After yesterday's post with the newspaper story from 1943 about my grandfather's service in the Merchant Marine during World War II, when a Nazi submarine torpedoed and sank his ship in the Atlantic, I happened to be on the phone with my Dad. I'd heard the story before with a few different details and one notable addendum. My father had also heard some slightly different details -- our recollection of the tale as told by my my grandfather is that he actually broke both arms when the torpedo struck his boat -- and had more detail on the notable addendum. Others who have heard the tale are invited to send me corrections or additions, so that we get things as right as we can.
And with that, let me summon my best Paul Harvey voice to tell you all The Rest of the Story....
Merchant Marine Midshipman John M. Magee from Chestertown, New York, had survived the sinking of his ship in the Atlantic in January 1943. He and his shipmates had been set adrift after questioning by the same Nazi submarine that torpedoed them. They were rescued by a destroyer belonging to a neutral country, and seemed likely to spend the duration of the war interned in a neutral port.
But Midshipman Magee smuggled himself onto an allied destroyer and after serving with the gun crew as that ship fought in several battles, he finally returned to Allied soil when the ship put into to Ireland. But what next? Although he had reported in to the Red Cross, he was still a long way from returning home or to to active duty, a process that could take months and months while the war waged on.
Then as he went through Red Cross processing, one of the clerks suggested that he might be able to speed his way back to America and back to duty if only he had a little clout or some strings he could pull. Was there, perhaps, a general or admiral who could speak up for him? Perhaps somebody in the American War Department?
Midshipman Magee thought it over and had to admit that, no, he didn't have any strings to pull in the War Department.
"How about the State Department?" asked the clerk, suggesting perhaps the final option.
And then, Midshipman Magee paused and thought. After a moment he came up with a name and said that, yes, there was one fellow from the State Department that he'd met before, though it had been a couple of years. You see, his father Dr. John Magee used to spend some time at the thoroughbred racetrack down in Saratoga, New York, during the August meet. And there was this fellow from Kentucky, a nice older gentleman who worked for the State Department, who enjoyed the races, too. In fact, his father and the gentleman from Kentucky had often dined together back in the days before the war.
And so Midshipman Magee offered up the name of the gentleman from Kentucky, in hopes that the gentleman might be able to help him get home. And a telegraph was queued up and eventually dispatched to Washington, D.C.:
MIDSHIPMAN JOHN M. MAGEE IN DUBLIN. STOP. WANTS TO GET TO USA. STOP. PLEASE ADVISE.
And eventually a telegraph returned from Washington, D.C.:
MUST BE MISTAKE. STOP. MIDSHIPMAN MAGEE KIA WHEN SHIP LOST AT SEA MONTHS AGO. STOP.
For although he had passed through a neutral country and finally made it back to Allied territory, word of Midshipman Magee's rescue had not yet made it back to America.
A few more telegraphs crossed the Atlantic, and orders came down to put Midshipman Magee on the first and fastest transport back to America, the Queen Mary shipping out of Scotland. And less than two weeks later Midshipman Magee was indeed steaming into New York Harbor. Those orders returning Midshipman Magee back to the United States of America were followed immediately and without question because they bore the name of the older gentleman from Kentucky, the name Cordell Hull.
That would be Secretary of State Cordell Hull, the longest-serving Secretary of State in American history. The Cordell Hull who had already directed American foreign policy for ten years, and would in two more years be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for establishing the United Nations.
Cordell Hull had many good days in office, but I like to think that his best day was the day he discovered that the son of a friend, that my grandfather, had not been swallowed by war and sea and helped return him to the United States safe and sound.
And now you know ... the rest of the story.
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At least, that's the story the way I heard it, and I'm sticking with it!
Showing posts with label Family news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family news. Show all posts
Friday, September 21, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
What my grandfather did during World War II
My cousin Marcus sent along a great newspaper clipping this morning from The Glens Falls Times in 1943. My grandfather and namesake, John Merton Magee, served in the Merchant Marine during World War II aboard a ship that was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. I had always heard the story when I was growing up, but didn't know that there was a newspaper account, too. Here's the text, with a .jpg of the original clipping below:
Glens Falls Times (1943, date and page currently unknown)
John M. Magee, Chestertown, Was Aboard Merchant Ship Torpedoed Off Africa; Suffered Broken Arm
Midshipman John M. Magee, son of Dr. and Mrs. John A. Magee of Chestertown, formerly of Glens Falls, has returned to duty with the United States Merchant Marine after spending three weeks' liberty with his parents.
Early in January Midshipman Magee left the East Coast aboard a ship which was part of a large convoy. The ship lost the convoy as the result of being crippled in a hurricane, and proceeded alone. About 800 miles off Africa she was struck by a torpedo fired by a German submarine. Magee was on duty in the engine room at the time and was rendered unconscious, but revived when water poured into theengine room, and he reached the deck through an escape hatch. Later he found his arm had been fractured.
