64 Degrees Overnight

SUMMER DAYS IN THE EARLY 50'S
NO SHIRTS, NO SHOES, BUT SWINGS TO SHARE

For a week or so, we have been having temperatures well up in the mid 90's and it never really cools down overnight. This morning I went out to take out the trash and there were great big raindrops falling and enough wind that I kinda wanted a light jacket. Now it is in that stage where I don't know what to do, stay inside or get the heck out there anyway.

For a lot of my life, I have been the kind of guy that was outside in most all kinds of weather. I had a paper route in Junior High and then 31 years of the Military. Most notably of that time, was the year I spent mostly outside in Vietnam. Perhaps some of the most memorable times outside should be noted here.

The paper route in 1961 was the year of the Centennial in Kansas. I remember that fact because the paper from that celebration was almost 400 pages and it took a truck to carry all the bundles to me. The Centennial was in January and the next month we had a record snow. I think we had about 10 inches on the ground and it snowed 27 more inches in a 24 hour period. I was walking my route and crossed over a driveway where I always did. I guess I missed the actual driveway and fell in a five foot ditch that was full of snow. I remember feeling like it was so nice and I could go to sleep if I tried. The wind was so cold that the snow out of the wind almost felt warm. I do remember that I had to fight my way clear down the ditch to a place where I could get out. As a kid we would play outside all day and it was very common to have our blue jeans frozen like a stove pipe after sledding down the big hill.

In Vietnam, there was just a few times when I was on a fire base just west of Kontum that we would wake up completely in the sun and the valley surrounding us would be cloud covered. We were above the clouds and it was a respite from the wet and damp and cool. I remember that we would take a powder Canister and fill it with water and a pound of coffee. We would take turns throwing loose powder from the charges in the powder pit and throwing it near the canister. After a few minuted of that, we would then get a canteen cup of coffee and just sit there in the glorious sun. After an hour of so, the clouds would start lifting and we would spend the rest of the day either in the clouds or just below them in the rain. After three months of rain, a chance to get out in the sun was like a day at the beach. Our spirits would soar.

Growing up, there were few places where there was air conditioning. From the time we got up to the time we went to bed we were mostly outside and wearing as little as possible was the rule. I fully understand the natives in the jungle who let their kids run around naked. I remember that I had a lot of loose cotton shorts and more than once an older kid would tell me that my junk was showing. It was pretty much no shoes, no shirt and no AC back then.

No matter how hot it got, there was always a group of kids up for a ball game. There wasn't always a ball, but there was always enough kids. I remember that the bandy's lived down the street and they sponsored a ball team. Mrs bandy always had a few brand new balls in the freezer. I think that was the only thing she could lock so that was where the balls were stored. We would play ball until someone would knock the cover off the old ball. We would go around the neighborhood picking up pop bottles until we had a dollar and Mrs. Bandy would sell us one of those brand new frozen base balls. There were never enough ball gloves for everyone to have one. If you were in the field, you would leave your glove there for someone else to use it when your team was at bat. If we were lucky, we could count on Mom to give us a dime and we would trudge up to Womack's grocery for cold bottle of pop. We always drank it there because of the deposit if you took the bottle home. I can remember the first 16 oz bottle of pop. It tasted like someone had watered down a Pepsi but may could 16 ounces of pop would cool you down and make your belly be full for an hour.

One summer, I mowed lawns as much as I could. Ond day I really hit the jackpot and I think i had a couple of dollars. The fore mentioned Grocery store up the street had a truck of those big green Black Diamonds water melons delivered and she had one big refrigerated display case full of them. I remember buying one and taking it home. I sat on the back porch and ate that sucker by myself. The cold melon, the warm concrete porch and me. Pure heaven.

Well, I better move on with life or I'll never get anything done. Perhaps I need a water melon day now and then.

Dennis

Why?

There are a few pretty serious questions I think about now and then. Lets see if the questions make any more sense than the answers.

In 1965, I started college at Wichita State University (WSU). Your freshman year, ROTC was a mandatory subject and like everyone else, I took the requires class and drill day. At the end of the registration table was a person with a card to be sent to the draft board and filling it out would get you a deferment from the draft. Guess who skipped that step, on purpose? Yep, being 19 in Wichita in 1966 was like joining and I had the perfect way to stay out of the beaten zone. Is there a question in there? Do I feel a draft?

