My Food Chain Gang

In the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in a role playing game - sort of like Dungeons and Dragons, I’m told.  This one was called “Call of Cthulu”, and we played it on two separate Saturdays for about 5 hours each.  We began by choosing a character, and then we used the dice to determine many different details of our characters; like their income, height, strength, looks, smarts, etc.  Along the journey, we made decisions about where to go and who to speak to - that sort of thing.  Sometimes the roll of the dice would help make decisions, and sometimes we were left to our own judgement.  Overall, it was a really fun experience, although not a hobby I could pick up right now because it’s not something you can do while kids are around.  I’m lucky I found the time to put the hours into this game that I did.  But it was fun, and the guy who ran it wrote up the entire thing novel-style.  So here it is, from the website:
http://www.yogsothoth.com/modules.phpname=Journal&file=search&bywhat=aid&exact=1&forwhat=Max_Writer
If you go to the site, the journal entries concerning our game are called “The Haunter in the Hills”, and there are 4 parts total.  Here is the journal in its entirety:

Read the rest of this entry »

Unlike previous posts of mine, this one is being written to compliment the status of gas prices these days.  Here in NW Ohio, we ‘re paying $1.99 for gas - it was actually weird looking to see a 1 up there on the price board at the gas station.

But I’m really happy about it, of course, seeing how gas prices have been cut in half from only a short time ago.  All of a sudden, it’s taking me twice as long to pump gas - but I am NOT complaining!  Also, it’s now feasible to round up to the next dollar amount when topping off your car’s gas tank.  Did you notice that when gas prices were so high, one squeeze of the gas pump cost, like 6 or 7 cents?  If I wanted $15 worth of gas and I stopped the pump at $14.96 or above, there was no way to get it so I’d be paying the $15.  One squeeze of the pump and my total was now $15.03 or above all of a sudden!  So now, even though it takes me twice as long to pump gas, I appreciate being able to choose a dollar amount to spend and be able to stick to it.  And when I was in Illinois last weekend, I asked my grandpa what he remembers the gas prices being when he owned his gas station way back when.  I don’t know what year he was talking about, but he said he remembers gas being 19¢ per gallon!

What was the reason for the sky-rocketing gas prices, and how did the problem seemingly fix itself?  Something to do with politics, I’m sure, but I don’t really care as long as they keep getting lower.  Since I spent so many posts complaining about the gas prices when they were horrible, I thought I’d try to send out a little bit of good karma by noticing and sharing my appreciation for the low gas prices we have now - cross your fingers that they’ll stay!

Monday, October 20 (Disney’s 2nd birthday!!) - Started off bright and early in Orlando with a time share presentation - yuck.  We’ve been to a few of these, and we try to schedule at least one every time we’re in the Orlando area because they pay well.  This time, we got $100 cash.  It took over 3 hours, but hey, that’s over $30/hour - well worth it in my opinion.  I could go on and on about time share presentations because there are always certain things they do to get you to buy one - there must be a formula to the presentations.  And let’s face it, they’re one of the biggest rip-offs that exist.  The last few we’ve gone to, we’ve played a little game where I think of a random word my husband has to say to the time share people.  This time it was “gondola”.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get the word in because the presentation took much longer than they said it would (big surprise) and we had our friend jamiahsh waiting for us.  This also saw us getting to Epcot later than we would have liked, but we still got to do most of everything we wanted at Epcot.  If you’ve been to a time share presentation (or 2 or 3 or more), then you should check out the South Park episode about it.  I’m not a huge fan of the show, but the time share episode is hilarious.  It was actually recommended to us by a time share salesman once!

The manatees are my favorite thing at Epcot.  My husband makes fun because we have manatees right here at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, but that’s 3 hours away and I’ve only been there once.  Besides, I’ve been to Epcot a bunch and I’m starting to get to know their manatees.  Last time I was lucky enough to see them hugging!  A peaceful feeling comes over me as I watch them swim.  We did miss the Crush (from Finding Nemo) show, and we meant to go back for it but forget - oh well.  And for those of you who’ve been to Disney World before, you should know that they’ve updated the Spaceship Earth ride - that’s the one in the big huge golfball that is Epcot’s signiture.  I don’t like the new version nearly as much as the old one.  The ride needed updating.  It takes riders through the history of human communication, and ome of the scenes had become outdated as time passed because people don’t communicate in the ways that they visualized we would when the ride was built.  Soarin’ is my favorite ride at Epcot, but it always has HUGE lines.  This time we were able to get a fastpass, but we could only ride once and my husband wasn’t able to ride because our 2 year old was in a Daddy-clingy kind of mood.  We ended the night at Epcot by running all over the park in a desperate search for a soft pretzel.  Our 4-year-old was being so uncharacteristically well-behaved that I was willing to get her anything she wanted, especially since she was asking about it nicely.

