Thinking about leaving Guam. Nah, bought a house!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 May 07 - 09:31 AM

Best wishes to Wakana on her new job.

And, Brett, how exactly does Gordon acquire the vertebrae of the Brown Tree Snake for his jewelry? You're not climbing trees for him, are you?

The weather was perfect last Memorial Day weekend here in Maine. Weird! It's probably the last time we'll see the sun all summer.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 30 May 07 - 07:02 PM

I mentioned the applications we dropped off at Father Duenas Boys School. And I mentioned the interview Wakana had. Well, they hired her. She has to go to the school today to do whatever they do to induct someone into their ranks. I am very proud of her. She is very happy.

Two years ago when we were wandering around England my friend Gordon developed a bad infection in his left leg. As usual he let it go until almost too late. Then, around the middle of May, the infection returned. He has been laid up for the last couple of weeks. This time he hustled his butt to the doctor's office at the first sign of trouble. He's doing OK but the doctor is worried about the repeat.

I only mention this because I had the same problem shortly after coming back to the island from that trip. I am keeping a close eye on my infection zone.

Last night, on the way home from work, I stopped off at the Chamorro Village. Every Wednesday they have their Market Night. The place is crowded with people from many nations and cultures. The air is scented with barbecue and other foods. Music filled the air. I sat with Gordon at his booth keeping him company as he sold his jewelry and talked with the people. On the stage across from us the traditional dancers wove there way through the island rhythms. Chinese, Japanese, Chamorros and other Pacific islanders, and United Statesians of all races filled the spaces and wandered between the market stalls. It was a lovely evening, cool and pleasant, with lights adding to the festive air.

Larry had come down to help out so I wasn't needed and left after a while to buy supper and head home. It was a lovely drive with the wind blowing through the car and the moon sparkling on the water. Life is good.

By the way, is anyone interested in some jewelry made from snake bone? Gordon makes necklaces and dangling earrings using the vertebrae of Brown Tree Snakes. PM me and I will get prices for you.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 29 May 07 - 06:30 AM

Yeah, Jenny, even if we were closer I'm sure Customs would take a negative view to swapping fruit.

Tonight, on our way home, we stopped at a new place, the Nacho Doghouse. Sure enough, in keeping with its name it serves nachos and hot dogs. Not much to recommend it. However, as we were leaving we started to talk with the owner. She will be retiring from Federal service soon. Wakana was sure she'd met the woman before and sure enough she had. She is the park ranger at Ritidian Beach. She conducts tours into the jungle to show people the caves that are so special to the Chamorro people.

The customs of the people hold that there are spirits in the forest. Before you can enter the forest you have to ask permission. There is a chant used to ask the spirits to forgive the intrusion. The ranger always uses it before she goes in. Today, she told us, a media company was filming the tour. She took them to the cave and along the way they saw a huge monitor lizard, about 3 feet long, a coconut crab, and a huge hermit crab. She said she never sees so many creatures on the trip. The path is well used and avoided by most animals.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: JennyO
Date: 28 May 07 - 11:44 PM

I should have a mango problem like that!

With us, it's lemons. I love lemons, but it's a full time job keeping up with them, and they seem to be year-round now. I give them away, and I used quite a few when I was making lilly pilly jelly - but that's finished till next year. I have containers of lemon juice in the freezer, and I use them in a lot of different ways. And still the lemons keep on coming.....

Unfortunately, Guam's a bit far away for a lemon / mango swap :-(

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Jeri
Date: 28 May 07 - 08:19 PM

Ask your doctor about GERD. That can cause a whole load of symptoms you wouldn't normally associate with reflux. (Like asthma, sinus problems, hoarseness)

As for your mango problem, over here it's zucchini, so things could be worse.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 May 07 - 07:36 PM

The EENT doctor gave me some more antibiotics and a nasal spray. No go.

Amos, I can only offer this as a reply to your suggestion. One man's meat is another man's poison. In other words, and I say this with all the respect and friendship I have for you, Gaaaah! Bluck! Yuck!

In the meantime I am eating mangoes hand over fist. They plummet to the ground with every breeze. Wakana goes out every morning and afternoon and picks them up. We take bags of them to work and pass them out whenever we meet people who like mangoes. That is 100% of the population.

The other day we were leaving the school carrying a bag of fruit. There was a woman at the front desk (the school has moved into a building of mixed condos and offices). We went up to the desk and Wakana said, "Excuse me, but I have a very simple question. Do you like mangoes?" The woman smiled and said she did. So I put the bag on the desktop and said "Here you go!"

