Uncle Ray

At the end of October, my cute Uncle Ray, my dad's youngest brother, passed away.  He lived in Alabama for many many years and we didn't see him often or spend much time with him, but I thought he was pretty darn cool, anyway.  He would come to Idaho every couple of years and one time, we even went to Alabama and spent a couple of days with him. 

The last time I saw him was when we spent a week at Kaylene's in June of 2012.  We arranged to meet uncle Ray at the USS Alabama war memorial.  We only spent a couple of hours with him, but he told us some great stories and we had a lot of fun being with him.  

About a month before his death, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and he wasn't given long to live.  My dad, his one surviving brother, and two of his sisters traveled to Alabama (accompanied by my cousin Cindy who took awesome care of them all) to his funeral.  Uncle Ray had left the church in his early 20's, so it wasn't an LDS funeral in any way, shape or form.  I believe it was Methodist, the religion of his second wife, Sarah.  

It was the typical Methodist funeral, where the preacher does everything, including the life sketch.  Uncle Ray was buried in Sarah's family cemetery on her family farm, and my dad asked the preacher if he could dedicate the grave.  I don't think they were too impressed by this mormon ritual - until he got done. To have some guy - not even a preacher - got up there and gave this beautiful prayer, to dedicate this grave like he did? Impressive! He received a few compliments from the many attendee's, many of whom this was probably their first experience with an actual "mormon".  

Anyway... one of Uncle Ray's friends said he had a story to tell them - and he gave them his email address and my cousin Rena promptly emailed him when they got home.  I read the story at dad's house one day and had her forward it to me so I could have a copy as well.  This is Uncle Ray's story (and I'm guessing one could write a whole novel of stories just like this).  

my wife found the short story about uncle ray..........I was an air force pilot in Vietnam so if you have any questions just let me know..... 

the Cessna l-19 birddog was the first all metal fixed wing airplane the united states army flew during the Korean war.  the versatile 2 seat aircraft was still around during the Vietnam conflict and primarily used for recon, convoy escort and forward air control.  during the Vietnam war, 469 bird dogs were lost to all causes so you knew if you were assigned to a bird dog unit your days were probably numbered.   

captain ray dial was a bird dog pilot in 1968.  if ray had been playing football he would have started for the Alabama crimson tide cause he was at the top of his game.  not quite as big as a current 210 pound strong safety, ray dial was still a badazz back in the day.   he survived the tet offensive in 1968 and was attached to the 9th infantry division near Saigon.  capt dial was flying out of phu loy,  relatively close to the iron triangle region of Vietnam.  the whole countryside was controlled by the viet cong/north Vietnamese regulars who made their way down the ho chi minh trail.  ray's job was simple..........go out and let the bad guys get a good shot at your airplane.........when they start shooting you call in the 9th infantry and the real shooting begins.  being a decoy was misleading the enemy troops into a very hazardous situation but remember you are flying an airplane that is 35 years old.  ray said the most bullets he got hit with in one day was three and his airplane was hit 49 times in a three month period.  

the 9th infantry division had a newbie operations officer and the fresh from the united states lt. col. wanted to take a flight around the area and see first hand what his troops were up against.  capt dial volunteered to show the new guy around the operations area and they took off in the Cessna bird dog.  flying plenty high to keep ground fire down, the two toured the dangerous area around phu loy.  capt dial was surprised when he saw a viet cong flag on a tree line close to a series of rice paddies.  the viet cong would put up makeshift structures and put a flag on top as a decoy to get an American airplane close.  the viet cong would then open up with their automatic weapons and machine guns and scratch another bird dog.  both sides had their decoys........... 

ray dial showed the new operations office the flag near the rice paddy and of course the new guy wanted to go down and have a look. dial took a look at the terrain and decided the best way to approach the ambush was to come down beside a tree line that ran almost to the trees where the flag was located.  get as close as you can to the trees, under them if possible, and pop up over the tree line to show the colonel the viet cong flag.  knowing you are going to get shot-up, capt dial pushes the nose of the bird dog down and soon they are smoking along at red line, 130mph, just a couple of feet off the trees to their left and a couple of feet off the ground.  the structure was just beyond the upcoming tree line and at the last second capt dial popped up over the rapidly approaching tree line to show his passenger the enemy flag.  

