tornadopat's Blog

My bride of 41 years and I left Topeka, Kansas yesterday after she got off work and headed south to visit my military son. We stopped in Wichita, Kansas at about 7pm for the night and went out to dinner. After arriving back at the hotel, we immediately went to sleep. The bride awoke very early and about 4am peered out the hotel window as some banging noise alerted her (we were on the 4th floor) and lo and behold she watched Wichita and the parking lot being inundated by pea size hail. After we were both awake, we watched the weather forecast and discovered that Kansas was going to get more hail, sleet and up to 5 inches of snow by midafternoon. We immediately packed up the car and headed south to Killeen/Ft Hood, Tx. Upon arriving late this afternoon and checking into the roomI discovered that the air conditioning was on as the temperature here is 83 degrees with a lovely southerly breeze drifting across the area. A broad grin has come across the old geezer's face as I think about my friends sliding around the highways and roads in Kansas. I promise them all I will try not to get too much of a suntan as I enjoy this wonderful southern Texas weather and play golf!!!:) Posted on Feb 24, 2011

Just returned from a great trip to see all three of my gorgeous daughters.  It started in Daytona Beach, Fl where my youngest daughter won her age group (25-29) in the 1/2 Daytona Beach Marathon.  (Pictures will be posted:).  Then we were off to Orlando with her to visit the middle daughter and grandson.  I played golf at a beautiful course while they all went shopping, shopping, shopping.  We spent the second day in an airboat looking for alligators and wildlife.  We found a ton of alligators (thank goodness they can't jump up in the boat) and observed all kinds of wildlife.  Then we were off to Clemson University where my youngest daughter is a professor and attended the Clemson/North Carolina State game.  Clemson came through and beat #25 NCS by a slim margin of 14-13.  It was off to Independence, Missouri to visit the oldest daughter and grandson and then home.  We had 10 great days with all the kids, spouses and grandsons!

Posted on Nov 10, 2010

My youngest daughter returned home from Spain a week ago.  She had been teaching English to Spanish students at Santiago University.  She was actually working for Kansas University teaching students that would attend KU.  During her tenure there she had applied for a full professorship at KU and they said they would give her one after she completed Doctorate which would be December or May.  She then applied to several other universities and lo and behold Clemson University hired her out from under KU and gave her a full professorship plus $1000 moving expenses.  So I am leaving with her today to help her move to Clemson.  Of course Dad is very proud of her too!!!!! 

Posted on Aug 09, 2010

I forgot to mention yesterday that when we crossed the border into Iowa we did stop by a welcome center in Lamoni Iowa that had a little Amish shop with it.  The outside was very beautiful with landscaped flowers and other antiques and such.  We spent at least 45 minutes browsing and roaming around looking at everything.

On Friday we took off from Des Moines  and headed to Austin, Minnesota as a via point to LaCrosse.  What is in Austin - well the home of Spam (Hormel) with the renowned Spam Museum.  I love Spam so it was natural for us to stop.  As we entered the complex, you pass under a wall made of 3,390 spam cans.  I believe that wall would sustain you for many years.  A 20-25 humorous movie awaited us and we were treated to specimens of different kind of spam as we watched.  It was then a trip through history of Spam as we meandered through the museum.  As you exit the museum, you enter (of course) a shop where you can buy all different kinds of spam plus an asundry of other memorabilia of items with the spam logo (shirts, shorts, pens, etc.)

You and also visit their Nature Center containing 507 acres of walking trails, wetlands and hardwood forest.  They have an informative interpretive center featuring a touch and see exhibits and an active beehive for viewing.

Then it was on to Lacrosse.

Posted on Jul 17, 2010

The bride of 41+ years and I left for our trip to LaCrosse, WI last Thursday and decided to use Thursday and Friday as a leisurely drive.  We crossed the border into Iowa and used the book "Off the Beaten Path" to stop a couple of times.  First stop was Cordova Park Observation Tower.  The tower was completed in 1998 from an old water tower.  It is 170 steps to the top and cost a whole 50 cents to run out of breath to the top.  If you are small you can squeeze through the gates as I saw a couple of kids do as I was walking to the gates.  The bride remained in the car as she is not into climbing 170 steps like I am.  When I reached the top, the view was breath taking.  It overlooks a vast water resort area.  I took some pictures from the top and as I began my descent to the bottom I counted each stair to make sure there were 170 and by golly there were!!  We then proceeded to the butterfly garden which the bride enjoyed.  I saw tons of butterflies and bees and even took some pictures of those little critters with my handy dandy Nikon camera and its many gadgets that let you take those wonderful closeups.

After our minor stop, we proceeded on to the Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge and Prairie Learning Center just west of Des Moines, Iowa.  It was a lovely ten mile drive through the preserve where the bride spotted a female moose and we drove through Buffalo country.  The Learning Center had closed at four darn it, but it looked like a very spacious area to learn about the wildlife of central Iowa.  The bride was enthralled with all the bird life roaming the prairie (she feeds thousands of those little critters in our front and back yard at home so don't know why she liked looking at them in the middle of nowhere).  A couple of pics are posted and more on the Fridays little excursion to the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota.

Posted on Jul 16, 2010

Just returned home from my Vietnam 66-67 Battery reunion in Onalaska, Wisconsin which is a suburb of LaCrosse, WI. Had a super great time meeting with the old members of the battery. Also did some things on the way up there which means another blog later and pictures to boot as soon as I get them developed and on a CD. Posted on Jul 12, 2010

 

As a youngster I remember selling poppies for the American Legion in the small town I grew up in. I found the following in an article on the internet:Why is the poppy the symbol of Memorial Day? It started with a poem penned by a Canadian army colonel during World War I. Col. John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" was published in December 1915. The ode reflected McCrae's grief over the huge loss of life on the Flanders battlefields, situated between western Belgium and northern France. One part described the poppies growing among the graves:"We cherish too, the poppy red"That grows on fields where valor led,"It seems to signal to the skies"That blood of heroes never dies."Two women -- Anna E. Guerin in France and Moina Michael in Georgia -- were so inspired, they thought the flowers should be used as a remembrance symbol of the war. They sold artificial poppies to aid orphaned war children (and other war victims).In 1922, Michael thought the flowers would make an effective universal symbol for the holiday. With assistance from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, her idea became reality.

Today the poppy money goes to Veteran's homes, scholarships for soldiers that were killed in action, and several other veteran related activities.  It is one of the few charities that has very little overhead attached to it (basically the cost of the poppies) as the rest is all volunteer work.

Posted on Jun 01, 2010

Ah Sunday morning and browsing through all the general discussions like I do each morning.  So many interesting topics to read and reply.

The good Lord has decided to withdraw the daily downpour on the midwest for a couple of days.  I thought I would have to go build an ark there for a few days.  I have had to constantly check the old sump pump downstairs as it is running 24/7 to keep the water out of the basement.

I see that AdamO has returned after a 4 day withdrawal from the discussion boards.  I hope he was well and just taking a few days off.  He was noticed as being gone though by someone who said where is AdamO. 

I played one round of golf on Friday, and wished I hadn't cause the fairways had little rivers running through them!  That is so not conducive to golf, but I had to have a golf fix after the all the rain.  Needless to say the score was almost as high as those clouds were low during our rain spell!!

Picked up the middle daughter and grandson at the airport in Kansas City yesterday.  She is here for a 10-day visit so the bride of almost 41 years can get her grandson fix.  The good thing about the visit is she is planning on a garage sale next weekend to get rid of all the stored stuff she has in the garage, basement and her old room.  Hurray, I might be able to park my vehicles in the garage again soon:)

Posted on May 23, 2010

Oh my goodness, the last week has found us receiving over 5 inches of rainfall!! I was only allowed to play golf once during this past week, but I think the good Lord has said I needed to get some things done around the old abode of mine. Not only the good Lord but the bride of almost 41 years had a list of things to do for me. So that list has been somewhat taken care of except for about three things. Now that bride of almost 41 years has a little smile on her face for the work that has been accomplished. She is also real happy because I took her to Best Buy to get a new laptop computer. I went to Best Buy because our Sears does not carry computers anymore. But I will inherit her old laptop which she had not so kind words about for the last few months. I tried to teach her how to clean out all the old cookies, defrag etc, but she still wanted something new and up to date. Now that woman is totally satisfied and will set it up this weekend with a smile on her face!! I will maintain my mainframe and like I said inherit the old HP. So when we go on the road for trips she will have her new laptop and I will be able to communicate here with her old one - that is one benefit of having two laptops in the motel:). The next few days are supposed to be nice here in mid-america. I have a Tee time for 1015am tomorrow to hit the little white ball around the cow pasture. I also hope that I will be able to put in my tomato garden this weekend after the earth dries up a bit. It has been so muddy that I haven't been able to till the earth for the garden. However, with the forecast in the 80's for the next five days, the good Lord may let me plant those veggies:-) Well that brings you all up to date on the old Colonel. Everyone have a super time what is left in May. Chat at ya later - Pat Posted on May 20, 2010

The last super day of the trip started off at 5am in the morning.  During the days of Officer Candidate School, if we received too many demerits (which was a normal occasion) we had to JARK from the OCS barracks to MB-4(what we believed to be a mountain when you had to run up it) and back to the barracks.  A JARK is the quick step between marching and jogging.  It was named after a famous general(I think he loved pestering us with that 4.2 mile run)  Any way that is what about 35 of us brave stalwart old men did that last morning.  I was the second one to the top and even carried my camera around my neck so I could take pics for you all.

We visited the Hall of Fame (I have been inducted), took pictures, told old stories about our journey through OCS and what we did afterwards, Vietnam war stories, talked about kids and grandkids, and just had a wonderful time.

We toured the Fort Sill Museum with all its artifacts, took a stroll along Cannonade Walk where artillery pieces line the walkway for about a quarter of a mile, visited Geronimo's jail site and then his grave site and then had some free time before the evening formal affair and induction of new members to the hall of fame.

Needless to say the whole experience will be remembered forever.  I will probably put this on my calendar of things to do annually as I had so much fun.  However, next year I will take the bride of almost 41 years with me. 

Posted on May 14, 2010

Good afternoon all - Day two and three of my Fort Sill trip started out with a briefing from both the Artillery Center and Air Defense Command. It was very enlightening and definitely made me feel that the troops of both commands are intelligent, patriotic and serving our country well. They briefed us on the new things coming into the army and all those that were still working well. The old saying if it works don't mess with it still applies to what works in our army. I observed that on our next sojourn to a static display. The counter mortar/artillery radar is still what we used when I was in the army and it still works in an outstanding manner. They then took us to two new training areas - one to train new howitzer(cannon) crew members and one that trained forward observers in calling for artillery fire. They were state of the art artillery trainers and I am proud to say that they are saving thousands of dollars of your tax money as they are near perfection in what goes on in the live fire exercises but do not use live ammunition, fuel and save time going to the field to do the training. The young soldiers that we met in each area represented all the states, creeds and religions and were stalwart young men and women serving their country with pride. I don't know how many I thanked for volunteering to serve their country this day as we went from site to site, but I just hope I made them proud for volunteering. We also went out to the boonies (that is the firing areas for all the civilians reading) and watched a tremendous fire power demonstration put on by recruits and young officers going through their basic training and officer basic course. It was a site to see for sure and all the rounds hit the targets!! I even met one of the first young female lieutenants to serve in the field artillery combat arms. It was great to see that we are tapping into a new source of bright intelligent young women to run our fire direction centers in the army. I hope by reading about these three days you all can feel safe and secure with the young folks that are making up our army today. I am sure that can be true of the other services also. Pics are available at my pic site:) Posted on May 13, 2010

Good morning all - Day one of my trip to Fort Sill was checking into a LaQuinta Inn which is usually one of three places I stay when I travel. The others are Best Western or Holiday Inn. I belong to all three and receive free rooms after several stays. I will certainly review this one as it was outstanding. After unloading my car and getting on my golf outfit - It was off to the golf course to play a round with about 45 of the reunion attendees. It was a rather windy, but warm day and I can truly say I had an outstanding outing with the golfers. I won two trophies for the tournament; the longest drive and the lowest net score (79). That is the lowest score I have shot this year:) I guess I saved it for the golf tournament. After a hearty round of golf, It was off to the Icebreaker Picnic and welcome to Fort Sill display. We gorged ourselves on hamburgers with all the accoutrements, baked beans and salad with free beer and wine. I sipped several glasses of zifandel while downing a double hamburger. The food and visiting were fantastic and then came the Fort Sill Half Section demonstration. It was an old horse drawn cannon with caisson and crew going into action and firing the old cannon. What a way to start the reunion - with a really great big bang!!! After the demonstration, we were able to chat with the sergeant and his crew. They were all hand-picked outstanding soldiers in their units. There were even two wonderful women in the crew that were soldiers of the year in their units!! Well that was the end to great start - More to follow over the next couple days. Pictures in my pic file Posted on May 10, 2010

Hi all, just returned from Fort Sill, Oklahoma where I attended my Field Artillery Officer Candidate Hall of Fame Reunion. Fortunately, I had purchased my bride of 41 years a Mother's Day Card and gift before I departed, so this morning I gave her a big kiss, her card and gift before I got on the internet with all my Sears friends. If not I probably would have been kicked in the patutie!!! I am going to take her out to dinner, but first we are going to Wolfe's camera shop to put her trip to Spain, Italy and Ireland on a CD and my trip to Fort Sill on a CD. I should get those back in a day or two and then I can blog about our trips and show you all some fantastic pictures that were taken. I need to tell you her facebook site name is Ruth Mitchell and you need to ask to join her site, but if you do I will let her know that you are safe and you see pictures of her sojourn to Europe. They will probably be up by next week. I will have my pictures up in here later this week and I will have to change them about every other day because I have over 200 pictures. I wish we had more room or a place to put them up with more room. I will also blog about each day we spent at Fort Sill and what we did as it was very interesting. I can report to you though that I met many soldiers and officers there during my stay and you all can feel very safe and secure as they are outstanding men and women who are dedicated to preserving the freedoms we all have. I cannot over emphasize how proud I was of those young men and women in uniform and how wonderful they were telling me that they loved their country and were proud of what they were doing. And every single soldier volunteered to be there even with the wars going on in Afghanistan and Iraq. Posted on May 09, 2010

My bride of 40+ years bought me a Nikon D3000 camera for Christmas:)  I am about to take the chip in to develop the first batch of Christmas photos and a new grandson group of photo's.  This camera is the cat's meow for an amatuer so I will be reviewing it in the very near future.

Posted on Feb 01, 2010

After a rip roaring blizzard with blowing snow, freezing rain, and wind blowing to the bone - It is time to wish all a very Merry Christmas.  The son returned from Iraq safe and sound nine days ago and arrived here day before yesterday before the blitzkrieg of a snowstorm hit.  So we are snuggled into the warm house (Thank goodness the wind didn't blow the electric lines down here) looking out at a winter wonderland.  Needless to say with 6 inches of snow we are having a white Christmas.  I hope all have a wonderful day and Santa was as good as he could be to all:)

Posted on Dec 25, 2009