A few years ago, a good news, bad news situation enabled me to end up with a pretty cool, pretty large American flag.

The good news, of course, is that I ended up with the flag, and the purchase price of $30 was earmarked for a nonprofit providing support for service men and women.

The bad news was that the flag was available for me to buy it because the the Albany group that had always placed it and many just like it around town, in sidewalk mounts, on patriotic holidays was ceasing to operate. I think the final straws were a dearth of new volunteers, and an ODOT project that took out a bunch of the mounts.

Anyway, when the flags were offered for sale as a fundraiser for the troops, I acted quickly to own one (as did the DH itself), and my daughter’s former boyfriend rigged up a pretty good way for us to fly it near our front door.

I pulled the flag out of the front closet on Flag Day with the thought I’d leave it up through July 4, but now I’m thinking it will just stay in place as long as the weather is good. A few times a day, I need to untangle it from its pole — fairly breezy where I live — but that’s OK. It’s worth the effort.

I like looking at the flag, gives me comfort having it there, and it also reminds me to feel grateful to all of those who have served in the armed forces to help ensure liberty and everything else the Stars and Stripes represents.

Here’s a photo of it:

And here’s today’s glove, a World War II-era military issue Wilson fielder’s glove that beloved to the dad of one of my friends:

Catch of the Day, No. 5: U.S.A. in this case stands for U.S. Army (I have a USN,navy, glove also).