Sunday, October 11, 2015

Life truly is a rollercoaster….
By Bob Zettler
October 11, 2015


“You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.

Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!

I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together!

Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing.

I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.”

That was Grandma from the movie Parenthood providing a parable for Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen when they were faced with multiple life-changing issues towards the end of the movie in what I still consider a great way to wrap-up the movie – and for a lot of us as well.  I mean, after all, one of my nicknames is Dark Cloud due to all the weird and “interesting” things that happen to me and the people around me.

Yesterday was…shall we say, “Interesting.”

It started out with a road trip to go fishing at Lake Shelbyville, which in itself is something I had done almost every weekend this past May through September 1.  However, this time my son was going with me and we hadn’t been out on the boat together in a long time.  As usual we got a late start and arrive at Leprechaun Landing a little before 10 AM – had hoped to be there before 6 AM.  Pulled the boat out of storage and began the process of cleaning it up from its last outing on September 1 for Early Season Goose hunting.  Didn’t take long and it was time to introduce Jon to Virgil and Perry Jones who own and operate the store.  Interesting is that I knew them both more than 30 years ago when I lived in Champaign and hunted on some land they farmed up by Mahomet.  Small world.

So Jon gets his fishing license and I buy six-dozen minnows and a large bag of ice.  Virgil’s count of six dozen minnows is always way off and this time was no exception.  I will probably have seven dozen left after catching our 30 Crappie limit!  So as we walk out the door, Virgil asks us as we get to the van if we want our minnows – seems we left them at the counter.  Que sera.

Grab the minnow cooler and head down to Wolf Creek.  “Boy, a lot of trailers in the parking lot,” I think to myself as I am usually getting there around dark and most have left for the day.  Get out and start to back the boat into the water and realize we had forgotten our ice.  Put the clamps back on and sheepishly head back to the Landing and hope no one notices.  Virgil is right there and says, “Forgot your ice too?”  After flipping him off we head back to the ramp and finally get the boat on the water around 11 AM. 

Well, the motor is sluggish and I am worried about it so we decide to simply fish the closest area using the trolling motor. Now I had been provided leads from my very good friend Brian and Tyler, so this area was not on their list but wouldn’t you know it, I catch the first Crappie and he is an over in just a few casts and my son catches an even bigger Crappie right after me.  Life is good!

We hit a good clump of Crappie and fish it for quite a while and then proceed to hit trees and stumps throughout the cove but none of it was as good as the first area we hit so we worked our way back over the course of the next three hours or so.  I didn’t see anyone else doing any better so I wasn’t too unhappy and thought we ought to be thinking of heading home around 4 PM as we had left our dog, Hutch, all alone and inside since 8:30 AM.

Now comes the real me, the die-hard many of my hunting crew have come to fear and that is, “I’ll just hit this one more stump/tree/structure and we can go.”  Or the, “I’ll just hit those two trees and we can go.”  This was repeated a number of times before I decided enough was enough for a change – it was nearly 6 PM…

Anyway, we get the boat out and everything situated and head back to Leprechaun to put it in storage for what might be the winter and that is when I think about extending our trip a little and head home via Champaign to pick up some decoys another good friend is holding for me.  I ask Jon if that is okay and call Keith who just happens to be home.  Get his address and discover that Champaign is a tad farther than I remember, so I put the hammer down and head north hoping Hutch can hold his bladder another two hours or so…

And, then I get another idea - I am full of them too you know!  And I ask Jon if he would break his diet for a Papa Del’s Pan Pizza.  After much gnashing of teeth, he reluctantly agrees, and we order one for pickup…in 45 minutes.  Hey, they are god pizzas!  We make it to Keith’s home in record time and after chatting and loading the decoys, he gives my son and me several gifts that he brought home from his sister’s home who had passed away last year.  Keith is another very good friend and a very good man.

We leave after maybe 15 minutes of chatting which is unusual for me as I can talk, and talk and…, well, those that know me, know what I mean and we head off to Papa Del’s for our reward.  Get the pizza and I realize I have to get gas before leaving town and Jon decides we need paper plates so he goes inside and gets plates while I fuel up.  I was done before him so I pulled up to the front and checked my Cell for emails and the like only to discover an unusual icon on the home screen which turned out to be a message that basically said that my niece was at my parents cemetery in Champaign and their tombstone was knocked over and their grave was DUG UP!

I would think that would come as a shock to just about anyone so I called my niece who I had not seen in some time only to get a recording, so I left a message and was creating a text when she called back.  Now my parents are buried right across the street from Memorial Stadium at what I joking refer to as near the 50-yard line at Mount Hope and it is home to many former residents of Champaign County – and I thought well regarded.  So after telling Jenn I will be there in about 10 minutes, I call the police and get switched around to God only which unit and was told someone would be there shortly.

We make it there through the remnants of the Illini football game crowd (they lost) and arrive to see her van parked with the headlights shining onto the gravestones.  That’s when we see that my parent’s gravestone is not the only ones overturned and damaged but that there are several.  And, yes, the gravesite appears to have been dug into and the earth thrown back on top.  I know my niece loved her Grandparents, as I loved them, so I tried to remain calm and collected. Now my parent’s gravestone is unique and HEAVY.  We had it designed when my Mother passed away 31 years ago.  It depicts a scene with two people fishing and one has a fish on, while the other is still fishing.  And, under my Mother’s name there is the Union Jack, or the British Flag, and under my Father’s is the American Flag.  Why?  Because my Mother was a war bride and retained her proud British heritage and remained a British subject till the day she died.  And, of course, my Father was American and had been in the Army when they met.  This all just fit them and we could not tell if it was damaged as it was face down in the dirt.



We all took pictures and when the police came, they were very kind, respectful and considerate.  As we took in the macabre scene, with at least five markers or gravestones either overturned or moved, ruts from heavy equipment, dug up graves and the like, my son noticed and pointed out how this one tree looked to have been recently cut, or, damaged and cut – something none of us had even noticed.  Then we looked the crime scene over again and started to find wood chips, sawdust and more tire tracks all throughout the gravestones with what appeared to be no respect for hallowed ground by people with a wood-chipper, chainsaw and backhoe.


So, we have now gone from vandalism, grave-robbers, to possible (and incomprehensible) cemetery employees having caused the damage!  As no one at the cemetery (living) responded to repeated calls, the police said they would follow-up and get back with us.  And, as my parent’s gravestone was still lying face down, they offered to help right it, whereupon it took five of us to simply right it and slide it back into position.  There was another gravestone that was face-down but it will take a crane to fix it.


I begrudgingly had to say our goodbyes for they still had a 2.5 hour trip and we had another 90 minutes before we would be home – and poor Hutch needed to be let out.  It was a bittersweet moment for me at least, as we had not seen each other in years due to family issues and Jenny and I had been very close when she was younger.  She has turned into a great mother, wife and women and…well, nuff said.


So, yes, life for me is a roller-coaster most days and nights but for the most part I like it that way…for the most part!




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