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| View from the command post. |
So here we are, Thursday night (Friday morning for those of you reading this, few as you are and according to Google getting fewer) and I have the next three days off. What to do, what to do?
Try and get some sleep is high on the list. I stay up too late and get up too early during the work week. Early so I can get into work and start tearing into the day's tasks. Late because I really am a bit of a night owl.
Play the drums, I've had them for a year and I still suck at it, just don't practice enough. It happens in fits and starts, but heck I enjoy it so I keep doing it. The Missus Herself has been a real peach about it, even tells people, "he's getting better at it." Nice of her to humor the old fool, innit?
I do have an errand or two to run for The Missus Herself but that's alright by me, she made me meatloaf and mashed potatoes Thursday night. Don't laugh, her meatloaf is incredible. Hard to believe that when we were first married she had trouble frying an egg. Her mother taught her on weekends and such when she'd come to visit. Seems The Missus Herself is a quick study. Mom-in-law told me that her daughter, my wife, was a bit of a tomboy when she was young, had no time to help out in the kitchen like her sisters. But wow can the lady cook now.
I feel a Barnes & Noble trip coming on. Need to pick up Stephen Coonts' latest offerings, there are two, one with Barrett Tillman, an historical work on the Vietnam war, and another Jake Grafton, Tommy Carmellini novel. (Whatever happened to Toad and Rita? I need to know.) I also want to get Rick Atkinson's latest, the first volume of a trilogy on the Revolution. I need to read more, time has been at a premium lately, so I need to make more time. (As I like to say, I suppose I can sleep when I'm dead.)
I'm watching a new series on Amazon Prime, Carnival Row, sort of fantasy novel meets detective story. I like it, it's great fun. Stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, among others, including Jared Harris who was brilliant in Chernobyl. As I said, entertaining and a bit different, mostly set in a grim sort of Dickensian, grimy, turn of the century London-ish city. Besides I am a big Orlando Bloom fan, Lord of the Rings and Kingdom of Heaven being other favorites of mine. If you don't like him for political reasons or what-have-you, okay, keep it to yourself. I take my entertainment where I find it and don't care what the players believe in politically or otherwise. Free country, First Amendment, etc., etc. I swore an oath to defend that stuff mind you, took it seriously I did.
One more thing this weekend, pay attention to the feline staff. They've been complaining lately that I don't spend enough time with them. Of course, they define "enough time" as every waking moment and then some...
"Sleeping? Again? Didn't you already sleep last night? Lazy human."
Of course, as soon as I head out the door for work they're sound asleep, waiting for Your Humble Scribe to return to the manse and take up his real job of feline entertainment director. Not to mention being responsible for their mess! (In both meanings of that word.)
Be seeing you, Happy Friday and all that...
* With apologies to both LL and Lex.
Enjoy the weekend, Sarge. Seems like recently in my retirement I have flip-flopped my previous schedule. Daily it's now up late at night and up late in the mornings as well. Weekly, I'm spending more time during the week attending to home projects and working on the weekends (albeit at the range). And what is it that makes our canine and feline friends think they own us and not the other way 'round? Good thing most of them are so adorable and such good companions! We're down to one dog and four cats in the house now, might be time to get another pooch.
ReplyDeleteWhen retirement happens, not sure when but within the next couple of years, I will have a number of projects to keep me busy. Writing and music are near the top of that list.
DeleteI see the Naval Institute published this past May a book on the Bismark, "Battleship Bismark, A Design and Operational History"......little over 600 pages, weighs 111 ounces?!?..... $95.00!! Gonna think long and hard on this one, might have to restart a membership there. Also waiting for the local library to release their copies of the latest Monkeewrench book. Last two days rain and more rain, almost eleven inches over average in precip for the year, wettest summer since 1988. I hear the cats using the Ferengi pronunciation of "HOOMAN." Of course then I'm a dog person, except for Pitbulls. Enjoy the weekend Sarge!
ReplyDeleteYes, that particular tome caught my eye as well. Sore tempted but I'll pass for now.
DeleteYes, they do pronounce it "hooman."
Hey Old AFSarge;
ReplyDeleteMy wife is bingewatching "Poldark(2015) on Amazon, it is set in the period of England right after the American War of Independence". The Protagonist was a British line officer and got mustered out after Cornwallis and he has to return to his native land of Cornish. Actually pretty good and the spousal unit asks me about some of the period stuff that goes one and I give her background. Mmmm Meatloaf, that is my comfort food, give me some mashed potato's and some peas....and that is nirvana for me.
I've seen bits and pieces of "Poldark." Not exactly my cup of tea but not bad.
DeleteWe did the tossed salad thing, peas would have been a much better choice!
MB’s meat loaf is always the top.
ReplyDeleteShe spoils me.
I, too, defend your right to your own opinion.
Just don’t get personal when we disagree.
I’m reading an account of the life of Stieg Larsson (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo).
Fascinating and informative, from Amazon, The Man Who Played With Fire.
Enjoy your weekend with the cats.
I don't like getting personal over a difference in opinion. It gets close on someday because the other side is not rational.
