WIXY's Gone Bananas

This past week I was introduced to another baby boomer blogger. Her name is Jen, and she hails from Kentucky. Her blog is called "Unglazed." She has been writing her blog going on 4 months now. Jen describes herself simply as "Log home dweller, wife, mother, Christian." She is proud of her faith, her family, and her log home. She knows her log home is from the Lord and not bashful in telling of her faith. Jen introduced herself to me during a visit to Whattville and has commented on all three of my blogs. If you haven't introduced yourself to Jen, go on over and do so. And while you are there admire her log home. Cliff Note: I was going to post her picture here, but my computer would not cooperate.

Cliff Note:This same post is now up at my poetry blog. Whattville is on the Other Side of the Tracks . Please pay me a visit there and enjoy my poetry, a talent I didn't realize I had just a few short weeks ago. The actors all from Hollywood Think their opinions all are good Want us to adopt all their views But they don't walk in our shoes To them many candidates flock Think all their thoughts we should take stock They think their thoughts are like a rock I think they look at us and mock They think their morals we should take But most have morals of a snake They're shaky as a house of sticks But their opinion is in the mix To them they think we should look up They think we are a newborn pup They think we are the common fool But most of them don't finish school

I got up this morning and learned some things today. First thing was the button I pressed on my alarm clock was NOT the snooze. Second thing was that 20 dollars worth of gas gets me back home, to work, back home again, and almost back to work the next day, about three round trips(92 miles per). I had to get gas on my way in. Made me late. In between all this, my coffee maker decided to go south. Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name....and they're always glad you came....

I have received this email a couple of times. It was telling me about the new statewide cell phone ban here in Ohio, effective July 1, 2008. According to that, I could not use my phone while driving anywhere in the state. To be honest, I don't think that's too bad of a law, but the email is bogus . Someone with waay too much time on their hands copied an email going around in California about a law which was partially true. Only thing changed on the message was "Ohio" for "California." I'm all for using hands free devices while driving, or even pulling over to talk. I'm not for someone wishing to cause a problem by sending an email that's not true. A cell phone ban while driving wouldn't be a bad law and before I want to hear about someone's rights being violated I would like to say that it's my right to arrive home safely.

First you may wonder why I put the notation Cliff Note on some of my posts. My answer, no special reason, except to either point out something or change the subject. Cliff Note:It has nothing to do with Cliff's Notes, which I never based a book report from. When I was in school, most of the time, I made them up. the statute of limitations have long run out. Congrats to one of the newest friends: Daisy was one of the runners up for post of the day on David McMahon's authorblog . The post was from Dancing With Daisy called What is Going on in My Yard When I'm Not Looking . Also at Smiling With Daisy , she is doing some neat things with pictures of the two presidential candidates, Obama and McCain. Check it out. Announcing B ella Builds a House : Yes it's true. Our very own green nurse, Bella is going to build a house, along with her husband, of course. But will it be a greenhouse? Will Clark Kent become Tim"the tool man" Taylor? Will crazy nurse come by and ...

Political season is upon us, and I would like to introduce you to one of my newest blogging friends. I met this one through Pat Jenkins , and in the past couple of weeks he has become a great supporter of this blog, and others on my blog roll. He calls himself DD2 aka Debonair Dude and his blog is called Our World As We See It . DD2 writes a politically oriented blog and adds some humor to it. His blog is well put together and gives a lot of in formation to those who want to know. DD2, according to his profile, is a private investigator from New York. So if you might need someone, say a cheating spouse, investigated give him a call. Cliff Note: If you have a political blog, leave a comment on this post, along with the name of your blog.

