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
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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
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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
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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 ...

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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.

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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.

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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 ...

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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.

Well...This episode didn't fit my definition of fun and games

Well, Campers, it's been an interesting week. 

 

The bubbas have finished clearing out the section of the property that the house and horse barn will be built on. That would be me standing in the center.  This week will be devoted to clearing out the area for my Brother's house as well as cleaning up the driveway a bit.  Some of the jungle and old trees are pretty close to it.

That is the good news.  

The rest of the week was one of those weeks,  you know,  you HAVE to go through.

I'd had a checkup with one of my Doctors.  Apparently, between my last physical and this one, I had lost 20 lbs.  Which surprised me as I hadn't done anything too radical exercise wise.  

Although in the last 2-3 weeks, I have started a walking agenda with 6000 steps as my daily goal.  As it stands right now, of the 19 days since I started, I've made my goal 17 times.  I'll explain in a bit why not 19 of 19. But, this walking thing hasn't been going on long enough to lose 20lbs.

Anyhow, back to the Doctor's visit.  He poked and prodded and  couldn't see anything obvious, so he recommended a colonoscopy.

Oh Joy!

Then he said a "Shiver me timbers"  statement

He said "juvat, I don't know what it is, but it could be cancer."

That shut me up pretty quickly.

He then said he thought I should get a colonoscopy as well as an Upper GI endoscopy.  To put it into a Fighter Pilot's vernacular, in addition to sticking a movie camera up your lower posterior anatomy, they were also going to stick one down your throat.

Oh Joy! And, no Beans, they weren't the same camera for both actions.

They scheduled the operation for last Wednesday.  For those of you that may never have had an experience like this, the funnest part (No Beans not funniest!) is the prep.  In case you didn't recognize that last sentence, it's sarcasm. 

They give you this large bottle of liquid and tell you to drink it all at once.  Shortly thereafter, you become one with your toilet.  This goes on for about 12 hours.  

Oh...No eating, drinking anything red or purple, just water.  Not having a very large brain, I was concerned about downloading portions of that out my lower fire escape.

That, by far, was the worst part of the process.  Got all that done, showed up for the episode.  Got knocked out and woke up somewhat later in the recovery room.

The first question I asked the Doc was "What did you find?"

Fortunately, he knew what I was really asking.

"We did not find any Cancer!"

I'm sure that wasn't exactly the terminology, but I got the message.

Thank you Lord! (and Doc!)

I was released later that afternoon (Wednesday).  None the worse the wear for the episode.

Except being hungry as all get up.  But...NOOOOO....you've got to take it easy until tomorrow.  RRIIIIIGGGGHHHHHTTTT!

Chicken Broth and water.  Sounds delicious! 

Oh, Needed a picture for this posting.  

 

 Beans, this is just for you.  This is what my innard's look like. 

Profitez-en bien!  (aka) Enjoy! 

Let's Party!

Your Humble Scribe and Ally the Piper
Holt Photo

So my buddy Tom and I (he of the breakfast club) went out for dinner, a beer, and a most excellent show Saturday night.

I mentioned this back in January and last night it happened. Ally and her band are absolutely incredible. Tom and I had to get pictures with the young lady and she is as gracious as she is talented.

I will definitely go see her again. The venue she was at was The Narrows in Fall River, MA, a great place to see a show. It's not big, seats around 400, so you get to be right there with the music. The place has great acoustics, if you're ever in town, look it up. They have a lot of great musicians coming through.

But for now, it's late Saturday night as I write, so it's off to bed for the Sarge. Tomorrow evening it's supposed to snow like crazy, we'll see how that goes. I haven't been in a blizzard in a while, haven't missed it at all!

That is all.

To Fly, Or Not To Fly ...

T.F. Green Long Term Parking at Oh-Dark-Thirty
OAFS Photo

... that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The lines and the TSA at the airport,

Or to just get in the car against a sea of traffic

And by driving just do it.¹

It is, dear reader, almost time to head south again. The Missus Herself is off to California to visit LUSH for a fortnight leaving me, Your Humble Scribe, to once again fend for himself. As the invitation to visit The Nuke is always open, I decided to go there for a week, or so, rather than entertain myself at Chez Sarge.

I know what you're thinking, "But Sarge, all these gaming posts you've done recently, surely this is your opportunity to do that without interruption or snide remarks about 'being in front of a computer all day.'"

I know, I know, there is that. But Your Humble Scribe is a social animal (stop laughing) and requires the presence of other humans for to survive. No seriously, at certain times of year I don't mind the solitary life, but when the weather outside is frightful (but the fire is so delightful) I'd rather be around other people. Besides, there is a fireplace at Chez Tuttle et Nuke, whereas at Chez Sarge there is not.

The Nuke did ask me if I'd like to fly down. I thought about it for perhaps a second before responding with a resounding "NO!"

Mind you, I don't mind flying, but I do like to have a vehicle when I get to where I'm flying to. Now, the kids would let me use one of their vehicles when visiting, it's been mentioned. But here's the thing, they drive Teslas. Both of them (not both Teslas, there are more than two, both kids I mean).

While not opposed to the technology (I enjoy riding in a Tesla) I'm hesitant to take command of such an expensive vehicle when it doesn't belong to me. Rent a car? No, are you insane? This is me that has to pay for it, not my former company.

