EARLY 2023

In January 2023 we lost Gilmore, our long-time companion. That was unbelievably sad, but he had a long and very good life. In people years he was over 100. He will always have a special place in our hearts.

After a few months of depression, we decided it was time to adopt a puppy. Cocoa is an 8-month-old lab/German short hair and only God knows what else mix. After years with a geriatric dog, having a puppy is quite a change.

Barb’s dad would have called Cocoa “a good thumpin dog” because she is very solid and satisfying to pet.

Cocoa has an unbelievable amount of energy. In the morning she does “the zoomies” which is several laps around the yard so fast that you look one direction, and she is already coming from the other direction. When this video was taken she had already done 4-5 laps around the yard.

Adopting a puppy is like having a 2-year-old. They are incredibly cute, are constantly into things they shouldn’t be, everything goes in their mouth, they bring great joy to your life, and you take a ridiculous number of pictures of them. I’ll try to not let the number of pictures of her get out of hand.

Barb decided that the dog toys scattered all over our house needed to be organized so she got a box and rounded them all up. Cocoa immediately turned the box over, dumped the toys out, and started chewing on the box. Organizing Cocoa’s toys could be a non-stop endeavor.

Barb said she wanted a lap dog. I’m not sure Cocoa is quite what she envisioned; Cocoa is more of a couch dog. She particularly likes sleeping upside down.

Barb always wanted a girl she could dress up. She’s trying to make do with Cocoa.

Playing with a ball upside down in a chair is much more fun.

On our way to Mississinewa Reservoir, we stopped at Faye’s Northside Café in Tipton. This was more like a social club than a business. There were 8 tables with 3 waitresses. The cook’s husband came in for lunch while we were there. Her comment was “Lordie what has the cat dragged in now?” His response was “for once can’t I just eat lunch in peace and quiet? What’s all in the meatloaf, lots of onions and stuff?” The cook replied, “Helen where’d we put the rat poison?”

The apple crisp and blueberry pie were outstanding.

When we finished lunch, the waitress came out to meet Cocoa. That’s the first time we’ve had a waitress want to meet our dog. The whole experience seemed like we were in an episode of the Andy Griffith show.

While we were looking for the waterfall, we noticed a bunch of white birds in the distance. Barb trekked out through the mud to get a better look. It turned out that they were pelicans on their spring migration. There were hundreds of them on “pelican island” along with a few seagulls.

We wandered around the reservoir aimlessly trying to find the waterfall with no success so we finally stopped at the DNR location (if all else fails try asking for directions). They had never heard of it which didn’t sound promising but they gave us an area to try looking. After more exploring we finally found it off an obscure dirt road.

Liston Glen waterfall is only visible when Mississinewa Reservoir is at winter pool (they empty the reservoir in early winter and don’t refill it until the spring rains). There are lots of waterfalls that are only visible in the spring because they dry out by summer. This is the first one we’ve encountered which is only visible in early spring because the rest of the year it’s underwater. The rockline you can see above the waterfall would be underwater during the summer.

I’ve always been fascinated by old barns and silos, they have so much history. In the days before interstate highways, advertisers took advantage of barns' prominence, paying their owners the equivalent of $50/month to rent their barn for ads. Not only did the farmer get $50/month, but they also got their barn painted for free. Painters of barn advertisements were known as "wall dogs".

Barn advertising started in the late 1890’s and by the early 1960’s, over 20,000 barns in 22 states displayed Mail Pouch advertising. Most of them have since fallen into disrepair.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s round barns were a big thing in the Midwest. Round barns needed less material than traditional barns and could better withstand the Midwest’s windstorms. The center gable provided better air circulation than a rectangular barn. Round barns made it easier to milk cows since they were all in a circle. Horses also liked round barns since they could see each other. In the 1920s and 1930’s round barns began being displaced by prefabricated metal barns. At their peak there were hundreds of round barns, today only 70 remain.

This is Falls Park in Pendleton. In 1825, two Seneca Indian families including four children, were killed by 5 white men. In those days, many whites did not consider the killing of Indians to be a crime, but this was so egregious that three of the men were sentenced to death and hung within sight of the falls. Despite its gruesome history, this is now a very scenic setting.

Built in 1906, the Tulip Trestle, located near Solsberry, is a 2,307-foot-long, 157-foot-tall steel-girded railroad trestle. It’s one of the longest of this type in the world still in use. Like any railroad bridge, graffiti litters the structure with the most well-known being “MICHELLE WILL YOU MARRY ME?” in the middle of the trestle under the tracks. No one knows for sure whether she said yes or if the man survived his escapade. I passed on climbing up to get a picture.

Clifty Falls State Park is in southern Indiana near the town of Madison, Indiana. It has lots of very scenic hiking trails.

We were there in early April when the red buds were just starting to bloom.

The best thing that can be said about late winter is that it makes you appreciate spring. We’ve had a stretch of abnormally warm weather and are supposed to get rain this weekend so everything should burst into bloom.

We hope all is well with all of you!