Army Jacket

Wow it sure has been a long time since I wore this stuff! What "stuff" am I talking about? My Army clothes that I have been hauling around for over 40 years! Most of the time it has spent inside a trunk that I got in the Amry while in Vietnam. I just sent the "girls" (Linnea and Laurel) a second box of clothes. They include a pair of "Jungle Boots". These boots are some of the original combat boots that the Army developed for the jungles of Vietnam. I kept them as my inspection boots. Those are the boots that stayed in my locker always ready to go on inspection! Inside the box was more fatigue shirts. They include both the regular standard issue shirt and the jungle fatigue shirt. The Army just began issuing these in Vietnam toward the end of 1966. They had been developed before but the delivery to the troops was very slow. By the time I left May of 1967 the jungle fatigues was standard issue. Some of the shirts had my insigna on them. One had my old company patch. This was a home design for the aviation company that I was in. This is a one of a kind patch given only to members of the 92nd Aviation Company. Lots of memories there...

Laurel called this morning and said that they had gotten the first box of clothes and was actually wearing one of the shirts to school today. She sounded very happy to get them! I offered her an Aviator's jacket that I also have. I have attached a picture of it. Neat little jacket but the knit collar has worn and needs to be replaced.

The picture was taken when I was going to college in Houghton michigan at Michigan Tech University. I managed to do some grouse hunting in between classes. Isn't that red hat neat? Check out the beard! Those must have been 34 x 34 jeans!!! I am just a little bigger then that now!!!!!!!!!

Slide show development

Okay I am about to enter the 20th century ....yeah I know that it is the 21st century already ... but Popsie is always a little behind. I need someone to help me to develop music files on my computer that I can use to add sound bites to a slide show presentation that I am making with Adobe Premiere program. The program is very easy to use and I got the slides inserted but I found out that I don't have any music files on my computer. Where can I find free music files that I can download to my computer. I know that I can use music CD's but I don't have any of those. All I have is a box of tapes that I played in my old red truck. I don't even have a player for them. Any help that you might provide is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Back Home

I am back from my recent adventure to Oregon where I dog/house sitted for a week in Hillsboro. There is something settling about returning to your familiar surroundings. Having your toys and other items close to hand is reassuring that you are indeed still amoungest the living!

Have you had a good laugh lately? I sure have after visiting the Yearbook site. It is an internet site that transforms a photo of yourself into what you might have looked like in prior years. You must be able to laugh at yourself because it made me belly roll looking at the resulting photos. Take a look at one of them. This is the 1982 "Afro" version.

If that doesn't make you smile then you had better check your pluse. Enjoy. Just remember that the next photo i take of you might end up in the same program!

Multi-colored Mullet

Okay....I realize that I haven't kept up with the times but I can usually figure things out if given half a chance....especially with the computer as a resource. I must reveal that I am totally lost with this one. What is a multi-colored Mullet? I use to think that a mullet was a fish ... so therefore a multi-colored mullet was one that had been out in the sun for too long...it also conjured up the thought of very fragrent orders coming off the body. Well in researching the web ...see attached photo...I came up with a photo of a multi-colored 50 year old rat tailed mullet. There was no explanation given with the photo so I am left to wonder if the "mullet" is a reference to the old man....his hair style or something else. In order to collect one of these for a scavenger hunt do I bring the whole thing or do I just cut off the green rat tail? Please advise,

Rainy Night

As I write this edition we are finally getting a welcome break in the HOT weather! It is raining! I don't know tha number of days that it has been above 100 degrees this summer but it seems like it must be every day. It was 111 degrees on my atomic thermometer yesterday at 530pm. It never cooled off all night even though I had the whole house open and the fans blowing full force!
The rain has stopped already....a real short shower! I hope that we get a little more rain during the night. The forest is dry and the rain might wet things down for a short time.
Nothing much to report. No new pictures to show. I did register for a Twitter account. I have been reading posting from a visitor to Vegas. It is interesting to read his account as he walks the strip in Vegas. Well enough for now...Have a great night.

End of July

Wow is time flying by this summer! It is the end of July already. It has been a month since I have posted anything....that must mean that I haven't done anything! Well that is almost correct. It has been a very hot month with most days getting into the lower 90's and some into the 100's. I have been struggling with the effort to get out on days like this to go fishing or exploring in the out-of-doors.

I did get into the mountains to help my friend maintain some Forest Service trails. The Fish Lake Trail on the Powell Ranger District of the Clearwater National Forest was the trail maintained. We camped at the trailhead the night before and left early in the morning the next day. The photo shows Sandra and Duane getting the equipment ready to head up the trail. The wheelbarrow contraption only was able to go in one mile before the trail got too steep for it to be pushed. We made it in to the Willow Creek Trail bridge by mid-afternoon. After a break Duane went up the trail towards the cabin where he found several down trees in the trail. He finally ran out of gas before calling it quits. He will have to make another trip from the top of the mountain and the other end of the trail. We spend the night after a wonderful dinner of noodles and sauce. Everything seems to taste better after a hard days work. We got up early the next morning to beat the heat but it was hot by 800pm. The temperature had gotten done to 50 during the night. The stars filled the sky during the night.

The hike out was spent doing a lot of brushing. I am sure the "loopers" needed to be sharpened after I got done with them! We got to the trailead at 100 pm and drove home in the hot afternoon sun.

During the last month a trip was also made to the head of the Dvorsak Reservoir to catch smallmouth bass. Duane and I drove in the Grand Dad Boat launch. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive from Orofino. We went in on the Bertha Hill Road and the trip was a quit late afternoon drive. We motored the boat up the reservoir to the Salmon Creek Log landing (see the photo on the right). We fishing but it was very slow. We camped on the landing after it got dark. The moon was half full and the stars filled the sky. We got up before daylight and was fishing as the sky turned light. The fishing was SLOW! We quit at 1100 and took the boat out. We had 10 nice 1-1 1/2 lb fish. I had hooked a nice 4 lber but when I got it to the boat it tossed the hook! We seen 2 cow elk on the drive out Silver Creek. But as we approached the highway (only 5 miles short) we came upon a construction project which had closed the road. We had to drive all the way back to Grand Dad and come out the way we had gone in! An extra two hours of driving didn't make us too happy.

Running on Empty

Well here it is Sunday night. I have only managed to get in one day of fishing during the past week. I went bass fishing with Duane on Dvorsak Reservoir on Thursday. We left at 0530am and I got back home at 0930pm. It was a long day and the catching was poor! I did manage to catch a 4+lb smallmouth bass early in the morning. Duane caught one bass and we managed to catch 5 crappie. One from Magnus Bay and the others from Elk Creek.

Today was another hot day here in the apartment. I should have been outside but no energy. Maybe I can get out tomorrow.

Remembering

Well the day finally turned out to be a nice day. It is 0400pm however and I just got up from my nap. Some might think that it is a funny way to celebrate my birthday but it is exdactly what i chose to do! Only in America can you do that! Maybe if the price of gas was a little less i might hook up to the book and terrorize the fish on the reservoir for a few hours but I have a dinner engagement tonight that I am looking forward too. The fishing will have to wait until tomorrow morning!
I got a real neat book and electronic frame from Travis and Amy in the mail today so it even feels like your birthday ....when you get to open presents.! Hurrah for birthdays! The receipe book should help create a new food outlook!

Happy Birthday

Wow! It has been a month since my last post. Lots of things have been happening...hard to figure out where to start. Okay lets start with the fun stuff!

Fishing May 13th - 58 Kokanee I spent the day fishing with Duane and David (the baker) I was putting most of the fish into the boat today. :) It was one of those great days!

Fishing May 15th - 38 Kokanee I spent the day fishing with Duane. The fishing was slow but we managed to put a nice mess of fish into the boat by mid afternoon.

Sleep study at St Joe's Hospital - VA sponsored study to follow up on the fact that I have sleep apniea. They outfitted me with several different machines and will submitt the report to the VA. I will probably hear from the VA when I call them.

Fishing May 19th - 19 Kokanee & 5 Smallmouth Bass A nice mess of fish.

Fishing May 20th - 60+ Kokanee It was a nice day fishing with Duane and David. I again was showing them how to catch fish. I had one "HOT" road that was putting the fish into the boat.

Fishing May 23rd - 60+ Kokanee 6 Smallmouth Bass & 1 Crappie Another hot day fishing for Kokanee. David and Duane finally got tired of watching me catch the kokanee so we motored up to Canyon Creek where I caught bass and the crappie. I promise to start counting the fish when we get to the dock.

Fishing May 24th - 23 Kokanee 1 Rainbow Trout & 3 Smallmouth Bass I went on a Saturday and quickly remembered why I fish during the week. There was a lot of people at the dock trying to get in and out. I got there early so I could park at the bottom of the access area.

Fishing May 25th - 11 Kokanee & 5 Smallmouth Bass I was blown off the lake after a short fishing trip this morning.

Canned fish at Ralph's house today. We had a full day of good eating as we filled/emptyed 4 big canners with a variety of fish. We had everything from salmon, kokanee, trout and crappie. It was a good day.

Fishing May 27th - 25 Kokanee 6 Smallmouth Bass I was checked by a pair of conservation officers today. It is a good thing that I can count! The level of the reservoir is coming up fast.

Fishing may 28th - 30 Kokanee I fished with Duane today. He couldn't get any of the fish he hooked into the boat. He was having a terrible day.

Fishing May 30th - 25 Kokanee 6 Smallmouth Bass & 2 Crappie. I got the bass and crappie up in Canyon Creek. No problem getting up there with the small tank of gas.

I got sick on Monday, June 1st, went to the doctor on June 2nd and didn't get out of the house again until going back to the Doctor's on June 9th. I lost over 20 pounds. The scales read 275 pounds for the first time in many...many....years!

I am on antibiotics for the next three weeks. I will try to get my fishing schedule back into gear in the next few weeks. Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes....I know that they helped a lot!~

Sunday

It is a slow day here in Idaho. At least I am trying to slow down. After surgery on Friday I felt very good. I even walked about 10 blocks before settling down and watching tv in the Cardolay House. I watched the mariners lose another ball game. :( This is getting to be a too familiar occurance. I visited the ER later that night as things changed and I experienced some discomfort. Saturday morning I eat breakfest at the hospital cafeteria. I had a very good omlet, potatoes, toast and peaches. My appetite is not suffering! I didn't try any more walking but I did go to Walmart and the Black Sheep. That was probably too much walking. I was feeling the effects by late afternoon. I even took a pain pill! General discomfort and localized pain kept me from doing much. I did clean up my flower bed and plant 4 flats of marigold flowers. They should give a slash of color to my apartment front. If I remember I will add a photo later. Some cold compresses and another pain pill finished off the evening. I need to take it very easy today and tomorrow. I can't seem to just stop and relax. I am always thinking about things that I need to do. Donald called this morning and we had a good chat. Fishing dominated the conversation. Joel had gotten a big tom turkey with a 10 1/2 inch beard. I enjoy talking with him. I wish he was closer so that we could do more things together. I might have to get Greg Millikin to look for an apartment for me to rent this fall. That way I can spend the fall chasing that big whitetail buck. That reminds me that I need to put my application for a deer license me. I had better go and do that right now.

Thursday 8 May 2008
Here it is Thursday already. The week is flying by. I went exercising everyday except on Wednesday , when I went fishing instead. Not as much exercise value but I got a l;ittle activity reeling in all those fish! No not really. We almost pulled our lines in without a bite when all that changed in a hurry. We had noticed some fish activity on the surface of the Dvorsak reservoir so I removed all my weight from my kokanee troll. I was rewarded with a bite and after a brief battle a 10 inch kokanee came in the boat. Hurrah! We are not skunked. It is always a relief to get hat first fish into the boat and avoid going home empty handed. Duane quickly adapted as I reeled in another fish and he adjusted his line. In the next hour we boated a total of 22 nice kokanee. They are now in the smoker at Duane's house. I hope to sample them next week. I promised that the next batch would be for barbequeing at Ralph's house. Duane and I will go next week when I get to feeling like it.
I went mushroom hunting on Tuesday but didn't have any luck. I found too much snow out at Johnson Mill so I went up the Upper Wells Bench road. I took a short hike but the ground was very dry and no mushrooms. I emailed my friend from the forest service to get a lead on mushrooms but he hadn't heard of any yet. It is getting late but the weather has been so cold that it is really early. There is a lot fo snopw at the higher elevations so it will be very late before we find any mushrooms up there. I will have to concentrate on fishing and maybe trade so fish for some later.
i washed the truck today. I will take it to Lewiston tomorrow. It isn't suppose to rain until Saturday! I went grocery shopping but the good produce sale doesn't start until tomorrow! Oh well.

Saturday

If I said that winter might be over....well don't believe it! I went to the woods on Thursday and had a real adventure in the snow. It started out as a mushroom hunting trip and it turned into a survival expedition. I picked an area close to snow line (I actually thought that I was below it) and walked out an old logging road. After a short hike of 3/4 mile I found that the snow was too deep for any mushrooms to be in this part of the forest just yet. I picked an open ridge and started up the mountain. It was a great hike and I spotted yellow lilleys blooming along with a small white, 3 petal flower. The forest was coming to life. I hiked up to the top and found a new reconstructed road that was almost totally snowed in. I didn't want to backtrack so I decided to follow the road. The top of the cutbank on the north edge of the road (open to the sun) was bare and I found the going easy for about 3/4 mile. I came to an intersection with another road and it was decision time. None of the roads was going in the direction that I need to go! A fresh bear track lead off into the timber and it appeared to be staying on top of the snow. Well that bear must have been a little one because I didn't stay on top! Well to make a long miserable hike through several feet of snow, up and down forested mountain terrain into a short description.... I made it back to the open gravel road at noon. I was over two miles from the truck! It was almost 100 pm before I made it back to the truck! I had gotten my exercise for the day!
I went fishing in the afternoon with Duane. It was a gorgeous day but the fishing was slow! So slow that for the very first time we got "skunked"! All I can say is that I will do better next time.
Friday I spent the day in Kamiah getting things ready for the Lion's garage sale day. I didn't get my exercise in but I did move a lot of boxes, couch, love seat, and other things. I might have gotten in my daily exercise requirements. Today is the garage sale. I hope that we make a few dollars to go towards the annual scholarship that we award to a local highschool senior. I plan to take the day off except for a short mushroom hunting hike late in the afternoon. This one will definitely be where there is NO snow.

Sunday

Wow time is flying by. Winter is about over as the snow line climbs up the mountainside. I was able to get some exercise in every day this week. On Friday i went on the tread machine for 40 minutes at a 7 % grade. I made it over 2.5 miles. Not very far for a professional streak runner like some people I know. But it did break a sweat. I am getting more comfortable with a daily exercise each and every time. I can't remember if I reported this fact in the last blog or not but here it is again.....I am officially signed up to receive Social Security. I guess that is a little milestone in most everyone's career. It is a relief to finally have made it and it is a scary thought to know that you are really that old! I have been wasting a lot of time at the classmate site. it has been fun looking for old classmates and folks that might have been at the same place I was during my career. I have gotten two recent contacts. One from a highschool classmate that is a professor in Japan. It sounds as though life has taken him around the world. The other contact is also a highschool classmate and I haven't gotten and details from him as of yet. I am looking forward to hearing from him. Attached is a copy of my "back then" photo which I sent to him. How do like my crew cut?

Wednesday 23 April 2008

Well here it is Wednesday night of a wet week. The weather continues to be a factor in gettingoutside. It is not very pleasant outside for many activites. I spent my third day in a row at the gym. With weather like this it is pretty easy to go. I seem to enjoy getting the heart rate up and the sweat rolling. I have been walking for 2.5 miles at a 3.6 rate at an incline of 3.0%. I have been maintaining the pace for about 38 minutes. I also do a few repetitions using 15 lb hand weights. I then close out the hour with about 15 minutes of cycling. I haven't lost any weight with the exercises but the muscles are feeling firmer. I tired to get a plane ticket to Michigan but they didn't take my bid on PriceLine. The ticket prices are increasing. I might have to get a full price ticket.

Sunday 20 April 2008

Wow a whole week has disappeared since the last post. I received an approval letter from Social Security so I will receive my first check around the 20th of August for the month of July. I drove to Spokane by way of Post Falls, Id. I drove up with my friend Skip Danielson. We made a stop at the Cabela's store. It is a nice store but not as big as the ones that I have been in before. It is biggerthen Boise store. Everything is new and shinney. I washed the truck a couple of times. I drove it to Lewiston one day. I called Grandma Ella. I talked with Donal Millikin in Iowa. I talked to Harvey. The weather has turned cold and nasty. Maybe next week it will get warmer and I can go out to look for some mushrooms.
Mab's birthday today. I will give her and Laurel a call.

Old Man for sure

Wow! Time is flying by. They say that is a definite sign that you are getting old. It seemed like yesterday when I made an entry in my blog and it actually was a week ago. It was actually a pretty busy week. I went to the gym on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I will get in a good wal sometime today and hit it again on Monday. I was very disappointed to find that I was actually gaining a few pounds as I converted some of the fat into muscles. I need to start controling the calorie intake. As I write that sentence I reached for and eat a piece of red licorice! Ouch.....this being healthy is hard.
Another sure sign of being old is that you qualify to sign up for Social Security, SS. Well I successfully signed up on Friday for SS! If it is approved I will be receiving my first check in July. I decided not to wait until I was the full age of 66 to start drawing. At my reduced rate it would be june of 2024 before I could make up the difference of not starting now.
Who knows how to wash a black truck? I need to relearn how to wash a truck and detail it so that it looks great! I got a few supplies when I went to Walmart yesterday. I need another bigger chanios to help wipe up the water spots for sure.
Well enough for now. I hope that your day is a super one with the weather as nice as what it is here in Idaho. 70 degrees with a brilliant sun!

5 April 2008

Wow the time is flying by. I had a very eventful April Fools Day. My daughter Linnea pulled the "wool" over me! Boy did I fall for it hook line and sinker! It was also the day that I got my new truck. I now have a new 2008 Chevrolet Silverado 1/2 ton 4x4 Truck. It is awesome if I don't say so! I have been going to the gym regularly. I went 4 times this week. I get in an hour of strong exercise each day. At least I break a good sweat everyday. Some of the young girls there really work hard. It makes me work harder to get into shape when I see them.

31 March 2008

Crazy Spring day today. Snow, rain, sunshine has been rolling through the valley. It is late afternoon now and the sky is blue. Maybe it is a sign of good things to come tomorrow. Trying to buy a car today. Actually a truck for those of you that know me. I had an offer in on a truck but the dealer that I made the offer too didn't have the rig. The dealer who had the rig came in high on his first bid. He then came back later and cut the price by $635 but by that time I felt that I had made a validoffer. I told him to keep it unless he released the rig to my dealer there wouldn't be any sale. Late in the day my dealer called me and said that he had jsut received a call from the other dealer saying that they might release the rig??? Who knows maybe I have bought a rig after all. Like I said it has been a crazy day!
Grandma called and she got her package. The front desk had opened her box actually my box and another that Carol had sent to her. I mailed her a bird carving for her 91st birthday. It sounded like she was enjoying the gift.

Cold Spring 25 March 2008

It might be spring but it is still awful cold outside. I am waiting till it warms up just a bit before I get the boat out on the lake. The high is forecasted to be 42 today with showers possible. The sun is shining right now but it is still cold. I had a good workout yesterday. An hour on the gym equipment got me to sweating pretty good. Easter weekend was a fun weekend as I hid 100 dozen candy filled plastic eggs for the kids in Kamiah. I called Grandma on Sunday and wished her a Happy Easter. I also talked to Harvey, Travis and Hank. It was nice talking to friends. I corrected my income tax (2007) and sent the admended form in. I had made a big error and not included the child credit. Opps! Thanks to Travis I caught the error and it should help pay for my new computer. It is scheduled to arrive tomorrow! I am excited about getting it. No more blue screens!

Spring has Sprung

Happy Spring! It is the first day of spring. I have 39 daffodils blooming in my flower bed out in front of my apartment. I went to exercise at the gym this morning and the sunshine was brilliant. I spent my second hour at the gym. Travis and Amy got me a membership at the local gym. I am spending an hour every other day exercising on various pieces of equipment in the gym. I broke a pretty good sweat this morning. I hope that I don't have as sore of muscles as I did on Tuesday night- Wednesday morning. It woke me up while I was doing my sleep study. The study revealed that I have sleep apnea. I will await the doctor's report to find out what it means....if anything. I had a great trip to Hillsboro Oregon to visit Travis and Amy. I got to play with Troy and Logan. They are getting big fast. I wish that it was a closer drive instead of being 7 + hours to get there. I now need to get a trip to Grand Forks and Colorado Springs planned. I missed a golden oppurtunity to see both of my children (justin and Linnea) during the past week they where together in Colorado Springs at Justin's house. I need to see the rest of my Grandkids before they grow up! Meghan is growing quickly and I need to take Nathan and Joel fishing again before they forget how! Enough for today. I have to remember to post more often. Happy Spring.

The Next Trip

The next trip begins on Tuesday. I am off to Michigan to visit my Mother and Brother. It should be fun to see their families and maybe even some of my old friends. The trip begins with an early morning flight to Detroit from lewiston. I hope that weather cooperates and that there are not big flight delays in Salt Lake.
The ice fishing is something that I am hoping to get to try in Michigan. It has been a long time since I have done some serious ice fishing! I hope that the perch are biting.

2008 New Year

Happy New Year.
I am trying to get a new entry into my blog. My computer has been down for a week due to a fan that quit. I took the unit over to a friend's house and he was able to get one of the fans cleaned and working but the other is definitely not going to run again. He ordered a new unit and it should be here next week. Hopefully that should put me back into full operation. Until then I will maintain a minimum input. Feel free to comment but it may be a while until I answer. Again I hope that the New Year brings you completion of all your dreams. I hope to visit you soon.
Popsie.

Happy New Year

WOW Here it is 2008! How time flies. I am sitting here at my blog site wondering where all my time has gone. I had anticipated that by now I would have decided what it was that i wanted to do ... and would be doing it. Well here it is time to make New Year's resolutions and I am still procrastinating about it. I must be the King of Procrastinators!
Lets investigate the facts. Current situation is I am doing nothing as I vegetate in my Idaho apartment. I have no short term gols for existance other then a still urge to get into better condition and to lose about 50 pounds. I guess my dream would be to make the weight charts in a category other then obese!
I want to go ice fishing. There is no safe ice in Idaho. I guess that I need to explore fishing ccondition in Montana. I will call Wally today and make my fishing plans. If no fishing oppurtunities exist in Montana I will explore river fishing oppurtunities in near by rivers. Whitefish are there and I have a friend who volunteered to smoke any that I can catch.
I need to finalize care plans for my mother. She is living alone and as she ages she is losing mobility. The firemen had to recue her as she became trapped on her steps as she tried to mail me a letter. We need to get life alert. We also need to have someone check on her every day. Maybe I should go back there to live for a period of time. I don't think that I would survive life in Detroit. I have been living in a small town too long. I love the fishing oppurtunities but don't know how to cope with all the people.
I need more daily exercise. I need to schedule a trip to the local gym and see what equipment they have and whether I can develope a fitness program to use it.
I need to do some structured looking for a job! I want to work. I don't like just sitting around at the computer. I would like it if I had something to do on a computer that made me some money but then I don't want to give up all my time in order to do it. I really enjoyed working with Donald. We got up early every morning and feed calves. It was hard physical labor but I seemed to enjoy it. I doubt that I would have liked doing it for just any one. I enjoyed the fresh air and being outside. I missed the computer. After three weeks I barely knew how to operate mine.
Well there you have it! I am doing fine. If I could somehow get off of dead center and start getting on with life I know that I would be doing better. I hope that I haven't bored you to death with this blog. I hope that the New year brings you happiness as you face the same questions that I am dealing with.