So I drive. Besides which, I enjoy driving my car. She's an awesome ride, comfortable, lots of get up and go, and she does well in inclement weather. Sure, it's a long-ish trip, roughly 420 miles which translates to 7 to 8 hours, but I don't mind.

It's also cheaper than flying, just parking at the airport costs more than the fuel required to get there and back again. It's less hassle than flying because, let's face it, going through TSA, and all the minor indignities that entails, just ain't worth it. I'll fly if it's a really, really long trip (takes more than a day), but for Maryland?

Where's my car keys?

And that's how I feel about that.

Why am I not going to California with The Missus Herself? Well, California is a long-ass flight, been there, done that, multiple times. Besides which, we're going on a trip to California in April, I didn't want to do it twice in one three month stretch. Too many (less than fond) memories of flying out to Sandy Eggo for work and staring out the window saying, "Damn, it looks like Mars down there," after crossing the Mississippi River. Hour after hour ...

So I drive. I can also get out and stretch my legs, get Dunkin' or Starbucks when I feel like it and generally act the care-free soul.

Yes, the other drivers can be a colossal pain, but as long as they're not trying to actively kill me, I can exercise due caution and avoid most of that.

It can be "interesting" but hey, it's what I like to do. I drive, because I can.

'Nuff said.

¹ With apologies to the Bard.

When Night Falls ...

Screenshot - Call to Arms: Panzer Elite

... Sarge gets his game on.

Yup, back in the saddle again, this time with Call to Arms: Panzer Elite from Digitalmindsoft Publishing. I originally got into this publisher's games via their Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront. When Panzer Elite came out, I jumped on it. I mean, y'all know my love of tanks. (And juvat, I'll try and find some screenshots of aircraft blowing up tanks in one of the games I have. I know it's there, just haven't played that particular setup yet.)

This one is in early release, in other words you buy the game and provide feedback to the developers and as the game gets updated, you get the updates. Basically you're paying for a finished product and get to help test that product. I don't mind, that particular business model seems to be working for a lot of game publishers.

Anyhoo, that opening photo is the standard player's view. You're hovering behind your tank so it's perhaps a bit more "arcade-ish" than IL-2 Sturmovik - Stalingrad. But it's great fun. Once you see something you might want to shoot at, you can zoom in to this view ...

Screenshot - Call to Arms: Panzer Elite

I thought I saw movement just beyond that farm ahead to the right, so I zoomed in to the gunner's position. Moments later a Pzkw IV came rumbling into view. He blew off my left track but this was his fate ...

Screenshot - Call to Arms: Panzer Elite

I'm not sure if the crew can bail out at this stage of development, they can in Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront, in that game you can bring up spare vehicle crews to repair and re-man a vehicle. Which is pretty cool.

For now, if the vehicle dies, so does the crew.

As for Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront, it looks like this ...

Screenshot - Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront

Screenshot - Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront

You can play zoomed out, with a map showing you your guys and known enemy positions, or you can zoom way in, like that last screenshot, to really see what's going on. You can order your units to advance, fight, withdraw, what have you, and they'll execute in real time. Then you can zoom in and watch the action.

It's immersive, very immersive.

I highly recommend both, if you've got at least this much oomph in your machine:

Minimum System Requirements

OS *: 64bit - Windows 7, 8, 10, 11

MEMORY: 16 GB RAM

GRAPHICS: GTX 1070 / RX 5600

DIRECTX: Version 11

STORAGE: 80 GB available space

SOUND CARD: DirectX 11 compatible

ADDITIONAL NOTES: SSD drive and fast internet connection needed for optimal gameplay

If you've got that, or better, you should be able to run these games. (juvat - Not sure if they'll run on a Mac, but the discussion page on Steam says "Yes" it runs on Windows and Mac.)

Sorry gotta run, Krauts are breaking through near St. Vith!

Goofing Off, Not Much to Say

Me-410 Hornisse
Screenshot - IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad

I finally got around to hooking up my old Saitek X52 Flight Control System to the new desktop machine. I was somewhat worried that it wouldn't work well with the newer machine running Windows 11, but it does work and it seems (so far) to be working well.

It's been awhile since I've taken to the air in this old (but continually updated) flight sim which, to me, is the best I've ever "flown."

P-51 Mustang
Screenshot - IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad

What you see above is the view looking out of a P-51 over France. One thing vastly improved from the early versions of this flight sim (I hesitate to call it a "game") are the clouds. They looked pretty good back in late 2001, when the sim first came out, they look fantastic now.

The flight models in the later version of the sim are much improved as well. No flinging the old kite about the sky with wild abandon anymore, do that and guaranteed you'll stall or go into a spin. It was much harder to crash the bird in the early versions.

So while I play, I don't write, much.

I'm also working my way through the old HBO Rome series, one episode to go. I enjoy my time with Vorenus and Pullo, they're like old friends now.

Ah well, me and my fantasy worlds.

In other news ...

We're expecting more snow here, but the forecast has been bouncing all over the place, which is typical when they try to forecast ten days in the future. Right now it's raining, which was predicted. That might turn to snow after sundown.

Oh boy.

But on the bright side, the temperatures are in the high 30s during the day. Which after the last few weeks feels downright balmy!

So there you have it.

The rest of the world keeps working while the Old AF Sarge plays with his toys.

I've waited 50 years for this!

And I'm not disappointed in how it's going!

Ciao!