INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION--

The space shuttle Atlantis recently completed a 12 day mission to the space station; resupplying and delivering spare parts. As the shuttle departed the station they took the image above. Visible are numerous modules (crew work and living areas), the trusses that hold the station together and the long, wing-like solar panels that provide power.

The station continues to be home to five astronauts representing NASA, the European Space Agency, the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. It orbits the Earth 17 times each day at an altitude of 250 miles on average. The curvature of the Earth is visible in the background.

This view (above) is looking north at the Mansfield Blockhouse, newly renovated in South Park on the city’s west side. In the lower photo, Bob Carter (left) shares his ample knowledge of the blockhouse’s history with visitors during a recent Sunday open-house.

THE MANSFIELD BLOCKHOUSE—
And a peek at our early history

On the 13th of August 1812 Levi Jones, a storekeeper in Mansfield, after helping with some land clearing east of town and walking home, was attacked and shot by Indians. Friends heard the commotion of the attack and found Jones dead on a trail through the woods.

He also had been stabbed and scalped.

When news of this killing reached town, “All the inhabitants immediately took refuge in the blockhouse.”

At sundown that day, a volunteer named John Chapman, bareheaded and barefooted headed toward Mt. Vernon to summon help. He was better known as Johnny Appleseed.

After the war of 1812, the blockhouse, then located near the present site of the court house, was serving both as a court room and a jail. By 1827 Mansfield’s population had increased from the eight or nine families that were reported to be here in 1810 and plans were laid for the construction of a new courthouse on the town square.

When Johnny Appleseed made his run through the woods to Mt. Vernon only a trail existed between Mansfield and there.

Lewis Leedy wrote about his life here in those days. “Wild animals were plenty,” he explained. “We had difficulty to keep the wolves from killing old dog Bounce. We frequently had to get up and chase them from our wigwam and wagon.”

“Bears, deer, wildcats, coons, opossums, skunks, rattlesnakes, copperheads, and snakes generally were plenty....” **

Remnants of that original blockhouse remain a noticeable part of the renovated blockhouse that stands to this day in the city’s South Park.

During a recent open house celebration of the renovation it was a moving experience to watch local historian Bob Carter point to the actual logs that remain as part of the renovated structure.

Imagine, if you will, those hand-hewn timbers actually being witness to the earliest history of Mansfield’s existence.

____________________________
**A Pioneer History of Richland County, Ohio by Gen. Roeliff Brinkerhoff, Mary Jane Henney, Ed. Published by the Richland County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, 1993.

A NICE TIME TO REMEMBER--

Recently, the Richland County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society hosted an open house to celebrate the reconstruction of the Mansfield Block House. It now sits in a more visible location in South Park, can be seen from Brinkerhoff Ave, and is just south of the park's picnic pavilion. While it is not generally open to visitors it remains an historical, visual treat.

Members of the society, some in period costume, hosted visitors during the openhouse (top photo) while historian Bob Carter (small photo) told guests of the block houses' history. Please stop by Saturday for our story about the event.

GOOD MORNING EARTH--

This stunning view of the International Space Station was shot by astronauts from the space shuttle during its recent re-supply mission. The sun creates hexagonal lens flares as it sparkles through the blackness of space and highlights the curvature of the earth which arcs through the horizontal center of the image.

The flat panels extending to the right of the image are part of the station's solar arrays which capture the sunlight and provide power to the station. The large, tube-shaped structure in the lower left is part of the main body of the space station where the crew lives and works.

Overall the station is often described as being about the size of a football field. The sky is black because of the absence of any of earth's atmosphere at this altitude of some 250 miles above our planet. The blue sky we are accustomed to seeing on sunny days on Earth is the result of sunlight refracting through the water vapor in that atmosphere. (Photo by STS-129 Crew/NASA)

Explosive fire boils from the chamber of a 12 gauge Benelli shotgun as Traci hits a “bird” in the sport of hand-thrown clay pigeon shooting. Note the spent shotgun shell appearing to fly just above her head. Brother Eric is pictured (below) as he pulverizes one of his many birds that day. That’s his spent cartridge flying above the gun’s muzzle while a puff of dust and some bits of the peppered clay target are visible to the far right.

