Posts Tagged ‘nostalgia’

The finish of the Martha Raye Rule 5 story

Posted: September 27, 2009 by datechguy in oddities
Tags: , , , , , ,

As promised here is the end of the Martha Raye story from Retired Sgt. Major David C. Carden’s book The Army Insider:

Here I was, a country boy from Nebraska playing poker with a movie star. Golly! The game was five card stud. One hole card and four up. Best hand wins. Hole cards were dealt around the table and one card up. My hole card was an Ace. Maggie had a deuce showing. Bets all around. Next card paired my top card and Maggie’s duce. More bets, some people folded. Third card up I had an Ace and Maggie had a face card. This round of betting just left her and me. The last card up didn’t do either of us any good. The last of the $200 went into the pot and I was calculating my winnings. Aces over had her two pair beat. I gingerly turned over my Ace and she said, “Nice hand young Sergeant, but not good enough.” as she turned over her third deuce. That’s how I met Martha Ray.

From what I understand his luck at poker never got better, but it was a different story for his sons. One of the funniest things I ever saw in a poker game were his two oldest sons over my house at a couples poker night with their wives. You never saw two people play such cuthroat poker in your lives. You couldn’t make a bet without them raising each other through the roof and even worse they always managed to get the cards. ALWAYS.

The funniest poker story ever? I’ll save that for next Sunday.

Amazon Vine watch…

Posted: September 24, 2009 by datechguy in fun
Tags: ,

Today is the day that the new complete list of available stuff goes up on the Amazon vine program.

Starting around 10 (since my son’s car is in the shop and I have to bring him) I’ll be constantly refreshing the page there to see when the available lists change.

Yeah it’s kinda silly but why not?

BTW does anyone know where the Battlestar Galactica season one set that I’ve suddenly noticed on the shelf to the left of me came from? I never bought or borrowed it.

Datechguy: Dental pioneer

Posted: September 22, 2009 by datechguy in oddities, personal
Tags: , , ,

Well went to the dentists to check on my implant.

Our regular family dentist noticed the crown was loose so she referred me back to the dentist that did it decades ago.

We had a great time reminiscing over all kinda things, then he finally took a look.

The 20 year old implant is fine, the reason the crown is loose is the plastic washer is worn.

The thing is it was the 3rd implant he had ever done (it’s now a specialty of his) The implant isn’t made anymore, and the washer isn’t made anymore, when I had this done my kids weren’t even born.

So we are going to leave it be, it doesn’t hurt, it’s not causing any trouble, if he happens upon the part he’ll let me know, but since it is SO old he and the surgeon might decide to have me come in again just to get data on how that old model hold up over two decades of use.

So I may be an object of study, that doesn’t happen every day.

A slightly odd rule 5 sunday entry

Posted: September 20, 2009 by datechguy in amazon reviews, fun, personal, war
Tags: , , , , , ,

I generally don’t do rule 5 entries but I’m going to make an exception here for a purely Sicilian reason, family interest.

Martha Raye pinup

This is Martha Raye from the 40’s. You likely remember her from of all things polident commercials but to the soldiers she entertained in war zones she was a lady.

So Why am I bringing this up. Well in the book I’ve already plugged and urged you to buy. The Army Insider by retired 30 year Sgt Major David C. Carden who served from Vietnam to the First Iraq war and beyond both in combat and undercover has a Martha Raye story on page 55 which I will partially repeat here:

I was a 19 year old kid in December 1966 when I first met Martha Ray(e). She came to my Special Forces camp at Kontum, Viet Nam as part of a USO tour. It was just her and her entourage. Martha Ray(e) was a movie star and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Nurse Corps. This trip was a little entertaining an performing her Military duty. She was good people

It was early evening and I had just returned to camp after being out for about 10 days. We had a small one-room shack that served as a club and I headed over to get a Coke. I was unshaven, dirty and probably smelled a little ripe. Maggie was siting in the corner of the room at the poker take and a group of guys was standing around watching the game. I walked over and some of my friend were playing and there was an open seat. She looked at me and said, “Have a seat young Sergeant.” I told her I didn’t have any money with me and a voice behind me said, “Here kid”. Sergeant Major Johnson the Camp Sergeant Major handed me $200 in MPC’s So I sat down…

the army insider

I’ll tell the end of the story next Sunday, but if you can’t wait the self published book is available at Amazon and is a great way to say thanks to a man (part of my family by marriage) who gave thirty years to serving his country while enjoying a bunch of great yarns.

Update: Welcome Rule 5 readers. The promised end of the story is here.

Older Entries
Newer Entries