In spite of all the good advice to never volunteer for anything all the adults males told me about the Military, I volunteered for everything I could. I took the extra test to see if I was material for Officer Candidate School (OCS). I took the Military Driver's License training and did not wind up pushing a wheel barrow. I drilled in the evening on a Demonstration Drill team one of the Cadre started and I played the tom-tom drums when we marched back and forth from everywhere. When asked, I went to the OCS screening Board and agreed to go to Fort Sill, OK and give it a try.

When I saw that the Advanced Individual training Class was an OCS Prep class I stuck it out and put up with 8 weeks of tough training and stupid rules. There were about 200 the first day and that number got down to about 35 when we completed training. Why would a 19 year old boy from Wichita do that?

By attending OCS, I committed myself to an additional 10 months in the Army. If I wanted out as quick as I could, why would I do that? For a little extra GI Bill time? Perhaps, maybe, nah that's stupid. When OCS started, we had drop outs by the dozen. In my Platoon we were bunked in a a areas we called a cubicles. There were me and three others in our cubical to start and by the end we were down to two. That was the rule in our class until the 8th week when we finally developed a Motto to "Cooperate and Graduate." I was the late night gunnery instructor in the latrine. We could leave the lights on in there and I know that a bunch of guys would not have made it without someone to help make the details a lot clearer. High Angle fire, MET + VE, and Rocket Gunnery were all tough. Understanding Logarithms and survey was a challenge that few understood and it seemed I did. Why would I give up sleep to help a bunch of guys I didn't even really know?

During OCS, I applied for Flight School. What could be more natural than a Kid from the Air capital of Kansas to fly in the Military? Why would I get clear through the process down to signing the paper and then not do it. It may have been the fact that Rotary Wing did not have a ring that I liked but then again, why not?

By completing OCS, I was about guaranteed a trip to SE Asia and that didn't include Korea. That was a tour as a Forward Observer in a Combat Zone. Darned good way to get killed. I knew they were building up to having 500,000 boots on the ground and was pretty sure mine were to be included. Why would I do such a thing.

Right prior to going to Vietnam, I met and married a wonderful person. Why would anyone want to get married and then head off into a darned good chance to make her a widow? I guess after 40+ years that question was asked and answered but it does seem kind of silly.

In 1969, I drove out of the gate at Fort Carson, Colorado and threw my hat in the ditch. I swore an oath that I would never wear green again. Two years later I joined the National Guard and when I graduated from KU I went to work full time for the Guard. I guess I should stop swearing but I can't help it. The other day I read a book and a character in the book was asked, "Why would you do such things?" He answered, "it wasn't because I wanted to do them, It was because I was incapable of not doing them!"

I get to the end of the whole line of questions and answers and sometimes find myself asking, "What do I want out of Life?" I guess at 63, almost 64, I better find out soon or the thing I will be getting out of life is ME!

MUD

Bottle in my Bed Roll

Lt Petty on a Sober Day

In 1968, I spent a year in Vietnam doing what I was assigned to do. I held a bunch of different jobs and in my humble opinion did them as well as I could. One job that kept popping up was the job of filling in as a Forward Observer when there was need. Most of the jobs were just a few days for a special operation or relief when someone went on R&R. There was one job that was a bit longer and this is a short retelling of that adventure.

The 3rd Bat, 503rd Infantry (173rd Abn) was needing to send a Forward Observer home to Augusta, Kansas when his dad had a heart attack. Augusta was only 15 miles from my home on the east side of Wichita and it was kind of fun to hear the stories his recon team told about the Adventures the Augusta Flash performed and retold the story. When he got home, he had a bout of Malaria and what was to be a couple of weeks turned into 6 weeks of hearing jokes about being a non airborn trooper out there in the jungle with them.

The first day I reported to the new Company Commander he stressed that he did not allow any drinking in the field. It was unfortunate that I had managed to find a Class VI store with a quart of scotch just before i got to the field. I immediately confessed to the Commander about that bottle and told him that I would pack it away in my Ruck and he was welcome to inspect the seal at any time. It was way too dear to throw it away and He agreed that as long as the seal was unbroken I could carry it.

What I didn't know was that during that in-briefing discussion, one of the old Sergeants heard the conversation about the bottle and soon I was inundated with offers to buy the bottle. Each day, the price went up a little and I grew more and more resolved to honor my agreement to keep it in my ruck and sealed. In six weeks, the price was well over $200.00 and the Captain and I had a few god laughs over the growing price. I offered to let him inspect the seal and he never did.

