In Memory of a Forest Fire Fighter

At the Rim Country Museum in Payson, Arizona stands a monument to forest fire fighters who perished in the area.

There are way too many names on the plaque. Six of them are from the nearby 1990 “Dude Fire.” Three people are from 1961 within a week of each other. I knew one of them. Constantine (Corky) Kodz was a Forest Service employee working as a fire observer in a plane that collided with another airplane over a forest fire known as the “Hatchery Fire” near Payson. Corky was not only a coworker of my Dad but Corky, his wife, and kids were close family friends and also members of our church. Kodz’s death was the first that I remember and it shook me up quite a bit. Especially seeing his wife and kids learning how to go on without their husband and father.

So excuse me if I get a little irritated when some people talk about how civil servants are lazy and don’t work hard..

Psalm 34:18
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit

Perfect Pairings

Tulsa Mayfest Time Again

It is Mayfest time in Tulsa again. The annual festival downtown with music, arts and crafts, food, and fun.

Its a nice change for us who work downtown to get a little music in at lunch. There are groups.

There are solo artists up n the stage with just a guitar.

And then there are others with a voice and recorded music. This young lady is on the same stage where Hanson used to play, for free, before they made it big. I don’t know who this young woman is, but she sang well and I hope that she does well. Tulsa has a great music heritage.

The art and crafts are always an attraction. New this year are a few signs telling people that photography is forbidden in their booth. I overheard some booth owners telling people that it is illegal to take pictures of their stuff without permission. Morons is what I call them. I’m not going to take pictures generally where people don’t want me to take them, but get real folks. You are in a public place. You have no expectation of privacy.

What do you think Sweetie would do if I brought this home? It doesn’t match my cubicle decor at work. I don’t know what I’d do. My closet is already full of previous decorating idea bad ideas of mine.

The people watching is the most fun. I love watching people and making up outrageous stories about them. That is why I’m not going to heaven when I die. Or at least one of the reasons.

People are wonderful. What would the world be like without them?

The food is another big draw. I have to tell you that it has gone downhill over the years. I generally don’t buy any of the food. This year I succumbed and bought a cup of gumbo. It had minute rice in it. Those of you who know me really well, know that I hate minute rice. I ate it though. Forget the food at Mayfest. That is my advice. Eat at one of the downtown restaurants instead. Cheaper and better. Anytime you can get better food cheaper, go for it. But if you are a state fair food fan, by all means go get the gumbo with the minute rice. To each their own I say.

They had one of the vehicles from Batman there. Very cool. Except it left downtown at 5 PM. Dumb move I say. I’d of liked SuperPizzaBoy to see it.

Anyway, I love Mayfest.http://tulsamayfest.org/

Lee Child – The Affair

The Affair is another one of Lee Child‘s Jack Reacher novels. Jack Reacher is big mean Military Policeman who doesn’t take much crap from anybody. Jack Reacher books are my brain candy. This book is a prequel to the very first Reacher novel The Killing Floor. I hadn’t read it so I guess I have something to look forward to reading.

In this one Reacher is sent down to Mississippi by the Pentagon to go undercover to make sure that a murder investigation is being conducted properly. While there he hooks up with the local sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux. Well poor Elizabeth falls head over heels for the handsome Jack Reacher. One feature of the town is that there is a freight train that roars through town exactly at midnight every night and is so big and fast it shakes everything in town. Well guess what, Jack’s hotel is right next to the train and Jack and Liz time their “peak expression for the affection they have for each other” to coincide with the arrival of the train at midnight.

I thought that was hilarious, but they are so good at it they start using the expression “catching the train.” I just rolled laughing. I can do that you see, it is my brain candy.

Plot, what plot, oh yeah, Jack figures out eventually that he has been played, crossed, and double crossed and well of course he has to take corrective action and he does in true Billy Jack style.

I give this book four stars out of five. Don’t you judge me!

Skywatch Friday – Saguaro Sky

Saguaro Cactus has fascinated me all my life. How can something that big grow in such profusion in a hot and dry climate? They sure look nice set against the blue Arizona sky.

When we were there last week they were just beginning to bloom.

From the Arizona Sonoran Desert north of Phoenix.

Saguaro Fact Sheet

Skywatch Friday

Signs – Oxbox Inn Saloon

In Payson, Arizona they take their drinking establishments seriously.

