Since my "model change" at work was Tuesday night and I had old parts to pull from the line, racks to set and new parts to set during the "gap" we decided I needed my wits about me and so instead getting up early, we slept 'til noon. We went and voted (local issues) and then I took the vent fan in the bathroom down to see if I could fix it instead of replacing it; so far I won!
So, at work anyway, it's 2008 now! Strange thought...
Friday we set things so the construction people can work while we are off for two weeks. I'm looking forward perhaps even to an "early out"!
Dottie has taken vacation days to cover what should have been her work days so she will be off for this two weeks as well. Last year we had our 4th of July family celebration here and then went to Vermont to spend the rest of it with her family. I wish we were again this year, but instead I need to roof my garage and there are lots of other things to be done here. If I am lucky I will get a line wet somewhere between all of them!
During the 2nd week we are going to Branson for a couple of days; we haven't been since 1983. We were there with my Dad that spring for the last "family vacation" the way we used to do them before his cancer put him in the hospital; then later in the year her Mom came out from Vermont to visit and we went back because she really wanted to see the Ozarks though she was dying from lung cancer at the time. She got some time on the lake, and we took her to Silver Dollar City; though we pushed her in a wheelchair through the park, she rode every ride! She and Dottie also got a flight in a helicopter over the city and out over Table Rock Lake. Her Mom had been a mechanical engineer for Pratt and Whitney during WW2, laying out assembly lines and hiring for them, among other things. She truly loved that helicopter ride, not only for the beauty of the country, but the appreciation of the aircraft as well!
It's going to be very strange going back there again; I know enough things have changed that the memories won't be quite so vivid, but having spent every summer there from 1967 to 1983 with the exception of the years I was in California (even making one from there the summer after Dottie and I were married) I have a lot of memories...
The first time I saw Silver Dollar City it was one block square; you parked in front of the "1881 hotel"; it was free and it cost a quarter to go down into Marvel Cave! It was early 1962, and Dad had rented a camper for the back of his 1961 Ford pickup to see if "camping" was something we could all enjoy. We spent a few days at Roaring River State Park and then went to Branson and stayed at "Stormy Point" campground...
That fall, my sister and I were amazed to see this place we had just been show up on television. They were calling it "Bug Tussle" and it was supposedly where "The Beverly Hillbillies" had come from.
So, 45 years later, I guess we'll see what it looks like now!
Anyway, with Dottie off my time here will become scarce; I hope you all forgive me!
Thinking of you all!
alan
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
A Great Weekend!
Though things didn't go quite as planned, lol!
Bill showed up at 12:30 Saturday, he ate and then we went to go get his licenses. Our impeccable timing meant that the guy who works the sporting goods counter at Wal-Mart was on lunch, and it took a half hour just to get someone to come to the register, after repeatedly having different people page someone. The two that finally showed up had no idea how to fill out licenses...
Back home, hook everything up; it was 3 by the time we hit the water and Bill wanted to be home by 7, and wanted to wash the sunscreen off before he got in his car, so we were off the water at 5. Still, a couple of hours is better than none!
Sunday I got up and re-rigged some rods and reels and then took this boat out by myself for the first time. It has been a pain to get off and on the trailer, sometimes requiring two of us, but I've gotten a better handle on it each time, and pulled it off flawlessly yesterday. Fished 'til 7; when Dottie got off work at 5:30 she went home and stuck a lasagna in the oven and took her shower; by the time she was done and cooled off, I was home and got through the shower just in time to eat.
Back to work tonight for the last 5 days before our summer vacation; she's off tomorrow, though I have to work. Perhaps an early movie...I need to go see what's playing.
Hope you all had great weekends!
alan
Bill showed up at 12:30 Saturday, he ate and then we went to go get his licenses. Our impeccable timing meant that the guy who works the sporting goods counter at Wal-Mart was on lunch, and it took a half hour just to get someone to come to the register, after repeatedly having different people page someone. The two that finally showed up had no idea how to fill out licenses...
Back home, hook everything up; it was 3 by the time we hit the water and Bill wanted to be home by 7, and wanted to wash the sunscreen off before he got in his car, so we were off the water at 5. Still, a couple of hours is better than none!
Sunday I got up and re-rigged some rods and reels and then took this boat out by myself for the first time. It has been a pain to get off and on the trailer, sometimes requiring two of us, but I've gotten a better handle on it each time, and pulled it off flawlessly yesterday. Fished 'til 7; when Dottie got off work at 5:30 she went home and stuck a lasagna in the oven and took her shower; by the time she was done and cooled off, I was home and got through the shower just in time to eat.
Back to work tonight for the last 5 days before our summer vacation; she's off tomorrow, though I have to work. Perhaps an early movie...I need to go see what's playing.
Hope you all had great weekends!
alan
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Past the blues...
Father's Day really got to me this year. Having my Dad miss out on the years he looked forward to most and worked for his whole life was really bothering me these last few weeks.
My sons don't remember him at all, or Dottie's Mom who died in '84, a year after Dad. Dottie's Dad had passed on even before that.
Anyway, sorry about the blues!
We're to that part of the year when it gets warm enough Dottie doesn't really want to fish in the afternoons; I'm too old to go to work on 4 hours sleep, so instead of trying to fish early on her day off today and then nap, I got up early and we went to see the "Silver Surfer". Better than I expected! And it's always a treat to see Stan Lee get a bit of screen time!
Dottie works this weekend; Bill is coming in from Lawrence tomorrow and if the weather cooperates he's going fishing with me; if it doesn't I'll be going alone on Sunday. It was hard not to try to slip out for a couple of hours before work one day this week, but as much as it rained this evening I'm glad I mowed instead!
Two weeks off coming up the beginning of July; our annual holiday shutdown. Besides the 4th of July and some fishing, if the weather cooperates I need to replace the roof on my garage. Dad and I put the last one on it in 1966...it needed it last year, but I didn't have a way to haul off the 3 old ones I have to take off to start over. Renting a dumpster would have cost as much as the roof! (It's not a very big garage; Dad built it for his '53 Ford with enough extra width for a workbench.)
Usually July is dry enough we don't have to worry about painting and such, but it's been an odd year so far! Of course, if it rains I can always slip out to the lake between showers! Of course, if it stays dry enough to get the roof done, there's always painting and window putty and...(is there a way to make an infinity symbol here?)
:o)
May you all have wonderful weekends!
alan
My sons don't remember him at all, or Dottie's Mom who died in '84, a year after Dad. Dottie's Dad had passed on even before that.
Anyway, sorry about the blues!
We're to that part of the year when it gets warm enough Dottie doesn't really want to fish in the afternoons; I'm too old to go to work on 4 hours sleep, so instead of trying to fish early on her day off today and then nap, I got up early and we went to see the "Silver Surfer". Better than I expected! And it's always a treat to see Stan Lee get a bit of screen time!
Dottie works this weekend; Bill is coming in from Lawrence tomorrow and if the weather cooperates he's going fishing with me; if it doesn't I'll be going alone on Sunday. It was hard not to try to slip out for a couple of hours before work one day this week, but as much as it rained this evening I'm glad I mowed instead!
Two weeks off coming up the beginning of July; our annual holiday shutdown. Besides the 4th of July and some fishing, if the weather cooperates I need to replace the roof on my garage. Dad and I put the last one on it in 1966...it needed it last year, but I didn't have a way to haul off the 3 old ones I have to take off to start over. Renting a dumpster would have cost as much as the roof! (It's not a very big garage; Dad built it for his '53 Ford with enough extra width for a workbench.)
Usually July is dry enough we don't have to worry about painting and such, but it's been an odd year so far! Of course, if it rains I can always slip out to the lake between showers! Of course, if it stays dry enough to get the roof done, there's always painting and window putty and...(is there a way to make an infinity symbol here?)
:o)
May you all have wonderful weekends!
alan
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Before I go out to mow....
and while I listen to something beautiful from a friend for the 3rd and 4th times...
I had planned to write a post for last Sunday before "the whirl" caught up with me. Something about the last Father's Day I got to spend fishing with my Dad 25 years ago. Something about figuring out when I was out with John and Dillon last weekend that John is a year older now than I was when I lost Dad, and that Dillon is almost 4 years older than John was.
John and Noel went to their 10th high school reunion last Friday night!
I have people coming into work in their "Class of 2002" t-shirts. I graduated in '73...
I don't know whether to feel old, lucky, blessed or cursed!
I suppose a bit of each is in order, like most things...
But before it rains some more, the lawn is calling!
alan
I had planned to write a post for last Sunday before "the whirl" caught up with me. Something about the last Father's Day I got to spend fishing with my Dad 25 years ago. Something about figuring out when I was out with John and Dillon last weekend that John is a year older now than I was when I lost Dad, and that Dillon is almost 4 years older than John was.
John and Noel went to their 10th high school reunion last Friday night!
I have people coming into work in their "Class of 2002" t-shirts. I graduated in '73...
I don't know whether to feel old, lucky, blessed or cursed!
I suppose a bit of each is in order, like most things...
But before it rains some more, the lawn is calling!
alan
Monday, June 18, 2007
Better than I deserve...
was how I would describe my Father's Day!