Most of the six weeks I shared with the unit, we were in the field. A lot of it was triple canopy jungle and hills just to the north of Saigon. That entire time is at least a chapter in my book someday. How a convoy of elephants could slip past our company in the jungle was one of the adventures. The Bird Dog pilot found the elephants a few days later and when he shot it there were "secondary" explosions from the ammunition the elephant carried. He even had an elephant painted on the side of his plane.

When we finally came in from the field, the offer to buy that bottle just got even more unreal. I just smiled and said "no Thank you" to their offers. We got in to the base camp about 2 PM and I went down to the airstrip looking for a ride to a major city with an airport to fly back to Pleiku. I filled a part of my 2 quart Canteens with half of the scotch and some water. I sat there on the side of the runway and drank that nectar of the gods. I'm not sure when, but I gave up trying to talk my way on a helicopter about mid afternoon and just finished that scotch.

The next day I got a ride early and filled the canteen with the rest of the scotch and nursed most of it on the way back. Sometime in the middle of the day I got as near back as Ahn Kay and hitched a ride on the back of a supply convoy from the 4th Division. The truck had a bunch of new sand bags in bed and I crawled up there and started to sleep. I fell asleep and felt the convoy start to move out. Sometime a little later, an MP woke me up and asked who I was. I showed him my ID card and confirmed the fact that I was on my way back to my real unit. I didn't think any more about it until almost a month later.

I got a call from the Battalion Commander that I was wanted back in base Camp and needed to get there as soon as I could. I wrangled a ride on a chopper and was back there the next day. After I had a good nights sleep and a few good meals, I reported to the Battalion Headquarters. I asked the S-1 if he knew what was up and he just shook his head. I had to wait for a while to get a chance to get into the Lieutenant Colonel's office. I reported and saluted the best I knew how. He didn't tell me to sit down or to be at ease. That's a bad sign if you have never had an official meeting with you commander's commander.

It started with LtCol Cade digging out a slip of paper and reading from it. It was a DR from that damned MP reporting that I was drunk on duty and as the senior member of the convoy derelict in my duty by letting it go ahead without proper authority. For a few minutes, I couldn't even remember the event and didn't have a clue what had happened let alone the driver of the Truck's name. I figures that I was in a heap of trouble and about to get enough "Ah Shits" to cancel all my "Atta Boys" I had on the books.

Finally I just confessed that I didn't have a clue what the report was all about. I was told to sit down and think about it. There was a calendar there on the desk and I did some quick looking at the dates. I remembered that I had ridden back to Pleiku on the day the report said but was pretty darned sure that I was in no way in charge of the convoy. When I told the boos that I had been out for 6 weeks after being told the assignment would last only a couple of weeks. I had abottle and got damned drunk with that bottle I carried for six weeks. he laughed and told me that he would send a letter back through channels that I had been given a verbal reprimand and there would be no repeat of the event.

I have always wondered if in the official archives some where there is a report of a Drunk 2nd Lieutenant in dereliction of his duty. I'm that Huckleberry.

MUD

Jaws

I dedicate this story to Beth Layden who posted that she could get to love walks along the beach.

Many years ago, I was attending a course at Fort Sill, OK and decided that a movie on Friday evening might just be the thing to do. Barb and Dave had been down during the week but I think they went home to be in Ottawa when her parents came for a visit. I had looked at the post paper and saw that that new movie "Jaws" was showing at the on post theater.

I was not familiar with the ritual of military families of dropping the kids at the theater and going to the clubs on post. In spite of the rating, there were no extra seats for the movie Jaws. It was a little noisier than most theaters but I love being around kids and didn't mind a bit.

There is one scene in the movie where a boat owner is missing and one of the main characters decides to go out and see if he can locate the boat. The Cabin Cruiser has one of those sonar devices and it is making a strange noise and locating everything out in the bay. The hero of the movie see's what looks like a boat and puts on a wet suit to go see what it is.

The kids in the theater were just mesmerized and there wasn't a sound to be heard except the ping of the sonar. The diver swims up to where the boat lies upside down on the bottom. Just as he flashes his light in the giant bite mark in the side of the boat, a head floats by.

