unexploded ordnance

imagine my surprise when my parents called me up today to say “hey! the police have sealed our neighborhood! they say that there’s an unexploded bomb somewhere.”

“cool” i said – “or keep your heads down” – or something useful like that. the bomb – which was a vietnam-era mortar – was buried in a house that was right next to one i used to cut when i was a kid. so – i was never in any real danger (which is good to know this far from the fact).

i’m not sure why a vet would need to abscond the ‘nam with a mortar … but the best part was that it was LIVE – fuse primed and everything (if the police can be trusted). my parents live in a nice little southern town – and i have never (ever) known anyone there to need indirect fire munitions to keep people away from their house … and no one grows pot in the city limits. so, again, i can’t figure out what the motivation was. other than “how cool is this – a mortar round!. let’s impress girls.”

i have been around many girls and none (ok – one, but she was hella spooky) liked guns – much less this kind of thing. so, i’m still confused as to why the dude wanted the thing. but – he was a vet and i’m willing to cut him the benefit of the doubt just based on that.

good news – my mom just called to say that the explosive has been rendered safe by some kind-hearted civil servant (and really – thanks for looking out for my folks!).

that’s my weird story for the day (and i hope my only unexploded bomb story for the month (at least)).

peace – out - andy