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| Your Humble Scribe at the wheel of HMS Surprise (ex-HMS Rose) Sandy Eggo - January 2016 |
'Twas eight years ago today that I got into this blogging thing. I've mentioned the why many a time. Three-thousand, two-hundred and nineteen posts (including this one), some 68,900+ comments, and 2,239,072+ views later, I'm still at it. I think I've gotten better at this writing thing, but there are days...
I started as a solo act but picked up a few co-bloggers along the way...
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| - Your Humble Scribe and Tuna - Note the Lexican challenge coin. |
I had seen this at the Maritime Museum of San Diego when I was out that way in January of 2016. (That tale was told here.) This plaque was aboard the Star of India, I saw it, chuckled, and snapped the photo, thinking to show Tuna in the near future.
On the geological scale, this is that near future. (It's only been four years, not even a drop in the bucket, time-wise, in the great scheme of things. Yeah, yeah, better late than never.)
Tuna is a retired squid, er, Naval Flight Officer of S-3 Viking fame, the mighty War Hoover. (I have to be deuced careful these days, the nautical types far outweigh the Air Force types in my family.) A good man, he comes round these parts fairly often for work. No, not looking for work, he travels for his employer. When he stops by we buy him dinner, it's the least we can do. (In lieu of pay, here at the blog, this is not a paying gig by any stretch of the imagination.)
The next fellow to join the crew here at The Chant was a Phantom and Eagle driver back in the day. We actually served together (though we ran in different circles, he broke, er, flew Phantoms, I fixed them, well the radar bits anyway) in Korea circa 1980.
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| Left to right: Your Humble Scribe, juvat, Mrs. juvat, and The Missus Herself Our meet-up in Newport where food and adult beverages were involved. Of course. |
I've met up with Tuna a number of times, with juvat just the one time so far. Though I hope that once I retire from the current gig (and if the world ain't ended in the meantime) I can get down to Texas and visit rancho juvat. No, the new place they're building is not for my visit, that was already planned. There is an awesome museum I need to visit while I'm down that way. So that will happen, eventually.
Apparently that's the guy who taught Beans how to type.
Speaking of Beans. I have no photos of the man, I know he exists as he writes the occasional post and makes oodles of comments, each a mini-post in its own right. He joined up after a number of comments and juvat suggested, "You ought to invite him to the blog!"
So I did, and have never regretted it. No really, not even that one time, where he... (Just kidding, he's never annoyed me, ever.)
Anyhoo, this is how I picture Beans at home down in Florida with his buddies...
Warning, gore alert!
Yes sir, Beans, we are most certainly entertained! (Note closely how he deals with trolls.)
At the end they're chanting the Latin word for "beans." (Not really, they're chanting "Spaniard." Faba is the Latin for "beans.")
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| Your Humble Scribe channeling his inner gladiator. (While assisting in pond cleaning.) |
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| Family meeting, that's LUSH in the middle, she allegedly is a co-blogger. Well, her name is on the roster but, as she's the boss' daughter, she is not required to actually, you know, write any posts. Yes, Beans has pointed that out a cuppla times. |
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| The look on my face when co-bloggers ask for a raise. I don't even know what that means... |
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| Sandy Eggo Harbor at dusk. Yes, I love that place. |
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| Low pass by a Corsair at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy. |
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| Rasputin likes this blog. Well, not really, he's dead. |
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| Give me a fast ship... |
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| Yes, I'm still surprised I've made it this far. |
SQUIRREL!!!
Well, I did warn you...
If you actually paid us, you could really see some interesting expressions on our faces.
ReplyDeleteAs to trolls, I will quote from a most excellent Val Kilmer movie, "Moles and trolls, moles and trolls, work, work, work, work, work."
Remind me again what part of Florida you live in. St. Augustine?
