sports

outdoors with Lou Rodia

No Pre-Selling TV, Fun Was Up to the Individual

By LOU RODIA Snow to us farm kids meant a lot of shovelling- It was different from the normal barnyard shovelling we were used to and the snow as a welcome relief It meant sledding on the hill on the Rexon farm across from the house on Laurel Road where we lived in Stratford Early snow meant that Christmas was coming. It seems, if my memory serves me. that Decembers . were a lot colder back then There was no TV. We didn't get pre sold for months on Christmas toys we couldn't use or didn't need Most of our gifts were going to be practical things anyway We had our usual want lists but we also knew we were going to' get little from there It was the height ot the deep depression and money was in short supply Our shopping for Chris I mas gifts w as done with a Sears Roebuck catalog and any of the outdoor magazines of the day which featured all kinds of things There were the BB guns, the 22 rifles, the fishing rods, the camping gear and the Ixiats Every list included a Flexible Flyer sled That was our want list. It was markedly different from the one we submitted to Santa Claus. THE WANT LIST includ ed things we all wanted and knew we were not going to get. It was fun to wish, but the realities were there. We soon learned to face up to the fact that the dollars on-

ly went so far and there were not that many dollars to be had. If life were to be fun. we were going to have to make it so. for it could not and would not be bought over the counter of the nearest department store When the snow finally did come and Christmas was just around the corner, it was a busy time of year Our big old house had an 1 1 -foot ceiling in the living room and a huge bay window It was a great place to put a Christmas tree. And we did. It was usually the biggest tree we could get. Weeks ahead of time we roamed the nearby woods looking for the perfect tree When we found it. the spot was marked and kept secret from the rest of the kids in town lest the tree wind up in someone else's living room. ACTUALLY, there were two trees One was the tree which we decorated indoors The other was the tree we decorated lor the birds and squirrels We had to make all of the decorations for the wildlife They were fun' to make and ii was fun to watch the animals come to the tree to enjoy the food We made popcorn, colored it and strung it to be hung for the birds Peanuts were tied to the limbs with thread for the squirrels Walnuts were painted with model paint and hung as ornaments. Suet bags were made from pieces of onion sacks. Mom made us some balls of corn kernels, dried beans and barley which

were mixed with honey for the birds to pick on. The pre-Christmas evenings were spent making decorations. We made little gifts for each other. We made things for our teachers We got our first set of electric trains. There was a 4 by 8 sheet of composition board painted green and an oval track which went around the outside. There were a couple of miniature houses. A broken mirror created a lake' and on it was an oversized swan. The tunnel and the bridge were created in the basement of our home. We took plaster lath and wire and nailed together the frame. We shredded newspapers. soaked the papers in a tub of water, added plaster of paris and molded the scenery. It was painted with water colors. IT TOOK A WEEK of nights to get the trains set up and running. A good weekend of work got the indoor tree up. the lights and the ornaments hung and the tinsel placed carefully. No tossing the tinsel for us. We placed it a strand at a time. And. when Christmas was over, it was taken down the same way and saved for next year. While we were busy with all of this. Mom was in the kitchen cranking out boxes and boxes of cookies. We got the broken ones and a glass of milk before going to bed. That is until Christmas day when all of the goodies came out of hiding. It seems as if the entire month of December was a build-up for Christmas eve and Christmas day. There was a hustle and bustle and everyone pitched in to help. Christmas centered on all of the house activities. Church was not forgotten, either. Midnight mass was for grownups in those days in our tiny church. There was not sufficient room if all of the families went at the same time. Ceremony, celebration, presents, decorations. Yule trees and all of that notwithstanding. Christmas meant food of all kinds which we didn't see the rest of the year I AM NOT SURE exactly what the significance is and was to the traditional Christmas Eve seafood feast in Italian households. We just always did it. The secret was to accumulate as 1 many kinds of seafood as possible. That meant a trip to the Italian market on Ninth Street in Philadelphia. That always was an interesting trip, expecially when we went to the fish market to shop for Christmas eve dinner. Probably Italians have an affinity for the sea because almost anywhere you go in Italy, you are not too far from the seacoast. That's probably why we love to fish. Back then we couldn't freeze things as we do today, so fish had to be fresh, canned as tuna is. or salted and dried. In recent years, we start accumulating fish well ahead of Christmas. A special section of the freezer is earmarked for Christmas eve. We top off the freezer selections with a visit to the '.^cal fish markets instead of .

