HappyUP!!! Day 4781

HappyUP!!! - beating the rain                                  

Why it happened - got lucky

Why it makes me happy - it was a tough day......but I was SOOOO happy to stay dry!

HappyUP!!! - great start

Why it happened - had it going a bit

Why it makes me happy - the swing wasn't quite where I needed it today....but...it had a few moments. Trust me, I have days when there was nothing. At least there were a few QUALITY moves put on the ball

HappyUP!!! - a cancelation

Why it happened - people do that

Why it makes me happy - I was doing something for someone's benefit. It's what I do. Yet, there were things that I would have preferred to do. This was one of those times

HappyUP!!! - finding The Navigator

Why it happened - I was looking for something else

Why it makes me happy- hey, I saved $50....and I didn't have to replace something. Replacing a lost item is just the worst!

HappyUP!!! Day 4551

HappyUP!!!  - Toastmasters
Why it happened - we do that
Why it makes me happy - I MISSED my tribe over the holidays. 2 great speeches, two guests, and the technology was up and running.  Fantastic day

HappyUP!!!  - dusk practice
Why it happened - motivation
Why it makes me happy - I have a golf goal this year...and I went out and did some late night practice. The weather wasn’t perfect....but it was very still...and quiet.  A TREMENDOUSLY effective and efficient session that took less than an hour

HappyUP!!!  - good ax grinding
Why it happened - gig coming up
Why it makes me happy - no weak link here. I already have a lot to add “as is” but I want to be more than that....not just for myself...but for the band. My job? It’s to make them sound better. I’m totally locked in on that.

Dyson....find my iPhone.....my Navigator...transcription ... making an appointment....fun with Tiff....Arwa’s presence ....butcher paper up .... prepping for Super Group.....working on GM meeting ....juggling speech idea...

HappyUP!!! Day 4334

HappyUP!!! - sand play
Why it happened - practice and skills
Why it makes me happy - long ago, I was a pretty decent bunker player. These days? Not so much. Could one reason be that I don't work at it? Hmmmmmm....let's think about that...LOL.  Anyway, I did work at it the other day.......came up with a little "sumpin sumpin" and...VOILA!!!... I holed out a short sided bunker shot on 5 and left another one hanging on the front edge of the cup on 14. In my history of playing golf, I have NEVER (<----and about="" bunker="" change="" eeling="" good="" had="" heck.....one="" i="" in="" is="" it="" little="" month="" nbsp="" one="" only="" p="" round="" shots="" that="" this="" true="" two="" use="" when="" word="" year="">
HappyUP!!! - a reach out

Why it happened - the big E was looking for a game

Why it makes me happy - the big tournament starts tomorrow. It's kind of a special day. It was great that a friend of mine looked me up to see if I wanted to be paired with him and his partner tomorrow. THAT is quite an honor and, due to this guy being who he is, I gladly accepted.  Hey, believe it or not, there are people...people close to me....that I wouldn't want to be paired with in this gig! 

HappyUP!!! - a reach out

Why it happened - old acquaintance might be searching

Why it makes me happy - WHAT? I'm being asked out so I may be able to shed light/give guidance / dispense wisdom?  Yeah.....it happens!  It is a sacred privilege when it does. The nice thing....I don't usually have to share much.  I just put on my listening ears....ask a couple of questions....and usually just guide the person on their own path....a path they already have...and one they just needed a navigator to steer them back on their own course.  It's a wonderful experience.

HappyUP!!! - coffee klatch

Why it happened - been doing it for 18 years

Why it makes me happy - .....due to that pesky thing called LIFE, we had missed our weekly gig for over a month. I'm not sure that has ever happened.  It made for some great catch up though! Good to hear about the progress of the kids.....and....hearing of how a father has served his time regarding a certain duty to his sons.  Well done!

HappyUP!!! -iCloud progress

Why it happened - a bit of extra perseverence

Why it makes me happy- Apple can make things very easy......except when they don't! Like when they have about 3 or more different passwords for different paths that kind of seem like the same path. Did that make sense? Yeah...it did....to me! Anyway, I think I am well on my way to being properly backed up.