The theater just erupted with screams and the kids all lost it. After about five minutes of just sheer noise, someone in the front of the room stood up. He hollered, "Everyone grab a kid and help them calm down or we won't get to see the rest of this damned movie." We all did and things finally got down to a dull roar.

Guess who doesn't have a desire in the world to go swimming in the Ocean? Not those damned noisy kids, it is me, all 63 years worth.

MUD

This will all be over Soon, I Promise

Part Four

In part one I wrote that there needs to be a few additions to what we teach our children. I said this is the third thing I would add to that list: - Ability to see the difference between fact and fiction. I think that fiction is an important component in life. How else could I as a young man gone around the earth in 80 days. My son's generation killed the Death Star and traveled to the galaxies. Then there are the simple facts that are the basis of life. Kinda like the difference between the ten commandments (Things we ought to do) and laws that require us to do them properly.

Here is why I think this is important: Daily we are inundated by data and it is hard to tell where fact and fiction are on that continuum. A lot of what is written about celebrities is just fiction written to get the Star's name in the headlines. What trends do we want to start and what do we follow? If I write something in more words or in a more aggressive style, does that add to the truth? It is pretty easy for an adult to understand that the source of information is generally a pretty good way to sort truth from fiction but like pictures now that we have Photoshop, seeing isn't always believing. Just because something is written, It may or may not be true. Read the editorials and see what one man's opinion can do if given a large type and a higher location on the page.

I would encourage all teachers to have the kids write at first just to get the juices flowing but somewhere there needs to be a lesson on just copying and believing what you write vs fiction. I really believe that there needs to be a "War of the Worlds" every once in a while to shake things up. But there needs to be a ground truth in what we believe. I would rather have our students learn the truth and have limited knowledge than have them know everything and little of it to be correct.

MUD

Part Three

In part one I wrote:

Honor. This element is really about what you do when no one is watching more than what you get recognized for. It is very misunderstood and is that part of you that looks in a wallet you find to see if there is any information on how to find the owner and not to count the money.

To follow on that thought for ways to enhance the education of our children, I write:

How many times have you heard the answer "Not Me" when asked who did this? My stock answer is I did that and no excuses sir. You can be in trouble for making a mistake but if you are doing your best it generally only cancels a few "atta boys." Not telling the truth is when you get fired. I also laugh when someone calls me Mean Uncle Denny and have laughed in the face of name callers the world over. One of my stock replies is I have been shot at and missed and shit on and hit just what do you think a few words will do to me.

I also think that overcoming the thought that the world is fair is a part of honor. We don't always win, or lose, there is just the outcome. I am full aware of the old saying that the race doesn't always go to the swift, or the battle to the strongest, but that's the way to bet. Just don't think because you are the swiftest, meanest, bravest "mutha" in the valley that there are none better.

I think this lesson is about telling the truth - First, last and always. Then get on with your life.

In a lot of places, there is an honor code that is enforced. It basically tells you that if you screw up and lie about it, you get fired from that school/unit/mission. I don't advocate the "death penalty" for honor code violations, but I do think there is a good discussion point to be had there.

In some cases, young people don't intend to do bad things, they just don't know how too not do bad things. They do what they do with no sight to the unintended consequences. Perhaps talking about those things that happen when we do stupid things is the starting place.

MUD

Part Two.

HERE'S WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING

Yesterday I wondered what should be included in the curriculum to make our kids better here is part two of that discussion:

FEELINGS AND COMPASSION

Over my lifetime of learning, I have participated in many "touchy feely" activities that were designed to help us see the other guy's side of things. Quite frankly, I don't think that these were good for me after I was about 15. Perhaps I would have benefited from them much earlier but in a lot of cases, I saw the other guy and how he lived a lot closer than others. I grew up poor in a pretty poor neighborhood. I would tend to call it the cream of the crap. There was a lower/upper class neighborhood and then the really upper class neighborhood at our school and I mixed with all of them from kindergarten to the 9th grade on a daily basis.

