Random thoughts again

Tony's BLT

OK, let's start this with a little reminder of an earlier post about the Tomato and BLT. Saturday after returning to Gas City from a great day of visiting, I watched an interesting show with "the girls". It was about wonderful and outlandish sandwiches. I was taken by the "Ultimate BLT" served at Tony's I-75 Restaurant in Birch Run, Michigan. As you look at the picture of Tony's BLT, you should notice that something seems to be missing (or covered).... Does look tasty!!! If it looks good to you, here's a blog that may interest you.  http://baconation.blogspot.com/

Back to my visits on Saturday. For the first time since, I think last spring, I got to go visit with my sister. Sadly her husband was out of town to a Lion's Club meeting for the day, but we talked, laughed and ate the remains of her wonderful Beef, Barley, soup... mmm good. It does seem that as the years go by, we find ourselves agreeing on more issues and values.  That sibling relationship is rich and valuable. There are many things that can come along in life to strain those relationships, but they are so valuable and worth preserving.

From there, I finally made connection with Art and Pat Windmiller. Art was the high school coach when we, the class of 1960 were in "junior high". I remember him most as the coach and in "study hall", although he also taught math.Our class has reconnected with them in the past few years and it is really great tht this reconnection has occurred.  Don't remember if I have posted this before, but we have another connection in that their son Bob played baseball and basketball at the University of Illinois in the late 60's (while we were at the University of Georgia).  I was met almost immediately with a cup of coffee and a tray full of local Heyerly's "rolls"... some fantastic "donuts". Couldn't find a website, but if find yourself south of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, it must be worth a stop. Here's a link: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/148/928222/restaurant/Fort-Wayne/Heyerly-Bakery-Ossian. Ossian is south on State Road 1. If you happen to know who Art and Pat Windmiller are, I advise you to look them up also. They aren't difficult to find and it is so worth your while to spend some time renewing that old relationship. We talked about folks we knew in Silver Lake, Basketball in Silver Lake, colleges and even the Pacers. (Pat's apparently a devout Pacer's fan, but they had the Illinois/ Nebraska game on the TV while we visited and she was pulling for Nebraska... What's up with that. There I was retired from the University of Illinois after 30 + years, and their own son played for the U of I and she was cheering for Nebraska.... Hmmmm. Oh well. "we" won. Funny thing is that the game was really in the background as we visited. When I started this paragraph I said that he was "the" coach.... Not the basketball coach, the football coach.... etc. You see there were 25 people who graduated from SLHS in 1960. In our class maybe 5 or 6 guys were involved in sports. I'm sure it was similar when Art was coaching there. Those few guys were the basketball, baseball, track, and cross country teams. Weren't enough to field a football or tennis team. I think I did this "big fish in a little pond" theory before, so won't go there again. The point is that for guys in multiple sports you didn't have the coaches fighting over them cause they were the same coach. Notice I said "guys"... sad to say that at that time sports were primarily a "guy thing"..
We talked a little about WW II which of course I only can relate to through movies, books and conversation with those who "were there". Reminded me of an interview I had just heard on WDWS radio. A local "Mahomet" man, Kevin Brooks, had collaborated on a book called Glider Infantryman about their experiences riding gliders behind enemy lines at Normandy. Wow. What little we know. Here's a link for that: http://www.amazon.com/Glider-Infantryman-Williams-Ford-University-Military/dp/1603444246. Art was one of the guys who "patched" up folks. I can imagine the anguish in working feverishly to save a life or a limb, nourished by cigaretttes and coffee and little sleep. OK.   Not my story!!!

One new Doggie Door

Sunday I got to use my new "double saw" or "dual saw"  http://www.dualsaw.com/ that the kids got me for Christmas to cut the hole to make a "doggie door" in our nephew's garage so their dog could sleep inside and poop outside. Took me longer that it probably should have, but although I forgot to take pictures before covering my handiwork with the plastic strips, I think it turned out pretty good. During the process, I was reminded of a sermon our family heard years ago at Center EUB church north of Silver Lake for a Christmas or New Year, or something. I need to take this opportunity to highlight again the significance of EUB. I grew up in the local Evangelical United Bretheren Church. Georgia grew up in the Methodist Church. In the year 1963, these 2 demoninations joined and became the United Methodist Church. Why is this significant? Because that was the year that Georgia and I became Mr. and Mrs. Kneller. How's that for a divine union? Back to the story.  This older visiting minister gave a sermon. Not sure how it related to Christmas or New Year or Christianity as a matter of fact, but the message was "if you don't have what you want; use what you've got".... That simple little message has stayed with me for all those years. So how does it relate to the doggie door???? Although I have learned to bring tools when I come here, I never seem to have exactly the right tool for the situation. I did make do with what I had, but when it came to fastening the plastic (Stair Tread covers) to the frame I had built, I was at a loss. I had bought a box of screws to put the wood together, but didn't think about not having 4 hands to hold the plastic while I screwed the wooden frame over it. I looked through my tools and supplies and finally found a package of glazing points. Now if you don't know what they are, you'll have to look them up yourself. I needed something that would hold the plastic to the back of the wood until I could secure the whole assembly to the garage. I stuck one of the points in the plastic, pounded it down, then flattened it and "viola" or as I used to think it was; "walla".... It worked!!! I had what I needed!
I think that's enough rambling for now.

