Finally!

The "Summer(project) of Houseworth" is finished!

I started out about 6 weeks ago in early July with a goal to paint the house and clean up the garage and bushes/Jungle/shrubs around the house. I figured with me hand painting the house and garage, some 2500 sq feet with 3", 2", and trim paint brushes by hand it would take me the rest of the summer, so I set out a goal to be done by Labor Day. Lucky for me, it has been for the most part{the past 2 weeks not withstanding} a dry and cool summer....so I finished up the project. Now I can get back to enjoying the rest of summer...which means a few cigars, a lot of beer, and sitting around in the back yard when I'm not officiating football.

The house, which we purchased in 1995, was built in late 1923 as a Parsonage for the Pastor and his family of the First Church of God in Celina{located right across the street to the north and west} When the new church was built in the late 1980s, they sold the church to a local bar owner/landlord, the house was sold to a local Plumbing and Heating Contractor...his family lived there for a handful of years, before he sold it to us in 95. Back in the 1970s Patricia and I lived just a block north of the Church and she had always loved the house...20 years or so later we made it ours. The Kitchen was added in 1944 and the detached 2 1/2 car garage and dog kennel were built in the 1980s. Given the fact that the majority of the outside wood is 85+ years old....the painting by hand is a chore, but well worth the effort. But I have to believe this, my 3rd try, was my best, and my last time to paint the homestead.

Blood Drawing, Football Meeting, and Reds Baseball____

Those are what today and tomorrow entails. This morning, after fasting since 10PM last night..I drove over to my Doctor at Minster to have one of the nurses draw some blood. Seems when the were doing my blood work last month to check my Kidneys...the found those OK, but my sugar levels were elevated...so back this morning for more Vampire feedings....seems she may have stuck that needle in a little awkward...by the time I got home my inner arm had a nice knot from the sticking..about the size of a half of tennis ball...No wonder I hate giving blood? I'm guessing they are checking me for Diabetes, although no one in my family has ever claimed it...as long as they don't ask me to give up beer drinking in the Summer or want me to stick myself in the finger everyday, I can handle the other options. We will see how that goes.

Will head back to Van Wert with Sam and Garry tonight for another local Rules Meeting....no more scrimmages for me until next Monday the 24th at Parkway, and then the 27th at Spencerville. The regular season begins at all levels the weekend starting Friday August 28th.

Tomorrow Patricia, Anissa, me, and 7 other clients and workers from Mercer Residential head for Cincinnati to take in the Reds....although the season has been lost for some time now, this gets the guys to a ball game...hopefully the 60% chance of Thunderstorms will pass the Great American Ballpark and leave us dry. One thing about GABP, not a bad seat in the house, and we will be under the roof in case it does shower. The group will stop in Middletown after the game at the local Pizza Hut for supper.

That will about do it for Patricia's summer...she is back at St. Henry for classes next Monday, with the students first day being Tuesday the 25th

That will do it for this report, back either tomorrow night or Friday with details of the Cincinnati Trip.

photos-The completed project..front of house{top left} The Kitchen as seen from my fenced in back yard, and the October Red Garage Doors, which I finished up yesterday. Finally tickets for the Reds vs Giants in a afternoon game, tomorrow, in Cincinnati.

And this from the American Thinker Magzine hits the nail right on the head:

http://www.Americanthinker.com/cartoons/?id=639

Funny and True!

The Weekend in Review

Summer has decided to wait until mid August to rear it's head....still no rain in our area, but plenty of it north, south, in Ohio, plus Illinois, and Michigan...we have been dry, but they are calling for a chance of storms for the next week...some around today, but it's all north..AGAIN! Maybe we will get our share.

The Weekend____




After we picked in Nick's Garden on Friday, and Nick and I smoked the Salmon, Patricia left and Nick and I sat around, smoked a couple of Cigars and downed a few beers....I got to bed early Friday night. Saturday dawned humid but cool enough for the Celina Scrimmages to go forward in good style. Sam, me, and Jim S, did the Freshman vs Piqua, Garry and his crew did the Varsity against Sidney. Just 11 days before the regular season kicks off August 28th....hopeful the rains will soften the fields, and the humidity will drop down.

I had finished painting the house on Thursday, and now just have some garage trim and the garage doors...might get at it today, maybe not. I will then clean up the bushes around the house and garage and the Summer House Project will be done. Here are some after photos:
Canning____

Patricia spent all day Saturday and part of the day Sunday "Canning" Veggies...plenty of beets, tomatoes, peas, green beans, etc, to go with the already good supply of fruit jam. That is almost done for the year....Good thing too, Patricia is back to school next week, so Summer for her, is about finished.. Here is some of her weekend work:


It was a humid Sunday...after Church, we rotated between the A/C inside and the back yard hopeful of catching a breeze. Anissa, a little tougher than us, when it comes to heat and humidity, spent most of the afternoon in the back yard. As the old song goes.."Too hot to fish, to hot to drink beer." As short, dry, and cool as our summer has been...I am ready for some fall type weather....70s and some dry humidity sounds good.
--

The week ahead___

--

Will try to finish up the painting, and then wait on some cooler, dryer, weather to do the trimming of the bushes. Wednesday I head to Minster to get some blood drawn...sugar levels were somewhat high on my last Doctor visit...so will get that checked...not really concerned about it, never had a problem, but we will get it looked at anyway.

Thursday Patricia, Anissa, and I, along with some of the men and crew from Mercer Residential will head for Cincinnati, to take out a Reds-Giants game at The Great American Ballpark....the Reds stink, but the guys love this kind of stuff, and we will be there to enjoy the day with them.

Friday I may have football, maybe not. Garry needed a sub for his crew at Fort Recovery, so told him I could help with that scrimmage if needed. Things, football wise, become more active next week....by the first of September, I will have more days with games than those without.

Back Later>>>>

photos-{top left}-22 of the 30 Giant Sunflowers are out and blooming...the rest should be in full show by the end of the week. Also the west then east side of the finished house...painted, new roof, and new down spouting....this should last me until my last days...at least the spouting and roof...paint? Not sure about that, but, I won't be doing the entire thing again. And finally a collection of Patricia's canning work from over the weekend. Will give some away to our garden partners, and Mom...the rest heads to the basement storage area for future needs.

Smokin' Salmon

More sunshine and a little warmer today...Patricia and I headed over to Nick's place to pick beets and a few other things from the garden for canning....and I took about 15 pounds of Salmon from Nick and my fishing trip to the Au Sable River/Lake Huron last fall. When we returned from the Tawas City/Au Sable area in late October 2008, we cut out some fillets from our catch and proceeded to freeze the goods. Nick purchased a smoker this spring, and today we decided to see how we did with the fish....the results were excellent, if I don't say so myself.

The garden at Nick's is coming along, with plenty of "stuff" now ready for harvest....Patricia has been canning for the past month and with school starting in just a week or so...we gathered beets and some tomatoes....meanwhile we loaded the Smoker with chips, water, and hickory and we put the thawed packages of some of last year's catch....within 2 hours Nick and I were treating ourselves to Salmon and Beer....

Scrimmages being____

------

9AM tomorrow it all begins...the start of the High School Football scrimmage season gets underway. Sam and I along with a couple other guys have the Celina Freshman game with Piqua. The good news about the early start is with humidity on the rise and temperatures as well...we will be done before Noon, and before the heat begins. A few more scrimmages next week then the regular season kicks off on August 28th.

Photos-{top left} A few pounds of smoked Salmon as we pulled it out of the smoker{2} A couple of those same Salmon with me as they looked late last October{3} Nick and Patricia digging up some beets for the canning jars, still plenty of stuff to pick, despite the drought, it's been a good year in both gardens that we share{4}Nick's new smoker...next weekend we will smoke some red meat, we just have not decided what kind yet...so far Chicken and Fish have went through it{5} The Salmon at about the half way point...butter lime/lemon garlic sauce with pepper and sea salt makes this a great meal.

Enjoy the weekend___back later>>>>

The Children of Nha Trang 1969

Held our first "Local" Football Rules Meeting last night in Van Wert....17 or 18 of the members showed up for the first of the season. The State and now 1 local meeting out of the way. Scrimmage start Saturday at 9AM...Sam, Jim S, and I have the Freshman scrimmage at Celina, Garry and his crew have the Varsity across the school campus, at the Stadium. Good that it's early, the heat is predicted to be back on at 90 degrees with humidity to match...always happens early in the season, then by the end of the season, we are freezing our butt's off.

Will get back at painting the trim this morning, and should have that done by nightfall....the house will be complete, and then just the east and front of the garage plus the doors...tomorrow heading over to Nick's to smoke some Salmon. The very Salmon we collected late last October when we headed for the Au Sable in northern lower Michigan.

Nha Trang, The Kids 40 years ago_____

Nha Trang Air Base was surrounded by the 5th Special Forces(Green Berets) at Camp McDermott and by outskirts of Nha Trang City. The villages were mostly of cardboard clap trap homes, made with wire, discarded junk from the bases....it was our reality in 1969 Vietnam.


The men of the 14th Security Police Squadron Law Enforcement worked a variety of posts...from mobile Jeep patrols to the SAT Alert teams to the V-100{as shown at the bottom photo with me on the header}...and the entry control points and gates. Many of the entry control posts sat next to the housing projects. The one constant was the kids of these projects. These kids, anywhere from 5 to 15 knew how to charm the Sky Cops at the post, usually begging for candy and snacks for our uneaten C-Ration Boxes....I seldom ate C-Rats, so I usually, when on a gate shack, would give the parts of the packages, crackers, beans, and whatever was inside, except the smokes, to the kids that hung around the rolled wire that separated us from them. The wire was a joke..these kids had pathways through those fences that they could crawl through in lightning speed in seconds.


During our day shift work, these kids were a constant...talking, yapping, begging...they were great kids and great entertainment. It was what kept us sane during those long boring 8 hour shifts...One kid in particular was named "George"...I'm not sure if George "Bruce" Thompson named him, but he was always with one of us...sometimes in the Jeeps, sometimes sitting in the shacks with us...Little George was our Mascot of sorts. The rest of the kids we knew their faces, but everybody knew George by name.

Problem with George was he became too close to us. I remember one morning near the end of my tour at Nha Trang, a forgotten guard let him "look" at the SP's M-16 and George put a round through the gate shack roof. That ended our days with the local kids hanging in the gate shacks and Jeeps. But they still hung around....just not so close.


The kids were comic relief, one wonders what happened to those Children of Nha Trang Air Base when the Communist henchman took over in 1975...brainwashed? Escaped to the USA? I often wonder, and sometimes really don't want to know the answer.

Back to the painting, smoking Salmon tomorrow, back later>>>>

Photos-From Phil Lange and other collections.

Top Left-"George" decked out in his combat gear/Kids in downtown Nha Trang/Walking and Playing on the wired Perimeter Fence at the Base/George and some of his buddies

Gone Painting'

Posting will be a hit and miss affair for the next week or so....I want to finish up the painting project...just some trim and 1/2 the garage+garage doors to do. Football classes start tonight, scrimmage contests start Saturday....a Reds game next week and a few other things to catch up with before Patricia heads back for the start of school in less than 2 weeks.

back later>>>> photos-One of the Citrus Sunflowers and a couple shots of my tools of the non-paying trade.

The 80% Solution/Summer Winds Down

The second straight day of hot humid weather was in the cards yesterday. Today won't be quite as humid, and tomorrow the cooler, dryer weather moves in...well at least dryer. The Dayton area got hammered with some nice rains yesterday, we got nothing, again. The dry weather seems to be confined to a swath of ground from the Fort Wayne area in Indiana down to us...north and into Michigan has been damp, while the Dayton area and south has had more than their share of showers. No rain in the forecast for another 7 days, so says The Weather Channel.

The House, 80% or so complete____

I laid off the painting again yesterday, and probably again today....with 80% of the house complete{just the upstairs outside above the kitchen and some minor trim to go}, I can finish up that and the garage and then work on the shrubs around the house. Should not have a problem getting done before Labor Day.

Football scrimmages begin on Saturday. I have a morning session with Sam and a couple of other guys at 9AM here in Celina...for a Freshman contest.

Despite the Lack of Rain___

My Giant/Mammoth Sunflowers are going great guns...maybe I should have entered them in the Mercer County Fair this coming week{starts Friday}? A couple started to bloom last week, and now my 30 or so plants have at least a dozen on the grow...some of them bigger than my head, which is quite the size. Now, what to do with them? They say, once complete, put them in paper bags and let the seeds mature in a basement or cool spot....well, I'm not a big fan of Sunflower Seeds...but the Doves that frequent the backyard feeding area probably are...so, maybe I'll save some, and let the birds have at the others....one thing for sure, if I'm still kicking next year{Obama Rationed Health Care you know?}...I'm going for at least 50 of these and the small variety...they grow quick and are fun to watch...Shows you how easily entertained I am these days.

Off to get a haircut____

The middle portion of an exciting day{just kidding} will see me head up to George's Barber Shop, to get my ears lowered...that way the stripped football lids will fit my bulbous head, without the hair sticking out...Gotta look sharp.

More Nha Trang Stories and Photos coming up this week, as I look back at my time in Vietnam, 40 years ago.

back later

photos-The house with the front now complete...just some trim, the top side of the back and some garage work to go...then repair the shrubs, and done for the summer fix up season. The Sunflowers are growing in size and numbers...heads bigger than mine, and a dozen or so already making the bees happy.

2009 The 9th Annual "Bar Stool Open" on Grand Lake Ohio

Cloudy and humid, but not bad for yesterday's annual Bar Stool Open. We, The Duck Iguanas, started out with 5 on board. Nick, Hal, his buddy Woost, and me...along with our 5th Trivie Bruns....the Duck Do-Do in another boat had 6 on board. I don't have the final totals of participating teams, but usually about 150-165 teams show up with a number of hangers on and followers, making 900-1000 total participants. Yesterday's crowd seem a mite small, maybe because of the economy or the cloudy weather...or maybe we were just ahead of the crowd.

The shotgun start began at 9AM more or less. We left Nick's dock at Bayview Lodge and headed for Duckfoot Landing, where we start each year{that way we can end up at the home dock and finish}. After shooting 8{all 4 of us getting 2}...things quickly went downhill for our boys...we were pretty much out of it by the 5 hole, and our chances of winning any of the big prizes were done. So the party began.

By the time we arrived at The Breakers and Roberts Town Tavern holes we decided to slow down, both the fast pace of the golf and beer consumption.... after playing the Breakers with our best score of 7 and with the DDDs seemly one step ahead of us, we got a cell phone call as we docked at It's It's Landing near Montezuma....they were dead in the water. The boys had his something and tore up their prop...so out we go to pick them up....and our boat of 5 became a gang of 11....

Eventually we finished up back at Bayview around 6:45 making a 9 1/2 day on the Lake and 13 bars a semi-success. Hal, Nick, and I headed back to Nick's place a mile from Bayview, and waiting for Patricia and Anissa to make the 15 minute drive from Celina to pick Hal and me up. We fired up a couple of Indian Tabac Maduros and waited for the sober members of the family to arrive. All in all, a pretty good day....No Hangover for me...and Hal is already on his way back to the Dayton area for a family get together with his girlfriend's family.

Not sure of our final score, but I'm sure we finished in the middle somewhere...Hal scored 2 hole-in-ones, and Nick and I each added one ourselves.

Me? I'm gonna have another cup of Joe and decide if I want to climb the roof in 92 degree heat and humidity and finish the final section of the house painting...I'm betting the answer is NO...That may wait for tomorrow, I might just chill out...with tea, no beer, for today.

Back Later>>>>

Photos--Some Photos taken before my battery on the Old Sony crapped out for the day___

(1) Me, early on in the event with our 9th edition Bar Stool Open T-Shirt(2) L to R...Youngest son Hal, his college roomie Woost, and Trivey, enjoying one of his may Coronas.(3) Nick taking aim at the Shingle Shack's new hole(4) Our team of 5 becomes 11 as the Duck Do-Do's don't...the stalled(blow prop) can be seen in the back as we load up their supplies(5)Nick at the Helm of his Pontoon....(6) I take my turn guiding us across the Lake.(7 and 8) The Moose Lodge and the Breakers(formerly Carta Villa) a couple of holes midway through our Shotgun Start from Duckfoots

Tin Caps, Boggs, and Bees

It appears we will finally get a dose of Hot Weather beginning tomorrow...Just in time for the 9th Annual Bar Stool Open on Grand Lake. Hal, will be coming home tonight, and join Nick, me, and a few others, including his former roomie Woost, on one team on Nick's Boat...this year 13 bars, 13 holes, and an unlimited number of beers are on the agenda. I'll have photos of the event next week, on Monday.

Baseball @ Fort Wayne____

Patricia and I headed to Fort Wayne last evening to take in a Class A game at Fort Wayne. The former "Wizards" are now the "Tin Caps", having moved into their new downtown stadium early this season, thus the Johnny Appleseed inspired new name and logo, to go with the new stadium. It is impressive...the old stadium was not bad, located near the Coliseum on the north end...the city decided to revitalize downtown Fort Wayne, and build this 8600 seat ballpark. The only down size is the parking, or lack of it, near the stadium...and the surrounding construction. All-in-all though, it is a great upgrade.

http://www.tincaps.com/

The Tin Caps are going great guns, last night's sell out put the season attendance above 300 thousand...fireworks, and $dollar draft beer helped in the sell out, a 12-6 victory for the home team over the Lansing Lugnuts. The Caps won the first half of the season, and lead by six games with a 31-9 record the 2nd half...FW is a Class A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. Patrica and I ate some great food{outstanding selection and menu for reasonable prices) had a couple of bottle beers{can't stand draft}, and left in the 8th inning to beat the traffic...I've seen enough fireworks in my life, so that was not an issue.

Yesterday I got to thinking about another baseball game we attended....and after looking at my old diary, I discovered it was 10 years ago...Today!

Wade Boggs hits #3000 @ Tampa Bay 8/7/1999___

Back in the late 90s, we were taking late summer vacations to Florida...we would stay a few days at the Inn at the Beach in my old hometown of Venice.

http://www.innatthebeach.com/

We would stay there for 3 or 4 days, then head to Key West, and drive up the East Coast, do a couple of other things and head home.

Back in 1999 Sam had decided to take a week and play baseball at the Mickey Owen Baseball School, near Springfield, Missouri. The plan was we would pick him up, and head to Florida for our annual vacation. I thought it might be a good time to take in a baseball game in a different location. As luck would have it, Wade Boggs of the Devil Ray{now Rays} was approaching 3000 career hits, and Ohio's "other" team the Cleveland Indians would be in the Tampa Bay area near the end of our trip....the odds of hitting the right date for Boggs feat were pretty slim, but I ordered tickets for the Tribe vs Rays on August 7, 1999. 10 years ago today.

We finished up our stay at Venice the morning of August 7th. Boggs was now just 3 hits shy of 3000...we headed north to St. Pete, grabbed a motel room, our video camera, and headed to Tropicana Field...Boggs needed a trey of base hits...What were the chances? With seats right behind home plate in the second deck, we had a great birds eye view. The game ended up being a high scoring affair, with Cleveland winning 15-10. Boggs, after making an out his first at bat, collected 2 straight hits...thus setting the script that few could have guessed for this "slap hitter"...Wade Boggs was not usually a Home Run threat, but with youngest son Hal taking the video, he drilled a line drive into the right field bleachers, becoming the first player to collect hit #3000 with a HR. We ended up with great personal video, tickets, souvenirs of the date and event...plus the St Pete Times Newspaper celebrating the event. A once in a lifetime family event, it is hard to believe that 10 years have passed.

Sunflowers and Bees___

Has anybody noticed, at least in our neck of the woods, that we don't have the amount of bugs and bees that we have had in previous years? Even the damn mosquitoes have dropped off the radar. While it may make things more pleasant, it cannot be a good sign. When the Bees are gone, can Mankind be far behind? Just Asking....

Anyhow, my Sunflowers are now going great guns....4 of the Giant Flowers are in full bloom, and a couple more are on the verge...by next week I expect a couple dozen Mammoth Sunflowers to be in full view....the good news is, Bees are taking note, {even though they are hard to see on the photos, they are there} and showing up on the large flowers.

Health Scare Alert____

Watch close this weekend and early next week the "Town Hall Meetings" on Health Care. The real folks, the senior citizens and taxpayers are starting to be slammed by the Press and our illegal Prez. And not the criminal leaders of the union trash, these thugs, are starting to show up to keep the regular folks out of the meetings and shutting them out of the conversation. Make no mistake that Union Leaders are trash, Marxist trash, and will do anything they can to cease the debate, so their hero, Barry Soetoro Obama, can get his agenda passed.

Watch and beware.....don't let these bastards from the AFL-CIO and other garbage stop our First Amendment rights.

I am sure I'll be in no condition to post after tomorrow's Bar Stool Open, and I'm trying to get the final 30% of the painting done in between, well maybe after, beers...so I should be back on board Monday...have a great weekend.

back later>>>>

Photos-{top left}The 3000 hits card from August 7, 1999, when Wade Boggs clubbed a Home Run for #3000. Ticket stubs from last nights game at Fort Wayne, and the 8/7/99 game at Tampa Bay. One of the backyard Sunflowers complete with bees nearing full size{bigger than my melon sized head}, and our Bar Stool Golfing gang from the 8th Annual Bar Stool Open last August...#9 is tomorrow morning thru tomorrow evening.

One Joker Bad/One Joker Good

Not a lot of time today...back to some painting, got some trim done, and some scrapping. Probably 70% completed, now to the top sections above the front porch and kitchen{back}. Sam flew off for Biloxi, Mississippi, today, for a quick vacation, and will be back in time to start football, before heading to Ohio State in Columbus, the middle of next month. Meanwhile youngest son Hal, complete with Masters in secondary History/Social Studies in his hand, is interviewing in the tough teaching market. Today he interviewed as one of 7 finalists at the high school he student taught at last year....hopefully it will work out. He is employed as a tutor for the Autistic, so it's not like he is left out in the cold if he doesn't get a regular teaching position, but he is hoping to get a class of his own for the soon to be starting 2009-10 school year.

Patricia and I went our for breakfast with the Pastor and his wife of our local church this morning. They have adopted a handicapped child from Guatemala, and wanted our input on the special needs and sepecial problems they will encounter. The little 9 year old will be a handful, but these two, will be able to handle her just fine.

I'm a Smoker, I'm a Joker, I'm a Midnight Toker_____

The looney left is going nuts...a poster has come out showing our half baked Prez all in white face as the Joker from Batman fame. "Racist they cry, cruel they say, how could they?" My only question is...."Where were you dimwits when "Vanity Fair(ey)" was doing the same thing to George W. Bush? You hipocritical bastards can shut your pie hole...some of us plan on making this "Jokers" next 3 years as miserable as possible, because he plans on doing just that to real Americans.

My advice to the far left is, go wash your Monica Lewinski kneepads, your savior, Obama, is getting in deep, and he's going to need all your support to get out of this one.

Tomorrow evening Patricia and I will head over to Fort Wayne to take in the Class A "Tin Caps" as they take on the Lansing(Michigan) "Lugnuts"....

Alert: The Obummer Administration is looking for "Snitches"...saying they want American Citizens to send them e-mails if they see bloggers or journalists "lying" about their Health Scare Scam...I sent them the following:

From Pat.Houseworth@Gmail.Com

To: Flag@whitehouse.gov

Do you fascists think this is 1984? Stuff your Health Care and your Snitch Requests where the sun doesn't shine!

Let's fill this clowns mailbox up....

back later>>>>

The "Tin Caps"(formerly Wizards) new logo as they moved to their new downtown Fort Wayne field in May.

Left Wing Comments/Nha Trang August 1969

Lot's of lightning overnight, but very little rain, most of it went south but around 5am we were greeted by a nice light show...causing me to realize that I left the rear windows down part way on the Intrepid. So I pull on the PJ's stepped into a pair of Sam's size 14 sandals and went out through the garage to the driveway and put the electronic windows up...thus saving a wet back seat. Didn't need to worry, not enough rain to wet the streets. There are a couple large batches back in Illinois and some to the south, maybe we will get us some. Mercer County needs it, most of the region, less so.

