texified

     I’ve written before about my father’s best friend when he was growing up.  They both lived in the little dusty west Texas town of Truscott, but since their school burned down, they were bused to the nearby town of Crowell.  It was there at the Crowell high school that my father met my mother.

     The options were limited in that small town if you wished to take your girl on a date. Fortunately,  C. J.’s  father had a car and let his son use it, and he would drive my father and mother all about.  I have seen photos of all of them on the bridge over the North Wichita River, laughing and having fun. My father with his football letter jacket and a white scarf about his neck, standing besides my smiling mother, my father and C.J. standing with their arms about each other’s shoulders. There also photos of my dad and C.J. in their football uniforms. Dad played quarterback his senior year and C.J. fulback.  My mother was a cheerleader.

      Both my father and C.J. graduated from High School on a Friday, and on Monday, both left for their military training, my father into the army and eventually the army/airforce, and C.J. into the marines. My father survived the war, whereas C.J. died a hero’s death on the black sands of Iwo Jima (Fifth Marine Division), winning the Navy Cross, and leaving a hole in both of my parent’s lives.  My father is 86 and has lived a long, loving life, whereas C.J. died  (KIA Kelton, C.J. Pfc 5th Tank 5th Feb 22, 1945, Iwo Jima) at the age of 20 and his bones have lain in those dark volcanic sands of Iwo Jima for 65 years.

     And why do I write about C.J. Kelton now?  It is Memorial Day, and when I thought of whom I should hold in my memory for this day, I thought of C.J.  Fortunately, I have had no recent member of my family who has died while serving their country.

      I remember hearing about C.J. when I was about four years old, about how my father’s best friend died in “the war.”  I never thought much about him again until a few years ago when putting together comments by my mother and father, I learned more about him and wanted to know more about this young man who was so well liked by both of my parents.  My mother always talked about how sweet and good he was.  Also I was struck by the contrast between him and my father.  Both were from similar backgrounds and had similar lives, but C.J.’s life and future were cut so cruelly short.  I often wondered what would have happened if he had lived and had come back from that cruel war and had a family.  I have wondered about his mother and father and siblings that he left behind.  What has become of them?  Perhaps I shall never know.  I have searched online for any mention of his death, and today I found this:

*KELTON, C.J.
Citation:
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to C.J. Kelton (870869), Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps (Reserve), for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving with the Fifth Tank Battalion, Division Service Troops, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 22 February 1945. With his platoon command tank struck and set afire by hostile shellfire during a perilous advance northward against a fanatic, determined enemy, Private First Class Kelton promptly dismounted from his own vehicle and braved the enemy’s shattering 47-mm. antitank, mortar and small-arms fire in a valiant attempt to rescue the entrapped crew. Boldly pressing forward under the withering barrage, he crossed the 25-yard open area and unhesitatingly entered the blazing tank and then, working tirelessly and with superb courage, personally extricated two of the three wounded men from the tank and carried them back to his own vehicle despite the incessant shellfire. By his daring initiative, outstanding fortitude and grave concern for the safety of others at great risk to his own life, Private First Class Kelton contributed to the saving of three fellow Marines who otherwise might have perished and his self-sacrificing efforts throughout upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Commander in Chief, Pacific Forces: Serial 32446 (July 12, 1945)
Born: at Kanima, Oklahoma
Home Town: Truscott, Texas http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/02_NX/citations/03_wwii-nc/nc_06wwii_usmcH.html

ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD A male Anna’s Hummingbird showing his bright, irridescent gorget.  This color is not contained in any pigment in the feathers, but is caused by the refraction of the light which is caused by the physical structure of the feathers.

ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD  A side view of the same Anna’s Hummingbird. The gorget on his chin appears black now as the angle of the light changes and is no longer refracted.

       While leaping along some volcanic rocks on a Pacific beach in Guanacaste province in Costa Rica, I dropped my camera into a tide pool.    It was only underwater for a second before I snatched it out.  I immediately dried it with my bandana, took the lens off and opened the battery compartment, looked inside and saw it was all dry.  Apparently some water got in,  possibly through the control knobs and buttons, because it wouldn’t work.  It appeared that everything turned on fine, but the release switch to take the photograph wouldn’t work.

     After investigating I found that to clean and possibly repair the camera would cost more than I was willing to pay (especially since such cameras could not always be repaired, but you would have to pay to find out), so I decided to get another camera along with a lens which I have had my eye on for a long time.  This lens was the Nikkor 18-200mm lens with vibration reduction which allows the shooter to take photos at lower speeds.  Of course with telephoto lens this vibration reduction (VR) would especially come in handy.  The lack of some sort of telephoto lens on the Costa Rica trip was frustrating since other people were getting great bird shots with their telephotos, whereas I had to be satisfied with my 18-55 mm!  Some people have accused me of dunking my camera into the salt water so I would have the excuse of getting a new camera.  I totally deny this…at least it wasn’t a conscious action.