2012 is here. Let's exercise

I know it is cliche, but thought I might as well start the year with a post. It is amazing the things you learn poking around. I was concerned that I wasn't getting the exercise I needed to keep up my knee rehab being away from home. Just before Christmas I stumbled onto a 5-speed light cruiser type bike at the "permanent" Flea Market on main street in Gas City, Indiana...Boy do they have stuff there. If I didn't already have way to many caps in my closets, I would have picked up some real unusual ones.Electric guitars and amps galore... Just lots of "stuff".... But I found this nice bike. The only problem I saw was that the shifter cable was frozen (rusted solid). So I walked it down the street about a block to the local "Do it Best" (Owens) hardware that I frequent when doing small projects here, thinking I would pick up a cable an replace it in Nan's garage with Moe wagging his joy with my presence in his lair. As I walked the bike into the store and told the guy... I'm so embarrassed that I don't know his name as often as I have been in there..... walked me to the back of the store where they actually have a bicycle repair shop. Since the weather wasn't all that nice at that time, I decided to have them replace the cable. You see, although our boys can disassemble and reassemble a bicycle in probably 15 minutes flat, I never got past the old big tired cruisers with coaster brakes. In late summer while I was trying to elevate my bike riding beyond our housing addition, I picked up a 10-speed for $15 via "Dealing with Jim Lewis" on our local Saturday morning radio. Everything seemed fine except the guy had turned those curved handlebars around. I couldn't ride it like that, so set out to turn them around. All the time I was beating on the handlebars to get one of the brake levers off to remove the bars, I knew..... I knew.... there was some simple way to loosen the lever and I knew.... I knew... where it was supposed to be. However I didn't have the patience or sense to compress the lever to expose the screw to loosen it.... So I finally got it off by breaking the band that held it in place.... So had to go to the hardware to get a new lever, which of course, ruined the integrity of the bike. I got it going with the bars correctly placed, but just never felt safe riding it, so kept looking for something more suitable to me. Now I'd found it, but was hesitant to dig into the repair process again, given my recent experience. When we came back, the weather wasn't really conducive to outdoor riding and Nan mentioned that there was a local exercise facility. That's the real subject to this post.
Nan told me where the facility was located, which was in a part of town I had never frequented in all the years I had come to Gas City. On the outside is an "Ironworks" sign. Inside, I found an open floor, most likely for the zumba, etc. with a rather messy counter on the right and a room packed with exercise and body building equipment on the left. There I found the owner Dave Turner. Meeting Dave is an experience in itself. Here is a guy who seems to enjoy life as he finds it and loves to tell his stories. In that little meeting, I found that the exercise facility was only a sideline (hobby) that came to him because he wanted to buy the building for his real business; Ebenezer's Personalized Embroidery. Part of the contract was that he had to keep the exercise business there for some set amount of time. That was about 30 years ago and the "gym" is the longest continually operating exercise facility in the country... And I didn't even know it was there. Dave mentioned that there had been a couple of national lifting and bodybuilding champions who trained there. So what is the embroidery business? Although I couldn't find a website, (Dave said he doesn't advertise either of his businesses) Manta had this: Ebenezer's Personalized Embroidery is a Health Club facility and is located at 109 E South D St in Gas City, IN. (765) 674-3360. After talking with Dave, I understand this strange description. His Embroidery business is primarily making and repairing company and school jackets, etc. I think his best advertisement is word of mouth..
Back to my purpose. I went to the equipment section to be sure they had what I needed. I found several stationary bicycles which were my primary target. There are also several elliptical stairstepper trainers. I remember this as that dratted machine Noelle introduced me to in my initial rehab back home. That sucker will give you a workout. Finding they had what I needed, I signed up for 10 sessions. I have since used 2 of them. While I was there both times, I was a little out of place in my jeans, Keens, and T-shirt with those buff young musclemen walking around in their gym shorts, athletic shoes and torn off sleeve muscle shirts. They were also huffing and puffing more than I as they hoisted those bars with large steel wheels on the ends. If I get to the treadmill at some point, I will also be walking while they jog and run as they cycle between lifting, pressing and jogging. I did get a reprieve last time, however because a couple of ladies came in to use the Stairstepper. The "guy" showed me how to program the bike for various courses. The first day, I did the level course and the second, I did the "rolling hills" course... Now that was interesting. I set the elliptical for a bit too long and that nearly wore me out. We how have a few days of nice weather, so I will probably be using the "real" bike, saving my "club" visits for more severe weather days. In riding the bike I discovered some other parts of town that I hadn't seen before. I think I have now seen the far northeast to the far southwest corners of the town. I think I have seen the 4 corners of Gas City now.