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Amos
Date: 28 May 07 - 01:10 PM

I suggest, Sir Brett, that you begin a regular course of enjoying fine cigars after each meal and again as needed. Make sure, though, that you get the best Havana, or the cure won't work.


A

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 May 07 - 08:28 PM

and what treatment did he offer for the sinus drip?

I have a very tiny allergic drip which doesn't cause problems, but yours needs attending to.

sandra

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 27 May 07 - 06:47 PM

Sandra, those bookcases sound good, a worthy repository for your collections. Congratulations.

Sins, I'm resting as much as possible. The cough is just too persistent. However, I did go to an eye, ear, nose, and throat doctor. He was very mean to me but told me the real problem was not in my throat. My throat is clear but irritated. No nodes, cancer, etc. I apparently have a deep post nasal drip that is the root cause of the problem.

Still coughing and losing my breath, though.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: SINSULL
Date: 24 May 07 - 10:08 AM

On Mangoes:
http://www.conviviobookworks.com/pages/puttingupmangoes.html

This is a friend's website. Their mango tree - Grandma Mango, who shamed them yearly into putting up her babies before they rotted on the ground - was lost last year in a hurricane. The book was written long before the disaster and is a beautiful funny tribute to the tree.

STOP singing, talking, and most of all whispering. Give your throat and voice a rest.

That damn cough turned into pneumonia on me a month ago. I am still in shock. I have never had it before and don't understand why I got it this time. First a cough, then bronchitis then pneumonia in a bout three days. Rest.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Gua
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 May 07 - 09:58 AM

The blokes arrived at 5.30, & after a lot of backing & forwarding they brought in the new taller bookcases, & removed the battered old ones. I finished re-loading the bookcases at 9.30, & could finally sit down. Too much exercise & lots more dust as I continued dusting books before putting hem in their new homes. The books that were on the on top are now inside, & I have jigsaws on the new top!, but the shelves aren't quite as long as they include a support, so I had fun fitting each shelf load back.

The bookcases are beautiful, they are solid pine with a dark-stain, and they will last forever, I'll take pics & send them to you Brett.

sandra (first I stepped carefully into the bathroom around & over all the stuff, then moved the stuff off the toilet lid ...)

I also had fun getting to the intercom across my scattered possessions when the bookcases arrived. Then the blokes rang again as they had not propped the door open, so I had to clamber over everything again.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 May 07 - 09:02 AM

Brett-

If you and Wakana would like my mother's chutney recipe, that will take care of several barrels of mangos. I'd be happy to post it.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 24 May 07 - 08:12 AM

I remember that apartment, Sandra. How on earth you found space to shift the bookcases is beyond me. Very fine memory, sitting in your place looking at all the fine things you've collected and made. My place would be like that if Wakana allowed... actually I have two rooms in the house she has given up on... one is this one, my office, and I can't remember what's in the other one.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: JennyO
Date: 24 May 07 - 06:39 AM

stuff everywhere............sitting on the (closed) toilet!

So what happens when you need to go to the toilet, Sandra?

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 May 07 - 02:52 AM

it's a bummer not being able to sing, are there any alternative treatments that help an allergic throat?

I love the smell of mangoes, but for some reason don't eat them too often, probably cos they are very sweet. And messy!

best wishes to Wakana for her interview & to you for getting past tis allergic time.

I'm all snuffly at the moment. I got a call 2.30ish (it's almost 5pm now) saying my 2 new bookcases were on their way. Eeek, I sez, can you ask the lads to deliver something else before mine, I have to empty the old ones (5' x 4' & full of books & magazines)

So now I have stuff everywhere, on the floor in each of my 4 rooms, on my bed, on the freezer, stove & bench, on my washing machine & dryer, in the bath & even sitting on the (closed) toilet!

Naturally all the books were covered with far more dust than I'd realised, & I even managed to vacuum away 26 years of paint dust behind the bookcases, as well as the flakes of paint that had fallen over the years from the flaky ceiling paint!

If they don't turn up, apart from killing someone, I'll have to eat out, & somehow drag my camping bed out from under my bed ...

and what was even worse, I broke 2 fingernails!!!

sandra

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 23 May 07 - 06:04 PM

I'm a little depressed today. My throat is still giving me trouble. I cannot sing. Talking too long leads to coughing. Singing leads to coughing. Yawning leads to coughing. Hell, everything leads to coughing. I can exercise without coughing so that's something but I don't want to go snorkeling because I worry about having a coughing fit in the ocean.

