John is a soldier. Yes he is retired, but he will always be a soldier. He spent more than 20 years in the Army and promoted throught the years up to Plattoon Sergeant, E-7. He spent his time in Viet Nam as an E-5 sergeant. Most of his overseas stations were in Germany, and he has lived all over the US. He retired from Fort Hood in Texas where he met his present wife, Connie.
John enjoyed a few years of college after the Army. It must be nice to be able to chase girls - and know what to do when you catch them! And not to have to worry about the grades, because you really are there for the fun of it! Anyway, he did do some studying, Art and Agriculture. He got degrees in them too!
Besides his wife, the passion of John's life is his birds. In the past he has had homing pigeons that won him many awards in racing. Currently he is building a loft of champion birds that are capable of winning more than just awards. But it is more than the prize money that keeps him in the loft. The science of breeding, the challenge of better health, the pride of a sparkling program, and the fact that when he is in the loft he is avoiding all the little chores that his wife is always finding, all keep him happily puttering around the pigeons! He is also rasing every other type of bird he can get his hands on!
One of the crown jewels of John's accomplishments is his cabin. All his life he wanted to live in Alaska, he finally got his dream when his wife agreed to leave the warmth of Texas to brave the cold! They did their research, found a piece of land with old trees, and started! They had nothing but a dream, and they started cutting trees with a chainsaw they found in the woods! It took three years to get it livable, but it may never be completely finished!
The gardening came when the house was livable! He put up a little greenhouse for tomatoes, and a fenced vegetable garden. The rose garden was a surprise gift to his wife for Mother's Day! One of these days we will landscape the whole property, but then, God did do a pretty good job of it so far, so maybe we will just continue to plant trees.
The jewery making equipment and the art supplies are still in storage, just within reach for when he decides to take that up again. We don't want to get bored, you know. And the wife is in need of a new wedding band, so that is one of the items on that list of things we gotta do!
Life is good!
PS, this was entered by his wife, Connie, with his permission!
