A Song from my Childhood

I really haven't been posting here, instead spending all of my efforts on one of my other blogs. Right now I post to or administer 5 different blogs, soon to add another one or two, but in reality I have two blogs.

I've been thinking of what to do with Not So Random Musings because I don't want to just post drivel and...I'm man enough to admit this....I do that way too often.

After reading a buddy's initial blog efforts I realized what type of post excites me some and might actually be worthwhile: real-life stories. If my 12 readers here we at my home socializing with me & the Mrs. undoubtedly I'd be regaling them with stories from my past (of course I'd be "regaling" them....odds are I'd have had a few...)

Carolyn and I aren't planning on having children and there is no way I would be able to pass along all these interesting tidbits (well....I am biased on these stories, so please just roll with it) and stories.

Since today is Father's Day I think it would appropriate to reminisce a bit about the Old Man. Now I do plan on telling actual stories, but I'm not exactly going to be starting here.....

My actual earliest memories I have are about my father. I think this is when he lived in Odessa, Washington. I have no idea why he lived there, but I have to presume it was to be within a day's drive (a painful day's drive at that) of where my brother and I lived, which I believe was Gillete, Wyoming with my mother and step-father.

Of course my memories from that time are a bit muddled, but aside from barely remembering a time he took us fishing with switch-cut poles, I remember him driving us around in his Scout (80?) truck singing songs. The windows would be down and he'd bang on the outside of the car door and sing us some rather stupid songs. Yep, my earliest memories were of bouncing down along some country road not listening to the radio, but listening to a variety of songs. I only remember two distinctly, but something tells me he used to sing all of the old camp songs from Camp Wapello, where he'd been a counselor maybe a decade prior.

Not on the the "approved" Wapello song list (I would have to assume) was one song I remember,

The Little Brown Mouse:
The liquor was spilt on the bar-room floor,
the bar was closed for the night....
When out of his hole came the little brown mouse
and sat in the pale moonlight.

Well he licked up the liqour off the bar-room floor,
and back on his haunches he sat....
And all night long you could here him cry......
BRING ON THE GOD-DAMNED CAT!!!

Here is a way-too-fast version being sung in some "historical" music collection. This one is a little slower (and better, with a third verse)...

Remembering My Grandmother-In-Law

Last week my Grandmother-In-Law passed away. She was (I'm pretty sure) 105 and her health and memory had been slipping away for the last several years to the point where she really didn't recognize her only grand-daughter (my wife for those keeping score).

Now because of marriages, divorces, and re-marriages I've had a total of 5 grandmothers, but none were in the same ballpark as Ida. Obviously my introduction to the family somewhere around her 9th decade on this planet didn't impress her enough to remember me much, but that isn't really a surprise. By that point her hearing was atrocious and I think her memory was going more than she wanted to let on. See Ida had a HUGE independent streak and the fascinating bluntness and openness you really only see in the elderly (or me on a "good" night).

"Remembering" Pearl Harbor

Let's be honest.....to the overwhelming majority of us December 7th is not a "Date that will live in infamy". Now I'm not downplaying the significance of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but how many of us know the significance of June 28th, 1914* or even May 6th, 1937**?

There are undoubtedly a group of Pearl Harbor Survivors still alive, but on today, the 73rd anniversary of the bombing, there are far fewer than there were last year, and common sense dictates there will be fewer still next year. I don't "remember" Pearl Harbor because I wasn't around then, even though that one fixed-point in time is rather important for my existence. You see my grandfather, my maternal grandfather, was a "young petty officer" on board the USS Tennessee during the attack. The fortunate intersection of luck and fate that day saw my grandfather surviving the bombing and going on to raise my mother and her family. Had fortunes gone a different way I literally would not have been born.

That's kind of heavy. While I can think back to a personal close call or two in my life, I can't go back to a single day in history and pin-point a singular historical event that has such an impact.

So on an anniversary like today I don't actually "remember" Pearl Harbor in the traditional sense. I do think of my grandfather and my all-too-fleeting memories of him. I remember he loved his orchids, wasn't very outspoken, but was there if you needed him or not. Now I'm sure my aunts and uncles would have different memories, especially since they were Navy Brats and all that entails, but in my earliest memories he was retired.

