Contents

Contents

1.  About Chronoposts8, 14, 09
2.  The Thrifty Drug Store Caper 8, 15, 09
3.  Bob Moodys Excellent Adventure 8,15, 09
4.  Moms story 8, 16, 09
5.  My old man 8, 17, 09
6.  Sheep Lungs 10, 9, 09
7.  Breakfast with the Adairs 10, 10, 09
8.  Dort 11, 4, 2009
9.  I started out as a child 11, 5, 09
10.  Don Hill 11, 6, 09
11.  Latin American Adventures 11, 11, 09
12.  Latin American Adventures Part 2 11, 11, 09
13.  Family Pictures 11, 12, 09
14.  US Navy 11, 18, 2009
15.  Written by dad explaining why he was a vegetarian 12,5, 2009
16.  Susans Samoan Journal 12, 6, 09
17.  Heaven and Hell 12, 6, 09
18.  The Squirrels 12, 13, 09
19.  Woodland, CA ~ A Bicentennial Community 01, 7, 10
20.  Mortality 01, 13, 10
21.  How I met your mother 01, 24, 10
22.  Pete 02, 5, 10
23.  Family History 03, 24, 10
24.  Patty & Jacks Excellent Vacation 2010 03, 25, 10
25.  Political Musings 07, 18, 10
26.  Dog-sitting 07, 19, 10
27.  I  Started Out As A Child~ The Sequel 07, 22, 10
28.  My life with Patty 8-13-10
29.  SHS Summer Social 2010 08, 24, 10
30.  Rafting the American and Pigeon Coops 09, 5, 10
31.  A WEEK ON PATOS ISLAND by Patty 09, 26, 10
32.  Year 2010 and the draft 11, 18, 10
33.  Taking Care of Business 12, 16, 10
34.  Millie 01, 23, 11
35.  I’ve been saved…maybe
36.  Edie 04-24-11
37.  Thoughts from Dad 05-14-11
38.  My Story by Theresa 05-18-11
39.  Samuel Parker Ware 05-19-11
40.  More thoughts from Dad 5-26-11
41.  Energy Problem Solved 6-18-11
42.  Pattys Roots 7-12-2011
43.  Threescore and ten 7-16-2011
44.  Patty and Jack 7-23-11
45.  Our Seventieth Year 7-27-11
46.  The Marvelous Wonderettes 8-1-11
47.  Hurricane Camille 8-7-11
48.  Omie  8-25-11
49.  Ginnie 10-11-11
50. Ware and Lindsley families 11-17-11
51. 750 Words 1-5-12
52.  My Senior Year 1-12-12
53.  Poop and conservatives 1-23-12
54.  Pattys Family 2-4-12
55.  It’s Pattys birthday today!!! 4-4-2012
56.  Zombies 6-2-12
57.  Pattys Most Excellent Adventure!  Part I     6-6-12
58.  Pattys-most-excellent-adventure-part-II  6-8-12
59.  Pattys Most Excellent Adventure Part III  6-9-12
60.  Pattys Most Excellent Adventure – Part IV6-10-12
61.  Pattys Most Excellent Adventure – Part V 6-12-12
62.   Rats! 7-20-12
63.   John Cleeses ‘Letter to America’ 8-13-12
64.   Talk Like A Pirate 9-17-12
65.   My Friend, Joe Clein 10-08-12
66.   Our 50th Wedding Anniversary 11-19-12
67.   12-29-12 Our 50th Wedding Anniversary 1-19-13
68.  Places we’ve lived 4/20/13
69. Barefoot in Samoa8/18/09
70. Summer of 2013 6/10/2013
71. The Epic Cross-country Road Trip of 2013 7/25/13
72. Dead People and Mountains of Salt 10/23/13
73.  Stephen Ware, Petes son. 12/24/13
74.  New England Vampire Panic of 1793 01/29/2014
75. Operation Puppy Peace
76. Susans Birthday & Pattys Summer 04/20/2014
77. Energy Problem Solved 04/25/14
78. Summer 2014 update  08/23/14
79. A Girl Named Sue 09/07/14
80. TLAP 09/16/14
81. It was a very good year~2014 12/24/14
82.   Smokin Outhouse  12/28/14
83.    Patience  03/15/15
84.   Book of Life 05/04/15
85.   Theresa 03/06/16
86.    Lindsley Family History  03/06/16
87.    Pattys birthday 2016  04/04/16
88.   Hillarys e-mails  06/15/16
89.   Letter from Dolly  07/18/16
90.   My Grandkids Ancestors 07/26/16
91.   Green Pea soup and Mayonnaise 02/04/17
92. Gabriels Big Adventure10/24/17
93. 1962~1963 A Year Of Change 11/5/17
94. Family history from Eugene Register-Guard posts v1 2/23/18
95. Family History from Eugene Register-Guard Posts v2 2/23/18
96. Family History from Eugene Register-Guard posts v3 2/23/18
97. Family History in Newspaper Clippings 3/7/18
98. A memorable night 8/18/18
99. Soap Soccer  12/02/18
100. 2019 in Retrospect 11/27/19
101. Susan   3 /7/20
102. Traci   3/15/20
103. Barefoot Jack  08/30/20
104. TWTYTW  11/17/20
105. Life With Patty 1/29/21
106. A story from Billy  10/28/21
107. David Warren Lindsley 02/11/22
108.  Millie & Bob’s Memorial 09/02/22

