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    Under the Laughter of Eagles
    Under the Laughter of Eagles
    Under the Laughter of Eagles
    Ebook130 pages2 hours

    Under the Laughter of Eagles

    By Michael McQuaid

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    About this ebook

    Eagles and Sea Otters. Orca and Sea Lions, Oh my!

    During the nearly two years I was stationed on Adak, Alaska with the US Navy, I found things to interest my "sometimes sideways sense of Humor." The stories that are included are actually what happened, from my point of view. I was there.

    From Eagles that Laugh at people, to the sometimes crazy people that jump into thirty degree (F) water, voluntarily. All on a small, chilly, often depressing rock in the Bering Sea. You get a really up close, sometimes personal, view of Nature in the Aleutian Chain of islands.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMichael McQuaid
    Release dateMar 28, 2013
    ISBN9781301065417
    Under the Laughter of Eagles
    Author

    Michael McQuaid

    I live in Pensacola, Fl. with my wife of 46 years, two sons, five grandchildren, 3 dogs, 1 cat and an insane Parrot. Oh, and the sometimes caustic Little Voice in my head that helps the wife keep me straight. Genealogy, Bonsai, Archery, Guns and RC Aircraft are my hobbies. "Conservative Patriot" is my political view as I am a direct descendant of America's History from before 1607. I like Westerns, history, genealogy and non-fiction Military books. As a retired Vietnam Vet, electronics technician, truck driver and Ex-cop. I am the father of two Army Snipers. I write mostly of my travels and the "characters" who are a large part of my life as Non-fiction stories with an often "sideways sense of humor." But will on occasion dabble in Historic Fiction, based on my Ancestors. "Everyone is crazy but me and thee, and I am not too sure about thee." Is the favorite Quote of my Great-grandfather.

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      Book preview

      Under the Laughter of Eagles - Michael McQuaid

      Under the Laughter of Eagles

      By

      Michael E. McQuaid

      Text copyright © 2013 Michael E. McQuaid

      All rights Reserved

      Published by Michael McQuaid at Smashwords

      ~~**~~

      Front Cover: Design by: Michael McQuaid

      Photo from © Nualinelaser/Dreamtime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images.

      http://www.stockfreeimages.com/bald-eagles-greating-each-other-thumb4344211.JPG

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Dedicated to:

      My parents although gone, are not forgotten

      For they made me what I am.

      Patricia, Curtis and Sean

      Because they made me the man I became.

      To my God

      Who gave me my greatest gifts of:

      My Family,

      Love, good friends and a sometime sideways sense of humor.

      Table of Content

      Prologue

      The Beginning

      Welcome to Adak, Alaska. Birthplace of the Wind

      Fishing Next to a Sneaky Eagle

      Finding Ceramics Again

      Fluffy Takes A Trip

      Four Wheeling Down A Dirt Road

      Orca and the Sea Food Buffet

      Candlestick Sea Otter Nursery

      The Octagon Cabin and the Landing Lesson

      Fishing Tackle and Techniques, Adak Style

      The Orca and the Sea Otter in the Harbor

      Lake Andy and the Salmon

      Spring Fling at the Hanger

      The Dreaded IG Inspection

      How to Buy a Toyota Cheap

      Adak Water Pipe Clocks

      Sea Lions on a Sand Bar

      Know Who You Are Picking a Fight With

      The Cook and the Engine Block

      Rocky and the Sledge Hammer

      Going Home and the Great Unknown

      About the Author

      Contact Me At:

      Prologue

      I’m not sure I can do this I said to my wife of nearly 46 years. I was going to write a book, this book to be precise. Something I had been saying that I wanted to do for all of those years. I had also said many times that if I wrote about what actually happened with the people I met along the way, that the Library would have to list it under fiction. Not a single person would believe any of it. But it is all true. I was there.

      I have always enjoyed writing, sometimes quite a bit, little short stories that I call letters back home. My friends and my wife all say that when I write for pleasure they can read me like I talk. And at other times not so much, those were called Technical Manuals for the Military.

      I am not real sure what they mean by that. I have either been blessed by a sort of sideways sense of humor, or cursed with it.

      You should be aware that I am not an English professor, and the way that I speak is quite often not like what I write, and I even get my versa visa on occasion. Ok, so you got me, I don’t always use good grammar and I even misspell when I talk. But that is just me. No excuses, it’s me, warts and all.

      I have had several people read the drafts looking for punctuation, grammar and all that other stuff. They did a great job, at least I think so. If we all spoke and wrote perfect English I believe it would be a very constipated world. Individuals make the world interesting. And some of you are really interesting, even odd at times. You might find yourself, or someone you know, in one of my books.

