Changing of the Seasons....weather, sports, life, etc...

Even in this "Leap Year", February has flown by, and will turn into March before the week is finished....and it appears that this month will go out with a roar.  Wednesday, February 29th, we are scheduled to see 60 degree temperatures with a good chance of sever thunderstorms....March will bring cooler, but not below temperatures.  Nothing on the weather horizon would suggest any snow storms are likely, but you never know about March, I have seen some dandy snow events, although most are short lived, and with the changing direction of the Sun, usually the white stuff doesn't stick around long.

Dartball Tournament___

Shorthanded we kicked off the Dartball Season Ending Tournament winning the first in the best of three, 4-3 over Mt. Tabor, but were eventually knocked out, losing back to back, games 2 and 3, by 6-1 and 4-2 scores.  So with the exception of the All Star Game on March 12th and the ending Banquet the following Monday, my season is finished until early next November.  I reverted to tossing at the triple mark yesterday, since we were short a couple of our better players, and finished 6 for 14, with 4 triples and an equal number of RBIs...some changes will be forthcoming next season, as our mix of young players and real old guys, tries to find a winning formula.

Youngest son Hal, working out of the house since Thanksgiving, and the birth of their first child/our first grandchild, Kasyn,  went back on the road, this trip to Canada, yesterday, a quick turnaround, and he returns today or tonight.

In Basketball,  oldest son Sam worked video for the Ohio State/Wisconsin game yesterday, as the high rated Buckeyes lost again...their second home loss of the season, and their 5th Big Ten defeat....shooting 9 for 17 from the free throw line, in a close game, will get you defeated every time.  My Duke Blue Devils struggled at home as well, to lowly Virginia Tech, but managed to get the game to overtime where they prevailed 70-65....that game was played Saturday afternoon. 

Rain canceled the Daytona 500 yesterday, it is scheduled to run at Noon today, but just talking to my old horse training buddy Tom, who lives in nearby DeLand for the winter...it is still raining, and the race may be in danger again this afternoon, although with lights, they may hold that weather window open.

For all intensive purposes, my basketball officiating season ended on Friday night, as the Celina Bulldogs took both the JV and Varsity games from Lima Bath.  With the exception of a youth tournament at Parkway High School on March 8th, I am done for the season...and frankly glad it's over...all the season, temperature wise, was mild, the basketball season, least of my favorite to officiate, was a long one. 

With no games this week, my schedule is limited to doctor appointments on Wednesday and Thursday, and a baseball banquet and business meeting at Van Wert, where we will down Wings and Beer at Frickers Wednesday night, if we don't get blown away by the predicted storms.

back later>>>>

Photos-NASCAR's Jimmy Johnson holds his daughter waiting for the rain to end yesterday at Daytona...it didn't, and the race was postponed, hopeful to get it in today...Dartball season has all but ended for me, just the All Star game in two weeks on my schedule....and I spent a clear Saturday night trying to get a few evening and night shots of a waning Moon...with varying degrees of success, or not.

Just another Monday.....Weather Changes....

Saw a bit of it all over the weekend, weather wise, but for the most part the conditions remain better than your average winter weather.

With no game on Friday, I spent the majority of the day cleaning the wood floors in the 3 living room spaces of the house....the wood floors,  hard pine, have been without wall to wall carpet for about 5 or 6 years now, and despite Reagan the Airedale, making her marks with paws on them, they remain a plus over the carpet which covered them for many years.  The house, build as the old Church of God parsonage, was constructed beginning in late 1923, with the kitchen area and second half bath added in 1945.  For the first 60 years it was the home of many a pastor and their families, including one Tennyson Guyer, the former Mayor of Celina during the World War II years, and  a pastor at the First Church of God back in the late 1930s and 40s...before turning his attention to politics full time, and eventually becoming the US House of Representative member from this district, serving until the time of his death:

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

The church moved to the north and farther west side of town, rebuilding in the 1980s. We became the 2nd owners after the church sold it....purchasing it in 1995.  We ripped out the carpet a decade or so later.  Anyhow, the floors needed cleaning after the wet winter thus far, and I worked a few hours on them Friday afternoon.

