The older I get the more conversations I seem to have asking people to please explain to me what something is as I have never heard of it before. Disc Golf recently came up in a recent discussion of activities that might be good for Mohegan Park in Norwich, CT.

Mohegan Park is almost 500 acres of mostly natural woods, two ponds, some athletic fields, basket ball courts, playgrounds, swimming areas and parking lots. But there could be so much more if only the property owners would agree to pay more in taxes. I doubt that will happen so what activities could fit into this natural wood setting? Someone mentioned a game sometimes called “frisbee golf” but the correct term is “disc golf.”

I won’t go into what visions the name conjured up in my mind as the visions would give Alice in Wonderland a headache. So I turned to the Disc Golf Association and a few other articles for definitions and the rules and regulations of how to play and this is what I learned.

Disc golf is similar to regular golf but uses discs and a disc golf basket instead of clubs and hole in the ground. The disc golf baskets are raised on a pole extending from the ground. The object of the game is to complete each basket with the fewest number of throws beginning at a tee area and finishing at the disc golf basket. Generally a course is nine to eighteen targets long. Most players start at basket one and complete the course in order, playing through to the last hole. The player with the lowest cumulative score wins.

Probably one of the most important distinctions of disc golf from other games is that it can use a wide variety of terrains. Often the perfect terrain for a disc golf course is land not suitable for other park activities or development.
It is a quiet and courteous game. All players should be able to throw their disc without distraction. Even low talking is discouraged during a throw. Players should not throw their disc unless they are sure its flight or landing will not be disturbing to another player.

Each hole or basket begins with a tee-off and continues until each player reaches the basket. The tee off order on the first tee is by mutual agreement or by flipping the disc. The printed side is heads and the odd man should be first. The tee off order on subsequent holes is in order of the previous baskets score. The player with the lowest score tees off first.

This is the part where it is like golf. A stroke is each time the disc is thrown or when a penalty is imposed.

Every thrown disc is always left where it came to rest until a marker disc can be placed
on the ground directly in front of and touching the disc. Only then is the thrown disc picked up.

I am not certain I have the particulars of following through, or stepping past the marker disc after throwing entirely correct. But here goes, Stepping past the marker disc after throwing is allowed on any throw except when the rear of the marker disc is within 10 meters of the hole [1 meter = 3.280 feet; 10 meters = 32.80 feet.] Falling forward or making a falling putt to keep your balance after a putt is not allowed.

I am told this rule is now an option at the discretion of the players or tournament directors but I still really like it. If the disc gets stuck in a tree or a bush more than 2 meters [apx. six feet or more] above the ground, the marker is placed exactly beneath it and the disc is carefully removed from the tree. A penalty throw is then added to the score and play resumes. Extreme care must be taken to not damage the tree or bush or to re-shape them to improve throwing conditions. Some courses have “out of bounds areas” to preserve the natural growth or for the safety of the players. Players are encouraged to observe the boundaries and to do their best to stay out of the designated areas.

If the disc does go out-of-bounds you place your marker disc “in-bounds” at the place where the disc went out-of-bounds and a one throw penalty is marked.

Sometimes an alternative area or mandatory dog-leg is created to make a particular hole more difficult. The alternative area is usually designated on the tee sign with an arrow indicating the side and direction the disc must pass on. If the disc goes on the wrong side, it can be thrown back to the throwing side and re-thrown until it passes on the side indicated by the arrow without penalty.

Only one of the discussions included information on water hazards. Apparently water should be avoided at all costs as discs will sink. If a disc does land in the water however, it is played the same as you do the “out-of-bounds” throw, and must take a one throw penalty. If the disc is touching any shore above the water , it is “inbounds.” Standing water or mud on the course whether caused by sprinklers or rain is not considered “out-of-bounds” and the disc may be relocated to a dryer area no closer to the hole with no penalty.

