Wednesday December 21, 2011

Today is my easy day so I did not set the alarm. Nancy woke me up at 0715. I slowly got dressed and got on the retro and pedaled to Bill's. It was cold and damp but still above freezing. I had the weekday special and read my papers. Can I still call them papers if I read them electronically? The WSJ had an interesting article on Holland. Holland was one of the first proponents of the Euro. They are now having second thoughts. Are Europe's money problems solvable? I think so but it will take some political courage. Speaking of political courage, a recent Time had a very interesting article on Rhode Island's Treasurer and her successful effort to reform RI's public pension fund. She bucked the unions and the entrenched Democratic Legislature. She is also a Democrat. It was a very good article and shows that every problem has a solution if the right people are in charge.
In order to get some more exercise I changed my route home to include a trip around Reeds Lake. I had 12 miles on the odometer when I got home.
Nancy had a list of questions I was to ask the United/American folks at the airport. We had United tickets to Aruba but United put us on a American flight from GR to Chicago. I think I got most of her questions answered.
This afternoon I am cleaning off my desk and catching up on some reading. Nancy is working at the Gardens this afternoon. I recently found a letter dated 21DEC1961. I was writing my weekly letter home. I had been on Midway Island a little less than a month. I did mention in the letter that Midway was 836 acres. I was the Transportation Officer in the Public Works Department. I had 33 sailors and 8 civilians in my command. I told my Mother to watch Sgt Bilko on TV to see what running a motor pool was like. I think we had 200 sailors in the entire Public Works Department. The officer running the Department was Commander Tinklepaugh. (try singing the Mickey Mouse song using Tinklepaugh). Commander Tinklepaugh was a fire-breathing officer who came up through the ranks. As a mustang he could advance no higher. I really liked the guy. In fact I was known as Tinklepaugh's Ensign.
One of my duties was seeing that the garbage was picked up. I was also in charge of the dump. The other day the dump caught fire and the smoke was so intense they had to close the runway. The Transportation Dept was also responsible for maintaining every piece of equipment on the Island (325).

I mentioned that we are having a crime wave on Midway. Six sailors are in the Brig for kicking Gooney Birds. This is a no-no. Speaking of Gooney Birds I am also in charge of pest control. We have a sailor going around the island picking up dead birds. I wished Mom and everyone a Merry Christmas. This was my first Christmas away from home. I signed off by saying "remember that your son a leader of men (garbage that is) is on some remote island, protecting the Nation in their time of need and helping America progress on the NEW FRONTIER". I think this is sarcasm.
I took a 1.5 mile walk to end the afternoon. We had a light dinner and then read the GRP and watched the news. We were in bed by 2100.