      Since this is my first Book, if this one works out, I'll write the rest of the stories about people that I have met along the twisted path of my life. But I must say this. Even my dogs are certifiable nut cases. My wife's Parrot is in a class all by herself, and so are most of the people I call friends. My sons are themselves unique, but they take after their mother, uh, that is another book.

      My Great-grandfather used to say Everyone is crazy but me and thee, and I am not too sure about thee.

      Mac

      The Beginning

      It was about ten in the morning. I was sitting at my desk in the Inventory Control Office at NTTC (Naval Technical Training Command, the military just loves Acronyms) Corry Station and it had been going pretty good. I just got the second of my many daily cups of coffee and was going through the morning reports and messages. Only one message was addressed to me. I decided to get to that one a bit later as it wasn’t marked as important.

      For a change the computers were not fighting with me,. The Command Inventory had been completed and the results were great. Over the last few months my people had worked with me like ants in the aftermath of a two year old little girl’s birthday party. For months of long days and some long nights we wrote new software, and built the new procedures and worked out how to get the completely rebuilt Inventory System humming. It was everything we had hoped for and more importantly, it was completed in about two weeks with 99.998% accuracy. The last inventory my predecessor had done took over nine months and had been only 70% if you are lucky.

      We had spent days and weeks pouring over old reports and receipts from years before. It turned out that somebody had sent truckloads of equipment, all on the inventory, to the junk yard. The paper chase had been a nightmare.

      If I ever found the clown that probably tossed the three dollar hand calculators away in the proverbial circular file (also known as the trash can), I’d strangle him. Why they were ever put on the Accountable List in the first place I will never know. I finally got the Commander, to sign off on the fact that they had in all probability been pitched into the trash somewhere. (Since he was the one that had signed for all of it I could understand his point of view.)

      The Supply Office across the hall was happy as they could be with the Spreadsheet Application written for them to do their order tracking, with Accounting with Budget Analysis built in. It had error trapping and enabled Base Supply to reconcile all the books for the base in about fifteen minutes instead of the two or three weeks’ lag they had been laboring under up until then. And that alone would save hundreds of man hours, which equated to lots of money.

      In the past it had taken three people two weeks to build the ‘books’ (records of all supply requisitions and funding account balances) to get ready for the upcoming year. Then close out the ‘books’ for the current year. The new program, with the use of a single Macro, the Supply Office Petty Officer in Charge pushed three keys and went to lunch. When he returned the Old Books were closed and the New Books were waiting on him, and ready to go.

      The base does a lot of training for the Navy and other branches of the military; some of it was classified so the Inventory was also classified. Obviously it was important to find it all. I mean it isn’t like it is NASA or anything, but it is important.

      Since my surname is of Irish origins you would think that my luck would be pretty good, at least that is what people would lead you to believe. And you would be wrong, so very wrong. Do you remember that message I mentioned just a moment ago? Yup, that would be the one.

      As I opened it up my first thoughts were Oh, great. I’m just finishing two and a half years in Pensacola, Florida which had followed after the two year unaccompanied tour on Okinawa. I had enjoyed the sunshine and semi tropical climates of both places, but this one with the family was hands down a lot better. Now I get to go to a dammed ice box.

      My wife was finally making some money breeding Registered Persian Cats and had a pretty good job that she liked most of the time. We had figured that I would finish my navy career at Corry. All I would need would be a little eight month extension of my current tour of duty assignment to put me over the hump so to speak and into what is known in the Navy as my Twilight Tour. Which means in Navy speak, that you are frozen at that base, for reassignment purposes, pending your retirement. Think again big boy went through my head. Close but no cigar on this one. Yeah Buddy, Uncle Sam’s Canoe Club really loves you.

      Permanent Change of Station, better known as PCS orders, is one of two kinds. White and black, good and bad, Pensacola Florida and Adak-freezing-Alaska! See what I mean? Wow! You really peed in somebody’s cornflakes this time, Fat Boy said the Little Voice in my head. But the usual way most GIs look at assignments is that no place is as great as the command you just left, and there is no greater cesspool than the one you are going to next. Not necessarily so. But sometimes…life happens.

      Over the next few months I tried to get an extension on my tour at Corry. Nope, not happening, was the answer I got from the Navy. Because the wife suffered with migraine headaches and Adak was not going to have much in the way of medical facilities, she was not eligible to go with me anymore than she had been on the Okinawa trip. I only had twenty one months to go until retirement. Since both boys were in high school, they would be boarded in Anchorage to go to school. And they would only get to come home during the summer and major holidays…if we had the money for the air fare that is. You got it, just hit the flush handle on the toilet, because that was where I saw the next nearly two years headed. Getting out of the Navy after more than eighteen years was not an option, but it was the only other choice.

      It did not take but about a half a Nano Second to figure out that the wife would not be dancing the tickled to death jig over this one either,

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