DeleteWe're hosting the GrandDog this weekend. Still a puppy, so all velocity no vector. Our dogs are dealing with it, but since they're a bit older they're not putting up with much shenanigans. Bit of growling and snapping going on. I think the pup thinks it's a game, so she seems to encourage it. The cats?...They're on the perches in the closet looking down on the lower beings below.
ReplyDeleteAs to actors...I'm fine with differing opinions. But when they start using their stardom to push agendas I know are dangerous, then I will exercise my right to reduce their audience a little. If enough people did the same, their ability to push the agenda decreases. Simplistic, I know, but at this point, that's about all I can do. My opinion, YMMV.
Besides...They're actors. Their ONLY talent is the ability to recite lines written by other people. That makes most of them no more intelligent than a tape recorder.
Ah, yes, their one skill being able to pretend to be someone they're not. If they go too far over the top, my money as a source of their income ends. Sean Penn (spit) is a prime example.
DeleteAhh, thanks for the Coonts/Tillman tip Sarge. I was looking forward to that before my life got complicated. Should be a nice companion in my enforced slothdom.
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems I see with today's entertainment stems, imo, much more from the entertained than the entertainer. A lot of folks have never been anywhere or done anything (lack experience outside of their routine comfort zone) and for whatever reason can't or don't step back and try to put their entertainment experience and/or the mumblings of entertainers into any reasonable scale, context and perspective. We fallen apes can and do tell ourselves some remarkable baloney, and here in the first world paradise there's seldom any immediate consequence to being and acting silly. In thinking about solutions to the problem, and applying the best scale, context and perspective I can muster, it seems to me that the zeitgeist (or collective inertia) of the first world is simply impossible to tame. It's just got to run it's course. The saving grace is, or could be I suppose, that each of us have the capacity for individual thought and action. Over time and with experience individuals can and will gradually alter the vector of the masses. There seems to be plenty of historical evidence that this is so. The wild card is whether the mass of first world humanity can steer away from disaster before or after the feces gets real. I'm with Juvat and choose to avoid the productions of those I consider dangerous. In part to slightly reduce their earnings, but mostly because I try very hard to eliminate my capacity to suspend disbelief. Those are just my thoughts at this time and in this place, and while I think I'm mostly correct I know I'm not comprehensively correct and the possibility that I'm full of poop is very real and ever lurking in the background.
Now that I've solved that problem, I believe I'll go construct a meatloaf with all the trimmings. :)
An AAR on the meatloaf is expected.
Delete😊
You seem to have a talent for photography. I enjoy your pictures on your blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks WSF!
DeleteWe are slowly getting caught up on "Outlander" and have made it to Season 2, Episode 1. If you have any interest in the Jacobite Rebellion era, well, this show is for you. Costuming and all the nitty gritty are well researched and well done. Plus the actor who plays 'Jamie Rraser' mka Sam Heugen, is absolutely a great actor. Very intense drama and the fight scenes are not standard Hollyweird.
ReplyDeleteAnd we've also made it into 4 episodes of "Hung." Well, weird premise, not for everyone, but funny...
Done two episodes of "Tru Blood" which is a vampires coexist alongside us, and it's Louisiana, so it's totally screwed up, especially since the main female lead is a mind reader.... Very weird. Dunno if we're gonna keep on it, but very weird.
Orlando Bloom is okay. "Kingdom of Heaven" would have been slightly better if they had pushed the reasons for the Crusades, oh, like muslim terrorism and enslavement of Christians, a little better instead of the standard 'Christians Bad, muslims okay' message. I did like the fight scenes, especially the final one at the breach where a European actually uses his shield to lift up a saracen's shield and then pummel the dogmeat out of him using a mace. Nice. Sweet. Small picture, only happens for a second or two, but it's there.
One of these days someone's going to make a correct telling of the 1st and 2nd Crusades, and it will be awesome and will piss lots of people off. Wish I had the money to bankroll it.
Also do a whole series on Pre 1066 and 1066 and then follow it up with the consolidation of England, the punitive expedition against Malcolm (I told you twice, here it comes!) and then William's death by rupture (his horse jumped into a pothole (see, nothings changed in England for over a 1000 years) and he fell on the front cantle of his saddle and racked himself so hard he ruptured the boys, went septic, died days later in agonizing pain. He was not wearing his cup. Foolish man). I'd like to see who they could get to play Matilda, she being all of 4'8" to 5' depending on sources, and she managed to pop out 7 kids, though should have probably stopped at #3...
Udder dan dat, just milking the pain. Should have post up about pain soonish, if mind would clear.
Still have to find "Bright." Won't do Netflix for obvious reasons, so will have to see if I can get a work around. Big Will Smith fan and I like weird stories.
Other than that, just gotta get preps for homemade pizza (gluten free, but actually tastes good) and will be making baby backs later this week. Tonight is snitzle with mashed taters and some veggies. Lunch will be leftover tacos cut up and nuked with some rice and made into a taco salad thingy. Tomorrow and Sunday are Bacon Lunch days... mmmm.... Bacon... Which is good because my stash of Bacon Grease is below 2 quarts (one can't be Southern without a bacon grease stash... mine is 1 quart clear and 1 quart with bacon chunks in it. Pan fry potatoes? Bacon chunk grease. Pan fry eggs, clear grease. Snitzle? Clear. etc...)
