Yes it is true, he is home and looking good...My grandson marched into the hangar where we gathered and spent an hour plus with his family before being bused to Camp Atterbury for debreifing and check ups.....
Lucas Cole has spent the last 10 months in Iraq serving his country...thank you Lucas, you did good....the Indiana unit suffered three casualties which I am so thankful that it was only three...it could have been a lot worse but can not help but honor here and suffer with these families as they experience the homecoming of the unit each day when these planes arrive...Knowing of the terrible loss that they sustained this past year....and reminded of daily as these flights arrive in Indy and are covered by the TV stations...God Bless and Keep them for this terrible loss...
Welcome home to the Thousands of Hoosiers who served so well these past months...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Merging into the fast lanes (116)
Attended a recent game at Purdue, just across the river from me maybe about 10 miles to the northwest of my "little house on the prairie"....Sweet Pea landed me 3 free tickets so I quickly rounded up a couple grand kids to impress with some quaility time with Grandpa...
With the technology of today that is a chore..merging into the fast lane of 6th graders Paige Russell and Caulin Post is a tall order...Wow, they talk so fast and change subject in mid sentence even....with blackberries or raspberrys or whatever those noisy apparatii are they carry around, it finally boils down to just kind of guiding them to where your going and getting them back home safe...I did get a quick review of who's dating who at Wainwright and what teachers are pregnant and funny and others that are pretty strict...Ball game was a blow out with Purdue of course doubling the score on Loyola of Chicago....but we stayed to the end and watched Purdue Pete do his victory dance which he pretty much does all night long...
Will keep at the grandparenting thing but it is tough, these kids this day and age, are pretty well self sufficent, confident and pretty well engaged and entertained...Actually I prefer to lie on a floaty in the pond and score them 1 thru 10 in the proposed olympic "rope swing release and water entry" event during the summer...no black berries to distract them when in and out of the water of course.
Well off to the prepare for the first Thankgiving dinner of the season tomorrow...Lots to do to get ready, most of sweet pea's family will be enjoying that and some of the wine we got in Brown County Indiana...And maybe offering her an assessment of who she met in greiving class a year ago....Will tap my Marine training and stay "squared away".....Semper Fi.....
With the technology of today that is a chore..merging into the fast lane of 6th graders Paige Russell and Caulin Post is a tall order...Wow, they talk so fast and change subject in mid sentence even....with blackberries or raspberrys or whatever those noisy apparatii are they carry around, it finally boils down to just kind of guiding them to where your going and getting them back home safe...I did get a quick review of who's dating who at Wainwright and what teachers are pregnant and funny and others that are pretty strict...Ball game was a blow out with Purdue of course doubling the score on Loyola of Chicago....but we stayed to the end and watched Purdue Pete do his victory dance which he pretty much does all night long...
Will keep at the grandparenting thing but it is tough, these kids this day and age, are pretty well self sufficent, confident and pretty well engaged and entertained...Actually I prefer to lie on a floaty in the pond and score them 1 thru 10 in the proposed olympic "rope swing release and water entry" event during the summer...no black berries to distract them when in and out of the water of course.
Well off to the prepare for the first Thankgiving dinner of the season tomorrow...Lots to do to get ready, most of sweet pea's family will be enjoying that and some of the wine we got in Brown County Indiana...And maybe offering her an assessment of who she met in greiving class a year ago....Will tap my Marine training and stay "squared away".....Semper Fi.....
Monday, November 17, 2008
IT IS GETTING COLD IN INDIANA (115)
Yes it is, lows are now drifting each day to the lower 20's. But still nice and I guess good weather for enjoying Thanksgiving here coming up soon...And then Christmas, got to have snow up to your wahsoo for Christmas right? Well all that being said, sweet pea and I just conversed with our freind George Thompson at Silver Lakes..George and Glady's own the lot south of us, a beautiful corner lot by the way with the nic'est lounge chairs in the whole wide world...Anyway they are dear special friends and George just told us its super nice down there at the adult playground between Naples and Marco Island Florida...Southwest Florida, just about as close to paradise as you can get without dying....or maybe jetting to the french riviara or something like that...notice the small f in french...that's a left over hard feeling from the war...but anyway forget the french it is all pretty darn nice right there on the lower extremity of the USA called Florida...George said my trees were needing some work and said he would work on them a little if it was "alright with me"...He said the club house was full of people as it is each Monday morning drinking coffee and enjoying a doughnut and good conversation...planning their week ahead, so much to do and so little time to do it all...somehow though each week down there you get it all done...I mean its tough but someone has to do it....gosh I am getting homesick.....Well hey the best part of any vacation is the "planning", so between now and some time a few weeks from now we will enjoy the holidays and then we will someday then lock up the house, load the coach and work our way south to where the sunshine is a little more friendly than here in the land we love Indiana...
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Series "I" Bonds pay 5.64%
Not an overly exciting blog topic today, BUT this rate is far and above what is being offered by most banks for 1 to 2 year CD rates. I see those rates at 3 to maybe in some cases as high as 4.5%...So Uncle Sams offer to sell us I Bonds between now and April at 5.64% looks good to me.
Make good Christmas presents to offsprings and grand offsprings alike. Everybody needs or could always use a few more of these especially at Christmas time...Especially this year with the whole world being a bit shaky...How safe you ask? Well for my money its as safe as you can get...If uncle can not back up his promises we are probably all broke and on our way to the bread lines..Lets hope not, lets pray the answer man Obama will have some good people around him and we get this bow out of the water soon and power to the prop...The economy is limping badly and probably enough guilt to cover the entire business spectrum from government to CEO's to greedy businessman and bankers...All coupled together one disgusting mess...
We all should have seen it coming with loans being made on homes and auto in the 130% of value range, hindsight tells me inevitable that this ship would soon hit a really big chuck of ice.....Lets hope there are enough life boats to go around, the water will soon be cold....I wish no bail outs would have came...I think it would have been better to allow the weak mismanaged ships to sink and the strong to move on along..The course we have taken will then weaken us all...But government has always prided itself to saving people or making it appear that way..more of the same is on its way, epecially when the democrats take the reins....Sinch your saddle another notch or two could be a rough ride for awhile...
Clicking on the title above will take you to the I bonds website..but you have to ask for and order them from your local bank...they do not like selling them of course because the rates are higher than thier CD rates...they usually plead ignorance when asked what I bonds are paying...I guess its all in the game...
Make good Christmas presents to offsprings and grand offsprings alike. Everybody needs or could always use a few more of these especially at Christmas time...Especially this year with the whole world being a bit shaky...How safe you ask? Well for my money its as safe as you can get...If uncle can not back up his promises we are probably all broke and on our way to the bread lines..Lets hope not, lets pray the answer man Obama will have some good people around him and we get this bow out of the water soon and power to the prop...The economy is limping badly and probably enough guilt to cover the entire business spectrum from government to CEO's to greedy businessman and bankers...All coupled together one disgusting mess...
We all should have seen it coming with loans being made on homes and auto in the 130% of value range, hindsight tells me inevitable that this ship would soon hit a really big chuck of ice.....Lets hope there are enough life boats to go around, the water will soon be cold....I wish no bail outs would have came...I think it would have been better to allow the weak mismanaged ships to sink and the strong to move on along..The course we have taken will then weaken us all...But government has always prided itself to saving people or making it appear that way..more of the same is on its way, epecially when the democrats take the reins....Sinch your saddle another notch or two could be a rough ride for awhile...
Clicking on the title above will take you to the I bonds website..but you have to ask for and order them from your local bank...they do not like selling them of course because the rates are higher than thier CD rates...they usually plead ignorance when asked what I bonds are paying...I guess its all in the game...