Sorry about the lack of updates...between the "whirl" of life and overtime at work, the hours seem to be disappearing quickly! This last week it was announced that they are cancelling the rest of the Saturdays for the year because starting in August our start time moves to 5 pm and we will be working 10 hour days, 5 days a week until further notice. (That's 3:30AM to us!)
So I'm glad to have my weekends back, but not quite sure how tired I'll be when I get there!
After I was here last I did get the lawn mowed and the trimming done (thank goodness as it's storming again today). Thursday I spent putting the sonar transducer back on the transom of the boat as I ripped it off Tuesday evening when we bumped over a floating log. Friday we found out that my younger son's 10th reunion was that evening and we were keeping Talia and Caleb overnight while Dillon went to my sister's house, so I did all of the shopping that afternoon before work. Though I had to work on Saturday, after we were all up and around we took the two of them to a sporting goods store they hadn't been to; both of them had great fun petting the deer and turkey decoys, and playing in the open bins of plastic worms...
After my shift that night we watched a bit of one of the DVD's that was part of my Father's Day then went to bed "early" (for me, around 2:30). Dottie has been fighting a wicked cold for over a week now (refusing to pay for a doctor's visit has probably cost us it's equivalent in over the counter medicine, and finally she's giving up and going to see someone after her shift this evening). It's already getting warm enough here that the heat bothers her, and I knew it would be 90 by noon yesterday, so instead of fishing I got up at 9 and we went to an early show of "Ocean's 13". Good movie; four thumbs up, lol!
Bass Pro is right across the freeway from the theatre, and I planned on spending $20 there the next time I was out that way; Dottie put some things in the basket as well, and by the time we were through watching them feed the fish and rang out it was over $70.
She has been trying to talk my into combining down my tackle boxes into a bag and tray system, so we went by Cabela's on the way home to look at one that was on sale. It would take up as much room as what I'm using now so we decided to think a bit longer about that. By then the muffin and coffee we had for breakfast was worn off, and since it was Father's Day I got to pick lunch, and I love McDonald's chocolate shakes and hadn't had one for a very long time...
We got home a bit after 3; Bill and Laura were supposed to come at 4 and John and Noel were supposed to come for dinner later in the evening. Laura is working this summer and taking 4 classes, so we haven't seen much of her or Bill of late. They kept saying pick something to watch, so I put in a movie I bought last week (one of those I remember from childhood and couldn't resist when it jumped in my cart at Costco; Betty Grable and Dan Dailey from 1950 in "My Blue Heaven"). We were 2/3 of the way through it when the phone rang and it was John saying the battery in his minivan had died and he needed a jump start. He said he was in front of a place in the shopping district in Johnson County that I know sells batteries (NTB), but it was 5:30 on a Sunday so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought perhaps they were closed. I got cables out of my truck, Bill and Laura insisted on going along "for the ride" (the wheels are turning, you know...)
When I pull in to where we were supposed to meet, I could see the doors were open to the NTB shop; John was standing not in their parking lot but Olive Garden's, so I went ahead and pulled Dottie's Malibu into their handicapped parking, making him walk back around to the front of the restaurant...where of course, he said they had all been plotting this all week.
Though I had pretty much surmised as much, it was still a nice treat! Very seldom as schedules get busier and busier can we all get away for a few hours for anything! With Laura taking classes and working odd shifts, it's gotten even harder, so I was very grateful for the time with them all!
The funniest part was after dinner when we went to leave and Talia asked "was I going to fix their van now"? Though she was riding in it when John called me, she was still convinced it was really broken!
May her honesty never come back to haunt her like mine has me sometimes through the years!
I hope you all forgive me for the lack of visits of late; the few times I got here this last week I booted my Opera browser (loads quicker, has most of my bookmarks and it's the one I use for paying most things because no one bothers writing viruses for it). Since the "new" Blogger came around, I can read all of your blogs in it, and update my own; some of them I can comment on, but other's I can't unless I boot IE. (Oddly, since the "new" Blogger came into being, when I open it in IE, though my blog is in English, the log-in headers are in Cyrillic...hmmmmmmm! I double checked my language preferences to make sure I hadn't moved...oh well!)
I hope all of you are doing well as we approach the midpoint of the year!
Thank you all for your visits and kind words. I think of you all so often as I work my way through another evening...
alan
Sorry about the lack of updates...between the "whirl" of life and overtime at work, the hours seem to be disappearing quickly! This last week it was announced that they are cancelling the rest of the Saturdays for the year because starting in August our start time moves to 5 pm and we will be working 10 hour days, 5 days a week until further notice. (That's 3:30AM to us!)
So I'm glad to have my weekends back, but not quite sure how tired I'll be when I get there!
After I was here last I did get the lawn mowed and the trimming done (thank goodness as it's storming again today). Thursday I spent putting the sonar transducer back on the transom of the boat as I ripped it off Tuesday evening when we bumped over a floating log. Friday we found out that my younger son's 10th reunion was that evening and we were keeping Talia and Caleb overnight while Dillon went to my sister's house, so I did all of the shopping that afternoon before work. Though I had to work on Saturday, after we were all up and around we took the two of them to a sporting goods store they hadn't been to; both of them had great fun petting the deer and turkey decoys, and playing in the open bins of plastic worms...
After my shift that night we watched a bit of one of the DVD's that was part of my Father's Day then went to bed "early" (for me, around 2:30). Dottie has been fighting a wicked cold for over a week now (refusing to pay for a doctor's visit has probably cost us it's equivalent in over the counter medicine, and finally she's giving up and going to see someone after her shift this evening). It's already getting warm enough here that the heat bothers her, and I knew it would be 90 by noon yesterday, so instead of fishing I got up at 9 and we went to an early show of "Ocean's 13". Good movie; four thumbs up, lol!
Bass Pro is right across the freeway from the theatre, and I planned on spending $20 there the next time I was out that way; Dottie put some things in the basket as well, and by the time we were through watching them feed the fish and rang out it was over $70.
She has been trying to talk my into combining down my tackle boxes into a bag and tray system, so we went by Cabela's on the way home to look at one that was on sale. It would take up as much room as what I'm using now so we decided to think a bit longer about that. By then the muffin and coffee we had for breakfast was worn off, and since it was Father's Day I got to pick lunch, and I love McDonald's chocolate shakes and hadn't had one for a very long time...
We got home a bit after 3; Bill and Laura were supposed to come at 4 and John and Noel were supposed to come for dinner later in the evening. Laura is working this summer and taking 4 classes, so we haven't seen much of her or Bill of late. They kept saying pick something to watch, so I put in a movie I bought last week (one of those I remember from childhood and couldn't resist when it jumped in my cart at Costco; Betty Grable and Dan Dailey from 1950 in "My Blue Heaven"). We were 2/3 of the way through it when the phone rang and it was John saying the battery in his minivan had died and he needed a jump start. He said he was in front of a place in the shopping district in Johnson County that I know sells batteries (NTB), but it was 5:30 on a Sunday so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought perhaps they were closed. I got cables out of my truck, Bill and Laura insisted on going along "for the ride" (the wheels are turning, you know...)
When I pull in to where we were supposed to meet, I could see the doors were open to the NTB shop; John was standing not in their parking lot but Olive Garden's, so I went ahead and pulled Dottie's Malibu into their handicapped parking, making him walk back around to the front of the restaurant...where of course, he said they had all been plotting this all week.
Though I had pretty much surmised as much, it was still a nice treat! Very seldom as schedules get busier and busier can we all get away for a few hours for anything! With Laura taking classes and working odd shifts, it's gotten even harder, so I was very grateful for the time with them all!
The funniest part was after dinner when we went to leave and Talia asked "was I going to fix their van now"? Though she was riding in it when John called me, she was still convinced it was really broken!
May her honesty never come back to haunt her like mine has me sometimes through the years!
I hope you all forgive me for the lack of visits of late; the few times I got here this last week I booted my Opera browser (loads quicker, has most of my bookmarks and it's the one I use for paying most things because no one bothers writing viruses for it). Since the "new" Blogger came around, I can read all of your blogs in it, and update my own; some of them I can comment on, but other's I can't unless I boot IE. (Oddly, since the "new" Blogger came into being, when I open it in IE, though my blog is in English, the log-in headers are in Cyrillic...hmmmmmmm! I double checked my language preferences to make sure I hadn't moved...oh well!)
I hope all of you are doing well as we approach the midpoint of the year!
Thank you all for your visits and kind words. I think of you all so often as I work my way through another evening...
alan
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
What a week! :o)
Friday- fished with Dottie.
Saturday- fished with John and Dillon
Sunday- Costco, Sam's, Cabela's and WalMart
Monday- worked
Tuesday- fished with Dottie!
The lawn hasn't been touched in two weeks (not for lack of trying, but we went through one of those raining everyday cycles; the days it didn't, I fished!
We finally ventured an hour south to fish a little lake I had wanted to try yesterday. When we got there we were the only people fishing it; from all the rain the water looked like Mocha...we still caught a few small bass, and learned a bit of the lake. Lots of standing timber in it (lots of lying and floating timber as well; I ripped the sonar transducer right off the back of the hull)!
