So long, Muggsie...

Today was the funeral for a neighbor of mine, Maurice "Muggsie" Westerheide. Muggsie was more than a neighbor. He was a friend, a friend I didn't get to know well enough, but as well as he would let anyone, I guess. He lived to the ripe, old age of 87 (a little over a week short of his 88th birthday).

He was an independent sort-- rollerskated and rode motorcycles when he was young (his daughter said it was to meet chicks), and farmed and worked in construction for a living. He died while cutting his grass with a power push mower because his rider was in the shop. I cut his grass a couple of times, but he took pride in being able to do this himself, and we're talking about an acre and a half of grass or so. I hope I'm able to even walk that far when I'm that age. He also enjoyed riding his bike up and down the road...he was on it last about a week and a half ago.

I took him fishing a couple of times. Didn't really catch much, just talked about his life and I really enjoyed listening to his stories. He talked some about his childhood and the antics of his friends in the St. Patrick area. When I think back to some of the things he might have seen in his lifetime (1920-2008), I'm envious. Kinda reminded me of my dad -- independent, hard worker, good with his hands and building things.

Muggsie enjoyed coming to all the neighborhood gatherings, and was good company when we would just meet at the mailbox and chat. These two pictures of him were taken at my Army retirement party in '06.

I still find myself looking over to his house every once in a while to see if he's out. Muggsie Westerheide is a pretty good example of what Dylan Thomas had in mind when he wrote these words:

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Hooah

A quiet and moving thank you...

An Army friend of mine, with whom I have served many years, sent this interesting article and film clip to me today. I thought it was very powerful. And I have to admit that even I have felt that same awkwardness he speaks of -- both as the Soldier and as a civilian. I usually just walk up and shake their hand, but I know there are a lot of people who won't do that or hesitate and lose the moment. This seems like a simple but effective way of helping people express their gratitude. Try it out. No commitment, no overt political statements -- just a "thank you" to our young (and sometimes not-so-young) service men and women.

Below is the story. The link takes you to a very interesting film clip.
http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

According to Neal Gillenwater, the author:
"For the past several years as I've been traveling around the country, I've been approaching soldiers in the airports and thanking them for serving for us. On several occasions I have noticed that it felt a little awkward for both of us. There are several reasons, some of which I am even just now learning as I produce this film and talk to more soldiers. But they have always appreciated being thanked, and I have always felt better having expressed my gratitude.

I started to think that it would be nice if civilians had a gesture or sign that they could use to say "thank you" quickly and easily without even having to approach. I did some research and found the sign that we are now using.

The sign we are using is intended to communicate"thank you from the bottom of my heart."

To make the sign simply place your hand on your heart as though you're saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Then pull your hand down and out, bending at the elbow (not the wrist), stopping for a moment at about the belly button with your hand flat, palm up, angled toward the person you're thanking. "

According to Norman Heimgartner, Ed.D., author of “Behavioral Traits of Deaf Children” and former Professor of Education at the University of Puget Sound, this sign originated in France in the late 1700’s, and was published in “Theorie des Signes”, a dictionary of signs by the Abbe Sicard. The sign was brought to the United States in 1816 by the Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, founder of Gallaudet University, who later modified it to start at the chin rather than at the heart. That sign is now the standard sign for “thank you” in American Sign Language. The original sign, starting at the heart, is less commonly known today and might now be considered “slang”.

Hooah

Spring is in the air in the country...

Believe it or not, we have actually had 3 days in a row over 60 degrees now with plenty of sunshine. What a treat. So far, I've cut the grass and rolled the lawn once, played 18 holes of golf (89 -- not too bad for the first 18 of the year), hit balls at the driving range twice, and fished once (got skunked there). Not bad for three days, huh. I resisted the urge to call the guy who replaced me as principal at the high school to see if he was having a nice day.

I took some pictures around the yard to show you what I'm so happy about. I think I showed you pictures of these three particular trees in an earlier article about the ice storm in March.

This reminds me of a joke from a friend named Dave who used to work with me at Troy High School. It's called "Pearly Gates" and goes like this:

A curious fellow died one day and found himself waiting in the long line of judgment. As he stood there he noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the pearly gates into Heaven. Others though, were led over to Satan who threw them into the burning pit. But every so often, instead of hurling a poor soul into the fire, Satan would toss a soul off to one side into a small pile. After watching Satan do this several times, the fellow's curiosity got the best of him.

So he strolled over and asked Satan what he was doing. "Excuse me, Prince of Darkness," he said. "I'm waiting in line for Judgment, but I couldn't help wondering. Why are you tossing those people aside instead of flinging them into the Fires of Hell with the others?"

"Oh those . . Satan groaned. "They're all from OHIO, They're still too cold and wet to burn."

Now I'm sure the Chamber of Commerce wouldn't see any humor in that, but we Ohioans know of what the devil was speaking.

Anyway, just one more thing. We've got lots of fish in the pond and the bass look pretty good. We've also got a persistent robin who built a nest in one of our front windows. I threw it out of there once early on when she was just building it. Didn't want the neighbor's cat to get it. She rebuilt it and dropped an egg in there to mark her place. We now have 4 eggs and she doesn't go very far from it. I'll keep you posted on their progress.

To paraphrase Henry David Thoreau -
“One attraction in coming to retirement is that I should have leisure and opportunity to see the spring come in.”

Hooah

Once I was smart and then I got dumb...

I was looking for some of my OLD Army pictures to add to the entries I am about to write and came across these that were taken back in October of 1980, when I was appointed as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army (Reserve).