    Anyway I have found that for the first time, I am able to take half-way decent photos of birds.  I say for the first time although back in the early seventies I had a cheap Spiratone 400mm lens ($34!) which was half the length of my arm and which you had to manually stop down after focusing with the lens wide open.  It didn’t have a vibration reduction mode incorporated in the lens of course, and the photos I took were usually blurry.

   This past Thursday I went down to the local park by the waters of Puget Sound where this little male Anna’s Hummingbird has been hanging about for the past 3 or 4 years and was able to take these shots shown above.  You can check this site for more.  The little male would turn his head back and forth which would cause his brilliant gorget to flash on and off like a neon light as the light angle varied.  This is the same fella whose “chirping” displays I talked about before.

Central America is the site of contending crustal plates–notably the Cocos Plate in the Pacific Ocean which is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate right off the western coast of central america at a rate of 72-81 mm/yr.  It’s this area where the Central   America Volcanic Arc exists which forms the volcanoes of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica (See photo above of Volcan Arenal).  To the north there is the North America Plate which is moving to the west at about 20 mm per year resultng in further seismic turmoil.  Then to the east the North American plates dives beneath the Caribbean plate as does the South American plate to the south.

     South America was part of the great southern land mass, Gonwanaland.  When it drifted away from the rest of the southern continents it remained in relative isolation for over sixty million years.  Once the link between North and South America was established there was a great influx of North American fauna into South America and vice versa to  a lesser extent.  The great marsupial fauna of South America died off mostly as did other less successful groups.  Some of the South American biota moved into North America.  Central America remains today one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world.

    Costa Rica and the rest of the isthmus has acted as a filter bridge in this great migratory process that really picked up steam only three million years ago when the connection was complete between North and South America.  The diverse topography of Costa Rica has resulted in refugia where species could still live after dying out in other areas.  This combined with the species from the north and from the south has resulted in a tremendous amount of biotic diversity in this small area.

    It is estimated that in this small country there are 500,000 to 1,000,000 species of plants and animals with most remaining unknown.  Insects by themselves make up about half of this diversity, whereas 850 species of birds can be found–about ten percent of all known species of birds.  North America has about half that number.  Others estimate about 160 species of amphibians, 220 species of reptiles and about 10% of all known butterflies.

   And all this in the second smallest Central American Nation (El Salvador is the smallest).  Only 119 km across at the narrowest point in the south and 280 km wide at its broadest point, it is quite easy to drive across the country in about five hours.  Solely in the tropical latitudes it still exhibits a broad range of distinct climate zones (12). 

The eastern Caribbean side is the wettest whereas the western pacific slopes are the driest. When I visited the Pacific coast area of Costa Rica (Guanacaste), the hills and countryside was covered with trees devoid of leaves.  It was strange seeing black howler monkeys sitting in leafless trees.  This was in sharp contrast to the rainforest on the Caribbean coast.   Most areas have a rainy season, or “green season,”  (May-November) and a dry season (December-April) with the rainfall almost everywhere following a predictable schedule.  Usually the highland ridges are wet with the windward sides being the wettest.

This is Concepcion, a volcano,  forming part of an island (Ometepe)  in the middle of Lake Nicarauga. It was putting forth steam and smoke just as our plane flew over. There was a heavier cloud of material that you can just see on the other side of the volcano which was proceeding down the NW slope towards the small communities just seen on the margin of the island.  This sort of thing must be common, because right at this time the pilot announced that we were beginning our descent into San Jose, Costa Rica without even mentioning that there was an erupting volcano just below us!   The last eruption is said to have occurred last December with gas and ash rising 150 meters into the air.  Maybe the above photo doesn’t depict an eruption?  Hmm…looks like it goes at least 150 meters into the air.  Addendum:  I just found this site which I quote:

“On 8 March [just when we were passing over!] an ash and gas plume from Concepción rose to 2,100 metres altitude and light ashfall was reported in nearby communities. Low levels of seismic activity and occasional small explosions producing light ashfall were reported during subsequent days. On 12 March Washington VAAC issued a volcanic ash advisory reporting an eruption producing an ash cloud that reached FL100 (10,000 feet / 3,000 metres altitude). According to news reports there were two further explosions on 14 March. No casualties or damage resulted, although civil defence alerts remained in place for communities around the volcano. The Nicaraguan geological service INETER described the volcano on 19 March as ‘practically in a full eruptive phase’, with 34 explosions between 18:00 on 17 March and 11:45 on 18 March. On 19 March it was reported that the Nicaraguan government was sending army and navy units to the area around Concepción to strengthen civil defence preparations and prepare evacuation routes, ‘just in case’. The location of Concepción, on the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua, makes floods and tsunamis a potential danger if the volcano were to erupt.

However, shortly afterwards activity at the volcano began to decline, with INETER reporting on 22 March that degassing and seismic activity had fallen to low levels in comparison with the preceding days. On 24 March INETER confirmed a ‘considerable reduction in activity’ but reported continuing ‘anomalous’ levels of seismicity. The current situation is that activity remains low, but the volcano continues to be carefully monitored.”

The northern end of Lake Managua in Nicaragua. Note the line of  steaming volcanoes.  Lake Managua is just to the north of Lake Nicaragua.

     I’ve never been on a tour before.  I’ve always looked down on them for some reason.  However,  I’ll be leaving tomorrow night to meet my father in Houston where we will fly down and tour Costa Rica.  Not like the Panama trip a few years ago when we made up our own itinerary and travel plans, but a conducted tour which provides all the meals, lodging and travel arrangments.  It looks like it will be lots of fun and I am looking forward to it.  I have always had a hankering to go to Costa Rica ever since I turned down a chance to spend a year in that country studying lizards–and getting paid doing it.

    I hope to be reporting on the trip, if not as I go, at least when I get back.

   My father returned home from the hospital today!  He had open heart surgery last Monday (Jan 25) which went very well.  I guess they said that he could have gone home yesterday (Friday), but he said he wasn’t ready to leave yet!  Four days seems like a very short stay after such major surgery, but I guess that is the norm now if the patient is doing well.  He was in ICU until Wednesday.  He is at my sister’s place where he will stay for about the next two weeks as he recovers.  I sincerely thank everybody for their prayers and good wishes.

     Needless to say I am very relieved and overjoyed that he is doing so well.  He has never had any sort of major illness, no surgery, and as a child, I can’t remember him ever being sick.   His experience which seemed to come out of the blue with no warning (good cholesterol levels, blood pressure about 120/70, etc) makes me much more determined to live the sort of lifestyle that precludes such problems–exercise, proper diet, etc.

     Last Thursday (Jan 21)  my father had some chest pain after returning from the store.  It wouldn’t go away,  and soon my father realized that this wasn’t the normal discomfort that he sometimes felt from the acid reflux which he sometimes has.  Then he did something out of character–he asked his next door neighbor to call an ambulance.

    I understand how out of character this was for him, because I am just like my father in many ways.  We both would tend to ignore pain until it became overwhelming, and for him to ask for an ambulance shows that it was something out of the ordinary.   I am still surprised that he did this and didn’t try to drive to the emergency room by himself.  It just goes to show that he was experiencing something out of the ordinary and that he is much smarter than I am.

     The next morning he had an angiogram and instead of a stent which they thought he might need, they found he had two coronary arteries which showed some blockage.  He would need double bypass surgery.  The interesting thing is that they found that his EKG was normal.  A slight elevation of heart enzymes showed that he had a mild heart attack also.

    My father will be 86 in March and has always been extremely healthy.  The doctor, one of the best in the Dallas area, said that he doesn’t consider the patient’s age in considerating this procedure, but their health, and that my father was otherwise in excellent health.

     The operation will take place at 7:15 am CST tomorrow.  I’d appreciate any kind thoughts or prayers sent my father’s way.

     Recently I was going through my chest-of-drawers in a long-delayed effort to clean them out.   As I sorted through some of the clothes I realized that my entire way of thinking about clothes has changed over the years.  I have always kept any clothes that I had until they literally fell apart or were outgrown.  After I reached adulthood, I would go for years without a size change, so I ended up with some very old clothes.

   I found to my chagrin and horror that there were clothes here that I acquired back in another era of my life.   Here was a t-shirt that I bought for a dollar in a street fair on Massachusetts street in Lawrence, Kansas back in 1972!  And here was a t-shirt that I had bought at about the same time that had the “ecology flag” emblazoned on the front.  I remember wearing that shirt on a Mammalogy field trip to Dodge City, Kansas in ’71.  In the back of the drawer I pulled out more relics of bygone times.

        One was a white undershirt with a picture of a duck riding a football and with the inscription “The Ducks Take to the Air” printed on it.  I remember somebody I knew who was leaving the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon in the summer of 1977 and was about to throw the shirt away and offered it to me.  I took it of course.   Here was a peculiar fuzzy sweater that I had received as a gift for Christmas in 1972.  And there in the back corner of the drawer was a t-shirt, stained with the smoke from an apartment fire that I had in ’81 which I remember buying in the summer of 1965!

    I gathered all these past mementos up preparatory to throwing them away or giving them to Good Will.  I put them into a gym bag which my grandparents had given me in 1962.  To this I added an old pillow which I had never liked which I had acquired for green stamps in the fall of 1967.  I sat there looking at the pitiful pile of stuff that I would never use again.  I busied myself with newer clothes that I never wore.  Afterwards I came back to the pile of old stuff.

    I put these all away again, telling myself that perhaps I would throw them out during the next cleaning.  For some reason the longer I possess something, the harder it is to get rid of it.  My New Years resolution is to get rid of new clothes— less than fifteen years old or so.