The "Mr. Feltman Is How Old?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  There on the front page of my LNP morning newspaper was a large photograph of a longtime friend of mine, Bob Feltman, volunteering at Conestoga Valley Christian Community Services in Lancaster, PA.  I knew Bob for many years since we both worked at Manheim Township School District.  I taught Industrial Arts at the high school while Bob was the Principal at nearby Schaeffer Elementary School in Manheim Township.  All three of my children had him as their elementary school Principal while my wife, Carol, spent many hours volunteering at the school.  Seems that Bob turned 21 years old today!  When I first read that in the paper, I thought it must be a mistake, but then I realized that this is Leap Year and today is February 29, thus Bob is only celebrating his 21st birthday!!  Oh, to be 21 years old once again!  And, that's exactly what Bob is doing today...lucky guy!  Then I did the figuring and realized he just turned 84.  I can still remember when our three children returned from school on February 29 and told us about their Principal had just turned XXX or XXX, depending on which of our three children was telling us that.  I just can't imagine what it must be like to have a "Leap Year" birthday.  Doesn't seem quite fair to only have a birthday every four years.  Yeah...I know he celebrates a birthday every years as we do, but OFFICIALLY, he only has a birthday in Leap Year.  Story in the morning newspaper told of at least six fellows in Lancaster County who will officially be able to have a beer to celebrate their birthday today, since they will all be turning 21 years old!  Can you imagine what it must be like to have been born on Leap Day?  But, than again, think of all the extra attention you might get on February 29th when it rolls around every 4 years.  I can remember when my children would come home from Schaeffer Elementary School on leap year day and tell my wife and myself that their Principal was joking about being the same age as some of them were.  Boy, did they have a hard time understanding that!  None of them really believed what he was telling them, because at the time they didn't quite understand that many people only had a birthday every four years.  Well, today Bob volunteers at Conestoga Valley Christian community Service where he helps pack "weekend blessing bags" for kids in need.  He served as Schaeffer Elementary School Principal for 31 years.  Everyone loved Bob since he was so good with all of the students at Schaeffer.  Never heard a bad word from any of my children!  Seems that every one of the children at Schaeffer enjoyed having Mr. Feltman as their Principal.  He strived to know each and every child that ever went to Schaeffer while he worked there.  And...he hasn't changed a bit since that time, being that he still gives of his time to help others.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  And...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. FELTMAN!!!  

The "Farewell To A Giant" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Driving through the Lancaster Cemetery trying to depict the story that was recently in the Lancaster Newspaper that read..."FAREWELL TO A GIANT."  The "Giant" was a centuries-old ash tree that sat close to the entrance of the Lancaster Cemetery.  About 50 people gathered for the funeral...for the tree!  Any person, place or thing that can last for a few centuries deserves to have a funeral!  My guess is there wasn't even a cemetery at that location centuries ago.  Probably wasn't even a city at that location back then.  The cemetery is on Lemon Street, east of Lancaster General Hospital.  It was decided that the old tree deserved to have an interfaith ceremony.  Mr. Chad Ostrowski organized the interfaith event which included Rabbi Jack Paskoff from Congregation Shaarai Shomayim, Rafael Diaz, who's a Vajrayana Buddhist and chaplain intern and Pastor Elisa Parmer from East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church.  A poem was read by Elisa that read: "When I am among trees, / especially the willows and the honey locust, / equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, / they give off such hints of gladness / I would almost say that they save me, and daily."  Grace Henderson of Lancaster city, who has Indigenous roots, read a Lakota tree prayer.  She also spoke about her love of trees since she moved to the county about 30 years ago.  Volunteers used a ladder to climb the tree stump to count the rings, but Ostrowski said the rings were too small and jagged to tell exactly how old it was.  "Cemeteries are places where we remember the deceased, but they're also places for the living," said Tim Freund, board president of the Lancaster Cemetery.  "So the more we can do to have events and to celebrate the space, I'm all for that."  The Lancaster Cemetery was founded as part of the first Reformed Church on Orange Street.  It was reformed as a nondenominational cemetery in 1848 and grew from 11 to 22 acres.  The tree that was just celebrated was located near the intersection of Park Ave. and Lime Street and was an ash tree that died before being cut down about a month ago.  The tree was at least 200 years old, older than the cemetery on which it stood.  It took about 6 hours to cut the tree down by Doug's Tree Service.  The ground was wet that day, so they left the tree's pieces behind for the time being.  On March 30, new holes will be dug for new trees and the community is encouraged to come out and help.  I enjoyed so much making my visit to the cemetery and taking photos of the tree stump and the surrounding area.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The entrance into Lancaster Cemetery 

Chad Ostrowski speaks at the funeral for a 200 year old ash tree.

The base of the tree.

Pieces of the tree after being removed from the base.

One more view of the tree after most of it had been removed.

The "A Trip To The City Of Lancaster, Pennsylvania"

It was an ordinary day.  Sunny with a bit of a chill in the air.  Decided to grab my camera and take a few photos of downtown Lancaster to share with you.  I had read about a new candy store that had recently opened on West King Street and thought I would stop and see exactly what they had to offer.  Grabbed my wallet and headed into town.  It takes about 10 minutes to reach center-city Lancaster from my home at Woodcrest Villas.  Traffic was light as I entered town and before long I was on the first block of West King Street.  Ah, Ha!  There was the new candy store on my right.  Had a hard time trying to remember what might have been in the store in the past, but that really didn't matter.  Parked directly across from the store and plugged the meter with a quarter, knowing I wan't going to be there too long.  

Entered and was sure enough, there was candy everywhere.  Actually the store is a bit to big for a homey candy store, but...boy, did they have the candy.  Enjoyed looking and taking a few photos and thought I just couldn't leave the store without purchasing anything, so I bought a candy bar for my dear wife.  I must admit that the bar I bought she wasn't fond of...so I had to eat it.  Back in my car in 20 minutes and headed east on King towards St. James Episcopal Church, my home church where Carol and I were married and where both of my parents had been buried in the ancient, historical graveyard located directly off of East Orange Street.  The church is beautiful, but the graveyard is unbelievable!  So many famous Lancastrains as well as well-known historical folks are buried in the graveyard that sits to the immediate East of the church.  I spent the next half hour or more reading the tombstones as well as making a visit to the gravesite of both of my parents.  Easier to describe to you what the graveyard may look like by photographs...so check out the following photos. Click on them to enlarge them.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Entrance to St. James on N. Duke Street

Water fountain

Entrance to cemetery off of N. Orange St.