109. Susan’s Journal Entry

110. Dave Barry favorite 01/08/23

111. Life’s Milestones  04/02/23

112. Newspaper Articles/May 5, 2023

Newspaper Articles

Newspaper articles 

The Boston Globe – Boston, MA/7 Nov 1922

The Tampa Times – Tampa, FL/21 May 1932

The Capital Journal – Salem, OR/11 Apr 1932

Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois/11 Apr 1932

Albany Democrat-Herald Albany, OR /22 Apr 1932

Orleans County Monitor- Barton, Vermont/22 Sep 1915

Samuel Parker Ware- ca: 1907

Life’s Milestones

Patty is gone again.  She’s presently sitting in the Honolulu Airport waiting for her flight home and not happy about it, especially since I told her it’s raining  here.  Anyway, I asked her where she was when she heard Trump got indicted and she told me she was in her room at the Hale Koa working on her Microsoft Rewards and I realized that this was one of life’s milestones.  Right up there with the Kennedy assassination, the Challenger Disaster, 9-11 and Trump’s Initial Indictment!!! 

But wait a minute!  There are good milestones and bad milestones.  For instance, 12-29-1962, the day Patty and I got married; 1-10-1967, Traci’s birthday; 4-21-1977, Susan’s birthday; 11-4-2008, Obama’s Election Victory and 3-30-2023, Trump’s Initial Indictment are all day’s that affected my life in a positive manner.  So remember where you were are on that day because that is the day that Martin Luther King’s quote: “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice” is true and I hope it bends right into that jail cell he wanted to put Hillary Clinton in.

