Category: DailySocotra

The Battle of Triangle Hill

(DVD cover for the epic film Battle on Shangganling Mountain. Photo YesAsia.) I was thinking about the start of the Korean War- or Conflict, or whatever this morning. It has been seventy years since the shooting started there, and it is worth the time to think about. I spent 14 months there one time, and […]

Swamp Postcard: Back From the Brink

So, I was trying to put the final touches on the Postcard this week from the bog down by the majestic Potomac River this morning. It was tough, since things just kept pouring in, helter-skelter. Our distinguished governor, Mr. Northam made news, announcing our collective house arrests would be eased on the first of July. […]

Buddy Marshall Appeal

Help the Buddy Marshall Assistive Technology Center! Friends, Buddy Marshall is one of my heroes. His abrupt transformation from a top performing Navy fighter pilot to quadriplegic in the course of an instant is one that moved me tremendously and viscerally as a father. His Dad is an old pal of mine, and the sudden […]

Yemen Separatists Seize Socotra Island

Dear Readers, This is from the heart. A fellow named Mohammed Mukhashaf has published an article about developments from my family’s ancient homeland. He calls Great Socotra Island “remote.” That is absurd. It is actually the center of the universe, and it is we who are distant from sanity. Considering the circumstances here, where a […]

The Longest Day

It was the longest day of the year, a cool thing in the northern latitudes where I hang out on the planet. I tried to think how many minutes of additional daylight we were going to get each day until the Summer Solstice marked the end of the growth and began the long slide back […]

…And Taxes

Big week, gentle readers. Maybe the most significant event was a strong rebuke from a dear lady friend who demanded additional information on the assertions of famed Plague Scribe Marlow, who did not include his recipe for what he claimed was the ultimate Old Fashioned Cocktail. I immediately sprung into decisive action and sent an […]

Passing of Ray Bollinger

Colleagues, Friends and Shipmates, I got one of those phone calls from Louisiana this morning you never want to get. We have all lost a friend, a comrade, a fellow in the great struggles of the last century and the one we are struggling through now. Ray was a Master Chief Bo’sun, among a myriad […]

Sixty-Nine

This is an account of the mess I managed to get myself into as I approached retirement, but which has its roots in my boyhood, and the thrilling aspect of contact sports. First was football, then lacrosse and the occasional and spirited crashes while on duty as a Ski Patroller. The distance running that I […]

Pierce County Executive Endorsment

Larry Seaquist: the Leader Pierce County Needs! I am a dedicated voter. I view it as a duty, and living and working in the Washington Beltway hothouse, I have had the pleasure to meet some of our legislative luminaries. I want to tell you about an extraordinary friend and public servant who defines what we […]

Farm Sounds

There is a fair but tolerable level of gunfire here at the farm in all the seasons to augment the sound of tractors and the occasional rumble of livestock truck out on the county road. I am happy to join in the shooting when my mood is right. An exception was last Friday- or very […]