Posey Magazine August–October 2014 by J. Bruce Baumann

August/October 2014

A magazine for and about

Posey County, Indiana

August/October 2014

“Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire.” — Samuel Johnson “Age [along with retirement] appears to be best in four things — old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.” — Francis Bacon “Choose a work that you love and you won’t have to work another day.” — Confucius

Cover Story

“Retirement is the ugliest word in the language.” — Ernest Hemingway “Now that I’ve reached the ripe old age of retirement, I feel it my duty to teach you everything I’ve learnt about love, so listen closely. Love is like… That’s as far as I’ve gotten I’m afraid.” — Ben Mitchell

Pointing his finger while eye-balling a student through his large rearview mirror, Horace “Buddy” Greathouse was the man in charge and every kid knew it, especially the one being eye-balled. He said that students weren’t as mannerly these days as when he start driving a school bus, but on his last day driving Mount Vernon school bus Number 5, the one he captained for 50 years, there was a sense that it was a spe“Retirement: Twice the husband, half the cial day. His last day on the job. At 88-years-young, “Buddy” safely delivered his passengers to their homes, as he had, for many of these students, delivered their par- money!” — Unknown wise retired married person ents or grandparents sometime during those 50 years. — J. Bruce Baumann Special thanks to the following for their help Larry Caplan, Joseph Poccia

THE BOOK ACCORDING TO... “Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” — Henry James

James

may be close to right, but how could he leave out summer raindrops? How about listening to the murmer of water while watching clouds float across the sky? And lying in the grass and counting the stars? How about stretching out in a lounge chair and reading a book, a big book, just because you want to? Actually that chair and book combination comes as close to Paradise as I have ever been. When school days drew to an end and summer seemed to stretch on endlessly, what made it a joy almost too delicious to contemplate was the prospect of reading as much and as long as I wanted without having to fit in time for math homework. Math homework always seemed to expand to fill all the time available, never leaving enough time to read the books I had stacked on my night table. Sometimes the stack got a bit unsteady. The slick covers the librarians were careful to put in place made it almost certain that they’d come crashing down, usually when the number of books crept past six. Six was the maximum number of books elementary students were allowed to check out. Maybe that’s why. When I was in the lower grades, my parents and I lived right across the street from the school I attended and there was a branch library in the basement with an outdoor entrance. It stayed open all summer and I loved to scamper across the street and head down those musty-smelling steps where my footsteps echoed briefly. I must have read and re-read every

title trying to choose which books to take home. Whatever housework my mother was doing when I got home would keep until she had stopped to see what I had brought home. One day it might be all books about Native Americans and life in the Old West. The next day it could be Nancy Drew mysteries. It didn’t matter much; the next day would bring new treasures. Shortly after I entered the sixth grade my parents and I moved and I no longer lived across the street from the library. But shed no tears for me. It didn’t take long for me to find a walking route to my new school through alleys that went past raspberry bushes, a pear tree, an apple tree and a grape arbor. I asked one elderly lady who was hanging up clothes in her backyard if I might have some grapes. She said, “Honey, take all you want. You’re the first child who has ever asked.” Now when summer comes I seldom find my way to the public library. I have accumulated a sizable library of my own and it’s oh-too-easy to order books to be delivered to my door or downloaded to my e-reader. But it’s just not the same. I think I just may have to borrow my friend’s grandchildren and introduce them to the wonders of books that a smiling librarian will let you just take home and read. —Charlene Tolbert Contributing Editor Posey Magazine She can be contacted at: poseymagazine@aol.com

POSEY POSTCARD

“Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.” — Sarah Bernhardt

ÂŠ Photograph by J. Bruce Baumann

Fifty years is a long time for any job, but â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Buddyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Greathouse loved the work.

By Charlene Tolbert

Eighty-eight-year-old Horace “Buddy”

Greathouse has rarely ventured far beyond Southern Indiana, more specifically Posey County. But over the past 50 years he’s driven thousands and thousands of miles. And he’s been driving in circles all those years. Photographs By J. Bruce Baumann

On his last day as a Mount Vernon school bus driver, there was a series of highs and contemplations. The calendar on the dashboard of the Number 5 bus marked off the days that concluded 50 years of service to the school district. David Frye, principal at Farmersville Elementary School, lead the students out on the last day to say thank you for being such a good steward for more than 2,000 students in Greathouseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s care for 50 years.

As the bus took its last turn in front of Farmersville Elementary, parents, teachers, and students lined the parking lot to pay one last tribute to a man they loved.