At my grandmother's funeral one of my cousins reminded me of a story that was about her, but in many ways about him just as much. After a family trip to Disney World my grandparents decided they'd drive all four grand-kids from Florida back to Iowa. You know that had to be a special kind of hell driving four pre-teens half-way across the US. We'd drive for a while, stop at a motel, and we'd all get to go swimming, which was a rare treat. Now my grandmother expected the grandkids to open doors for her and generally be little gentlemen, or at least as much as 8-12 year-olds can be. One night we all piled out of the car and practically ran to the pool. After a while of having fun someone asked where grandma was. My grandfather just replied, "I don't know...who let her out of the car?" We ran to the car, dripping wet and apologetic as we opened the door for her. She was just sitting there, saying her rosary (probably for us), and simply thanked us for getting the door.

Now on the surface that shows the kind of lady my grandmother is and she deserves more than a quick story, but it also speaks volumes about my grandfather. He knew damned well we had forgotten about her, but reminding us wouldn't have taught us anything. He didn't reprimand us or make us feel guilty, neither of them did. I think of that story often when I open the door for my wife. Now I'll admit I'm probably not as good about it as he was, but thanks to his example I try.

When my grandfather passed away my grandmother was given this Pearl Harbor Survivors Association medallion, in this simple case, with an elegant card. When she passed one of my uncles pretty much took it upon himself to take all of my grandfather's military possessions. He was the only member of the next generation to serve, also as a Naval Officer, and he felt it was his "right". While I don't agree with him, I do understand and in the long run it will probably be best that everything stays together.

This medallion however, wasn't with those things and it was given to me. I keep it above my desk along with one of his medals. While I do open the case a couple times a year to look at it, today is the only day I do so with any regularity.



*Date of assassination for Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
**The date of the Hindenburg Disaster

Making "Wild" Cherry Plum Jelly

Last weekend my In-Laws called and asked if we wanted any cantaloupe because they had several nice-sized melons mature at the same time and it was too much for them. Since we were actually at the grocery store buying cantaloupe the answer was a no-brainer.

When my wife and I headed over there we, well I, wanted to take a look at their yard & garden since we hadn't been in the back yard for months. A surprising discovery was a small fruit tree they weren't aware they had. Now if this was my parents property I could understand because they have hundreds of acres and an actual orchard, but a surprise fruit tree in a small quarter-acre lot (I have no idea how big it is...but they live in town so....) when you've lived in the home for 30+ years.....

Obie

Carolyn's cat Obie passed away yesterday at the age of 17(?). I adopted him from the Idaho Humane Society back in 2002, before we were married. The last couple of years he started to have problems and he got to live in the garage. Obie wanted to be an outdoor kitty and he had free range to come and go as he pleased.

Since last summer though he has only ventured out of the garage when I was working in the driveway. We set him up with a couple of large (4' x 2') litter boxes and his own elevated, insulated, and heated sleeping platform. He got fresh food and water twice a day and he seemed relatively happy right up until the end.

We suspected his time was coming to an end when he suddenly stopped eating and started hiding out in the corner of the garage under my workbench. I was able to coax him out briefly on Thursday and he seemed fine.

Obie is buried in the back yard in a protected area next to my cat Miu. A couple of impatiens were planted over the graves.

The "Luxury" of Living So Far From Home

Usually I have the luxury of living 1247 miles (as the crow flies) away from my family.  My wife's family lives here in Boise, but fortunately for me their concept of "family drama" is pretty much non-existent.

Her family is practically tiny.  They could easily sit at the "kiddie table" and one of my family's holiday dinners.  I'm one of the "lucky" children of divorce so I generally halve two halves of a family to contend with.  If you aren't familiar this this arrangement, let me assure you that in family math two halves add up to much more than a whole (1/2 + 1/2 > 1).

Working On Christmas Presents

This week is my crunch week.

Not only do I have several final projects due for school, but I need to finish up making Christmas presents so I can get them shipped off in time.  Most of the stuff I made for people last year never got out and this year I'm not letting that happen.

I'll admit I'm a bit in the cynical side when it comes to Christmas.  Having worked in retail for a number of years, and having my wife still working in retail, I can be quite the Ebenezer Scrooge.

My Miller Lite Story

Carolyn and I have been listening to this one CD in the car over and over and over and.....probably too many times.  In the first song of the album the group mentions Miller Light twice in succession, pretty much using the term to rhyme with itself.  As much as I like this group, this one thing just bugs me to no end.

Of course, while driving today and hearing this song come up again I pretty much try to sing along, substituting "Miller Light" as the ending to every line, rhyming be damned.

Carolyn asks me, jokingly, if I want a Miller Light, since I seem to be pre-occupied with that brew.  A wave of nostalgia hits me as I remember the last time I bought Miller Light......twenty-four years ago.  I'm forty-one now....so you do the math.

Dropkick Murphys at the Spokane, WA Knitting Factory

My wife's birthday was earlier this week and her birthday wish was to see the Dropkick Murphys in concert.  She was able to get tickets to their November 7th performance in Spokane, WA.

I took care of the car and the hotel for the trip and did all of the driving.  We left Wednesday morning and got back late Thursday night.

It was an interesting trip.

Happy Birthday HackPrincess!

Today is my wife's birthday and while today is special we are mostly celebrating later on in the week.

We already voted and we still have some Toastmasters meetings today....In honor of the special occasion I am posting a video mashup I found on io9 yesterday.

I know, real original.....but Carolyn would get a kick out of this, probably more than I did, and I loved it.  Enjoy....

I Survived a Church Visit

I had the "pleasure" of attending church Sunday to see my newest niece be formally introduced to the congregation.

Now I'm not a church-going type for several reasons, some of which may be evident as you read through this blog post, but generally speaking the problem I have is with religion.  Several of my friends are religious....an associate of mine is even a member of the clergy....and if it works for them I'm happy for them.  I do consider myself somewhat spiritual, but definitely not religious.  I truly believe the average church-goer hasn't bothered to really sit down and think about their religion and how their personal beliefs stack up to that of their professed faith.  Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes is a statement that I think rings truer than most would like to acknowledge.

Instead of delving deeply into my personal history with religion, which I doubt many would care about, I'd like to describe this surreal experience I had Sunday.

10 Short Years.....

Today is my...well our...10th Wedding Anniversary.  The picture on the left is not from our wedding, but from the next time we went back to Iowa to visit my family.  My mother thought we needed a wedding cake since we had eloped to Las Vegas for our Justice-of-the-Peace wedding and honeymoon.

Ah.....I had such high hopes back then....high hopes for our 10th Anniversary that is.  I really wanted to be able to take Carolyn on a European vacation and take her to see some of the places I had been while stationed in Germany.  Someday I'll make good on that dream, just not today.

Not having a job hasn't been completely terrible, except for days like today where I have to get slapped in the face with reminders that I have next to no money.  I've got some things lined up to take care of things starting next month, but we didn't get married in September, we got married in August.

About the only thing I have going for me is that the traditional 10th wedding anniversary present is Aluminum or Tin.  Seriously?  I realize back in the day aluminum was über-pricey, but unless I'm getting the Mrs. a soda I cannot think of anything made out of aluminum or tin I'd even consider purchasing.  I guess I could always get a tin cup and go begging on the corner.....

Instead of aluminum or tin I went with paper and plastic.  My wife has been our HackMaster GM for some time now and I thought I'd create a set of monster cards for her.  A couple months ago at the Origins Game Fair she bought this beautiful wooden card holder just for monster cards.  She figured that over time she would fill it with cards she needed for the game.  I thought that by giving her a head-start on the cards she could spend less time filling out monster cards by hand and using her GM prep time for other things.

I had already made a form-fillable monster card sheet based off of Jolly Blackburn's original design.  My cards are a little smaller so as to be printable at a standard card size (if being professionally printed).  This also allows the use of devices (like her wooded card box) made for these sized cards.  Yesterday I printed up a couple hundred cards and cut them out by hand.  When I was done I stuffed them into card sleeves which give them some protection while being used and also allows her to mark on them with a wet erase marker.

The cards pictured here are about half of what I made.  Unfortunately I ran out of card sleeves.  I still plan on making a lot more for her....I'd like to fill up that box.

Now that I think of it I can get her a small portable card box for games on the go....those are made of aluminum I think.....

If you want to help a blogger out, please head over to twitter and drop @PrincessNoin a happy Anniversary.

Dropkick Murphys in Concert

My wife and I, as of late, only seem to listen to a couple of bands.  One of them is the Dropkick Murphys.

I didn't realize that the Mrs. has been stalking their website to see when they might be coming out way for a concert.  Yesterday I'm informed that they will be in Spokane, WA on November 7th, which is a day after her birthday (the 29th again I think) and if we go that would be "the bestest birthday present ever".

I'm taking some liberties with the 29th birthday and the "bestest", but she really wants to go.  Right now it looks like we will drive up on the 7th and back on the 8th.  It is an 8 hour drive, which I'm not looking forward to, but with a good band and good company, I can definitely think of worse ways to spend the time.  I'm thinking I'll rent a nice car for the trip and if we are lucky we can stop along the way to check in with a blogger we know that lives en route, and an old friend of ours lives in Spokane.

I think it'll be a fun trip.  I've already got the hotel booked and a house-sitter arranged.

This is your cat on drugs......

This morning Polly was started on a kitty dose of generic Prozac, Feline Fluoxetine....if you will.  For some reason I was against dosing the cat, but she is still having problems fitting in.

For the most part the dog and the cat like Polly, and I have no idea why.  Tessa wants to play with Polly and Krystal lets Polly into "her" room and has no qualms about sharing the bed.  Polly is content to steal Krystal's food and Tessa's water, but likes to pee in Tessa's bed and refuses to come on our bed if she knows Krystal is in the room.

Immaculate Combustion

Have you ever had a sibling that seemed to be able to get away with anything?  Both my brother and half-sister were practically bathed in Teflon, while I couldn't get away with much.

"Gee Chris, I think thou doth protest too much"

Really?  To those that might think along these lines, let me ask you one simple question: did you have a sibling set off a 1/4 stick of dynamite in the house and not get in trouble for it?

Yep, this happened in my house.

Hacking Together a Gift

I'm not that big into buying presents for people.  Don't get me wrong, I love giving presents to people, I just don't like shopping for them.  That whole saying about it being the thought that counts....BS.  I think about stuff all the time and I can tell you from experience that you really don't get credit for those thoughts until you get off your duff and turn them into reality.

My preferred gift is usually something I've made.  Often my gifts end up being more expensive than if I'd bought one, but I have a lot of fun putting sometimes figuring them out and then putting them together.  Right now I have several presents in the works that I cannot blog about 'cause I don't want to ruin the surprise....that and if they don't work out the recipient isn't wise to what he didn't get when he turned 53.

How I Met My Wife

I stated last week that I'd explain how I met my wife.  I promise to not make it as long-winded as How I Met Your Mother.

Boise officially became my home on December 31st, 1999 when I left the Air Force after completing my second enlistment.  My goal was to join the Idaho Air National Guard because they had just formed a TACP.  The National Guard wouldn't take me because evidently I was not out-processed from the air Force with a proper physical, and they wouldn't get me in to have the physical done for around 45 days.  Being upset at the time, I said "screw it, I'm going to try civilian life for a while".  It took me a while to find a decent job, but eventually I started working at Fred Meyer and was able to get into their management training program.

10th Anniversary of Me NOT Asking My Wife to Marry Me

10 Years ago this morning I did NOT ask my wife to marry me.

She said yes anyway.

A year before I attempted a last-ditch effort to ask her out.  Because of this we "celebrate" February 6th as a personal holiday instead of the more popular February 14th.  Eight days from now I'll tell you the story of that last-ditch effort.  This is about the results of that effort, so you already know there is a happy ending.

Teen Wolf

I've mentioned a couple of times recently how the wife and I are in the middle of a How I Met Your Mother Netflix marathon.

Last night they had a reference to the movie Teen Wolf.  This was the 1985 movie, not the 2011 MTV series.

MTV series......I still remember fondly when MTV was about music videos.  When I last had cable finding a music video on MTV was as rare as seeing some T&A on network TV.

Honorary Knight

There are many things my 12 regular blog viewers probably don't know about me, despite my pathetic attempts to share.  Hopefully the really bad things remain unknown and the really funny things eventually get shared.  The rest of the "facts" about my life may or may not be that interesting, although I doubt they'd be as interesting as the really bad to really funny things.

This "fun fact" is neither bad nor funny: I'm an Honorary Knight.  Now some folks already know about one "Knighthood", but I've actually been made an Honorary Knight twice.