Knox County Ohio

Centerburg

Some of Knox County is home to commuters to Columbus. Overall it is very white, and rural. Driving through, one sees golf courses, beyond dilapidated barns, and Gadsden rattlesnake flags. It has been ridiculously Republican since 1920. Catholic presidential candidates were/are especially unpopular. Johnson had a landslide in '64, when the country thought the Republican candidate was crazy. Such discernment and acumen has evaporated and vanished.

Again, humour is where you find it.

Mount Vernon is the county seat, and only town in the county. Like so many municipalities, there is a war monument* in the center of Public Square. Ohio fought for the Union, and there is a tall pillar with a federal soldier high a top. The square has a traffic circle around it, and you see familiar buildings that are usual to find in a small town laid out in the XIXth century: city hall, a hotel, a former masonic building, and strangely—two tattoo shops. There are handsome storefronts nearby, but many are vacant.

Pac-man art, Inky (cyan blue) and Clyde (orange).

There once was a Pittsburgh Plate Glass factory in Mt. Vernon. It has been demolished, and a town park has arisen, Ariel-Foundation Park. There are remnants of buildings, some are existent and purposed. There is some sculptures using the ruins. What is impressive are terraced mounds, and tall arbor vitae.

This chimney is now an observation tower, and an exercise apparatus. It smoked from 1951 to 1977. It is the tallest structure in the county at 280', with a spiral staircase with a top deck half way up.

view from the Raskin Tower

view from the Raskin Tower

view from the Raskin Tower

The first private college in Ohio is Kenyon in Gambier. It was started to educate future Episcopalian priests, and until 1875 was the seat of the Ohio diocese. The earliest example of collegiate Gothic architecture was here. The campus has been selected on some surveys as the most lovely in Ohio. The 1869 Church of the Holy Spirit is beautiful, and with (my eyes) three studios of stained glass, it deserves a post of its own. I want to visit again.

Paul Manship. "Indian Hunter" and "Pronghorn Antelope". 1917. 2002.

The original is at Amherst College Massachusetts. In 2002, two copies were cast, one went to Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and one here outside the dining hall. Manship was an influence to Art Deco style. He was influenced by archaic Greek art. I wonder, how many students realise any of that. There is also an outdoor bronze copy of Maillol's La Montagne on campus, and archaic Greek influence is more pronounced in Maillol.

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*There are many monuments to the Union dead, and this one names it "The War of the Great Rebellion".

Hillary Clinton was right, they are deplorables.

"To qualify being one heartbeat away from the Presidency of the United States, I shot and killed this dog."  — Kristi Noem

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/26/trump-kristi-noem-shot-dog-and-goat-book

Noem is the governor of South Dakota. She had previously been a congressman. She wants to go back to Washington. She has been aggressively groveling before Donald, to be his vice. She had a sexual affair with perhaps the most loathsome, and unctuous of his former campaign managers. She knows how much Orange Caligula hates dogs.

She has a book coming out soon. She brags about her sterling cruelty in an incident where she killed a 14 month old wire haired pointer bitch, and a billy goat. She is just another Republican officeholder that proudly exhibits anti-social behaviour, something that whets the appetite of the deplorable voters. Cricket was the name of the dog, Kristi is the name of the bitch and political whore.

Republican candidates have a history of using dogs as props, and beings to harm. Nixon saved a spot on Eisenhower's ticket over Checkers. Romney drove with a dog on top of his station wagon. Rick Scott temporarily got one to campaign with. Cruz left one in a Texas winter power outage, while he flew to Cancun. Mehmet Oz unnecessarily experimented on dogs......

Cleveland Zoo on a sunny April day

Cleveland Zoo is step by step becoming more of an amusement park than an animal park. Ten swan paddle boats are being assembled, that in addition to the zip line, carousel, movie theatre, party hall, seasonal light shows...and the reduction of species.

Here, i'll tell you a tale of the repukican partei in Ohio. Two citizens' introduced ballot initiatives have been passed to end gerrymandering. For many years everything in the state capital has been controlled by the repukican partei, and therefore moneyed interests; the voting public be damned. Current Sec. of State, and Atty Gen, (Larose and Yost) do not want the Democratic Party to have a presidential and vice-presidential candidates on the ballot. These two are dishonest as hell, and will use any conceivable trick to get their way. A few recent repukican Speakers of the House have been arrested for financial corruption. The Repukes have super majorities in both houses of the legislature. There is no law, and especially no spirit of justice, they need to obey. So now, for the third time, these women and other people are trying to get this on the ballot.

Sloths were active.

Last fall the zoo planted 20,000 tulip bulbs about the park. They have pretty much all have hit peak, A couple of 80 degree days will ripen the bloom greatly.

 

candid camera, no trix

sakura April 2

runner foto bombed by greyhound April 6

Dalmatian saw us as we walked by on the day of the eclipse.

