Part III, a little "Cold War secrecy", a little bit about godless commie bastards and just because I speak my mind because it hurts too much to bite my tongue

So soon you ask? Didn't we just read Part II? Hey, it's raining and I have nothing else to do today. So don’t go getting your panties in a bunch (The nicer ones are sold individually anyway).

I bet all of you blog readers think you want to bring me back to reality huh? You’re assuming I’ve been there before?
(Cuz Harju - I tried, I really tried to keep this short. So for you - damn it just grab a cup of coffee and say "Oh, ok I will sit through this for my wonderful cuz in California, because I know she gets carried away". Kiitos in advance!)

Before I continue my blog my big questions for the day are- 

1. Why didn't the person who invented braille just put the dots in shape of the actual letters? I’ll never understand that. Anybody got an answer to that? ANYBODY? 

2.  Why is it that wearing no underwear is called “going commando”? It seems to me it would not be useful in any actual combat situation. 

3. Isn't it amazing how the simple potato gives us potato chips, french fries, and vodka? Get your shit together, every other vegetable. Seriously.

4. Don't you just hate it when Doctors ask questions like . . . “Are you sexually active?” Umm, I suppose that depends on what they mean by “active”. There are a lot of “active” volcanoes that haven’t gone off in over 50 years.

5. How do we expect kids today to listen to their parents when Pinocchio lies all the time, Tarzan runs around half naked, Cinderella comes home at midnight, Alladin is a thief, Batman drives at crazy speeds in excess of 200 mph, Sleeping Beauty never gets out of bed, and Snow White lives with 7 guys? 

My advice for the day is- 

It’s pointless to ask your dogs which one of them farted but if you don’t ask they might think it was you.

Also, I just recently discovered my oven can clean itself! Naturally I will be searching my entire house looking for similar buttons. You should do the same. 

What day is today? Oh yes, this is important. To all of you who received a book from me as a Christmas present, they are due back at the library today.

Getting back to Part III of this particular blog story - I should have mentioned in the very beginning that nine months before I was born, I went to a party with my Dad Ed and left with my Mom Winnie. Oh wait - that isn't what I wanted to say. I wanted to say that I bet all my childhood invisible friends are probably doctors and lawyers now. Where did I go wrong you ask? I still have plans to be someone. I really do. I’m going to be the first person to land on the sun! I know what you all are thinking. That's freak'n crazy. That is why I will be going at night. See, I am not the crazy ass dittsy Finn blond that you all think I am huh? I accept your apologies, thank you. 

It just so happens that Part III of my bog pertains to Russia. I do not like what is happening in Russia right now. No one's ruling out the possibility of additional Russian military aggression with what is happening right now. Do we not see the gravity of the situation? Putin just bit off a piece of Crimea, does anyone think he's going to stop there? Hell no, he's a Communist. We all know how Communists work. Is this President Putin in a vodka-and-caviar induced rage? Putin's declaration of Russia's right to invade its neighbors scares the hell out of me. And this is why. When I was age 10, we were in the "Cold War secrecy"  living under the the fear (and threat) of Soviet attack.  Anti-aircraft missiles sat "at the ready" on our Cougar Mountain. We were in fact a last line of defense against a Soviet air attack, one of 13 Nike installations in and around Puget Sound. Those Nike Ajax missiles readied for the bombers that would come screaming across the Bering Strait from the Soviet Union. Not many people know this fact about our little town. The Cougar Mountain site was deactivated in 1964 and it became the Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, a forested 3,100-acre preserve. All of my childhood it was stressed about the evils of the Soviet Union. My father built a bomb shelter in our basement and had it fully stocked. Only very close neighbors and relatives knew about it. My father had very good reason to fear the Soviet Union. His parents immigrated from their homeland of Finland to escape the horrors of being controlled by Russia. I will not go into what the Russians did to my Finnish relatives but suffice to say I still have not nor will I ever forgive them. My family history is written in blood, at the hands of the Soviet Union. They cruelly invaded their tiny neighbor Finland in 1939. Unless you were of Finnish heritage you would probably have no memory whatsoever of the power and ambition that once drove the Soviet Union (and apparently does now). It was a terrible era of war and suffering. The Russians were nothing more than a rampaging horde of godless commie bastards. I am so proud of how a tiny nation of dedicated Finnish riflemen defended their country against one of the largest armies the world has ever known. 

