Don't Take Candy From Strangers

Howdy Y'all I decided to take a look back on my life. My dream job, the hopes I once had and determination helped me realize those dreams. Now don't mistake this as a cheap way to brag on myself at the expense of boring the readers of this here blog. I mentioned once I was a Private Investigator and I wasn't half bad...

I want to look farther back and tell you I had the dream of being a P.I. when I was 5 years old. When I was 7, a student at Elk Garden Elementary in the little community of Elk Garden, Va..at the time I resided in a small place known as Belfast, or Belfast Mills, VA.. I located a convict camping out within strained eyesight of the school room where I had 3rd period. They of course disbelieved the skinny little dreamer..till three days later when shots rang out and bullets bounced off our playground/parking lot..
 I moved a lot in my life but now  I live maybe 2 miles from the little trailer I grew up in at the time. It brings back memories, most good. Now I explain part of this post. I fell asleep one night and had a dream. A dream of this little girl from way up north that I hoped one day to meet and marry her. Silly kid stuff right? Not so...that is a longer story that I will treat y'all with in the future. But at the same time ( five years old almost 6) My dream was to become a Private Investigator. I wanted to help people, save the world and all that young idealism. Most grow out of that stage and settle on whatever occupation they have now...

I didn't change mine...
So I had my adventures, not Hollywood fodder but times that may remind folk of movies or books..trust me the stories are much more entertaining and our respective "heroes" always win...
Life ain't always like the movies!

Yep I did stakeouts, caught felons, drug dealers..hell I went undercover often. It is in a way acting but if you screw up? No yelling "CUT!" or second takes...Now many my remember in 2007 the massacre at Virginia Tech? A tragedy and God I wish I could have been there and tried to prevent it! But that day was the day that changed my life forever..that day I became a quadraplegic for a spell. No I was not there I was not a victim. I was in Pittsylvania county, Va working a self initiated case concerning the rash of break ins at local veterinary clinics. The thieves pulled a smash and grab and only stold one drug used in vet medicine. It is called Ketamine, or Ketamine Hydrochloride to be exact...

What was so special about this drug that led to me getting my brakes fixed and resulted in the accident? And I blame myself for being a little careless, but I am fine and fully functional and mobile, have been for years.

Ketamine Hydrochloride

Ketamine hydrochloride, or "Special K," is a powerful hallucinogen widely used as an animal tranquilizer by veterinarians. Users sometimes call the high caused by Special K, "K hole," and describe profound hallucinations that include visual distortions and a lost sense of time, sense, and identity. The high can last from a half-hour to 2 hours. The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that overt effects can last an hour but the drug can still affect the body for up to 24 hours.
Use of Special K can result in profound physical and mental problems including delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function and potentially fatal respiratory problems.
Special K is a powder. The drug is usually snorted, but is sometimes sprinkled on tobacco or marijuana and smoked. Special K is frequently used in combination with other drugs, such as ecstasy, heroin or cocaine.
Liquid Ketamine was developed in the early 1960s as an anesthetic for surgeries, and was used on the battlefields of Vietnam as an anesthetic. Powdered Ketamine emerged as a recreational drug in the 1970s, and was known as "Vitamin K" in the 1980s. It resurfaced in the 1990s rave scene as "Special K."

A Date Rape Drug!  And why do I bring this up? It's simple y'all..it's making a comeback! So I want to bring attention to this so hopefully the readers of this post can be forearmed and alerted to this vicious drug and protect yourselves, your children, your friends, and any that may be at risk...

And I have more to add to the about me but this takes precedence I think and think you all would agree

Be safe out there and remember what you're mother told you as kids..Don't Take Candy From Strangers! Drinks either....

McCord's cashiering: his hat is pulled off, his epaulets are torn from his uniform, his buttons are pulled off, and his saber is broken, while a drum plays ...

The opening title credits scene of the each episode of the series was a depiction of McCord's cashiering: his hat is pulled off, his epaulets are torn from his uniform, his buttons are pulled off, and his saber is broken, while a drum plays over Dominic Frontiere and Alan Alch's theme song: "Branded, scorned as the one who ran. What do you do when you're branded, and you know you're a man? / He was innocent . . . not a charge was true . . . but the world will never know. / Branded, marked by a coward's shame. What do you do when you're branded, will you fight for your name? Wherever you go for the rest of your life you must prove ... you're a man." He is then sent out of the fort where this occurred, and the gates are closed behind him.

 Branded is a Western series which aired on NBC from 1965 through 1966, sponsored by Procter & Gamble in its Sunday night 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time period, and starred Chuck Connors as Jason McCord, a United States Army Cavalry captain who had been drummed out of the service following an unjust accusation of cowardice.

It was a great, but short lived series. The changeover in Hollywood spelled the demise of one of the greatest 60's Westerns. I ask how would any of us be able to live down something like the character had to endure while knowing all along it was a lie, unjust and having to prove that he wasn't the coward he was branded?
 In the pilot episode entitled "The Vindicator" McCord is confronted by a newspaper reporter (Claude Akins) who wanted a follow up story on the "Bitter Creek" massacre. General James Reed, McCord's mentor, was on a peace mission and was to meet with representatives of the Apache nation at Bitter Creek when his unit of 15 men were outnumbered and attacked by a group of renegade Indians known as "Dog Soldiers" As the attack was underway McCord realized that the old general had lost leave of his senses and relieved him of command, but it was too late. McCord himself was wounded in the battle and left for dead. He remained in a coma for ten days after the attack.
 McCord was later brought up on charges and cashiered out of the Army after being found guilty of deserting his men in battle.


The newspaper reporter meanwhile tracked down a widow of the "Bitter Creek" massacre whose husband was third in command. She possessed a series of letters her husband had written questioning the mental instability of General Reed. Those letters would have been enough to grant McCord a new trial and possibly exonerate him. But it was McCord who convinced the widow (played by June Lockhart) to burn the letters in order to save the reputation of General Reed. McCord feared that if Reed's reputation was damaged certain people in Washington DC would try to start a new war with the Apaches. Therefore McCord never spoke out about what really happened at Bitter Creek.
In the series, McCord traveled throughout the Old West, continually confronted by people who refused to believe his notorious reputation for cowardice was undeserved, requiring him to prove them wrong.
John M. Pickard, formerly of the related series, Boots and Saddles, appeared in six episodes as General Phil Sheridan. Notable guest stars included Chris Alcaide, Russ Conway, Burt Reynolds, Don Collier, Burgess Meredith, John Carradine, Pat Conway, Janet De Gore, Chad Everett, I. Stanford Jolley, June Lockhart, Gregg Palmer, Dolores del Río, and Lee Van Cleef.

The show lasted only 2 seasons. The first shot in black and white, the second in color...

This short lived series was Chuck Conners next adventure after The Rifleman had run it's course and ended. The Rifleman is a well known and beloved series that needs no introduction and I think if it had not been for the changing of the guard in Hollywood the NBC would have had another smash hit series on their roster. The opening is one that lives in my memory and the drum roll and the haunting theme will forever be Branded in my memory...

On that note I want to let all y'all know I have not abandoned my Blog Post it is merely at a standstill for now and I won't take the time to go into details of why, only that I assure you I intend to pick back up and regularly have an interesting, often tinged with humor story for you from days gone by...