School Bus Route No. 5 Monday through Friday. He’d start at 5:40 a.m. on Old Beech Road, on to Mount Vernon, circle back out Tile Factory Road and end up in Farmersville at 8:15. Then he’d repeat his route from 2:25 to 4 p.m. Day after day, year after year and generation after generation until he retired at the end of the 2013-2014 school year. Buddy is quick to tell you that he has driven the grandchildren of some of the first students he drove back in 1964. He and his wife, Betty, were busy farming and raising children in 1963 when the opportunity to be a school bus driver came along and “I could always use the extra money,” he says. A son had been born in ‘63 and Buddy had built a house on long-time family land. “My grandfather had come back to Lynn Township, out near Savah, in 1872 after fighting in the Civil War. I still have his sword and bugle. He bought land, cleared some of it and started farming. It’s near the old Smith School, close by the south end of the state park. I live there still with my son, and my 5-year-old granddaughter Jewel. That’s five generations now that’s lived on the same land. “I’ve got family ties everywhere you look in Posey County. My great-aunt, Matilda Greathouse Alexander, founded the Alexandrian Public Library in Mount Vernon in 1895. I’m comfortable here. There’s not much violence and it’s peaceful.” His fondness for school buses goes back to the days when he was a student in 1933. “It was a Model T body with one opening in the back. There were steps up to that back door that the driver opened with a window cord. Students sat on benches facing each other and there was a board down the middle where the little ones perched. “I owned my own bus from 1963 to 1975. And my wife drove a school bus too.

Nothing escapes the watchful eyes of a 50-year veteran of running a tight ship. The words have been repeated a thousand times: “Sit down. Don’t put your hands out the window. Be nice back there, and stop yelling.” He doesn’t act like his 88 years, and the kids know he’s the boss. It comes through loud and clear when he is able to call everyone by name, and he knows where they live.

She started that when I went to Holland. See, I was working in the warehouse at GE (I started in 1972) and there had been some cross-contamination at the plant in Holland. My boss told me he’d like me to go with him over there to straighten it out. So I told him I’d need to clear it with my wife. I called her and she said she could handle the kids and the bus, so go ahead. So the company arranged for my passport (it came in a few days) and off I went. Had a nice time. Visited Paris and Brussels, but it was good to get home.” A dapper dresser given to wearing woven leather suspenders and a white straw cowboy hat, Buddy nods and smiles at almost everyone who passes by while he enjoys an ice cream sundae at the Mount Vernon Dairy Queen. He says, “I don’t loaf in town too much. I’ve got lots to do at home. I watch a little TV, mostly the news and Lawrence Welk. Now that I’m not driving, I ride my

palomino horse Chief. I’ve had a number of palominos. Got one from the Budweiser people in St. Louis. I guess I’m something of a horse trader. “My sons and I have about 30 head of cattle and we sell the yearlings. It keeps us busy. “I’ve got a 4-wheeler that I’ve put about 5,000 miles on around my farm. My granddaughter has one too that she rides around the lot. She wears a remote control around her neck so we can stop it if she starts to go too far. ” Buddy kept a tight rein on the students who rode his school bus too. Because riders ranged from little to large, he had some rules — the older kids went to the back of the bus, everyone had to sit down, there was no fighting and no hands out the windows. As a kind of reward for good behavior, Buddy gave each rider a candy bar and a soft drink at Christmas and at the end of the school year.

“I will miss the kids, even though they’re not nearly as mannerable as they used to be. But they wave and holler when they see me around town. Much as I enjoyed it, it was time for me to quit driving the bus. There are so many reckless drivers and people who are on their cellphones. I’ve had people come around my stopped bus who were on their cellphone. But I haven’t hurt any children in all these years and at my age, if there were to be an accident, I’d be blamed for it even if it wasn’t my fault. “But I’ll keep busy. I always want to work and accomplish things and I’d sure rather wear out than rust out.”

Charlene Tolbert is a nearly lifelong Hoosier who continues to be captivated by the people and places of Southern Indiana. She can be contacted at poseymagazine@aol.com.

These were the last two students on the bus for the final ride. A last hug shows just how much the kids loved â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Buddyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Greathouse.

What I saw today Photographs and Text By J. Bruce Baumann

itting on my deck that overlooks the lake, I saw two wood ducks make a flyover to check things out, followed by a beautiful aerobatic move that only precision pilots make. They tilted their wings and landed side-by-side in front of me.

This was going to be a good morning.

