We are proud grandparents around here today. Most of our grandkiddies are starting school this week, or did last week, and most of them are in advanced classes. We love them all and marvel at their poise and intelligence. But today one of the pack stands out for special attention. I have posted a couple of articles about Emily in the past; she is the trumpeter who joined up with Bugles Across America to play Taps at military funerals and ceremonies....
This should be a short one; I can't believe I haven't written this up before...I've told this story a thousand times. But the geek-speak joke on Stevesplace reminded me of it: In June of '67 the semester ended at the U of A in Tucson and MC moved out of Arizona Hall and went to Phoenix to join her family who were in the process of moving there from Oklahoma City. She and her dad were staying with his sister, MC's Aunt Rita. One S...
The 5-ton Truck was just over the top of the ridge. Large logs had been placed in front of its drive tires, and the winch cable had been played out and attached to the frame of the 2 1/2-ton truck at the bottom of the hill, about fifty feet away. All of the rigging had been inspected and the shackles and pins all double-checked. Unfortunately, not all unnecessary personnel had been moved out of harms way. The cable lay slack on the ground. The sergeant in ...
The first time I heard of the Roubidoux, I thought it was a Missouri-ism for something like, "Ruby do...or sometimes she don't". Many a Saturday morning I would saddle my horse and ride down to the Roubidoux; it was a peaceful, relaxing ride. In many places the creek is the western boundary of Leonard Wood and just on the other side is a wilderness area, a beautiful patch of woods and hills that goes on for miles. I have wonderful memories of th...
Samurai...Secret Agent...Teenage Pimp...Handicapped German Colonel...Vampire...Navy Lawyer...Tomcat Pilot...Sports Agent...Crippled Marine...Race Car Driver...Bartender...oooohhh the list goes on and on. Mr. Tom Cruise is one hell of an actor; he has been about everything anyone could want to be and lots no one would want to be....on screen. Too bad he can't be a good husband and father...or maybe he can but just can't pick women who can adjust to his brand of...
The asphalt paving company I used to work for had a gravel pit in Waldo Canyon. By the time I started working there the pit was already closed and was undergoing "reclamation". Several times I had to go into the canyon for one thing or another; it is entered off of Highway 24 about a quarter of the way up the pass towards Woodland Park. It is a very scenic place, steep canyon walls, pine trees, rock faces...really pretty. Cedar Heights is a ga...
I used to work for an asphalt paving/sand and gravel/landscape supply company here in the Swirl. Pat was the second person I met there; he is the sales manager in the retail part of the company and we hit it off right away. I started out as a driver and often reported to Pat for retail deliveries. After about a year I moved up to be the dispatcher and part of my duties included assisting Pat at the retail counter. We worked together for several years. ...
It is D+24836. When you consider the cost of freedom and liberty...remember this: on this day in 1944, approximately 175,000 allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. Before the day was over, approximately 10,000 of them were dead. In one day. We should never forget that.
It was in the ramp-up to DESERT STORM, an exercise in getting all the stuff together to fight, called DESERT SHIELD. We had been set up in our little neighborhood called Tactical Assembly Area Henry (or TAA Henry or just "Henry") for a couple of weeks and were busy running convoys of 5000 gallon fuel-tankers from the port to the bladder farm at TAA Echo. If you remember the newsies telling you that many of those SCUD missiles old Saddam launched at Israel and th...
The problem with writing a blog and getting older at the same time is that sometimes I think of something to write about, sort of start composing in my mind, and then by the time I get home and find the time to get on the computer, I have forgotten what it was I was thinking about. Then sometime later I will think of that subject again but will be unsure if it was something I actually wrote or just something I thought about writing. So...if this sounds familiar to you, it&#...
MC was talking over dinner about John Lithgow: how he was in Upstate New York in August of 1969 and heard about the big concert happening at Woodstock and thought "That might be fun, I should drive over there"...then decided not to and kept on going wherever he was going. So he just missed being at Woodstock. I didn't go to Woodstock, either. I told MC that of the half-a-million people who did go to Woodstock, about five million claim to have been the...
Listening to Joanie Mitchell's oldies... Big doings this week in the Swirl. We are the home of the Air Force Academy and their graduation was yesterday. I was in the front yard rinsing off the Goat and Air Force One flew overhead on final approach to Pete Field. Big, white, and distinctive blue stripe and emblem all clearly visible with the naked eye. It is an awsome reminder that no matter who is the passenger, this is the nation's aircraft and it stands for t...
Just a little quickie spurred by recent events in the household. First of all, because of the current economic situation, my number- three son and family moved in with us last year. Our house is a two-story house with the bottom floor half buried so when you walk in the front door you are on a landing with a short flight up to the top floor and a short flight down to the bottom floor. The windows on the bottom floor are at ground level. Whoever originally ...
Yesterday was the Cinco de Mayo celebration around the country, another largely misunderstood day that provides an excuse to get loaded and eat guacamole on chips. It was a beautiful day here in the Swirl...sun up and bright early, just a hint of an early morning chill with the promise of heat coming. It was the Kentucky Derby day, too. Fancy hats, expensive horses and Mint Juleps...with an unexpected winner. An exciting race if you are a fan,...
I have always had a knack with firearms. I was not so hot with a rifle when I started out in basic training, but by the time I graduated I was hooked on a lifetime love. I went through training with the M-14, carried one in Vietnam, and didn't make the transition to M-16s until 1970, when I was in Germany. I am really attached to the M-14, in fact I own one now and it doesn't take much of an excuse to get me out shooting it. I became e...