...and here's one that is making its way around the internet from Times Square no less:
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
This arrived recently from friend Mark whose opinion Fogeyisms values and respects:
The Muslims are not happy!
They're not happy in Gaza .
They're not happy in Egypt .
They're not happy in Libya .
They're not happy in Morocco .
They're not happy in Iran .
They're not happy in Iraq .
They're not happy in Yemen .
They're not happy in Afghanistan .
They're not happy in Pakistan .
They're not happy in Syria .
They're not happy in Lebanon .
So, where are they happy?
They're happy in Canada .
They're happy in Australia .
They're happy in England .
They're happy in France .
They're happy in Italy .
They're happy in Germany .
They're happy in Sweden .
They're happy in the USA .
They're happy in Norway .
They're happy in every country that is not Muslim.
And who do they blame?
Not Islam.
Not their leadership.
Not themselves.
THEY BLAME THE COUNTRIES THEY ARE HAPPY IN!
AND THEY WANT TO CHANGE THEM TO BE LIKE THE COUNTRY THEY CAME FROM . .
WHERE THEY WERE UNHAPPY....
Excuse me, but
How stupid can you get?
Saturday, October 13, 2012
THE PRAIRIE PEDDLER FESTIVAL--
Celebrates its 25th year
More than 180 craft and food vendors and thousands of daily visitors jam the 102 acre, wooded site of this annual festival on SR 97 several miles east of Butler, OH. Festival organizers boast their event is one of the few places left to buy quality products, hand-made in America.
Traffic can be a hassle but planning to arrive after lunch often will have you driving unhindered right up to the entrance while the early attendees are leaving. All that departing traffic also creates lots of parking spaces closer to the pedestrian entrances than you might expect.
Organizers also announced a second entrance into the grounds for this year in their promotional, Prairietown Gazette but information on its actual location eluded me. I suspect it may be off Bunker Hill South Road.
* * *
Then, the very next day the very popular Ohio Heritage Days were continuing at Malabar Farm State Park where crowds of visitors (below) swarmed a colonial style military encampment. Folks in the upper right side of the photo were enjoying a demonstration of the period's black powder rifles while several times each day during the two-day event, the roar of cannon fire thundered around the valley.
One friendly park ranger, who was assisting from his normal assignment in the Cincinnati area, thought attendance would exceed 10,000 folks over the weekend.
Fogeyisms tips our hat to the park staff and helpers for their very efficient handling of parking and people transportation, mostly by teams of horses pulling wagons, around the expansive grounds and display areas; all this at not cost for attendance.
It's truly one of life's bargains.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
BOOK REPORT--
Beyond the Blue Horizon by Brian Fagan
The author is an anthropology professor at the University of California and has decades of experience at sea so he brings a unique perspective to this peek at the historical development of what we now know as commercial seamanship. Readers begin this aquatic adventure with ancient Polynesians when they first dared to sail beyond the horizon. I was troubled by the author's insistence on using BCE/CE, as calendar references rather than the more conventional BC/AD. Fagan says in his Author's Note " 'The present' " by international agreement is 1950 CE. It may be more professorial but it sure clouds the reader's perspective if those BCE/CE abbreviations are unfamiliar.
The Sea Witch by Stephen Coonts
This is 250 pages of warp-speed read; three short stories (Novellas it says) with the lead being the title story about a reckless pilot in World War II being assigned to co-pilot a Catalina seaplane which will take you for an unimaginable airplane ride. Story two roars through 17 days--the life expectancy of a British aviator during World War I, and, Al-Jihad is the third offering where a retired commando is enticed by the wacky daughter of his old commander to avenge her parent's deaths. I'll be looking for more offerings from Coonts.
The Impossible State by Victor Cha
North Korea is described as the world's most controversial and isolated country and the author, former director for Asian Affairs at our National Security Council from 2004 to 2007, is credited with providing the best look yet at that country's history and the oppressive Kim regime that rules it. It was an illuminating peek at its seemingly endless war with its southern neighbor and its frightening nuclear ambitions but I was hoping for a much better look at the day to day life of its citizens. Guess I'll have to keep looking.
By the Rivers of Babylon by Nelson DeMille
This book has "...a special place in my heart..." said DeMille, because it was his first hardcover novel in 1978. It starts off in typical DeMille fashion with a terrific story-line about Israeli peace-makers on their way to a UN conference in NY on a soon to be hijacked Concorde airplane which is forced down to a controlled, crash landing--near Babylon. Then, the pace slows for several hundred pages until its dramatic conclusion in pages numbered in the 500s. A good read nonetheless.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
MOHICAN'S BIG LYON'S FALLS--
and a new BIG stairway
Sue and I celebrated a terrific, late summer day recently with a romp on my favorite area hike from the covered bridge in the Mohican State Park up the river gorge to Big and Little Lyon's Falls, then on up to and across the Pleasant Hill Lake dam with a finish stroll along the opposite side of the river back to the bridge.
That's a young Applecreek area couple (right) beginning their climb on the new stairway out of the chasm created by Big Lyon's falls over geologic time in this 5,600+ acre combination of state park and forest.
This marvelous construction comes to us via the courtesy of the all-volunteer, Mohican Trails Club which completed the 115 step project September 5, 2012. With a rise of 7" per step that's nearly 70 feet of ascent now comfortably accomplished by modern and safe stairs. Materials alone were estimated to cost nearly $8,000 according to the club's spokesman Mark Welty.
The park (1,100 acres) is generally located in the middle of the forest (4,525 acres). Think of the park being along the river from the campground near state route 3 south of Loudonville, upstream past the covered bridge and on up to just below the Pleasant Hill Lake dam where the park and forest abut Muskingham Conservancy District land surrounding the lake.
The hike is somewhat over two miles from the covered bridge up to Big Lyon's Falls; about half of that segment along the Mohican River before it turns away from that pristine waterway and begins its ascent to the falls.
After climbing the above stairs you still have a bit of an ascent through the heavily forested land to and past Little Lyon's Falls and on up to the lake's dam. You pass the smaller falls on top of its formation and can enjoy a dangerous peek over the rim.
Unfortunately, with the recent dry summer there is just a trickle of water at each of the falls.
Between the little falls and the dam we were treated to the harsh, cracking sound of timber failing although we never heard the massive thump of a fallen tree. Regardless, we were reminded this was more than a leisurely stroll through an urban park. Much more.That's Sue (right) as we rounded the rock formation approaching the dam which impounds Pleasant Hill Lake, an 850 acre body of water with 13 miles of shoreline which was built in the 1930s as a flood control facility. It presents a very nice view (below) before we gentle our way down the face of the dam for the 3/4 mile walk back to the covered bridge.
The state has plans (for better fiscal times) to pave the level trail from the dam downstream, to pass under the covered bridge and into the adjacent picnic area so handicapped folks will be able to enjoy that 3/4 mile segment of the heavily wooded length along the river.
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