15 min. to a Clean Driveway...

We got our first decent snowfall last night and woke up to a little over 3 inches of the white stuff.  By normal McCartyville Road standards, this wasn't even worth worrying about.  But -- this is the first snowfall I would get to use the snowblower on the new driveway.  Up till now, the small snows didn't amount to much, and I thought the guys might have installed that new kind of cement that doesn't allow snow to stick or build up.  Oh, if only there were such a thing.

Well, it was 0800 hrs. and Jim brought over the snowblower.  He made an initial pass and got the sidewalk real quickly.  As I took over, he said I would probably be able to keep it in the fastest forward speed now that we didn't have to worry about rocks being thrown all over the place and ridges in the gravel.  Just push down the drive handles and walk behind.  The only things that slowed me down  -- turning around when I got to the end of the drive, and working around the boat. In all, it only took about 15 min. to do the whole thing.  I don't think my heart doctor (if I still had one, that is) would have a problem with that.

It looks pretty good out there.  But one thing never changes -- the wind always blows  and the county snow plow will always come by AFTER you have done the drive, leaving a pile of "road snow" across the front. 

You can see the snow starting to creep back onto the edges of the drive, and the "road snow" at the far end.  Oh well, at least it's not 8+ " and 25 m.p.h. winds.  Also, the national weather service is calling for temps to get to 50 degrees on Sunday.  Almost golf weather.

We Skyped with Doug and Quinn around mid-morning.  Quinn said he had been out helping daddy shovel the snow on their sidewalk.  Brooklyn must have gotten some of our snow.  It was kinda neat seeing him -- flannel shirt on, red cheeks and messy hair  -- just finished and just took his hat off.  Sounded like they had fun.

When I no longer thrill to the first snow of the season, I'll know I'm growing old.  (Lady Bird Johnson)

Hooah

Wintery Sunday evening on McCartyville Road...

I forgot to mention last week that the owls have been back and set up shop in the corn field behind the house.  I first noticed them about a week and a half ago, and have been seeing them in the evenings one or two at a time.  But tonight, they must have organized a hunting party because about 1730 hrs. I happened to look out back and saw a bunch of brown spots lined up along the runway by the edge of the cornfield.  They are easier to spot now because there is snow on the ground.  Also, they showed up well in the setting sun as it cast its long shadows across the field.  They were too far away to get a picture -- even with the telephoto lens on the camera, but I could easily see them with the field glasses. 

Meanwhile, the little birds around the house were busy flapping around the feeders, fighting over the birdseed.  We have some bluejays, a few very bright cardinals, doves, and lots of little flappers.  They still congregate at the feeder my dad build many, many years ago.  However, they now have a new feeder to check out.  It has been hanging up for a few days and they have been a bit wary of it.  The cardinals and the little flappers have now found it and have hit it up pretty hard for seed.  This feeder also has a place on each side for suet and it seems the bluejays have found those to their liking.  One side is a high energy apple-flavorer mix of some sort, and the other is a penutbutter-seed mixture.  The old feeder has been empty for a couple of days now, and I have refused refilling it until the birds discovered the new feeder.  That only took them a couple of days.  Smart birds.

Pam and I thought it took so long for them to get used to it because it has a red roof and looks like a pizza hut.  One interesting note -- we bought this at Lowes.  They had a whole slew of them on the shelves.  Funny -- this was the only one out of about 10 other styles that was made in America.  Seems China has the corner on birdfeeders.  By the way, this one was made in Ohio!!

One other thing I noticed this evening was how it was still light here and it was after 6:00 p.m.  It was cold and there was snow on the ground, but with daylight that late into the day, golf season can't be too far away.

God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.

Hooah

Good to get the family together...

This past Christmas was a special time in that we actually got a great deal of the family together over a couple of days.  This hasn't happened very often.  People get busy, we get separated by distances of more than just miles, and "things" get in the way.  That's why this was a pretty special time.

Quinn is growing up so fast, and those of us at the other end of the spectrum aren't getting any younger.  There is something special about getting to see your aunts and uncles and great-aunts and great-uncles, and recognizing them, if only by name.  At least he can now start to put names to faces and start to put together the pieces of "his family."

This was a two-day process.  On one of the days, we had all of my family together.  See the picture below.

On the second day, we went to Pam's brother's house and Quinn got to play with his cousins, all of whom are around his age.  He had a ball! They played in the basement for a while and he came up, about an hour later, raising his arms over his head and pronounced: "I'm wound up!!"  Not all of Pam's side of the family could be with us, but it was really great that he got to actually play with his cousins.

I have stated any number of times in this blog that I want Quinn to know his Grandma and Grandpa, but that goes for all of his family.  I can think of nothing worse than for him to sit down some day and muse, "Grandpa (or Cousin So-and-So) was a pretty good guy.  Too bad I don't know more about him."

A family in harmony will prosper in everything.  A family with an old person has a living treasure of gold. Chinese Proverb.

Hooah

One dog night...

After her dinner, Bailey and I went for a walk so she could sniff and do her business.  It was just starting to get dark, and a huge, bright full moon was just breaking over the horizon.  The temperatures were starting to fall, and the skies were "severe clear" -- a term I learned in my flying days which meant that it was so clear up there that it almost made it hard to pick up things because there was no background.

