Stan Houseworth, had died that Christmas Eve night....dad had turned 55 just two weeks before, but somehow he seemed much older. A massive heart attack had taken him, while he sat with my youngest sister Kelly, then 10, and mom at home. It occurred shortly after his favorite team, the Miami Dolphins had defeated the Cleveland Browns, on the way to Miami's perfect season. Christmas was spent that year, flying home from Syracuse, the rest pretty much a blur. Christmas would not be the same for many years after that. Times change however, and now days we have the family get-together at sister Marty's house on Christmas Eve, this year, 17 of us, including the new boys in the family, Kasyn and Luke, who will be having their first Christmases...of course they won't remember it, being one month and 2 weeks old respectively...but we will enjoy it for them.

The next Christmas I remember after the tragedy of 72 was the melancholy one that followed in 1973, where, back in Ohio, I spent it at mom's place alone...I think! Mom and Kelly if I recall were in Florida on Vacation, and I was on my own back in Ohio. I had met Patricia by that time, but we were not a couple, and would not be for awhile after that. It did give me time to reflect on the previous years....and decide which way I wanted my life to go as I went forward....it was indeed a good time, those next few years would be some of the best in my life, but some of the wildest as well, and I cannot imagine trying to live those years from 1973 through 1976 again, and still escaping with my life on a do over.

As the 1976 Christmas season moved into view, I was in my final year at Hocking Technical College, and commuting back and forth from Nelsonville to Celina, on most weekends. Patricia and I had decided to get married that winter in her hometown of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. December 18th was the date, a week before Christmas in Wisconsin? That always is a "iffy" time in the northlands...but it worked out, along with best friend and best man Rick Pearson, we headed up through Chicago and past Milwaukee to her dad and step mom Bev's place. The weather, someone was looking over us, was balmy for mid to late December, and was in the 60s....we spent a one day "Honeymoon" at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, then headed back to Ohio, with Rick in tow.....through a snow storm no less....but we made it safe and sound. From there we spent our first Christmas as a married couple together at our house on North Brandon....and despite all the moves and states lived in over the years, we live just a block from that house today.

The Christmas seasons have come and gone, since we were married 35 years ago this past week...and most, although some memories have faded, were filled with Airedales and kids....and after all, while it is the birth of Christ we should celebrate, Kids and gifts are what we are about on Christmas, and least that has been ingrained in our world, for better or worse. More on the kids and those Christmases past tomorrow.

back later>>>>

Photos-top/Me, sometime around the Christmas of 1980, with a glass of something in my one hand, and perhaps a old Orphan Annie doll of one of the nieces or Anissa, in the other...probably pretty well a couple sheets to the wind by this time in the evening. Stan Houseworth, home on leave during World War 2 in Scott, Ohio....born in December 1917, dad passed away Christmas Eve of 1972....sudden, unexpected, and swift....something no one could ever forget. Patricia in front of her parents Christmas Tree on December 18, 1976....after we exchanged vows at her home church in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. And the kids....perhaps 1985, since Hal, the youngest was born in April 1984. This ornament, along with others from their childhoods, hangs on our tree today.

The Ghosts of Christmas Past...part #2

2011-12-21T11:21:00.000-05:00

More Rain overnight....more that we just don't need, and showers in the forecast off and on for the next couple of days....at least we are not forced to dig out for the Blizzard snows of the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, as well as eastern New Mexico, southeast Colorado and western Kansas....where upwards of 20 inches was dumped in some places....no worry about that here, we are sitting at 55 degrees, warm to say the least for December 21st, the first official day of Winter. And even though cooler by Christmas morning, it will be sunny and still near 40 for the day.

No game tonight, but after working a two man crew on the 94 foot long court at Van Wert for last nights JV game between Paulding and the host Cougars, I and my legs need a rest. A Freshman game at Crestview tomorrow, then a Freshman/JV boys double header north at Ottawa Glandorf beginning at 4:30 Friday afternoon, At least we will work a three man crew for those games, which precede the Varsity game between O-G and Bowling Green. Then the next three days off for the Christmas weekend, before a handful of games next week.

It is always interesting when I work a game at Van Wert...after being the voice of the Cougars on Cable Channel 7 for 15 or so years, giving the basketball and football officials Hell, now I'm on the other side. The older fans, who used to tune in for the tape replays of the games back in the Cougars glory years, and watch and listen as I gave the officials the business, now can give me the business, as the tables have turned....pretty entertaining to say the least....and fun.

The Ghosts of Christmas, part 2____

As I mentioned yesterday, the most vivid of my Christmas memories, are from those years I spent in Venice and South Venice, Florida, growing up.....as a teen, back in Ohio, the memories have faded quickly, and I just don't have the recall as I have of the Florida Christmas years. Although the memories of those early Christmases in the south are pretty clean, little remain, materially, of those days....except a few things....

One thing I have left, along with some old post cards that my Grandma Houseworth collected and saved, is a book on Shells. Wilda Waldron Houseworth collected Shells by the thousands, along with sharks teeth, from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and the stores that sold the polished and full shells. For the Christmas of 1955, mom and dad bought her a book on Shells, so she could identify the ones she bought and collected. Wilda died in 1975 at the ripe old age of 91, having outlived two of her five children, dad, and Forrest. When the last of the kids, Eva, passed away in 1998, I, as the executor of the remaining items and house in Scott, Ohio, along with my cousin Linda, went through the time taxiing and exhausting task of rooting through the stuff left behind by the three "Packrats", grandma, Aunt Cecil, who died in 1991, and Eva. It was an adventure to say the least, but that's for a different time....

One thing I did find was that old Shell collecting book, still in excellent shape, from the Christmas of 1955.....attached are a photo from Christmas morning of that year, some 56 years past, where the book can be seen under a chalkboard that was a gift for sister Marty, and a scan of the book, as it looks today, in my modest, but nothing like Grandma's, collection of antiques and small collectibles, of which I kept some, sold some, and split with Linda the others, since we did the work of going through it all.

Hummm....well that's enough for today, but tomorrow I will looking back at some memories of more recent Ghosts of my Christmas pasts....

back later>>>>

Photos-A Christmas as it looks in Florida, although this particular photo I shot a dozen or so years ago at Ormond Beach from a Sunrise at Mom's condo....The Shell Book as it looks today, and sitting below the mass of presents, under the chalk board back on Christmas morning 1955....

The Ghosts of Christmas Past...part #1

2011-12-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

Another dreary day in western Ohio, weather-wise at least...rain again overnight, with it still slowly coming down at this hour...a few miles to the north in the Convoy/Van Wert area, where I worked a game yesterday evening, it is coming down as snow, but that won't last as temperatures approach the 40 degree mark today, with a high of 50 on the horizon for tomorrow. It could be worse, the folks along the I-40 from New Mexico through Oklahoma, and north into western Kansas, are dealing with a major blizzard. 10+ inches of snow, and now the wind has moved in, making travel impossible out that way. I've been on I-40 in the Texas Panhandle driving RVs during a winter storm, believe me, it is no place to get stuck.

Last night after finishing the JV girls game at Crestview, I rushed back to Celina to finish up the first half of the season...I should have taken my time....we had already won the first game 2-1, by the time I arrived...but after starting game #2 with a 2-0 first inning lead, where I went 1 for 1 with a triple, RBI, and a sacrifice, I went hitless for the rest of the night, and we never scored another run...losing 4-2 and 3-0...to finish the season's first half at 11 wins and 10 loses. The second half will begin in early January, though we may switch the opening from January 2nd to the 9th. I finished the first half at .413 with 7 RBIs...about par for the course, although the RBI total is low, but since I am now hitting mostly lead-off, it's not surprising.

Christmas Pasts_____part one

Needless to say, I don't remember much of my few Christmas seasons, from 1949 through the 1953, we lived in the tiny berg of Scott, Ohio, on the Van Wert-Paulding County line...the area my great grandparents had settled in shortly after the Civil War had ended, and where my grandfather Sam Houseworth, the 10th of 11th children of Nelson and Mary Ann Houseworth, was born in 1877.

My first Christmas recollections were living in the post war travel camp at Alston's Cottages in South Venice, Florida...mom, dad, Mike, Marty, and Me, and usually those early Christmases, Grandma Houseworth would travel down from Scott, to stay with us in those tiny, cramped, quarters. We didn't have much, but the tree was always filled with plenty of toys, and gifts....so if we were indeed poor, we sure didn't notice or realize it. The years of 1954 through 1956, and into the Spring of 1957 were spent in South Venice. By late Summer 1957 we had moved to the Venice By-Way, before the folks purchased the home in Venice on the corner of School Street{don't know why it was named that, there was no school nearby}, and Pineland Avenue, by the time Christmas 1958 rolled around. We would live there another 4 years before packing our bags, dogs, cats, and belongings, and returning to west Ohio, where we would settle in the Celina/Montezuma area.

I remember those first Christmases in Florida best however, always getting enough to satisfy us, but not so much that we became spoiled.....I remember board games, bikes, knives, pellet guns, and other items long since gone.....we may not have realized it, but we were indeed lucky. Never did we overly expect more than we got....and I never remember being dissatisfied with those items...even though some may have been put by the wayside shortly after the season. Frankly, after moving back to Ohio, where the weather was more 'Christmas like', I just don't remember the Christmas seasons, like I did those of the decade we lived in south Florida.

More tomorrow....another JV game, this one of the boys variety, in Van Wert tonight...back later>>>>

Photos-Christmas 1955 is probably the first that I really remember. Me, Marty, and Mike, on that morning at the Alston's Cottage living room.... despite the looks I don't believe that Mike and I were unhappy with what we received...more like we were still too damn tired to wake up, probably after staying up half the night waitin' on Santa. The Cottages were are home from the early days in South Florida, 1954 though the early months of 1957. The bottom photo is from out new home on School Street in the Edgewood Section of Venice, Florida....our friends from Scott, Ohio, joined us that Christmas in 1959...left to right, me, Mike, Marty in front, and my best friend from my Scott days, Al Foust....who still lives up that way, in Payne, Ohio, these days.

The Week Before Christmas....Engine "erring"

2011-12-19T11:43:00.000-05:00

The Basketball "Wars" Friday and Saturday were certainly more enjoyable tham the Junior High games of mid week...both night's JV games were close, and even though sloppy, were much better with less fan, less coaches whining, and quicker, than the girls JH games earlier...and these were Boys high school games. This week will be busy as well....Girls JV at Crestview tonight, followed by a run back to Celina to finish up the first half of Dartball season. Tomorrow JV Boys at Van Wert, Thursday back to Crestview for a boy Freshman game....then Friday, I will work a double header, Freshman and JV Boys at Ottawa-Glandorf, and both games will be worked with a three man crew, making it much easier, on the legs, knees, lungs, and entire body. That will do it for the week, but next week Tuesday through Friday will see me working games before the New Year, and our annual get together at Rick's over in Northern Indiana.

Yesterday, Patricia and I had our 35 wedding anniversary to celebrate....she headed for church, Anissa and I went over to mom's like we do most Sundays...after that we headed for Bob Evans for a Sunday Anniversary dinner....pretty laid back, but that was good enough for the day, I am sure we will get out for a more elegant dinner here in due time...but with Sam's birthday, and our wedding date, both the week before Christmas, sometimes you just move the celebration around...like with Sam, he was back in Columbus on this 30th Birthday on Saturday, so we will celebrate that on Wednesday.....The Family get-together, with the two newest members of the family, Kasyn and Luke, by that time a month and 2 weeks old respectively, having their first family Christmases at the Hemmelgarn house....17 of us will join in welcoming the new men of the family into the fold.

Old Guys, Old Vehicles, and Old Engines____

Saturday afternoon, before the game at Delphos, I headed over to Nick's to see how he was coming on rebuilding his 305 Chevy engine in 1988 1/2 ton pick-up.....for someone who, like me, is not much of a mechanic, it was coming along pretty good, and he thought he would have it done, by weekend's end....that I wasn't sure of, but will check with him this week to see how far he really did get.

What it did get me to thinking however was, I need to either get the 1977 Buick Landau back on the road, or sell it.....The land yacht only has 61,300 miles on it, and the body, despite a dent, where Sam kicked it when he owned it, is in good shape...the engine, rebuilt, is solid. I'm guessing for $2000 I can have it back up and running during the Summer months, the main concern is getting off my lazy ass and getting er done!

With a minor amount of body work, a little hood Bondo on one spot, and the dent pulled out....it will be a semi-classic, with only new paint job to make it near perfect. Now, if only I can convince myself to do it......sometime before I die, or let someone else give it a try.

Politics rears it's ugly head_____

Friday on facebook, one of those on my "friends" list {1700+ people, most of whom I have no idea who they really are}, gave me some grief about calling our Marxist-in-Chief, Barack Obama, "Obammy"....calling my political views "ignorant" and my calling the Kenyan "Obammy" racist. "Just who the Hell is this clown"? I thought to myself....after some research, it turns out I officiated a basketball game with him some 4 years ago...one time...and he adds me to his facebook list. Well now I guess I'm on his 'shit list'...because I called Obammy, well, called him "Obammy"....hardly racist, but you know liberals, both black and white, are so freaking politically correct, anybody that despises Obama, and I do indeed despise the son of a bitch, is a racist. Anyway, I dumped the fool....my dislike, like any of the black conservatives on my facebook page friends list{and there are many}can tell you, list has nothing to do with his color. He indeed may be half black, half white, half breed, but there is no doubt The Kenyan, is a "half wit" and a full Marxist....so my advice to "Ed" and those, black, white, or brown, that think like him, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass, on the way out of my facebook page".

