Slightly Off the Mark

 At long last I can finally announce that we're finished with Haunted Noble County, Indiana!

I mean, of course, until I get edits back from the publisher. Emily finished her go-through, correcting all my small mistakes and showing me the big mistakes to correct. By the time you read this, our editor at The History Press will be shaking his head and muttering, "You had a whole year, and couldn't clean it up better than this?"

Well, I hope that's not what he's saying.

This is the longest it's ever taken me to write a book, with the exception of Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights. In both cases that includes long delays in which nothing got done at all. Not my fault! Mostly.

Then there were the pictures. We planned on about thirty, most taken by Emily and me; we turned in fifty.

Photography wasn't all that easy when John A. Harkless was doing it.

That's the tombstone of John A. Harkless, a photographer who should get his own credit in the book. For this book and for Images of America: Albion and Noble County, we depended on several local sources for historical photos. But most of the older photos, at least from the Albion area, originated with Harkless.

It wasn't unusual for us to find the same photo in more than one collection--sometimes from four or five sources. In that case, we credited the first place we found it. Often that was the Noble County Historical Society (which operates the Old Jail Museum), or the collections of Mike Mapes and Grace Leatherman, or the Stone's Trace Historical Society.

The funny thing is that Haunted Noble County, Indiana isn't an historical book, really. It's supposed to be about ghosts and haunted places, and that means places that are haunted today, doesn't it? But I love to research, and I love history. Whenever we encountered a local ghost story I couldn't help thinking: What events let to a spirit hanging around? How long have they been there? What was the place like when they were alive?

We found this photo of the Wolf Lake Onion Parade in three places, although first through the Noble County Historical Society.

Well, if you love researching, and you get a chance to research, what happens? That's right: rabbit hole. A lot of rabbit holes.

It's not the only thing that delayed the project, of course. I've mentioned before our visit from COVID, which overstayed its welcome. We got so delayed that when I finally saw the finish line, I realized I had to make a dash to reach it. Or, to put it another way, the deadline was approaching like Godzilla on a bender.

This photo was in Mike Mapes' massive collection. (Just to clarify, none of the photos in this blog are in the book--they're just examples of what great history people have preserved.)

So once again--I said the same thing in May--sorry to anyone I didn't reconnect with before it was too late. Also, thank you to those I did connect with, and there were many, and thank you again for all those history buffs who helped lead me down those various rabbit holes. Sometimes I ended up in areas that didn't add to this project, but that doesn't mean they weren't fun.

The Stone's Trace Historical Society had this photo of downtown Ligonier.

And when will the results of our hard work be revealed to the world? Well ... I did mention that we missed deadlines, right? Our editor was very understanding, but the world of traditional publishing plods on like an old plow horse, and I wouldn't expect to see it before the spring of 2025--maybe later. I'll keep you updated.

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Remember: Every time you read a book, an ancestor smiles in their grave. Which is actually kind of scary.

 We dogsat--um, sitted?--for a friend's canine last week, and enjoyed it very much. As many of you know, our own dog, Beowulf, passed away last July. 

 Watson resembled Beowulf quite a bit, actually. Watson has had a hair cut, but I saw photos from before and it really was uncanny. Both are rescues, and came from further south of us, so I suppose some relation is possible.

Watson is more solid, though, for want of another word. One thing in common: So darned cute.

He wouldn't get up on furniture unless invited, and even after he'd been on the couch and bed he still wouldn't climb up again without an invitation. A very well behaved dog.

I was surprised that at ten years old Watson still likes to play hard. He tired me out pretty quickly.

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Remember: Pets love booklovers; they can snuggle while reading..

 I didn't intend to take a lot of quality photos during the 2024 solar eclipse, for one simple reason: Lots of people would get much better pictures, so why worry?

At the entrance to Summit Lake State Park, which is--I don't know--in Central Indiana somewhere, we saw a car that advertised an owner who was really serious about the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence. I'll bet that entire luggage rack held camera equipment.

