Month: July 2015

It all got somewhat out of hand with a couple of trips to Kath’s brother and wife in North Carolina.  Great visits, their home nestles among pine and hardwoods with lots of space for flower and vegetable gardens and, of course, the many bird feeders.  That’s where it started!  When we got home, sitting on our deck enjoying our little backyard with a small shed, (which I built), and the nice privacy fence with the Red Tips, Crepe Myrtles and two rose bushes hiding the base of the twelve room Purple Martin hotel fourteen feet up, we, of course, decided to put up more bird feeders.  At first, the sparrows held full sway, but not for long.  Those larger, more assertive white wings found the free lunch and even the…

So last August, 2014, there we were at 37,000 feet flying west to our beloved home away from home, Kauai, Hawaii.  From San Antonio, our connecting flight was direct from Phoenix to Kauai, and about 90 minutes from landing in paradise, one of the pilots spoke from the flight deck: “Well, folks, we won’t be getting any closer, but on the left side of our aircraft you’ll see Hurricane Iselle.  We are about 200 miles away from her, and it’s a good picture of the storm.”  He sure was correct about that; the huge circle of clouds was exactly like the ones we had seen on the weather channel numerous times, and clear as anything, right in the middle was a dark black hole, “the eye of the storm.”  It…

Last time, I had just arrived at my duty station, Wakkanai, Japan, October, 1963, a long way from Tokyo, and a very long way from Maine, USA!  Let’s continue to explore my military experiences, with a view to appreciating our great nation that was established by some of the wisest, honorable and most sacrificial people ever to step foot on this terrestrial ball called earth.  We are now on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, just twenty six miles from Sakhlin Island, USSR or for some friends of mine back in the Williwacs of Maine, Russia!  During my eighteen month stay, three events relating to consequences of war are forever etched in my mind.  They have shaped my emotions, my choices, my life.  Here they are: The first was the night…

Another July 4th is right here; lots of red, white and blue, some parades, several somber ceremonies at national cemeteries.  This day is for many, however, marked only as another day off.  Industries welcome the opportunity to sell just about anything.  It’s a party, and any semblance of remembrance or gratitude for young men serving, fighting and dying so others could have another day of fun and frolic just doesn’t appear in many place throughout America.  Truth be told, political enemies of our amazing Constitution, seem to go out of their way more and more to minimize the values that such a day should represent to all citizens of this great land.  Will the attack on our flag be next? As generations move farther from any major event, historical evidence…