The ship was abandoned and after she sank the submarine surfaced near Magee's life raft and he and his companions were told to tie up to the U-boat. This they did and they were questioned for about an hour before being allowed to cast off. The next day they were picked up by a neutral destroyer and after being on it for four days while she was searching for other life boats and rafts they were taken to a neutral island port.
Midshipman Magee and his companions spent the next two months there, not knowing whether they were to be interned for the duration or not. On St. Patrick's Day an allied destroyer came into port and Magee, after switching uniforms with a sailor, was stowed away aboard her. She was a striking force and he was put with a gun crew, standing both gun and sea watches. He saw action in the English Channel and off St. Nazaire battling German submarines.
When the destroyer put into Ireland Magee was put ashore and after going through the usual routine the Red Cross quartered him at Magee College, which is used to house service men. He was in Ireland for about a week and then was sent to Scotland, where he stayed about the same length of time at another rest hotel for allied service men. While in Londonderry he saw the mother of General Montgomery.
Magee attended Chestertown High School and North Carolina State College, Raleigh, N.C. At North Carolina State he played basketball with "Bones" McKinney, who is well remembered in Glens Falls, having played on the Durham High School TEam, winners of the 1940 Eastern States tournament.
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And from Marcus, this is how this little historical gem made it back to the family:
Hey guys! Bill Carboy (lives on Loon Lake) had a phone call from the widow of the former Chestertown High Basketball coach who asked that he deliver a newspaper article that her husband had kept from the Glens Falls Times in 1943. Said article is attached hereto. I thought it was pretty cool! I hope that everyone is doing well. If I've left anyone out, forward away! -Marcus
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Click here for Part 2, the amazing second part of this story: And now, the rest of the story.
Glens Falls Times (1943, date and page currently unknown)
John M. Magee, Chestertown, Was Aboard Merchant Ship Torpedoed Off Africa; Suffered Broken Arm
Midshipman John M. Magee, son of Dr. and Mrs. John A. Magee of Chestertown, formerly of Glens Falls, has returned to duty with the United States Merchant Marine after spending three weeks' liberty with his parents.
Early in January Midshipman Magee left the East Coast aboard a ship which was part of a large convoy. The ship lost the convoy as the result of being crippled in a hurricane, and proceeded alone. About 800 miles off Africa she was struck by a torpedo fired by a German submarine. Magee was on duty in the engine room at the time and was rendered unconscious, but revived when water poured into theengine room, and he reached the deck through an escape hatch. Later he found his arm had been fractured.
The ship was abandoned and after she sank the submarine surfaced near Magee's life raft and he and his companions were told to tie up to the U-boat. This they did and they were questioned for about an hour before being allowed to cast off. The next day they were picked up by a neutral destroyer and after being on it for four days while she was searching for other life boats and rafts they were taken to a neutral island port.
Midshipman Magee and his companions spent the next two months there, not knowing whether they were to be interned for the duration or not. On St. Patrick's Day an allied destroyer came into port and Magee, after switching uniforms with a sailor, was stowed away aboard her. She was a striking force and he was put with a gun crew, standing both gun and sea watches. He saw action in the English Channel and off St. Nazaire battling German submarines.
When the destroyer put into Ireland Magee was put ashore and after going through the usual routine the Red Cross quartered him at Magee College, which is used to house service men. He was in Ireland for about a week and then was sent to Scotland, where he stayed about the same length of time at another rest hotel for allied service men. While in Londonderry he saw the mother of General Montgomery.
Magee attended Chestertown High School and North Carolina State College, Raleigh, N.C. At North Carolina State he played basketball with "Bones" McKinney, who is well remembered in Glens Falls, having played on the Durham High School TEam, winners of the 1940 Eastern States tournament.
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And from Marcus, this is how this little historical gem made it back to the family:
Hey guys! Bill Carboy (lives on Loon Lake) had a phone call from the widow of the former Chestertown High Basketball coach who asked that he deliver a newspaper article that her husband had kept from the Glens Falls Times in 1943. Said article is attached hereto. I thought it was pretty cool! I hope that everyone is doing well. If I've left anyone out, forward away! -Marcus
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Click here for Part 2, the amazing second part of this story: And now, the rest of the story.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Ahoy from Wyoming!
I've been a terribly negligent blogger the last couple of weeks, but in my defense it's been a busy time. So I thought I'd pass along a quick post o' updating for those who are interested.
