Gooooood Monday! And for all of my friends in Texas, Chicago, and St. Louis....I'm sorry, but I'm glad it wasn't us! Hope you are all safe...and warm!

And a notable passing...Joe Palmer, one of the last Navajo Code Talkers from WWII has died in Tucson at the age of 84. As a Marine in WWII, Palmer and 28 other Code Talkers used their native language to transmit military messages on enemy tactics. According to the Naval Historical Center in Washington D.C., The Navajo Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. Their work was impossible for the enemy to decode.

My hat's off to this courage band of souls!


And now for a little jockularity...also involving a Marine!

By the time a Marine pulled into a little town, every hotel room was taken.

"You've got to have a room somewhere," he pleaded. "Or just a bed, I don't care where."

"Well, I do have a double room with one occupant - an Air Force guy," admitted the manager, "and he might be glad to split the cost. But to tell you the truth, he snores so loudly that people in adjoining rooms have complained in the past. I'm not sure it'd be worth it to you."

"No problem," the tired Marine assured him. "I'll take it."

The next morning the Marine came down to breakfast bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. "How'd you sleep?" asked the manager.

"Never better."

The manager was impressed. "No problem with the other guy snoring, then?"

"Nope, I shut him up in no time" said the Marine.

"How'd you manage that?" asked the manager.

"He was already in bed, snoring away, when I came in the room," the Marine" explained.

"I went over, gave him a kiss on the cheek, said, 'Goodnight, beautiful,' and he sat up all night watching me."