Pentecost and Faust

Most people have seen disruption to their normal lives since mid-March, when the world was turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic.  To a large degree we all gravitate to a normality, whether it be in our eating, in our chores, in our daily exercise or in our work.  That normality was shattered in mid-spring and our hopes for a return to what we knew as normal may no longer occur. We may see a new normal.  Since the outbreak of the Pandemic, in-attendance church has been canceled, so my wife and I have been watching the Sunday liturgy at St John's Abbey in Minnesota. We enjoy their liturgies, the organ music, and above all the quality of their homilies.  That leads me to Pentocost Sunday, on the last day of May 2020. 

St John Abbey and University Church Window

As if the pandemic was not sufficiently upsetting to society then came along the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis and the resulting protests and riots which have spread to many cities in the nation. Three parts of the St John's mass struck me as we grapple with the outfall of these two incidents, one world and one now national.  

Great Hall 

First, was the First reading and the Responsorial Psalm which follows the first reading.  The first reading, Acts 2:1-11, is about the Holy Spirit coming down to the Apostles and in which they speak in other tongues.  Yet, the reading goes on to talk about a whole host of persons from different areas and countries with different customs and languages hearing in their own language what the Apostles speak, and it was not the language of Aramaic, or perhaps Hebrew in which the Apostles would normally speak.  What was striking to me was how the Holy Spirit was speaking to more than just those from Galilee or Jerusalem, but to a broader humanity.  That seems to be a message that we have forgotten, or perhaps laid to the side, that we are all one humanity regardless of race, sex, or affiliations. But, that was not the end of the driving home of this message.

Second, at the time of the Responsorial Psalm, three monks came forward. The refrain was sung in English, but each of the three verses were sung in a different language:  A monk sang a verse in Spanish, a monk from Africa sang in Swahili, and a monk from Vietnam sang in Vietnamese.  In a sense all four corners of the earth were covered by the singing of the Psalm, once again showing that we are all one under God.  I found this quite powerful, given recent events.  This made me think that perhaps there is no other institution on earth, as flawed the as Church may be, that has such a global reach.

Then came the homily.  The celebrant, Fr Michael Patella, OSB related the reading from Acts and the portion of John's Gospel to Mahler's Symphony #8.  He relates Acts as the Holy Spirit coming like an earth shake, and the words of Gospel as a gentle nudge from the Holy Spirit.  He then gets into the way the symphony describes the relationship of Faust and his bargain with the devil (and later his redemption by his lover Gretchen).  What Fr Patella had to say, is well beyond my capabilities.  He says that the pandemic shows cracks in "high relief the results of a world built on small Faustian bargains" from our streets to the highest office in the land.  He then relates that such fears have no place within the larger works of the Holy Spirit.  You can view the homily at this link, and it begins at about the 29:00 minute mark (Please note the recording, I believe, is up for one week, so it will expire next week Saturday).

Church Bell Banner

Yet, if the Holy Spirit is to either act like a earthquake or gentle nudge on each of us we have to be willing to discern what the Holy Spirit intended, and then look to act on that nudge or earth shake.  Small acts of kindness and realizing that we are more alike than different, may not help quell the violence at present, but it can also show the better "angles of our nature", such as those who come together to clean up following a night of violence.  It takes a change of hearts to change society and to change hearts requires us to listen and be aware. We have to realize that we are all together on one earth, just like those who sung verses to the Responsorial Psalm.  Personally, the mass was just what my soul required in this time of turmoil.  To that I am thankful to St John's.

Memorial Day

During this time of pandemic people have had to get used to reduced gatherings, and events.  This year Memorial Day, generally recognized as the beginning of summer, had a much different feel than years past.  While I have not regularly attended local McFarland events, the lack of events provided a different feel to the holiday this year. However, that did not mean the experience without a gathering was not meaningful.

