Old Friend’s Birthday

I don’t know if it’s correct to label the United States Army as a friend, it certainly didn’t feel like it at times, but I spent almost three decades firmly within its arms so there was certainly some form of attraction. It is, in fact the 248^th birthday of that beloved institution. I do miss it, each and every day. Not as much as when I was still employed and had to compare my employees with the Soldiers I’d been blessed to serve with but that wasn’t as big a difference as I feared when I left Uncle Sam’s cloying embrace in 2005. I miss the comradery of shared values and the real sense of honor you were expected to conduct yourself with. I know that sounds hokey to civilians who’ve never served and some who served but never figured that out but it was real. You’d understand if you were as lucky as I was to serve in a unit like the 101^st Airborne Division where everybody was expected to know and sing “We Have a Rendezvous with Destiny” at every division gathering and while there meeting the real “Band of Brothers” when they were honored.  The Army was only supposed to be a four-year experiment after college for me but I found my life’s calling there.

It sent me to all the continents except Antarctica and to Panama so I could meet my Favorite Panamanian. Because of the Army, I’ve marched at the Tomb of the Unknowns, met a President in the Oval Office, watched a Presidential Inauguration from the US Capitol balcony, appeared in a major motion picture (for three seconds), served at Pentagon on 9/11, jumped out of a lot of perfectly good airplanes that were going to land, met lifelong friends, and most of all, served with some of the toughest, most honorable men that have ever walked the earth as the Army reinvented itself from a shell following Vietnam to become part of the preeminent combat force the world has ever seen. So Happy birthday and thank you old friend. (P.S. I don’t miss the pushups)

One of the things I did not expect to be doing to celebrate this august birthday was burying a dead skunk. Late last night, when I came upstairs from the Man Cave, I was confronted by an overpowering smell wafting through the kitchen’s open windows. If you grew up in New England you know the smell whereof I speak. I thought a skink had gotten into it with a coyote or something else in the back yard and went up to bed where thankfully the smell hadn’t reached. My Favorite Panamanian is super sensitive to odors (perpetually bad news for me) and noticed this morning when the smell, while dissipated was still there.

Source of the Smell

I started my next back yard project this afternoon and wisely decided to include her in the final site selection. While we were checking that out, I noticed the dead skink lying in the next-door neighbor’s back yard immediately adjacent (of course) to the work site. My wife also noticed some mint she had planted had been eaten overnight and theorized the skunk had OD’ed after his snack. I checked the internets and mint is potentially toxic to animals, who knew? Figures that something that smells nice would be anathema to a skunk. Since the neighbors rarely venture into their backyard, I knew I’d have to take care of the odiferous remains. I got the longest handled shovel I own and deposited him in a deep grave on top of our back yard hill.

The Site and the Trees

Grass Cleared

Progress at End of Day

After that hasty ceremony I got to work on the small retaining wall section I’m creating to house a couple new pine trees. It’s supposed to offer additional privacy to the patio area. The trees have been sitting on that patio while they await their final home. A couple nights ago my wife got up late at night and looked out the window overlooking the patio and was convinced there were two guys standing out there in the shadows casing the house. She has a dramatic imagination but, luckily before she woke me up to confront these attackers, some moonlight revealed it was only the trees. I got the site cleared and about half the wall done today; should have the trees in the ground tomorrow.

Two movies fell in my A-Z watch, both keepers, Double Jeopardy, much better than I remembered, Ashley Judd – smoking hot; and Down With Love, so funny to watch this parody after just watching the Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies it parodies.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course