Somewhere on that long hike, I think it was between Manitou and Cave of the Winds, we found hops growing in a field wild along the highway. I thought they were pretty. I gathered a bunch and tried to bring them home with me. I draped them around my neck and before long I was itching. I draped them around my head then and Tom took a couple a pictures because he said no one would believe him if he told them I did that. Some of them did make it back with me but they didn't survive long in his back pack. Shortly after the photos were taken I took them off so my neck could breath again.
Yes, I admit, as there is no hiding it, my gut was getting fat. I wasn't pregnant. I was just eating garbage food. Too much Burger King.
Notice the army boots are still on my feet.
On an afternoon sometime after I'd been there awhile, Tom didn't come home until the middle of the night. It was May 24th. I'd forgotten this till I found the photo. He wouldn't tell me where he'd been or what he'd been doing. I knew he'd gotten out of work hours before so it worried me. Sometimes things just nag at you.
The next day was my birthday. After work he was a few minutes late getting home but it didn't bother me. This is what he brought in the apartment.
He knew I loved yellow roses. He then told me the night before he'd gone to Larry's house. I just remembered Larry's name, too. He was Tom's best man and the cook who did most of the fancy baking on post. He had made the cake for my birthday. I felt bad about doubting him but he really scared me that night. He told me that he had a few beers while Larry was baking it and he lost time. When he realized it was so late he walked home. It was 17 blocks home. Larry had conked out whether from beer or baking, I don't know.
With the evidence of the cake right there I had to believe him.
I was allowed on base because I was still in the service. I was reassigned to the Colorado National Guard. I think there was no Army Reserve Unit there but maybe it's just where the powers that be wanted me to be at that time.
That above is the motor pool where I worked for the National Guard.
I visited the Military Museum on post with Tom.
Tom loved the weapons, of course.
I had read about these in the news but I'd never seen one. They were traps the Viet Cong made to catch our troops. There would be a poison usually on those spikes. A guy had to be careful where he stepped.
This was a mock up of the atomic bomb. I was fascinated by this. I don't know what all the wires and probe like things were for. I could hardly imagine them getting this baby out the bay and dumping it on a town. Maybe the cords and things were not on the actual bombs. I really don't know.