Anyway, as I write this, the temperature my weather machine reads is 18.2 degrees, and probably falling.  I was able to get the camera and take a picture of the moon.  From just looking at the picture, one might think this was a mid-day shot, but I turned off the flash, opened the lens, and steadied the camera on the railing of the deck out back, and shot away.  You can see the lights from some of the houses in the background, and that's really the only thing that helps you keep me honest.

 

If you look closely in the front window of the barn, you can see a faint reflection of the red sky following the setting sun.  The blue by the back of the barn is the tarp covering the woodpile.  I'm sure there are lots of field mice and rabbits taking residence there, trying to keep warm and dry, and out of sight of the owls who will soon take up patrol.  And one other thing -- look just to the right of the wood pile.  The small white thing kinda in the middle of the big tree's trunk (not the pine tree) is a tombstone for a Civil War Veteran in the cemetery out back.  I'm sure he's seen a lot of these full moons a'rising.

I'm sure glad I'm in the house tonight and not in the barn!  Curl up Bailey, it's gonna be a one-dog night for sure.

The color of springtime is in the flowers for all to see; the color of winter is in the imagination that only the observant know.

Hooah

Getting psyched for Christmas...

If you have followed this blog for any time at all, you know I really love almost every season of the year.  I really enjoy the spring and the rebirth of the flowers, grass, trees and animals that come with that season.  I particularly like the fact that Spring signals the beginning of another season of golf -- the quest to hit my 3-wood better and more consistently off the tee, and to cut down on the number of three putts I make.

I like the Summer because it is so enjoyable to take our little boat ("Miss Pam") over the the lake and just cruise around for a while in the evening.  It's only 10 min. from the driveway to the boat ramp.  Lake Loramie is a pretty nice little lake, and we really enjoy it.  I especially liked it when we could take Bailey (our dog) with us. 

Fall is nice because that means football.  Maybe even more than Spring, I like to play golf in the Fall.  I really enjoy the scenery and cling to every last day I can tee it up.  I played 18-holes on November 25th and it was absolutely beautiful.  I hate to admit it, but that might be the last day for this year.

And now, to the point of this article.  Winter.  I love the Winter because it brings crisp days, and challenges one to go out and "see" what's going on.  I kinda like driving the Jeep (and previously the 8 Chevy Trail Blazers I owned) around on the country roads just to see the snow-covered woods, the fields glistening in the bright sun, and the birds flying in the crisp skies.  I really used to enjoy flying in the winter because the plane seemed to jump off the runway.  Takeoffs and landings on the snowy landing strips proved to be quite an adventure, but once airborne, it was such an effortless, and always much more smooth flight.

But then, we always get to Christmas.  I love this time of year for the bright lights, the Christmas trees and decorations, the attempt at heightened civility by people in the stores and on the streets.  I also love it for the things I know that happened long, long ago.  I love to go to Christmas Eve ceremonies at church, and really, really like the sounds of a choir floating from speakers on the streets and in the parks. 

Once when I was stationed in Germany during the first Gulf War, I had the occasion to hear a German Boys Choir sing at midnight on Christmas Eve.  The little town church was situated in a valley with huge mountains all around, and I was walking around the perimeter of the base talking to my troops who were on guard duty, when the sounds of the choir came up the hill.  The snow was crisp, the cold air was biting at my fingers and cheeks, but that sound just really hit me.  I have never forgotten that night and still think of it on cold Ohio nights when the snow is falling. 

Pam and I just put up our tree today so I took a picture of it.  One thing I really like is how the lights reflect in all the windows of "The Pentagon" (our room overlooking the pond) -- it's like there is a whole forest of Christmas trees just on the other side of the glass.  It is really cool to sit out there at night with all the other lights out, just reading and listening to music on the stereo (is that dating me calling it a stereo?).

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?

It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. 

And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? 

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?  

(Dr. Seuss)

Hooah

A little break from the Army stories...

How about a little break from the Army stories. 

There was a movie not too long ago about a bucket list.  You know, the list of all the things you want to do before you "kick the bucket."  Well, before the term became fashionable, I had a list of things I wanted to do before I kicked the bucket, and one of them was to hike on the Appalachian Trail.  I was pretty naive about what all this would encompass, but one of the young men at Troy High School had just completed it, the whole thing.  He left right after graduation and finished some time in the early fall.  He told us about some of it, and one of the other teachers and I decided to give it a try.  

We really didn't prepare all that much, and didn't work out getting the legs in shape, so you can guess how this was fated to turn out.  Anyway, our spring break came at school one year and off the three of us went.  The young man kinda figured we could handle a short 12-mile climb in the weekend we had allotted for it.  He selected an area in Tennessee that he was familiar with (I think he picked an area where he thought two old guys wouldn't get themselves killed) and we set out.  The weather was very nice all the way down -- upper 60s during the day and lower 60s at night. We got there, and met up with some friends of his and set plans in motion to start the hike early the next morning. 

Well, the next morning was a bit of a challenge.  Clouds moved in and there was a slight drizzle.  We had rain gear so we thought we could outwalk it and started up the trail.  "Up the trail" is a slight exaggeration -- actually we climbed a pretty good mountain trail with lots of switchbacks, rocks, drizzle and falling temps. We had only been out a few hours, when the temps had dropped considerably, and the drizzle changed to rain, then snow, then freezing rain.  But we kept going and after about four hours, had managed to cover about three miles of the hike.  It's amazing how little progress you really make  (as opposed to how much you think you make) when climbing like this. 

I thought it would be really fun to take my 2meter ham radio handi-talkie with me and see if I could talk to the world from atop a mountain in TN.  Good idea, bad planning.  Batteries tend to lose their charge in this kind of weather.  I didn't bring any spare batteries because our guide kept saying to keep the weight down.  I also remembered my drill sergeant from basic training who once said, "If you pack it, you're carrying it.  Noone will take it for you."

Here we are taking shelter from some of the wind during a break.  Took this picture by setting it out away from us on a rock, setting the timer, and running back up the hill to get in the shot.

The scenery was pretty good, at least until the snow storm hit.  We were lucky to find one of the trail shelters and have a bit of cover for the night.  You can see in the picture how much wind would get through this thing.  We actually put up our tents inside the barn and slept there overnight.  When we got up the next morning, the barn was filled with snow and our tents were ready to cave in.  Obviously we didn't have any warm fires to cozy up to either.

This is one of the guys, Pat, who went on the hike.  You can see how the barn was built -- lots of snow and wind moving through all night long.

The whole route we planned was going to be 12-miles.  So far, we had gone six.  Well, I wasn't too smart in math, but I knew if we turned around now and went back to our start point, a couple of things would happen:  we probably would survive this thing, we would still get our 12-miles in.  Just not the way we had planned.

That evening I got sick from some of the mountain water that my purifying kit didn't purify.  Also, I think I slept for 12 hours straight.  But we made it, whatever "it" was, and I crossed that off my list.  I also got a greater admiration for the efforts of those who hike the whole trail.  I also marvel at those who did this back in the days of the settlers. 

I must admit, I've had better spring breaks.  But not any as challenging as this.

Backpacking:  An extended form of hiking in which people carry double the amount of gear they need for half the distance they planned to go in twice the time it should take. Anonymous

Hooah

The Brickyard...

I would say that if a polling company were to survey Americans across the country as to what the role of the Army Military Police is in the scope of today's national defense, most of them might say "They are cops."   There might be some who, if they have been paying attention would say "They run the military jails."  And there might also be some who know they run the Enemy Prisoner of War Camps.  But I doubt that many would know much if anything about their combat support role as "Light Infantry" kinds of troops.  Now I don't want my combat arms friends thinking that I'm saying MPs are on a level playing field with them in terms of missions and roles.  But I am saying, the role of the MP has changed.  They are not our father's MPs any more.

One of the things we started doing back in the early 80s was taking on a combat multiplier role, thus the Army started to designate certain units as "CS" units.  This changed their role and training.  They began to learn more and more combat skills, field survival skills, and things like "calling for fire," "dismounted land navigation," and "movement to contact (mounted and dismounted)."

One of our favorite exercises was what we called "The Brickyard."  It was an abandoned brickmaking plant which we got permission to use for training.  The mission was to sweep the area, clear the buildings and secure the site for future operations.  There were lots of interesting aspects to this training, including insertion into the area via helicopter (see below).

The troops spent a great deal of time learning these tactics, drawing up and rehearsing their plans, conducting squad and platoon drills, learning and executing leader drills, and so on.  This consumed the better part of a three-month training window, and when the actual week came to carry-out the exercise, so did the freezing temps and snow. 

This was one of the leader briefings prior to the troops departing the rally point.

Here the troops were getting one last bit of warmth.  They had just finished doing a weapons and ammo check.

They are now off to the objective.

The "point man" (left) has moved into position to get a quick look at the objective.  The other picture shows some of the assault team moving into position via an abandoned garage.  This team moved around the kiln shown here and another team moved and mirrored them down the other side of the brick kilns.  The outside perimeter guards provided security and a snatch team for any bad guys who might try to get in or out. 

The pictures below show the bad guys who were playing the role of OPFOR (Opposing Forces).  They were local residents, former military and some local law enforcement officers.  We also had some of our guys and Soldiers from other units who were not busy at this time along to help out.

All in all, this kind of training was very productive and probably a little ahead of it's time for MPs.  But it proved very beneficial when these same kinds of troops went to Kuwait, and to Iraq and Afghanistan later on.  The MP Corps decided to put a lot of money and time into this kind of training for it's Combat Support units and built a wide array of urban terrain/mock villages at various posts.

On a personal note, once we had secured the site we spent the night there.  This was down in a valley out in a very remote location.  I think I mentioned snow earlier -- well we traveled light into this mission and really didn't have much in the way of cover, or blankets, etc.  This was the absolute coldest night I ever spent in the field.  All of us were wet, the wind picked up and it got really, really cold.  Even the chopper ride back to the base was cold.


People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. - George Orwell

Hooah