Sunday Reflections - Pass the Salt Shaker

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." (Matthew 5:13)

Ancient records show taxes on salt as far back as the 20th century BC in China. Salt was used as a preservative for all kinds of foods, and it eliminated the need of the populations to eat only seasonal foods. It was, however, difficult to obtain. As such it too became a valued trade item. In fact, salt remained as such until the early 19th century.

Salt comes from sea water and rock salt. Rock salt is harvested from beds of sedimentary evaporated minerals in dried up lakes. In present day United States and Canada, underground salt beds are found anywhere from the Appalachian basin in western New York State to Ontario, as well as under the Michigan basin. Extensive underground salt beds also exist in Cheshire and Droitwich in the United Kingdom. Salt is obtained from these beds by mining or solution mining -- using water or brine, from which salt is extracted via evaporation.

When I was a kid growing up in Tennessee, salt was a primary preservative for pork - Tennessee country ham (one of my favorites) is a salted ham. "Salt curing" was a term that we grew up with and understood.

When I first read the above verse from Matthew where Jesus said that we "are the salt of the earth," I understood what he meant. For me as a child, salt was not only a seasoning that flavored food, it also prolonged the 'life' of food.

Without salt in the 'old days' meat would be good for only a day or two. After that it would become infested with fly larvae and begin to spoil.

Jesus wants us to be a seasoning in the lives of those closest to us. We're to bring Jesus' love and the power of the Holy Spirit to everyone we come into contact with.

By bringing someone to an encounter with Christ, we can be the 'salt' that prolongs their life so that it is not 'spoiled' by their sins.

As the salt of old, we too can be of incredible value to the kingdom of God if we allow Jesus to keep us salty and to use us as he pleases to season the lives of others.

And, salt tastes great on a Margarita!

Saturday Ramblings and Saturday's Flower

Today has been a gorgeous day - pleasant and sunny. We may have scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon, but it has started off great.

This afternoon we went to conduct a house blessing. We married a couple about a year or so ago and they have a new house and want us to perform a blessing. We have a nice blessing format where the husband and wife and their friends say most of the words. Betty and I only have on part each. And that appeals to me because the blessing of a house should come from the family that lives in it.

This evening we went to a wedding of a couple from our church. We also had the honor to baptize each of them a week ago. They wanted to be baptized as a couple before getting married which is a great idea. It's a good way to start off a marriage.

Saturday's flower is a Yarrow. They start out kind of bland, the blooms turn a brilliant yellow which is really pretty, then they fade again.

Betty's Home and Friday's Flower

Betty's home from her trip for the funeral of her Aunt. Everything went well and she enjoyed her time with her stepmother and sister. She was able to be there for her sister's birthday.

This morning we did some ground work with the horses since it's been over two weeks since we've ridden them. We'll probably ride on Monday morning. We don't like to ride on the weekends because there are two many bicyclists. They're so quiet when they come up behind you. The few thoughtful bicyclists will say something as they approach.

I'm a happy guy now that my sweety is home.

Friday's flower is a Prickly Pear cactus bloom. I love cactus flowers because they're all so bright and colorful. It's a shame they don't last longer.

Have a great weekend.

Tale of the Trip - Part 3

On Wednesday, we headed home by driving Northeast up through the Navajo Nation. We wanted to stop at the Four Corners Monument (where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona meet) and then drive home through Farmington and Cuba.

On the way we passed these rock monoliths and they are appropriately name "Elephants Feet."

The Four Corners Monument is actually in the Navajo Nation so they administer access to it. It's a good way for them to make some money.

Here's the marker for the four corners. Unfortunately, with the advent of GPS satellites, they've determined that the actual site is about 1,800 feet away, but nobody cares. This still works for everyone.

Yours truly at the monument.

Jane and Hack standing in all four states (pretend the marker is accurate folks).


On the way home we passed Shiprock which is on the Navajo Nation.

All in all it was a great trip.

Jane and Hack didn't have to leave until Saturday, so on Friday, we drove down to Bingham, NM so Jane could look at another rock shop. The only thing in Bingham is the rock shop. It's in the middle of nowhere. It's only about 5 miles from the Trinity Site where the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945 - exactly one month before I was born.


The heat from the explosion fused the sand into a glass-like particle now called Trinitite. The site is closed now, except for two days a year - one in the Spring and the other in the Fall - when visitors can visit the site. However, it's now illegal to collect Trinitite. So this rock shop is one of the few places, and maybe the only one, where it's still available for sale and their collection is getting quite small.

Jane had a great time looking through the rock shop.

The owner of the shop was out of town so a friend, Lisa, watched the shop for her. She was a neat person and, if you look closely, you'll see she's packing a pistol on her right hip. As she says, "I'm 30 miles from anywhere with money and valuable rocks so I'm the only person who can help if someone tries to give me trouble."

Here is one of the unusual and beautiful pieces they had.

The owner had several cats.

And they liked to be friendly to the point of being a pest. Notice the umbrella. Nothing stops my sister when she's in the quest of a new and unusual rock.

I think she had a good time and she did find some unusual and beautiful pieces to take back to Kentucky.

On our way home, we stopped in San Antonio, NM so Jane and Hack could experience an Owl Cafe and Bar green chile cheeseburger. Mmmm good!

Finally, Betty came home today! Hooray!

Tale of the Trip - Part 2

We arrived at the Grand Canyon on Monday afternoon about dinner time and spent all of Tuesday there. If you've ever been to the Canyon then you know that these pictures don't do it justice. There is no way to capture the scope and grandeur of the place. The first time you see it, it's almost an emotional experience.

Here's Jane and Hack as they see the Canyon for the first time.

Here's what they are looking at.

Betty and me enjoying the Grand Canyon sun.

One of the things we wanted Jane and Hack to see was the group getting ready for their mule ride down into the Canyon. Betty and I took this ride four years ago. We went all the way to the bottom, spent the night at Phantom Ranch, and rode the mules back out the next day. It was one of the neatest things we've ever done.

This is the head wrangler giving the 'speech' to the riders. They make no bones about it. It's a hard ride and, if you're not careful, it can be dangerous. However, their safety record is excellent and riders have been going down on mules for over 100 years.

Three of the mules with their 'been there, done that, got the t-shirt' look on their faces.

If you look closely you can see one group of riders stopping on the trail. They always do this to check the saddle cinches to be sure they're tight and to give folks an experience of having your mule stick his head over the edge of the trail. It's a thrill.


Another view of the Canyon.


Me pointing something out to Hack, and I haven't the faintest idea of what it was.

Jane and Hack enjoying their lunch in the lobby of the Bright Angel Lodge.

The only Condor we saw while we were there.

Another view of the Canyon.

Hack and Jane relaxing on the porch of the El Tovar Hotel.

Betty and Jane enjoying another view.

Here's the view they were looking at.

Sister Jane and Betty together.

It was a great day. This was our third visit to the Grand Canyon and I would gladly go back again. In fact, Betty and I hope to do the mule ride again in a couple of years.

Tale of the Trip - Part 1

I finally got a chance to go through all of my photos from our trip to the Grand Canyon with my sister and brother-in-law. Now, I'm going to impose some of them on you. To make things easier for me, I'm going to do it over three days as our trip was in three parts - the Petrified National Forest on the Way over, the Grand Canyon, and our trip back.

So, on the the way over we stopped at the Petrified National Forest and Painted Desert. Here are some pictures from that interesting place.

Entrance to the Visitors Center.

Betty looking over some of the Painted Desert.


My sister Jane checking out some of the information and my brother-in-law Hack taking some pictures. He's a very good photographer.

A petrified log that was used as a bridge and eventually supported by concrete.

Hack closing up his monopod.

Some more painted desert.

A pile of petrified log pieces.

A close up of a petrified log.

The Petrified Forest National Park is a fun place to visit. It's just South of I-40 after you get into Arizona.

Tomorrow, the Grand Canyon.

Monday Video - Still Tickling The Ivories

Fran and Marlo Cowan were married for 62 years when this video was made. He was almost 90.

I hope Betty and I have just as much fun and life as they do 20 years from now when we celebrate our 62nd anniversary.

Enjoy and have a Happy Memorial Day!

Sunday Reflections - Band of Brothers

The History Channel ran the series "Band of Brothers" yesterday as part of their Memorial Day programming. I read the book before I saw the series on HBO.

It's the story of Easy (E) Company of the 506th Division of the 101st Airborne - the Screaming Eagles. The story starts during their initial training in Georgia, their parachute jumps in Normandy and Holland, and follows them all through the war until Victory in Europe day.

They were bravely and effectively led by a Lieutenant (later Captain, then Major) Dick Winters. He was a no-nonsense, practical, common-sense leader who believed in his men and the training they received. Their company was one of the most effective units in Normandy and through the push through Europe into Germany.

My time in the Navy during the Vietnam War (1969 - 1972) was different, but the same in some ways. After Officers Candidate School I went to Dam Neck, Virginia for Gunnery School as I was assigned to the USS William H. Standley (DLG-32). After my training I flew to San Francisco then to Manilla in the Phillipines.

