Little Golden Book

 Do you remember The Little Golden Books?  Did you or your children have a favorite? 

We had one special one that we could recite over and over. 

I found it for sale.

In 1973 it was 69 cents and it along with a few other story books were gifts for our oldest daughter's 1st Birthday. (Gifts from Snuffer...our much loved dog)

Far Guy and I read that book over and over on our trip home on leave from Lowry AFB and then again on the long trip to Mac Dill AFB in the Summer of 1973. 

As Trica got older and was able to turn the pages she would turn them as you recited the book and would make you go back and say it right if you messed up. 

Anyways...I have a copy of the book...in todays prices the book would be valued at $5.50  well it is kinda rare...so I payed a tad bit more than that for it. 

"Wake up baby this is your special day" 

Far Side

Thank you Veterans!

 Hats off to all the Veteran's out there.

Special thanks to my husband who served 26 plus years in the Air Force and the North Dakota Air National Guard!

Here he is during basic training back in 1973. 

Thank you to all the Veterans and the families that support them!  

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Home On leave

June of 1973, we were home on leave in Minnesota.  We had been at Lowry AFB in Denver Colorado and were headed for MacDill AFB in Tampa Florida.

Trica was 14 months old then and we had a little Scottie mix mutt of a dog named Snuffer who would live a good long time.  We traveled light.  Everything we had fit in the back of a pickup truck.

 

My baby brother was home then, he was honorably discharged from the Navy due to a knee injury.

Being home was bitter sweet, we didn’t know when we would be back or when we would see loved ones or relatives again but we were excited to see a different part of the United States.  Florida is a long way from Minnesota.  Far Guy orignally had orders for Bitburg Germany. (He had requested Grand Forks ND, Minot ND and Mountain Home ID) We were upset with the orders for Germany…I wouldn’t be able to go for a long time because we would have to save up for my plane ticket and Tricas and our dog Snuffer would have to be quarantined for six months either that or stay with Far Guy’s parents.  One of the single guys offered to trade his spot at MacDill and Far Guy took the trade…the next day we could have had Mountain Home and $100…but a trade is a trade.

Military life had a fair amount of twists and turns.

Thank you to the Veteran’s in my life.  My husband, my father, my baby brother, my nephew, my uncles and many of my cousins.

Wistful Wednesday: Far Guy

Far Guys Air Force career began in 1972 with an envelope from The Selective Service System.  Years before he had been assigned a number during the Vietnam Lottery.  His birthdate drew a 89.  The letter came in the mail and his Mother cried.

I was stunned but indifferent…it is what it is.  He would pass the physical and be drafted into the Army which meant he would end up on the ground in Vietnam.  Unless the Air Force would take him…they did and he was to be trained as a Non Destructive Inspection Specialist after Basic Training at Lackland AFB Texas.

Well he went to Texas alright but instead of heading for Chanute AFB in Illinois he was headed for Lowry Field in Denver Colorado.  Somehow the Non Destructive Inspection class was cancelled or full.  What now?  They would put him where the Air Force needed men the most.

He would become a 462.  A 462 was the Air Force Specialty code signifying the Airman would be a weapons loader including machine gun repair and missile launcher repair.  At Lowry he was trained on all weapons and missiles…including nuclear weapons.

This was his class that he graduated with in 1973…probably around June 1st 1973.

Far Guy is third from the left in the back row.

In the photo is an Air to Air Missile and the smaller rockets pictured  are 2.75 Rockets.  They have different colors depending on the warheads.  Blue is inert.  Some rockets had white phosphorus or red phosphorus, some had dart like flechettes one inch long, some were made for air bursts and some for point detonating.

We enjoyed our time in Colorado.  We lived a couple of miles from the base in a one bedroom furnished apartment with a pool.  Every chance we got we would head for the mountains…Trica was just little she celebrated her first birthday in Denver.  Our dog Snuffer was two years old, there was a field across from the apartment building where we walked her.  We were there from mid February 1973 to about June 1 1973.

A Traveling Song

Years ago I took the girls south with me, when Far Guy was TDY someplace..Florida or Mississippi. I drug them out of school on many occasions to go to Air Force Bases in the south, where their Father was. I absolutely hated that the Air Force put families second, and it was my way of "fighting back" for family time. I always traveled alone with the girls one way, then we would meet up with Far Guy and at the end of his deployment, he would accompany us back home to Minnesota.

The girls were good travelers, and they learned about the southern part of the USA. It was like a travelling History or Geography lesson. Now this was way before eyepods and personal music players..way before..DVD players in a vehicle. We played games...the ABC game where you had to spot something that began with each letter of the alphabet. The CAR game.. I still play this game with the grand kids if they are someplace and bored. It is harder to play now a days but back in the time that the girls and I played it, it was fun. Everyone picks their color, and they count the number of vehicles that you pass of their color. Back then you could actually play "The car game" picking Yellow, Orange, or Purple. Now a days you would get a big fat zero with those colors. We sang songs, the old ones, the songs you sang in rounds, Row, Row, Row Your Boat...and another .."Make new friends, keep the old, one is silver and the others gold." Since I am tone deaf and can not sing..but sang anyway very loudly..I am sure it sounded like a bunch of dying quails. Of course they did their homework in the car, and did lots of reading aloud. I used to divide and conquer them, one in the front seat, one in the back seat. With both of them in the back seat a "She is touching me" OR "She is over the imaginary line you drew again, and is on my side" argument would in sue. Just the kind of argument that used to drive me nuts. Then of course they took naps. They both felt important when I said "Help Mommy watch for road signs so we don't get lost." We listened to the Radio...and sang along with the songs!

On one return trip to Minnesota in 1983 or there abouts, a song by the Oak Ridge Boys was on the radio. So much so that the girls learned the song word for word, as did Far Guy..and can those three sing ..all on key..as long as I didn't join in and throw off the pitch. I can still hear them accentuating the Foreverrrrrrrrr in that tune called "Leaving Louisiana in the broad daylight."

It's just an ordinary story 'bout the way things go
'Round and around nobody knows but the highway
Goes on forever, that ol' highway rolls on forever.......

A really good traveling song! At the end of their song fest Far Guy would say "Thanks squirrels" :)