Monday, November 5, 2018

Trifecta*


 Since El Jefe, el muy viejo sargento de la fuerza aérea, has been waxing poetic with pictures of Fall in the Far North East, I thought it best to counter with "yeah, well, 'bout 3 weeks too late!"  The Fall Foliage was rather muted as we sailed the St Lawrence.

But, even a retired fighter pilot and a retired MSgt don't can't reschedule Mother Nature.

Or even moderate her.
Pedernales River near our place.  This is LOW water compared to the Llano River north of us.

Our Stock Pond, a day after the rain stopped. The far side is about 15' deep

However, once the flooding ended down here and the ark came ashore, we were treated to some fall foliage of our own

 



 Our Chinese Pistach Tree is showing its colors quite nicely.  That's our guest house in the background, it will figure later in the post.

So....Fall?  Check.  In the 40's in the morning.  70's in the evening.  Just about perfection especially with the Fall Back aspect of DST.  Much nicer driving in when the sun's up.  Makes the deer easier to see.

As I mentioned last week, the Juvat clan was headed into some major course changes in the ensuing week.
9 g's will turn you around in a hurry, I'd estimate this weeks changes at about 13 g's. Source

Or for you nautical types out there. (You know who you are.)


Coming about Sir! Source

 The week started Sunday with Dinner.  Last chance for the gang to get together and wish Little Juvat and his Bride "Bon Voyage".  So we did it up pretty well.


From L to R: DIL, Little J, My Niece, her new son, her Daughter, her Husband, My Sister, Mrs J and some dopey old Fighter Pilot.

Carnitas was the dish, some beer and wine was consumed and a good time was had.  After dinner we adjourned down to the Guest House where some Oak was consumed in the creation of a dessert I'd never heard of prior (S'Mores,  evidently I've led a deprived life never having been a girl scout.)




Did I mention that my phone died in New York City and with it, all my pictures from Boston, Newport and NYC?  

So, I'm playing with my new one.  Yes....I went to the Dark Side.  I contributed to the Steve Jobs foundation.  Little Juvat having advised me there was an app that would allow us to communicate directly from his new duty station.

So, my photographic talents still need practice.  Yes, that is my stockinged foot, a glass of single malt scotch and a marshmallow roaster.  My blood sugar was not within acceptable parameters the following morning.  Mea Culpa!

Tuesday, Little Juvat and DIL and my Granddog, Tex, loaded up and drove to Houston.  Wednesday, they blasted off for the Sandbox. Thursday we get confirmation that all had arrived safely.


Tex, resting comfortably on the cool quiet floor of their apartment.
So, that change in course succeeded.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Mrs J's change in course is a bit more convoluted.  We have to move out of her store.

Did I mention I LOATHE moving?  I've moved (defined as changing zip codes for mailing address) something like 50 times in my life.  That's a lot, but do you know why I LOATHE moving?

It has precipitated every single time.  




This time was no different.  We knocked off at about 1900 on Tuesday, 2100 on Wednesday  and Mrs J finished up the last load on Thursday AM.  Final Clearance sales cleared out most of the inventory, quite a few of the racks and other equipment went to St Vinny's and most of the rest was donated to a local children's home. 

Some of it however made it home.  Where I'm sure it will mate and reproduce in a manner that will make rabbits blush, consuming all available space in our house.  Millennia from now, archaeologists will discover my remains under it all and say "What a terrible way for a fighter pilot to be buried."

But so it is.

This weekend was our first together in a long time, vacation's excepted.  Suffice it to say we have some adjustments to make.  Our Battle Rhythm is not coordinated yet.

Did I mention that our refrigerator took this moment to croak?  Freezes everything hard as a rock.  Lowes delivered the new one today.  Some genius mis-measured the gap.  Said genius then had to drive back down to Lowes and order another.  This time having measured the gap at least 14 times with Mrs J's supervision on the last 5.  

It'll be delivered on Veterans day.  But the floor it will rest on is clean.

Wednesday, I put my retirement papers in. Crickets......Which is fine by me.  I'll spend the last two months doing what I know needs to be done and training my replacement.  However, I'm not sure she's going to stay either.  She's taken some short notice time offs recently.

Some biblical saying about "reaping what you sow", comes to mind. 

 Friday Night finally arrived and Mrs J, my Sister and I went to "The Club" for a light dinner and some wine.  Rather Nice!

Sarge,  the band was our age, playing 60's and 70's rock.  The Music was great, but the vocalist had a very high pitched voice, almost a falsetto, which detracted.  That having been said, the crowd was entertained and the band had fun.  

Maybe a retirement option, Neh?  Keep up the Drum practice.


So, all in all....The Juvat family got through Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes week with flying colors.  

* "Refers to a group of three (usually desirable) things (such as “the trifecta of curing cancer, ending hunger, and putting an end to war"). It is found in everything from advertisements to media company names to casual speech."  Source

28 comments:

  1. And I thought a trifecta was picking the right horse in three different races! I have a friend who's daughters talked him into going with an iPhone, the last I heard he was waiting for the contract to run out so he could go back to a real phone.

    Ah moving! Moving sucks.... no way around it, it just sucks. Good luck with the next couple of months!

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    1. It is taking some getting used to, for sure. Other than being able to secure text to the other side of the world, I'm not seeing much that should generate all the hoopla.

      Thanks.

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  2. Ah, the app which makes it easy to communicate with Little J, so it's worth paying dues to the iLords.

    Love that tree, very pretty it is. The drumming continues, I have the bass as a fallback, I used to play, the fingers are soft but they remember.

    Prayers up that your new lifestyle goes well. As I'm sure it will.

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    1. It makes it very easy, too easy really. I've got to remember that he's several hours ahead of us and a ding at 3AM had better be VERY important.

      We have faith and confidence also.

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  3. There is payback for that life of luxury that you Chair Farce folks lead. I guess the Karma is that you have to be there for moving day. My grandmother, my mother, my wife, and my daughter in law all swear that somewhere it is written in blood that officers of the Naval service are ALWAYS at sea, on deployment, of have the duty on the day when the movers arrive. There are some benefits!

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    1. Well, so you've got THAT going for you. 3 weeks in the bowels of Blueridge reinforced the wisdom of my choice. Never thought Guam would look so good after that TDY.

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  4. I hate, loath and detest moving...even moves I have initiated. Just UGH!! Besides which, after the last one, I decided I am getting waaay to old to do it myself anymore. And rain (or snow) just adds to the nastiness!!

    My only question is if that is what your stock pond looks likes, and y'all are south of the Llano...what happens when all that water heads south?? Are you in the potential path??? Could that lead to more moving??

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  5. No, the Llano river joins the Colorado river at Kingsland. Kingsland was where the bridge washed away. The Pedernales river also runs into the Colorado just northwest of Austin. The dams on the Colorado did a pretty good job of controlling flooding in the Austin area, although they did put out a warning to boil water because the mud was accumulating faster than they could guarantee the filters keeping up with it.

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  6. I haven’t found it necessary to move as often, but “DETEST” is not a strong enough word for how I feel about it.
    I have only one recommendation regarding retirement:
    Remember that “No!” Is a complete sentence.

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    1. And I plan to use it frequently....except where Mrs J is concerned....that would be imprudent.

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  7. Sounds like jc3 (juvat Computer Consulting Company) may be in business quicker than I thought, if the screwed board/it mismanager keep it up.

    And, seriously, you just now got introduced to s'mores? Positively cloistered, haven't you been?

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    1. I might have used some artistic license about s'mores, but I don't remember eating them. Not real big on super sweets.

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    2. I am up with that. I prefer the semi-sweet stuff to super-sweet stuff.

      Funny, but I prefer cheese over sweets most of the time.

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    3. Dark chocolate with a single malt is my downfall.

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  8. "Some genius mis-measured the gap."

    How could anyone think that a fighter pilot could measure anything in other than gees or knots?

    I have some small idea about the joys of moving. Happy I am to read that this latest move is behind you.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

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  9. Tex looks like one of my favorite breeds, an American Black and Tan!

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    1. He's a great dog, very mellow (except around Cats). But as for American Black and Tans, we have 3 of our own, small, medium and large. Tex being an Extra Large.

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  10. “But at least he died doing what he loved - dressing up in womens’ clothing” -Future archaeologists?

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    1. (These kinds of speculation always remind me of the book “Motel of the Mysteries” that I read as a kid....)

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    2. OMG! That's funny! Walked right into that one.

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  11. My late father maintained the best way to move involved a five gallon can of gasoline and a book of matches.

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    1. There are days when I think the same way. Usually the day AFTER moving.

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  12. a bear beat me to it... You were Air Force after all... :-) Glad to hear there were successful operations conducted! And yes, now comes the 'readjustment'. That's gonna be interesting! :-D

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  13. I really like your summary of that week/ weekend. I could send you some photos of how the rain followed us over here to the desert. Tex has also met a few of the neighbor dogs and kiddos. He's super popular with the kiddos, and with our neighbor Beagle puppy, Leo, who is 5 months old. :) There are also some cats who like to meander around that we have seen couple times. We're working on his reactions to seeing those around.

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    1. Welcome aboard, DIL, glad you could swing by. Saw those photos, pretty glad your car hadn't arrived yet.

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