IWO JIMA FLAG RAISING...SURIBACHI
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Hello Bobby Joe, or "Country Boy," I should say!
How did you get such a neat nickname!?
I'm really glad to see you again. It has been a good
while since your last visit to my attic, when we had
sardines, cheese, onions, and crackers and had to
air out my hideaway! LOL. Weren't those $2.00
Delaware Punches from Old Mexico great!
Anyway, come on up. We've had the stairs rebuilt and
they are easier to climb, although "in principle," as
they say, I don't like stairs anymore.
You can see I've done some redecorating up here,
and a bit of down-sizing. The definition of "down-sizing"
is: the wife gives the husband's stuff to Goodwill! LOL.
Don't worry, we joke about it.
I built a bigger bookshelf out of nice white pine. It
is five feet tall and six feet wide, and has a brace at
the three-foot mark to prevent sagging. I didn't varnish
it---it seemed cooler to have the wood raw--and you
will notice, sticking out at the end---my sixty-eight
year old trusty Boy Scout knife and my Marine K-Bar.
I moved a bunch of favorite poetry books up here,
and also a lot of WWII books. There is a military
museum down in Texas that wants my WWII library.
It is a good one, I'll admit. Among the hundreds of
books, there are "BATFISH," and the story of Dick
O'Kane's submarine, sunk by its own circling torpedo.
When I'm up here, I often study National Geographic
maps. See those three black book-looking boxes
there on the bottom of the bookshelf? They are filled
with a collection of maps from NG, for lo, fifty years.
No better maps in the world!
I spread one out now and then on the old card table
over in the corner, if it doesn't have the chess set or
a jig saw puzzle on it. People like to get away, come
up here, and work puzzles.
Now and then I get to thinking I'm pretty good with
geography (and can draw you a nice map of the
world---if I fake the convoluted area north of Canada),
but I'm easily stumped with something like: "Where's
Timbuktu?" It's somewhere in Africa---and my, how the
African map has changed since La Casita school days!
I will tell you a funny story. I visited a school once and
they were having a Geography Bee, you know, similar to
a spelling bee. Well, this school had a "geography
committee" to handle this sort of thing to avoid any
collusion or rigging (I guess) because you could tell---
this was serious business.
Well, this guy and a couple of ladies paraded in--or
glided-- and he looked like royalty. Have you ever
in your life, noticed committees and people that run
things---how they get carried away with their own
importance? I tried to visit with this guy a little bit,
and ask him some Geo questions, but it was apparent
that he was from the big leagues, a legend in his own
mind. I left.
You see my fishing corner over there with Dad's old
muddy tackle box. You remember what a fisherman
he was, known as "Willie" down at Slaughter Murray's
Sporting Goods in Clovis. His minnow bucket for fishing
"down on the Pecos" is hanging from the ceiling. (I
kinda like it there---don't know why!)
My favorite Ferralite rod is there, and Dad's bamboo
fly rod that he bought at Ward's in the forties,
probably for $16.95; it might cost $269.95 today!
Dad and Newt Hudnall used to go up northeast of Chama
and cross into Colorado and come back into N.M. on
a remote road along an equally remote stream and
fly fish for trout. Newt said it was the best trout stream
in the state. I was learning to fly fish and resolved to
make that trip. Alas, I wound up camping and fishing at
Monastery Lake, north of Pecos, near Glorieta.
Those are my 58 year old Red Wing boots, sitting over
there. They have seen dozens of forays into the wild---
and likely gone places where no man has gone before
on fishing and hunting trips. The first day I wore them,
duck-hunting in the swampy marshes outside Artesia, NM,
I waded in water, mud, and muck six inches deep.
Needless to say, They have been saddle-soaped and
oiled countless times since that traumatic (for new boots)
trip.
I was always a nut for fresh drinking-water when in the
wild, and you can see back there, hanging on a big
sixteen penny nail, four or five canteens; they're like
a dog-ready-for-a-walk: "Take me, take me!"
You noticed my BIG photo of the famous flag-raising
on Suribachi at iwo Jima. It was in my office but I
wanted it up here for the big empty wall on the right.
It is three feet by four feet and cost $175.00 framed
and shipped.
Small cost for the photo, when you figure the cost
in American lives, to preserve our country and the
Constitution. Those boys loved hamburgers, milk
shakes, Saturday night dates, fixed-up jalopies,
college days...just like any of us....Seeing that picture
is a constant reminder...
You already know all about my used, but serviceable
microwave, toaster oven, and little fridge up here.
Shucks, today we don't have any rain, snow, or
sleet up here, and the old mulberry branch is still
and not banging on the wall of the house...but Bob,
FEEL THAT COOL SPRING BREEZE gently blowing
in the window, which is wide open!
Did you notice the big change. I got myself some
"SHEERS," my wife calls them---thin see-through
gauzy-looking curtains. I got 'em down at the
Dollar Store for $6.95, and there were two in the
cellophane package.
I was so excited, I hung 'em myself.(See how they
billow out in the breeze!) Don't you just love them?
Good nap-taking breeze!
I keep a tool box up here for fixing all kinds of small
broken things...and I found some big tacks and a
little hammer and I just nailed those suckers to the
2X4 over the window. Feel...see how securely I did it!
Now there was a problem. I may have goofed...a bit.
The Beloved Editor when she saw my sheers was
both upset and bent over with laughter---all at the
same time! She said to me (benevolently)---"Don't
you know you're supposed to have curtain rods?"
"Well," I said, "er I was in a hurry, and you don't
need 'em up here---this is a man-type-deal up here,
for wild-and-wooly guys like me and Bob, and
Wylie- you know. We don't need no feminine
curtain rods!"
Right now, she has forgotten about them. I have a
problem, but I must solve it myself. They are too
long and touch the floor. Bob, do you think you could
help me cut them off and hem then again---next
time you come? I've got some needles and thread.
White. We wouldn't want anyone to see us sewing,
I know.
If she comes up with a curtain rod, I guess I'll let
her fix them.
I'll tell you Bob, if I had known all the vicissitudes
of life ahead, when I was 21, I think I'da got me an
attic like this one (with plenty of VIenna sausages
and Beanie-Weenies, of course) and some good
books and just spent my life up here, not bothering
anyone. I might have even skipped Facebook!
On the other hand, Stebbins stated it pretty well. He
said, "Maybe the old cowboy was right when he said
life hadn't been too bad---maybe it was a pretty good
ride after all."
Oh well, I'm getting philosophical. Let's check my stash
of food! How's a big chunk of sharp cheddar, some
Beanie Weenies, RItz crackers with peanut butter,
and a chunk of onion?
I'll turn on my little B@W TV, and watch this--it has a
slot in the bottom for a DVD! How about John Wayne
in "The Sands of Iwo Jima?"
NEHI grape...or big orange?
******30******
BY MIL
02/28/14
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