Dave Barry favorite

He said, she said: A dialogue by Dave Barry

A guy named Roger is driving his girlfriend, Gloria, home from dinner one night, when Gloria says, “Do you realize that, as of tonight, we’ve been seeing each other for exactly six months?” There is silence in the car. To Gloria, it seems like a very loud silence.
Gloria (thinking): Geez, I wonder if it bothers him that I said that. Maybe he’s been feeling confined by our relationship; maybe he thinks I’m trying to push him into some kind of obligation that he doesn’t want, or isn’t sure of.
Roger (thinking): Gosh. Six months.
Gloria (thinking): But, hey, I’m not so sure I want this kind of relationship, either. Sometimes I wish I had a little more space, so I’d have time to think about whether I really want us to keep going the way we are…I mean, where are we going? Are we just going to keep seeing each other at this level of intimacy? Are we heading toward marriage? Toward children? Toward a lifetime together? Am I ready for that level of commitment? Do I really even know this person?
Roger (thinking): So that means it was…let’s see…February when we started going out, which was right after I had the car at the dealer’s, which means…lemme check the odometer…Whoa, I am way overdue for an oil change here.
Gloria (thinking): He’s upset. I can see it on his face. Maybe I’m reading this completely wrong. Maybe he wants more from our relationship, more intimacy, more commitment; maybe he has sensed, even before I sensed it, that I was feeling some reservations. Yes, I bet that’s it. That’s why he’s so reluctant to say anything about his own feelings. He’s afraid of being rejected.
Roger (thinking): And I’m gonna have them look at the transmission again. I don’t care what those morons say, it’s still not shifting right. And they better not try to blame it on the cold weather this time. What cold weather? It’s 87 degrees out, and this thing is shifting like a garbage truck, and I paid those incompetent thieves $600!
Gloria (thinking): He’s angry. And I don’t blame him. I’d be angry too. God, I feel so guilty, putting him through this, but I can’t help the way I feel. I’m just not sure.
Roger (thinking): They’ll probably say it’s only a 90-day warranty. That’s exactly what they’re gonna say, the scumballs.
Gloria (thinking): Maybe I’m just too idealistic, waiting for a knight to come riding up on his white horse, when I’m sitting right next to a perfectly good person, a person I truly do care about, a person who is in pain because of my self-centered schoolgirl romantic fantasy.
Roger (thinking): Warranty? They want a warranty? I’ll give them a warranty. I’ll take their warranty and stick it right up their…
Gloria (aloud): Roger?
Roger (startled): What?
Gloria (her eyes filling with tears): Please don’t torture yourself like this. Maybe I should never have…Oh God, I feel so…
Roger: What?
Gloria (sobbing): I’m such a fool. I mean, I know there’s no knight. I really know that. It’s silly. There’s no knight, and there’s no horse.
Roger: There’s no horse?
Gloria: You think I’m a fool, don’t you?
Roger (relieved finally to know the right answer): No.
Gloria: It’s just that…It’s that I…I need some time.
Roger (after a 15-second pause during which he is thinking as fast as he can, trying to come up with a safe response. Finally he comes up with one that he thinks might work.): Yes.
Gloria (deeply moved, touching his hand): Oh, Roger, do you really feel that way?
Roger: What way?
Gloria: That way about time.
Roger: Oh. Yes.
Gloria (gazing deeply into Roger’s eyes, causing him to become very nervous about what she might say next, especially if it involves a horse. At last she speaks.): Thank you, Roger.
Roger: Thank you.
Then he takes her home, and she lies on her bed and cries until dawn. Roger goes back to his place, opens a bag of Doritos, turns on the TV, and immediately becomes deeply involved in a rerun of a tennis match between two Czechoslovakians he never heard of. A tiny voice in the far recesses of his mind tells him that something major was going on back there in the car, but he is pretty sure there is no way he could ever understand what. He figures it’s better if he doesn’t think about it.
The next day Gloria calls all her best friends and talks about this situation for six straight hours. In painstaking detail they analyze everything she said and everything he said, considering every possible ramification. They continue to discuss this subject off and on, for weeks, maybe months, never reaching any definite conclusions.
Meanwhile, Roger, while playing racquetball one day with a mutual friend of his and Gloria’s, pauses just before serving, frowns, and says, “Norm, did Gloria ever own a horse?”

Susan’s Journal Entry

October 10, 2004

Dear Diary,

This is our first time staying @ the condo w/out my folks.  It’s been an adventure since getting off the ferry and trying to remember how to get here.  We had to pay a $55 dollar cleaning fee to check in- w/out using a debit card.  Cash or check only they said.  Well, checks were right out since I haven’t even seen my checkbook since the 1990’s when the internet and automatic bill pay rendered them obsolete.  We managed to scrounge up the cash by emptying our pockets and the change in the car’s ashtray which provided about $10 in dimes.

When we opened the unit, I noticed quite a few differences from previous trips.  Several things were missing such as fuzzy fleece blankets and hot apple pie.  The fireplace also seemed to be malfunctioning.  There was no light, no heat, just a paper wrapped log sitting on a rack. 

We turned up the thermostat and sat down for our dinner of potato chips and soda.  We turned on the TV and noticed the VHS player.  We were fairly certain that none of the DVD’s we brought would play on the VHS player.  It would be great however if we wanted the retro experience of watching …what? … Saturday Night Fever in letterbox?  We also found that the music system was incompatible with our MP3 players.  This lack of indoor entertainment prompted us to go outside the next day.

We walked down to the beach to get mauled by the occasional wet dog.  Kai was more than a little offended by the sign telling him to fill his clam hole.  I explained ‘gooey ducks’ as best I understood them- a clam that is neither gooey nor duck like, yet is nevertheless popular with people who eat things they dig up at the beach.

We were walking toward the little floating dock when Kai said, “there’s beef all along here” and motioned all up and down the shoreline.  I kept walking but devoted all my mental faculties to decoding what he meant.  It seemed unlikely that a cow had exploded out in the water and was now being washed up on the shore in little bits and pieces but what sounds like beef?  Teeth?  I knew if I repeated the beef phrase back to him he’d get upset.  This was a hearing impediment I seemed to have inherited from my dad.  My mom will say, “did you take out the garbage?”  And my dad will respond, “Did I bulldoze the garage?”  And my mom will ask, “Now, why would I want you to bulldoze the garage?’ and my dad will respond, “I don’t know.  I don’t know why you wanted me to get a bass last weekend, but I did it just like you asked.”  And my mom will yell, “Cut the grass!”  And my dad will start the mower. 

I gave up decoding and asked, “Did you say there’s beef all along here?”  And he responded, “Why would I say that?  And I replied, “I don’t know,  You tell me.”  And he said, “I said, there’s a bee following me”  in an agitated tone that assured I would be able to understand and waved his hand and a bee buzzed away.

Kai’s cell phone rang ‘off the hook’ all afternoon w/info from friends about shows in the city tonight.  ‘Off the hook’ being a phrase, I guess, from a time when phones came in two pieces, both the of VHS cassettes and connected together by cords that tangled and restricted your movement to within 5 inches of the countertop.  The calls reminded me that I needed to e-mail my friend Mary about something but there was no wi-fi at Kala Point.  If I wanted to send Mary an e-mail, I suppose I’d have to locate a typewriter, a large machine with ascending rows of mechanical keys you press down or flip like playing a pipe organ,  It’s like Phantom of the Opera every time you want to tell someone about your day.  So instead, I made some chai and looked @ the view. 

Kai was engrossed in the journals.  He was fascinated by them.  “It’s like you’re looking into these peoples lives but they overlap with your life right here in this place, it’s like ghosts,” he said. 

We figured out the fireplace and opened some wine.  I couldn’t sleep last night it was so quiet.  I imagined pressure on my eardrums or like I was in a vacuum.  I’d wake up uneasy and roll over just to hear the blanket rustle. 

The next day we spent doing nothing to a point that I think we reached a zen-like trance.  We walked on the beach asking each other rhetorical questions about ecology and maritime activities and Kai found a giant crab which he picked up.  He studied the ways he could move it and puppeted it’s pinchers while I imagined what kind of bacteria and parasites might thrive on discarded crab legs.  I wonder if, when I die, some scientist might pick up my fingers and point them at his girlfriend and go, “Rar, Rar, Rar!”

And now it’s time to go home.  All in all I think we enjoyed our weekend @ the condo.  It was nice to sit and rest and breathe fresh air but I’m looking forward to sleeping In my own bed tonight and letting the rush of I-5 outside my window lull me to sleep. 

