(Whatever was happening here- possibly the departure of Famous Bomber Pilot Dick and his entourage from West Webster, NY- apparently left Grandma cold. There are many many better pictures, but this one is a study in ambiguity. Left to right, Rocky, Dick, Burr, Marshall, Grandma, Jim, Vic, Rhoda, Betty and Ted. Check the car. Dick always had a great and powerful ride).

Sleep is just what the Doctor would order, if I had a Doc. I am not sure where I stand with all that stuff- I think I purchased that addendum to the basic TriCare coverage left from the military- but don’t know for sure. It is one of those things I was meaning to get to and just haven’t.

I don’t have files any more- I have stacks of stuff at the farm and used the secure trash at my former office to get rid of as much stuff as I could at the time of the move last summer, but like the company health plan, that is all long in the rear view now.

I am determined to get organized down here now that I have more time than money, although I have to say the money is burning itself at a merry rate. Long story to that, which I will make mercifully brief.

I bought the tractor so I could cut my lawn, and over time, save on the cost of keeping the property look tidy. The Tiger is unfortunately hors de combae, and is going to have to go to the shop to repair a bent blade and impellor shaft, and that means I can’t cut the grass on the pastures, and had to re-engage Frank the Landscaper to cover the gap, while the Tiger has the tracks and main armament repaired.

Frank and his buddy do a great job, but stuff happens, you know? I was down in the garage moving crap around. I had the JG’s Explorer fired up and backed out and was considering what I had to do with the Syclone- it has not been run since before Christmas and that ought to be bubbling up on the list of things to do- when Frank’s guy came by the open garage door cursing softly. “Goddamn door- Second time! Picked up a rock and smashed it. Just like last time!”

Considering the depth of some of the recent issues- matters of eternity and of the ways of he human heart- I can take broken tractors and shattered glass with a certain amount of equanimity.

The three of us conferred about the likely course of action. Frank saw most of his profit go away for this session, but he will make up for it with the charge for the Round Up that will knock down the ivy and grass coming up through the gravel on the circular drive. I noticed that a board had warped and pulled off the nails to the post by the back gate- I resolved to fix that, since I have a cordless drill and some long screws, but that meant moving furniture to get at the ammo can where the nails and fittings are stored, and then that meant moving the golf clubs and the boxes of slides and that meant opening up the office annex and that meant confronting more crap, and then moving that and charging the battery for the drill and realizing I had not seen the claw hammer to pull the nails and well you know how all that goes.

You always find stuff in the last place you look, and based on when and how the crap in the garage arrived, it is either stuff from the Paleozoic period of Mom and Dad’s basement or the stuff so personal that the Realtor sternly told me to get it out of the Condo in order to sell it last summer. I got used to living in the unit when it was pristine, prepped for sale, and when I moved out to the rented apartment all I had was the elegant stuff with everything else piled up in decidedly non-elegant piles at the farm.

Spare and elegant is just not my style.

I just finished processing all the 35mm slides that I have uncovered so far, about a thousand or so, plus another thousand I paid to have done back when I had more money than time.

The latest batch were coverage of Raven’s wanderings on the Continent some fifty years ago, family activities at the cabin, carrier qualifications on the USS Antietam (CVS-36) in the Gulf of Mexico, Grandma Socotra’s 80th birthday in New Jersey and that bizarre visit to the Parrot Jungle, a Miami attraction, in 1960.

It was just what the Doctor ordered to get over my musings about life and death and eternity, and looking at the images of so many family members who have gone on fit the mood.

Uncle Jim puffing on a smoke- Dick he Famous Bomber pilot in his prime and my Aunt, Mom and both her sisters- Dad at his drafting table. Two cousins who have gone on. All departed, and I marveled at the size of the crowd gathering at the Big Fleet Landing on the other side. Maybe that is why I was so feverishly scanning the Kodak images- to share now while someone still gives a shit.

At length Frank and his buddy had cleaned up the glass on the front porch, the board was reattached to the fencepost, the Explorer was charged up and put back under cover and the office secured. I was looking around at ideas about dinner when Miss Vickie called and said the maids would be at the unit up there today, which means I have to beat them there and write a check and ensure there is a modicum of order.

Whew. In sum, it was chaos at the farm, and a couple potentially expensive set-backs.

But you know what? It is all fine. And sleeping through the night in the country is just what the Doctor ordered. I am done scanning slides. Now, about those four boxes that have “pictures” scrawled on the side.

There is all summer for that.

Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303