Bob

 

     Over the years, both Kay and I have had pets, for me it was always a dog while Kay had dogs and cats. When we married, we each had a dog that our late spouses favored, we couldn't give them up so we took care of them until the time came for us to put them down. At this point we decided pets were not fitting into our lifestyle as we are often gone for hours and days at a time so we decided to not to have any more pets.

     Things went along fine for a couple of years until Kay discovered a young cat under the steps of our deck. He was a Domestic Short Hair Tabby kitten, with a bobbed tail maybe three inches long, he appeared to be feral because he was skittish and not accustomed to people. Taking pity on the poor thing, she put out food and over a couple of weeks the cat would come out and eat in her presence, not long after that it would allow her to pet it and not long after that it would curl up in her lap and purr as she sat on the deck. We discovered that the cat actually slept in one of the four culverts around our house but after a while Kay had gained its confidence and the cat came into our house. His visits were a short duration at first but that didn't last long. 

     At this point I need to say that I'm really not a cat person, never have been but Kay at times has been a cat person and watching her and this feral cat get to know each other I realized things were about to change. The relationship between Kay and the cat quickly grew, the cat needed a name and I suggested Bob, he was, after all, a male and he had a bobbed tail so Bob it is. After getting checked out by a vet and getting downgraded from a "he" to an "it" Bob became the newest member to the family.

     We really didn't want Bob in the house all that much and we didn't want him sleeping in a culvert so I built him a house which Kay filled with straw and an old towel. Bob now has a place to sleep out of the weather on our screened porch which means we leave the storm door cracked open so he can come and go at his leisure, sort of defeats the purpose of a screened porch with a storm door.

     It has been sometime since Bob showed up, he has the run of the place and two human servants to feed him and let him in or out the door as he often as he wants - quite often. He still is a feral cat and roams around the yard during the day but at night he chooses to sleep in the comfort of the indoors where he has several spots he has chosen for sleeping depending on his mood. He frequently cuddles up to Kay where he turns on his motor and purrs, allowing her to scratch his ears until he tires of that then he turns around and nips at her hand which now is spotted with small scabs. When we go away for a few hours or days he reverts back to being feral, Kay leaves him food and water and when we return home he's waiting for us, he knows when he has a good thing. He is Kay's companion as she works or walks around the yard, he has come in my workshop but quickly disappears when I turn on a machine.

     Often at night he will crawl in bed with us, sometimes he will cuddle next to Kay or he may get between us, his purring will be loud but comforting. Sometimes he will get in a playful mood and attack our toes, whenever we have a twitch he will jump at the movement and bite through the quilt which gets him a kneejerk reaction that may send him flying through the air. Kay has bought several toys that he will chase around the house and sometimes, after a little catnip, he will go bonkers and run like crazy all over the house.

     I must reiterate that I'm not a cat person, never have been and make no bones about it. I think Bob may have sensed that and he reasonably goes to Kay first but in the middle of the night; when I can't sleep he will come sit next to me as I scroll Facebook and allow me to scratch his ears as he purrs away, maybe we are growing on each other but still I sense that my position as master of the house is being usurped. Knowing that cats have a long lifespan and my ambition to be around for many more years, it is going to be a race to see who will outlive the other.

Fading Memories

 

     Memories are portals to the past, a culmination of events experienced by a younger you. They belong to only you because even though someone else was there they will remember the event with their own twist. This is not to say that your memory is exactly as the event happened, memories have a tendency to fade out over long periods of time. You may even find several memories intermingling with each other but that's OK, it's your memory. 

     I have been writing this blog since 2012, some 12 years ago. It started out as a place to put in writing all of my memories, every experience and happening in my life. It is also to be a means by which my sons, grandkids and future generations to know they are a part of a family they never met or knew. Now there will be no need for them to guess about their ancestry (at least not those of the last hundred years or so). I have written more than 164 stories to date, some only a few paragraphs, others pages and pages. They are all meant to inform and entertain the reader, if I did my job right you will be in awe, laugh your butt off and cry rivers of tears.

     I have now written so many stories that I have lost the ability to remember if the subject I'm about to write I have already written about it. I sometimes think that old age has finally overcome me, I often forget things at the moment only to remember them hours later, it's an annoying part of life endured by many my age. I thought about cataloging each story according to its subject matter, like a table of contents, I even set out to do it but quickly lost interest, you'll just have to bear with me.  

     I often wonder if maybe I have depleted all of my memories as my writing seems to have slowed down, maybe I have said all that is worth saying, I don't know. Every once in a while, something will pop into my head and I say oh oh I need to write about this and I do, all the while there is a nagging thought that I have previously covered the subject - maybe I did or maybe I didn't.

