Onward – At Last

It's been so long that many of you will have forgotten where I left off with the story. And, I'm catching up as my right hand is in a cast and I can't work on the fourth novel in my Father Serra's Legacy series..

After a year as a civilian, I decided to re-enlist in the army. I signed up for training as a truck driver – semis and heavy rigs. I only planned on doing the three years and get out to live the romantic and exciting life of an over the road driver.

I left Fort Ord and drove south on U.S. 101 – the Interstate hadn't been built yet – and settled back to enjoy the ride.




All these years later, I remember the strong aroma of freshly harvested onions in and around Salinas. It's only recently that I've learned Salinas stems from the Spanish word for salt marshes.


The towns with Spanish names passed and I didn't think twice about and remembered the tunnel

I will always remember the hills with towering Live Oak trees.

I think I stopped in Pismo Beach for a pit stop. I wasn't addicted to coffee then, so I'm certain a bought a snack with a soda. There were very few Mickey D's back then so I guess I either went to a drive in or small supermarket.

Driving along the coast – before it was a big super highway – shows one the strength and beauty of our world. I seem to remember pulling onto the edge, just sitting there to savor the sounds and smells of the ocean.

Jack [the man I thought was my father] and Kit, his wife, knew I was coming and put me up in a small trailer in their back yard. I didn't want to go to my grandmother's house as she was furious vat my re-enlisting and abandoning her.

This was before the Peacenik movement and people showed respect for  those in uniform. I proudly wore mine wherever I went and enjoyed the smiles and greetings.

My first destination was the card rooms of Gardena. Considered to be a Game of skill,” draw poker is legal in California. There were 2 or 3 rooms near Fort Ord but nowhere like the ones in Gardena. I went directly to the Normandie Club for one simple reason – they served the most fantastic and humongous roast beef sandwich in the world. They also came with generous servings of potato salad. Having played lots of barracks poker, I was cocksure I could beat anyone there.






 






 
Little did I know. They only made a minor dent in my bankroll but I left having learned about card mechanics and teaming up. I went to a couple of other rooms during my two weeks at home and managed to hold my own. And with thanks to a couple of room bosses he gave me complimentary meals as I was in uniform. They also served huge tureens of soup.

Most people who have not crossed Arizona on I-10 think this is what it looks like:



Here's the truth!


I was young and didn't think anything of driving straight through from Los Angeles to El Paso. The  MP  at the main gate handed me a map and pointed to where I as to report in. The Staff Duty NCO led me ta a barracks and pointed me to a bunk – lower – along with the wall and footlocker I was to use. He even issued bedding. I  seem to be there too late for the mess hall and ended up going to a Big Boy's off base.



I went to sleep thinking about how neat it would be to drive big rigs.

Novel About California History Now On Sale

The Sailor and The Carpenter now available @
 E-book http://bluewoodpublishing.com/Blueshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34_35_42&products_id=216

Paperback http://bluewoodpublishing.com/Blueshop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_2_8&products_id=217

Royalties Check

Totally out of the blue, I received a check from AmazonUK.com for some of my self-published novels, book,. and short stories.

It's not the first as I received a couple from Amazon.com [USA].

But, it means someone bought a read my works and that's a real ego booster.

Have any of you read any of my stuff?  If so, what did you think of them/it? And don't worry about upsetting me - I have thick skin and welcome criticism. [I criticize myself a lot!]

Ashamed

I've lived upon this earth 73 years and can never remember one day when I was not completely, totally proud of my country, The United States of America.

That is – until today, November 7^th, 2012.

As of the 2010 Census, there are 305,358,275 American citizens

Of those, 225,746,457 are eligible to vote

Yet only 169,000,000 bothered to register to vote

And, of those, only 116,713,320 VOTED!

Pres Obama receives 59,667.012 votes over Gov Romney's 57,046,308 [with more to be counted], the lowest percentage of win in generations.

So, only about 68% of Americans registered to vote bothered to vote and the president was re-elected by a mere 25% of citizens eligible to vote.

[My math may be a bit fuzzy, but I think you get the point.]

2012, to me, was a most important election as it was a chance for Americans to decide which way they wanted this nation to go in the future. The big-government policies of the president or the free enterprise policies of the governor.

But, let's go even beyond the presidential results and look to the Senate. Fauxahantas won? You gotta be kidding me! I guess I never expected the Whatever Wrestling Thingie to win Lieberman's seat. And, Murdock put his big foot in his mouth giving a Democrat the seat. The toughest part is seeing Dingy Harry, from my state, as Senate Majority Leader [at least until the mid-terms!].