In the rules discussions I read numerous discussions of proper foot placement and the commentary all says that it takes some practice. The foot that you put your weight on when you throw is called the plant foot and it must be as close as possible to the front line of the tee or marker disc without actually touching it. The foot can never be ahead of the disc or more than one foot behind the line or the disc. The other foot can be any place you choose as long as it is no closer to the hole than the rear of the marker disc. The conversations reminded me of bowling instructions.

The one very clear rule every where I looked was that everyone was responsible for leaving the course better than they found it. Any litter found on the course should be picked up and disposed of properly.

I just wish the game had the “curling game rule” of the winner buys the first round for the losers. The rule can always be added to an individual group.

The game rules respect the players, the property, and nature so my fears and hesitations have not been eliminated but they have certainly been lessened.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

It is hard these days to have a church supper covered by a newspaper reporter or photographer. Today’s newspapers tell organizers to write the article with all of the information contained in it and the editors will make any additions, corrections or deletions. With cameras on every phone take your own photos or you can even submit your own video to be played on the newspaper website.

So how do you tell people about what makes your church supper special? Lets take a look at a Norwich Bulletin article from February 18, 1882 titled An Old Fashioned Supper. I have to admit I would love to see something of the kind today. OK maybe with a little modern updating.

The old fashioned supper served in the vestries of the Second Congregational church last evening was a quaint and pleasant affair. At the east side of the large and spacious parlor was an old-fashioned chimney and fireplace (designed by Mrs. Lucy Forbes) with a fire blazing on the hearth. About it were ancient looking spinning wheels and foot stoves, and an almanac nearly a hundred years old hung just beneath the mantel. The shelf was ornamented with candle-sticks and a squash, rosettes of corn on the ear and festoons of strung dried apples, embellished the wall.

The succotash was prepared in the old fashioned way in the fireplace and served hot. A chorus choir sang the songs of auld lang syne at intervals during the entertainment.

Several hundred people attended the supper and all pronounced it a most satisfactory and unique performance.

For today perhaps an electric fireplace complete with mantle? Spinning wheels can be found in our area and wouldn’t it be a hoot to have a few people spinning on standing bikes? Foot stoves are harder to come by but old almanacs are common enough. The other decorations sound like a mix of Thanksgiving and Christmas so even they should be available readily enough. Who has a succotash recipe that is easy to mix up and serve hot?

I copied this recipe for Mohegan Succotash off the web and learned a bit more history at the same time.

“ As with other eastern tribes, corn was one of the principal foods of the Mohegan. Corn was prepared in a number of ways, including making hominy of the kernels and making a stew of beans and corn called succotash. Succotash is a basic American Indian dish. Among the Indian nations of the Northeast, succotash was kept simmering at all times so that any hungry visitor or family member could be fed.”

Since agriculture was an important economic and subsistence activity, some ceremonies were conducted during the harvest. The Green Corn Ceremony was usually held in August when the first corn ripened. For a period of about two weeks, the community leaders would eat only at night. As a part of the thanksgiving for the harvest, the Green Corn Ceremony included feasting.

Mohegan Succotash
4 ears of fresh sweet corn

3 to 4 cups of fresh lima beans (frozen may be substituted)
1 ½ cups of water
½ cup of butter (to be really authentic, you should use bear grease instead of butter)
1 ½ cups of sliced green onions
1 green and 1 red bell pepper, sliced and diced
With a large, sharp knife cut corn cobs into 1 ½ inch lengths. Place corn, beans, water, and butter (or bear grease) in a large saucepan. Salt and pepper to taste.
Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in green onions and peppers and continue to simmer for 6 to 10 minutes, until beans are tender and peppers are tender-crisp. Remove lid and cook over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until liquid is reduced to about ½ cup.

I think I will skip the bear grease but I am thinking that Succotash might be just the thing for a cold winters meal.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

In taking a tour of downtown Norwich, CT the leader was quick to point out that there were numerous gun manufacturers and where the buildings once stood. How the companies supplied guns during various wars and how they are collectors items now available on e-bay.

