Watch "Just A Common Soldier" on YouTube

https://youtu.be/eEs4ke7cdNQ

   Just takes a minute or two;  reminds me of my father,  my uncles Herschell and Thomas and Bill, and many men I have had the pleasure of their acquaintance. Hope it comes through.

 Happy Memorial Day!  Give a little Thanks, 

Love to all, 

Dad

Greetings all; Well, nothing special, except that's it's been 3 months since an update. Summary: had a fun Thanksgiving, great Christmas (no skate board accidents this time), and a fun New Year at the ranch with some mountain friends. January pretty quiet: Lynn worked a lot, but we did get to ski at Sunrise some! Feb busy with 1) Jim Shepherd came down and spent a month in Tucson; we got to play golf, mess around. I warned him to be careful with his belongings at his rental house (rented with a friend from Kansas) but it did little good. He was in town about 30 minutes and got his bike stolen... We also had a few days visit from old Junior High friends-high school friends from Topeka! That was fun as well. Other than that, Feb quiet too. March has been fun; Lynn and I spent a week in Winter Park but we were the only Dicksons there this year! Was quiet, but the skiing was superb and a day at the snowmobile playing place was a blast. We did set a new record...temperature was 0 deg at the base, 24 Below at the 12,400 foot summit wind chill. Believe it or not, it was really neat coming down Parsienne Bowl and we have photos to prove it! Before that week, Lynn was up at the Phx horse show place and won her share of pretty ribbons at an Arab show this time, on a borrowed horse no less. Things coming up: There's a Matteo birthday party coming up in Phx; I have found myself leading a book club discussion on the Apache Wars at the Mountain Oyster Club coming up; Taxes are due, and along with the Marx-Son Farms LLC it's an interesting project this year. Thanks a lot, U.K.! I'm needing a lot of ice cream for this one.. Just so you know, trying to keep in touch: April: Bob and Mary Leigh Dyck from Kansas come to visit the ranch (high school friend and wife), then Easter in Arizona, then I go to Kansas for turkey season! Come back in time for a coed horse trek and party down in the San Rafael Valley on a friend's ranch. May: to Lee's Ferry for a couple days fly fishing on the Colorado River as it enters the Grand Canyon. Otherwise quiet. So far. June: I have tickets to Kansas for the Dickson reunion, the first Sunday after Memorial Day, in Emporia so I'm going! After that it's a trip to California for Grandpa and G'Ma Lynn for a week in the Hilton Vacations club. I'm not sure who all else is coming but I think it will be a blast! July: Lynn has the 4th off this year, and the last two weeks off. I'm not sure what all we are going to end up doing but at least some of it will be in Colorado. August: no idea Sept: Have booked a Baltic cruise with friends and hope to visit Moscow as well. I also have an antelope expedition in there somewhere in Wyoming with the cousins. That's about it; trust all is well around the country! I'm betting at least one of the PAC-12 teams will win March Madness, not sure which one. Should be an exciting tourney, especially if the KU guys can stay out of jail... Love to all, UR/DAD

Just updates:

OK, been awhile, so some news from Tucson.
  Here is a pic of the new Grandma Lynn in the NICU at UMC, big smile at Maddox. He's actually nine days old now, born premature due to emergency C-section due to Jessica's medical complications, but at this point mom and little boy doing fine. Now he weighs 3 lb 6 oz, almost back up to birth weight. Jessica was quite ill but doing much better now.
I've had a nice Kansas trip visiting the fans and relatives, went venison shopping but they were all out..:-(. Lucky for A Diane.
Lynn and I haven't done anything out of town since a really nice trip to Washington D.C. and Gettysburg in Sept; she's been working a lot, I've done some chores and repairs at the ranch and hung out in Tucson. Lynn did borrow a nice horse, went up to Scottsdale in the motor home, and won another nice ribbon in the Arab show. I got to stay with Erica and Jeff and Megan. The Orihuela children came out and checked out the horse etc as well.
Hope all is well around the country! Understand there are big Thanksgiving plans in South Carolina! Safe travels all, wherever Thanksgiving finds you, love one another, be grateful.
Love, Dad/UR

Dinner time

Down in the San Rafael Valley, Los Charros. Time for chow as soon as I put this horse up! Not a great pic, though..

 Another topic(s):

Looks like Lynn and I will be in Glendale AZ next Friday (21st) for an Oktoberfest party! Erica, can we stay the night and maybe Saturday??

 Also, any interest in going down to those Buttes and Rustler's Roost restaurant the next Saturday (the 22nd)? That's the place where that band plays good county, meals are tolerable. No reservations but the band guys are good friends from Los Charros and if we want to go they will be sure we have good seats for dinner. They only play from 6-10. 

 Having another good time with great friends down here, but Earl the a shoe and is kind of landed up so we are taking the day off, re-shoe, probably hit the trail again tomorrow.

K.S.U.

My my, look at all that Purple!...Good game (so far..) Great reunions.
Fun time in Manhattan.

Sunny skies

Well, MEMO to the East Coast Dicksons....
No hurricanes in Arizona!
Be safe..

Battle of Leyte Gulf: October 23–26, 1944 | Fold3 BlogFold3 Blog

https://blog.fold3.com/battle-of-leyte-gulf-october-23-26-1944/#comments

Hello dear family, greetings from the ranch! Couple of days lull and prep before non stop action: travel to Tucson, then Kansas, back to Tucson, then pick up a good friend and head down to the San Rafael Valley for Los Charros.
And, speaking of action, I've forwarded this link. 72 years ago this month this WW II battle took place, one in which Dad was heavily involved. This is from Fold3, a part of Ancestry.com, and is a very good account and summary. The other link is that of Comments, and there are many very interesting comments from survivors and relatives, sons and daughters. If you have time and have some interest...Dad referenced the anniversary of that battle many times, but only briefly.
Love you all,
Dad/UR