For some reason, a lot of our disagreements as kids were settled with good old fistfights. You don't really have a good feeling for someone else until you have punched them in the nose. Yes, I know that today most kids would get thrown out of school for such behavior but I think there are alternatives. One we used in the Military was the good old fashioned pugil sticks. We would put on a helmet, a groin cover, heavy gloves and be issued a stick with a padding on each end. The assigned combatants would fight it out until one was declared the winner. Quite often it would be when one guy was knocked to the ground. I don't seem to have any scars to my psyche and in most cases, when it was over, it was over. In the movies, a lot of the kids were given big boxing gloves and allowed to go at it. Of course, today the Political Correct Group would shout Nay at any thought of fighting but it was one way to really learn a life lesson that a lot of us learned. I promise you that the school bully would think twice if you punched him in the nose first and stood your ground. It was my way of helping him share my feelings at least at the point of impact.

In high school, we were playing a form of soccer that was a lot like combat without guns. One of the guys that was pretty stocky and not too tall just took out our goalie with a flying shoulder. I think he broke his nose and was pretty bruised up. The next time we got the ball back I looked for that guy. He was jumping up to get the ball when I hit him with a cross body block that put him face down in the dirt. I waited for him to get up and told him that he now knows what the goalie feels like and if he ever hurt someone else, I would show him what that injury felt like. He went down and replaced their goalie and never ventured out on the field again. Yes, I know it is different today and the coaches must be there at all times to keep the first incident from happening. There were probably 500 guys in my gym class and the coaches would stand around and talk not caring who or what was happening.

In my travels throughout the world, I have seen a lot of people living with a lot less than I have. From the tar paper shacks in the hills of Arkansas, to the cardboard shacks of Panama and then Vietnam I have seen people living in conditions a far sight worse than I ever had it. As a Forward Observer out with the Infantry, sleeping on the ground gave me a whole new perspective. Throw in the Monsoon season and you can really see the miserable side of life. I think I liked the mountagnards of the Central Highlands better than the people in the villages and cities as they would never take a gift from you unless you took one from them. Instead of begging alongside the roads, the kids would stand and salute you. If you threw them one of those tropical chocolate bars, they would throw them back at you.

I look forward to hearing what other people think about teaching compassion and feeling for your fellow man. I use this term like I do mankind and do include women as I really need help there.

MUD

What's Important?

In the insert in today's paper, there was a two page article about General Hal Moore who was the 1/7 commander that Mel Gibson made a movie about. In that article someone mentioned things that are important in the education of our children.

I think we all know about the reading, writing, arithmetic, and history but what are some of the intangibles of life that are important? I think it is important to look at them and then perhaps later devise a plan to teach them. Here are some of my candidates

• Feeling and compassion. I wonder if we are so bust visiting on social networks that we have lost that element of connecting with others. I think the lesson of walking in some one else's shoes (Feeling) probably comes first and then compassion (or understanding comes second.
• Honor. This element is really about what you do when no one is watching more than what you get recognized for. It is very misunderstood and is that part of you that looks in a wallet you find to see if there is any information on how to find the owner and not count the money.
• Ability to see the difference between fact and fiction. I think that fiction is an important component in life. How else could I as a young man gone around the earth in 80 days. My son's generation killed the Death Star and traveled the galaxies. Then there are the simple facts that are the basis of life. Kinda like the difference between the ten commandments (Things we ought to do) and laws that require us to do them properly.
  
• Leadership. I often wonder if we learn this by watching bad leaders and learning what not to do. We all select team captains and follow them but what ways do we have that give us the reigns to test our skills as children. In scouting, I served in almost all the leadership positions in our patrol. Can this be adopted in school?
  

I guess this is a long enough list for today. It is in no way a conclusive list but perhaps I can address each one a little more later.

MUD

Rain, in Vietnam?

The other day I was surfing through the channels on the dish and ran into the Forrest Gump Story. They were talking about all the kinds of rain he saw there. If you ever need a primer about the Monsoon season watch that part of the movie. It is funny and accurate.

Here's how I was introduced to the rains. We were in a convoy coming back from Dakto to Pleiku and the engineers hadn't got the entire route paved in one lane so we were making tracks down the dust covered road and the dust from the truck ahead was boiling so bad that we were spread out a little more than I was comfortable with. All of a sudden, the gray skies started to leak and the dust from the trucks was plastered to us as it rolled out and got mixed with the dust on the trucks, the windshields, our eyes, out clothes and it wasn't raining hard enough to wash any of it away. I just kept coating us with more brown dust until the front sides of everything looked like they were dipped in chocolate. It was the most miserable trip I ever took and I think I can still wash some of that dust/mud out of my ears.

