BPED: 14APR69

For years I regularly saw "BPED: 14APR69" on important papers.

And not-so-important papers also, I suppose.

"Basic Pay Entry Date" was the Army term for what usually corresponded to your entry on active service, though for some folks who had certain types of deferred entry it differed.

I didn't particularly need to be reminded of the date.

For me, April 14, 1969 was the day I got out of bed in Edmonds, got dressed, and went to the Armed Forces Entrance & Examination Station ("AFEES") on 15th West in Seattle, where they examined me & entered me into the United States Army.

Forty years ago this morning.

They piled us on a bus, drove us to Fort Lewis, cut off our hair, gave us some unattractive ill-fitting clothes along with boxes to mail the clothes we had on back home, and things were under way.

Forty years ago today.

Wet Sun

Seattle is famous for its rainy days. There are lots, and many folks find that regrettable.

My opinion has long been that the sun comes out almost every day. Maybe only for a few minutes, and often just after sunrise or just before sunset, but it does shine.

It is worth watching for.

Today it rained moderately for much of the day, and rained hard for most of the rest, but the sun came out for a few minutes in the evening, and I grabbed my camera and went out in the backyard to catch the moss & lichen on the apple and cherry trees, still wet with rain, illuminated by almost horizontal sunlight.

Driving in gray areas

Driving in Seattle often involves driving under gray skies, on streets gray & darkly wet from rain.

This morning was a good example of that.

But I was also driving in a gray area between driving as well as I sometimes can, and not well enough to be safe driving.

Darkly wet from rain.