2019 in Photos..Part #2 March and April

The winter of 2018-19 was long and cold...not much Snow as in the past few years, but it was bitter and long.  We had very little fall type weather in 2018 and this made it all the more miserable waiting on spring to "Spring":  I did get out on occasion to the lake for some Sunrise and Sunset photos shoots...but frankly, me and winter just no longer get along that well....not like the great days in the 70s and 80s, when I was always out, Skiing, Jeeping along the back roads, or whatever...I never minded winter, sure I always was glad it was over, but it seldom slowed me down...these days?  Not so much...I notice myself in hibernation mode from November until April, at least as far as outdoor activities.

March was the first in many years that I didn't do a single baseball umpire gig...but I did a couple of club games in April...but even with those, I only did about a dozen games in total the entire spring and summer...this year it will be even less.

I did however taste "Gumbo", while Patricia and I were down at the Columbus VA Medical Center for my annual check~up and eye exams...spent about 4 hours there  doing both the physical and eye thingy, and in the cafeteria I decided to try some Gumbo...what the Hell?  It wasn't bad so I figured when I got

home, I might as well try to make some...it turned out "OK"... and I may try it again...Some Day!


March?  Can't remember if it went out like a Lion or Lamb...but It was the month that this "Old Lion" turned 70...few men in the family have made it that far, for various health reasons...so I
saluted myself and moved forward to April.  April is of course Vietnam "Sky Cop" reunion time at the Hope Hotel, Air Force Museum, and Wright~Patterson AFB...@ Dayton.

I've been organizing this event since 2010, with lots of help, for some people still here and others long gone...it's an offshoot of the Vietnam Security Police Association, an outfit that was hijacked by a couple of sorry Jerk~Offs some years back...and I was one of those booted, for, if nothing else, my honesty...but good riddance...this Reunion is much more than that over bloated outfit ever was.

The highlight was meeting in person my old buddy from my Nha Trang 1969 days...John Claflin or as I call him "Johnny C" ...we had not seen each other since late 1969 as Air Force Cops in Vietnam...we would get to hook up twice in 2019, so 50 years later, first at Dayton, then later on at Ft Myers, Florida, at another All Service Vietnam Reunion:

Both still with Mustaches, albeit a few pounds and a few gray hairs later...

The reunion itself was a success as always, and we still have enough cash in the kitty to keep it free for all, except for the optional banquet and motel rooms, if they chose to stay there.  Everything else is cost free, beer, snacks, pop, wine, etc...all funded by a silent auction that gets bigger each year, and our 50/50 drawing...

With some 80 guys and wives, and a few grandkids, including our own...despite the shrinking numbers over all, our gig keeps growing...

Heavy Rains ended April and Grand Lake flooded for the first of 2 times in 2019...no, not man made Climate Change {which is pure Bullshit} but man made stupidity, State of Ohio fools that changed the way the lake rids itself of it's excess water...our 100 year floods now happen several times in a 5 year period.

April ended and the weather begin to warm....I was ready for some Michigan Mushroom Hunting...and getting out more often after 5 months of being inside..;that coming next in part #3.

back later

Photos~top  Another Grand Lake Sunrise in March...Homemade "Gumbo" PRH style...me and the Grandsons on my 70th Birthday.  Me and Johnny C at a Nha Trang Steakhouse in October 1969 and meeting face to face for the first time since, at the Air Force Museum in April 2019...BS session at the Reunion with a younger newer Air Force Security Force guy...and bottom, some more Grand Lake shots....a Frozen March at Grand Lake/Windy Point and one of the many American Bald Eagles that call the lake "Home"