If I made New Years resolutions

This would be at the top of my list.

only it might have been

 worded a little different

Day 7

Yeah. . .   swans!

We're giving the Muse a rest.

lookin' forward

Those geese flying south have a lot of help here today. . .

. . .but they might want to wear a fur coat?

OTOH, the sky is absolutely clear.

Day six

from here

geese-a-flying

Day five

Click the image for the story.

Day four

The story is, the song originally had four colly birds.

just sayin'

This morning.

It's much more spectacular in person. . .

...and it's chilly, as well.

So. . . How did that work for you?

Seven of us  . . .and the cat, alternately known as Sebastian, Se-batshit, or SeaMonster  . . .gathered late yesterday afternoon to exchange gifts and have dinner.
I won't torture you with any photos of the meal because I failed to take any.

It was much quieter this year without the Clan from Washington.
They been here the past two years and have already been here a couple of times this year.
Another trip south wasn't going to work for them.

A lack of timeliness means they won't be seeing their gifts from here until today. . .   at least that's what the clerk at the Post Office told me.

Oh, well.
They can celebrate Boxing Day.
(for more about Boxing Day go here, here or and here)


It was a good Christmas with family and friends.

. . .and yet another untitled post

Eine kleine Weihnachtsmusik

Stick around awhile.



Loves me some Ella!

In answer to a query on F/B

Holiday snicker

and some puns. . .

Energizer Bunny arrested -- charged with battery.
My wife really likes to make pottery, but to me it's just kiln time.
Dijon vu -- the same mustard as before.
I fired my masseuse today. She just rubbed me the wrong way.
A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
Corduroy pillows are making headlines.
Is a book on voyeurism a peeping tome?
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.

or maybe PUN ishment

Quote of the day. . .

this won't help the negativity

This will:

Update 6:30am

It's National Burger Day!!!

that makes me feel better

So. . . why do I wanna say "Bu11$#|+"

I won't.
I know it's a case of "This, too shall pass."
I can blame it on the weather. . .

. . .and these two

They all but promised it would be dry yesterday and that it would start to clear.

Well, fellas, the last time I looked it was still raining [Oregon Mist].

. . .and it's the Solstice [the longest night in the history of the Earth of the year].

For Buck [because I have to wait 'til the afterlife for anything stronger].

Broadsideblog

Sometimes it is necessary to just call Bu11$#|+ on negativity.

I don't remember where I got this

Fair winds and following seas, friend

It's been a full day already, so I am late to the party.
I just found out the good friend I never met has enjoyed his last happy hour in this Earthly paradise.
MSgt Buck Pennington USAF (ret.), the Exile in Portales, has move on to a better place.
He will be missed.
I'm going to miss commenting on his blog posts and will miss seeing his comments on mine.

All I can do now is tell those he leaves behind, particularly his loved ones, I am so sorry for their loss. . .   and mine.

Thanks to Buck, I know where Portales, NM is, and I don't have to visit.

Perhaps, sooner than later, GS and he will meet up and enjoy a beer.
Lord knows they both appreciate a good beer.
All I ask is they save one for me.

'til we all meet at Fiddler's Green

Normal Friday

That (the title) means I probably misspoke some time during the week and must make a correction.

There was a heavy implication made yesterday that it had stopped raining.
What had actually happened is that I stopped paying attention.
What actually was happening was what we call Oregon Mist  . . .as in missed Oregon, hit us.
It is somewhere between fog and drizzle.

I did get out to run my errands, sans umbrella and raincoat.
I don't have a raincoat.
I do have two rain suits.
I seldom don either of them unless I know I will be outside for any length of time.

Yesterday's precipitation was light enough, if constant, for me to forgo wearing rain gear.

By ten o'clock last evening it was raining again.
We have another half inch of rain.
20 miles south of here, in Red Bluff, they've had over 200% of normal rainfall.
It's flat down there.
So there's no place for the water to go.
They're ready for some Sunshine.

