Atomic Monster Cafe: In The "Strange But True" Department...

...is this company memo I once received.

Ok, that's not the actual memo from 35 years ago; it's a facsimile with the names changed to protect the guilty.

But it is accurate and the title says it all, yes?

"Death/Company Picnic"

The president's secretary published the company memo weekly on a sheet of paper - email hadn't saved the world's forests yet.

These memos were always factual but rarely noteworthy; this one shattered that mold for all the wrong reasons.

Everyone wondered at the callous thought process that found this jarring juxtaposition of the tragic and mundane perfectly acceptable.

"Sorry about your dead uncle but hey! It's our company picnic!"

A stream of coworkers stopped by my desk to roll their eyes and wag their tongues over that one.

I actually saved that sheet of paper for years until it finally dawned on me:

We do this exact same thing on a national level every year.

We call it <"Memorial Day">.

Yes, we honor those service members who gave their lives in defense of our country.

We have parades and give speeches and for many of us, the sentiment is sincere...

The soldier fights, not because he hates what’s in front of him, but because he loves what’s behind him.
- G.K. Chesterton

...even reverent.

And what else do we do?

We have picnics and barbecues...

...and go on vacations...

...and celebrate the start of summer:

The airwaves and our inboxes are filled with advertisements for Memorial Day sales…

…encouraging us to worship at the altar of retail.

So what's the problem?

It it wrong for a company to have a picnic for its employees?

Should we not welcome the start of summer and the onset of outdoor living?

Is it improper to enjoy time with family and friends on a holiday?

Of course not, but consider:

We're able to do all of these things for one and only one reason:

The freedom we enjoy was purchased in blood by the brave men and women of our armed forces.

Don't let that foundational truth get misplaced by revelry.

Respect implies decorum, which decency always accommodates.

Another busy weekend of trying to whip the Castle Frankenstein back into summer shape.

They finally came and finished the driveway project; here's the "before"...

...and here's the "after":

And as always Karen worked me like a borrowed mule doing yardwork: mowing, digging, hauling, planting, cutting dead tree limbs, spreading mulch and hickory golfing (don't tell Karen.)

So far this May has been pretty dry...we're something like 3 inches below normal rainfall totals for the month.

In spite of that meteorological tidbit, I've been rained out of my last 2 tee times.

But this week I did finally get on the links again, with mixed results.

I only had 3 tee shots out of 9 that looked like I had a clue; the other 6 were comical examples for the blooper reel.

Even so, I managed to hang around with an almost competent short game and some surprising (for me) putting.

My first competent tee shot yielded a par on #4...

...and my other 2 decent tee shots netted a bogey on 7 and a par on 8. Along the way I managed to snag another bogey in there (on 2), which means when I tee'd it up on the par 3, 9th hole, I was all square - 4 lost holes to 4 won holes.

Naturally I hit a lousy tee shot - it was that kind of day.

And my 2nd shot landed just off the green, from where I chipped to about 5 feet from the flag: