SOME MORE ON THE SNOWY OWLS
By: Stan Jordan
Here of late, nearly every day we get some news on the local snowy owls. I heard again from Deb over in the Gar Creek area and along the State Line Road. They have me convinced there is a nest there, thank you for the picture and message.
In talking with my co-worker, Crystal, she said she has never seen a dove’s nest. A dove doesn’t waste time building nest, they find a flat limb in a pine tree and lay their eggs on it. I don’t know what keeps the eggs from falling through the limb to the ground. You can hardly call it a nest. Sometimes they use a few pieces of grass or straw, but it worries you about the little work they do on a nest.
If you ever have an occasion to see a kill-deer nest, it too, is hardly anything, just a few stones pushed together in some flat place, but she will let you know if you are too close. One of the best actors born.
See ya!
THE BLACK
SHEEP SQUADRON
By: Stan Jordann
In WWII, in the south Pacific the Japanese got as close to Australia Guadacanal, an island in that chain the marines invaded that island and didn’t meet to much restriction and the army was called in to help take the island.
The Japs had started an airfield and the marines pushed them off and used their machinery to finish the airstrip and named it Henderson Field.
There was a non-descript wing of some very good pilots who nobody else wanted because they were hot dogs…good pilots but no discipline. There was a wing of 16 brand new Corvair planes..
Those boys flew out of Henderson Field and they’d spend a lot of hours alone in the plane and must observe radio silence and those hours were very long.
One morning someone picked up the mic and whispered into it, “Who dat?” Soon, #2 picked up his mic and whispered into it, “Who dat?” Then #1 whispered into his mic and said, “Who dat that say who dat when I say who dat?”
See ya!
YOU AND ME AND THE AMERICAN STANDARD
By: Stan Jordan
In last week’s column on a new stool, I’m afraid I made at least one mistake. I was thinking that most of the toilet stools in the area were Mansfield or American Standard because C.A. Quisno, the house builder, installed a lot of the water works in the houses in the late 1930’s and later and some of them are still working. But C.A. Quisno went out of business back in the 1980’s and now a days lots of men will go to Menards and get a stool and install it themselves.
I understand that American Standard was made in New Jersey, but eventually went under and was bought out in 2013 by a company and is now under the parent company Lixil Group.
A lot of stools and water chests were made in Mansfield and called Mansfield. For years nearly all those kind of bathroom fixtures were what you bought, but there are cheaper ones now and all different sizes and colors and use less water and some are taller.
The boss here at the West Bend News, has purchased and installed a new stool that is a Toto. The boss wants to use less water which is a problem waiting to happen and I’m going to say, “I told you so”
See ya!
OVER THE YEARS IN BASEBALL
By: Stan Jordan
Baseball in a small town in the early 1900’s was a way of life and to a lesser extent it still is. We three boys each got a $1.00 ball glove from L. Smith & Sons back in the mid 1930’s when the government paid a bonus to the WWI veterans. I used that same ball glove till I graduated from high school in 1942, of course it was well made and I took care of it.
Now here in my sun-downer years I still pay a lot of attention to the big leagues on t.v. Now I’m going to get down to my story.
I talk and discuss baseball with a lot of fellows during the day and lots of times we’ll talk about some of the big contracts some players get. But in recent years, more is expected out of the outfielders besides them chasing down fly balls.
Ever since Willie Mays, one of the best outfielders ever, who played for the New York Giants, raced to the fence and with a big leap extended his arm and glove and caught a fly ball that was on its way to being a home run over the fence. Now an outfielder must be fast, can run and leap and plow into a fence with no thought of getting hurt, catch that ball, turn and throw it to the cut off man, all in one motion. And if a man has to run and slide to catch a weak Texas Leaguer he is expected to do that and come up with the ball and it is even better if he is 6’ 8” like Judge, who plays right field for the Yankees, as he can leap and have his glove 3’ into the stands to stop a for sure home run. He is a home run hitter himself.
In years past, if a guy could hit they put him in the outfield and hoped he could do the job, but now a good outfielder must be able to do it all and still be a good hitter. Defense is a good part of the game. If a pitcher throws a no hitter, you can bet that the infielder had a little luck and made some good plays.
There seems to be an unwritten rule about taking a pitcher out when he has made and even one hundred deliveries. Now to me, that shouldn’t be mandatory. The situation and the strength of the pitcher should have something to do with his leaving the mound.
I believe it was Cy Young, who years ago, pitched both games of a double header. That would not happen now…picky, picky!
See ya!
EVERYONE HAS A STORY
By: Stan Jordan
I started as a rural letter carrier on R-1 out of Antwerp in January 1949 at that time the mailman was about the only connection with the outside world that the lady had because most people only had on automobile and the husband drove that to work. The mailman came in handy lots of time.
A Mrs. Miller lived alone and she didn’t have a car so sometimes she would call me on the phone and have me bring out a loaf of bread the next day. No problem.
Another lady would have me come in the house and would have me make out some money orders for some important bills. I would, of course, but she always had some fresh baked rolls for me. I would try them real soon, they smelled so good.
Another man would call the post office and ask me if he had a business size letter that came from a certain company and if he did, please leave it at the post office and he would pick it up there. It would be good tickets to Ohio State football that afternoon. Sure I would, but you can’t do a favor like that anymore. Regulations now, privacy and I.d.’s
See ya!
WHAT I THINK
By: Stan Jordan
Over in New Jersey there was a confrontation between a young lady and three policemen that got plenty physical and thanks to a lot of cellphones the cameras show a lot of action.
The jest of the battle was, after shoving one of the three policemen that were trying to get the lady on the ground and put the handcuffs on her and she was really resisting. It showed one of the policemen beating this lady on the head. Now she will get some police chasing lawyer and try to sue the city and here is my view on this deal.
One of the first part of the policeman’s training is to get the perpetrator on the ground and get the cuffs on him, regardless, whatever it takes. I think everybody in the U.S. knows that rule.
Lady or not. This lady would not obey the policemen and as far as I can see…she is guilty. The policemen were paid to protect the other beach goes and I think they done right. It is time to back the policemen. They have a dangerous job on any given day. My vote is to lock her up!
See ya!
