We had our traditional Halloween Jack ‘o Lantern entryway this year. It features 10 carved pumpkins, including tributes to Braxton Miller and Jared Sullinger and attempts to carve scary, silly, goofy, and happy pumpkin faces. It think it’s a pretty good crop. Thanks to our neighbors, the Taylors, for their excellent help with the pumpkin [...]
Archive for October, 2011
Webner House Pumpkin Path, Halloween 2011
Posted in Family, tagged Family, Halloween, house and grounds, jack 'o lanterns, Pumpkin Carving, Pumpkins on October 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Fat And Fairness — And The Federal Government
Posted in America, Healthcare Reform, Work, tagged Health, Health Insurance Costs, Healthcare, News, Obesity, smoking on October 31, 2011 | 1 Comment »
What to do to deal with the obesity epidemic in America? (And not just in America, either — recent studies also are showing increasing obesity in places like Scotland.) Normally you might say that the eating and exercise habits of individuals are their own business. The problem, however, is that obesity, like smoking, is statistically [...]
Happy Halloween!
Posted in Humor, tagged Doll's Heads, Fright, Halloween, Humor on October 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
As I’ve mentioned, I prefer creepy — and what could be creepier than suddenly coming upon a detached, eyeless, old-fashioned doll’s head in a darkened room? At first you are merely startled by the disembodied visage, but then there’s something oddly riveting about it. You look at it, and wonder how you would react if [...]
Pumpkin-Carving Day
Posted in Columbus, Family, tagged Beggars' Night, Columbus, Family, Halloween, jack 'o lanterns, Pumpkin Carving, Pumpkins on October 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Tomorrow is Beggars’ Night, so today was our pumpkin-carving day. This year, we had 10 pumpkins to be gutted, carved, and made ready to be implanted with candles and placed on our walkway to light the way for trick-or-treaters. I love carving pumpkins. I like doing the emptying and carving the day before, so that [...]
To Blog or not To Blog ….
Posted in Blogging, Family, Uncategorized on October 30, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Blogging seems benign enough until you decide to actually commit yourself to putting words on paper – or rather out in the ether. Blogged words are forever available to all to consider: the F.B.I., C.I.A., Mom, Dad, siblings, children. (I’m reminded of the Facebook horror stories of those who didn’t think their bosses, and others [...]
I Prefer Creepy
Posted in Movies, tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Buffalo Bill, Clarice Starling, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Movies, Scary Movies, Silence of the Lambs on October 30, 2011 | 2 Comments »
What makes for a good Halloween scare? For me, it’s the more subtle, deliciously creepy stuff that is most thrilling. I’m not much for over-the-top gore or slasher films. Buckets of blood spraying everywhere as a masked guy who can’t be killed eviscerates a bunch of horny teenagers may be startling, but ultimately is boring. [...]
Mount Rushmore’s 70th
Posted in America, Art, Travel, tagged America, Art, Gutzon Borglum, Mount Rushmore, Travel on October 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Tomorrow is the 70th anniversary of the completion of work on Mount Rushmore. From start to finish, the blasting and shaping of the colossal heads of four American presidents took 14 years to complete and cost less than $1 million. Mount Rushmore was the dream of one man, Doane Robinson, and became the obsession of [...]
Braxton Comes Of Age
Posted in sports, tagged Big Ten, Boom Herron, Braxton Miller, Buckeye football, Buckeye Nation, John Simon, Johnathan Hankins, Ohio State, sports, Wisconsin on October 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
What a great game! What a great homecoming victory! And what a great coming of age moment for Braxton Miller! This was a game where Ohio State’s defense, led by John Simon and Johnathan Hankins, was dominant for three quarters. In the meantime, the Buckeye offense was playing the ball control game, running the ball, [...]
Building A Solid Majority Can Be Done
Posted in Politics, tagged Bobby Jindal, Louisiana, Politics on October 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
You may not have heard about it, but last Saturday there was a significant election result. In Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, was reelected with a huge majority. Louisiana has an unusual system. There is an open primary, and if no candidate gets a majority of the votes, a run-off election is held. Jindal [...]
From Grandpa’s Bookshelf: Grandma’s Book Of Sayings
Posted in Books, Family, tagged Books, Family, Grandpa's Bookshelf, Invictus, Maude Neal, Poetry, Sir Humphrey Davy, William Ernest Henley on October 29, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Years ago, when Grandpa Neal moved into a retirement community, I inherited every volume on his bookshelves. I took them because I love books and because I think the contents of bookshelves say a lot about their owners. Recently I stumbled across a slim volume from their bookshelf. Inside were pages of Grandma Neal’s handwriting, [...]
Choosing China
Posted in America, tagged America, China, Korean War, Prisoners of War on October 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
You are an American POW during the Korean War. After years of mistreatment, at the war’s end, you are given the chance to go home, or to go to China. And you choose . . . China? Here’s the interesting story of the young American named David Hawkins who did exactly that. Notwithstanding the inhumane [...]
The Most Popular Game In Town
Posted in America, sports, TV, tagged America, Cable TV, Monday Night Football, NFL, NFL Football, sports, TV, Two and a Half Men on October 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In the current “fall season” — to the extent such a thing even exists anymore — 13 of the 14 most-watched TV shows have been NFL games. The only non-NFL program that makes the top 15 is Two and a Half Men. Why is the NFL so popular? For one thing, it’s the perfect American [...]
Issue 2 In Continental, Ohio
Posted in Ohio, Politics, tagged Continental Ohio, Kyley Richardson, Ohio, Ohio Issue 2, Politics, Teachers on October 27, 2011 | 4 Comments »
According to the latest Quinnipiac poll, Ohio’s Issue 2 — the issue that addresses collective bargaining and pension and health care benefits for public employees, among other matters — will get trounced at the polls. Nevertheless, we are still getting blitzed by fliers and ads about Issue 2, so the campaigns apparently still think the [...]