Monique departed for Wyoming last Saturday. Why Wyoming? Because that's where the action is. To be specific, the action is the impending arrival of a new niece, and Monique and I are lending a hand by watching our already-here niece Zoe while my brother Mike and his wife Cathy took on the slightly more demanding task of actually having a baby. Monique got a headstart on me because I needed to stay around Wolverine Lake last week for our village council's budget work session.
Before Monique left I picked up a bag of oranges, four pounds of hot peppers, and a minikeg of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale to prepare dietetically for my bachelor week. Saturday morning I shipped Monique off to Wyoming, and then -- aside from work and village stuff -- I spent the rest of my week eating things with too many hot peppers, then cooling the fire with a tasty Bell's Two-Hearted Ale.
I had planned to finish prepping the pontoon boat for launch upon our return, but it rained nearly all week. So instead I watched nearly the entire 2nd season of "Archer" on the DVR. As you can see, it was a week filled with giant accomplishments.
Saturday morning I flew out to Wyoming to join everybody in the excitement of the new niece. Except ... there isn't a new niece yet. The due date has come and gone, but as of this evening, little Zoe is still a single sibling. We're just about out of May, so it looks like it'll be a June baby. Words like "induce" are being bandied about, so I suspect we'll have niece news to pass along soon.
And now ... well, I'm updating the blog and watching a Tigers game. (Thank you, Mike, for subscribing to the baseball Extra Innings package.) Yesterday we took a nice long drive over Casper Mountain and down a bumpy dirt road. I can only assume it was an attempt to shake the baby out of Cathy.
And that's about it from Wyoming. Mike and Cathy are out having dinner, taking advantage of what might be their final opportunity for a while to dine like adults. Monique is giving Zoe a bath. I'm typing.
We'll let you know when there's news. In the meantime, no news is no news.
Monique departed for Wyoming last Saturday. Why Wyoming? Because that's where the action is. To be specific, the action is the impending arrival of a new niece, and Monique and I are lending a hand by watching our already-here niece Zoe while my brother Mike and his wife Cathy took on the slightly more demanding task of actually having a baby. Monique got a headstart on me because I needed to stay around Wolverine Lake last week for our village council's budget work session.
Before Monique left I picked up a bag of oranges, four pounds of hot peppers, and a minikeg of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale to prepare dietetically for my bachelor week. Saturday morning I shipped Monique off to Wyoming, and then -- aside from work and village stuff -- I spent the rest of my week eating things with too many hot peppers, then cooling the fire with a tasty Bell's Two-Hearted Ale.
I had planned to finish prepping the pontoon boat for launch upon our return, but it rained nearly all week. So instead I watched nearly the entire 2nd season of "Archer" on the DVR. As you can see, it was a week filled with giant accomplishments.
Saturday morning I flew out to Wyoming to join everybody in the excitement of the new niece. Except ... there isn't a new niece yet. The due date has come and gone, but as of this evening, little Zoe is still a single sibling. We're just about out of May, so it looks like it'll be a June baby. Words like "induce" are being bandied about, so I suspect we'll have niece news to pass along soon.
And now ... well, I'm updating the blog and watching a Tigers game. (Thank you, Mike, for subscribing to the baseball Extra Innings package.) Yesterday we took a nice long drive over Casper Mountain and down a bumpy dirt road. I can only assume it was an attempt to shake the baby out of Cathy.
And that's about it from Wyoming. Mike and Cathy are out having dinner, taking advantage of what might be their final opportunity for a while to dine like adults. Monique is giving Zoe a bath. I'm typing.
We'll let you know when there's news. In the meantime, no news is no news.
Monday, January 18, 2010
One Mystery Solved
At last we solved the mystery of the canine agoraphobe. It turns out that Cady the Terrible's sudden fear of the outdoors stemmed from the incredibly faint sound of gunfire from a shooting range several miles away from our house. The reason this hasn't ever been an issue in her previous stays and the reason she was only occasionally terrified of the outdoors during this stay is that the sound is so incredibly faint that it can only be heard at all when the leaves are down, and a North wind gently wafts the gentle BANG BANG BANG through bare branches across a quiet, frozen lake.
As for why this incredibly faint sound terrifies Cady the Formerly Terrible Now Just Cowardly, your guess is as good as mine. And this still doesn't explain her stone-cold dread of The Horror That Is The Washing Machine. But, hey, the last time we ruined her she needed to get an ACL replaced, so dropping a few neurotic complexes on her is only a mild ruination by comparison.
On the bright side, my Mom and Dick finally returned from their cruise and picked up their ruined dog. Soon Cady will be back in the safety of Glens Falls, where the firing ranges are well out of floppy-earshot, the washing machine is properly banished to the far off washroom, and the snacks and treats flow like milk and honey.
My final thought on The Mystery of the Canine Agoraphobe?
"We would have gotten away with it, too, it it wasn't for you meddling kids!"