JollyJottings

 E reaching out for Acorn

T reaching out for coffee

Trav time

Making progress on iCloud

Knocking out the bene changes re: Trust

F and S for golf

G-mac

Conquering Ctl X and Ctl V

HappyUP!!! Day 3107 Memorial Day

HappyUP!!! - remembering Dad
Why it happened - Memorial Day
Why it makes me happy - the Colonel did some amazing things back in WW2....just so I could be here. His experiences as a navigator and POW will never be forgotten nor could they be minimized

HappyUP!!! - broccoli slaw
Why it happened - TraderJoes
Why it makes me happy - they have done it again! This little mixture when properly chopped and tossed with a favorite dressing is DA BOMB!

HappyUP!!! - snatching defeat out of the mouth of victory
Why it happpened - partner and I melted down
Why it makes me happy - it doesn't make me happy as much as it made me laugh. With three holes to go, we definitely had things WELL under control.........ooooooopsie! Sometimes, that is all you can say!

HappyUP!!! - decent weather
Why it happened - it's weather
Why it makes me happy - this is Ol Nutter Almanac weekend. It's important!!! It was warmer than I like....but we didn't hit 100.  Looks like the summer will be bearable


JJ

Remembering Dad....link
Drive/8 iron 2...wedge/putt 3....drive/hybrid/wedge 4....9 iron 5....5 iron/pitch/putt 6....hybrid/pitch 7....flop wedge 8....bunker shot 9....8 iron 10....drive/hybrid 11...5 iron greenie 12...7 iron/2 putt 13....drive/putt/bullett 14...drive 16....drive/7 iron recovery 18
Snatching defeat after the jaws of victory
Broccoli slaw from TraderJoes

HappyUP!!! Day 3090

The First Lady of the Tuskegee Airmen

HappyUP!!! - Tuskegee Airmen
Why it happened - my not so little Buddy invited me
Why it makes me happy - my dad was a navigator/POW in WW2.  I have heard some stories about this group of aviators over the years.  It was great to get some first hand information

HappyUP!!! - partner play
Why it happened - DD can get it going
Why it makes me happy - one of the best rounds I have seen played in a looooooog time. A joy to watch

HappyUP!!! - finishing up the door
Why it happened - it was a little destressed
Why it makes me happy - a little glue...a few clamps....a couple of coats of paint....looks near new!

HappyUP!!! - visiting with the Double B's
Why it happened - Airmen above
Why it makes me happy - always great visiting with this couple


JJ

Finishing up the door
Drive/3 wood/pitch 3...drive/putt 4....8 iron 5....drive/wedge 6....hybrid 7....5 iron 8....drive 9....drive 10....good break/9 iron 11.....drive/9 iron 13....pitch 15....drive/wedge 16....7 iron 17....pitch 18
Partner play
Tuskheegee airmen

HappyUP!!! Day 2307

HappyUP!!! - Dad
Why it happened - Memorial Day
Why it makes me happy - I have posted many times about my dad being shot down as a navigator.... living in deplorable situations in Germany....on a flight he didn't need to be on....he could have come home...he had done his missions.........but......he went back to be with his "home crew" who didn't have their full missions in yet. Was it a "bad decision"? NO.....because.......he was the ULTIMATE in having his brother's back

HappyUP!!! - B&B visit
Why it happened - new arrival
Why it makes me happy - when you get a new car, ya gotta show it off, right? It's part of life. Glad this pair made a trip over to check it out

HappyUP!!! - getting the Grand Salami
Why it happened - I stepped up on the par 3's
Why it makes me happy - it isn't often I hit all of the par 3's....let alone being the closest every time....and...when you do that.......the stakes get doubled....not just for me...but for my partner as well. I really liked that thing of giving a bonus to my partner

HappyUP!!! - birthday idea
Why it happened - these things just come to me
Why it makes me happy - THIS is going to be a GREAT one

5 iron 1....recovery punch 2.....3 wood/good break/par 3.....9 iron 5....flop/putt 6....drive 7.....6 iron 8....4 iron punch/long pitch 9....drive/wedge 10...7 iron recovery/chutt 11....5 iron 12...pitch/putt 14....drive/wedge 15....good break 16....7 iron 17....drive/hybrid/wedge 18

Getting the grand salami
Delicious pasta dinner
Got THE idea for upcoming birthday

Hero?....You Want A Hero? HappyUP!!! Memorial Day

(A Special Post for SundayScribblings originally published 11/19/2006)


I'll give you one - and I mean that sincerely. But first, a stearn word of warning:

IF YOU WANT TO MAINTAIN YOUR EXCUSES FOR NOT DOING THE
THINGS THAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING OR FEEL LIKE
YOU CAN'T DO.....READ NO FURTHER. ALL OF THOSE EXCUSES GO
AWAY IF YOU READ ON.