McFarland Legion Memorial

Locally, the American Legion post sponsors a parade on the morning of Memorial Day, and while the large area parade would be in Monona, the local legion parade fits a small community just fine.  Although years ago I have to admit it was sort of lame.  When our children were younger we would watch the parade, and as they got a little older they were often in the parade, from Tiger Cubs, to Cub Scouts, to Boy Scouts or with the middle or high school band.  My wife and I bought this house on May 25, 1990, the Friday before Memorial Day, and my first recollection of the Memorial Day parade in town was moving her into the house and getting stuck at the blocked street while trying to get to the house.  We are about a block from the parade route, and lack of a street grid system meant that we had to wait while it passed the intersection or go miles out of the way.  I think I chose going around the route.  If I had known then, as I did later, how few units are the parade, I may well have stayed and watched for the street to reopen.It may have been quicker.  As an aside, I mentioned to my wife a few days ago, on May 26, that it was 30th anniversary of the first full day of owning the house, with a mortgage of course.  Well, my Land Girl thought it no big issue and has no sentimental attachment to that day. I thought it was a neat fact, she apparently did not.  But, that is quite frequent of facts I think are neat, but no one else seems to care.

National and some Service Flags at the Memorial

Beyond the parade, there is also the Legion BBQ.  Located next to the High School, the Legion would host a chicken BBQ, which we have attended a few times in the past.  It is, or was, a big deal in town, but this year of course it was canceled.  After the parade, which ends at the High School, people would flock to the Legion for lunch.  The BBQ smell, would waft over the parade route, meaning it moved stomachs and moving stomachs it moved minds to get something to eat., and getting something to eat meant going to the source of the BBQ smell--the legion.

Casket flags beyond the service and main national flag

In 2005 the Legion installed a memorial to recognize local service members.  Andrew, our oldest son, created a landscape plan, received Legion approval and oversaw, and assisted, the boy scouts and other community members who helped install the landscaping as his Eagle Scout project.  He gathered donations to pay for the planting as well as sold items to assist with the fund raising. The landscape plan provided shrubs that have a red flower in the spring, about the time of Memorial Day, and also had Stella d' Oro day lilies with their gold flower to bloom on the fourth. I think improper pruning affected the bloom this year.  The nation's flag, flanked by the state and service flags sit in the center of, and slightly taller poles, than the waves of adjoining casket flags, which are in place to recognize those from the community who sacrificed for their country.

But, the Legion does more than a chicken dinner on Memorial Day, they also hold an event with a speaker to recognize and recall those who served and gave their life.  They also identify the boys and girls selected for Badger Boys and Girls State, for which both my sons were selected.  In 2011, at his Badger Boys State recognition on Memorial day, our youngest son Joe had the opportunity to meet Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Salvatore Giunta.  Joe's Eagle Scout project raised supplies to send to troops serving in Afghanistan.  The goal was to provide supplies to the unit of local resident Joshua Brennan, the 173rd Airborne.  Brennan, had been killed in action during an ambush by the Taliban in Kunar Province and the community wished to support his unit.  Giunta, a member of Brennan's unit, took fire himself in order to save other members of the unit, and for that he was awarded one of the Nation's highest honors.  Joe received donations of money and items, and organized his homeroom and Christ the King and McFarland Lutheran youth groups in gathering and assembling supplies, and mailing.  Community support was so large that many other units were able to benefit. 

Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Salvatore Giunta
Speaking at McFarland Legion 2011 Memorial Day Ceremony
Author photo, May 2011 

For all the years I have been in town there is one constant about Memorial Day, and that is the flying of a casket flag for members of the post and community who have sacrificed for the nation.  Seeing the large mass of flags flying on the hillside cannot help but think of the sacrifice of those the day serves, those who died in battle, but also by extension those who had or do give part of their life to serve the nation.  On Sunday, my wife and I stopped by to view the flags and Legion Memorial.

This year the sound at the local memorial among its multitude of flags was not the speech of some dignitary, the 21 gun salute, or the clapping and rancor of an appreciative crowd, but rather the gentle whoosh the wind and the flapping of the flags on an otherwise lonely hill side.  While I missed hearing the bands play in the parade and the smell of the BBQ, the casket flags and memorial stand testament to the true meaning of Memorial Day. The silence, but for the flapping of the flags, is a solemn reminder of the purpose of the day.  A speech was not required.

Unless noted otherwise photos by author on 5/24/2020

Football

The past two months has been a dream time for the NFL as no other sports have been played.  The NFL sets its schedule to take advantage of almost every month of the year, lest people forget about them and concentrate on say baseball or basketball.  Think about it, July is training camp, August is training camp and pre-season games, the seasonal games run Sept to the end of Dec, or early January.  Playoffs are in January, and the Super Bowl in February.  Free agency starts in March and the draft is held in late April.  Yet, they are not done.  May and June hold what is referred to as Organized Team Activities (OTA's is football lingo, which can be confused with online travel agency), and many areas have given the go ahead for that activity this year.  This year, due to COVID-19, the NFL pretty much owned the sports pages until recently when ESPN began its series on Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. At least there was something else than those dissecting the NFL free agency and the NFL draft.

Source:  Google images

Of course, the No Fun League, under Roger Godell, likes the idea of being in the sports pages at least once a month, and to dominate them during the season and playoffs. There is also the quote given by Allegheny County Corner Dr. Cyril Wecht to Dr. Bennet Omalu (played by Will Smith) in the movie "Concussion" where Dr. Wecht says: "The NFL owns a day of the week, the same day the church used to own." You can see that clip here. Of course, the NFL owns more than Sunday's in the fall and winter. The NFL made the move to Monday nights decades ago, and in the past few years have expanded Thursday night games. The earned television revenue of the NFL is split equally between all 32 teams, and it is reported that each team received $255 Million of TV revenue as of February 2019 (compared to $99 million in 2010). All teams, but one are privately held, so little financial information is fully available, except for that one team. The one team owned by the "public" is the Green Bay Packers. The Packers, in 2018, earned $196 million in local revenue; local revenue is made up of ticket sales, concessions, corporate sponsors, and some merchandise sales. That $196 million represented 43% of their 2018 revenue of $455 million. (If the 2020 season sees no attendance, that means the Packers will likely lose about that much revenue this year.)

Of course, there is the expense side. In the same year, 2018, the Packers had expenses of $420 million, and of that amount $213 million went to players, and the remaining $208 million was for stadium upkeep, marketing, team, and administrative costs. The most expensive player on the Packer team is QB Aaron Rodgers, who was given a four year contract in 2018 worth $134 million. Signing bonus and other specifications in the contract make it difficult to say how much he makes year to year, but let us say it was quite significant. One study of the complexities of NFL player salaries, said that Aaron Rodgers is the highest paid player in the NFL and made almost $67 million for the 2019 season, which is over $146,000 for every minute of playing time. What does this say about national priorities?

Source:  Google images

The NFL player collective bargaining agreement is completed by veteran players so it gives veterans higher benefits than those on the four to five year rookie contract. This is why teams, with the possible exception of the Chicago Bears, select what they hope will be a starting QB in the NFL player draft. (The poor Bears, can never seem to get the QB situation right, as the Chicago Tribune reported on 4 Jan., nine of the QB's starting in the playoffs this past season the Bears had a chance to select, but did not.) The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl this year and that was accomplished with their QB Patrick Mahomes on his 2017 rookie contract and who was drafted tenth. Teams who passed on Mahomes included the Chicago Bears who are now thought to have essentially wasted draft picks and three years on Mitch Trubisky. The Bears could be the poster child of how not to select a QB. If you have a successful QB the QB is in line, as was Aaron Rodgers, for a large payday. Russell Wilson of Seattle has a contract valued at $140 million, and is estimated to make $53 million this year.

The benefit to a team with a good QB on a rookie contract is that there is significantly more salary cap space for other players. As free agency concludes teams may dump high cost players that have shown little on the field to make room for other players. The team salary cap for 2020 in the NFL is $198.2 million, which means that Russel Wilson's salary is about 25% of the Seattle Salary cap, and if the report on Aaron Rodgers is correct his percent was much more. What the NFL owners and general managers fail to realize is that the high priced QB's, are more a detriment than a help to a team, after all it is a team. Other than Tom Brady, who gave New England a discount, no high priced QB has won a recent Super Bowl in the past few years. High priced Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees (Saints), and others have come close. A second string QB, Nick Foles, won it for Philadelphia in 2017. But, unlike horse shoes, close does not count. I had thought Rodgers should have been traded in 2018 for a young QB or a journey man QB and strengthen other positions.

Rodgers and Love
Source:  Google images

Rodgers signed his new agreement in August 2018, and he was at the height of his game. While his game has declined somewhat in the recent years, some say it was injury and others how the Packers failed to provide proper play makers for him. Of course, to get more play makers you need to have salary cap room, and when one body sucks up a significant amount of you salary cap is it little wonder why not much remains? Rodgers has always worked best when slighted and Tom Oates and others think that the drafting of Jordan Love in the first round is the slight Rodgers needs to advance his game, apparently even if the team lacks a good second fiddle wide receiver, or perhaps a first fiddle wide receiver depending upon your feelings regarding Davante Adams. Drafting to slight a player seems counterproductive to me, but I have tried not to understand the thinking of the Packer organization that has wasted talent, and was even better at not selecting talent, think Justin Harrell.