      I have spent my whole life making memories and often wonder if this blog might be an effort in futility, are the younger generations going to be interested in the ramblings of an old man. When I start to feel like this, I remember how just a few years ago I found myself wishing I had listened harder to the stories I overheard as a child, I find myself wishing I had asked more questions of my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, so I keep writing. For sure a large portion of my life took place before Linda and I started our family, many of the people and places are no longer around. I think I have about recalled everything worth recalling, it's probable that I have already written about it or maybe not. 

     Kay and I are making our own memories now and from time to time I will add those to my writings. In the meantime, I will continue to write about something from long ago. If I repeat myself just think about the stories told again and again at family gatherings, you know you've heard them before but you listen anyway because it's worth hearing again, I would rather repeat myself than forget it altogether.

Space

     Each generation has some events or milestones that will forever mark them in the annals of history. Wars. advancements in science or medicine, something that no other generation can lay claim too. After World War II, advancements in science and technology started moving at a rapid pace. Many new and wonderous things came about on a seemingly annually basis, this made my youth very interesting to me. After much thought, I have decided the one thing that has caught my attention more than any other one thing, the most exciting thing was the race to space and the endless possibilities of it for future generations.

     It all started with Hitler's V2 rockets that were launched at England, they were rocket propelled and contained warhead, somehow I doubt Hitler could have foreseen any use for the V2 beyond that of a weapon. America recognized the possibilities of the V2 as a weapon and as a tool of limitless technology so they brought home as many as they could find along with willing German scientist. In addition to military applications some bright soul saw into the future and all of a sudden the space race was on.

     June 14, 1949 was the first time America ventured into space, we strapped a chimpanzee into the nose of one of those captured V2's and shot him into the air. He reached an altitude 83 miles before falling back to earth, the Chimp didn't survive but a thirst was developed. The flight was short of outer space but it was a start. Over the next few years more monkeys, dogs and mice were sent into space, they were used as Guinea Pigs to understand the effects that space flight would have on humans although none really obtained orbital status.

     The Russains had the same thoughts about space as we did so and they too had several V2's and scientist and the race to space was on between our countries. They were the first to put something into an orbit around the earth, it was a satellite, a small round orb with a couple of antennas sticking out, they named it "Sputnik" It's only purpose was to reach orbit so the world would know they were the leaders of the race, it transmitted a beeping sound as it rounded the earth other than that it was a fascination for the world to hear and see. I was ten at the time and on a cloudless and dark night some of us kids would go outside and look up at the stars and there would be one that moved across the sky at a pretty good pace. It was a short-lived flight as it's orbit deteriorated and it burned up in the atmosphere a year later. They too kept shooting sending their Guinea Pigs up with similar results. 

     It wasn't until  January 31, 1958 that the US launched a satellite that did more than beep. We launched a spy satellite called the Explorer I, it collected information mainly on Russia and probably China.

     The one thing Sputnik did do was give the US a swift kick in the butt towards their efforts to get a man in space. It was a tight race and the Russians again won the day, on April12, 1961 Yuri Gargarin spent 108 minutes circling the earth and returned unharmed after one orbit. Over the next two years Russia sent another five cosmonauts into space including Valentina Tereshkova on June 16, 1963, she was the first woman in space.

      Several more rockets and satellites were launched over the next few years before we sent Alan Shepard into space on May 5, 1961, he was touted as the first "Free" man in space. The flight lasted 15 minutes and reached an altitude of 116 miles. Many other Astronauts followed Shepard in various flights of various duration all in preparation for the ultimate goal of landing on the moon. 

     America's space program kept people glued to the TV when rockets were sent into space but the whole world shut down on July 16, 1969  as Appollo 11 was orbiting the moon with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins aboard the capsule "Eagle" preparing to make a landing on the moon, Michael Collins remained with the capsule and upon landing Neil Armstrong announced "the Eagle has landed" and when he sat foot on the moon he said "one step for man, one giant leap for mankind".

     The United States has made several trips to the moon, no other country has even tried. Several countries have space programs but they are mainly used to launch satellites. The U.S. and Russia pushed on with their programs although the US had the most advancements with it's space program including the invention of the reusable space shuttle, orbiting space labs and giant telescopes that see into the depths of space. 

     To me, the most interesting of our adventures into space was when we launched Voyager 1 on September 9, 1977, it was to explore the outer planets of our solar system and indeed it has, the pictures it has sent back are amazing and beautiful but it did not stop there. After traveling for 45 years it reached the known edges of our solar system and kept going, it still reports back to earth although not as frequently. It takes at least an hour for any transmissions to reach earth from Voyager 1. Personally I think the voyager program is near the top of man's achievements of the 20th century, in addition to exploring the outer reaches of our solar system it was hoped that it may discover alien life on other planets, it was equipped with writings, pictures and verbal messages of greeting to any who it may encounter. I would like to be around in another fifty years to see what Voyager may find but at my age it will have to be up to my grandchildren and their children to find out what is out there. I envy them.