                                         Susan

Millie & Bob’s Memorial

Robert Edwin and Millie Moody

Patty and I have arranged to have Millie & Bob interred at Eagle Point National Cemetery.  Actually, it was mostly Patty’s effort but I provided a lot of support.  Anyway, we got it done and Millie and Bob are near where we put Opie, Joe and David.  I feel a lot better about this since they were all cremated and the ashes scattered in different places where it may have been meaningful to them and to us but there was no record of them or memorial to them.  When my time comes, I hope there’s room for me there too.  It’s really nice out there.  

I’d like to say something about Bob because I know Millie would want me to.  Millie loved Bob and always stood by him.  He didn’t make it easy on her at times, but he was the only man Millie ever loved.   Bob stood by Millie too.  I saw him take care of her and do what he could, and I don’t think anyone could have done more.  And she didn’t make it easy on him either.  Lots of times, because of her medication or frustration, she was pretty rough on him.  But he was there for her and cared for her to the best of his ability.  The things Millie did for us over the years she couldn’t have done without his willing cooperation.  Millie would want it known that she loved Bob and that they had a good life together and he was there when she needed him.  

Millie was the best of us.  She was considerate of all of us and tried to maintain ties with everyone and to keep the family in touch.  She didn’t judge anyone and was open to people and lifestyles and could find value where most of us don’t bother to look.   She gave freely of herself, whatever she had to whoever needed it no matter the personal sacrifice or inconvenience, and she didn’t need to be asked.  Patty and I remember her kindness and help when we were first married and struggling.  Her help and advice at that crucial time helped shape the rest of our lives. Thanks for being there Millie.

Millie was more than a sister to me.  She was a friend who I loved and respected as a person.  I’ve seen Millie as someone to look up to and respect since I was very small.  She always seemed special and wonderful to me and I was proud that she was my sister.  I always felt fortunate that she cared for me, and I always knew that she did.

Millie taught me something about dying.  I hope when my time comes I do it as well as she did.  She had an inherent grace and dignity.  Even when times were at their worst, in the care center and at the hospital, she was still special.  She wasn’t overcome with despair over her suffering and terrible condition but was concerned about others, asking about Bob, Pete, Theresa or Kelli.  She wouldn’t talk about herself much but when she did, it was about her getting better.  I knew she was trying to keep my spirits up, but I gratefully went along with her charade.  She prepared for her death and tried to do as much as she could to help us prepare too.

I’ll remember Millie as a thinking and caring person.  Just knowing her and loving her made my life better.  She was a truly good person who left this world a better place for those she touched or who knew her.  That’s the best you can say about anyone.

Millie & Bob in their teens

David Warren Lindsley

March 12, 1943-January 20,2022

David Lindsley died as a result of an automobile accident on 20 January, 2022, in a rural area of Cottage Grove, Oregon. 

Born in Vernonia, Oregon his family moved to Springfield in 1950.  He attended Springfield High School with the Class of 1961.  He left school to join the US Army and served from 1960 to 1963. David served his country with pride and will be interred at Eagle Point National Cemetery along with his father Joseph and his mother Opal.

He was a man of varied interests and worked in many different fields.  For example, while working as a taxicab driver in Fairbanks Alaska he disarmed an armed robber who tried to hold him up, a bad idea.  He was an avid reader and taught himself to play several musical instruments.   He kept his drive to learn new things and to help others.  He was well liked in his community and will be sorely missed.

David was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Opal Lindsley; his siblings, Freddy Tarver and Audette Young.  He is survived by his sisters Patty Ware of Ashland, Oregon, Tammy Lindsley of Orting, Washington and brother Scott Lindsley of Reno, Nevada.

