Springtime around our house is lots of fun. It’s great to get outside and do yard work. My wife, Lyn, has been working in her flower beds and will soon start on her vegetable garden. 

We have had a couple of nice mornings where we could sit out on our back porch and enjoy some coffee. A few days ago we heard a couple of owls communicating with each other. They were exchanging some sort of information to each other. First one would hoot and then the other would reply. We have had great horned owls in our neighborhood before, and it is so much fun to study their habits.

We also hear the horses from the Southport Equestrian Center. They whinny and nicker to one another all the time. One of their pastures is behind our backyard. Their donkey, Charlie, also keeps us entertained when he gets excited. His favorite word is “heehaw.”

Our three chickens are good at vocally explaining when they feel that they should be allowed outside of their fenced-in area. They enjoy roaming around our yard and assisting Lyn when she is working in her gardens. They also get excited each morning when I deliver their special breakfast. 

For several years we have enjoyed having a pair of mallards spend a few weeks of spring in our neighborhood. They nest on the bank of the creek that runs to the east of us. I have seen and heard them a few times this spring. They come up to dine under our bird feeders a couple of times a day.

When I spot them I toss out some cracked corn for them. They enjoy the corn so much that they hardly walk away as I approach. A few days ago I saw two pairs eating. We had no idea that there were two pairs of mallards nesting in the neighborhood (they all look alike, you know).   

We also have a bird’s nest that is on a downspout near our garage door. The nest is about 7 or 8 years old, having first been used by robins before mourning doves took it over.

Last week I noticed a couple of baby doves peeking out of the nest and huddling with their mom. A couple of days ago the nest was empty. The next morning as I was about to refill our bird feeders, I startled mom dove and her two young ones. They were resting up against our house near the feeder. All three of them flew away but not very far. They came back for their breakfast as soon as the feeders were refilled.

The neatest thing of all is that Stuart, our dog, gets along with all of these animals. 

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I have a brief update concerning one of my former high school classmates, Bob Rosebrock. For several years he has been involved with a group that has been protesting the abuse and misappropriation of a large section of land in the Los Angeles area that was supposed to be used to provide housing, medical care and rehabilitation for veterans.

These protests have been going on for about 500 consecutive Sundays. Several months ago Bob was arrested for placing a small American flag on the fence of the Veterans Affairs center on Veterans Day.

His day in court came last week, and he was acquitted of all charges. I can’t imagine being arrested for what he did.

There are several new reports on YouTube about this. 
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Bob posted on Facebook that he might return home for a visit in the near future. I’m looking forward to that.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the monthly breakfast of current and retired Perry Township school bus drivers at Bob Evans on U.S. 31 at Thompson Road. When our waitress, Tina, takes our orders. I always get “whatever,” which is consistently good. 

At the last breakfast a good friend and former high school classmate of my sister passed a plastic bag around the table to me. When I peeked in I saw a couple of old books. Diane Spaulding-McCarty normally sits next to me, but she was running a bit late and her usual seat was taken. She explained to me that they were old Southport High School yearbooks.

I decided that it might not be a good idea to remove them from the bag right then because they looked fragile. 

Once I returned home I got the books out of the bag. They are from 1926 and 1927. 

I am a member of the Perry Township/Southport Historical Society. We have a Facebook page and I thought it would be fun to share some of the information from these books. 

The first item I posted was a photograph of Blanche Penrod. According the yearbook, 1927 was Miss Penrod’s first year of teaching. She retired in 1969 after 43 years at Southport. She taught biology and was the dean of girls. I’m fairly sure that any students who attended Southport during those years remembers Miss Penrod.

I had her for biology during my sophomore year, and it was my sixth-period class. Miss Penrod firmly believed that students learned nothing on Friday afternoons, so she let us watch funny movies every Friday.

We had several comments posted about her. I think she was fairly strict about clothing and behavior. I believe one stated that Miss Penrod was instrumental in having the Easter Sunrise Service at the high school for many years.

We then posted a page with pictures of 10 of the 34 seniors from 1926. On that page were some well-known names: Rosebrock, Hildebrand, Wheeler, Armstrong and Sutton.

Both of the yearbooks, known as the “Anchor,” did not contain any drawings of a Cardinal, which is now the school mascot. The pages are filled with drawings of sailing ships, lighthouses and oceans.

There are advertisements in the back of both books. We have also posted one of these pages on Facebook. Just reading these ads has connected names and places.

I remember my parents saying to other adults that our house on Madison Avenue was previously owned by Sam Holder. One of the ads on the page we posted was from the Longacre Garage. It was located between our house and Thompson Road. In 1927 it was owned and operated by Samuel Holder. He could walk to work.

There is an ad from the Southport Drug Store on that same page: Mark L. Smock, prop. It also listed the store’s phone number as  phone No. 10.

My good friend and former classmate Nancy (Wilcox) Vittorio-Debaun’s uncle, A.E. Pitcher, was one of the 10 teachers listed in the 1927 book. I sent her a copy of that page.
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I’m having a blast going through these books.