What really bothers me is the singing. Back when Kendall was going through his bout with throat cancer we all sympathized but I'm not sure how many of us truly understood what he was experiencing. Now, I believe (hope) that this is just an allergy and that I will win out in the end but I also have this dread that it may be something that medicine cannot cure. I don't buy into all the hype about doctors and I have no faith in the American medical system.

Well, that's depressing. On a brighter note... IT'S MANGO SEASON! The trees are dropping mangoes like there is no tomorrow. Every morning we have fresh mangoes. Soon Wakana will be cooking with them in an effort to eat up all she gathers.

Also, yesterday we got a telephone call from Father Duenas School in Mangilao. Wakana and I had dropped off applications to teach there. They were calling to schedule an interview with Wakana. She goes to see them at 9:00 this morning.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 May 07 - 02:51 PM

I mentioned it to Micca, today, Brett. If you pass through London on your way there he is.:-)

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 May 07 - 12:52 PM

Brett-

Loughborough appears to be somewhat in the middle of England, an hour from the Yorkshire coast to the East or an hour from Liverpool to the Northwest. All these places are infested with fine singers and folk clubs. Maybe someone closer to the ground will provide details, or more likely will do so if you initiate a new thread.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 May 07 - 09:35 AM

Whatever may have caused the initial coughing, you can set up a chronic, self-induced bronchitis by not suppressing a cough to let the bronchial passages calm down. The mucus can be a result of irritation caused by.... the coughing.

But there's also a bug that lurks and lingers and is hard to find, that some folks I know have had, that needs long-term antibiotics to stamp out. I think that's condiered a form of walking pneumonia.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 19 May 07 - 08:47 AM

My pregnant daughter called tonight. Too cool! She is NOT enjoying her pregnancy. Hunger and nausea in combinations too awful to contemplate.

As for long term planning, I expect I will visit England around the April time frame. If anyone wants a visitor from the Pacific Ocean let me know. A couple of weeks with my daughter and (gulp!) grandchild, then I will head home. She still lives near Loughborough. I might experiment with flying through Dubai and not go anywhere near the USA this time. I have a friend who says it would be cheaper to fly through Hong Kong or Singapore and Dubai.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 16 May 07 - 08:06 AM

The massages did not happen. She yielded to the Logic gene that all wives seem to have. We need to "save" money, we can't "waste" it. Thus the night in the hotel, the massages, all gone like dust in a typhoon. She DID let me take her out for a steak dinner...

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 May 07 - 09:39 AM

The cough heard round the world...we've all had some kind of crud and all reports are it's allergies, too! Rog sounds the worst...esp. in the morning when he becomes vertical and all the stuff in his nose starts to drain. Ugh! He has sounded that way for at least two months. We've been using benadryl, but I think it's about time he gets something a little stronger OR quits smoking!

Congrats on all of the accomplishments and the massages sound lovely.

kat

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 15 May 07 - 06:43 AM

Today is May 15. My older daughter turns 26! My God! Where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday she was sitting in my lap helping me watch 'Doca Who" on TV.

This also seems to be a hell of a long time ago that I first reported on my cough. No change. The doctors have confirmed there is no problem with my lungs. It's something in my throat. They think it's an allergy! I say, impossible!!! I don't have allergies! Allergens do not affect me. Well, OK, i did smoke one but I didn't inhale!

Anyway, I am still coughing my lungs out and still feel like crap at the end of the day. Ugh.

This morning I went out to make some progress on cleaning up the area under the canopy. The closet door was still open from my last effort. As I approached the closet a rooster ran out of it. Then, as I reached in to pick something up a chicken exploded off of the second shelf with an annoyed cackle and the thunder of wings! I noticed that my adrenal gland is still functioning.

I investigated further and found she had laid three eggs on the life jackets. I'm afraid I was less than graceful about it. Certainly less graceful than the flying arcs those eggs made into the jungle.

The closet door is closed now and will stay closed unless I am out there working. If the chickens can move the car battery holding the doors shut then I am not going to mess with them.

Tomorrow Wakana has to get up at 6:00 AM. She has to hold her Japanese 102 final at 8:00 AM. It is the end of the semester and we had a few things to celebrate. First is Kelli's news. Then there was the sale of the car. Then Wakana's survival of a full semester at UOG. So, I took her to Outback Steakhouse and we pigged out on real meat! We are so full now we can hardly stand it. And the leftovers are in the refrigerator... hmm.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 10 May 07 - 04:40 AM

Well, I haven't had to work for a living for a long time. I'd guess my grip is less like steel and more like Jello.