In selecting a QB in the first round of the draft, Green Bay traded its first round pick and its fourth round pick to move up four spots to select QB Jordan Love of Utah. Perhaps doing his best imitation of Bear GM Ryan Pace, Packer GM Brian Gutekunst "had" to move up to pick Love, even though no team of the four ahead would likely have picked a QB. Gutekunst then says that Love "fell to the Packers". I am perplexed as to how he can say a player falls to you when you trade a fourth round pick to move up four spots? I am not against the Packers picking Jordan Love, as I am used to the Packers wasting first round draft choices. But to trade a fourth round pick makes little sense. Many teams, including the Packers, find or found value in those from the middle round picks. Of course, getting value out of mid round picks means you have to know personnel, but Gutekunst has yet to prove he knows personnel well. As one sportswriter noted, he has only drafted two players who have made good production for the team.

People are comparing the Love pick to when the Packers picked Aaron Rodgers in the later part of the first round when Brett Favre was still playing well. But for New Orlean's bounty gate which certainly affected Favre, Brett may well have played in the Super Bowl when he was with the Vikings. Given the salary cap issue, is it any wonder the Packers cannot find strength at other position needs? Of course, that means their leadership would have to know what they are doing. That is the million dollar question for the Packer GM. While Gutekunst says he will not draft a person in a round higher than how he has that person graded, and used that as his reason for not drafting a wide receiver, his second and third round choices had heads shaking as most had those players were graded for a lower round.

To show the bizarre nature of the Jordan Love pick you have to look at the dead cap hit the Packers would have to take if they release Rodgers. In 2020 the dead cap hit would be over $51 million, in 2021 it will be over $31.5 million and then even beyond that contract year in 2022 it is still a high $17.2 million. The thing is in 2018 they gave Rodgers a huge contract to be their QB for four or more years, and a contract that they still have to pay on after the last contract year of 2021. That means that Green Bay thought Jordan Love, who had only three fewer interceptions than TD's on a team coached by past UW coach Gary Anderson, was better than any potential QB who will play in college over the next two or three seasons. Further, unless you wish to waste money, which apparently Gutekunst feels is an easy commodity given the through thin and thick of Packer fans, that Love will not likely start, barring injury to Rodgers, for the Packers until 2022, or his third year contract of a rookie four years with a fifth year option.

Rodgers Salary 

How this will turn out? No one knows at this point, by not having given Rodgers any more weapons and not really having helped the inside of the defense, the Packers most likely will see the decline in wins, although perhaps not as bad as the Bears saw last year after having placed first in the NFC North the year before. Having finished first, the Packers will see an increase in their competition as they will play the three other first place NFC teams, and not just the usual one. With a coaching staff clueless as to how to handle a San Francisco rushing offense, and with a QB who sucks up so much of the salary cap leaving little cap space for quality players at other position groups, it does not look good for the Packers. Brian Gutekunst could well be the new poster child for how not to do a draft.

Mechanical Girl

Just when I thought I would be unable to come up with another nickname for my wife, she gives me the material.  There were two incidences within the course of two days in the past week that gave me the material for the mechanical girl.

One nice day this spring we decided to grill out, and the gas grill had not been used all year. Last year we had trouble getting the grill to light, particularly at the end of the season.  However, the first time, after several flicks of the igniter switch, we were fortunate that the grill light.  Fast forward a week, and we were going to grill again, but this time it would not light, so I started the charcoal grill.  A little delayed, but we had our hamburgers. This would turn to be one of the two incidents where the mechanic girl showed her acumen.  The other involved the wash machine.

The second incident with the wash machine began one Sunday evening. I was reading and my wife was upstairs enjoying a bath.  She comes down and goes directly to the basement. She comes upstairs after a few minutes later out of breath and says that she will need my help to take a panel off the washing machine.  I find it odd, wondering what is wrong with the washing machine and she says there is a drain mechanism that is supposed to be cleaned.  I am not sure what she was doing up in her bath, but it was not relaxing, which proves my point that the woman does not know what the word RELAX means.  Perhaps Aaron Rodgers needs to spell it out for her. Anyway, she says we can work on it Monday morning.

