Williamsburg Anniversary trip 2007

Twenty Six Years. Wow!
How has she put up with me for that many years?
Grace and patience, and some would say Queen Felicia has raised two boys!

We were fortunate to spend the weekend in Colonial Williamsburg, one of our favorite places.
It was the first time we were able to go during the Christmas season.
History, Christmas and Virginia charm made for some great memories.

Our weekend started with our first road trip in her new vehicle, the first I've been able to buy for almost twenty years.
A Saturn Vue, with 1,000 miles not technically 'new', a fact that saved me over 4 thousand.
I am impressed with the engine and drive train, safety features such as side air bags, overall styling, and the great sound system including OnStar and XM radio.

The Queen loves the heated leather seats! Each to their own item of importance.
No more mini-vans for us! This vehicle should be the last one I have to buy for her for many years, if not ever.

Friday night we attended the "Groaning Board" dinner at the Williamsburg Lodge where we stayed.
A historical dinner theatre including period musicians and host, with a multi-course colonial dinner.

Seated communally, the couple to our left were from Pennsylvania.
The wife was originally from England.
We enjoyed hearing of her memories and customs from the 'Mother Country'

I slipped out in order to visit the facilities, but also to get a game update from Ariel, who was at the championship game involving his team in Chattanooga TN.

Upon my return, I noticed the absence of the Queen from the table.
"They took your wife" Larry informed me, and pointed towards the stage.

It seems the period dancers immediately recognized her affinity for dance, and had her on stage for their demonstration of waltzes and reels from the year 1775.
She was truly in her glory!



The pictures will show the wonder of Colonial Williamsburg at Christmas.
Highlights included walking the streets, shopping, and the Yule Log Ceremony back at the Lodge.

The Yule log is paraded into the great room in front of a roaring fire. Everyone would touch a sprig of Holly to the log as it passed (provided by the Lodge), a toast was given by the host and wine thrown onto the fire, and then we all were invited to toss our sprigs onto the fire.
Our ancestors believed that the cares and woes of the past year would then go up with the smoke, forever to be forgotten.

Dinner that night was at the Kings Arm tavern, by candle and lamp light.
We finished the weekend with another round of shopping in the village, finishing up our Christmas list.

We highly recommend a Yule time visit, and look forward to doing it again some day.

Happy Anniversary my Queen, with many more to follow!

VIctory! And a Threepeat at that!

On December 14th, Ariel traveled to Chattanooga for the second straight year to watch his team, Appalachian State


(Remember them, Michigan fans? You all know where Boone is now, right?)
play for the National Championship in 1AA football.
App was going for their third straight title, a feat never before accomplished.
Accompanying him were two of his oldest friends from High School, Eric and Stephen.
A buddie from Army Reserves met them at the game, Smith.

Ariel, getting star Quarterback Armante Edwards to sign his jersey, along with Senior tailback Keven Richardson.


Look for Kevin to get a shot at the NFL.
And don't be surprised if Edwards is on the list for the Heisman trophy next fall.















The Scoreboard says it all, triple zeros, ASU 49, Delaware 21!
Steven, Scott, Ariel and Eric celebrate on the field with the team and other App fans.

Some action shots of App driving down the field.
Great seats on row three right behind the Mountaineer bench benefited in memorable photography.

En route to the game, our intrepid lads discovered the hard way that his gas guage was not functioning properly.
Running out of gas twice left some funny (now anyhow!) memories.

Three years at App, three National Championships.
Somewhat awkward, but what do you call four in a row?
Get ready for next year!

Pictures from 21st birthday/Thanksgiving

Soldier boy always thought Thanksgiving was set aside to give thanks for his presence on earth.

Especially when his birthday falls on the Holiday.
His mom and I are very greatful for being privileged to raise him.













Twenty one candles, call the fire marshall!

















The baker outdid herself with his cake.

The Big Twenty One, or; I'm really getting old!

Thanksgiving Day had a bigger meaning for us this year, for only the third time in our lives.
It was also our only son's birthday.
This was a real rite of passage for him, and for us.
His Twenty First!

