Change means . . .

. . . the same old insiders.

Thirty-one of the 47 people so far named to (Obama's) transition or staff posts have ties to the Clinton administration, including all but one of the members of his 12-person Transition Advisory Board and both of his White House staff choices.

English double-deckers . . .

. . . may be making a comeback.


No, not that kind.

It seems that England is running out of burial plots, so it looks like twofers are in the offing.

Move over, Sir Winston . . . we've another occupant for you.

LET ME . . .

. . . OUT!

The deadbolt on our storm door locks just fine. Unfortunately, it will not unlock without a significant number of hand tools. That makes going out to use the barbecue grill a bit awkward.

The door is only two years old, made by the best manufacturer of doors and windows in the U.S., but the mechanism is only warrantied for a year.

To add insult to injury, I only need the latching mechanism on the left, which is all that could possibly fail, but I must buy all of the assorted brassworks which easily bolt on.

At least that's what the customer service rep located somewhere in India told me.

I do not particularly like outsourced overseas customer service centers. Her English was pretty good, though. Like something out of a 1950's British movie set in India.

Bottom line . . . $56.00 for $25.00 in parts that I need and $31.00 in parts that I don't.

At least, now I can get to the patio without walking around the house.

Battling Bastards of Bataan . . .

. . . redux.

(I should have posted this on Veterans' day, but other "stuff" got in the way.)

Back in January, I posted an article about a cousin of mine, J. S. Gray, who was on the Bataan Death March, shipped to Japan in on the Hell Ship Mati Mati Maru, and forced to work as a slave laborer in the mines.

On 09 NOV, the Virginian-Pilot printed a story about Death March veteran Norman Matthews as a part of a four-day series on prisoners of war. As I read the article, more and more "coincidences" surfaced.

Both Norman and J.S. were in the Army Air Force, both were on the Death March, both went to camp O'donnell, both were sent to Japan in hell ships, both were slave labor in Toyoma, Japan.

Both mens' POW photos were virtually identical. Same shirt. Same type number tag on the right breast. Same hat with a number tag. Same run-down clapboard siding background. Their POW numbers were 260 (JS) and 406 (Matthews).

This was WAY too much coincidence, so I called J.S.'s widow this afternoon. It turns out that they were together throughout their captivity. Same march, same ship, same camps. In fact, Matthews raided the slave camp office after V.J. day and took all of the POW photos. He eventually found JS years later and gave him his POW photo.

It wasn't coincidence after all.

On the first Wednesday of the month, the local survivors have a reakfast meeting at a local restaurant. Before it's too late, I intend to drop in, share my photo and J.S.'s story - and buy them all breakfast.

Mrs. Peel . . .

Always

Are you kidding me?

Veterans:

You remember from experience.

We remember with gratitude.

Grandkids say . . .

. . . things you might not expect.

These are from some time back:

T (walking by the bathroom): Whatcha doing mommy? Takin' a dump?

A : Where's the effing phone?
Mommy: A, we don't say that word.
A: No, no, phone starts with a "P" where's the "F"?