As for the term "Obammy", which he suggested was designed to make it look like "Mammy" and was racist....yep, I guess, Dion, Liza Minnelli, and The Happenings, were all racists for redoing the old Al Jolson song, "My Mammy"? Nothing I hate more that politically correct race baiters....they, including the likes of Jesse Jackass, and Fat Al Sharpton, and they can all take a flying leap at a rolling donut.

With that, it's off to the basement weight room to work out...back later>>>>

Photos-Nick's 305 truck engine is about done....meanwhile the monster that sits inside my 1977 Buick Landau needs some TLC....as does the outer shell, but it's not that far from being back on the streets. Meanwhile, what can you say about Obama? Nothing I could call this dimwitted excuse for a human being can be described as racist or insulting...after all, he does that quite well for himself.

Basketball Wars, Part 3....and a week of Milestones....

2011-12-16T10:38:00.000-05:00

Just when you think things cannot get any uglier in the lowly world of Junior High/Middle School girls basketball, last night tops it off....

Not going to mention the schools involved, because frankly the host school has been very good to me, in both Baseball, where I do many of their top league and non-league Varsity games, and Basketball, where I pick and choose the lower level games that I want....note to myself, I will never officiate another game involving the Junior High of the visiting school...again, but that has no reflection on the host school, where I usually enjoy working.

Knowing the visiting school involved, my partner Mark, a diminutive man with 17 years experience officiating basketball, and I knew this would be an ugly double header. These days girls JH teams, for the most part are bad, and out of control when it comes to knowing the game and how to play it...there are exceptions, Wayne Trace, Celina, Crestview, all come to mind...good teams, with good coaches, that know how to coach and discipline. From here on out, with the exception of last nights home team, and those 3 mentioned, I will not accept contracts to do this level...sure the pay is good, but the headaches are not worth it....anyway here is how it folded out.

In the opener, the 7th grade game, things were out of control play wise, but despite it's length, time wise, we were done from the 4:30pm start at about 6...still way too long for a JH game. When the second, 8th grade game started, I knew instinctively that we were in for a long one. The short round coach, resembling a bowling ball, was a pain in the ass from the get-go. A little round black man, who thought standing on the court 3 feet out from the bench was appropriate....and bitching about every call and move, was likewise. Meanwhile his girls, at least three of them, 8th graders all, were big girls, who towered above the coach, Mark, and even one or two of them were as tall or taller than my 5' 11" frame. The home team, while more skill talented, would not match up with the bigger girls from the visitors. The game, as ugly as it was, would remain close, and much to Mark and my dismay would drag into an overtime session, before finally ending with the visitors winning by three of four points, but that time I could have cared less, we just wanted to get off the floor with our hides intact.

Midway through the game, I forget exactly when, Mark "Teed" up the bowling ball...giving him a Technical Foul in layman terms. The bowling ball was not deterred, and continued bitching. Shame on me, I usually tried to work the alternate side of the court away from him...although in reality in a different world and place, I would have probably given the mouth a head butt, and rolled his sorry little ass down the floor...it would not have been much of a challenge, even at my age. Finally Mark had had enough and sat the coach down...realizing another Technical would have sent the coach to the showers, and cost him $160 in fines from the state association, and a session in anger management/sportsmanship. Mark gave him a verbal lashing instead....in retrospect he or I should have tossed the bowling ball and left him to pay his 2 game suspension and fine. The tongue lashing provoked some yells and muted slander from the inner city side of the gym....I could picture in my mind some black white violence if this kept up...after all there was no security, I mean a F'ing Junior High Girls Basketball Game? Give me a break....this should not go on, at any level, but especially this brand.

As I was standing in front of the largely black visiting crowd during a 3rd quarter time out, I and one of the fans were talking....he tells me, "You know your partner should not have yelled that way at the coach"? I nod my head in agreement, and reply, "No, he should have kicked his ass out, long ago your coach is a buffoon"...well as luck would have it, away from us, two fans, both black, began having a go at each other....no security, Oh Shit! Finally after other "fans" rushed to the stage, where the real action had began, school officials to their credit ended the minor fight....by this time I had walked over to the scorers table, and told the home coach, "If this shit doesn't cease, we are killing this game, and leaving"....he had no argument with the proposition. The game did continue however, as the crowd, while still loud, settled down, and were satisfied to yell, scream, and generally, make asses of themselves, without further threats of violence.

It was 7:45 by the time the mess was done...3 hours 15 minutes for a double header that usually take 2 hours to 2 1/4 hours...BS was what it was. Mark and I, sticking around for another 15 minutes to let the crowd leave the building and lot, both agreed we with never do another game involving the visiting school and the little bowling ball coach. Like I said, in retrospect, we should have tossed him and done the paperwork. Sure that might have caused a mini riot....but this little clown should not be coaching at any level...he sucks as a coach, and I assume as a human being. Mark this down as a learned lesson.....

More December Milestones____

I mentioned early this month that December was as busy as it gets in the Houseworth and related surname families when it comes to births, deaths, and other anniversaries .... this week is certainly no exception.

Last Saturday would have been dad, Stan Houseworth's 94th birthday, Christmas Eve will mark the 39th since the night he died at age of 55. This week however, is loaded with more pleasant markings...

Sam Houseworth, the oldest son, turns 30 tomorrow, December 17th.....born in St. Marys on a snowy morning back in 1981....he will finish up his Bachelors Degree at The Ohio State University in the spring...kind of a family tradition, finishing up college in your 30s....right along with mom and dad with that. On the day after Sam was born, Patricia and I celebrated our 5th anniversary...this Sunday marks 35 years since we were married in her hometown of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, in 1976...and a record warm day for the date...temperatures were well into the 60s, a rare day indeed in Wisconsin, even the southern part, that late in the year.

Meanwhile yesterday was brother Mike's 65th Birthday....he was born 11 months or so after mom and dad were married, he was hatched out on December 15, 1946....one of the early day "Boomers"

Tonight it's back to basketball, but both this evening and tomorrow, it will be boys High School action, while at times more intense, at all times more in control and more enjoyable than the disasters of the past two nights.

enjoy your weekend...back later>>>>

photos-December Milestones...top Emma Callies, Patricia's grandmother along with us on 12/18/1976 at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, "Uncle Sam" Houseworth, who turns 30 tomorrow 12/17 with the newest member of the Houseworth Clan, Kasyn, last week in Centerville, another of Patricia and me in 1976, and brother Mike Houseworth and me, in the Spring of 1958...playing for the Venice Elks, in our childhood hometown of Venice, Florida.

Rick Santorum for President....more Basketball Wars!

2011-12-15T11:16:00.000-05:00

Crazy weather we are having....57 degrees at 10:50 in the morning as I start typing today's blog, a bit late again...basketball every night does seem to do that to one....I'm just glad to be retired, otherwise I really don't know how I would accomplish much at all....well, maybe I would just have to make a different use of my time. In about 8 months I will be officially retired from Environmental Health work for a decade...where the Hell did that time go?

With a high near 60 today this is likely to be the warmest, or close to the warmest day, we will see in western Ohio between now and mid or late March....by that time, basketball will be out of the way, and baseball, my first scrimmage is slated for my 63rd birthday, March 16, 2012. Speaking of basketball however......

Basketball Wars..Redux____

Working a girls Junior High double header last night, I solidified my observations over the past few years. One being, basketball at this level, with some significant exceptions, is best left off my contracts in the future...while there are some good girls teams and coaches at this level, they are indeed few and far between. Last nights two game resembled anything but basketball as we know it. While you try to officiate on an even keel, if you do that for an entire game, those normally 6 minute quarter, 1 hour in total games, would reach 2 or more hours, and you would finish the games with less than 5 players on most teams, due to fouling, travels, double dribbles, etc. I won't even try to describe the eight grade game, the second of the two, last night....except to say, we, despite our best efforts to 'let them play", fouled out 7 girls, five on the home team, and it could have been more.

Tonight I'm back, the JH girls again, this time at Lima Central Catholic vs Lima South....we will see how that shakes out.....

Rick Santorum For President____

Until now I have made no choice for President...those people I have liked in the past, have fallen by the wayside, or not even chosen to run. As for the others, Mitt, Newt, Ron Paul, and others? Let's say they are not what I am looking for, although all would be much better than the Kenyan Assclown that currently has turned our country into a 3rd world shithole, that is the laughing stock of an equally corrupt, pathetic world.

With this in mind, I sat down and looked how candidates stand on the issues....and only one pretty much hits all my points in agreement....Rick Santorum, the former Senator from Pennsylvania:

http://www.ricksantorum.com/issues

Now, don't get me wrong, nobody is perfect, and in reality, Santorum has no shot at this point in time....but he appears to be the one person, still running, that 'gets it'....if and when he falls by the wayside, I will consider others, but for now he is my first choice in this "Anybody buy Obammy" world of mine.

The Sun has peaked through the overnight rain and gloom....the wind is trying to dry things off....and I will head out for a walk on this last day of Spring-like weather before , well before next Spring.

back later>>>>

Photos-Rick Santorum is my choice, for now...girls Junior High basketball won't be after this season....Smoke Em' if you Got Em'

Foggy Morning on Grand Lake....

2011-12-14T14:26:00.000-05:00

Just a quicky....

For the next two nights I go back to officiating Girls Junior High double headers...tonight at Lima Perry, and tomorrow back to Lima, at Central Catholic. After that, with the rare exception, maybe a night or two, I am done with girls JH for the season....although I will still work several JV girls games as league action kicks off over the holidays.

This morning, I awoke, and walked through the chill and drizzle from the overnight rains....first through the neighborhoods, then heading to the bank, the Marathon station for $5 worth of Ohio Lottery Tickets. I seldom play, except on occasion the daily rolling cash draw, where last week I got a $12 return on my $5 dollar investment. Enough perhaps for a 6-pack of beer. After that stop I headed with camera over to the shelter house on the northwest corner of Grand Lake....some loose ice had gathered and was being washed back and forth by the southerly winds and waves....I snapped a few photos, and then headed back to the house.

Patricia has fixed her annual allotment of Christmas Cookies...I had some for Mike and Mom, as well as a homemade Cheese Cake that she had made for Mike, as my older, and only brother, turns the big 65 tomorrow.....

That's if for today's posting....gotta get stuff around before heading to Perry....but I will be back later>>>>

photos-Loose Ice and Fog were the name of the game around Grand Lake early today...

Just Rambling.....

2011-12-13T11:16:00.001-05:00

As happens on many occasions these days, I really have nothing, or at least very little, to write about.....the Christmas season is upon us, but with rain on the way, it certainly doesn't seem much like it, and here we are just 12 days away. As I mentioned yesterday, this will be one busy week.....

Double Header Boys JH last night at Lima Central Catholic, as the T-Birds took two from Marion Local....neither game was close, as LCC used a smothering defense and a full court press, when needed, to seal the Flyers fate. Tonight, more boys JH action as I head north to Wayne Trace, for a double header...meanwhile Sam, back from Columbus for a few weeks before classes begin at Ohio State. heads for Crestview for, likewise, a boys JH double.

Last night, after I finished at LCC, I headed for Dartball at Mt Carmel....I arrived midway through game #2, and finished 3 for 6 with an RBI to raise my average to .426...but we fell two games to one to the South Division leaders. With one week left in the season's first half, we now stand at 10-8, still with a mathematical chance to defeat Carmel, but it won't happen, our next opponents, Schumm, are not likely to lose three to us, and if they do, I doubt if Carmel and/or Hopewell stumble that much...so a winning record for the first half is our goal. Then hopefully we will improve for the second half, and make another run in the tournament like last year. Frankly though it is rough, our older guys are going through a bad stretch, and the younger guys are not picking up the slack...and with Sam gone most of the season {he was 4 for 12 last night), it is not looking good. After my .426, our next best hitter with enough at bats to qualify is hitting .316...and we are averaging just 2.94 runs per game...I remember years ago we were scoring 8 runs per game.....now we are getting just 8 hits a game.

I could talk politics...but screw that, frankly I am sick of the whole mess, even the GOP side is driving me to drink...and Hell, that's a short trip....One thing for sure, we, as a nation, will never be the way we were in December 1941 or even on September 11, 2001...the left, and the leftist media has made sure of that. In the foreseeable future, my lifetime for sure, we will never be undivided. It's not in the cards....and no war, or attack will ever take us back to December 7, 1941. A Civil War is more likely to happen on our soil....

back later>>>>

Photos-Grand Lake in the Morning....waiting on the ice...and Dartball, while our team's record and mine personally are not bad, we have a long way to go to be competitive.

Parents as "Fans", What Would Tim Tebow Do? and Weight Fluctuation

2011-12-12T08:43:00.011-05:00

Cold but moister free was the weekend that was....