We parked right beside a guy who told us he drove here from Colorado, after first planning to see the eclipse in Texas. His instincts were right on: He barely missed hurricane force winds in his home state, and avoided driving into rainstorms down south. Above is his telescope/camera, which took a time lapse of the eclipse and set him back about five thousand bucks.

The cost of my camera? Well, take off a zero, for starters.

Then there was the family that set up on the other side of us:

I don't know where they were from, but they were also very nice folk who, despite having kids, clearly didn't lack spending money.

I experimented, and managed to get this photo pre-totality, by putting eclipse glasses over the lens. This worked only when I forgot to turn off the flash, for which I have no explanation.

I told you all that to explain why I'm very proud of this last photo. No, it's nowhere good as the more experienced photographers with more expensive setups, but honestly, I didn't expect to get this at all:

It wasn't about getting photos, not for us. It was about experiencing it. After seeing the one in 2017, we knew that if we got lucky and the weather broke out way, we were in for an unforgettable experience. We were right. Totality worth it.

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Remember: The sky above is full of all sorts of amazing things, and only a few of them can hurt you.

 I went down a few rabbit holes while we were sick over the holidays, and found some examples of the Christmas decorations I grew up with.

I don't recall a lot of specialized or homemade tree ornaments. We had these shiny things, some of them globes and some bells, large and small. As a result, plain and simple ornaments can make me nostalgic.

I loved the color wheel! We had a black and white TV at the time, after all. My recollection is that ours had only three colors, green, blue, and red, but I might be wrong. After all, I also remember my very detailed and realistic toy Apollo Moon rocket with a capsule that actually shot into the air--and it turns out it wasn't very detailed or realistic.

(On the subject of toys, I did indeed get a bb gun, and I never shot my eye out.)

We had a green aluminum tree, which was all the rage in the 60s, and it looked just like the one on the left. After Christmas the branches went into paper sleeves, and it was all neatly boxed up. As I recall, my Grandma Nannie had a white one.

We also had the cardboard fireplace. In January one year, quaking with terror while doing a speech in front of the class, I related a tale of the cardboard chimney once falling on me, and got some laughs. It never happened. When my kids were little I bought another one, and it lasted several years.

Santa assembled our main toys for us, and left them in front of the tree. Once I got a model Starship Enterprise that lit up. Another time there was a train waiting, and once my brother and I awoke to find a Hot Wheels track winding its way through the living room. The best was probably when Santa dropped off two bicycles. Mine was a five speed with a banana seat.

Wait--maybe our tree is in a photo somewhere. And maybe you want to know what I looked like back then. I hope so, because it took me some digging to find this:

That's Jeff on the left, Delbert (Dad) on the right, and me in the middle. You want to know something odd? I remember those shirts.

And as usual, find all our books here:

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As a firefighter, I studied building construction a lot. Sadly, this gave me no skills in actually building a structure, although I can tell you why a lot of them fall down.

So when they started building the new Noble County annex in downtown Albion (which is right beside uptown Albion), I took double interest, since it was to be my new workplace. That's why I started stopping by periodically to take photos of the construction process, which I'm now sharing even though I'm pretty sure no one asked. (You can click on the images to expand them, which would be handy with real buildings, too.)

First is the skeleton of the building, more than a year before it was done. As you can see, the rib bones are connected to the hip bones.

The corner facing the camera is where our new dispatch would be, on the top floor. If they had run out of money right there, we would be dispatching al fresco, which means in the open air, which would play hell on our electronics. It wouldn't do me much good either. I believe you used to be able to buy cans of fresco at the grocery store. (Wait, do they still make Fresca?)

The final product looks way better than I thought it would, although it can't beat the old jail you can see here, just past it. There aren't a lot of bells and whistles, but there are doors and light switches, and that's something.

And here is my workplace, which doesn't seem to be making me sick like the old one. (I'm talking literally--allergies.) The job remains the same, but we don't blow a breaker whenever we use the microwave ... and that's also something.

