The winter will soon be past. Days that remain cool are yet balmy bliss compared to some of those winter days below zero. It allows for walking around the pond in search of signs of spring. Spring’s only ten days away, enough time to walk off some of the winter overindulgence of food.
How many steps does it take to make one Angelpond lap? Counting has been tried in the past but always fails, as too many spring eruptions of growth, or a bird perching nearby, or even an early insect draws attention causing the count to be lost to nature observations.
Sure one could invest in a Fitbit or an Apple watch to keep the footfall count. However the device would not know to stop the count when a large pile of tree limbs is circled five or six times trying to capture a picture of the bunny spotted sneaking under the pile to hide from an intruding hiker.
Angelkeep devotes many daily hours researching both nature and local history during those wicked winter days when outdoor trails tend to be more of a cold hazard than observational interest. One interesting discovery in winter weeks of early 2022 pondering the eventual success of the Morgan Pedometer.
Bluffton resident B. F. Morgan invented what was then considered to be an item sure to bring Morgan immense fortune. Over several months he perfected a little contrivance with the principal purpose of wearing on the heel of a shoe. Every time the wearer stepped forward the little machine registered “one.” At the end of the day, a person’s total steps could be known. If multiplied by the average length of step, a calculation of miles could be achieved.
Observers of the device claimed it so small it could be worn on the shoe without the least inconvenience. It was also stated that the register’s small size was one that could be manufactured for a small sum and likely retail for fifty cents.
Before readers figure Mr. Morgan was an employee of Fitbit or Apple, rest assured Morgan’s invention in 1893 was well prior to those other companies’ devices. Did they get their ideas from Morgan’s design and convert them from mechanical to digital properties? Did Mr. Morgan ever get any financial reward like Mr. Fitbit or Mr. Apple?
Hugh Studabaker, a banker, civic leader, and heavy investor in all types of things successful, traveled to Fort Wayne with B. F. to secure working models to send to Washington for securing a patent. No doubt, then Studabaker would bankroll Morgan and join as proprietors of the Morgan Register Manufacturing Company.
Success or failure of the device was never recorded. B. F. Morgan remained elusive as well. Online searches for the man resulted in Bluffton Morgan citizens, but none with the initials of B. F., and no step-counting gismo factory recorded as existing in Bluffton.
Angelkeep could relate to an idea with promise that ended up as a single item use. Angelkeep’s long-standing climbing red rose trellis for a rose variety planted in 2000, and about five years after the rose bush’s death, converted the trellis into a Christmas lights lawn structure. The upside-down trellis then shaped like a pine tree, was covered in LED lights and left up for the season. Morgan likely used re-purposed parts to construct his first Bluffton pedometer.
Morgan’s inventiveness provided a bit of winter Angelkeep kindred-spiritedness.
Angelkeep owns a long 300-foot measuring tape and could use it to measure the path around Angelpond. From that measurement the number of laps per mile could be calculated. If owned, a B. F. Morgan FitBoot Pedometer would sure make the calculating easier.
In reality, who needs to know?
It’s ten days to spring, the sun is out, some days a sweatshirt is all that’s needed for a pond-side hike. Bird’s chirp. Hippity hops. Chipmunks emerge. Fish rise from the pond’s depths. All is nearly right with the wildlife world. Spring is only ten days away . . . and counting.
Mr. Daugherty is a Wells County resident who, along with his wife Gwen, enjoy their backyard and have named it “Angelkeep.”