I'm ready for a new topic.

Did I mention that I grew my beard again?

It's something I've done each November for the last couple of years.
Usually it remains until January, then I shave it off.
This year I have already started to trim it.
It will probably be gone by next Thursday.
The mustache remains.
I don't mess with it. . .   at least not since I grew it back.

Sure Happy It's Thursday stopped raining

For a little while, anyway.
The car dealer called the other day.
They want me to bring the Honda in because of the airbag recall.
The appointment is in about an hour.

I have some errands I can run near the dealer, but I would hate to have to do them in the rain.

wonder how long it will take

What day is this?

It feels like Thursday.
I know it isn't   . . .at least on this side of the International Date Line it isn't.

The Lions Club had the annual Christmas party here on Monday night.
That made Monday feel like Tuesday because Tuesday is the usual meeting night.

It seems like it has been raining since the first of the month.
It hasn't.
But the drought has accustomed us to less than "normal" fall/winter conditions.
We've had slightly more than 7 1/2 inches of rain since the beginning of December.
That's double what is expected.
We still need a lot more to end the drought.
We'd particularly like to see more white crap in the mountains.

Trinity Alps - 14 December 2014

 

Answering Sully's query over on his blog, cats have not acknowledged it.
The tree just happens to be a convenient place under which to rest.

Sebastiant$#i+ (8 mos.) - December 2014

His biggest concern seems to be who will let him out whenever he wants.

There's a regular commenter and follower who needs our prayers.
Buck, the Exile in Portales, is in the hospital at Lubbock, TX.
Buck has been a prolific blogger and it seems strange to visit his place an find no new posts since Sunday's concise post.
Craig says it pretty well.

While we're at it, there are any number of others who can also use our prayers.

It only takes a minute or so and costs us nothing.

. . .and remember the reason for the season

From the inbox

We get emails

Recently, the Chula Vista, California Police Department ran an e-mail
forum with the local community (a question and answer exchange) with
the topic being, "Community Policing."  One of  the civilian e-mail
participants posed the following question:
"I would like to know how it is possible for police officers to
continually harass people and get away with it?"

From the "other side" (the law enforcement side) Sgt. Bennett,
obviously a cop with a sense of humor replied:

"First of all, let me tell you this...it's not easy. In Chula Vista, we average one cop for every 600 people. Only about 60% of those cops are on general duty (or what you might refer to as "patrol") where we do most of our harassing. The rest are in non-harassing departments that do not allow them contact with the day to day innocents. At any given moment, only one-fifth of the 60% patrollers are on duty and available for harassing people while the rest are off duty. So roughly, one cop is responsible for harassing about 5,000 residents.

"When you toss in the commercial business, and tourist locations that attract people from other areas, sometimes you have a situation where a single cop is responsible for harassing 10,000 or more people a day.

"Now, your average ten-hour shift runs 36,000 seconds long. This gives a cop one second to harass a person, and then only three-fourths of a second to eat a donut AND then find a new person to harass. This is not an easy task. To be honest, most cops are not up to this challenge day in and day out. It is just too tiring. What we do is utilize some tools to help us narrow down those people which we can realistically harass.

"The tools available to us are as follow:

"PHONE:  People will call us up and point out things that cause us to focus on a person for special harassment. 'My neighbor is beating his wife' is a code phrase used often. This means we'll come out and give somebody some special harassment.

"Another popular one: "There's a guy breaking into a house." The harassment team is then put into action.

"CARS:  We have special cops assigned to harass people who drive. They like to harass the drivers of fast cars, cars with no insurance or no driver's licenses and the like. It's lots of fun when you pick them out of traffic for nothing more obvious than running a red light. Sometimes you get to really heap the harassment on when you find they have drugs in the car, they are drunk, or have an outstanding warrant on file.