On the day he was born it was a cold, wet Saturday in Dallas, Texas.
His proud new Papa immediately went out and bought the biggest Teddy Bear he could find.
I already had the proper Sports pedigree, a miniature Dolphins football, and I'm sure something in Hurricane Orange, Green and White wound up in his crib.
Both teams were then Champions, this year they are both Chumps.

But the Birthday Boy is a Champ, that is indisputable!

We actually got to see him on Thanksgiving Day/his Birthday itself.
The rest of the time he was either sleeping, or over at his friends engaging in their favorite leisure activity of video games.
Or his friends were sequestered with him here (in my Den!) gaming away.

They occasionally came downstairs for Cake or something to drink.
No runnning the streets getting into trouble like most of their generation.

In fact, a couple of their chums who have discovered a girl that will put up with them are objects of scorn for forsaking the team.
Oh, their day will come soon enough!

But, that is as it should be.
When you are young and unattached, play.
There will be little time for that after your schooling is over, and when kidlings of your own come along.

I remember my Aunt Bee telling me about the day I was born.
My Dad, upon returning from the hospital (in those days the Dick Van Dyke routine was the rule. Dad waited in the lobby smoking while the mother gave birth)
He was so excited that she tells me he jumped the yard fence flat-footed!
This was a man with bad knees and injuries from his Army service.
That mattered not.
He had a son!
It would have been just as wonderful had one of my sisters been born first.

But there is something about having a male heir to carry on a family name that has been here in America since the mid seventeenth century.

I gave Dad grief, my son gave me grief, and (I hope I am here to see it!) his kids will give him grief.
That's why the Lord invented Gray hair. (and Jack Daniels!)

His mother and I are incredibly proud of the fine young man he has grown up to be.
An honors student, soldier, and leader that people will be glad to follow.
His future is bright, and we are in good hands with men and women like him to pick up the baton and run the race for us.

I'll post some pictures later on this week of his birthday.

Happy Birthday, our son!

The eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month....

That is what Veterans day was originally meant to be, a remembrance of the end to "The War to End All Wars."
World War One is what most people call it, and November 11th was originally called Armistice Day.
The cease fire was in effect at 1100 hours European time on 11 November, 1918.

The most destructive war in human history was finally at an end.
Virtually every industrialized country was involved, and millions of young men and thousands of European Civilians died during the conflict that lasted almost six years.
Germany, France and Great Britain paid the highest cost in young men lost.

And all of the involved Nations were virually bankrupt by the extreme financial strain of such a long war.

As was our norm, the United States sat on the sidelines and tried to remain Isolationist and uninvolved. President Wilson knew that our eventual involvement was inevitable.
Indeed, President Theodore Roosevelt saw the handwriting on the wall, as it were during his presidency. He knew that Germany had expansionist plans, and even saw future danger with the emerging industrial power Japan.

Americans viewed it as a "European" problem. Out of sight, out of mind!

When we finally declared war on the Axis powers, it took almost a year for us to respond with any sizable forces. Many young Americans and Canadians had already volunteered to fight prior to our official entry into the War.
The most famous of these young daredevils flew in the Layfayette Escadrille, which later became the famous Hat in The Ring Squadron.

A young man from South West Virginia was drafted into the United States Army, and trained to become a Sergeant in the field Artillery. He was my Grandfather, Jack Cupp.

To my knowledge he never deployed to Europe, and actually served for less than a year.
One of his brothers did serve in the infantry in France, and saw combat.
More Americans died in the great Flu Epidemic than died in that war.

But our involvement did help to finally bring an end to the war.
The added manpower and skill of the American fighting man forced the Germans to accept the fact that they could not hold the territory they had gained, and they knew they must sue for peace or be destroyed as a Nation.

For the first time Airplanes were used in combat, as were machine guns and tanks, and modern rifled Artillery. The human cost was horrendous, as "Trench Warfare" tactics from bygone days needlessly sacrificed hundreds of thousands of young men.
Biological warfare was also used, in particular the terrifying Mustard Gas and like respiratory weapons. Death was preferable to being exposed to that awful hellish gas.

