Fritz is Back

Fritz the lizard is back. At least it is a Fritz, maybe a new fellow. He has grown a bit since we have noticed him. I saw him on the wood pile the other day. Judie says he lives under the big green wooden storage box on the patio.

And he has an avowed enemy, the neighbors cat. Judie ran the cat off this morning, it was trying to get at something under the Green Box (Fritz maybe). At least Fritz knows a safe spot.

But the damned cat prowls all night so I am sure it will return to haunt Fritz. Maybe the toad (yes, we have a toad too that lives in and around the patio) will distract the cat. I do not mind missing the toad but do mind losing a Fritz. We prize them, they are superior cricket eaters.

We know we had a clutch of them in the back yard. We found the eggs in edge of the compost pile in a neat hole. I counted 8 eggs, so maybe we had a flock of them. I saw the eggs and hole, Judie discovered them and distracted mama (Fritzina) for a while. I cam out and looked at the "nest." She, Fritzina, later came back and covered over the hole. And a new Fritz showed up about a month later, think it was one of hers?

Who knows, but we seem to have the wildlife in our yard. And that's a good thing, right?

What A Show . . . .

Yesterday, I had to go to the VA Hospital in Dallas for a couple of review appointments. I knew it would be a different thing for Judie to see and she decided to come because I was having an eye examination in one of the appointments. That meant I would get my eyes dilated and make driving home a hassle (The dilation was about 11:00 o'clock and we did not get out of there until past 3:00 o'clock, so much of that had worn off and I had ample sun glasses to take care of the glare).

I knew things would be sporting when we arrived at 9:00 o'clock and we had to park out in the South 40 lot. All the parking lots were over following. I opined it might be "appointment day." Somebody said that the Dallas VA hospital services 500,000 patients. That number does not include the everpresent person to accompany the patient, i.e Judie.

As we walked down the hall to the information desk, she commented the following, "It looks like an ant hill erupting with people all over the place." There were long lines at the pharmacy, lines at the waiting areas at the various clinics (mine was Clinic 16 but I was quickly shunted to Clinic 1 - the Eye Clinic). We waited in the lobby, then my name was called along with two dozen other names and we were led into the eye clinic and sat in yet another waiting room. They gradually processed us through the clinic.

After the eye clinic, it was back to Clinic 16. My next appointment was at 12:30, so we went down in the basement and ate lunch. That was zoo number 2. Crowded, lines everywhere, all tables taken, so we shared a table with guy. Naturally, we got his story too. All the food was fast food, I mean they shoved out the hash in record time. Judie had a hamburger and that was assembled before our eyes in less than 20 seconds; I chose a hot dog. We got our drinks and sat down and ate - like everybody else we ate as fast as we could to get out of there.

The next two doctors were an Orthopedic Surgeon (neck and knees) and GP at 2:00 PM. Those two appointments came off okay.

But it was fun to watch the people in action. One came and said he was late, the woman at the desk checked and said, "Yes, you are two weeks late." Another just came up and said, "I need more money in my compensation." Those patients got short shift real quick, there were just to many bodies to handle to take care of the idiots. Yes, there were plenty of disabled people, some missing parts and so on.

But it was fun watch some guy in his electric scooter zip down the hall way, shop at the VA store (it is much like a Base Exchange - a lot of the same kinds of things and no taxes!), drink Starbucks coffee, etc..

And of course they pay you mileage for coming in so the last step was to pull a ticket for your number and wait to get your travel voucher filled out. Sure enough, we got that done in about 20 minutes. Then you had to go to the cashier. A short line, they were very efficient. We were done at 3:30 or so, out the door and wait for the shuttle bus.

The shuttle bus gave us the same tour back to the "Back 40." The driver had a continuing conversation via his cellphone to "central." He reported a vacant wheel chair, and his general progress around the area (perhaps 10 - 12 acres) of child care, rehab, overnight facilities, etc.. We finally made it to the back lot; some other guy in the bus forgot where his truck was - he was in trouble - perhaps two or three thousand vehicles parked in that place. And yes, the ever present construction is going on too.

I noted that since this was my second time to this facility that there seemed to be twice as many people there. One person said he was there last Wednesday and the rain was so bad that the lobby was leaking like a sieve. He opined that a lot of appointments were rescheduled or missed and rescheduled, ergo a double load of "patients" there.

Guns are strictly forbidden - to many possible "Postal Patients" around that place. There were shell shocked guys, cripples, disgruntled people in general and so on. Since I had been though it once before, I knew that one had to be patient and have a good attitude, or go nuts. So it does not matter that if you have a conceal carry permit or not, no one is gonna take a chance in that place. The potential for harm is unbelieveable.