Funny thing about the World Wide Web. I have this blog with 636 posts. All but two of these were written in northeast Ohio. I make comments on Liquid's blog , which originates in Mississippi. A fellow blogger reads one of these comments and comes up to my Whattville blog and leaves a c omment. I check out their profile, then goes to their blog. I then find out this blog originates in northwest Ohio. I'm glad there wasn't any gas burned during this journey. I want to introduce my readers to Daisy . I discovered her blogs last week and have found out that I will get some lessons in photography and poetry. Daisy is very proud of her community and her family, as her blog posts have shown. Daisy has two public blogs - Dancing With Daisy and Smiling with Daisy . Check them out as you will find something for everybody. And Daisy, welcome to my blog roll.

Cliff Note:I am writing this post from a computer at the Wadsworth Library. I had this thought while driving to the library to return some books and thought it would be a good thought to blog on. I wanted to post it before the muse took it back. Sometimes I think the four words that cause the largest percentage of emotional abuse are "you can't do that." Sometimes I wonder why those words are spoken. I speak as one who has had a lifelong affliction of insecurity. I am not talking of a high school dropout wanting to perform brain surgery or anything like that. What I'm talking about are those who want to hold others back from achieving dreams. I wonder how much greatness has been stifled by those four words? I have been encouraged by several who read my blogs. Most have been fellow bloggers, others just readers. A couple of these(and you know who you are) want to start blogging. My Whattville blog has been a result of encouragement from David McMahon of authorblog fa...

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I had my television on ESPNnews. I kept looking at the "ticker" at the bottom of the screen while it was showing the scores. I noticed that my beloved Cleveland Indians had lost to Colorado 6-3. As most know, the name of the facility the Tribe plays in was changed this year. The park formerly known as Jacobs Field is now known as Progressive Field , as the insurance company bought the naming rights. This year the Indians season, so far, is putrid. Several players are now on the disabled list. Shows you what happens when an insurance company buys naming rights. It has also starting to rip the hearts out of the fans who watched as the team came within one game of playing in the World Series last season. I want to propose another change for the venue which hosts the Indians home games. We should start calling it Regressive Field .

I'm back at my desk today after a day of some solitude. I had to get some rest out of yesterday. After all, I burned a vacation day. As I was sitting in my front yard reading a book, I was also thinking about writing one. One of these days, I am going to get myself a laptop, go somewhere where nobody can bother me and put some of my blog posts, along with some connecting thoughts, together. The worst thing about the power outage yesterday is it wasn't long enough. I was enjoying some solitude. I was also enjoying the peace and quiet while waiting on the doctor to come into the examination room. I got plenty of reading done yesterday. I could also go for some Milich's chicken today, but I wouldn't be surprised that one of the major contributing factors to my leg swelling may be too much Cliff on top of it. So delicious chicken deep fried in lard is probably out of the question. I will have to get some extra physical activity in before the gang gets back together late nex...

This happens when blogging. I've been moving along quite smoothly when a swollen leg comes into the picture. For the past couple of days my left leg was swollen, from the feet to my quadriceps. red flags immediately went up for me. One is the fact that I had my left knee replaced over 7 years ago and I was hoping that some of the parts weren't going to have to be reworked. Another was the fact that I'm diabetic and we won't go into that one. The third possibility was raised by my doctor and that was possible blood clots. Well, to be better safe than sorry, I was sent to the hospital to have an ultrasound reading done on my leg. To say the least I called Mrs.74, and she was fearing the worst. I picked her up at home(by this time, I had called work and told my immediate supervisor I wasn't going to be in)and we went to the hospital to have the test run. Long story short, test was negative and I didn't have to be an overnight guest at Medina General Hospital. We ge...

While looking at my sitemeter this evening, I had noticed someone from California here. This person had spent close to an hour reading my blog, so I had to investigate. The post had been wirtten over 14 months ago and it was called Memories of a Family Friend . It was about Harv Kassebaum, longtime neighbor of my in laws. It's always nice to know that someone who touched my life touched others lives as well. I won't repost this, as I don't usually repeat comments but I urge those who are interested to click on the link above. Just one more answer of that question as to why we keep blogging. We are always touching those we don't see.