I go for my walk Monday and when I return home, find that she had gotten the off by knocking the panel.  I guess it is like kicking a car when it will not start.  She then cleaned whatever part needed to be cleaned.  She said a musty smell is common with front loading washers unless the drain is cleaned.  I guess it is supposed to be cleaned once a month,  but we have had it several years and never cleaned the drain mechanism.  I guess she looked up online about the odor and found this to be a possible cure.  She even looked up how to find the way to get the panel that encloses the drain mechanism off.  So, I did not need to assist with that chore.  She said there was not a lot of gunk, but it did stink.  I am glad she was not like Frank Barone who "fixed" Raymond and Debra's washer, only to leave a part out when he reassembled the unit.

Later in the week, after a load of laundry to assure she had it put together correctly, she put the panel on, but could not get the lower center screw in place, which is about a finger width above the floor.  I tried, but realized that the panel edge needed to pushed up to align with the hole in the frame, so I pushed the panel up while she put the screw in place

She then turned her attention to the gas grill.  She got the manual and looked at what could be done for the problem.  We then started to clean some of the items noted in the manual.  What a novel thought, to look at the manual for the grill.  It is not like I am adverse to looking at manuals, in fact the day before this, I looked at a manual for how to take a front loader off a garden tractor.  After cleaning the items suggested we tried the grill and it worked.  Of course it worked when we first tried it this year.  A fifty percent success rate is not very good, so we will have to see what occurs the next time we try to light the grill.  Hopefully, the cleaning was all that was needed, although not a lot came out when we cleaned, but perhaps it was sufficient to impede the flow or ignition of gas into the grill.

Whether it be finding information on the washer online, or looking at the paper copy of the manual for the gas grill, the mechanical girl finds the way to solve the issues that arise.  I guess being a mechanical girl was the logical next step following being a land girl.

Berating Belgium

It was on this date, May 8, 1945, seventy-five years ago, that WWII ended in the European theater of operations. Or, as it is called VE Day.  With World War II having seen the Allied powers victorious, much of the history of the war has been written on behalf of the two main Allied powers:  The United States and Britain.  France and the Soviet Union were also Allied powers, but their role in the whole scheme is less to us in the English speaking world.  British hubris and arrogance was at play, however, during the whole war and in the early part of the German invasion of France.  The British blamed the Belgians, and the French for their troop withdrawal out of France in late May to early June 1940.  They berated Belgium and then France for the debacle. However, the British idea of berating Belgium is misplaced and simply wrong.  The British claim to have retreated because the Belgians had quit.  But, it was the British who quit--on the orders of Winston Churchill no less.  The war may not have lasted long if the British Expeditionary Force had stayed in Europe in 1940 and not retreated to Dunkirk.  If the British had fought along the Belgians and the French, regardless of the French leader, perhaps my Dad would never have been called into the conflict, not to mention savings hundreds of thousands of lives.

Allied Italian Campaign

Nazi Germany is often tagged as military machine, but truth be told their armor and air planes were not really a match for that of the Allies. As one writer stipulates, Blitzkrieg was a myth. German tanks and air planes in 1940, were more in line with those in WWI, then what would be seen at the end of WWII. Poland fell to Germany in 1939 in part because Poland kept their airplanes on the ground and did not use them to assist in the fighting.  However, the main impact was that Poland received a double whammy as the Soviet Union, then allied with Nazi Germany, invaded Poland from the east.  It was the beginning of the Iron Curtain. The Poles had a two front defensive invasion to fight, and while the German machinery may not have been up to snuff, the German command and military training were highly considered, except of course by the British.  The Germans were also the least mechanized of the main combatants.  The Allies viewed the take over of Poland and gave Nazi Germany a reputation of military muscle and invincibility when that was not quite true, particularly in regard to tanks and air planes.  They failed to look at the whole picture of what occurred in Poland. To get to France in 1940, German forces were following the road map of WWI and going through Belgium rather than to attack along its east border with France which posed stronger fortifications and some terrain issues.

General Eisenhower, General Bradley and British Field Marshall Montgomery

Hitler was not expecting a short lived battle for Belgium and France, but the French leader was already talking about defeat early in the conflict due to early losses and not realizing that his army possessed the ability to rebound.  Regardless of the French leader, the French troops were still fighting.  The French leader  told Churchill on May 15  that his country had been defeated.  Churchill took him at his word when the fact is during the battle in May 1940 the French and Belgians were still well engaged, the German air force had significant losses of aircraft and pilots, as well as its tank divisions being at one-half strength by the end of May 1940. Germany would never recover from the loss of pilots and aircraft.  At this point the German belief was to divide the British and French forces but a series of bad decisions had the Allies doing that for themselves.

