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

Mother Nature has been proving again that she can be a nasty lady. The tornadoes in central Florida and the Arctic blast that grips our region are just the latest examples. As uncomfortable as it is for us, it beats the heck out of waking up with nothing around you but rubble.

The temperature is cold enough and the wind chill factor is even lower. I think the weather forecasters invented that term so they would have more to talk about.

Some schools shut down and others had delays in the morning. When I was a kid, we didn't worry about the chill factor. Once we had enough snow, we hit the hill with our sleds. Sometimes we had a bonfire where we would warm up. To get near the fire, you had to bring your "dibs," better known as your contribution of firewood.

Snowball fights were part of the daily walk home from school. Once in a while, a snowball would be enhanced for greater destruction. One of our tricks was to dip the snowball in the creek, set it aside and let it freeze. We called these our "white cannonballs." Why no one was ever maimed is beyond my comprehension.

We had 15 minutes of recess in school and that was all-out war. Some of those snowball fights would carry over to the walk home from school. A few of the kids I went to school with could have gone big-league, as they could plunk you in the head from 100 feet away.

After the snow melted, we occupied recess with other games, such a "quarterball." That was a rubber ball about the same size as a soccer ball and it cost a quarter. Once in a while when the game got hot and heavy, the quarterball was ignored and the shins were what got kicked.

We invented another game called "ducky on a daisy." We'd stick a old can (the daisy) somewhere and put a rock about the size of a fist (the ducky) on top of it. Every player had a rock he would use to try to knock over the can. When the can went down, there was a footrace to see who could get the daisy.

When the weather was nice, the boys played marbles and the girls played hopscotch or jacks. One of the phrases we used in marbles was "knuckle down, boney tight." My mother used to scrub my knuckles with a brush to get the grime out.

After dark, we resorted to games like tag or hide-andseek. It's a lot easier to hide when it's dark out.

Later, as a father, we would sometimes travel around the country to places of interest. The kids would play games with road signs along the way. Crossing a state line brought on a whole new game. We would ask the kids what President was from that state, what was the capital, who were the professional sports teams and you name it.

These days, the kids' minds are occupied by electronics of one sort or another. Ask one of them who led the Rough Riders and I'll bet you wouldn't get an answer. Maybe you're not supposed to clutter up a young person's mind with this kind of thing these days, since the answer is at his fingertips on the Internet.

President Bush is asking Congress for billions of dollars to pour into Iraq. Anyone in Congress who votes against it will look like he doesn't support the troops.

Just think what $100 billion would do for Medicare? If they can't find the money for Medicare or other programs that help people who have troubles, where are they going to get the money for Iraq?

I was glad to see that Peyton Manning got an American car for being the MVP of the Super Bowl. Football is an American game and a red Cadillac is about as American as you can get. And, just think -- Emporium was represented in the Super Bowl, through the connecting rods in that Cadillac engine.

As for the commercials, Madison Avenue had better find some new talent, as most of those ads were about as funny as a truckload of used horse feed. Billy Joel's version of the National Anthem was passable, but could have been better.

Uncle Ezra and the Hoosier Hot Shots could have put on a better halftime show than Prince and his entourage. Uncle Ezra was a forerunner to Spike Jones and was on the Barn Dance broadcast that came out of Chicago on Saturday nights in the 1930s.

The rain made it hard on the Bears and the Colts players, and about everyone else. I sure am glad I didn't spend a grand to sit in the rain.

Maybe we shouldn't be too hard on Florida about their weather, but when it's cold and snowy up here they sure do make fun of us!