As I was checking to see what all my blogging friends were up to yesterday, I stopped at Kathy's Klavier . At the top of her sidebar she always puts where her son's band, A Plea For Purging , will be playing. APFP is a Christian metal band, and her son is the drummer for them. After noticing that they would be in my area, I checked out their MySpace page , and saw that they will be in Cleveland, at the Pirates Cove on Wednesday June 18. I mapped out where the Cove was in relation to where I work and saw it was 2.4 miles. I then sent Kathy an email, with my regrets that I couldn't go see them tomorrow since the concert would end way past my bedtime. I get up at 3:00am, so going to a concert 45+ miles away from home was out of the question. She expressed her appreciation that I would check this out. Since I do like to help out my blogging friends whenever possible, I will tell you that the show time is 6:00 tomorrow evening June 18. Pirates Cove 2083-1/2 E. 21st St. Cl...

While I on my way home from work this afternoon, I stopped to gas up at a GetGo station. GetGo is owned by the Giant Eagle supermarket chain. I stopped there because I had a discount with my fuel perks. I was paying in cash, so after I got done pumping I went in to get something to drink. I took my Diet Pepsi to the cashier and saw a stack of these coupons. I thought to myself that someone was very considerate to put coupons for free bottles of water by the cashier before the hottest part of the year commences. I also noticed that there was a protective coating on the back of the coupon. It peels off and I think you use it as a bottle guard. I don't know for sure, but I think " MWL " stands for " M y W ater L eave it alone" If it doesn't mean that, then it's a terrible waste of vinyl. Maybe the "Maxwell" on top means it's also good to cover coffee cups.

Who would want to shoot fish in a barrel?

***And it's all you all's fault****Cliff Note:Just kidding' Because of all the encouragement I have received from posting all these rhymes, I have decided to set a blog aside for poetry. It's called , "Whattville is on the Other Side of the Tracks." I hope that this new blog will provide an uplift and a few smiles. And thanks to those who have already been there.

Cliff Note: I hadn't planned on posting like Theodor Geisel for Father's Day. However, Pat Jenkins threw down the gauntlet, so I thought I'd give it a try. I also found out when I googled the name to get the correct spelling, Dr. Seuss was born in Springfield. Not Pat's Springfield, in Ohio, but Springfield, Massachusetts. And Pat, seeing you threw down that gauntlet, come back and pick it up. I am a dad And so are others We are good dads We have good mothers Our children are born We can not shirk The job we have We go to work They copy all Our every moves Their love for us Always soothes They repeat what we say Sometimes we all pray When they go to our folks They forget on that day We'll be a pal We'll be a stranger We'll be close by If they are in danger We know how to make Their faces turn red We'll read them their stories And tuck them in bed I mooed at the cows I quacked at the duck If your children read this They'll know they have luck I helpe...

I was practicing a concept somewhat foreign to me called planning ahead, and getting my Father's Day post ready and written. It will be posted shortly before 1:00AM my time, about 7 hours before I plan to get up. You gotta love some features of blogger. Anyway, I thought since Father's Day has been used in the past to embarrass the dads, I would turn the tables this once. My daughter, Martha , of Welcome to My Crazy Life , and others, fame, delivered a weekly paper when she was going through her teenage years. The neighborhood she delivered in was away from ours, so I helped her to deliver. When we finished, sometimes I would make a stop at the Goodwill. Martha, being a typical teenager, would hide in the car, so her friends wouldn't see her in the car in front of the store. Later the Goodwill in town was moved to another location. It was next to a hardware store. Martha got to know the hardware store well.