Once done with that chore, I decided, with the sun out and the temperatures near 50, it was time to smoke my first Cigar since October, being I seldom partake in the winter months...after all it is not enjoyable, at least to me, to freeze ones backside off standing outside smoking a good cigar...and I don't smoke inside or in the car.  So seldom do I fire one up from November until about May, unless the conditions warrant and I have the time to waste an hour or so.


The weather stayed nice for a couple of hours in the late afternoon, so I lit one up, and enjoyed a couple of Mad Hat Winter Lagers, and a 1876 cigar, over remainder of the afternoon and daylight hours.

Saturday____

After the sunny and mild Friday, it rained overnight into Saturday morning....then the snow started.  We may have received an inch or two, however when that ended, the melting started, and by the time I headed out to Antwerp, some 50 miles north, at 4:15, the majority was gone....until I got to the game site.  It seems Antwerp had received 3 or 4 inches, and that had not melted.  The JV games was a fast mover, afterward I showered and didn't stick around for any of the Varsity contest, leaving by 7:30 and pulling into the drive by 8:30 Saturday night.

Sunday____

Patricia, Anissa, and I waited out the early morning fog, which had formed on the wet ground and roadways, it seems that was only in the Celina area and south, north of town was sunny and clear...we left for Indiana, and Rick and wife Toni's place some 70 miles north and west, about 10:30...we drove out of the thick fog 10 miles north of town, and nothing but sunshine, and pleasant conditions would remain for the rest of the drive and day.

We spent a few hours, with Toni giving Patricia the tour of the new home they built on 17 acres within the last two years....I had been to the site many times over the past several years, both before and after construction, this was her first trip.   After the tour, we ate lunch, talked for a couple of hours, and, having to get Anissa back to her place, where her care giver was waiting, took the road home...sunshine all the way.


I managed to catch the end of a disappointing Duke game, where the Blue Devils came from 16 points down to Miami, only to lose in overtime by going a sorry 0 for 6 from the free throw line...doesn't get any easier for Coach K and Company, as they are at North Carolina on Wednesday.

The Super Bowl came on at 6:30 and for the second time in 4 years, the NY Giants defeated the Patriots on a late TD....the final was 21-17.  I didn't have a dog in the fight, but preferred the Giants, although, let's face it....professional sports has become a sideshow for millionaires and the jet setters, and seriously, I don't waste much time on it.

 Dartball tonight, basketball back on the agenda, tomorrow at Spencerville, and a Baseball Rules meeting in Van Wert on Wednesday....that is how the week begins, along with more spring-like temperatures and sunshine, at least for today....

back later>>>>

Photos-The weather was back and forth, give and take over the past 72 hours or so...Sunshine on Friday Afternoon, snow Saturday Morning, and back to Sunshine for Sunday and again this morning....Meanwhile I took the opportunity to clean the 88 year old wood floors in the downstairs, smoke a cigar on Friday afternoon, and sip a couple of Winter Dark Lagers in the afternoon sun that was bright in the backyard.

Thunderstorms, Debates, and Dartball....

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

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"

Disater in Japan/Saudi "Day of Rage"/Super Full Moon Coming March 19th

Patricia woke me up about 7 to let me know what was going on in Japan and the Pacific Rim.  It seems a monster Earthquake of 8.9 and following Tidal Wave(why the Hell they now call it a Tsunami is beyond me?  In the west it's a freaking 'TIDAL WAVE")..early reports have 60 dead, but it sadly appears that this death toll will rage into the thousands:

:)  AND THANKS TO MY BUDDY COOKIE FOR REMINDING ME THAT IT IS "TITAL" NOT TITLE....COLOR ME RED

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110311/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_earthquake

The wall of water had reached the Hawaiian Islands around 8am this morning...but reports are that that wall has been greatly reduced, hopefully damage and personal injuries will be at a minimum.  Stay Tuned!
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Day of Rage in Saudi Arabia_____

Meanwhile a world away...the crazy Islamics continue to burn their world....