Oxbow Inn and Saloon

Signs, Signs

You Know, You Actually Can Go Home Again…

Thomas Wolfe was wrong, you can go home again, you might get a little dizzy though! The week before last me, my Dad, my Sister Ellen, and Brother Bob went to Payson, Arizona for a church reunion that my parents helped start back in the early 1960’s. We lived there back then you see, Ellen doesn’t have any memories but that is where she was born. Dad was the Payson District Ranger on the Tonto National Forest.

Back then Payson was out in the sticks so the government provided us a house. This is where we lived. It was exactly like the house we left in Coyote, NM where Dad was a Ranger for the Santa Fe National Forest. I remember every detail about the houses. Or at least I think I do. Now it is a storehouse for the local parks department.It is just exactly like I remember except it was yellow when we lived in it.

Here we are, Ellen, Brother Bob, Dad, and yours truly. Best BIL in the world, Irv took the pic. (Sister Ellen’s post on this trip.)

This is Dad’s former office. Now part of the Rim Country Museum in Payson. It was closed the day we were there but the nice people at the museum opened it up for us.

A listing of the Rangers. Dad is listed as the Ranger from January 1960 to July 1962. We were proud of him then, and we are proud of him now.

The getting dizzy swooning part is when we went into the main part of the museum. It used to be the Assistant Ranger’s house. I hadn’t been in it for about 50 years. The details I remembered were overwhelming. It is bizarre to go into somebody’s house that you knew very well and it is now a museum.

The biggest shock and vertigo was the next door elementary school. I went to First Grade there and now the brand spanking new school is named after my first grade teacher. I had her in her 45th year of teaching. Everybody now speaks of her in reverent terms about how great she was. Maybe so but from my first grader’s perspective she invented shock and awe. Have you ever been slapped out of your seat and onto the floor. I have!! I have to tell you though that doing some research on Julia Randall I have some newfound respect for her. She started teaching at age 17 in 1916. She taught first grade from 1923 until she retired in 1969. The Payson Roundup website has a great article on her. She really was a true western pioneer teacher.

The old Ranger Station is now a very nice park with ponds and fountains and such. This used to be where the Forest Service had the helicopter landing pad and close to the warehouse where the guys who worked for Dad used to work when they weren’t out fighting fires. Brother Bob and I told him how we used to go pester his guys and he was shocked.

You see the Forest Fire fighters nowdays may train by playing frisbee football. The guys we knew way back when trained on whiskey, cigarettes, and poker. Dad was a little shocked that we hung around them. He got doubly shocked on this trip when Bob and I told him about jumping off the platforms they used way back when to teach the firefighters how to jump out of hovering helicopters. Of course brother and I were shocked that he was shocked. He wanted to know what else we did. We think we may have told him too much already.

Anyway, I have to tell you I was very happy over going back to Payson. The woods that brother Bob and I roamed are now there for everybody to enjoy, Dad’s work, and the work of others like him is honored, and everything looks great!

Our World

Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s in my life.

Especially Sweetie, my wife and best friend and mother to our child, even if he towers over her now. He couldn’t have a better Mother nor one that loves him as much as Sweetie does. The love of a mother is awesome to behold.

My Mother-in-Law Nana, best MIL in the world.

My Sister, Ellen, who brought three daughters up to be very capable women.

Two of her daughters, Jillian on the right, and Mary on the left, mother to my nephew, Mr. Beans, seen at the far left.

My favorite picture (stains and all) of my Mother. She has been gone some years now. I think about her every day and I miss her very much. So much of her personality comes out in this photo.

Who can find a virtuous woman? She is far more precious than jewels…
Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the activities of her household and is never idle.
Her sons rise up and call her blessed.
He husband also praises her:
Many women are capable, but you surpass them all!
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
~Proverbs 31:10, 25-30

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Weekend Reflections – Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona

It is hot in the desert and water is very scarce. It makes you appreciate it that much more.

(Phoenix, Arizona May 2012)

Heard Museum Courtyard in Phoenix, Arizona.

Weekend Reflections

Fiddler on the Roof with John Preece as Tevye

Last night Sweetie and I dropped the kid off at Nana’s and drove downtown to Tulsa’s Performing Arts Center to see the touring Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof.

John Preece played the lead character, Tevye. He certainly has the beard for the role. He has played Tevye just over 1900 times and is on his tenth touring production. He lives the role, he certainly didn’t call his performance in last night.

This production is wonderful. Preece did a great job as Tevye, the rest of the cast was wonderful and even though the musical is kind of long at almost three hours including intermission it never dragged. It is the complete musical package of story, singing, and dancing. If this production comes to your town check it out. I give it four stars out of five.