A postponed game due to a late lasting football season on Friday, so no game, then early Saturday up for a Junior High double header at Crestview versus their rivals from Wayne Trace....unlike the injury scarred JH games at Trace on Thursday, these games, played on the larger High School gym, went off without a hitch. Crestview won the 7th grade game easily, but as expected, the 8th grade girls, with a couple of real prospects playing, ended up 35-32 with the lead changing hands in the final minute, and the home team on the winning end of a great "battle".....of course using that word might cause some parents who viewed Thursdays games to scream at their computer screen.

As a parent of kids who played Junior High and High School sports, I never can be surprised at the 'Tunnel Vision" which many parents view these games. Thursday night in retrospect was indeed a disaster. From unconfirmed reports, one girl, as I suspected, has a broken arm, in 2 places no less, and another may have had a concussion, and possible broken nose. I know, it sounds like a damn war...but it wasn't....it was basketball, junior high girls to be exact...and the game was not that rough, although from the injuries one would be hard to convince. Sometimes lack of coordination and smaller gyms can result in falls. But of course some parents want a perfect world where that are no fouls, no falls, and no injuries...I also suspect those parents are the same that vote for Obama and his ilk, the "Nanny State" types that think nothing of blaming somebody for anything or any accident that may happen.

I remember youngest son Hal, early in the baseball season years ago, in Junior High, broke his thumb while catching a fast ball from a young hurler that eventually played and pitched at Bowling Green. Did I yell at the umpire, or assign blame to the coach or the kid throwing? Hell no, it is sports, sometimes bad things happen, it's part of growing up. Officials and Umpires seldom can or do have any actions that result in injury., and at these levels, especially in the lower levels of high school and junior high, the kids are not committing "flagrant" or deviate fouls to purposely injure someone else. Anybody that thinks otherwise needs to pull their heads out of their backside.

Some parents need to take a look in the mirror, and they will see the reason that schools can't get enough quality coaches, and young umpires and officials are as scarce as hen's teeth...who wants to put up with the BS for little pay and constant criticism?

The Miracle Man....Tim Tebow!

After my walk yesterday, I listened to the Bengals choke their way basically out of the playoff picture, losing in the final 2 seconds to Houston 20-19...the game was blacked out locally, because Cincy failed to sell out the game...something that happens most Sundays this season. Sam, home for most of the holidays from Ohio State, and I then proceeded to watch the Packers stomp Oakland, but with that game being a blow-out, we turned the channel to watch another "melt down". The Chicago Bears, up on Denver 10-0 with 2 minutes left, imploded as the Christian Wonder Boy Tim Tebow, who looked pathetic most of the game, brought his Denver team from behind, tying it on a last second field goal from 59 years out, then we watched as the Bears fumbled on their way to a winning overtime score, and let Tebow lead his team far enough down the field, for Matt Prater to kick another long field goal, this one from 51 yards out, to secure a 13-10 win.

So just what is it with Tebow that brings out such strong emotions? I know many Ohio State fans hate him, simply because he played at Florida, when the Gators kicked our Buckeye asses in the National Championship game....many others hate him because he seems too perfect, too goody two shoes, while most hate him simply because he's a Christian, who is not afraid to admit it...one who thanks Jesus Christ for his success and his failures. Atheists, fake Christians, the sports media, and left wing political radicals, despise Tim Tebow, for who he is, and for what he says....I guess that's why, as silly as Pro Sports is....I'm really starting to like the guy.

Like Tebow says...."God doesn't root for teams, it's just a game"...and I agree, but I would like to believe that on a random occasion, God might just like to poke a finger in his, and Tim Tebow's detractors eyes....and this 7 game come from behind winning streak by Tebow and the Denver Broncos, might just be one of those occasions....makes me smile, just thinking about that possibility.

The "Weighty Weekend"....

Of late I have to admit I wonder on Monday mornings...."What the Hell did I eat over the weekend to cause this"? Almost each Monday morning weigh-in of late, it seems that I gain 3 or 4 pounds...this morning it was four. Up from 192 on Friday to 196 this morning. Now I will be the first to admit, my weekend eating and drinking habits are different than Monday through Friday...but three or four pounds? Come On!

This weekend especially was hard to figure out....frankly I didn't feel that great most of the weekend, and more than that, I didn't eat much, and drank even less....but still here it is, first thing on Monday the scale showed a 4.2 pound gain since Friday AM.....WTF.?

On Saturday I ate some chips and dip and had a couple of beers and a deli sandwich...but little else. Yesterday, Sunday, Patricia did fix me a omelet for breakfast, but other than a sandwich late in the day I had little else....and for this I gained four pounds?

So today, here we go again...it usually works, I will go back to my usual breakfast...a English Muffin with a spoonful of preserves, coffee, and a banana for breakfast. Lunch it will be a can of Sardines, Spinach, and a fruit. With basketball every night this week through Saturday, my supper will be waiting when I get home...but I don't and won't eat much that late....so I figure I will lose 3 or 4 pounds back....then face the weekend again. It appears however, if I want to survive the holiday season under 200 pounds{and I didn't lose 30 pounds over the past two years to gain it back at any point}, my weekend meals and habits, will have to be more like my weekday ones.

I'll let you know how it works out....

back later>>>>

Photos-Tim Tebow, of the Denver Broncos....the left wing and Christian haters worst nightmare....and the usual weekday breakfast...looks like I will have to adopt this and my other weekday eating habits for the weekend, if I want to keep the weight I've lost off.

Basketball Wars and December Births

2011-12-09T09:46:00.001-05:00

A bit of lite snow on the ground this morning, and temperatures hovering around the 30 degree mark...

Another December Birth____

Our family, as I have mentioned before, is loaded with December Births and other events....my dad, brother Mike, Uncle Bill, son Sam, late first cousin Gary, his sister Linda, Grandma Houseworth, Aunt Cecil, and I'm sure that there are others that I am forgetting...and that doesn't begin to name the other cousins born in the years final month, add that to the fact that Patricia and I were married in December, 35 years ago this month, and that dad died on Christmas Eve back in 1972...December is indeed a milestone month. Our first grandson, Kasyn, just missed being a December birth, as he was born 2 weeks ago yesterday on Thanksgiving....

Yesterday, my niece Molly and her husband Aaron, a football coach at Hillsdale College in Michigan, welcomed the newest December birth in the family. Aaron, who starred in football at Celina, then moved on to Athens and Ohio University as the starting Center, and Molly who was an all state trackster in the hurdles at Celina and a gymnastics performer and coach, were both great athletes...their young daughter Lily will probably be one as well, and young Luke Patrick has a BIG start on being as large as his dad...21 inches and 9 pound 10 oz...was his arrival size. His dad, a defensive coach at Hillsdale, is the only family member bigger than our son Hal, and with Hal at about 6' 4" 260...Aaron has an inch height and probably equal weight to Hal...so young Luke is likely to be a big one as he grows.

Basketball War! And this was Junior High Girls!!

After working some 40 football games, from youth to varsity High School this past fall, I did see a number of injuries...but even for the speed and size of some of the players in those games, none of the 40, none I say, reached the injury level of last nights Middle School Girls basketball double header at Wayne Trace.

I should say, near double header, because we never completed the 8th grade contest. Late in the 7th grade game, with visiting Antwerp up by a couple of dozen points, their point guard stole the ball, and was fouled from behind as she laid the ball in...she lost control, hit the padded wall in the small gym arm first, and crumpled to the floor..... I'm not medical expert, but it did appear she had a broken right arm, or at least a major dislocation. Nothing flagrant about the foul, it just happened.

We finished that game up, then the real action began in the 8th grade game....Wayne Trace blew it open early, but we had two players, one from each team, go down in the second quarter. The Trace player lay on the floor for a couple of minutes, before heading towards the bench with a painful expression on her face...she would return minutes later and was crashed into by a Antwerp girl, both fell to the floor, with the Archer player landing own her head...she was down for perhaps 10 minutes before finally moving to the Antwerp bench. My partner official Perry and I were glad to see the half end, without further injury, we would not be so lucky in the shortened second half.

The home standing Radiers continued to hold a commanding lead midway through the 3rd quarter, when after a basket that made the score 31-8, I heard Perry blow his whistle, and point to the floor in the backcourt , where a blue clad Antwerp player lay.....nobody on the floor had noticed, but appearantly the girls were diving for a loose ball on the previous run down court...she fell, struck her head on the wooden bleachers, neck first. That was all it took....the coaches and trainers worked on her for 15 minutes to keep her comfortable, and the EMS was called. I don't think her injury was serious, but being a head and neck injury they didn't take a chance. After consulting with the coaching staffs, we called the game...

As I was leaving the parking lot some 20 minutes later, the Ambulance was still sitting in the back exit way to the gym....I took the darken photo with my Cell Phone as I was leaving, it doesn't show much...but then again the entire afternoon and early evening was a surreal experience, to say the least.

My High School Boys game tonight was moved, due to Delphos St. Johns being in the football playoffs late...so I get the night off. Tomorrow another JH girls basketball game....and this one also involves Wayne Trace as they travel to Crestview, let's hope things are a little more "normal"....?

enjoy your weekend...back later>>>>

Hawks and much ado about very little else....

2011-12-08T10:11:00.000-05:00

Heading out shortly...will walk to the post office, bank, then another mile or so to get hair cut at George's....back by Noon, then this afternoon off to work a Junior High girls double at Wayne Trace....this morning dawned clear and cold across the Grand Lake Region, temperature may reach the mid 30s by this afternoon, but right now, it sets at 26 degrees.

The Hawk...part 2

I did not see any signs of the Hawk yesterday.....but I'm not really looking out the kitchen windows at all hours either....but seeing and photographing him on Tuesday did remind me of one of my favorite Seinfeld Episodes....#162 to be exact. This segment is from when Kramer found the set of the old Merv Griffin Show in a dumpster. The side shows have Jerry getting his girlfriend drunk so he can play with her old toy collection, and George running over a pigeon and a Squirrel...which of course reminded me of the back yard Hawk, who has harassed our collection of Sparrows, Squirrels, and Pigeons, in past years....the episode was one of the best. Here in the final 7 minutes or so you will see Jerry confronted by his girlfriend, and George, with Bionic Squirrel, come face to face with a Hawk...:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsUX-sCMDuw&feature=related

One of the best......

No game last night, but did attend a rules meeting in Van Wert, so I've got three of the four required local meetings, as well as the state meeting completed....

Off on my walk around town....back later>>>>

Photos-Our Visiting Backyard Hawk, and the Seinfeld, Merv Griffin/Hawk/Squirrel Episode #162

Return of the Marsh Hawk....and 70 Years Ago Today, A Day that.........

2011-12-07T10:49:00.002-05:00

Drove through the fog and mixed drizzle with icy mist late yesterday to work a girls JV basketball game at Convoy Crestview...which resulted in a close fought 30-27 for the home squad. I showered and left before the end of the first quarter of the Varsity contest. Arriving home at 8:30 as the drizzle had turned to light snow, but only a dusting occurred and the roads are clear this morning, as the sun begins to shine through the early morning cloud cover.

The Hawk Returns_____

About this same time, the first year I started this blog, I believe the early winter of 2007-08, a Marsh Hawk began hanging around the back yard bird and Squirrel feeder. That first late fall and early winter, he{or she?, but I believe it to be a male given the size} started off catching a slow moving Pigeon or two. The Pigeons were nesting high on our roof and the old Church across the street. They were easy prey for the Hawk....when the old Mersman Factory Building was raised, those birds moved on, but the Hawk continued to come back for a chance to feast on Doves or the smaller, but quicker, noisy Sparrows that gathered each morning. On occasion I would note a successful hunt by the larger bird. On some visits he would face off with one of the dozen or so back yard Squirrels, but would invariably fly away from the confrontation. I'm sure the Hawk could have taken out a "tree rat" if he was really hungry, but the price he would have to pay apparently was not worth the effort...unlike Doves, Pigeons, and Sparrows, those Squirrels have teeth.

Last Winter, the Hawk only showed up on a couple of occasions, I had however noticed, if this indeed was the same bird, that he had grown over the previous 4 winters, and had become a quite strong looking and attractive bird. So it was yesterday I let Reagan, the 13 1/2 year old Airedale, out for her Noontime duties, I had already given the birds and Squirrels their morning ration of feed seed, and corn....when Reagan began scratching on the back door, I let her in, as I opened the door, there he was, the Hawk, on top of the arbor, ripping apart the remains of an unlucky Sparrow. Unlike past years, the Hawk didn't fly when Reagan was out, and he looked at me as I stood in the doorway, but didn't bother to cease his feeding. This gave me the opportunity to run back in and grab the small Nikon.....

Putting the camera on auto~focus, I began to snap photos of the feeding predator. As he stayed, I moved forward, finally getting more than a dozen photos, as he finally jump onto the high wires, and eventually flew into the neighbors tree filled yard to the west. The point and shoot Nikon, although I enjoy the ease of its workings, is not best for outdoor close-up shots, my hands just are not that steady these days, and I didn't have the time to set it on the mini tripod...so out of the 16 total photos, perhaps 5, after working with them on my computer imaging studio, came out worthwhile....I particularly like the one above with him sitting in the tree staring down at me...done feeding, but not happy that I rushed his meal with my intrusion.