Libya strongman Qaddafi (I seen this sorry bastards name spelled a dozen different ways, so this is good enough) has unleashed his military on the Rebels...while our weak knee Kenya born President, sits on his ass and along with Queen Moo-Shell talks about "Bullying":  Meanwhile today in Oil rich Saudi Arabia, the people are protesting....you gotta wonder how crazy things are going to get, while our own version of Nero, Barry Soetoro, fiddles:

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Day-of-Rage-Planned-for-Saudi-Arabia-117734268.html

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/mar/110311-President-Barack-Obama-urged-students-White-House-bullying.htm#

Barry, stick to what you do best...which is "Bullying"  America and it's citizens in the eyes of the world....you sorry puke.  Yes Bullying sucks..., but let the experts and parents take care of that...like with everything else, you are out of your league.

Super Full Moon Coming?

Perhaps if the disaster in Japan had waited for 8 days...the dire predictions of disasters coming on March 19th would really set the world on it's ear:  Next Saturday the Super Moon, a full one to be exact, will be on display:
http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/astronomy/story/46417/extreme-super-full-moon-to-cause-chaos.asp

It's a crazy world...today's events are just making it more extreme....
----------------

Tomorrow morning, if the world doesn't end{insert sarcasm}, I will head north to Rockford, where I am scheduled to officiate my final basketball of the season...5 morning games in a 5th and 6th grade boys tournament.  I will then pack away that gear, hang up the clothes, and get ready for baseball, which scrimmage wise is slated to begin next week.

Have a safe weekend and enjoy....

back later>>>>>>

Photos-Super Full Moons. Saudi and Middle East Crazies, and Japan under attack from Mother Nature.

The Groundhog's Shadow/My New Bong

It appears that Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow, meaning in folk lore that we will see 6 more weeks of winter:




http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28987/view/28987/

Of course Groundhogs do differ, even on this Groundhog's Day...I suspect that Buckeye Chuck may have not seen his....as we awoke, at least here in Western Ohio, to a light, but steady, snow...making the roads and walks rather slippery...at least that's what Patricia told me, calling on her way to St. Henry. An inch is expected, just a minor nuisance, unless you are traveling the untreated roadways....St. Henry is also where I'll be late this afternoon as I resume basketball, this time with a girls Junior High doubleheader...post Bronchitis.

Despite the battle with Bronchitis, I managed to make the 5 mile trip north of Celina to Mount Tabor Church last night for Dartball....I might as well stayed home. Playing the team with the worst record in the league, we managed a meager 2 runs the entire night, losing 2-1 in 15 innings, 1-0, and 2-1, as they scored with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th. In the first game we actually took a 1-0 in the 13th, as I lead off with a single(one of my measly 2 hits on the night), and was driven home by JD's triple. Tabor tied it with 2 outs and then beat us in the 15th. We have lost 9 in a row...as for me, leading the league with a .443 batting average going into last night, I went 2 for 11 with no RBIs, seeing my average drop to .419, with 2 weeks to go in the regular season.

Season's First Cardinal____

This morning as I headed out to feed the birds and squirrels, I looked in the trees and noticed the first male Cardinal that I had seen in the back yard this winter....after I dropped today's ration of seeds, he made his way down to the feeder, afraid that it was short lived however, as the pack of sparrows who rule the back yard made their way, along with the half dozen squirrels who live in the various trees lining the back yard, to do battle....not sure if Mr Cardinal got his fill before the rest of the scavengers took control of ground and feeders. I'm sure as we approach spring, the Cardinals, Robins, and the rest will make themselves more visible....a sure sign that spring is approaching...and it cannot come soon enough.

My New Bong!

For those growing up in the 60s and 70s I'm pretty sure what comes to mind when you say "A BONG"....one of those things they filled with water, added some "smoke" to the bowl, lit it, and went off into hippy dippy munchy land....

Well I had not seen a Bong in quite some time....until Sunday. After the visit to the ER in Coldwater, where I discovered that I had come down with Bronchitis for the first time in my life(at least that it was ever diagnosed), we headed to Wally World and it's Pharmacy. Our regular place was closed, it being a Sunday. In addition to the Antibiotics and Inhaler, a little contraption called a Valved Holding Chamber/AeroChamber Plus, was in the bag, extra cost included of course. Holding Chamber? Nope, just a damn expensive Bong! Albeit a small one, used to disperse the "goods" from the inhaler...Hey, I'm 60 years old, I know a damn Bong when I see one.

