Dogs and Storms

As much as I appreciate the rain we've been receiving recently, I have also come to dread the thunder that goes along with it. Not because it bothers me, but the dog is driving me nuts!

She tries to get away from the noise, but doesn't know how to do it, or where to go. If I let her, she will climb on my lap when I'm in the chair, or stand on my head when I'm in bed. She's too big to fit under the bed, and she didn't like being alone in the closet, but I'll be darned if I'm going to spend the night in the closet with her!

I don't understand what makes one dog instinctively fear something that another dog totally ignores. Our sweet Belle, the big, loveable Shar Pei we lost last year, had no fear of thunder and could sleep right through a storm, but if she passed gas and it made a little noise, she would leap up and run out of the room in a panic.

Dogs are wonderful, but sometimes very puzzling.

New House Progress Report

It appears we are on schedule to begin building our new house sometime in January. We met with the builder yesterday and picked up the drawings. They had a few errors and omissions, so we'll have to mark them up and return to the draftsman. With everything drafted on computers in this day and age, he should have them ready within a day.

The cabinet distributor also sent their detailed kitchen cabinet drawing and a bid, so now we have numbers to compare to other sources. Except for their installation cost, the price actually came in below my estimate.

December Potpourri

Despite all my good intentions, I've been terribly guilty of not posting regularly, but the world situation has been such that about all I want to do is assume the fetal position and whine. However, that won't help anything, so I'm once again going to try being more diligent when it comes to blogging.

Winter finally arrived in East Texas. We had our first frost last week, so I had to pick the last of my tomatoes and green peppers. I also picked one volunteer watermelon that was almost full size. I haven't cut it open yet, but I doubt it will be ripe.

Our severe drought was also eased with a few good rains the past several weeks and even more forecast for the next week. The soil is well soaked, so now we need a few gulley-washers to help refill the lakes and ponds.

Some of you know that we'll be moving back to North Texas as soon as we get a house built. We closed on a two acre lot on the outskirts of the tiny town of Ponder, in Denton, County, about nine miles from the city of Denton. We got a call from the builder yesterday that the plans are ready for review, so we'll probably be breaking ground soon after the first of the new year. It will be smaller than the house we live in now, and will be even more energy efficient. It will also have a backup generator and will be wired to make it easy to install solar power at some later date. Since the current president boasted that his policies will make energy prices "necessarily skyrocket", I'd like to be prepared as much as possible.

I've been slowly restoring the old '56 Plymouth I bought over a year ago. Most of the chrome parts have been replated and the stainless steel polished. The body has been stripped and will be taken to have the rust removed by a chemical dip. I had planned on doing that by now, but since the shop doing the work is located near Fort Worth, I'll wait until we move so I won't have to haul it twice.

The new home will have a large heated and cooled workshop, so restoring cars won't require suffering from extreme summer heat or winter's chill. Yes, I'm getting soft in my old age, but why suffer if you don't have to.

Ode to the Welfare State

If you think the welfare state is something new, this shows how old the political cancer is in this country.

http://www.oldhippie.com/forums/us-politics-chairmanobama-com/21620-welfare-state.html

I Must be on the List

Now that the Senate passed the bill that allows American citizens to be rounded up and held indefinitely without benefit of constitutional rights, I guess I'm automatically on the government's list...the list of potential terrorists. From what I've read, if you have more than two weeks worth of groceries stored, own more than one gun, have anti-government stickers on your vehicle, have posted comments criticizing the president, or have served in the military, you can make the list. Since I'm guilty of all of the above, I probably rank quite high on the list. Well, now you feds can add one more for insulting congress, because every senator who voted for that bill is a traitor to America. Yes, Texas' two senators voted for it and I will do everything I can to see them defeated for any elected office they seek in the future.
Edit: I'm reading conflicting reports that Rand Paul was successful in defeating the controversial part of the bill.

Speaking of those wonderful folks along the Potomac...today I received notice of the 3.6% increase in Social Secutity benefits and the insurance rate change that goes along with it. I will now be making $57 less net income per month after the raise. No, it won't require me to eat dog food, but I don't think I can stand another raise.

It's time to impeach Obama and the Supreme Court, recall Congress, fire every bureaucrat, and flush the moral and ethical pollution that permeates our goverment.

Some Personal Veterans Day Thoughts

Another Veteran’s Day come and gone, but weekend events continue.

Am I the only veteran who is somewhat embarrassed by the fairly recent and seemingly expected desire to express love and respect for those who put time in the military? Most thanks are sincere, but sometimes I feel the words come from those who instinctively hate the military’s  guts, but don’t wish to be viewed negatively by their peers.