East 9th & Superior, Cleveland O. April 10. News media getting ready for a news conference from SNAP (a group representing victims of clerical sexual abuse). [click]

a dragon ate the sun

3.14 pm

The smallest sliver of uncovered sun still illuminated everything, and then moments of instant gray, and then black. It was like theatre when the lights went out, a little eery. Totality was almost four minutes, although it seemed far less. 

While most of the sun was covered, temperature dropped, a little breeze came, birds began chirping, tulips closed. The last light had a different quality; some eyeglasses that darken in the sun, cleared up, perhaps the ultraviolet lessened. 

Our greyhound was with us in the backyard. She was fine with it, she was laying down in the grass continuing a snooze, until some idjit neighbor on the street behind us exploded fireworks. Then Karma quickly scooted into the house.

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postscriptum 3pm 12 April: In the last year plus, i have found on reddit the only place for somethings i am interested in; search engines held nothing of value except for reddit on several subjects. The latest was about the failure and disappointment that the total eclipse of the sun was not an apocalyptic event.  A total eclipse is rare for any particular location on Earth, it is not rare for the Earth.  Apparently some people are surprised that they are still here. Not being conversant in crazy Protestantism, i did not know, some people thought the Rapture would come and begin the End Times that day. Firstly, this rapture was invented by John Nelson Darby in 1831 after he left the Protestant Church of Ireland to form the Plymouth Brethren. His ideas have been accepted by many American Evangelicals. Secondly, there have been many people who call for the end of the world. So far they have all been wrong. Thirdly, many like to quote biblical passages and do some mental gymnastics. They do this while ignoring straightforward passages:

• — But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone. — Matthew xxiv. 36.
• — Thou shalt have this sign: Whatsoever that same prophet foretelleth in the name of the Lord, and it cometh not to pass: that thing the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath forged it by the pride of his mind: and therefore thou shalt not fear him. — Deuteronomy xviii. 22.
  

What was done, was meant to be done.

Direct hit on target

The bombing of World Central Kitchen people was done with information given to Israeli military by that humanitarian organisation. They told the Israelis, this is us, we are identifying ourselves SO THAT you WILL KNOW it is us. José Andrés knows this, and has told the public.

It was part of planned genocide. It was no accident, it was mission accomplished. It is their game plan, civilian decimation. It is so much easier killing the defenseless, and even easier when their location and movements are known, or ordered. Then deny everything, and attack with feigned outrage everyone who notices.

Netanyahu is a psychopath. Medical people, journalists, aid workers are targeted. Those are people who are trying to keep people alive, and tell their story. Israel accomplished their goal. Aid has been slowed down, humanitarian aid is being stopped, and discouraged to enter. Mission accomplished.

The United States is complicit. Israel has always played the US as a fool, while it takes its money, and armament. Israel is ruthless, and remorseless. Netanyahu enjoys making American presidents humiliated.

summit lake again

Well, we went to see loons. Seven loons were reported earlier Easter morning. Later i saw a picture of one in Portage Lakes, i guess they went a little south, the waters connect. This shoveler pair were close enough in the photo to be clear focus. Shovelers were close enough for a good shot, they are very small ducks about the size of coots. Any further out, they would be fuzzy, and not sharp. That bill is a good percentage of body length.

Mallards are the easiest wild duck to fotograph, and about the largest ones to be seen in Ohio.

Notice the odd lobed feet of the coot/mudhen.

Bullfrog was inside the small nature center.

akron stuff

 

foto from Aaron Turner 2008 flickr, before demolition of Portage Path Elementary

In the early decades of the 20th century, before Hoover's Depression, Akron built many handsome brick schools. Many had friezes, and stone ornaments, Some were repeated. Ferdinand Schumacher (oatmeal), and George Barber (matches) elementaries were a pair. In the 21st century, many of these schools were demolished. Some were replaced with new buildings bearing the same names. Before they were called schools, now jargon identifies them community learning centers.

The old Portage Path Elementary had three Indian heads, the new school has a few more.

These are two of them. One is pictured in the shade, and the other in full sunlight.

John Carmen Comunale. Zippy, University of Akron mascot. 2005. foto 2021.

John Heisman. 2015. Randolph Rose Co. 

Heisman coached Buchtel (now Akron) in 1893. The next year they played at the Ohio State Fair and beat Ohio State. Buchtel's only game that year. Heisman went back to coach Oberlin, where in his first season coaching (1892) they beat Ohio State twice.

Heisman would start each season with this speech:

"What is this? It is a prolate spheroid, an elongated sphere in which the outer leather casing is drawn tightly over a somewhat smaller rubber tubing. Better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football."

left horse

Burkhardt Brewing was the big brewer in Akron. They had several brick buildings on Grant from 1902 to 1956. Before that they were on Sherman. One building had a horse head over the two tall doors. In the early part of the century, horses pulled beer wagons.

two views of right horse

M was for Margaretha