coming up and over the trees and capt dial saw the enemy flag pole was a whole lot taller than he had anticipated.  the bamboo flagpole was right in front of his airplane...........emergency rudder was the only thing that kept the propeller on the airplane.  ray jammed full rudder and the prop just missed the bamboo pole.  ray is a sunday school teacher in enterprise and "oh cheese whiz" is all he will admit to saying when he saw the flagpole infront of his airplane............and air force pilot would be much more descriptive and colorful but that is another story.  

moments like this generally take some reflection by the pilot and after a couple of minutes capt dial asked the ops officer if he saw the Vietcong flag when they popped up over the tree line............the passenger told the pilot the flag is still with us, you ripped it off the flagpole and its wrapped around the airplane landing gear.  the prop missed the bamboo pole but the main gear hit the flagpole and the ropes got tangled in the gear...........it ripped the whole shooting match off and its attached to the airplane. 

capt ray dial landed his bird dog at a nearby friendly field and gave the flag to his passenger.  ray would have kept the viet cong flag but he already had one from his days before he started flying airplanes and helicopters.  before becoming a pilot, capt ray dial was an American advisor to a vietnamese infantry unit that normally took flags away from viet cong soldiers in combat.............ray just kept one of those. 

so, capt ray dial from enterprise, alabama, was the only pilot in the war in vietnam to capture a north vietnamese enemy flag from his airplane while flying. 

bad azz........you bet.

Long overdue update

It seems like I post everything to Instagram and have very little need to post it here, too... but I do realize that not everyone has instagram.  However, I am also fully aware that I have more people read my instagram than I do my blog.  :)

So it's been a busy couple of months.  

The cat died and we let Cute move into the house.  Mama cat followed shortly thereafter, she always wanted to come in and wander around, and got to the point where she didn't want to go back out, so we let her stay.  She is the BEST cat ever.  She never claws things, or climbs on anything, she will come lay by you once in awhile, but not often. She doesn't like to be held and loves to play.  Cute has his moments, but he's still a most excellent cat!   Mostly because he's so docile.  

  Thanksgiving day, I decided to put up the Christmas tree.  I got it all done and some of the lights were giving me fits, I did NOT want to take the whole dang thing apart and put it back together, so the next week, I took it apart and Cody and I went to town and bought a new pre-lit tree.  It is SO pretty!!!  I spent more than I wanted to, but decided it was worth it to get a good quality tree with lots of lights that will hopefully last a LONG long time!  The cats didn't bother the tree at all, until about three days before Christmas when Cute kept climbing right to the top and wouldn't stay out.  Stinker!  

 The day after Thanksgiving, we got a phone call saying that Cody's grandma Moore had died in her sleep.  They aren't 100% sure what happened, but based on previous events, she may have had a pulmonary embolism.  She had stopped taking her blood thinners so she could have a cortisone shot in her back.  Thanksgiving day, she developed a cough that she thought was just a cold, and when she went to bed that night, she was fine.   Grandpa found her the next morning in her bed.  

 Cody and Justin were asked to be pall bearers and the girls and I had to perform a musical number "In the Garden".  Cody's cousin Jason spoke for about 3 minutes, and the pastor did the rest.  The whole funeral lasted about 20 minutes, then we departed to a beautiful cemetery where she was laid to rest, and returned back to aunt Becky's Lutheran church for a lovely dinner with family and friends.  It was beautiful and Grandma would have loved it and that's all that mattered.  

 Jason's little girl, Mya, was so stinking cute and friendly, she made herself at home at our table and conversed with us like she'd known us forever - which she has - but for a 2 1/2 year old, she was quite the social butterfly.  