The other night some friends and I had a conversation about local murders that have taken place in our county.  Because we are a rural county, murders here are few and far between.  A resident city council member who is also a local historian gives a yearly presentation, usually on Halloween, detailing the murders in Williams County, Ohio.  Because many people know everyone else, he doesn’t cover anything past the 1950’s, but I was able to find some information on my own.  For the incidents that did take place a long time ago, many of the circumstances are interesting as they reflect the moods and cultural attitudes of times past.  Being both a researcher of local history and a true crime buff, I’ve attended several of these presentations and decided to share the notes I’ve taken for those who are interested:

Williams County Murders

6/20/1847 - W. Unity - David Schamp murdered by Andrew F. Tyler and Daniel Heckerthorne.  Buried in German cemetary on Cty Rd. K.  Botched ransom kidnapping - family farm is 1/2 mi. W of US127.  4 pg article in Bryan Times on 150th anniversary.  In 1939, Ralph Gall wrote several articles in Inside Detective Magazine (June, July, Aug) about the crime.
3/23/1865 - Bryan - Conrad Rutman murdered by unknown - found hung in outhouse
12/1/1868 - West Jefferson - Unknown female infant by unknown
12/3/1873 - Bryan - Peter Himes by Ben Evarts
4/8/1875 - Bryan N. Main St. - unknown infant found in cigar box just N of RR trks
5/17/1877 - Denmark - unknown male infant
2/21/1878 - Bryan - unknown male infant
7/25/1878 - W Unity - Infant Loveless by mother, Lucy Loveless.  Father of infant was mother’s brother in law.
4/7/1880 - Edgerton - Unknown f infant
6/3/1880 - Edgerton - James Marshall by unknown
9/11/1880 - Bryan, dwntwn, N side of square - John Burchell, Jr. by William Everett - gut cut in fight
5/2/1883 - Melbern - Jacob Nihart killed with ax by mentally ill wife, Saloma Nihart.  Both buried in Brown cemetary.
7/21/1889 - Edgerton - Sarah Hoadley (71) and Christian Newman (72) by Hiram Hoadley, Jr. (45).  Murder / Suicide - in process of divorce, didn’t want to pay $2,000.  Divorce announcement in same issue of newspaper as the murders.
8/26/1891 - Montpelier - Milton Hogue by Perry Yoder
1/11/1892 - W. Unity - Infant Hayes - female, by Dr. Frank O. Hart
2/20/1892 - Bryan, SW corner of Beech and High.  Tom Murphy age 63 by unknown
5/4/1892 - Bryan.  Alley next to Christmas Manor went thru to High St. before Central School building was there.  Arthur Brown, about 22 yrs old, was at a saloon bragging about having a lot of money.  He was murdered by George and Michael Burchell, Walter Plummer, and William Elkins.  Witnessed by little girl from window of her house on W Butler.  Story featured in “Native Sons Gone Wrong” booklet.  Victim buried in Old Pulaski cemetery across from Winery.
5/8/1898 - Florence - Unknown Male infant
7/2/1904 - Bryan, just N of overpass.  Noah Schartzer shot by unknown.  Buried in Brown cemetery.  Case of mistaken identity.  Stopped and checked every train between S Bend and Toledo.
6/7/1905 - Montpelier - unknown infant
9/21/1905 - Montpelier, E of Bryan on RR trks - August Julius by unknown
2/7/1914 - Bryan, W side of Portland St. 2nd blk. Portland and Mulberry - murder/suicide - Blanche Stauffer by Charles Stauffer.  12 pg suicide letter - “She was a hard person to live with.”
11/10/1914 - Pioneer - Joe Varada by Joe Dohon.  argument over wheelbarrow, shovel over head, both Hungarians.
3/14/16 - W. Unity - Mrs. Andre by Wilson Andre
6/12/18 - Montpelier - Alex Grant by James Morgan.  Morgan (Afrcn/Amer.) wanted to get from Chicago to Detroit, didn’t have any $, so he hid in the btrm on a train where Grant was conductor.  Morgan was executed in Columbus, picture from OH Dept. of Prisons
9/29/27 - Montpelier - James Andrews (Afrcn/Amer.) by unknown
12/11/27 - Stryker - Celina Huber by Camiel Clark who was fined $125 for liquor violations.  Huber, age 39, was cut during fight, went to lay down, bled to death.
1/4/32 - Bryan - Fred Wonser, Jr. and Margaret Wonser by Lewis Wonser
12/28/36 - Bryan - Frank Lewis by William White
12/1/38 - Edgerton - Vern Eck, age 42 by Nona Goeltzenluchter.  Murder-suicide.  Having an affair, though both married to other people.  She was accusing him of seeing yet another woman.
6/14/45 - Pioneer - Murder/Suicide.  Mary Jane, Earl, Alice May, Betty Lou, Alva Stoner by their father, Alfred Stoner, age 38, just gotten back from WWII, distant cousin of Mark Kelly (murders in Wms Cty speaker).  Drove himself and kids into gravel pit S of Pioneer while wife was in hospital giving birth to baby 6.  Over 1,000 people showed up to watch the search for the bodies.
9/19/46 - Bryan - Emily Abernathy, age 30 by James Engle, age 21.  Jim was drinking a coke across the street at the bowling alley when the body of his victim was found in the library - rumor has it he watched them secure the crime scene as he was sipping his coke.   She had been strangled, beaten, and cut with a pen knife, died from strangulation.  Jim confessed - said he wanted to see what it was like to kill someone.  Paroled in 1974, moved to Bryan in 1989, currently resides in local nursing home.  Crime was chronicled in tv show “The Big Story”, but the show upset Bryanites.
5/5/1948 - Bryan - John (age 56) and Pearl (age 63) Gabriel by Ervin “Bud” Ingle, age 14, “King of 8th grade”.  They were his neighbors, and he wanted to borrow their car.  There is a rumor that Mrs. Gabriel liked young boys, and John did the killing.  Years later, Bud was a chauffer for the governor, and the governor thought highly of him and wrote a book.  There was a photo of Pearl’s body in the newspaper.
1/2/50 - Edgerton - Helen Bigger by Vernon O. Bigger - father in law of victim, possible molestation.
5/5/50 - Melbern - George and Evalina Fisher by their grandson, Jack Hartman.
9/12/51 - West Unity - Celia Walters by Edwin Walters
8/18/59 - Pioneer - James W. Elliott by unknown
9/11/59 - Blakeslee - William Bigger by Harold H. Bostater
12/29/61 - Blakeslee - Howard Tanner by Ned Eugene Tanner
8/18/63 - Montpelier - Dean Allen Nichols by David W. Nichols
6/22/64 - Pioneer - Dr. William Crall by Frank Patalon
5/21/66 - Montpelier - John McCamis by Raymond Burgess
8/31/68 - Stryker - Eben Henry Harney by William O. Bolster
10/12/71 - Stryker - John F. Meisner by Thomas E. Elliott
9/30/72 - Stryker - Judi Hagerman by Jon Garber
4/28/76 - Edgerton - Deborah Unger by Jeffrey Ailiff
3/15/77 - Bryan - Danny Hanisko by Lawrence E. Finn
6/19/90 - West Unity - Genieve Willene and Orlo E. Ansley by William Ansley
2/2/91 - Montpelier - Travis Pospeshil by Timothy Kelley.  Invol. mansltr. released from prison 9/11/06
2/7/92 - Montpelier - Torilyn Contreras by Jonathon Leggett - Invol. Mansltr.
9/30/96 - Melbern - Brenda Sue Kafai by Rocky W. Kafai - invol. mansltr. released 9/23/06
2/15/98 - Edgerton - Beth Garber by Shane Frisbie
12/6/98 - Edgerton - Terri D. Swearengin by William M. Swearengin
12/7/00 - Holiday City - Mary Kosier by Jason Crawford and James Jones Jr. - they kidnapped Mary who was an employee of Econolodge near toll road for robbery, killed her near covered bridge
6/30/01 - Bryan - Thomas G. Flint by Linda Ames

I’ll admit I got these super-cute animal pictures from an email foward…  they are just too cute…  The skeptic in me says, are they real?  I looked on snopes.com and didn’t see anything, but in this age of photoshop, you never know.  If they are photoshopped, the creator did an excellent job…  Let’s pretend they’re real and that these animal buddies have such a wonderful friendship that it spanned at least 2 seasons as the pictures suggest - they’re too cute not to believe it!