After the Armistice was officially signed at the Palace of Versailles, the seeds for the next, even more destructive war were sowed.

The Allies were not in a forgiving mood, and severely punished and humiliated Germany.
The United States immediately shrank our military, and when the world wide economic depression hit ten years later, Hitler and the Japanese Empires emergence was all but guaranteed.

In September of 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland, we had one of the smallest militarys in the industrialized world.

After World War Two, where upwards of two hundred million died, Armistice Day became Veteran's Day here in the States.

We now honor all of our Veterans.
In particular, we recognize those that faced combat and paid the ultimate price for our freedom in all of our Wars and battles.

No one hates war more than the warrior, and their families.

But being unprepared and naive does not secure either peace or freedom.

Remember those that served, and thank them if possible.

Veterans Day is not about sales at the Mall, after all.

Corporate Survival, Hello Dolly, fall is finally here!

First things first.











This has been (unexpectedly) a bad business year. Friday last I had a meeting with my boss, and with his boss the V.P. of our division.
Even though I knew that most of the company was having a tough year, meetings like this bring a great deal of trepidation and uncertainty.
I spent most of the week preparing to state my case.
Kevin (the V.P.) started the day by teasing me about my Western Boots, which are a trade mark of mine.
"I don't have to see your face to know that it's you. Just look at the boots!"
That let me know this would not be the Spanish (or Hillbilly) Inquisition revisited.
"Cardinal Fang, bring out the rack!"
To summarize in a few words, I am to spend more time going after a certain market segment next year. The company acknowleges making some serious mistakes on spending resources on the wrong products, and I will have help in the form of new Manufacturer's rep personnel in my territory. This will free me up to do what I am tasked. He also told me to travel more, something which we had to curtail this year with expense spending reduced.

As I told the Queen afterwards, "Well, I'm still driving the company car home, so we are safe for another year" The ups and downs of sales are not for the faint of heart.

Earlier this month we went to Gatlinburg TN for a couple of days.
It was still warm, in the seventies, but both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg were bedecked in Pumpkins and Corn Shocks for the fall season.
The weather was gorgeous!
Some shots I took on Clingman's Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
With an elevation over 6,000 ft, it is one of the highest peaks east of the Mississippi.












And was it cold up there! We were dressed in light wind breakers, the temp at the top was a couple of degrees above freezing. Needless to say I took most of these from inside the car.













Downtown Gatlinburg.













Queen Felicia in front of the Grist Mill at Dollywood.


















We had a wonderful time at Dollywood. Much more family friendly and relaxed than either Disney or Universal Studios, it pays homage to the Mountain Heritage of my parents.
The Old Steam Train that we rode up the mountain from Dollywood.
Rail travel was much more elegant (excepting the soot and cinders!) than our modern modes of travel.












She got to shop, and I got to relax a tiny bit. Two days of driving for two days away from work seemed to be the norm this year for me.
At last Fall seems to have come here in NC and VA.
We will have our first freeze Weds morn, and the weather has been quite spectacular of late.
The entire State is still under a ban on open burning, so I can't enjoy a camp fire in our back yard pit yet. At least we can light the Chiminea on the deck this weekend.
I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is just two weeks from Thursday.
Thanksgiving Day is also our son's Twenty First Birthday.

The Saturday he was born it was a cold and rainy day in Dallas.
It is quite hard to accept that the spunky young man yet to show any gray hair, who had not started fighting the 'battle of the bulge' is now in his mid fiftes, and his new baby boy is now a man in every respect.

Time slows for no man, that's for sure!

Is that Turkey roasting and Pumpkin Pie that I smell?
'Twill soon be! Huzzah fellow Pilgrims!

Monday ramblng and other nonsense.

How 'bout them Sox!
The Boston Nine outpitched, out hit, and in general out classed the Rockies in a four game sweep in this year's World Series. As usual, great pitching overpowers good hitting.
The Sox great pitchers shut down the good hitting of the Rockies, and the great hitting power lineup of Boston clobbered the good pitching of Colorado.
Great beats good most days.