There are so many Russians, and our country so small, where will we find room to bury them all?” —Anonymous Finnish soldier

Soviet troops assaulted positions manned by a little more than 21,000 Finns.The Soviets were disorganized and totally unprepared, barely trained and with no preparation for the rugged terrain of Finland.  No skis, no snow camouflage, and without any proper winter clothing. It was exceptionally cold. Temperatures dropped below -40° in some places. Frostbite was a constant threat, and the corpses of soldiers killed in battle froze solid, often in eerie poses.

This January 31, 1940 photo shows a frozen dead Russian soldier, his face, hands and clothing covered in snow.

The resulting slaughter of Russian troops brought no tears from Moscow, they simply did not care how many they lost. The entire world  learned how little the Soviets valued human life, even their own countrymen. Thankfully for the Finns most of their small arms shared the same ammunition as their Soviet opponents. The more guns and rifles they captured, the more guns and ammunition they had to use. The Finns gained their supplies the hard way—they took them off the dead bodies of their enemies.  They had superior fieldcraft and fighting spirit, or what every Finn calls Sisu. Their cross-country skiing skills and marksmanship were undeniable.  Finnish marksmanship became legendary. One Finn sniper, Simo Häyhä, dressed in white winter camouflage only carried with him a day’s worth of supplies and ammunition.  He actually kept snow in his mouth so his breath wouldn't give up his position. He used iron sights which presented the smallest possible target for the enemy, (commie snipers he smoked out were given away by a glint of light reflecting off the lenses of their scopes.). While hiding out in the snow, he would then take out any Russian stupid enough to wander into his kill-zone (long-range silent death to anyone with a red star on his hat!). He attributed his deadly sniping skills to “practice”. Throughout the war, this awesome Finn raked in a total of 505 confirmed sniper kills (in some sources he is credited with 542).  On top of this, he also mowed down two hundred men with his Suomi 9mm submachine gun, bringing his total kill count to over 700 men in under 100 days, earning him the nickname “The White Death”. He was regarded as the most hardcore sniper there ever was scoring enough kills to make f***ing RoboCop and the Terminator hide their heads in shame. Nobody in history has ever been credited with more confirmed kills than Simo Häyhä.  He used his Finnish patience, his knowledge of the Finnish forests, his cunning and impeccable rifle marksmanship to defend his country, his home, his people and his freedom from the communist totalitarian oppression of the Soviet Union.  Simo had been a member of the Finnish organization "suojeluskunta" in his hometown. This was the Finnish equivalent of the National Guard or Militia, or the equivalent to the minutemen of the American Revolution. "High five" to any Militia group! While the Soviet forces did not accomplish their communistic objective of the total conquest of Finland, they did however gain substantial territory along Lake Ladoga, and territory in Northern Finland. The Finns, however, retained their sovereignty and enhanced their international reputation.

Simo Häyhä,  an unstoppable killing machine to which the likes of which the world has never known before or since. A true Hero and a true BadAss

A tiny nation of extremely talented riflemen had held off the communist Red giant. The Finns suffered greatly to preserve their freedom. For those of you unfamiliar with Finland's Winter War here are some facts: The Soviet army which invaded Finland in late 1939, massed approximately 1,500,000 troops. By the time peace was declared in March of 1940, Russia had managed to steal 22,000 square miles of Finnish territory. Although the Russians had gained this Finnish territory, it came at a very high price. They had lost one million men in the short conflict.  A Russian General later said. "We gained 22,000 square miles of territory. Just enough land to bury our dead".  Yes, an extraordinarily high price. Those 1,000,000 men were killed by Finn soldiers or by the harsh Finnish winter. The Soviets also lost 1000 aircraft and 2,300 tanks. But for their commie bastard efforts they did manage to steal away the homes and property of some 420,000 Finn's, at a price of 40 Russian soldiers killed for every Finnish soldier killed. 25,000 Finns died and another 55,000 were wounded as a result of this conflict. I think this message is clear. Large aggressors such as those godless commie bastards can win a war, but they generally lose the battle. This war cost them dearly. Hitler, after seeing how "small" Finland stood up to the big bad Red Russian Bear, decided to invade the Soviet Union as a result of the inadequate Soviet Army. I mean why not? Finland opened up an extra-large can of whoop-ass and gave the Commies the ball-sack kicking they deserved. If Finland could do it, then Hitler thought he could do it too. But.........there was a twist of fate, death on a major scale was then visited upon Russia for her transgressions, and likewise on Germany for hers. I salute Finland for deciding that their freedom was worth any cost. With very little help from the outside world, this proud nation kept its sovereignty through its own will and determination. I am proud to be a Finn!