It isn’t often that I have seen something happen before it’s reported on the news ... and I have more knowledge of the event than what was reported. That happened to me twice last year.
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I was returning home April 5 from a monthly luncheon with several of my former high school classmates. It just so happened that Stuart, my therapy dog, rode with me this time. He enjoyed a nap while I ate.

We were heading home from Greenwood and traveling north on Madison Avenue when I noticed a city bus directly ahead of us. My thought was that maybe I should move to the inside lane to avoid getting stuck behind the bus. I checked my rearview mirrors and noticed flashing red and blue lights but wasn’t concerned because they were far behind us.

I changed to the inside lane and within three or four seconds was passed on my left side by a small red car that was traveling at a high rate of speed. What really got my attention was that I was in the inside lane. The red car seemed to be traveling at more than 100 mph and in the southbound lanes.

I was shocked. Within a couple of seconds two Greenwood police cars flew past in pursuit. 

We were near the intersection of Madison and Stop 11 Road. I was amazed that there wasn’t a collision there. There was a third marked Greenwood police car about five seconds behind the ones giving chase. I looked in my mirror and noticed a large black SUV pulling up behind me. All of a sudden that SUV turned into a police car and turned on about three dozen red and blue flashing lights. I quickly moved over and the SUV was gone.

We found out later that day that the driver of the red car was involved in stealing something at a store at Greenwood Park Mall and accused of pulling a knife on someone. The chase ended in a collision on Michigan Street on the Eastside, but no one was seriously hurt.

I had never seen a high-speed chase in person. It was scary.

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A few mornings later when I checked my Facebook page I noticed a post by a good friend of mine. Angie Wright-Markland was asking for prayers for her oldest daughter. She explained that Briana and a friend had been dining at Texas Roadhouse when a car crashed into the restaurant. The booth that she was sitting in was where the crash occurred. She was pinned against the wall, and her ankles were trapped under part of the broken table. She was at the hospital awaiting X-ray results.
I remembered being at the Cracker Barrel on Southport Road several years ago when a car came crashing through. We were not sitting near the crash area but it was unsettling. No one was in that part of the restaurant.

I called Angie to get an update on Briana. Nothing was broken, but she was going to be sore. Briana told me via Facebook that she was OK

Shortly after that I saw a television news report of the incident. 

I’m hoping for a much calmer and safer week ... and so is Stuart.

Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools.

Stuart, my therapy dog, and I had a wonderful Friday afternoon. We arrived at Indianapolis International Airport about 45 minutes before my wife, Lyn was to arrive. She was returning from her two-week trip to Colorado. The health of her brother, Tom Saunders, had failed quickly. Lyn flew out to see him and assist his family. 

She was there when he passed. I think that Lyn has always been the rock when necessary for her family. 

Because of Stuart’s status as a therapy dog, he is allowed into the airport. We positioned ourselves in the baggage claim area and near the escalator. From the time we settled in to wait for Lyn’s flight, families walked over to visit with us. Children asked if it was OK to pet Stuart, and we visited with a school teacher from Iowa who was interested in the reading program that Stuart and I are involved with.

I saw Lyn riding down the escalator, and she called out Stuart’s name. He heard his name and knew exactly who was calling to him, but he wasn’t sure where she was. As soon as he spotted her he stood on hind legs and danced. 

I have my duties and Lyn has hers when it comes to caring for Stuart, who really dislikes thunderstorms and fireworks. He always goes to her for comfort during these times, but he had to settle for me when bad weather hit last week. 

Stuart made several changes to his daily schedule while Lyn was away. He seemed to look out the windows more. He slept in different locations, and he always wanted to go with me when I needed to leave the house. 

One of the things that he looks forward to each week is our reading programs at a couple of Beech Grove Schools. Spring break was in effect the same weeks of Lyn’s trip. I know he will be overjoyed to find out that school will be in session again Thursday. 

One afternoon last week I noticed that he was trying to inform me that we had company. Before he could get me to understand, the doorbell rang. I opened the door and was surprised to see Judy (Tout) Snyder, a former high school classmate of mine, standing there. She pointed out to her car and I saw Randi (Bertram) West sitting in the shotgun seat.

I was aware that they knew of the “camp conditions” that we were operating under during Lyn’s absence. My first thought was that they were going to take over and provide much-needed housecleaning and yard work. I was getting excited.

The ladies asked me if all three of our chicken girls were accounted for. They explained to me that they had just spotted a large chicken wondering along Banta Road east of Derbyshire Road.

I was relieved to see all three chickens standing at the edge of the fence. They seemed to be complaining to Randi and Judy that I had not been allowing them to roam the yard much during Lyn’s absence. That’s true because don’t pay any attention to me when it’s time to return to the coop.

Once the chickens were accounted for, Judy and Randi were ready to leave. There was no mention of any housecleaning or yard work. I was a little disappointed, but Stuart was howling with laughter.
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Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools.