The majority of us citizens in the United States are under orders to stay home, do not spread the virus. Many people do not listen to those orders and they’re out and about possibly spreading the virus. I appeal to them, ‘STAY HOME’ It is the least we can do as a citizen just stay home and don’t expose anyone else, or your family. Be thankful if you have a home that is free of the virus. To those of us that are staying at home the days get long and we look for things to complain about. We have all that time to spend in prayer for this country and especially for the health care workers who are on the frontline in this war against coronavirus. There are front lines in every village, town and city. It was just announced on the news. A plan is in the works to ask all medical schools to hurry up with graduation ceremonies. This year students will quickly be assigned to jobs throughout the country. Every city is appealing for retired workers to come back into the dangerous medical work force. The least we can do at home is spend many hours a day praying for medical workers.
I thank you. God Bless our country and medical workers.
I have been blessed with a long life. A jack-of-all-trades and master of some. From tinker to truck driver, life is the best on-the-job training program ever devised. Life presents a new learning experience with each sunrise. We must make the most of each one. As you near the end of life’s road being tired, worn out, and weary, you still try to find purpose. You look for any light at the end of the tunnel; not seeing one, you still move on. Human nature pulls, pushes, and prods us forward…
I am writing this post to all my blogging friends throughout the world. My Mixed BLOG will soon be five years old. I wrote a book about my ancestors who came from Finland and Norway to America in the 1800’s. It is my hope we will always remember and honor them. The sacrifice, suffering and love for their fellow man prepared an easier path for us to follow. This land was made better for all of us to live in today, It makes no difference what country you call home. People from all countries should respect and remember those who came before them. We all still share their genes and continue to draw strength from those people. We all share this shrinking world, we may still see a world of brotherly love fostered by the computer age.
In our Modern Age we must even have churches that are air conditioned with cushioned seats. We might spend an hour there each week. I must look back at my paternal grand mother’s early church services. She came from Finnish Lapland her people were reindeer herders. I am attaching a picture of early church services being held in Lapland. It is said, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” We have no idea how lucky we are to live in this new age. It was built through the suffering and sacrifices of our ancestors.
These pictures were taken at the old Pioneer Cemetery in Ward County North Dakota near Rice Lake. Many from our family we’re living there in sod houses at that time. The Cemetery was started because of scarlet fever or a virus similar to the Spanish influenza. The Antillans were Eston Olson’s wife’s parents. There are many other graves at the pioneer Cemetery with no markers. Most of the family was driven farther North by a severe drought. There small oxen powered wagon train continued North and most of the survivors settled in Alberta Canada near Rocky Mountain House. A few stayed on the windy prairies of Saskatchewan.
Why Corona Virus, why now? It doesn’t take much action from my wild imagination to come up with a possible healing scenario. A healing virus is being sent by some higher power. A plan to send out a wake up call to this world. That power finally decided since nobody could get along with each other, love one another or care about one another, he would put us all on an equal playing field. The plan is to bring us together as one people. No matter how it shakes out, it’s going to bring some disastrous results for many with the loss of life. Most Generals fight at least one big nasty battle in their plan to win a war. This battles gain would be a world that is stronger, much stronger and united. The last terrible, deadly virus was the Spanish influenza about 100 years ago. It is possible people need to be turned around and sent in the proper direction about every 100 years. It was a little over a 100 years ago when my ancestors came to this country from Finland and Norway. They had nothing but faith, and hope. With much hard work, hardship, suffering, perseverance, pride and love for their neighbors they built this country up from nothing. It became an industrialized, computerized, huge miracle. In the process many have lost their way. We now have abundant hours while confined to our homes to sit back and reflect on our life walk to this point, while contemplating the condition of our hearts and souls. All changes worldwide must come from one person at a time. We should all prey for the caregivers, they are the soldiers fighting on the front lines of this war. May God give them the strength and endurance to continue and stay healthy in the process. I send condolences to those who have lost loved ones. There are a lot of laboratories racing to find a cure or a vaccine for Corona virus I hope they consider the possibilities of a natural substance called Tea Tree Oil. It is a great thing for fighting infectious wounds, skin conditions and many other things. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_tree_oil God’s peace to this World, from an old Finlander.
The old testament reads, Proverbs 27:15 A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike. My wife and I were married 50 years. She went to the big family reunion in heaven a year ago. I listen for that familiar old dripping noise but now it is gone, no rain, faucet or Rose. Time has always controlled us. I remember the old eight-day Clock that sat on the mantle. You could hear the Tick Tock and quarterly chiming all over the house during the quiet of night. Now in this tiny apartment I can hear the small electric clock running on the wall in the other room, the silence is defining. I imagine hearing a dripping noise but there is none. I have been confined to my small quarters since long before the corona virus crept, slithered or just floated in on a cyber cloud. This Hi-Tech, fast moving World of constant pleasure and entertainment got knocked down of the pedestal. Everything came to a screeching, grinding, abrupt halt. People got confined or quarantined in their homes. The stock market went from riches to rags. Time and treasure are taking on new values and meaning Worldwide. Simple almost trivial things such as toilet tissue have become a major issue, no crap. I remember using an outhouse and there was no toilet paper, just an old Montgomery Ward’s Catalog. It did the job, without the class, but was rough on the ass, the index pages were the closest thing to Charmin and went first. A role of real Toilet paper was kept but reserved for VIPs that came to visit. My home nursing attendants have come and gone for the day. I have a long afternoon to deal with again. I am learning how to contend with them, up to a point, been home bound for months. I have always lived in South Dakota, USA. Our winters here can be very long and cold. We have about nine months of winter, then maybe 3 months when sledding gets a little harder. Most of my adult life I have enjoyed being outdoors. Every spring got spent listening with great anticipation for the first Meadow Lark to sit on a fence post singing its little heart out. I hope to still be here this spring to greet that first Meadowlark with hopeful anticipation, in the case I’m not I have downloaded a Meadowlark singing. I’m going to share this with everyone in this world. It is about all I can do in this time of crisis. This little bird gives me hope. My wish is, it sets your spirits into a good mood too. Life is still great, regardless of negative nabobs, even if I don’t hear the old dripping noise. I am happily living on many fond memories. Best wishes to everyone, please stay well, may the Corona virus pandemic run its course in a hurry? Everyone can then get back to business as usual, I hope with a bit more respect and appreciation for all they have, say and do while loving their neighbors. My ancestors came to this country from Finland and Norway in the late 1800s with little more than what they were carrying, their belongings fit in a steamer trunk. The first winter they spent in Dakota Territory was living in a hole dug into the side of a hill. They plowed sod with oxen and a one bottom plow. Their lives began to grow and prosper through faith and hard work. Sacrifice, suffering and their perseverance paved the way for our generation, so we can enjoy a life of plenty. Shame on us if we fail to remember and honor them. A virus could send us all back to living under similar conditions.
The U S Air Force museum continues to honor pilots from throughout history. The Vietnam War era is of most interest to me, the events that took place during my service to the country. I served in the US Air Force from 1958 through 1962. Two of those years were spent at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan. In November and December 1961 we were sent on a temporary duty assignment to Thailand. It was a secret mission with the name Able Mabel Project. The pilot in this story Capt. Jack Weatherby flew my aircraft when I was the crew chief on RF-101 C 56-080. I strapped him into my aircraft many times in 1962. He was shot down and killed over North Vietnam in 1965. I hope to honor his memory and the memory of all the other pilots who served in the Vietnam era.
All of the pilots in this picture flew my plane so I got to know them well. I recall one day when Lt. Weatherby landed, he said, “I was flying low over a clearing in the jungle, I saw all these people, I thought they were waving at me, he said hell they were all shooting.” We found a few small caliber bullet holes in the wings. We had to come up with a special putty to close small bullet holes with. That became routine but created a lot of work removing panels to inspect for other damage. One day after we’d been flying out of there about a month a 50 caliber round went through the canopy right behind Major Harbst. A piece of plexiglass cut his neck. He was possibly the first US Air Force pilot to be injured by enemy fire. I don’t recall ever hearing anything about it later. I did communicate with his wife, she wrote to me after he passed away. The Major got through Vietnam and retired from the Air Force. I have lots of fond memories of those days but also sad memories as more information comes out.
My Mixed Blog 
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