Swim Ladies

At the time I swim I have been the only male for all but a handful of times in the fun and fitness class from mainly last March to last week. The fun and fitness class is comprised of women who are older than I. A few may be within a year or two of my age, but most are older, at least one is in her mid-80's. I tend to be one of the youngest present. Other woman have joined and I am not sure of their ages. The last thing one does is ask a woman her age. The women can be rather chatty, and well, lets just say this may have gotten them into trouble. One story will be about trouble and the second about how the pool staff has to navigate the complaints raised by the ladies.

I put my suit on at home, and take off shoes, socks, pants and shirt on a bench near the pool, I do not use the locker room until getting out of the pool. A couple weeks ago I was going into the locker room after swim, and I noticed a new sign on the door. Over the past several months, perhaps 98% of the time, I am the only man in the locker room, so but for when the shower runs the room is quiet. The  new sign states that patrons have ten minutes for locker room use before a program and twenty minutes at the conclusion of a program. While I first thought about kids, perhaps having fun in the locker room. My first clue that this was not not the case was chatter. While changing, particularly when I am the only man in the men's locker room, I can hear the women next door, doing what they like to do--talk, and talk and talk. Did I say they like to talk. Putting a dagger in the kid's theory, however, was two days later. At that time, I get involved in a conversation, on my side of the bulkhead, with a couple of the ladies who asked if I had seen the sign on locker room door about time available to use the locker room. I said yes, and I noted that I wondered what led to it. Then one said: "It's us"  For a couple months now, she went on, "we have been told to hurry it up and get out." Then one woman piped up and said, "You know, according to" so and so (I cannot recall the name of so and so, but she used to swim there and has apparently now gone to the great pool in the sky) "we have only twenty minutes after getting out of the water to get lotion on our bodies." That meant, they need to lotion up their bodies at the pool not at home. Now, I have no idea whether the time frame is correct, but the wife seemed to agree with the timing. They were rather upset that the allotted twenty minutes did not allow appropriate time to get out of their suit, use the shower, lotion up and then get dressed. So, the old ladies were causing an issue at the pool, perhaps with staffing, or getting out before the next program. I don't know and don't want to ask why they want people out, but it makes some sense. Being tardy at school is not acceptable, and being tardy at getting out the locker room is not either.

Recent rule on use of locker rooms

I was going to say they could cut the talk, but decided against it. They asked if I had a problem with the allotment of only twenty minutes, and I said, "Well I don't lotion up, so no." I also did not say that I am usually alone and so there is no conversation. Mark, the other man used to show up but has been dealing with health issues since last March, finally appeared last week Friday (10/16). Mark, who was facilities manager for Monona Grove, said in building schools below high school level he told architects to not even bother with showers, as kids don't shower after gym class, and they do not change in front of other kids. Unlike kids, I never realized that the ladies hung around so long. I guess chatting in the pool is not enough, but I do realize the bulkhead divides the group, and when they mix in the locker room they need to chat it up. When I tried to explain to my wife the conversation about putting on lotion, she said she knew what I was talking about so she did not need details, in fact she preferred not having details. She did not need details, can she imagine what it was like being in a man in a conversation where they were giving details about putting lotion on their bodies? 

Up high by the ceiling sitting above the pool are two large fans. A couple other fans, although not as large, sit above the mezzanine bleachers. I have never noticed the fans to be off. My thinking is that they push warm air down to the pool. I am not sure if I recall the ambient air temperature in the pool area, but I do know the pool water is generally 80 to 82 degrees, and when it is 80 verse 81 or 82, the ladies feel it. (Oh, the water is chilly today" is a comment I may hear. I do know going from the pool to the locker room, the locker room seems cooler. Back to the story. One day the fan over the fun and fitness four lanes and bulkhead (bulkhead divides fun and fitness) was off. The other fan was running as normal at its generally fast pace. I noted that to Elijah, the lifeguard on duty, he said they were getting complaints about it being too cold and it was an experiment to see if turning off the fan would help. This was not unexpected. A few weeks earlier, I had heard a couple women complain about the cold air in the pool and they pointed to their intended culprit, the fan. It may have been the draft created by the fan, than the temperature. Elijah said it was many more than two who complained.  It makes me think that the air temperature was likely a conversation in the female locker room. Perhaps part of the chatter to set up a complaint to the pool manager before protesting outside with signs. After swim, the day the fan was off, I was going to be a smartass and say that it was rather warm could they turn the fan on. But being a smartass is not part of my character. 

Ceiling fan, bulkhead is white object at bottom

The next time for swim, two days later, the fan was on, but a low speed, so I mentioned it, and asked if they were attempting to find the Goldilocks setting, and he said that was correct. It is not just the fan, a few weeks earlier some ladies complained about the shower water being cooler. Here I decided to go out of character and said, they are trying to conserve energy. While I said it in a factitious manner, she did not pick that tone up, and thought I was correct. About the same time, I noticed the one shower head, which usually ran long in the men's locker room was now was running much shorter; taking two pushes rather than one to get what was probably the original time it ran. Today, both Mark and I noticed that the shower water seemed cooler. I do think that the shorter time frame on the shower and the cooler water is sending a message to people to not take too long, limit their time so they are out in less than twenty minutes. Maybe they are concerned about long showers, or maybe they just want the ladies to move it along. Or, maybe it really is energy saving. 

When one swims with a bunch of females you never know what topic will arise, but I can guarantee that there will be chatter. Even writing this blog post, I so far have been successful in blocking out images a group of seasoned citizen ladies chatting, showering, and putting on lotion in the female locker room. 

13 Oct 1951

They assembled together near the "Wyoming line" in the early morning hours of 13 October 1951, a Saturday, to begin their advance northerly over difficult terrain to reach a hill on which Chinese soldiers had established entrenched positions. Friends back home were probably in bed recovering from a hangover after watching a homecoming game. Orders had the advance starting at 5:30 am, over an hour before sunrise. A waxing gibbous moon, on this cold, clear early morning, provided light as the men of the second battalion of Fox Company, 5th regiment formed on the left flank of UN coalition forces. They were the lead element of Operation Nomad-Polar, the last major UN offensive of the Korean War. This offensive moved the Chinese and North Koreans back to the negotiating table which they had walked away from two months after negotiations started in June. The Wyoming line today is in the demilitarized zone and is near the border between North Korea and South Korea. 

News article on John 
Completing Basic Training

One of the men who assembled was my second cousin once removed (second cousin to my Dad) and it would be on this battlefield where he would breathe his last. John "Bud" Hovel was born on 14 Aug 1928 to parents John Martin Hovel and Barbara (nee Chladek). He grew up on a farm in Cerro Gordo County, IA near Plymouth, not far from where his grandfather had settled in Union Township in Worth County.  In 1950 the census records him as having completed eleventh grade and was also employed as a bellhop. He would not be alive to see the TV series MASH, from which many have knowledge of the Korean War. I am not sure if John was killed immediately, or if he made his way to a MASH. Given that he died on the first day of the advance, is identified as KIA, and available reports, it appears he  died on the battle field, and never made it to a MASH unit. 

Less than a year earlier, 8 Nov 1950, he was called to service and John Hovel would depart his home in the northcentral plains of Iowa to eventually make his way to basic training, infantry training and then to Ft Leonard Wood where he would complete his months of training in an armored division.  

One of the Objectives of Fox Co.
Highlighted in blue and it was the fight
for this hill that John Hovel was killed in action.

But, in this advance, he was not with the armored division, but was a light weapons infantryman. The primary objective of Fox Company, joined by George Company was Hill 770, known to the men at the time as "The Pearl." It has now been referred to as "an almost impregnable fortress housing a subterranean Chinese command post, complete with deeply tunneled bunkers that shielded enemy troops from air strikes and heavy artillery." Fox, John Hovel's company, would take their initial objective without contact with the enemy. At 1200  hours the 2nd battalion was subjected to 60 mm mortar rounds. At this point, Fox was in a methodical advance to take lesser objectives to meet the main goal. At 1300 hours (1 pm) they received heavy "enemy automatic weapon and small arms fire from enemy troops dug in on their objectives. Artillery and supporting fires were called to strike the enemy defenders." Through this, Fox, joined by Easy Company mid morning, continued the advance. Another source mentions that: "The combat quickly degraded into a meat-grinder of hand-to-hand combat, grenade exchanges, and close-quarters infantry assaults up steep ridge lines."

Smaller Scale map of region

One can see why combat was difficult. It was reported that "The terrain was extremely steep, barren and slippery with rubble; cover for attacking troops was nearly non-existent. Allied troops became easy targets as they climbed upward under hails of gunfire, mortar, and so many grenades it looked like flocks of blackbirds coming over.” Further, one commentator writing years late noted: "Command Reports euphemistically reported the Communists exhibited 'stubborn resistance' and “gave ground grudgingly” in this battle. Survivors know the reality was far more vicious. The Chinese were not about to give up their comparatively luxurious fortress 'grudgingly.'" It must have been hell for the members of Fox Company.