The latest windmill I like to tilt at is to add some spice to my (our) life. I wanted to celebrate the end of the semester and the sale of the car but Wakana vetoed the idea of going off to a fancy hotel for the night. Grumble, grumble, gripe, gripe.

But I have another idea. There is a massage shop down in Tumon that she really likes. I am going to take her there for "the works"... for both of us. She keeps saying she'd like me to go with her. Tomorrow, after work I am going to stop in and make the arrangements.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 May 07 - 02:22 PM

Kewl! A change in the tides, eh?

Yeah, you can hug Wakana as long as she doesn't mind full force blasts from your coughing and grasping her around the ribs as tightly as possible. A pillow might be better for your relationship, though, they tend to not mind being bended and held in a steel grip to cut the pain.**BG**

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 09 May 07 - 09:03 AM

Well, that was quick. I got two phone calls on the car. The first person who looked at it bought it and the job was over! I paid off a loan I made to buy the Mercedes and now all is right with the world... sorta.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 08 May 07 - 08:38 AM

Can I hug Wakana instead?

And who are you calling old, Sins? I'll have you know I'm still just a kid, a sober kid at last, but just a kid.*grin*

I have to admit it was an interesting experience. It exhausted me. Like I said, I haven't felt like that since college. I still wonder why people WANT to feel like that.

Anyway, I spent a quiet day at home. One run out to take the rental movies back to the store and check on the mail.

I have put the Buick up for sale. Anyone interested? 1991 Buick Regal Custom Coupe? Gets about three gas stations per mile. Only two phone calls today. Hmm. Hope things pick up. I'd like to dump that thing.

Tomorrow I am going to try to go to work. Big experiment. When you are working across a table from a student and you break into a hacking cough that leaves you breathless then it tend to make them upset. It's one of those service industry things.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 May 07 - 10:56 PM

Hug a pillow when you cough...it helps a tiny bit. Take care!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 May 07 - 09:22 PM

Doubled the maximum dosage????? THat can't be good. Don't you know - we old folks die every day from taking the wrong dosage or mixing the wrong drugs. Be careful out there!

I had pneumonia (not really, the technician said it was pneumonitis with fluid in the lungs). Felt like crap for two weeks and coughed until I hurt. No fun. Take care of yourself.

SINS

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 May 07 - 09:13 PM

Bretttttt!

Can you come down from the ceiling and give us another report, or are you hung up in a tree?

I'm back from NYC to Maine. No problems, and Mother had a great time, although I think she had a hangover this morning from the bar-hopping.

You know it's still early spring here in Maine. Down in NYC the leaves are popping and there are blossoms everywhere. However, Mother was pleased to see about a hundred daffidills in full blossom around her house when we drove up, yellow and white ones. And her poor kitty was verrry pleased to see her.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 07 May 07 - 02:28 PM

It is 4:20 AM and I am high as a kite. It was not my intention. Yesterday I went to the doctor's office because of the annoying cough. I THOUGHT the pneumonia symptoms had cleared up. Uh-uh. If anything they were worse. It was the cough that kept me from exerting myself and therefore thinking I had gotten better.

Sooo, the good doctor gave me another round of inhalation therapy and some really strong cough medicine. I told him the codeine based cough syrup didn't do much so he gave me some stronger stuff. This stuff was based on hydrocondon or something like that. Max dosage: 2 teaspoons.

Well, yesterday I took the max dosage and coughed a little less than before. At bedtime I took the max dosage and still had a few coughing spells. So, about two hours ago, when the coughing woke me up, I doubled the dosage.

Wheeeee! Let's go flying! Balance shot to hell, I itch all over, and I've got the munchies. Haven't felt like this since college. I should go to bed.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 May 07 - 08:50 PM

Brett-

I'm just doing my family duty. There are a couple of art show openings doing retrospectives on my grandparents' art (the Zorachs): the Gerald Peters Galleries or the Goldberg Galleries for those who share such interests. So last Wednesday I chauffered my mother down to attend. We've been based at my brother's place in Brooklyn; they're all out still bar-hopping at the pubs my niece runs along Atlantic Avenue.

