A Droll Day . . .

Yesterday was football day and I watched LSU demolish Georgia.  Georgia tried to open up with a big bang and their wide receivers managed to drop the ball instead of catching it.  One of those two passes was a little short so it is not all the wide receivers fault but the quarterback throw made it harder to complete.  Georgia turned the ball over via a punt.

LSU promptly marched down the field and scored.  So much for the vaunted Georgia defense, allegedly the second best in the nation and best in the SEC.  It was quite leaky and LSU commence an assault that resulted in a sound defeat for Georgia knocking them out of the championship contention and probably put them into the Sugar Bowl on New Years day or when they now days play that game.  LSU of course goes on to compete for the National Championship.

Today the wind is briskly out of the South meaning if will be relatively warm and not chilly.  Lots of clouds and thus the day is not a bright and shiny one.  The leaves are almost all off the two Shumard Oaks in the front and they are all piled up in the yard and flower bed.  Both trees produced a ton of acorns and they are all over the place.  The squirrels should like that.

Lots of Christmas ads in the papers.  We no longer exchange gifts at Christmas as each gets what one wants when we want it.  I scanned them looking for bargains and did not see anything I really wanted or needed.  I may go get a .22 caliber rifle. I see one advertised that was like the one I had as a teenager.  When I went into the service, I left the gun with my father-in-law and it was stolen from his Red River camp.  He never bothered to replace it.  Lost that rifle and .32 caliber H&R revolver.

I do have an old family single shot .22 that I must have shot several thousand rounds through it.  I had to stop when the stop gap repair on the firing mechanism failed.  My brother later had the gun fixed and I learned get parts was fairly easy.  I have yet to fire it since recovering it though I cleaned up  before putting it away.

Judie is doing her usual thing getting ready for Jacob, Anne and their children for Christmas.  The will appear the day after Christmas as that is the least expensive travel time.  They will stay through New Years and then head back to cold Wisconsin.  She will also dispense checks to all the children, they are all grown and can get what they want for Christmas.

I am worried about my old Officer Training School (OTS) buddy.  We met at the airport in San Antonio waiting for an Air Force bus to pick us up and take us to Lackland AFB for our training and conversion to military officers.  He was wearing a wool sports coat and sweating buckshot.  He was coming in from Cleveland, OH where it was cool or even down right cold on Lake Erie.  August in San Antonio is roasting hot and dry.  We eventually were commissioned as Second Lieutenants on November 5th, 1963 and both of us went off to the USAF.

We both retired from active duty completing more than 20 years of service.  He, alas, got crosswise with an Air Force Major General and retired as a Major.  I conversely got ensconced with a Brigadier General that went on to be Lieutenant General (that is three stars).  As a consequence I retired as full Colonel, two grades above my buddy.  He wisely did his 20 years and I went on to do 26 years of service.  I spent five years a colonel and then figure out it was time to go.

I said I was worried as he is in the hospital again.  We almost lost him last summer.  He told me it was botched biopsy that did him in for that period.  He recovered out of that, retired from H&R Block tax folks and settled into final retirement.  I received a message from him saying he was in the hospital and that is what is bothering me.  His health is not to swift right now and being in the hospital is very concerning to me.

Judie and I are plugging along seeing doctors here and there.  She has far more doctors than I do, but we have two in common, our GP and our Cardiologist.  She has many more than I do.  I often drive her to the ones across town in Fort Worth or even further.

To all who read this I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.