Stone that carries my parents names.

Click on pix to read Paul H. Woods/Dorothea E. Woods

Very old tombstones behind the church.

A favorite engraved pole on the pathway to the chapel.

Click to enlarge

Amaze Your Friends After Learning These Unbelievable Alphabet Facts! Story

It was an ordinary day.  Found a stack of paper that had a variety of short stories on them.  Began to read them and realized I could amaze my friends the next time I go to play pool if I learn some of the facts that appear on the pages.  So...perhaps you too might want to do the same.  If so...check out the "Stuff" that follows....

A. One of the things many people don't know about Independence Day is that Congress officially declared its independence from England on July 2, 1776.  We celebrate the holiday on July 4 because this is the day John Hancock became the first man to sign the Declaration of Independence.

B. If you're thinking the astronaut who's spent the most time in space is a man, you'd be wrong.  That honor belongs to a woman.  Astronaut Peggy Whitson has spent the most cumulative time in space.

C. Geologists consider Mt. Kileauea in Hawaii to be the most active volcano in the world because it has been erupting continuously for more than 35 years.  The longest period the volcano has been inactive was the 18 years between 1934 and 1952.

D. If you love dinosaur museums, then you'll love this interesting fact about America: The United States has not only found the most dinosaur fossils, but it also has the most variety.  Although the finds have been scattered throughout the country, most of them were in desert areas, where vegetation isn't likely to grow and fossils remain more accessible, since they are covered by nothing but sand and rock, as opposed to trees and soil.

E. Did you know the word Pennsylvania is spelled wrong on the Liberty Bell?  Actually, "spelled wrong" is probably a bit harsh:  In 1752, when the bell was made, "Pennsylvania" was one of several acceptable spellings of the state name.  Our forefathers also made some glaring grammar mistakes in the Constitution.

F. Most of us have heard at one time or another that George Washington had teeth made of wood, but this isn't true.  Although he did rely on dentures due to losing his teeth early in life, forensic research has proved his teeth were made from a combination of donkey, horse and human teeth.

G. Amelia Earhart has seized the hearts and imagination of the country for decades.  It seems every year a new conspiracy theory emerges about her disappearance.  Unfortunately, all this mystery and intrigue tend to overshadow her achievement.  Although it's well known that she was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, many people lose sight of the fact that she was the second person, male or female, to fly solo across the Atlantic, period, after Charles Lindbergh.

H.  The largest mammal in all of North America is the bison: The males are up to 6 feet tall and weigh up to 2,000 pounds.  If you want to see bison in the wild, there are nearly 5,000 of them in Yellowstone National Park, which is the only place to serve as a continuous home to the bison since prehistoric times.

I. The oldest bridge in the United States is the Frankford Ave. Bridge in Philadelphia.  The 73-foot stone bridge was erected in 1697, which makes it older than America itself.  it was reconstructed in 1893 and is still in use today.  The Frankford Ave. Bridge is one of 14 of America's fascinating, lesser-known bridges.  

J. Although George Washington chose the site of the White House in 1791, he never got to live in it.  John and Abigail Adams were the first president and First Lady to move into the White House, and it was still under construction at the time.  Since then, every president has resided in the White House while in office.

K. You've probably heard that Benjamin Franklin wanted the sturdy turkey to be our national bird instead of the majestic bald eagle.  It's an interesting story, but it's not true.  Franklin wrote his daughter a letter, stating that he thought the Great Seal looked more like a turkey than a bald eagle, and from there, he went on to philosophize about the attributes of both birds.  This letter became the source of the turkey-instead-of-eagle myth.

L. The United States is a mighty big country, yet for some reason, one state has produced an inordinate number of presidents.  One of the interesting facts about America: Eight U.S. Presidents were born in Virginia.  Next in line is Ohio with seven presidents born there, and New York with five.

J. If you love libraries, then you'll truly enjoy our library facts about America: The Darby Free Library in Pennsylvania is the oldest continuously operating library in the country.  Originally opened by Quakers in 1743, it has been serving community members for more than 275 years.

K. Situated in the Green River Valley, Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky is home to a hidden gem: the largest known natural cave system on the planet, with more than 400 miles of caves explored.

L. The traditional Fourth of July celebration started in 1777, one year after the Declaration of Independence was signed.  Large celebrations took place in Pennsylvania and Boston and included fireworks.  When fireworks became available to the public in 1783, the tradition spread even further.

M. Franklin D. Roosevelt served as President longer than anyone else. The Social Security program levied heavier taxes on the rich and implemented the New Deal programs.  The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1951, now limits presidents to serving two full terms.

N. The highest mountain peak in the United States is Denali, formerly called Mt. McKinley.  It stands at more than 20,310 feet tall.  If you want to see Denali in person, it sits within a national park with more than 6 million acres of land to explore.

O. Okay, so here's an interesting fact about America that everyone should learn in school: Most people think Christopher Columbus landed in North America, but what you probably never learned about Columbus is that the explorer never set foot on the mainland.  The only New World sites visited by Columbus were the Caribbean Islands and parts of Central America and South America.

P.  There are perhaps no criminals in American history more notorious than Frank and Jesse James.  Popular folklore paints them as Robin Hood-like bandits who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, but there is no evidence this is true.  The truth is, the James brothers committed their robberies for personal gain and, worse yet, sometimes murdered people in the process.

Q. The oldest continuously run newspaper in the United States is The Hartford Courant, known originally as The Connecticut Courant.  The paper has been published since 1764, and the first issue was only 4 pages long.  The newspaper recently digitized its archives, allowing historians to study issues from 250 years ago.

R. Niagara Falls is one of the most iconic waterfalls in the world.  In 1885, Niagara Falls State Park became the first state park established in the country.   It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York City.

S. The largest currency denomination circulated is the $10,000 bill.  One money fact is that unlike most other bills, it didn't picture a president, but rather treasury secretary Salmon P. Chase, who went on to serve as chief justice of the Supreme Court, starting in 1864.  If you haven't seen a $10,000 bill wandering around, there's a reason for that. The government stopped producing them in 1969.

T. Alexander Hamilton established the first federal bank n Philadelphia in 1971, aptly named First Bank.  Although the building is now a park service office, the history behind it and it's gorgeous, columned exterior still make it a major tourist attraction.  

U. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which finally gave women the right to vote, was passed by Congress in 1919 and ratified in 1920.  It was a moment that changed women's history forever.  Not only did women finally have the right to vote, but the amendment also gave them the right to own property.

V.  Ben Franklin was famously one of the Founding Fathers of our country, but he was also a revered inventor and scientist.  His inventions included bifocals, the Franklin stove, the urinary catheter and swimming fins.  He is also one of the people who signed the U.S. Constitution.

W. Corn is the most widely grown produce in the United States.  In fact, in 2019, U.S. farmers produced a mind-blowing 91.7 million acres of corn.  That's enough to fill 69 football fields.  

X. In American folklore, perhaps no group of immigrants looms larger than the passengers of the Mayflower.  In fact, the Mayflower pilgrims are so ingrained in our culture it's easy to forget that they were real people.  Today we have living proof of this, as there are an estimated 10 million Americans and 35 million worldwide descendants of the Mayflower.  Among the most famous are John Adams, Julia Child, Humphrey Bogart and Norman Rockwell.

Y.  It's no secret that Americans love pizza, however it might surprise you to learn that we eat enough pizza every day to cover 100 acres.  Total it up and that's 3 billion pizzas a year.  Sadly, no official data is available regarding how many of this pies were consumed due to Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos's "Two Pizza Rule."

Z. Most people assume English is the official language of the United States, but the truth is although that might be the case in many of the states, the federal government has never declared an official language, not English or anything else.  

And, one for good luck!  You may think that Thanksgiving was always held on the fourth Thursday of November, but that's not the case.  The holiday was held on several different dates until Abraham Lincoln declared in 1863 that it would henceforth be held every year on the fourth Thursday in November.  This day was honored by every subsequent president until FDR moved it to the third Thursday of November in 1939, to extend the Christmas season.  After many complaints, he realized his msitake and two years later moved it back to the forth Thursday; that's when we celebrate it today.

And....That's all Folks!   It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "My Life In Miniature" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished taking photographs of a few miniature wooden replicas that my wife and I have around the house.  The pieces are replicas of one of our favorite restaurants along the Chesapeake Canal as well as replicas of our homes that we have lived in during our married lifetime.  All replicas are made in miniature out of wood.  Each and every one is a remarkable copy or replica of the original building.  The first piece of artwork is a replica of the Bayard house in Chesapeake City, Maryland.  

                                      The Bayard House   
The Bayard house is the oldest building in historic Chesapeake City, Maryland.  Samuel Bayard built the original manor c.1780 in what was then known as Bohemia Village.  Today, it stands proudly restored as The Bayard House Restaurant, serving fine Maryland cuisine.  My wife, Carol, and I have been to the restaurant many times during our married life.  No matter what you order, you surely will enjoy the results from the chef.  The miniature of the Bayard House was done by Brandywine Woodcrafts which is located in Yorktown, Virginia. 

The next three pictures are all replicas of homes Carol and I have lived in during our married life .  

The first house pictured is our first home at 925 Janet Avenue in the Grandview Heights section of Manheim Township where I taught high school for many years.  The house is a three-story, semi-detached home near Schaeffer Elementary School in Manheim Township where our three children went to school.  The right side of the semi-house was brick on the first floor with stucco covering the second and third floors.  A screened-in porch sat to the right side of the first floor.  There was a full basement in the home that I had converted into a rec room, laundry room and work shop.  Two of our three children used the third floor as a bedroom/bathroom.  There was also quite a bit of storage on that floor.  Our second floor had a master bedroom and two smaller bedrooms with bath being used by all threebedrooms.  One very interesting feature of the house was the laundry chute that ran from the second floor hallway to the basement.  Great for the children to place their dirty laundry in rather than all over their room.  The first floor had a living room with fire place, dining room and kitchen.  A single car garage was at the rear of the home which opened onto the rear alley.  Carol and I and our family lived in the home from 1968, a year after we married, to 1996 when we moved to 1949 Harrington Drive, also in the Manheim Township School District. 

Our home at 1949 Harrington was a two-story modern residence that was beautiful!  The home sat on the corner of Harrington Drive and Foxshire.  It was all wood with a two-car garage, beautiful entryway with large window (made a full-sized stained glass beach scene window for the entryway),  sunken living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, bath room, and den/office.  Ceiling in the sunken living room ran from the floor to the top of the house.  I must admit...the house was just beautiful, but it began to be a chore for my wife and I to take care of.  The acre of land took time to mow in the summer and the driveway and rear deck were a chore to keep the snow off of in the wintertime.  And the wood house always needed attention.  So.....we decided to move to a retirement community where we have none of that to worry about.  

Our third home 408 Rubia Drive, where we have been living for a bit over a year, is a semi-detached, two-bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen with a sun room, laundry room and two full baths...all on ONE FLOOR! Perfect for two people!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - The following are the wood replicas that we had made to remember the houses where we lived during our married lifetime.

925 Janet Ave.

1949 Harrington Drive

408 Rubia Place

The "Living In A Colonial Revival House In Lancaster, Pennsylvania" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Taking a look at one of C. Emlen Urban houses that graces 43 N. Shippen Street in the city of Lancaster, PA.  Mr. Erban is well known for his fabulous architecture in and around the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  The house at 43 N. Shippen is a Colonial Revival house that recently caught the eye of New York Times really estate writer Angela Serratore.  The house was designed an constructed in 1905 by famed architect C. Emlen Urban for attorney John E. Malone.  Mr. Malone was the president of Fulton Bank, Lancaster' Postmaster and head of the city Democratic Committee.  The house was also the home of his wife, artist and illustrator Laetitia Neff Herr Malone.  Beautiful place that has four bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, and elevator and 4,739 square feet of finished living space.  It also has a private rooftop deck and a koi pond in to the rear of the home.  As described in the Lancaster, PA newspaper..."In true Colonial Revival style, song symmetry around a grand main entrance makes a good first and lasting impression."  The house is presently listed at $950,000.  The house in along a city street and is close to Lancaster's Musser Park.  I'm not trying to sell the home for anyone, but you can see photos below my story as well as at land.news/ShippenHome.  Lancaster is a very old city in Pennsylvania and is filled with some of the neatest and most influential architecture you will find in any city in the USA.  Check out the photographs that I have added and see if you might enjoy living in a house such as this in one of Pennsylvnia's most desirable cities.  It was an ordinary day in the life af an ordinary guy.

The "Kaedyn Focused On State Championship" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article in my Lancaster Newspaper about Manheim Township's Kaedyn Williams going for his 4th title in high school wrestling.  Williams has the opportunity to become the 21st District Three champion this year in the 114 pound category.  He had won District Three championships at 106 and 114 in the past.  I enjoy high school wrestling and was the scorer for the Manheim Township High School wrestling team for many years in the late 1980s and 1990s.  I never had the chance to see Kaedyn wrestle, but he must be a fantastic wrestler since he has won three District titles in the past and will try for his 4th championship this year at 114.  His coach this year, Aaron Moldoff, says he is the most focused he has ever seen him.  "He's got that look in his eye," he says.  And...his eye is not only on the District title, but the State Championship.  Williams is in the upper bracket with every other wrestler in his weight category trying to defeat him, being he won his District category last year.  Kaedyn will be going to Rider University next year where he hopes to wrestle for that team.  Williams' stats speak for themselves.

In 108 career victories, he has earned bonus points in falls, tech falls or major decisions, in 82 matches or 76% of his win total.  His five career losses (Yes, you read that correctly...5 losses) have come in tournaments with three times at the PA State Meet.  He plans to change that this year.  His stats speak for themselves.  In 108 career victories, he has earned bonus points - falls, tech falls or major decisions - in 82 matches or 76% of his win total.  His five career losses have come in tournaments, two in Districts and three at states.  He advanced to the state semifinals in 2022 and 2023.  In a classic example of thorough scouting, Bethlehem Catholic's Cole Campbell defeated Kaedyn 6-2 in 2022.  Last year, Northampton's Carson Wagner hit a five-point takedown with 11 seconds left to deal Williams a 7-5 loss.  His coach thinks he has learned from those mistakes and the only thing that is going to beat Kaedyn Williams this year is Kaedyn Williams.  "Without knowing too much about who's at states, I think he's the best wrestler in any bracket," his coach said.  Here's hoping that Manheim Township will have a State Champion wrestler this year in Kaedyn Williams.  I'll be pulling for him!  If he uses all his moves and skill, Manheim Township should have another piece of hardware to put in the show case and Kaedyn should go home with a gold medal around his neck.  I'm surely pulling for him in his senior year.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Derailed!!!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  There on the cover of my latest "TIME" magazine was a multi-layered headline that read: "A TRAIN CARRYING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS CRASHED IN A SMALL TOWN IN OHIO.  ONE YEAR LATER, THE IMPACT CONTINUES",  The headline was the start of a story titled "Derailed" by Alejandro de la Garza.  Really caught my eye, since after reading the story, I realized it could happen down the street from me!  A sub-headline continued with...A hazardous chemical accident takes place almost every day in the U.S.  The worst in recent history occurred on Feb. 3, 2023, in East Palestine, a small Ohio town on the Pennsylvania-Ohio border.  Their town motto was: "The Place You Want to Be!" The images featured in the magazine captured the many shades of human response in the long half-life of a major chemical disaster - the despair, the resilience, the endless apprehension.    TIME's story features five individual stories as told by five residents who lived near the derailment.  I could feel chills run down my spine as I read each and every one of the stories...for you see...I too, along with my wife and an entire village of retired, aging citizens live close to a railroad line whose trains carry...who knows what!  Twice a day we hear the sound of the whistle as the train approaches the intersections that are about a mile from our retirement village known as Woodcrest Villa.  I know...the chances are slim, but could it happen here?  I stare at the cover of my "TIME" and see the scared faces of the mother and her four children as they stare off into the distance.  Could that be me someday?  I don't want to die because of a train derailment that could cause poisonous gases to drift a mile through the air to my villa that I have inhabited for over a year at present.  Many of the residents who live here have respiratory problems and would suffer the most.  But, how could all that happen in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania?  Well, the trains sound their message that they are arriving and all vehicles and humans are supposed to clear the area around the tracks.  Metal "arms" lower to keep the traffic off of the tracks before the train arrives shortly after the "arms" have dropped.  But...what if a large semi-truck is in the midst of crossing the tracks and in front of it is an entire line of traffic that is held back by a red-light signal.  Could the train, possibly loaded with unknown chemicals get stopped in time before it strikes the semi-truck?  Could this newspaper headline..."A TRAIN CARRYING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS CRASHED IN A SMALL TOWN IN PENNSYLVANIA" appear in my Lancaster newspaper the following day.  I know...I'm being a bit...paranoid!!  Perhaps over-cautious!!  But...could it happen???  I'm sure those in East Palestine never thought it could have happened to them.  And now, many of them still are suffering....and may be for the rest of their lives!! The railroad might tell me they never carry hazardous materials on the line that passes through Lancaster, and if an accident did happen, it wouldn't affect more than those in the mishap!  But, HOW CAN I BE SURE!!  As I type these final sentences...I can hear the horn of the latest train that at this instance is passing through the intersection less than a mile away.  Am I scared?  Maybe!!!  But, what can I do!  Wait until I hear sirens in the near distance?   My next choice would be to take out my hearing aides before I know the train is about to arrive...so I can't hear the whistle!!  I know I am being overly cautious!  So Be It!  Life will go on, hopefully, for all in my neighborhood!  But, how can I be sure??  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "Our Beloved Felines" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting on the footrest of my recliner is my beloved cat, The Gray Lady while our other cat, Snickerdoodle, is sound asleep on the sofa...next to my wife.  Cats use the same senses as humans but they view the world differently.  Understanding them could make us better cat parents.  The world according to cats is very different from the one we travel through.  To walk in a cat's paws, we first need to understand how a cat experiences the world.  Although cats use and have the same senses as humans....sight, sound, taste, smell and touch....they understand and process their inputs quite differently. But knowing they have some tantalizingly similar senses to ours can help us live more harmoniously with our furry friends.  Perhaps we can make an effort to learn more about how our cat works, and maybe sense a better connection.  They posesss the same qualities that we humans possess and the same senses as we do: Sight, Sound, Taste, Smell and Touch.  