Finnish ski troops and their reindeer. They certainly knew how to fight a war in bitter temperatures

My Dad who was a vodka drinker would not even allow any Russian vodka in the house.
Getting back to the "Cold War secrecy" it is at this age that I almost got to see our President Kennedy - he was to attend the World's Fair. But.....President Kennedy, we were all told  had a bad cold and would not make his planned appearance at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. I had been to the World's Fair more times than I can think - it was the "happening' thing for months.

My friends and I would take the bus to Seattle and one of the parents would pick us up later that evening. I had already seen Elvis Presley at the Fair, he was the biggest attraction at the World’s Fair (besides the Seattle Space Needle of course) and he had been there for ten days filming It Happened At the World’s Fair. 

Disappointed in the movie - in a scene showing the inside of the restaurant the windows can clearly be seen rotating, while the outside scenery remained unchanged. In the actual Space Needle restaurant the effect would have been exactly the opposite.  The entire restaurant rotated, the outside view, and not the windows, would have moved . Way to screw things up MGM studio. 

But to see our President - that would have been totally exciting. Of course at my age I wasn't all that familiar with him, but I sure thought he was handsome and I loved his Massachusetts accent. Our President had no cold, felt ill or otherwise. It was all a line of bullshit. This excuse of course coincided with the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba which in turn pushed the United States and the Soviet Union (both of which were nuclear-armed superpowers) to the edge of "OH SHIT!" His faked illness provided an excuse for Kennedy to skip the spotlight of closing the World's Fair and address this very real crisis. Getting back to our anti-aircraft missiles on Cougar Mountain - the actual number of close calls remains unknown to civilians living in the area. There were many, many times when sites were alert to potential threats that the we, the public, never knew about. I'm glad I never knew about these threats. I suppose the only time we would have been in danger is if war had been declared. Thank you President Kennedy for doing your job. It's too bad President Obama cannot even come close to doing his job - or even know how to do his job.

And that is the end of Part III but lastly I want to draw attention to those Danes in Denmark! What will they think of next? A Danish travel company worried about the decline of births in Denmark is trying to encourage the Danes to have more sex. so they placed an ad. It's called the  "Do it for Denmark" campaign. The ad is as follows:
"Book your holiday with our ovulation discount. Get it on. And prove you conceived a child to win a three-year supply of baby stuff and a child friendly holiday," it says. But if you've already had children or can't have children, don't despair, the company says. "Just remember all the fun is in the participation."
All I can say about this is that the Danes should be seeing this (you know - having more sex) as doing their patriotic duty! I wish to thank those wonderfully crazy Danes for putting a smile on my face - that ad is priceless. I kid you not. It's real. As real as the Soviets being a rampaging horde of godless commie bastards.
Oh I guess I wasn't done after all. I just want you all to know in order to start my deer breeding business here in Northern California I’m going to need at least 5,000 bucks.

Ending on my usual bitch:  OBAMA
I don't care whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, a Conservative or a liberal, be aware of the attitude and character of this sitting President. From his book Audacity of Hope:
"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

Part II

Before I start with part 2 of this blog of growing up in a little podunk town - I just want to say:

I think watching the Olympics Hockey teams would have been hella more enjoyable if I pretended they were fighting over the world’s biggest and last Oreo!   Well, with that being said, now I want to say that I strongly oppose deporting Justin Bieber for his crimes. This is America, after all. We have the death penalty! Oh, and the local Sheriff's Department came to my gate this morning claiming that my dog Skye had chased someone on a bike. I told them to go to hell because my dog doesn't even have a bike. Idiots.Oh, now I am just ranting, aren't I? 

Getting back to Issaquah - being raised in Issaquah was both exasperating and amazing. No malls, one movie theatre, and no nightlife worth mentioning.  Often times I  felt  like there was  nothing to do. It was always the "small town ****."  Regardless I never said that I was "issapointed" that there was "issanothingtodo" and that I  "issararely" got to go anywhere. The great thing about living in a small town is even if you didn't know what you were doing someone else always did. Everyone knew everything about everyone. Unless you got scholarships, chances are you weren't ever going to go to college.  As it was I didn't go to college until I was 32 and was considered a 'California transplant'.  I was too busy raising two kids. College was out of the question.

Neither me or my friends were destitute growing up, our parents always had enough money for clothes, food, and a trip to the Issaquah Theatre or a comic book once in a while but at any given moment, every single one of our families were about one paycheck from poverty. Times were pretty tough for our parents back then but they always managed. As a family we maybe went out for dinner once or twice a year. In all truthfulness my Dad and I snuck out to dinner quite often because my mom was a horrible cook. I think we both saw it as "survival". My parents always seemed to have the money for any of us kid's sports adventures  though, and now I wonder what they actually had to give up in order for us kids to enjoy Football, Track and Gymnastics.  We bought our clothes from J.C. Penney or the Sears & Roebuck catalog store. I mostly got to wear my brother's hand me downs, specifically John's clothes. No wonder I turned out to be a tom-boy, running around in his worn out jeans and torn sweatshirts. Odd, it never mattered to me. At all.  I had to wear  dresses to school but as soon as I got home I changed into my outdoor clothes, which were jeans and sweatshirts. If anyone looks at any of my grade school class photographs I was the one who had bruises up and down her legs and arms - pretty evident in those photos that I played hard and had fun. Couldn't call me no sissy girlie- girl. Thank Goodness.

 Wow, 1962-1963 -  Seattle World's Fair era, Assassination of President Kennedy. Both good memories and bad memories. Oh wait a minute, can't see my bruises in this photo - better try another one.

This is my fondest memory of my big brother Dick - he was always the 'jokester' but even though I was often the butt of his playful jokes, I still adored him. I think the only reason people hold onto memories so tight is because memories are the only things that don’t change when everybody else does.

I remember my brother Dick worked on my little fat "just like my Daddy mechanic fingers", trying to get them into just the perfect position. Keep in mind we were 10 years apart. He was my hero, and I listened to his every word.  I didn't know this game he was teaching me.  I knew other hand games like  the church and the steeple,  but not this particular game. "No Sis, not like that," he would say, "Do it like this. Pull these fingers down and use your thumb to hold this one down. Your thumb Sis, don't you know which one is your thumb? Then you do this. Try it." Over and over, I tried. I almost got it. He was persistent that I learned. Then, finally, I got it. Still, I didn't see what was so fun about this game. "Can I go play now?," I asked my brother Dick. "Hold your horses Sis. Remember just do it to surprise Mom and Dad tonight. Show 'em that and say 'here's to you." Keep practicing Sis, you don't want to mess this up".  I swear even today I can hear Dick's laugh.  That night (after my brother's clue) while the 5 of us were at the dinner table, I turned to my Mom, said "here's to you," and gave her the finger. It's one of my first memories, which means I had to be about five, which would make my brother Dick 15.  Most of my memories of my oldest brother stand out because he was bigger, louder, and had the most funny yet obnoxious humor than anyone else in our family. My Mother was about to beat the bejesus outta me. Typically she had a quarter-inch fuse when it came to me but this event was no doubt a 1/16 inch fuse.  My Dad intervened and my brother confessed his sin of teaching me 'the finger'. My Mom was dragging me out of that kitchen chair, by my long blonde hair, no less. My Dad grabbed me away from her, and my brother's laughter turned into an endless monologue of "It's not her fault. It's my fault. Leave Sis alone".  It was a memorable day.  So memorable I will never forget how frightened I was.  Memorable also because my other brother (3 years older than myself, 7 years younger than my oldest brother) never said a word, he just continued eating. Growing up with two brothers who were complete opposites was, well, hard. My brother Dick and I would laugh at that memory for many years to come. Damn, I miss him. My life will never be the same without him - he was amazing. 

To be continued.
I have a list of things to do today. I have to go to town and get blank business cards and hand them out and call them my “none of your business” cards then I am going into the Dollar Store and ask for a price check because that just never gets old. After that I want to go to a Park and sit down next to a stranger on a park bench, place an envelope beside him and whisper “It has to look like an accident.” and then walk away. The older I get, the more I come to realize that I just don’t care what the hell anyone thinks - so I just wanna have FUN!
Until next time.........................

P.S. Thanks for your visit Bridget - always enjoy having my second daughter come to see me!