 This year for Christmas, the siblings had dinner at Lynette's house.  Cody smoked a brisket (it was SOOO good) and we played Catch Phrase.  We did it early in December so Kaylene could come as she was going back to Mississippi for Christmas.  Mitchell was there as well, and he was busy sewing a quilt - something to pass the time.  He showed me the ring he was giving to his new fiance - Karissa Killpack.  I did their engagement photos on New Years eve and will also do their wedding pictures in February.  Sort of excited, sort of not.  Just super happy for Mitchell.  

 Mom and dad are doing well.  Mom has been suffering from quite a bit of dementia and it's been hard to watch her go downhill so quickly.  She doesn't talk much and when you talk to her, she doesn't have much to say or she doesn't know what or who you are talking about.  She just smiles and nods a lot.  Dad was having some pretty good back pain and we weren't sure it wasn't his heart.  We tried to get him to go to the chiropractor, but he wouldn't go until he knew for sure it wasn't his heart.  So he had an MRI and a stress test, and everything looked fine.  The doctor even said he had a fantastic back for a guy his age.  So it must just be old age.  Then we took him to the chiropractor where he's been going regularly since.  I think it's helping.  It was an extremely busy month, though, with Kaylene gone and trying to get ready for Christmas, leaving RA and I to drive him back and forth and sit with mom during all this!  We missed Kaylene a LOT!

 My silly siblings.  Someone said to suck it in and poke it out... so Verl did.  

 The whole gang - picture compliments of Mitchell.  
 Ashlee loves grandma's gravy.  So much.  So much that she drinks it with a straw.  Not even kidding.  

 My neighbor asked us to send her missionary son a Christmas card.  She had the card ready, addressed and stamped even, all we had to do was write him a note, so I put Arilee in charge of it.  Silly girl.  

 The girls had an ugly sweater contest at Young Womens.  Ashlee borrowed one from Braily (pictured next to Arilee) and Braily and Arilee borrowed one from Grandma Arave.  They didn't win, but these sweaters were sure ugly.  

Christmas eve was spent at the inlaws house like usual.  There was, like usual, lots of presents and lots of pizza and candy and munchies and dips and chips and crackers and all that fun stuff...  Grandpa Moore came and spent Christmas with us and we even got Aunt Lynn to come over for the festivities.  

We didn't have a clue what to get the child who has EVERYTHING... and likes only pokemon and sonic the hedgehog, but I did some research and found out the scary store in the mall (Hot Topic) carries Pokemon t-shirts.  So I picked her one up and she LOVED it, so much she didn't even care what was in the rest of her present before she put it on.  She also got a unicorn (cuz what else does the child who has everything need?) and some rock star headphones and an iTunes gift card.  From us, that is.  

Grandma Moore had purchased a few things for the kids before she died.  Justin got earmuffs, and the girls got fingernail polish, which Arilee says she is never going to use so it will last forever.  

Cody's mom bought a new game - Logo's - and we kind of like it!  Cody kicks butt at it and everyone wants to be on his team.  Britnee got mad at him for winning one time, she kept putting his guy back on start (it was terrible of her, but we couldn't help but laugh - she was SO mad) and the next time we played, she decided she was going to be on his team so she'd win.  

Christmas at our house... the pile doesn't look as big this year, but truthfully, the tree is bigger and more stuff fits under it this time.  hahaha

Christmas morning.  I made up some sticky buns the night before and I'm thinking I forgot the yeast because they didn't rise.  Breakfast fail.  We had eggs instead.  

Arilee got a new iPhone 5C and some "Miss Me" brand jeans - which she was SOOO excited about.  

Ashlee got an iPod 5, a snuggie and other stuff that didn't fit or she didn't like.  

Taking a picture of the Christmas morning sunrise is a tradition now... it's always SO beautiful!

Justin got some fancy headphones, a video game and money.  

Cody got a coat, wallet, gloves, and an iHome for his iPhone.  
I got clothes, a curling iron, a gift card for my nook, and a beautiful crystal flower from Ashlee - which I have yet to take a picture of.  

