Scioto Voice, Wheelersurg JimK.'s High Notes

High Notes 01-12-2012

I like football, baseball and basketball, and I’ve played them all…not well, but I always had fun. Now all of those sports are of the “spectator variety” for me, and the number one game for me to watch is college basketball. Oh, that’s not true, I really prefer high school basketball, but I’ve gotten out of the habit of attending games, and do my spectating from the easy chair sitting in front of the HD tv.

Take tonight…Ohio State is playing at Illinois on ESPN at 9 p.m. I will watch!

Saturday, the Kentucky Wildcats will be at Tennessee, and I’ll be in front of the tv.

Next Sunday, the Buckeye boys will have a re-match with Indiana, AT HOME this time, and we hope they will give the Hoosiers a rough and tumble game resulting in victory for the boys in scarlet and grey. OSU lost their first game at Indy, by a narrow foul-induced score.

On Monday, my brother Paul, of Sedan Crabtree Road, McDermott, and I made a road trip to Flemingsburg, Kentucky, to attend a livestock sale in that neat, and relatively near-by town of 3,000.

I have been in Flemingsburg a few times in the last couple of years, accompanying, Linda Noel, of Second Street, Portsmouth antique-shop fame, on buying trips. Linda is the daughter of Florine (Flo) McConnell, a former typesetter and assistant-editor of The Scioto Voice, during the first several years of the paper’s existence.

Flo didn’t have the title of “assistant editor”, but she was the smartest grammarian in our small staff in those days. And, Flo and James (Count) McConnell were outstanding, and nationally known, art-glass dealers for many years, so Linda comes by the antique business honestly.

Linda lives next door to my girlfriend, Nora Netzer, at Forest Heights, Portsmouth and the three of us hang out together some. Linda’s long-time husband, Jack Noel, the retired fireman, died a couple of years ago.

Oh, and coincidentally, my long-time Burt’s Lane, Stout, neighbors, Dee and Nancy Mauk, have moved into the Forest Heights apartment in the adjoining duplex to Linda, next door to, and in-between Linda and Nora.

Dee and Naancy are settling in since moving last Fall.

On one of our Flemingsburg trips, Linda, an only child, said, “You know I was really grown before I knew my Dad’s name was James…I remember somebody asked if Jim McConnell was my Dad, and I said, ‘No, my Dad’s name is Count!” Count, who was born in 1911, was an outstanding Portsmouth Trojan athlete of his day, excelling at all sports. And, Florine was a star basketball player for the Trojans during the late twenties and early thirties.

No, my part-time farmer brother Paul, did not buy any of the beef calves that were being sold at Flemingsburg on Monday, but we had a good time anyway. It was a new experience for me, and he had never been to that particular stock sale. What sold us on the idea of going though was my memory of the wonderful Country-ham and fried potato breakfast they sell in the Stockyard Restaurant. It is really a nice place to get a great meal, and they are open every day, not just their Monday and Saturday livestock sale days. If you want to have a good old Kentucky style meal, it is worth the beautiful morning drive. Just take the AA highway to Kentucky Rte 57 south, and enjoy the scenery and the food.