The Terrible Catsafterme

Bob and I woke up bright and early and rarin’ to go on the morning of Sunday, July 27, 2008 at the Travelodge in Fremont, Ohio. Unfortunately, we had discovered the night before that the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center didn’t actually open until noon that day. So after tending to my scorched ear hairs following Bob’s expletive, we decided to make the most of it and have a nice big breakfast at a nice little local restaurant after stopping in the center of town in Fremont and getting a new face-in-the-cannon photo.   Read the rest of this entry »

As our nation’s nineteenth President from 1877-81, Rutherford B. Hayes had the good fortune to serve his single term during a quiet part of American history. He effectively ended reconstruction of the South following the tumultuous Civil War…and the Spanish-American War was still seven years away following his term. This means that although he did a good job in office, today he is relegated to the bin of ‘forgotten Presidents’ In fact, most grade school students will likely only remember Hayes for his seemingly out-of-control chin whiskers. Read the rest of this entry »

Although I was now officially at the Amsterdam pre-convention of the Laurel and Hardy Appreciation Society, the Sons of the Desert, nothing we had planned for the day had anything to do with Laurel and Hardy, and we had yet to step foot into Amsterdam. Our Avifauna Hotel was actually in Alphen aan den Rijn, located in South Holland in the Netherlands. On Monday, July 7, 2008, we would begin our bus trip at our hotel and venture into Northern Holland for the day. Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t quite remember the first time I met Dawn Weller, but my guess would be that it was on the school bus. That’s pretty much where I first met all of my friends in the old plat. She and her family moved onto Pine Bluff during April of 1979, a full year after we moved in, but she didn’t start attending Fairbrook Elemetary until the Fall. For a young ‘un like me, Pine Bluff (the street in front of the Dean house pictured behind Dawn above) was on the other side of the galaxy from Winterset Drive where I resided, so I didn’t begin venturing up there too much until later. Besides, you had to ride your bike up quite a hill to get there. Read the rest of this entry »

It was all Bob’s fault that I spent over $100 at CD Connection in Huber Heights on Friday, July 25, 2008. Had his flight arrived on time, I would never have ended up there while waiting, and I never would have purchased the entire run of Scrubs on DVD. But that’s all water under the bridge now. As it was, his American Airlines flight that was scheduled to arrive at 5:23pm that afternoon, didn’t actually get in until around 7:30. The reason for his arrival: he and I were about to embark on the granddaddy of all “website-driven re-visits of places I’ve already been but have to see again because I was too stupid to take photos of myself by the landmarks when I was there the first time” tours. Read the rest of this entry »