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Our introduction to “Crazy Cat”
Places to
visit, things to do
© By Abraham Lincoln
Patty, my wife of 57 years, invited me to go out with her to the Market
Street Café for breakfast. I had an appointment at 8:30 AM to get my
haircut at the barbershop next door, so we walked into the restaurant,
sat down and ordered breakfast.
We saw a lot of people that we both knew and just being there was like
a high school reunion. Hello to one, another and still another old
friend. I shook hands with folks I had not seen in two or three decades.
I told Patty that we would have to do this again—getting out and about
is a little easier since I don’t have to lug around a bottle of oxygen
with me. Nowadays I just have a small concentrator that somehow creates
oxygen and I breathe it through a cannula.
I saw one of my former high school students, now all grown up and
having breakfast; and I saw my best friend’s son, who owns an auto
repair facility. And the lady who owns the restaurant was there and we
got to say hello to her. She used to be our waitress at Rob's when I
was in Rotary and it was there that she first told me that she was
going to open a restaurant downtown. And there were many others that we
saw and talked to.
There are a lot of places to visit in and around town and some were of
more interest to us than others. I remember the first time we went to
Carriage Hill Farm before it had the name change. In those days it was
just a farm that was restored to its original working condition—back in
the day when it took all day to go to Dayton by horse and buggy.
The interesting thing, to me, about Carriage Hill Farm was that I got
to read the daily diary of the original owner. The purpose was for me
to transcribe it into modern handwriting so it could be sold to anyone
interested in a copy. I am not sure it is still available to farm
visitors because that was many years ago. If you go you could ask about
it.
The other place that we visited more than once is Aullwood Farm and
Nature Center. It is a working farm where you can see horses, pigs,
sheep, cows and other farm animals. I always enjoyed the turkeys and
looking at the baby sheep.
Our first trip to Aullwood was also our introduction to “Crazy Cat,”
and this cat was the wild-looking creature always having a bad hair
day. He was the official greeter and would wander out to greet you and
if you followed him he would take you on a journey through the farm so
you could see the pigs, the horses, the cows, and the baby lambs. I
really appreciated seeing that cat each time we went there and he was
always doing the same thing. And then one year we went to Aullwood and
nobody greeted us—we were left to our own devices to find our way
around the farm. Crazy cat has passed on; and his bed, bowl of water,
and food were located.
I want to go back to Aullwood Farm one of these days.
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