Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Monday Monday: It was all I hoped it would be


          Your loyal blogger was present at Dodger Stadium when Chicago Cubs outfielder Rick Monday rescued the American flag from two creeps during a 1976 baseball game.

          The anniversary was noted by the Dodgers this week.

          My recollection of those years is that the Dodgers tried for two years to trade for Monday, who was a terrific player, without success. But after Monday saved the flag IN DODGER STADIUM, the Dodgers did whatever they had to do to acquire the outfielder.

          They finally landed Monday and he helped the team win a World Series. Heck, he put them in the Series with a dramatic home run that won the National League Championship Series. All these years later, Monday is still with the Dodgers. He is part of their radio broadcasts now.

          A few years ago, when he was still playing, Monday signed his autograph on a piece of paper for my mother on her 50th birthday. So, yeah, I have great memories of Rick Monday: Classy guy, tremendous player and outstanding broadcaster.

 

          Monday’s old team, the Dodgers, have put together the best long string of games I can recall. They’ve had strong pitching, good fielding and timely hitting.

          One of the pitchers who has made a major contribution during the blazing string of wins has been Zack Greinke. Your loyal blogger wrote about the decision to sign Greinke before the season started, and it was written in this blog that the Dodgers spent too much money on the deal.

          I was wrong.

          Greinke started slowly and suffered a broken collarbone during a brawl with the Padres early in the season. His era at the time was 4.22.

          In their last 59 games, the Dodgers have won an amazing 47 times. In his last 13 starts Greinke has a record of 10-1. He has a strike out-to-walk ratio of about 3-1 in that period and his era now is 2.86.

          Greinke has been one of the reasons for the Dodgers’ resurgence. Give credit where it is due: The Dodgers were smart to sign him.

 

          The issues between Time Warner Cable and the leadership at CBS have resulted in Los Angeles baseball fans missing a lot of Dodgers games they would otherwise be able to see on television.

          One of those games was on Rick Monday bobblehead night, when fans were given bobbleheads of the flag-saving outfielder. A lot of fans were looking forward to reliving the famous moment during the broadcast, but they were locked out by the CBS-TWC squabble.
 
          It’s a shame the people of Southern California have to pay the price while two large corporations argue.

          Thanks for reading.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Making a point about Horseshoe Ridge


                We are closing in on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle of Chickamauga and your loyal blogger believes a point needs to be made about the final hours of that engagement.

          This writer is comfortable with the fact that nothing can be done now to alter the situation mentioned below. A great deal of time and money, both of which could be well-spent on other problems, would be needed to study and then rectify the wrong your loyal blogger feels was done.

          The National Parks Service is stretched far too thin these days to devote time to this idea and there is no suggestion here that a philanthropic individual or organization write a big check.

          Still, recognition is in order. Well-studied and accurate recognition of the movements and accomplishments of a group of Confederate soldiers at the end of the battle is deserved and it is hoped here that recognition is given during the observation of the anniversary next month.

          Your loyal blogger has written a 41,000-plus word treatment of the fighting referred to here. Hopefully those words will one day become a published book. Until then, this blog will have to do.

          On Sept. 20, 1863, Confederate Brigadier General Archibald Gracie’s brigade was ordered to attack the well-defended Federal bastion atop Horseshoe Ridge. It was the second day of the fighting, a messy bloodfest that ended in a Confederate victory on the field. The Federals maintained their hold of the nearby city of Chattanooga, so the battle actually accomplished little.

          Gracie’s brigade included the 43rd Alabama Infantry Regiment, the 63rd Tennessee Infantry Regiment and Hilliard’s Legion, another Alabama unit. The brigade attacked the Ridge at about 4:30 p.m. and in about half an hour managed to drive the Federal defenders away from the brow of the Ridge.

          The Confederates had been attacking the Ridge all afternoon but it was Gracie’s command that finally got the job done, albeit at terrible cost.

          During Gracie’s attack, the Tennessee regiment wandered slightly off course,


Position marker for the 63rd
Tennessee on the side of Horseshoe
Ridge at Chickamauga.
found a Federal artillery line and backed away after taking loses. The Tennesseans were done for the day, so it was the two Alabama outfits whose attack got the job of pushing the Federals away from the berm of the Ridge done.

          The Legion and the 43rd held their hard-won position for better than an hour, trading shots with the Union defenders who had found another spot on the hill top to shoot from. The Alabamians eventually started running out of bullets, which was reported to Gracie. Told that relief was arriving, Gracie gave the order for his men to pull back, which many of them did. Some men from the Legion and some from the 43rd still had ammunition and they stayed in place.

          A group of men from the Legion (the number is believed to be between 50 and 100) were not involved in the charge up the side of the Ridge. These men had been detained where Gracie’s men spent the night of the 19th and day of the 20th for the purpose of building trenches and breastworks in case the Federals worked their way around and attacked the rear of the Confederate army. Apparently, when this detail learned that their comrades were now involved in the fighting, these members of the Legion hurried toward the fighting on the Ridge, joining a Florida regiment along the way.

          As impromptu members of the Florida regiment, these Legion men participated in the flanking of the remaining Federal troops on Horseshoe Ridge after darkness had fallen. This maneuver resulted in the capture of most of those Federal fighters and ended the battle.

          And yet…

          There is a position marker at the spot where the Tennessee regiment stopped after going the wrong way. There are markers at other spots along the sides of the Ridge where North Carolina and South Carolina regiments later claimed to have
Some of the many monuments to Federal units on the top of Hill 1
of Horseshoe Ridge.
reached during the fighting. There are LOTS of markers and monuments atop the Ridge where the Federal defenders fought so bravely while holding their ground against continuous Confederate attacks.

          But there is no position marker for either the 43rd Alabama or Hilliard’s Legion, the men who actually pushed the Federals away.

          The state memorial for the South Carolinians is located at the base of the hills of the Ridge. The state memorial for Alabama soldiers is about a mile away from where Gracie’s men gained fame.

          There is a plaque dedicated to Gracie’s brigade about 100 yards short of the edge of the Ridge and the plaque is inaccurate. The plaque says Gracie’s men were driven off the Ridge by returning Federal soldiers.

The plaque on the side of Horseshoe Ridge which inaccurately
tells visitors that Gracie's men were driven from the brow of the Ridge
after chasing the Federal defenders away. 
          History would have been better served had the original decision makers honored Gracie and his men for their accomplishment. There ought to be a statue of Gracie and position markers for the Legion and the 43rd on the berm of the Ridge.

          It is too late now to change the setting of the Chickamauga/Chattanooga
A more distant image to give the reader a better feel
for where the plaque sits on the side of the Ridge.
National Military Park. Change costs money and, given the current political climate, it is unlikely anything honoring a Confederate military operation would ever gather the needed support anyway.

          Gracie was a native of New Jersey. His son, also named Archibald, became famous in his own way. The younger Gracie wrote a book about the battle and then later survived the sinking of the Titanic, writing a book about that as well.
 
          Thanks for reading.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Somebody needs a clue...


          To be filed in the Nobody Listens folder, in the drawer marked Somebody Needs a Clue.

          The announcement was made recently that Ben Affleck will play Batman in an upcoming movie. Maybe he’ll do a great job, maybe not. But the opportunity to rake in millions of dollars’ worth of cross marketing exposure for a well-known American company and an equally big chunk of cash for the movie producers was wasted.

          It is sad to see what American marketing has come to. The industry must be full of nincompoops. Where are these people when they should be thinking of ideas? This was such a natural chance to make a huge splash that another slam dunk of this nature could be decades away.

          Can’t you see it? The producers call a press conference to announce the casting of the feature role. Some suit opens the conference and says, “We’ve cast the role of Batman in our upcoming film and we have brought a special guest to help us reveal the name of the star we have brought to the project. The star is…”

          The speaker pauses dramatically to lift a white duck to the microphone and the duck says, “Aflac.”

 

          Frequent readers know your loyal blogger has been following the career of Canadian Football League legend Anthony Calvillo. Calvillo missed Thursday’s game after suffering a concussion the week before.

          Calvillo’s team, the Montreal Allouettes, fired the head coach before this week’s game because of the lack of offensive production. They did not fire the offensive coordinator.

          Humm.

