PapaJeff's mind

quick thought

2010-09-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

As we are traveling through the Midwest, I am amazed at the "amber waves of grain" that cover these states. Corn, soybeans, wheat - everywhere. We live in a beautiful, great nation that has truly been blessed by God. I would be willing to bet that most of the very hard-working farmers throughout this area don't agree with the things this administration is doing. I know that many of the farmers in Louisiana don't!!

Go to Catahoula Life (http://www.catahoulalife.com/) for a great article by my first cousin Alma Womack on this same subject. She really lays it out for us.

Do what's right for our children and grandchildren - get rid of the liberals and get conservatives in office who will cut the size of government and cut these huge deficits. They put us in bondage to foreign countries and will drag us down. The United States of America is the greatest nation the world has ever seen, and has done more good in lifting and defending others than ony nation in history. It's worth defending and restoring.

2010-08-27T20:41:00.001-07:00

My 57th birthday was a couple of days ago. Wow, where has the time gone? I mean, I'll be 60 in just 3 years and I don't feel like I've really "Done" anything. Strange. The oddest thing (and I've verified the feeling with a number of my friends) is that mentally I still feel like I'm 20 or so. I just can't quite do the same things:).

Life is great - wonderful wife, great kids, beautiful grandkids - what more can I say. I give Heavenly Father the credit, because he put me in the right place at the right time to join the Church, to fall in love with Linda (and, more importantly, for her to fall in love with me), and so on and so on.

Bottom line, I'm having a ball and love the blessings I have received.

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day commemorates those men and women who gave their lives in the service of our nation.

May they rest in peace, may God give their families comfort, and may the people of our nation never forget the sacrifice they made so that we can enjoy the greatest freedom and nation ever known.

New Year 2010

2010-01-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everybody!

2009 was pretty good, and 2010 promises to be even better. Being retired from the Army is good on several levels. First, I like that monthly check:). It's nice to have that security. Not having to go to drill or worry about being deployed is pretty cool, too. I hope to be able to do some traveling this year (and not just to cake shows) to see more of this great country. I feel like our business (DeseretDesigns) will do even better this year.

More to come.

Philosophical question

2009-10-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

Is once a month often enough to post? Or is that too much information?

Reunion time

2009-09-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

We had a great McClure family reunion this weekend. We met Saturday at Block High School in Jonesville, and some of us got together today up in Stonewall, LA to visit with Aunt Estelle, Aunt Rena, and her daughter Robin. A good time was had by all.

Aunt Rena told us that Aunt Inge, Uncle Sam's widow, had passed away over a year ago. A friend of hers contacted Aunt Rena and was able to send her some of his military memorabilia. He died of a heart attack in December of 1973 while serving as a Battalion Command Sergeant Major in Germany. She had, among other things, several of his medals and awards which were mounted in a shadow box (which included a Bronze Star for valor he won during the Korean War), as well as some unit crests and the flag from his casket. He served in the Marines from 1942 - 1946, then served in the Army from 1948 until his death in 1973. Just another part of our heritage.

Another interesting thing she had was a copy of his funeral service. The hymn from the service was "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". which I have loved ever since I joined the LDS Church. It was in our "old" hymnbook, but is not in the "new" one, published about 1985. It is an older hymn, but I don't remember who wrote it or when. Several churches have it in their hymnals.

I'll try to include more about the reunion soon.

Summer

2009-06-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

School is out, and the kids have no idea what it IS to be glad to be out of school!! Now all I have to do is get that "honey-do" book worked down some....

Church Birthday

2009-05-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today is the 34th anniversary of my baptism as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Along with asking Linda to marry me, this has to rank as one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have had a great many blessings as a result of joining the Church, and am serving as the Bishop of the Natchez, Mississippi ward.

More to follow, as it's late.

LTC McClure is Retired!!

2009-01-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all!!

Today is the day I go on the Retired list for the Army. It feels strange to not be in the Army in some capacity. My friend Dave Amerson assures me that I will quickly get used to it:). Linda and I went to Ft. Polk yesterday and got our Retired ID cards (yes, I am a blue ID cardholder now!!). It was appropriate that I be at Ft. Polk on my final day in the Army because I was at Ft. Polk on my first day in the Army!!!

I enlisted in Shreveport on 26 January 1973 and we were bussed to Ft. Polk. I took Basic Combat Training there (3rd Platoon of Company D, Third Battalion, 1st Basic Combat Training Brigade). I was the Platoon Guide, sort of an acting sergeant who was semi in charge of keeping track of the platoon and helping the Drill Sergeants. After Basic I went to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for AIT as a Field Radio Mechanic. That course went from March until early June 1973. I was assistant class leader, which was cool because the class leader and I got our own two-man room and everybody else was in an open bay on double bunks. RHIP:) My first regular duty station was with First Staff and Faculty Company at Ft. Eustis, VA where I worked in an electronics shop and took care of the radios and telephones in a classroom at the Transportation School. While I was stationed at Eustis I got a sweet TDY assignment for 6 months - I got to be a station-of-choice canvasser (recruiter's assistant) at home. That was great duty, and I put 31 people into the Army. My first recruit was my younger brother Mike:). After the recruiting I went back to Eustis for a few months, then got transferred to Germany, where I ended up in the 519th Transportation Company (Car) in Heidelberg.

