Memorial Day

Neighbor catch-up:

The gasoline neighbors must have bought a grill. We had a severe storm that moved through last night. I looked out the window and saw smoke and steam coming from their deck. Oh, geez, I thought, I can’t believe they’re grilling when it’s pitch dark, pouring rain, and lightening all around. Hopefully, they didn’t use gasoline to get the charcoal lit!

I found a way to drive my Peeping Tom neighbor back into the house. I had the family over for grilling yesterday afternoon. Both of my grandsons had friends with them, so there were four boys playing baseball in my backyard. Peeping Tom came outside, sat in his chair for a couple of minutes, and then went back into the house! I’ll just get my grandsons and their friends to scare him off!

Today, Memorial Day, was a perfect day, although I don’t mind 90 degree temperatures and lots of humidity, which was yesterday. I and the family spent that hot afternoon at the pool, cooling off in the water and sitting in the sun, which was a very enjoyable and pleasant way to begin summer.

But today was perfect. The temperature got to 80 degrees, no humidity, so all my windows are open, and a great breeze blowing through the house.

Before heading to the pool yesterday, I stopped at Fort Snelling National Cemetery to pay a quick visit to Ray and my grandparents. I usually go on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, but Saturday was a soaker, so I waited until the weather was better.

The cemetery was PACKED with people as I feared it would be. I’m glad people come to remember their ancestors, but I hate crowds, and I’m spoiled, because I go to the cemetery all the time when it’s relatively empty.

But I got the flowers and the flags on everyone’s graves. And I did take the time to admire the large flags, the honor guard, and the overwhelming feeling of patriotism I get when I visit Fort Snelling on Memorial Day.

Ray wasn’t a rah-rah soldier by any means. He told me he was a punk kid and got in trouble. The judge gave him a choice of joining the Army or going to jail, so Ray joined up. I think he was only in for four years, I can’t remember, but he spent the Korean War in Japan as a Japanese interpreter, since he picked up Japanese so easily.

Ray never joined the Legion or any other type of veteran organization. The only veteran association he had was using the VA medical services, which I think killed him, as I still believe his doctor didn’t prescribe the best course of treatment for him, and that’s that.

He did love the United States and was proud to be an American and I’m proud that he’s buried at Fort Snelling and that cemetery will be my home, too, when I die.

So today I did very little. I went to the gym and had a good workout and then spent a few minutes in the newly remodeled sauna.

I weeded my gardens. I swept out the garage. I spent the afternoon on my deck reading a novel on my Kindle. Joe spent most of the day sleeping. He says he’s OK, but I think he had a little too much to drink yesterday and alcohol affects how his medications act in his body. A quiet Joe is always a good thing, so I didn’t mind he rested all day.

We’re grilling a apple wood smoked pork loin tonight. I have a propane grill; I don’t need gasoline to get it started.