          Montreal started a rookie quarterback Thursday night and won on a length-of-the-field comeback drive in the final minute.

 

          Sounds like a government survey: Sandusky, Ohio is a very nice city located along the shore of Lake Erie. It is the home of the Cedar Point amusement park and it is not far from the drag strip at Norwalk, Ohio.

          Your loyal blogger has visited Sandusky several times and always enjoyed time spent there.

          Upper Sandusky is a smaller community, but also a very nice place. Your loyal blogger has enjoyed several fine meals at restaurants in that town. It is located roughly 50 miles south and west of Sandusky.

That’s right. UPPER Sandusky is south of Sandusky.

          Don’t ask. I just read the map.
 
          And I thank you for reading the blog.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

A Hood's eye view of Horseshoe Ridge


          It is a quiet spot on most days. The trees stand without much molestation. A small road is nearby and a sign near the road directs visitors toward the exact location.

          The area is in the midst of a national park and it is a common occurrence to see wildlife cavorting during your visit. Somehow, the deer and squirrels lend calm to the scene, even as they cavort. It is cavortingly calm, one might say. The animals can cavort completely free of concern about the humans they see because weapons are not allowed in these environs. There is no hunting.

          It seems odd that weapons are not allowed here because for two days in 1863, this was one of the most weapon-rich, violent places on the Earth. It is the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in northern Georgia, site of the terrible Civil War battle of Chickamauga.

          The spot in question is the site where Confederate General John Bell Hood was wounded on September 20, the second day of the fighting. Hood’s injury knocked him out of the fighting and marked an important moment in the battle but it is not part of the story we consider here.

          Of interest now is the location and the view it provides because from here the visitor can see the hill that is home to the South Carolina monument (the monument itself is hidden by another group of trees) and behind the monument is Horseshoe Ridge.

          Horseshoe Ridge! Lesser known than Gettysburg’s Little Round Top or Cemetery Ridge, Chickamauga’s Horseshoe Ridge none-the-less holds a place in American military history among the most desperate of engagements.

          From the spot where Hood was wounded, one can look across Dyer Field. Many Confederates had to stride across that field to reach the fighting on the Ridge. Late in the day, sometime shortly after 4 p.m., the men of Hilliard’s Legion came into the field. Part of General Archibald Gracie’s brigade, the Legion had not seen combat before.

          There is a small marker on the piece of ground where Hood suffered his wound. He was long off the field when Gracie and his command turned to face the Ridge and began the march toward history, but you can see the field from Hood’s marker. Gracie’s men accomplished something thousands of other Confederate soldiers failed to do when they pushed the Federal defenders off the brows of the Ridge’s Hills 1 and 2.

          The casualty count for Gracie’s men was very high, especially among members of the Legion. They paid a terrible price for their success.

          Looking out over Dyer’s Field, a visitor can imagine the minutes before the Legion mounted its charge up those hills. Gracie’s men had listened to the sounds of battle for two days by then. They heard the crash of artillery and the rattle of smaller
The Hood marker is at the bottom of this image. The hill
in the distance leads toward Horseshoe Ridge. The
 South Carolina monument is near the top of the grassy
 portion of the hill.
arms. Beyond that, they heard all the human sounds; the piercing Rebel Yell and the screaming and moaning of the wounded. Sometimes cheering broke out somewhere in the distance.

          From the field the Legionnaires could see and smell the smoke from artillery fire, more smoke from rifle fire and even smoke from small brush fires sparked by all that weaponry.

          As Gracie’s men prepared to march toward the front line the impact of the sights, sounds and smells must have become all the more personal. The Legion would shortly be ordered to move up the distant hill and into the trees, facing a determined enemy and long odds.

          Now, 15 decades later, we can stand where Hood was wounded and stare into the past. We can try to imagine what the soldiers felt as they prepared to go into battle for the first time.


The final yards toward the edge of the top of Hill 1 of Horseshoe
Ridge at Chickamauga.
          Drive a short distance from the spot where Hood fell and the opportunity presents itself to imagine a different experience: Defending those hills. Your loyal blogger understands that there were two sides to the bloody battle of Chickamauga. The losses on both sides were monumental and credit is due to the Federal soldiers who defended the line on the Ridge while virtually every ranking officer in the Federal Army of the Cumberland raced away from the fighting toward the safety of Chattanooga.