After all, isn't that what real heroes are all about? - they inspire us to be more than who we are.

So, who is the hero that I will give to you? - well, "give" is a bit much because there is no way that I would give this treasure away. I will "share" this hero with you. You can draw from his power should you ever get down.

The hero? - well, let's set the stage. It's May 28, 1944. A young airman....navigator....is about to go up for his 30th bombing run. His long tour of duty is almost over. The amount of planes in the air this day...friendly and unfriendly is more than he has ever seen.

By the time they drop their payload on Germany - the B-17 is badly damaged. The entire 10 man crew is huddled up near the cockpit as it is the only spot in the plane that now has oxygen. The crew knows that they will have to ditch the plane as it is too damaged to land.

Can they just make it to the English Channel - so they can bail out over friendly ground?

"Fire...Fire..jump!" - shouts the pilot. Two airman leap from the plane as the pilot holds the craft steady for the crew. Those are the only two that get to jump as the plane explodes.

Our navigator - has never jumped from a plane before. Sure, they told him how to do it down on the ground but he has never free fallen from a plane. He only knows that, to avoid capture, he is to delay opening his parachute until the last moment.

He plummets from 17,000 feet - down to 2500 and pulls the rip chord.......but nothing happens. Frantically, he reaches into his front pack and pulls on a handful of silk. It was just enough to get the chute to respond...though, when it does, the force of the braking is so hard that it feels like our young airman has broken every bone in his body.

He hits the ground - hard. What awaits him in Germany? A bunch of farmers...with clubs and pitchforks. They aren't too thrilled with this young American flyboy that just moments before had been bombing their motherland. They begin to beat him to death....

Until a German Officer on a bicycle - rides up and restores order. He captures his prisoner. Later, the airman will be brought back to this spot....to identify the bodies of what, just moments before, had been his crew memebers.

This includes that pilot - who held that plane true to the very end so his crew could escape.

Our navigator is taken into a stalag - and he remains there in deplorable conditions until an evening in January of 1945. All of the prisoners are awoken in the middle of the night. They are rousted and told to start marching.

You see - the allied forces were getting close to liberating these prisoners. The Germans now had to move the prisoners farther into Nazi territory.

Have you ever been to Germany in January? - neither have I. It ain't the tropics. Thousands of men are thrown out into a blizzard....many with only cardboard for shoe bottoms. Freezing temperatures. No NorthFace or Patagonia outerwear. Old French greatcoats were de riguer.

Thousands of malnourished men - just putting one foot in front of the other in fresh fallen Bavarian snow. Over one third of the men laid down .....and it was the last rest they ever took. They were shot or left to die all in the name of Hitler's philosophies.

Not our airman....our navigator.....our Hero - he kept marching...marching....moving. They went in cattlecars, flea infested factories, abandoned buildings.....but always walking. He kept up for 5 months until he and the rest of the prisoners were finally liberated.

So, the next time you think that you have something tough in front of you - remember our Hero....who happens to be my father. If he can survive in those conditions, I think that I....and you....can put up with some of the minor inconveniences that we go through every day.

...and, the next time you think a hero is someone - that gets their name stitched on to a pair of basketball shoes, could you do me a favor? .......

.........Don't even come near me with that load of crap unless you want to learn about real heroes.

HappyUP!!! Day 1693

HappyUP!!! - visit from bro

Why it happened - he stopped by

Why it makes me happy - love my bro....nuff said

-----"Jammin....Jammin....I wanna jam witch you...jammin .....jammin.....hope ya like jammin tooo! Can't wait to share so others can savor my succulent figs!

HappyUP!!! - cash coming

Why it happened - see above

Why it makes me happy - my late father was a decorated veteran. Yeah....he was a Air Force Man. Navigator. Shot down. Did his time as a P.O.W. Seems there is something good coming my way. I appreciate all of those that serve....it was great thinking again about a real deal war hero today....my dad

HappyUP!!! - swimming

Why it happened - I was called upon

Why it makes me happy - first, it was hot! A pool is awesome....especially when you don't have to maintain it. It's even better when you are begged to come join in on the fun.