I used it 3 times on Sunday, and once again last night before heading to dartball....but despite the lingering effects from the Bronchitis, I don't feel the need to use it or the inhaler at this time, my oxygen intake is pretty well back to normal....Maybe I'll "Have another Hit" before heading to the games tonight, just to make sure my weakened lungs can handle the up and down the court...but that will be about it for me and Mr Bong.

back later>>>>

Photos-Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow in western Pennsylvania, the groundhogs in western Ohio did not...a small snow event was passing through as daylight broke...regardless, you can pretty much bet that we will have 6 more weeks and more of winter. A long range photo of our first backyard Cardinal of the season....and am I having a flashback to 1970? I believe that's a bong on my bookshelf!!

Winter Has Returned

Not much going on....back to Antwerp tonight for a double header as part of the Junior High Tournament going on in the Green Meadows Conference.....

Mike and Mom headed south ahead of the weather this morning for Sanibel Island....he'll head back in March, Mom will stay until May...talked with Tom in Central Florida this morning, 80 degrees with rain coming in for the weekend....

Which beats this winter wonderland....back to sunshine, after the inch dusting last night, but only 16 for a high, with the cold to stick around until Sunday or beyond....

Damn! I forgot to listen to King Barry Sotoreo's Sad State of the Union Speech last night.....I have picked up bit and pieces of what the Commander and Thief had to say, but we all know when Barry opens his Pie Hole, BS and Lies come out......What freaking tools the folks that voted for this Marxist Assclown are....

Enough for today...a few "busy" items on my slate before heading north...

back later>>>>

Photos-Last Nights Lite Snow, turned into the Sunny but Cold conditions for today in West Central Ohio.

Not So Wild Hogs/Sunday Sunrise

Sunday, September 20, 2009 8AM

The rain is slated to end our sting of sunny early fall like days sometime today...hopefully after the double header that Sam{on his return from Ohio State for a day} and I have to officiate this afternoon. The grass is straw-like and I tore up the lawn mower knocking down weeds earlier this week, so hopefully I won't have to mow many more times, as I need to get the mower and snow blower into the shop for post season and pre -season repairs respectively.

It's been a busy week, over to Rick's Place on Wednesday, then a football double header at St. Henry for Junior High games Thursday....Friday night was my first shot at working as a Back Judge on a Varsity Crew. The lower level games from JV down through Jr High use only 3 or 4 officials, so the Back Judge, used for deep coverage is left out...at 60 years old and not a fast on foot as I once was, I figured doing this position with a crew I had not worked with before was going to be a challenge, especially with 1 team{Fort Recovery} using almost exclusively the spread offense with 4 and sometimes 5 receives going deep. In the 13-6 FR win over home standing Minster, we threw 16 penalty flags, I tossed only 1 and that was for delay of game....there were a couple of punts that I swallowed the whistle and held the flag I probably should have tossed, one bobbled ball that I called incomplete, after the receiver had ran 5 or 6 yards. I ruled he never had solid possession...it was close, before he fumbled out of bounds...all in all, I give myself a C+...should have been better, could have been worse. We met up with Garry's crew at the bowling alley in St Marys afterwards to discuss the 2 games{his crew being down at Riverside} After only a few hours sleep, I was back up and headed to Convoy to do a 3 man crew at the JV contest between Crestview and Bluffton. Today, down to the lowest of levels, the Rec League double header.

Another Get together___

After yesterday's game, I hooked up with 2 old friends at the local Bob Evans Restaurant. I have known Bob and Don since Junior High School when the family moved to Celina in late 1962...Don moved across the state line a few years later, and finished high school near Portland, Indiana...Bob and I were next door neighbors throughout high school, when we lived out by the Montezuma Airport. After high school and our military days, we hung around Celina, rode our Kawasaki Motor Cycles together for several years...I headed off to various parts of the country, Bob stayed around these parts, we see each other on occasion these days, and it's always good together, especially when a funeral is not involved. Don and Bob were close in those early high school years and beyond, I had not seen Don for over 40 years until he stopped by with his wife "Sam" on their Harley earlier this summer...seems they were looking for Bob, and his daughter found this blog, with a few photos of us...it all fell into place after that.

We had a good 2 hours get together yesterday and discussed what had been going on these past decades...time indeed does fly. We found out that while Don and wife continue to ride{just getting back from one trip, and getting ready to head out on another}, Bob and I had given our "biker" days up years ago...2 wrecks, at least 1 too many, was my excuse...Bob and I had some interesting times though...we all agreed, that alcohol and riding do not mix. Not sure if I always followed that 35 years ago. In addition to being older, Bob at 61, me at 60, and Don turning 60 next month, we seem to have become much wiser. Although the photo at the top appears to look right out of the 2007 movie "Wild Hogs" with Tim Allen and John Travolta(Minus the Cycles), not sure I could do 2000 miles on a Harley, those trips back from Vegas in the Jeep were hard enough over the past few years.

Will have more on our visit later this week....when I take a look at one of Don and Sam's road Harley trips to Brown County, Indiana. We parted with a decision to get together with the wives for dinner out down the road...at our ages we probably shouldn't wait another 40 years however. :)

Red Sky in Morning____

Up before sunrise, I checked out the radar and forecast...rain moving up from the south and a 60% chance for showers, and maybe a thunderstorm before night fall...by the looks of the radar screen, it will get here before then....I'm hopeful it will stay dry until about 5pm when our games will have ended. Then the rains can come, we, at least in Mercer County, need a bunch, if for nothing else, the lawns and rivers....

Photos-{double click for large up close view}Yesterday at Bob Evans...Me, Don, and Bob...older and perhaps wiser, but don't bet on that...it was a good visit. And looking east at the Immaculate Conception Church this morning...we will find out if the "Red Sky" predicted the rainy weather correctly by later this afternoon.

Winter Set to Return/Cabin Fever

WINTER STORM WATCH FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY AFTERNOON FOR MERCER COUTNY:

Things tend to slow down in late February...you{at least in western Ohio} tend to get caught up between seasons, winter is still here, but you get a taste of a spring tease on occasion as well. Last week we neared 70, this week we were in the 50s, but the high yesterday was only 17 with winds from the northwest at 30MPH...the chill factors hovered around zero. Now I see the National Weather Service is calling on a Winter Storm Watch for late tonight and tomorrow...2 to 4 inches of snow, and winds picking back up by Saturday afternoon...this could cause a break out of the snow blower, I guess it was to much to think I would be done with that.

With the calf muscle tear effectively ending my basketball season, I can now rehab and rest it until the baseball season, or at least the scrimmage season, is set to begin March 21st...the regular baseball season for High School is scheduled to start March 30th. Usually March and the first week of April is "iffy"...rain, cold, and snow, they make an appearance, and cancel about half the games, before real Spring sets in and we start getting some warm weather...but in Ohio each year is different, so you never know what you are going to get. Sam finishes up his basketball season tonight with a JV boys game at Crestview...and then tomorrow(weather permitting) at Lincolnview for a girls Junior High tournament double header. Tuesday we head south to Dublin for our State Baseball Rules Meeting...basketball has kept us from getting that one done, and there has been no sense in attending the required meeting solo.

So between late February and baseball season I've got plenty of time to get my warm weather plans in order...unless Barack Diabolos Obama brings on Armageddon, then all plans are off.

Things on my personal agenda{the great thing about being semi retired is, if you break em', who cares?}...losing the 25 pounds I have been planing on doing for the past 2 years....last time I dropped that much was the 30 I lost back in 2005, I kept that off for awhile, but have gained about 20 of it back. I would like to get down to 185, which considering my body build, would be about as much as I could do without health issues....I've lost 5lbs in the first 4 days of my "diet"{which really is not that hard, as long as I stay away from the breads and sweets}...so by the end of spring I hope to be there...and will keep you informed.

