An Old Friend . . .

In the twight light of life, one goes about recalling old friends. One of those is Dick Mickley.

I first met Dick at Officer Training School (OTS) at Lackland Air Force Base, TX. Lackland is located in San Antonio, and it has no runways; it is strictly a training facility. It rests up on a hill across from and adjacent to Kelly Air Force Base, no longer an active duty facility. The Texas Air National Guard still operates from Kelly but the San Antonio Air Material Center, a one time employer of thousands is long closed as a budgetary action. It was closed by BRET, Base Realignment taskforce that closed a number of facilities for all services across our great nation. I am sad to say, it is closed forever now, much of the facility is disbanded, abandoned or otherwise in disrepair and well on its way to total rot. Lackland remains a going thing where new officers and enlisted go through basic training of sorts.

The fateful day was August 10, 1963 when I entered OTS with a host of others and one of which was Dick and another was Bob Cooke. We were in the same initial flight together. Dick, a prior service man, was quickly scarfed up and sent to the OT Staff. He was after all a sharp cadet, knew his way around and had been to Lackland before (as a basic trainee). Bob and I, on the other hand were the great unwashed and were remanded to be fodder for the Training Officer.

We have long forgotten many of those who were with us. Names like Poteet come back, a pimply faced lean tall Cajun was one. He was cashiered out in short order. There were others. We started with 16 fellows and I think only eight of us got commissioned. I recall one cadet that self initiated elimination and they made him do two years of enlisted service. It was so bad, that our flight was disbanded when the next class appeared.

We were then considered upper classmen. We were absorbed by another flight and learned that the Training Officer was much more amenable. Our Captain was bucking for promotion (and I don't think he made it either, he was too stiff and to hard on his minions). At least, I think he was canned as a TO.

Bob and I were destine to be OTS 2nd LTs, that is the bottom of the barrel thanks to that TO. Dick, our buddy, on the other hand, was out of the clutches of the dreaded Captain and flourished as a member of the OT staff. He was, I believe, an OT Lt Colonel, way above Bob and I.

Dick and Bob were both from Ohio. Bob from Cleveland and I think Dick from central Ohio. He went to a small college, Wooster or the like. And he was a couple of years older than we were.

Bob and I have long been corresponding. He and his family actually visited my mother and father in Louisiana. I never had the honor of doing the same as I only made to Cleveland area well after retiring from the USAF and his parents were long gone by then. I visited with Bob while he was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida once.

After I retired, I looked up Bob. He had run afoul of a Brigadier General in Iran and that ensured he would never get promoted beyond Major. He was a Distinguished Graduate of Squadron Officers School, I barely made it through the place. He was and is a brilliant man, graduating from Case Western Institute in Cleveland in the College of Business. His degree was in computers, today, he would be considered a computer engineer.

Unfortunately, Bob and his wife divorced, but he remains quite close to his children. I found him living close to Eglin Air Force Base and visited with him once. Bought him a steak dinner. He began working for H & R Block, and has been there for more than 12 years now. He is a retired Major, his wife has remarried to a Lt Col retiree. He likes his job in that he has three months of intense work and then nine months of relaxed work. He is the senior guy and takes care of the software and does tax audits on their prepared returns.

We reminisced about Dick and I chased him down. We have reopened a dialogue with Dick, now a lay Presbyterian preacher and semi-retired lawyer that lives in Marysville, OH but a stone's throw from Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Dayton, OH. Had I but known, and we could have gotten together back when we were stationed there.

We were all commissioned 2nd Lieutenants in the USAF on 5 November 1963. Dick got out after six years, Bob did 20 years and I stayed around for 26 years. Dick was surprised to learn that I was a Colonel. A long way for a OTS 2nd Lt to rise.

Mississippi Kites ...

We have two families of the Kites that reside in our neighborhood. I have seen up to six of them, five in one grouping. They are a dove grey bird, smaller of the predator hawk group. They are primary insect eaters, insects like Cicadas but also prey on birds, small animals and lizards (Fritz better watch out).

They are very graceful fliers, while they do soar a bit it is more common to have them flying between trees and over the vacant lots. They like to nest in our Post Oaks; we had one nest across the street from us a couple of years ago.

They are migratory birds and do winter in South America. I am not sure all of them leave us in winter. They have taken to living close to urban areas and seem to enjoy or tolerate us humans (like Fritz does). And like Purple Martins eat their weight in insects - that's a good thing.

In my morning walk there are two locales for them along my route. They like to roost in the tops of trees with bare limbs or even dead trees. You will often see a youngster by himself. The parents come by and stay close but the youngster has to do his own hunting and thus is forced to grow up. I am sure he is building up stamina for that long flight to Uruguay or Paraguay, even Argentina.

They are smaller in size than Red Tailed Hawks grow to be. But they have pointed wing tips and a distinct V shaped tail. So they look very graceful in flight.

Apparently they return to their initial territories every year. Since they are getting more common they have been found as far North as New Hampshire but generally range around the lower Mississippi Valley and West as far as New Mexico.

Since they are migratory birds they are protected. So one can not disturbe their nests or hunt them for instance. They are not rare, but like Ducks are protected so that they will not become extinct. There seems to be no danger of that.

So every morning, I look for them. I seem always to find the two youngsters. Though one day saw a family of five. When the sun gets up a bit and the insects start coming alive, they are off hunting for food. So they do not tarry for long after sun rise.

Nature is always around us . . .

The Nest . . .

Judie was back at the compost pile, heard a noise of something scrambling around. She look about and discovered a hole about two and half inches around and about the same depth. And in the hole were about 7 or so white eggs about three eights of an inch long, and a bit narrow length wise.

We speculated it was either a snake or a lizard that had laid the eggs. A while later, Judie was again in the area and say Frizinna at the nest. So we now know there were lizard eggs.

Judie went back later, and the hole had been filled in. We do not know how long the incubation period is, but perhaps two weeks or so.

We are gonna have a lizard explosion. I do not think we have enough bugs to support that kind of population, but who knows, it may be just right.

I have seen lizards at other locations in the yard. One in the front yard, another resides in the hose roll up cabinet by the mound flower bed in back. Still, again saw one on a wood pile in Curtiss and Terry's back yard area adjacent to us. That could have been Fritzinna but I did not get a good look, heard a noise and look over to see a tail disappearing in the wood pile.

We know the Walker's have not done to much in their back yard and the "girls" directly behind us are notorious for not cutting their grass. So those are good areas for bug hunting and thus lizard population.

I have even seen Fritzinna in the garage. And yes, there are a few crickets in there. Or should I say, there were a few crickets in there. She probably cleaned them out.

We have not seen a lizard on the back patio for a while. Our little wood stack is no longer a lizard residence. I believe she cleaned out all the crickets and moved on. Gotta eat, you know.

She tolerated us and was not near as friendly as last year's Fritz was. He was brazen, sunned himself on the chaise lounge, and on wood pile, and hunted all over the place. Saw him on the sofa looking down for bugs. He was a character but I suspect he moved on too.