Creative Endeavors, The Home of BoxcarOkie.com

May 28, 2012

The Wall

Filed under: Blogging,Oklahoma,politics,Recent,Uncategorized — ldsrr91 @ 6:04 AM

“My brother came home from Viet Nam but he left a big part of him there. He didn’t die from the injuries that earned him, his purple heart but the war did kill him.”

Today is Memorial Day, a day set aside to traditionally honor and remember our war dead.  I was one of the generations that was not supposed to see any war, unfortunately it did not work out that way for me and a lot of my classmates in 1965.  Today we will give you a little history most people will never know.  Please take a moment out of your busy day to reflect on these number and statistic’s from my war … Viet Nam.

There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.  The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.  I was there in 1967 some 45 years ago, the ripe old age of 19 years.

The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth , Mass. Listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965.

There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall.  39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.  8,283 were just 19 years old.

The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.   12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.  5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.  One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.

997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam … 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam.  31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.  Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.

54 soldiers attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia . I wonder why so many from one school?  8 Women are on the Wall. Nursing the wounded.  244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.

Beallsville , Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons.  West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall.

The Marines of Morenci – They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest . And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci’s mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.

The Buddies of Midvale – LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam . In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.  The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 – 2,415 casualties were incurred.

For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. We saw their bodies wrapped in the American Flag and shipped home.

There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.

OOO

More information on the Wall can be found here.

[#1262]

May 26, 2012

Retrofit Post

Filed under: Uncategorized,Oklahoma,random,Life,Blogging — ldsrr91 @ 7:52 AM
Tags: , , ,

Kind of funny, how something written years ago (2008) can still be considered appropriate and right on the money.  Doing a little house cleaning this morning and stumbled up on this.

I Cannot Drive My Car

I asked a girl to go traveling with me

See the country in an SUV

Pulled into the station the sign was obscene

The pump was hooked up to a cash machine

I cannot afford to drive my car

$50 won’t get me far

baby you can push my car,

and maybe I’ll help you

beep-beep it aint cheap yeah

I had a friend said his Honda was good

Because they have batteries under the hood

Owning a Prius is all very cool

But I got a gas hog that guzzles the fuel

I can’t afford to drive my car

$50 won’t get me far

don’t know how to push that car

or maybe I’ll buy me a mule

beep-beep it aint cheap yeah

beep-beep it aint cheap yeah

beep-beep it aint cheap yeah

OOO

May 24, 2012

The Back Haul

Filed under: Blogging,Bus Life,Life,Oklahoma,Recent,Uncategorized — ldsrr91 @ 7:42 PM

“We picked out a new stretch to look at this time, the view won’t be just the same old thing

for the back haul to the house.”

Truck-stop food leaves a lot to be desired on most days … A just released ex-con for a cook, throwing three day old bread on a dirty grill … Mmmmmm, yummy.  Life on the road, would not have it any other way.  This is a prime reason we often pull into the first handy wide spot we discover around lunch time and fix our own grub.  It might not be a whole lot, but the wife, she takes ordinary stuff and makes it “especially nice and appealing” and that is better than truck-stop fare on most any day.

Sitting here, nursing a cool sodie water out of the ice chest, watching the emergency service tire guy change a flat out on a Peterbilt in front of us.  Strange, it is always the “inside dual” that needs the attention.  I wonder what it is that dictates this condition of the road?

The summer heat is coming sooner than I remember it in this neck of the woods, the asphalt is heating up making sticky little pools of black goo, and the tires of the heavy trucks are making the ruts a little more difficult on some stretches of the road.

Our windshield is littered with the carcasses of butterflies, every color of the rainbow.  I wonder what it is that they are surviving on, the grass in the fields is already turning a yellow shade of color and dying off.  Farmers are out in the field bringing in the winter wheat crop and working late at night, cutting by the light of their headlamps, to get it in before the summer thunderstorms.

Such are the rhythms of life on the Texas plains I suppose.

Most of the sand from the beach has been swept out and vacuumed up, filling the nearest trash barrel for our garbage, it is once again time to hit the road.  Having sufficiently spoiled the grandchildren and blown out the candles on the cake, it is now time to point the old girl north, give her a little room to breathe and let her run.

We picked out a new stretch to look at this time, the view won’t be just the same old thing for the back haul to the house.  In a little while, we will be among familiar things, and our Road Trip will have ended.

We will back the old hoopie into the shop and leave it there until the next grand adventure possibly this fall.

I can hardly wait ….

OOO

May 23, 2012

Northbound Camper

Filed under: Blogging,Bus Life,Life,Oklahoma,travel — ldsrr91 @ 6:35 PM

Last summer my granddaughter looked at me and said, “there goes one of those animal carriers Grandpa.”  She was referring to a bull hauler on the interstate.  Truckers will also refer to them as “bull wagons.”

Glancing out the window, I look at him and I wonder the same thing, what I always wonder about when I see a bull hauler … “How do they make a living running around empty all the time?”

She says to me, “What do they haul in those animal carriers Grandpa?” and I respond, “Oh, they haul pigs, cattle, sometimes sheep and stuff like that.”

Then she says, “Where do they haul them to?” and I tell her, in the most honest and straight forward method I know.  “To the slaughterhouse, where they kill them, and then they make bacon, steak, hamburger and other meat bi-products out of the butchered animals.”  As with most things, I did not sugar-coat it, just laid it out there for her.

She takes a mile or two to ingest this information and then says to me, “I don’t like those trucks Grandpa, they’re sad.”

Nothing like the wisdom of a child.

The guy ahead of me is running slow, I need to get over in order to pass, checking the mirror I see a big green Pete coming up, a bull hauler.  I flip on my turn signal, indicating my intention to come on out into what they refer to as the “smart aleck lane” and then I see the puff of black smoke come out of his stacks.

Smoke means acceleration and increased speed or dirty injectors, either way, it is not gonna be good for me.

He has put his foot in it, and is now rapidly closing the gap, effectively shutting down any intentions I had to pass this automobile in front of me slowing me down.  I curse under my breath, back out of the throttle, and wait on him to get by.

He pulls ahead a little ways, and then I hear the C.B. radio crackle and come to life.  This voice, sounding a lot like Texas Twang says “How about that northbound camper, you got it on?”  He is calling me now, wants to talk.  I don’t respond and then I notice he is backing out of it and slowing down.

Great.  Just what I need to make my day.  Passing this slow moving car is not going to happen any time soon I am afraid, not in this life anyway.  Almost the same as getting a quick meal at the Flyin J.

The truck slowly pulls alongside and I look over into his cab, and he is sitting there in his cowboy hat, with his C.B. mike in his hand, he holds it up and shows it to me.  And then again, “You got it on northbound camper?”  I say nothing, I do not respond, he puts his foot in it and he is gone.

Reaching down, I flip on my turn signal, mash the throttle to the floor and come on out to finally pass the car.

The wife she looks at me and then inquires, “Why didn’t you talk to him?”  I just shrug my shoulders and say to her, “Listen, if you don’t know the difference between a bus and a camper, then you really don’t have a lot to say.”

Like my granddaughter says, “they’re kind of sad.”

OOO

[#1258]

May 22, 2012

Notes From The Road

Filed under: Blogging,Life,Oklahoma,Recent,travel,Uncategorized — ldsrr91 @ 7:06 PM
Tags: ,

“The road is like a lover, she calls to me in the dark, and I run to her, she soothes my ragged soul, she fills my spirit.”

The guy with the duffle bag and the beard looks at me and says, “You got a smoke in your hand, aren’t you going to lite it?” and I say, “No.”  Then he says, “Why not?” and I say, “I don’t want to lite it.”  Then he says …. “Why you bother holding a smoke in your hand if you are not going to smoke it?”  So then I say, “‘Cause they might come over here and tell me I only have five more minutes to live, and I don’t want to spend it all looking for a smoke.”

On some days, it don’t pay to get out of bed.

So here I sit, 7.5 miles south of Travis City, Michigan, in my old tired, worn out motor-kamper, writing stories about doomed cities of the future and it occurred to me … No wait, that aint right.  What was I thinking?  That my friends, is a fabrication, sometimes sprinkling a little lie here and there improves the story.

I call it embellishing in order to clarify.

That is the nature of the beast, I have to fill my word count for the month, don’t I?  I am not really in Michigan, I am deep in the Lone Star State, just across the road from a root n scoot in Houston, Texas, munching on a Mr. Goodbar and drinking a diet Dr. Pepper.

It’s a tough job … but someone has to do it.