JollyJottings

Coffee

Toastmasters

Dog walk

Visit with my bro

Cash coming?

A robe

Swimming

Quality time

Knowing someone doesn't care about me

Grounded

(A special post for SundayScribblings)


May 28, 1944. A young American navigator was going up for his 30th bombing run over Germany. With his long tour of duty nearly complete, he gives this account:

"We were attacked by fighters of all kinds. In all of the missions, we had not encountered as many aircraft. Some of them, I didn't even recognize. When we finally got to our target, we opened the bomb doors and they disappeared as they had been shot off. We dropped our payload and decided to try to limp back home fully knowing that we would eventually have to abandon the craft due to the extent of the damage it had sustained.

We were flying over a complete cloud deck that day. We finally saw one small clearing. It was right over the German city of Liepzig. Seeing through the clouds enabled us to steer clear of it. A lone, crippled B-17 would have been easy fodder for the anti-aircraft guns protecting the town."

The plane dropped to 18,000 from 24,000 feet. The rear of the plane was so badly damaged that the entire crew had to huddle together in the front. It was the only place where oxygen was available.

At 17,000 feet, our young navigator and the tailgunner bailed out at the instruction of the pilot. The 8 remaining crew members were exploded out of the plane seconds later. The pilot and two others perished at that moment.

"As instructed, I made a free fall from 17,000 to 2000 feet so to go unnoticed. My first attempt at opening my chute failed. I reached into the pack and pulled out a handful of silk. When the chute opened, I thought every bone in my body had been broken."

Though his desperate tug had worked in getting the chute to deploy, he was still carrying excessive speed. The airman slammed to the earth. He was severely shaken but now grounded. His welcoming committee to the German Motherland were a vigilante mob of angry farmers armed with shovels, pitchforks, and fists. They weren't too keen about this young flyboy who, just minutes earlier, had been bent on destructing the Third Reich.

"I was being beaten up rather severely when a German guard on a bicycle took charge and captured me."

Off he went to the POW Stalag where he would spend the next 8 months. It was 11 pm on January 25, 1945 when he would next walk out of those gates. Unfortunately, it was not a walk to freedom. With the liberating forces moving in closer, the Germans rousted the 2800 prisoners in the middle of a fierce blizzard and sub-freezing temperatures and marched them farther inland. There was no Patagonia. No Northface Outerwear. Old French Army greatcoats were de riguer.

2800 men were just picking up one foot and putting it in front of the other and planting it in the fresh Bavarian snow amidst the silence of the night. 800 stopped to rest. It would be the last respite they would take as they either died of exhaustion or were shot by the German guards.

Our 1st Lieutenant would live in deplorable conditions as the prisoners were aimlessly marched for months to come around Germany. Flea ridden abandoned factories. Cattle cars on trains jam packed with prisoners of war so tightly that no one could move during the ride. He would finally be liberated in May of 1945. There was no heroes welcome waiting for him when he finally came home. Only a surgeon's scalpel to remove a frost-bitten toe. Because he waited to have the surgery done by a private doctor, there would not even be a Purple Heart to hold on to over the years. Finally, over a half century later, the medal was awarded.

A break in the clouds. Being one of two men that jumped out of the plane before it exploded. Manually opening a parachute at low altitude after it had failed to open (it was the only time he ever parachuted...all training was theoretical on the ground). Surviving the impact of the late opening free fall . A German officer patrolling the countryside on a bicycle. The will to survive a march of death. If any one of these things had failed to happen, you would not be reading these words today.

The brave 1st Lieutenant was my father. I must be one of the luckiest men on this earth just to get a chance to be here because, as you can see, logic would say that I shouldn't be in attendance.

Today, at the age of 86, he lays in a VA rehabilitation center recovering from radiation treatment on his cancer. He'll be gone within the year per the doctors. The hope we have is that he gets through the radiation well enough to be brought home. There, he can be surrounded with the grounding that family can provide during the hospice period. We won't know that for another week or two.

Death comes to us all. Our family has reconciled with that. The thought of a man so brave withering away in the confines of a VA Center 90 miles away is unbearable at this time. No need to give it any more thought than that.

If you have a prayer in you, please utilize it to help get Lt Colonel Nutter back home . He was part of the fight for freedom that so many enjoy today. We all owe him, and the others that served, gratitude but prayer is what is needed at this time.