SERVING HENDRICKS COUNTY SINCE 1847
The Republican
Page A-6
Voices
Hunting Maintenance During the Summer
We offer Voices as a place to share a story, a memory, an idea, a comment, a criticism, or a solution. Contributors must include name, address & phone number.
By Mike E. Neilson We welcome the voice of Mike Neilson, longtime Danville High School teacher and longtime hunting enthusiast. He’s shared his hunting experience in book form with Class Dismissed: I’m Going Hunting! (2004); We’re Gonna Need More Arrows!: Hunting Adventurs Around the Country and Around the World (2009); and Pig Tails and Other Hunting Adventures (2014) Part III If you are going afield for more than just a day hunt, consider getting and maintaining spare chargers for phones or GPS. If you have these already, it might be a good idea to check the charge to be sure they are at full capacity. If you like to carry a camera afield be sure you have a backup battery and if it takes cards, keep a blank one ready. Murphy’s law undoubtable will kick in as you pose your trophy for that perfect shot and the battery is dead or the data card is full. Check the straps to your climbing/ fall restraints. This only takes a few minutes and is a potential life saver. Hopefully, you will never have to use one but if you do, you absolutely cannot afford to have them fail. You are falling already, do not add insult to injury by having this vital piece of equipment falter. I know many folks swear at them as well as by them. But please check them at least once a year. Finally, if you do not use one, please consider this as a necessary item for hunting from most elevated stands. Keep your skinning and gutting knives sharp. Just pull them out of their sheaths and test the edge. If the blades are sharp, put them back and hope you get the chance to put them to work later, if not, give them a quick touch up. If you have teenage daughters, sharpen the knives in front of their dates (it’s a dad thing). If you have ever field dressed game, fish, or fowl with a dull knife, you know what I’m talking about. Not only do you have to work harder, but you stand a better chance of injuring yourself. Treestand maintenance. I can’t say enough about checking straps, rachets and the stand itself. I pull my stands out of the woods after each season. During the summer months and just before I put them up for the fall, I do a visual inspection of the metal, looking for fatigue, broken parts, missing bolts and pieces. If you keep your stands in the woods all year, the same advice applies, especially straps. I don’t know why mice and squirrels delight in chewing straps, but you absolutely don’t want to get climbing up and have the straps break. Again, straps are cheap compared to the potential consequences. It also never hurts to carry a spare rachet strap in your pack in the event the vermin (either 2 legged or 4) decide to damage or remove your straps. The same advice goes for tree steps, climbing stands, or climbing sticks, lock-on stands or homemade stands. A bit of checking prior to putting them out in the field is a cheap insurance policy that your hunts will stay as safe as possible. (Next week is the final part of this 4 part series on summer maintenance for hunters) ______________________________________________
Jackie Horn and her husband, John, transplanted from Warsaw to Plainfield to be near family. They have two children and nine grandchildren. An Advanced Indiana Master Naturalist, Jackie is a retired substitute teacher who continues to teach (and learn) about all things outdoors. John is a retired CNC programmer and the photographer on the team. The Horns enjoy traveling, walking, hiking, kayaking, and bicycling.
100 Years of Traffic Signals It’s Time for a Change The pickleball courts at Swinford Park in Plainfield are usually busy.
Pickleball: A Big “DILL” in Hendricks County
Confession time: Until we moved here, I had never heard of Pickleball. I still haven’t played it...yet. John and I would ride through parks and there were LOADS of people gathering around courts. They weren’t playing tennis but I couldn’t figure out what they were doing. Never one to be shy, I asked. Pickleball! It was explained to me that it’s kind of like tennis but played with a whiffle ball and a paddle that is larger than a ping pong paddle. The game is played on a court the same size as a badminton court. The rules are similar to tennis. The game was named for a “pickle boat,” a racing shell that’s manned by the team’s less skilled members and leftover equipment. Pickleball is played by everyone from young children to “seasoned” citizens. Players come in all skill levels. It can is played as singles or doubles. I’ve seen crowds early in the morning, on cooler afternoons and in the evenings in lit parks. Rarely are the courts deserted. Pickleball is so popular in the Hendricks County area that all of the communities boast at least one park with courts.
Paula Fritch waiting to play pickleball.
I have to admit, I’m intrigued. I want to learn this game but I’m a little timid. Is there anything worse than playing with a beginner? No volleying, only fetching balls? I could fail miserably in front of a BUNCH of strangers. “All of us were new to it once,” Paula Fritch, the pickleball player I spoke to, reassured me. “We remember what it feels like.”
July 31 - On the Free Stage, John Waite will be performing his hit, Missing You, along with other hits from The Babys and Bad English. Readers, you might recall my interview with John Waite and review of his performance. This is a show you don’t want to miss. August 4 - Country Sensation and Grammy nominated artist Josh Turner will perform. August 6 - Noah Cyrus will take the stage with her hit Make Me (Cry) which was a #1 hit on Spotify’s Viral Global Chart.
