Me a Senior Citizen Imagine that!

I was watching the noon news yesterday and they ran a story that Tuesday was Senior Day at the Toledo Zoo. I said to Margaret, " I'm over 60, I am a Senior Citizen, I get into the Zoo for FREE today let's go." So off we went. Margaret, being the older woman that she is has been a Senior Citizen for couple of years. We got free admission & free parking...WOW! The merry-go-round and pop corn cost extra though.

As we walked through the polar bears exhibit Margaret said, "You know with Jason and family coming in the spring to visit us( you better come Jason) we could get a membership and take the grand kids for free to the zoo." No, No! This was suppose to be a FREE DAY, not a $49 today only membership day. Yes you guessed it, by the time we left the zoo the Toledo Pedees were brand spanking new members of The Toledo Zoo complete with temporary membership card.

Doesn't that zebra look like he's not sure if the alligator is real or not.

Silverbacks, are they senior citizens too?

Doesn't this look like Donna Atkinson?

Long necks aren't the only things giraffes have. Ask the horny one in the back.

Anyone notice that the name" THE TOLEDO ZOO" is not reversed. Notice the car driving on the wrong side of the road? How'd I do that? The magic of Photoshop.

Chupacabra in Michigan?

Sunday morning I was supposed to take a bike ride with my friend Joe Monks through the Irish Hills of Michigan. We had had planned to meet at 9 am at my house. At 9:10 Joe called to say that while trying to put air in the tire of his bike he accidentally pulled off the stem and the tire was flat. He said he didn't have any replacement tubes. We all know no bike shops are open on a a Sunday morning. I was all ready dressed and had my gear sitting by the front door. The thought of spending the day riding through the Irish Hills fleeting from my memory, I decided that I would take a ride on my own.

I hadn't been to Luna Pier, Mi. in a couple of years. I mentally calculated the distance at about 30 miles round trip. I haven't been on a bike ride for over a month, but I ride the stationary bike at the gym 40 minutes 3 times a week. I should be able to handle that.

We live about a mile from the Michigan line. As soon as you get across the state line into Michigan the terrain turns agricultural. Lots of open fields. As I was riding along a drainage ditch next to a corn ,my eye caught a glimpse of what looked like a large dead dog in the ditch. I circled back to get better view. What was it? Not a dog, but dog-like characteristics, large fangs pointed nose. Oh my God could it be the infamous Chupacabra? That means "goat sucker". It's a mythical creature in Puerto Rican folk lore. Could this be the first actual sighting of a Chupacabra in this part of the country? Upon closer observation I noticed a reddish busy tail. Let's see pointed snout, large teeth, large reddish bushy tail, no it wasn't the elusive Chupacabra, but a coyote. I didn't know we had coyotes in this part of the country. After talking to a number of people today, they told me that coyotes are very common in parts of Ohio & Michigan. This one must have got hit by a car.

This poor creature must have gotten hit during the night because the flies and the stench of death were overwhelming.

Verizon Wireless from Hell

Because of my new business venture 4 years ago as a energy consultant I had to have a cell phone. I checked around for different plans. Do I need 500-750 or 1000 minutes? Do you realize how long 1000 minutes is? That's about 17 hours of talking. Who talks on a cell phone for 17 hour a month. I suppose if you are very busy businessman you may exceed 20 hours per month, but the average Joe like me very seldom reaches half of my 450 minutes per month. Have you ever tried to call Verizon because you have a problem with your phone bill? "If you are new customer press (1), If you are an existing press(2)", they say. You spend 5 minutes going through the menu and still can't get to a human being. All you get is a sweet talking computer. I learned a trick today. When I finally got to a human, I asked him how I can reach a human the next time I call them. He said when the menu sweetie asks you to press(1) or (2) don't, just press(o) for operator. Not sure it works, but worth a try.The menu itself never once offers to take you to an operator for assistance.

Do we really need all those extra services like V-cast, GPS, buy a ring tone, searching the web etc.? What the matter with normal telephone ring? I got to admit, I do like to give certain people a special ring. For instance, when my boss calls it plays 30 seconds of "Taking Care of Business".

I think it is amazing that through advertising they try to make us believe that we can't live without Internet service on your phone. Besides it cost more than my home Internet service.

Now there's a reason for buying V-Cast because Prince is on it, wow!

Before cell phones became the big rage in the 90s, I was so happy to just have a pager to ignore. No incessant ringing, just a sexy vibration on my hip. Get a call ignore it or find a pay phone to return the page. Paying 25¢ for each call cut your phone time down considerably.

If anyone has any cell phone stories, I'd like to hear them.

Texas Here We Come!

On October 1st Margaret & I will pack up the Camry and head South. We haven't seen Ryan Pedee, our 3rd grandson (good going Jason) since we were at his baptism in May. Jason says that he is growing like crazy. Last I heard he was around 14 lbs. Being that he is almost 6 months old he's probably doing neat things like laughing and holding his head up to observe his surrounding. Andie said that Ryan is starting to get a bump gums possibly his first tooth.

Because we a driving this time and not flying we are trying to come up with things to do along the way. So far we plan on stopping in Kentucky to explore a few caves near Mammoth Cave. That area of the country is loaded with limestone caves.

After tending to our bruised arms and sore legs from climbing around the caves we head West to Tunica Mississippi, which is 20 miles south of Memphis. Why you ask would anyone go to Tunica ? Tunica my friend is the 3rd largest gambling area in the United States next to Las Vegas and Atlantic City. There are 9 casinos spread along the Mississippi River. All gambling has to be on water, so all the casinos are floating barges anchored to the shore. We were there last year and thanks to Margaret's comps we will be sleeping in a FREE room. It happens to be behind the furnace in the maintenance building, but free is free.

When we were returning from a visit with Allan & Margie in Houston back in the middle eighties with the kids, we were trying to come up with a place to stop and stretch to break up the driving. We found this park in Arkansas where the kids could look for real diamonds.

The Crater of Diamonds State Park is an 911 acre Arkansas State Park situated over an eroded lamproite volcanic pipe. The park is open to the public and, for a small fee, rockhounds and visitors can dig for diamonds and other gemstones. Park visitors find more than 600 diamonds each year of all colors and grades. Over 25,000 diamonds have been found in the crater since it became a state park. Visitors may keep any gemstone they find regardless of its value. The crater itself is a 37 1/2 acre plowed field. It is periodically plowed to bring the diamonds and other gemstones to the surface.

On the way to visit the Texas Pedees a couple of years ago Margaret & I stopped again to try our hand at searching for the allusive 20 carat diamond or anything that looked like a diamond. It was very romantic. It happened to be February 14th. Valentines Day. What better way to finish out the day than to find a diamond for your sweetie. I could say it was a beautiful day. Reality check, it was February in rural Arkansas, it had been snowing and raining for weeks. The field where you allowed to look was a large mud pit. I happened to have my boots and they were covered in primordial mud. Anticipating that we would be going to the park, my dad made up a couple of sifters to sift the soil and have that raw diamond pop up. How are you suppose to sift thick gooey mud? We got there late in the day so I didn't have much time to prospect. I may try it again this year. I think October will be a better month than February.

If anybody has any suggestions of things to do & see between Toledo and Austin via I75,I65,I40 & I30 Nashville /Dallas route I'd be interested in hearing from you. You can email me at dragonfly1947@yahoo.com.

Las Vegas in Motown

There are many games of chance that you can play for free on the Internet these days. Who hasn't played Texas hold em for free. You know if it were that much fun to play on the Internet, there wouldn't be such a strong internal homing device drawing me due North like a compass.


Detroit, Michigan has 3 rather large casinos, the MGM, Greektown and Motor City fill that excitement genes needs. They are located in downtown Detroit less than a mile apart. The MGM is new and glitzy with a hotel, The Motor City has had major renovation to their old building, adding a hotel and Greektown is Greektown, new hotel and an gaming addition that push out the side of the building taking part of Lafayette Blvd.





I personally like Greek Town the best. Maybe it's because I've been there more and I like the assortment of slot machines. I read that they have over 2400 slot machine there.





Here I go remembering the "Good Old Days" back before Detroit had any casinos, we used to take a bus 3 1/2 hours to a floating casino near Gary, Indiana. Man that was desperation to gamble. If the wind was blowing off Lake Michigan, the boat would rock & roll. It was difficult to walk up & down the isles without seeing someone seasick. Every good gambler has a collection of those small plastic buckets with name of the casino emblazoned on the side. That weight of that bucket of quarters is what kept you from sliding off your stool during a stormy day.





Things have changed in how you are paid with your winnings. It used to be the person with the most bucket of quarters was the biggest winner. At the end of the day when you were about to go home you had to stand in line and have the clerk pour your many buckets of quarters in the counting machine. I can still hear the tinkling sound as the coins were counted. That was the sound of success. Now you get a piece of paper from the slot machine that looks like a cash register slip with your winnings printed on it.


I have a number of machines that I like to play, but I guess my favorite is Star Wars based on the movie. I have had a love /hate relationship with that machine since I discover it over a year ago. It's a 1¢ machine, one single penny. Doesn't sound like much, right? Well those who have played penny machines know that 1¢ covers the bet for only one stinking horizontal line. You could sit there all day playing 1¢ at time till you used up your initial $20. However, to win you have to cover many combination of lines. You can choose to cover 1-5-10-15-30. Yes that's 30¢ per pull of the handle. You can increase your winnings by how many times you want to multiple that 30¢ bet 1-2-3-4-5-6 etc. Your penny bet can now be up to $1.80 per pull. You now can rip through that $20 bill in a matter of minutes not hours.


What happens when you get a machine that seems to be defying the odds of payback. You are beating the casinos ass, taking it for $40 or $50 dollars on a penny machine and you have to go to the bathroom? One thing I learned is that luck on a slot machine is directly proportional to the distance from the restrooms. I hate myself for taking that last complementary drink from the hostess with big pushed up boobs that walks around looking for people that are winning so she can ply them with her free drinks that will go through you instantly and force you to leave your hot machine for the bathroom. And guess what, after you have made the pit stop and come back to your machine a big fat lady is sitting your machine, smoking a cigarette and holding a drink. She, however, has expandable bladder gene that allows her to sit at the same machine for hours on end without getting up to go pee.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition - Frisches Come Home

At about 1:30 today the Frisch family came home to their new home in West Toledo. I knew their was going to be a ton of people their today so I avoided it like the plague. I was, I admit, curious as to what might have transpired. I found that someone had posted the homecoming on You Tube already. Click on the link to view the video.

http://www.youtube.com/toledobladedotcom Then view the homecoming video on the right.

The show will air sometime in November of this year. When it airs look for me towering over everyone in some of the crowd scenes.

Huricane Ike-- How It Affected Our Family

Hurricane Ike was the ninth named storm, and fifth hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.

On the night of September 12, 2008, the eye of Hurricane Ike approached the Texas coast near Galveston Bay, making landfall at 2:10 a.m. CDT over the east end of Galveston Island.

People in low-lying areas who had not heeded evacuation orders, in single-family one- or two-story homes, had been warned by the weather service that they "faced certain death" in the overnight storm surge. Near Corpus Christi, a man was reportedly swept away; he is presumed dead. The Coast Guard will search for his body after the storm has passed. Another death was confirmed to have been Ike-related as a tree fell onto a boy while being cut in preparation for the storm, and another person was killed not far away from a fallen tree during the storm. Another fallen tree in Huntsville resulted in a fatality after it crashed into a house. One death was reported in Galveston as a result of natural causes when the generator failed.

Who'd think that us Toledo Pedees being thousands of miles from the nearest ocean would be affected by a hurricane. Well after hitting Houston and taking out the power to over 3 million customers, like Uncle Allan & Aunt Margie, it quickly traveled up the center of the country. The Weather Channel kept saying that the Detroit/Toledo area was in the direct line of the north bound storm and to expect 10+ " of rain directly related to Ike. As it advanced inland the rotation started to cease. By the time it got here today, it was just another big cloud on the radar. The storms kept tracking across Chicago, first a cold front and then the remnants of Ike. Some areas in Chicago got 5-8 " of rain and areas flooded that have never flooded before. We got 3 " of rain over the last couple of days, maybe 1/2 " from Ike. We need to count our blessings.

We talked to the Fanaffs today in the aftermath of the storm today and they are okay. Alan said they had at least 10" of rain and winds of over 100 miles per hour. The palm trees in the backyard uprooted and a tree in front snapped in half and fell across their driveway. Their swimming pool was emptied in anticipation of the storm. It then nearly overflowed with rain water. The Weather Channel said that it might take up to 3 weeks to get all the power back. Alan said Jeff''s family and Lisa's were okay. No major damage reported. Thankfully the phone lines still work.

Jason's home in Cedar Park was on the extreme western edge of the storm. Other than wind and a little rain no damage.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition - Toledo Ohio

Toledo is a city that most people drive through on their way to catch a plane in Detroit or on their way to Cedar Point. Nobody comes here on purpose.

Well this week Toledo got it's 15 minutes of fame big style. The ABC TV show Extreme Makeover Home Edition picked a Toledo fire fighter's family. This family of 11 boys and the parents have lived in a 3 bedroom, 1 bath home in the northwest part of Toledo.

With the Extreme Makeover family — Aaron and Jackie Frisch and their 11 sons — sent off to Disney World for a week, big-hearted strangers with bags and boxes and measuring tapes and heavy equipment swarmed through their house and yard.

The Pedee Toledo homestead is less than 2 miles from build. The Friches will be coming home to a 4-5 bedroom, 4000 sq. ft., 2 story home on Sunday.

With something this big going on practically under my nose I had to be part of it. Here goes my report.

Sunday Sept. 7, 2008

The Frisch family is picked out of a number of Toledo families that were nominated. I think the reason they were chosen was because a number of their sons were adopted from Haiti. I heard that ABC has a "Hope for Haiti" campaign. The Frisches connection to Haiti helped their chances of being picked as the build family. In usual style the family was taken by limo to Detroit for their flight to Disney World and weeks vacation.

Monday Sept 8, 2008

Monday was a day of transition. ABC turned 6044 Edgedale into a TV production site. The whole neighborhood volunteered their yards and driveways for trailers, tents and vehicles needed to pull off this production. Thousands of volunteers, some skilled craftsmen, some crowd control, some feeding the workers. All this had to be put together in one day. The build was to take 104 hours from demolition of their old home to the Frisches coming home on the following Sunday Sept. 14th. This was a 24/7 build. The builders, roofers, plumbers, electricians and heating people worked on a 6 hour shifts.

Tuesday Sept. 9, 2008

This was the day all the visual action started. I walked from home to the site, about 1 1/2 miles. When I got there at noon the fire department where Mr. Frisch works had used the empty house as practice area. The roof had a big hole in it where the fire saws did there job. I was told that the inside was also demolished by the practicing firemen.

Barriers were set up to keep the curious spectators away from the working site. Two large end loaders with what looked liked a set of movable fangs set to work ripping apart the roof and walls of the old house. The dry wood snapped and crackled as it gave up its life to the shiny metallic fangs of the end loader. Within 20 minutes the the 3 bedroom home was rubble. The fire dept. was there to spray the site to keep the dust level down.

Ty Pennington made a quick appearance to wave to the crowd.

A number of the designers were walking around signing autographs. I caught a couple. The hunk is Rib Hillis. He posed for pictures with his female fans.

For the guys there was some eye candy. Didiayer Snyder, I think it her was seen talking to the firemen.

Wednesday Sept. 10, 2008

By the time I got there today work had progress to a point that the basement had been dug, the walls had been poured with a 3 hour fast drying concrete and the first floor joists were ready to be laid. All this in one night. Remember no stopping for a break, they work round the clock.

I watched them lay the joists and start to erect the walls when I left. Standing on your feet watching for 3 hours is a killer. Some of the people came at 8am and stayed all day.

Thursday Sept. 11, 2008

The basic shell and roof were completed overnight. I saw them completing the roof and windows. I was glad to see the roof on because I knew that rain was predicted for the rest of the week and weekend. After today most of the action will be going on inside. The drywall, painting and flooring. I didn't go on Friday because I didn't think there would be much to see

.

The local TV stations said the "Move that bus" reveal will be very crowded on Sunday. If it continues to rain like it is this Saturday morning, that will be a place to stay away from.

I got a number of souvenirs as you can see. The piece of wood is from the floor joists on the main floor of the new house. As the volunteer was hauling it to the dumpster, I asked him to bring piece over to the spectator area for me. He was kind enough to give me one. A unique souvenirs to say the least. The hat was signed by Rib Stillis, one of the designers.

Canoeing & Beach Time

August 20, 2008

Last year Margaret & I decided to find a place to canoe that was out of the way, sort of backwoods. Instead of driving all the way to upper Michigan, we found the livery near Milford, Michigan called Havners that filled the bill. It's near I96 and US23. We liked it so much that we went back this year. They have both canoes and 1 &2 people kayaks. I wanted to try the kayaks this time, but after checking them out, we decided they were less stable than the canoes.

