My Father In Law, Kenneth R. Wheeler, Sr.

Monday evening, we lost a great Warrior of the Faith, and the Patriarch of our family.

Ken Wheeler Sr moved on to enjoy the fruits of his labors, and his reward for 87 years of faithful service to The I AM.

As my family puts it when one of our loved ones leaves us,
"They crossed over The River to the other side."
This is an allusion to Stonewall Jackson's last words,
"Let us cross over the river and sit under the tree on the other side."

I first met Ken just before Phyllis and I were engaged.
Her big end of college dinner and graduation celebration was at the Kapok Tree Inn, a beautiful garden complex in Miami.

She sprung the fact on me at the last minute that "Oh, my parents, and my sister and her family will also be there. Is that O.K.?"
Uh, yes, I guess so. was my muttered, terrified response.

The only man I have known with as deep a voice as Ken was my own father.
He took great delight in intimidating his future Son's In Law.
All three of us have similar stories.
I was seated next to Irma all throughout dinner, with Dad Wheeler sitting across from us.
Giving me the once, twice thrice over all througout the meal.

But my most vivid memory of our first meeting was the delight on his face as he took his two young grand daughters, at the time his only grandkids by the hand for a walk in the gardens afterwards.
Both Heather and Kimbie were adorable in their little party dresses and "Pippi Longstocking" pig tails.

I knew then he wasn't so forbidding!

The next time we met was in August at their homestead in Bartow.
We were engaged by then, and as my sister put it "attached at the hip"
While attempting to eat breakfast one morning without letting go of Phyllis hand,
without a word or a sidewise glance he reached over and steadied my toast for me so that I could butter it.

That's the first time that I saw that wicked gleam in his eye illustrating his Scot sense of humor.
There are many more stories that I will attempt to put in a letter for all of you.

Most of all, he loved his God, and he adored his family.
As my boss put it this morning,
"It's always family first with me, A.J. God Bless your father in law"

He was privileged to bounce most of his great grandchildren on his knees.

And we were privileged to know him.

A life well lived Ken, we will see you again.



A brief log of the pictures;

Ken, Irma Eloise and Elaine, circa mid 1940's





Dad as he looked when we first met, summer of 1981.

Dad and his love, Irene at Jessica's wedding last summer.
Dad, looking dapper in his red suspenders and red bow tie.
The man knew how to dress!

Various pictures from the wedding with Ken and some of his children and grandchildren.

Appalachian fall vistas, football fun!

A rainy Election Day, Halloween Football

I was supposed to attend a golf/cookout that some business friends of mine host each major election day.
The weather here is lousy, in the fifties with a steady rain.
The golf course asked that the event be postponed, so as it is I have some unexpected office time.

I will be careful to avoid any media/information source that gives 'exit polls' or predictions of any kind.

Around 11:00pm I will check and see if the election has been called, or if it will be another long night like the last two.

My only prediction is this; if it is apparent that Obama will win it will be called very early.
If there is any doubt and it looks like McCain may pull off the biggest upset since Truman beat Dewey in 1948, the media will refuse to call it until the wee hours, if indeed they call it at all.

We were able to spend the weekend in Boone with Ariel. Queen Felicia's pictures to follow.
A goodly abundance of leaves were still up, and it was glorious in the Appalachians.
I was in Blacksburg on business first, we had a nice time with my sister after hours.

Then Friday it was on to Boone!
App State had a rare nationally televised regular season game on Halloween night.
We were blessed with perfect football weather.
Woffard University was the opponent, and as it turned out the Halloween sacrifice.

Woffard was ranked third nationally in 1AA, right behind App, and second nationally in all of Division 1 in defense. It looked to be a tough, dead even game.

To start with it looked to be just that, with the score tied 14 all at the end of the first quarter.
Then App scored again, and after the kick-off the 'D' came up with it's first of five turnovers.
Before you could blink it was 28-14 and the rout was on.