70 years ago today_____

Over seven years before I was born in Van Wert, Ohio, The Japanese attacked the Hawaiian outpost of Pearl Harbor. Historical stories differ, and as more evidence is uncovered, it remains a question just how much of a "Surprise Attack" the invasion really was.

Was FDR well aware of the coming attack? Was he indeed wanting the attack to happen so he could toss the US into the second World War? Or was this FDR shining moment, an opportunity to save his long lasting, but ultimately failed Presidency, after all the Great Depression, for all of his Socialist Engineering, was still gripping America. Perhaps a combination of all these theories and more....As a student of American History, especially the Civil War and WW2. {both to me, much more interesting than "my war, Vietnam" or any other, including WW1, in American History}...I have my thoughts, but admit, I really don't know the thought process of the ultimate progressive mind of Franklin D. Roosevelt....a man I consider right down there with Wilson, Carter, LBJ, and the current Assclown Kenyan, as the five worst Presidents in US History.

Regardless, whatever the reason or cause for our entrance into the Second World War, Pearl Harbor was the catalyst of our going to war...and like Americans back then{not so today}, we were going to war to win it...and we did. America, my ego included, won WW2 pretty much by ourselves, sure we had help, from the Brits, Canadians, Aussies, and Russians...but make no mistake, if not for the American GI, the war would have been lost......there can be no argument on that fact.

So looking at today, what would happen if we are attacked, by Iran, China, or even North Korea? Here is a hint, especially if the current Islamic Camel Fornicator is in office...NOT A DAMN THING!

Barack Insane Obama, his Administration, the Media, and his supporters, haven't the guts or balls to fight anybody...they are cowards to the Nth degree. Any attack on America would, under his lack of leadership, go unpunished. The diplomats would be called in...and it would end there. As long as anti Americans are in charge of America, and the Media cheers them on{being America haters for the most part itself}, we are in deep dung.....it is indeed time for a change. The question is, is it too late?

Something to think about on this 70th anniversary of the Attack{surprise or not} on Pearl Harbor:

back later>>>>

Photos-The Large Marsh Hawk made its return to our back yard yesterday, feeding on the noisy Sparrows that feed at the station and arbor that sit along the fence.....and would we have the same "guts" today as we had 70 years ago? I think not, Hell today we can't even call the Japs "Japs"...no politically correct you know, you know we would not be able to call the Islamics invaders what they are, "Stinking Terrorists", let alone fight them...such is America in the days of Obammy.....

Off to Hawaii on our Dime...The Kenyan Assclown loves spending our money

2011-12-06T12:04:00.000-05:00

The 3rd day of rain wound down, and turned to snow for a brief while last night....leaving a muddy mess in West Central Ohio....with just a small crusting of snow on the ground......today, wet grounds, but nothing falling at this time, just cloudy, cold, and windy.

After finishing up the Junior High double header for girls basketball at Celina last night, I headed to St. Johns Church for a Dartball battle with rival St. Johns Hopewell....neither team had it's game going, and after losing a 15 inning marathon in the opener, we split the final two games.....we and Hopewell both stand at 9 wins and 6 loses in the season's first half, tied in the South Division, not sure what Mt Carmel, who entered last night at 7 wins and 5 loses did...but with them on our schedule next week, we still have destiny in our hands...although with our play thus far, that isn't saying much. After a very slow start, I finished 5 for 14, with a lone RBI....now standing at .419 on the season with 5 RBIs.....

Tonight it's off to Crestview to work a JV Girls game at Convoy.....

The Pretender and Thief______

The White House has announced that Barack Obama, aka: The Kenyan Assclown, and his lovely wife Moo~Shell will be jetting off to Hawaii on December 17th for 2 1/2 weeks on our dime. No doubt the continuation of the Moo~Shell "Let them eat Cake" tour......I guess the only good thing about Obammy taking so many vacations and golf outings is, it leaves less time for the useless son of a bitch to screw things up, although gawd knows he still tries his hardest:

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm

Can we in retrospect give Hawaii it's freedom and make his already illegal and phony Hawaiian Birth, even more illegal? Just asking...because we need all the help we can get from this clown and his free spending "fashion queen" of a wife....although we really know, the only "queen" in this couple is Barry himself....just ask his Chicago boyfriends, the ones still living that is.

OK...as you can tell, I'm stretching things for today.....so I'll be back later>>>>unless the Secret Service comes to take me away...

December Rains

2011-12-05T14:54:00.001-05:00

"If this was Snow......."

That's a comment you hear often when the rains are coming down...and this past weekend through today and tonight, if what we have gotten thus far was snow...just say, it would be a bunch. Pretty miserable conditions over the past week, with just a couple of dry days. For the most part is has been wet, wet, windy, wet, and more windy and wet. I guess the only good thing about the moister, is that, it has not come down hard, for the most part....persistent yes, but usually not in heavy doses.

Saturday I got up early, and headed for Convoy, where we worked a three man crew for a Junior Varsity double header to kick off the Van Wert County Tip Off Classic. Unlike Baseball, where I work almost exclusively Varsity High School games, and Football where I do a mix of Varsity on Friday nights, and lower levels the rest of the week, for Basketball I seldom work Varsity or 3 man crews....basketball is my newest of sports, and I never ventured into it by wanting to work varsity...I was and will be satisfied to work JV and other lower level games....Saturday, although a JV double, they thought it best to use a 3 man crew, since we all would be doing both games{the same for later in the month at Ottawa-Glandorf}. It gave me a chance to work with a couple of guys that do the Varsity circuit, and I picked up some valuable information and tips from them to help me, on those occasions I do work the 3 man....so "Thank You" to Todd and Todd, for the tips and hints.

On Sunday afternoon, after watching the Bengals pee down their legs at Pittsburgh, Patricia and I took mom down to Centerville, for her first look at Great Grandson #2. Mom, who is 87, now has 3 great granddaughters and 2 great grandsons, with #3 g-grandson on the way this week or next, in Michigan. We took down a meal, and joined two of Kasyn's uncles from Lisa's side of the family, who were also there to meet their nephew for the first time. We stayed about an hour, and headed back in the rain and dark, the 90 mile return to Celina. We may not see them again until Christmas Eve, but that's OK, the new parents need their time alone to practice their parenting skills.....which seem to be coming along pretty good so far. As far as our first Grandson, he is gaining weight and doing fine....a non fussy, pretty quite 11 day old, so far at least.

Tonight I have a Junior High double header here in Celina, then drive the 3 blocks to the church for Dartball...as we take our south leading 8-4 record into battle with Hopewell, who comes in tied for 2nd with Mount Carmel at 7-5...frankly they and Carmel are probably better teams than us, but we had the early easier schedule, we have 3 tough weeks ahead to end the first half of the season, we will see just where we stand after that.

Tomorrow night back at Crestview in Convoy for a girls JV game, rules meeting Wednesday, then back with a Junior High girls double at Wayne Trace on Thursday....as for the rain, it should end by tomorrow morning, but colder air will be moving in.

back later>>>>

Photos-The St Marys and other rivers and streams are way out of their banks this week....the second photo? yes that is corn, unharvested in the background...some 10% of the corn crop is so far unharvested, and won't be for awhile, if at all....and my mom and her Great Grandson, our Grandson Kasyn....

Double Murder in Mercer County/The Grizzly Details Emerge, Sam's latest OSU Gig

2011-12-02T10:46:00.001-05:00

Some 24 hours after the discovery of the wheel chair bound 70 year old man and his caretaker/daughter who was 47, dead in their home, the Sheriff's Office release more details of the horrific murder in rural Mercer Country....:

http://www.dailystandard.com/archive/story_single.php?rec_id=16670

The End of Innocence____

Some sort of sick son of a bitch required to execute two innocent people like this...it now appears law enforcement is nowhere near close to solving this case....but you can be sure, in this small nit county, if they are here, they will be caught....problem has been over the years, in the few murder cases, mostly domestic, some limp wrist judge will let them off light or nullify the jury. Fortunately the former liberal judge who coddled criminals, Dean James, has assumed room temperature and can no long go against the law and decisions of the seated jury...thank gawd for small favors.

Getting ahead of myself to say the least....hopefully a suspect or suspects can be captured quickly...but I suspect even if that happens, the citizens around here will remain cautious and even fearful after that tragic event. This once naive populace is getting a wake up call. When I moved to Celina with the family back in late 1962, Mercer County, with the exception of Celina, was 100% white, mostly Catholic, and crime free, at least from violent type criminals.. Celina had it's "wrong side of the tracks", but even that was limited to "Friday Night Fights" at the local pubs. Not the case these days...Celina, and even the smaller towns to a degree, have been infested by trash. Welfare seekers from the larger cities, Mercer County has always been an easy touch, and others...the days when everybody knew everybody else are gone, probably forever. These days in Mercer County, instead of beer and pot, Heroin and Meth usage has soared, and crime, especially rural robberies and break-ins at small business are a weekly event.

Nope, this is no longer the Celina or Mercer County of my childhood....our kids move on to other areas, and the trash, which begets trash, moves in.....

Sam's latest gig___

Oldest son Sam is moving through his Senior year at "The" Ohio State University....still maintaining, at least the last I looked, a 3.3 GPA in the math heavy, very difficult, major of Actuarial Science...Hell I can't even spell it....but it does have to do with equations and quotients for the Insurance Industry. But while he heads for his degree in that, he is working for the Ohio State Athletic Department. And despite the trials the football program has seen over the last year,the OSU Athletic Budget is still the largest around. Sam, while attending OSU-Lima for a year, hooked up with the Athletic Department, so when he transferred to the main campus, he got a gig there, to help him pay his way through school...along with grants, loans, and his officiating work in Football, Baseball, and Basketball. Thus saving mom and dad big bucks...of course since he turns 30 later this month, I'm thinking it's the least he can do....

So this weekend, Sam gets a TV shot with the Big Ten Network...now he has done some play-by-play on the network for the student productions, but tomorrow, he gets to work p-b-p for the TV Network it's self On~Line....Sam will do the calling, while his color commentating partner will be big brother of Ohio State All American Jared Sullinger, JJ Sullinger, a former Buckeye Roundball star in his own right, from previous years.

Here is the information:

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/120111aaa.html

and here is the all access channel for the game:

http://video.btn.com/allaccess/

Sad to say I'll miss the live version, because the old man will be working a double header at the Van Wert County Tip Off Classic at Crestview tomorrow, beginning at 11am.

State finals in Football begin today, with Coldwater in D5, Marion Local in D6, and Kenton in D4 from this area...

back later>>>>

Photos-The Victims, photo from Hometown Stations in Lima, Ohio, and Sam gets a chance to broadcast Thad Matta's 300 win on Saturday on the BTN.com

Double Murder in Mercer County (Ohio)

2011-12-01T10:10:00.003-05:00

The snow remained on the ground, despite bright sunshine, and temperatures in the upper 30s...this morning a hard freeze made sure the white ground would stay just that for awhile.

Last night I made the trek across town to the north shore of Grand Lake and worked the last half hour of the WKKI Sports show with "Wulfie" from the Celina Moose....following the Celina head basketball coach, Chris Bihn, my little buddy and I talked Ohio State Football, OSU/Duke Basketball, High School football finals, and the Bengals and Browns. We also did some trivia and gave away two sets of Browns tickets for this coming Sunday's Ravens game in Cleveland....finishing up, I had a single beer, and talked with some of the old Racquet Club tennis crowd, then headed home. Tonight, it's back to basketball officiating, with a JH Girls double header at Elida.

Murder in Mercer County____

Waking up yesterday and starting on this blog, news slowly crept out about a double homicide near Fort Recovery, Ohio....
http://www.dailystandard.com/archive/story_single.php?rec_id=16638

"The Fort" located some 20 miles southwest of Celina is directly on the Indiana~Ohio State Line. The murder of a 70 year old man and his mid 40 year old daughter took place a few miles east of Fort Recovery, between that town and St. Henry in a rural farm house. Here it is over 24 hours later and news and details are slow coming out....was this a domestic issue{doesn't seem to be at this hour}, or likely related to the increase in drug crimes that have infested this mostly rural setting in the past several years?

The problem is...our Sheriff is suddenly silent. Jeff Grey is always quick to have a story in the local media about his conquests of drug dealers in the country...but nary a word or details, sans the victims names, of what went on here...and that leaves a problem for local residents. If this was a domestic murder, why not just come clean, and give the area residents a chance to breath easy? If not, why not come out and say it? After all, local residents have the right, and need I say Law Enforcement has the responsibility, to inform them that danger might be near....and they should be prepared to defend their property and families?

So Mr Grey...should we be prepared to lock, load, and shoot to kill, if someone, unknown, decides to come on our property or through our doors or windows? After all...we have had no information as to the rhyme or reason for these crimes...so let it be known at this hour, until I know some details, if some traveling salesman, or some urban lad comes to my door trying to "pay his way through college"...they better be quick on their feet. Because this is on you....

Mercer County has had but a handful of homicides over the last century...this religious based, 99% white, farm belt county of some 45,000, is just not where you find these types of crimes...sure on occasion a domestic murder, but home invasion? Not hardly....too many hard working gun toting patriots...and if the scum from the cities, that increasing have began to infiltrate the area think they can set the agenda....I think they will find out, it won't be easy While hardworking, honest, and Obama despising we might be....not to many cowards who are going to duck, and hide....more like, "What do you want, Sucker"? And if you give the wrong answer, you may find your ass filled with buckshot.

