Regular Monday

 Well, Campers, it's Monday again.  Not a lot of exciting things have happened down here.  Fortunately, the Super Storm petered out before it got anywhere close.  I think the lowest the temp got was in the low 40's.

Now, that is definitely NOT a complaint.  Hopefully, all y'all are doing ok.

Some progress has been made on the house construction.  Last update was the clearing of where the house will be located.

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago when the old, dilapidated structure was demolished.

 

 That was followed by clearing the debris and leveling the area where the house will be built.

However, notice the line where the leveled dirt is and the tree line is.  That side is really impassable and unusable.  

So we got with our construction foreman and talked through the issue.

He hired a guy with a shredder with a tank tread-like base.    He went to work and pretty soon...

 That area used to be unaccessable. Now the whole area where the house, horse barn and paddock will be are accessible but still shaded. 

He also cleared out the areas where my workshop and Mrs J's "She Shed" will be placed.

 

 Wasn't quite finished yet. But we have confidence.

So.  Progress is occurring.  We shall see what the next steps are.  Electricity and Water to the specific sites I would think.  They are on the property.

 

Peace out, y'all

 

Early (very early) Monday

 

No, Beans, it's not Monday. Sarge had a bit of bad news and decided to take a break in posting.  I had a post in the works, so I'm going to post it today instead of Monday.

Here's hoping the Blogger Guardian Angel has another posting idea he'll send me.

Anyhow, here we go.

I was thumbing through the side bar on the blog a day or so ago.  I was looking at all the postings and what categories there were.  Good Gravy, there are a lot of them.  Most are Sarge's, but a few are mine.  Monday being my main category and is #1 on the list.  (Just in case you want to look at old posts I wrote. Hey, I think I got better as time went by.)

In any case, while trying to come up with ideas  back then, I ran across a video that had been taken in the mid-80's.  One of the pilots in my squadron was a photography buff and this was about the time that movie cameras became affordable and didn't weigh 5 tons.  Still a bit heavy though when pulling G's and you may notice that in the video.

So, I came across this video and decided to watch it again.  "Why" you may ask?

I was the pilot in the jet.  We had a couple of D models (2 seaters) assigned to the squadron.  One of them (78-564) had my name painted on the canopy rail.  Having come from a 2 seater background (T-37, T-38, F-4C, F-4D, F-4E, and AT-38), the squadron commander asked if I'd mind being assigned a 2 seater.  The jet could be set up to fly solo, the back seat just had to be secured.  So, I said "Sure".  

I flew that jet every time I saw it on the schedule.  I was a squadron scheduler at the time. My crew chief and I got along quite well.  I actually got a chance to take him up in "our" jet, but that's a story for another time.

My jet, with me in it was the camera jet for the film.  And the ground shot of the preflight was my jet and I'm in one of the scenes.  All inside the cockpit shots are in my jet with me doing the flying thing.

Yes, I got a little sentimental when I looked at this film again.  

Source

But, she is still flying, if no longer in the fighter business.  She's assigned to NASA.  Good for her.

My Jet in NASA Apparel

 

So, for your education and entertainment....

 

  

Enjoy! 

Ave Atque Vale

Source

I knew his real name, Dave Mustar, here on the blog, we knew him as Dakota Viking.  He's the #1 Nozzleman in the photo above. He's also here in the USS Carl Vinson's cruise book from 1989-1990.

Source

I hadn't heard from him in a while, I had a quick note from him a while back telling me that he'd been busy but had some more stories to share.

Gonna have to wait a while for that. David died quietly, in his sleep, on the 23rd of February, 2026. A friend of his, JK, left the message of his passing in yesterday's comments.

I'm going to go back and read some of those posts he shared with us, you can too if you click on the Dakota Viking label over on the right.

I think I'm going to take some time away from the blog for a bit. Cuppla days at least, maybe longer. This is going to take some time to process. I think I've got one more post he sent me that I haven't published yet. I need to find that. But for now ...

I am saddened by his passing.

Ave Atque Vale

Through many countries and over many seas

I have come, Brother, to these melancholy rites,

to show this final honour to the dead,

and speak (to what purpose?) to your silent ashes,

since now fate takes you, even you, from me.

Oh, Brother, ripped away from me so cruelly,

now at least take these last offerings, blessed

by the tradition of our parents, gifts to the dead.

Accept, by custom, what a brother’s tears drown,

and, for eternity, Brother, ‘Hail and Farewell’.

(Source)

Atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale ...

Rest in peace, my brother in arms. Rest in peace.

And this is the 16th anniversary of my Dad's passing. Not feeling anything right now, just an aching void ...

Veni, Vidi, Vici

Vercingétorix devant César
Lionel Royer (PD)

Okay, I did arrive safely, I did see where I was, whether or not I conquered anything (other than the madhouse of the highway) remains to be seen.

Grandsons were happy to see me, once they were done beating the crap out of me.

Good boys, just a bit, shall we say, over eager?

It's good to be back in the Old Line State.

More to come once I recover from the sleep deficit, one thing I will say is that there is virtually no snow in the Annapolis area. I was in winter until I crossed the Delaware.

The Nuke tells me that while we up north were getting hammered with the white, they got mostly rain.

Can't say it bothers me, kinda nice to walk outside and not have to  stare at the ground to see if it's icy.

Kinda nice.

Makes my knee very happy.

Saddle Up!

Source

Once again it is time to mount up and head out. Boots and saddles, sea and anchor duty, etc., etc., etc.

Hopefully the roads will be like this ...

And not like this (à la Monday instant) ...

We can but hope.

I'm still amazed that after three hours of sleep (admittedly a very sound sleep) I was able to function for most of Wednesday.

