The Old And The New

We drove up to Nashville, well, actually Springfield which is about 40 miles north of Nashville, to see Rylee, the new granddaughter.



I get a kick out of couples who are parents for the first time. They think everyone else in the world is a blithering idiot who has never been around a baby. This seems to last for about a month or so until they have that moment on enlightenment when they discover that others have been through this process with them and actually remember what it was like.

Here is what Rylee's schedule looked like for earlier in the day:



Peeing outnumbers pooping 4 to 1!

Suzanne Brings Home The Bacon!

Literally!





I have a friend who, several years ago, killed 2 wild hogs in one day down in south Alabama and had no idea how to cook the hams. He and Judy could grill hot dogs and hamburgers, but were clueless about creative cooking. He gave me one of the hams and we made a fruit sauce much as one would use to cook a wild duck. I baked the ham in the oven for a couple of hours covered by the fruit sauce and then transferred it to the smoker for another 3 hours or so.

Eugene and Judy had a camper parked by Lake Guntersville and we took the cooked ham, just off the smoker, and a fine meal, complete with some cold adult beverages, was had by about 10 of us.

I'm working on another web site (very slowly) where I will be sharing a lot of my favorite recipes. Many years ago I discovered that I liked to cook and I am pretty good at it.

Referencing Bill's Post Below

If anyone has any news please e-mail me at the address over to the right and I'll post it here right away. I have been wondering also about the condition of our classmates. I monitor fred.deaton(at)gmail.com at home and at work during all waking hours. Just remember to replace (at) with @. My spam filters are probably holding around 120,000 spams right now so you can understand why I don't publish the true e-mail address.

I am also building a list of classmate e-mail addresses and debating how to share it with everyone. I would never subject anyone to junk e-mails and spam. I think I will eventually publish it over to the right as a downloadable Adobe Acrobat PDF.

Any News on Elizabeth, Barry or Joe ?

In late April, a post by Buster mentioned the illness of several classmates in additon to Larry Owen. Does anyone have the current status of Elizabeth Goodale Long (possible stroke), Barry Hendrix (cancer) or Joe Myers ( liver transplant list). Ray Robinson had reported Barry had a very bad prognosis. Any news would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Bill

Discovery

The orbiter Discovery lifted off in what appeared to be a flawless launch. I just found out yesterday evening that my niece, Stacy, and her family are in Orlando for family fun at Disneyworld. I hope they got to see the launch and I wish I had known earlier that they were down there. I could have gotten them into the area where the launch clock is and they could have seen the launch from relatively close up.

Space Shuttle Launch

Pictured is Discovery on launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. Lift-off is scheduled for 5:02pm (Eastern) this afternoon.

Not Forgotten On Memorial Day

Buster Visits Larry

And reports:

I stopped by Larry's yesterday and spent about an hour w/ him- just chatting. He said that Larson Jaenicke had been by to see him. He was in town for his mother's 93rd birthday.
Larry starts his treatments this Monday which consist of radiation and chemotherapy. He and Ted Kennedy have the same ailment.
Larry is guardedly optimistic and while his speech is just a tad bit clipped, he was bright and optimistic. The grip in his left hand is much weaker than the right and that is the only physical difference, besides an overall lack of strength and endurance. He had been playing competitive tennis for some time.
You never know- hug and kiss your loved ones. B.

The added emphasis is mine and I echo the sentiment!

A Reminisce From Doug Elliott

I attended the dedication for Michael Christmas in December and have followed news and memories on Fred’s blog, but until now have not contributed. I feel that it is fitting that on this Memorial Day weekend that we should remember the contribution that Michael made for us and his country. I knew Michael from Little League baseball and City League basketball, and of course our days in school at Camden Junior High and Camden High –it seems as if I had always known him.
The last time that I talked to Michael was in the summer of 1968…he was at a gas station and we spoke briefly…about college …he didn’t think that that he was going back to USC in the fall and that he would probably get drafted.
Then, in the spring of 1969 someone told me that he had been killed in Viet Nam. I was finishing final exams at Clemson-what a shock!
Michael was a member of Company D, 1/52 Infantry, 198 Brigade (AMERICAL).
The Americal Division consisted of 3 brigades, the 11th Brigade, the 196th Brigade, and the 198th Brigade. The 196th area of operation was from Da Nang to Tam Ky a distance of about 40 miles. The 198th area of operation was from Tam Ky to Quang Nai a distance of about 40 miles, and the 11th area of operation was from Quang Nai to Duc Pho a distance of about 40 miles. All of the brigades operated from the South China Sea to the border with Laos. The Americal Division Headquarters was located at Chu Lai…if you have Google Earth you can type in the following coordinates to locate this on the map: lat=15.455004, lon=108.693237…….if you pan down to the lower left, you will be in Quang Nai Province-this is where Co D, 1/52 Infantry was located.
I know these facts, for you see, some 18 months after Michael was killed, I went to Viet Nam and was assigned to the Americal Division in Chu Lai…flew over Quang Nai Province and most of the areas that I described above.
I have struggled writing this because until this past December during the dedication program, I did not know that Michael was in the Americal Division ….. I have tried to remember the names of some of the firebases (FB), landing zones (LZ), and units but the names escape me now.
I hope this helpful,
Doug Elliott
If you want to know more about the Americal Division go to: www.americal.org.

International Space Station Sighting For Tuesday

This is for Columbia, but Camden should be very, very close:

Tuesday, May 20 at 10:18pm
visible for 3 minutes
maximum elevation 45 degrees above the horizon
approaching from 10 degrees above WSW
departing 43 degrees above NNWThis overpass should be very visible if the nighttime skies are clear. There are other opportunities for the next few days and I will be adding some later.

Pick out the correct compass orientation and look for a very bright light moving through the sky. The ISS is approximately 230 miles up and travels at 17,500mph so it is not like looking at a passing airplane.

[update] Interestingly the ISS is viewable at my house at exactly the same time (although Central time), but it will be almost directly overhead. The space station travels in a continually changing elliptical orbit so the directions here will be different from the Columbia directions. Here in a couple of days I'll post a screenshot of just how the orbit looks.

Sunday PM View From My Back Porch

Larry Owens Update ::

From Ann Ray Boykin via Buster:

I just got news today that Larry Owens has a serious cancerous brain tumor. We not only had our connections from high school, but he was also in my husbands Dental School class and they graduated together. I called his office manager to verify the information that I had and she confirmed that he was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago, went for an MRI which showed a large fast growing tumor. They have done radiation and will follow the results in six weeks and maybe do chemo. He can't be alone and Cathy has taken over the load of the office and different friends are coming in staying with him and takeing him out. He's mobile now, but his mental capacity is greatly reduced. The prognosis sounds dire to me, but when there is prayer there is always hope. I don't know what kind of networking you have in Camden, but I'm sure they could use some male help. Calvin is trying to get in touch with the president of his dental class to see where we can plug in. I know you may already have this information but would rather repeat than go unknown. I think I have you E address correct. I would appreciate it if you would verify the receipt of this contact and if you have any other information. Thanks! Ann Ray Boykin

My thoughts continue daily to be with Larry and his family as I am sure is true of each of us!