I listened about how the companies moved out of Norwich, CT and then became larger and even more famous. But no stories about the people who worked in the early gun assembly plants. Those are the stories I am interested in hearing. Buildings did not make the companies, people made the companies. So let me share this story from the February 20, 1882 Norwich Bulletin titled Accidentally Shot.

“Just after two o’clock Saturday afternoon, Mr. Charles L. Hopkins was accidentally shot by a fellow workman at the Hopkins & Allen Manufacturing company’s shop on Franklin street. Mr. Hopkins works at the same bench with Mr. James Lathrop, the tester of revolvers in the inspecting room. The custom is to fill the chambers with empty shells of cartridges and to snap the hammers on the cylinder all the way around to see if it works properly. No loaded cartridges are allowed. While thus testing a weapon, Mr. Lathrop and all the shop hands were startled Saturday afternoon by a sharp report. Leslie Hopkins was the first to inquire, “Was there a ball cartridge in that pistol?” After carefully examining the empty shell Mr. Lathrop replied, “There was,” and discovering a hole in the right sleeve of Mr. Hopkins shirt said, “You are shot!” This was the first knowledge that the wounded man had of his injuries. He went at once to a surgeon who after examining the arm, found that the ball, which was of twenty-two callibre, was embedded in the bone about two inches below the shoulder joint and could not then be removed. No one can explain how the pistol came to have a ball cartridge in it. That will probably always remain a mystery.

When you take the walking tours of Norwich, CT ask to hear the stories of the people and their lives, loves and adventures. The character of a city is brought to life by its inhabitants not its buildings.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

The 22nd annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) will be held Friday, February 15, through Monday, February 18, 2019. Please visit the official website at birdcount.org for more information. Twice Norwich CT has been the most reported city in Connecticut and I know we would all like to see that happen again. A certificate of achievement hangs in the Norwich City Clerks Office at Norwich City Hall, 100 Broadway.

It is easy, free and fun to help create a real-time snapshot of the bird populations and for the first time it will be around the globe and not just North America! All you do is count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the four-day event and report their sightings online at birdcount.org. Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and you can participate from your backyard, or anywhere in the world.

You and a friend or family member across town, the state or the globe can arrange to watch birds at the same time in different places and report your observations to each other as well as on-line. Its a great way to do something together even if you are physically far apart. Age does not matter! Bird watching and counting can be enjoyed by everyone from two years old to 122 and beyond.

There are lots, and lots of documented stories dating back to the 1700’s of bird observations in Norwich, CT and I have shared quite a few of them in this blog.

In my yard I have hanging feeders so I count and report those I see while I have my first or second cup of coffee. But then I keep a little bag of cracked corn (available in small quantities at the local Agway Feed and Grain Store) in my car so if I have 15 minutes of free time near a park, the water, or a parking lot I can throw out a little of the corn and see, count and report who might like a little snack.

I don’t know all of the birds I see so I just report as best as I can. Of coure there are lots of picture books to reference as well as a websites.

Each checklist submitted during the GBBC helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how birds are doing, how to protect them and the environment we share. Last year, more than 200,000 participants submitted their bird observations online, creating the largest instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations ever recorded.
Bird populations are always shifting and changing. On the program website participants can explore real-time maps and charts that show what others are reporting during and after the count. Be sure to check out the Explore a Region tool to get an idea of what you can expect to see in your area during the next GBBC.