Sight...like humans, cat use their vision to see the world around them and hunt down their next snack.  But differences between human and cat eyes mean that we see the world quite differently.  Although a cat's precision pouncing in the dark may make it seem that they have built-in night vision goggles, cats do need some light. But though a human's night vision is iffy at best the dark is a cat's time to shine.  Millions of years of evolution have made it more likely that many cats can, and will be active and hunt at dusk and dawn.  Cat's pupils are long and vertical, narrowing to a slit in broad daylight, but expanding up to 300-fold when it's darker.  The backs of a cat's eyes have a layer called the tapetum lacidum, which reflects unabsorbed light back into the retina, and adaptation to help the cat see in dim light, and causes eye shine, the glow that can be seen when light shines on them in the dark.  Cats retinas have fewer cones...the photoreceptors that perceive color, therefore cats see the world less vibrantly and in fewer hues than humans.  These cones are also responsible for sharpness of vision, so a cat's eyesight is blurrier, despite their superior low-light vision.  What cats can see from 20 feet away, we can see at 100 feet.  But, cats respond more readily to motion than to the intricate details and colors of an image, so they aren't hindered by their reduced color vision.  

Sound...a cat's triangle-shaped ears act like small, furry satellite dishes.  Their ear flaps can rotate 180 degrees and can pinpoint the location of a sound to within several inches in just six-hundredths of a second which is faster than you can blink your eye.  They can also distinguish extremely subtle differences in sounds, far superior to humans and even dogs. 

Taste...despite having fewer taste buds than other animals, cats seem to be able to taste sour, bitter, salty and umami flavors well enough.  This is likely due, in part,  to the cat's highly acute sense of smell.  As a rule, cats crave meat and other animal products.  Many cats will enjoy snacking on other kinds of foods; they may try to eat your sweet snacks, even if they cannot fully taste the sweetness.  In these cases, it is likely the fat that the cat is tasting and craving.  Some cats even see to enjoy certain types of fruits. This just proves the stereotype that cats don't follow the rules!

Smell...is fully developed straight out of the cat womb.  The newborn kitten uses its nose to navigate toward the nearest nipple and get its first sip of nourishing colostrum and milk.

Touch...the whiskeres on kittens may be one of our favorite things, but cats really depend on them.  Known formally as a vibrissa, a whisker is longer and thicker than normal cat hair.  Each whisker grows from a follicle packed with nerves and blood vessels, making them was sensitive as human fingertips.  They detect subtle air movements that ca indicate the pressure of prey and her cats navigate around obstacles.  

Well, The Gray Lady is still asleep on my lap, even after my having to move several times to get comfortable.  My wife and I have had many dogs and cats during our married lifetime and enjoy both, but cats seem to be so much easier to take care of than dogs.  The Gray Lady and Snickerdoodle have been our furry friends for over six years now, after showing up at our back door on Harrington Drive, and we wouldn't be the same without them.  As I type this story, Snickerdoodle is next to my wife on our sofa while The Gray Lady is sound asleep on the bottom of my lounge chair.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Finger And The Fainting" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in the darkroom as 8:00 a.m. at Mannheim Township High School, talking with the students in my 1st period photography class.  Talking about a variety of items which included a brief description of what had happened to my pointer finger on my right hand the day before when I got it caught in the printing press and had to be taken to the hospital.  Was telling the class that I was lucky that it didn't need to be removed when.....all of a sudden...one of my students fell off his stool, to the floor, unconscious!  I quickly got off my chair, told one student to go for the nurse, told the rest of the students to sit around the table and be quiet, then knelt next to Noel, who was slowly showing signs of regaining consciousness.  He didn't show any signs of bleeding as I got down on my knees next to him.  I asked him how many fingers I was holding up on my hand and he responded correctly. He said he hadn't eaten anything for breakfast and when I showed the class my finger, he just couldn't take it!   After realizing he was going to be OK, I looked at him and said..."Now we're even!" The rest of my students looked at me in shock as Noel got the biggest smile on his face, knowing exactly why I had said that to him.  That story began a few years before when he was one of the players on my Jr. Midget baseball team that I coached.  He was a pretty big boy for 14 years old and could really hit the ball.  Our team was a Jr. Midget team, between the Midget-Midget and Midget aged teams.  I was pitching batting practice to the team one summer day when he lined a ball back at me that knocked my glove off off my hand, sending me to the hospital to see if it had broken the fore-finger on my left (glove) hand.  Was twisted and hurt like crazy, and as I walked past him to the car, that's when I first said, while smiling, "I'll get even with you one day!"  Well, my line to him as I stood next to him in the darkroom made him laugh...loudly!  He knew exactly what I meant...didn't need for me to tell him a thing!  I helped him to a chair and by then the nurse had arrived with a wheelchair to take him to her office.  I told her I think he will be OK, but she insisted taking him to her office so she could check him out.  As he left the darkroom on the wheelchair,  he looked at me once again with the big smile still on his face and said, "Yep! Now we're even!"  I made my way back to my classroom where the students had returned and they wanted to know why Noel had such a big smile on his face when he went past them on the wheelchair.  I told them Noel can tell them when he gets back to class the next day.  I told my class that Noel would be OK, but never did answer them!  I haven't seen Noel since he graduated from high school years and years ago, but I'm absolutely sure that if we were ever to meet again, he will bring up the story of my finger and his fainting. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.    

The "Landscape Architecture?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about a fellow by the name of Alastair Humphreys who is an English adventurer, author and motivational speaker. Over a four-year period he bicycled 46,000 miles (74,000 km) around the world.  He was the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2012.  He is responsible for the rise of the idea of the micro-adventure which is short, local, accessible adventures.  For more than 20 years, Alastair roamed the planet. He rowed across the Atlantic, traversed India on foot, cycled around the world. In his essay “A Single Small Map Is Enough for a Lifetime," he writes that climate change and familial commitments have caused him to narrow his horizons, to seek diversion in his own backyard, “on the fringes of a city in an unassuming landscape, pocked by a glow of sodium lights and the rush of busy roads.”  To begin this exploration, Humphreys ordered a map of his neck of the woods from Britain’s Ordinance Survey, which, for a fee, will create a map of any 20 square kilometers of the country at 1:25,000 scale, where four centimeters is the equivalent of one kilometer on the ground. Each hyper-detailed map includes not just roads but footpaths, vegetation and variations in terrain.  Humphreys commits to deeply exploring one small segment of his map per week, to getting intimate with his immediate environment, by walking or biking every millimeter. “I wanted it to be serendipitous, not governed by my preferences,” he writes. “I hoped to see things I would not ordinarily come across. I decided to treat everything as interesting.”  The first kilometer he undertakes to explore is purposely devoid of any exciting landscape features. He wanders a former marshland, contemplates the seasons, communes with crows and, with the aid of a smartphone app, geeks out on common reeds. His journey is quiet, and contemplative, but still riveting, even in the absence of any drama.  Although Humphreys has made a career of traveling on a grand scale, locating magic in the miniature comes easily. In 2012, he popularized the idea of the “microadventure,” a short, local outing that nevertheless provokes a shift in perspective (picture, for instance, camping under the stars in a nearby wood.).  In a 2015 interview with "The Times", he extolled the merits of the “5-to-9 adventure”: “After 5 p.m., you have 16 hours that are all yours,” he said. “So you can ride your bike or take the train out of town, sleep outside somewhere and come back to work maybe a bit rumpled but feeling great.”  Humphreys’s hometown project is inviting, a reminder of Thoreau’s wisdom that: “It matters not where or how far you travel — the farther commonly the worse — but how much alive you are.” Now seems like a ripe time for neighborhood micro-exploration: In winter, the landscape is denuded; each segment of tree branch and skyline available for scrutiny.  A high-resolution map provides a satisfyingly orderly way to make sense of the environment, to catalog what’s here now and what was here before, to pay close attention to what’s going on in the world. Is there some kind of analog we could apply to our interior lives, territory that feels far more vast and ungoverned and in need of organization? Is there a way to shine a flashlight upon the disused bridleways of the mind?  Meditation suggests it might be possible, but the rapidity with which our internal terrain changes makes the possibility of any definitive guide all but impossible. This necessitates, I suppose, close attention. A commitment to visit and revisit our intimate landscapes, mapping and remapping the contours of home.  Alastair Humphreys is an interesting fellow to say the least!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Rules Of The Internet Vary With Conservatives! Story