From out of the parlor came Joe With a cane and walking quite slow While joking with glee Was punched in the knee As offending a midget will show

Cliff Note: This whatville post is dedicated to the anti-hero of my blog, WTAM/1100 afternoon host Mike Trivisonno. And please read this to the end. Cliff Note 2:By proclamation of the mayor an extra "t" has been added to the spelling of Whattville. This has taken effect on June 15, 2008. Please make a note of this. He's in Ohio Where I come from And a whole lot of people Think he is scum He rants and raves They think it is funny He makes his station Boat loads of money Triv has his interns And Rado And Marty They all have fun It sounds like a party He'll eat on the air He'll chomp And he'll slurp And when he is finished He'll let out a burp We want to hear traffic And weather And sports But Triv will just tell us We can just eat his shorts He talks about Rado And all of his bits He talks of his wife And her real nice hospitality With some of his content We don't think should pass Triv will just tell us To kiss his 29 number one books Me being a nice...

or, Horton blogs a who? They say we bloggers aren't so smart We have no brains, we have no heart Well I am here, I want to say We are special in every way. We blog of laughter We blog of tears We blog of chicken And imported beers We blog of our houses We blog of our cars We blog of signs We blog of bars We blog when it's raining We blog when it's sunny We write our comments When your blog is funny We blog of our work We blog of our food And when we are finished We blog of our mood We blog of our spouses Our sisters and brothers Our friends and our famlies And then we find others We blog of our drives We blog of our trips We make some mistakes We blog of our slips We blog in a car We blog in a boat In the middle of winter We blog in a coat We blog about peanuts We blog about coke Some of us even Blog about smoke Some bloggers live near Some bloggers live far If you're on my blogroll I think you're a star And while I have blogged this It popped in my head Dr Seuss c...

As most of the friends of this blog are aware, I got a surprise at the beginning of the year when I had mentioned one of my favorite books. Mark Sanborn , the author of "The Fred Factor," paid a visit to my comment section, thanking me for recommending his book. Mark recommends people hand out "Fred Awards" when they do something ordinary extrordinarily well as a tribute to Fred She a , his former postman. I would like to bestow the Fred Award on David McMahon , of authorblog fame. David, much like myself, promotes other blogs and in doing so, he motivates these bloggers to do their best. He comments at times via email, and he usually gives a short, very complimentary, message. Several times a week, David recognizes other bloggers with his post of the day . I was even honored a couple of weeks ago with a runnerup designation. David is a leader among bloggers and provides inspiration for all who stop by to do their best. Cliff Note: I receive no "blogola...

As most of my readers know, I live about 40 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio, and work on the east side of the city. My blogging is a result of my activity on Cleveland area message boards. One of the message boards I occasionally post on is the Cleveland.com television board . One of the other posters is one who calls herself "tvspy." She is also a very active blogger and knows her history of Cleveland. One of several blogs she has written is called All things Cleveland . All things Cleveland is a very well written, well designed, blog. If you want to know about my home area, you should pay her a visit. Also on her blog is a link to several other blogs she has written, one is about the history of US route 20, and others are about the Law and Order television shows. All are interesting blogs. Take some time and check them all out. Cliff Note:Being a lady and married 33 years is the only thing she has revealed about herself, which is probably a smart thing, given some of the...

JOE JOE CHARBONEAU 1980 American League rookie of the year, Joe Charboneau, was on hand to sign autographs at the Rittman IGA this afternoon. The Foutty's brought Joe to Rittman today as part of the first anniversary celebration as a thank you to the good people of Rittman. I was also there with the WIXYcam. One thing I can always appreciate, being one who has a name which is commonly misspelled, is when a celebrity' s name is misspelled. But then again, only a fan would notice this one. That banner had been hanging for 2 weeks and Joe's last name is spelled "Charbenau." The correct spelling for those keeping score is Charboneau. Cliff Note: 100 years from now, who will care? Anyway, today when I went to see Joe, Donnie Foutty, one of the owners, took a WIXYcam photo of Joe with me. And I wasn't as prepared as I should have been, as the WIXYcam's batteries went dead right after that picture was taken. Anyway, you may ask why Joe Charboneau is so special. ...