A pair of Baltimore orioles glided into the locust tree not more than 50 feet from me. I could tell they were in love. They started to build a cozy nest that looked like an old sock. A gentle rain arrived, washing the last of the delicate white blossoms on the dogwood tree. I watched a cardinal make amorous pecks at himself in the rearview mirror of my old pickup truck. It reminded me of my high school days when every mirror was an opportunity to reach perfection — with no greater success than this guy. First two, and then four, and finally five green herons used a fallen tree in the lake as a landing zone. Mating must have been on their mind, but one of them was going to be greatly disappointed. It ain’t easy being green!

Two deer were dining on my daylilies. They seemed not

to understand that they were devouring beauty that the rest of us just enjoyed seeing as the blossoms swayed to the beat of a gentle breeze. There’s so much beauty just for the watching. Franz Kafka said, “Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” Does this mean I will forever be young? Keep dreaming, old man. I am, by my own definition, a photographer. In my own youth I chased pictures of conflict — the hard realities of life. Death. Riots. Poverty. Natural disasters. But as I grow older, I’m searching for the beautiful that surrounds me — actually, all of us. Examining what has evolved from what was created. The flowers in my world are perennial, and mostly viewed from an overall perspective. Try to think of it as a kind of aerial view, seeing the whole, but missing the parts. What beautiful gifts are hidden in these works of art? “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper,” according to W.B. Yeats.

This is what I saw today!

Peony

Daylily

Clematis

Iris

Stelladora daylily

Morning glory in the Black-eyed Susans

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” — Henry David Thoreau

Tulip

Tulip Poplar

“Man’s mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes

Chives

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” — Hans Hofmann

Primrose

“I trust all joy.” — Theodore Roethke

Queen Anne’s lace

Daffodils

“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it is over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.” — Mary Oliver

Poetry

BUT NOT TO LOVE ITSELF An end will come to this. Surely as there was a first time, tense and hopeful as a budding leaf, then all the green abundance shot with storm and light, the last will come. Already sky shows through and bare, monotonous limbs. What’s left is sweetly tinted once again, but fragile, scarce, and we are terrified of space as unfledged birds cleaved to one another in the cold. Is it different when the last leaf falls? Will we know? — Alison Baumann

Posey Portrait

Jessie Jones, barista/cook at Sara’s Harmonie Way in New Harmony

Posey Portrait will feature a random photograph of a friend or neighbor — in a place we call home

Feathers/By Sharon Sorenson

hether you have a rooftop garden on a high-rise condo or acreage in the country, you can make it attractive to birds. Even on a small city lot, you can convert a nondescript backyard into an avian-filled nature preserve, your own sort of mini park, with native trees, masses of annual color, and a water feature. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s begin by saying this up-front: Attracting birds to the yard involves way more than feeders and feed. Rather, attracting birds is always about habitat, including food, water, shelter, and places to raise young. Without all four elements, the yard falls short. If the yard falls short, the bird count falls short. Merely adding a few nest boxes wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t A wash of color from native-plant blooms fills the garden of a certified backyard wildlife habitat. Providing nectar and seed and supporting bugs, bird-friendly plants include, clockwise from top, prairie milkweed, bronze fennel, yellow prairie coneflower, monarda, yarrow, blanket flower, purple coneflower (also in center), speedwell, more monarda, tall verbena, and rudbeckia. The trellis supports native cross vine, American wisteria, and passion vine. ÂŠ Photograph by Sharon Sorenson

A female ruby-throated hummingbird nectars at red monarda, also called bee balm. While hummingbirds come readily to feeders, they prefer the natural nectar of flowers, especially the natives that they recognize.

fill the bill, either. Only a few birds nest in cavities. Others need dense shrubbery, tall trees, brambles and tangles, or protective ground cover. Fortunately for the backyard landscape planner, plants that offer good nest sites often also offer shelter, that much-needed protection from weather and predation. Creating a wildlife habitat takes time, of course, since trees don’t grow overnight. But within a few short years, you can establish

an oasis that draws birds to an orderly, wellmaintained landscape. Begin with trees, especially natives, like dogwood, oak, redbud, black cherry, poplar, gum, honey locust, and sassafras. Plant in clusters, the way trees grow in the woods. Planting natives also means saplings require less care, fewer fertilizers, and less water than non-natives. A further upside: birds recognize native food sources. Trees don’t mature overnight,

of course, so add other plants—bushes, perennials, vines, and shrubs. Offer a mix of native foods like nectar, pollen, fruit, sap, seeds, berries, nuts, acorns. Consider perennials like prairie coneflower, black-eyed Susan, yarrow, mallows, and monarda. If you wish, add a few well-behaved non-natives like zinnias and tithonia to enhance spring and summer buffets. Dogwood, sassafras and holly berries, acorns, and purple coneflower and poplar tree seeds take precedence in

Northern Mockingbirds, exclusively bug and berry eaters, stake out winter feeding territories. This one has chosen a lush crop of winterberries for winter survival. Without berries, mockingbirds leave for the winter.

winter feeding, when birds flock to the native seeds. To enjoy birds like eastern bluebirds, flycatcher species and hummingbirds, you’ll have to avoid pesticides. Since these and many other birds adhere to a strict diet of bugs and since 98 percent of all birds feed their babies bugs, avoiding pesticides assures a regular food supply for birds — thereby naturally eliminating annoying insects. The second essential, water, especially

moving water—bubbler, mister, dripper, or fountain—functions magnet-like to draw in feathered friends. Moving water attracts birds that feeders never will. Many birds don’t eat seeds, but every bird needs water, both for bathing and for drinking. And winter water is a winter haven. Come spring, you’ll see more migrants at moving water than anywhere else in the yard. Birds also needs cover, protection from the elements and from predators. The

more “wild” a backyard habitat, the more protection it offers. Short of having a wooded backyard, dense shrubs, a corner filled with brambles or thicket or a brush, log or rock pile tucked in back can fill the bill. Commercial roosting boxes help, too. Finally, good backyard habitat offers nursery sites. Cavity nesters like Carolina chickadees, tufted titmice and eastern bluebirds look for hollow posts, limbs, or man-made nest boxes. Woodpeckers need

A male American goldfinch gathers nesting material in the form of seed fluff from native thistle. Because goldfinches demand these plant fibers for their nests and because the seed doesn’t mature until mid-summer, goldfinches are among the last birds to nest. Although goldfinches don’t distinguish between native common thistle and invasive bull thistle, you’ll do better eradicating the invasive species.

dead trees or snags in which to carve a home. By leaving dead and dying trees standing (assuming they’re not a danger), you offer all these birds a happy home. Lacking dead trees in the yard, add a fallen hollow log, decaying stumps, nest boxes and dense and/or thorny vegetation to harbor nesting birds. Finally, practice sustainable gardening, conserving water and soil, controlling exotic species, and using organic strategies. One means of incorporating all four practices is to

reduce lawn. Lawn translates into a wasteland for wildlife. Consider maintaining only small patches and paths, designing “lawn” as borders, perhaps between container garden groups and the woodland or between the woodland with mulched paths and a pond. Paving stones, banks of impatiens under a spreading red maple, and mounds of mulched hostas can substitute in the total absence of grass. Where grass is a necessity, choose lowmow or no-mow varieties of natives.

A few final hints for good backyard wildlife habitat: •Leave leaf litter under bushes where birds can find bugs. •Note which plants attract birds; plant more. •Plant clusters — not singles — of flowers, bushes, shrubs, and trees.

Eastern bluebirds nest only in cavities but will accept man-made nest boxes designed to meet their needs. Here, a female bluebird carries pine needles to the pair’s chosen nest site, using readily available materials to construct her tidy nest.

•Add a layer of mulch between shrubs and flower beds as a habitat for native bugs. •Mix evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs for year-round food and shelter. •Leave snags and dead trees standing (assuming they’re not a danger); move fallen limbs to the edge; let them rot to serve as nature’s grocery store. •Aim for variety—in food and water sources, in cover and nursery spots.

For birds, it’s all about habitat. A feeder planted in the middle of open lawn makes poor habitat. Rather, brushy edge-ofthe-woods spots bursting with nectar-filled wildflowers, berries, grass seeds, bugs, and briars beckon birds. So think like a bird. Good backyard habitat resembles a bird’s version of a five-star restaurant, not a fast-food drivethru. For birds, it’s all the same price. Which habitat would you choose?

SOME BACKYARD PLANTS THAT HELP BIRDS TREES

Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) Crabapple (Malus spp.) Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.)

In early February, 14 American robins, an eastern bluebird, and two American goldfinches (one partially hidden) drink at a backyard bubbling rock. Many birds never visit seed feeders, but virtually all come to water to drink and to bathe.

ÂŠ Photograph by Sharon Sorenson

Oaks (Quercus) Bur (Q. macrocarpa) Red (Q. borealis [rubra]) White (Q. alba) Pines (Pinus spp.) Spruce (Picea spp.) Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) SHRUBS American Cranberry or highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum)

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster spp.) Dogwood (Cornus spp.) Elderberry (Sambucas spp.) Native honeysuckles (Lonicera spp.) Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) Sumacs (Rhus spp.) Viburnums (Viburnum spp.) Wild Plum (Prunus americana)

VINES American Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) Raspberry and Blackberry (Rubus spp.) Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans) Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquifolia) Wild Grape (Vitis spp.)

