Posted by
The Dixie Rebel on Thursday, July 13, 2006 10:06:42 PM
Finally, a place where I can open my big mouth, and not get yelled at for it. Yep, I am a diehard Son of the Old South, and damned proud of it. Seems everday, those damned yankees swallow up more & more of what used to be, and what ain't no more. The old traditions and values are fast being discarded, and replaced by the hip hop jibberish of MTV, although I consider Beavis & Butthead quality TV - the episode on Cow-tipping is classic. Who can forget the image of the farmer with a chainsaw, preparing to cut up the dead cow that had fallen on Beavis, and was pinned by the carcass!
As you can see, there is no prescribed order of thoughts here. Nor will there ever be! If a man can't ramble, then a man can't drink cold beer. And I love to sit on the tailgate of my pickup truck and down a couple of cold ones on a quiet Saturday afternoon out in the country by the Black Creek. One day, I'm gonna buy some of those pink, plastic flamingoes with the black steel legs, and stick 'em out by the highway - just to gaul all those damned yankees that have invaded my neck of the woods. It's not the wife holding me back from planting my favorite dogtrack birds, but the thought of losing the $20 bucks it cost me at the local Wal-Mart to buy these guys. Sure as the world, the day I plant them in the flower bed, is the day they disappear and then magically reappear in front of another redneck's mobile home. Guess I won't be buying one of those big mirrored balls that rests atop a white concrete pedestal, either.
But I do love to fire up my big drum BBQ with the side mounted firebox, and smoke up the best pork butts anywhere. And do the samething on Thanksgiving with a full turkey, too. Did you know that it is mandatory for man to drink beer when he BBQ's? I think there is a law somewhere down here that says you can be arrested for having a BBQ with no beer. If there ain't, blame that on those damned yankees, too!
As to just who I am, well, let's say I grew up in Alabama, a Gator trapped in the Bear's neck of the woods. I am the son of an engineer who was involved in the space program in the days of the Gemini, Mercury & early Apollo programs. Guaranteed, he has four patents for guidance systems then used in the rockets & missiles built at Redstone. My Dad's side of the family was German, and my Mom's side was English, Scottish & Irish. I can trace my ancestors back to Edward Rutledge, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as one of the representatives from South Carolina. My great great grandfather was a cavalryman that served in the 6th Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, CSA, and served under the commands of General 'Fightin Joe' Wheeler and Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest. He saw action at Shiloh, Chattanooga, the Battle of Atlanta, chased Sherman and those damned yankees from Atlanta to Savannah, until he was taken prisoner at the end of the war, when his unit surrendered in April, 1865, in North Carolina. His son was a member of the famed 7th Cavalry, who served in the Phillipines as an artillery captain during the Spanish American War, and retired as a major. My Dad's father had a brother that served in France during WWI and another brother that was a base commander of an airbase in San Antonio, Texas, during WWII and is buried in the National Military Cemetary in San Antonio. My Dad served in the US Navy during WWII and my Mom's brother served on the USS Princeton, and was aboard the carrier as part of flight ops topside, when the ship was bombed and sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf during the retaking of the Phillipines.
Me? Hell, I did my best to dodge the draft during Viet Nam, was drafted in September, 1969, when I was an "out of phase" sophomore in college, but who failed my induction physical in December,
1969. "Defective Distant Vision" was stamped & restamped all over my induction papers - which means in everyday words - I wear glasses! Sorry, I just could not force myself to go fight a war for profit. I did apply for a Naval Commision thru OCS in 1980, after graduation from college, but turned it down for a better job offer. It was at this time that I realized that the level of one's intelligence had no bearing on those who wished to become officers. In point of fact, these candidates were those who could not find employment at time of graduation. I had trained in high school & early college to become an electrical engineer, eventually receiving my diplomas in Economics & Management, BS/BA. My last shot at any type of military service happened in October, 1990, during Operation: Desert Shield, when I volunteered for the Florida National Guard, but was told I was too old for service, damn it!
Oh well, so it goes, & goes ....