A Garage Is Really For Cars?

     Karin and I have gotten moved to our brand new digs in Lacey, Washington.  It’s been an amazing six-plus months since we first decided to leave our “starter” house after 43 years and being anew in this suburb of the state’s capital Olympia.  Perhaps the most difficult was deciding where to start, which room to clean first, what to save and what to give away or throw away.  That process began after Christmas 2017. 

     It was fun discovering things that we stored away and had forgotten about.  Like the box of dishes I had put in the attic (fortunately there wasn’t very much that was up there!).  I found this little box that when I opened it was amazed to find a partial set of dishes that I had bought through the Pacific Area Exchange (PACEX) before I came home from Phabulous Phu Hiep By The Sea in June 1970.  The rest of the set is still being used by my son Tim and his wife!

     We had to figure out where to temporarily store the boxes we began to pack with the stuff we wanted to keep and move to Lacey.  We had to find a realtor who could help us with eventually staging the house to elicit the most interest in buying our split level.  We had to do some minor repairs and one not-so-minor remodeling.  The bedroom that had been used as an office for the past several years needed to be changed back into a space that could be a bedroom once again.  The laundry room that I had built using space on the garage needed to be torn down and room be made for a car (a car had not been parked in the garage for Lord knows how many years).

     During all this we needed to make periodic trips 60 miles to south to check on the house we would be moving into.  The trip to the Olympia area usually takes about an hour when traffic is good, but this is the Puget Sound area where traffic is generally incredibly congested at many times of the day or night.  So the trip from Kirkland to Lacey down I-5 took anywhere from an hour to three hours!  Ugh!   I’m so glad we don’t have to make that trip any longer!

     But we finally were ready to put the house on the market, and, praise the Lord, it sold in about   20 days for more than we were asking for it!  In fact, we were able to pay cash for the new house (no mortgage!) with a little bit left over.  God has been so good to us!

     However, we may have problems with our cars….they have not been in a garage in many years, and in the new house they both fit in the room made for them.  I don’t know if they will start as they may be too traumatized!  

Beanie Weenies

Fifty years ago, when I was taking my all-expense-paid-adventure in Southeast Asia, our friend Doug Clark would be working the overnight in the Photo Lab.  He sent me the following article that he wrote for a church publication.  I had forgotten all about this delectable gastronomical delight until Doug reminded me of it!

I was stationed at a place called Phu Hiep Army Airfield in Vietnam 1969-1970.  I worked nights 7pm-7am.  Me and the guy I worked nights with would take turns every few weeks (9-12pm) & go to the unit’s Enlisted Men’s Club (EM Club).  On my nights I’d go to the EM Club to relax and socialize.  They served exotic beer there such as Schlitz, Fallstaff, and Black Label.  Beer was 11 cents a can and it was before aluminum cans or pop tops.  Almost every time I was there, Aretha Franklin was on the jukebox, and this guy, Mike Worley (one of unit’s cooks), would enlist 10/12 people to help prepare and eat beanie weenies.  We would all go to the Mess Hall and take orders from Mike Worley. We would prepare the beanie weenies using all huge Army grade food stuff:

• #10 can of pork & beans (13 cups)
• Chopped onions (probably 3)
• Part of a slab of industrial size butter (probably over 2 sticks)
• Pack of industrial size hotdogs 
• Massive amounts of Mustard & Ketchup

Those beanie weenies were heavenly. They were creamy and smooth.  They were a silver lining in a dark cloud and they took me far away.  I enjoy Phu Hiep Bennie Weenies today, except I prepare and eat them in Decatur, GA.

Some Wonderful Videos to Share

I have a few minutes of free time, after all the little “honey-do” jobs that have been finally completed as a result of preparing our home of nearly 43 years for sale, so I thought I’d better catch up on the ole blog.  

Barb Michieli, MAJ US Army retired, is a friend of mine from our days working at Seattle Children’s Hospital who sends me interesting items periodically.  Below is a link to an article on the Military Officers of American Association website she sent me about “100 Veterans - 100 Years”  that is a great anthology of significant veterans over the past century.  http://www.moaa.org/Content/Publications-and-Media/100-Vets/100-Veterans---100-Years.aspx.

Our friend George Drago has been a continuous contributor to the 225th Observer.  One item he sent me recently is about one of Rembrandt’s famous painting “Night Watch” that has come to life in a very surprising location. This is what he sent me…”The Rijksmuseum in Holland had an idea: Let's bring the art to the people and then, hopefully, they will come to see more - at the museum. They took one Rembrandt painting from 1642, Night Watch, brought to life the characters in it, placed them in a busy mall, and the rest you can see for yourself!”

BEFORE YOU CLICK on the link below.....take a good look at the painting above. Then click to enjoy the video.  https://goo.gl/wYkxBj

Barb sent me another great video about some 4-Legged Patriots that are very important to all our Services!  Click and you will see what I mean.  https://www.circa.com/story/2019/03/18/for-pets-sake/caisson-horses-the-4-legged-patriots-who-honor-our-american-heroes

Have a great weekend everybody!

Where Have I Been????

I would like to apologize for for my overwhelming silence since my last posting of PH-13 flying with the Christmas lights attached.  Karin and I have begun a new Adventure....a very positive one this time!  After living in our "starter house" for nearly 43 years we have decided to move south.  My preference would probably be to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, because of the weather (especially after this unusually frigid winter we have had in the Great Northwest.)

But we're not going that far south; we bought a brand new house in Lacey, Washington, about 60 miles south of Seattle, near our state capitol of Olympia.  We will be in an over-55 community situated on an oak tree preserve.  Our community in Kirkland has changed gradually over the years, so much so that we really don't have a lot in common here any more; I am almost 72 and Karin is, well, let's just say that she is "mature."  And our Kirkland community is trending much younger.

Anyway, I haven't been on the blog because we have been very busy getting our house ready to go on the real estate market, cleaning stuff, finding things we forgot we had lost, putting a fresh coat of paint on room walls and doors, using the "Veterans Park Here" parking spaces at Home Depot a lot.

However, in the meantime our friend George Drago has been faithful in sending some great material for the blog.  Here is a link to "an oldie but goodie" that happened at Marble Mountain over 50 years ago.  Take a look and enjoy!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bvK6enoQDg

Mohawk Christmas Lights

I took the original photo of PH13 in 1969 for the back cover of the 1st Aviation Brigade magazine "Hawk".  Several years ago I asked my graphic artist son Tim to put Christmas lights on the airplane, and above is the result!  I think it was Steve Sachs who wrote me to say that one day he went a little too far off the end of the runway and discovered that Mohawks don't operate too well when wrapped in barbed wire!

Christmas 50 Years Ago

It was a few days ago when I realized that it’s been fifty years since my first Christmas in Vietnam.  Fifty years…50...can you believe it?  I actually don’t remember details of that first major holiday overseas except that I think I pulled guard duty on the western inner perimeter.  The highlight of that night was that we were on an alert (red or yellow, I don’t remember which) because of the holiday, when all of a sudden there was an explosion on the refueling helipad to the east and then the chopper went up with a white-hot glow like I had never seen before.  

Anyway, troubled times marked those days in our country’s history, much as they distinguish them now.  The same they characterized Palestine over two thousand years ago.  A lot of the world celebrates the holidays with Santa Claus, Father Christmas and Kris Kringle, but, of course, the real meaning of Christmas is contained in the name.  I was talking with a friend some time ago and I mentioned to him that Jesus is a big deal to me.  And he replied that Jesus was a big deal to him also!  Jesus really became more real to me during my twenty-eight month tour in Vietnam, thanks to my platoon leader (who became my friend) CPT Larry Stallard.  During my troubled times then when I was barely 21 years old, and over the past 50 years, Jesus Christ (who not what Christmas is all about) became and has continued to become more significant in my daily life.

In these troubled times in which we find ourselves, don’t be discouraged or lose hope.  Believe it of not, God is still in control even if it doesn’t seem that this is true.  God has said in his living Word the Bible that this life is a mystery, and he has shown himself to us in this holiday we call Christmas.

“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the Highest.’” (Luke 2:13-14)  “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ within you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Two Soldiers Are Laid To Rest

UPDATE:

In May I posted an article about two fellow Mohawkers of the 131st Avn Co (Marshal Kipina and Robert Nopp) whose remains were coming home fifty-two years after they were declared MIA in 1966.  After I posted the article and Bob Colby’s link Bill Page told me that he was a good friend of Bobby Nopp.  You can watch the video of their services at Arlington that Terry Clark posted on the Association website near the top of the main page.  Just click on this link: Marshal Kipina and Robert Nopp Burial Services at Arlington