"RUNNERS:  Some people take off running just at the sight of a police officer. Nothing is quite as satisfying as running after them like a beagle on the scent of a bunny.  When you catch them you can harass them for hours to determine why they didn't want to talk to us.

"STATUTES:  When we don't have PHONES or CARS and have nothing better to do, there are actually books that give us ideas for reasons to harass folks. They are called "Statutes"; Criminal Codes, Motor Vehicle Codes, etc...They all spell out all sorts of things for which you can really mess with people. After you read the statute, you can just drive around for awhile until you find someone violating one of these listed offenses and harass them.


"Just last week I saw a guy trying to steal a car. Well, there's this book we have that says that's not allowed. That meant I got permission to harass this guy. It's a really cool system that we've set up, and it works pretty well. We seem to have a never-ending supply of folks to harass. And we get away with it. Why? Because for the good citizens who pay the tab, we try to keep the streets safe for them, and they pay us to "harass" some people.

"Next time you are in my town, give me the old "single finger wave.
"That's another one of those codes. It means, 'You can't harass me.'
"It's one of our favorites.  Hopefully sir, this has clarified to you a little bit better how we harass the good citizens of Chula Vista.

Hah!

What to post this morning?
There are choices.
All of them are of the graphic variety.
They are of the eclectic variety.
None of them are cats [not that I don't have any cat pics].

Yesterday morning was almost perfect (Saturday would've been better) for some shots of the countryside.
I was worth delaying breakfast.

Lassen Peak - 14 December 2014

Clicking on the image will enlarge it.

My next step is to download the photos from the camera to a permanent location.

Don't let the above scene fool you.
The sky was not nearly as friendly looking when looking in the opposite direction.
It wasn't long before it was raining again.
My outdoor lights are still in the box.

oh, well!

Home movie

Then there's this

Maybe tomorrow?

An abortive trip with the camera leaves me with only this to post.

Oops!

Here I am nonchalantly browsing through some blogs and occasionally checking F/B.
Suddenly I realized there's no post here.
Now I have to get out with my camera to get so pictures.
The Sun is shining and the only clouds are to the east.

except for one or two others

Normal Friday

It's the end of another week.
An artificial end. . .   because everything is keeping on into the next week.
The only change is to the name of the day.

Still raining, just not as intense and the wind's abated.

My cold is still here, but much improved after applications of Mrs. Cuz's OTC remedy.
I actually slept through the night.

That's right.
I have nothing new to post.

Maybe when I get home this afternoon I can come up with something.
Then again the Sarge posted something about the death of blogging.
There may be some fodder there?

maybe not

Tickle your @$$ with a feather?

What did you say?

Particularly nasty weather?

So there we were*. . .   Del, Bill, and I, standing in the foyer of the Student Union at CSM.
There had to be at least 60 people crowded into the space.
I would use a technical military term to describe how crowded is was, but shoulder to shoulder will have to do.

Understand the campus sits atop a hill overlooking just about the entire San Francisco Peninsula.
Whenever the wind blows, which is almost constantly, it affects the campus no matter what direction it is blowing,
On this particular day it is also raining. . .   a lot. . .   and the wind is from the west, which is the direction the exterior doors of the foyer face.
It is blowing so hard that only about half the raindrops even hit the ground.
The rest end up in the bay, about three miles to the east.
Visibility through the floor to ceiling windows was extremely limited, which was why there was a bottleneck in the foyer.
It didn't help that the only access to the Student Bookstore was via the stairway in the foyer.

A number of the students carried umbrellas, which were rendered useless by the wind.
It seemed like everyone was just standing there   . . .waiting for what?
Yes, the doors were difficult to open because the opened outward and the wind wasn't helping on bit.

About that time a young lady turned around and looked at Bill squarely in the eye, though she did have to tilt her head back because he was about a foot taller than she, and asked, "What did you say?"
He had more sense than to repeat what he'd said.