Sam, Garry, and I headed to Lima Senior High School last night for our annual State Rules Meeting. Spent and hour or so there, picked up some new whistles, and some t-shirts for the upcoming football season. The State went over the rule changes, and frankly one 2 were worth note. The sideline rules now require coaches, chain gangs, and players, need to be 2 yards off the sidelines...something that has been a problem in the past. I suspect there will be more than a few penalties called for that violation this year, as both coaches and players like to squeeze as close to the action as possible. The other main change is regarding the "Horse Collar" tackle. Tackling by the back of the neck, inside the shirt or shoulder pads has been illegal in both Pro and College Football for awhile, most forms are now illegal in High School...you just don't see this very often at this level, and I doubt it will have a major impact.

Political Hacks on Blogger____

Anybody that reads this blog on occasion, knows that I am pretty outspoken when it comes to politics. I'm a far right kind of guy, and a far right Christian as well...I don't back down, and I especially like to stick a finger in the eyes of any left wingers that stop by. One of those is to call their hero Barack Obama, a Kenyan....Now I have no clue if our sorry excuse for a Prez was born in Hawaii or Kenya. And since the "Halfrican" won't release his real original Birth Certificate, we may never know...but its' still fun to poke that into the open spaces of liberal land. I see yesterday, some left wing windbag posted as Anonymous{a typical gutless lefttard way} Tells me to "Read it and Weep" and sends me a link to Snopes.com...the left wing truth finder site...of course Snopes is run by a couple of lefties and always debunk anything that shows liberal Democrats in a bad light...or they label it as "multiple". Snopes of course claims to "know" that Obama's Birth Certificate is REAL. Of course talkers like Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter continue to ignore the BC issues...because they think it takes away from "Real Issues". It might, but I say keep stirring the pot, Obama may be a real American, but he is also a real Communist. And telling the left that, is half the fun. Kenyan or Hawaii? I say who cares? He's a bad seed regardless. I wrote the "Anon" a little rebuttal, that I think any right leaning person might enjoy. Of course if you choose to read it, disregard the "colorful" phrases if you wish, they are strictly used for entertainment.

Nha Trang August 1969___

As August 4, 1969, rolled around I had been at Nha Trang AB for a full month. Any homesickness that I might have had was quickly blowing away with prevailing winds off the South China Sea. I was settled into working my day shift Law Enforcement with the 14th Security Police Squadron, had made a few friends, Bevan, Payan, Claflin, Thompson, and others. I usually had Tuesday off, and would on occasion head downtown, or to the NCO club to partake in a few beers. I did not drink hard liquor while in Vietnam, even though available, with being on alert at any moment, hard booze was not something I was going to do...but I did down plenty of beer. In addition to the NCO Club on base, the 14th SPS had our own private movie house and bar. The place was named "Bailey's Speakeasy" after our squadron leader at the time Captain Bailey.

You could go to the movie house, watch a new movie, drink a beer, or get involved into the occasional BBQ we had out back. Yep, it was a war zone, but nobody ever said that we had it rough at Nha Trang...we actually had some pretty sweet digs. Our barracks were first rate, we had a base and our own private movie house, and a pretty nice NCO Club....hot showers, clean clothes, a BX{military convenience store}, and a Barber Shop...not bad. If you had to be in a war zone, this was the place to be.

Photos-The above photos are all from the collection of my former NCOIC and friend Phil Lange(1932-2009)....Bill Morgan, who built the BBQ Pit outside Bailey's Speakeasy sent me copies from Phil's collection after I had lost them when my computer crashed a few years ago....Bill also sent me his collection which I will post as my 40th year anniversary from my time in Vietnam continues through next summer.

(top left)Aerial Overview of Nha Trang from 1968. (2) The 14th Security Police Barracks, pretty nice place to crash. (3) left to right, Phil Lange, Captain Bailey{thus the Bailey's Speakeasy} and Lt. Wright.(4) Squadron BBQ out back of The SP Movie House, Bailey's Speakeasy.

Baseball 110 games and done{for the season} Football begins tonight{sort of}

A fast moving weekend...7 baseball games in 3 days, no painting{except Patricia doing some trim work}, and nice weather for the entire time. Sam did 6 games, and we joined Doug B from Chickasaw for the semi and finals yesterday, working a 3 man crew. As I had mentioned before, I had not done Little League{11 and 12 year old} in a decade. It was fun, although I would not want a steady diet of this level, the stooping behind the plate to get down to their size, at my age, is not something that I would be willing or able to do 110 times a year.

Speaking of that number, after double checking my calender, that is how many games I ended up umpiring since mid March. From small college, down through American Legion, High School, and ACME, then the final two weekends with Pony and LL. Would have been more but for a few rain outs in April. Still, by far the most I have umpired since returning to donning the blue shirt some 10 years ago. St Henry won the 12 year old group{which Sam and I did}, while Wapakoneta came out on top in the 10 year old age bracket. It remained dry and the diamonds were pretty dusty, but the weather was cool, and we had a breeze....only 75 for a high yesterday, pretty much the way the summer has gone, and I'm not complaining.

No rest for the weary...my first Football scrimmage is set for April 15th...tonight we have our OHSAA state mandated rules meeting, Garry, Sam, and I, will head for Lima to take in that once a year session...our local meetings begin in Van Wert August 12th./Regular High School football begins August 28th. Time indeed does fly.

The Giant Sunflowers appear_____

Giant or Mammoth Sunflowers can grow as high as 12 feet tall while the "heads" or flowers can become 12 inches in diameter, so the book says....I have at least 2 dozen potential big heads growing around the old kennel area...the tallest being 14 feet tall, despite the fact that I probably planted them to close together{about 8 inches apart instead of a foot}. Two of the plant heads have started to bloom, and the others are within a week or 10 days of coming out. Those on the east side of the main row have bloomed first, and the tallest plant{the one in the middle of the three in the above photo} is near 14 feet in height...they will sag as the heads get heavier.

This is my first attempt at growing the large Sunflowers, that are used for the Sunflower Seeds, you see ballplayers eating and spitting out....so far it seems to be going well. Meanwhile my "regular" and smaller Sunflowers are going at a slow and steady pace, although not as impressive as last year. More photos as these bad boys grow in size.

Politics, are Americans finally getting it?____

Senators, Congressman, and Obama Henchman from the Kenyan's illegal administration are hearing it from constituents. Over the weekend Pennsylvania traitor Senator Arlan Spector and pro abortion radical Health and Human Service Director Kathleen Sebelius, got an earful from folks that attended their Health "Scare" Town hall Meeting....meanwhile CNN is all in a turmoil about Lou Dobbs who continues to give those so called "Birthers"{those that think Obama was born in Kenya} that think Obama is a fake American, time on his CNN evening show. That can't be good for the Obama Slaves at CNN, can it? Having one of their hosts actually giving Obama a hard time, the left wing loons still hate Dobbs for his anti illegal immigration rants a couple of years ago. Now with him giving time to those that dislike Obama, CNN has a problem....If they can't get him back into the fold, do the fire him?

Bad enough CNN, like CNBC, and MSNBC, are getting their asses kicked by Fox News, but to have a Conservative host take on their beloved President can't be good. Of course there is a solution...SHOW YOUR GAWD-DAMN BIRTH CERTIFICATE BARRY, YOU FREAKING FAKE!

Meanwhile the "Cash for Clunkers" program has already spent all of it's money buying up cars that the stinking Government will destroy, and Barry is asking for another $2 Billion to keep this boondoggle going....Man, you gotta love the change this phony SOB is bringing....right?

I was going to get back to painting and scrapping the remaining 30% of the house that I have to do...but I may spend the afternoon cleaning out the trunk of the Intrepid, and getting ready for football season...decisions, decisions...

back later>>>>

Photos-top left/the first of the Mammoth Sunflowers to bloom, the next couple of weeks should see a full crop starting to come out. This weekend's Dale Harter Memorial Baseball Tournament T-Shirt...Dale was a WW2 Veteran and POW, as well as a long time coach and umpire in area baseball circles. His family{The Harters and Steinbrunners} put together this tournament and it was a great success. Congratulations to them...son Steve Harter, an outstanding football player at Celina, graduated with me in 1967, had a chance to talk to him for the first time in almost 10 years...grandsons Scott and Todd Steinbrunner ran an outstanding tournament, with the family chipping in to keep it running. The bottom "flower photo" showing the tallest of the sunflower stalks at about 14 feet high, in the middle of the 2 "first bloomers".