Roger is a wealth of history around here. He's 74 and hasn't forgot a thing about what has happened over those years and can name places and things and people like a history book. Sometimes I just like to go talk to him.
He was renting a farm that came up for sale and I wanted to buy it. I called him up and asked if he was going to buy it? He hem hawed around and said, No, I am getting old and I don't think I need another farm right now. Why don't you go ahead and buy it so I did. He has never let me forget about it since. I keep telling him it is still for sale.
His dad was quite famous in these parts. I will never forget the day I opened up the department mail back in the late 70's or early 80's and there was a check for $100 from a farmer in a neighboring school district. He enclosed a newspaper article about my students in a local paper and wrote a note to tell me to "keep up the good work." I didn't know the man from Adam and now I know his oldest boy.
I called him before lunch Saturday and said what in the world are you doing, Roger? He said Oh, just a little record keeping. I don't know how he keeps track of all his farm records but I am sure it is better than I do. I asked if he needed a break from them and he said Sure, what do you have in mind? I said I wanted to show LuAnn your cabin. He said Come on over just like I told her he would, so we did.
When we got there, we discussed who would drive and finally I said why don't you drive, full knowing it would not be a short trip. As we were driving through the creek, I said, My that is the most water I have seen around here. He said Yeah, got some beavers down stream. It looked clear enough to drink.
I said I wonder if this Sloan Silt Loam like the bottoms on the farm we just bought? I knew he would say, You're the expert on that. By that time LuAnn had clicked the Soil Web app on her cellphone and said, this land is 90% Sloan. I said it sure isn't Hickory Silt Loam, it looks black and wet. It sure raises a good crop in a year like this.
We got up to the 18 by 18 foot cabin where they hold the "sheepherder's ball." He had a story about that too, a lady got invited once that knew nothing about it and she called his wife to ask what to wear. She though maybe it was a real dressup ball. It is a boots, hat and denim thing, you know, he said.
By that time we finally got there in low gear I think, I needed to use the facilities and assumed there was none. Sure enough though, he had a nice outhouse in the back! It even had toiletpaper the squirrels hadn't ruined! There were lots of acorn pieces by the lid, though!
After we were done looking he was off the races showing us old brick houses telling us stories about them and even pulled up to a brick outhouse. There aren't many of them around!
There are some pretty neat places around here if you ever get lost in southwest Ohio. Just ask for Ed Winkle. They will show you here. Just ask Mr. Wilson, or Doug or any of our great visitors!
Ed Winkle
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