On The Fly

In this episode, Doc Welch . . . Many authors have characterized life in rural Illinois over the years. Among the more notables are Edgar Lee Masters, who wrote Spoon River Anthology, Carl Sandburg for his poetry and biography of Abraham Lincoln, and little known to me until recently, my first doctor, whom everyone in town always called Doc Welch - James K. Welch, M.D.  (Feb. 7, 1915, to May 5, 1998) While exploring the microfilm of the Cuba Journal (published from 1884 to 1992), I consistently kept running across articles entitled The Country Doctor. This intrigued me. Doc Welch was a third-generation practicing Country Doctor in Cuba for over 40 years. His father, James William Welch, M.D., practiced medicine in Cuba for more than five decades. His grandfather, James Knox Welch, M.D., settled in Cuba after the Civil War. Cuba, Illinois, is a small, rural farming community in west-central Illinois, where I grew up. Like many small towns, it boasts a central square with a ban...

Thunderstorm Video “Looks like rain up ahead,” said my brother Rodger as we left Canton, IL. headed west on the Canton/Cuba blacktop. With a few taps on her phone Lori checked the weather channel, “There are wide bands of thunderstorms headed our way.” Within seconds we were engulfed in a blinding downpour of rain interspersed with pea-sized hail. The car was barraged, the noise overwhelming, as if being shot at with a machine-gun. Instantly we were in complete whiteout conditions - adrenaline shot through my system, my first reaction, check the rear-view mirror, pull over, we’re going to get hit from the rear! I was not driving. We went from 60 miles per hour to almost a complete stop right in the middle of the road . . .  This all began rather innocently early on a Sunday morning while visiting my folks in Cuba, IL. That morning, sitting on the porch, the weather had become unseasonably warm, a blustering wind, bending the trees under its force. Overhead the sky w...

Boston Red Sox at AT&T Park Probability or coincidence? On August 19, 2013, during this years birthday celebration, among other city sites, we visited AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. For those who may not realize it, AT&T Park sells out for every game. According to Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News, as of September 23, 2013, “The sellout streak is at an MLB-best 240 games heading into a six-game, season-ending homestand.”  Knowing this, our trip was planned months in advance with the purchase of tickets to secure seats. The match-up, the reigning World Series champion San Francisco Giants and the 2013 World Champion Boston Red Sox (though we did not know this at the time). The Giants lost that night behind Tim Lincecum (7-0). I’m a fan of the game and make it a point to watch many (probably too many) ball games on television. Now, deep down, I’m a National league fan at heart (put that designated hitter on the field or the pitcher at the p...