The rain seems to be holding just west of us again today, so I'm heading out to pick up all the broken (small) limbs and mow before this jungle gets wet again. Tomorrow I'll be putting the transducer back on the boat; Friday will find me running the weekly shopping errands before work. Saturday Dottie is off but I have to work.
I assumed both boys would have plans for Sunday, but Dottie doesn't seem to think so. If they don't, then I'll be grilling steaks and frying mushrooms...
But if they do, you know where to find me!
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Summer Sunday afternoon...
I worked Saturday 'til 1AM, made it home and was in bed "early" (2:30) and we got up to go see "Pirates 3" at 10 AM. Enjoyed it thoroughly, 4 thumbs up!
Finally everyone's schedules worked out so after church John and his family met us at Wyandotte and the grandkids got their first ride in a boat. After some preliminary explanations of safety and such, I let John take the helm; the kids were bugging him for a turn at the wheel, so the link above (or coming up) is a video of Talia's turn. (It's just shot with the little digicam I bought, so it's nothing fancy...)
Noel had a migraine, so she and Dottie stayed ashore and found a shady place to hang out and talked; after we loaded up they came back to our house for brats and hot dogs. All in all, a great day; it was almost like packing two days worth into one!
alan
Friday, June 01, 2007
Your Score: Jimmy Stewart
You scored 19% Tough, 14% Roguish, 57% Friendly, and 14% Charming!
You are the fun and friendly boy next door, the classic nice guy who still manages to get the girl most of the time. You're every nice girl's dreamboat, open and kind, nutty and charming, even a little mischievous at times, but always a real stand up guy. You're dependable and forthright, and women are drawn to your reliability, even as they're dazzled by your sense of adventure and fun. You try to be tough when you need to be, and will gladly stand up for any damsel in distress, but you'd rather catch a girl with a little bit of flair. Your leading ladies include Jean Arthur and Donna Reed, those sweet girl-next-door types.
Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the
Classic Dames Test.
| Link: The Classic Leading Man Test written by gidgetgoes on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wednesday blues...
since Monday came on Wednesday this week...
5 days off; the lawn's not mowed (every time I start to get the mower out it rains, only compounding the problem), fished two of the five (Friday and yesterday) but since it keeps raining I haven't repacked the trailer wheel bearings so we still haven't ventured out of town to fish...yet.
Since the "temps" all got laid off at work, now they want everything we can build, so they started running overtime again last night, and we start working every other Saturday for the forseeable future. Of course, they couldn't time that right, so I'm working on the Saturdays Dottie is off...
We slipped out yesterday thinking we might get a couple of hours fishing in; we actually got to about the 5 hour mark as the skies darkened to the east for the 5th or 6th time. All day things had been moving past us on both sides, going directly north. This time we weren't so lucky...
We heard thunder, and Dottie wanted the boat on the trailer "instantly". We hadn't seen any lightning, and never did, but a few minutes after we heard the distant rumble the wind shifted and without even a sprinkle to say "hello" the downpour began!
Even at only 20 (speed limit on our little local lake) big raindrops start to sting!
And of course, Dottie is "blind" without her glasses, so when they are wet life is just a blur. I would say something about being "mad as a wet hen", but she deserves better for putting up with me!
Of course, trailering in a downpour and a crosswind is even more fun than just the crosswind, so that took a bit longer than usual. By the time we got the boat loaded and actually headed out of the park, the rain was letting up. 20 minutes later as I pulled into the driveway, it had completely stopped and the skies were starting to clear...
Despite all of that (and my sunburnt feet), it still beats work!
So I've been up for an hour now, letting my eyes wake up, fixing Dottie's cell, catching up on the news and signing some petitions; guess I'll go eat something and then try getting that mower out again...
Back to the "rat race"!
alan
5 days off; the lawn's not mowed (every time I start to get the mower out it rains, only compounding the problem), fished two of the five (Friday and yesterday) but since it keeps raining I haven't repacked the trailer wheel bearings so we still haven't ventured out of town to fish...yet.
Since the "temps" all got laid off at work, now they want everything we can build, so they started running overtime again last night, and we start working every other Saturday for the forseeable future. Of course, they couldn't time that right, so I'm working on the Saturdays Dottie is off...
We slipped out yesterday thinking we might get a couple of hours fishing in; we actually got to about the 5 hour mark as the skies darkened to the east for the 5th or 6th time. All day things had been moving past us on both sides, going directly north. This time we weren't so lucky...
We heard thunder, and Dottie wanted the boat on the trailer "instantly". We hadn't seen any lightning, and never did, but a few minutes after we heard the distant rumble the wind shifted and without even a sprinkle to say "hello" the downpour began!
Even at only 20 (speed limit on our little local lake) big raindrops start to sting!
And of course, Dottie is "blind" without her glasses, so when they are wet life is just a blur. I would say something about being "mad as a wet hen", but she deserves better for putting up with me!
Of course, trailering in a downpour and a crosswind is even more fun than just the crosswind, so that took a bit longer than usual. By the time we got the boat loaded and actually headed out of the park, the rain was letting up. 20 minutes later as I pulled into the driveway, it had completely stopped and the skies were starting to clear...
Despite all of that (and my sunburnt feet), it still beats work!
So I've been up for an hour now, letting my eyes wake up, fixing Dottie's cell, catching up on the news and signing some petitions; guess I'll go eat something and then try getting that mower out again...
Back to the "rat race"!
alan
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Truths they'd like to avoid!
Being ex-military, I know that the things that I saw were not always the things presented to the public as what was going on. Sometimes this is acceptable; there are times it is not!
"Soldiers for the Truth" was founded by the late Colonel David Hackworth as a way to try to do something for the guys in the field; the guys who are dying every day. One of the most decorated soldiers since Audie Murphy (actually, as I read, more decorated than Murphy) he never said what they would have liked him to, much as so many who have been dismissed these past few years. Some of you may have seen "Hack" on Larry King through the years; some of you will recognize the stories he broke as he tried to do "the right thing".
I am bringing this up now because his widow has continued Hack's legacy and is at the forefront of the body armor issue that has once again raised it's head. We of course, are told that our children are being provided with the best of everything; once again, just like the lack of armored Humvees and so many other issues, it appears that just isn't so!
Not a supporter of John McCain politically, I am still glad he seems to be wading into this if only for political reasons because perhaps that will give this life and death issue a high enough profile that something will finally be done! Then all we need to do is get our kids some weapons that actually work when they are needed, some helmets that actually protect them from head injury and some boots that actually hold together (borrowing from the last bit of Eilhys's article)
"As we enter the fifth year of this terrible war, SFTT will shortly formally announce the new Basic Five campaign to get America’s frontline troops the best available of the five most essential items of personal combat gear so they have the best possible chance to complete their assigned missions and make it home alive and in one piece in a plane seat instead of a body bag or on a stretcher. Doesn’t it seem criminal that the richest nation in the world, which spends more than the rest of the world combined on defense, can’t budget responsibly enough to provide its sons and daughters with a helmet that will prevent many more of the endemic, life-altering head injuries? With the same better body armor the generals choose – and wear hidden under their uniforms? With a rifle that’s not a jammer like Jessica Lynch’s M-16 and that’s at least as effective as the AK-47, the terrorists’ weapon-of-choice? With a sidearm that’s reliable and deadly in tight situations? And with boots capable of going the bloody distance?"
Somewhere I read a blog not long ago where someone's kid had written home and asked for a pair of boots, because they couldn't buy them in Iraq and the service wasn't issuing them! On NPR I've heard of Navy and Air Force personnel being retrained for ground roles in Iraq and Afghanistan because there aren't enough Army and Marine troops to do the job. (This explains why I keep hearing of Navy corpsman dying in country! They're being pulled to be medics!)
Though I wish I were "Jeannie" and could blink them all home and end this conflict yesterday, or last week, or last year, or make it never have happened, such is not my lot in life. I keep writing Senators (a Republican stone wall in my case) and my Representative, I sign petitions and I raise what little hell I can as so many of us do. In sharing this link with you, I'm hoping to give you each a bit more information
to use as ammunition in the fight not only to end this terrible war; not only to show this awful administration for the liars and profitmongers they are; but to try and help a few more of our kids come home physically intact!
Please, if you have a chance, read a few of these pages I have given you links to above? If you have a bit more time read some of the "DefenseWatch Feedback" correspondence like this one
Sorry for beginning your weekends with a rant; I know this is supposed to be the time we all get to escape the cares of the world for a few days. I also know that for our children who find themselves caught up in this, there are no weekends!
alan
"Soldiers for the Truth" was founded by the late Colonel David Hackworth as a way to try to do something for the guys in the field; the guys who are dying every day. One of the most decorated soldiers since Audie Murphy (actually, as I read, more decorated than Murphy) he never said what they would have liked him to, much as so many who have been dismissed these past few years. Some of you may have seen "Hack" on Larry King through the years; some of you will recognize the stories he broke as he tried to do "the right thing".
I am bringing this up now because his widow has continued Hack's legacy and is at the forefront of the body armor issue that has once again raised it's head. We of course, are told that our children are being provided with the best of everything; once again, just like the lack of armored Humvees and so many other issues, it appears that just isn't so!
Not a supporter of John McCain politically, I am still glad he seems to be wading into this if only for political reasons because perhaps that will give this life and death issue a high enough profile that something will finally be done! Then all we need to do is get our kids some weapons that actually work when they are needed, some helmets that actually protect them from head injury and some boots that actually hold together (borrowing from the last bit of Eilhys's article)
"As we enter the fifth year of this terrible war, SFTT will shortly formally announce the new Basic Five campaign to get America’s frontline troops the best available of the five most essential items of personal combat gear so they have the best possible chance to complete their assigned missions and make it home alive and in one piece in a plane seat instead of a body bag or on a stretcher. Doesn’t it seem criminal that the richest nation in the world, which spends more than the rest of the world combined on defense, can’t budget responsibly enough to provide its sons and daughters with a helmet that will prevent many more of the endemic, life-altering head injuries? With the same better body armor the generals choose – and wear hidden under their uniforms? With a rifle that’s not a jammer like Jessica Lynch’s M-16 and that’s at least as effective as the AK-47, the terrorists’ weapon-of-choice? With a sidearm that’s reliable and deadly in tight situations? And with boots capable of going the bloody distance?"
Somewhere I read a blog not long ago where someone's kid had written home and asked for a pair of boots, because they couldn't buy them in Iraq and the service wasn't issuing them! On NPR I've heard of Navy and Air Force personnel being retrained for ground roles in Iraq and Afghanistan because there aren't enough Army and Marine troops to do the job. (This explains why I keep hearing of Navy corpsman dying in country! They're being pulled to be medics!)
Though I wish I were "Jeannie" and could blink them all home and end this conflict yesterday, or last week, or last year, or make it never have happened, such is not my lot in life. I keep writing Senators (a Republican stone wall in my case) and my Representative, I sign petitions and I raise what little hell I can as so many of us do. In sharing this link with you, I'm hoping to give you each a bit more information
to use as ammunition in the fight not only to end this terrible war; not only to show this awful administration for the liars and profitmongers they are; but to try and help a few more of our kids come home physically intact!
Please, if you have a chance, read a few of these pages I have given you links to above? If you have a bit more time read some of the "DefenseWatch Feedback" correspondence like this one
Sorry for beginning your weekends with a rant; I know this is supposed to be the time we all get to escape the cares of the world for a few days. I also know that for our children who find themselves caught up in this, there are no weekends!
alan
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Fishermen...
come in all shapes and sizes!
Not the greatest photo, but until I can afford to replace the Nikon I really don't dare take it in the boat! This is with a little Fuji digicam that I bought a while back off the closeout table at Nebraska Furniture Mart for less than a hundred dollars. 5mp, only 3x zoom. When we finally moved in closer he decided it was time to leave, talking to us the whole way as he flew off. Dottie tried to catch the flight, but he was quicker than the autofocus.
Still, it gives you an idea of what an old WPA/CCC lake from the late 30's looks like 70 years on.
alan
Not the greatest photo, but until I can afford to replace the Nikon I really don't dare take it in the boat! This is with a little Fuji digicam that I bought a while back off the closeout table at Nebraska Furniture Mart for less than a hundred dollars. 5mp, only 3x zoom. When we finally moved in closer he decided it was time to leave, talking to us the whole way as he flew off. Dottie tried to catch the flight, but he was quicker than the autofocus.
Still, it gives you an idea of what an old WPA/CCC lake from the late 30's looks like 70 years on.
alan
Monday, May 21, 2007
A houseful...
of grandchildren were here when I escaped work on Friday night. Saturday found me trying to get up "early" to have time with them. Never easy on my schedule and with the way my body craves sleep! Coffee..."Monster" energy drink...soda...perhaps I should just mix them all together!
I had bought muffins for breakfast thinking they would like them; they'd rather have Krispy Kremes next time, thank you!
Saturday morning was our county's Hazardous Waste disposal day; they do 4 of them through the course of the year, and I had some things that needed to go; old batteries from the Chrysler, the AMC and my last truck; the oil changes from the boys cars through the winter. John had some things at his house too, so I loaded up mine, put a car seat in the truck and then we went to their house. Each stop we rotated kids so everyone got a chance to ride in Grandpa's truck. The girls at the Hazardous Waste site were bit worried about that car following me until I explained what was going on!
A stop at Cabela's on the way home, a walk through the aquarium and I picked up some odds and ends. Dillon found a bag of water balloons, so I bought them as well since they had come with "water toys" to play with in the yard.
One of the things John was disposing of leaked in the bed of my truck, so when I got home I washed it, and when Dottie came home she fed the kids and got them in their swimsuits, then they got to play in the hose and with the sprinkler toy they brought with them while Grandpa made water balloons for them to play with. They had quite an afternoon!
Their first rides in the boat got put off again as John wasn't feeling good and he and Noel want to be there the first time they go out in the boat.
At 5 we went back to their house for dinner, returning the grandkids and finally giving Dillon the rest of his birthday presents. They had bought him "Arthur and the Invisibles" so that was the evening's movie; quite good, really!
Sunday I really wanted to fish, but Dottie's car was overdue for an oil change and the free ones from the dealer have all been used. I tried to talk myself out of it, but I felt to guilty to let it go another week, so I changed her oil and switched it from "regular" oil to Mobil 1 so I don't have to change it as often. Then I cleaned up and we went fishing, hitting the lake about 4 in the afternoon.
The wind was kicking a bit; trying to run a trolling motor and tie knots is always fun! Dottie had one rod still rigged from last time, so I handed it to her and set about rigging two of mine. By the time I made my first cast we were most of the way across the dam and the wind was easing a bit. I caught a small bass, then a couple of casts later my first "keeper" of the year. I didn't keep it, of course...18" fish are too rare in that lake right now to only catch them once, and if she hasn't spawned yet hopefully she can pass some of her size genes on!
A few more smaller fish through the rest of the afternoon, and since Dottie had to work today we cut things short a bit after 7 and came home. Still a delightful day!
In one cove as the sun was starting to settle behind the trees there was a crane who seemed to think I was trying to take his dinner; Dottie took some photos with the little digicam. I still have to get it out of the boat, and if any are halfway decent I'll try and get one up tomorrow!
I hope you all had lovely weekends and that the work week is kind! A 4 day for me, I'm looking forward to those 5 days off!
alan
I had bought muffins for breakfast thinking they would like them; they'd rather have Krispy Kremes next time, thank you!
Saturday morning was our county's Hazardous Waste disposal day; they do 4 of them through the course of the year, and I had some things that needed to go; old batteries from the Chrysler, the AMC and my last truck; the oil changes from the boys cars through the winter. John had some things at his house too, so I loaded up mine, put a car seat in the truck and then we went to their house. Each stop we rotated kids so everyone got a chance to ride in Grandpa's truck. The girls at the Hazardous Waste site were bit worried about that car following me until I explained what was going on!
A stop at Cabela's on the way home, a walk through the aquarium and I picked up some odds and ends. Dillon found a bag of water balloons, so I bought them as well since they had come with "water toys" to play with in the yard.
One of the things John was disposing of leaked in the bed of my truck, so when I got home I washed it, and when Dottie came home she fed the kids and got them in their swimsuits, then they got to play in the hose and with the sprinkler toy they brought with them while Grandpa made water balloons for them to play with. They had quite an afternoon!
Their first rides in the boat got put off again as John wasn't feeling good and he and Noel want to be there the first time they go out in the boat.
At 5 we went back to their house for dinner, returning the grandkids and finally giving Dillon the rest of his birthday presents. They had bought him "Arthur and the Invisibles" so that was the evening's movie; quite good, really!
Sunday I really wanted to fish, but Dottie's car was overdue for an oil change and the free ones from the dealer have all been used. I tried to talk myself out of it, but I felt to guilty to let it go another week, so I changed her oil and switched it from "regular" oil to Mobil 1 so I don't have to change it as often. Then I cleaned up and we went fishing, hitting the lake about 4 in the afternoon.
The wind was kicking a bit; trying to run a trolling motor and tie knots is always fun! Dottie had one rod still rigged from last time, so I handed it to her and set about rigging two of mine. By the time I made my first cast we were most of the way across the dam and the wind was easing a bit. I caught a small bass, then a couple of casts later my first "keeper" of the year. I didn't keep it, of course...18" fish are too rare in that lake right now to only catch them once, and if she hasn't spawned yet hopefully she can pass some of her size genes on!
A few more smaller fish through the rest of the afternoon, and since Dottie had to work today we cut things short a bit after 7 and came home. Still a delightful day!
In one cove as the sun was starting to settle behind the trees there was a crane who seemed to think I was trying to take his dinner; Dottie took some photos with the little digicam. I still have to get it out of the boat, and if any are halfway decent I'll try and get one up tomorrow!
I hope you all had lovely weekends and that the work week is kind! A 4 day for me, I'm looking forward to those 5 days off!
alan
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Hmmmmmm...
I took a vacation day last Friday and we fished; Dottie worked both days this weekend, and Sunday after she came home John surprised her by taking us out to dinner at one of those places we'd probably never go on our own. Not only the surprise of the dinner, but getting to spend time with him, Noel and the grandkids on Mother's Day was the highlight of her year, I think!
Monday we both worked; Tuesday I took another vacation day to coincide with her day off. I knew it was going to rain early, so we went to see "Spiderman". Good movie, good tie up for the trilogy if it ends there! It was supposed to clear off around 3, but the drizzle and wind were still going at 4 so she talked me into changing the water filter under our kitchen sink and the hose to the spray nozzle on that faucet.
I shut off the water to the house, changed out the filter, then walked outside to go to the garage and get some tools- wouldn't you know the sun was out, the wind had quit and it had warmed up to close to 70!
Of course, the hose didn't cooperate and by the time I finished and had the water back on it was a bit after 6 and too late to bother to hook the boat up and go fishing before dark....
But, at least that's one thing off the list for this weekend!
We are hoping to take the grandkids for their first rides in the boat this Saturday, and that evening we'll give Dillon the rest of his birthday presents. When we had the party at the park for he and Andrew (his best friend, and son of Noel's best friend) the other week, Andrew's classmates were supposed to come as well, and it was decided that we should just take one gift that day and save the rest for later...
Sunday, despite the crowds, I hope to get a line wet!
I have her next Friday and Tuesdays off as vacation as well; they happen to coincide with my 3 day Memorial Day weekend. I don't know if she's figured out I have 5 off in a row yet...I may have to make that up to her somehow!
I hope the week is being kind to you all!
alan
Monday we both worked; Tuesday I took another vacation day to coincide with her day off. I knew it was going to rain early, so we went to see "Spiderman". Good movie, good tie up for the trilogy if it ends there! It was supposed to clear off around 3, but the drizzle and wind were still going at 4 so she talked me into changing the water filter under our kitchen sink and the hose to the spray nozzle on that faucet.
I shut off the water to the house, changed out the filter, then walked outside to go to the garage and get some tools- wouldn't you know the sun was out, the wind had quit and it had warmed up to close to 70!
Of course, the hose didn't cooperate and by the time I finished and had the water back on it was a bit after 6 and too late to bother to hook the boat up and go fishing before dark....
But, at least that's one thing off the list for this weekend!
We are hoping to take the grandkids for their first rides in the boat this Saturday, and that evening we'll give Dillon the rest of his birthday presents. When we had the party at the park for he and Andrew (his best friend, and son of Noel's best friend) the other week, Andrew's classmates were supposed to come as well, and it was decided that we should just take one gift that day and save the rest for later...
Sunday, despite the crowds, I hope to get a line wet!
I have her next Friday and Tuesdays off as vacation as well; they happen to coincide with my 3 day Memorial Day weekend. I don't know if she's figured out I have 5 off in a row yet...I may have to make that up to her somehow!
I hope the week is being kind to you all!
alan
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Happy Mother's Day!
To all those who are, were, or will be-
in fact,
in heart,
in spirit;
May this day bring you joy and beauty
worthy of the caretakers of our souls!
alan
in fact,
in heart,
in spirit;
May this day bring you joy and beauty
worthy of the caretakers of our souls!
alan
Thursday, May 10, 2007
For weeks I've stewed...
while this civilian
who couldn't be bothered to do the job he trained for while I was on active duty in the Navy thirty some years ago floating on a carrier off the coast of Vietnam has made comment after comment about the civilians in Congress trying to tell the generals at the Pentagon what to do. He accuses them of trying to micromanage!
Every general who disagreed with the above civilian and his cronies was reassigned, retired, or demoted. Colin Powell was exiled. He and his civilian buddies have micromanaged the deaths of 3400 of our children in 4 years, and he thinks he should still have a blank check!
Now he says he will veto the next bill if they only fund him for 60 days at a time, since he didn't like the last bill and vetoed it!
I hope he does!
I hope he gets so mad he holds his breath until he turns blue!
Meanwhile, the battle he could have won in Afghanistan is spinning out of control for lack of soldiers and equipment; he's going to lose both of them before he's done!
Yesterday he promised to help a little town in Kansas rebuild after the tornado that left only one building in their town standing. I remember when he promised the Gulf Coast he would help them rebuild as well...
On NPR they said that FEMA trailers that were destined for Katrina victims are being diverted to Kansas. I guess that means that there are still people waiting for trailers on the Gulf Coast, let alone the damn rebuilding!
Lower than a dead flea...
at the bottom of the Marianas Trench!
alan
who couldn't be bothered to do the job he trained for while I was on active duty in the Navy thirty some years ago floating on a carrier off the coast of Vietnam has made comment after comment about the civilians in Congress trying to tell the generals at the Pentagon what to do. He accuses them of trying to micromanage!
Every general who disagreed with the above civilian and his cronies was reassigned, retired, or demoted. Colin Powell was exiled. He and his civilian buddies have micromanaged the deaths of 3400 of our children in 4 years, and he thinks he should still have a blank check!
Now he says he will veto the next bill if they only fund him for 60 days at a time, since he didn't like the last bill and vetoed it!
I hope he does!
I hope he gets so mad he holds his breath until he turns blue!
Meanwhile, the battle he could have won in Afghanistan is spinning out of control for lack of soldiers and equipment; he's going to lose both of them before he's done!
Yesterday he promised to help a little town in Kansas rebuild after the tornado that left only one building in their town standing. I remember when he promised the Gulf Coast he would help them rebuild as well...
On NPR they said that FEMA trailers that were destined for Katrina victims are being diverted to Kansas. I guess that means that there are still people waiting for trailers on the Gulf Coast, let alone the damn rebuilding!
Lower than a dead flea...
at the bottom of the Marianas Trench!
alan
Monday, May 07, 2007
Connie got that right!
In her comment on my last she was so prophetic about our weather! I'm hoping Lori is OK because she's a lot closer to where the really wicked storms have been these last few days, along with those further South like JLee. Until tonight we had some rain, and some wind, but not "oodles" of both 'til the last 12 hours or so. Now they've issued a flood warning for one area just north of us "until further notice"! I've never heard them put it quite that way before!
Our week off flew by! Dottie worked last Monday and I mowed and puttered. Last Tuesday it was supposed to rain, but the "front" broke slowly and we made it out for 6 hours fishing. Not thinking we'd have that long neither of us put on sunscreen, though she finally did about 3 hours into our sojourn. Between us we caught a dozen bass and one bluegill; no keepers, but keepers in the lake we were on have to be 18". Wednesday the rain hit, so we did some more shopping for Dillon's birthday and some odds and ends here (while recuperating from a mild sunburn on both our counts). Thursday it was still raining, so we had a movie day; "Next" followed by lunch and then "Grindhouse". We both liked next; enough action for her, enough love story for me. "Grindhouse" got two thumbs up as well; I liked the "first" story better, and she the second. I have heard they are talking about adding footage into both and releasing them seprately in Europe; I would be curious to see the difference if the do. I loved the fake "trailers" and such they had before and between them as well.
Friday was overcast and supposed to rain again, but I couldn't stand it, and though it was sprinkling a bit, we went fishing again. The rain held off, and though the wind was getting up a bit we were out about 5 hours. Not as many fish this time, but bigger. We had arranged to keep all 3 grandkids overnight on Friday night, so as I tried to run the trolling motor and pick a backlash out of my reel about 4 on Friday afternoon, my phone rang. It's still amazing to me that I can be fishing and have that happen! On Tuesday I had been checking the weather on it to keep track of the storms...quite a world we live in!
Saturday was a joint birthday party for Dillon and his best friend Andrew, followed by the weekly shopping we tried to do while it wasn't raining for a bit. Today was mailing my unemployment card for last week, then a trip to Borders to use a 30% off coupon and some Border's Reward money and get Dottie one of her Mother's Day presents; the first season of "Stargate:Atlantis". I've been taping them all for her since it began, but the DVD's are so much better quality, and easier to store and keep track of!
For those who were curious; my wife is a bit of a technophobe to begin with, and also a very very private person. There are things about her I still don't know after over 30 years together, and have no doubt that I never ever will know them! I am the opposite; everything there ever was to know about me I told her before we ever married...as one of those old B.B. King blues songs says; "I ain't no refrigerator, I can't keep nothin' in"! When I had my first computer with Windows 95 and ICQ I was chatting with people all over the world, particularly in Russia because somehow I had always known that the divisions between us had more to do with keeping politicians in power than the fact that we couldn't get along among ourselves. That I would talk to a stranger for hours on end that way bothered her then and still would.
With her working days, and me working nights, we don't see each other except when one of us is sleeping, except on the weekends or her days off. So I come home from work and hang out with you guys some, and if the window unit in our bedroom is running I can get away with watching a bit of TV without waking her up; otherwise I read or surf the net 'til I unwind and wander off to bed.
The next wave of storms is moving in now, so I'm going to shut down for tonight just in case. The lights in this old neighborhood don't go off as often as they used to, but even with the battery backup and the surge suppressors, I don't want to take a chance!
Hopefully all of you are dry and doing well!
alan
Our week off flew by! Dottie worked last Monday and I mowed and puttered. Last Tuesday it was supposed to rain, but the "front" broke slowly and we made it out for 6 hours fishing. Not thinking we'd have that long neither of us put on sunscreen, though she finally did about 3 hours into our sojourn. Between us we caught a dozen bass and one bluegill; no keepers, but keepers in the lake we were on have to be 18". Wednesday the rain hit, so we did some more shopping for Dillon's birthday and some odds and ends here (while recuperating from a mild sunburn on both our counts). Thursday it was still raining, so we had a movie day; "Next" followed by lunch and then "Grindhouse". We both liked next; enough action for her, enough love story for me. "Grindhouse" got two thumbs up as well; I liked the "first" story better, and she the second. I have heard they are talking about adding footage into both and releasing them seprately in Europe; I would be curious to see the difference if the do. I loved the fake "trailers" and such they had before and between them as well.
Friday was overcast and supposed to rain again, but I couldn't stand it, and though it was sprinkling a bit, we went fishing again. The rain held off, and though the wind was getting up a bit we were out about 5 hours. Not as many fish this time, but bigger. We had arranged to keep all 3 grandkids overnight on Friday night, so as I tried to run the trolling motor and pick a backlash out of my reel about 4 on Friday afternoon, my phone rang. It's still amazing to me that I can be fishing and have that happen! On Tuesday I had been checking the weather on it to keep track of the storms...quite a world we live in!
Saturday was a joint birthday party for Dillon and his best friend Andrew, followed by the weekly shopping we tried to do while it wasn't raining for a bit. Today was mailing my unemployment card for last week, then a trip to Borders to use a 30% off coupon and some Border's Reward money and get Dottie one of her Mother's Day presents; the first season of "Stargate:Atlantis". I've been taping them all for her since it began, but the DVD's are so much better quality, and easier to store and keep track of!
For those who were curious; my wife is a bit of a technophobe to begin with, and also a very very private person. There are things about her I still don't know after over 30 years together, and have no doubt that I never ever will know them! I am the opposite; everything there ever was to know about me I told her before we ever married...as one of those old B.B. King blues songs says; "I ain't no refrigerator, I can't keep nothin' in"! When I had my first computer with Windows 95 and ICQ I was chatting with people all over the world, particularly in Russia because somehow I had always known that the divisions between us had more to do with keeping politicians in power than the fact that we couldn't get along among ourselves. That I would talk to a stranger for hours on end that way bothered her then and still would.
With her working days, and me working nights, we don't see each other except when one of us is sleeping, except on the weekends or her days off. So I come home from work and hang out with you guys some, and if the window unit in our bedroom is running I can get away with watching a bit of TV without waking her up; otherwise I read or surf the net 'til I unwind and wander off to bed.
The next wave of storms is moving in now, so I'm going to shut down for tonight just in case. The lights in this old neighborhood don't go off as often as they used to, but even with the battery backup and the surge suppressors, I don't want to take a chance!
Hopefully all of you are dry and doing well!
alan
Monday, April 30, 2007
We're OK...
they've finally announced names and Dottie and I don't know any of them...this time...
There's enough meaness to go around in this world between the "real" wars and the "gang" wars and the other forms of hatred and intolerance that abound. We really don't need anyone adding to the mix! We had already had an unusually high number of murders this year related to some kind of gang war, and last month they arrested one of the few women to ever make the F.B.I.'s "Ten Most Wanted" list in connection with those!
I usually try to stay on the "Kansas side" of the border when I can, whether shopping or whatever. The city on the Missouri side is larger and already has a larger tax base; if I can keep most of my money on this side I figure it helps with my property taxes and such. We had been to "Ward Parkway Shopping Center" for the first time in years a few months ago when we were shopping for something for one of the grandkids birthdays that we couldn't find elsewhere. We went on a weekday trying to avoid the crowds, not that that would have made a difference if this turns out to be another mental health incident as they seem to think.
As the noon news plays in the background, they are saying that the man had a history of mental illness, had been cited for the city for the expired tags on his vehicles and that the neighbor he killed had turned him in for not mowing his lawn. They think he killed her, stole a gun from her and her car, and then headed for the mall. He shot a cop at a gas station along the way, pulled into the mall and shot the people who were parking on either side of him, then walked into the mall and opened fire. Responding officers shot him...
Whenever things like this happen I remember a story I was told by an instructor I had 25 years ago in some automotive classes I took preparing myself in case I was laid off and had to go back to work as a mechanic. The teacher was a Korean War veteran, a survivor of the Chosin Reservoir campaign (called "The Frozen Chosin" by those who were there).
He and his buddies had been pinned down by enemy fire for most of a day, trapped in foxholes. The weather had been too bad for air support to come in and take out the sources. After eating the "k-rations" for so long, one of his buddies "had to go" and couldn't wait any longer. He also wasn't going to "go" in the foxhole they might be pinned down in for hours or even days longer. So he jumped out and ran for a rock to squat behind while he "went".
As he settled in behind the rock, an American aircraft came in to napalm the enemy position. For whatever reason, the bomb dropped short and hit the rock George's friend was squatting behind.
The bomb failed to ignite! His buddy came back covered in napalm (jellied gasoline for those who might not know) from head to toe, but alive.
George told us he was convinced then that when it's your time, it's your time, and nothing is going to change it. It won't matter where you are or what you are doing; skydiving or home asleep in your bed...
Of course, I always figured that with my luck, I'd have run back to the foxhole and someone would have been smoking a cigarette!
Yet, when times like this come, somehow that story helps...
Not the post I had planned to write when I got back here!
I'm laid off for a week this week. Dottie has vacation starting tomorrow. If the weather cooperates we plan to spend a lot of time on the water 5 of the next 6 days. In return for which, if the weather doesn't cooperate, Dottie plans on the basement being sorted and vacuumed (that could take a week on it's own). The party for Dillon's birthday is on Saturday...
As you know, Dottie doesn't know I blog so getting here for these next few days will be hard to do, so I hope you all forgive me if you don't hear from me for a bit!
With all that is going on in this world, I keep coming back to the words that Garry Moore used to close "I've Got A Secret" with so many years ago:
"Please be kind to each other!"
alan
There's enough meaness to go around in this world between the "real" wars and the "gang" wars and the other forms of hatred and intolerance that abound. We really don't need anyone adding to the mix! We had already had an unusually high number of murders this year related to some kind of gang war, and last month they arrested one of the few women to ever make the F.B.I.'s "Ten Most Wanted" list in connection with those!
I usually try to stay on the "Kansas side" of the border when I can, whether shopping or whatever. The city on the Missouri side is larger and already has a larger tax base; if I can keep most of my money on this side I figure it helps with my property taxes and such. We had been to "Ward Parkway Shopping Center" for the first time in years a few months ago when we were shopping for something for one of the grandkids birthdays that we couldn't find elsewhere. We went on a weekday trying to avoid the crowds, not that that would have made a difference if this turns out to be another mental health incident as they seem to think.
As the noon news plays in the background, they are saying that the man had a history of mental illness, had been cited for the city for the expired tags on his vehicles and that the neighbor he killed had turned him in for not mowing his lawn. They think he killed her, stole a gun from her and her car, and then headed for the mall. He shot a cop at a gas station along the way, pulled into the mall and shot the people who were parking on either side of him, then walked into the mall and opened fire. Responding officers shot him...
Whenever things like this happen I remember a story I was told by an instructor I had 25 years ago in some automotive classes I took preparing myself in case I was laid off and had to go back to work as a mechanic. The teacher was a Korean War veteran, a survivor of the Chosin Reservoir campaign (called "The Frozen Chosin" by those who were there).
He and his buddies had been pinned down by enemy fire for most of a day, trapped in foxholes. The weather had been too bad for air support to come in and take out the sources. After eating the "k-rations" for so long, one of his buddies "had to go" and couldn't wait any longer. He also wasn't going to "go" in the foxhole they might be pinned down in for hours or even days longer. So he jumped out and ran for a rock to squat behind while he "went".
As he settled in behind the rock, an American aircraft came in to napalm the enemy position. For whatever reason, the bomb dropped short and hit the rock George's friend was squatting behind.
The bomb failed to ignite! His buddy came back covered in napalm (jellied gasoline for those who might not know) from head to toe, but alive.
George told us he was convinced then that when it's your time, it's your time, and nothing is going to change it. It won't matter where you are or what you are doing; skydiving or home asleep in your bed...
Of course, I always figured that with my luck, I'd have run back to the foxhole and someone would have been smoking a cigarette!
Yet, when times like this come, somehow that story helps...
Not the post I had planned to write when I got back here!
I'm laid off for a week this week. Dottie has vacation starting tomorrow. If the weather cooperates we plan to spend a lot of time on the water 5 of the next 6 days. In return for which, if the weather doesn't cooperate, Dottie plans on the basement being sorted and vacuumed (that could take a week on it's own). The party for Dillon's birthday is on Saturday...
As you know, Dottie doesn't know I blog so getting here for these next few days will be hard to do, so I hope you all forgive me if you don't hear from me for a bit!
With all that is going on in this world, I keep coming back to the words that Garry Moore used to close "I've Got A Secret" with so many years ago:
"Please be kind to each other!"
alan
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Kranki's meme
"Kranki" did this last week and posted it, and I was intrigued by it. I'm kind of glad I had a few days to mull the answers! :o)
These are the questions she sent me:
1. If you had to change your name what would you change it to and why?
I actually considered changing it a few years ago, for reasons I will save for the one post I have yet to screw up my courage to write. Perhaps for "Mother's Day"...anyway, though I considered changing it, I never considered to what!
Everyone listed to the right here is someone I admire; someone I wish I were more like. There are some very fine names there; names anyone would be proud of!
The one I keep coming back to, though, is Samuel Clemens. Enamored by his wit at an early age, if he would forgive me for borrowing it, I believe I would. My hope would be it would remind me to try to see the humor in things no matter how dark they seem!
2. What animal are you most like and in what ways?
My wife would say a pack rat, I have no doubt at all! Be it which animal or which of the "deadly sins", my mind says a sloth. For all the things that I should be doing, I will sleep, read, or sit in front of the TV or this magic window on the world as they pile up around me. I haven't been to the gym in ages, my weight is up, my energy is down, and I'm sleeping more. Always I say "tomorrow"; as always, tomorrow never comes!
3. What would you give up forever?
-driving- not until they pry the wheel from my cold dead hands! Too many places to go, too many things to do. Pulling the boat with my mountain bike wouldn't work well, either!
-eating meat- since I'm not giving up books until I can't see them anymore, I guess it's meat by default, though that name change might have to be to Cranky afterwards!
-reading books- I just couldn't! There are too many things I want to read; too many I'd like to re-read; too much to learn!
4. If you trained to be a medical doctor what would your specialty be (surgeon, heart doc, pediatrics etc) and why?
Cancer; I've lost way too many family members and others I cared about to this horrid awful disease to not "go after it"!
5. a. What was the best gift you have ever given?
One of the first Father's Days after I went to work at GM I bought my Dad the nicest, most expensive bait casting reel he ever owned, and the first graphite rod he ever owned to put it on. A half week's pay at the time, he was stunned. He was even more stunned when he lost it the first time out...(a story I'll save for later)!
b. What is the best gift you have ever received?
I followed someone "home" from Rosie O'Donnell's blog once, because of something wonderful they said. I read their blog and commented, then followed some others home who commented there and was introduced to this wonderful world where despite how it seems "in the news" or "on TV", there are still people who care; there are people who are good; there are souls that are beautiful.
Like each and every one of you!
Though I'm a bit more wary now than I was when I started this, the rules stated I have to include the following:
This is how this meme works.
1. Leave me a comment saying that you would like to be interviewed. Include your email address if I can’t get it through your blog.
2. I will email you five questions that you HAVE to answer. I get to pick the questions. You don’t get to opt out if you don’t like the questions I give you so think twice before asking me for an interview. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you anything I wouldn’t be willing to answer myself.
3. You must post your answers to the questions on your blog. If you don’t have a blog I will post your answers on my blog under your name.
4. You have to include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When other commenters ask to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
And so on and so on…
alan
These are the questions she sent me:
1. If you had to change your name what would you change it to and why?
I actually considered changing it a few years ago, for reasons I will save for the one post I have yet to screw up my courage to write. Perhaps for "Mother's Day"...anyway, though I considered changing it, I never considered to what!
Everyone listed to the right here is someone I admire; someone I wish I were more like. There are some very fine names there; names anyone would be proud of!
The one I keep coming back to, though, is Samuel Clemens. Enamored by his wit at an early age, if he would forgive me for borrowing it, I believe I would. My hope would be it would remind me to try to see the humor in things no matter how dark they seem!
2. What animal are you most like and in what ways?
My wife would say a pack rat, I have no doubt at all! Be it which animal or which of the "deadly sins", my mind says a sloth. For all the things that I should be doing, I will sleep, read, or sit in front of the TV or this magic window on the world as they pile up around me. I haven't been to the gym in ages, my weight is up, my energy is down, and I'm sleeping more. Always I say "tomorrow"; as always, tomorrow never comes!
3. What would you give up forever?
-driving- not until they pry the wheel from my cold dead hands! Too many places to go, too many things to do. Pulling the boat with my mountain bike wouldn't work well, either!
-eating meat- since I'm not giving up books until I can't see them anymore, I guess it's meat by default, though that name change might have to be to Cranky afterwards!
-reading books- I just couldn't! There are too many things I want to read; too many I'd like to re-read; too much to learn!
4. If you trained to be a medical doctor what would your specialty be (surgeon, heart doc, pediatrics etc) and why?
Cancer; I've lost way too many family members and others I cared about to this horrid awful disease to not "go after it"!
5. a. What was the best gift you have ever given?
One of the first Father's Days after I went to work at GM I bought my Dad the nicest, most expensive bait casting reel he ever owned, and the first graphite rod he ever owned to put it on. A half week's pay at the time, he was stunned. He was even more stunned when he lost it the first time out...(a story I'll save for later)!
b. What is the best gift you have ever received?
I followed someone "home" from Rosie O'Donnell's blog once, because of something wonderful they said. I read their blog and commented, then followed some others home who commented there and was introduced to this wonderful world where despite how it seems "in the news" or "on TV", there are still people who care; there are people who are good; there are souls that are beautiful.
Like each and every one of you!
Though I'm a bit more wary now than I was when I started this, the rules stated I have to include the following:
This is how this meme works.
1. Leave me a comment saying that you would like to be interviewed. Include your email address if I can’t get it through your blog.
2. I will email you five questions that you HAVE to answer. I get to pick the questions. You don’t get to opt out if you don’t like the questions I give you so think twice before asking me for an interview. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you anything I wouldn’t be willing to answer myself.
3. You must post your answers to the questions on your blog. If you don’t have a blog I will post your answers on my blog under your name.
4. You have to include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When other commenters ask to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
And so on and so on…
alan
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Life is a series of curves...
Curveballs, that is! (Somehow I hear Foghorn Leghorn's voice saying that...)
Tuesday. Noon. A hour or so later than I had planned on, but still happy to be at the lake, launching the boat for the first time in 10 or 11 years. Temp is in the mid 60's, the sun is in and out, the wind is light and south. It's an hour into the peak "fishing time" for the month (luck in picking a day off, not planned)!
When I had "her" running in the driveway the 1982 Mercury 50 horse had started easily enough after her long layoff. The rubber in the 25 year old fuel line was very dried out though, cracked and weeping from the fittings at both ends. While I was shopping in one of the big outdoors stores, I picked up a replacement with the ends already on so I didn't have to worry about leaks. I cut the ends off the original in case I needed them, routed the new line, and thought well done.
Back to the story. Hook up the new fuel line; vent the 6 gallon can. Unhitch the tie downs on the boat; loosen the winch a turn. Back her down the ramp; climb in. Tilt the motor down into the water; squeeze the primer bulb in the new gas line. It only squeezes once and stays collapsed..."hmmmm...that's odd, the old one didn't work that way..."
Hit the key, the motor starts. The boat has been on the trailer for so long she's "stuck" to the bunks and doesn't want to back off. Have Dottie back the trailer in further...the truck tires are to the water edge and the trailer is submerged, and she floats off and backs away! Hurray!
About 30 feet from the ramp, as Dottie pulls the truck and trailer up to the parking lot, the motor sputters and dies. Not unusual when they're cold and "on the choke"...squeeze the primer bulb again and she lights right off. Idle to the dock to pick Dottie up, back away, get another 20 feet or so...sputter and die.
Hmmmmm!
Squeeze the bulb again, lights right off, makes another 30 feet.
Switch gas cans, open the vent on the 2nd can, squeeze the bulb one time and it stays collapsed like it did on the other can...30 feet and die. She's sucking the fuel line dry and running out of gas...
I really want to fish...I think about just pulling out of the boathouse cove on the electric trolling motor, but that's a ways and if the wind comes up that could make it really hard to get back, so I do the right thing...I go back to the dock on the trolling motor.
Get the truck and trailer, back them down the ramp. Squeeze the bulb, light the Mercury (the trolling motor is on the front so you aren't going to trailer it with that one down). Get almost to the trailer and it dies...while I pump the primer bulb to relight it the wind takes me past the trailer. Light it and make a circle and get it halfway on the trailer and we're out of gas again. Step over the bow and hook up the winch strap and winch it up...usually she goes all the way up on the outboard...a lot of weight to be cranking up by hand!
Pull her up in the parking lot, fasten all the tie downs and let the drain plugs out. Take a few pictures while I decide whether to drive straight to the retailer I bought the line from (10 minutes away) and have a fit (though I don't have my receipt with me or the packaging) or go home and find a Mercury dealer...
I opt for home. 20 minutes later I'm on the phone with a Mercury dealer, "yes he has a line that works for those years, if I have my original ends to thread onto it." 20 minutes there, while I'm putting my ends on on his counter he tells me how to check the water pump I haven't changed (they are rubber bladed and it's 25 years old as well) without tearing the motor down, and that he will sell me the pump for $26 if I need it (half the online price I found) or change it for $200 parts and labor.
By now it's almost 3, home is between the dealer and the lake, so back by the house one more time to grab sandwiches and throw the other line in the garage...
Finally! 2nd launch as "All Things Considered" is coming on the radio...4PM...
Vent the can, squeeze the primer bulb and it comes right back up, squeeze it twice more (just like the original) and there is a drip from the carbueretors! Hurray!
Launch, pick up Dottie, idle out of the boathouse cove, and run down the main lake a bit, then turn and go back towards the dam to warm the engine like the dealer told me to, then idle her down and see if the stream from the water pump stays steady and it does! Thank you Mr. Dealer! One less thing to worry about for a while!!!
The old lake has changed some since I fished it last, moss growing places it didn't used to, etc.. Tie something on for Dottie, tie something on for me...work our way across the face of the dam with the geese who are nesting on it yelling at us the whole time (they didn't used to live there, either). I get a bite, and since I'm playing with one of those new "super" no stretch lines, I rip it right out of the fish's mouth. Two casts later same thing...
By this time there are already lots of bank fisherman scattered around the edges of the lake, and as people get off work there are lots of boats starting to show up as well. The kind ones swing in behind you to fish where you've already been; the others cut you off in the direction you were headed. That's why we were supposed to be here at noon.
Still, we hang out 'til around 7 and then figuring that by the time we get back to the ramp and get the boat on the trailer it will be almost dark, we head back.
As we run down the lake trying not to "wake" anyone who is fishing, my cell phone rings...never ever thought I'd have a telephone in a boat the last time I was fishing! Life is amazing sometimes!
Still, though it didn't go as planned, it felt pretty damn good!
:o)
The family party for both my sons birthdays (John's 28th was April 16, Bill's 29th is April 30, so we always split the difference on Dottie's off weekend) is this weekend. Some of you might remember photos from last year. Anyway, I'm not going to be around much until Monday. May the Friday be wonderful and the weekend kind to all of you!
alan
Tuesday. Noon. A hour or so later than I had planned on, but still happy to be at the lake, launching the boat for the first time in 10 or 11 years. Temp is in the mid 60's, the sun is in and out, the wind is light and south. It's an hour into the peak "fishing time" for the month (luck in picking a day off, not planned)!
When I had "her" running in the driveway the 1982 Mercury 50 horse had started easily enough after her long layoff. The rubber in the 25 year old fuel line was very dried out though, cracked and weeping from the fittings at both ends. While I was shopping in one of the big outdoors stores, I picked up a replacement with the ends already on so I didn't have to worry about leaks. I cut the ends off the original in case I needed them, routed the new line, and thought well done.
Back to the story. Hook up the new fuel line; vent the 6 gallon can. Unhitch the tie downs on the boat; loosen the winch a turn. Back her down the ramp; climb in. Tilt the motor down into the water; squeeze the primer bulb in the new gas line. It only squeezes once and stays collapsed..."hmmmm...that's odd, the old one didn't work that way..."
Hit the key, the motor starts. The boat has been on the trailer for so long she's "stuck" to the bunks and doesn't want to back off. Have Dottie back the trailer in further...the truck tires are to the water edge and the trailer is submerged, and she floats off and backs away! Hurray!
About 30 feet from the ramp, as Dottie pulls the truck and trailer up to the parking lot, the motor sputters and dies. Not unusual when they're cold and "on the choke"...squeeze the primer bulb again and she lights right off. Idle to the dock to pick Dottie up, back away, get another 20 feet or so...sputter and die.
Hmmmmm!
Squeeze the bulb again, lights right off, makes another 30 feet.
Switch gas cans, open the vent on the 2nd can, squeeze the bulb one time and it stays collapsed like it did on the other can...30 feet and die. She's sucking the fuel line dry and running out of gas...
I really want to fish...I think about just pulling out of the boathouse cove on the electric trolling motor, but that's a ways and if the wind comes up that could make it really hard to get back, so I do the right thing...I go back to the dock on the trolling motor.
Get the truck and trailer, back them down the ramp. Squeeze the bulb, light the Mercury (the trolling motor is on the front so you aren't going to trailer it with that one down). Get almost to the trailer and it dies...while I pump the primer bulb to relight it the wind takes me past the trailer. Light it and make a circle and get it halfway on the trailer and we're out of gas again. Step over the bow and hook up the winch strap and winch it up...usually she goes all the way up on the outboard...a lot of weight to be cranking up by hand!
Pull her up in the parking lot, fasten all the tie downs and let the drain plugs out. Take a few pictures while I decide whether to drive straight to the retailer I bought the line from (10 minutes away) and have a fit (though I don't have my receipt with me or the packaging) or go home and find a Mercury dealer...
I opt for home. 20 minutes later I'm on the phone with a Mercury dealer, "yes he has a line that works for those years, if I have my original ends to thread onto it." 20 minutes there, while I'm putting my ends on on his counter he tells me how to check the water pump I haven't changed (they are rubber bladed and it's 25 years old as well) without tearing the motor down, and that he will sell me the pump for $26 if I need it (half the online price I found) or change it for $200 parts and labor.
By now it's almost 3, home is between the dealer and the lake, so back by the house one more time to grab sandwiches and throw the other line in the garage...
Finally! 2nd launch as "All Things Considered" is coming on the radio...4PM...
Vent the can, squeeze the primer bulb and it comes right back up, squeeze it twice more (just like the original) and there is a drip from the carbueretors! Hurray!
Launch, pick up Dottie, idle out of the boathouse cove, and run down the main lake a bit, then turn and go back towards the dam to warm the engine like the dealer told me to, then idle her down and see if the stream from the water pump stays steady and it does! Thank you Mr. Dealer! One less thing to worry about for a while!!!
The old lake has changed some since I fished it last, moss growing places it didn't used to, etc.. Tie something on for Dottie, tie something on for me...work our way across the face of the dam with the geese who are nesting on it yelling at us the whole time (they didn't used to live there, either). I get a bite, and since I'm playing with one of those new "super" no stretch lines, I rip it right out of the fish's mouth. Two casts later same thing...
By this time there are already lots of bank fisherman scattered around the edges of the lake, and as people get off work there are lots of boats starting to show up as well. The kind ones swing in behind you to fish where you've already been; the others cut you off in the direction you were headed. That's why we were supposed to be here at noon.
Still, we hang out 'til around 7 and then figuring that by the time we get back to the ramp and get the boat on the trailer it will be almost dark, we head back.
As we run down the lake trying not to "wake" anyone who is fishing, my cell phone rings...never ever thought I'd have a telephone in a boat the last time I was fishing! Life is amazing sometimes!
Still, though it didn't go as planned, it felt pretty damn good!
:o)
The family party for both my sons birthdays (John's 28th was April 16, Bill's 29th is April 30, so we always split the difference on Dottie's off weekend) is this weekend. Some of you might remember photos from last year. Anyway, I'm not going to be around much until Monday. May the Friday be wonderful and the weekend kind to all of you!
alan
Monday, April 16, 2007
Photo Sunday on Monday again...
but a week late...sorry!
When we had our Easter party at John's last week it was decided he wanted his birthday dinner this last Saturday, so I lost most of my week in a mad dash of spring cleaning. I finally uploaded the Easter photos on Thursday; we shopped on Friday while Dottie was off. After I left for work Friday evening, John called and added some things to the menu, so instead of having a leisurely Saturday to cook, I ended up with 4 more hours of shopping.
Dinner went well, with more than we ate left over for them to take home for yesterday. Sunday I slept in 'til noon, and was sitting here with a latte and getting ready to write a post when the phone rang: it was Laura asking if Bill was here yet...he was coming to hang out for the afternoon and evening with us. That being a big hint to go get some clothes on, I did and then went and mowed and never made it back here again 'til now.
Noel tried posing the kids on their front steps to get a traditional Easter photo, and finally did, but since it was "almost warm" outside and sunny for the first time in days, they had other things on their minds!
The Easter egg hunt went on a bit longer than planned as one egg refused to be found. Talia got a bit bored and decided other things were more fun, good clothes or not!
Uncle Bill was busy helping Caleb:
I didn't realize until I was trying to upload things and turn them all the right way I had over 400 frames between the two cameras...lol!
Tomorrow Dottie is off, I have a vacation day, and it's supposed to be partly cloudy, 68 degrees with the wind out of the south at 5-10 mph. So if everything goes according to plan, finally, we'll be...
Gone Fishin'!
alan
When we had our Easter party at John's last week it was decided he wanted his birthday dinner this last Saturday, so I lost most of my week in a mad dash of spring cleaning. I finally uploaded the Easter photos on Thursday; we shopped on Friday while Dottie was off. After I left for work Friday evening, John called and added some things to the menu, so instead of having a leisurely Saturday to cook, I ended up with 4 more hours of shopping.
Dinner went well, with more than we ate left over for them to take home for yesterday. Sunday I slept in 'til noon, and was sitting here with a latte and getting ready to write a post when the phone rang: it was Laura asking if Bill was here yet...he was coming to hang out for the afternoon and evening with us. That being a big hint to go get some clothes on, I did and then went and mowed and never made it back here again 'til now.
Noel tried posing the kids on their front steps to get a traditional Easter photo, and finally did, but since it was "almost warm" outside and sunny for the first time in days, they had other things on their minds!
The Easter egg hunt went on a bit longer than planned as one egg refused to be found. Talia got a bit bored and decided other things were more fun, good clothes or not!
Uncle Bill was busy helping Caleb:
I didn't realize until I was trying to upload things and turn them all the right way I had over 400 frames between the two cameras...lol!
Tomorrow Dottie is off, I have a vacation day, and it's supposed to be partly cloudy, 68 degrees with the wind out of the south at 5-10 mph. So if everything goes according to plan, finally, we'll be...
Gone Fishin'!
alan
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