Bastogne Belgium WWII, likely after Battle of the Bulge

It was the British retreat that forced Belgium to surrender.  The problem was both France and Britain forgot about Belgium, and the British retreat made it such that it forced the Belgian forces to the sea and left them with no capabilities to defend themselves. The British left a gaping hole in the front, and that hole was quickly filled by the Germany army.   The problem may said to be with France, but Churchill, as a student of history should have known that the French government was inclined to panic when things looked bad.  He also should have known that the French soldiers continued to fight. This happened in 1870 and in 1914 to France. Churchill, for some reason failed to think strategically about what the withdrawal would do, since well, they seemed to have forgotten about the Belgian armed forces.  Instead of going on the offensive, which would have been a good call given the condition of the invading German forces, with the still fighting French and Belgian armed forces, Churchill gave the order to retreat which led to the famous escape from Dunkirk.  The poor Belgians found themselves once again left to hold the bad end of a deal.  The Belgians would see much of the fighting of the war as the Allies advanced and the Germans countered in December with what we know as the Battle of the Bulge. The war would be played long and hard in that country, who was a victim of geography.

Front of Post Card Roy Hovel for his
Sister, Anita.  Sept 11, 1944

There is a high probability that the British, if they had attacked a fast decreasing German army the Nazi onslaught could have been stopped as it would have allowed time for the French to move additional forces to the point of attack.  Of course, if the British had upheld their end of the bargain they made with the Poles maybe Hitler would have had second thoughts on advancing into Belgium and France. Instead, they did nothing of consequence to assist the Poles. And the British withdrew from Belgium, after of course berating Belgium.

Back of post Card
"Dear Sis, Haven't as yet caught up with this fellow, but hope to soon. Love Bernie"
The notation is the bottom middle is the approval by the military censor.

People like to think of Churchill as a master war strategist, but let us examine one other major mistake he had the Allies make.  The United States felt it best to attack Germany through France, but Churchill believed it should be attacked through what he called the soft underbelly of Europe--Italy.  Italy was one of the Axis powers, but as their army faltered German forces moved in.  Much of 1943 and on for the Allies was spent in North Africa and in Italy.  The problem was that it may have looked good on a map, but Churchill did not look at the terrain.  The mountains of interior Italy made going difficult, not to mention what would have happened if it got to the northern mountains--the Alps.  The Allies found no soft underbelly, and only squandered time and more importantly men.  US planners saw this move as a way for Churchill to maintain a hold of the wider British empire in the Mideast and beyond, but they indulged the British, nonetheless leading to a significant loss of American and allied lives.  For much of the war the British concern was about their Empire.

Roy Hovel overlooking unknown Mountain range
Roy Hovel entered the European theater of Operations
on D Day +13.  He was attached to the 83rd Infantry Division

Yet, Churchill's decision also affected the Normandy invasion of June 1944, when the British army, which landed at Sword and Gold beaches in the Overlord plan, lacked the infantry to overtake the Germans as intended.  Instead the British got bottled up near Caen.  While they eventually took Caen it was not really due to their expert military action, but rather of a blunder extraordinaire by the German leader, Adolph Hitler.  Hitler, in August, pulled his armor and other forces for an ill advised offensive in terrible terrain for a armored offensive move to try to split the US from the Canadians and British forces. Not only was his armor weak, he gave up strong defensive positions to do this attack.  It would be his greatest failure, and that is saying a good deal about a person who had a lot of failures.  In theory it may have been decent thinking, but a good war planner would look at the geography, and let the geography and military aspects on the ground inform the decision.  The Germans best fought defensively and their large lumbering armored forces, particularly those that came about as Panther and Tiger tanks in the latter part of the war, were better suited for defensive action. Yet, Hitler bought into a failed armor theory as had the Allies during Market Garden--a theory that failed in reality as terrain, and defensive weaponry cannot be discounted.  Hitler's decision came shortly after the failed attempt on his life in July 1944.  After this attempt on his life, he micromanaged the German war effort even more, particularly the Wehrmacht from which he took more and more control.  He never really trusted his army high command.  Rommel, injured from an American air strike and to be dead of government advocated suicide in October as he was implicated in the assassination plot, at the time may have been the only one to talk Hitler out of such a decision.  But it was not to be as Hitler never looked at what holes he would open with the offensive, not unlike the large hole the British left in Belgium when they retreated in 1940. Of course, Hitler would try another attempt at an offensive, the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.

