December 2007
MacRamblings
Doug MacCallum
1967-68
Wasn't more
than a few weeks ago that
Daylight Savings Time ended. Do you remember what you did with that extra
hour? Probably not any more than you can recall what you did the second week in
March or the third week in August. Isn't it awful that weeks and months can just
disappear, lost forever, with nothing to show for them. With that in mind, I'm
hoping to provide a very memorable week of partying and sightseeing in and
around
Colorado Springs this coming May. Biggest problem will be transportation
as many of the locations are some distance away. Charter buses are a
possibility unless someone with the ability to sell fleas to dog owners will
volunteer to contact local car dealers and get them to loan us a fleet of
mini-vans and drivers. Tell the dealer it'd be great publicity! Anyway, do plan
on attending. Life's too short to miss a most memorable week. In fact, in
today's paper was the following article:
"Authorities say a 45-year-old Spartanburg man has died after being stung by
fire ants. Bradford McChyne Cogdell was driving a backhoe to help move rocks off
a friend's property when he was attacked by fire ants just before 5 p.m.
Wednesday. County coroner's investigator J. Dwayne Corn says the man went into
shock and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:52 p.m."
I'd love to see the next Democratic presidential debate take place in that
field!
All you people who live up north beware! The fire ants are moving that way -
Spartanburg is quite close to
North Carolina. The little bastards originated in South America, somehow
got to
Florida, and have been moving north ever since. Of course the world is
getting riskier every day. A tiny yet extremely deadly jellyfish that was once
found only off
Australia has reached the
Bahamas. And humongous jellyfish are filling the seas, having destroyed a
salmon farm in
Ireland and often constituting the sole catch of Japanese fishing fleets.
In a somewhat lighter vein, the local weekly reported the following:
"Apparently, there is a black market for turtles. A man happened to have a $2000
pet tortoise in his back yard and someone stole it. The yard is entirely fenced
in and the tortoise was two feet long and weighed about 50 pounds. The owner
can't be sure who took the turtle but he thinks it may have been some
landscapers his neighbor hired. None of the pet shop owners in the area have
seen the turtle." My guess would be that a bunch of illegal aliens (doing work
that Americans weaned on welfare won't do) have been enjoying turtle tortillas
for the past week!
Damn! A $2000 tortoise! Took me about 8 months to earn that much in Nam.
Nowadays they're offering around a hundred grand for special ops guys to
reenlist. That must irk the hell out of SFC Hillary, whose regard for the
military is similar to that of
Jane Fonda.
Speaking of pay, I think an E-1 was getting about $90 a month back in 1967.
Seems to me the first haircut was free and then we had to pay a buck or so for
subsequent ones. Does anybody recall? Interesting thing is that for many of us
our salary had tripled in less than 18 months. Has anyone done as well in the
corporate world? Let me know.......
See ya in
Colorado!