I am reminded of that story because of the conditions around here this morning.
The power has already been off once.
We've had about 2 1/2 inches of rain since 3pm yesterday.
The wind has been steady at about 35mph, with gusts to over 60mph.
An umbrella would be useless.
'Tis fit for neither man nor beast.

Emily Drive, on the right is obviously closed.

The picture, above, is only about 1/4 mile from here.
Fortunately it is also downhill from here.

someone tell the cat why 

we won't let him outside

*What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story? A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a sea story starts with “So there I was”.
(that previous line paraphrases another blogger's tagline)

Well. . . I give it a kind of funny

. . .and a very silly.

like something I'd try

Let's lighten it up a little

Once upon a time*. . .
An Irish woman of advanced age visited her physician to ask 
his advice on reviving her husband's libido.

'What about trying Viagra?' asked the doctor.

'Not a chance', she said...'He won't even take an aspirin.
'
'Not a problem,' replied the  doctor 'Give him an 'Irish Viagra'

'What is Irish Viagra?', she asked.

'It's when you drop the Viagra tablet into his  coffee.'
He won't even taste it. Give it a try and call me in a  week to 
let me know how things went.'

It was a week later when she called  the doctor, who  directly 
inquired as to her progress.

The poor dear exclaimed, 'Oh, faith, bejaysus and begorrah!
T'was horrid! Just terrible, doctor!'

'Really?  What happened?' asked the  doctor.

'Well, I did as you advised and  slipped it in his coffee and the 
effect was almost immediate. He jumped straight up, with a 
smile on his face, a twinkle in his eye and With one swoop of 
his arms, he sent me cups and saucers flying, ripped me  
clothes to tatters and took me then and there passionately 
on the table top! 'Twas a nightmare, I tell you, an absolute 
nightmare!'

'Why so terrible?' asked the doctor, 'Do you mean the sex 
your husband provided wasn't good?'

'Freakin' jaysus, it was the best sex I've  had in 25 years! 
But sure as I'm sittin' here, I'll never be able to show me face 
in Starbucks again!' 

and they want ya back!

*What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story? A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a sea story starts with “So there I was”.
(that previous line paraphrases another blogger's tagline)

A local high school team was snubbed by the state playoff committee this year.
That's not so unusual.
I probably wouldn't even mention it, except they went undefeated and won the section title. . .   just as they did last year when they were invited and proceeded all the way to the championship game, where a team from a private school, playing in their own backyard, defeated them after an all night bus ride most of the length of the state.
At least they will have an unblemished record this year.

The particularly crappy weather continues.
It's not really cold.
It's not raining   . . .but it will soon.
It's just really gloomy.

I saw a seasonal music video [click at your own risk] that I can't post here because some of you might be at work.

Still a bit on the unhealthy side.
Mrs. Cuz sent me the info for a remedy.
I was finally able to go get some at the health food store yesterday.
I'm figuring it can't possibly be any good because it tastes to good and isn't all that expensive.

I feel bad for Suldog.
I mean I can truly empathize.
I've been a Golden State Warrior fan since they moved from Philly.
With the exception of one year, the best they've been able to do is make to the brink of a championship.
Until recently [like three years ago] they've been mostly miserable, except for entertainment.
Sully's Celtics have been at, or near, the top ever since I can remember [Bob Cousy].
My full awareness of the Celts came about because of Bill Russell, who was, arguably, one of the best San Francisco (University of) basketball players, ever.
(Of course if you mention Russell and USF, you have to mention KC Jones).
Anyway, the Celtics seem to have fallen upon hard times.

That said, I don't feel bad for Lakers fans   . . .or the team.

looking for a muse

Potpourri

No, really it's potpourri.

PHG just winged the amounts.

Orange peels
Cinnamon sticks
Whole cloves
Whole allspice
In a small saucepan with water over low flame (really low)

I mentioned the other day she'd made Chex Mix.
I forgot to mention she made candied pecans, too.
The best part is that it warms the kitchen and makes everything smell good.