This is pretty cool.  Watch the video and figure out which way the lady is spinning.  According to the video, if you see the lady spinning to the right, your right brain dominates and your thinking is black and white and fact-based.  If you see her spinning to the left, you are more creative and open to seeing “gray” areas.  Even if the personality assessment part is a bit off, the illusion is still cool to see.  Check it out:

Sounds simple, but for some people she keeps changing direction.  I saw her spinning counter-clockwise; I guess that would be considered left, but I could force myself to see her spinning in the other direction if I tried - weird!  Once you’ve established which direction you see her spinning, try to get your brain and eyes to switch it on you if you can!

Yet another email forward struck my fancy…  this one’s a personality test to determine which cartoon character you’re most like.  With 29 points, I am SpongeBob SquarePants, and my husband got 31 points, so he is also SpongeBob.  Not sure how truthful this is, but fun to take the little quiz.  I know, I should get a life…  but what about the person who sat and mapped out this whole personality test?
This is fun.
 
Everyone has a personality of a cartoon character. Have you ever asked yourself what cartoon character you most resemble?
A group of investigators got together and analyze the personalities of well known and modern cartoon characters. The information that was gathered was made into this test.
Answer all the questions (only 10) with what describes you best, add up all your points (which are next to the answer that you choose) at the end and look for your results.
Do not cheat by looking at the end of the e-mail before you are done .
Then forward this to all your friends (including the person who sent it to you) and change the subject of this message to what character is you.
1. Which one of the following describes the perfect date?
a) Candlelight dinner (4 pts.)
b) Fun/Theme Park (2 pts.)
c) Painting in the park (5 pts)
d) Rock concert (1 pt.)
e) Going to the movies (3 pts.)
 
2. What is your favorite type of music?
a) Rock and Roll (2 pts.)
b) Alternative (1 pt.)
c) Soft Rock (4 pts.)
d) Country (5 pts )
e)Pop (3 pts.)
 
3. What type of movies do you prefer?
a) Comedy (2 pts.)
b) Horror (1 pt.)
c) Musical (3 pts.)
d) Romance (4 pts.)
e) Documentary (5 pts.)
 
4. Which of these occupations would you choose if you only could pick one?
a) Waiter (4 pts.)
b) Professional Sports Player (5 pts.)
c) Teacher (3 pts.)
d) Police (2 pts.)
e) Cashier (1 pt.)
 
5. What do you do with your spare time?
a) Exercise (5 pts.)
b) Read (4 pts.)
c) Watch television (2 pts.)
d) Listen to music (1 pt.)
e) Sleep (3 pts.)
 
6. Which one of the following colors do you like best?
a) Yellow (1 pt.)
b) White (5 pts.)
c) Sky Blue (3 pts)
d) Dark Blue(2 pts.)
e) Red (4 pts.)
 
7. What do you prefer to eat?
a) Snow (3 pts.)
b) Pizza (2 pts.)
c) Sushi (1 pt.)
d) Pasta (4 pts.)
e) Salad (5 pts.)
 
8. What is your favorite holiday ?
a) Halloween (1 pt.)
b) Christmas (3 pts.)
c) New Year’s (2 pts.)
d) Valentine’s Day(4 pts.)
e) Thanksgiving (5 pts.)
 
9. If you could go to one of these places, which would it be?
a) Paris (4 pts.)
b) Spain (5 pts.)
c) Las Vegas (1 pt.)
d) Hawaii (4 pts.)
e) Hollywood (3 pts)
 
10. Which of the following people would you prefer to spend time with?
a) Someone smart (5 pts.)
b) Someone attractive (2 pts.)
c) Someone who likes to Party (1 pt.)
d) Someone who always has fun (3 pts.)
e) Someone very sentimental (4 pts.)
 
 
Now add up your points and find the answer you have been waiting for! Put your cartoon character’s name in the subject line and forward it to your friends and back to the person that sent this to you.
 
 
 
(10-16 points) You are Garfield:
You are very comfortable, easy going , and you definitely know how to have fun but sometimes you take it to an extreme. You always know what you are doing and you are always in control of your life. Others may not see things as you do, but that doesn’t mean that you always have to do what is right. Try to remember, your happy spirit may hurt you or others.
(17-23 points) You are Snoopy:
You are fun; you are very cool and popular. You always know what’s in and you’re never out of style, you are good at knowing how to satisfy everyone else. You have probably disappeared for a few days more than once, but you always come home with the family values that you learned. Being married and having children are important to you, but only after you have had your share of fun times.
(24-28 points) You are Elmo:
You have lots of friends and are popular, always willing to give advice and help out a person in need. You are very optimistic and always see the bright side of things. Some good advice: try not to be too much of a dreamer. Dreaming too big could cause many conflicts in your life.
(29-35 points) You are Sponge Bob Square Pants. You are the classic person everyone loves. You are the best friend that anyone could ever have and never wants to lose. You never cause harm to anyone and they would never not understand your feelings. Life is a journey, it’s funny and calm for the most part. Stay away from traitors and jealous people and you will be stress free.
(36-43 points) You are Charlie Brown:
You are tender, you fall in love quickly but you are also very serious about all relationships. You are a family person. You call your Mom every Sunday. You have many friends and may occasionally forget a few birthdays. Don’t let your passion confuse you with reality.
(44-50 points ) You are Dexter:
You are smart and definitely a thinker. Every situation is fronted with a plan. You have a brilliant mind. You demonstrate very strong family principles.You maintain a stable routine but never ignore a bad situation when it comes. Try to do less over thinking every once in a while to spice things up a bit with spontaneity.
 
Now don’t spoil it! Have some fun! Change the subject of the e-mail to the name of your cartoon character and send it on.

I have a few drafts of blog posts started, but I haven’t really felt like writing lately - too much effort when my mind is so preoccupied.  Then I got this fun forward in my email and thought it would make a good blog post.  Little effort on my part, which is great because I’m so tired from not being able to sleep.  And it is actually a pretty fun forward; I looked it up for each of my kids and put them at the bottom of the list - enjoy:

THIS IS REALLY FUN!

> 63. ?Joan~ Sugar Shack!!

> 64. Kaley: “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” ~Denice Williams (I love that song!

My husband and I are worried sick.  It started about a week ago, when he began experiencing a terrible stomach ache.  In the past week, we’ve been to the ER and several doctors, and they’ve run various tests, but we haven’t gotten any results back yet, in part because it’s a darn holiday weekend.  So meanwhile, we are both worried SICK, which is an understatement.  The internet is acting as both a blessing and a curse, with us obsessing over his symptoms and making ourselves crazy with thoughts of one horrible diagnosis (mainly involving colon cancer) after another.  So I’m writing this quick post as a way of hopefully using the internet as a blessing rather than a curse and putting out this call for prayer.  Please, please pray for our family that my husband’s illness is nothing serious, and that we will be able to find the cause and the cure in a timely fashion.  We have 4 little children, and it’s been really difficult to function as a family with one of us sick and both of us so worried and terrified.  It’s probably nothing, but I thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. 

There are some really busy railroad tracks that run along the north border of the town where I live.  There are basically 3 roads that go out of town to the north; only one of which has an overpass for the tracks so cars don’t have to stop for every train that passes by.  This morning on our way back into town, we got stuck by a train.  Taking the route with the overpass is not an option right now because the other road we would need for that route is currently under construction and closed.  So we were stuck by the train, and it was a lengthy freighter (aren’t they all when you live in the country?), and it decided to stop - it was at a standstill on the tracks.  Not knowing how long the train was going to be stopped and because we were running low on gas, our only option was to turn around and try the third route.  Thank goodness it wasn’t being blocked by the stopped train also, which could have very well happened given the way these roads are laid out.  And talk about timing - right as we were going over the tracks, the bells and whistles on the gates sounded because yet another train was coming!  So if we had waited just a few more seconds to turn around, we would have gotten stuck by another train and probably run out of gas.  I didn’t realize we were so low on gas - I think there’s something wrong with our gas gauge because it fluctuates a lot.  But anyway, the point of this story is not to keep a full tank of gas - at today’s gas prices, who could afford that?  But I really hope they finish the construction soon so we can go back to taking the route where you don’t have to bother with the train crossings - I’m so not used to sitting in traffic, even if it is just waiting for a train to pass!

*UPDATE* - This afternoon as I traveled toward the north edge of town, the construction seemed to have been completed, thus opening the route that goes under the railroad tracks!  Maybe ODOT read my blog…