Remember Pearl Harbor

My Father was in the US Navy and stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. I was a young boy of seven. Our small family; Mother, Father, and I lived in the Naval Housing, just a few blocks from the Harbor and Navy Base. Hickam Field, the Army Air Force Base was visible from my upstairs bedroom window. Even after all these years, my memory of that long ago Sunday morning is still quite vivid. The black smoke rising from the destruction of our ships and facilities is always most prevalent. The radio emitted a constant appeal, "All military personnel report to your duty stations". I can still see my father running down the road in his dungarees to answer the call. Dive-Bombers, with a curious red ball painted on the side, are still visible in many of the slides imprinted in my memory. My family was fortunate, my father suffered the loss of some friends and shipmates, but we were unharmed.

A friend, perhaps because he knew I was there, recently sent me an e-mail containing some pictures taken that day. I have used those pictures to create a slide show to commemorate "A date which will live in Infamy".

GIVING THANKS...

We have a lot to be thankful for. We arrived in Arizona without mishap. The Weather has been warm with lots of sunshine, and the nights cool. Most of our clean up work has been completed, making some progress in the "honey do" department; I’m ready to hit the Links.

The Golf Course is in really great shape this year, and is fully functional. The back nine was opened on Monday. We have a new groundkeeper this year and he seems to have a real knack on the greens, they are lush and fast. I serve as a Marshal on Friday afternoons, if you see me out there, I hope you will say hello.

Palm Creek does not offer a discounted price with LA Fitness this year, but if you signed with them last year, LA Fitness will honor your 2008 membership. The monthly rate is $30. They have a nice swimming pool, if you are a lap swimmer there is always a lane, or two, in the early mornings.

We have a table reserved for the Annual Palm Creek Thanksgiving Day Dinner. Looking forward to the traditional dinner. Maybe we will see you there, have a happy day!

Dining with Friends.

Yesterday evening we enjoyed a beautiful dining experience at the Phoenix "Rustler's Rooste". Arizona’s Legendary Cowboy Steakhouse, "Rustler’s Rooste" serves the finest steaks, ribs, chicken and the freshest seafood. For an appetizer you might want to try the tasty rattlesnake, we did, and it was good. Stroll over the indoor waterfall and take the slide into the dining room, for the faint of heart, there is a staircase. Better go hungry! Dinner is served family style. "Rustler’s Rooste" also has live country western music 7 nights a week. Accompanying us were our long time good friends Johnnie and Wanda Johnson. Johnnie and Wanda are part time RV'ers, and are from Ava, Missouri.

HOME, AWAY FROM HOME!

We arrived in Casa Grande, Arizona, early on Tuesday morning, November 3rd. It was a relatively short and comfortable trip, but not without some interesting diversions. At the luggage carousel in Phoenix, we were the only passengers still standing when the plane’s cargo had been totally off loaded. Seems that our two bags were sent to Portland, we went to Seattle, and there they remained. Normally this would have been no "grande" problem, except Lesley’s case contained twenty pounds of frozen, moderately insulated, Halibut. The amount of insulation was calculated using a time factor of only 12 to 14 hours. When Alaska Airlines was informed of the possible and pending environmental problem, I am sure alarm bells could be heard in heated cargo holds from Phoenix to Portland. Our two wayward bags were hand delivered, by an uniformed official, at 11:30 AM, the same day. And, we received an award of 5000 Alaska Airline Miles for our trouble. The fish, still frozen, had not even worked up a sweat.

A short slideshow describing "Our Winter Home", here in Casa Grande, was posted on this Site September 26, 2009. Please have a look; I’m sure you will enjoy.