I just found out, if you leave out the bagel chips and pretzel sticks, Chex Mix is gluten free.

who knew

Why am it up so early?

As much as I'd like, I cannot remain in today.
It's the first Sunday of the month.
There is a monthly breakfast for the masses, with French toast to scorch and eggs to be scrambled.

Today, many Americans will remember it is Pearl Harbor Day.

There's been a periodic patch of blue sky this morning.

It's probably a pretty good day to stay inside, even if it isn't raining.
That is, unless there are matters which must take us outdoors.

PHG has some potpourri on the stove top and the aroma is wafting through the house.
Yesterday she made up a whole batch of Chex mix.
I actually made some of the ingredients.
(When we were kids we called it nuts 'n bolts)

Sebastian [his other name is Sebatshit] has found a spot at the foot of my bed to rest up so he can go nuts again tonight.

If there was a fireplace There's no fireplace so there's no point in having that conversation.
Anyway, as soon as I finish cleaning up most of the clutter on the kitchen table I'm gonna grab a book and read for awhile.
I would put up the outside lights, but, as I said, it's pretty good day to stay inside.
Besides, I have a cold.

or I might finish addressing cards

So. . . what's been missing?

I had a draft of the post I was going put up this morning.
I read it and decided, "That sucks!"
The only part I have retained is just below, in italics.

I haven't said anything about the weather, except maybe to mention it was 72°F on Thanksgiving.
It wasn't too shabby the day after, either.
It has rained every day since.
I'm not complaining.

I'm not complaining about the weather.
Beyond that, I feel like _ _ _ _ [choose your own expletive].
I have a head cold and post nasal drip.
That combination really screws up the sleep pattern.
I may have to revert to something I learned how to do in boot camp. . .   sleep standing up.
That might prove difficult, as I have nobody to stand in front or in back of me.

The rain mentioned above hasn't slackened a bit, except to entice be to go out at 5:30 last evening and then get caught in a heavy shower at 7:00.
Oh, well!

it's called CRUD*

*common respiratory unspecified disease

Sure Happy It's Thursday

I came across this the other day.
It is from the Naval History Foundation
Somewhere, stored in a box, or, maybe in the back of a cabinet, I have a couple of cups that have been rinsed, but never washed.

It's where I learned to make coffee.

now, where were those cups?

More of the same*

I slept until 9:30 yesterday.
I would've mentioned it yesterday, but Buck was in a little funk about waking at 4:30.
I wasn't feeling 100%. . .   intermittent cough and congestion to be specific.

BP hasn't posted for a couple of days.
I am a bit concerned.
But maybe I missed something about them going somewhere?

*odds 'n ends

Odds 'n ends

Ol' Betsy went in for a smog check last week.
She passed.

Remember, I said I was going to give my sister blog names?
I thought about it some more.
I still think it's a good idea.
I can even use letter designations.

The younger sister is Church Lady.
No, not like on Saturday Night Live.
Like she works full time for a church, her church.
We can call her CL. 

My other sister is retired.
That means she now works somewhere else.
She went from being the person who did the recruiting, screening, and hiring of college grads to being the person on campus who assists those college grads.
Does that make her a Career Counselor?
I think so.
So she is CC.

My brother already has a blog name.
It will remain a secret because he's my brother. . .   and it's  unfavorable, unflattering, uncomplimentary, and kind of derogatory.
It's one of those terms of endearment only family would understand.
I only use it when I am around him or his immediate family.

CL, US, CC, and _ _

I think this is a pretty good picture of all four of us.

no, it isn't no neck

twofer*

I was thinking about putting the tree up. . .

. . .until I saw this.

credit

It can wait.
Maybe I will get the ladder out and put up the outside lights?

maybe not

*second post today

Who could resist?

credit: http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/2014/11/want-to-cook-some-shrimp-japanese-style.html

They kinda look like little rockets, huh?