I plan on getting my fishing equipment in order, and will do more fishing this spring and summer, I may have to travel a little to do so{our local Grand Lake has pathetic fishing these days), but plan on doing just that. Also, target practice with the various pistols is in order, I have neglected that since my Air Force days, but I think the need to be proficient with weapons is more important now than ever....if you have to ask why, you have not been watching the news or see what is happening under the new Administration.

Patricia and I plan on starting a garden of sorts, I need to paint portions of the house and trim, and do some other yard work. Between the sports officiating, yard yard and house trimming, I plan on enjoying some good cigars{will be ordering a new stock here shortly}, and drinking a few cold ones between games and yard work. That sounds like my plans for the warm weather...now I just have to wait out the next few weeks of winter.....

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In the meantime, I will continue to watch the disaster called Obama, take control like Stalin or Hitler, of these United States. He is El Diablo...the Chicken with Claws. Obama is the most dangerous man in the world, and is the enemy of the Amendments of the Constitution. Laugh it off all you want....time will tell{and prove me and others right}.

Dartball Tournament this Sunday Afternoon.....

back later>>>>>>>>

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photos-El Diablo, who has a striking look much like El Barack...the Devil with a smile and an empty suit. Indian Tabac Smokes, my favorite cigars, good price, nice taste. And target practice and fishing are on my agenda for the coming warm weather.

A Taste of Spring

Well most of the snow has melted, for now. There are still piles along side the roadways, ditches and driveways....but the bare ground is starting to show in areas. Today they are calling for winds near 30 MPH and 62 for a high, then tomorrow back to 58 with a 90% chance of rain, storms, and some of those could be severe(i.e. tornado outbreak possible). Usually this stuff comes around Ohio in March or April, but on occasion we will get blasted in February. I see the weekend is slated to he back below freezing however....late winter in the Midwest, you just never know what Mother Nature will bring.

I missed The Ebony Messiah and his "Doom and Gloom are upon us" speech last night, I was at Dartball where we took 2 of 3 from the division leaders(should have took all 3). I probably had my best night of the year, going 8 for 11 with 4 RBIs which effectively ended my month long slump...and put me back on top of the team all-star standings. Still below my usual stuff, but it was good to hit well...the only fly in the ointment was in game 3 with us trailing 4-2, a man on 3rd and nobody out in the bottom of the 9th...I hit(threw) into a double play, thus pretty well ending our chances for a sweep....I think it's only the 2nd time in 14 years that I have hit that little red spot when it mattered....We finish off the regular season next week, we need a sweep and some help to win the south division, and that help is probably not gonna happen. We also drew the same team, our arch division rivals, Mount Carmel, in the first round of the upcoming Tournament.

As I mentioned, I missed The Messiah and his "speech" on his "Porkulus" package...however, I did catch much of it on Fox News later in the evening. The purveyor of "Hope" sounded just like FDR with his doom and gloom. "The worst economic times since the Great Depression" he lamented...well he may be right, but only because Washington has talked the people running the economy(the working taxpayers) into believing it. I was in Radio News when our idiot 39th President, Jimmy Carter, ran the economic ship into the ground in the 1970s....so far this one isn't that bad...but it will be, and the BureaRATS in DC and Obama, and his henchman will be the reason(and don't give GW Bush a pass, he started it with the TARP Funds Bail Out)....I think that's his plan anyway. Destroy the country and it's infrastructure, and build up a Socialist Utopia.

I'm not sure if Barry wants to be King or a Dictator, but either way, he wants to rule, and anything less than loyalty to his majesty will not be tolerated. The sonofabitch better get used to not getting 100% support....some of us are not going quietly. I'm too damn old to give a crap what this out of his league, out of his mind, neophyte has to say.

Basketball at Delphos the next 3 nights as luck would have it...Jr High Boys tonight, Girls Freshman, tomorrow, and Girls Jr High Thursday. Tonight and Thursday at Delphos Jefferson, Wednesday at Delphos St. John. But first things first....today I tackle the back yard...the snow has melted, and I will clean up the mess that Reagan the Airedale has deposited....tough to keep up with when the snow is on the ground. I do not have that excuse now, so it's time to break out the shovel and rake, and go forth.....what fun!

back later>>>>>>>>>

February 6, 1977/Obama as Mussolini

Do you have one of those dates that sticks in your mind...forever? I have several, and we are not talking about the usual, Christmas, a certain birthday, etc. One of those days was February 6, 1977...32 years ago today. It was nothing special...just a day I jotted down for no reason.