Fifty-two years and some months ago, I enlisted in the Air Force at age 17. It wasn’t wartime, but there was a draft in effect, and the only decision we young men had to make was if we preferred to serve three or four years on active duty, or if a part time hitch in a local National Guard or Reserve unit better suit life’s plans. Very few of my friends and acquaintances made conscious plans to avoid military service.

I didn’t enlist because of a burning desire to serve or to sacrifice. Military service was something expected of every young man, and we accepted it as such. It was also a rite of passage…one of the first items to cross off your adult bucket list, even though you didn’t yet realize such a mental list existed. Those who enjoyed formal education went off to college and joined ROTC, or perhaps a National Guard unit, while some enlisted after they received their degree, or they simply waited for the draft board to summon them for a shorter two-year tour of duty. Those of us, who were bored to tears in high school, raised our right hands and happily flew off to basic training. We were seeking adventure and excitement, and an opportunity to get away from home while getting paid a meager salary to do it.

I served my contractual four years on active duty, and while I mostly enjoyed that time, pay was low and promotions were slow, so I got out. Progressing from a scrawny pimply teen, who couldn’t be trusted to take out the garbage when asked, to an airman wearing the uniform of the United States and being trusted to help launch a nuclear missile was an awesome step. It helped you quickly grow up and learn the importance of accepting personal responsibility.

After a couple of years as a civilian, American involvement in the Southeast Asian conflicts began and I decided I wanted to rejoin the organization and the people that I had come to love and respect. I tried to reenlist in the regular Air Force, but they weren’t taking people with prior service. It took over nine years, and while I never could get back on active duty, I was eventually able to join the Air Force Reserve as an electrician on the C-141A Starlifter. I came to love the job and the camaraderie of working with others who wore the same blue suit and shared similar experiences.  Nineteen years later, I retired when it appeared that a sleazy draft dodger by the name of William Jefferson Clinton would be elected president and I decided I didn’t want his signature on my retirement papers.

That’s probably far more than you ever wanted to know about me, but I just wanted to explain how an old veteran became that veteran.

I don’t want to be thanked for my service. In my twenty-three years in the military, I never heard a shot fired in anger, I never saw a body bloodied by combat, and I never feared for my life. I babysat missiles during the cold war, and I fixed airplanes or pushed paper during the latter years of the Vietnam War. Yes, I saw the flag-draped aluminum coffins that arrived stateside on our airplanes, and I smelled the death they contained, but I don’t deserve thanks for doing something I loved while getting paid to do it. I was the far more typical airman/soldier/Marine/sailor for most of my career…the non-combat variety…not the dirty, sweating grunts that make the evening news because the viewing public finds pain and suffering more entertaining than anything done by the nine out of ten GIs who provide mission support for the combat troops.

I carried a weapon only during training or while on alert status. The rest of the time I carried a tool box or a briefcase. Oh, I too suffered the jeers and insults from a generation that hated anyone who wore a uniform…and the critics didn’t care if your job was to drop a tank of napalm, or count C-rations. The hate bothered me, but suffering insults is nothing compared to humping a pack in a stinking, vermin ridden jungle, or up the side of a mountain in 100+ degree heat.

I have a baseball cap that declares I’m retired Air Force. I often wore it at certain gatherings to send a message to others who wore the uniforms of the United States. It was an invitation to share stories and reminisce about our youth. However, when it became the norm for people to begin thanking me for my service, I quit wearing the cap in most venues. For similar reasons, I have begun avoiding such public events as Veterans Day parades, and Memorial Day services. I’m simply not comfortable sharing praise with those who earned it by risking life and limb, and especially those who died.

Perhaps I would feel differently if I had experienced war up close and personal, but I didn’t, so please don’t thank me for doing something I chose to do without expectation of anything more than a warm feeling and a big enough paycheck to make it financially worthwhile.

If I had my druthers, people would show veterans their thanks by doing everything in their power to rid our political system of those who violate their oath to defend and protect this country against all enemies, foreign or domestic. I swore that oath six times during my military career, and even though I no longer wear a uniform, I will continue to honor the oath I took. When we have accomplished that mission, we can thank each other…and I won’t be embarrassed to hear it.

Rain at Last

When I lived in Western Washington, I never thought I would welcome rain as much as I did today. We've had a few light showers in the past three weeks, but today we were treated to two hours of a nice steady rain that produced nearly an inch of the wet stuff. That should dampen the forest floor enough to lessen the chance of wildfires.