Where were we?

I think I may have mentioned PHG and I were going visiting for the holiday?
It was a kind of joint venture.
We only used one vehicle.

I dropped her off in Sacramento before proceeding south to Clovis.

Traffic south of Sac was hideous.
I still managed to arrive before the end of the Bears-Lions game.

Nieces #1 and #2 had already arrived with their offspring, who were playing nicely ...except for the youngest, who was napping.

Soon, the rests of the clan made an appearance, so we had to stop talking about them.

(I think I should give my sisters blog names that would kind of describe them.
Maybe that will be my next project.
Check back tomorrow)

Of course, it is necessary to post the gratuitous Napping Brother* picture.

He said he was resting his eyes

There were other sights in Clovis.

And the Sun was shining.
It was 72 degrees.

All in all a glorious day.

Friday morning was another, smaller, gathering.
Some had to work.
The rest of us had breakfast.

this is only a sample of how much was grilled

There were other things besides the bacon and the Swedish pancakes, but these and the company are the main attraction.
There was no pancake eating contest this year.

The youngest attendee fully enjoyed himself.

he's my great-nephew

The poor kid has two older sisters and an older girl cousin.

Then it was time for the drive back north.
The traffic was even more hideous on Black Friday.
Seven out of ten drivers seemed to want to get wherever they were going before anyone else.
One out of ten didn't seem to care when they arrived.
Then, there were the rest of us.

I was on another visit.
This time to my daughter and family.

(sorry, no pictures)

The kids were excited to see me.
The feeling was mutual.
We went for an early dinner and then to the playground at McKinley Park to wear them out before bedtime.
It was dark by the time we left the park.

I stayed on until after the last bedtime story and went to my hotel.
Then I contacted PHG and arranged to meet for the drive home on Saturday.

Overnight the weather took a turn.
The weather folks had forecast the change.
They were right.

It was raining when I awoke.
By the time I met PHG it was raining hard.
The new wiper blades I had purchased were not working as well as the ones I had replaced.
Fortunately, the rain stopped by the time we reached the Sacramento Airport.
It was relatively dry until we were almost home.

After unpacking the car, which didn't require much, the next order of business was to retrieve Sebastian from the Vet.
He appears to be none the worse for his 'procedure' and genuinely happy to be home.
The folks at the Vet's said he was a real joy to have around.
They also told us to keep him from being too frisky and keep him indoors for a few more days.

that's not gonna be fun!

*every chance I get

It's a long story (part two)

We were on about the longest five block walk we'd ever taken.
Fear does awful things to the imagination.
The brig?
Bread and water?
Being sent to the fleet?
Whatever would the military justice system do to us?

So we checked in at the duty office and were promptly written up for Unauthorized Absence.
At least that wasn't AWOL. . .   just its lesser [by a measurement only measurable by a micrometer] cousin.
There's one other, much worse, potential charge, which doesn't even come close to coming into play here. . .   Desertion.
But you can probably see how a couple of 18-year-olds minds might lump them together.
(There's another category, Missing Ships Movement. But that's a fleet thing)

The first individuals we came into contact with didn't help ease our minds.
They were other 18 - 19 year-olds with no more experience with the seriousness of the situation than us.
We were gonna hang!

Extra-judicial punishment started immediately.
Smitty showed up and reamed us a new one. . .   until we asked him why he had telephoned.
That shut him up.
We were assigned to stand security watch at the firefighting school at midnight.
(the firefighting school was at the corner of the island closest to Alcatraz and the prevailing wind was unobstructed there)
We were confined to the barracks except to go to the mess hall.
We were also requited to have a brig chaser [that's what they were called] accompany us whenever we left the barracks.
They didn't want us to escape [huh!}.
That was Sunday.

Monday morning the other shoe dropped.
We were told we were restricted to the base until further notice and we'd be told if there was any further punishment.