It seems the Commanding General of the 83d Army Reserve Command (ARCOM) (the old 83d Infantry Division) was facing some heat about that time concerning strength in some of his units. Belonging to the Army Reserve (or any military unit for that matter) was not very popular after the Viet Nam war, so units were really pretty hollow when it came to actual numbers of troops. There was a big push to get numbers up, so the General was looking for ways to increase enlistments. He really liked our unit (342d MP CO) because we were one of the few he had that still soldiered like it meant something. So, to make a long story short, he decided to start up a new detachment of the 342d MP Co. in the Dayton, Ohio area. Somehow, he knew I lived in the western part of Ohio (Troy, Ohio) and knew I had been driving back and forth from Troy to Zanesville and Athens, Ohio (Ohio University) for several years, and figured I must have been dedicated. He wanted me to head up the new detachment so he ordered the battalion headquarters put in paperwork for a Direct Commission for me.This was in 1978.

Fast forward to 1980, and the unit had just come back from Ft. McCoy where we had spent time with the Cubans refugees. We are now at the first drill back in the center. My paperwork had been in for two years now, and it was back and forth, stalled here and there, and I was getting pretty fed up with the system by now. Concurrently my packet was in for the E-7 promotion board, and I thought that would probably be how it all turned out. Oh well, it was worth a try.

Early the morning of the drill, I was getting dressed, and wasn't very pleasant with my wife, crabbing about the Army and its stupid ways. She wasn't paying much attention to me and seemed like she was just trying to get me out of the house. She wasn't very sympathetic. So when I got to the center, I wasn't in a very good mood.

Prior to the drill, the First Sergeant called me in the office and told me that the Board had rejected my paperwork for E-7 for some reason. He didn't know exactly what it was, but he'd look into it later. I went back out to the drill hall and waited with my platoon for the commander (CPT Jeff Wonder) to come out for the opening formation. Needless to say, I was even more bummed.

It seemed like an eternity before CPT Wonder and the First Sergeant came out to the drill hall. What were they waiting for -- I had training to get done today. I sure didn't have time for those two to sit in their offices, eating donuts and slurping coffee. Finally, they were coming out. But what was my wife doing with them???

All of a sudden, the light went on -- you big dummy. My commission had been approved and this was the pinning ceremony. SFC Barnett later told me I had a smile on my face from ear to ear. It seems everyone was in on it and kept the secret pretty good. CPT Wonder said he would have been out sooner, but SSG Bennett was in a bad mood and his wife couldn't get him out of the house sooner so she could get dressed to get down here. Oh well. I think I said this before -- in about 10 minutes I went from one of the smartest sergeants in the MP Corps or maybe the Army for that matter to one of the dumbest, no-time-in-grade lieutenants in the Army's inventory.

Two days after I was commissioned, I was transferred to Dayton and appointed as the Detachment Commander of the platoon that was to be started there. The experiment worked as before the year was up, I had almost three platoons of MP there with me in Dayton and the HQ in Zanesville told me to stop recruiting before we got so large the Battalion decided to move the flag over to Dayton. It wasn't too long after that that there were detachments of units popping up all over the place, in the larger population centers. Strength in the Reserves was starting to grow, even if we weren't all that popular yet.

It's funny. In the first picture, SSG Kenny Humphrey took my platoon for me when I was called out to be promoted (See "Not just another Grunt" -- February 1 entry). CPT Wonder and I have served together in various capacities for over 20 years, SFC Barnett later became my battalion Command Sergeant Major and served with me for over 20 more years in a number of units and commands.

Another interesting thing in the Army-- what goes around, comes around. It was 27 years later that I was the one swearing in a young, hard-charging MP Staff Sergeant as he got his Direct Appointment to 2LT (I had encouraged him and written a letter to the Officer Selection Board on his behalf). Only this time, I was a Colonel and we did it in the Secretary of the Army's office in the Pentagon, where the SSG and I were stationed.

For all its faults, the Army is still one of the greatest institutions known to man.

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” (George Orwell)

Hooah

Anybody can get them to go after a worm...

When you are not fishing, golfing or traveling, retirement in the winter can be the pits. It's kind of like sitting at the light with your Corvette in neutral, just revving your engine for two or three months. I know there are lots of things to do -- blogging, painting the upstairs, reading, working the ham radio, watching movies while walking on the treadmill every once in a while, but these things get old. So how can I use my time effectively? I've got it -- I can tie flies. No, not like I used to do when I was a kid and put them in model airplanes and pitched 'em off the roof. The kind you use to fish with.

I've done this before and some of them turned out pretty good... at least to my eyes. I did catch a couple of fish in my pond with one of them, but the fish might have just been humoring me. Anyway, it is an exercise in patience, and it is kind of fun to see if I can actually make something that Ol' Walter thinks is real food. I'm sure it was some great fisherman who once said: "The best way to a fisherman's heart is through his fly." Oooh -- that was bad. A little fishing humor.

My son got me started on this when he bought all the supplies and manuals for me when I retired from education. I had always wanted to get back to fly fishing. My grandfather first introduced me to it when I was very young and I have one of his rod and reel combos. They were pretty simple back then. So now, I've got chest waders, a cool fishing hat, a large assortment of flies, a few rods and reels and I have actually walked a local river beating the water to a froth.

My goal is to go to Montana with my wife some summer to an area she visited when she was out there on a church work trip. She saw some beautiful rivers that have my name on them. So in the meantime, I'm perfecting my technique, trying to tie flies that actually appeal to fish. But as Wallace Stevens once said, “Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.”

"There is no greater fan of fly fishing than the worm." (Patrick F. McManus)

Hooah