Writing a blog post
everyday is a real pain,
so no post today.
Bruce Stambaugh
Jan. 4, 2011
An uncomplicated man gets involved
By Bruce Stambaugh
Jim Croskey, of rural Holmesville, Ohio is an uncomplicated man. But don’t let his down home folksiness fool you.
For most of his adult life, Croskey has put his inner spirit into action for the good of others. His productive community interactions reflect the spectrum of his interests and priorities.
His philosophy for civic duty is as straightforward as the man himself.
“If you’re not involved,” Croskey said plainly, “you can’t complain.”
He should know. Croskey has been involved in a web of activities that crisscross his most treasured values. Family, farming, church and the environment are all dear to his heart.
After graduating from West Holmes High School in 1980, Croskey said he continued his education in the school of hard knocks. In other words, he worked in the oilfields for four years.
That experience got him both thinking and looking into what he really wanted to do. He married Shirley Schlegel in 1984, and with a common interest in antiques, Croskey began an antique refinishing business.
A year later, he started working for his father-in-law, Roy Schlegel, on DalRoy Farms. He must have found his niche, because Croskey is in his 25th year of farming with the Schlegel’s. Croskey is the farm manager of the 900-acre agricultural business.
“I worked on farms in the summer during high school,” Croskey said. “I saw this as a good opportunity to allow me to get into farming.”
His job is to make sure the day-to-day farm operations happen. Croskey said they focus on raising corn, soybeans and hay, and that is his job to look for the best prices on fertilizers and sprays. He said they no-till farm, meaning they do not plow the cropland.
With conservation ever on his mind, Croskey said they have used rye as a cover crop for harvested cornfields. In the spring, the rye is cut for fodder for their livestock.
Croskey said is it critical for him to stay abreast of the latest innovations by attending workshops and seminars.
Croskey incorporates his agricultural interest into community service by sitting on the Holmes Soil and Water board. He has done so for 10 years.
“I see that service as helping farmers and helping the environment,” Croskey said.
Long prior to his service on Soil and Water, Croskey and his wife served as 4-H advisors for two different clubs for a total of 19 years.
“When we started,” Croskey said, “4-H involved five to six families in the clubs. Now it has grown far beyond that status.” Croskey also served on the county 4-H committee for several years.
Before his 4-H service, Croskey was on the Holmes County Farm Bureau for eight years, including three as president.
“That’s what really got me started on the community service,” he said. “At the time, I was the youngest Farm Bureau president ever.”
Croskey said that changed this year when his son, Jimmy, became the organization’s president at age 25. “So the tradition continues,” he said with a wink.
“I haven’t had very much recliner time,” he chuckled. Indeed he hasn’t. Croskey has also been elected Prairie Township Trustee for three terms.
Croskey has also been very active in the church he attends, Fredericksburg Presbyterian. He served eight years as an elder, a trustee, and is currently chairperson of the outreach committee.
That position lead to another, the Fredericksburg Outreach Committee, which established the Chain Reaction Bicycle Shop.
With the Holmes County Trail ending in Fredericksburg, the three local churches thought it a good idea to offer something practical for local children to safely enjoy the benefits of the trail, according to Croskey. The group sponsors bike trips.
“People come to ride that may not come to church,” Croskey said. “We might as well help them, too.” The shop is now closed for the season.
“Church prepares you for how you go out into the world,” Croskey said. “I simply try to be an example.”
Just in case he is not involved enough, Croskey also serves on the board of the Loudonville Farmer’s Equity, which has 250 members.
After all these years, the Croskey’s still enjoy antiques. The difference is they have furnished their farm home with them, rather than refinish them for others.
With all that he does for the community, Croskey probably wouldn’t have the time anyhow.
Holiday haiku
Holidays all done,
Save two in one, Old Christmas
With Epiphany.
Bruce Stambaugh
Jan. 2, 2011
New Year’s Day forecast haiku
Rain changing to snow
is the New Year’s Day forecast
for Amish country.
Bruce Stambaugh
Jan. 1, 2011
A post a day in 2011
I’ve decided I want to blog more. As a commitment, not a hollow resolution, I will make every attempt to post a blog everyday in 2011. I’ll still post my columns and articles, but I want to write more poetry, too. Perhaps I’ll make other observations as well.
I know it will be challenging, and there will be days when I won’t get it done. But it should be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. In so doing, I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similar goals, to help and encourage me along the way. Of course, I will try to encourage others when I can, too.
If you already read my blog, I hope you will encourage me with comments and words of good will along the way. And don’t forget to click the “like” button, too.
Thanks for your support, and Happy New Year!