I guess I'm just too busy to be tired.

Hey, it could happen!

See you from below the Mason-Dixon, not sure when, not sure how, but we'll meet again some sunny day. (At least I hope we're in for some more sunny days!)

Take it away, Willie!

Bis gleich! Und tschüss!

After the Storm

Backyard - Tuesday, 24 February 2026
OAFS Photo

Woke up to bright sun and blue skies on Tuesday, I was actually up by 0730, a rarity for me. Checked the driveway, the neighbors had started it the night before but it was dark, it was cold, so the decision was made to do it on the morrow.

No problem there, I'm retired, nowhere I need to go, nowhere I need to be. So, enjoy the morning. And I did!

Deck Steps - Tuesday, 24 February 2026
OAFS Photo

The plows on Monday made one pass down the street, so essentially we have a one way street at the moment. I get it, where would the snow go if they went wider? I'll tell you where, on top of everyone's mailbox. No, not a great idea.

Driveway (before) - Tuesday, 24 February 2026
OAFS Photo

Even though the temperature is still below freezing, once you get down to the blacktop, everything melts pretty quickly. The last storm we had, just a few few inches, I didn't need to do anything, the sun took care of it.

With three feet on the ground (officially, hard to tell with all the drifts) the melting process takes longer. So the neighbor's snowblower is needed.

Driveway (after) - Tuesday, 24 February 2026
OAFS Photo

I did clear the deck and cut a path down to the driveway, the deck was fairly easy as the wind had blown most of the snow off the deck and ...

... onto the path below the stairs. Basically the deck was at the same level as the snow on the path. Yeah, that took some time to clean. But I had help, as in warm-ish temps and very little wind. Just a scoop at a time, no need to play Hercules trying to lift all of that snow at once. I mean, I've got the time, haven't I?

Back of the house - Tuesday, 24 February 2026
OAFS Photo

You can see that behind the house, due to the way the wind swirls around our home, we have a drift some ten feet or so from the actual back of the building. A nice path to get to the dryer vent and all that. So, that's always nice to have.

Supposedly we're getting more snow as you read this. I've heard an inch, I've heard five inches ... pick your meteorologist carefully.

Sigh, as long as I can get The Missus Herself to the airport at oh-dark-thirty I'll be fine. (As you read this, we've either been to the airport and back, or the flight was cancelled.) As I write this (Tuesday afternoon) the flight is still on time, flights are going out, flights are coming in. Always a good sign The governor has lifted the travel ban, so at this point in time, all systems appear to be go.

Finally!

I'll update as necessary.

Ciao!

Update:

The Missus Herself was safely delivered to the airport and Your Humble Scribe made it back to Chez Sarge in one piece. Of course, there isn't a lot of traffic out there at 0330!

Living in a Winter Wonderland (Arghhhh!)

OAFS Photo

Okay, you really can't see anything through the screen looking north from the top of the battlements here at Chez Sarge, couldn't be helped. The snow was coming down so fast and the wind was pasting it to all four sides of the house. That was at 0051 hours Monday morning (technically, Sunday night for those who hadn't gone to bed yet, that would be me).

Woke up to this Monday roughly 12 hours later ...

OAFS Photo

Okay, I slept until almost 1130 Monday morning. I woke up at 0830, listened to the wind howling and decided to stay in bed. Nothing to get up for and in my defense, I only had about six hours of sleep Saturday night. So I was paying down a sleep deficit. But every window was snowed over from the wind.

Anyhoo, it's still snowing as I write this, here's a few photos I took in the last hour ...

OAFS Photo

The two fences you can barely see through the snowy screen are six footers. Granted, there has been a lot of drifting due to the high winds during this storm, but I think you can agree, that's a lot of snow.

OAFS Photo

I managed to wedge open the kitchen door because I wanted a photo of the outside unobscured by the screen windows and there you have it, the Blizzard of '26.

OAFS Photo

See what I mean by "wedged open"?

Now this isn't my first rodeo (blizzard, snow storm, what have you) and it probably won't be the last. So far, as of 1530 on Monday, the wind has eased up and while the snow is still falling, it's starting to taper off a bit. It's not coming down at 3.5 inches an hour, like at the height of the storm, but only 0.3 inches an hour. Praise the Lord, we haven't lost power though a lot of folks in the area have. That snow is pretty heavy as the temperatures were near freezing. Heavy and wet.

Late yesterday the governor of Little Rhody announced a travel ban starting at one time for commercial vehicles and an hour later for private travel. Yeah, I bristled a little bit at the "order" banning travel, but seeing the results today (a number of tractor trailers stranded around the region causing the first responders to deal with that as opposed to helping the power crews and dealing with real emergencies) I realize that giving the governor that sort of power is probably necessary. People are idiots. Mind you, not bad people (though there seem to be a lot more of those these days) just not real smart.

If you're out and about during a travel ban, it's an $85 ticket, do it again, you might wind up in the hoosegow. We also get parking bans in this area, if you normally park on the street, you have to move your vehicle to a parking lot (towns provide a list of those) so that the plows can get through. Don't move? They will tow your vehicle, over 300 cars were towed in Providence as of Monday morning. People just not paying attention or just being assholes. Take your pick, we have a lot of both in the region.

Ya gotta love winter, and I do. Otherwise I would've retired down south (probably Maryland or Virginia) but the heat down there in the summer is way too much (mostly the humidity). Besides which, my roots are here in New England, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable anywhere else for any length of time.

So yeah, the weather outside IS frightful but ...

OAFS Photo

Okay yes, that was actually Sunday at lunch at Aidan's Pub, but you get the idea.

Stay safe out there my fellow New Englanders (and everywhere else hit by this blizzard), see you on the morrow.