Led by their remarkable Junior Quarterback Armante Edwards (who will not turn 21 until Dec)
the Mountaineers scored Touchdowns on their first six possessions.
It is almost criminal that he will not be considered for the Heisman trophy in December.
On one play he rolled to his right (he is a southpaw, making that a tough throw) spotted an open receiver down field, and threw a perfect pass 65 yards in the air, hitting Quick in the hands full stride for an easy touchdown.
Once he gets outside of the tackles, tackling him in the open field is like tackling smoke.
Ariel knows him casually, and said it doesn't seem like all of the acclaim has affected him.
He still seems balanced and 'normal'. Let's hope that continues!

The final score was 70-24!
The toughest part came after the game, when the Queen and I made our way up "The Rock"
(Elevation 3,400' +) to the Broyhill Inn, which sits on top of the Mount.
This trek includes a long flight of very narrow stone steps.
There seems to be about a thousand of them when you are trudging upwards.
But we made it with a little breath to spare.

Since it was Halloween, a large portion of the students were in costume.
Many were quite inventive, and some of them I could even describe here in my PG rated blog.
Several I could not, but they were funny!
The halftime show was memorable, the announcer affected a Vincent Price style voice, and the excellent ASU band (the music program is regarded as the best in the Carolina's) did a version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to close, the entire band doing the Zombie walk, then collapsing on the field. Really funny, and it reminded me of how much I miss seeing the halftime shows, now never shown on TV telecasts.

The highlight of the trip was seeing our boy though.
We mostly saw he and his old High School buddy Nathan at meal times.
Nathan had just built him a new, mega-powerful PC for about 800 dollars.
Were I to have bought one for him with comparable power and features I would have spent close to 3,000.00.

Needless to say I would not let Nathan pay for any of his meals!
It is remarkable what some of these tech-savvy kids can do these days.
All of the major components were purchased on-line, except for the case and power supply and the new Windows Vista operating system, which Nathan had a licensed copy of.
Ariel uses his HDLCD TV for his monitor.
The detail is almost like watching an HD movie with the newest video games.

We were able to go to Blowing Rock on Saturday, one of our favorite towns in NC
Lunch at the "Sixpence Pub" was a highlight, it is an authentic English style local.

The weather was so mild on Sunday morning that we were able to eat outside on the patio of our favorite breakfast joint in Boone.

A few purchases at the Mast General Store, some winter sweaters for the Queen, dress winter shirts for me, all marked down 50%, and my traditional Mast purchase, a new Cowboy hat for me!
This year I went with Black. Felicia said I looked very snappy, so I am happy.
An elderly woman told me "now you need to get yourself a pistol and your're all set!"

I might just do that Maam!

We already voted, so leave us alone!

I am still being besieged by political calls, on every phone line we have.
All of them of course want donations.

Well, word to them! I am through with this political season, we have already voted and I have already sent in my check!
And the Queen has volunteered and worked the phone banks three times over the last week at the Johnston County Republican Headquarters.

So quit calling us already, we gave at the office!

Since Ariel was home for fall break last weekend, and will not be able to make it home on Election Day due to his class schedule, we all decided to take advantage of early voting.

It was his first Presidential Vote, missing in '04 by only 18 days.

It was an honor to be able to vote as a family.
My first vote was in 1972, and I remember how proud and grateful I was to be able to do so.

It was extremely easy, we all walked in the Govt Building in Smithfield, our County Seat and signed in and went right to a machine.

Never forget who secures our right to vote and hold open elections.

It is and always has been our men and women in uniform.
Many of them are overseas now, and will rely on absentee ballots and the like to cast their own votes.

He will join their ranks full time next year sometime, after graduation and commissioning.

Just yesterday, he found out what his branch assignment is to be.
This is a career shaping decision for Senior Cadets, and will have a maj0r impact on their future in the full time Army.

He had asked for Branch Transition, three years or so in Combat Arms, and then moving into Intelligence as soon as he is promoted to Captain.

He had chosen Armor as his first pick, followed by Artillery and then Infantry.

Infantry, or 11Bravo as it is known in the Army is the most sought after branch.

Well, imagine his surprise when he found out he indeed had his desire to move into M.I. fulfilled, but his Combat branch is to be 11Bravo!

It meant in short that the Army recognizes great potential in him, and chose him over many Cadets who had Infantry as their first choice.

In addition, the Colonel told him "You will be going to Ranger school, just get ready for it!"

For those who don't know, Rangers are the toughest and most capable soldiers in the Army, short of Green Beret and Delta Force. And all of them come from the Ranger ranks.

