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!