We have our own kitchen! Which may not seem like much, but when you work 12 hour shifts it's nice to have a sink to wash your dishes in. Overall I can't complain, although I probably will anyway. I'll probably stay on until I hit the bestseller list, or get taken out on a stretcher.

 And ... I missed most of it. Which I really don't mind, because I'm not much of a fair ride rider. I am a fair food foodie, but my wife and three doctors held me down and beat me with broccoli sticks until I gave them all my cash.

Speaking of eating, on the same Wednesday the rides started the Albion Fire Department served over six hundred fish and tenderloin meals under a pouring rain and occasional thunder ... well, under a roof. Good thing that roof was there. The Chain O' Lakes Festival is notorious for funny weather and/or unusual things happening. During the fish fry one year, for instance, there was an earthquake, but many of the diners just thought it was the sound of their waistbands expanding. This year everyone was treated to the performance art of one Mark R. Hunter, who tried to sit in a chair when the chair was somewhere else. And yes, I'm still sore.

My position actually faces away from the street, which is for the best from a distraction standpoint. But there's a window to my left, and at one point, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a giant Transformer coming straight at me!!! Turns out it was a ride swinging my way. And not a cool ride that turns into a robot, either. So everything was fine, although the 911 caller was concerned about my screaming and whimpering. "Well, it's just loud music--should I call back later?" I still haven't found the pen I was holding at the time.

As I write this the Festival parade is today--or maybe tomorrow by the time you read it--but I'm working through that too. I'll take the day off when they make me Grand Marshal.

 I don't get to see all three and a half of my grandchildren all together that often, because of schedules, and pandemics, and the like. But we were able to have a small gathering the morning of Christmas Eve (After that it was my weekend to work). Shockingly, we took pictures. I didn't get a picture of the third and a half grandkid, because she's still baking, and should come out of the oven in the spring.

These are the kids: Charis on the left, Jill on the right with her second daughter in hiding, and the big kid in the middle, otherwise known as Father Sithmas.

These are the grandkids, although the fact that I positioned us wrong for the picture is glaringly obvious. Hunter on the left, his twin Brayden on the right (they are TOO twins!) Between me and the Christmas tree is Lilli.

Getting Lilli and Beowulf together and unmoving long enough to take a photo is like capturing a fart in a skillet, although--who would want to do that? He was pretty much glued to her most of the morning, though.

 Just a few photos and video of a house fire we fought late on Saturday, November 20th. (You may have already seen some of these on Facebook.) Albion and Churubusco fire units were initially dispatched, and fire was through the roof within minutes of the first report. Several other departments were brought in for water and manpower--the home was about five miles from the nearest hydrant. No one was injured; the house was under renovation and unoccupied.

As the safety officer a large part of my job is to just watch, which allows me to take photos every now and then of what I'm watching, anyway.

The roof and attic were built with lightweight wood construction and metal gusset plates, which are notorious for failing early in a fire. That allowed the fire to quickly spread through the whole attic area, and made operating inside dangerous.

I'm not sure how many times I went around the building; in most cases the safety officer, unlike many other fireground incident command positions, has to stay mobile. But hey, it kept me warm.
 

 Here are a few quick videos I took, too:

https://youtu.be/Vni4kYuP5JU  

https://youtu.be/mXEr7cK8OVE

https://youtu.be/_-0grLdxFq0   

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Guess I should have waited to post this until May Fourth ... but I've been holding on to it since last summer, and with the recent weather I'm getting a new hope that summer might actually get here again.

 Emily often doesn't like to have her picture taken, so sometimes I have to sneak in a photo while her attention is elsewhere. Here's one of my favorite that I've taken of her:

Not her best side, I'll admit.

Here's one I took of her on the job:

And here's one of her with another member of the family:

You know, something just occurred to me: Do you suppose Emily is an animal lover?

I know what you're thinking: "But Mark, won't Emily kill you for this?" Yes. Yes, she will. But I figure it's her birthday, and she should do what she wants. Even if it's painful.

Happy birthday, Emily!