One and a wake-up

For the uninitiated that’s one day, Sunday, and one wake-up on Monday morning and then cataract surgery.  That is of course military overseas timekeeping.  Counting the days to rotation back to the U.S.  In my day it would have been returning to the ‘land of the round eye’, or the ‘world’.  Now it would be getting out of ‘towel head or sand #&%$*@ country, or something crude like that.  I even have a short timers calendar on the wall.  I take it down every day and cross off a day.  What this should all say is that I am very ready to have it done.  As I mentioned to daughter Wendy, being almost blind really sucks !!!!!   Can’t drive, can’t play Pickleball, can’t carve and can’t even do this without increasing the font size and squinting a lot.  I had a real scare yesterday.  I had charged my Sony Reader which allows me to enlarge the font to the point I can read comfortably, that’s large or extra large right now, and then it wasn’t working.  Panic !!  I played around for a few minutes and got it going, but it was a real scary situation.  Most importantly getting the surgery behind me means getting back on the road.  This is killing the gypsy in us.  I like Texas a lot. But six months in south Texas is enough.  And now the temperatures are hitting 100o plus.  104o yesterday and forecast today.  Put that together with a freaking ‘Hot Flash’ and the only place safe for me is the shower or the pool.  And now the water is warming up !!  We’re so thin blooded now that last night it got down to 80o and we had to turn on the heat !!  Anyway, we should be out a’ here around the 7th of July.  Waiting till after the 4th so we don’t have to fight crowds or make reservations at a park.   And when we get back on the road maybe I can change the subject?  Or……………….Not !!!

                                                                                                  

I watched the Republican debate from  New Hampshire.  Pretty good I thought.  Obviously every one of them would be better than Obama.  Crap, Our Jade would be better than Obama.  But, I’m not crazy about Romney.  He is just a little too much of a RINO.  He’s got the health care issue in Mass. and does he really believe in Global Warming.  Then Rick Perry and Sarah were not there.  If you saw Sarah on Fox News Sunday two weeks ago you might feel a little better about her.  She was really good.  I know she has some negatives, but who wouldn’t after the way she has been savaged by the media.  She is still my favorite and would have the biggest ‘pair’ in the race.   I hope she gets in.  We’ll see?  One thing is certain.  This time around the Republicans need to pick their candidate and not allow the media/Democrats to do it like they did McCain.   And you know they are already trying.  Part of my queasiness about Romney.  What’s he gonna run on?  I’m not as bad as Obama.  Anyway, he may be their guy.   Stay strong!

And they’re going to release 47,000 convicts in California because overcrowding is cruel and unusual.  I’d like to get a poll on that from the US Military and Veterans.  Do I really need to say more?  Well here !!!!  I lived in a few WWII barracks, slept in a forty man bay, peed in 10 man trough, crapped in a row of six or more shitters, and showered in a eight shower head stall.  All with no privacy.  That was state side.   In Vietnam the shower was on the base perimeter where they occasionally shot at us and our latrine was an eight man outhouse where your stuff fell into cut in half 55 gal. drums and was pulled out and burned with kerosene by GI’s.  That was the officers quarters and it had about a 20 man bay.  And California convicts are overcrowded?  BS!  I hope you remember this when California wants a bailout.  Crap and expletives deleted,  I wouldn’t piss on ‘em if they were on fire !!!  Damn !!!  Ask me how I really feel. 

I put away my Ohio State shirt for a while.  Apologies to the Buckeye Nation but I’d just rather not until it’s all straightened out.  I’m certain there is plenty of blame to go around.  It can’t be easy running a major college program with all that money and temptation surrounding you, let alone all the tattooed prima donnas you would have to deal with.  But !!  Lots of other colleges do it and I think for $2.5 million a year it ought to be doable.  Just not by Tressel I guess.  I was never really a fan of his anyway.  I hear lots of excuses and he did it for his guys and all that, but in the end I think that there were rules, everybody knew the rules, and the rules were not enforced, by Tressel.  That being the case there were no rules.  A rule not enforced is not a rule.  At best it is something you can point to and say here is the rule and so we’re OK.  So now the axe will fall and a lot of people who had nothing to do with this will be hurt, including fans.  That’s the bad news.  The worse news is all the responsible parties are or will be gone.  In that regard the NCAA really sucks.  It is real good at punishing the wrong folks.   Maybe they could get USC and OSU together and play in the Toilet bowl.  Crap !!

Nuff’ said !  This time !!!  

Kat’s latest

Memorial Day

I hope y’all had a good Memorial Day weekend………. Yeah I know this is posted and written after the fact but I made notes. So it’s legal. I have to make notes and wish I did it more often. All too often I think of something neat, nice, or witty to write and then by the time I sit down to do it, it’s gone. I know there was something but damned if I have a clue as to what it was. Occasionally even if I have a note I don’t even get enough down to make sense of it.

Sooooo…….The weekend. We didn’t do much. I watched the Indy 500 as I always do. Pretty good race. And then the rookie, what’s his butt(?), crashes into the wall on the last turn. Talk about a bummer. Bum…..mer!!! Can you ever forget something like that? Will you ever live it down? And of course… no you can not. I know! Many years ago in the service. Here’s a good Memorial Day story. Well it is service connected. Anyway, I played lots of flag football in the service. We (our little Aviation maintenance company) had a good team in France and went all the way to the regional finals in the US Army Europe competition. Then in Ft Wolters when I was a TAC ( TAC officers were like drill sergeants only of course we were Warrant Officers) the officers had a team and we played against all the Warrant Officer candidate companies. We went all the way to the finals and lost. But I missed that last game. Another bummer! Anyway, I played in the backfield in those days being a little (that’s generous) lighter and quicker than I am now. So on a particular play I was on defense playing against one of the opponents receivers. I had the guy covered all the way. I mean I’m in perfect position. No way the opposing quarterback even makes the throw. Except that he did. So there it is. I cut in front and there is nothing in front of me but about 70 yards of green to the end zone. I step in, make the catch, and aaaarrrrrggghhhh !!!!!!!! I drop the ball !!!!!! I mean I make that catch even today and almost walk to the end zone. But in 1968 I dropped it. And I still remember it. That was a crummy flag football game and I still remember. Imagine if it’s something like the Indy 500.

Our good friend Karen from Bill and Karen also Winter Texans and Pickleballers called to wish me a good Memorial day. How nice was that?  Really nice! I missed Obama laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns but I did hear a lot about him going from that right to play golf. I wasn’t surprised. He really just doesn’t get it. Oh, I’m sure I played more than one round of golf on Memorial Day, but then I was never Commander in Chief. All of that got me to thinking of GGGrandpa Absalom Sines who marched off to fight with the Union at the age of 59. That was in 1862. He was killed at the Battle of Stones River a year later. Six of his sons also fought with the Union and three were killed before the war ended. In addition my dad served, I served, my daughter Heidi served and even going all the way back to GGGGrandpa Benjamin Sine(no S back then) who we think served with Andy Jackson in the War of 1812. Speaking for them all, “we deserve a little more respect from the current Commander in Chief”. ‘Nuff said!!

I also have in my notes something about getting in a little trouble from Jade. It seems I was negligent in my duties and was reported to TFPS for cruel and unusual treatment. That’s Texas Feline Protective Services. I woke up, put Jade out on her string and went back to bed. It wasn’t until later after being awakened by an outside commotion and almost being hauled away that I was made aware of my error in not checking Jade’s dish before putting her out. She woke me specifically to be fed, not put out. I got away with a warning this time. I’m told that next time it could be much more severe. Check the food dish dummy!  Cats !!!!