As for why this incredibly faint sound terrifies Cady the Formerly Terrible Now Just Cowardly, your guess is as good as mine. And this still doesn't explain her stone-cold dread of The Horror That Is The Washing Machine. But, hey, the last time we ruined her she needed to get an ACL replaced, so dropping a few neurotic complexes on her is only a mild ruination by comparison.
On the bright side, my Mom and Dick finally returned from their cruise and picked up their ruined dog. Soon Cady will be back in the safety of Glens Falls, where the firing ranges are well out of floppy-earshot, the washing machine is properly banished to the far off washroom, and the snacks and treats flow like milk and honey.
My final thought on The Mystery of the Canine Agoraphobe?
"We would have gotten away with it, too, it it wasn't for you meddling kids!"
Monday, December 7, 2009
Another quick update on Susan
Just passing along another quick update on my sister Susan's status for anybody who hasn't heard. She got out of the hospital yesterday, and is back home for now. It sounds as if a lot of bed rest may still be in the cards. She'll still be able to nurse wee Emerson, which is a great relief to her.
She hasn't yet updated her blog (Gettysburg Family) but she did pop a post up on Facebook yesterday, so she's back online at least a bit. Thanks for everybody's good wishes, both here and on her blog.
Oh, and the whole pulmonary embolism thing has led her and Rich to rethink their stance on smoking. They've quit.
She hasn't yet updated her blog (Gettysburg Family) but she did pop a post up on Facebook yesterday, so she's back online at least a bit. Thanks for everybody's good wishes, both here and on her blog.
Oh, and the whole pulmonary embolism thing has led her and Rich to rethink their stance on smoking. They've quit.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Quick update on my sister Susan
Just a quick update on Susan for folks who haven't gotten an update elsewhere. She's still in the hospital, though she might get out in another day or two if she continues to improve. It sounds as if her condition was worse than we had heard: clots in both lungs and in both legs, plus a collapsed lung. Not good. She's going to be on blood thinners for a while.
The good news is that she seems to be on the mend. She's not happy about being separated from her kids, of course, especially Emerson. But Rich has been taking them to the hospital to visit. There's also good news in that it sounds as if she'll be able to nurse Emerson again once she gets off one of her medications (an anti-nausea med) despite being on the Coumadin.
If you haven't yet had a chance to wish her well on her blog, I'm still encouraging folks to go to her most recent post -- The New Normal -- on her Gettysburg Family blog and post a get-well note in the comments. I don't think she has internet in the hospital, but I'm sure she'll be glad to see them all once she gets out.
And that's about it. We're all still worried, but also encouraged.
The good news is that she seems to be on the mend. She's not happy about being separated from her kids, of course, especially Emerson. But Rich has been taking them to the hospital to visit. There's also good news in that it sounds as if she'll be able to nurse Emerson again once she gets off one of her medications (an anti-nausea med) despite being on the Coumadin.
If you haven't yet had a chance to wish her well on her blog, I'm still encouraging folks to go to her most recent post -- The New Normal -- on her Gettysburg Family blog and post a get-well note in the comments. I don't think she has internet in the hospital, but I'm sure she'll be glad to see them all once she gets out.
And that's about it. We're all still worried, but also encouraged.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Hey, everybody, send your "get well soon" wishes to Susan!
Hi, everybody. Just passing along a quick update via blog to let folks know that my sister Susan is back in the hospital today with pleurisy and an embolism in her lung. (Harrumph. So much for her theory that she could minimize her hospital time by arriving just fifteen minutes before she gave birth.)
It sounds as if they expect her to recover fully, but it will probably take a while. If you're reading this, I think it would cheer her considerably if you go to her blog at Gettysburg Family and post a comment at her latest post (The New Normal) to wish her a speedy recovery.
(While you're there, click on a few ads, too. I'm sure a sudden jump in her AdWords revenue would also help her recuperation.)
You can also send along wishes for a speedy recovery to Susan's husband Rich and his brother Michael. No, they're not sick, but they're watching the whole unruly Gettysburg Family crew while Susan's in the hospital, and I'm sure it will take them quite a while to recover from THAT!
It sounds as if they expect her to recover fully, but it will probably take a while. If you're reading this, I think it would cheer her considerably if you go to her blog at Gettysburg Family and post a comment at her latest post (The New Normal) to wish her a speedy recovery.
(While you're there, click on a few ads, too. I'm sure a sudden jump in her AdWords revenue would also help her recuperation.)
You can also send along wishes for a speedy recovery to Susan's husband Rich and his brother Michael. No, they're not sick, but they're watching the whole unruly Gettysburg Family crew while Susan's in the hospital, and I'm sure it will take them quite a while to recover from THAT!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Lenny the Lumpymobile
Okay, for anybody wondering what happened after that long 2008 recap, what happened was a very pleasant holiday vacation -- with one Christmas Eve automotive disaster.
Monique and I decided not to go to the Florida Keys after Christmas this year, but instead planned to go out to Portland, Maine, to visit our friends the Gavens on Dec. 19-20; for me to attend a Patriots game in Foxboro on Sunday, Dec. 21 with my brother; to generally enjoy Christmas in upstate New York with my large and complicated family; and then to come back to Michigan to laze about the house and enjoy a very relaxing start to the New Year.
It all pretty much went according to plan, except for the snow. A giant vast storm was scheduled to crush the Midwest and the East Coast the morning we were supposed to leave on our trip. So we accelerated the journey by a dozen hours, loaded up Lenny the Leftymobile early, started on Thursday night, drove straight through, and arrived in Portland about noon on Friday -- three hours before they got more than a foot of snow.
The score: Hard-Driving Magees 1, Snow 0.
Alas, on Saturday morning when I checked the weather forecast for New England, another giant snowstorm was scheduled to crush New England on Sunday morning. After much soul-searching I was forced to admit that I just wasn't manly enough to drive through a vast blizzard to sit in the sleet in the upper-deck to watch the Patriots slap the Cardinals around for three hours. I called up Mike and cancelled out of the game, citing an attack of extreme cowardice as my only excuse. Instead, we spent a very pleasant Sunday snowbound in Portland as the city got hit with another foot and a half of snow. (In fact, they set the single-day Portland, Maine, snowfall record!)
The score: Cowardly Magees 1, Snow 1.
Now personally, I was willing to call it a tie and move on. But apparently Winter wanted the rubber match, and it got it around 10 pm on Christmas Eve when about a thousand pounds of snow slid off the slate roof of my folks' house and caved in the roof of our new car, which was parked safe and sound (or so I thought) in the driveway. Oh no, that sound above wasn't the click-clack of tiny reindeer hoofs. It was a Honda-crushing avalanche.
When I think of all the pieces of junk I've parked in that driveway over the years it amazes me that the one car-crushing avalanche came the one time I parked a new car there. Good heavens, why couldn't it have crushed that old International Scout with the iffy brakes, the VW Bug with the electrical woes, the Plymouth Volare with the stalling problem, or maybe even the Chrysler Town & Country Wagon with the bad transmission? Those would have been mercy killings!
Fortunately, none of the glass was broken and I was able to push the roof back up enough for us to be able to drive it back to Michigan with a dented and dinged roof. And I've been assured by the mechanic that after a week or two at the body shop this month our little car will be as good as new. But Lenny the Leftymobile is now known as Lenny the Lumpymobile.
The final score: Poorly Parked Magees 1, Snow 1,001.
Monique and I decided not to go to the Florida Keys after Christmas this year, but instead planned to go out to Portland, Maine, to visit our friends the Gavens on Dec. 19-20; for me to attend a Patriots game in Foxboro on Sunday, Dec. 21 with my brother; to generally enjoy Christmas in upstate New York with my large and complicated family; and then to come back to Michigan to laze about the house and enjoy a very relaxing start to the New Year.
It all pretty much went according to plan, except for the snow. A giant vast storm was scheduled to crush the Midwest and the East Coast the morning we were supposed to leave on our trip. So we accelerated the journey by a dozen hours, loaded up Lenny the Leftymobile early, started on Thursday night, drove straight through, and arrived in Portland about noon on Friday -- three hours before they got more than a foot of snow.
The score: Hard-Driving Magees 1, Snow 0.
Alas, on Saturday morning when I checked the weather forecast for New England, another giant snowstorm was scheduled to crush New England on Sunday morning. After much soul-searching I was forced to admit that I just wasn't manly enough to drive through a vast blizzard to sit in the sleet in the upper-deck to watch the Patriots slap the Cardinals around for three hours. I called up Mike and cancelled out of the game, citing an attack of extreme cowardice as my only excuse. Instead, we spent a very pleasant Sunday snowbound in Portland as the city got hit with another foot and a half of snow. (In fact, they set the single-day Portland, Maine, snowfall record!)
The score: Cowardly Magees 1, Snow 1.
Now personally, I was willing to call it a tie and move on. But apparently Winter wanted the rubber match, and it got it around 10 pm on Christmas Eve when about a thousand pounds of snow slid off the slate roof of my folks' house and caved in the roof of our new car, which was parked safe and sound (or so I thought) in the driveway. Oh no, that sound above wasn't the click-clack of tiny reindeer hoofs. It was a Honda-crushing avalanche.