Military Record of his death

Fox claimed objective #6 at 1545 (3:45), but two enemy platoons drove them back fifteen minutes later, forcing the company to fall back to its first objective. Here is where Corporal Hovel likely died, as during this assault Fox had four wounded and two killed in action. However, by 1700 hours the lines were consolidated for the night, and a short while later a white flag went up from the Chinese troops. As troops advanced to receive the white flag they were fired upon by the Chinese. The First Battalion "advanced slowly to secure the hill. They found that the enemy had constructed a series of strong bunkers on the hilltop, covered with four feet of earth. The rest of the hill was 'honeycombed' with trenches and fighting positions. By dark they were still short of the final crest, and dug in to hold their gains." At the end of the day "'B' Company had 49 WIA and 2 KIA on the 13th". John Hovel was a member of B Company.

Grave marker, Bohemian Cemetery in Plymouth, IA
Source: Findagrave

The 5th regiment was attached to the 24th Infantry Division which in the first week of October 1951 relieved the 7th Infantry Division. However, up until the end of August 1951 the 5th regiment, had served continuously for over one year. After one month of rest, refit and reintegration of replacements, the Fox and George Companies would take the lead in Operation Nomad-Polar. I suspect this battle= hardened regiment was given this assignment as command had earlier set the roll they would play in this offensive.

It has been noted that "newspaper reports of this little-known operation drastically underplayed the reality of what happened, especially during the opening days of the offensive. History books, too, give only abbreviated nods – or no mention whatsoever – of Operation Nomad-Polar." It then goes on to say, that "Yet, it was one of the most brutal, and most costly, fights the US 24th Army Infantry Division endured during its historic tenure in Korea." Much more is known and written about the Battle at Heartbreak Ridge which ended on Oct 15, 1951, two days after this operation began. Heartbreak Ridge was mentioned several times in MASH episodes, and there is a Clint Eastwood movie about it. Not to mention being in a computer game or two. Operation Nomad-Polar is not mentioned in any of the 251 episodes of MASH. In terms of casualties and killed in action, on an average per day for the length of the battle, Nomad-Polar (1784 casualties over 11 days) had more casualties than Heartbreak Ridge (3700 casualties over 32 days), see note 1. Yet, there is no computer game, or mention of the operation in MASH. The operation fell by the wayside in history and in popular culture, but this does not take away from the sacrifices rendered. His death is mentioned in a simple almost non-descript manner in news paper articles for the area with two other Iowa men who died in the conflict near that time. Has he become but a statistic? He was one of 288 men who died in battle during the 11 days of operation Nomad-Polar.

He was one of three service men from Plymouth, IA who died in Korea; he with one other are buried at the Bohemian Cemetery. I asked a relative, in our Martin Hovel line who lives in Iowa, if his mom, who lives in Mason City not far from Plymouth, ever heard of John being mentioned, but she had not. John had two brothers, one who died in infancy and one who fathered three children. Those distant family member whereabouts are not known to me. For many October 13 is just another mid-October day. Yet history is replete of stories of sadness and happiness that often go unaccounted. This hopes that John Hovel (b 1928) is not just another statistic from the sad reality of what conflicts produce.

Sources:

https://24thida.com/24th_division/korea_nomad_helm.html

https://thekwe.org/topics/operation_nomad/operation_nomad.htm

https://24thida.com/24th_division/mcadoo_command_reports_5thRCT.html

Note 1: Casualties includes dead, missing and wounded.

Note 2: John Hovel's (b 1928) father was John Martin Hovel (b 1890) and grandfather was John Hovel (b 1847).  His grandfather was a brother to my great grandfather, Martin Hovel. Making John (b 1928) my second cousin once removed. The same generation as my dad means he and my dad were second cousins.

Note 3: This post came about after a nephew in Madison sent me an image of John's service in Korea and asked what I knew about him. I had written a Facebook post about John many years ago and provided that to my nephew. Funny, is that my nephew's parents were at the Bohemian Cemetery, and I had forgotten that John 1928 was buried there. Thanks to AI I was able to find out more about the battle in which he died than what I was able to research and write about over a decade ago in that Facebook post.  

Road Construction

I think my wife is shaking her head a great deal the past couple months at the road work on Creamery Rd in McFarland. Most of the work involves taking a narrow rural cross section roadway to mainly a widened roadway with mostly an urban section. While mostly standard curb and gutter, a portion has  ribbon curb, which the wife says is akin to just a narrower sidewalk. A ribbon curb allows water to flow over the edge, but the concrete holds the road edge better than a typical asphalt with gravel shoulder edge. The road runs by and probably through wetlands, which makes the challenge of construction even greater. It is like a never-ending project and in part shows the absurd nature, almost folly, of road construction and getting things done correctly.