More will follow about Heidelberg in another post.

Voted

2008-11-04T19:26:00.000-08:00

I voted (and Brooklyn went into the booth with me, so she voted, too. Sort of.)

And, quite frankly, I am afraid for my country. Results are not final yet, but I am appalled that so many supposedly intelligent people (maybe I'm giving too much credit here) were snowed by the liberal media bull**** and a rock star with no credentials. They deserve what they get if Obama gets elected, but the rest of us don't. If you hate America, please go somewhere else and leave those of us who love our country alone.

Thoughts on retiring from the Army

2008-10-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

I've been at Ft. Polk for a few days taking my retirement physical. That (and my impending retirement) has triggered a lot of reflection on the past. I won't go into a lot of that now, but rest assured, there have been lots of changes. When I enlisted in Shreveport on January 26, 1973, I had no idea I'd still be at it with the military 36 years later. I had a change of underwear, my shaving kit, and a quarter when we left the testing station and went to the bus station. We had a pretty good wait for the bus, so I thought I'd better call somebody and let them know I'd enlisted. I called Aunt Rosa May, since she lived in Shreveport, and asked her to call Mama and Daddy sometime and let them know I'd enlisted and was on my way to Ft. Polk and I'd call them when I got a chance.

It's funny, but I remember some ot the guys I enlisted with really well - Henry Bordelon and Lane J. Gauthier from Marksville, Curley Iles, and a red-headed guy that we all called Red. He had shoulder-length red hair and a long bushy red beard. That lasted until the first day in the reception station, when we went to the barber shop. The barbers charged $1.35 and the haircut was pretty simple - they cut it all off. The drills sent Red back through to get his beard cut off (and they charged him another $1.35). We didn't recognize him. His own mother wouldn't have recognized him!

I'll scan some pictures and get them on here some time.

Gustav was a bad, bad, boy

2008-09-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

Gustav came through the Miss-Lou Monday and left a vast black void. In other words, power was knocked out everywhere. Our lights went out about noon on Monday but I had just bought a generator so we were able to keep the freezer and fridge in Linda's shop going, along with some fans and the satellite and TV. The fans helped a good bit, because it is still cloudy and pretty cool. Our power came back on tonight (Tuesday) about 8pm. Unfortunately, much of the area is still dark and hot. I highly recommend picking up a 5kw or so generator and having someone help you learn how to set it up to keep essential items going. Safely storing some fuel is key as well, because when gas stations lose power no gas comes out of the pumps. Interesting how that works, isn't it? The Church teaches that we need to be prepared - food storage, water, etc. As usual, the Prophet is right.

Brooklyn, Jeni, and Trent came up the 29th for a birthday party and the McClure reunion. Good thing they brought up extra clothes as well, just in case, because the just in case happened. Trent went home today to check on their house (no damage) and his parents. They still don't have electricity, and won't for several days. Much of Baton Rouge will be out for the next couple of weeks. So, Gustav wasn't a Katrina (at least, not in the New Orleans area), but he still spread a pretty good swath of damage across areas of Louisiana that don't often get hit very hard.

Waiting for Gustav

2008-08-31T19:00:00.001-07:00

The air is almost eerily still, as if nature is pausing, catching its breath before a massive exhale. It's been still all day, and hot as blazes with humidity so high you feel as if you can't breathe. Gustav is coming. Actually, projections right now have the main part of the storm coming ashore east of Morgan City and moving through the state to the northwest, right through central Louisiana.

When I was little and a hurricane was coming we'd get together at the neighbors and the adults would play Rook all night as we kids watched and played until we got too tired to keep our eyes open. Fun stuff. We had coal oil lamps (kerosene lamps, for younger people) and candles for light if the power went off. Since we didn't have air conditioning, it didn't make any difference as far as staying cool. Naturally, there were no 24-hour news channels giving us breathless up-to-the minute updates that don't change from hour-to-hour, let alone minute-to-minute. I sometimes think we get way too much information now, because most of it is useless fluff that makes people too nervous. I guess that's the price of progress.

More to follow as Gustav permits.

The Barbecue Song

2008-08-26T17:32:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ubTQfr_tyY

The big 55

2008-08-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

Actually, I'm pretty jazzed to be hitting the big double nickle. Things are going great with the Army (with retirement in December coming at me like a fun freight train:)), I have a great family, and I am just having a good time all around. I have reached the point in life where I can say what I feel at work because there's not much anyone can do about it.

