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Rounding Third: Stacking up the many birthdays

Recently a friend told me that she always enjoyed columns about my mother. I laughed with her saying, “I’ve told her stories so many times, it feels like everyone would have heard or read them all.” But the calendar reminded me of a relevant one. Friends have heard the story, but it has never made it to print. It’s time appropriate as you will see. Mom died at the grand age of 98. As I write this, on my mother’s birthday, July 15 th, she would be 106… the age she aspired to be. It’s an interesting story. Mom grew up hard-scrabble. Her mother died when she was only ...

Rapp’s inconsistency comes through in I.D. bill

Hopefully others read the July 5 editorial regarding the voter I.D. bill that Kathy Rapp was quoted complaining about not being brought to the House floor for a vote so we can decide about the issue at hand in the November elections. Unfortunately she fails to see the irony in her complaint as she did the same thing when it came to the bill about hospital staffing that was brought before her committee so why does she complain at all? Isn’t that kind of like the pot calling the kettle black? I seem to remember a bill about hospital nurses and patient needs a while back and her ...

In two choices, one is honest

It was not a debate. One prepared to debate policies. The other did not. The other shamelessly attacked with lies and misinformation, as much as 50 lies according to some accounts. There was no fact checking. The moderators only asked questions. There was no accountability. The debater was immediately on the defensive. Should he counter the lies and the misinformation or proceed with policies? He tried doing both and did so very poorly. It was difficult to watch. He should have been prepared for the onslaught because this is the attacker’s style. The attacker had no intention ...

Berry fond memories

Yesterday I spent part of the morning picking red raspberries. My son had told me they were ready so I went down for some. They were not as nice as I hoped but I got about a quart of them. They reminded me of Don. He had a patch of red raspberries at his house before we got married. He would pick some and bring them up or he would call me to stop and pick some up. They were beautiful and so tasty. By the time we married he was tired of the weedy patch and mowed them down. I also thought of Linda, a neighbor who had a lot of red raspberries near her home. She made jelly and pies with ...

Lifelong infatuation with those wing things

This story came across my email and it tickled my funny bone. It related back to my old airline days, still an ongoing source of fun and curiosity for me. Enjoy the quick read — my comments follow. “An Airbus 380 is on its way across the Atlantic. It flies consistently at 800km/hour at 30,000 feet when suddenly a jet fighter appears. The pilot of the fighter jet slows down, flies alongside the Airbus and greets the pilot of the passenger plane by radio: "Airbus, boring flight isn’t it? Now, have a look here!" He rolls his jet on its back, accelerates, breaks through the sound ...

Let’s respect all choices in coming election

Democratic yard signs are already disappearing from lawns around Warren County. Previously there was a bullet hole in one of the billboard signs. While canvassing as a Democratic volunteer, I’ve heard Warren Democrats say they are uncomfortable displaying a sign because they are a teacher or a business owner and they fear repercussions, or that their neighbor or family member would be angry. I’d like to reach out to the community to respect your neighbors as they support their choice of political candidates. Politics does not have to be contentious, even if politicians are. We ...