Wrecked 'em? Hell, I kilt 'em!

I spent the weekend working on kilt 2.0, as I've come to call it. I was a bad boy Friday night and drank too much, so I sat in my recliner nursing my hangover and sewing.

I had to repleat the darn thing several times, because I either had too many small pleats, or too few large pleats. Then I hand basted the pleats. Next I have to figure out exactly where the under apron is going to wind up, and the I need to get the over apron lined up. Then I can figure out the new way to close the kilt.

As much as I like the snaps I used on my other kilt, it's too difficult to get them placed on the aprons. I'm thinking about a couple of nylon straps with plastic buckles to give it kind of a military look. Of course, I gotta find the straps and buckles!

Hook 'em Horns!

(22) Apparently, the folks in Norway are upset with President Bush. It has nothing to do with the Patriot Act. It has nothing to do with the suspension of habeas corpus in regards to the Quantanamo detainees. It has nothing to do with the quagmire in Iraq. No, they're upset because Bush is a satanist.

See, during the Inauguration parade, the University of Texas marching band came by. The Bushes, former Austin residents, showed their loyalty by flashing the "Hook 'em Horns" sign. In Norway, heavy metal fans use the sign as a salute to Satan, and as a greeting to each other.

This whole horns thing has been going on for a couple of weeks, and the gesture, first used by my fellow UT Alum Jenna Bush (Does she get calls from UT asking for money?) at a black tie dinner in Austin, has even been misinterpreted as American Sign Language for "bullshit," up in New York City ("NEW YORK CITY?!").

Although, I'm sure there are folks at Texas A&M and at Michigan who might agree with those interpretations.

I'm a glutton for punishment

I've started my second kilt. This one is going to be in Desert Storm camoflage. So, on Monday morning, I cut the fabric, and began hemming the material. 'Cause once you pleat, it's too late to hem. I hemmed it by hand. It only took about 4 hours. I spent the next 4 hours pleating.

By 5 pm, I had pleated everything, and tried to see if I did it right. Of course I didn't. Somehow, my pleating measurements were off, and the kilt was about 10 inches too short. That means I have to redo the pleats. But after spending 9 hours working on it on Monday, I didn't want to mess with it any more.

So on Saturday, I will re-pleat, trying to get more length in the waist. Wish me luck!

Give me Your Pennies!

(16) Everyone who knows me is aware that I have several hobbies, and would like to have six or seven more, if I had the space.

My current hobby is to collect one million pennies. But I have a problem. I need help collecting these pennies. And I need your help. Here's all you need to do: Give me your pennies! Box 'em up and ship 'em to me. Hell! Send 'em COD if you want! I don't care. I want your pennies!

I'll put a graphic in the column on the left to let you keep track of my success.

Thanks in advance!

Our L'il Leatherneck called

(12) As you may or may not know, Sean isn't much into reading, unless there's a box score at the bottom of the page. Naturally, his dislike of reading translates into a dislike of writing.

For example, he sent us three or four pictures from Japan. His entire message was, "Hey. Here are some pictures." He didn't tell us us what was going on in the pictures, or where they were taken.

I write letters, send email, and it's like they drop off the face of the Earth. I go to the Iwakuni MCAS website and read their camp newspaper, the Tori Teller looking to see if he did anything noteworthy. I keep reading it looking for Seans's name. So far, nothing. He's either been good, mediocre or hasn't been caught.

Every month or so, he'll give us a call, and tell us what's going on, and chats for an hour.

He calls Rodney a bit more than he does me, naturally, since he's his dad. But Rodney's almost as bad about writing as Sean. We called Rodney to let him know Donn and Ann will be visiting, and Dad had to ask if he had heard from Sean.

When he was in Pensacola, he was the same way. He spent a couple of weekends a month in New Orleans, and even went to Mardi Gras. When COPS is at Mardi Gras, I scan the crowd and the perps to see if we can see Sean. (He told us once that took a bunch of pictures that he later claimed were lost. Yeah, right. They're probably incriminating.)

Anyway, according to Dad, Sean told Rodney that he will be in Thailand for a couple of weeks helping with tsunami relief. He had orginally thought he'd be back in the States now, but it looks like February. Of course, this is all a bit vague, since I'm getting the report third hand.

If we could only teach that little jarhead to use email!

Off to work he goes!

Well, Dad started dring the school bus again. He left the house at 6:15 am and was back by about 8:30 am. When I asked him how it was, he said it wasn't too bad, but I expect he had a really good nap before he went back for the afternoon run.

Iwo Jima +60

(3) Happy New Year everyone!

Soon it will be time to honor the heroes of "The Greatest Generation" once again. February will see the 60th anniversary of the landing at Iwo Jima. The National Museum of the Pacific War, in Fredericksburg, Texas, will host the official commemoration of the event on February 19-20. On Saturday, there will be a Heroes Parade, where veterans of the campaign will ride along Main Street in WWII era vehicles. Then, out in Doss, Texas, there will be a reenactment of the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi.

I've been reading The Battle for Iwo Jima by Robert Leckie to become familiar with the battle, and it's been a real eye opener for me. Another great book is Flags of our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima by James Bradley. You can get those at Amazon.com by clicking the link on the left.

I hope everyone can get to Fredericksburg to honor the men who risked their lives for our freedom. See you in February!