The Battle Of Ohio

Who? Browns vs Bengals
What? NFL Football
Where? Cincinnati, Ohio
When? Sunday Afternoon, 1:00
Why? Because they have to

Both teams are 0-3, the Browns have been underachieving big time, and they have been hit with injuries. This could be called The Game That Somebody Has To Win. Only time will tell. I cannot talk smack. I am smack-deficient. No, I am smackless.

We Have Been To Sonic And It Was Good.

Wickett's favorite place to go in Florida (or Texas, or Arizona) is Sonic. A & W Rootbeer is second, but not in the same class. Well, last night, we made our first visit to the recently opened Sonic drive-in in nearby Streetsboro. This is the first one that is close enough to our house to make a visit there practical.

The Wickster always likes to go somewhere in the car, but at Sonic, he gets a little bit of cheeseburger. It's about the only people food that he gets. We're not counting the traces of milk and oatmeal that he licks from cereal bowls at breakfast or the occasional small helping of vanilla ice cream. Needless to say, he was happy that Sonic has moved closer to us and Sue and I are glad too.

If any of you are planning to visit this particular Sonic, you have to go into the entrance to the Super WalMart from route 14, then follow the road that goes toward the drive-in. It might just be a result of being a new place to go, but it was packed last night. Cars were driving in loops around the parking lot. waiting for someone to leave. They had lots of carhops, most of them on skates, zipping around like crazy. It was a fun evening. We are wondering if they will stay open during the cold months. Can you put snow tires on skates? I guess, with some of those famous Ohio ice storms, ice skates might work.

You Gotta Love It

I guess we're getting rewarded for putting up with all the bad weather from the weekend before last. Can you believe how great the beginning of our Fall has been? My mom says that she has arranged for weather like this to last all winter. Go mom!! The blue skies, warm sun and cool evenings just make you want to jump for joy (like my lemur friend).

Avast Me Hearties!

Aaay Matey, more than half of "Talk Like A Pirate Day" has expired. Don't worry, there is still time to enjoy the 2008 version of this special day. Since this year's celebration falls on a Friday, many folks plan to make it a whole Pirate Weekend. Check out the official website below and beware because, " 'Ere There Be Pirates".


http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

Who Doesn't Love A Kazoo?

Today, Sue, Howard and I traveled from Erie, PA to Eden, New York to visit The Kazoo Company. This small shop is the only place where metal kazoos are made in America. We stopped for lunch at the Four Corners Cafe, right on the square in the village of Eden, then went on to tour the kazoo factory.

The machines that you see in the pictures are over 100 years old and, obviously, still get the job done. They had a very detailed, self-guided tour that explained the 18 steps needed to make a kazoo. Then at the end, I purchased a starter kit and used a hand powered machine to finish making my own kazoo. I did not have to do all 18 steps, only about 5. But, how cool is that anyway?

Since the Akron barbershop chorus did a song last year called The Kazoo Concerto, which involved playing some of the song on kazoos, the other guys will be so jealous when they see my new toy.

Waynesville Rally

We just got back from the Fall Rally of the Cardinal Gulfstreamers. That's our RV club with all members having an RV made by Gulfstream. It was held at Frontier Campground, near Waynesville, Ohio. That's about 60 miles northeast of Cincinnati. We arrived on Thursday after a drive of about 3 1/2 hours. Our first activity was dinner at 6:00. Pulled pork sandwiches and sloppy joe's were supplemented with potato salad, baked beans, veggies, etc. There were 11 RV's at this rally.

On Friday, we toured the Dayton Daily News Building, where they print many of the area newspapers plus other items. It was quite an operation. The big rolls of paper that are shown in the pictures below have about 11 miles of paper in each one. The manager of the plant, who conducted our 90 minute tour, said they use about 770 of these rolls PER WEEK. Wow!!

Friday afternoon, we got a guided tour of downtown Springboro, with emphasis on the connections of this Quaker village to the Underground Railroad. Our guide was very good, and we learned a lot of interesting history of this part of Ohio.

Saturday morning, the men prepared the traditional sausage and pancake breakfast. Then we car pooled to our main activity of the day. To steal a line from Steven Wright, we saw a sign that said "Home Cooking, Any Time", so we chose lunch during the Renaissance. Now that I have that joke out of the way, here is what we really did.

The Ohio Renaissance Festival is an attraction that was about a 30 minute drive from our campground. This is the 19th year for the festival. They have it on weekends, from the end of August until the middle of October. Sue and I had never been there, so we were not sure what to expect. We imagined a large field with tents and people in Renaissance costumes. Well, what we got was a lot more. This was a large village with many permanent buildings, shops and hundreds of townspeople. The characters ranged from the queen and other members of royalty down to the common men and women of the town. I had talked to an aristocratic looking fellow when we first arrived. He found out that I was the president of our group. Later, when we met him in the village, he started yelling, "This man is important, do not look at him". There were a lot of shows and places to buy souvenirs and of course, there were places to buy food. So we did have lunch during the Renaissance, sort of. Kris and Mark had driven up from Cincinnati on Friday evening and stayed overnight to go to the festival with us. It was great to see them and to have them go with us on Saturday.

Saturday night, we went to dinner at The Golden Lamb in nearby Lebanon. This inn has been providing meals and lodging to travelers since 1815. It is very famous in southwestern Ohio. The food was great and we were able to wander through the three floors of the inn to see the way they had all the rooms decorated. The rooms were all named for U. S. presidents. Legend says that the ghost of a young girl named Sarah haunts the third floor. We did not see any signs of her.

Sunday morning, we had a continental breakfast, prepared by the ladies, said our goodbyes and headed for home. They were predicting possible hurricane strength winds for the Cincinnati area later in the day and we didn't want any part of that.

Tomorrow, we take the motorhome to Erie, PA to visit Howard, David and Barbara at Howard's house. We will need to rest up this evening. Having fun can be tiring.

Hot Water, We Love You

After a week with no hot water, the water heater is working again. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Ok, I Can't Help It

I guess that John McCain was telling the truth when he said that Sarah Palin was "Commander-In-Chief" of the Alaska National Guard.

No Comment

You Don't Know What You've Got 'Till It's Gone

Tuesday night, as we were getting ready to turn in, Sue noticed that the hot water wasn't really that hot. I checked the hot water heater and, sure enough, the pilot light was out. I went through the steps to re-light it twice, but no luck. I tried it again the next morning, then called a repair company. They couldn't come until Thursday morning, and then we found out that it needed a part that could only be ordered from Whirlpool. I called, ordered the part (no charge because it was still under warranty) and paid $15 to have it shipped overnight. When it arrived, I called the repair guys again and they couldn't come back until 10:00 on Monday.

So, cold showers have been the normal for us. Sue is going to heat some water on the stove to help with doing dishes, since we can't use the dishwasher. We may have to do a cold water load of laundry. Monday can't get here soon enough.

Why Can't We All Get Along?