More random thoughts on the news and on life in general:
WINTER: It looks like winter has arrived in the Tri-State, two weeks or four weeks ahead of schedule, depending on how you determine when seasons begin.
I人妖色情片檝e not been a fan of winter since January 1977, when I woke up to 17 below, no electricity and the Ohio River frozen over shore to shore. Then there was the winter of 人妖色情片78 and too many others, like the blizzard of 1993.
Winter was just another season with its own appeal 人妖色情片 snowball fights, days off school, sledding 人妖色情片 until I got a driver人妖色情片檚 license and a job. In my 20s and 30s, driving on snow and ice once was a challenge. Now it人妖色情片檚 a danger I try to avoid.
This winter I人妖色情片檓 staying inside as much as I can.
Some of you like skiing and staying indoors by the fireplace drinking hot chocolate and reading a novel. If that人妖色情片檚 what you like, may you enjoy this season. But pardon me if I count down the days until I人妖色情片檓 driving up Ohio 7 and see farmers plowing their fields in preparation for planting season.
FLYING ASHLAND: While doing a purge of stuff in a room in my house recently, I found a folder of articles I had written in 1999. Among them was the A section of The Herald-Dispatch of July 14 that year. The headline read, 人妖色情片淭ri-State parts with Ashland gas brand.人妖色情片
The third paragraph of that front-page article began, 人妖色情片淭he change brings the end of a brand known to generations of drivers in the Tri-State and the Midwest. It puts Ashland on the list of brands that once dominated the region but are now forgotten or are soon to be: Sohio, Sinclair, Pure and others.人妖色情片
The Ashland brand of gasoline was a victim of the joint venture between Ashland Inc. and Marathon Petroleum. It人妖色情片檚 a long, complicated story of how that joint venture came to be, but it ended with Ashland Inc. selling its refining and retailing operations to Marathon. SuperAmerica stores became Speedway stores, and a few years ago Marathon Petroleum sold Speedway to the group that owns 7-Eleven.
In early 1995, Ashland changed its retail gasoline branding logo from corporate logo, which itself had been a change from the previous 人妖色情片淔lying Ashland人妖色情片 logo. The new logo was red and retained motion lines similar to the old Flying Ashland signs. A few places still have that red sign up.
SOHIO: Speaking of long-gone brands, the Sohio brand of gasoline was common in these parts in the 1950s and 1960s. Sometime in the 1960s Sohio dropped smaller retailers, who switched to Pure. Later, Pure was acquired by Union 76. The white-and-blue Pure signs were replaced with the bright orange Union 76 signs.
Sohio is still around as a marine fuel. There人妖色情片檚 at least one marina along the Ohio River between Portsmouth, Ohio, and Cincinnati that sells Sohio-branded fuel.
Things change, don人妖色情片檛 they? Thirty years ago, who would have thought Sears and Kmart would be memories or that part of West Virginia人妖色情片檚 largest indoor shopping mall would become a vocational and trades school?