The first NFL regular season game on foreign soil was as boring as the London fall weather.
The N.Y. Giants beat my old town Miami Dolphins (no surprise, they stink this year!) but neither team could really move the ball on that mud bath of a field in a driving, miserable rain at Wembley Stadium.
English fans, along with a few Ex-Pat Americans paid 80 pounds per seat.

What is the NFL thinking? They actually intend to place a team in London, and perhaps Berlin in the near future. And we don't have one in Los Angeles! Or Birmingham Alabama.

One commentator on Fox Sports put it best.
"The average English Sports fan cares as much for American Football as the average American Fan cares about Manchester United" (English football, aka Soccer.)

Why not expand to L.A., Mexico City, and perhaps Toronto, where people acutually like Football?

The weather here has finally become fall-like. The leaves are coming down in great clumps, we totally missed the wonderful palette of color here in Eastern NC this year.
The mountains were glorious though.
4.5" of rain last week was a blessing, but we still need another 20" or so.

It will dip into the mid-thirties tonight. We will flip the switch on our fireplace for the first time this season, (Propane, Bobby, and propane accesories! as Hank Hill would say)
and I had to turn on the heat last night.
Just a week or so ago we were still wearing shorts and experiencing temps in the eighties.

If you don't like our weather, wait 30 minutes and it will change for you.

I can smell Thanksgiving in the air, and with Halloween just the day after tomorrow, I am looking forward to eating too much sugary candy, and to our annual ritual of watching
"Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein" and "Young Frankenstein"
"Where wolf, there wolf!" and "You take the Blonde, I'll take the one in the Turban!"
Yes, I can recite most of the dialog from that Mel Brooks classic from memory.
Can't remember my own zip code sometimes, but I know a lot of useless stuff.

So have fun, don't worry about your diet on Wednesday (unless you are diabetic), start stacking those hay bales and decorating for Thanksgiving.

Christmas is just around the corner!

Alien invasion.

Driving to Virginia the other day I witnessed a shocking sight.
Water droplets appeared to be falling from the sky!
All of us seemed to be amazed and astounded by the sight.

When I stopped for lunch, someone clued me in.

"Why, that is rain, sir!"

"Rain, I queried?" "Exactly what is that?"

"Rain is a weather phenomena where droplets of water fall from the clouds in varying intensity.
Since we haven't seen it for some time, I can understand your confused state of being."

I didn't tell her that confused was my normal look, being a husband and dad of long standing.

We are only told what we need to know, ie; the dog barfed on the carpet, the toilet is overflowing, my car is making a Badda-Bing soundisthatnormalorshouldIworryDad?

I was in Blacksburg for three days, and it rained continuously there. They were only 10" behind, so this week's rain has them on the way to catching up.

I also saw a beautiful riot of color on I81 between Blacksburg North to Roanoke.
For those of you farther north in PA, a drive south on I81 should soothe your leaf lust.
It was the most glorious display I have seen in some years.

It is raining here in NC as I write this, but we have far more to go in order to catch up.
We are still around 20" behind our annual needs, and have gotten 3-4 inches in the last two days. A good start, but keep it coming!

For those of you who worry about Global warming, this has happened before.
1936 is the hottest year on record in the modern era, and the driest.
That is the worst year of the "Dust Bowl" years, when Sahara like dust storms raged over the entire middle of the U.S.

Most people did not have family cars then, few had ever flown on airplanes, and most people world wide were still living in rural areas. And there were no nukes or nuclear power plants either. Both of my parents lived on farms where they drew their water from wells and used the 'Privy' out back. My father never had electricity until his senior year of High School in 1938.

Weather is a living thing, it ebbs and flows and cycles as it's Creator wishes.

So, "Fear not, for he is with us..." and pray for more rain, especially in California and here in the Southeast.

And go outside and play in the rain with your kids!

Stinky team update.

