Military Service -- What's Buggin' Me

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This is the only picture of Daddy in his uniform that I have on this computer. It was taken when he was on leave in Hawaii.

Daddy gave part of his life during WWII to serve his country. He was trained in the desert and was then sent to Attu. Daddy didn't talk much about his time in the Army. I think it was just too painful for him. Daddy was a medic. While at Attu he treated a lot of frostbite. He talked of soldiers losing some of their digits and sometimes their feet from frostbite.

This is what part of his military records states:

SURGICAL TECHNICIAN - Was in the Pacific Theater of Operations in a Medical Detachment with the 7th. Infantry Division. Participated in the Aleutians Islands, Eastern Mandates, Southern Philippines and Ryukyus campaigns. Advanced with the Infantry on all their landings. Treated men as soon after they were hit as possible. Performed first aid on all types of wounds. Was wounded carrying out his duties on Leyte in the Philippines.

My three brothers served their country by joining the Air Force. My brother Zarone spent 20 years in the Air Force.

Frank, my husband, spent 20 years in the Army. He served in the music field. He marched in many parades and played many concerts. The hardest part of his service was funeral services for our fallen soldiers.

Frank's Dad served during the Korean Conflict with the Marines.

I am thankful for their service to our country and for each man and woman that have served and are serving our country.

In between rain showers I took a few pictures of my favorite subject matter with my camera lens, insects. I know some insects are downright creepy and ugly. I find them interesting though and love going into their small world. My shoulder makes me a bit shaky and I find it impossible to take pictures of some insects with my camera on a tripod... so it takes me a few shots to get a photo that isn't very blurry.

Bee on Salvia

Bee on Salvia



Ladybug on Salvia



Ladybug on Salvia



Green Fly



Brown Stink Bug on Salvia



Long-Legged Fly.... blurry... sitting on a hydrangea leaf

Flowerbed - Frank

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You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. -- author unknown.

I haven't dug in the flower beds in several years because of my back... and knee. Since my surgery my back is feeling pretty good. So today, a beautiful day with a high temp of 75°, I decided to do a bit of digging in one of the flower beds. It is a small flower bed. It holds a couple of butterfly bushes a few bulbs... I think irises and amaryllis... and mexican petunias. Frank made this flower bed for me last year. It had a lot of grass in it. It is difficult to keep the grass out of the flower beds in our yard. I worked ten to fifteen minutes at a time today to get the project done. As soon as my back got achy I rested. I only have to put some pine straw in the bed and I will be finished. Wood chips would work better, but the pine straw is free. Of course I have to haul the weeds out of the yard. I have them in a wheel barrel... I'm not sure I can push the wheel barrel. I will try tomorrow and if I can't I will ask our neighbor or my father-in-law to do it for me. The bed needs a bit of water. It is suppose to rain Saturday, so I will wait for the heavens to water the flower bed. Of course Sunday it will turn cold again.

While digging in the flower bed I noticed that insects are showing up. A wasp lit near where I was digging, but disappeared before I got back with my camera. The carpenter bees are flying around Frank's workshop. That is not good. They bore holes into the wood.

As I pulled some grass out of the flower bed I unearthed this millipede.... at least I think that is what it is. I don't know all my insects and haven't looked at bugguide.net yet to see what it is. These aren't my best insect pictures. I'm shaky with my camera in hand. You can click on the pictures to enlarge... to open in a new window hold the ctrl button down as you click and you won't have to reload this page. Some of you though may not find insects as interesting as I do and think: yuck! That is okay :-)







I do think that digging in the dirt is good for the soul.

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Frank is doing better... just wants the drain tube out. That is where most of his pain is from right now. As far as the results of the pathology of the tumor... it is confusing to us. The tumor was a neuroendocrine tumor. They seem to be rare and there are several varities of them. Trying to read about them... we just get more confused. The surgeon was confused about the report and sat down with the pathologist and went over the report with him. The surgeon went to the local oncologist and talked to them. Today he was suppose to talk with another group. We hope at Frank's appointment on Tuesday that there will be clear answers.

I plan on setting aside some time tomorrow to do a bit of blog reading... but a rainy day is good for it too :-)

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Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. -- John Wooden