When I think of all the pieces of junk I've parked in that driveway over the years it amazes me that the one car-crushing avalanche came the one time I parked a new car there. Good heavens, why couldn't it have crushed that old International Scout with the iffy brakes, the VW Bug with the electrical woes, the Plymouth Volare with the stalling problem, or maybe even the Chrysler Town & Country Wagon with the bad transmission? Those would have been mercy killings!
Fortunately, none of the glass was broken and I was able to push the roof back up enough for us to be able to drive it back to Michigan with a dented and dinged roof. And I've been assured by the mechanic that after a week or two at the body shop this month our little car will be as good as new. But Lenny the Leftymobile is now known as Lenny the Lumpymobile.
The final score: Poorly Parked Magees 1, Snow 1,001.
The 2008 recap
Hmmn ... two posts looks pretty sparse. I reckon it's time to flesh out this alleged blog with some actual words. Am I going to type quickly? Nope. I'm going to dig up a few items from my e-mail and copy them in here. In the publishing biz we call this "repurposing of content."
Remember that folks, you're not getting leftovers here. You're getting prime repurposed content.
In this case, I wrote up a pretty good summary of what Monique and I did with our 2008 in an e-mail to a friend of mine last month. Here it is:
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So, what have we been up to lately? For starters, Monique and I are once again dog owners. We welcomed Katie the Beagle into our house in February. She's very sweet and not particularly obedient. She had previously belonged to our neighbor, who had gotten her over the holidays for her two small daughters and then quickly came to realize that she travelled waaaaay too much to own a dog. So, we took her in on a trial basis, then quickly made it permanent. Katie's first night with us was the first night of the Westminster Dog Show, when the beagle won the Hound Group. And on the second night of Westminster the three of us watched Uno the Beagle win "Best in Show", so we reckoned it was a pretty good omen. It's worked out very well, especially since the little girls next door still get to play with her quite a bit. Our neighbor had original gotten Katie from a rescue society and we think she was a puppy mill breeder dog before she came to us. She arrived without knowing a single trick (unless you consider "bark at the rabbit" to be a trick) but after a year of work she will now do "sit", "down", and "come" ... as long as you have a liver snap in your hand. I think "heel" may be next year's project. Right now when we try it she starts by lying down next to me, rolling over to show her belly as I walk forward, getting up and running forward a bit, then lying down and rolling over again. It's not "heel", but it is very entertaining.
Beagle ownership hasn't been all that time consuming, though. Most of my time and energy last year went into overthrowing the government. I could go on and on about the national stuff, but I know that everybody's tired of that campaign. Besides, most of my time went into a local campaign trying to help a local state rep named Andy Meisner to get elected as our county treasurer, which would be the first time in more than 30 years that a Democrat won countywide election, and the first time in 40 years that the incumbent or his father wasn't our county treasurer. A countywide race here is a bit larger than you might think. Oakland County has 1.2 million people, which makes it larger than nine states and about the same size in population as Maine or New Hampshire. You can see Andy's web site at: http://www.andymeisner.com/. To cut to the happy ending, it was the single best-run campaign that I've ever been involved in, and we won by almost 30,000 votes, 52.1% to 47.5%. The Dems also won the county prosecutor race. By winning those two seats, the Democrats secured a majority of the redistricting board that will re-draw county commissioner lines after the 2010 census, which pretty much guarantees a Democratic majority on the board of commissioners from 2012-2021. (Come to think of it, there was an interesting post-election piece on Oakland County in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/opinion/11greenberg.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)
So, all in all, it was a successful year overthrowing the government at both the national and the county level.
On the village front, I am still our Village President, where I spent most of my attention the first half of the year helping us to work out the details of our police merger with Walled Lake. As near as we can tell, it's the first police department merger of its kind in Michigan, so it involved all the joy you can imagine in working out the details of making municipal bureaucracies and regulations do something good that they're not really designed to do. Out of sheer kindness, I'm not going to drag you through the details, but will just cut to the happy ending which is that we signed a five-year contract that's saves both communities money while building a better police department for both of us. Most of the next year or two is likely to be spent in getting sewers to the North shore of the lake and in the 18-step process of converting from a village to a city. (Again, I'll spare you the details.)
My job has been going pretty well this year: plenty busy, but not a lot new to tell. In a surprising change of pace after years and years of cutbacks, the company I work for is actually hiring some new employees and making new products. This should be good news for Monique and ECDI, too. She's been involved in some work to define some new sets of data and content, which should eventually lead to some new contracts.
On the rugby front, after two international tours in 2007 I pretty much devolved into an old-boy-only rugby player this year, in great part because my left knee has developed this lovely new condition called "degenerative arthritis". Who could've known that 25 years of collision sports could be bad for your joints? I spent a lot of time on physical therapy over the summer, which seemed to help. I also spent the year on the Detroit RFC's officers' committee, which pretty much wiped out the six free minutes a day that I might've otherwise had. As part of my effort to regain my life in 2009 I handed over my officers' position to somebody else for next year. My rugby time in 2009 will be mostly limited to drinking beer and telling everybody how good I used to be, though I may trundle about with the old guys again if my leg feels up to it.
As for the rest of the family, I guess the biggest item of news for 2008 is that my brother Mike and his wife Cathy had a daughter named Zoe. Also on the big news front, my brother Bob got married last winter; he and his wife Danielle are expecting a baby in the Spring. My sister Susan started up an interesting and very funny blog at http://gettysburgfamily.blogspot.com/. Its slogan? "Raising Kids: Surprisingly Like Raising Livestock." And overall, everybody's been doing pretty well this year. The annual month-long invasion of the French Foreign Legion (Monique's sister Michelle and her four kids) was once again a lot of fun. This year our 15-year-old nephew Max came early, so we got to spend a couple of months with us, which was both fun and interesting, and gave us a chance to get to know Max much better. Among other things, he took driving lessons and learned to drive, repainted our rowboat, mowed the lawn many times, and generally had a chance to spend a lot of time with us.
And in short news items from the world of consumerism: We have a new couch in the living room, and new sliding glass doors to the porch ... I brewed a bit of beer last Winter that was delicious, but fell off the pace this year once things got hectic. I have ingredients again, though, so I'll probably brew up something new next week ... Monique and I had a nice post-Christmas trip down to the Florida Keys last year. Mostly we just camped out in the middle keys and enjoyed the sunshine. I think we'll do the same this year ... We bought a new Honda Civic Hybrid in August after the engine literally fell out of Monique's venerable Nissan Maxima after 15 years and 175,000 miles, thanks to engine mounts that had rusted all the way through. (Max insists that it's a mere coincidence that the car survived 15 years and then died after he drove it for two months.) We dubbed our new ride "Lenny the Leftymobile" after we slapped our Obama sticker on its bumper. So far it's averaged a fuel-sipping 41 mpg in mostly city driving. ... I have a comic/graphic novel recommendation for everybody, even if (or perhaps especially if) you're not at all interested in comics. It's a series of autobiogrpahical books called "And Then One Day" by a guy named Ryan Claytor. Nary a superhero in sight, just some really interesting thoughts about life and art. You can find them at Ryan's web site: http://www.elephanteater.com/. The books are the collected Vols. 1-4, Vol. 5, and Vol. 6. Ryan just moved to Michigan, which is how I came across his work at our local comic-book shop.
Man, new beagle, new couch, new glass doors, new beers, vacation in the Keys, new car, new comics! It sure isn't our fault the economy's cratering. We seem to be spending as fast as we can.
And that's about it. Wow, that was a lot of typing. No wonder I was busy this year. And now I know why people just send out one Christmas letter and have done with their correspondance for the year.
Remember that folks, you're not getting leftovers here. You're getting prime repurposed content.
In this case, I wrote up a pretty good summary of what Monique and I did with our 2008 in an e-mail to a friend of mine last month. Here it is:
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So, what have we been up to lately? For starters, Monique and I are once again dog owners. We welcomed Katie the Beagle into our house in February. She's very sweet and not particularly obedient. She had previously belonged to our neighbor, who had gotten her over the holidays for her two small daughters and then quickly came to realize that she travelled waaaaay too much to own a dog. So, we took her in on a trial basis, then quickly made it permanent. Katie's first night with us was the first night of the Westminster Dog Show, when the beagle won the Hound Group. And on the second night of Westminster the three of us watched Uno the Beagle win "Best in Show", so we reckoned it was a pretty good omen. It's worked out very well, especially since the little girls next door still get to play with her quite a bit. Our neighbor had original gotten Katie from a rescue society and we think she was a puppy mill breeder dog before she came to us. She arrived without knowing a single trick (unless you consider "bark at the rabbit" to be a trick) but after a year of work she will now do "sit", "down", and "come" ... as long as you have a liver snap in your hand. I think "heel" may be next year's project. Right now when we try it she starts by lying down next to me, rolling over to show her belly as I walk forward, getting up and running forward a bit, then lying down and rolling over again. It's not "heel", but it is very entertaining.