Cliff Note:This is a repost from May 30, 2006 when the Rittman IGA had opened it's doors after an absence of almost 7 months of a full service grocery store in town. More notes to follow the original post Wednesday, May 30, 2006 was a big day for the residents of Rittman as the IGA re-opened their doors. The first folks to walk through the doors were my daughter Martha, her husband Kevin, and children Ben, Makenna, and Silas. Ben had told everyone that the IGA was opening and that he was going to be the first customer. After choosing applesauce and chocolate milk, Ben was indeed the first customer to check out at the new Rittman IGA. Owner Dan Foutty is presenting Ben with a ball for being the first customer(Ben calls this his IGA ball). What makes me happy to see is that Rittman has it's full service deli and bakery back. The store is set up the same as before with some welcome changes. Prices are more reasonable, and as pictured there is a special on selected meats where you...

For educating so many this past weekend. And thank you also for honoring the veterans who have defended our country during a very unpopular war. And thank you Vietnam veterans for serving our great country, and not running, during this time.

To remind us not to forget a very dark day in our nation's history.

The trailer that transports the "Wall That Heals" serves as a mobile museum during the display. In previous posts, I have shown parts of this museum which serves to educate some minds and refresh others. Donation boxes were also set up within the area and attended by active military personnel.

Many stories abound of Vietnam vets who came back and could not function as the contributing members of society they would wish to be. I would like to write about two diasabled vets who who have been major contributors. Bill Willoughby is a retired U.S. Army Major. He lost most of the use of his left arm in Viet Nam when he was shot. Bill has used his leadership skills and has become a major presence in the business world. He also founded the company I work for, so in effect, he's been responsible for my getting a paycheck for the past 16 years. He has made sure his employees have comparable benefits to the rest of the industry. And Bill has made sure that he has the leadership in place to insure that the company delivers the best possible product in the safest possible work environment. He has also served in a civilian capacity for the Secretary of Defense. Dave Roever is a Christian evangelist who suffered major burns caused by a phosphorus bomb in Vietnam while serving in the...

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The windows of downtown businesses in Wadsworth were decorated by thank you notes to the veterans made by students of Wadsworth City Schools, who were also responsible for the bringing of the wall to Wadsworth. On the fence, by the gazebo, were banners from all the Wadsworth Schools, signed by all the students. THANK YOU WADSWORTH CITY SCHOOLS.

St. Mark's Episcopal church is located on the square in Wadsworth and is right next to where the west end of the wall was. They had offered a place for prayer in their sanctuary and provided a place to rest, free coffee and water. I had gone up there to get some water for myself and my wife and got into conversation with two people. One was a Vietnam vet and the other was from the church, a native of Singapore. The young lady from Singapore had shared with us that even though many Americans didn't know why our country was in Vietnam, the people of her country did, and were grateful. She shared with us that the Asian countries were set to fall like dominoes to communism had American forces not been in Vietnam. I had mentioned to the vet that I couldn't understand why soldiers returning home after serving their tour of duty were treated the way they were by their fellow citizens. These young men, for the most part, were drafted into the service and had no choice in where they...

All names on the wall were on a data base. Volunteers were on hand to give you a printout, and show you how to locate where the etched name. There was also information in the area on how to locate anyone who might have served in Vietnam. The trailer is open 24 hours, until 6:00pm Monday night June 2.

Some left flowers to honor those who gave their all. To some of us, we studied it as current events. To this generation, it's history.

Broadcast equipment used by reporter of National Public Radio-NPR. No matter what their views were those journalists had to be as brave as the service people as they reported the action.

Those of us who grew up as Cleveland Browns fans recognize Rocky Blier as a member of the enemy Pittsburgh Steelers. But in a more important game, he served all of theUSA as a member of the United States armed forces in Vietnam. Many people reading this post owe more than a debt of gratitude to James Kimsey. These photos were on the trailer that transported the Traveling Vietnam Wall. The trailer also serves as a traveling museum. If it comes to your town, you owe it to yourself to check it out.