Having that tan Ranger tab on his uniform will also be a tremendous career enhancer.

There is no certainty that just because you are sent to that school you will make it through, many don't.

But I know the kind of grit our boy has. He will get it done!
As the Finnish relatives say, "He has Sissou!"

Way to go son, and congrats from your proud parents!

Hoohah!

It's fall in North Carolina!

Finally we had a weekend with seasonal weather here.
Just last week we had a couple of days with temps in the low eighties.

The leaves are changing, it's blustery and I am wearing shorts!
Then two days later I'm freezing, and turn on the heat for the first time this season.
Welcome to NC!

Yesterday, I moved all of the Queen's plants that could survive into the garage.
Moving my old back out of kilter in the process. Ouch!

She will be doing a guest blog and posting some pictures soon.

F0r now, we have a lot of fresh flowers all around the house.
They would most likely not survive the week, temps at night will be in the mid-thirties.

Our boy was home for a four day fall break weekend.
It was great to see him, even though he slept a lot.
Trying to catch up from 5:15 AM early rising for ROTC PT is tough.

He went back to Boone last night, we will see him out there during Halloween weekend.

App is playing a nationally televised game on Halloween night (ESPN2) if you would like to see a real championship football team play.
They are going for four National 1AA championships in a row this year.
GO MOUNTAINEERS!

Time to ship all of the family Christmas stuff she has been collecting all year, make a big pot of soup, and watch the World Series.

Life is truly grand!

Stay tuned for that guest blog from the Queen.

The purity of baseball

Odes to the pastoral nature of baseball are too numerous to list here.

In the closing innings of this bitter, rancorous overly personal presidential race,
it is nice to watch something that doesn't smack of polls, talking head idiots on the 'news' outlets, etc.

See the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball, and run like the wind!
Pretty basic stuff, whether you are coaching four year old T-ball or the Tampa Bay Rays.

I have always loved post season baseball, even though it falls in the middle of football season.

Each swing of the bat can not only change the entire outcome of a game, but of a series.

I will never forget Reggie Jackson's unmatched performance while wearing Yankee Pinstripes in his first World Series with that team.

Three first pitch swings of the bat, and three home runs!

No one before or since has come close to matching that perfomance.

There is nothing quite so tense in all of sports than a hot hitter facing a flame throwing relief pitcher in the late innings of a playoff game.

I still remember watching the 1960 World Series between the Yanks and the Pirates with my Dad, a confirmed Yankee's fan.

With one swing of the bat Bill Mazeroski won that series for the Pirates in the bottom of the ninth of the final game.

And you still see that faded old black and white video from the fifties of Bobby Thompson's ninth inning home run "Shot heard round the World" to win the NL pennant, and the radio announcers famous call-
"And the Giants win the Pennant! The Giants Win the Pennant!"

Who will be this years hero or heros?

My money is on the Rays.

The worst team in major league baseball last year, they won 97 games to win the AL East, the toughest division in Baseball this year.

Everyone loves an underdog, unless of course they are playing your hometown nine.

Last night they once again made hash of the defending champ Red Sox vaunted pitching staff, winning 13-4 to go up 3 games to one in the ALCS.

Their manager, as the announcer put it "Looks like an English Major!"
His style is quiet and motivating, believing that inspiring his players to sacrifice and play team ball beats cursing and screaming and throwing things in the dugout.

It sure seems to be working!

The Phillies need only to win tonight to lock up the NL slot in the Series, and the Rays only have to win one out of the last three games, two at home to go for their first time ever.

Nothing beats watching the World Series on a crisp fall night!

Pop some corn, brew some tea, maybe drink some brew(skies) and let's go Rays!

"And we liked it that way!"

Comic Dana Carvey had a recurring character on Saturday Night Live back in the early nineties,
"The Cranky Old Man".

Dressed in a tacky cardigan, with a wild crazy man wig, he did hysterical rants on nonsensical memories of how tough things were when he was young, always capped with
"And we liked it that way! We loved it!"

Eating rock soup, walking so far to school that our feet bled, having such lousy light to do our homework by we are all blind now, etc.