It was a ordinary day.  Sitting in my "office", right by the window and wondering how we might get a few inches of snow when the weather looks great with sunny skies, no wind and fair weather outside my window.  But, I'm no weatherman, so I just have to believe what I read and hear on my TV.  Doesn't really matter, since my computer will still allow me to type yet another story...this one about the Mennonite and Amish groups in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where I have lived my entire lifetime.  Just how do members of conservative Mennonite and Amish churches deal with usage of the internet?  This question was posed to newspaper columnist, Jack Brubaker...aka "The Scribbler".  The question was sent to the Scribbler by Amos Lapp, an Old Order Amish man who lives in nearby East Earl Township.  The letter appeared in "The Diary", a monthly publication of the Older Amish churches.  Mr. Lapp attended the Conestoga Valley Mennonite Church which evidently had "split off from the Eastern Mennonite Church.  The Scribbler asked about the split and found that this new church does not have anything to do with the internet.  But, why was an Amish man attending a Mennonite church?  Seems that Mr. Lapp, the Amishman, went to the Mennonite service on his week off, since the Amish only hold church every other Sunday.  The church where Mr. Lapp was a member had split from the Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church.  Eastern is not Old Order Mennonite but extremely conservative.  No TV or radio.  Plain dress. Schooling only through 10th grade, no Social Security, etc, etc.  In recent years, however, some members of this church decided the internet was necessary to do business in the 21st century.  So, in 2018, the church permitted internet access under extremely limited and filtered conditions.  And...that was just too much for some members, so they started the Conestoga Valley Mennonite Church and affiliated with the Appalachian Mennonite Conference.  Those churches maintain a total ban on internet use.  But...just how does the Old Order Amish church where Mr. Lapp belong handle internet use?  Have I lost you yet?  Well, usage varies depending on the congregation.  Unlike many Mennonite churches, which expect all members to adhere to the same rules, the approximately 260 church districts in Lancaster's Old Order Amish settlement are "semi-autonomous."  Mr. Steve Nolt, director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College reports that a church can't get too far out of line with the others, but there has developed a range of practice in which some districts recognize that their members are going to be using the internet pretty regularly for business with many of those same folks using it for personal or less direct business reasons.  Mr. Nolt knows Amish people who use the internet frequently with work-related computers and sometimes with personal smartphones.  Others rely on non-Amish friends to use computers to complete their taxes.  Some have internet connections at home, but for accountability, send a list of websites they visit to another person to be reviewed.  As you can see...the Internet is a source of discussion and debate.  Mr. Nolt says that he hasn't heard of any Amish church districts splitting over the issue.  If an individual felt very strongly opposed to internet use, he would move his family to another church district in which computer use is not so acceptable.  Seems Lancaster County might soon be split between groups who use and don't use the internet.  I wonder where you can find information in the Bible to help with an answer to that problem.  Perhaps the Scribbler can find an answer!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Ryan Blyth - March 8 Netflix Contestant! Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article in my daily newspaper about a fellow who will be competing in Season 4 of "Blown Away," which will be streaming on Netflix on March 8.  Guy by the name of Ryan Blyth who is a former Lancaster County resident and master glassmaker.  He will put his skills to the test on the Netflix glassblowing competition known as "Blown Away."  Ryan is the owner and operator of Blythe Glass Art & Design based in Seattle, Washington.  He is a 1991 graduate of Lancaster Country Day School and who previously operated a glass studio in Lancaster.  He will compete against nine other glassblowers in Season 4 of the "Blown Away," hosted by Nick Uhas which begins streaming on Netflix on March 8.  The show will feature master glass artists competing in glassmaking challenges in an elimination-style format for a $60,000 prize.  A story in the 2001 Lancaster Intelligencer Journal newspaper article, Ryan expressed interest in making Lancaster a hub for glassmaking.  He had moved to Lancaster from Ohio in 1987, studied with some of the biggest manes in glassmaking including Dale Chihuly, who has exhibited his impressive and often large-scale glass sculptures across the globe including at the famous Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York.  Ryan owned and operated the Blythe Blass Studio located at 560 S. Prince St. in Lancaster where he worked and offered glassblowing workshops, until the early 2000s.  I, at one time, was interesting in glass work and made a visit to his studio, but never continued with glasswork due at the time to the cost.  In February of 2006, the Lancaster New Era reported his dream if creating a glassmaking hub in Lancaster was broken when he ws evicted from his studio space due to a rent dispute.  Now, Ryan seems to have hit his stride in Seattle, where he currently lives.  In a 2014 story published by the Seattle-based City Arts Magazine, Blythe discussed his path to glassmaking, his interest in skateboarding as a kid, his love of the glassmaking community and his signature glass duck sculptures which he used to raise money for cancer research when his mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  To see Ryan's recent work, visit his Instagram page, @blytheglassartand design.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "Martin's Country Market Goes Up In Flames!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just grabbed my newspaper from my front porch and sat on my lounge chair to begin reading it.  Then it hit me.  There on the front page of the paper was a photograph of what at one time was Martin's Country Market at 1717 W. Main Street in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  Wait a minute!!!  I grabbed my phone and called my brother immediately...for you see...my brother, Steve, worked there in the frozen food section of the market.  Not only that...he lives about 100 yards from the rear of the store along Hoover Drive.  You can sit on his rear deck and see the entire rear of the store from his deck.  That is...used to be able to see the rear of the store.  It was this past Thursday that the grocery story burned pretty much to the ground.  Called my brother and he said he was able to watch the fire from his rear window.  Luckily, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction from his house or he probably would have had to evacuate his home along with all the other residents of his neighborhood.  More than 200 firefighters fought the blaze that was discovered before dawn when a worker at the market came to work.  A neighbor who lives across the street from the market was just leaving her house around 5:40 a.m. Shen she saw the flames drawing along the roofline of the store across the street from her home.  Thick black smoke was just beginning to clog the air in the neighborhood.  By that time, it was said that the fire must have been burning for more than two hours.  More than 200 firefighters from Ephrata and surrounding counties fought the blaze for several hours.  A state police marshal is investigating the blaze, which caused millions of dollars in damage and closed down the market indefinitely.  The grocery store, where my brother worked, will need to be totally rebuilt!  It is extremely devastating for not only those who worked at the store, but for all who counted on the store for their groceries.  After seeing the fire on my television, I quickly called my brother.  He was upset, since he had only been working at the place for a little over a year, after retiring from another job.  He enjoyed the management as well as all the other workers at the grocery store.  He had several positions during the last year and was recently put in charge of the frozen food section of the store.  Steve is a hard worker and made sure that everything is done. correctly and in time.  Any employer would love to have Steve working for them.  At first it was a part-time position, but more hours were added as Steve found he loved working at the store with the Martin family and their crew of workers.  The entire building will need to be demolished and a new one will have to be built.  I'm sure the Martin family is already making plans for a new store.  The store will be missed...until they are able to reopen once again.  Everyone was very lucky that the fire didn't cause any deaths!  I've talked with Steve a few times since the fire and he is trying to figure out what to do with his free time now.  For years he had a stand at the nearby Green Dragon Country Market which is open one day a week.  Steve is the type of guy who can't sit still and do nothing.  He has to be on the move and have something to do at all times.  It's in our blood line!!  I'm sure he will find something until the market is rebuilt and he can be back at work one more time at the grocery store.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of ordinary guy. 

PS - the following is from a news source that I found on my computer.  You may want to read what they have to say about the destruction that took place at the fire site.

The fire broke out just before 4 a.m. at the popular market located at 1717 West Main Street in Ephrata Township, according to Lancaster County Wide Communications. The fire shuttered Route 322 in both directions between Wood Corner and Robert roads, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation explained. It has since reopened but Hackman road remains closed as of 1:30 p.m. Salt trucks were also called to the scene to help prevent the water the firefighters were using from freezing into ice on the roadways. As the hydrant system was overwhelmed additional tanks were called. Over 200 firefighters from 45 companies from Lancaster, Lebanon, and Chester counties were called to the scene. Around 9 a.m. fire officials said the fire was a "multi-million dollar loss." This comes after a wall between the market and an adjoining appliance store fell around 7 a.m.; leading crews to evacuate as they feared a possible building collapse. The appliance store suffered water and smoke damage but the fire never entered that part of the building, Lincoln Fire Company Public Information Officer Randy Gockley said. One firefighter was injured, Gockley explained. The firefighter fell and broke or fractured his ankle/leg, Gockley details to the best of his knowledge of the man's injury. The cause of the fire is unknown, although Gockley noted an employee was in the building when a fire was spotted in a small back room. The community is already feeling the loss of this major business, sharing on social media.The fire was knocked down around 10:30 a.m., but fire officials believe it could take an additional 11 to 15 hours to knock out hotspots. Gockley estimated clearing the scene around 7 p.m. 

 

The "Are Youse An English "Freak" Or Just An English "Freek" Story!

