Basic Time

A blast from the past! What? Yes, the little things really can just make your day in a big way.

Recently I was going through some boxes in storage with my kiddo, looking for a couple of items I needed. And Junior just happened to stumble across something I forgot about. As a matter of fact I thought I'd lost it years ago. He came across my old pocket watch!

So when I was younger, I'd eat watches up. Washer, smashed in a bicycle wreck, lost. You name it, I probably used it to destroy a watch. So in 1993 I saw this pocket watch I just had to have. So I got it. I took a beating and kept on ticking. Pun intended. It was so good that it became my every day carry watch, until I went to military school. I kept it in my pocket sans chain. But not having the chain just felt wrong, and the bulge in my pocket just didn't seem proper with my uniform. Moving forward I wore a wrist watch like everyone else.

Now I've tried many a watch. And some are very handy for certain things. For instance my Suunto is tops when scuba diving. A basic analog is best in health care were my hands are full, but I need the seconds hand to time things like a pulse. But nothing has ever felt as natural as a pocket watch.

Upon its recent discovery I wondered if it would even still work. After all, the last time I knew it was running was when I was still in school. It's been packed away ever since. The logical thing to do was to take it into a shop. In record time, the gentleman pulled it apart, cleaned it, replaced the battery (I may have the insides changed one day) and then put it all back together. It works! He even commented that he was impressed with it, and recognized that it was a limited run device for it's time. It's been back in my pocket everyday since then, and I don't miss my wristwatch a bit. It didn't cost much when I bought it. But for me at least, it's priceless now.

Front of my 1993 Looney Tunes Pocket Watch

Back side

Inside

Family Time: 3 Generations and a Memory

Today was a good day. I wish my wife and older kids could have come along, but they were out of town. So it was still a good day for a few of us. Got to spend some quality time with my youngest boy, and my mom. And I created a memory. And a memory created out of quality time is always a good thing.

So what happened? I took them to see the original Ghostbusters movie. It was being shown at a local theater today. And there really is no substitute for seeing a great film like that on the big screen. Sure, you can rent it, or buy it, but you really do miss some things in translation to the home theater. Things such as the bag of Marshmallows on counter being Stay Puft, a prelude to things to come. Details of equipment, or even the characters. For instance, seeing Gozer on the big screen is much more intimidating. She doesn't just have red eyes. Her eyes are intense, and have a lot of things happening. Let alone the rest of her character. The various ghosts are amazing. Plus it's just plain fun.

Of course everyone in my family has seen the Ghostbusters. I'm not sure how many times I've replaced copies of both films. But even my kiddo was excited about it being on the big screen. Which is great in my opinion. Originally, I remember clearly my parents taking me to the drive-in theater to see it as a kid. I've loved it ever since. I remember there was a light rain, and the windows in the backseat fogged up a little bit. Then a couple years ago, my wife and I went to a late showing at the 2011 re-release and got to relive our childhood all over again. So today was my boys chance to experience it.

It's very reminiscent of my first time as well. As it was clouding up while we were at the show. And this evening, closer to the time I first saw it, it's raining lightly out. It's as if Dad is looking down and smiling. Aside from not being at a drive-in this time around, there is only one really big difference. This time I didn't eat 2 large tubs of popcorn, and throw up in the backseat on the way home. ;) Today was indeed, a good day.

Laundry the hard way

The curve balls life throws can be funny sometimes. So our washer went out. Total bummer. But at least we have alternatives as to how we can wash our clothes. Funny how we always take things for granted until they crap out on us. Oh well. But it brought back memories of boot camp.

Good ol MCRD San Diego made sure we wouldn't forget laundry day. Just another example of how Marines are different from others. For laundry day we would go behind our barracks where we had huge concrete slabs with water faucets spread out every few feet. Just like you'd hook a garden hose up to. And it was COLD. Which was one of the few refreshing points of going to boot camp in the summer time, yet I digress. So what would happen is that we'd put some laundry detergent into our individual canteen cups, and fill it with water so we'd have our soapy water. We'd proceed to soak our clothes. Then we'd take a scrub brush (scuz brush in Marine lingo), dip it into the soapy water, and then scrub the muck, crap, and whatever unholy crap we had gotten on our cammies that week, out of our clothes. Once that was done, we'd hose them off with the fresh water from the faucets again to get the soap out. Finally, we'd wring out all the water we could, and hang our clothes, in an orderly and proficient manner, hang our clothes on old fashioned clothes lines to dry. Trousers in one area, shirts in another, again with socks, and underwear.

And then, the next morning, dry or not we got our clothes off the lines, feld up, and stowed away in our foot lockers. It made it easy to figure out why military footlockers always smell like mildew. Yes, mystery solved. Keep it in mind next time you're at a legit military surplus store that sells used gear.

Scuz Brush

Foot Locker that may or may not stay in one piece

Laundry Day Circa WWII. It obviously hadn't changed much by the time I got there in 2000.

Road Trips and Past Memories

Took a little road trip with my brother last week. Primarily it was a business related trip, still working on settling my dad's estate, but it was good to see the old stomping grounds down in Silver City, NM for the few hours we were there. Man has that town changed since I left back in 1998. Just going down town and not seeing my dad's bookstore there anymore feels weird. Even the old Gila Theater is a ghost of itself. A old fashioned single screen built back in the 1950's. I can remember seeing many movies there once upon a time ago like Her Alibi, and The Land Before Time just to name a couple. These days it's closed with crappy displays up in the windows. Even the landscape of WNMU has changed. But there are old standby's that have stood the test of time such as "W" mountain, Kneeling Nun, the Drifter, Buffalo Bar are still there in what's left of their glory. I really need to take more pictures when I get down there.

But the weather was perfect. Had some down time while our lawyer was doing his job before we had to leave town. A bonus of small town living. He was able to get things drawn up, get it to the courthouse for signatures, the works before the end of business. Good stuff.

So here's where their will be some pics for a change.

First I'll start with Big Ditch Park. Basically it's a walkway with benches that runs next to a big ditch. The ditch is the result of runoff that literally washed away the original main street back in the day.

  Now here's a pic of "W" mountain. The first is a shot from a distance driving into town from neighboring Tyrone, NM.

Here's from the middle of town. You can see exactly where it is from the Lube & Wash which was built long after I moved away.

Look just to the left of the sign. It helps to enlarge the picture.

And to close, a piece of childhood memory. The park in Tyrone where my grandpa taught me how to play basket ball. A bit run down these days, but still in use. Yes, it's all metal, and the slides are pretty high.

The pill box to the right is a new construct.