We had a very soggy early summer, but when August came the rain clouds never show up. With no significant rain for almost a month, the level of the Huron river was very low. Fortunately our canoe sat high in the water and hardly drag our collective ass on the bottom. Some spots the water wasn't more than ankle deep. As we ventured up stream, there's a point where you have to portage(cool word) over a small waterfall. At that point we stopped for lunch. Some college kids on their last outing before going back to school, were playing the water above the water fall which was about waist deep. After lunch we paddled upstream to a lake that was formed from the dam. Coming back downstraem was pure pleasure, hardly any paddling. It was a beautiful sunny day that we'll remember for a long time.

On August 24th Margaret & I visited the girls in Cleveland. We met at Elaine's apartment. The plan was to go a beach on Lake Erie near Elaine's, have a picnic and relax on the beach. We got there early enough to find a nice table overlooking the lake. As we eating our chicken from the clear plastic box( you know what I mean, the kind you get from the grocery store) and assorted salads, we heard thunder off in the distance. After finishing we walked down the 50+ steps from the upper park to the lower beach. Margaret and the girls talked for awhile, I sat and read my book. Wouldn't know it, within minutes the sun disappeared behind some ominous clouds. Then one at a time the drip-drops started. At this point not enough to get you wet. I knew there was only one way up to the park and that was that 50+ stairs. It had to be at least a 50° angle. Mom's knees would blow out if we had to do this monumental climb being pushed from behind by all the beach goers wanting to flee the rain.
After getting to the car it was decided to go shopping at the 1/2 price book store. I took a well deserved nap waiting for the ladies.

August 26, 2008
Early in the year we had decided to check out Seneca Caverns near Bellevue, Ohio. The caves were formed by fracturing of the limestone, not by underground rivers wearing away the rock.

For some reason we never went. I suggested it to Margaret now while she was on her last week of vacation. The caves have 7-8 levels that the tour explores. No stalgmites or stalagtites because the caves must not be that old in geological time to have formed any. There are some tiny drippings less than a half inch.

Early in the summer the area where the caves are located had some major flooding. The water level in the cave is dependent on the aquafer or river that slowly flows through the caves. Because of the local flooding, the water level in the caves had risen about a 100 feet, nearly to the top of the cave. So if we would have went earlier in the summer, we would have been disappointed with all the water in the cave.

Considering all the problems Margaret has had in recent years with her knees, all the exercising she done lately has strengthen her legs to a point that she was able to manipulate her body up & down the gaggid rocks without any pain. Congrats Margaret!

Across the parking lot from the caverns was a old cemetry, and I mean old. Some of the tombstones were for people that died in the early 1800s. Notice the date on the picture. The person was born 1793 and died 1867.

The Homestead

September 5, 2008

This is the last post till something happens worth posting.


For those of you that make it home occasionally, you may have noticed that I have tried to do my part for the beautification of Toledo. For those of you, and you know who you are Jason, who don't, here is proof.











I tried my hand at being farmer Bill this year. With time on my hands to work a garden, I planted 6 small tomato plants. Who would have thought that those 6 plants could bring forth so many tomatoes. I love tomatoes, but Margaret & I can eat only so many a day. If I served as in the gospel the 5000 men, not counting women & children on my front lawn, all would have been satisfied and we would have had 12 baskets of tomatoes left over after all had their fill.













Margaret has been wanting to get a chair for the extra bedroom so she can have a place to read that's quiet. After much thought & discussion we decided to take the blue Lazyboy from the living room and move it upstairs. We replaced it with a big leather Lazyboy. It's a shame I had to wait 60 years to discover the luxury of leather. Wow, it's wonderful!

Long Summer - Green Field Village

August 14, 2008

"Where haven't we been for a long time?", I asked Margaret. No idea as what I was thinking. "Why Greenfield Village of course!" With all the road construction in the Detroit area we weren't sure visiting Grenfield Village would be an good choice. But alas the yellowbrick road to GV clear of obstructions.

This was the Thursday before the upcoming Dream Cruise down Woodward Ave in Detroit. A number of the classic cars could be seen throught the GV parking lot.

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood and a great day for walking around GV. We hadn't been through the Village for almost 30 years and it didn't look much different than I remembered it. The tree lined streets, the old Model Ts taking visitors for rides around the Village and the old paddle wheel boat.

As we were entering, two young people dressed in period clothing greeted us on antique bicycles.

What would trip to GV be without visiting

the Wrights Cycle shop and Wrights family home.

You all pretty much know that Henry Ford found all these buildings relating to people of his era who made a mark on society and history, had them disassembled and reassembled in Dearborn, Michigan.

Here are some images as I saw them that day.......