I've just got back from a concert at South Street SeaPort with Don Sineti and assorted local sea music folks. Sineti's concert went well. Afterwards we raided a new tavern, The Paris, for drinks and a bite to eat, and some imprompto singing. Don regaled us with the story of his recent surgery to remove a kidney stone, which I promptly christened "The Sineti Stone." He didn't bring it along for show and tell. Apparently the surgeon was amazed at its size and kept it to frighten his students. Everyone seemed to enjoy my rendition of Bob Watson's "Tasmin Buster." Now I'm safely home and I think I'll just hang out here.

However, some knucklehead armed the alarm on this house when they left so it's a good thing I came up with the combination, on the second try, or it would be real noisy around here!

We head back to Maine tomorrow morning.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 05 May 07 - 09:45 PM

NYC! What are you doing in that hell-hole? You get your ass back to civilization before one of those people decide to decorate your carcass with gun or knife.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 05 May 07 - 01:36 PM

Brett-

Breathing is good!

So are "rusty nails": two parts Scotch moderated down with one part Drumbuie.

Have a round on me.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, still adrift in NYC

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 05 May 07 - 03:57 AM

Today I am doing better. My coughing is reduced to normal coughs with no loss of breath. Much better.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 May 07 - 02:35 AM

As you've noticed, coughing depletes your lungs. If you're not already doing do, breathe deeply thru your nose, not mouth, it's more efficient. Gulping air into your mouth can lead to hyperventialtion, compounding the problem.

That's what got me into the emergency ward last year. My only problem was rapid heart beat & hyperventilating made it so bad I needed an ambulance.

sandra

actually, rapid heart beat was not the problem, the problem was very fast irregular heart beat, however the irregularity was so irregular it was missed on my first 8 hour session on the heart monitor. Second visit caught it & the cause was electrical irregularity, & a tiny tablet daily fixes it.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 02 May 07 - 11:05 PM

Last week I was treated for another respiratory problem, not quite pneumonia. This week the lungs have cleared up but I still have an annoying cough. Actually, it is more than annoying. Every once in a while, after a painful coughing jag, I find I cannot breath. My lungs are empty, thanks to the coughing, and all I can pull in is a very thin stream which wheezes loudly. Very annoying. This morning I woke up coughing and sat on the edge of the bed fighting for breath for a long time.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 02 May 07 - 05:41 AM

Hey, that's a good one. When your voice came on the words reminded me of that fateful midwatch when I hit double digits in the Navy, i.e., I had less than one hundred days to go till the end of my hitch.

I had been preparing for that day by teaching myself how to stitch words on to cloth. That night, during the midwatch in the engine room I stitched 'Two Digit Midget' across the back of my working jacket and 'FTN' (F--- the Navy) into the space between the eagle and chevron on the arm. Next day when people saw those words they new I was short enough to play handball on a curb, if I put on my hat all you could see were my shoes. I was short!

When the XO saw my FTN he had only a few words to say to me. They were gruff and to the point. He didn't believe that my girlfriend's name was Florence T. Nelson.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 May 07 - 11:52 AM

Brett-

Excellent news about the Mermaid Tavern.

Did you ever check out "Mid-Watches" on my website? As an old Navy retiree, I think you'd like it.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 01 May 07 - 09:56 AM

Only ten years. I'm running hard to catch up.

This morning Gordon called for help moving Quest. I went down to the yacht club to help load the canoe on to the trailer. I'd forgotten how heavy that beast is. There were five of us. We had to drag it into the water, walk it down to the ramp and then up to where the trailer could reach it. We had to set a stack of four cement blocks under each end to get it high enough for the trailer to slide in between the hull and the tam.

Later Wakana and I stopped into the new Mermaid Tavern for dinner. Yes, the tavern is open again. Unfortunately they are not brewing yet. Looks to be another month for that to happen. While there the manager asked me if I wanted to perform again. Nice shot in the arm. We'll talk later to set up a schedule.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 08:26 PM

Brett-

Isn't it nice that there is free college tuition for geezers? Too bad we have to be geezers to qualify! But not to worry, I turn 65 this year. I'm way ahead of you!

Cheerily,
Charley noble, ready to retire

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 06:32 PM

Last night was my last class in the Master's course I was taking. We have two weeks to submit our final project. For this course I finished a short story I was writing. It was voted very good by the class but it lacks depth. I guess I need to go back to work on it.

Wakana's friend, Chris, is associate dean for the English department. He has been advising me, through Wakana, as to what I should do next. It feels like a shotgun wedding. "You gonna take these classes, boy!" "Do get to decide?" "NO! Godamit!" "Sigh, yessir."

I fooled them, though. I haven't paid for the first class and I can't register for another until I do! Ha-ha-ha. Actually I started this process one semester too early. Next semester I will be 55 years old and eligible for free tuition.