That went on for about four months and everywhere we went it was slippery and muddy and wet. I spent a couple of weeks out with a unit during that time and moving up and down hills was almost like watching clowns in the circus. Two steps up, three steps back down and if you were lucky you could catch something to break you fall and not the guy behind you's leg. It was hard to explain why it took us so long to get from point A to Point B unless you had been out there.

Then one day, the sauna doors opened when the sun came back out and tried to dry all that rain away in the shortest time possible. It gave stink a new definition as our things tried to dry out in 100% humidity and 100 degree temps. I will promise you that I thought Vietnam stunk prior to the rainy season but for a couple of weeks after it stopped the smell was double. Most of that was not just the GI's but everything that could rot or decompose.

Just so you will know, the weather here feels like that for about a week now.

MUD

Wednesday, 1 June, 2011

Yesterday was one of those days that I should have shut it down and stayed away from heavy thinking. For the life of me I could not remember Mulberry Tree. I cut one of the damn things up and there were berries everywhere. When I tried to tell Barb what the tree was, nothing, zip, zilch, nada, or bupkis came to mind. It was kinda funny when she started guessing names because I secretly suspect that she couldn't remember a Mulberry either.

I wonder if life will be kinda fun when we get a few more years older. It will be like 20 questions with no winner. I really hope we can both keep our sense of humor and not fight over stupid things. I do know that we will try to maintain our independence and not become dependent on each other too much. Mom and I would laugh at the typical exchange between her and my Dad in his last years. "Virginia, would you put ice in my tea or Virginia would you put tea in my ice?" That went on a lot. Dad was on a medication that kept his mouth dry and all day he would spend time drinking tea or going to the bathroom.

On Memorial day, or Decoration day as it was known in my family, Barb and I went to the Store and bought flowers and flags for my parents grave. The picture was posted a few blogs earlier. The moment at the cemetery was filled with moments and memories. I was reminded that Becky attended Dad's wake and was very pregnant with her daughter Kristin. I remember that Becky did such a lovely job with Mom's funeral in Collinsville. Now they share a double stacked grave in Topeka and from time to time I stop by and say hi to them. Yes, I know that's the kind of thing I would laugh at earlier in my life. I have even been known to wipe away a tear or two.

My Grand-Niece from Birmingham, AL will come up this weekend. Amy and Keith will be here with their son Austin. I think the entire family is excited to see them. We will get together at her mother's new house in Lawrence. Janet will get the chance to let everyone see her new house and we will have a great time. I can't wait for it all to come together. I am pretty sure that two of my family won't be there. My Sister Carol will be in Arkansas with her grand baby and her son and my brother Rick is recovering from back surgery. I hope my other sister Sue will be recovered from her heart cath to come. Oh well, them that is there will have a great time. Having fun is kinda a priority in the Petty family.

Oh well, better get rolling if I am to get all this done.

MUD

Thanks AAA

It seems that I have a stupid zone that overcomes me at 4834 SE 29th In Tecumseh. Winter before last I drove up to Dave's and drove the Crown Vic off in the field west of his house. I tried to back up in deep snow and I got stucker and stucker and further and further from the driveway until there was no hope of getting anywhere near the driveway. The AAA Tow truck was able to hook a cable up and pull me back up in the driveway. Today I was backing up the truck and when the trailer jack-knifed it pushed the left rear tire off in a 10 foot ditch and thank god the truck didn't roll down in the ditch. AAA came out and pulled the truck back up on firm ground. I'm sure that the driver thinks me to be an idiot or at least the worst driver in or near Topeka. I think the fee's paid to AAA have been worth every dollar.

I will admit that there seems to be a short coming in my ability to back with a trailer attached. I never seem to get it to go the direction I need and more than once I have stopped the truck and unhitched the trailer straightened out the truck and the trailer. I was in a hurry today and the poor old 53 just almost paid the ultimate price. Me, I would have survived with a few bumps thrown in for good measure.

For many reasons, my life is full of adventures. I like to drive to places unknown and ways that I have never been. On many occasions I have tried to fix something prior to having complete directions. In a lot of ways, I have been able to be successful on many occasions but every once in a while there is a giant sign flashing "FAIL!"

Oh well, all's well the ends well.

MUD

Windy & Warm

Just a few days ago, Barb wondered out loud how soon it was going to warm up. Well, she has her wish and it is warm and windy here in the Heartland. I am always looking at the sky and wondering what lies ahead. One thing you can depend on in Kansas is that you can't expect one day to be like the next. In 1968 i spent a great deal of the time in a Fire Direction center in Vietnam and day after day, you could put yesterday's settings on the fire direction sticks and they would work. In fact, several days we would bet what the outcome of the computations would be and I would almost always bet of the same settings from the day before. I won a lot of those bets.

One thing I do not like is the days in Kansas when the wind is gusty. That generally indicates the transition of a front crossing the plains and it can translate into storms with violent motions, generally circular in nature.

Moving away from the weather, things here are green to the max. We have had a few rains in the past couple of weeks and everything is growing. I sure hope that this means the tomatoes will be in abundance. One strange thing I did notice is that our Asian Pear tree has only one or two fruits on it. Last year there were pears up and down the branches and I had to knock a few off or the branches would break. There are apples but no pears. I know they flower at different times but this is just strange.

Oh well, moving on....

MUD

Start the Day Great

This morning, Barb had to go out and pour the water out of a lot of potted plants on the deck. They are on the verge of drowning as we got some rain overnight and the ground is saturated. If the sun can get out at all, you will be able to hear the plants growing.

For me, I was busy cooking breakfast. I cooked home fries with some vidalia onions, eggs, ham, toast and some juice. Throw in some coffee and it was a meal fit for the start of a great day. The toast was some of the multi-grain from Wheatfield Bakery in Lawrence and it is so nutty and good. Barb also got a loaf of their whole wheat raisin bread and she snacks on that with a little peanut butter. Elvis didn't eat that good.

Yesterday we were on an adventure in the morning and I found the KU boathouse. It is located in a park in Lawrence and is a beautiful setting and a great building. Perhaps not as classy as the boathouses in Philly but this is a pretty nice building in one of the prettiest settings you could want. There wasn't anyone there so I didn't get to see if they still have Jenn's picture up inside.

The other day. I wondered when I should replace the spark plugs on the 2004 Crown Vic? The repair manual says 100,000 miles and today I read that Click and Clack had a story about the plugs breaking off if you wait that long. That really applies to the truck motors but I can imagine it applies to the sedan 5.2 motors also. I am tempted to go out and pull a couple of plugs just as a test. Might even make a run past the auto parts store and get some anti seize grease if I do. The one thing I will do is make sure that my spark plug socket is in good working order and centering gasket in the socket is there. I know that you can break a plug if you don't have a good wrench and don't use it correctly. At least I don't have to stand on my head to change the plugs like I did with the sideways motor in the Aurora. NOTICE - I looked under the hood of the Ford and I cannot for the life of me tell the difference between the fuel injectors and the spark plugs. Both are on the top of the motor and what could be either a fuel rail or a wire protector runs between them all. I guess at 100,000 I will pay the $25.00 @ to have them replaced at the dealership. By then, I will probably have a Chilton's manual and some better instructions - We'll see.

Better run and see what things I can do to stay out of trouble. I do think it is a little funny that I had a yard faucet installed out by the garden and so far it has rained every day since.

MUD

Saturday!

CONGRESSMEN, LIKE DIAPERS NEED CHANGED OR THEY SMELL UP THE JOINT

Today's paper had an article about the increase number of people that want one of those add-on tornado shelters. Duh! It just goes to show your that we are generally reactionary and it takes a pretty major thing to wake us up to the reality of what we need.

Another article says that Senator Ryan's proposed budget will hurt Senior Citizens. I wonder what they think having Medicare, the Social Security Pot and China all running out of money will do. Wake up people, an F-5 money tornado is headed our way in the next 20 years and we need to build shelters. I have lived in Kansas over 60 years and lost only one house to a tornado. If we do nothing about our National Debt and budget the term is when it hits not if it hits.

I am not sure if it is the NIMBY (Not in My backyard) group or the "It will never happen to Me" group that is causing people to listen to messages of the Government's ability to fund it all but we had better get our act together.

Kind of makes me wonder if it is the term Trillion that has lulled us to sleep. We have a National Debt of over 14 Trillion. If you can't grasp that amount in money in terms that we recognize is it real? It must not be to a lot of people out there. I heard that a survey had over 60% want the Government to have a balanced budget so someone must be asleep at the wheel. It Ain't Me!

MUD