My Stories

My Stories

These are stories/articles that I wrote about our lives, our families, places we have been, and other incidents that triggered my thoughts.

Our Lives:

	Two Unforgettable Days Our unforgettable, mishap filled, wedding day.
	God is in Control How God guided us to the hospital in a strange town during my wife's heart attack.
	I've Never Walked Alone He's always been beside me.
	Oklahoma Tornadoes Experiences with tornadoes in Oklahoma.
	Childhood Diseases I never caught most of the typical childhood diseases.
	Quitting Smoking I quit cold-turkey after 40 years. -- Added December 29, 2006
	Ham Radio How I became a Ham radio operator and why I never renewed my license. -- Added October 18, 2009

Pioneering Downrange -- Tracking Missiles, 1958-1960:

Experiences living in a three-room shack on the beach on Grand Bahama Island, while working on a missile tracking base in the early days of missile launches as a civilian contractor.

	Going to Grand Bahama Island Going to Grand Bahama Island in 1958. -- Revised June 25, 2009
	Taking Billie to GBI Moving my wife and two kids from Dallas to GBI. -- Added March 20, 2009
	Life with family on GBI Living with my family on GBI. -- Revised October 10, 2009
	Rats on GBI Getting rats drunk. -- Added March 20, 2009
	Amateur Rocket builder Launch of an amateur-built rocket on GBI. -- Added March 20, 2009
	Any excuse for a party We played hard when not working. -- Added March 20, 2009
	Downrange Characters We had some characters downrange. -- Revised March 26, 2009
	Drinking Donkey A donkey who loved beer on Ascension Island. -- Added March 20, 2009
	GBI Bow and Arrows We never had sneak thieves at night, because of my wife's prowess with a bow. -- Added March 20, 2009
	Wild dogs on GBI A pack of wild dogs roamed the area where we lived. -- Added March 20, 2009
	It's a small world How small the world is - meeting people I had known before. -- Added March 20, 2009
	Flying the Range Experiences flying the range. -- Added October 10, 2009
	GBI Mod II Radar Experiences with a Mod II radar on GBI. -- Added March 20, 2009
	Radar and birds Tracking birds with a radar. -- Added March 20, 2009
	The Snark Missile Long hours spent tracking a Snark missile. -- Added March 20, 2009
	The Matador Missile Near mishap during the track of a Matador missile. -- Added March 20, 2009
	The Bomarc Missile Did a missile just dive by our plane? -- Added March 20, 2009
	The Navaho and Hound Dog Missiles Another reason to party. -- Added March 20, 2009
	The Polaris Missile The beginning of a new era. -- Added March 20, 2009
	The U2 Spyplane We were tracking the U2 long before the Gary Powers incident in Russia. -- Added March 20, 2009

Uprange Incidents -- 1960-1965:

These are various incidents that happened after I transferred to Patrick AFB as a technical writer, which I consider a funny. Most of the names I use are not the real names, because I do not remember all of those names after this long.

	Tech Writers, Editors and Typists Some of the funny things that happened in the early 1960s. -- Added March 29, 2009
	In our Tech Lab Office More funny things that happened during the early 1960s. -- Added March 29, 2009
	Elevator What do you do when a woman coworker begins physically hitting you? -- Added March 29, 2009
	Expired Drivers License He was driving a government vehicle with an expired license. -- Added March 29, 2009
	Don't Steal Coffee Don't steal coffee in our office. -- Added March 29, 2009
	One Smoggy Morning A scary drive to work. -- Added October 7, 2009

Our Children and Grandchildren:

You Caught What A granddaughter goes fishing.

Our Parents:

	Mean Bull A young bride and a mean bull.
	The Bareback Ride A story about Dad going after medication when I fell on a hot stove as a two-year old toddler.
	The Crash When Dad was Assistant Fire Chief on Okinawa during the Korean War. -- Revised February 20, 2010
	Rolling Wheel A miracle.
	In His Hands An example of being in God's hands.
	Wonderful Christmas Gift A wonderful Christmas gift in 1957.
	Mom Embarrassed Dad Dad was forever embarrassing Mom. Finally, Mom embarrassed Dad. -- Revised February 20, 2010
	Where is Your Faith After 40 years of preaching the gospel, a doctor told Dad he was about to die.
	Victory In Jesus About Mom.
	Thanksgiving dinner Our last Thanksgiving dinner with Mom.
	Shelling Peas My mother-in-laws last days.
	Your Mother Has Alzheimer's About Mom and her Alzheimer's disease.

My Grandparents:

	Granny Grunt My fantastic grandmother, Granny Grunt.
	Papa Memories of Dad's father, we called him Papa.
	Precious Memories Humorous anecdotes about my great-grandparents.
	Brush Arbor Meeting Great-grandfather and the long-winded preacher.

Earlier Times:

	Do You Remember Church in the good old days.
	Running the Trotline Fishing experience.
	Sleeping Outside Before we had air conditioning.
	Escorting a Young Lady This wouldn't work today.
	My Bicycle Delivering ice on my bicycle in 1945.
	Changing Times Differences between the times of our youth and now. -- Revised February 20, 2010
	Scratching Cotton Working the cotton fields with on a mule's back. -- Added June 24, 2009
	Raising Chickens Raising chickens as I grew up. -- Added March 18, 2010
	If You Can't Do the Time, Don't Do the Crime Punished at school in a different manner. -- Added June 24, 2009

U.S. Navy, 1951-1955:

	Joining the Navy in 1951 Enlisting and the trip to bootcamp. -- Revised February 18, 2010
	Navy Bootcamp in 1951 Experiences in bootcamp in 1951. -- Revised February 18, 2010
	Miscellaneous Navy Experiences Miscellaneous Navy experiences during 1951/1952. -- Revised February 18, 2010
	NAF Naha, Okinawa Duty in the Comm. Center at NAF Naha, Okinawa. -- Revised February 18, 2010
	Returning to Stateside in 1953 My return to the States and duty at Whidbey Island, Washington. -- Revised February 18, 2010
	Reassignment to VP-57 Back to Okinawa and VP-57 in 1954. -- Revised February 18, 2010
	Liberty Flight to Dallas Mishap-filled flight in 1955. -- Revised February 18, 2010
	Leaving the Navy Being discharged from the Navy at Pier 99, Seattle in 1955. -- Revised February 18, 2010

Pets:

	Paper Trained Rabbit Our pet rabbit was paper-trained.
	Rabbit Terrorizes Dog A new pet rabbit terrorizes our small dog.

Snakes:

	Cape Canaveral Snake A fiction story. All of the characters, except the snake, are fictitious. Some men at a Cape radar site really did catch a snake and do what happens in this story. The story about how it happened and the people involved are fiction. -- Added February 17, 2008
	Summer of Snakes Incidents with snakes during the summer when I was 12 years old. -- Added February 17, 2008