What's Happening

My Personal Blog About Life's Goings On 

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  In recent years I have been chronicling some memories and good stories to share with my daughter and her husband and a few friends.  One about the Cincinnati Reds first wearing green uniforms on St. Patrick's Day 1978 has been added to the Good Stories list on my web site.  Check it out.

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Wednesday, December 24, 2025

​​Merry Christmas 2025 and Happy New Year 2026  ...

Can it be time to write this annual message once again?  When I was a kid, it took so long for Christmas to come.  Now, the years seem to fly by. 

I wrote last year without elaboration that there was a lady in my life. I am pleased to say that Lee Oberlag and I are still very much a couple and enjoying each other and our time together.  We watch sports (Reds, Bengals, our alma maters WVU and Mizzou, Xavier, golf), enjoy the arts, socialize with family and friends, walk 6-10K steps most days, and laugh a lot.  Our fall trip to London, Paris and a Seine riverboat cruise was so much fun we just booked Italy for 2026.  It’s all wonderful and we like to say how lucky we are.  My daughter Becky continues to pursue health solutions and Cleveland Clinic is now an interested and active part of her care-giving team. Her husband Joe celebrated his 15th year in IT at Fifth Third Bank.  Sadly, Labradoodle Millie died at age 14 in April.  I miss her.  I continue board work for the Charles H. Dater Foundation.  Next year will be my 20th year. 

Meanwhile, Lee kept busy when we were not together.  She enjoys golf, cooking, the Cincinnati Symphony, Linton Chamber Music (she was a board member for 30 years), gardening, and especially her friends.  Fourteen women gather weekly in downtown Loveland for happy hour, and she spends Monday mornings with a nearly 101-year-old friend at her assisted living facility. Lee has been a long-time communications consultant for an Ohio trade association, and this year she took on the huge task of producing a commemorative anniversary book.  She also volunteers her time to interview and write a monthly story about residents who live at The Lodge, where her parents had lived.

The death of a longtime good friend whom I met at age 10 reminds me to enjoy each day to the fullest.  I hope you are well and able to do the same.  Keep in touch ... 513/378-9327, rogerlruhl@aol.com, and (www.RogerRuhl.com)

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Thursday, September 18, 2025

I learned yesterday that my longtime best friend Jim Gels passed away early Tuesday morning.  Jim became a neighbor when we were both age 10 and we were best friends through our years in grade school, at St. X High, and at Xavier University (Jim worked in the ticket office and I worked for the sports information director ... when I left Xavier for West Virginia University after our junior years, Jim took my place as editor of the Xavier News).  Jim had a successful career in the newspaper business ... eventually became publisher of the Duluth newspaper, a part of the Knight Ridder chain of papers.  When he retired, he and his late wife Kathy moved to Minnetonka, MN (a Minneapolis suburb) to be near their three children.  We have stayed in touch long distance over the years.  I visited him in 2023 and 2024.  Jim was a really good guy.  I will miss him. 

Go to the Gallery section of the web site and check out the team picture of Jim and me when we played Knothole baseball for the College Hill Cardinals.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

It's Baseball Opening Day in Cincinnati for the Cincinnati Reds.  This Opening Day is also the 50th anniversary of the start of a two-year run of one of the greatest teams in baseball history ... the Cincinnati Reds back-to-back World Championship seasons of 1975 and 1976.  In the summer of 2010 my friend Andy Strasberg, who was marketing director for the San Diego Padres when I was Vice President Marketing for the Cincinnati Reds, called to ask for a favor.  He was putting together a hardbound book titled Baseball Fantography, a collection of snapshots from fans and 23 stories, three by Andy and the rest by friends on a variety of topics.  Andy asked if I would write on the topic of parades because of the Reds Findlay Market Opening Day Parade.  I told him I would be honored.  Click here to read what I wrote or go to the Good Stories section of this web site.  Click here.

Thursday, December 12

When I launched this web site back in April 2024, the intent was to use it to keep in touch with friends and share some Good Stories and What's Happening in my life and also to encourage them to share what is happening in their lives.  But ... I got busy.  And the web site got put on the back burner.  My plan for 2025 is resurrect those initial plans.

Meanwhile ... let me share a few words that I enclosed with a couple Christmas cards I sent.

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Merry Christmas 2024 and Happy New Year 2025

Life is good at age 80.  Enjoyable times with family, old and new friends and a new lady in my life (see photo in the Gallery section of the web site). Aging seems tolerable and manageable at the moment ... chronic lower back pain, creeping arthritis in the knees and legs, cataract surgery.  Labradoodle Millie is now 14 and aging, too.  I sleep a little later, walk when the weather allows, eat healthier, and drink a little better wine.  Foundation board work continues to add purpose.  I go to Xavier basketball games and watch West Virginia on TV.  My daughter Becky, her husband Joe and my former wife Lynne orchestrated an 80th Birthday Party for me and 50 good friends at a Reds game in June.  A 2025 project will be cleaning up this web site which is a little dated.  I enjoy sharing my news and hearing from friends -- RogerLRuhl@aol.com ... 513-378-9327.​

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Also ... go to the Good Stories tab on the web site and a favorite Christmas memory ... this one from 1970.