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.......

Long Summer Part Deux-- Uncle Pete's Cottage

August 9, 2008

I wish the Sattlers cottage was closer to Toledo, we may have made more trips. Our Diane made the trek from Cleveland on Friday and stayed overnight at our house. We all went to Hillsdale on Saturday morning. It was a windy, blustery day. Too chilly to go into the water. We mostly sat around talking and reading, just relaxing.

On the way home it was getting near dusk. A strong well defined front was moving south. When you looked up at these clouds, you thought the end of the world, as we know it, was at hand. I clutched at my rosary in my pocket, just in case. It was moving so fast that we never saw any rain till we got close to Toledo.

Long Summer

I know everybody has been telling me..Dad you haven't added anything to your so called BLOG since you made the first entry. Seeing the school bus go down the street in the morning reminds me that the summer is over. Margaret had a good portion of August off for vacation. We were planning on going to see Mount Rushmore, but when gas got over $4 a gallon we decided to abort the long trip and maybe do short day trips.

Margaret always says I need to be more creative in coming up with ideas of where we can go on these day journeys. Well I got creative. My juices were in high gear. The results of those moments will be described as I have time, but I promise to hit all of them in the next week.

We didn't do much during June. I took a couple of bicycle rides with Joe Monks from Christ the King. I found he and I both like to ride longer distances like 20-30 miles at a time. We went on a organized ride that visited a number Toledo area metro parks. The organizers provided lunch for a fee. Later we drove his car to Ann Arbor and traveled along Huron River trail. Last week we traveled to Port Clinton, parked the car outside Port Clinton at a Krogers and rode to Marblehead, had lunch and rode back about 30 miles. You can see Cedar Point from the lighthouse at Marblehead.

I told Margaret about how beautiful the views at Marblehead were and we decided to spend a day exploring the area. I took her to the lighthouse and to lunch at a roadside restaurant.

I found a cute little park out near Marblehead that I thought Margaret might like. It was just south of Marblehead on Rte. 163. We spent some time their walking and reading our ever present novels. There always seems to be a breeze coming off the lake, even on very hot days.

Instead of jumping around with different dates, I'm going to try to take you thru the late summer chronologically.


On July 26th we took off early from Toledo and headed west. We chose Amish Acres. We had been talking about places to visit that weren't too far. I think Napenee, Indiana is about 160 miles away. It's close to South Bend.

This place is modeled after a working Amish farm. While taking a walking tour, we saw the cutest baby turkey chicks prancing around with their mother. I had never seen a baby turkey before.

Those little white dots are the chicks.

Part of our ticket price of admission was a ride on a hay cart to the outer edge of the farm. They had a schoolhouse setup. Long tables and benches dominated the single room. Children still go to bathroom in an outhouse.

Amish children only go to school through the eighth grade. They feel there is nothing beyond the eighth grade that they need to learn to have a full productive life.

These people create the most beautiful blankets and quilts. It's hard to believe that people who wear such plain colored clothes could sew these multi-colored quilts.

We learned that any person who is not Amish is called "English" no matter what your nationality is. Amish men wear beards, but no mustaches. They can have a telephone for emergency purposes, but it has to an inconvenient distance from their house like at the end of their driveway.

After all that walking we decided to experience a real Amish sit down family dinner. They have this old barn that was converted into a restaurant. We had chicken and beef along with all the fixings mash potatoes, gravy, vegetables etc. When the desert homemade pie tray came out I about died. There had to be 6 or 7 different choices.

While we were eating a man came up to our table and asked us if we were going to the play. SIDEBAR ....Let me explain. Amish Acres has national company of actors that take up residence there for 9 months a year performing Broadway plays. The play being performed while we were there was "Carousel". He said he was the leader of a bus group of blue haired senior citizens from Chicago. He had 2 extra tickets that were paid for and he hated to see them go to waste. We thought sure for free why not. Seeing a full Broadway play in the middle of nowhere Indiana was a real treat.

Sylvania Adventure

Margaret & I have been looking for a chair for her to use in our bedroom to read when she wants some peace & quite. There was a moving sale in Sylvania yesterday so we drove there to check it out. It was at a very small very old house on Main St. After looking at the stuff they had to sell I would have put most of it out to the street and let the freebee bargain hunters have at it.





It was about lunch time after we got got done there. Margaret says I need to get more spontanious in coming up with new places to visit for the two of us. I remembered someone talking about a new restaurant near Centennial Quarry in the Mayberry Shopping Center. We drove there for lunch. It was a small diner tucked in with the shops. This diner was right across the street from the Dinosaur Park, where anyone can look for fossils.






The park itself is only open on weekends, but you can walk on a asphalt trail that the Sylvania Park System created that runs around the old Silica Quarry, which is adjacent to the Dino Park. There are still many piles of shale along the trail that give up there fosils now and then. After a long winter and many days of rain, the top layer of soil is washed away revealing the fosils. They stick up like little soldiers waiting to be plucked from the ground. I found a great specimen of Pyrite or fools gold. It was sitting there shinning in the sunlight. It looked like a gold nugget. It is very heavy for it's size. I also found a few Brachiopods. They come in varing different sizes. At one point in history the Toledo area was covered by a shallow salt water sea. I found many bits of coral while I was searching.

Margaret found a few Brachiopod shells and some very pretty quartz. Some was white and some rose colored. When we got home and counted the pieces we had over 50 pieces of fossils. Not bad for a hour of searching.