It was an ordinary day.  Once again reading one of my favorite newspaper columns known as "The Scribbler" which features weekly stories by Jack Brubaker, aka..."The Scribbler."    Today's entry is "Yeah-yeah."  I've said that many, many times during my lifetime, but never gave it a thought that it just might bother someone when I said it.  Well, Dr. Scribblerscold began noticing "Yeah-yeah" about two or three months ago, which means it's probably much older than that. "Yeah-yeah" is uttered as one word, often by itself and sometimes at the beginning of a response to another speaker's comment.  You know...I say, "I saw a hugh blimp pass by yesterday." and you say "yeah-yeah". Well, the use of yeah-yeah is spreading quickly, as such trends tend to do.  If you are not saying it, congratulations.  You are talking against the tide.  Sometimes this sort of thing is called "verbal punctuation," as with "ah" or "uh" or even "um."  Dr. Scribblerscold's high school English teacher employed a unique form of verbal punctuation.  She said "awa" nearly every time she paused in her lectures.  For example: "William Wordsworth wrote- "awa" -The World is to Much with Us."  These expressions don't mean anything.  They are dropped into speech just as "you know" or "I mean" or "like" (as in, like, you know what I mean) generally used mindlessly and endlessly in colloquial speech.  "Yeah-yeah" differs a bit because it sometimes seems to mean something or perhaps you may hear "un-huh" as an indication of you agreeing with what has been said.  These phrases are known as "filler phrases" or "verbal litter" since they fill in parts of a sentence when the speaker can't figure what else to say.  These filler phrases are forms of "verbal punctuation" and should be treated the same as a comma or semicolon or other written punctuation marks when they are unnecessary or out of place.  When I was in 11th grade, my English  teacher, Mrs. Eisenhart, said that I would often use "filler phrases" so that my story I was supposed to tell to the class would take the necessary amount of time.  I only needed about two-thirds of a story as long as I could continue to add "filler phrases" throughout my story.  Got pretty good at it, but when my grade slipped to a "C-" I began to stop using the "filler phrases"...you know!  Another thing that Dr. Scribblescold wonders is why do so many people use "lay" when they mean "lie," as in "Go lay down and think about this problem until your head hurts."  Unlike saying "yeah-yeah," which is one of the more innocent irrelevancies to enter the language, confusing "lay" with "lie" is grammatical heresy.  People have been confusing "lay" and "lie" for centuries and that will NEVER change.  When you are tired...do you go and lay down or do you lie down?  As for me, if I'm tired I don't say anything, I just hit the sofa or bed.  Nevertheless, people have confused lay and lie for centuries and probably will continue to do so until their tongues are tied.  Do you know how much that hurts?  I couldn't speak for days after my tongue was tied.  The internet is crammed with sites explaning the difference between "lie" and "lay."  One site puts it very simply with "The key thing is lie does not take a direct object.  Lay always does."  But...who can understand what I just typed?  Well...you lie down on a bed while you lay a wreath on a grave.  Got that!  I could care less how you say it.  So....what do you think...is it OK to say 'lay' instead of 'lie'?  One might be technically correct, but who knows which one is correct?  Both mean the same to me!  And...if you're not writing it or typing it, what does it matter.  Actually...I think it is time to go and lay down a bit and rest my weary back....or should that be go and lie down a bit and rest my weary back.  Well, by the time you figure it out.....I'll probably be asleep on the sofa!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Training A Service Dog" Story

It was a ordinary day.  Reading a story in my local newspaper about raising a "service dog."  Maisie Dorwart, a 2019 graduate of local Manheim Central High School is studying at Temple University for her master's degree in speech pathology.  She recently received Cyprus, a retriever mix, this past October as an 8-week-old-puppy.  She picked Cyprus up at the Philadelphia airport, and since then he's been with her almost constantly.  He even goes to class with her, after receiving the approval of her professors ahead of the arrival of Cyprus.  Seems that Service dogs go hand-in-hand with speech pathology.  As a volunteer puppy raiser for Canine Companions, she will have her puppy for 18 months and then the black Lab/golden retriever mix will go to Canine Companion's Northeast Regional training center in Medford, NY were Cyprus will work with a professional, learning more than 40 commands that are useful to a person with disabilities.  He will learn to open doors, turn lights on and off, and retrieve dropped items.  After six months of professional training, he will be ready to be matched with an adult, child or veteran with a disability.  As a puppy raiser, Maisie says that her goal for/with Cyprus is socialization with both people and other animals.  She said that she is teaching him some basic commands.  One such command is "excitable greeting" so that he doesn't jump on people that want to pet him; he must remain seated while being petted.  Maisie said that when she is in Philadelphia, Cyprus goes to campus events and the grocery store across the street from the campus.  She reported that they also have ridden on a mass-transit bus.  When she returns home for visits, she takes him out in the community.  He loves people and all the attention he gets when he's wearing his future-service dog vest.  Everyone wants to meet him which is a great opportunity to tell people about being a puppy raiser.  Maisie takes her puppy to a class hosted by Canine Companions to learn basic commands.  Canine Companions was founded in 1975 and is a national organization that provides service dogs to adults, children and vets.  Maisie works closely with physical and occupational therapists and some of their clients have service dogs.  "I've been able to see, first hand, the difference a service dog can make in someone's life.  I can see that I'll be working with service dogs in my profession," she says.  Miss Dorwart graduated this mast May from Eastern University and began her graduate studies at Temple in the fall.  She says that as an undergraduate student she was living in a dorm, but that's not the case at Temple.  She said that she felt the time was right to be a puppy raiser since she no longer is living in a dorm.  She would recommend being a puppy raiser to anyone who can get on board.  She knows that she will miss Cyprus when he leaves her, but her time with him has been great!  Thinking of being a Canine Companion trainer?  They set you up with everything and give you constant guidance.  They pay for all the food and vet care, but you don't receive any funds as a trainer.  After Cyprus completes his training he will be matched with a person with a disability.  Maisie will be invited to Cyprus' graduation to pass his leash to his new partner.  I'm sure there will be plenty of tears from everyone...including Cyprus!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - check out Maisie and Cyprus below...