Beagle ownership hasn't been all that time consuming, though. Most of my time and energy last year went into overthrowing the government. I could go on and on about the national stuff, but I know that everybody's tired of that campaign. Besides, most of my time went into a local campaign trying to help a local state rep named Andy Meisner to get elected as our county treasurer, which would be the first time in more than 30 years that a Democrat won countywide election, and the first time in 40 years that the incumbent or his father wasn't our county treasurer. A countywide race here is a bit larger than you might think. Oakland County has 1.2 million people, which makes it larger than nine states and about the same size in population as Maine or New Hampshire. You can see Andy's web site at: http://www.andymeisner.com/. To cut to the happy ending, it was the single best-run campaign that I've ever been involved in, and we won by almost 30,000 votes, 52.1% to 47.5%. The Dems also won the county prosecutor race. By winning those two seats, the Democrats secured a majority of the redistricting board that will re-draw county commissioner lines after the 2010 census, which pretty much guarantees a Democratic majority on the board of commissioners from 2012-2021. (Come to think of it, there was an interesting post-election piece on Oakland County in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/opinion/11greenberg.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)
So, all in all, it was a successful year overthrowing the government at both the national and the county level.
On the village front, I am still our Village President, where I spent most of my attention the first half of the year helping us to work out the details of our police merger with Walled Lake. As near as we can tell, it's the first police department merger of its kind in Michigan, so it involved all the joy you can imagine in working out the details of making municipal bureaucracies and regulations do something good that they're not really designed to do. Out of sheer kindness, I'm not going to drag you through the details, but will just cut to the happy ending which is that we signed a five-year contract that's saves both communities money while building a better police department for both of us. Most of the next year or two is likely to be spent in getting sewers to the North shore of the lake and in the 18-step process of converting from a village to a city. (Again, I'll spare you the details.)
My job has been going pretty well this year: plenty busy, but not a lot new to tell. In a surprising change of pace after years and years of cutbacks, the company I work for is actually hiring some new employees and making new products. This should be good news for Monique and ECDI, too. She's been involved in some work to define some new sets of data and content, which should eventually lead to some new contracts.
On the rugby front, after two international tours in 2007 I pretty much devolved into an old-boy-only rugby player this year, in great part because my left knee has developed this lovely new condition called "degenerative arthritis". Who could've known that 25 years of collision sports could be bad for your joints? I spent a lot of time on physical therapy over the summer, which seemed to help. I also spent the year on the Detroit RFC's officers' committee, which pretty much wiped out the six free minutes a day that I might've otherwise had. As part of my effort to regain my life in 2009 I handed over my officers' position to somebody else for next year. My rugby time in 2009 will be mostly limited to drinking beer and telling everybody how good I used to be, though I may trundle about with the old guys again if my leg feels up to it.
As for the rest of the family, I guess the biggest item of news for 2008 is that my brother Mike and his wife Cathy had a daughter named Zoe. Also on the big news front, my brother Bob got married last winter; he and his wife Danielle are expecting a baby in the Spring. My sister Susan started up an interesting and very funny blog at http://gettysburgfamily.blogspot.com/. Its slogan? "Raising Kids: Surprisingly Like Raising Livestock." And overall, everybody's been doing pretty well this year. The annual month-long invasion of the French Foreign Legion (Monique's sister Michelle and her four kids) was once again a lot of fun. This year our 15-year-old nephew Max came early, so we got to spend a couple of months with us, which was both fun and interesting, and gave us a chance to get to know Max much better. Among other things, he took driving lessons and learned to drive, repainted our rowboat, mowed the lawn many times, and generally had a chance to spend a lot of time with us.
And in short news items from the world of consumerism: We have a new couch in the living room, and new sliding glass doors to the porch ... I brewed a bit of beer last Winter that was delicious, but fell off the pace this year once things got hectic. I have ingredients again, though, so I'll probably brew up something new next week ... Monique and I had a nice post-Christmas trip down to the Florida Keys last year. Mostly we just camped out in the middle keys and enjoyed the sunshine. I think we'll do the same this year ... We bought a new Honda Civic Hybrid in August after the engine literally fell out of Monique's venerable Nissan Maxima after 15 years and 175,000 miles, thanks to engine mounts that had rusted all the way through. (Max insists that it's a mere coincidence that the car survived 15 years and then died after he drove it for two months.) We dubbed our new ride "Lenny the Leftymobile" after we slapped our Obama sticker on its bumper. So far it's averaged a fuel-sipping 41 mpg in mostly city driving. ... I have a comic/graphic novel recommendation for everybody, even if (or perhaps especially if) you're not at all interested in comics. It's a series of autobiogrpahical books called "And Then One Day" by a guy named Ryan Claytor. Nary a superhero in sight, just some really interesting thoughts about life and art. You can find them at Ryan's web site: http://www.elephanteater.com/. The books are the collected Vols. 1-4, Vol. 5, and Vol. 6. Ryan just moved to Michigan, which is how I came across his work at our local comic-book shop.
Man, new beagle, new couch, new glass doors, new beers, vacation in the Keys, new car, new comics! It sure isn't our fault the economy's cratering. We seem to be spending as fast as we can.
And that's about it. Wow, that was a lot of typing. No wonder I was busy this year. And now I know why people just send out one Christmas letter and have done with their correspondance for the year.
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