August 18 - Take a step back to the 60’s and 70’s with The Happy Together Tour featuring great bands including The Turtles, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, The Association, Classics IV, The Vogues, and The Cowsills. August 20 - The Free Stage hosts America’s favorite band, The Beach Boys. This is a band I have seen five times and they always outperform your expectations. August 22 - The Gospel Music Festival with headliner Hezekiah Walker, a Grammy Award winner, known for delivering gospel anthems that are full of hope. Stay tuned for more concert updates. ______________________________________________
Some of you may remember the days before traffic signals. Life was good. You’d ride your horse up to an intersection, glance around, and continue on your way. It never crossed your mind that another horse might run into you. Horse accidents were unheard of. Horses are smart — they refuse to run into each other. They are alert and make good decisions (i.e., “horse sense”). But, replace the horse with a car and ask a human to make decisions. We all know what happened — almost overnight we needed stop signs, lane lines, traffic signals, etc., etc., etc. Not every human is as smart as a horse… And the most famous invention was the traffic signal. The first traffic signals were gas-fueled and controlled by a police officer. In 1868, the first gas-lit traffic lights were installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London. This was proposed by a British railway engineer, J.P Knight. And being gas-fueled, they would sometimes explode. But then, in 1912, an American policeman, Lester Wire, came up with the idea of the first electric traffic light. It had two lights, red and green. Instead of a yellow light, it had a buzzer that would sound indicating the light was about to change. But in the year 1920, another policeman named William Potts in Detroit, Michigan invented the first three-colored traffic light. This idea of having a third “warning” light, was also patented by businessman Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. in the year 1923. Similar to the days when our horse made our “driving” decisions, autonomous cars are gradually fulfilling that same role. Essentially 100% of automobile accidents are a result of human error. Taking the human out of that equation, once again, is the answer to improving automobile safety. Giddyup! ______________________________________________
A Squirrel About Town
By Allen Kiger
August 13 - My friend Vince Neil, lead singer of Motley Crue will be performing solo with his band. I’m sure he will be performing some of his hits from Motley Crue. He is as energetic on stage as off. I would love to tell you some stories about Vince and I running around in Hollywood but my mother might be reading this article.
By Chet Skwarcan, PE, President/ Founder of Traffic Engineering, Inc. Chet@TrafficEngineering.com
By Jackie Horn
ON THE MUSIC SCENE
If you love live music, be sure to get out to the Free Stage at the Indiana State Fair where with the price of admission to the fair you can watch a concert. Here are some of the notable artists appearing there this summer.
ASK MR. TRAFFIC
Exploring Hendricks County
ALLEN’S CORNER
Are you ready for live music? It’s back bigger and better than ever. Concerts are popping up all over. The bands are just as excited to perform as the fans are to be back in the audience again. Right now you have more choices than you have had in the past 14 months!
Thursday, July 22, 2021
The new mixed-use courts at Danville’s Ellis Park host pickleball tournaments.
Where do I go to learn and play? For more complete information, check out: Avon - YMCA (indoors beginning in October – Nominal fee for non-members, equipment provided – Contact facility for details) Brownsburg - Arbuckle Acres (2 courts with lighting) and Stephens Park (6 courts closes at dusk) Danville - Ellis Park (Several leagues play here. Check their website: danvilleindiana.org/parks) Plainfield - Swinford Park (8 courts) and Richard Carlucci Rec Center (3 indoor courts) And then there’s the important question: What do I wear? No worries here. I’m told anything comfortable is fine. Court shoes are strongly suggested for the side-toside moves as regular sneakers and running shoes don’t offer enough support. So if you’re in a “pickle” trying to find a fun cardio activity, want to meet a “barrel” of new friends, and “relish” a little competition, maybe you should consider Pickleball. ______________________________________________
By Archy I told Archy I would be at the 4-H Fair most of the week. I didn’t want him to think I was ignoring him. “Duty first,” he said, adding, “I probably wouldn’t recognize the place - It’s been decades since my several great grandfather lived there when it was a farm.” I told Archy I remembered when it was a farm, too. Only it was abandoned, and the farmhouse was occupied by raccoons. “Was the barn still there then?” the squirrel asked. “My grandfather used to play around that old barn. He and his brothers would stick their heads in the milking stanchions and pretend to be Holsteins.” I told him the barn was there when I took pictures before they razed it and the house and outbuildings to make way for the fairgrounds, “It was a small barn, but a veritable jewel of rural architecture,” Archy said, closing his eyes to access his genetic memory. “And highly efficient, according to grandfather. There was one feature he would talk on and on about.” “Not the...” I started to say. “The manure chute!” he laughed. “The gutter behind the milking stanchions had the most elegant concrete dropoff at the end, before everything landed in the compost pile below.” I wondered what other memories I shared with Archy’s ancestors.
