Ebb and Flow

Resolute in the doldrums on the Equator
Henry John Douglas-Scott-Montagu
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Becalmed, in the doldrums, adrift, or heck, maybe I'm just lazy. I tried, hard, to capture something to write about today, some new fiction, while I maintained the chase, for a while, eventually the idea ran off. I couldn't quite get ahold of it. It's still there, will probably be there tomorrow. But for now ...

Warmer today, supposed to get some weather over the weekend, more snow I'm told. Could be a couple of inches, might be nine inches, depends on where the rain/snow line lies. Being on the coast of a big body of water (i.e. the Atlantic) really affects the weather in these parts.

Frontal systems with moisture push up from the south, those with cold air push down from the north. The fronts collide and do battle. Along the front (if you will) one side is snow, the other rain. It's interesting to read about, sometimes not fun to be caught up in.

Checking the mail today (our neighborhood counts as "rural," which means the postman doesn't have to come to your door, they leave it in your mailbox on the street) I noted that the wind was howling. It does that a lot along the coast, nothing to stop it from sweeping in off the sea. I had the thought that the wind here blows almost as much as the wind in Wyoming.

Note I said almost, the wind in Wyoming seemed to always be blowing.

I went to college in Fort Collins, Colorado. We did most of our military shopping up in Cheyenne, at F. E. Warren AFB, home to a missile wing at the time. Fifty miles separate the two places along I-25. It could be nice in Fort Collins but with blizzard conditions in Cheyenne. Never seemed to be the opposite though.

Driving to Cheyenne back then was interesting. You'd see a herd of pronghorn antelope out on the plains. Sometimes you'd see a helicopter in the distance, a military bird, traveling to one of the missile silos out there. Living in a peaceful landscape beneath which lurked the end of mankind. I grew up in the 60s, the threat of nuclear war was drilled into us.

Sometimes we'd be at the commissary late and head home after sundown. Way across the plains you could see a line of thunderstorms at night, lighting the horizon. It was peaceful, the kids nodding off in the backseat, me and The Missus Herself just enjoying the light show, good times.

I think my lack of writing as of late has a lot to do with being retired, I don't seem to have any impetus to do anything, other than relax. Having this freaking cold doesn't help, but that'll pass.

I have some ideas for some new fiction (and continuing the old) but those take time to percolate, if you will. Need to do some research which, while interesting, feels an awful lot like work. I'm just not ready to buckle down and do that, just yet.

Bear with me, it's a process. One I don't fully understand and don't care to, I'm a big go with the flow kind of guy, I move as the spirit bids and right now the spirit says, "Chill, you've worked for fifty years, time to relax for a bit."

So I am.

Author's Note: Watching 1883 has also put me into a bit of an introspective mood. It's a great series, I highly recommend it.

The Sarge in Winter

OAFS Photo

Winter refuses to loosen its grip on Little Rhody, much as the rhinovirus refuses to loosen its grip on my sinuses.

Light snow Thursday morning, as depicted above, which turned to light rain in the afternoon. No doubt it will all turn to ice in the evening. (Forecast says above freezing overnight, so that's a comfort.) It has been wicked cold here this winter. No, not northern tier cold, but cold for Little Rhody.

Having lived here longer than I lived in my home state of Vermont (25 years versus 23) I thought I knew the weather here. My experience has been that we get a couple of weeks of Arctic chill (teens and below) every year with the rest of the winter the temperatures staying mostly in the mid 30s to upper 40s. This year it seems to be staying in the mid 20s (and below) getting above freezing only when precipitation moves in.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen some major snowfalls in this area over the last two decades and a half. But that's the exception, rather than the rule.

The Missus Herself informs me that her homeland is seeing a lot of cold and snow this year as well. My observation on this is that this is a natural cycle. Saw some really bitter cold and snow in Korea during my four years in the Land of the Morning Calm, as juvat can attest to in his shorter stint on the peninsula.

So weather is one of the safer things we can talk about as adults. I think. At any rate, it's been awfully bloody cold here as of late and that situation extends all the way down to Virginia. Which is all I can speak to for the East Coast, New Hampshire to Virginia and no more than 150 miles from the coast. Something about being near salt water comforts me. (Not on it mind you, near it.)

As I've been coughing and hacking more, expelling dead viruses from my body, I guess I've turned the corner on Monsieur Rhinovirus. I sure hope so, having one's sinuses feel like they're plugged up with cotton is no fun, as most humans can attest to.

Now I know why Finnegan was sort of cranky last week, he just wasn't feeling all that great. He's normally what folks call a "happy baby," he smiles a lot and makes few demands from his parental units, except when he's under the weather.

The Missus Herself suggested the other day that if she wasn't around I'd probably just die. Well, she may be right, even when she doesn't feel so hot herself, she takes care of me. Yeah, I hear about it. Don't know what it is about some (most) guys but we can be big wusses when we don't feel well. Many of my female acquaintances would agree, saying "It is known.¹"

I spent the day nursing my battered sinuses, cleaning the slushy snow off the deck, and streaming a lot of TV shows and movies. I highly recommend Yellowstone and 1883 for TV binging. The movie Pixels, with Adam Sandler and Kevin James, was amusing and fun. The film is based on the 1980s gaming scene, think Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. You know, goofy gamers grow up then save the planet with their gaming skills. Very funny in parts, a fun film overall.

I did watch Gladiator II last week, streamed it online on Tuttle's big screen theater system. We had thought about watching it back in December by actually going to the theater, but the logistics didn't work it. Then I mentioned that we could stream it for $19.99 to avoid the logistical issues, not really appropriate material for 2 and 4 year old boys, and the 12 year old granddaughter isn't quite old enough to mind the children while the adults go to a film. Which would have meant leaving one of the adults behind.

Oddly enough, I almost watched it two weeks ago when the streaming cost went down to  $9.99. Missed the chance, only to discover that one can stream it at no cost provided one has the right subscription. Which we did.

I was very prepared to be underwhelmed. It's a Ridley Scott film, which up until last year I had considered a no-brainer for entertainment. As I felt Napoleon sucked, for the most part, I had no confidence in Mr. Scott's ability to capture the magic of the original Gladiator film with Russell Crowe. He didn't, not really (I mean come on, sharks in the Coliseum?) but to my surprise the film was very entertaining. Completely ahistorical but entertaining. I mean come on, it's not a documentary. (Neither was Napoleon but he made such a hash of the story and the main character, IMHO, that I couldn't let it go.)

So yeah, Gladiator II, not bad, not great, but worth the two and a half hour run time. If you've got the time to spare.

Anyhoo, back to sipping NyQuil and streaming.

Y'all have fun now, ya hear?

¹ For you Game of Thrones fans, yes, that's a Dothraki saying. For you non-fans, well, it's a saying.

Still in the Hangar ...

Source

Not feeling all that chipper still, but am feeling a bit better than yesterday. Staying hydrated, warm, and cozy. Good thing I don't need to go anywhere.

So I've got that going for me.

That beast in the photo above is what I worked on for nearly eight years, sometime in the last century. Looks complicated, and it was, but for my purposes it was pretty simple. Something doesn't work, you run BIT and then based on the tech order, or experience, you pull the offending box, and take it to the shop. There, they either tweak it (as in adjust the settings) or give you another.

Simple, but time consuming. And some of that stuff is heavy and/or awkward to take off and remount on the aircraft. Fun times in the heat or cold.

Anyhoo, I'm resting, recuperating, and reclining.

More tomorrow, one hopes, as I seem to be on the mend.

As Long as You've Got Your Health ...

OAFS Photo

Apparently The Missus Herself and Your Humble Scribe do not have the sort of immune systems which can compete with day care.

Finnegan seems to catch every bug there is, which has never really affected his grandparents.

Until now.

When we departed the shores of the Chesapeake to return to the shores of the Narragansett (crossing over the shores of the Delaware upon the way) we both felt fairly healthy and in fine fettle.

Monday The Missus Herself awakened with a bad cold. As for me, Your Humble Scribe, I felt nothing more than a mild scratchy throat, which could easily be attributed to the long drive and the lack of sleep the evening before departure.

However ...

Tuesday I awakened with one nostril leaking like the seams of the Titanic, post iceberg collision, and a mouth so dry that the Sahara would feel like a wet towel in comparison.

After clearing the nostril and taking a hefty chug of H₂O, I felt a bit better. Enough to decide that another hour or so of sleep would be "just the thing."

Well, yes and no. I slept wonderfully but awakened to a head full of cotton. Classic "Ah, crap, I have a cold."

Now before any of you start channeling your inner CDC bureaucrat, Finnegan, who is subject to apparently every virus known to man, did see a doctor (The Nuke is hyper-protective of her brood, I daresay if she and a mother grizzly crossed paths in the wild, I pity the grizzly) and was diagnosed with the common cold. (Poor kid had a bout with pneumonia a month or so ago, so The Nuke wanted to make sure that had not re-occurred.)

Yes, yes, I know that there are 80 bazillion strains of something out there "going around." We have colds, I've had them all my life, I know what they feel like. As for the flu, I've had it twice (both in years when I missed my flu shot) and know what that feels like. (If you've never had the flu, you wouldn't understand, something to be avoided like, well, the plague.) I've also had the dreaded Covid and know what that feels like. (I had a mild case, knock on wood.)

Bottom line, I feel like a crap sandwich without the bread.

Posting might be a bit sparse over the next cuppla days as I am feeling rather uncreative.

Oh yeah, my garbage disposal crapped the bed on Monday. So I've got that going for me as well. Upon recovery, I shall replace it. Not my first rodeo, er, garbage disposal replacement. The one we've got now is the one I put in.

Twenty years ago.

I might remember how, we shall see.

Stay frosty my friends, perhaps I shall return on the morrow.

Or not.

I guess there's a reason it's called a RHINOvirus¹.

¹ I know, I know, not the literal meaning ...

And We're Back ...

OAFS Photo

The trip back from Maryland on Sunday was, for the most part, uneventful. I've discovered that traveling on Sunday means a lot less traffic. Usually.