Tan gravel near hydrant shows area of 
additional cut and fill of gravel

When desiring to get out you could look and see what way to go out, left or right. But, coming home would be a different story, with several more minutes to add if I have to enter from the east rather than our standard from the west. The reason is you do not know what part is being worked on. As I write this they have been replacing curb in the small urban section. This portion did not see the water and storm sewer installation the rural section, across from our street and to the east had seen.   It was a crap shoot, only times to figure out you had to back up and turn around and go the other way. Biking, is much easier, I biked on the road on the dirt ripped up from a former narrow asphalt path, and I biked over gravel piles and around equipment. Last week Tuesday we were coming home from a shopping trip and they were pouring curb which took up the whole road to the east of our entry point, but they had equipment digging out soft spots to the west side, at which I waited, until a dump truck driver signaled me to move ahead, and for which, lucky I have a four wheel drive Jeep to get over the holes and gravel piles to get home. When we left they were only pouring curb, and digging soft spots at the other side of entry. 

Our street showing curb just poured at 
intersection with Creamery Rd

The folly of the construction process, and I think this project is using federal highway money which is generally 80% of the cost, is in the undercutting of poot soils. During design it is easy to calculate amount of concrete, and asphalt, by the known dimensions and convert to cubic yards, or tons. However, soils vary and can pose an issue. In this case the engineer designated an 18" undercut of current soil conditions, and for over a few weeks the contractor did just that, cut down 18", and filled the area with gravel. In this case a known quantity. What is unknown is what further undercutting may need to occur. Biking by one day where they were undercutting you could see clay, with perched water on top, the engineer allowed another 12 to 18" cut which they did, and backfilled with gravel. The method of excavation had one large excavator, digging and dumping soil into a dump truck which went out one direction, and a dump truck with gravel coming in from the other. Gravel was dumped and spread by a bull dozer, and in some cases of further undercutting, by a bob cat. A large roller went over the area. Perhaps at some point they will get it right and will be able to pave.

Looking down Creamery Rd from our street

Even though it was noticed by any one with eye sight that the soil should have been cut out some more, it was not approved. That is until the proof roll test. This is a highly sophisticated test of a dump truck filled with gravel and going slowly down the edge of the road (why edges are suspect, I don't know) and an engineer tech or engineer watch the gravel to see how much deflection is present. If they don't like the deflection it is marked with spray paint. The crew then comes back takes out the gravel and digs deeper and puts perhaps some dug out gravel, but seemed mostly new in the cut. They then proof roll it again. 

The highly scientific method of proof-rolling
Proof-rolling area marked was cut and filled previous day
They found a soft area that was once again dug out and filled

They dug up the end of our street, perhaps 40 or more feet, pavement that was just installed in 2021, and proof rolled at that time. Low and behold, the area cut out and filled with gravel a few years ago did not pass the test and was cut again. Seeing the operation as I biked by, and talking with the contractors, it seems that some areas on this project were dug out three times. I inquired of a contractor why not just remove it in the first place when one can see it is bad soil, and he said, it is part of the process intended to save money, by only doing areas not passing the proof roll test.

Proof Roll test and need for excavation prohibited
curb from being poured beyond  fire hydrant, and the
opposite side.

As I pick this up again, they just, once again on Friday, dug up at the end of our street what they had dug up and replaced with gravel just earlier this week. This area was dug for storm sewer and filled with gravel, then they dug out 12-18" and put in gravel, then they proof rolled and dug out the gravel and even more, then they must have proof rolled once again and today are digging it once again. Four times they have dug the same area at the end of our street. I am not sure who the engineer is that he cannot allow the proper depth to be dug out the first time. This is hoping the fourth time is a charm.

The extra cutting then limited the ability of the concrete sub contractor to complete the curb and gutter on the intended day, so they did not finish pouring curb until this Monday afternoon. Not only that, but two days of rain inundated some of the excavation area in which the curb was to be poured, especially the area where they are replacing curb in the west section toward Main Street. On Friday, last week they able to pour drive approaches. It will be interesting to see when the slip form curb machine is brought back to complete the curb. This curb delay likely means that the pavement installation will be delayed. The road, with gravel, is still rough with large dips. 

The project was, we were told, to be completed by the end of August, that switched to Sep 18. Given the amount of underground work and cutting the end of August was highly suspect for a project that started about five weeks earlier.

Photos by author, Sep 29, 2026 and Oct 2, 2026