When the weather turns, I look for things that produce heat.

It didn’t used to be that way, but the older I get, the more cold weather bothers me.

I used to look love Ohio weather. Spring, summer, fall and winter all brought good things,

The changes in the season were part of what I loved about living in the Buckeye State.

But that’s seems to no longer be the case.

I’m growing to really despise Ohio in the winter.

Still, there are some stories that warm the heart.

Hungry Hounds chasing glory

Shelby’s run through the state football playoffs in recent recent weeks is a thing of beauty.

The continue to dominant their opponents and are just two victories away from bringing a state title to Whippet country.

On Friday night, at 7:30 p.m. in Akron, the Whippets will take on Steubenville in the state semifinals at The University of Akron’s Infocision Stadium.

The Hungry Hounds have conjured up memories of Galion’s 1985 state championship.

I was living in Columbus at the time. I made it to Dayton and I think the state semifinal at Cooper Stadium in Columbus. Of course I was at the Horseshoe for the finale vs. Youngstown Mooney, as it seemed were 50,000 others rooting on the Tigers.

It’s funny how the memory works. I recall watching a replay of an Ohio State game at former Galion coach Don Barrick’s house when I was 10 years old, but that Galion-Youngstown Mooney game is almost non-existent in my memory banks.

I know I was there, but as the year pass, it’s hard to differentiate between what I witnessed, what I imagined it or what I read about that day.

I remember stories of Galion fans and the team traveling south through Mount Gilead and seeing Morrow County residents lining the street with signs rooting on the Tigers.

I think I remember a sign hanging from an overpass on Interstate 71.

I think I remember one of the TV stations in Columbus coming to Galion and discovering that G-town was pretty much empty the morning and day of the game.

I remember the 12th man. I don’t know if long-time Galion fanatic Marty Cecil was the leader of the group, but she was one of the more vocal members of that rowdy, noisy group.

At Ohio Stadium, I remember Galion fans outnumbered Mooney fans by I’d guess at least 10-1.

I recall hearing that Mooney fans and players already had hats printed up celebrating the state championship that never came to be.

I remember nothing about the game. I actually had to look up the score. Galion won 6-0.

Anyway, if the folks in Shelby are having as much fun as everyone associated with Galion did in 1985, it’s a great, once-in-a-lifetime memory.

Ric Biglin and his wife Kathi were photographers at my September 2001 wedding. The youngest of their five boys, Dane, is a current member of the Whippets. I think he was at my wedding.

How’s that for a tenuous connection?

Anyway. Good luck Whippets!

Mother Nature .. and my aching body

One thing I do remember of that championship game in 1985 was it was a bit on the chilly side.

As was the norm for me in those days, the cold weather didn’t bother me one bit. I also know my friends were tired of hearing my theory on chilly-weather survival.

It went something like this: In cold weather, people tighten up their bodies to try to keep out the cold. But that’s the worse thing you can do. As your body tightens, the capillaries on your hands and feet shrink, and that shuts down the blood flow to those appendages. Less blood flow leads to cold fingers and toes and hands and feet. Once that happens, its just a matter of time before the rest of the body is fussing about the weather

“Just relax,” I told anyone who would listen. “Let the blood flow to those fingers and toes and you’ll stay warm.”

Well it worked for me.

Or did 32 years ago.

But the older I get, I’m thinking my friends who thought I was nuts, may have been right.

On Sunday, it was difficult for me to get warm. It didn’t matter what I was doing. Whether I was walking Beatrix, taking pictures of high water or working at home on the computer, I could not warm up.

Even asleep, in my bed, I could not get warm. Beatrix, my dog, for some reason takes great delight in hogging the one blanket on my bed. For years, my two cats shared my bed. But it was pretty easy to flick that blanket and chase those cats away if they were stealing too much blanket (heat).

Beatrix is 60 pounds of muscle. In bed, she’s dead-weight, not anxious to move once she gets comfortable. It’s a fight I’ve quit trying to win.

After shivering for two hours, I moved to the sofa in the living room where I’m in charge of the blankets .. and the TV remote.

And early Sunday morning is Star Trek Voyager time.

But now I’m not sure if was that heavier blanket or Capt. Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) who made me warn and cozy.

Then again, I don’t care.