After a couple of days in the Phillipines and a harrowing bus ride down to Subic Bay with some Navy Seals returning from their duty in country in Vietnam, I was ordered to board a COD (Carrier On-Board Delivery) flight to the USS Enterprise - the aircraft carrier, not the starship. That was an exciting experience making an arrested landing on the carrier. As we walked down the ramp of the COD flight an F-4 Phantom jet was making a landing and it seemed to come screaming right at us, but it wasn't.

I spent three days on the Enterprise, bunking in with one of the flight squadrons. I spent most of my evenings watching flight operations as the Enterprise operated from midnight to noon. Then I boarded a helicopter for the flight to my new ship - the Standley - a guided missile frigate.

For the next several months I functioned as gunnery officer as we operated off the North Vietnam coast. Then we returned to our home port in Mayport, Florida, just outside of Jacksonville. We arrived on July 20, 1969 and the reason I remember that date is that was the same day that men first landed on the moon.

In January, 1971 we headed for Vietnam again by way of the Panama Canal and the Pacific Ocean. By this time I was the Navigator on board the Standley and helped navigate her all the way. This was long before satellite navigation and we did it the old way with sextants and charts.

We had many interesting and, a few, intense experiences. We operated about five miles off the North Vietnam coast just South of Haiphong, a major harbor. The carriers operated down in the South China sea where it was safer and they had more room to operate. They would send up their flights to us and air controllers on board our ship would vector them toward their targets. After they ran their missions, they would hit the deck and scream toward us as they knew if they got hit and could make it out to the ocean the helicopter on board our ship would pick them up.

We were never fired on, but we had several tense times involving a Chinese armed freighter, MIG flights coming out of China and once operating for a week off the North Korean coast during their May nationalistic celebrations.

Seven and a half months later we were ordered to return home. However, at that time we were expected to be the last East coast ship assigned to the Vietnam theater. It was supposed to be an example of President Nixon winding down the war.

To make that a big deal we were ordered to return home by sailing around the world to 'show the flag' instead of returning home as before through the Pacific. We left the line and sailed to Thailand, then to Singapore, then to the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, then to Mozambique on the African East coast, then around Cape Good Hope at the tip of Africa, through the Southern Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. From there we went to San Juan, Puerto Rico and finally home.

It was a long time and a unique experience.

The point of that long story and what we shared with Easy Company of WWII is those experiences and all our experiences formed a deep bond among all the officers of the Standley. We didn't know nor use the term Band of Brothers, but it would have been true for us.

In 1991 we gathered for a reunion and even after 20 years we all felt the same closeness as we had as younger naval officers in 1971. Several of us, including our Captain, keep in touch via e-mail after all these years.

Intense and deep experiences have a way of creating bonds that not even time can erase. Who I am today is partly formed through those experiences and through those friends.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother..." (William Shakespeare - "King Henry V")

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)

We're Back, But...

We're home from our trip showing my sister and brother-in-law the Grand Canyon. We had a great trip on our way over, stopping at the Petrified Forest Nation Park on the way. Even though we only had one day at the Canyon, we had a good, very full day.

While we were there on Tuesday Betty got a phone call saying her aunt in Alabama had died. After some checking with her sister, she realized that if we got home Wednesday night she could fly to Tennessee on Thursday and drive down with her stepmother and sister to attend the funeral on Friday. And that's what we did.

On Wednesday, we left the Canyon and drove up through the Navajo Nation to the Four Corners area and then home through Farmington, Cuba, etc.

Betty packed Wednesday night and flew out early Thursday afternoon. She'll stay at her stepmother's and visit with her and her sister and come home next Thursday. So, I'm a bachelor for a week.

On Friday, I took my sister and brother-in-law down to Bingham, NM to a neat rock shop. Today, I'm taking them to the airport so they can fly home to Kentucky.

It's been a great visit and I'll have some pictures to share starting Monday.

I hope everyone's been good while I was gone.

Sunday with Family

(No Sunday Reflection today)
Today was another good day. My brother-in-law Hack and I went to the Ditch Pony Promenade, an annual, free kids horse show.

It includes kids driving carts.

Kids riding in costumes.

Kids on stick ponies.

And kids competing in all kinds of horsemanship classes, both English and Western.

After lunch we went to another gem and mineral shop...

... so my sister Jane could do some more shopping for rocks and minerals.


Saturday's flower is a Butterfly Bush.


We're leaving early tomorrow (Monday) morning to take Jane and Hack to the Grand Canyon and we'll be home Thursday night.

So this is my last post until probably next Saturday.

Be good and don't give your parents any problems while we're gone.