I was a Military Cop for 4 years, I passed my Civil Service Test on my discharge, and was offered jobs as a postal agent in both Dayton and Cincinnati{turned them down because I didn't buy their politically correct rules, even back in 1973}...I know a little about Law Enforcement, and I know the number one job is to "Protect and Serve"...I might add, " at least inform the public so they can protect themselves", so far you, Mr Sheriff, are failing this time around.

If more details arise I will post them...until then, you can bet your ass, I am locked and loaded....

back later, updates, if I get them added below>>>>

Finally an update: Both victims the 70 year old and his 47 year old daughter were bound with Duct Tape and shot to death...no sign of forced entry....Sheriff Grey at a Press Conference this morning:
http://www.wcsmradio.com/uploads/audio/PRESS%20CONFERENCE.mp3

Appears it's time to lock, load, and aim.......Hell has come to usually quite Mercer County, Ohio.

My question to the Sheriff is...."Why did it take you 24 hours or more to inform the public that this was indeed an appearent invasion and execution style murder? The public has a right to know, if dangerous felons are running around your jurisdiction....a right to protect themselves in any and all means..."

Photos-Mercer County Ohio, nestled on the Indiana border in the west central part of the state...farming and light manufacturing is the name of the game....and from the Hometown Stations in Lima, the house on Burrville Road near Fort Recovery where the double homicide occurred.

Snowed Out....and a Ohio State/Duke Blow Out!

2011-11-30T12:51:00.000-05:00

The last thing I was thinking yesterday, early yesterday, when watching the steady rain fall, was that the JH Girls double header at Wayne Trace, some 35 miles north, would be canceled...but it was. The rain, expected to stay through early evening, changed over to heavy and wet snow by 2pm...as I was preparing to leave Celina for Haviland, a call on my cell phone from the WT Athletic Director, told me "Pat don't start out, the game is off, Edgerton says they have snow and ice, and are not going to make it...." Well, heck, that took care of that....I cannot remember a game being snowed out this early, at least in the handful of years I have officiated basketball. December, January, February? Sure, those are expected...but this first official week of the season, that has to be rare.

So with the games canceled, I drove up to the Celina Wine Store and grabbed a trio of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout bottles, drove home, fixed a pork chop supper for me and Patricia. I wasn't sure when she would arrive home from work, so I ate, and kept her's warm....I polished off a bottle of the stout, and kicked back to watch some of the games in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. After last night, the B10 leads 4-2, thanks in part to a Buckeye ass kicking of my favorite Duke Blue Devils. Now being an Ohio State football fan, if Duke was going to lose, it might as well be against Ohio State...but by 85-63? Ouch!

Sam was working the game, cutting video for the highlights on the Big Ten Network....so I'm sure he was pleased that his soon to be Alma Mater, came out on top....and he told me he especially enjoyed the boo fest that occurred when Ohio native and former Cleveland Caviler LaBron James, and his Miami Heat teammate Dwayne Wade were introduced. Did I ever mention, I despise NBA Basketball? So really, who cares about "LaBrown the Clown"?

As for Sam, he tells me he will be doing play-by-play for the upcoming Ohio State-Texas Pan Am match-up on the Ohio State Internet Network and his color commentator will be JJ Sullinger, former Buckeye star, and older brother of Jaren Sullinger, the leading candidate for national player of the year....that takes place on Saturday at Noon on osu.com which can be found at the following link:
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/

Meanwhile I will be back on radio tonight on WKKI 94.3 with my little buddy "Wulfie" working with him in the second half hour of his live from the Celina Moose Lodge sports talk show....which is available on-line here:
http://www.k943.com/

Celina boys basketball coach Chris Bihn will be the guest in the first half hour, as the boys tip their season off this weekend Friday at Bellefontaine, followed by the rival early season game at home on Saturday night against perennial power Lima Senior. In the second 30 minutes we will take Urban Meyer's hire at OSU, the high school football finals this weekend, with two local teams, Coldwater and Marion Local playing for titles, in D5 and D6 respectively, and no doubt the pounding Duke took at OSU last night.

Tomorrow night I am back in action, officiating at Elida for a girls JH double, then Saturday morning I travel to Convoy to work two games in the Van Wert County Tip Off boys classic at Crestview High School.....

Out for my daily walk...back later>>>>

Photos-Not much snow, but enough to cause some slippery walks and roadways, the first of the winter season none-the-less, about 2 inches in Celina, more north. The Buckeyes pound my Duke Blue Devils....and with the games canceled yesterday, I took time to decorate the Houseworth Christmas Tree.....

Snow.....The Seasons First....and Kasyn at 5{days that is}

2011-11-29T22:29:00.000-05:00

A surprise snow canceled my scheduled JH double header basketball at Wayne Trace tonight...far north Edgerton had ice and could not make the game....we had about an inch, the season's first. Might be some ice tomorrow morning....

Watching Duke at Ohio State Basketball, the #2 ranked Buckeyes are having the early success...leading by 10 or so, after jumping out to a 9-0 lead....my #3/ or #4 ranked Blue Devils will be hard pressed to pull this one out at Columbus...where oldest son Sam is working the game, doing video for the Big Ten Network....a long time OSU Football Fan, I am just as big a fan of Coach K and Duke Basketball....even though I attended other schools, Wright State, Hocking, Trans-American, and Ohio University....

And Hal sent the latest photo of the grandson.....Kasyn T. Houseworth at 5 days old...seen above.

back tomorrow>>>

The Basketball Season Tips Off......and Thanksgiving Weekend in Review

2011-11-28T10:15:00.000-05:00

The Thanksgiving weekend flew by at warp speed.....

Grandson Kasyn arrived in the world, our first grandchild.....the parents Hal and Lisa got to take him home yesterday morning after the late Thanksgiving evening birth.....

Ohio State fell to Michigan for the first time since 2003 in Football....don't look for scUM to have a similar run....they just aren't that good....Ohio State has a coach to name, because sadly Luke Fickle, thanks to the previous moron, Jim "Vest" Tressel and his man-child QB, Toilet Paper Pryor left the program in shambles. Too much talent however, and OSU will return to prominence in short order, probably with Urban Meyer at the helm.

The Bengals came from behind to defeat the Browns in Cincinnati 23-20 on a rainy Sunday afternoon, with a surprising record of 7 wins 4 loses, Cincy is still in the hunt for the NFL playoffs...something nobody could have or would have predicted before the season began.

Saturday morning I worked my final pre-season scrimmage in basketball...today the Junior High Girls season tips off...I have double headers at Wayne Trace both today and tomorrow. I am at Elida for another JH Girls double on Thursday, before the boys High School season, for me, starts on Saturday Morning, for a tip-off Classic double header at Crestview in Convoy....after this week, the schedule, except for a couple of days around Christmas, gets pretty crazy....we will see if the old body can handle the load.

Other highlights this week______

Tuesday night the Duke Blue Devils roll into Columbus to take on the Buckeyes. I will have mixed emotions with this one....I am an Ohio State football fan, but have rooted for Duke and Coach K in basketball for 25 or so years. I will root for the Blue Devils, but if OSU wins, and the Big Ten can capture the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, I won't be to upset. I just hope they don't meet for the National Championship....

Wednesday Night I will go back on the air for a half hour, as "Wulfie" needs a co-host for his radio sports show from the Moose Lodge in Celina....high school basketball will be the major subject, but I suspect we will talk football as well, especially with 2 local teams once again in the State Finals. Marion Local will play for the State Championship in Division 6 Saturday against New Washington Buckeye Central, while the Coldwater Cavilers will play in it's third straight State Final in D5 on Friday.

Patricia and I headed to Centerville in the rain late yesterday afternoon, to take the new parents some Thanksgiving Dinner a bit late....no Turkey, but a large batch of Patricia's home made Chicken Noodle Soup and a large Strawberry Short Cake, homemade as well....we only stayed about 45 minutes...time to let the new parents enjoy the new arrival by themselves. Of course we had their two dogs over the weekend, and took them back home to meet and greet Kasyn as well. I am sure we will head back down for a visit next weekend, probably on Sunday, and hopefully Great Grandma Houseworth will go with us and meet the newest family member.

back later>>>>

Photos-Basketball, the regular season, starts for me tonight and tomorrow at Wayne Trace HS...Grandson Kasyn has arrived home....Duke takes on Ohio State in Columbus tomorrow night. And The Grandparents, Poppa Hal, and young Kasyn on Thanksgiving Night.....

Catching Up with the Whirlwind Weekend....

2011-11-27T09:09:00.000-05:00

It is is a rainy Sunday, a rare weekend post for me for sure....After 2 nearly perfect late November days, sunshine and in the 60s, things will be wet for the next few, then the bottom is slated to drop out, with highs hovering in the 30s and near 40 for the foreseeable future beginning Wednesday.

The Grandson Arrives_____

Kasyn Timothy Houseworth came along late Thanksgiving night, via C-Section...it wasn't planned that way, but having a mind of his own, it was the best for both him and Lisa....Hal held up, the grandparents, the first grandchild for both sets, survived as well. As I mentioned on the last blog, he was 7 pounds 12 oz and just under 21 inches long...not as big as we or the doctors had predicted, and his head, average size, compared to the Houseworth melons...he does however have big hands, fingers, feet and toes. My guess is, he will be someday in his dad's size body, which is somewhere around 6' 4" and about 250-260 pounds, but time enough to watch him grow...for now we are just glad he and mom are safe and healthy. They will head home from the Kettering Medical Center today and Kasyn will begin his life in the Condo in Centerville....our plans are to take a belated Thanksgiving meal down late this evening, return the dogs, Kam and Avery, who we have been sitting with, and let the new parents and family, including dogs, get a chance to know and enjoy each other.

Football and Basketball _____

Friday we headed back down to the Medical Center, Hal and Lisa had requested we stop at LaRosa's and pick up Pizza for them....neither being thrilled with Hospital Food....we got a couple of large, one with just cheese and one with sausage and pepperoni, along with some cheese sticks, and ate lunch with them, and Aunt Anissa, since with Lisa having four bothers, Kasyn will have a total of 5 Uncles but just one Aunt.

We didn't stay long and headed home for some needed sleep...I was in bed by 7:30, but the dogs got me up several times, so my 10 hours in bed{rising around 5:30} did not net me 10 hours sleep...I ate breakfast and headed to Delphos for a Junior High scrimmage at 9am....the teams wanted done, so all could get home for the Ohio State vs Michigan game....if you don't live in this area, you no doubt really don't know how big this game is, regardless of records, in both states. In a high scoring affair, scUM, as we OSU fans, call them, broke it's 7 game losing streak to the Buckeyes by a 40-34 score...it appears Urban Meyer will soon be named the new coach at Ohio State.

On a side note, Michigan, not knows for it's high school football, usually has to raid Ohio for talent and coaches, this year was no exception...21 players from Ohio dot the Michigan roster, while only one from Ohio is on the scUM roster. In addition, first year head coach Brady Hoke, is from Kettering, Ohio, where first grandson Kasyn was born on Michigan/Ohio State week.

On the high school scene...two Mercer County teams made the State Finals next week....no surprise in that they were usual powers, Coldwater in division 5, and Marion Local in D6. In the Marion game, they had to face league rival and defending state champions, Delphos St. John. St. Johns Blue Jays had defeated Marion Local in the regular season, but the Flyers turned the tables 21-14 in the State Semis. Down 14-13 with less than 90 seconds left, Marion recovered a fumble on their own 23...and in 5 quick plays scored the go ahead touchdown and 2 point conversion to seal the win.

Delphos had entered the game with heavy hearts...their starting center, a 16 year old Junior, had committed suicide on Wednesday evening....making a silly game of football seem somehow even more meaningless. You just shake your head, wondering why someone with talent and a good student would choose to end their lives during the football playoffs, which he was such an integral part? Only God knows....

The week ahead____

This will be a busy week, but compared to the past holiday weekend, not nearly so much. The regular basketball season kicks off, at least for the girls. I have Junior High games at Wayne Trace Monday and Tuesday, then following a rules meeting Wednesday I will be at Eldia on Thursday, Friday off and Saturday Morning I will officiate a Boys JV double header at Crestview in the Van Wert Country Tip-Off Classic....that will be the slow week, after this, most weeks will see me working as few as 7 or as many as 10 games, if you include Middle School double headers....only Christmas week and New Years will provide some respite, between now and February.

It's going to be a long winter season....today I will relax watching the Bengals bounce the Browns, before heading south one more time......

back later>>>>

Photos-top Me and first grandson Kasyn on his day one...and right below that almost 33 years ago in February 1979, me and first child, Anissa on her day one...don't think I've aged at all....Grandma Patricia and Kasyn, and Kasyn sacked out....

Happy Thanksgiving!...Kasyn Makes his Arrival....

2011-11-25T09:59:00.001-05:00

We had Thanksgiving Dinner here, with Sam and Anissa...Sam headed back to Ohio State having to work a women's basketball game for the OSU Women at Noon today...Anissa was back at her house, and we headed to Kettering {Dayton} to await the arrival of Grandchild #1....

