I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for our military men and women, especially in time of war. We’ve given them free subscriptions in the past, even adopted a Marine Corps platoon and sent care packages to its members while they were fighting in Iraq a few years ago. So it should come as no surprise that BHM is once again doing something for the troops. A few days ago we posted an advertisement on the website’s Home Page announcing that we’ll be giving free subscriptions to any military person related to a current subscriber. If this applies to you, please click here for the details. You must be a current subscriber to take advantage of this. If you are not a subscriber, you can become one and get the free subscription for your military person by clicking here.

No matter what our political views are, or our views on war and peace, I think it is important to remember that our military men and women are just doing a job for our country, and it is often a thankless, difficult job. I was in the Army years ago during the Vietnam Conflict, so I got to listen to a lot of antiwar rhetoric that seemed to me, as a soldier, to be often directed at me personally. I never went to ‘Nam but my brother, Jim, who was in the Marine Corps at the same time, went over there twice. You may remember my tribute  to him when he died two years ago.

My oldest brother, Bill, served in the Navy prior to the Vietnam Conflict, and my uncle, Father William Duffy, served as an Army chaplain during World War II. Currently, my son-in-law, Erik Tuttle, is serving in the infantry with the Marine Corps. He is due to go back for his second tour of duty in Iraq this summer.

These men and women in uniform have put themselves at risk for you and me. Offering them a free subscription is my way of saying thanks. I’ve restricted it to family members of current subscribers simply because the magazine couldn’t afford to give free subscriptions to the entire military.

I’ve just about finished establishing my new overflow firewood storage area. It’ll hold a little more wood than I thought — at least 6 cord. Since I can already store about 4 cord under cover, and my average winter use is about 2 cord, that will give me about 5 years worth of firewood storage, 2 years of which will be under a wood roof and the rest under a tarp. Not bad!

I gave up using my chainsaw to get out the stumps and roots in the middle of the spot I had chosen for the overflow area. There were too many rocks and dirt embedded in the roots. A running chain just needs to touch dirt and it’s dull. So I hired a neighbor, Shawn Crouse, to bring up his stump grinder and take the whole mess out.

A stump grinder is one of those super nifty machines that have an ingenious, but simple, design. Made by Carlton, it weighs 1600 pounds and its 27-horsepower motor turns a grinding wheel that contains 20 carbide teeth. The set of teeth cost a hundred dollars to replace but Shawn said he can get through about 10 big stumps with one set. Rocks tend to dull the teeth. He operated it with a remote control attached to a long cord so he could guide the action of the grinding wheel up close. One carbide bit worked its way loose during the grind so he had to stop and replace it.

  Once he was done, my sons and I laid out the rest of the skids on the ground and over the steel fence posts I put up on either side. This will keep the wood contained and off the ground. It’s nice to have a good use for the stacks of skids I have around here. Every time BHM gets in a shipment of magazines or anthologies, they are on skids (pallets), for which the magazine is charged $17 each. Highway robbery? I agree. I’ve given lots of skids away, burned some, and my kids have used them to build a clubhouse. This project used up 22 skids.

My sister-in-law, Cindy Myers, lives in Oxnard, California. She is not directly threatened by the massive fires that are sweeping coastal California from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border, but she has to endure the smoke. She sent Lenie a photo of what it’s like outside her front door.

I lived in that area for about 10 years. My little home was about 11 houses from the ocean on Silver Strand Beach, nestled between the Port Hueneme (pronounced Y-NEE-MEE) Naval Air Station and Oxnard Shores. When the hot winds come strong off the desert, you get a Santa Ana condition, which is what they have now. It’s so devastatingly dry that you feel like your skin is cracking. The winds even pick up the pesticides from the agricultural fields so a lot of people, including me, would get these bad sinus headaches. With these terribly uncomfortable blustery winds driving these fires, there is no stopping them. You either let the fires burn to the ocean or pray the wind dies down.

Notice the relative calm at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego compared to the Superdome in New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina disaster? Did the federal disaster services agency learn that much since Katrina? Or is something else at play? Whatever, I am very impressed with the orderliness. I lived through many fires in my years in southern California, and people always behaved well.

I wonder how long it will be before someone blames these fires on Bush and global warming.

13th Year Anthology Intro

I’m writing the introduction to the 13th Year Anthology today. It’s our best anthology yet. It will go to the printer tomorrow, then to your mail box before Christmas. If you haven’t bought yours yet, better click HERE for our inexpensive preorder special.