A story from Billy

Wares & Adairs 1971

While on a trip back to Wisconsin, Clarence and Alma, who were living in Emy and Fred’s house on Sumner Avenue in Fowler, asked Jack to watch the house and take care of Sam, cousin Lena’s large collie. While putting out a daily dose of food for the dog one day, Jack noticed the dog wasn’t around… which was strange because big old Sam was always there for feeding time. After a day or two, Jack let Emy know that Sam was missing. Emy took a quick trip down to Fowler from her house in Fresno to check things out. She was already occasionally going down to water Alma’s house plants, attend to their mail, and harvest whatever she could from Clarence’s huge vegetable garden. While walking around the ranch calling out for Sam, she approached the garden. Being a large overgrown patch, Emy had to wiggle her way around through the greenery. As she glanced over some tall tomato plants, she spotted a huge furry clump. She was quite taken aback to discover Sam laying in the garden… dead and bloated beyond belief. Being in a little shock, she ran into the ranch house to use the phone… yeah, this was the early 80’s so the land-line phone was attached to the wall in the kitchen. She called Jack who lived just down the country street and around the corner on Kenneth Avenue. Jack showed up quickly in his yellow pickup with shovels in hand, and the two (I’m sure mostly Jack) dug a giant hole. The burial site, however, was excavated a bit of a distance from the actual site of the passed-away pooch. Emy was a nervous wreck as they both grabbed Sam’s legs and dragged him slowly out of the garden and made their way pulling and shuffling the big awkward carcass to the hole. She remembers the dog being so puffed up and swollen and scary looking that she was horribly afraid any wrong move could pop the bloated beast. With some gasps and hesitations, Jack and Emy managed to deliver Sam to his grave. After Emy got back home, she took on the task of placing a call to Clarence and Alma with the sad news. Yet another fun tale from the adventures of the Wares and Adairs!

Life With Patty

Patty was telling me about her dream she had this morning while I was trying to get up the courage to get out of bed.   She said she dreamed she was a forensic accountant in a Perry Mason trial setting and the subject was a realtor that was selling a house that he claimed was owned by Elvis Pressley and he was selling it for $380 thousand.  She said, “That’s just wrong!  Any house that was owned by Elvis would be worth millions.”  She said she thought there were laws that compel a realtor to disclose information about a houses’ prior history to a prospective buyer and that realtor was complicit in defrauding the buyer.   I had to agree that she was on to something and that it would make a great television series.  Maybe with Sandra Bullock playing the lead as Patty.  Then she said, “I had another dream where I was a  forensic genealogist…”  and I got out of bed.

This is normal in our house.  Patty says it’s the only time she can carry on a normal conversation without having to stick a garden hose in my ear to get my attention.   ‘Normal’ is in the eye of the beholder.  She also told me of a dream where she was staying in a nice hotel on a business trip and someone came in on a ‘hot prowl’ and stole all her jeans.   I would never try to sleep if I had dreams like that. 

Anyway, I guess I’m a pretty lucky guy.  I’m 80 years old and still enjoying life and it’s entirely because of Patty.   59 years ago I was set up on a blind date.  I was just out of the Navy and moving houses and living with my sister, Millie, and Dad had just died when I met Patty.  We met in August and by December we were married.   In April we packed everything we had into my ’56 Dodge and headed for Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS with Patty driving part of the way.  Whenever she was driving, interesting things would happen.  I’d wake up and she’d tell me about the roadrunner that was pacing our car in Arizona or the Armadillo that she ran over in Louisiana.  It’s been like that our whole life together.   Like the nine foot iguana she pinned to the road with our new Chrysler convertible on its inaugural trip on the transisthmian highway in Panama or the coke bottle blowout we had while she was passing a bus at 90MPH in southern Mexico. 

Now, our adventures are mostly memories and we spend our days reading books together and watching old movies.  This is fine for me but I think Patty is getting stir-crazy.  Once this pandemic is over, if we’re still here, I think she’ll be out of here.  I might go with her to Hawaii but anywhere else she’ll be on her own.

