The State of Ohio

Today is Friday and I’m not going to talk about software.

Every state has an interesting history and trivial little things that, if you weren’t originally from that state, you wouldn’t know about them. I’m going to talk about my home state, Ohio. I moved to Florida with my family when I was 6 years old so I didn’t learn much about Ohio until I grew up and moved away.

The name Ohio comes from an Iroquois word meaning “big river” and is known for being the “Buckeye State” because of the Ohio buckeye trees that flourish within its borders. It was designated the official state tree in 1953. The word buckeye comes from the Indian…they thought the nut resembled the color and shape of the eye of a buck. Ohioans have referred to themselves as “buckeyes” since the presidential election of 1840.

I remember that Ohio had 4 seasons and you knew when they were occurring. Spring is cool and a lot of things are starting to bloom and turn green; a bright green. Summer is hot and humid; but all the leaves and grass are a darker green and there are gardens in bloom in backyards. Fall is so colorful with all the leaves changing. When I was a kid, fall also meant the smell of burning leaves in the air or chimney smoke from the neighborhood houses. Winter meant very cold weather with snow covering everything and ice cycles hanging from the garage roof. I loved growing up in Ohio.