Saturday, December 15, 2012

Overnight In Ohio


We spent today in New Philadelphia, Ohio after delivering our oversized load of machinery late yesterday afternoon.  There's really not much going on here, but I did find out they had a rare all-wooden carousel in the local park, so I urged Ed to drive us on over there.

The Herschell-Spillman carousel was purchased by New Philadelphia secondhand in 1940.  It was made in 1928 by the Spillman Manufacturing Company in New York and includes 36 carved wooden jumping horses, two chariots, and 428 individual lights.  The center panels are adorned with 14 original oil paintings and the music is provided by a Wurlitzer 153 band calliope (Thanks, Wikipedia!). 

Unfortunately, when we got to the park, the carousel was closed for the season, so I wasn't able to see the carved horses or hear the music.  Oh, well.  So we did the next best thing - laundry.  Then we grabbed a quick meal at Bob Evans, hit the mall to buy Ed a new pair of shoes and a few Christmas gifts, then took the truck back to our parking spot. 

I made good use of my time by taking care of some emails and working on my family tree project, while Ed digitally created what our next sleeper will look like (hint:  it's even bigger than this one!).  I'm afraid to see what he'll come up with.  Gone are the days of drawing it out on graph paper, I guess.

Tomorrow will be more hanging out and maybe a second trip to Big Lots for a few more Christmas things, but other than that we have no plans.  The weather is great up here - cold, but not freezing - and it's been such a pleasure to not have to mop up beads of sweat on my forehead.

I've been trying to force myself to learn Italian through the Rosetta Stone program Ed bought me, but I've not been very successful setting aside time to actually do it.  Over the weekend I plan on taking a look at this free program my friend Marlaina's husband found, because I need to learn a little basic French for our week in MontrĂ©al this June.

Time to hit the sack.  Bonne nuit!


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: If It Ain’t Sweet, It Ain’t Southern Made
2010: Portland Bound
2009: Dear Blog Santa
2008: The Trees Help Guide The Way
2007: Just In Time For The Holidays
2006: Eddie Leans On A Barrio Door Friday
2005: Glowing Reminders

4 comments:

Gil said...

Beautiful picture! Thanks for posting about the carousel as you reminded me that I have so metal fasteners that they used to use on leather belts that ran carousels. Maybe, I'll dig them out and try to find someone that could use them.

The Daily Rant said...

GIL: Aw, thanks. It was very dreary out, but I like the sign on the top of the building that said, "Welcome To Our City". I think the old Carousels are awesome. And so many of them are made in that same area of New York. I would love to have seen the carved horses. Maybe another time!

Gil said...

The sign is really a touch of class. I'm pretty sure that they take the horses and the other things off during the Winter to protect them from the elements and thieves. Also, a good time to work on them.

Trucker Brian said...

Great Post!It sounds like you have some great adventures.