And now I'm hungry.
Delete"Tru Blood" was a guilty pleasure of mine. Binge watched it not that long ago. Entertaining. "Bright" was excellent, I need to watch it again. I need to track down "Outlander," had relations at Culloden, so yeah, I'm interested.
Yum, bacon.
Culloden and the Jacobite Rebellion. France's little play at destabilizing England, yet again.
DeleteGood thing about the failure of the Stuarts was we, the USA, got quite a few pissed-off Scots just in time to breed a little rebellion in the Colonies...
I've got Spencer blood in me, from mom's side. All the way back to Robert d'Abbetot, William's Despenser. I used to wonder why other 'scots' tend to do the whole crossed fingers at me when I mentioned scottish Spencer ancestors. Now? Well, don't care. Scotland, except as an abstract what was and what could have been, is dead to me.
And, yes. Bacon. Bacon bacon bacon. BACON! BAAAA-CON! You can take my life, but you can't take my Bacon (unless the swine ebola comes to this country and hits the pig population...)
Scotland is but a dream who's time has passed.
DeleteYes, the Highlanders wouldna recognize their descendants, would they?
DeleteTawdry bunch o' Lowlanders and Sassenachs.
DeleteHey, I'd descended from Lowlanders. Just because my ancestors knew how to use soap and water, and didn't run around in a skirt is no reason to make fun of lowlanders...
DeleteTruth be told, part of my family was from Glasgow...
DeleteSoap and water? Wot's that?
Outlander?? Mrs J and my Sister binge watched that and then read the books. They called it "Scotch on the Rocks" because they were "smitten" by the lead actor and a pose he had standing next to a rock. Swooning they were...
ReplyDeleteSo...needless to say...I have avoided the series.
Don't watch much TV, period. Show/series has to be Good Guys, good. Bad guys, bad. Good guys win, eventually. Good guys don't wring hands worrying about "woulda, coulda, shoulda" and certainly don't sing "Kumbaya" at the end of the show, while roasting marshmallows for smores.
Come to think of it, that may be why I don't watch much TV. Hmmmm....
Give me a swirling fight in a desperate cause to keep my attention. Yup, good guys win in the end, no hand wringing, no swooning. Now I remember "Outlander," I think I watched part of an episode, didn't hold my attention. So I moved on.
DeleteOutland. Now there's a movie, lads. :)
DeleteDon't discount the series, it does get better after the 1st episode, which is just setting the mood. Though one does want to smack the main female character on the back of the head with a caber, as she is a bit of a whiny doofusesse.
DeletePA - Yes, Sean Connery and all that. Space cop, mining colonies on the asteroids, what's not to like?
DeleteBeans - Perhaps I'll give it a second look, even though I cannae abide whinging.
DeleteFletnix is putting out some very entertaining stuff. I have about 5 or 6 series I'm currently engaged in, some good, some just OK, but I tend to watch a couple before I realize it's to the latter. But by then, I need to see it through so I suffer through the next 8 or 10 episodes so I know how it ends. Anyone else do that? "Better Than Us" is my latest series. Light sci-fi, Russian made, about a Bot who adopts a family while her evil owners are scheming. Pretty good. "Another Life" is one I wish I had skipped. MindHunter is must-see-TV. It's all just entertainment so I put nothing into anything actors say. Just because they have a stage, their opinions are no better than anyone elses, and probably worth less, since they're in a wind tunnel and they are surrounded by yes men and women.
ReplyDelete"Better Than Us" is on my list. "MindHunter" I dunno, murders and all that right? Mayhaps I'll give it a gander as it has the Tuna seal of approval. (Hhmm, there's a meme waiting to be born.)
DeleteMindHunter is about the beginning of the FBI's profiling division.
DeleteAh, I shall add it to the list then!
DeleteDon't forget "Mr. Sunshine" Sarge!
DeleteOh yes, and it's Korean, right up my 골목.
DeleteBy the way, how DO you get those elevated shots of the command post? Have a yet-to-be revealed treehouse? Sneaking into a neighbor's upstairs bedroom to take them? Inquiring mind wants to know.
ReplyDeleteMebbe he straps the camera onto one of the cats, then tosses said cat into the air. The 'real' reason his finger's messed up (angry juggled cat, that is.)
DeleteTuna - Those photos are taken from the observation tower attached to the command post. (Actually it's a window and it's from the command post, not of the command post. That near house you see is the neighbor's.)
DeleteBeans - There'll be no cat-tossing 'round these parts. Do ye not ken my clan's motto?
DeleteAhh, got it now. All this time I thought that one was yours!
DeleteHahaha!
DeleteNow that would be a neat trick.
"An Army at Dawn" was the first book by Rick that I read. What an introduction to his works. As VDH says, there were many wars in WWII, some more well known than others.
ReplyDeleteHis writing is simply brilliant. In my book he's one of the best historians on the planet right now.
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