Sorry Tribe fans.
Your team did it to you again!
With a 3 games to 1 lead it looked like a trip to the World Series was theirs.
As Steve Martin used to say, "But Noooooooooo!"
Your team found some unusual ways to lose, especially last night when the speedy Kenny Lofton
(not bad for a 40 year old, you go fellow old-timer) rounded third and could have easily scored to tie the game until his third base coach inexplicably held him at third.
The next Indian batter ground into a double play, and that was that.
The Red Sox blasted Cleveland
pitching for eight more runs in their next two at bats, and will play in the World Series for the second time in three years.
It will be fun to see Josh Beckett and Kurt Schilling pitch in the series.
And it looks like maybe I missed my calling as a weather forecaster.
There was snow in Denver yesterday while the Rockies worked out.

My Dolphins still stink, 0-7 after getting pasted by the Patriots 49-28 yesterday.
Jason Taylor had a great line "We can't beat anyone in this country, maybe we can win in another one" The FIns play the NY Giants Sunday in London in the new Wembley Stadium.

But at least the Miami 'Canes beat our most hated rival in their house Saturday, the Fla State 'Noles.
If you are having a sub-par year, all is well if you beat your biggest foe for the first time in four years.

Should be a great World Series, especially games one and two when Beckett and Schilling are on the mound for the Red Sox.

Thank the Lord for Baseball and the Fall Classic!

What to do when your team(s) stink?

For the first time in many, many years both of my home town football teams are having lousy seasons.
As of this post, the once glorious Miami Dolphins are winless at 0-6.
And the five time National Champion Miami Hurricanes are 4-3, but I don't expect them to win more than a game or two out of the remaining five. That would give them their worst record since the Carter administration. (Another loser.)

All I can say is, thank goodness for the baseball playoffs!

The Colorado Rockies just clinched their first trip to the Fall Classic by sweeping the Arizona nine. The Rockies have won 21 out of their last 22 games including the play offs, an incredible achievement.

And the Cleveland Indians, the team of choice for Queen Felicia's Ohio kin have the Red Stockings right where they want them with a 2-1 series lead.
They have exposed the Boston pitching staff to the fact that once you get past Josh Beckett, there really ain't much pitching there. He can't pitch every night, as good as he is.

I always look forward to the World Series, regardless of which teams make it.
This year's contest should prove to be extremely interesting and competitive.

So does one pull for a seemingly unbeatable team of destiny from Denver, or for the woeful Cleveland fans who haven't won a championship in any sport since LBJ was president?

The running back on that Champion Browns team was one Jim Brown.
And yes, I am old enough to remember watching that NFL Championship game.

Should be a great Series, I have it going 7 games for the first time in some years.

If Cleveland indeed wins the ALCS, I have them winning it all due to their home town edge.
It could be the first Series where snow is a factor in both cities.

"Snow in baseball, there isn't any snow in baseball!"

There may be this year, Sports Fans!

One favor though, could someone please get that guy in the cheap seats at "The Jake" to lose that dadgum drum!

I haven't seen anything that irritating since the Atlanta Brave/FSU Seminole chop!

The Ultimate Sacrifice

It's been awhile since I did a post.
Most of you know about the horrible news our son got a couple of weeks ago.
A good friend of his from HS, who also attended ASU with him for a year was
killed in a tragic accident while in training with the U.S. Marine Corps special anti-terrorism task force.
He was a two-way starter on the football team, an honor student, and a fine Christian man.
As his dad put it, "He felt called to stand in the gap"

I won't mention his name here out of respect for the family.
All of you have the details through my emails.

When I arrived for the viewing last Thursday just a few minutes past six, there were already several hundred people lined up to pay their respect.
There were just as many waiting over ninety minutes later when I left.

His entire platoon was there at parade rest, wearing their dress blues and holding their covers (Dress Hat) in front of them.
One by one, they very precisely and somberly moved up to the front to relieve the man standing honor for him. They all took turns doing so, including the Navy Corpsman (Medical).

I saw many of my son's friends from High School. All who are still attending school in the area were there, as was the entire faculty and coaching staff from the school.