It was always incredibly funny, and at the same time insightful.
Dana and I are within a year of the same age, and he would probably agree with me that it is difficult not to allow ourselves to turn into some semblance of that mad old man.

The longer we live, the more foolishness and base behavior we witness.
We have watched our popular culture degrade to the point of animal crudeness.
Just because a show is on during the so-called "family hour" (I wonder which family, the Manson Family?) doesn't mean you should let your kids anywhere near it.
Movies have become degenerate to the point that unless we know exactly what we will be seeing before we go, we just stay away from them.
So that automatically eliminates 99% of the garbage Hollywood churns out these days.
It does save money!

The generic term "The Media" may seem trite, but they are the obvious culprit.
But they only reflect the degradation of the human animal in general.

I had a wise old Uncle myself, he went on across the bridge several years ago to rest with our ancestors.
My Uncle, Bob Hill had a good conversation with me just before I married.
This was just after Jimmie Carter left office, before any of RWR's policys had the chance to effect any real changes.
Interest rates were so high that we despaired of ever owning our own home.
I made the comment "No wonder so many of us are angry young men. Looks like we will never be able to work and achieve what your generation has"

He was a big man, with a deep, pleasant laugh.
Putting his ever present pipe down, he laughed and told me
"You have to be my age to warrant really becoming angry! Just wait, someday you will be an angry old man!"

Boy, Uncle were you right on!

Now I understand why my Dad was so P'O'd most of the time.
In his youth, most of America still lived in small towns, or in poor rural areas.
He was born in a log house, built over 100 years before his birth.
With no indoor plumbing, and only two Franklin stoves and a fireplace for heat.
And it gets cold in West Virginia, especially at night.
One pair of shoes purchased in the late fall had to do you all winter.
It was 1938 when they moved into the current farm house before they had electricity.

Fast Forward to today, when even the poorest of our poor have electricity and plumbing.
Most also have TV, and other standards still considered unattainable in a great portion of the world.

Our communications, medical technology, and standard of living has increased far past what I ever invisioned when I was in college over 30 years ago.

But are we better off as a people than we were then?

You think that over and get back to me.

Bet you'll be pretty mad, though!

I used to love KoolAId, too.

I am feeling sick to my stomach.
Not because of anything I ate as you may assume.
No, it's too much sugar in my diet.

I'm speaking of the multiple tons of sugar heaped in the direction of one of the major Presidential Candidates.
This has been going on since his national introduction at their convention way back in 2004 when he gave his first major speach.

It became obvious to me then that here was their candidate for the current 2008 election.
The mainstream media, in all of their "journalistic integrity" immediately jumped on his bandwagon.

Any legitimate critique is labeled as Divisive, Bullying or negative dirty politics.
Or, the most egregious nonsense of all, Racist.

In other words, do not dare to crititize the annointed one!

It is his destiny to rule us all, and to eliminate anything that we perceive to be bad.
Lately this seems to include Free Market Capitalism as well.

The economy, "Man made Global Warming", international diplomacy, free college, free health care, free housing, free free free!
I'll solve it all!
And of course at no cost to anyone.
Excepting the "wealthy".
And wealthy is whatever we say it is.

The annointed one will fix it! Trust us!

It is troubling to the point of dispair to the Queen and I how many people seem to have willingly "drank the KoolAid" of all of this empty rhetoric and bombast.

Facts? If they seem to contradict the annointed one's public statements, well then they cannot be true.
Please don't confuse us with the truth!

When he is caught in contradictions or outright lies, there is always an excuse.
And no shortage of media lapdogs to blast the public with blanket disapproval of his accusers.

As kids we were taught "You are known by the company that you keep"

It is also off-limits to bring that up in the case of "the annointed one"
Violent terrorists who advocated the overthrow of our government, who planted bombs that killed police officers and other innocent victims?
Why, that was then! He is a college professor now! I guess that makes everything AOK, huh?

Insanely racist, anti-american "Clergy" ranting and dancing to the tune of "everything about this country stinks"?
Why, I never heard of such a thing while I was sitting in his congregation.
For twenty years.

Imagine if it were a White separatist racist "pastor", who led a Republican candidate's congregation.
Well, I'm sure the media would have no problem with that!