Meandering thru the channels on television last-night, and I came across a National Geographic Special on “Gold and Guerrillas” in Columbia (some people refer to this as surfing, but I don’t really know why).  Most of the time I don’t turn the television on, when I am on the road, but for some reason I did last-night.  Found a little nugget of truth sprinkled amongst the trash of man.

Y’know, after watching this documentary, it is apparent to me, that no matter how bad things get in this country, we still have it pretty good.

Columbia is rich in precious metals and stones, very poor in human rights.  Making a living is not only hard, but often complicated.  I watched this poor guy, working in a river, washing gold in a pan, from early in the morning to dusk.  And his total take for the day was just a pitiful amount of the precious metal, and he had to use a toxic substance to retrieve it (Mercury).  The sum total of a days labor … about enough to buy two meals, $36.  The guerrillas in the mountains now depend on this income (gold), cocaine is on the down side in this country now, so they have moved over to a new way to finance their particular brand of terror … Gold.

Columbia is a beautiful country and has much to offer, but sadly it is like a lot of South America, corrupt and full of danger.  If you have something of value, the guerrillas in the mountains are prone to take it from you or at best if you are lucky, force you to share it with them.  The government on the other hand cannot protect you, and they too, extract their pound of flesh along the way.

I came away from this one hour show with the profound awareness of how good I have it here and a feeling of gratitude for being born in a nation that has some semblance of law and justice, along with a smattering of freedom.

Which is something that is basic in nature, something we all want.

Here is an example.

Life is good here in the U.S.A. where we are all considered regular people and have all the advantages and benefits that there are to offer.  Personally, I have not come across one of these so-called social animals of American Society here lately (regular people), but I have my eyes wide open, and when I spot one I will let you know.

You then can stick a colored pin in a map … either red or blue … Unlike the folks in Columbia YOU still have a choice.

OOO

Thanks to Mike at Tau Zero for the photo, check ‘em out, eye-candy for the soul.

May 21, 2012

Sweet Dreams

Filed under: Blogging,Bus Life,Life,Oklahoma,Silver Eagle Coach,travel,Uncategorized — ldsrr91 @ 5:15 PM
dallas wreck

3 million people – no one at home – Dallas Texas

It is always nice to get out on the road.  Different sights, new places, strange new smells, and most of all, rest.  Sweet rest.  The bed in the bus sleeps well, it is a good bed and I do not separate from it each day because it is not warm, or it is uncomfortable, or any other negative reason.

I get up and leave it, because I know it is just too heavy to carry on my back all day long.  So, at some point, I get up and I get dressed and I leave it there.

Now we are dry camping this week, that means for the uninitiated, we are not hooked up to electricity, water or any of the common things one expects or takes for granted in life.  We are also because of the heat running our generator constantly, which is not cheap nor is it convenient.  It is always in the background and it can get somewhat noisy.

But it is a necessary evil and at the same time, a comfort of sorts.  Knowing first hand from experience, how uncomfortable the hot Texas sun can be, I would rather shell out the coin to stay cool.

When you lie down for the night, the generator hums its’ not so silent song, and lulls you to sleep.  Throw in the constant cycling and humming of the air conditioning unit, and that makes a good mix for the sandman to arrive.

Usually in short order it is sweet surrender, sleep, arrives right on time, just when you need it.

Another thing that I enjoy is good sleep and nice dreams, none of the “happy dreams of my youth” which were of course, pleasant nocturnal adventures.  At home, it is much different, my bed at home presents me with a lot of disturbed sleep, nightmares and the such.  A good nights’ sleep is not all that common at home, but here, for some strange reason, it is common place.

A strange mystery of life.

If you desire to hit a home run in the sleep department, throw in a little gentle rain, pitter-pattering on the steel roof of the coach and you are in a land of peace and enchantment a head-rush of content.

That’s today Boys & Girls …. Sitting here, drinking a cup of coffee, just a tad bit west of the San Jacinto River and not a whole lot on my plate for the day.  A little bit drunk on life and high on summertime.

Doesn’t get any better than this.

OOO

May 20, 2012

Houston Mixer

Filed under: Blogging,Bus Life,Life,Oklahoma,Recent,travel — ldsrr91 @ 5:47 PM

Dry parked in Boom Town Texas (Houston America) .  Houston, the 4th largest city in the U.S.A. and is doing well these days … Wish you were here.  A quick note or two.

Forgot my laptop workstation I need to get one and keep it handy (store it here in the bus), and do not leave it on the footstool at the house.  It makes working on the computer a lot better, this holding it in your lap, is frankly, “for the birds.”

Pringles in the can are not the same as chips in the bag, make a note of that.  Chili tastes better on top of some Frito’s.  Good food on the road, costs more these days, bad food is still about the same.  Here is another interesting wrinkle I have found.

Seafood costs more the closer you get to the ocean and gasoline-diesel fuel increases in price in direct proximity to the closest refinery.  True Texas mysteries and/or observations we have noted this time out.

Fresh cup of coffee and the morning sun is breaking on the horizon, the day has promise, could be a good one and then I spot the tow car, sitting lopsided on one side.  Flat tire .. Go Ahead Make My Day.

HHR

Welcome to the foot-Patrol

This is not good, very un-good as they say deep in the heart of Alabama.  First order of the day is not peace or enjoyment, it is fix a problem.  So much for the R&R prospects of the trip.

Soon it will be warm.  Houston will be hot and muggy, but then again, it is always hot and muggy here.  Rolled in late last night on the shank of the dying day (8:30 P.M.) only to find that there are no available RV spots in town.  This is because all of the refineries are shut down to do yearly maint. and there are some 87,000 workers here in town doing this chore.

They also told me that Houston’s bay is full of barges that are full of oil.  It is quite apparent that like campgrounds, you cannot find an empty barge anywhere to store the black gold.  B’sides the regular maint. on the refineries, there is a huge influx of construction workers and welders here at this time, they are manufacturing huge storage tanks and increasing their capacity to store the product at this time (and I suppose hold it off the market to increase their values).

Not to worry, I also understand that their current media campaign to convince all of us that “they are our friends and make our lives much better” is well entrenched and in place at this time.

That will not change.

Anyone who says that Big Oil is not running this country, is a complete moron, their presence is everywhere.  In Texas and Oklahoma, the oil field is now spilling out of the company yard, and filling the highways.  What used to be sitting in the dust and gathering rust is now changed considerably, all of the rigs are brand new, squeaky clean and shiny.

American Oil has big deep pockets and it shows, just about everywhere you go.  You should think about this each time you drive up to the pump, as you are their main sponsor or benefactor, and from what I have seen on this trip your generosity has paid off considerably.

With current supplies ample you would think the price would come down, supply and demand, aint that what they taught us in school?

No way, hovering right on the $4 mark, the highways are chocked full of pilgrims and the roads are full, deep in the heart of Texas … The oil rich Lone Star State … Eight lanes wide in most places, and a car in every lane … Biz is good.

That is the story for today.  Dry camping in the church parking lot, east side of oil city, running off the generator (which is an expensive solution to the loss of a campsite) and wondering where it will all lead us to in the end?

Please Lord … Give us one more oil boom … We promise we won’t blow it this time.

OOO

May 14, 2012

Will Work For Chrome

Filed under: Blogging,Life,Oklahoma,Recent,Uncategorized — ldsrr91 @ 2:06 AM

I have to get outta here!

As a friend of mine said, “that is what retirement is all about.  Doing what you want to do.  You want to make a road trip, go for it.“  So ……. We are checking out for some R&R this week, making a run deep into the Heart of Texas.  I am going to hammer down, head south, stick my butt in the sand, and my toes in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

As always … I will be on a mission of self-awareness or redemption.

You know, like when you are in the basement of some church on your knee’s, crying and telling all of your rancid secrets to complete strangers, one of those kind of deals.

A cleansing of the spirit is what we are talking about here.

It will be my duty to seek out and discover a lonely, isolated section of beach, that is not littered with WD-40 or the unrefined recently spilled thirty-weight equivalent, only after a complete and exhaustive search, will I sit back and relax.  At that point, I will set out my beach chair, take out a pen and begin to write:

Dear Oprah,

Would you be interested in my forthcoming autobiography, Unrequited Soul-man, the poignant story of a recently released, on parole short-order cook with a crush on a waitress, who makes a deal with the devil.  A story of degradation, despair, and  finally, completion. I have it trimmed and cut back to a little less than 600 words. 

I look forward to discussing it with you on your show.

Sincerely,
BoxCarOkie

I may take the laptop and I may not … still up in the air on that one.  (This is after all, a trip to relax and get away R&R).  Please feel free to browse the archives, there are over 1,200 posts here of varying subjects and/or interests.  Should not be all that hard to find something to read.

We will see all of you in about a week or so …

Crank up the video and smile …

Makes everyone wonder what you are up to.

Tah-tah-tootle-loo … I will see you.

OOO

May 13, 2012

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

Filed under: Blogging,humor,Life,Oklahoma,Recent — ldsrr91 @ 1:21 PM

WHY GOD MADE MOMS … Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

 Why did God make mothers?
1.  She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2.  Mostly to clean the house..
3.  To help us out of there when we were getting born.
How did God make mothers?
1.  He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2.  Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3.  God made my mom just the same like he made me.  He just used bigger parts.
What ingredients are mothers made of?
1.  God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2.  They had to get their start from men’s bones.  Then they mostly use string, I think.
Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1.  We’re related.
2.  God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s mom like me.
What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1.  My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2.  I don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3.  They say she used to be nice.
What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1.  His last name.
2.  She had to know his background.  Like is he a crook?  Does he get drunk on beer?
3.  Does he make at least $800 a year?  Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?
Why did your mom marry your dad?
1.  My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world.  And my mom eats a lot.
2.  She got too old to do anything else with him.
3.  My grandma says that mom didn’t have her thinking cap on.
Who’s the boss at your house?
1.  Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because dad’s such a goof ball.
2.  Mom.  You can tell by room inspection.  She sees the stuff under the bed.
3.  I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.
What’s the difference between moms and dads?
1.  Moms work at work and work at home, and dads just go to work at work.  
2.  Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them..
3.  Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4.  Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.
What does your mom do in her spare time?
1.  Mothers don’t do spare time.
2.  To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1.  On the inside she’s already perfect.  Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2.  Diet.  You know, her hair.  I’d diet, maybe blue.
If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1.  She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean.  I’d get rid of that.
2.  I’d make my mom smarter.  Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3.  I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.
Hope you had a wonderful day Mom.
OOO
Kudo’s to Joe for the input.

Hello, my name is BCO, I am hopelessly addicted to computers.

Filed under: Blogging,Life,Oklahoma,Recent,Uncategorized — ldsrr91 @ 6:54 AM
Tags: , ,

“My computer is a data enriched black hole that sucks down time and makes it disappear.”

Computers were supposed to simplify our lives, to make them better, to give us access to all of this knowledge and to a certain extent, more power over our day to day existence.  But I do not see it, I find my computer gobbles up time, and I often wonder what it was that I used to do before computers.  About the only benefit that I see is the ability “to feed your mind the news you want in there, and the choice of skipping most of the negative items” at the same time.

That is a plus.

The rest of it is a lot of hooey (Okie technical term).  I remember paying extra to get a “math chip” so that I could “crunch all of these mind boggling numbers” that I was never, ever smart enough to find.  I have features on this computer here, that I have never accessed, will never use, and to be blunt about it, will not be able to operate until my grandson comes home for Christmas and shows me how.

Totally addicted, I often find myself on my computer several times a day, I keep it close by, almost as if it were a sharpened pencil and this blank page was my fresh note pad.  As a matter of fact, I did very little writing when I did not have a computer, this is an offshoot of my first computer, an 80’s model Apple Macintosh.  Before I bought that, in order to start up and write a Union Paper entitled the Flynn Flyer, I seldom wrote anything other than a check.

That computer was just one of many.  So old that it had only two operating disks, and they took up half of the available memory, just running the machine.  Right now, in our home, we have two laptops, three desk model computers.  We are computer poor in some ways.

Which begs to ask …. Why?

What do I need with this many computers?  Now the networks and television do not hold that type of fascination for me, I can go for literally weeks upon end without the benefit of television.  We have made trips and never turned it on for three to four weeks at a time, that is how I regard television, it is there, but it is no big deal. But my computer is a totally another story …“My computer is a data enriched black hole that sucks down time and makes it disappear.”

Hooking up for email, checking the various bus boards that I frequent, looking for some new item for the webpage, well, I just have to have that, I cannot (it seems) live without it.  And that is kind of sad, because as we all know, there are more important things in life than email, computers, data sheets and “please pass this on to everyone in your address book.“

So there it is in a nutshell my life that I share with computers.  I cannot live with them (a constant source of anxiety and or frustration) and I cannot live without them (my need to be informed over rides the need for privacy).  If there is a cure for that, I sure wish someone would clue me in as I seem to he hopelessly addicted.

OOO

[#1252]

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