Mark’s Musings – July 10, 2019

Mark Fortune

Now that the Fourth of July is over we head full steam (and I mean that word – steam – literally) into typically what are the dog days of summer. The torrential downpours that have been followed by the mugginess and humidity of summer seem to come out of nowhere and are endless. Saturday’s late afternoon blowup looked like it caused a lot of tree damage. If you were driving in this (yes, we were – caught up by Newcomerstown) it was time to slow down, throw on the flashers and watch for trees across the road. When we hit the outskirts of town at the junction of 83 and 16 one of Coshocton County’s gems was hard at work directing traffic away from 83 north – that would be Coshocton County R.E.A.C.T. Thanks folks for what you do!

You know, I almost missed this. What, you ask? It’s ICE CREAM social time! Yes, I know. Some have already concluded and others are headed our way on the calendar – crockpots full of shredded chicken sandwiches, Sloppy Joe’s, Coney dogs, noodles, baked beans, potato and macaroni salad. Then you add ice cream and your choice of delicious homemade pies, pies, pies! And cake too. Jell-O even. Are you hungry yet? You can watch The Beacon for a schedule of summer ice cream socials here in Coshocton County. What’s your favorite pie?

What is your opinion on the July Fourth celebration in Washington D.C.? Should we have a show of military strength like other countries (including France – these are held in Democratic nations too)? I did not have the opportunity to watch it so I am not one to judge on how much military power we actually put on parade, so to speak. I will say this. While I am confident that kids of all ages were thrilled to see a tank-I mean-not many people get to see a tank up close and personal. And then wrap it all up nice and pretty with a Blue Angels flyover? Wow. Typically you have to pay big bucks to see them at an air show. But I am not sure that our founding fathers would agree with this type of parade. After all, they were against the federal military having much of a presence-except for state militias-on our own soil. When you consider the nations that our founding fathers and their fathers came from they had a good reason for that thinking. I guess it depends on how deeply you think about this-just looking at it from the top-it was a parade to celebrate our Independence after all and thousands of people attended and enjoyed it. Enough said?

Well, it’s All Star break time. The Home Run Derby is tonight – Monday, July 8 as I write this week’s column. The real question is what will Cleveland do? Who will they trade? Will they make any trades to get some hitting to make a run for the division? They are only five games back as we head into the All Star break this week. And we all know that a Tito managed team can make a strong run in the second half. The Twins cannot maintain the pace that they were on in the first half. The Tribe picked up three games on them in the last 10 games. Let’s go!

And even better, neither the Reds nor the Pirates are out of the National League Central division race- only behind the Cubs by four and a half and two and a half games respectively. The second half of the season promises a lot of excitement!

Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion