Fort Devens, Massachusetts ASA School Class

Me and my Army buddies at Ft. Devens, Mass. ASA school April 1960 during a break between classes. Yes, my camera. I was even taking pictures back then! I only wish I had taken more.

 Ah, I remember when this picture was taken sixty-two years ago at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. 

I was attending a six month Army Security Agency school along with hundreds of my fellow Army buddies, all of whom had just recently completed basic training.

My camera was used to take this picture during a smoke break of our morning class. 

The three years of my life I spent in the Army from 1960 to 1963 were themes formative of my life.

I've forgotten a lot of what I've done in the sixty-two years since this picture was taken but I remember almost everything I did from basic training at Fort Dix New Jersey, to my six months at Fort Devens, Massachusetts to my remaining two and a half years at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland at the National Security Agency. 

While the more privileged (and entitled) in my age group at that time (Fifties Generation) went to college, paid for my their parents, the Great Scrum of my generation was either drafted or joined the Army to:

• Have a job
• Get an education or acquire a skill
• Further my socialization education

I accomplished all three.

When I joined the Army I was a timid church mouse, afraid of my own shadow. 

Three years later, when I left (only because I was gay), I had acquired a level of self confidence and worldly experience in interrelations with all kinds of my fellow soldiers that I could never of had if I went to a college. 

I made friends for life and acquired lifetime medical care, which I use to this day. If I wasn't gay, I would have made a career out of staying in the Army. But back in this Bad Old Days, when being gay was a crime, I had no choice. I had to get out before they caught me and folks, I wasn't going to life my life in a closet.

So when pictures like this pop up on my Facebook account like it did this morning, I am reminded of those wonderful days of my formative youth, some of the best days of my life. 

I've been very lucky in my life folks. I've had a good one. Hopefully I have a few more years but if I don't, then seeing pictures like this remind me that my life wasn't lived in vain.

By the way, can you spot me in this photo? I'm fourth from the right in the back behind the guy in front of me with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. We all smoked cigarettes back in that day. 

I'm standing with my good friends Bob McCamley and Jim Allen, both gone now. Jim died in an auto accident a few years after this picture was taken. Drunk driving (he did like to drink). Bob died in 2013 from Parkinson's Disease. He is the reason I live in Delaware now. The tall guy in front putting a cigarette in his mouth is Dick Egan. I don't know what happened to him. We four were inseparable. So many good memories. 

Cedar Lined Walk In Closet

 

Finished cedar lined closet

Last Sunday I finally completed cedar lining my walk-in closet. Now I can die, or move.

This is a job I've been wanting to do since I had our house built here in southern Delaware in 2006. 

Sixteen years! 

I've always liked cedar lined closets. When we had our home built in Pennsylvania in 1980 I insisted on cedar lining our walk-in closets.  

At our Pennsylvania home I had a very large cedar lined closet in the master bedroom. I also had a large walk-in closet in the hallway. Those cedar lined closets were a luxury I afforded myself. I even had that requirement written into my contract with my builder. Of course he tried to cheap out and put cedar chip board up, telling me "it's the same." Well, actually it's not. Cedar chip board is a cheap, inexpensive way to a builder to cut corners again as builders are wont to do. I had a showdown with my builder over that requirement telling him "If it's the same thing then put the individual cedar boards up." Of course I had an advantage over him because this was in 1980 and the builder I was using wasn't building a spec home but one under contract to me. I refused to pay him the next installment on building the house unless he put the cedar board up AS STATED IN MY CONTRACT WITH HIM.

He was so pissed off that he ordered the cedar board and had the job done. He did do a good job and there was extra cedar board.  I meant to do the other closets but never got around to it. I had all that extra cedar board stored for twenty-five years.

When we moved to Delaware in 2006 I brought that cedar board with me, fulling intending to cedar line my two walk-in closets in my master bedroom. Now, sixteen years later I finally got the job done!

Ron's walk-in closet #1

Ron's walk-in closet #2

I love the smell of cedar, reminds me of forests and being in the woods. And this cedar board lined closet smells great! 

Now I can die.

Cataracts And Other Observations of Today's World

It is time for my cataract surgery. My right eye is always cloudy now. 

For the past several years my eye doctor has told me that I have cataracts forming in my eyes but that surgery wasn't necessary.....yet. Now I think it is time. 

It is annoying to look out my right eye and see that permanent cloud. I look at my eye at it looks clear from the outside but that not what I'm seeing from the inside.

Now the question is "What to do with Bill during my surgery." 

The surgery itself only takes about two hours in all from the times I check in until I check out. I know this because Bill had cataract surgery several years ago.