Bruce
Another crazy year comes to an end
By Bruce Stambaugh
No matter what society you live in, news is an important element of belonging. As social beings, we have an innate need to know. That drive manifests itself differently in different people.
I enjoy the human interest stories that tend to consistently run beneath the mainstream media’s radar. Here is a sampling of some of those lesser known but equally important stories of 2010 that I came across.
Jan. 22 – A half-pound meteorite crashed through the roof of a doctor’s office in Lorton, Va., landing just 10 feet from the doctor, who was working on patients’ charts.
Feb. 9 – The Mortgage Bankers Association sold its building for half the amount it had paid for it, and decided to rent.
Feb. 14 – A pothole delayed the Daytona 500 race for two and a half hours.
March 31 – Minnesota Twins leadoff hitter Denard Span fouled a hard line drive into the stands in a spring training baseball game, hitting a spectator, his mother.
April 5 – Twin boxers Travis and Tarvis Simms were arrested for getting into a fight with each other in Norwalk, Conn.
May 10 – A farm in Oklahoma, where scenes from the movie Twister were filmed, was hit by a real tornado.
May 17 – It took Jack Harris of Shepton Mallet, England, nearly eight years to complete his 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle, only to discover one piece was missing.
June 9 – Researchers revealed the discovery of the world’s oldest known shoe, a 5,500-year-old single piece of leather laced up the front and stuffed with grass, which was found in a cave in Croatia.
July 13 – Keith McVey, a mail carrier in Akron, saved a man’s life by performing CPR. Two years earlier McVey saved a teenage girl from drowning, also while delivering his mail. He had saved yet another man’s life 20 years ago.
August 10 – A report on the state of health of Americans revealed that, on average, waistlines have increased an inch per decade since the 1960s.
August 11 – A contractor marking a school zone in Guilford County, N.C., committed the ultimate typo by painting “shcool” across the road.
Sept. 14 – When 5-year-old Andrew Polasky won a moose-calling contest held at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, his mother said she wasn’t surprised because her son “is good at making a lot of noise.”
Sept. 26 – James Heseldon, 62, owner of the company that makes the Segway, died when he accidentally drove one of the two-wheeled scooters off a cliff near his estate in West Yorkshire, England.
Oct. 6 – National Geographic research linguists in northeastern India found a new language, Koro, still spoken by only about 1,000 people.
Oct. 24 – Jonathan Byrd won the PGA Shriners Open in Las Vegas, Nev. with a hole-in-one on the fourth hole of a three-way playoff.
Nov. 4 – A retired Canadian couple revealed that they had given away to family and selected charities all but two percent of the $11.3 million they had won in a lottery in July.
Nov. 12 – A study showed that people who take notes, scribble, or even doodle while listening have better memories than those who don’t.
Dec. 11 – A report by http://www.Forbes.com listed Ohio third in the nation for people moving out of the state. New York was number one.
I wonder what interesting stories 2011 will bring?
Deer in the snow haiku
Where the snow covered
pasture wedged into the woods,
the yearlings frolicked.
Bruce Stambaugh
Dec. 29, 2010
Christmas isn’t about hustle and bustle
By Bruce Stambaugh
I don’t watch much television. But what little I do, I can’t help but notice how the torrent of holiday-oriented commercials focuses on the urgency of buying something really nice for that special someone in your life.
Celebrating Christmas in our advanced society seems distorted. A brand new car wrapped with a huge red ribbon and bow sitting in the driveway, a sparkling diamond ring and a gold necklace cannot supersede the original gifts of the Magi.
Eager for customers, the ads have managed to push their way to the forefront of the holiday season much too early. Growing up, the countdown to Christmas started the day after Thanksgiving, now known as Black Friday. Today, it seems to start the day after Labor Day.
Even here in the heart of Ohio’s Amish country, we feel the hustle and bustle of the season. Without admitting it, we might even add to it. It’s always easier to see the fault of others than your own.
I don’t want to be negative about Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday of the year.
I just think that given all the commercialization of Christmas, we need a different approach. As I reflect on the historical account of the Advent season that I learned early in life, it seems more and more obvious to me that Christmas really is more about patience than it is presents.
I have many fond childhood memories of readying for Christmas, and the excited anticipation of Christmas morning. My brothers and sisters and I couldn’t wait to raid the pretty packages strewn beneath the tree on Christmas morning. That scene was not the model of patience.
Mom and Dad had stayed up late assembling and wrapping the gifts for us kids. We always pushed our luck at getting up before the crack of dawn to undo what it had taken Santa and our folks hours to prepare.
But what a happy morning it was, with the excitement of surprise with every unwrapping. Those days were simple compared to what passes as season’s greetings today. I find the entire holiday hubbub of shopping, buying and spending exhausting.