His parents and his older brother were devastated, as you can imagine.
All of us felt the worst for his finacee, who was his sweetheart since High School.
Our son remembered how they met after his friend suffered a concussion during a road trip game. She sat with him on the bus during the ride home, to make sure he was awake and OK.
They were to have been married next summer.
There is really nothing you can say under such circumstances.
Even though I didn't know her, she gave me a hug and did so with everyone who came by for over three hours.
Such dignity and grace is only granted by the Father.

Just remember the next time you see the preening idiots in our government and media using our service people for their own selfish ends the cost our young men and women, and their families have to pay sometimes.

The ultimate cost.

Our military is entirely voluntary. There has been no draft since 1972, the year I was 18 and draft eligible.

And contrary to what one particular blow hard Senator recently said (who reminds us every time he speaks about his service) our military, law enforcement and fire fighters do not choose their professions because they can't do anything else.

The Lance Corporal was an honor student.
My son is an honor student, and could do anything he wanted too vocation wise.

They are called and choose to serve.

Never forget that.

"Greater love has no man, that he lay down his life for a friend." The Saviour.

Planes, Cars and stuff....

For a guy who grew up in the Sixties, the golden age of Muscle Cars, nothing beats a Classic Car Drive in.



On the third Saturday of the month a regular gathering is held at our favorite burger joint near our son's former H.S.

This particular July 4th weekend, 200+ classic American Metal beauties drove in.
The above '68 'Stang is owned by a HS buddie of Soldier Boy. It was the first car he had restored himself. His current project is a '72 Corvette. I myself owned and drove a 1968 Mustang Convertible for many years. It was the first car I bought myself, and remains my favorite set of wheels.

Below is the Holy Grail for all American car collectors, the Ford Shelby Cobra.
Basically they are a ton of engine residing in about one thousand pounds of sheet metal.
You should be required to have a pilot's license to drive one!












The Queen adorns her favorite, a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria, in pink of course.













Below is a perfectly restored 1964 Nash Rambler.
My best friend Duane owned one when we were in HS. We once crammed 13 guys in it, for a 'Road Trip' to see our HS football team play across town at Cental Stadium.
We were stacked in like cord wood.
His Rambler didn't have a suspension, just a mere hint of shock absorbers.
It took corners about as well as your average Radio Flyer wagon.













"I can see your blonde hair flying in the sun, got the top pulled down, Wayfarers on, Baby!"
(My apologies to Don Henley on that one, I couldn't resist!)












Below is a McDonnel Douglas F-4 Phantom Jet, the mainstay of both our Air Force and Navy in Vietnam. This particular jet was flown by a famous Ace of the era, Col. Olds.
Ironically I saw a special on his exploits on the History Channel shortly afterwards.
A good friend of mines older brother was flying a similar jet from the Carrier Independence in 1964, was shot down by a Communist SAM missle and spent over eight years in North Vietnamese prison camps.












We were privileged to visit the National Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton Ohio this summer.
This fulfills another long term goal of mine to visit some of the most impressive historical sites in our great country.

My sister in law Beverly, AKA 'Doctor Strangelove'
She had a great time careening about in this electric chair.
One of the highlights of our visit was watching her 'race' an elderly gent in a similar chair. "Hey Don, some old man is hitting on your wife!"
"That's OK as long as they don't hit anything!"












A Fokker TriPlane from WWI, the same model flown by the infamous "Red Baron" when he was shot down by an Australian machine gunner and killed, while chasing a young British Pilot.


















One of my favorite aircraft, the P-40 Warhawk.
This one has the paint scheme of the American Voluteers prior to our entry in WWII, the famous "Flying Tigers"












The Queen posing in front of the YF 12A, predecessor to the famous Blackbird Spy Plane, still the fastest jet in history. (Live nose art!)
She had, shall we say an altercation with said jet just minutes after this shot was taken.
Everthing ended up AOK, the slight cut over her nose healed nicely with no after effects.
They meant what they said when they told us to be careful in this particular hanger!