Monday, November 10, 2008
Today the Marines are 233 and still Ready
Today as every Nov. 10th since 1775 there are Marines ready to do whatever the nation ask of them...It is a birthday that Marines worldwide celebrate every Nov. 10th. I remember when I was on active the great meal we were always served and the big birthday cake...Marine Corps Balls are held at every installation around the world even in Iraq and Afganistan they alway make sure to remember the past and remember the task at hand...
There is a bar in Boston Mass called Tums Tavern and supposedly that is where it all started...There is a replica Tums Tavern in the Marine Museum at Quantico where Marines can buy a drink and toast the past history of the Corps while right there at the Museum...Linda and I did that while there two years ago today...A bitter sweet memory of that trip...the dedication of the museum with President Bush doing the honors and then viewing the history there and then the bitter part of driving back home knowing full well it was probably the last trip we would enjoy together in our motor home ever....
In about 22 months from now our Boot Camp Platoon will enjoy our 54th reunion of our association together at that museum...it will be good and sure that tums tavern will be on our "must see and enjoy" list of things to do...Hey who knows maybe the 56th reunion we will go to Boston and raise our glass in the still in existance real MCCoy "Tums Tavern"...where it all began...
Semper Fidelus
Jack
1601680 USMC
Happy Birthday Marines
PS....check out the dog story...
Talking USMC Dog!
A guy is driving around the back woods of Tennessee and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: 'Talking Dog for Sale '
He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.
The guy goes into the back yard and sees a nice looking Labrador
retriever sitting there.
'You talk?' he asks.
'Yep,' the lab replies.
After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?'
The Lab looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA and they had me sworn into the toughest branch of the armed services...the United States Marines. You know one of their nicknames is 'The Devil Dogs.'
In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders; because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running, but the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger. So, I decided to settle down.
I retired from the Corps (8 dog years is 56 Corps years) and signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.'
The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.
'Ten dollars,' the guy says.
'Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?'
'Because he's such a bullshitter...... He never did any of that shit. He was in the Navy!'
There is a bar in Boston Mass called Tums Tavern and supposedly that is where it all started...There is a replica Tums Tavern in the Marine Museum at Quantico where Marines can buy a drink and toast the past history of the Corps while right there at the Museum...Linda and I did that while there two years ago today...A bitter sweet memory of that trip...the dedication of the museum with President Bush doing the honors and then viewing the history there and then the bitter part of driving back home knowing full well it was probably the last trip we would enjoy together in our motor home ever....
In about 22 months from now our Boot Camp Platoon will enjoy our 54th reunion of our association together at that museum...it will be good and sure that tums tavern will be on our "must see and enjoy" list of things to do...Hey who knows maybe the 56th reunion we will go to Boston and raise our glass in the still in existance real MCCoy "Tums Tavern"...where it all began...
Semper Fidelus
Jack
1601680 USMC
Happy Birthday Marines
PS....check out the dog story...
Talking USMC Dog!
A guy is driving around the back woods of Tennessee and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: 'Talking Dog for Sale '
He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.
The guy goes into the back yard and sees a nice looking Labrador
retriever sitting there.
'You talk?' he asks.
'Yep,' the lab replies.
After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?'
The Lab looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA and they had me sworn into the toughest branch of the armed services...the United States Marines. You know one of their nicknames is 'The Devil Dogs.'
In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders; because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running, but the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger. So, I decided to settle down.
I retired from the Corps (8 dog years is 56 Corps years) and signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.'
The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.
'Ten dollars,' the guy says.
'Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?'
'Because he's such a bullshitter...... He never did any of that shit. He was in the Navy!'
Thursday, November 6, 2008
YES WE CAN
Me and and the earth worms, yes we can, we can make this farming thing work and work well....yes we can, as you can see in the pics at the right, I am applying the nitrogen for next years corn crop in the form of Anhydrous Ammonia...A gas made some how from natural gas they tell me...it is 82% nitrogen and the product is called NH3...Don't know a lot more about all that except I dam sure respect it believe me...It is dangerous stuff for sure..it can take your eyes out if it leaks and hits them..it can freeze your thoat if you breath the stuff...I know that first hand and one time I did that, breathed way to much of it and it did freeze my throat...I lay there almost paralyesed thinking I was a gonner for sure...thinking how stupid I was to do what I had just did...maybe 30 seconds later maybe longer my throat "thawed out" I guess and I was able to breath again and thank GOD for a second chance and promise HIM I would never be so stupid again...
But back to my story...This is a great way to farm...and the only thing that I do that resembles tillage in any way...I do this in the fall to the fields that I have harvested soy beans from...and next year intend to plant yellow dent corn too...Corn that will be sold to Tate and Lyle corn sweetner plant and end up in the soda pop as the sweetner that all you folks out there may drink....But I do love the system of farming called "strip till"...I place the nitrogen gas about 6 inches or so deep in the soil with the applicator and it raises the soil in this about 6 inch wide stip and it lies there all winter...Next spring after rains and snow the soil is mellow but the strip warms up quickly and is a welcome host to the seed corn placement directly over the nitrogen...and we start the cycle again in late April of another corn crop....sexsational corn again maybe...sex in the corn field again in 2009...can you believe it? YES WE CAN....Obama likes that phrase and so I must find a way to get excited about it all...So I relate it to what I do, I grow corn and beans and I go to Naples in the winter time when the snow is deep....And in the mean time my partners the earth worms they continue to devour the residue left from my no tillage farming the residue that is left between these raised ridges, it lies there waiting on the earth worms to come up from below and eat it and take it deep into the soil and poop it out....these guys build soil like the have done for thousands of years....They are the Senior partners, I just do whats easy...they do the hard stuff and I guess they enjoy it as they keep doing it year after year...no contracts to sign, no unions to deal with, they just do it...So between the two of us...
YES WE CAN!!!!!!!
Farmers here the question in the fall, "are you done yet"?
Well YES I am done, today I finished the NH3 applications all next years corn acres are done...Next years bean acres are done also...as the corn is harvested, and the corn stalks lie there waiting for my soybean drill to pass through them and place the soybeans in warm ground and knock the remaining corn stalks over to be eaten by my buddies the earth worms....
Semper Fi.....
But back to my story...This is a great way to farm...and the only thing that I do that resembles tillage in any way...I do this in the fall to the fields that I have harvested soy beans from...and next year intend to plant yellow dent corn too...Corn that will be sold to Tate and Lyle corn sweetner plant and end up in the soda pop as the sweetner that all you folks out there may drink....But I do love the system of farming called "strip till"...I place the nitrogen gas about 6 inches or so deep in the soil with the applicator and it raises the soil in this about 6 inch wide stip and it lies there all winter...Next spring after rains and snow the soil is mellow but the strip warms up quickly and is a welcome host to the seed corn placement directly over the nitrogen...and we start the cycle again in late April of another corn crop....sexsational corn again maybe...sex in the corn field again in 2009...can you believe it? YES WE CAN....Obama likes that phrase and so I must find a way to get excited about it all...So I relate it to what I do, I grow corn and beans and I go to Naples in the winter time when the snow is deep....And in the mean time my partners the earth worms they continue to devour the residue left from my no tillage farming the residue that is left between these raised ridges, it lies there waiting on the earth worms to come up from below and eat it and take it deep into the soil and poop it out....these guys build soil like the have done for thousands of years....They are the Senior partners, I just do whats easy...they do the hard stuff and I guess they enjoy it as they keep doing it year after year...no contracts to sign, no unions to deal with, they just do it...So between the two of us...
YES WE CAN!!!!!!!
Farmers here the question in the fall, "are you done yet"?
Well YES I am done, today I finished the NH3 applications all next years corn acres are done...Next years bean acres are done also...as the corn is harvested, and the corn stalks lie there waiting for my soybean drill to pass through them and place the soybeans in warm ground and knock the remaining corn stalks over to be eaten by my buddies the earth worms....
Semper Fi.....
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obama Wins/ I Pray America did too....
I bow to the majority choice 53% or so chose Obama to be our President...So he is now OUR President elect. It is exciting, and will be to see what he is able to do as our President. Who he will bring to his cabinet to help him fulfill some of the promises that he made to win this election. And how they will go about it. Prayer will be needed that in deed America did win this election...I think we have, I think the majority is probably right, and with Prayer God will continue to bless America.
It was good to see that Hoosiers again wanted Mitch to be our govenor..He has done a pretty good job as was evident by the vote. Tony Bennett edged out Richard Wood for school superintendent and I think Hoosiers won there also...Congressman Buyer and all other Indiana Congressmen were returned to office...Good move on Hoosiers part as these bozo's have asssured they get paid for life if they serve two terms...So hey we may as well if they are still trying to serve us justly allow them to do so rather than put another person on the payroll and be paying two of them...Also good that we are returning experience to Washington as a good foundation will be needed to build a new America that Obama talks of....
Tippecanoe County Government remains in conservative control with the council at large seats a very close race indeed. Wow closer than maybe John Basham a good government advocate and a freind was comfortable with...Congrats John I think some Obama coattails made this a really close race...So OK we will now look forward to repsonsible county government from the Commissioners down.....
Good Job Hoosiers, Good Job America now we can all get back to real life without all the emails and commercials on TV...Praise God we made it through.....
It was good to see that Hoosiers again wanted Mitch to be our govenor..He has done a pretty good job as was evident by the vote. Tony Bennett edged out Richard Wood for school superintendent and I think Hoosiers won there also...Congressman Buyer and all other Indiana Congressmen were returned to office...Good move on Hoosiers part as these bozo's have asssured they get paid for life if they serve two terms...So hey we may as well if they are still trying to serve us justly allow them to do so rather than put another person on the payroll and be paying two of them...Also good that we are returning experience to Washington as a good foundation will be needed to build a new America that Obama talks of....
Tippecanoe County Government remains in conservative control with the council at large seats a very close race indeed. Wow closer than maybe John Basham a good government advocate and a freind was comfortable with...Congrats John I think some Obama coattails made this a really close race...So OK we will now look forward to repsonsible county government from the Commissioners down.....
Good Job Hoosiers, Good Job America now we can all get back to real life without all the emails and commercials on TV...Praise God we made it through.....
Monday, November 3, 2008
Purdue's Siller is a thriller
In his first Purdue start at quarterback Justin Siller thrilled the crowd and probably thrilled Coach Tiller as well....Will be interesting to see if he is rewarded with a starting job next week, seems like it would be the thing to do but being the first to admit I know not much about football, I will leave this important decision to coach Tiller....But the 48 to 42 win and the coolness that Siller has in that spot is pretty impressive....only a freshman no doubt we will see this guy in action for quite a spell ahead...GO BOILERS.....
Purdue Pete always fun to watch when things slow down was as usual at the top of his game also...and my past Pioneer Seed boss Mr. Hopf, and his sweet wife Terry, no doubt are even bigger Purdue fans than even Pete had a great tail gate party with a great breakfast and fabulous spike tomato juice....the kind with celery sticking out the top...we had a grand time...Gosh the weather was prescription football and fall color variety...I have to say the peak week for fall folige and for Purdue Football in W. Lafayette Indiana.....
Purdue Pete always fun to watch when things slow down was as usual at the top of his game also...and my past Pioneer Seed boss Mr. Hopf, and his sweet wife Terry, no doubt are even bigger Purdue fans than even Pete had a great tail gate party with a great breakfast and fabulous spike tomato juice....the kind with celery sticking out the top...we had a grand time...Gosh the weather was prescription football and fall color variety...I have to say the peak week for fall folige and for Purdue Football in W. Lafayette Indiana.....
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