I long for the true peace and quiet of Christmas, with the family gathered, the fireplace blazing, the tree’s lights sparkling. Of course, we maintain the gift-giving tradition. We have just toned it down so that reason rules. We want the gifts to represent personal quality instead of absurd quantity.
The stockings hang by the chimney with care. They are filled on Christmas Eve, and emptied on Christmas morn. Just like when I was a child, an orange will be the last to tumble out of each.
The grandkids will watch The Polar Express over and over until the DVR wears out. We’ll play games, eat, and bask in the glow of the moment and the season.
Our modern society may rush the Advent season and judge it by its economic success. But as for me and my family, we will enjoy each others company, joyously share our humble appreciation and rejoice that it is Christmas once again.
Those are Christmas gifts worth waiting for.
Schuler remains young at heart
Feeding the birds is one of life’s pleasures for Judson Schuler, of Millersburg, Ohio.
By Bruce Stambaugh
In every way, Judson Schuler, 94, belies his age.
His mind is as sharp as a tack. He recalls incidences from 60 years ago as if they happened yesterday. And yet, he can more than carry his own in conversation about current events.
For a man is his 90s, Schuler has maintained his health, too. He attributes that to his regular physical workout routine three times a week at a local physical fitness facility.
“I like to stay active,” Schuler said. “I think it’s one of the secrets to staying healthy while getting old and enjoying it.”
He is true to his word.
“I still like to mow and help out with raking and gathering the leaves,” Schuler said. Given the size of his property, that is no small task. Schuler lives on Briar Lane in Millersburg, Ohio. His late wife, Beverly, was the daughter of the president of Briar Hill Stone in Glenmont.
“The original idea for our development was that every home would be built using their stone,” Schuler said. “It was to be a model for what could be done in construction.”
“Bev and I built this in 1956,” he said. “It still suits me well.” Accordingly, the home was built using the decorative, multi-colored sandstone. The Schuler’s were married 62 years. Schuler has a son, a daughter, four grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
The living room and den to the back of the stately home both have large windows and sliding glass doors that afford Schuler good views of the wildlife that he so adores.
“I enjoy feeding the birds, especially the goldfinches,” he said. Indeed, he has a thistle feeder and a hopper feeder in the spacious backyard. His binoculars hang at the ready by his favorite chair.
Schuler also gets great pleasure from watching other wildlife, like squirrels and deer that scurry through his tree-studded backyard. Though he wouldn’t ever say so, Schuler certainly has earned his right to leisure away his days.
Schuler was a noted attorney in Holmes County for many years. He practiced law well into his ‘70s. His late brother, John, was one of his partners. Ray Miller was the other.
“I still have an office in the firm,” he said. “That was part of the sale, that John and I would always have an office to go to.”
Schuler said that when he began practicing law in 1946, Millersburg had six or seven attorneys.
“Now I think there are 20,” he said with an ornery smile.
Schuler said he no longer practices, but that he still goes to the office occasionally just to check in with the other attorneys. The Critchfield, Critchfield and Johnston law firm bought Schuler’s Millersburg firm when he retired.
“My middle name is Critchfield,” Schuler said. “I’m a second cousin to that family.”
Early in his attorney days, Schuler was once the Holmes County prosecutor. But his heart was in private practice.
With his successful career behind him, Schuler takes one day at a time and enjoys every minute of his experiences. That approach might be because his life has revolved around relationships with his clients, his friends, his community activities and his family.
Schuler has served in several civic capacities. He was the local veterans service officer. He served on the development disabilities board, the airport authority, and several years on the board of directors of the Commercial and Savings Bank.
Schuler was also appointed by the governor to serve on the Ohio Public Health Council, which processed all the rules for mental hospitals, nursing homes, and even public water supplies.
“That was an incredible experience for me,” Schuler said. “I learned a lot during those 12 years.”
Schuler is also a member of the American Legion Post 192 and was made a life member of the Killbuck VFW.
Schuler served in the Army during World War II and fought in the battle of The Bulge. He can rattle off details of war stories as if they had happened yesterday.
He likes to read a lot, too, focusing on “the great people at the beginning of the Republic.” Schuler also likes golf and of course, watching Ohio State football games. He has owned season tickets for 50 years, as he received both his bachelor’s and law degree from The Ohio State University.
Though he has traveled the world and had many exciting experiences, Schuler still considers himself “a small town guy.” Likely, there are plenty of local people thankful for that.
Judson Schuler, of Millersburg, often relaxes in his den.
Total eclipse haiku
Take a nap today.
A total lunar eclipse
in the late night sky.
Bruce Stambaugh
Dec. 20, 2010
Roadkill Crossing 
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