We were in the middle of a winter, much like this one, a cold, long winter that had finally reached it's halfway point. I piled the Airedales, Rag and Max, into the new Jeep Cherokee, which we had just purchased, and decided to drive around and look at the frozen Grand Lake. Those first two Airedales of ours loved to ride, more than any we have had since....I could take them to the market or anywhere, and they would sit in the bucket seats as soon as I wold exit the car....the 100 pound Max in the driver's seat, and his partner, Rag, would sit in the passenger side until I(or we if Patricia was with me) returned....then they would hop in the back. Those two dogs just loved to travel, and until the kids came along, midway through their lives, they went everywhere with us.

On this day in 1977, the weather dawned clear and cold, and the lake, much like today, was completely frozen over...I had just finished going to school in southeast Ohio, and had transferred back to Wright State Lake Campus...I had time on my hands, at least during the morning hours...I worked at Fat's Stag Bar as a bartender in Celina during the afternoon, and went to classes at WSU-Lake during the evenings....the morning hours were mine and the dogs. Patricia was working at Celina Insurance during the day hours, so I had time to kill.

I yelled at the dogs to jump in the Jeep and off we headed, just to look at the lake, ice, and dream that winter would soon be done....I did the same thing this morning, Reagan our old Airedale didn't go along...she is not a big fan of long drives...so alone I went. Driving from West Bank Road to Windy Point....today(with the exception of the growing population around the lake) felt much like it did 32 years ago..except Rag and Max, our first "kids" are long gone.

A bittersweet memory to be sure, but it's one of those days, the exact date, that I will remember for the rest of my life....Nothing special as days go, just one that is etched in the recesses of my mind.

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Winter is about half way done...6 weeks, 42 days, until March 20th...47 days by the boards...it cannot come soon enough for me....I look forward to baseball as opposed to basketball, a chance to sit on the steps or porch to fire up a Cigar and down a few cold ones..OUTSIDE...don't smoke cigars inside, and beer drinking is not as enjoyable unless you've got some sunshine and 70+ degree temps.

In other musings...I was watching Bill O'Reilly last night, and all of a sudden, they break for "breaking news"...the breaking news was our asshole-in-chief, Barack Barry Obama, talking to his fellow Socialists(Democrats) at tax payer expense, about his so called stimulus package....a $Trillion$ dollar boondoggle which will not only help to bankrupt the country, it will lead us to Socialism or worse yet, Marxism...call me paranoid, call me crazy...but this sonofabitch is killing the country. In only 2 weeks, with the help of Harry Reid and Rubber Face Nancy Pelosi, Obama has put us on the verge of economic collapse. Bank on it happening, on second thought don't "bank" on it...they will soon be owned by our corrupt Government.

Glenn Beck says, this guy is another Benito Mussolini...I say somewhere between Mussolini and Woodrow Wilson...2 popular men who became dictators in their respective countries, Italy and the USA.....

The downfall is happening much sooner than even I could imagine, and I despised this clown before he even became the Presidential front runner...he is evil in a suit.

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back later>>>>>

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Photos-Grand Lake, it's 13,000 acres, still frozen solid this morning. Max(left) and Rag romping in the snow during the March 1979 blizzard in northern Wisconsin. Rag and me at our Brandon Avenue home in 1975...just a block from where the family resides today, and Max as a pup in 1976.