to Ninth Street. But the result is the same. Someone in the family still gathers up the rest of us for the Christmas Eve traditional fish dinner. Christmas Day started early when we were kids. That hasn't changed in any house where there are youngsters. The presents are more elaborate today and the wrappings are a lot more ornate. But we often wonder if the gifts we give and get today are as meaningful as the ones we made ourselves. Sure they were less than fancy and more often than not. they were of little material value. But we treasured them for the time thev lasted. ONE OF MY MOST priced possessions is a gun racK^--one of my youngsters made for me for Christmas in a school shop class. It is stored away for now until I complete my sleeping room at the hunting club Then it will go on the wall there. I started fishing at age six. There were no rods and reels. There were only poles we cut in the woods, some strong button thread from Mom's sewing kit and two-for-a-penny hooks from Harvey Ellis' candy store on the White Horse Pike. Cork floats came from wine bottles. Rods and reels came along much later. But each year, Christmas brought the hope that this might just be the year for a rod and reel. We did a lot of fantasy shopping in the catalogs of the day. We still do it. I read the L. L. Bean catalog as if it were deathless prose. I can find a use for practically everything in the catalog, and would probably buy it all if I had the time and the money to use the things I see. 1 USE THE L. L. BEAN catalog to do some subliminal pre-Christmas gift suggesting. I get the catalog out and look through it. If I see something I want. I mark the page with a paper clip. I circle the item as if I were going to order it and forgt Then I leave the catalog around. Sometimes it works. There is a pair of Bean's Insulated Main Hunting boots. They sell for $72. I have the page marked and the size and style marked and the catalog has been laying around. It gets moved a lot. but I keep making sure it shows up again. There is an irony in this. Fifty years ago. I wanted a pair of boots. They were not L. L. Bean boots they were high tops from Sears Roebuck. At age nine. I had already learned the mark the page and leave the catalog around trick I knew the BB gun and the 22 rifle were not going to arrive for Christmas. Nor was the Flexible Flyer sled and the fishing rod. They were on the frivilous want list. On the real Christmas list, the high top boots were No. 1. They were really neat. They had leather laces a mile long. And there was a little pocket at the top of one of the boots. In it was a little two-bladed pen knife. It was probably the knife which made the boots attractive. There is no penknife on the L. L. Bean boots. But that does not change the

wanting. I do not know at this writing if the paper clip and the marked page trick will work. It worked 30 years ago. Only time will tell. I'll know about 6 a.m. Christmas morning. CHRISTMAS IS STILL FUN. The anticipation makes it so. So does prowling the attic looking for the boxes of lights, the tree ornaments and the tree stand. There is a lot to do. The tree has to be picked out. The cards have to be writ-

ten. The last minute gifts have to be picked up. And in between. I have to look for a box about a foot squaare and eight inches high with a Maine postmark. It has to be around here someplace. It seems as I have been here before. The hightops came in a box about that size. Lou Rodia of Court House writes a weekly "Outdoors" column for this newspaper.

Cape May County ALMANAC I DECEMBER. 1985 moon phases/ positions correction times The Mount effect im the Tide i» Compute approximate limn greatest when closest to Earth of high h low water for your (in perigee) and when in direct area by adding or subtracting alignment with Sun &■ Earth the following number of Ifull A new moon phase*) On minutes for each tide phase in and about these dates, low the Tide Table pressure systems and'or strong winds (depending upon dtrer . lion) mav result in flooding and tor extremely low tides Moon Phase. IOW HIGH Last Quarter 3 Great Egg Harbor Inlet New Moon II pius ,j plus(0 Poll Moon 27 Ocean City '9th St Bridge • plus 35 plus 22 Apogee 23 Corson Inlet i bridge > Perigee m plus 21 plus? Sea Isle Cily tidk table ' ludlam t*0™ bnd«' ' Computed for Cape Mav City • Plus66 plus 43 beorh/ront. for other areas, see Sea Isle City Beach I Correction Times minus 2 minus 21 ILATK lilt. II LOW Townsend Inlet a m p.m. a.m. p.m plus 21 plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus IS 0 ' «"".«■» IV 7- I!!! I !2 ' Stone Harbor *. Ty" ",| 4 « ■, 44 ' ('rMI Channel Bridge 1 4 Wed 12 ft 12 13 5 19 6 43 P,us43 Plu»«° a Thu > '■> I |:l 6 58 7 44 Hereford Inlet i Anglesea 1 t. Eri 2 116 2 |H 8 II K 41 plus 19 0 7 Sat 3.IW 3 24 9 14 9 35 Wildwood Beach it Sun 4 in i 2H lit 12 10 26 Minus 2 minus IT III 15 ;*"•"-»» Wesl Wildwood 11 Wed f. 49 7 12 12 10 i <«> 1 Grassy Channel bridge > 12 Thu 7 16 s ii2 no I..: P|us46 plus 43 13 Eri 8 26 it ,v» I 56 2 »4 Cape May Harbor 14 Sat 9 IB •• 4H 2 47 1 (4 plus I minus 4 15 Sun 10 10 l» 15 l 19 4 22 Five Fathom Bank 16 Mon II 04 II 41 4 32 5 II plus„ lus , . - sag?.. 2: ?s , „«*■•*«- , 19 Thu 1 27 1 41 7 33 7 56 P,U** p,US:H 20 Fri 2 22- 2 36 B 33 h 46 McCne Shoal 21 Sat 3 14- 3 32 9 25 9 33 plus28 plus22 22 Sun 4 It: 4 28 10 15 III 15 Delaware Boy 23 Mon 4 56- 5:19 II 03 It ill Bavshore Channel £ £7 Ml MJII.W-yu I Bay Canal Junction. 2S Wed 6 22 6 46 U 3a 01,^47 olus36 28 Thu 6 59- 7 26 12 27 1 19 P « „ t P 27 Fri 7 36 - 8 05 I 10- 2 01 Miami Beach 28 Sat 8:13- 8 44 1:50- 2:4! P't»?S plus6l 29 .Sun 8:52 9:25 2 28- 3 IK Dennis Creek Entrance 30 Mon 9 31 10:10 3:05- 3:56 plus 114 phis97 31 Tue 10:14—10:57 3:45— 4 33 Brandywtne Shoal Light plus 77 plus 52