Roy Hovel, member CIC during WWII

History is comprised of many poor decisions, of which these are just two of the many made by Winston Churchill, but both had significant affect on the length of the war. If Churchill had not made the decision to retreat and evacuate in 1940, many lives may have been saved.  And, perhaps my Dad would never have found himself in Europe.  If that was the case he most certainly would not have found himself as likely the first person affected by the Battle of the Bulge when his Jeep was shot out from under him just prior to the start of the German movement.  He then would not have made his way to Bastogne, Belgium leaving the city just before it was surrounded by the Germans.  Belgium had more hardships of which to put up with than most any other invaded country, and there was then no need for them to be berated by the British particularly expressed by British hubris and arrogance in writing about the war.

Land Girl

A few weeks ago PBS telecast a production called "Chateau."  I saw two episodes.  The show tracked the ideas and work of an English couple who had purchased a French Chateau in disrepair and were converting the grounds and main building to a entertainment venue, particularly for weddings.  The man was really into gardening and he desired to convert the old walled garden back to a garden for produce and flowers that could be used for themselves and for their events.  He also rebuilt an old greenhouse that backed up to one wall.  He commented that he was hoping to make his wife, Angel, into a land girl.  He wanted Angel to pick out the types and grow the flowers for their venue. Angel visited some other large Chateaus in the region to get flower ideas. While Angel could make flower arrangements, she was not a Land Girl in growing flowers. 

That television production has now led to another nickname for my wife--Land Girl.  This is in addition to her Farm Girl, Re-Purpose Girl, and whatever other nicknames I have created.  At least I am not like Ray Barone who, pretty much every episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" gives a different nickname for his wife Debra.  I suspect Land Girl is pretty much a British term, as there is a series about Land Girls during WWII  women who took up chores to raise food.  My Land Girl is quite different from the pink highlighted hair young woman Angel in "Chateau." The Land Girl in my household many times freely moves perennial flowers around in our flower beds, not to mention planting and caring.  Her flower knowledge increased working at a greenhouse last year. She misses working at the Greenhouse this year, but Covid is a different kind of animal. She is a busy bee in the garden and sometimes moves stuff to satisfy her appetite for work.  I suppose it is natural for a Land Girl to not stop and smell the roses.

As the weather has gotten nicer over the past few weeks Land Girl and I, have been out doing lawn and garden work.  In my last post I talked about how I got stuck trying to haul stone, and how the Land Girl helped get the car unstuck. Although she has left it to me to repair the yard. Yet, my wife also assisted with unloading the stones, after the first trip, from the back of my car by filling buckets while I carried the buckets to the flower bed.  Not only that, she helped haul the wall stones from the back of the Jeep to the backyard.  I bought ten wall stones and they weighed about 480 lbs total, so an average weight of 48 lbs each.  I am sure a few weighed more and a few less, nonetheless still significant weight to haul to the backyard.

In helping with the wall, Land Girl tore down part of the wall, and helped reconstruct by either placing stones or picking out the stones for me to place.  She also assisted with loading and moving dirt that was taken out during the reconstruction project. Not to mention assisting with all the cleanup work. When she was just a few months short of giving birth to our oldest child, Land Girl was out assisting in the initial construction of the wall by picking out stones for me to haul and put in place.  Her assistance, on the reconstruction of the wall, turned what probably would have been a full day job into about six hours. Yet, she assisted this past week too.

On April 28 I cut down some honeysuckle and trimmed other honeysuckle which has grown in the "natural" portion of our backyard.  I used to use my handsaw, but decided to use my chain saw. As I am sawing all of a sudden she appeared. She started hauling the brush down as I cut,  but part of me wonders if she heard the chain saw and figured she better come out in case anything happened to me. Later that morning, while she started to make cookies, I pulled out a lilac that had not been doing well for a few years, and she came out to help while the dough cooled.  She loaded buckets with the stone that was around the lilac bush, and hauled some of the brush and parts of the roots.  Of course, this is nothing compared to the chickens she used to assist in butchering.

While Angel has struggled to accept a partial Land Girl roll in the PBS television show "Chateau", my spouse has never had a problem with getting involved in gardening or yard work.  She is my laborious Land Girl.