TWTYTW

(That was the year that was)

This year has been a doozy.    And it isn’t over yet, which is an ominous thing to say.   We have made it through but, with COVID-19 rates about to go exponential, it’s still a gamble.   It started out normal, well as normal as it could be, and then took a bad turn. 

Patty went to the Philippines for Jinno’s wedding in January, Jinno is Rene’s cousin who stayed with the neighbors while getting his MBA at SOU.  They spent a week or so on the beach in a beautiful resort and then returned via Hong Kong to Seattle where Susan and Kai were in lockdown and unable to even visit.  From there…nothing.  We haven’t even seen Sue or Kai this year and won’t until next spring at the earliest.  Patty had her long-awaited trip to Africa cancelled and her deposit forfeited because of travel restrictions and none of her regular woodland trips happened.  She did get in a trip to Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore with Traci and Rene in August but that’s it and she dodged a bullet there since she was there during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and now South Dakota has the highest infection rate in the country.   Needless to say, she’s got cabin fever.   If we make it through all of this, we’re going to Hawaii.

But this year, as bad as it is, is worse on the kids.  Samuel finished five years at OSU with a degree Magna cum Laude in Mechanical Engineering and is now in a tight job market looking for work and maybe contemplating a post-graduate degree.   His girlfriend, Lauren, has just gotten her degree in Communications and is also exploring the job market at a time when most businesses are still closed or bankrupt.  Gabriel, on the other hand, has landed on his feet with the U.S. Navy as a Corpsman and is scheduled to get further training in Physical Therapy starting in January in Texas.  He’s currently at Jacksonville Navy Base and has seen several deployments fighting the COVID-19 virus.  Traci is employed as an Educational Assistant working with special needs kids at Belleview Elementary.  A job that has seen real challenges in delivering educational resources during the pandemic due to social distancing and working with Zoom presentations.   Rene is still working as a Professor at SOU/SOB and looking at retirement in the not too distant future.  He’s also working with on-line presentations although he’s been doing that for years.

Susan is working at Microsoft and seems to be doing just fine with working from home although it has cut down on her travel.   She recently received a promotion to Chief of Staff in her division and is also challenged by working with on-line presentations.   Kai has been hit hardest because he’s a member of the gig-economy, but he has some on-line students with drumming and also with math.   He’ll be OK as long as he doesn’t get them mixed up.  Sue and Kai have been exceptionally good with the COVID-19 restrictions and have barely left home since March.  We keep in contact with Facebook and by telephone, so we’re not completely estranged but I am looking forward to it’s being over.

All in all, it’s sort of like being on an isolated tour of duty with the military to Thule Greenland.  Well, lets be realistic, it’s not at all like that.  However, at my age, I can’t afford to just have a year taken out of my allotment.  As years go, I’d just as soon have this one gone but I’m apprehensive about what else is going to happen.  Well, I can’t leave this on a sour note so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and stay safe.

Barefoot Jack

I was looking through my old files and came across this old letter that I had written to my co-workers and contacts at Rural Development and it took me back to 17 years ago when I was starting my second retirement.   I think I retired shortly after this in 2004.  I was taking a 30 day leave and visiting Patty in American Samoa:

From: Jack Ware [mailto:fjware@msn.com]
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 12:37 PM
Cc: jware@egroups.com
Subject: Barefoot in Samoa

