While Suzanne was back in The Villages, she had a very kind invitation from Michelle and John Uss to join them for dinner and music. Here are Michelle, Suzanne’s sister Janice, and Ruthie sharing a moment of frivolity. Michelle is an expert pianist, and Janice an accomplished vocalist…
Suzanne brought her little C flute from home, and luckily found that she hadn’t forgotten how to play it while away on our summer tour…
Michelle and John’s Shih Tsu Annie was also active that evening. Annie is what is euphemistically called “a bundle of energy”. Rudy and Gretchen were a bit jealous that their Dog Mom was hanging out with a strange dog…
My Lovely Bride returned to Idaho on Tuesday, and we were all very happy to have her home with the rest of The Pack. She got lots of sloppy kisses from Rudy and Gretchen, and even one from me. One of the first entries in the Plan of the Day (POD) – Navy people will understand that acronym – was delivery of a birthday card and prezzies. Rudy and Gretchen had picked out two nice glittery tops for her, and Rudy was insistent that he be allowed to help open the package for his Dog Mom.
Suzanne also received a Native American smudge fan made of turkey feathers, rabbit fur and lapis lazuli, created by a practitioner in Coeur d’Alene.
On our last night in Idaho, we were invited to a grilled steak and chicken kebob dinner with Jim and Mark, both airline pilots, at Mark’s house overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene. It was a splendid meal in a beautiful setting with great conversations. Mark is a JetBlue captain, flying mostly to the Caribbean, and Jim flies the Dallas Mavericks around and used to fly “special charter missions” to Iraq and Afghanistan. (Note: airline pilots have more wild stories than Navy ship drivers. Some may even be true.)
Here is My Lovely Bride wearing one of her new tops, chosen to match little Gretchen; a half mile below Mark’s deck, a marina on Lake Coeur d’Alene holds dozens of moored boats. Like Lake Pend Orielle, this lake was created by the melting of glaciers 12,000 years ago. We envied Mark this beautiful view, but then remembering that this was August, wondered whether we could grill or sunbathe on the deck in January…
Finally, here is a brief exchange of emails between Lieutenant Colonel Charles Cunis, USA (Ret), AKA “Crusty”, featured in Suzanne’s new book “Wolf’s Message,” and Your Faithful Correspondent, CAPT, USN (Ret), AKA “Salty”, regarding a recent post about out of date cans of food, my hiking experiences in the woods, and my reference to trees as “green thingies.” Those with any military experience will immediately recognize some fundamental differences between the Army and the Navy…
1. From Colonel Cunis; Subject: Observations of the Army and the Navy approaches to life’s situations:
-Navy tosses canned goods with 7 months past “alleged” expiration date of 7 months. Sailor lives.
-Army ground pounder eats C-rations packaged during Korean conflict while with the 3rd Armored Division (Spearhead) in Germany in 1964-1966. In 1967-68 same C-rations manufactured date presented for dining consumption with The Big Red One.. Bon Appetit. Soldier lives.
-Navy on patrol. My Dear Captain. When you go off on your solo trips “into the woods” do you leave a strip map with the “route out” and “route back” with estimated ETR? With your MLB in the Villages Port of Call who is watching your “back” in case a tree falls on top of you?
-Army patrolling doctrine(APD) requires that you register the patrol with the unit Staff Duty Officer with the time of departure, “route out”, “route back” (never the same way as the “route out”). Commo checks on scheduled basis”. ETR. Please assure me that you are following good APD. You can call me “Dad”
-Navy discovers trees (Green thingies)
-Army says “Green Thingies” Ha, Ha, Ha “Green Thingies” Stop! Please Stop! Does the bear s— in the woods”?
2. From Captain Giesemann. Subject: Different approaches to life displayed by the Army and the Navy. Sir, I appreciate that your experiences are somewhat more field-proven than mine, but the Navy has its own lessons, to wit:
