40 years July 20, 1969...@ Nha Trang RVN

The cool summer weather continues in western Ohio. Another morning in the 50s, and I had already decided to start going to bed earlier, and getting up earlier...that way I can do my 2 or 3 mile walk before the summer heat starts. Well so far there has been little heat, and I'm fine by that....60s and 70s for highs of late, and more of the same for today, before a warm up begins.

Crawling out of the sack at 6:30, I was on the road by 7:15...I stopped and talked with an old friend Neil for 5 minutes, then continued my way east then north towards Lake Shore Drive....1 hour and 10 minutes later I arrived back at my door steps...upper back still with pain, my guess is from the paint motion of the past couple weeks...but not so much that I can't walk or even get back to the painting...at my age, I'm just gonna have to get used to working through the pain. This back event is nothing like the one from late 07 and early 08 which was due to Spinal Stenosis, this one feels like muscle aches, and hopefully time will work things out, but regardless, I have no plans on resting too much...games to officiate, and much painting to complete....the Ibuprofen is going to have to work.

After the walk, Reagan the Airedale and I do the bird feeders, then I grabbed the camera and took a couple of photos on both sides of the fence...my first Sunflower came out, not the Mammoth ones yet, but the first of the Evening Sun variety, also have some Citrus colors that should come out in the next few days...those big ones on the 10 foot plants are probably a week or so for blooming and a couple weeks from gaining full size.

Nha Trang RVN, July 21, 1969_____

On July 20th, 40 years ago, fellow Buckeye Neil Armstrong, of nearby Wapakoneta, Ohio, became the first person to step foot on the Moon. Armstrong, a civilian, joined Mike Collins, and Buzz Aldrin aboard Apollo 11 and became the first "Men in the Moon". Neil Armstrong became a sort of a recluse, a very private person since those days, Buzz, not so much. Neil went on to become a professor near Cincinnati and lives in that area today...Aldrin has been on the talk TV circuit of late, pushing books and pushing for more in the space program efforts.

On that July day{actually July 21st by Vietnam time}, after my day shift Law Enforcement was completed, I headed over to our Security Police hangout...a small room with TV, a refrig stocked with drinks and a snack bar...me, Harry Bevan, and a couple of other guys watched the feed from the USA on our black and white TV...we watched as the grainy images came into focus and Armstrong stepped foot on the Moon, with his "One small step for man...." speech.

I really don't think we got the feed live from AFVN{Armed Forces Vietnam TV}...probably a delayed feed...most TV was back then, at least in the outposts of Vietnam. But it was exciting anyway to see Armstrong, a man who grew up just 20 miles away from my town, become the first ever to put his prints in that Lunar Dust.

My ol' my, how the world has changed{and not necessarily for the better} since that July day in 1969, where I was a world away, from Wapak, Celina, and the Moon.

Painting today, American Legion Baseball at Lima tonight....back later>>>>

Update: My old Nha Trang Buddy Harry J Bevan reminds me that he was in the SAT Alert Barracks when watching the Moon landing...and you know? He's right, we were on SAT Alert, not in the SP Movie House...thanks for shaking my brain Harry.

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Photos-Top Left-The Grainy black and white images most of us that watched saw, on July 20, 1969, as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the Moon. July Flowers continue to bloom in our back yard. And the studio portrait photo of Armstrong as he looked before Apollo 11 took off.