          The Federal line was in front of Gracie’s Brigade and the men of Hilliard’s Legion as they faced the hills of the Ridge for the first time. The men of the Legion didn’t know they were about to make history, but they could probably guess the cost.

          Imagine that some time.
 
          Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Natural blogging


          I was walking out the computer room after blogging practice the other day when this skinny guy fell is step beside me and started jabbering.

          You see guys like this sometimes. He wore three heavy gold chains around his neck, his shirt was open to the middle of his hairy chest, the bill of his ball cap was rolled up and he wore pink-tinted sunglasses. He wore a green silk sweats and black socks inside his sandals.

          Man, could this guy talk.

          “Heard you missed a few blogs last week,” he said.

          I nodded, just to be polite. “Strained syntax. Be ready to go in a day or two.”

          “Kid, you’re too good to miss time that way. You should be using this new blog medicine. Give you stronger sentence structure in no time. Your words will hit harder and longer. Turn on the computer, bring up the blog and inject this stuff once a week. You’ll have a stronger blog.”

          My blog is afraid of needles and, besides, all of us had been warned about talking to guys like this. I told him it is against blog league rules to use that stuff.

          “Hah,” the guy said. “There is no test that catches this stuff. Every blog in the league uses this stuff. You have no chance to beat them if you don’t start using it soon. Besides, it’s only against the rules if you get caught.”

          “What’s the name of this stuff,” I asked.

          “Grammerlisterine,” he said. “Most bloggers we work with say their punctuation gets better as soon as they start using. Their breath smells better, too.”

          It sounded too good, if you catch my drift. This guy was pretty slick. He seemed to have an answer for everything, but he didn’t actually say anything. I wondered if he wasn’t a closet politician.

          “What about the side effects,” I asked. “The long-term stuff, like when my blog gets old.”

          “Do you really want an old blog, Kid? When this one starts to look old, dump it and start another one. Use Grammerlisterine from the start with the next one and your blog will be really powerful. Have you noticed how good some of these high school bloggers are now? They’re all using this stuff.”

          I was amazed to hear that teenaged kids were using WEDs (Writing Enhancing Drugs).

          “Most of my business comes from teenaged blogs that can’t attract readers but think they’re going to get rich in the NBL (National Blogging League) someday.”

          WEDs had been in the news a lot that month. Lots of blogs had been suspended for wording up (that’s what bloggers call using WEDs). You probably read about the most recent MPB (Most Popular Blog) sitting out the whole blogging season after getting caught using Paragraph Growth Hormone.

          I knew I had to get away from this guy. When we came up to a crowd of people as we were walking, I pushed through and then cut into a building doorway just to get away from the guy. I’d heard about blogs that died after struggling for years with writers block. Every one of them could trace the illness back to WED use. I didn’t want to be another blogging statistic and, anyway, I liked the challenge of blogging naturally against CEBs (Chemically Enhanced Blogs).

          I still enjoy that challenge.

          I reported being approached by the guy to my coaches and they contacted the league office. It turned out the guy was already under investigation for providing common sense to members of congress. CS, as you know, was banned for use by government employees years ago.

          I want all of you to know that this happened. I was smart enough stay away from WEDs, but your little blogs might someday be approached the same way I was. It’s never too late to teach the little ones about the safe, smart way to blog.
 
          Thanks for reading.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Hilliard's Legion: Caesar and Brutus together again?



          Ever tripped over something, face-planted on the ground and climbed to your feet wondering what happened? Your loyal blogger has left blood on the virtual sidewalk looking for an answer to this one:

          His name was Julius Caesar Brutus May. Improbable, yes, but the name seems to be one thing easily agreed upon.

          May was born in about 1839 in Alabama. A farmer, he was 21 or 22 years of age when he enlisted in the Confederate army in1862. His wife, Virginia, was 16 at the time of the United States census recorded in August of 1860.

          It appears that May enlisted in the 45th Alabama Infantry Regiment but two websites show May as a member of the 2nd Battalion of Hilliard’s Legion, another Alabama unit. Ancestry.com lists a man with the same name in both units (in Company I of the 45th and in the battalion’s D Company).