Much like his dad, some 27+ years ago, Kasyn was not cooperative, and finally after 30 or so hours in the Hospital the decision was made to take him C~Section.....just like his old man. At 8:53pm on Thanksgiving Night, Lisa delivered Kasyn Timothy Houseworth at 7 pounds 12 oz and measuring some 20 3/4 inches. His scores were in the 8/9 over 10 scale, and healthy and noisy he was, when the bath proceedure was given to him. Everybody was exhausted by the evenings end, and Patricia and I trooped home the 85 miles, arriving home at 1:30 this morning....at Noon today it's back down to the Hospital, where the new parents have requested LaRosa's Pizza for lunch....so, that's our day...back home later, with a Basketball Scrimmage at Delphos Jefferson tomorrow morning, and home to watch the Buckeye/Michigan battle...can OSU make it 8 in a row? The stats and records say NO, but, this rivalry is one you can toss the records out, and despite Michigan failures in the past decade, it's still College Footballs Greatest Rivalry...

back later>>>>

Photos-Kasyn Timothy Houseworth 11/24/11 Thanksgiving Evening at 8:53pm...The Houseworths....Pat{granddad}, Hal{dad}, Kasyn, Lisa{mom} and Grandmother Patricia...Patricia with her first Grandchild...Pat, Kasyn, and Hal Houseworth...

back later>>>

Gonna Spend the Day...screwing around with photographs

2011-11-23T10:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a complete wash-out in Ohio and much of the eastern Great Lakes region....40s for highs with moderate to heavy rain throughout the daylight hours into the early evening.....I didn't get out and walk for the first day in awhile, and just didn't feel like dropping down the treadmill into the "go" position. I did however lift weights in the basement for about an hour, watched the Bogart Classic "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" in the afternoon, fixed a supper for Patricia and me, and then settled in to watch my Duke Blue Devils defeat hated Michigan in Basketball in Hawaii, and flipped it over to watch the Ohio University Bobcats squeak out a win over the Miami Redhawks{nee' Redskins}. This morning the rains are gone, replaced by bright sunshine and cool but seasonable conditions, with a high slated to reach 50.

Tomorrow, with Sam, coming from Ohio State, and Anissa joining us, we will pack up bright and early, and drive the 90 minutes or so to Centerville, near Dayton, and Patricia will help fix Thanksgiving Dinner for Hal and Lisa. This will be the first Thanksgiving for us together since Hal and Lisa were married in February. We thought perhaps our first Grandchild, name of Kaysn, would be joining us...but the little guy has yet to make his appearance, they thought, given his size, and progress, he would perhaps be born by now...but it appears he will make his appearance closer to or perhaps after his due date of November 28th, another in a long line of December milestones in our family? Maybe, but I'm sure they, at least Lisa, would like him to come along sometime before then...we shall see.

Today, not much on the schedule...I will get out and walk, do some pushups, and get to the bank...other than that, I think I have some older photographs I need to work on....changing the view and quality, by various means with my various programs...some of the stuff from 35 to 75 years old can be "tinkered" with to make them more viewable and enjoyable, without messing with the original. Damn for all their faults and time wasting gadgets, computers, along with modern digital cameras and their programs, are something to behold.

That's the plans....no posting tomorrow, so enjoy your Thanksgiving tomorrow, with family and friends.....

back later>>>>>

Photos-Poster and Still, with Bogart, Tim Holt, and Walter Huston, from the classic "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"---Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Rain, Dartball, Jefferson, and JFK...

2011-11-22T10:34:00.000-05:00

A massive area of moderate and heavy rain has arrived in Mercer County in the past hour, it appears it will last the day, and drop an inch or more of unneeded moister....

When I headed to Mendon for our Dartball match last night, the combines were in the fields, trying to get the corn down and in the hoppers before this arrived, it they didn't get it done by this morning, it won't get done until December, if then.

Dartball, we took our 4 win 2 loss season record into Mendon, the team with the worst record of the 8 with a 1 win 5 loss standing...we took the first game 7-1, but then proceeded to be edged out 6-5, and then fell asleep in the final, losing 2-0. So we sit at 5 wins 4 loses, but with 12 games on 4 dates to go in the first half, we still have the South Division to win or lose in our own hands. As for me, after taking an out, leading off the first game, I got 8 straight hits, including a triple and a couple of RBIs....going 10 for 12 in the opening stretch...however, like the rest of the team, I tanked in the final game, going 0 for 5, as I finished 10 for 17 on the night, to boost my average to .450 on the season, I suspect near, if not, the league leader in that category. Next week, we are back at home, but I'll miss at least one game of the three, due to opening my basketball regular season with a Junior High double header at Wayne Trace.

Jefferson and JFK____

Liberals always love to invoke John Kennedy and Thomas Jefferson as heroes of the left...in doing so they take a blind eye to real history, but given the fact they are Liberals, it's in their DNA.

They claim Jefferson was an Atheist or a Deist. Nothing could be further from the truth in the former, as for the latter claim, Jefferson did show some leanings as a Deist, after family tragedy struck...however, any true and honest look at Thomas Jefferson, shows he was a man of faith, and in today's world a Conservative/Libertarian.....and we are not talking Ron Paul the assclown Libertarian. Check out these true Jefferson quotes, and there are many, do you see any "Liberal or Progressive" views? I think not:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_jefferson.html

Told you.....

JFK...the legacy 48 years later___

John Kennedy was shot down in Dallas 48 years ago today....meaning he has been dead longer than he was alive{46 years old}. The Kennedy family are the darlings of the American press and the American left{in the press case, one and the same}. However, peel off the press clippings and it becomes obvious than JFK's dad was a Nazi sympathiser, while all the Kennedy men had insatiable appetites for women by the dozens, if not more. In short, the Kennedy's are as dysfunctional as a family could be. Murder, Sexual assault, drunkenness, and anti Americanism....at it's lowest form.

As for war hero John Fitzgerald Kennedy, it turns out he really wasn't a Liberal at all...at least by today's definition of "Liberal or Progressive". Sure he had some liberal tendencies, but he was a pro life Catholic, a Conservative when it came to fighting Communism, and a free trader. Find me a Liberal that has those views today, and I'll show you a dead Liberal, like John F. Kennedy. Murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald 48 years ago today...no vast right wing or Cuban conspiracy, he was gunned down by a lone gunman with mental issues. Was Lyndon Johnson behind the murder? My mom and many others think so....and LBJ, one of the worst Presidents in history, right up there, or down there with Wilson, FDR, Carter, and Obammy, had reason to kill both John and Bobby Kennedy, however, I think not. It was Lee Harvey, all by himself.

So, if alive back then, where were you when Kennedy was gunned down?

I was walking into 9th grade Algebra Class at the old Celina Insurance Building on a cold rainy November, much like today. The Insurance Building had been converted into a Freshman Class building, because we had outgrown the old High School on East Livingston Street...and the "New" Wayne Street site would not be completed until the following 1964-65 school year.

That old insurance building would be part of my life for many years....my dad, Stan Houseworth, owned the Marathon Gas Station next door, giving me the chance to walk to his place, some 10 yards away, rather than bus it home. The building, now sitting empty, would also hold my office at the Mercer County Health Department, and other County/City offices for my entire tenure at the local Health Department, before I moved on to Van Wert. But 48 years ago, at about 2pm I would walk into the downstairs Algebra Class, and we would be told by our math department head..."President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas, he is presumed dead". The age of Camelot was gone...

back later>>>>

Photos-JFK, Dartball Darts, Thomas Jefferson, and JFK and Jackie Kennedy on November 22, 1963

Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Processing the Memories, or lack of...part 3

2011-11-21T11:40:00.000-05:00

After a quick basketball scrimmage at Delphos Jefferson Middle School on Saturday morning, I basically spent the weekend watching football....both Ohio State, who really sucks this season, and the better than expected Bengals, lost close games. In addition to the basketball work Saturday, I did do some weight lifting and managed to get a 40 minute walk in yesterday. Other than than, except for an occasion run out of the house to usual destinations, Patricia, Anissa, and I, spent the weekend around the homestead. Pat began making her batches of Christmas cookies, although she vows not to make as many this season...good by me, it's hard enough to keep the 30 pounds I have lost over the past couple of years off, without that temptation.

Still no Grandson in site just yet...the official due date is November 28th, but Hal and Lisa thought Kaysn would come early...that doesn't appear to be the plan that he has however. As of now, he's still not ready to come out, but we do plan on heading down to Centerville, with Sam coming from Columbus, and fix Thanksgiving Dinner for them. A change over the past years....unless the baby decides to come before then.

Tan Son Nhut a final look(for now)_____

On Friday's blog, I presented a list of names from my tour at Nha Trang, names and faces I remember vividly. Since Vietnam, I have hooked up with some of those guys, some have passed, and others remain lost in time and space. The same can be said for Dover, where I was from the fall of 68 until my Vietnam Vacation which began on 30 June 1969, and my final Air Force stay at Griffiss in upstate New York, from August 1970, until my quickie discharge in May 1972. Names and faces are clear as a bell, even now, 40 and more years later....but as for Tan Son Nhut, not so much.

When I started thinking about Vietnam back in 1999, 30 years after the tour began, the memories, faces, names, and places from Nha Trang came flooding back. From the flight out of TSN to Nha Trang, to the day I got my orders to return to Saigon and the 377th. I wish now I had kept a complete diary of the time I was there, because although I remember many things from my 6 months at Tan Son Nhut, the names, almost all, are gone from my memory banks.

My drill instructor{TI in the Air Force, for Technical Instructor} from Basic Training at Amarillo, in the summer of 1968, Joe Prokop picked me up at the airport, but Joe would be on B flight, so I only saw him a time or two before he headed back to the states. My buddy Aceavedo, a Hispanic from Texas, and I spent much time in downtown Saigon, in the bars and brothels together, but I don't remember his first name...we had Tuesdays off, so we spent a boat load of time together. My cube mate in the barracks, was another Hispanic, a great guy, but frankly, although I remember his face, I cannot remember his name, Martinez? Manuel? Hell I just cannot recall....other names are completely forgotten, although I did connect with one guy through VSPA that I had worked with...but everybody knew Chris Godfrey, although I really didn't know or remember his name, we just called him "Surfer Joe". Chris, from California, spent 4 of his 6 years at Tan Son Nhut working Security...and is a member of the VSPA...he saw a lot of faces come and go during his tour. I salute him for sticking it out that long, I only wish I had done my final two years there as well, although as I mentioned on a previous post, sometimes you don't know what would have happened, if you had stayed...I am happy with the way things worked out in the long run.

So there is my block or 'brain freeze" when it comes to Tan Son Nhut....I just don't remember the names...not sure why...maybe it was working nights, or having a bout of insomnia. During that spell, I would get off duty on C Flight, first in Echo Sector, then with Blue Patrol, head to the NCO Club, and try to drink myself to sleep...it seldom worked...I battled the lack of sleep for at least 2 months, finally after returning from my R&R in mid April, and managed to get back to some semblance of normal sleep.

Hawaii April 1970_____

I'm really not sure why I choose to take my R&R in Hawaii? Most of the guys who were not married, went to Australia, Hong Kong, or some other southeast Asia location...the married guys were hooking up with their wives in Hawaii. Regardless, I headed out to Honolulu, and as luck would have it, another guy, unmarried, from Army Artillary, Denny Moneypenny, from West Virginia, was seated next to me. Now, for some reason, I remember his name, clear as a bell. Denny and I decided to save ourselves some bucks, and would share a room at a off beach hotel called the Kalakaun, we rented a car for the 5 days, and toured the Island, either together or on our own. We hit the local bars at night, but pretty much went our own way most of the trip, especially during the daylight...each searching on our own, for whatever we were looking for...{insert obvious conquest attempts here}.

On our final morning, before jumping on that 707 back to Saigon, we grabbed a cab, from an outfit called "Love Cab Company". A "Hippy Dude" was our driver of the flower power Chevy, he took one look at us and asked "You guys heading back to Nam"? Answering the affirmative, he opened his dash pocket, where a jar of small rolled joints was stashed....he fired one up, and we proceeded to smoke it on the way to Honolulu International....topping off that R&R, I slept most of the way, or at least a good portion, back to Tan Son Nhut, where I would face about 10 more weeks of duty.

The Final Days____

The next two and one half months rolled by, me and "Ace" continued to spend our Tuesday off days downtown...sure I had some concerns about safety, but I knew life would not be the same when I returned to the states, and wanted to do as much living as I could muster when in Saigon.

With my insomnia clearing up{I think}, I would get my 5 or 6 hours sleep in, until the sun and heat would wake me....most days, I would head to the outdoor swimming pool, working on my tan, so I could at least look like I was in a tropical location when I returned home for my 39 day leave{30 days plus 9 days allotted travel time}....when 29 June 1970 arrived, I was ready to return home, sure I had my doubts, well founded, about serving 20 months in the USA, but I was ready to come home.....

