Sing along

 

Sunday with the wife

One Sunday morning a few months ago the wife and I were sitting at the table eating breakfast. She was reading some woman's magazine -- Cosmo, Vogue, Seventeen, I don't know. 

Anyway, she got up suddenly and started beating me about the head and shoulders with that rolled up.magazine. She eventually kocked me sprawling onto the floor. Standing above me panting, she said "That's for more than forty years of bad sex."

She went back to her seat and sat down as if nothing had happened.

I turned my chair upright and sat down. I sipped my coffee and took a bite of cold pancake. Standing, I grabbed the discarded rolled magazine and whacked her right off her chair. 

I tossed the periodical on to the f!oor. 

"That is for knowing the difference."

She broke down and let me in

 

I see you

 Ten years ago this month (and next - one eye at a time) I was gifted sight by strangers. Afflicted with Fuchs Dystrophy, I was slowly going blind.

Things were worse than I imagined when I was referred to the specialist. I thought my vision was bad. I was legal!y blind - 20\300 in one eye, 20\400+ in the other. 

A few weeks later I was on an operating table and new corneas were transplanted into my eyes. 

Through the gift of organ donation I can see. 

I do not possess the vocabulary to adequately express my thanks someone signed the organ donation form. 

I urge you to consider donating your organs. You never know whose life you may save. Heck, you might just make life better for some schmuck in flyover country.

I see dumb people

 

Turn out the lights

 

Demons of Camerone Part II

 Elements of the Third Company First Battalion of The French foreign Legion were surrounded by Mexican Cavalry. More than 2,000 Mexicans faced less than 46 Legionaires posited behind the crumbling adobe walls of the Hacienda Camerone. Mexican snipers occupied the upper stories of the ruined buildings, while the determined Captain Danjou elicited a promise from his surviving troops that they would fight to the end. A running firefight had erupted at around 7:30 am. At 9:30 the embattled Legionaires refused to surrender.

Around 11:00 am Captain Danjou was hit by sniper fire while scurrying across the courtyard. He was rescued by two men, but died less than five minutes later. Shortly after, The Legionaires heard bugle calls and prayed it was a relief column or the convoy coming to the rescue. A sergeant in the Legion climbed to the stable roof. He reported that the Mexican Cavalry was being joined by approximately 1,000 infantry. Local guerrillas swelled the already impossible odds. Still the Third Company refused to surrender. The noon sun baked the interior of the hacienda. The remaining soldiers and the wounded alike began to suffer from thirst. The North Africa vetrans drank their own urine to fight dehydration. Ammunition began to run low. At 2:00 pm the second in command Lt. Villain was killed. The attackers threw smoldering bales of straw over the walls. Smoke, heat, thirst, fear and exhaustion preyed upon the defenders. Repeated assaults brought the Mexicans close enough to batter holes in the ramparts. Still the defenders held.

At 5:00 pm The Mexican Commander called upon the remaining Legionaires to surrender. Only twelve remained on their feet. They again refused. Colonel Milan harangued his Mexican soldiers on the subject of their national honor and launched a full assault on the hacienda. After a desperate hour-long fight the Mexicans controlled the entire compound except the stable. Lt. Maudet and and five unhurt survivors were all that remained. Their ammunition was all but gone, they were dying of hunger and thirst, but they remembered their promise to Captain Danjou. Throwing aside the barricades, these six brave men launched a bayonet charge against the massed Mexican infantry!

Maudet and two others were struck down in a hail of gunfire. The remaining three brave soldiers formed back to back, bayonets lowered. They were ready to kill and be killed. The awed Mexicans could only stare. Finally the three were convinced to surrender. Unable to believe there were only three survivors Mexican Colonel Milan responded "Pero, non son hombres -- son demonios" (truly, these are not men -- they are demons).

The Mexicans treated the wounded. The three survivors and the 16 that were cut off in the earlier retreat to Camerone were later exchanged. Estimates are that the Legionaires inflicted more than 300 casualties. The half company had fought at more than one hundred to one odds for almost 10 hours.

Later, the wooden hand of Danjou was found amid the ruble of the buildings at Camerone. Every year the hand, in a little glass coffin, is paraded to the First Battalion of the French Foreign Legion as a reminder of their heritage and the standards they should attain. April 30 remains a holiday for the Legion.

Have you perviously heard of the Demons of Camerone?

The last two posts are reruns from 2005. Compare to the crap I publish these days. 

I need to get some mojo back.