     Now our space program is entering a new phase, it is collaborating with civilian enterprise, it is working towards the human exploration and colonizing of Mars. More advances and more adventures lie in wait in the minds of inquisitive young people with a big imaginations.     

     I am a firm believer that there is more that awaits us in space, I just can't believe that God stopped with earth, I can't believe that mankind is alone in space, this is why I have such a fascination with space. I think exploration of the cosmos is our salvation, I hope that maybe one of my future generations will someday be among the explorers.

     

      

     

Sleepless Nights II

 

     I have titled several postings as "Bits and Pieces" or Sleepless Nights". They were created to compile short stories of a paragraph or two, maybe even three or four paragraphs. They quickly filled up forcing me to create more posts for short stories, hope you find them as interesting. 

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     When Danny was almost two, his little brother Clay was well on his way. We lived in Florida then, it was a magical place that was starting to grow, one of the major theme parks was "Circus World".

      I don't remember the details, probably it was just to get Danny out of the house and let Linda rest although my aging memory suggest that Linda may have even been with us that day. At any rate, Danny and I wound up at Circus World. It was fun to see the expressions on his young face as he looked at the clowns, animals and performances that were there. I do remember that one thing we did that put a grin on his face was to ride an elephant.

     I'm sure he doesn't remember the day just as I can't remember it in detail but it happened.

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     I hadn't been at my first duty station long when I was told to make a pot of coffee, I stated that I didn't drink coffee and was told that was not the issue - go make a pot of coffee. Although I had made coffee for my mother many times I told the petty officer that I didn't know how to make coffee.

     The petty officer took me to the coffee urn that made 32 cups and told me to fill it with water and put the grounds in the pan at the top then turn it on, so I did. The first pot came out looking more like tea and very weak so I was told to do it over and this time add more coffee grounds. The second time the coffee came out strong enough that the spoon could stand up in it by itself, the petty officer agreed that I didn't know how to make coffee. 

     From that point on over the next four years I was never asked to make coffee.

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     From the time I was born, until I was thirteen, I spent a lot of time on the farm with my grandparents. Once I started school, I would go to their place until about a week before school started back, looking back those were some of the best days of my life. Being a father to two boys, I can say it was at times a chore to keep young kids preoccupied for a few hours much less an entire day, I doubt keeping me out of trouble was any different but somehow granny and grandpa managed.

     For the most part, I followed grandpa everywhere he went, I walked fresh turned dirt behind a plow pulled with mules and sat beside him as he smoked his corncob pipe as he sat in the shade of a tree. Granny, on the other hand, was a different story, she did "woman's work", cooking, cleaning and washing, none of which would hold the interest of a young boy for very long. But on occasion a rainy day would come along and there I was stuck in the house or on the front porch with nothing to do, that's when granny would do he best to keep me busy. Later in the summer was no problem, grandpa would come in with bushel baskets full of beans and peas of all kinds that had to be shelled, snapped and otherwise prepped for canning. Granny and I would sit for hours with a full basket on the floor next to us and a big bowl in our laps, the rain would be pounding on the tin roof so loud we couldn't hear anything, sometimes a little rain would blow in through the window screen and cool us.

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     Back in the 50's, air conditioning was coming of age, some of the newer homes had it but it did add to the cost. Most of the older homes did without due to the cost of upgrading and often it was a matter of this was the way people had lived and saw no need to change. My parents didn't have air conditioning until 1964 and it was a window unit in a hole in the wall. The old people improvised as they always had, electric fans of various sizes or small handheld fans. All of the handheld fans seemed to come from either a church or a funeral home, if there was a depiction of Jesus or a cross it most likely came from a church. If there was a name and address of some funeral home followed by some words of sympathy, well that's probably where it came from. Wherever they came from they made their way into homes all around town. My Riggan grandparents had these small handheld fans from grandpa's church and funeral homes in two counties and three cities.

     The fans were simple in design, they were somewhat of a square with rounded corners stapled to a large popsicle stick or tongue depressor. It seems that the places that incurred large groups or crowds were churches and funeral homes and neither was airconditioned, they must have bought these fans by the case. Pretty much every home of the time had several fans laying around and on hot days occupants and visitors would be sitting around waving the fan in a manner that cooled the face, the faster you worked the fan the more airflow that was generated. Grandmothers would use them to cool sweaty young children, mothers used them to cool sleeping babies.

     This is one of those things kids today would scratch their head in wonder of what it is and then be amazed at why people used them. One of those lost pieces of history.