I have no regrets about my service in Vietnam....no gung ho war hero am I, no draft dodging coward either, just somewhere in-between, someone who has no doubts about my service there, and I don't worry what people think of those of us who served....those that continue to dis us for our service, and those, now some 40 years later, who claim to praise us today, while when we were there protested us, do you hear me Bill Clinton and Company? Can kiss my ass!

back later>>>>

Photos-top left...the only piece of the self-serving "Award" I received for my duty with the "Blue Patrol"...from March 24 through my late June 1970 final days at Tan Son Nhut...The Terminal at Tan Son Nhut....I traveled out and arrived here on more than one occasion. The Monsoon Rains come down on our Barracks Compound 1300... On the Beach at Waikiki, The Kalakauan Hotel, where I spent my five day R&R in Hawaii....and finally, getting ready to leave the Honolulu Airport and return for my final couple of months at Tan Son Nhut.

Tan Son Nhut Memories, or lack of....part 2

2011-11-18T11:14:00.000-05:00

As I headed out for my daily walk around the fairgrounds yesterday, after my weight lifting session, I realized that I would be needing a bit more clothing than I have in the past....so I donned my winter coat with "hoodie" attached. The wind was whipping pretty strong from the southwest, and the temperature was in the mid to upper 30s, that would be the high for the day. Today, and again tomorrow, it will be just as windy, coming out of the southwest at 25 mph or so, but temperatures will moderate, reaching the upper 40s today, and mid 50s tomorrow.

Tonight and tomorrow the Regional finals in High School football will be played. Garry is still officiating, working the Backjudge spot at Wapakoneta tonight as WBL's Elida takes on one of the Columbus teams...due to Elida being in the playoffs, my Varsity girls scrimmage at Lincolnview has been canceled....tomorrow I have a Junior High scrimmage at Delphos Jefferson...taking next week off in anticipation of Thanksgiving, and the possibility of Grandson #1 being born...so far however, Kaysn is refusing to be rushed out into the world.

Tan Son Nhut part 2

I mentioned yesterday that my days and months at Tan Son Nhut, were completely different than those at Nha Trang. At my first duty station, Nha Trang, I was situated on the South China Sea, we had a beach, and I worked day flight Law Enforcement... the 14th SPS was a small squadron, among the smallest, especially compared to what I would see at Tan Son Nhut. I believe we had no more than a dozen of us working each shift, and perhaps, if you included Security and K9 handlers, maybe 75 or 80 Sky Cops at one time, on the base. Also I remember many of the guys I worked with, and their names....Bevan, Claflin, Payan, Niemotka,Thompson, Walsh, Sloan, Lange, and others, and many of those I still have contact with today. Fast forward to Saigon:

When I arrived at Tan Son Nhut on December 27, 1969, it was a completely different world...same country, still in the Air Force, still a cop, but the location and duty were completely different. Once I got situated in the 1300 compound, I walked over to the 377th SPS HQ and processed in. It pretty much was a blur after that...I was assigned to C Flight Security with as many people as comprised our entire squadron with the 14th at Nha Trang...I ended up working mostly ECHO Sector. My first night on duty was December 30th/31st and I {although I didn't know the history at the time} was placed at the infamous Bunker O51 location..."51" although rebuilt, was ground zero for the Tet Offensive nearly two years earlier, on the night and morning of 30/31 January 1968. Four SPs lost their lives that night on that bunker, dozens of NVA and Viet Cong also lost theirs during the assault.

Of course if you read news accounts of the day, or listened to the American Idiot Walter Cronkite, tell the world that we had lost the war, you would think TET was the American "Waterloo"...in reality, at Tan Son Nhut, and throughout Vietnam, the Americans and their South Vietnamese allies kicked the crap out of Charlie and the north...but of course in the minds of the haters of America, like Uncle Walter and the rabid left, that would never do....so they lied, and the suckers back home bought it, hook, line, and sinker.

After that first night at the new Bunker 051, I do not remember manning it again. I would spend the next 3 months or so, working mostly the towers in Echo Sector, on occasion I would work foot patrol around the flight line and the LOX{liquid oxygen} Plant. Then in March 1970, a new flight was formed...It was to be officially named "Resource Protection" or unofficially "Blue Patrol". We were a small group of mostly trouble makers, long hairs, and guys they wanted to keep away from the inspecting eyes of superiors that liked "spit and polish", the men of Blue Patrol, were anything but spit and polish.

I would work the first week walking the building areas of the inner base..."protecting" the huge base from thieves both military and civilian....then, being one of the few NCO types, a Buck Sargent, with time in country, but little left, I was assigned the Coffee Wagon. I, armed with my M16 and .38 Smith and Wesson side arm, would drive that Jeep around for eight hours in the dark and make sure the dozen or so other Blue Patrol guys were awake, BSing with them, giving them coffee, fruit, milk, or a smoke...it was a great way to finish off my duty in Vietnam. First however, I would take R&R in Hawaii...that, and more Tan Son Nhut, in Part 3, coming on the next post.

back later>>>>

Photos-Me, on typical duty at Nha Trang, before heading to Tan Son Nhut...The firefight at Bunker 51 with Tango Tower 4 in the background. Bunker 0-51 in it's better days, before the attack of TET...Who Won the TET Offensive? Not this group of VC who met their maker at the hands of the Security Police and Army at Tan Son Nhut on 31 January 68. And finally the map of Tan Son Nhut the day following TET....Bunker 51 is located on the Western Perimeter of the base.

{First photo is from my collection, the others, in order, ASIS International, TSNA, TSNA, and VSPA, with my appreciation}

Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Processing the Memories, or lack of...part 1

2011-11-17T10:39:00.004-05:00

Got out and walked yesterday, also began alternating my weight lifting regiment with Gladiator push-ups and other weight training in addition to those I do 3 days a week...why? Frankly, Hell if I know, maybe it's the ego as I approach 63 this coming March, to show that I can still do this....what doesn't kill you just breaks down your body.

On the coming Grandson thing... youngest son Hal called, still no baby, and no plans on inducing labor...so Kaysn will come, it appears, when he is ready. The actual due date is November 28th, but Lisa is more than ready, as the coming youngin' is already at the 8 pound plus mark....looks like he will be a Big One...just like his old man.

Weather~wise things have cooled, but he sun is shining, 40 for a high today, with some wind, so the walk may be a brisk one this afternoon...tonight I head for Coldwater to have a brew with "Wulfie" and Kent....

Processing Tan Son Nhut_____

I have written many times over the past 4+ years on this blog about my Vietnam "Experience". Regular readers know that Nha Trang Air Base was my favorite duty, not only in Vietnam, but for my entire 3 years and 10 months in the Air Force....my "other" Vietnam base, Tan Son Nhut, located on the outskirts of Saigon, at times gets shorted in my flashbacks and memories. As far as why? Frankly I'm not so sure...but I have my guesses and opinions.

First off let me say, all of our Vietnam experiences are unique and different...no two could ever be the same. As for the men of the Air Force Security/Air Police, I have not in the past 41 years since my return found two to be the same. Some have, or claim to have PTSD{Post Traumatic Stress Disorder}, others suffer from the ravages of Agent Orange exposure. I cannot, or will not, claim either...in my life, neither is something that I see as a part of my post Vietnam life. My two duty stations, while different to the maximum in the Vietnam setting, are not something as I see as a negative. We were cops, Air Force cops...some died, some were in short term combat, some like me, suffered from no more than a bout of insomnia. Frankly, after the first few days in country, I never remember be scared, except perhaps while on a tower one stormy night on the Tan Son Nhut perimeter, when lighting was hitting near and around that 30 foot tower, and I climbed down out of that metal death trap and laid in the roadside ditch with the snakes and rats, figuring I was safer there than in that damn tower, not because of 'Charlie", but because of Mother Nature.

Despite the war around me, I just did not dread that year in Southeast Asia, and as I have said before, if not for the worry from the family back home, I would have spent the final two years in Vietnam, rather than with the Chicken Shit workings of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Griffiss Air Base in frozen upstate New York. In fact, sick of SAC, I walked myself to base opts in the late spring of 1971, and volunteered to go back to Vietnam...but was told (1) The War is beginning to process down, so you can't go back unless (2) you re-up/extend for another 2 years. Well, that took care of that, no way was I staying in the AF longer than I had signed up for. I never regretted joining, but that is not to say I liked military life...I hated every minute of it...I could not take orders, didn't like haircuts, and sure the Hell didn't like calling people "Sir" or saluting those, that I had little respect for, and thought frankly that I was far more intelligent than{arrogant little prick that I was}. So there I was...one more year at Griffiss, and then out on my own....perhaps in the long run, things were best that way...who knows what would have happened if I had returned, nobody but God, that I can say with confidence.

But back to TSN and the 377th SPS, my original purpose of today's blog post...

My friend from the VSPA, Charles Penley, created a web site for veterans of the 377th SPS a dozen or more years ago....and I discovered that site, about the same time I found the Vietnam Security Police Association{VSPA}....it was about that time I finally started to come to terms with my Air Force and Vietnam Service. Not that I ever regretted either, but frankly for almost 30 years following Vietnam, I just choose to move on with my life and did not dwell on those years...they were in the past. I hardly was ashamed that I was a Vietnam Veteran, but neither was I going to relive those days, while sowing my wild oats either...life had moved on once out of the Air Force, and back then, I was not into reminising, it just wasn't in the make-up, time sure has changed me, at least in that respect. Now I embrace the bases and men I served with while in Vietnam and even those at Dover and Griffiss, my non-Vietnam bases...no I still hated the military service, just not those I served with or the service I performed.

To the point Patrick, to the point....Charles Penley, who served on "Charlie" Flight during the bloody Tet Offensive against Tan Son Nhut and the 377th SPS, has updated his web site honoring those of us that served with the 377th SPS...and as was my point in this posting, the updated and new look 377th SPS web pages can be found at this link:
http://www.377sps.org/index.html

You might even be able to find a photo of a 21 year old smart ass...listed on the ECHO Sector link, around the years 1969-70. As for the Vietnam Security Police Association you can always find more about the life of the Air Force Security and Air Police in Vietnam there:
http://www.vspa.com/aspprotect/vspa-nav-index-menu.asp

And this is why I added "Part 1", as usual I've waxed nostalgic way too long for one sit down and read....more on this tomorrow, where I will compare my memories, or lack of same, of service at Nha Trang and Tan Son Nhut.

back later>>>>

Photos-Top Left..the 1300 Compound of the 377th SPS, my living quarters were on the top floor of the second barracks in...there were two rows of 8 two story barracks, 16 in all, sandwiched between the Base Exchange/Movie Theater and the MARS Radio HQ...The map overview of Tan Son Nhut...I spent 4 months working the towers, bunkers, and flight line of Echo Sector, before working the inner sections of the base with the Resource Protection{Blue} Flight, both jobs under the cover of darkness on Charlie Flight. Tango Tower 1{I believe}, me on my 21st Birthday, March 16, 1970, heading out to work my final days of Echo Sector duty, before switching to Resource Protection...The aftermath of the Tet Offensive at Bunker 051 in Echo Sector, where four Air Force Security Police heroes, including Charles Hebron(pictured) met their final fate on January 30,31, 1968...

{All Photos, with the exception of the one of me, are from Charles Penley and other Tan Son Nhut Veterans, with thanks}

Yuengling Arrives in Ohio, Coack K wins #903, and My Roundball Season Begins

2011-11-16T09:45:00.001-05:00

After I finished my blog posting yesterday, I received an e-mail telling me of a cancellation of a Friday basketball scrimmage, due to one of the schools football teams still involved in the playoffs....lucky for me that happened, because as I cleaned up my calender, I noticed that I had a scrimmage at Spencerville on the schedule for last night....one I that had slipped my mind, due to the trip to Wisconsin, and other things rolling around in my aging brain....so, with the scrimmage gone on Friday, at least I made it to my first of the year, last night.

7 of us worked the two gym floors as Spencerville hosted Lima Bath....I stayed on the JV side, and worked a combination of 2 man and 3 man mechanics for six 10 minute quarters....and, after a decent workout, getting my sea legs back, I headed out....avoiding the moving White Tail Deer through the St Marys River region along Ohio 197, I arrived home without incident around 8pm.

Yuengling Come To the Buckeye State____

I've been a beer drinker since I turned 18, back in 1967, late in my Senior Year at Celina High School....sometimes heavy, sometimes I would go months without a beer. For most of those nearly 45 years I drank what was available....in my youth it was Pabst Blue Ribbon and that skunk pee out of Detroit called Strohs...while in the Air Force, it was either the local favorites, such as Ballentine while at Dover, Delaware, and Genesee and Utica Club, while in upstate New York. In Vietnam it was whatever was available on the loading docks at Nha Trang or the NCO Club in Saigon/Tan Son Nhut. I Finally settled for Miller Lite a dozen years ago, when I first tried to lose weight via the "Adkins" Diet, and until five years ago, I was pretty well satisfied with downing that. Frankly during the summer months, after working a baseball game or double header, I still prefer to sit on the back steps or front porch, and down a few while smoking a good cigar. Of late however, I finally learned to enjoy good dark brews...yes they have more calories and more carbs, but the taste, alcohol content, and the fact you can drink much less to satisfy, makes them more appealing....Yes!! I've become a Beer Snob!