Also there was the ever present funeral home adjacent to the hospital. I guess they can just transship the bodies over to them for final processing.

To boot, the hospital is located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas. So you don't want to be there after dark. Oak Cliff is the Scottlandville of Dallas.

We got the hell out of Dodge as fast as we could. Stopped at a McDonalds, got a coke and hit I-20 for home. Traffic both ways was not bad. We stopped at Lubby's for dinner and were home by 6:00 PM.

And Judie had the adventure of a life time!

Football Season is Underway . . .

Son James, wife Joan and Grandson Jammie motored over to Nashville to visit with Alf, Joan's father. And they went to the Vandy - LSU ball game. Alf got the tickets on the Vandy side of the field. Oh, I forgot to mention that Joan has a Master Degree from Vanderbilt University.

Of course, there was large contingent from New Roads present at the game. James was saying that they had premier parking place to do their tail gating. He mentioned some DA from New Roads knew the LSU Chief of Police (we called that in our day, the Campus Security) who got the Chief of Police for Vanderbilt to carve out a parking spot for them. I said you mean Don Cazayoux who is the US District Attorney, just recently appointed by the Obama Administration. Don's mother, Ann (Hess) Cazayoux is a childhood friend of mine, class mate etc.

Another guest was some old guy name John Wayne Jewell. Of course, we know John Wayne, his older brother Kenneth and his wife, Martha, who is Ann Cazayoux's little sister. Ann's mother was my God Mother. Ann's grandmother, affectionately known as Auntie was a sister to "Retts" or Florette (LeBlanc) Morrison, a legendary member of my family. So we share cousins but are not related to each other, other than being "kissing cousins" meaning close but no cigar. John Wayne and Martha live not very far from where I grew up.

Of couse, nephews Charlie and Byron are prime mothers in the LSU contingent and were there in full force. James said that they were really rocking and rolling in their private tailgating location. Pays to have connections, doesn't it? Especially since there was special columm in the Nashville Tennesean saying tail gating would not be allowed around the stadium. Hmmm.

And LSU won, woke up late in the third quarter. QB Jefferson was not doing so well. Second stringer, Jarret Lee, came in and threw one pass (completion) and running back ripped off a 65 yard touch down. That woke everybody up. Methinks, Jarret Lee ought to get more snaps.

Next week is upon us, and with it is Mississippi State, a team that has shown a lot of improvement. They are dangerous. Going to be interesting.

Geaux Tigers!

Football . . .

Football season is upon us and all kinds of rumors and predictions going. The popular one is that this Les Miles last season at LSU. Give me a break. He is the best coach we have had so far. His record is better than Saban's was at LSU.

Did he have a bad year, you bet he did and still won 9 games. Show me a coach who has made it through the last couple of seasons as well as he has with the set backs he has had. He had to let go a top notch quarterback that lacked personal discipline. He had to use an inexperienced quarter back and made his way through all the damage to the end of the season. Now he has a fairly good quarter back, one at least seasoned and ready to go.

The Tigers are picked to finish fourth in its division, yet the polls rank LSU well above all those opponents it is going to lose to. Something does not compute.

Do I think he should have fired his offensive coach, yes. Gary Crowton has been a head coach at Louisiana Tech and BYU and is now an offensive coach at LSU. He needs to be fired. He is terrible. He stinks.

On the other hand, the defensive coach is truly superior. So there is hope that the talent will not be wasted in that venue.

Just heard that LSU is one of the top five universities that produce income from sports. LSU is ranked #5, but it is one of the five that produces over a $100,000,000.00 per year. That is over a hundred million dollars a year. Football is the majority but baseball is in there along with basketball. It is a premier jock school.

What a school. What a staff. Geaux Tigers!

Rediscovering . . .

In the last couple of years I have gone about rediscovering previous friends from the long past ago.

Leon. Leon Harris was a childhood buddy in New Roads, that moved away when he was 12 or 13 years old. He moved back to New Iberia and we lost contact. His older brother married a girl from New Roads, Leah Ray Mougeot. Leah Ray was my high school coach's daughter. She was a couple of years old than me. Saw her at my ex-brother-in-law's funeral and asked about Leon. Today, Leon and I exchange Emails almost daily, mostly jokes.

Bubba. Lawrence "Bubba" Pourcaiu and I went to school together at Saint Josephs Academy in New Roads. We reunited at a 50th Class Reunion in New Roads a couple of years ago. I did not recall but do after Bubba reminded me that he did not finish with us, he spent his last year at Poydras, the public school. It had to do with a tiff over his mother's operation of St Joe's lunch room. No matter, Bubbba identifies with St Joe and not Poydras. Today he is a pharmacist. And we trade Emails often, a bit of New Roads and a lot of dirty jokes, etc. Bubba keeps up with all the old buddies that will communicate with him. So I know what I send to Bubba will get out to the old boy network of New Roads.