I could go on a rant as to my opinion of the president – but that will do no good. I can only express my deepest sorrow that Governor Romney did not run the kind of campaign needed to ensure his victory. All I do know is that the president DOES NOT have a mandate! He only holds his office because far too many American citizens fail to take responsibility for the future of this country and don't bother to even register to vote – let alone make the mighty effect to vote. What a sad comment about our nation.

My only hope is that the U.S. House of Representatives will continue to be “obstructionist” and do everything it can to halt the president's efforts to turn us into a Socialist Paradise. Shades of Big Brother.

Betrayal

MilSpeak.org proudly announces the release of War Story Anthology comprised of stories written by US veterans and military personnel. It will be available November 11, 2012 at http://milspeak.org, <https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/milspeak> and major eBook retailers.

Yours truly is very pleased to announce that my short story, Betrayal, has been selected for inclusion in the anthology.

All proceeds will benefit MilSpeak Foundation, Inc. (501c3), which exists to raise awareness about creative works by military people to a more visible and influential position in American culture. MilSpeak Books, the nonprofit, independent publishing division of MilSpeak Foundation, publishes only creative works by military people. Visit <http://www.milspeak.org> 

This is a short story that has never appeared on this site and tells of the emotions of a soldier in his private life. I look forward to reading the anthology and want all of you to know that 100% of the proceeds goes to the foundation to help military authors.

 

A Sweet Little Girl In Our Lives

Not exactly related to military service, but ...

We had a Pit/Australian Shepherd we raised from a pup. Buddy was a great watch dog and we loved him dearly. One night, while we slept, he either got out or someone took him. It was difficult to believe as he would've had to go over an 8' wall in order to get out.

We looked everywhere for him with no results.

One does not realize how attached we get to an animal until they're gone.

Our son's girlfriend raises Pomeranians. She had a little of four, three girls and a boy. My wife fell in love with one of the girls but sadly discovered just how allergic she was to them. We sadly had to give them up.

Then another son stopped by one day with the most precious little dog we'd ever seen. A miniature Chihuahua, she weighs between 2 and 3 pounds and fits in the palms of my hand. We laughingly say she has the ears of a mule [fuzzy], the neck of a giraffe, and the tail of a mouse. She was 4 months old and the previous owner had a little boy who didn't know how to care for a pet.

In the past 2+ months, out little Pixie has become a part of our lives. She greets us in the morning, whines when we leave her home along, and lets us know how happy she is to see us with a tail wagging como loco. [She is, after all, a little Mexican! And she has become bi-lingual as we speak both English and Spanish to her.]

We'll be going to Mazatlan in November and she's going with us. We have a great hotel apartment where they accept dogs and we know we can take her with us wherever we go. Just wish I had a picture to upload.

Anyhow, we're thankful every day for her presence.

Has a dog effected your life? Tell me about it.

Yellow Journalism Rag

After years of posting items and participating in discussions on the Las Vegas Review/Journal eforums, I finally gave up.

It was one of my most difficult decisions. I have always defended the rights of any- and everyone to speak their minds, no matter how disgusting or inane I thought them to be. But, there comes a time when constantly being insulted and threatened reaches a point of no more acceptance.

A poster there, hiding behind the pseudonym "Shurn" not only insulted me, but my wife! I could no longer tolerate such vitriolic hatred by a putrid piece of swine excrement like that - and said so!

Even worse, after contacting the Editor-in-Chief, no action was taken against Shurn whose posts were clearly against the rules of the forum.

I have unashamedly supported conservative causes and find the current occupant of the Oval Office a vile individual who clearly hates America and wishes to turn it into a socialist/fascist nation. I never hid those feelings from anyone and have done all I could to spread the word about his history and associations. I guess that was simply too much for the mind-numbed sycophants who cannot think for themselves and can only repeat the party line or call names or use vile language to attack the truth instead of trying to logically refute it.

So, while I do not plan to turn this into a place for political or ideological discourse, I could not go on without expressing here my complete disgust for such individuals.

I will miss many of the posters there - and be glad to be rid of others. Fortunately, this pig turds cannot spread their slime here to inflict that muck and mire to those who have chosen to follow or read these blogs.

If any of you can recommend other discussion forums, please let me know.

Thank all of you for putting up with this.

Til next time and hopefully a cheerier post.