Attracted In late autumn by flowing water, a male American goldfinch, already in winter plumage, bathes in a shallow water feature. Water must be less than an inch deep in order for small birds to step in and not drown.

OTHER PLANTS Asters Black-eyed Susan Millet Monarda Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) Sunflowers Zinnias

Sharon and Charles Sorenson settled in St. Philip in 1966 and continue to improve their certified backyard wildlife habitat that to date has hosted 161 bird species and 53 butterfly species. Send your bird questions and comments to them or contact them for publicvenue programs, conferences, or seminars at: forthebirdscolumn@yahoo.com.

For more backyard habitat ideas, see Sharon Sorenson’s book Birds in the Yard Month by Month: What’s There and Why and How to Attract Those That Aren’t, available online and through bookstores.

Out of the frame/J. Bruce Baumann

Out of the frame focuses on moments found without a story or context. We all pass something that catches our eye and tweaks our curiosity during the course of everyday living. Sometimes it makes us smile or even chuckle. You might say it tickles the mind. Other times it makes us think about life in a serious way. Regardless of how we react, in that instant the image touches a part of our brain or heart and becomes part of who we are. For the moment it takes us out of the frame.

ÂŠPhotograph by J. Bruce Baumann

Green heron at the “resort.”

Out In The Back Of Beyond/Editor’s Notebook LIVING IN RURAL INDIANA

I’ve

come up with a pretty good idea for making country living funner. My friends who live in the city are always finagling an invitation to the farm. Some have gone as far as to refer to it as a resort. The beautifully landscaped lawns, pastures and manicured paths through the wood are park-like, and bring them closer to the land — and the Almighty. They go on to talk about the variety of birds, as if this were an aviary with only a wall of trees, instead of the usual glass and cement found in zoos. The wild critters that roam freely seem like gifts, strategically placed by the landowner. The flowers, both wild and orderly, offer a palette of color to excite the dreary offerings in town. Nothing is out of order — and everything is just there. It’s true, when they’ve made their day trips to Posey County, we put something on the grill, pop open a few cold ones, and maybe do a little fishing in the lake, or take a nature walk through the woods. I enjoy their company and compliments. They leave with an experience that they don’t have in the city. I’m left with the reality of the hard work that needs to be done to make it “resort like.”

That’s when it hit me, a way to make my life easier and give my city friends The Real Country Experience. I can see the invitation now: Come visit for a week of barnyard thrills. I’ll feed’em and give them a place to sleep. In return they pay me a few hundred bucks a week for advice and to experience country life to the fullest. There will be a variety of “classes” for the newbies. Here are a few that will give every visitor/student a lifetime of memories: Weed Eating 101 — The lake and two ponds need regular manicures during the summer months. I’ll teach them how to string the little gas-powered bugger, and give them a full five-minute lesson in the fine art of weed eating. It normally takes a healthy high school boy no more than six or seven hours to make the rounds. The calories that you would normally burn up in some air-conditioned gym will seem like child’s play. Plus, there’s the joy of instantly seeing the results of your workout. Pick Up Sticks for those who don’t do well with gasoline-powered tools. The poplar patch provides a daily supply of limbs that need to be removed before mowing. The patch is close to an acre, and generally takes about

10 or 12 loads in the provided golf cart, which I’ll offer at no charge to haul the wood to a waiting burn pile. Mucking for the horse lovers in their family. Those cute little 1,100-pound babies can fill a stall overnight. Aside from the obvious that no one likes to stand in his own waste, it makes great fertilizer for the garden. Some hot days you’ll swear there’s a pony under all that fertilizer. If you do find one, you’ll win a free bottle of ice-cold water. Hands-On garden weeding is so much fun for both the beginner and the experienced hand. Weeds challenge the welldeveloped mind, creating dexterity, and a chance to see chiggers close up. While your vegetable crop is taking its time to mature, your weeds are working overtime. Are you smart enough to outwit the weeds? Forget about outwitting the chiggers. Take as many of those as you want. There’s no bag limit, and they will help you remember the fun you had at the resort. So when people ask what you did on your summer vacation, you’ll have a million stories to share about your fun at the resort. Your friends will be ashamed to talk about the long lines at Disney.

J. Bruce Baumann Editor Posey Magazine poseymagazine@aol.com

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” — Unknown

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