One of the more interesting characters during the early days of automobiles was Floyd Clymer. In these days of “helicopter moms,” his exploits while still quite young were nothing short of astonishing. Love of cars. Floyd, the son of a country physician, was born in 1895 in Berthoud, Colo. His father, an early supporter of [...]
Two or three weeks ago I attended the Best truck show for the first time. Although the annual event could certainly qualify as the best truck show, the real reason for the name is the host’s name — Richard L. Best. I say “was” because, sadly, Richard L. Best passed away Sept. 10, just two [...]
It was a hot night a few weeks ago and, after a supper of corn on the cob and sweet Nancy’s delicious Swiss steak, I was sitting on the front porch enjoying a slightly chilled glass of Pinot Noir and watching the traffic on Route 45. Do you know — I saw absolutely zero cars [...]
Anyone remember Green Stamps? Or Plaid stamps, Top Value stamps, or several other less popular ones? Trade stamps, in various denominations and amounts depending upon the amount of money spent on merchandise, were given to customers by certain merchants. Incentive Although the merchants had to pay the trading company for the stamps, they felt the [...]
People sometimes ask about flat belts. A belt can be defined as being a continuous strip of some flexible material placed around two pulleys under a certain amount of tension to transmit power from one pulley to the other. This definition also describes chain, rope and V-belts, but we’ll stick to flat belts as used [...]
After supper on a recent hot Saturday night, I was sitting on my front porch nursing a cold glass of Pinot Grigio and watching the world go by on busy State Route 45 (See how exciting my life is?). Motorcycles It struck me that there were an awful lot of motorcycles going by in both [...]
Two of my ancestors on my mother’s side of the family took part in the forgotten war, the War of 1812, in its campaign in Ohio.
I was at the Portersville Steam Show grounds a week or two ago to check out their annual Spring Gas Up. While there, I was hanging out in Wayne Cooper’s Trading Post with several other guys, when Stu Hindman asked me how long I’d been writing for Farm and Dairy. It occurred to me that [...]
According to the last Farm and Dairy, 79 percent of Ohio’s corn is planted, way ahead of last year (Marlin Clark said that last year only 2 percent of corn was in the ground). Earlier planting When I was a kid, I don’t think we even began planting until near the end of May. Of [...]
On April 28, I attended the Ohio Draft Horse Plowing Contest at Carriage Hill Farm in Huber Heights, Ohio. Carriage Hill Farm is a part of the Five Rivers Metro Park system of Montgomery County and is an 1880s working farm where crops and animals are raised using vintage machinery and methods. Farm employees and [...]