Bill always goes with me to my myriad of doctors' appointments. He sits in the car and waits for me. Having him sit in the car for over two hours would be too much for him.  Of course I could leave him here at home but I don't trust him. Just this morning he was on his step ladder putting more masking tape over the heating/air conditioning vent in his bedroom. Bill is ALWAYS  cold and he is fearing this summer when I have to have the air conditioning run-in our house. I one of those persons who cannot breath in heavily humid air. Some of my friends don't believe me, they say "you can acclimate yourself to the heat and humidity." Of course that would be Pat. But I can't. I literally feel like I'm smothering and on the verge of passing out. I guess a dead Ron would prove to him that I can't take the humid heat. Regular heat I can take (Palm Springs) but this humid heat that is produce here on the Delmarva Peninsula with has the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Chesapeak bay on the otherwise, it's a potential killer for me.

My appointment with my eye doctor is May 9th. I'll work something out with Bill. If worse comes to worse he'll just have to stay home by himself that morning that I have my cataract surgery.

I also put in a call to my gastroenterologist. It's time for my every three years colonoscopy. Same thing, I'll be put "under" for a period of time early in the morning. Again, I'll have to work something out. I guess I can ask my neighbor Bob M. to look in on Bill. He's the widower who lives next door with his late wife's Yorkie, that I have to walk in about an hour because Bob's off fishing today. I hate to ask him to watch Bill but I'm pretty sure he would do it. There is no one else to ask. I can put Bill in the hospice center for a day but he won't hear of it. 

Whenever I feel the world closing in on my when I'm in one of these quandaries I say to myself:

"Self, it could be a lot worse. You could be living in Ukraine next to the sub human Putin and his murderous Russians destroying your country while bombing, torturing, raping and killing your innocent civilians. Yes Ron, life could be a LOT WORSE. This is nothing."

Then again we are living in a country where one former president is above the law, not held accountable for a lifetime of crime committed bracingly in public and still roaming free after a failed coup attempt to overthrow the last election. 

We are living in a country where one political party (the Republicans) have no shame in perpetuating the Big Lie that Trump won the last election and are doing everything in their power to undermine our democracy right now. These are perilous time we live in my friends. About half our country is brainwashed and the other half is just trying to survive day to day. Then there is Ukraine. Could be a lot worse. Thank God we have neighbors like Canada and Mexico. One country can't wait to get into our country to raise their standard of living and the other country (Canada of course) is a paragon of excellence and good neighborliness. And then you have Ukraine who has the misfortune to have monstrous Russia as their neighbor.

Spring Has Sprung

 

This year's crop of spring tulips, a little too far away from the house

A few days ago I finally got out my John Deere EZ-Trak Zero Degree Turn Riding Mower and mowed our grass. Oh how good that felt. 

Still a bit chilly for riding the mower but the grass had to be mowed. Our backyard was starting to resemble a prairie. 

About two-thirds of our lawn has recovered from that devastating army worm infestation last July. We still have fairly large patches of dead grass (brown patches) but if you look at the lawn a certain angle from our back deck, you can see the all green grass. Hopefully, by the end of the summer our lush green expanse of Almost an Acre lawn has returned to its former glory as the best lawn in the neighborhood. 

All the hundreds of tulips that I planted last fall are in bloom now. I planted them at the far border. You can see the variety of tulip colors from our sunroom but actually they are a bit too far away. Next year I'll plant tulips at the front of our house. That way we can share the variety of tulip spring colors with our neighbors. Right now I only have yellow daffodils out front and they are about done blooming.

Bill continues to do well, albeit he's not the same person he was before his strokes but he is better than he was this time last year. Bill could probably last a couple more years at this rate. 

I still have to help him dress and undress and shower. He can't prepare his own meals and he still gets confused about time and day but he knows who I am. He is in more pain now because of the arthritis in his fingers but I'm giving him Tylenol every six hours and that seems to control his pain.

I'm looking forward to this week of NO DOCTORS' APPOINTMENTS. I still miss my job at the hotel and my quarterly trips with Pat but this is my new reality. I watch the ongoing news about Ukraine and all that death and destruction by the subhuman Russians led by Evil himself, Vladimir Putin and I am reminded how lucky I am to live in this country. We don't have to worry about our neighbors Canada or Mexico invading our country and trying to wipe us out just because they can. And I am also reminded how lucky I am that Bill isn't in worse shape. He can get around and go to the bathroom by himself and again, he knows who I am. 

Have a great week everyone!

Got to bring those tulips in closer to the house next year. Not the still brown patches in our lawn still recovering from the army worm invasion of last July.

Dermatologist Visit

 

Blister from application of liquid nitrogen to remove skin growth from my right foot

Last Friday I had an appointment with my dermatologist to remove a growth on my right foot. This is the third try. 

She really laid on the liquid nitrogen spray on that stubborn growth. The result is a monster burn blister.

Of course my first impulse is to pop the blister but I read that those blisters are to protect the wound while it heals. 

A dome is formed over the wound and healing liquid is under the dome.

All week I've been limping around like the old man that I am. 

I can wear my Sketchers but not my Crocs. 