          There is also a listing for May in the 59th Alabama, but that would be consistent with being a member of Hilliard’s Legion. The Legion was split into three regiments after the battle of Chickamauga and one of the three was the 59th.

          Every listing found so far that includes May’s enlistment date, both in the Legion and the 45th, shows him enlisting on March 13, 1862.

          Either two men named Julius Caesar Brutus May enlisted in different Alabama units on the same day or one man is somehow carried on the muster lists of both units. It is unlikely, though not impossible, that May could have served in the 45th before transferring to the 59th.

          A father and son, you wonder. Cousins, perhaps?

          The Confederate Army normally put family members in the same military unit, especially if they enlisted at the same time. Men enlisting from a particular town were usually grouped together as well. The thinking was that the possibility of news reaching home that a particular soldier failed to do his duty, thus reducing his standing in the community, would spur the men to remain in the ranks.

          Thus, it is much more common to see fathers and sons or brothers and/or cousins serving together rather than apart.

          The Alabama Department of Archives and History database of Alabama Civil War soldiers shows May enlisting at Fort Deposit on the date in question. The National Parks Service database shows Julius C.B. May as a private throughout his service with the 45th.

          Julius C. May is shown by Ancestry.com as a member of the Legion, but it does not show an image of the muster roll. It also shows an alternate name of J C. B. May. Just to complicate things a bit more, the same soldier is shown as a member of both companies G and D of the 59th.

          Another, less authoritative, website uses information from a researcher that puts May among the wounded during the battle of Knoxville November 29 of 1863. This website says May was left in the hands of the enemy when the Confederates retreated from that engagement.

          Maybe so, but which outfit was he fighting in?

          This type of minutiae can drive a researcher mad. Your loyal blogger has sent off for records related to the Confederate military service of Julius Caesar Brutus May in both outfits and the results will be posted here.

          Then, of course, it would be very interesting to learn the story behind the name. Why would anyone name their child after both Caesar and Brutus? Think about it: You wouldn’t name your kid Marianne Hatfield McCoy Hilltopper, would you?

          You would? Yikes!
 
          Thanks for reading.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

A plan that actually worked


          It has been roughly 46 weeks since Mrs. Leeway and I loaded the dog and plant in the car and drove to our new home in Ohio.

          In that time, the plant got a name and we have adjusted to living outside of California. It hasn’t been the impossible adjustment that some people warned us about. In fact, the adjustment has been easier than I expected.

          Mrs. Leeway grew up in Ohio and knew perfectly well what was coming. I had seen Ohio on television. All I knew was that I didn’t know much about Ohio, aside from it being the cradle of professional football and the home of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

          Then again, what else did I need to know?

          So, a few notes on the transition.

          Coolidge. One of my jobs was to drive our cars to Ohio. Luckily, I only had to
Coolidge during our epic drive across
the country together.
drive one at a time. The final trip was in our new Ford Focus and one of the passengers was a plant. Despite the fact that I watered the thing every day and moved it in and out of hotels, that plant never spoke to me, never even thanked me for the wonderful care I extended it. So I named it Coolidge after former President Calvin ‘Silent Cal’ Coolidge.

          The plan worked. Our reason for moving here was to live less expensively and we have done that. Our mortgage here is significantly lower than our rent was in California. The rent went up every year in California but the mortgage here stays the same. (Positive cash flow)

          Oh my, the dire warnings that our heating and air conditioning bills would skyrocket and nullify our housing savings. ‘You’ll be miserable and broke,’ people told us, ‘instead of only being broke out here.’ This has not been true. We do spend more on heating and cooling than we did out west, but the difference is less than we’d been warned to expect. (Positive cash flow)

          Gasoline prices jump around but we have been generally 30-50 cents a gallon lower than the prices around our old home. Car insurance costs about half here what it costs in California. Food, clothing, furniture, books and most of the other odds and ends that you buy during the course of a year cost roughly the same here. (Positive cash flow)

          Weather. Every time we meet someone and they learn where we used to live, 
During Ohio winters, ice forms.
Sometimes the ice melts. The drops of
melting ice sometimes make for
nice images.
they always ask why we moved to Ohio. Once winter got here last year, even people who already knew us would ask, ‘Are you sure you want to live here?’

          Yeah, the winters are cold here.

          You have to dress properly and you have to be sure your heater is in good working order before winter comes. We had to buy some winter clothing when we got here, something Mrs. Leeway enjoyed more than I did. Ya gotta buy boots, knit caps, gloves and thermals.

          I have the late-night dog walking shift. During the dead of winter, that means three or four layers of clothing. Mrs. Leeway has the early morning duty, which allows her to shovel the snow off the driveway. She enjoys it.

You have to be careful about driving and you have to leave your Mustang GT V-8 five speed convertible in the garage four months a year. Road salts used to melt the ice on the streets will destroy your car’s body. Thus you have to wash your Focus frequently during the winter months.

There are other adjustments, such as trying not to slip on ice while walking the dog and cracking your skull during the ensuing fall. I did that. Probably should have gone to an emergency care center. But Alabama was playing Notre Dame for the national collegiate football championship within half an hour and there was no way I was going to miss that game. Everything worked out: Alabama won handily and I’m sure Notre Dame fans felt worse than I did by the end of the night.

Roll Tide.

Sage advice from one who knows: Be sure your A/C is working in advance of summer.

          Activities. If you haven’t been here, you’d be surprised to learn about all the things there are to do here. From free summer concerts in the town center (which all the cities seem to do here) to minor league baseball, there is a lot to do.

We live within a few miles of two universities, so college sports are easily 
This park is across the street from where we
live. I walk here several times each week.
available. I have enjoyed the Kent State library because it has an excellent history reference section and I’ve been able to do some research there. I’ve been to the archives department of the University of Akron, too, while working on research for a different subject. Nice folks in both places.

The NHRA drag strip in Norwalk is closer to us than the track at Pomona was when we lived in Oxnard and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is about the same distance away. There are short tracks around the state as well.

We’ve been to the Cleveland and Akron zoos already and we want to get to a few more attractions before this summer ends. Cleveland’s baseball and football stadiums are less than an hour away and so is the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton is 40 minutes from us. There is a theme park named Cedar Point in Sandusky, roughly 90 minutes from us.

Because of geography, a lot of places are within a day’s drive. We’ve been to Niagara Falls already and we have visited our daughter in Philadelphia. We’ve driven to Gettysburg, two parts of Tennessee and various parts of Alabama.

If you run out of stuff to do, that’s your fault.

 The bottom line is we save money living here and have found lots of ways to have fun. It turns out a California retirement will allow for a successful, fun life in Ohio.

The prediction here is that people will finally decide to leave California, chasing after the jobs that started going elsewhere years ago. We'll see you in Ohio.
 
          Thanks for reading.

Monday, August 5, 2013

America's best mayor is...


          Robert Tufts has garnered the much sought title as favorite politician of this blog. Tufts is the mayor of Dorset, Minnesota

          Described by one wire service as debonair, Tufts was first appointed to the mayoral gig in 2012 and won reappointment this year. He reportedly campaigned tirelessly during the run-up to this year’s appointment process.

          As your loyal blogger understands the Dorset process, residents nominate individuals they feel are fit for the job and the nominations go into a hat. Each nomination counts so that the number of nominations gives the nomination leader the best chance to win. The appointment is decided by pulling a name on a slip of paper out of the hat.

          Dorset, which reportedly has a total of about 30 residents, should be applauded. That might be the most logical electoral system in the country. Every candidate has a shot and even a poor choice can’t screw things up too badly because he or she only holds office for a year.

          However, Tufts is not likely to make too many mistakes. You see, he is still only four years old. Children that age generally shoot pretty straight, which is something we could all profit by relearning.

          His mother was quoted as saying of the Mayor’s typical day, “Mostly it’s just daycare and smoozing with the girls.”

          Ol’ Robert really has this political thing figured out. His day sounds pretty much the same as any other politician. Trust me; I once held public office in California. That’s about all there is to the normal day.

          Robert also likes to greet people as they enter local restaurants, which is a really solid way to keep in touch with the local populace. He knows everybody and they all know him.

          This guy could go far. I hope so.
 
          Thanks for reading.