I particularly like Stout Beer, especially Irish, and dark porters or black lagers...and on occasion I like a draft mix of dark and lager while sitting at the sport pubs or Buffalo Wild Wings. However, seldom can you get those in a bottle or can...last February while in West Virginia for son Hal's wedding, I discovered that the oldest in the USA eastern brewery, Yuengling had done just that...mixed a good tasting, low cost Black and Tan brew, called simply "Original Black and Tan". But I only got a case, and that was gone soon enough....so with the news that Yuengling was coming to Ohio, western Ohio no less, I was looking forward to making reacquaints with this low cost dark brew....and yesterday, I finally got my chance.

Yuengling and it's various flavors finally has arrived in my neck of the woods....much like Coors of the 60s and 70s, things always seem to taste better when you can't have them, isn't that the way of most things in life? Once they are available, the thrill is gone. Yuengling Lager is a decent tasting beer...but IMO nothing out of the ordinary...for the most part, when I want a lager beer, I will stick with the lower calorie, lower carbohydrate brews, like Miller Lite...but as for Dark Beers..."Black and Tan" has a place in my refrigerator...at less than $11 for a 12 pack of long necks, as compared to most stout and black lager 6 packs costing between $9 and $10, I will be keeping a supply of this brew on hand. In fact I downed 4 when done with basketball last night as I sat down in the recliner with remote to watch both the Duke and Ohio State games.

Coach K reaches 903 wins____

Anybody who reads this blog on regular occasions knows I have been a Duke Basketball fan for many years. Since the early days of coach Mike Krzyzewski, "Coach K" for short, because nobody could pronounce his name the way it is spelled. I like the way he coaches his teams, I like the fact that they are students, and let's face it...being a white guy myself, I like to watch a team with some white boys do well.....nothing racist about it, but let's face the facts, I have a hard time rooting for a bunch of inner city guys that I have nothing in common with. If that makes me a "racist or bigot" then so be it....must be why I read Thomas Sowell and would like to see Allen West be our next President. Anyway back to the Coach K saga....

Last night he went into the game with Michigan State at New York's Madison Square Garden, needing a win to top his former coach and mentor, Bobby Knight's record of 902 wins....in typical Duke Blue Devil style, almost blowing a 19 point lead late in the game, Coach K and Company held on for a 74-69 win. The 6th ranked Devils are now 3-0, and can concentrate on improving their relatively young team...meanwhile down south of Celina in Columbus, oldest son Sam was broadcasting the play-by-play of the 3rd ranked Buckeyes against the 7th ranked Florida Gators. In a game, looking much like the Duke/MSU contest, Ohio State held on late for a hard fought victory. Sam was working the game on the Scarlet and Gray student network, I'm not sure how he manages to stay above a 3.3 GPA in Actuarial Science, officiate high school sports, and work for OSU and the Big Ten Network, but early on in his senior year, he has been able to handle that situation quite well.

With the Friday cancellation, I have no scrimmages until Saturday morning at Delphos Jefferson....then am off until the Girls regular season tips off, for me, on November 28th, with the boys season following in short order.

back later>>>>

Photos-Yuengling has come to Ohio...featuring my favorite out of that old brewery, "Original Black and Tan"...My roundball officiating kicked off last night with a Varsity/JV boys scrimmage at Spencerville, it's going to be a busy 4 months....Coach K of Duke breaks the win record with 903 as the Blue Devils take down Michigan State...and Ohio State beats the Florida Gators for the 2nd straight year.

Still Waitin'....Wisconsin, Fish Fries, Beer, and Thunderstorms....

2011-11-15T09:37:00.020-05:00

Patricia, Anissa, and I, headed north and west towards Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on Friday, Veterans Day....the trip was pretty uneventful, and the traffic on our new route was light to moderate....avoiding the I-94 mess around Wisconsin's very own craphole, known as Milwaukee is a must, and doable by taking a combination back roads. After 35 plus years of making this trip, I think I've finally got down a route that is less stressful than any in the past. Of course there really is no good way to get around Chicago, but this route, if driven at the right time of day, isn't bad....plus no issues with the Nitro this trip, made the trip that much more pleasant...at least going up...coming back? Will talk about that later in this posting.

Pre-Thanksgiving in Wisconsin____

With still no baby news from Centerville, Ohio, we figured it was safe to head to Patricia's home town of Oconomowoc, a growing but old city of 16,000, which has turned into a version of "Yuppieville" on it's own, with the help of an influx of move ins from the bergs of Milwaukee and Chicago. It's still a nice area, but the 50 Cent millionaire types have changed Oconomowoc forever, and in my eyes, not for the better.

Patricia and I were married there 35 years ago next month....and for years, even while living in Northern Wisconsin, we rotated Christmas and Thanksgivings there and in Celina...that was until about 5 years ago, when we decided the winter driving through Chicagoland was just no longer feasible or safe...so we started to spend the second weekend before Thanksgiving with her parents...and it seems to have worked out well.

After arriving Friday afternoon, the first order of business was to head The Golden Mast on Lake Okauchee, for a fish fry. If you've never had a Wisconsin "Fish Fry", I guess they would be pretty hard to describe. Wisconsin Friday Night Fish Fry's are like nothing you'll find anywhere else. The Golden Mast is where Patricia and I had our pre-wedding meal back in December 1976...and where she was a waitress back in her high school days in the late 60s and early 70s. The Weissgerber Family who owned the restaurant at that time, are still in control, although I believe the sons now run the daily operation. Once done we returned to Bill and Bev's condo, and after that meal, along with a dark draft beer of generous portions, combined with the 7 hour drive, was ready for an early sack time.

{here is the link to the menu and facilities of the Golden Mast}
http://www.weissgerbers.com/goldenmast/html/banquets.html

Fast forward to the rest of the quick moving 4 days "weekend":

We had Bev's Turkey meal, our "Pre Thanksgiving Dinner" on Saturday, and ate well throughout the visit. Over the weekend I did get a couple of long walks in, also drank plenty of beer, along with watching too much football{including a pathetic loss by Ohio State to a bad Purdue team, thanks to no offense and a blocked extra point}. On Monday morning, after breakfast at the "Around the Lake" restaurant in Oconomowoc, with Patricia's parents and sister Sue....we headed towards home and the "Eye of the Storm".

The rain started as a few sprinkles on the toll roads outside Chicago...but by the time we were 100 miles out from Celina, near Warsaw, Indiana, the temperatures jumped from the mid 40s to the 50s, and lightning and heavy rain accompanied us through Fort Wayne...and by that time the temps had soared to 68, and after a call from Hal, telling us that Tornado warnings and watches were out in the area, we switched the car radio from the Satellite to WOWO Fort Wayne, and followed the progress of the mess. We made it into Ohio, outracing the front, for a short while...but by the time we arrived home, the heavy rain, lighting, and winds, joined us, although the did weaken somewhat as the night progressed, with no damage in our area.

Dartball~Week #2

I'm not sure if it was the long rain/storm filled drive or just a bad night, but I stunk up the darts and board last night....going without a hit the first 8 at bats, before connecting on 2 in a row, and finishing the night a paltry 2 of 11, which dropped by second in the league batting average from .636 down to a more "normal" .409. Regardless, the team, after losing the opening game, came back to defeat Rockford Methodist in the final two games. So we sit at 4 wins and 2 loses on the season, as we head for Mendon next Monday.

So, that was the last 4 or 5 days in a nutshell...lots of miles, lots of food, lots of rain, lots of beer, but no grandson just yet....so we will continue to wait.

back later>>>>

Photos-Bill Callies, the 88 year old World War II Veteran of the Pacific Theater, with his daughter Patricia. on Veterans Day 11-11-11 at the Golden Mast for a Friday Fish Fry. The main items, at least for me, a plate full of breaded Cod and other fish, along with a tankard of in house Oktoberfest Beer on Tap. The view from out table next to the fireplace of Okauchee Lake in Southeast Wisconsin, and one of the new beers that I tasted for the first time, Murphy's is a dark Irish Stout in the Guinness tradition, but with more of a "Kick"...after just 1 pint and part of a second, I could feel the effects of the alcohol.

Waiting on Kasyn....part 1

2011-11-10T09:53:00.001-05:00

After the rain moved out yesterday, the wind picked up, and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees from the afternoon high of 60, by nightfall...it was cool and windy, with a spit or two of snow as I drove back from Van Wert, where I attended another local rules meeting for Basketball officials...just five days away from my first scrimmage of the season on November 15th. The long regular{lasting until late February} begins over Thanksgiving Weekend.

Waitin' On Kasyn____

Our youngest son Hal and his wife Lisa are expecting our first Grandchild this month...Kasyn Timothy is his name, and like his dad, it appears he will be a big one....3 weeks away from the due date, Kasyn is already 7 pounds 12 oz...meaning if he went full term, he will weigh about 9 pounds at birth!! The parents-to-be were back at the doctors yesterday to make sure all was well....in addition to being in the high percentile for size, they told the couple that the boy has a big head and waist...I don't know about the waist part, but if any of you know the Houseworth men...we all have pretty good sized melons on top of our shoulders. None of us can fit a "normal" size ball cap on our heads. In addition to having a heavy head, Hal himself is hardly on the small size...about 6' 4" and some 250 pounds...so my guess is, there is a good chance that young Kasyn will be a big baby, size wise, and eventually a pretty good size adult. After all, even though I'm average height at 5' 11'(or I used to, I may have shrunk an inch or so}, the boys, both Hal and Kasyn's "Uncle Sam" are pretty big guys...Lisa's dad and brothers, are more like me...average height and weights, so anything is possible, but for now, I predict our first Grandson to be a "biggie".

Anyway, Lisa is ready for child #1 to be here....and Hal and some of his Celina and College Buds posted videos on facebook, all in fun, to encourage Kasyn to "Hurry Up"...here is future father Hal: {click on links below}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXXpm1NvJQE

At least 5 more friends have posted as well including Stu "rapping" Kasyn to come out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaKok5suF6k&feature=feedu

You can find more, just type in "Kasyn Hurry Up" on you tube and quite a few videos should pop up....

So we are all ready for the grandson to be here....I'm sure Lisa more than anybody...her first child is going to be a big boy...and it appears by all signs he is ready to join us before Thanksgiving....

back later>>>>

Photos-{top} Hal and Lisa, when Kasyn was about 5 months along, in late July at his cousins wedding in Wisconsin....and me and Hal, back in 1986, when Hal was 2, and I was a lot younger, sitting on the Suzuki MC, when living on the farm on the banks of the Coldwater Creek.

Mixed Bag Election/Mixed Bag Weather....

2011-11-09T11:07:00.000-05:00

The Election is over, and the results are a mixed bag, especially here in Ohio.

As predicted Issue 2 failed, or the public unions/teachers unions won, keeping their rights to bankrupt and blackmail the populace of the Buckeye State....it may not matter in the long run, the law is being reworded and reworked and those unions will still have to play by the rules....the taxpayers in this over taxed, dying state will win in the end. Liberal Freeloaders be Damned! Issue 2 was poorly written, and with NO meaning YES, I'm sure many were confused.....either way, it's not as bad as it could be.

Meanwhile Issue 3, the vote to abolish Obama Care passed with flying colors....2 of 3 voters in Ohio told The Kenyan Marxist to shove his Health Care up his largest orifice...and we are not talking Moo~Shell's big butt. The US Supreme Court will have the final say, but Ohio is on record...."No Obama Mandated Health Scare Here".

Locally in Celina, the Democrat Auditor who butchered the books and "found" and extra $1 Million after the City Council used scare tactics to get an extra 1/2% income tax increase, was shown the door...she was defeated easily by her Republican challenger. However, the voters rejected a roll back of the tax???? What the Hell were they thinking? And the City Council, who has guided us into this train wreck will remain the same....not a lot of difference in the lone challenger and the 3 incumbents, so we will continue down this track....for now!

Walking Weather____

Yesterday was just about perfect for an early to mid November day...I don't think it reached 70, but mid to upper 60s with a southern breeze was pretty nice. I got out and did my 45 minute walk over to and around the County Fairgrounds....snapping some photos and taking in the stench of the large dairy farm on the southwest side of the city. That was the lone fly in the ointment...cleaning those barns and depositing the dung is necessary, but when it happens, and the breeze is from the south and southwest, the smell takes away for the outdoor delights.

I had the windows open throughout the house, but had to light the fragrant candles to get rid of the Cow Pie Oder. By late afternoon, Reagan the aging Airedale, and I went to the back yard, I took some photographs of the flowers and Ivy, as they make one last colorful stand... then I poured a couple of Dark Abby Ale brews, and lite a Cigar...that pretty much ended my day...damn, retirement is pretty nice. No money, no problem!

Today began with rain, another dousing came overnight and appears to be letting up as I type. Cooler weather is on the horizon for the rest of the week.

Tonight I head to Van Wert for another basketball rules meeting....other than that, not much on the agenda...except dropping a few pounds. I've gained about 10 back of the 30 I lost over the past 2 years...I know why, despite the increased workouts, you can't fool Ma Nature and age....some cutting back is on the docket, I've just got to figure what to cut back on...that is the hardest part. Beer? Not a chance....

back later>>

Photos-From the Backyard and Fairgrounds.....A late season Honey Bee takes pollen off the backyard Marigolds yesterday afternoon, meanwhile on the back of the garage, the climbing Ivy has turned a bright burnt Red. On my daily walk at the Fairgrounds, these are the views of November...most of the large maple and other trees have shed their leaves, but some of the smaller young healthy ones are holding on as long as they can.