The current financial mess, mostly due to idiotic loan policies in forcing banking institutions to grant big loans to people that did not qualify and most likely would not be able to fulfill their payment obligations started in 1999.

That's right, during the Clinton Administration.
Do your homework and follow the money back to that starting point.
There are many people sitting in Congress right now accusing the current President and the other party of sole responsibility for the disaster.
Look at their financials.
One Senator in particular who heads the powerful Finance Committee has benefitted greatly from sweetheart mortgage rates and other benefits.
And he doesn't have an "R" after his name either.

The entire situation stinks, and we the taxpayer are going to end up paying for it.
Don't let "the annointed one" use this to help sweep into the Oval Office.

And please, young people, you are too old to continue "drinking the KoolAid"

Use the brains the Good Lord gave you and think your way through this!

The old axiom "There ain't no free lunch!" still applies in 2008.

We're still here!

It's been a weird, surreal summer here in The Old North State.
I have been reminded that I am flesh and blood after all, not the Energizer Bunny.

Fall is finally here!

The Queen is up in Ohio with Kendra visiting with GranPa, who perked up immensely with two of his girls there last night.
His prodigeous appetite was back, Felicia reported "He just kept eating and eating!"
For a little man he always amazed me at how much he could put away, and never get fat.
He also talked up a storm.

Today is his 87th birthday, and there will be at least two parties.

Happy 87th, Pop!

I'll post some pictures now from the annual visit of all of our dear nieces, nephews and Super Kids last month.

Top to bottom;
Ariel and Kenton sharing a yuck, Martin, with a perpetual look of total bewilderment which is completely understandable, given he lives with four females, the girls smiling for the dapper cameraman, Elspie, saying goodbye in her own unique fashion, App Daddy, "I'm just happy to be here!", proud and doting grandparents with the two newest adorable young'uns, Joshiah AKA Mowgli the Jungle Boy, Anna with her 1,000 watt smile, and Dad and Aunt Kendra welcome Ariel home down at Ft Bragg after his five week ordeal at LDAC in Ft Lewis.

Update from Fort Lewis

Our Warrior left in the wee hours of the morning for the final phase of his Warrior Forge/LDAC training, the FTX.

They will spend the next 10 days and nine nights deployed in the field.
The purpose is to learn platoon and company level basic combat skills.
Even though most of them won't be in 11 Bravo, (Infantry) every soldier is a rifleman, in theory at least.
Remember what happened to the transportation unit that got lost and captured by the Iraqi Republican Guard unit early in the invasion.
Reports were that several of the soldiers never got a shot off, their training was so poor.

He is thriving so far, and making friends in his squad (10 males and two very tough and respected females).
Some of them will no doubt be friends throughout their careers.

Being an extemely intelligent lad, he has decided not to choose infantry as his MOS
"I'm not real fond of Ruck Marches, Dad" he told me a couple of days ago.

A Ruck march is marching and walking from point A to B, wearing a minimum of 80# of gear.
More if you are a heavy weapons, communications or medical unit member.

Sometimes that also includes wearing a MOP suit to protect against biological or chemical weapons.

We are thrilled, to say the least that he as changed his opinion!

Armor, Military Intelligence and Air Defense Artillery are now his top three choices.

If you are planning on dropping him a line, mail it no later than next Tuesday the 29th, or he probably won't get it before leaving for Platoon Leader training at Ft Bragg on 5 August.

July 3rd, O-Dark -Hundred

Into the terminal, and off to the first experience of adulthood.

Our son the soldier left on Thursday the 3rd for Ft Lewis WA, for LDAC.
"Leadership Development Assesment Course" is the final evaluation of over 4,500 MS-3 (rising Senior) ROTC Cadets each summer.

The criteria includes GPA, PT scores, swimming, shooting, and a final 10 day FTX where all take turns as platoon leaders in the field.
The Cadre consists of ROTC officers and Senior NCO's from all over the country.
They are looking for leadership potential, particularly under stressful conditions.
And not only how the cadets act when it is their turn to lead, but how they support their fellow cadets when following their lead.

He has been preparing all year. Serious weight lifting, running in the NC heat in a weighted vest, and studying all of the material he will be responsible for at LDAC.

