By: Stan Jordan
When I was a little lad this was a vacant lot. At the turn of the century that was a big grocery store. There was a store here called Berdan Co. of Toledo. I don’t know what happened to it, but it was gone by 1930.
In the 1930’s and 1940’s there was a grandstand on that lot backed up against Busby’s Barber Shop. That is where, on Thursday nights, the Chamber would hold free, local entertainment and the stores would be open. Later that affair moved across the street to the railroad lot.
The H & H Cleaners was built there in about 1950 by some people named Rife from Paulding. It was a growing business for years, with a number of operators.
See ya!
THE USE OF THE LETTER “X”
By: Stan Jordan
The letter “X” is the 24th letter of the English alphabet. You don’t use that letter in your daily conversation very much, but it is used by us Americans in many different ways.
Like “X” marks the spot.
My “X” denotes one of a divorced pair.
“X” is used for Express, a logo like
“X” is used for a worn out object
“X” is used in place of an unknown amount
“X” is used for the location or address
“X” is used for a lady’s age
“X” is used for a name = like spy work
“X” is the spot for you to shoot at
“X” is used for a signature
“X” is used in clothes sizing, like 2X
Now I understand that in some states, when you apply for your driver license that you’re not male or female, you just mark “X”
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JUST TALK
By: Stan Jordan
I have been asked a number of times how I got started writing for the West Bend News. I have told this before, but I will tell you again.
In August of 2005 I was drinking coffee with Steve Knapp down at the bowling alley. At that time, Steve was part owner of the paper and we discussed some home town news and I guess we talked a lot about Antwerp history.
He said, “Why don’t you write a column for the paper about what you remember of Antwerp when you was a boy?”
Well I done that for the West Bend News second edition back in 2005 and I have written every week since.
At first it was about old Antwerp and its people and history but after hundreds of columns of history, by golly, it ran out! So when I ran out of history and every day doings, I guess I turned to writing fiction, something I wasn’t too crazy about.
But I wrote a column for a year call “Billy Metzger’s Journal” about a young boy from Ohio going out west with his family. It covered four years. The boss here at West Bend News printed that into a book. After that, I wrote a column every week called “Sam Rivers, Indian Agent”. Both of these were fiction about the old west.
Then I wrote about me being a rear gunner in a fighter plane with Snoopy being the pilot. Then I wrote for a little over a year, a story I called “The Lobo Tank Busters”. This was also fiction, but I used real names of towns in Europe when I could. In the last chapter of that story I told when I was in that P-51D airplane, I was Alva Ames from Bad Axe, Michigan. Lots of readers thought that was my history, but no, that was all fiction. I was in a tank outfit over in Europe in WWII.
A young lady asked me how I come up with something to write about each week, well, by golly, it isn’t always easy. I try to stick to the history and the truth, but it isn’t always done that way.
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A ROCKY FUTURE
By: Stan Jordan
Someone told me that love makes the world go around, but I think it’s cash, or any other form of exchange.
Down through the ages, this love stuff has been right up there in the front though.
Ever since Maid Marian in the Sherwood Forest with Robin Hood, or even Madam Pompedor in Paris with my friend Ben Franklin. There has been all types and kinds of romance and love affairs. If this makes the world go around, the timid male has a long, hard road to follow.
The first trial that bafalls a young man is Valentine’s Day. The business people advertise for weeks that you should buy flowers, chocolate candy and even diamonds. That puts a young fellow behind the eight ball if he don’t abide by some of this.
Then there is Easter, oh boy, all the new bonnets, clothes and even new white shoes.
There is just no end to this type of society and this man must adhere and go along or he will lose out.
Then there is Decoration Day and there must be new clothes and accessories for the parade. Then there is the 4th of July, all types of parades, cook outs, the beach and ball games. The young man must participate in some of these or he is a stick in the mud.
Then there is Labor Day and this young fellow, again, has to join in the festivities, he has to show up. All this joining and meeting the family and friends is a sort of test or examination of the young fellow before it can go any further and that is great, that is worked out in every state in the union every day and year and that emphasizes the under standing that Love Makes the World Go Around.
See ya!
Two blondes were fishing in a northern lake and a game warden stopped and looked their equipment over. He noticed they had magnets on instead of a fish hook and thanked them for dragging that magnet over the lake bottom and picking up beer cans and other debris. One blonde was a little upset and said, “Don’t he know there are steelhead trout in this lake?”
An old timer down in Florida has a nice pond in the back and he lets people swim and have fun in his pond for a few pennies, but sometimes people just walked in without paying. He picked up his bucket and went out to the pond and there was a number of ladies enjoying the pond. One said, “We’re just having a good time Mr. Farmer.”
He said, “Oh that’s ok. I just came to feed my gator.”
A guy stuck his head into a barbershop and asked, “How long before I can get a haircut?” The barber looked around the shop full of customers and said, “About 2 hours.” The guy left. A few days later, the same guy stuck his head in the door and asked, “How long before I can get a haircut?” The barber looked around at the shop and said, “About 3 hours.” The guy left.
A week later, the same guy stuck his head in the shop and asked, “How long before I can get a haircut?” The barber looked around the shop and said, “About and hour and a half.” The guy left. The barber turned to his friend and said, “Hey, Bob, do me a favor, follow him and see where he goes. He keeps asking how long he has to wait for a haircut, but he never comes back.” A little while later, Bob returned to the shop, laughing hysterically. The barber asked, “So, where does he go when he leaves here?” Bob looked up, wiped the tears from his eyes and said, “Your house!”
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THE LOVE LIFE OF A WREN
By: Stan Jordan
It is common belief of most bird lovers, that many, if not most birds mate for life.
But A.J. Baldwin observation says that is not true. As he has studied a number of banded wren, he proved that not only do these birds change their mates at different seasons, but the female wren may divorce her mate that she raised a brood with in the spring and rear another brood in the fall with a different mate. When this happens, that mate consoles himself with another female and he raises another brood in that season. At other times, the male is the unfaithful one and departs with a new mate.
These observations are based on the return of the banded birds.
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