We waited.
We kept our heads down.
The only difficulty was explaining why we couldn't be home on weekends.
Pop had figured it out, but he'd made a promise.
My sisters, my mom, my grandmother, my girlfriend, and Mule's girlfriend did not understand.

To make matter more complicated.
Mule's girlfriend's parents had tickets for the San Francisco premier of Flower Drum Song at the Golden Gate Theater.

The tickets were non-refundable.
Mules and I were supposed to accompany them.
It didn't happen.
In fact there was some question whether or not we would make it home for Thanksgiving.

The downside of the whole incident is we were restricted to the base for about sic weeks.
The upside is we saved some money, we didn't have to go to the movie, and our service records showed no disciplinary action because everything was handled extra-judicially by the OIC* of the Radar School.
He confiscated our liberty cards and hid them.

There was an entry in the record that we'd been placed on report, but no record of any action being taken.
It was some eight months later, well after I had reported aboard ship that I found out the XO of the ship had inquired about the disposition of the incident.

so. . .   is that a win, or what?

*Officer in Charge

It's a long story

So there I was*...
Yep, once more we're reminiscing about ancient times.
(meaning I was still a teenager)
At a place we called TISFRANCAL.
(we being the operative term for the Navy)
I had completed basic training at San Diego.
The Navy, in it's great wisdom had returned me to my place of enlistment for further training at the Radar 'A' School in the middle of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, a large rectangular bit of landfill called Treasure Island, originally created to host the 1939 Worlds Fair.
There were many familiar temptations close at hand.

One of those temptations was my brother's house in Oakland.
It was only a short bus ride and a transfer to reach it.
There were also temptations in SF, but none were as appealing as the bachelor pad [sic].
It had been his maternal grandmother's and he inherited the place upon her death   . . .at least until such time as the estate was cleared up.
Three of us, Smitty, Mules, and I, returned from a brief visit to my parents on Saturday evening.
Instead of returning to our barracks we decided to extend out liberty for a few more hours by visiting my brother.
Of course we'd been warned cautioned by my folks not to do so because they knew what kind of trouble mischief we were capable of getting into.

All of us were 18 year olds.
You know, immortal, bullet proof, know-it-alls, who had the world by the nuts tail.
We had to experience something to believe it.

We arrived at the house on Greenwood Avenue sometime around 7pm.
Someone brought a couple of six-packs of Oly.
(back then 12-packs had yet to be invented and Olympia was the big deal on the West Coast)
The cards came out.
The game started.

Then there was a car in the driveway.
One look and we knew there was trouble.
It was the Ol' Man.
Pop was there to check up on my brother   . . .to make sure the house was being properly maintained, that nothing was missing.

The three of us, Smitty, Mules, and I, scattered.
Mules and I got as far as just outside the back door and stopped.
We decided to face the music.
What was the worst that could happen?
Smitty kept going.

The Ol' Man reamed us a good one.
But he didn't run us off   . . .or even offer a ride back to TI.
He told us he wasn't going to tell my mom.

He left and we went back to the game, but it wasn't nearly as much fun.
We mused a little about what may have happened to Smitty and wen to bed.

About 0800 Sunday morning we woke up.
Ah, crap!
Morning muster was at 0730 and we had the duty.

My brother called a friend with a car.
If I remember correctly it was a '57 Oldsmobile.
It was fast, but not fast enough to make us on time.
Besides we had the Bay Bridge and the toll plaza with which to contend.
We arrived at the Main Gate around 0900.
The Marines knew we were late because nobody returns from liberty at 0900 on a Sunday if it isn't required.
So they gave us some shit.
Then we had to walk from the gate to the barracks.
The shit was gonna hit the fan.

Yep. . .  this is as good a place as any to stop for now.

what're we gonna do now

*What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story? A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a sea story starts with “So there I was”.
(that previous line paraphrases another blogger's tagline)

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