Last night was the worst for this blister, the pain on a one to ten scale was about six sometimes shooting to seven. 

The pain kept waking me up.

I usually sleep on my right side, just the wrong side for this blister. 

This morning for the first time since last Friday I woke up almost pain free. 

I am so  tired of doctors' visits and pain. So tired. 

But then again my life could be much worse. Think of those poor people living in Ukraine. That puts my life in perspective doesn't it?

Results of Bone Marrow Biopsy

Methuselah - 969 years old (so the Bible says)

 This morning I had an 8:00 AM appointment with my hematologist doctor to go over the results of my bone marrow biopsy.

Ever since last fall I've had this dread hanging over my head that I'm going to have another medical issue like my prostate cancer diagnosis in 2013. 

This morning was Revelation Day. 

Would I have cancer of my blood like my brother John who died March 18, 2022 of the same thing (lymphoma). John fought his cancer for three years. When he died his cancer was in remission but the chemotherapy destroyed his other organs. That's what he died of, the chemotherapy. I already made the decision that I would never have chemotherapy. I would not go through the over five hundred medical appointments he had for the last there years. Losing more than half his body weight. Losing his ability to taste food. No, not the path I would choose.

So it was with great apprehension that I awaited in the little room at the cancer center for my doctor to see me. 

I could hear his Indian accent taking to a patient in the room next door. By the tone of his voice and the patient I could tell that that patient was receiving the bad news that he had cancer. I couldn't make out exactly what they were saying but again, by they tone of their voices I could tell it wasn't good news.

Their conversation went on for about twenty minutes then silence. I was next. 

The next ten minutes there were no sounds. Then I heard my doctor enter my room with his clipboard. 

He sat down and pulled his chair up next to me and said "Good news! You don't have cancer!"

I didn't hear much of what he had to say, that's how relieved I was. I can't be sick. I have to be here to take care of Bill. 

I.WAS.SO.RELIEVED

I've been through many of these doctor/patient collations after a test or biopsy and always received good news until that fateful day in 2013. That was the day when my urologist told me that I had prostate cancer.

I wasn't expecting that diagnosis. When I heard it I was stunned like Walter White in that scene from "Breaking Bad" when his doctor informed him he had terminal cancer. All Walter White could concentrate on after receiving his "You have cancer" matter of fact announcement from his doctors was the mustard stain on his doctor's tie. My urologist wasn't wearing tie, just a white medical smock. What I do remember was how matter of fact he was about the fact I had CANCER. He gave me my options the first being "You don't have to do anything at your age, you'll probably die of something else." When I heard that statement I immediately thought "You talking to me?" I looked over my should to see if someone else was in the room. There was not. He WAS talking to me. Hey, I knew I was old but I wasn't Methuselah. 

Well, thank God I didn't have to make THAT decision this morning. 

A good day folks, a good day! 

Ukraine

Ukrainian President Zelensky at Buch after the Russian massacre 

of innocent civilians.

 These days what is most on mind is the horror that is going on in Ukraine.

The cause of all of this is the evil that resides in the Kremlin in Russia, Vladimir Putin.

Yesterday I saw the video of the Russian soldier's atrocities perpetuated in the Kiev suburb of Bucha that Ukrainian president Zelensky showed during his speech at the United Nations. 

I am very squeamish about such videos of man's inhumanity to man and animals. But I forced myself to watch the results of the evil Putin has rained on Ukraine. And for what? Because Putin has decided that Ukraine should not exist as a nation. 

His army failed in seizing the Ukrainian capital of Kiev in days as he had obviously assumed would happen. He thought the Ukrainians would collapse in hours and the Ukrainian president would flee much as the Afghanistan president Ghani fled his capital as soon as the American pulled out. 

So what does Putin do? He retreats but leaves death and destruction in his wake. The Russian Army has a well earned reputation for war crimes against civilians. How such barbarism could exist along side such cultural achievements as the Bolshoi Ballet and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky boggles my mind. Of course such barbarism exists in all countries including ours but Russia is a special case. How can their population continually put into power soulless despots like Putin?

Putin will lose this war with Ukraine. However, this will not happen until there is much more death and destruction, not only in Ukraine but world wide. Yes, we are already in World War III. 

As a little kid I will never forget those atom bomb drills where we had to "hide" under our desks in first grade in preparation for Russian bombing us. Here I am seventy-five years later still worrying about a bomb, this time a nuclear bomb.  I have no desk to hide under to and at my age, I'm ready to go anytime anyway. But what saddens me to a degree I didn't know was possible all those Ukrainians whose lives have been lost and disrupted because of an invasion by their barbaric neighbor Russia "just because." 

I try to imagine our neighbor Canada invading us, dropping bombs on our major cities just because they don't think we should exist as a country. Hard to imagine right? 

We live in a world where evil exist. Nothing personifies that evil more than that little insecure man who sits at the seat of power in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. Believe me, his time of accountability of crimes against humanity will come.