September 13, 2003

Backward Rain

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September 13, 2003 - Saturday

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During our fist 8 or 9 years living in Sherilton Valley, we had no television. We are too far to receive local TV from San Diego and I didn't want to install one of those huge satellite dishes that were so popular at the time. Finally a company called Primestar came along and they put out a dish that was small enough to not overwhelm the landscape. They had few channels but the signal was digital and I enjoyed it a lot.

A few years back Primestar was bought out by Direct TV and they provided a much smaller dish with hundreds of stations and even local channels to help me keep up with the San Diego news.

I'm tempted to go into a diatribe about the poor programming available but I'll save that for some other time. For now, I'll provide a photo of the old Primestar dish turned on its side and serving its second life as a bird bath. The birds love it and lately even the bees have have been visiting in large numbers.

This time of year our area is desert dry for miles around and we leave out water in several spots to provide for the local animals. Wild turkeys come through every day along with coyotes, bobcats and raccoons. I'm still hoping to see a cougar some day.

THEN

July 14, 1967 - Friday

Tonight Noel and his mother came over and Barry and I went with them to the Officers club for dinner. It really seemed strange eating there after having worked there.

After dinner Noel, his mother and Barry wanted to go upstairs to the cocktail lounge but being 17, I didn’t go. The Officers club is right next to the Naval Air Station airport so I went outside to walk around. The sun was just going down and all the different colored landing lights were on. I found an old sidewalk that led off into a field and decided to take a walk. I don’t think the sidewalk had been used for years because it was all overgrown with weeds and it lead off into the empty dunes alongside the runway. It was really isolated and the smell of sagebrush brought back memories of times past.

July 16, 1967 - Sunday

Last night Bill and I drove all over town. I hadn’t really planned on it but Bill had been in a car accident and he wanted to get out of the house. His mother is really upset. It seems that he dented another car and not having a license, he’s in real trouble. The owners of the other car want to go to the police but so far they’ve held off.

Every time he gets into trouble he wants to talk to me. He’s always telling me his troubles and I’m beginning to feel like a priest. He says I make a good counselor.

Anyway, we went to the movies and drove all over the naval base. We stopped at an aircraft carrier that had been in moth balls and just recently towed to North Island. It seemed pretty creepy seeing such a large ship completely dark except for a few security lights.. Bill, being the inquisitive type, found a guard and started asking questions. It seems the ship was the “Bunker Hill” and had seen lots of action during the war. It had been kamikazed and something like 500 men were killed. Strange for a ship like that to end up the way it is, just sitting around all dark and quiet. The ship is completely empty but the guard said that he sometimes hears noises coming from deep inside. We asked if we could go on board but of course he couldn’t allow that.