Friday, April 15, 2011

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Well?  What's on your mind?

5 comments:

Goldwater's Ghost said...

VDH has an interesting post up at The Corner (http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/264850/natonic-implosion-victor-davis-hanson) where he wonders aloud whether NATO is obsolete.

Might be a good topic for your radio show...

"The Hammer" said...

On a personal note, it was my mother's 82nd. birthday this past Wednesday. We all brought her out to eat but she was exhausted having spent all day at the hospital with her older brother Orvis (don't you love those old Southern names). After dinner, just as we arrived home my sister called to say Orvis had passed away.

Now, Orvis led a long life, was happily married for nearly 70 years, had some good kids and a ton of grand kids. Being a child of the depression he had a challenging but happy life. He was active and fairly healthy until the end. As a matter of fact the last time I spoke to him (at a reunion in 2004) he was telling me how Aunt Mildred was very upset because he had painted the barn (up and down ladders). He wasn't going to pay somebody to do something he could do himself.

He was a good natured man but he didn't put up with a lot of crap. According to my mother, as a child he was constantly in hot water for fighting on the school bus. He had a fireplug build; about 5-7, as wide as he was tall and all muscle (I wouldn't want to go around with him). He was a tobacco farmer, cattle rancher and the best deer hunter I ever saw.

And, it must be said, in his day he was an accomplished moonshiner. One of his favorite stories was how a State Trooper helped him change a flat tire while hauling a load of corn whiskey (the stuff was in gallon jugs, four to the box). After they got the spare on the cop offered to help him reload the truck. No thanks he said.

He was a decorated veteran of WW II serving on an escort destroyer that among other things ran the Arctic route to Murmansk/Archangel, not at all a cakewalk. He was very proud of his service but didn't talk about it much, you had to pull the stories out of him.

He was a regular guy, a good hard-working family man and he never asked for anything. He died peacefully with his family.

R.I.P.

Mudge said...

Hammer - Nice note. I always wonder if they're still pouring that mold when we lose men such as your uncle. I don't think we're replacing them as quickly as we're losing them. And happy birthday to your mom; condolences to all of your family.

The Conservative Wahoo said...

Nice memorial, Hammer.

"The Hammer" said...

Thanks lads. That generation is just about gone.

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