Cape May Fishing To Be Showcased

COURT HOUSE - Cape May County party and charter boat fishing and fishing opportunities in the inland waterway will be on display during the four -day Garden State Outdoor Sportmen's Show at Trenton State College Jan. 9-12. A display featuring county fishing will be set up dt the show. Party and charter boat captains and fishing experts from the county will be staffing the exhibit during the entire run of the show. Equipment used by the fishermen and talks on how the equipment is used to catch fish will be featured. Also on display will be mounted fish of the types caught in Jersey Cape waters. TOPICS TO BE covered in the four -day Cape May County display will include catching fish from party boats, how to charter a boat for a fishing trip, fishing in Delaware Bay. inland waterway fishing techniques and offshore trolling for game fish. Shark fishing will also be featured during the show. The exhibit of Cape May County fishing is being coordinated by the county Department of Public Af-

fairs. Party and charter boat captains who operate their boats from Cape May County who wish to participate in the ongoing fishing clinic-seminar can contact the department at 886-0901. During the seminar, photographs and color slides depicting Cape May County scenes will be displayed. Plans are also being formulated to display video taped sequences of various kinds of county fishing during the seminars. FISHERMEN WHO enjoy county angling opportunities can visit the Garden State Outdoor Sportsmen's Show during its run. The show runs Thursday. Jan. 9 and Friday. Jan. 10. 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Jan. 11. the show is open 10 a.m. -10 p.m. Sunday. Jan. 12, the show is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The show is being held at the Student Recreation Building of Trenton State College in Ewing Township. Over 150 exhibitions will be offered, showing sporting goods, hunting and fishing equipment, boats guide services, taxidermy and other recreational outdoor opportunities.

Rio Grande Gains On Leading Eckel's

COURT HOUSE - In one of the tightest contests of the year. Rio Grande Building Materials took two games from Eckel's Diesel in Middle Township Recreation Men's Volleyball. Rio Grande posted the wins behind the spikes of Ernie Troiano and Tom Beheler and the sets of John W'ilsey and Rick Ferrante. Eckel's made each point hard to come by as it consistently stormed back with Buddy Eckel and Ted Ferrante saving many shots and keeping them in play Scores for the three games had Rio Grande winning the first two 16-14 and 15-11 with Eckel's taking the third 1S-10. IN OTHER action, the Coast Guard got back on the winning track by taking three games from the Wildwood Catholic

Teachers 15-5, 15-12, 15-4. Coast Guard was headed by Mark Townsend and Wayne Polcher. The Teachers, who are steadily improving, were led by Dave Watson and Ron Trout. In the nightcap. Twiggs' Blinds started off slowly, losing the first game, but came back to take the final two from Keen Plumbing. In the first game. Keen came out storming behind the serving of Don Schiffendecker and spikes of Buddy Keen. Games two and three were the direct opposite as Twigg's made short work of Keen's with Scott Hillar and Jim McKinley providing the firepower. Standings Eckel's 13 2 R.G. Bldg Mat 1] 4 Twiggs' Blinds 10 S Keen Plumbing 7 s U.S. Coast Guard 4 11 W. Cath. Teach. l 12