Four cars managed to careen into each other on the Cross Bronx "Expressway" which led to a half hour delay in that metropolitan area. Fun. You're on a roadway which is sunken beneath the surrounding terrain so you can't see anything.

We also had a large tractor-type truck to our front which meant we couldn't see what the delay was. On the upside, no one wanted to cut in front of me because then they would be behind the big truck.

The opening photo are The Nuke's boys, Finnegan (left) and Roberto (right). Those two guys are a blast to be around. Of course as they are two and four (respectively) they do tend to "get in a mood" from time to time. But for 75% of the time they pay attention, love to play and wrestle with Grandpa (I have the bruises to show for it), and harrass Grandma to spoil them. Which she does.

Last week saw the arrival of the Year of the Snake, Lunar New Year having arrived on the 29th of January. The grandkids learned a new tradition, the one where they bow to their grandmother (I don't count apparently as I'm not Korean, ain't no thang) in a rather formal way.

Roberto pulled it off as if he were to the manor bred. Finnegan didn't quite get what was going on but when he saw his brother receive cash money from his grandmother, he was bowing as if he'd grown up in the old Korean court. The kids are fast learners.

I daresay it will be a few days before Mom and Dad get the boys back to normal. I'm not saying that we spoil them ...

Oh wait, that's exactly what I'm saying. That's what grandparents do.

I also feel that it's incumbent upon Grandpa to tell the boys the legends of their ancestors. Though I think Roberto suspects Grandpa is pulling his leg when I tell him of my school days, where in the winter the walk to school was uphill, both ways, and one had to watch that the wolves didn't carry off any stragglers.

"Did that really happen, Grandpa?" he ask with a look of healthy skepticism upon his handsome visage.

"Sure it did. Ask your mother."

Who had this to say, "Grandpa sometimes exaggerates. There were no wolves in southern Vermont in the '60s."

Next time I shall regale them with tales of sweltering in a New England summer, "working¹" in their great-great grandmother's garden and fighting off sharks in the waters of Maine.

And no, Roberto, the dinosaurs were long dead when I was born. Don't believe everything your mother says.

Sigh ...

Back down in March for the kids' spring break, might involve a trip to Gettysburg as well. To stay in a haunted inn, maybe. I was rather excited at the prospect, Roberto wasn't sure what to believe.

Ah, to be young again.

¹ Work consisted of eating whatever we could get away with, fresh green beans, carrots straight from the earth, and making sure Grandpa didn't see us!

So...It Begins!

 Well, Campers, there's a bit of "firsts" involved in this post.  First, this is my first post done entirely on my Mac Laptop.  Still getting a bit used to it, and there are a lot of similar actions to my old PC, but there are also a lot of procedures that are done completely differently on the Mac.  Still does the same thing, however the keystroking is different.  So...Patience juvat!  

Yeah, right...Me? Patient?  

This is gonna be a fairly short post as there is another "First" in progress.  As I've mentioned before, we've made the decision to sell our property in "The Burg" and move to College Station to be closer to family.  That began yesterday.

You may remember this picture from a couple of posts ago.

 

 

 

Well, Saturday, Mrs. J declared "Fight's on" (a peacetime air to air radio call to start an air to air fight).  It was quite an engagement.  We had the dumpster delivered on Friday. My first thought was "Man, that's huge, we're not going to need a second one."

8' W X 10'H x40'L. Nah Never gonna fill it

 Remember what I said the "Junk expands to meet available space"?  I have complete proof that that's the case.

However, we have made considerable progress on the storage closet.  Yes, Beans, we were ruthless.  Unless we had a confirmed need for "stuff", military records, a walker etc. it was going to da dump!  

 Got some sweeping to do and a little more "disposing" and some replacing shelving at the far end of the area in the picture.  But, this will be the place where we store the stuff from the main house to declutter it and ready it to be sold.  

Still got the back porch to cleanse.  What little room we have left in the dumpster will undoubtedly be filled, Maybe, just maybe, we can get a smaller/less expensive dumpster.  In all likelihood, that's not gonna happen.  But, one can hope.

But, I've been sleeping well at night.  A little (OK a lot) stiff and sore in the morning, but "It 'tis what it 'tis".

Peace out y'all.

juvat

All Things Must Pass ...

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Well, it was a fun week, but it's time to head back to the old homestead. Not that I need to rush right back, but The Missus Herself has her circle of friends and they have plans. We missed Lunar New Year back home, we did celebrate in Maryland, so they need to make up for that. Lunar New Year is a very big deal in Korea.

I really need to commence the computer room re-org, something I look forward to as I need the space, I can barely get to my drum kit! So that will be among the first orders of business once we're back to "normal."

Normal ...

For the grandkids that means back to school without the distraction of Grandma and Grandpa catering to their whims, for the adults it means back to their regular work schedules. I am so happy to not have a "normal" anymore. I do what I want, when I want, within reason, of course. (Normal? Reason? What have you done with the real Sarge?)

Anyhoo, as you read this I'll be on the road. Sundays are normally a good travel day. At least it has been in the past. Hopefully we are within the "normal" window for Sunday travel.

Read the folks on the sidebar, talk quietly among yourselves, and ...

Well, you know the rest.

Be seeing you!