September 19, 2021

 Sunday September 19, 2021

Blog time 1918 sitting in den

Up this morning at 0700.  Dressed and drove to Biggby Coffee to get our morning coffee.

Fixed oatmeal with banana to go with coffee.  Left for Trinity Lutheran at 0845.  Good news, church was crowded this morning.  Sunday School started this week so a lot of families in attendance.  Healthy sign.

After church we took a short ride.  Headed east to Lowell via the back roads.  Passed a lot of farms with horses.  Beautiful day for a ride, bright sun and temp near 80.

As soon as we got home changed into our work clothes.  For the next two hours Nancy and I trimmed all the shrubs and bushes in our Courtyard.  We put all the trimming in large yard waste bags.  

Several of the bushes had thorns so I had to wear leather gloves.  The temperature reached the mid 80s and it completely wiped us out.  Finally after two sweaty hours we had completed our task.  The trimmings were all bagged, the sidewalk swept, and tools put away.  We both agreed the Courtyard looks great. A job well done.

We both headed to the showers.  After the shower, I had lunch, yogurt with Fiber 1, soft cheese on naan, and a bottle of Ensure.

Followed lunch with a nap.  After the nap spent the rest of the afternoon reading the papers.

For dinner tonight we fixed chicken sandwiches.  So far we have gotten three meals off the Costco Rotisserie chicken.

No news or 60 Minutes tonight.  We watched a Netflix movie, The Courier.  The movie was about a UK business man smuggling sensitive military data out of the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  It was a dark movie that I could relate to.  

I was stationed on Midway Island when the Crisis started.  I had completed my year tour and looked forward to my new stateside assignment.

I contacted the Civil Engineering Officer in charge of assigning Officers their new duty stations.  He sent me a message saying because of the Cuban Missile Crisis all Officers were frozen in place.  No new assignments for at least 6 months.  I cried it wasn’t fair keeping a young single Ensign cooped up on a small rock in the middle of the Pacific.

Surprise! Several hours later I got a message from the same Personnel Officer saying they had an immediate opening in Southeast Asia.  I immediately replied get my ass to SE Asia.

Next day, I think a Wednesday, I got my orders assigning me to the Deputy Officer in Charge of Construction Southeast Asia, Saigon, Vietnam.  I immediately headed to the library to get a map showing where Saigon was located. I was on the Friday flight off Midway. It was 75 when left Midway and -17 when I landed in Alpena.  Who care I was spending Christmas at home.

At 2200 I checked the Courtyard.  With the trimmed foliage I could easily see if any critters were hiding.  None noted.