So maybe @John is naming the fox after your brother?
2 Likes
It would have been apt. He stayed in the service for 20 years, leaving as Sgt. Major. One purple heart. Many assignments but refused repeated urging to take officer training and after one stint, absolutely refused to take recruiting duty. Tall, slim, good looking with an âoh, shucksâ smile, he was their poster boy, but said he simply couldnât stomach selling it to young kids although he, himself, went in at 17.
5 Likes
My uncle who was in the Air Force was stationed on Iwo Jima, if memory serves it was after it became a P-51 base.
2 Likes
I may have told this before. If so, apologies.
My mother spent most of her WWII evenings cutting cartoons and positive thinking quotes from magazines and newspapers. She pasted these in pocket-sized spiral notebooks, naming and numbering each one, before mailing them to my brother, to whom they eventually caught up. He passed them on and they made the rounds of the South Pacific.
Once he was in a field hospital and the kid in the next bed said, âHere, marine. Maybe this will cheer your day.â and handed him one of my motherâs âjokebooksâ , its having made full circle.
13 Likes
Great story and one to circulate!
Even if you had told it before (and I donât think you have) itâs a story that bears the occasional repeat telling.
1 Like
This is a story worthy of a MASH episode. Yes, I know, wrong war, but still. The best story Iâve ever heard of its like.
Thanks for posting. As Kim said just above, if youâve it posted before, no matter. Itâs fresh each time.
3 Likes
Diwali and fireworks.
There are a lot of diaspora Indian immigrant families locally. Weâre not Silicon Valley, but there are quite a lot as weâre kind of a minor tech-hub for the SE U.S⌠Some of the newer neighborhoods are majority+ Indian families.
This year the Diwali (pre-) celebrations fireworks for the last week have just been fantastic; much more than in years past. Every night weâve been able to go out on either of the back or front porch, both here at my house and at my MILâs house, and watch really nice fireworks displays being shot off in neighboring subdivisions, or from folks in our subdivision.
Itâs like Independence Day in November this year. Last yearâs was in late October, but the fireworks were less. And in years before that, even less. This year itâs been really huge. (If you havenât guessed from my prior post history, Iâm a gearhead and a pyro and really, really like fireworks or anything that explodes.)
Anyway, I donât know if fireworks (vs. just âlightsâ) for Diwali is traditional or not, but if not, Iâm pretty happy to see the adoption.
4 Likes
Odd. I was just on our neighborhood site and there was a question regarding why folks are hearing fireworks going off in the area. Yep, Diwali. Thereâs always been a decent number of Indian residents in the area, but this is the first year I recall noticing the pyrotechnics.
3 Likes
Yeah Iâm not sure. When my girls were in high school (going back 7 years now) the local celebrations their Indian schoolmates invited them to were more about âcelebration of lightsâ and the host Moms helping them to dress appropriately for the events.
But Iâd think that fireworks are a natural extension of celebration of lights. But then, Iâm a self-confessed pyromaniac. And itâs been getting more and more use of fireworks over the last few years.
Edit - other cultures, too. My neighbors are Egyptian and for their daughterâs big 15 year coming out party set off a huge load of fireworks in the cul de sac. They said it wasnât so common in Egypt to do so but in the U.S. they felt everyone did so with a ton of fireworks.
1 Like
Here in PA laws around the sale and use of fireworks have been greatly loosened over the past few years. So their use has been greatly increasing for all occasions (holidays, graduations, a great Saturday night . . . )
2 Likes
I enjoy seeing the growth of ethnic celebrations in America.
3 Likes
I finally snapped a picture of this roadrunner that visits my backyard. He/She is very elusive and quite camera-shy!
8 Likes
They are so comical, especially when they run. Glad to see you have a safe place for it.
1 Like
Whereâs the coyote, the umbrella and the anvil?
4 Likes
I do see the occasional coyote, but no Acme anvilsâŚ
2 Likes
Sort of grateful that this is the big crime news in Vacaville
Not harmless, but it could be a lot worse.
1 Like
Meep meep!
1 Like
Our city council in London, Ontario was polarized about fireworks. We have lost a lot of forest and farmland due to new neighborhoods being built , because we have a new housing crisis partly due to a huge number of refugees and immigrants.
The wildlife have retreated into the cityâs ravines. I have heard the coyote kits in the forest yelping after fireworks have gone off. My dog used to be too petrified to pee, and the fireworks would last for hours. I canât imagine how veterans with PTSD or gunshot victims must feel.
Meanwhile, over the last 4 years, as many newcomers moved to London ON from abroad or from Toronto, the new families buying houses off empty nesters, as well buying new starter homes , have been setting off fireworks year-round.
The last 4 years, there have been more fireworks taking place on Diwali, NYE and Chinese New Year, but they were also going off on random weeknights.
In Canada, fireworks are typically only set off for Victoria Day in May and Canada Day in July. Usually, one cannot even purchase fireworks from August to April.
One group of concerned citizens has been trying to get fireworks banned completely. Up until now, it has been illegal to set off fireworks in the fall and winter, but it hasnât been enforced.
Instead, our council decided to set our hours for Diwali and Chinese New Year fireworks. It worked out okay yesterday, all the fireworks ended by 11 pm.
4 Likes
Hadnât thought about the firework celebrations and effect on wildlife. I was only viewing it from a human multicultural standpoint.
Many thanks for posting this insight.
FWIW, Iâd have probably been more tuned in to the animal side of it if my dog werenât pretty much deaf. He used to complain but in the last 5 years or so hasnât even noticed.
1 Like
