Greetings from Fabulous Las Vegas! I hope this finds all my faithful followers, loyal friends, and random stumble uponers in good health and high spirits.
A few days after I got out of the hospital, I learned that my uncle (mom's brother) died. I felt bad when he died because about 10 years ago, my aunt and uncle moved to a town about an hour and a half from us, and I had visited only three or four times. He died of cancer, prostate cancer I think. The cancer had spread to his spine, and at the end, his liver. Lesson: guys, if you're 40+, get those colonoscopies. Yeah, that stuff you have to drink to clean you out is nasty, but the alternative is much worse.
He was a career police officer, retiring as Deputy Chief of Police. I recently learned that it wasn't an amicable retirement... he was forced to retire. From what I heard. it sounded like he was not ready to retire. Even though he probably embellished them (a little or a lot), his police stories were often hilarious, and I will miss them dearly. He was quite the joker, and though I had forgotten about it, an accomplished guitarist.
We wanted to go visit my aunt and cousin sooner than this past weekend, but they were both sick and didn't want to take a chance that I'd get sick again. My cousin messaged me last Thursday and said they were both feeling better and were ready for visitors. We weren't planning to stay more than a couple of hours. We arrived around 11 AM and didn't leave until almost 4 PM. It was probably the best visit I've had with them since I was a kid, probably because my mom wasn't there (she lives in the past a lot... "remember when..." and makes everything about her). We caught up, learned some interesting things about our family, and had lunch at a restaurant in the Pahrump Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino.
When we originally planned to visit, my cousin told me they had some things of my uncle's that they wanted to give me. I thought maybe they'd offer me his handguns. But what they did give me... surprised me: 3 guitars and a banjo. One guitar, an acoustic guitar, came from Sears, nothing special, but clearly loved and played a lot. The second guitar is another no name brand acoustic guitar, but this one uses nylon strings instead of steel/bronze strings. It's currently set up with 3 nylon and 3 bronze strings. I haven't looked at the banjo yet, but I'll play around with it. My uncle said learning the banjo was harder than he expected. I don't think he ever really got the hang of it. But the highlight of the gift is this guitar...
This is a 1970 Guild Starfire V with a sunburst finish that is in very good condition... very little wear, hardly any scratches or dings, and appears to have all original hardware. During my research to find out what model it is and when it was made, I checked on its potential value (not that I'm going to sell it). It could be worth anywhere from $2000 to $3500 (though probably more likely in the $2500 to $3000 range)! I haven't plugged it in yet, but I plan to later this week. I think I'll take it to a guitar tech to have it looked over and get it into primo playing condition.
These guitars, and the banjo, were very thoughtful gifts. I wasn't super close to my aunt, uncle, and cousin, but they apparently knew I played guitar and wanted me to have them.
I'm also getting his handguns, which I had hoped to get. Before he died, I thought about having my uncle help my wife and I purchase a couple of handguns... for home defense. I know two the handguns are Glocks, at least one of which has built in laser sighting. I can't remember what the third one is. I think there are just the three. My cousin said there is a bunch of other stuff that goes with them... cleaning kit(s), ammo, and probably cases, holsters, and who knows what else. I've shot rifles, shotguns, and assault rifles (M-16), but never a handgun. As a classified courier in the USAF, I should have been trained on the M9, but never received the training. I'll take a training course. There is no gun registration required in Nevada or for open carry. I might go ahead and get a CCW (carry concealed weapon) permit. I don't plan to carry any of them out at all except when I decide to do some range shooting. I'll keep them mainly for home defense. We live in a decent area in Las Vegas, but things always change. When we bought our first house, it was in a good area, but years later, the surrounding area started going downhill, which is why we moved. So, you never know.
Lastly, and not related to my uncle's death, but my aunt gave my wife her mink jacket. My grandmother (mom's mom) had given her a mink coat, and my mom received a mink stoll. My aunt had the coat cut down to a jacket. My mom will probably insist that she have the jacket if she finds out my aunt gave it to my wife, but she's not getting it. Have no idea where she'll wear it, but perhaps I can use it occasionally in my photo sessions.
That's it for tonight.
Stay Tuned...
DeadGuitarist
