Sunday, September 16, 2018

Back From...

...the brink...ugly weekend with major hardware issues, but today's a new day and things are finally back together...thanks to God's grace and good men like Dave Roderick, Kevin Fisher and Scott Bailey...great job guys...dodged a mortar shell.

Have I mentioned I'm too old for this kind of excitement?  My achin' back...

Prior to all the chaos that took up all of Saturday and much of Sunday, Karen and I watched a great but often overlooked William Holden flick...
This is not your typical 1950's war movie, most of which were of the rah-rah-the-good-guys-win variety.

Don't get me wrong; it's not unpatriotic, it's simply a thoughtful and intelligent look at one extraordinary man's service in the war and his justifiably cynical view of his situation.

He'd done his part in WWII, served honorably, been discharged and gotten on with his life...married, kids, a law practice in Denver...but when the Korean "police action / war" began he was called up to active duty as a jet pilot.

And the actual film footage of those jets taking off from the deck of a carrier pitching and rolling in the middle of the ocean is stunning.  At one point the admiral wonders aloud, "Where do we get such men?"  Where, indeed...

We follow our hero, Lt. Brubaker, as he deals with the dangers and stress of his job as a Navy pilot.  He's admirable, dedicated, conflicted, and - spoiler alert - ultimately doomed.

In the end we see him dying in a muddy irrigation ditch after his jet is hit by flak and you want to cry at the pointlessness of it all.

No wonder this movie was not a blockbuster...no feel good glorious and triumphant return to his happy home, just a healthy if unwelcome dose of reality.

If for no other reasons, you should see this movie to watch the great William Holden give a stellar performance - and to marvel at the skill and bravery of those Navy pilots who risked their all every time they strapped themselves into the cockpit.

Switching gears a bit, I've decided on my next writing project...it's back to the Papa's Model T series...
...this one's going to be Papa's Model T: The Amateur

My motivation is an email I received from Bryson, a  young fan who inquired if there were anymore PMT books...when I told him there were just the five, he responded his grandpa has a Model T, they're fun, and he'd like it if I would write more of the PMT books.

So what the heck...this next one's for you, Bryson and thank you for your input.

Got some pics of life on the road which means it's time for...
Rodger's Ramblings...             









This past week found him in the Memphis, Tennessee area which oddly, is home to one of the 10 biggest pyramids in the world...
There's a story about this pyramid, including accusations of someone placing a crystal skull in the peak and causing it to be cursed...yeah, makes sense...but for a time it was nicknamed the temple of doom bc it sat idle for years until the Bass Pro guys stepped up.
Now it's one of their major attractions and houses - besides all the Bass Pro items - an indoor swamp, hotel and bowling alley...though I don't think those three are necessarily related...hope not anyway.

Rodger was also trucking through the Missouri area and reports the cotton is in full bloom now...
Remember, as CCR opined musically, when those cotton balls get rotten you can't pick very much cotton...no, really...CCR wouldn't lie to us...

Thanks to work, no golf this weekend...drat...
...pretty sure this was the weekend I was going to break par...

later, mcm fans...

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