How To Find Things! ….. You know you have it. You used it not too long ago. Now you need it, and it can’t be found. You look everywhere, but no luck. Your need for it continues to grow. You may even start to blame others for taking it and not putting it back! Here’s how to find it:, Just go to your local hardware store, Home Depot, Menard’s, Walmart, Ace, or Holmes Lumber here in Sugarcreek and buy a brand new one! You will be happy to believe that you have solved your searching problem! After you get home, that missing item will suddenly appear, and now you have two of them!  Your search is over! You can thank me later!

KENT ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER ….. My wife graduated from Kent State University, and I graduated from Mount Union College. Whenever I feel that I don’t quite understand what she is talking about, I find support in remembering that Kent isn’t always better. While coaching basketball at Mount Union in 1974, Mount beat Kent State 65-60!  While coaching soccer at Malone College in 1980, Malone beat Kent State 2-1!

CORNCOB FIGHTS (From the book Ohio Farm Stories) ….. Grandpa always said that the corn should be knee high by the Fourth of July. (That depends on how tall you are.) When the corn was fully grown, it was picked and stored in holding buildings (“corncribs”) until it was needed. The part of the ear of corn that was not needed was the cob, which is what was left after the kernels of corn were taken off. Because there were always lots of cobs around, it didn’t take much imagination to throw one of them at a pesky brother who needed to be shown who was really superior. This seemed to always start a fight. You needed two things to win - a great hiding place and more cobs than your opponent. Sometimes we preplanned a fight and had teams. The game was to hit the other guys by throwing cobs as hard as we could without being hit ourselves. Victory was won when the other team gave up because they were hurting, or when they had had enough. Crying was always a good white flag. Because the cobs were light and wouldn’t go too far, we would soak them in water. Boy, did they make a mark when we hit our targets. Many times my older brother Larry would not play by the rules we set. He didn’t think “Truce” meant anything but a chance to get closer for a direct hit. The game always ended if Dad or Grandpa showed up, or when someone started to cry in pain. We thought that corncob fights were just part of normal life. Mom had always wished for an all-girl family

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Signs that I may be

getting old!

I bought suspenders, I have a straw hat, and I’m thinking about growing a beard and buying a buggy.

I watch half of a movie before I remember that I have seen it before and know how it ends.

I complain that leaving the house more than once/week is not retirement.

I’m downsizing and think that garage sales are just research trips.

 
Nolan Comes To Sugarcreek ….. Once again, Nolan came to visit us here in Sugarcreek, Ohio. The last time he was here he locked me out on the deck. So this time I remembered to keep my keys with me This visit lasted several days before his sister came to take him home. We had a good time going to Hershberger’s Farm to see the animals and get a buggy ride and, of course, enjoy some ice cream on the way home.

On his last day with us, I presented him a sheet of math homework that his mother had sent along for him to do. He didn’t seem happy about doing it, but started to fill in the answers to the math questions. 

When I looked to see the answers, he had written every one of them wrong. This was not hard math, just things like what is 8+7. But he sat there smiling. Yes, that’s right, Nolan did them all wrong on purpose and was happy! It was then that I noticed he had put my name on the top of the paper!