The upper echelon will have a choice of picking two out of three critical areas.
Branch of Service/M.O.S., location of post, or fully paid and salaried Grad School.

He will choose Branch and location at Ft Bragg, just an hour and a half from home.
Although Grad School is tempting, it can wait.

Few of us are as fortunate to have a definite demarc between our childhood and school years and full adulthood.

When his proud parents watched him walk into the terminal, we knew he was leaving his school boy years behind him.
He will fly straight to Ft Bragg after LDAC grad for three weeks training with an active unit, then straight to fall semester of his senior year.
His primary task will be to help prepare this years MS3 cadets for their LDAC next year.
After graduation and commissioning next Spring, he's off for his initial branch training and his full time Army career.

We will see him at Christmas and during semester breaks, but this summer was most likely the last long term time at home for him.

God Speed, soldier, our prayers go with you!

You've always made us proud, but neve more so than now.

One thing's for certain, he looks a lot better at 05:30 than his old man!














After several days of frantic activity and study, everything did fit into those two duffel bags!




























04:30 and off to RDU Airport














Csonk surprises Dad with a smooch on top of his old gray head, much to Ariel's amusement.

How will all of this stuff fit into two duffels?

Baseball, Dads and sons 2008

It was a good Fathers Day weekend here at Le Chateau Herve'.

Saturday my son took his Mother and I to a Carolina Mudcats baseball game.
We had great seats in the first row right next to home plate.
He reserved and paid for the tickets, proving that there are some advantages when your offspring get older, and you realize you must be too.

The game was played quickly, even with a twenty minute rain delay it was over in less than three hours.
We all enjoyed the bizarre characters that are a part of all minor league games.
We saw Gaby Sanchez, a Miami Hurricane Alumn drive in several runs.
The Cat's second baseman Marbery is certain to be playing for the big league Marlins very soon, as is Sanchez himself.

On Father's Day itself, we had a relaxing day at home.
The Queen grilled some fabulous steaks, and made a totally decadent Angel Food/pudding cake smothered with fresh Coconut, and several different kinds of fresh fruit and berries.
And since it was Fathers Day, I gained no extra calories!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I happily received not a single necktie. I only wear the miserable things when I have to.
They are not in evidence in my industry any more, thankfully!
I did receive a couple of new books that I have eagerly awaited.
Sportscaster Jim Nance's book about his own father, "Always By My Side" is also about the universal relationship between Fathers and Sons.

And the first new authentic James Bond novel since Ian Fleming passed,
"Devil May Care" was released on 28 May, his 100th birthday.
It was written by Sebastian Faulk writing as Ian Fleming and will be saved as a rare treat for my vacation read.
It is set in the original Cold War era, when our chief enemy had a face and a national identity.
Some of you young'uns were still in middle school when the Soviet Evil Empire died, after almost eighty years of terror and oppression.

My son and fellow historian also got me the just released DVD set of "John Adams"
Adapted from David McCullough's book of the same name, it is a wonderful recap of our second President and Founding Father's life.
His wife Abigail was an amazing woman.
Along with Martha Washington and the other wives, mothers and daughters of their era, she deserves the title Founding Mother.

Thank you, son!

You continue to make your Mother and I proud, and reaffirm that being your Dad is the most important thing I have accomplished in this short life.

(And of course spoiling your Mom rotten!)

Here's hoping all the rest of you Dad's had a great day with your family, and that you at least got to talk to your kids, as far flung and removed by adult life and distance as some of them are now.

And for the thirty second year since you left us, Dad, I still love and respect you more than anyone else I've ever known.
Thanks for all you did for us, at the expense of your own hopes and dreams, and sometimes your very sanity.

I still remember you looking over your glasses at me and saying,
"Boy, the first thing you know you ain't going to know nothin'!"
That memory still serves to keep me on the straight and narrow now.

Tell both my granddads we all turned out pretty good, and that their great grandson would make them proud.

Picture montage courtesy of the talented and lovely Queen Felicia, excepting the old family photos.
The black and white group picture not only includes my grandfather A.H. Harvey but also my GGrandfather John S. Harvey, in the chair with my Aunt Bee in his lap, bow and all.

There is also a picture of my Granddad L.J. Cupp, a kind and gentle man who left us far too soon.