My neighbor Geri Thomas is a hoarder.  She hoardes stuff... cool stuff, but she has tons of it.  Collectibles, movies, etc.  Her house is overflowing with stuff.  She has hundreds of nativities, too, and has been giving them away to people she loves... and what a shock it was when she showed up at my door with this beautiful one by Pam Schifferl.  I am her visiting teacher and all, but still shocked that she loves me this much - especially considering how much she paid for this nativity.  WOW.  And it was one of her cheap ones!  Thanks Geri!  

Britnee celebrated turning 10 by taking us all to see "Frozen" and having pizza and pokemon cake.  

We done did good for her birthday, too, when I gave her a Sonic the hedgehog plushie, blanket and comic books.  She could barely put them down long enough to say Thank you and goodbye.  

New Years Eve, we played another round of Logo's, and kicked back with grandma's slippers on and ate too much while bringing in the new year.  

A New Years day selfie... 

This little guy loves to go outside - which we rarely let him do because he likes to hide.   He thought we'd never find him here!  Nice try, buddy, now gityerbuttbackinthehouse! 

Oh yeah, Cody bought a new pick up truck.  A 2014 Silverado - silver.  The first week he had it, he had to go get a doording taken out of the passenger door after one of the cats knocked a board over onto it.  Way to go, felines.  Way. To.  Go.  

I submitted some pictures to the features section of the newspaper and it wasn't a surprise to see one get published.  It was a surprise to see it get published three days later and take up almost half a page in the paper in full color.  Woot Woot!  I also found out I was one of 34 finalists in the Idaho Falls Magazine photo contest, but I don't know my results, so I will update that one later.  

I read the book "The Mitten" 14 times at work this week.  Each kid got to color a page from the book and they all seemed to enjoy it, but I was sure tired of reading that book!  

Cody needed a winter project so he built me a headboard!  Because he is AWESOME!  This was his quickest project yet, and it's my FAVORITE!  It's SOOO pretty!!!  He did SUCH a good job on it!  Love that guy of mine!  

Okay, I think that about covers it... I'm sure I've missed a few things, but it will save for another day.  

A family that cries together, stays together.

August, 2010.  

We were going through a rough patch in life.  The husband and I had gone to lunch at Famous Daves then stopped off at Walmart for a few odds and ends.  As we pulled into the parking spot, the tiniest, ittiest, bittiest kitten appeared out from under a truck.  She came right to me, jumped into my arms, and there she stayed.  We said to heck with the groceries, took her home and prayed our other cat, Cali, would love her as much as we did.  

We named her Toby.  

Cali hated Toby with a vengeance.  They fought non-stop, one wound even required a trip to the vet.   So we did what any good pet owner would do... we locked Cali in the craft room during the day, and then would trade them every night, because Toby bothered us way too much at night, whereas Cali never did.  

We did this every night for three years.  Every once in awhile, we would have a weak moment and let Toby stay in the house, and we always regretted that decision about an hour later.  

Toby was a naughty kitty.  She clawed up all the carpet in the house, right down to the subfloor in spots.  She clawed holes in all the furniture.  She got on the cupboard constantly and would get in to anything she could get in to.  She wasn't afraid of water, so spraying her rarely deterred her.  She climbed on everything... the top of the book case, curio cabinet, freezer... those were her domains.  We didn't even bother putting anything up there, she would just knock it off.  She left huge claw marks in all the screens, and destroyed most of the blinds and curtains, clawed holes in the office chairs and ruined the seat to the bowflex.   

But we loved her.  She loved to play and wrestle.  She would sit on the bar stool with her front paws on the cupboard and watch me cook, unless it was something yummy, then she would stand on her back paws beside me, stretching up as far as she could, begging for a bite.  She loved honey dew.  Tuna fish.  Cheerios.  If anybody was eating icecream or yogurt, she'd sit on your lap and wait not so patiently for you to finish so she could have the last bite off your spoon. 

She liked to be in the middle of whatever you were doing and would playfully bite you if she thought whatever you were doing was getting more attention than she was.   She squeaked when she purred and squeaked when she jumped (that's how we always knew she was on the cupboard).  She loved to sit on the piano and watch the birds on the front porch.   No one could ever go to the bathroom without her standing outside the door with her paw under the door, begging to be let in.  In fact, she would stand outside any closed door and meow and claw at the carpet.  

Every night, when it came time for bed, she would hide, and sometimes she got downright mean, she didn't want to go to bed, she wanted to play.  Every morning when I traded her, we would always grab a handful of weeds for her to chew on, and she would hold them between her front paws as we carried her in the house.  They were her favorite treat.  

Toby would run to the dining room window when she heard us pull in the driveway and would greet us at the back door.  She loved to see us and would love on us for hours when we returned from work/school.   

She was Ashlee's best buddy.  Every night, Ashlee couldn't go to bed without giving her a kiss and Toby made sure she was in the bathroom whenever Ashlee took a shower, sitting patiently on the toilet seat for her to get out.  Ashlee had a million nicknames for her... Tobias, Baybree, Baboosh, Tobes.

Arilee had the funniest voice she would use when she called Toby, it became known as her Toby voice.  Whenever we said Toby's name, especially when she was in trouble, she would meow back at us.  She was a sassy little thing.    I don't think she ever answered to "kitty"... just Toby.     

We never let Toby go outside unsupervised, until recently.  She never went anywhere and was never outside for long.  For years, we worried about our dogs chasing her, but they are so old now, we would have to get after Toby for chasing the dogs instead.  When some new cats showed up this summer, Toby fought endlessly with them, until we started bringing the kittens in the house.  She warmed up rather quickly to "Cute", and whenever Cute came in the house, Toby would sniff her, give her a kiss on the nose, and then they would go about their business and pretty soon, none of the kittens bothered her, nor their mama.  Can't say that she loved them, but she tolerated them.  It wasn't long before we started letting her go outside whenever she wanted.  She was never gone for long, she would chase a few birds and a squirrel, climb a tree and taunt the other cats get in a fight or two with Stella (our other outdoor female cat).  She was usually only gone a few minutes, especially when it got cold, before she'd be back at the door begging to be let in.  I never worried about her.  

Friday, the girls and I went to the Festival of Trees.  Toby wanted to be let out, but I wouldn't let her since we didn't know how long we would be gone.  When we got home, she darted out the door first thing, and we left her out.  It was a beautiful day.  Several hours later, we started looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found.  Cody walked the property several times, and the only other creature he came across was the next door neighbors pit bull, Buddy.  We hunted and prayed, hoping Buddy hadn't got her.  By dark, there was still no sign of her.  It was a long night, filled with worry and sadness.  Where was Toby?  Surely she'd find her way back, we left the garage door open for her, just in case she needed a place to get out of the cold.  

The next morning, she was still nowhere to be found.  A short time later, my sister in law called, she was in tears.  She had found Toby under a tree beside her house, her fur matted, her back bloodied.  She was dead.  

The worst moment of my life was wiping away the tears of my little girl after she was told that her best friend in the whole world was dead.    

We buried her out back next to the garage, where she liked to go lay and bask in the sunlight.  We wrapped her in a towel, laid one of her favorite toys in her paws, gave her one last pet, and said our final goodbyes.  Cody laid a brick over her grave and Ashlee painted her name on it, and found some silk flowers to place on it.  

My sister in law gave Ashlee a necklace with a heart that said "Toby" on it and a cute little glass cat figurine.  She prominently displayed it in the curio cabinet so we could all look at it and remember her.  

Recently, we discovered if you wanted to make her flip out, all you had to do was put a cheerio on her back.  I wish I had caught that one on film.  Last week, Arilee accidentally spilled red glitter all over her, she sparkled for days.  I wish I had taken a picture.   

She was a sweet little kitty, our little black monster.   She wasn't just a cat, she was a part of our family, our baby.   She drove us absolutely freaking crazy, but we also miss her like crazy.  Life will never be the same without her.   We love you, Toby!