Through An 'Old Timer's' Eyes
By Howard 'Mac' McDonald

Election Day is drawing closer and the price of gas is falling. It makes me wonder if a certain political party has had control of the price all along. When gas was three bucks a gallon, the high price was blamed on the oil-producing countries. I don't think they all of the sudden started loving the USA.

With all of the dirt being thrown around by the candidates, I'm reminded of the advice my father gave me when I was in high school: "Just be yourself."

If these candidates would just do that, the voters would think a lot more of them. So many things the candidates say are not even their own words, but some trash their speechwriter gave them.

A long time ago, I met an old gentleman, Zeke Reynolds, at a hunting camp. He told me that you really don't know a person until you went to camp with him. "At camp, a man will usually be himself," Zeke said. Maybe some of these politicians would like to come to camp.

An autobiography is supposed to be a person's life story, as told by himself. Nothing turns me off more than to pick up an autobiography and see that somebody else helped to write it. I'm probably wrong, but this tells me the person wasn't smart enough to write a history of his own life. I guess they just couldn't be themselves.

The baseball season has moved into the playoffs. This is when the players should be giving 110 percent. I cringe when I hear a sportscaster say, "This pitcher is working with only three days' rest." How much rest are our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan getting? You can bet your grandma's corset it's not three days. A 12-hour day is a short one for them, and they have plenty of those.

Archery season is also here. A bowhunter is a special breed. Early to bed and early to rise doesn't make him healthy, wealthy or wise, but it puts him in the woods before a ray of light peeks over the eastern horizon. The bow itself is expensive and the clothes they wear cost more than a three-piece suit.

Old Jack Frost is marching closer to us every day. The three maples in my yard drop leaves by the hundreds every day. Get out your long johns and put the flannel sheets on the bed. The pain in my joints tells me the cold weather is coming.

Construction at Guy and Mary Felt Manor is moving right along. Site work at the Rite Aid lot was slowed by the weather but that's underway, too. It's too bad these empty buildings downtown can't be filled.

Last week I watched the movie, "Top Gun," for the umpteenth time. It's about the Navy's fighter pilot school. The aircraft they flew is the F-14 Tomcat. On Sept. 28, the Navy retired that magnificent supersonic fighter. I sure hope they don't chop this bird up for scrap. A couple of months ago, the Air Force retired the last C- 141. I was a flight engineer on the C-141 for five years. A better cargo airplane has never been built.

The e coli outbreak has wrecked the spinach market. I wonder what's going to happen to Popeye? I hope they find out what contaminated the spinach. It wouldn't surprise me if it's traced to the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer.

The holidays will soon be upon us and waistlines will call for a little more room in the pants. There are enough pumpkins around town to make a multitude of pies. Most will be turned into jack-o-lanterns but a few will survive for the oven. Halloween candy sales are also booming. The junkier the candy, the more I like it. Keep that in mind if you see me out trick or treating.