Pine Bluff News
By Pat Matheny
Tuesday, I stopped at Junior Nuzum’s home, which is located across the road from dear old SHS and dropped off a copy of the article that pertains to Eddie Hamrick’s death in Vietnam. Junior called me the day before and requested a printed copy. He said Eddie started working for him when he was fifteen years old (Washed trucks, etc) until he enlisted and was a good boy. As always, it was great chatting with Junior (WWII Navy Vet); we covered the military and politics…fine gentleman and a great American.
In the afternoon, I got the mowing caught up on our end of PB. In the evening, I attended Vet Center meeting in Morgantown. Our counselor for the past few years Cecil Joseph, is leaving for Phoenix, AZ, so he threw the group a pizza party. He’ll be working for another department of the VA dealing with homeless Veterans in the Phoenix area…good luck my friend. It seems like when our group finally gets a new counselor broke in to our liking, they leave us..?? Visitors at the house in the evening were Berni, Wendy, and Julia with my little buddy Colton “Eugene”.
Friday evening, Patty with Miss Aubrey and Berni with Dante, stopped in for a visit. The kids had a great time playing with the fountain in the half barrel and splashing the water out. I had to straighten the pump and refill the barrel after they left, but it was worth it to watch them giggling and having a ball.
We spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday running around North Central WV buying flowers and spent the evenings hanging and sticking them in planters. They keep getting more expensive every year and the back gets weaker.
Sunday, Kim and Butch stopped by. The women went shopping (More flowers) and Butch and I traveled over to the annual 1840’s Rendezvous encampment on Lamberts Run. I thought I’d check out my buddy Bruce Hoffman and see if I could give him some pointers on camping outdoors and building muzzleloaders…he has only been doing it for umpteen years. It was also nice to chat with Joe Brooks and other rendezvous campers. What I really like about the encampments is that all of the kids can run free and everyone looks out for them.
To finish up on a few thoughts about our trip to New Orleans last week, I’d like to thank Santana for taking great care of us and taking charge when required. Also, it’s well known that Susie and I still smoke (I know…we’ve heard it all, save your breath) … so, we spent a lot of time on the sidewalk in front of the hotel inhaling. We met several nice people that would join us, plus we enjoyed talking to the other guests and greeting new ones as they were coming and going. With a lanyard and nametag hanging around my neck, some people thought I worked for the hotel. Because the sidewalks are slanted, I held the hotel’s luggage dolly for four or five people who were loading and unloading…one guy tried to tip me. We spent so much time on the sidewalk, I bet the other guests thought I was pimping Susie out.
Susie did get a string of beads, although it was inside the reunion’s complimentary gift bag. If it had been fifty years ago, she would have earned the beaded necklace the traditional way on the streets…trust me.
Until next time, have a great week and remember our Veterans.
Pat