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Bits’n’Pieces
Welcome back to Bits’n’Pieces, a weekly look at some of the interesting, funny, comical and sometimes outright weird things that happen in and around Montgomery County. Have something you think should go into Bits? E-mail it to us at [email protected], won’t you please?
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CAN YOU believe This is December? Us neither!
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THIS IDEA came from our favorite historian and genealogist Karen Zach. She would like to have a regular spot in her favorite Montgomery County daily where people can share kudos. What a great idea, Karen! Thanks! Let’s start right here – and if it grows enough we’ll give it its own space. So if you want to share a kudo for someone or something, e-mail it to us at [email protected]. Great idea, Karen!
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A BIG TIP of the seed corn cap to everyone involved with Party Night! The cold rain ended just in time and a good crowd turned out to take part in one of beautiful downtown Crawfordsville’s biggest events. From a snowman who walked around to smiling and friendly merchants to authors selling and signing books to a plethora of gorgeous Christmas trees to Santa himself, this was one of the reasons why Crawfordsville is such a great place to live, work and play!
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HERE’S ANOTHER tip (in advance) to our local Chamber of Commerce. The annual Christmas Parade is Sunday and in a world gone crazy this is one of the events that helps make memories. We hope you turn out to see all the great entries – but we also hope you take a moment to scan the crowd and see the children, eyes wide with wonder at the marching bands, floats and of course Santa! Thank you Chamber for making this happen – especially after the pandemic forced a previous one to be canceled.
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BACK ON Party Night, we have heard a lot of great comments about the “train station” display from the windows of the law firm of Harding, Henthorn, Harris and Weliever. Well played, ladies and gentlemen!
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DO YOU reckon the fellas over at Wabash are still basking in the glow of the Monon Bell victory? Sure helps take the sting out of a season going from 5-0 to 7-3!
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AND SPEAKING of sting, DePauw fell in the second round of the NCAA football playoffs to Wisconsin-Whitewater – the second-ranked team in the nation – 45-0.
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SO LONG as we’re talking football, we wondered right here in this very space why the Indianapolis Colts seem to avoid the run so often? The next week, they relied heavily on the run and Jonathan Taylor rushed for almost 200 yards in a huge victory over the Buffalo Bills. (And do we all remember the Montgomery County connection to the Bills? If not, we’ll reveal the answer below.) Then last Sunday, while holding a 10-point lead over Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champ Tampa Bay, the Colts completely abandoned the run. In doing so, they had multiple turnovers and lost the lead and the game. C’mon, Man!
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HERE’S A tip of that cap to Bob Stwalley. A friend of his told The Paper that on Bob’s recent 91st birthday he killed his 94th deer. We’re not sure what we’re more impressed with, the fact that Bob just celebrated his 91st birthday by hunting or that he has kept track of how many deer he’s bagged over the years! Yeah, OK – we’re more impressed with him out hunting! Of course Bob is one of the primary helpers on keeping Sugar Creek top of mind. From the annual canoe race to promoting it, Bob has been a mainstay. Keep on keeping on, Bob!
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OK, ONE FINAL sports note: Here’s a big ol’ Boiler Up to the Purdue football team for winning the battle of the Old Oaken Bucket! And hey, the Boiler basketballers are looking pretty darn good, too!
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WE’VE SAID it in this space before, but please do patronize advertisers in The Paper. If it wasn’t for them, there would be no daily edition. We appreciate our local businesses and we hope you do, too!
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BACK ON the topic of Christmas lights – another reader chimed in that they don’t mind the early Christmas lights. They hate the early Christmas music. Several folks who overheard that conversation said they agreed. One old-timer griped that WASK – which plays classic rock – had switched to full-time Christmas music already.
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ONE READER strongly disagreed. Although she did not want her name used, she wrote us the following: “Normally I would agree that before Thanksgiving is too early to put up Christmas decorations on the outside of our home. But I put ours up right after Halloween this year because if there’s ever been a time when we needed the spirit of Christmas, it’s now.”
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NO TIP OF the seed corn hat to a few houses around town that have displayed a vulgar flag in their window. The flag has the F-bomb in it a couple of times – once for President Joe Biden and a second time for anyone who voted for him. While we respect the right of everyone to take whatever political point of view they want, there is nothing positive about displaying such a message where youngsters just learning to read can see it.
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DITTO TO the folks driving around with flags saying the same thing – whether they are anti Biden or anti Trump. C’mon! Can’t we at least be a little more classy in our political discourse?
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ALONG THOSE lines, isn’t there some sort of community standards these flags violates? After all, if the political types want companies to choose Crawfordsville as a place to do business, this can’t help.
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VUMOCO! Vax Up Montgomery County!
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FOR OUR riddle this week we share one that could be easy, or could be tough, all depending on your point of view. When you do not know what I am, then I am something. But when you do know what I am, then I am nothing. What am I?
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THIS FROM A reader: When you think about it, Moses was the first one with a tablet downloading information from the cloud.
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AND ONE more: The boss paid for a one-year gym membership and his bank called to see if his credit card had been stolen.
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OK, CONTINUING the knock-knock jokes . . .
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Theodore.
Theodore who?
Theodore wasn’t open, so I knocked. Of course the door at The Paper is always open to subscribe! If our friendly staff isn’t in the office, you can go to www.thepaper24-7.com!
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HERE’S AN interesting tidbit from one of our favorite publications (besides The Paper of Montgomery County, of course), the Farmer’s Almanac. Be kind to unkind people. They need it the most.
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CONTINUING our official countdown . . .
First Day of winter – 20
Christmas – 24 days
First day of spring – 109 days
First day of summer – 202 days
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THE ANSWER to the question about the Montgomery County connection to the Buffalo Bills is Wabash College grad Pete Metzelaars. After being drafted by the Seattle Seahawks, Pete played there three years and went to Buffalo in 1985. He played in four Super Bowls (but fell short) as their tight end and was there until the mid-1990s. He finished his NFL playing career with the Carolina Panthers and the Detroit Lions. By the way, Pete got his Super Bowl championship ring as a coach with the Colts in 2006.
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THE ANSWER to our riddle: A riddle!