Barefoot in Samoa

It’s Sunday morning and Patty is out walking while I sit here with a fan blowing on me so hard that I couldn’t hear a 747 if it was screaming toward me about to crash.  Speaking of airplane crashes. the trip over here was the most grueling experience I’ve suffered in a long time.  To start with, I left my friend Joe at SeaTac airport with Patty’s car and an empty tank of gas – sorry Joe.  Then I went through the full body search and boarded an airplane with a graduating high-school class on their way to a Hawaiian adventure.  They had a great time all the way over- about 5 hours.  I was seated right in the middle of them in a seat that my ex-son-in-law Dutch designed, when he worked for Boeing straight out of college, for midgets with no legs.
In Honolulu I had a 5 hour layover where I again went through a customs inspection and then boarded another aircraft in the same seat but this time the plane was loaded with Samoans.  I mean LOADED.  When one of the Samoan mamas got up to use the restroom, the “Fasten Seat Belts” sign would go on and the pilot would explain we had unexpected turbulence.  All the Samoans seemed to know one another and were very friendly and likeable.
Anyway, after 5 hours in a fetal position promising God to change my ways if He’d get me out of this, we flew in through a tropical thunderstorm to Pago Pago (pronounced Pongo Pongo- go figure).   There were lightning flashes and clouds whizzing by like a Twilight Zone episode.  Finally we bounced and careened our way onto the runway and then they wouldn’t let us off the aircraft because it was raining too hard.  They thought they’d get us umbrellas but then they realized the wind was blowing so hard that an umbrella would turn you into Mary Poppins so they let us off without them. Then I had to go through customs again in case I’d managed to pick up any contraband between Honolulu and Pago Pago.   It seemed like the entire island had turned out for my arrival.  Patty says it’s the major event every week when the plane comes in.  Patty had brought a friend to the airport to catch the flight I had come in on but we’d broken the plane so he was stuck for a day or two until they could fix it.  Had debris in the engines that they had picked up during the landing (I’m not kidding).   I guess I shouldn’t complain, Patty says on her flight over, a guy in the seat behind her died and they had to return to the terminal in Honolulu to let him off.  They were stuck on the taxi-way for several hours.
OK- I’d gotten this far and my e-mail went away and now it has miraculously reappeared.  Patty’s computer does stuff that I never intended.  I’ll be typing along and some bizarre word will appear or I’ll find myself typing in the middle of the previous paragraph.  Then I’ll get kicked off-line.  The dial-up is at 28 bytes per min – not 28 kb /sec.  It’s like I have a Ferrari on a dirt road.
Now it’s Monday and Patty has gone to work.  They are very happy with her and want her to stay on.  I think she might if it weren’t for Sam and Gabe,  she really misses the grandkids.  They’re having an Inter Island Conference here in a couple of weeks, Virgin Islands, Marianas, Palau,  Guam, Marshall’s, etc.  Patty’s boss says they’ll probably try to recruit Patty to help them.  He thinks she could go from island to island on a continuous basis training their tax people.    Apparently, they all have their own tax codes and they all have significant problems that they need to rectify.  Patty’s boss says, if she’ll stay, he’ll find me a job too.  I guess I could sharpen their pencils.
We’re going to a neighboring island this weekend that is supposed to be nothing but a beach and a palm tree and some cabins that some retired Navy dude built.   You have to fly in.  We’ll spend the weekend snorkeling and drinking coronas on the beach.  At least, that’s the plan.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Well, Patty left me a honey-do list so I’d better get busy.  TTYL

Barefoot Jack

Continued: (present day)

This is the plane that delivered us to Ofu, a neighboring island that is part of American Samoa and the start of an adventure in Paradise. And this is where we stayed for a week:

The owners were Marge and Hank and Hank was retired Navy. They had a few rooms in the detached cottages and we were there with a few other people. I don’t remember much about them but Hank took us around to see some of the sites and Marge went with Patty scuba-diving around the beach. This would cost you a fortune today I’m sure but when we did it it was a bare-bones experience. It is called Va’oto Lodge now and is on many peoples’ bucket list.

The cottage we stayed in was pretty rustic and it was more like a screened in porch. In the middle of the night I was awakened by an animal landing on me and I gave a shout and leaped out of bed. Turned out to be Marge’s cat who had gained access through a tear in the window screen. Marge cooked our meals and Hank entertained us. This is an American National Park and is protected as such. Patty and I enjoyed it and went with Hank exploring Ofu, and the neighboring island of Olosega which is connected by a bridge.