I'm at Ft. Polk right now, preparing to do some pre-retirement stuff. It's interesting the way things have come full circle. I enlisted in the Army in January 1973 up in Shreveport, because that's where the testing station was. After we were sworn in we were taken to the bus station to catch a bus to Ft. Polk and I figured I'd better let someone know where I was going. I called Aunt Rosa May (she lived in Shreveport and I only had a quarter) and asked her to call Mama and Daddy and let them know I was on my way to Ft. Polk and would call when I could. I think it was a couple of weeks before we could call. Anyway, I took Basic Combat Training at Polk and here I am coming back here to do retirement stuff. I think I'll participate in a retirement ceremony here in December or January, ending where I started. Cool. I also was stationed here for 4 years (1988 - 1992) and during that time I had the great good fortune to serve as Commander of the 539th Heavy Equipment Maintenance Company (General Support). They were great guys and gals, and we deployed to Saudi Arabia as part of the first Gulf War. More about that another time.

Happy Birthday to me!!

2008-08-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on approaching (tomorrow) 55.

What the Heck?!?!?! I was 20 just yesterday!! What happened?

Summer Days

2008-08-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

When I first typed the title I actually typed "Simmer Days", but my teacher misspelling radar kicked in and I fixed it. But, "Simmer" has been pretty accurate the past couple of weeks. Yesterday and today were nice, at least, temperature wise, but it rained most of this afternoon. No problem, because we needed it.

Summer sure is different from when I was a kid. We lived out on the north side of Little River and we didn't go to town much after school was out. Looking back from the perspective of a 54 (almost 55)-year old father of four and grandfather of three with two more on the way, I totally understand that now. There were six of us, and we were pretty rambunctious, to put it kindly. Fights were not uncommon. In fact, Cay won a pretty good many for a number of years. We had a Volkswagen van with a school bus seat in it. We filled the seat, sat on the engine compartment in the back, or sat on the floor. Seat belts? Not even for the driver and passenger seats. When we went to Daddy's Master's graduation from Northeast he put a kitchen chair in it for Grandma McClure. The floor was metal and driving down a road covered in pea gravel would make your head vibrate. Needless to say, no AC either. That's what windows were for. At one time we also had a big Buick Wildcat, but 6 kids fill up one of those pretty quick, too.

Since we didn't go to town much (once or twice a month to see Grandma and Grandad Godwin), we amused ourselves on the riverbank, in the woods, playing (or fighting) with neighbor kids, reading, playing under the house, etc, etc. I didn't like to go barefoot much, but the others did. Of course, even tennis shoes won't stop a big old thorn, so every now and then Mama would have to operate to get one out. The victim would never stay still because digging around with a needle to get that thorn out hurt like the devil! There was usually an appreciative crowd, too.

No AC in the house, either, but there was a big attic fan that would pull air in all the windows. Not necessarily cool air, but air. Many's the night we lay there with sweat trickling, covered with a sheet. Had to have the sheet to keep the mosquitoes at bay. Mike and I had a bunk bed with me on the top bunk and him on the bottom. It was positioned right by the window, with the top part of the window lowered and the bottom part raised so we could get some air. Whew! The bunk prompted a few fights, too. I guess it offends someone if the person on the top bunk steps on them when they get down. Who knew? Anyway, we survived.

The Bookmobile was always a highlight during the summer. For the unanointed, a Bookmobile is a big van (they'd be called an RV now) with bookshelves crammed with books from the town library that covered a route down all the country roads and lanes so the people out in the country could get library books. It was heaven to us, because we all read voraciously. The Bookmobile ladies had to be some of the most patient in the world, to put up with all us country kids. At our house, each one of us would get all the books allowed. By the time they came back in two weeks we'd have read all our books and all the books our brothers and sisters had checked out. Great stuff!

There's lots more, but it will have to wait for another time.

Welcome to FamilySearch

2008-08-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to FamilySearch

The Remington's: 6 Words

2008-07-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

The Remington's: 6 Words

Six words

2008-07-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

Jessie issued a challenge to describe ourself in 6 words. Interesting challenge, to distill the essence of a complex human being into six unconnected one-word thoughts.

1. Daddy
2. Husband
3. Loving
4. Capable
5. Funny
6. Teacher

How'd I do, Jessie?

Whoaa!!!

2008-04-18T18:35:00.001-07:00

I had a really different wake-up this morning!! There I was, sleeping peacefully, when all of a sudden I felt like someone was shaking my bed really hard!! I woke up in a panic (sort of like when you wake up suddenly from a nightmare, if you've ever had that experience) and was looking around for whoever it was who had gotten in my room. It turned out that there had been a 5.2 earthquake about 80 or so miles north of here (I'm at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, just south of Louisville). I have to admit, that was one freaky way to wake up. Fortunately there was no damage, but if something can make a building built on a really solid foundation with concrete block walls move like that even when it's not a "strong" earthquake, I don't want to be anywhere near a strong one!!