Now I have to find the money to pay for this semester...

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 09:40 PM

Brett, why not add you grandfather's stories to the Grandpa thread?

sandra

google ad below!!

Grandparents - Great deals on everything ...

maybe I can buy myself a grandpa, I've never had one!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 07:10 PM

They probably weren't trying at all, Brett, and that would be part of why they became so revered, same as you. You have it in you, too, whether you realise it or not. Can you imagine what a thrill it will be for your grandchild to read about your grand adventures in Guam of all places? And, marrying a beauty from Japan?! IMO, you are carrying on the tradition of your grandfathers, uncles, etc. and need to give yourself some credit and time.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 07:07 PM

Let me see. How to explain it? My mother's father sailed on an ocean tugboat ferrying barges to Cuba during the depression. before that he also worked as part of the road crew on the road that runs from Bangor to Bar Harbor, Maine. He met my grandmother while driving around Maine installing gas lights in farmhouses. Later he taught himself math and surveying and became a surveyor in Connecticut. He rebuild boats and sailed them in Long Island Sound.

My father's father was a boat builder in Clinton, Connecticut. Dad remembers him repairing boats that had been stitched with machine gun fire during Prohibition. He became a mailman and suffered a heart attack while walking his route. They forced him to retire and he went back to building boats and working as a commercial lobsterman in Long Island Sound. He would build a boat over the winter, fish it all summer and then sell it and build another over the winter. He quit that after he built Pot Luck the boat I remember helping him with on my summer vacations in Connecticut.

There are lots of stories about those two men. My uncles are the same way, except Uncle Bob who married into the family. We won't go there except to point out one his kids was the only one of us to die in prison.

I just don't feel like I measure up and there is too little time to try.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: curmudgeon
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 08:50 PM

My father referred to his grandfather as Grandsir. You are worthy of such a title - Tom

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 05:55 PM

I dunno Sins. It means I'll be a grandfather. I'm not ready to assume that mantle.

Let me explain. Many people say they are not old enough. That's not my problem. Some are adamant about what they should or should not be called, i.e., Grampa, Pops, etc. Well, we have no choice in the first and, in my family, there is no choice in the second. All grandparents are either Papa or Nana. Now my grandfathers were special men, men with stories and talents. My own father is one of those men. My kids think he is some kind of god or something. I can't see myself as ranking up there with those men. I fall short somehow. I don't think I am deserving of the name, Papa.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 11:30 AM

Congratulations on the baby to be. Wonderful news!
SINS

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 09:33 AM

Brett-

Have I told you about the new van I'm looking at?

More seriously, it's really up to us to retell some these stories, and create a few stories to pass on as well. You're certainly doing your share.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 08:22 AM

Dad tells me that old Ed Toner died yesterday. Ed was a former co-worker of his in the early days on the border. Occasionally they'd go hunting or fishing. A couple of times I got to go along. Ed was an interesting old sod. He once bought a new rifle for hunting. He carried a handful of shells for it. He used that rifle for three hunting seasons before he realized the shells did not fit that rifle. He never fired it. Hell, he'd never even loaded it.

One year we took his boat way up past Ripogenus Dam into Chesuncook Lake. We camped out up there, explored the village, ghost town really, of Chesuncook, And finally crept back to the boat landing on the last fumes of gasoline. Great trip.

Ed always liked to go camping with the best equipment. His motto was, "It only costs pennies more to go first class." I'll never forget him making dinner in the old camp on Duck Lake.

But my point isn't that I will miss the old bugger though he was a nice guy and I have good memories of him. My point is that I seem to know a disproportionate number of people who are excessively interesting. I was reflecting on that while thinking about someone else who had recently died, a friend of a friend. My friend mentioned this other person and talked about him as being a nice guy but he had no stories to share. I got the feeling that his friend had not led a very interesting life.

Is that the fact or do people not tell stories of the people they know? When I think about the people who have made up the cast of characters that I have known in my life I see people who have done more than inhabit an office and go on vacations. I see people for whom a visit to a bar is not necessarily and effort to impress the girls but more a chance to talk with old friends and enjoy their company. These are people who have reached a little farther for what they want and have not been afraid of grabbing the ring no matter what the social risk was. None of my friends are of the keep-up-with-the-Joneses ilk. Very few of them live to own a fancy car and a big house.

Am I alone in this or are there a lot of people out there with a diverse and interesting group of friends and acquaintances?