Bernie. Bernard LaFaso was my fraternity brother at LSU. He graduated and moved on, I tracked him down in south Louisiana in the city of Thibadeaux. Bernie had worked for the State of Louisiana, Highway Department for a while and then moved on. He started his on company and got into the oil well logging business. I think he sold out to Schlumberger or one of those companies and walked away with several million dollars. I hear from Bernie every month or so.

Paul. Paul Smith was my next door neighbor in San Bernardino, circa 1975. We both were Majors at the Air Force Inspection and Safty Center at Norton Air Force Base, CA. They had a couple of boys and we had three boys - so lots of Boy Scouts and school things together. While at AFISC, I ended up traveling a lot and befriended a General Officer. So the General dragged me all over the place. I loved it, not so sure Judie loved it. But it was what got me promoted to Full Colonel. Both Paul and I retired as Full Colonels out of AFISC. We were the enigmas, it was said one could not get promoted having served at AFISC. We both got promoted to the highest levels.

Don Kaiser. Don is a retired LtC and we worked together at Rockwell International on the Peacekeeper Rail Garrison program. He was a project engineer. In the latter stages of my employment with Rockwell I was made a "Rail Car Manager." I was selected to oversee and assemble a command and control rail car. Before I got to do any of this, President George H. W. Bush cancelled the program. But Don and I became close friends and remain so today. He now works as a contractor for the Defense Nuclear Agency in Albuquerque, NM and lives in Colorado Springs, CO - commutes back and forth.

Leo Stockham. Leo was my program manager when I worked for Lockheed-Martin at White Sands Missile Range. Leo was a retired LtC from the USAF. He had gone to the Naval Academy, got into the USAF to fly and washed out of flying school. The USAF sent him off to graduate school, he had finished very high in class at the USNA. He was a PHD in engineering and ended up teaching at the USAF Academy before ending up in Albuquerque, NM. Today, I hear from him once in a while.

Mike. Mike Barry was an engineer at Rockwell, Int on the Peackeeper Rail Garrison program. Smart man, along the way earned a Jurist Doctorate - a law degree but never took the bar exam. Had a couple of failed marriages and was now a confirmed bachelor. He's probably 8 or 9 years older than I am. I keep up with him and he with me. Just old friends.

There are others, I could go on for awhile but these are just some of my friends. They are from all walks of life.

Amazing Event . . .

I got a telephone call from Dr. Randy Gurie, the person assigned by the LSU Chancellor's office to be the faculty advisor to the Cadets of the Ole War Skule. LSU until 1956 was a military school much like its rival Texas A & M University. In fact both schools rival each in the number of officers produced in WW-II. Even in my day we had a Corps of Cadets that exceeded 5,000 strong.

At any rate the Cadets of the Ole War Skule has a Hall of Honor for its distinguished former LSU cadets. One has to be nominated and then selected for this honor. I took it upon myself to nominate Farhnam Libby Morrison, my Uncle Ham. He was not selected.

As a result I withdrew as member of the Cadets of the Ole War Skule. I have seen the other members of the Hall of Honor, read their Biographical notes and while certanly good and deserving people they certainly no more heroic nor valorous than Uncle Ham.

He had landed at Normandy on DDay, June 6, 1945 and fought his way across France, Belgium (the Battle of the Bulge), Luxembourg, and into Germany itself. He was one of Patton's troops.

He landed as a 2nd Lt and finished on VE day as Company Commander and the rank of Captain. Along the way he picked up two Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star. He was highly decorated officer. He was also awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge.

Later in the early 1950s he help reorganize the Louisiana National Guard. He was activated during the Berlin Crisis and was stationed at Fort Polk.

In time he grew in grade and statue in the LA National Guard. He retired as the Adjutant General's Chief of Staff at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans. He moved on the be the State of Louisiana Civilian Defense Director. Interestingly, in that position he was the Louisiana's number two State Policeman. He was the chief Deputy, carried a badge but I don't think he ever participated in any police things.

Ham retired as a full Colonel. Unfortunately, he died under going dialysis. He went into shock on the dialysis table and never recovered. He is interred in St Mary's of False River Mausoleum along with his beloved wife, Bobbe.

The long over due call I got was from LSU saying that Uncle Ham had been re-evaluated and selected for the Hall of Honor. He will be inducted November 6, 2010 at Parade Grounds, the same parade grounds I marched over many times. Later he will be honored along with this fellow inductees at the half time at the football game.

I owe a debt of thanks to Levy Dabadie, Brigadier General (RET) and member of the Cadets of the Ole War Skule and the advisor, Dr. Randy Gurie.

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.