The Red Brick Times

What a revolting development.
Posted 11:47 AM by whatley 0 comments

A friend here at work just offered me two free tickets, complete with parking pass, to the Cleveland Air Show this weekend. Anybody wanna go? Let me know by mid-morning tomorrow at the latest.
Posted 4:21 PM by whatley 0 comments

Time for another fun-filled round of "spin the tire". I'm off at dawn's early light for the wilds of nearly upstate New York - specifically the Sounthern end of Lake Oneida. Another BMW rally and another two-day stint of installing illuminating bits on bikes. This is the acid test. Last week and this, I have been going to the fitness center every day. Three weeks of working out and huffing and puffing do not a lifestyle change make, but I will see if there are any teeny little gains in flexibility and comfort, if my endurance is better, if concentration is more focused, if I have less fatigue and muscle ache. I may take another bike trip to Kansas City in mid-September for a weekend of fun and frivolity, and will be able to measure the gains then, too. I will be back next Tuesday if the wheels stay round, and let you know if it al seems worth it. (blb - it really is!)
Posted 7:22 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

A page that a lot of us (especially russ & shan) will visit over and over again.
Posted 3:17 PM by whatley 0 comments

Woohoo! I read an email this morning from an old-time schoolhousian, someone I haven't talked to or even heard about for years, requesting an invitation to the RBT. I'm not gonna mention who, you'll just have to wait for the first post. This totally made my day.
Posted 8:59 AM by whatley 0 comments

Did I ever tell you about my next door neighbor? He was the one who had the lot that sat on the street that holds the house that I built. When I was negotiating with him for the lot, I learned a lot about him. He rode a motorcycle. He was tight, mean, pinched and mendacious to a fault. Everywhere I heard imprecations and diatribes about him. He built houses and owned extensive rental property. Contractors in the county had stories about him. I made my dealings with him friendly, but cautious, correct, proper and completely circumspect. When I cleared the lot to build, I said nothing when the wood I had promised to the contractor vanished overnight and turned up, cut into stove lengths, in his rack on the side of his house next to mine (the orange paint blaze marks were still visible on the bark). When they moved from another house down the street (that he owned) into the house next door (that he owned) the carpenters at my house were treated to the sight of a huge, old-fashined iron safe on wheels being trundled between the houses in the bucket of a front-end loader. My father teased him: "I've never known anyone with so much money that he needed a loader to carry it all." He looked suspiciously at everyone and came over less often after that. When the plumber was working there, he asked my neighbor if he was the same person who had stiffed the plumber for a contracted job 25 years previously (he was, and kept completely away from then on). As a next door neighbor, I keep silent as the dog, on a long rope, soils my front yard (it is really a very friendly dog). I catch the dog for them when it escapes, when after two ot three hours of them yelling at it to "get back here", they give up and go inside. I come out and sit quietly on my front step, and the dog happily comes over to be petted and I make much over it and put it back on the rope. I close the window when the son-in-law leaves his diesel truck idling for long periods of time late at night or early in the morning. When they re-contoured their yard and removed all of the gutters and downspouts to direct the rain runoff from his roof away from his foundation into my yard, I held my peace because I knew that the swale and storm drain basin that I installed when I built the place would handle it. I have seen the ambulance there several times over the last year, and the mobile oxygen truck has been coming regularly to refill cylinders. The last few times I saw him, he was dressed in a shabby robe, tottering down the driveway to the mailbox, trailing an oxygen bottle on a cart. Yesterday there was an obituary in the paper about his death. It said that he was a pilot and certified flight instructor, that he had degrees in architecture and electrical engineering, that he was a builder, landlord and business owner, and that he had a whole bunch of sons, daughters, stepsons, stepdaughters, a dozen grandchildren and great grandchildren. I never saw any of them over there but the step daughter and step son-in-law, who worked for him.

Now here's the thing: I have all the same background - aviation, engineering, construction. I like a good bargain and tend to be close with a dollar. I ride motorcycles. The similarities, the differences; so many, so great. What happened to turn this accomplished and technically able person into the picture of suspicion and angry isolation? What drove him to this end? I know next to nothing about his existence or history, stories of his family or childhood, details of his life. It was decidedly uncomfortable to be around him. I could not relax in his presence and made it a point to be neighborly from a distance, to talk in the side yard with his wife as she mowed the yard or got her touring motorcycle out for a ride. I like it that the dog knows me on sight and gets nothing from kindness from me (it is a VERY nice dog but needs more attention and affection). How will I wind up my days when I am 76 and poorly? I am going to the funeral tomorrow, not because I feel guilty at a lack of humanity, or because of good deeds left undone until too late, but because I know that the differences collapse to zero when everything comes to an end.
Posted 9:59 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Most people heard that Linda had some discouraging news in the past months- that there appeared to be tumors in her brain. She had an appointment with her oncologist last Thursday, and was bubbling with delight when she called to relay the results of the consultation with me! My version of what the doctor said goes something like this- " Hell, I don't see any changes from the last scan to this one- and if I had to point out any, I'd say that things look improved! You don't have any evidence of cancer in your brain! Shoot, you don't even have any symptoms! We're not going to treat this, because I don't believe there's any cancer cells IN there!" Linda and I decided that the day the first scan was taken, she must have just had a really bad case of dandruff : ) Linda also relayed that she mentioned to the Doctor(s) that she was taking large doses of Ibuprofen to manage her pain. One Doctor said there were "unproven" indications that ibuprofen is a cancer fighter! (I'm going to do some research on that for her.) Her spirits are (quite obviously) much improved. Let's all share in Linda's good news!
Posted 9:58 PM by Sally D. 0 comments

Wheee Doggies! I'm on vacation all next week. So far a fishing day with Ben McGinnis is in the works and, because I had such a good time fishing with him in his boat last May, I'm going to spend at least one day visiting boat dealers and maybe getting one myself. Not a Lake Erie boat, just a little fishing one I can easily trailer around and will fit in my garage. Outside of that I'm planless so if anyone has a free day and a thirst for adventure give me a call.
Posted 3:37 PM by whatley 0 comments

It was only a matter of time before medical science caught up with what Ralph and I have known all along. Beer Is Good For You
Posted 4:20 PM by Michael Hagedorn 0 comments

Posted 2:09 PM by whatley 0 comments

You may have read my rhymic trip report about the trip to Trenton, Ontario in July. What I didn't say was that I kept getting cramps in my upper legs when stopping at lights and tucking back in to take off. The muscle groups weren't used to this specific demand. Also, after about 150 miles (I usually go 200, then it is time to gas up again), the left knee was demanding to be stretched out and moved, and I had to be careful when I put the leg down for the first few seconds until it stopped hurting enough to hold me up.

Then when I got to Trenton and did back to back 13-hour days on my feet, and could hardly walk at the end of the second day, I said, "That's it." As Tony pointed out we are officially middle-aged. So my latest middle-aged crisis involves doing something to make it easier to enjoy my time in the saddle.

I got fitness-assessed last Friday at work. Strength below average. Weight way above recommended (sorry -"big bones" doesn't cut it any more). Cholesterol on the high side of sorta OK. Blood pressure just fine, thank you (good peasant stock). Flexibility average. Aerobic fitness poor.

So Today I got checked out on some of the machinery at the Fitness Center and started to try and maintain a routine. Twenty minutes on the bicycle (it adjusts the effort up and down like you are riding up and down hills), twenty minutes on the treadmill (brisk walk, 8% slope - felt good until someone came in and started jogging at full speed on the next one over), several sets of repetitions on four of the resistance training machines designed to strengthen legs, shoulders and arms (just for a start - I will pick up more of the machines as I become familiar with them). Fairly low weight and effort levels. I want to keep going back, not make myself so miserable that I dread the experience. I don't ache right now, but I know that I have been using muscles that don't do much work sitting at a desk.

We will see. They say exercise gives you a physical fit. I'll let you know if I seize up. I have another ride and two-day gig in Watkin's Glen the end of this month. I hope to have made some flexibility and minor strength gains after three weeks of workouts.
Posted 9:08 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

I was especially glad Clayton showed up at Chubby's for the "dinner with Mike" extravaganza (see post below) because that gave me an opportunity to clear something up that I'd been wondering about for awhile. Some time ago I started noticing repeat visits to 7393.org coming from a certain domain. (Oops. Maybe I should explain. When you visit a web site information about you can be, and usually is, recorded. This has nothing to do with cookies or anything, it's just how the internet and web servers work. For example I can see visits from cache-dm01.proxy.aol.com, an AOL user. Then there's west-user.elyria.lib.oh.us, which we can quickly figure out is Ralph, etc.) Anyway, I started seeing onyx-pat.bw.edu as a repeat visitor. "Huh?", says I. "Who could that be?" Well, we know that edu is almost certainly an educational institution. Could bw mean Baldwin Wallace? Who do we know at Baldwin Wallace? Could that be Clayton?

Yep, you betcha. For some reason he doesn't want to sign up to post but I explained that he (or anyone for that matter) can read/write comments so maybe we'll be seeing one from him. Cool.
Posted 1:35 PM by whatley 0 comments

We came, we saw, we ate fish. Michael was in town last night. Clayton and Russ and I met him at Chubby's, then we went to Gibby's and polished off plates of delicious Lake Erie Mercury Perch and shrimp with fries and cole slaw and tartar sauce. Had a wonderful time. Wish you were there? He will be in town this PM for a short time before he flees the semi-ruralness of Derainged County for the Urban Gloriousness of home. I was unable to attach a tracking collar, so you are on your own trying to find him. Check family haunts.
Posted 11:40 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Pee-Wee mail. The medium is the massage.
Posted 4:33 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Pee-mail. The medium is the message?
Posted 3:04 PM by whatley 0 comments

It's been a long time coming, but I am making a short appearance in Elyria this week. I'm getting in Thursday and am heading out Toledo way Saturday. That leaves me Friday to try and see all you wonderful folk. Does this sound like an excuse for a party? Not that we ever really needed one. Now Ralph tells me that the Houligans are playing in a german beer garden that night in Brimfield (you figure it out), but here's hoping that I can see some of you anyway. Mary Anne will be remaining behind this trip but we both will be seen at Christmas. Hope to see you Friday (or Saturday afternoon)

Michael
Posted 7:29 PM by Michael Hagedorn 0 comments

It is not unusual to find old or closed landfills. So why does everyone pretend that the problem isn't there? One reason is that when you dig up all the bad stuff in one old landfill, it needs to be trucked away and put into another landfill. A closed site in the Marshes of Sandusky continues to add to the water contamination problem that makes the fish unsafe to eat.

To put a community spin on it,
the Ohio EPA list of land fill sites for Lorain County, Ohio shows the following:

LORAIN AMHERST QUARRY QUARRY RD SOUTH AMHERST 44001
LORAIN ARROW ALUMINUM CASTING CO 33659 WALKER ROAD AVON LAKE 44012
LORAIN AVON LAKE LANDFILL CLINTON & MILLER RD AVON LAKE 44012
LORAIN AVON LAKE MERCURY SPILL 31990 WALKER ROAD AVON LAKE 44012
LORAIN BLACK RIVER HARBOR AREA RIVER MOUTH TO E 31ST BRIDGE LORAIN 44055
LORAIN BROTHERTON LANDFILL ST RTE 10 RUSSIA TOWNSHIP 44035
LORAIN CATALYST RESOURCES INC ELYRIA PLT 555 GARDEN STREET ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN CHEMICAL RECOVERY 142 LOCUST ST ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN CHEMTRON CORP 35850 SCHNEIDER CT AVON 44011
LORAIN EDK IRON WORKS 447 OBERLIN ROAD ELYRIA 44052
LORAIN ELYRIA CITY LANDFILL GARDEN ST ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN ELYRIA FIELD WEST RIDGE AT DELLAFIELD RD AMHERST TWP 45014
LORAIN ELYRIA PESTICIDE MULTI-SITE INVESTIGATION LORAIN
LORAIN ELYRIA PLASTIC PROD PLT 801 BOND ST ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN FORD MOTOR CO OHIO TRUCK PLT 650 MILLER RD AVON LAKE 44012
LORAIN FORD MOTOR COMPANY LORAIN ASSEMBLY PLANT 5401 BAUMHART ROAD LORAIN 44053
LORAIN FORD RD IND LANDFILL FORD RD ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN FORMER NORDSON CORP FACILITY 4937 MILLS INDUSTRIAL PARKWAY NORTH RIDGEVILLE 44039
LORAIN GLAZE PLATING 205 PARMELY ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN GMC FISHER BODY DIV ELYRIA PLT 1400 LOWELL ST ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN GOODRICH B F CO CHEM GROUP AVON LAKE 33571 WALKER RD AVON LAKE 44012
LORAIN HARSHAW CHEM CO EAST 29TH ST ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN HARSHAW CHEM CO 113 JOHN STREET ELYRIA 44054
LORAIN HUNTINGTON TOWNSHIP LANDFILL BURSLEY RD/CLARK RD WELLINGTON 44090
LORAIN JAMES COBB'S WAREHOUSE 711 WOOSTER-AVON LAKE RD EATON TWP. 45320
LORAIN LORAIN CITY LANDFILL SR 611 & ROOT RD LORAIN 44035
LORAIN LORAIN COUNTY PESTICIDES 818 N. CENTRAL DRIVE LORAIN 44055
LORAIN MOEN INC 377 WOODLAND AVENUE ELYRIA 44036
LORAIN PESTICIDE FIRE 2920 WEST RIVER RD LORAIN 44055
LORAIN PRUIT & GRACE 1228 WEST 15TH STREET LORAIN 44054
LORAIN REPUBLIC STEEL QUARRY 525 15TH ST ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN ROSS INCINERATION SERVICE INC 394 GILES ROAD GRAFTON 44044
LORAIN SNAPP'S RESTAURANT 711 CLEVELAND ST ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN SPRING ST DUMP DIRT RD OFF SPRING ST OBERLIN 44074
LORAIN TAPPAN STOVE MANUFACTURING PLANT 206 - 208 WOODFORD AVENUE ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN TURUCO MOORE ROAD AVON 44011
LORAIN US STEEL CORP LORAIN PLT 1807 E 28TH STREET LORAIN 44055
LORAIN WESTERN ENTERPRISES 33672 PIN OAK PARKWAY AVON LAKE 44012
LORAIN WOODFORD ROAD QUARRY PIT NEAR 231 WOODFORD AVE ELYRIA 44035
LORAIN XERXES FIBERGLASS INC 34250 MILL ST AVON 44011

Here is the County by County List of the Ohio brownfield sites published by the Columbus Dispatch online edition. Interestingly enough, the Ohio EPA "stopped making portions of the database available to the public last year after a state commission ruled the list violated the property rights of Dayton Power & Light, a utility company. With the state preparing to spend $200 million in taxpayer-financed bonds to clean up sites, The Dispatch obtained the list through Ohio's open records law. Not all of the state's contaminated sites are on the list. Also, some sites that have been cleaned up are still on the list, such as the Adams Mark Hotel and the Miranova condominiums in Downtown Columbus." Your tax dollars at work, but it's a secret.

Not in my back yard? Sorry. Too late.
I remember the City of Elyria garbage trucks dumping their loads at the Ford Road landfill when we drove past when I was a child. The landfill is directly on the banks of the Black River bluff overlooking the Spring Valley Country Club gulf between Ford Road and Gulf Road. I remember riding in a pickup truck taking old washing machines and other trash to bury at the Elyria City Garden Street landfill, now a vista of flat fields waiting until enough time has passed and everyone has forgotten so the land can be developed for low-cost housing. Not quite Love Canal, but the same idea. Instead of "Call before you dig" signs, there will be "Dig at your own risk" signs for homeowners planting Tulips and putting in flagpoles. It will be very interesting when they try to put in underground utilities. No basements. Instead of Radon Testing, they will need to monitor for methane and heavy metal dust levels. Can you buy a cadmium detector at Wall Mart?
Posted 10:11 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Ohio decides to save a few tax dollars. The fish are still not safe to eat, but the state no longer will tell you. If you like to fish (and who doesn't?) the last advisory is available in pdf format here.
Posted 10:17 AM by whatley 0 comments