Empty???

2008-03-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

I guess PapaJeff's mind has been empty for a while. It will reappear soon.

MasterCard® Presents Priceless Pep Talks from Peyton Manning | priceless.com

2007-12-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

MasterCard® Presents Priceless Pep Talks from Peyton Manning priceless.com

More thoughts

2007-12-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

I'm about finished here at Ft. Lee, and I an ready to get home (at least for a couple of days before I have to go back to Belle Chasse). I'm getting tired of being gone most of the time, but one more year will wrap it up and let the retirement begin!!! At least, let the Army retirement begin - we'll see about school later.

I'm excited about Christmas because just about everybody will be home for a while. Jessie, Bart, Brennan and Jackson get here next week, Jeni, Trent, and Brooklyn will be in Vidalia for a few days, and of course Justin is there. We'll miss Jason and Becca, but Linda and I are going up to see them for a day or so in January, after she takes a class at Nicholas Lodge's school in Atlanta. Everybody will get together at Mama's in Jonesville on Saturday, which will be loads of fun, and I'm really looking forward to it. We don't get together near often enough!

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas thoughts

2007-12-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

I guess I have not proven to be much of a blogger so far, but to each his own. I'm in Virginia for a couple of weeks, which is ok, but I'd rather be at home. I love Christmas time. It makes me travel back to when I was a kid, and to when our kids were small. I love the feeling of good cheer and goodwill that is widespread, but I don't like the "buy, buy, buy" that comes at us from every direction. When I was little, we got one big present from Santa Claus, and usually we kids got little presents for each other along with some small things from Mama and Daddy. We weren't gifted with lots of material things, but we had a pretty good family. I think many of us have too much today, and don't really appreciate what we have.

Here are some pictures from one Christmas (1964) out on Little River.

Up above are me and Mike, with Ed and Rosa in the other small picture. Ed really liked his stopper gun! I'm looking at my airplane, and Mike is showing off his pistols:)

This is Jane and her baby doll.

Weren't we cute? I think so, but then, I'm prejudiced. It was a lot simpler Christmas then.

Merry Christmas to all.

Woe is me (and a lot of others!)

2007-11-23T19:06:00.000-08:00

The Tigers went down in a tough one today, and I'm sad to see the loss. At least they beat Alabama a few weeks ago, and I was tickled at that one, since I work with several Tide fans. I work with only one Hog, and will be off until next Thursday, so hopefully I won't catch too much flak when I get back to work. They're in the SEC title game, and will draw a good bowl, but the BCS title just slipped away. I know it's just a game, but it sure is disappointing when your team goes down to somebody they should have beat.

An empty mind?

2007-11-18T17:23:00.000-08:00

The pictures:
l: Me in Kuwait on Christmas Day 2003 (2nd tour)

c: SGT Doug McClure (Daddy)

r: CSM Sam McClure (Uncle Sam - one of Daddy's older brothers)

The pictures of Daddy and Uncle Sam show part of the reason I have stuck with the military so long - it runs in the family.

The blog has been empty, maybe because my mind is empty right now, or because I've been otherwise occupied. I like that "otherwise occupied" better than empty, so that's what I'll go with right now. I had to go back to Ft. Polk earlier this week to finish demobilizing so I can start my final active duty orders. The orders are for 1 year, 1 month, and 17 days, ending on 31 December 2008 with my active duty retirement. YAHOO!!! I can't believe I'm actually going to be able to get an active duty retirement. I guess if you hang around long enough you can get pretty much what you want. I'm glad I won't have to wait until age 60 to start drawing the money. I never figured when I enlisted in January of 1973 that I'd still be fooling with the Army over 34 years later. I have had a good career for the most part. The multiple deployments to Kuwait over the past 5 years have not been real fun, but that's what made it possible to hit that active duty time I needed, so I guess even somewhat unpleasant experiences count for our good if we approach them with the right frame of mind. But, the deployments weren't too bad, because I had mostly good people working for and with me, and I had some good bosses. Attitude is everything.

Happy Birthday, Cay

2007-11-09T20:40:00.000-08:00

Today (Nov 9) is my sister Cay's birthday. I won't say how old she is today, but I'm 54 and she's one year younger than I am. Next June our brother Mike turns 52. From his birthday until mine in August we are 1,2,3 in age, then I jump ahead.

Sizzling stuff for a blog, huh?

Hmmm...

2007-11-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm going to join in on NaBloPoMo (or whatever it is), or at least try to. I don't think I can equal Jessie's creativity, since I no longer have small children around, and since I don't do much interesting stuff. We'll see how it goes.