For questions and comments, please contact the National Audubon Society or Cornell Lab of Ornithology: National Audubon Society citizenscience@audubon.org and Cornell Lab of Ornithology, gbbc@cornell.edu

The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible, in part, by generous support from Wild Birds Unlimited.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

It’s almost time for the Great Back Yard Bird Count, February 15 – 18, 2019 When anyone and everyone spends 15 minutes watching birds, count them, and then report the numbers to https://www.audubon.org/conservation/about-great-backyard-bird-count. Norwich, CT and I have participated since it began. It’s important to know not just where the birds are but also where they are not. In fact Norwich, CT was twice the most reported bird counting community in the State of Connecticut. I’ve written about the history of birds in Norwich before but I am excited to find this new story, Arrival of Early Birds, from the February 16, 1882 Norwich Bulletin.

Only the observing ornithologists know when to expect the early songsters; and they all vouch for the regularity of bird habits in appearing and disappearing from their habitats. Mr. George R. Case, of Laurel Hill Avenue, anticipating that the mild weather of the past few days would result in the return of the song sparrows to the hedges, visited their feeding grounds on Wednesday morning and found them on hand, bright and chipper, just five days earlier than in 1881, their date of return then having been February 25th. But the song sparrow was not alone. He reports having seen robins, bluebirds, pine linnets, and two golden crowned kinglets, bathing together by a brook, as if paired. Thursday morning he saw half a dozen cedar birds; and before the fog came up from the east, ducks flying by twos and threes northward.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

Every generation has their version of this tale. Every person thinks their tale is unique. A circumstance that they invented. A story that as an adult was probably told at least a thousand times but lost as the generations pass. So maybe somewhere there is a family whose lore of a Small Boy’s Ride was told in the January 11, 1882 Norwich Bulletin.

“A little fellow seeing an expressman’s horse and wagon standing on Roath Street, yesterday, thought he would take a ride. There were a few hundred pounds of coal in the vehicle, but that is no hindrance to a youngster who is tempted to steal a horse and wagon. He sprang to the seat, took the reins, and as the course was down hill the animal made considerable speed. The boy being inexperienced as a driver, struck a telegraph pole in attempting to turn the corner, and the wagon was turned upside down on the Greenville road, with the boy beneath it, while the horse stood with the remnants of the shafts projecting from the harness like the drag of an ice boat. At this juncture the expressman came out for another bushel of coal, but it was in the distance with a wrecked vehicle and a small boy on top of it. He hurried to the scene of the disaster, and found everything but the boy dilapidated. While twenty men saw him fall beneath the wagon not one saw him emerge. But he had departed without leaving his address.”

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

To me Norwich, CT is this quiet and friendly place. Welcoming to most people. It’s always been that way. Hasn’t it? Let’s take a look at a February 1, 1882 Norwich Bulletin article called a conflict of races. Next time you are admiring the falls and pondering the romance of the mills consider this story.

“The Irish operatives at the Falls mills do not like to have other foreigners settle there or work in the factories. The management is disposed to test all classes of working people, and occasionally introduce representatives of other races. The Hiberian element always exhibit a determination to make it unpleasant for employees not of their race and have sometimes succeeded in driving people away. Recently August Nadoling, a well behaved and industrious German, with several members of his family, took up his abode at the Falls and entered the mills to work. The young Irishman did not like it, and instantly began to annoy them by derisive exclamations and belligerent carriage.

On Saturday afternoon as August Nadoling was returning from the mills by his house he was fiercely snow-balled by a crowd of yelling youngsters, who felt that the old man’s very presence was a personal indignity to them. Fired with rage the German rallied his son and armed with two lapper sticks [small sticks] they went out into the village streets and broke them over the young rascals’ backs. The Irish people entered a complaint against Nadoling for a breach of the peace and he was arrested and taken to the lockup, but was released on his own recognizance on Sunday. Monday morning he appeared in the city court, but upon hearing his story the city attorney adjourned his case until Tuesday, and then issued warrants for the arrest of Daniel Sullivan, Michael and William Bowler and John Fenton for assault.

They were all in the city court yesterday. August Nadoling was found guilty of a breach of the peace and fined $1 and costs, which he paid. The court after reprimanding the youth, nolled their cases upon the payment of $2.98 each.”

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .