FEBRUARY SHOWERS

Our fragile miracle continues to be moderate. For February something seems to be seriously wrong in the framework of our Winter. Our grounds are bare, the chipmunks are scurrying around in my pen and the birds sing peons in the highest. I don't thing  there's any frost on the pumpkin and the scagle of snow this morning was insignificant.

Maple syrup this year will be rarer than hen's teeth. Global warming continues to loom in my thought process. A year ago we endured the worst winter in recent times. Now it's "play ball."  My late mother Rita Ida told of the Spring of 1945."In March we wore shorts and t shirts; for Memorial Day we wore our snowsuits!". Our weather can be fickle and two wrongs don't make a right unless your last name is Wright!

From the Salvation Army and Angel in the Spencer store comes a Sony Watchman! This is the real deal of 1993 when President Bust touted the smallest television in the work with a 1 inch screen. In his case he was watching the Gulf war. I wanted one and found one at Rietta for maybe $100. I love technical trinkets.

My filmeister, "Edison" delivered 2 DVD types of my Vung Tau, Vietnam, Super eight movie Recorded in the summer of 1967 I can now replay my memories of being in civilian clothes driving my M-37 Dodge 3/4 ton  Power Wagon. Somehow I "borrowed" this military truck for nearly a month then one day I got a call from the Motor Pool "Captain Johnson want's the truck returned." I was mischievous...... "No brass or ammunition, sergeant." No kidding.

"Battling Nature in Korea and Vietnam" a lecture seen on CSPAN-3 with historian Lisa Brady of Boise State University is wonderful. It's unreal what history is unfolding on Agent Orange. It is the quagmire of Vietnam personified. The B-52 bombers carried loads of 108.. 500 lb. bombs  fashioning 26 million craters. We emaciated the lush green jungles leaving the poor Vietnamese in shambles. Operation Ranch hand should be renames Operation Hell.

All wars are hell. It seems the generals and hawk politicians worked in deceit as gullible Americans watch the whole war from the confines of their living rooms. I cried when I was on the last leg of my return. As Bobby Vinton sings" "Home, I'm Coming Home.. Coming Home From Across The Sea...No Purple Hearts Do I Wear on My Chest."

The saddest fact of Vietnam was the "boys" were so young. "19." I was an old man of 25.

Today, I submit tenacity is the greatest attribute I fostered. I am strong... and I know I did the right thing in service as a medic.