More White Death

The forecasters were calling for at first 1 to 2 inches in the Celina area, then 2 to 4, 3 to 5, and finally they said "Screw it" and called for 9 to 12 inches of snow...only then did they get it right.....it appears from my back yard ruler rule we got about 10 inches of the "White Death"...the schools and colleges are cancelled....giving Hal a chance to leave the Dayton area and go skiing at Mad Mountain near Bellefountaine, Ohio, while Sam's break gave him the chance to help Ma and Pa Houseworth out with the digging, then going over Grandma's house and dig a path for his Uncle Mike to the car...which he won't be using anytime soon, as the alley where the car is next to has not been touched...I plowed the Jeep Wrangler into that alley and with the inch of ice on the bottom of all that snow, I slid off into the neighbor's side and had one Hell of a time getting out...even 4 wheel beasts like the Wrangler slip and slid on ice...off I did get though and plowed like a 16 year old through the side alleys...sometimes the kid in you has to come out.

The most snow we have had since last March, when the short lived 14 inches came our way...it melted quickly, like most March snows however, when the temps climbed to 50 a couple of days later...this one will be sticking around awhile.

Even with Dayton getting a heavy snow, it should have little or no effect on our Mini-Reunion for Vietnam Air Force Cops on Saturday....we plan on taking shovels to dig out around the statue for Air Force Security Police for our prayer service honoring the men who died at TET on January 31, 2009. Then we will move inside for our tour of the Air Force Museum and a hello and BS session...we are still hopeful of a gathering of around 100...and even though it's a Midwest event, we have guys coming from Florida, Virginia, and even Montana. Should be a great day!

We did get our games in, Sam at Spencerville, while I made the slippery drive 50 miles north to Antwerp, sliding home in the intrepid before the roads deteriorated as they were this morning.

I could do some more ranting about the disgrace of Obama's $825 billion stimulus(see Pork) package...but the out of his league rookie has become a joke in his own right...he sees radio talk icon Rush Limbaugh as his arch enemy....maybe Barry should don a mask and with his trusty rusty sidekick, Joe "Hair Plug" Biden fight the evil Conservative "Talkers", Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck....

Obama is a Punk...his followers are gawd damn fools! And anybody that hasn't figured that out by now, is a hopeless dolt.

Stay warm, wherever you might be.....

back later>>>>

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Photos---Various scenes of The Great White Death of 1/28/09 in my front and back yard....top, the picnic table ruler...says about 10.5 inches/The driveway before the work began, Patricia starts on the front porch/the view from Livingston Street, and the driveway once the shoveling and plowing was complete.

Daylight Savings Time and the coming winter

Another brilliant government move has pushed the end of DST back another week...meaning it will be "fall back" an hour this coming weekend....since Daylight Savings now lasts 238 days, my question is..."Why not just make it year round?"...this makes no sense, plus I hate seeing it get pitch dark before 5 O'Clock come December and January.

With the coming change, means snow can't be far behind, although as I have said, our snow has been minimal the past few years...I have lived in some snowy places since the family moved from Florida in 63.....the worst? Rome, New York, where I resided in the Air Force from late summer of 70 through spring of 72....then stayed there through into the fall of 1973. I remember the first year(winter of 70-71) we were buried under 300 inches of snow...however, me an my Air Force best friend the late Jack Friedl, from Moon Township, PA(outside Pittsburgh) learned how to snow ski....something I would use for years, including a stint at a ski lodge in Wisconsin, where I worked one winter.

Wausau, Wisconsin, where we resided in the late 1970s had it's share of snow as well...but more than snow, the Wausau are was cold, damn cold....I remember a morning when it hit -52...the batteries on my Jeep and Patricia's AMC Hornet both froze solid....we jumped started the landlady's truck with the tractor and went into town to get engine warmers and new batteries....a bitch of a cold spell where it went over a month without ever getting about freezing....day or night.

Ohio, Indiana, and Kansas, have had their share of snow while living there as well.....but as I mentioned last week, the snow blower is not getting that much work...{Thank God for Global Warming!}.....let's hope it stays that way.

Today sunny and 62, tomorrow more sun and 70, although we did get our first sets of frost the past two mornings.

{snow photos: From top...my Charger buried in the 416 Barracks Parking Lot at Griffiss AFB, NY in early 1971...Jose Wales enjoying his first snow on the farm in 1986.... Rag and Max frolic in the snow during the Blizzard of 78 in Wisconsin...the current house a couple of winters ago, awaiting a " Snow Blow Job"...}