DOWN ON THE OLE FARMSTEAD—
And the ageless sport of clay “pigeon” shooting

I could imagine Normal Rockwell smiling as he contemplated the scene.

The setting was deep in the rolling hills of sparsely populated Perry County where this old farmstead was still the dwelling of family with several lifetimes of memories there.

It was Thanksgiving Day and the kitchen oozed that potpourri of smells a Pilgrim would write home about.

Sister Patsy was the host that day and Sue, my lady friend, and I plus Sue’s grown son Eric and her daughter Traci with grand daughter Makenna were the lucky guests for a traditional celebration.

Earlier that morning Makenna and I hoofed it about a ½ mile up the gravel road and delivered a newspaper Patsy shares with the neighbor fellow. They do things like that down in those hills.

After dinner and an abridged nap by yours truly I joined both generations of younger folk as we toted a pair of shotguns and a box of clay pigeons to a nearby field where we reviewed rules of shooting safety, and, techniques of actually hitting the clay targets in flight.

Eric pawed the weeds with his toe as he apologized for forgetting the target thrower then redeemed himself with an admirable job of pitching the birds by hand.

Tracy and I blazed away in rotating groups of three shots then I made a feeble effort to toss the targets so Eric could enjoy a few cycles of this enjoyable shooting sport.

Turned out he was better at throwing them himself, then shouldering his shotgun and pulverizing the clay targets at a highly commendable rate.

In fact, while we didn’t keep actual count, Tracy was smacking the “birds” at a very high rate of hits herself—an outstanding feat for a lady with zero recent practice.

She reluctantly admitted Eric probably did hit more than she did.

Me? The only thing I managed to shoot was, well, the shotgun.

Makenna, 11, even took a whack at her first ever attempt to hit a clay pigeon. It took her several minutes to forgive us for the thump of recoil that was a bit more than she expected.

But, it wasn’t long until we were warming up inside.

Makenna was sharing her modeling clay creations with her appreciative audience.

And, we spent my first Thanksgiving in recent memory—without a football game on a TV.

Can’t wait to be invited back next year.

The small inset photo is a close up view of a clay pigeon. The little "birds" are made of very fragile, baked clay-like material and resemble a Frisbee of about 4" diameter. When thrown, usually by a machine, they sail through the air and explode when hit by shotgun pellets.

Traci and daughter Makenna, 11, my ladyfriend Sue's daughter and grand daughter anticipate the roar of the shotgun as Makenna had her first experience shooting at a family farmstead on Thanksgiving Day. Please stop by Saturday while Fogeyisms takes a peek at this marvelous substitute for television on that delightful holiday.

GRANDPA
CATTAIL--

Max and I were enjoying a sun drenched hike around the pond one recent day when the image of the cattail jumped into my camera.

We decided this one must be a grandpa with its glowing white whiskers. In a botanical sense it is. This is the age when the sausage-like flower disintegrates into dense, cottony fluff from which the seeds disperse into the wind.

Human grandpas sometimes sense a similar disintegration at this stage of the life cycle—don’t we, grandpas?

Typha, as the plant genus is known, exists mostly in the Northern Hemisphere and is known to the British as bullrush.

The cattail plant has a wide variety of parts that are edible by humans. The rhizomes (roots) are a pleasant, nutritious and energy-rich food source; or so they say.

The disintegrating heads are used by some birds to line their nests. An Indian name for Typha meant, “Fruit for papoose’s bed.”

The plant also can be used as a source of ethanol in fuel.

It spreads rapidly around ponds and lakes and is an important part of the process of open water bodies being converted to vegetated marshland and eventually dry land.

The cattail plant should not be confused with the phrase cat o’ nine tail which is a type of multi-tailed (nine to be exact) whipping device that originated as an implement for severe physical punishment in the British army and navy.

Ain’t it amazing what you sometimes learn when you stumble over a bit of visual curiosity.