DeleteDemocratic People's Republic of Alachuacountystan, capital city of Gainesgrad. Look at any electoral map, see that blue dot in North Central Florida, yeah, that's... my county. Surrounded by some of the reddest counties in the country (Marion county, just south of the DPRACn, has gun manufacturers, weapons manufacturers, all sorts of manufacturers and is known as the county that has monkeys with herpes, no really.
DeleteNote to self, and to all out there. Check the radiation levels, water tables, solar charts, and WHAT THE PREDOMINATE POLITICAL PARTY IS AND HAS!
I joke you not when I say I got into a debate at a library over a movie-discussion night with an actual card-carrying Communist, and he and his commie wife were proud of it, and they were history profs at UofF. Even chanting "Charlie Pell, Charlie Pell, CHARLIE PELL" at him didn't dispel him like it was supposed to. This county has purposely driven out industry, jobs and, as one supervisor said one time, it is a Plantation with UF as the master's house. Which is a not-good reference but too true.
Heh, pay. When I get paid for doing this, so shalt thee.
DeleteI think a lot of college profs these days are morons. They think the world operates according to Karl Marx, when it's more like Groucho...
Beans- ahh yes. I had the proper papers once to drive through there. The comrades were friendly enough.
DeleteHeh, I can picture that.
DeleteEven though infested with commie-lib professors, that blue stain in Florida is home to great BBQ- from Sonny's, (originally and politically incorrectly known as "Fat Boys'). During my time there 4+ decades ago, it was a nice place for Navy people to be. Go Gators!
DeleteJohn Blackshoe.
Great BBQ would be worth the trip.
DeleteHappy to be a part of this merry clan of bloggers! It's a great place you've built here. Thanks for having me. I too have met Juvat in person only once. I might do it again as San Antonio is where my dad lives and that's not far from him. Beans is a possibility too, as I'm in Florida every so often. Yesterday in fact, and tomorrow, as I flew into/out of Jax to PCS move my daughter. I do enjoy my exhibit there at the Maritime Museum. It was so nice of them to put that up! A close friend is a docent there and asked me to be a judge there for the San Diego Harbor Parade of Lights during the Christmas season. Anyways Sarge, thanks again. The legacy Lex has left has gotten bigger and better, and our friendship is part of that.
ReplyDeleteI figured you had some insider connections there. 😉
DeleteCongratulations, and thanks for the hard work! Y'know, since you're interested in armoured vehicles, did you ever get to see the Wiesel, the cute little "airborne" tankettes from the Land of Beer?
ReplyDeleteI have now! Didn't know about that one at all, 'tis a cute little thing. Of course the name is the German for "weasel," an animal which gets a bad rap.
DeleteOff to do some more reading. (Land of Beer, love it, the name, the beer, the people...)
Funny how a specification for an air-mobile armored scout track, in the USA, resulted in the Bradley, which is taller than an Abrams.
DeleteSame specification for the Bundeswehr? The Wiesel, powered by a VW Rabbit engine.
Curiously, during the Vietnam war, we, the US of A, wielded the M113APC and the M114 Command and Reconnaissance Carrier. M113, an unmitigated success. The not-parts compatible M114, which stood a fool lower than the M113? Complete failure. But the Canadians, penny pinching bastiges that they are, basically took the M113 frame, and scrunched the armored cab down 2 feet lower to produce the M113CR, which was an unmitigated success. When offered the M113CR, the USA poo-pooed the idea. And then replaced the M114 with the M3 Bradley...
Blame the spreadsheet cowboys, both in industry and in DoD.
DeleteHey AFSarge;
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 8 years, blogging is fun and therapeutic. For me keeps me out of 30 in the hole on Facebook, LOL You are my regular stop every morning while I drink my coffee. Yoou are the only blogger that I know of that is more into history than I am. Keep on blogging!!
Ah yes, the infamous FB jail. Never been there, don't spend enough time there to really get in trouble. If I want to be provocative, I have a beer, then lie down until it passes.
DeleteThanks MrG.
I do enjoy the jolly banter between the services (we call it ‘mickey/piss taking’ I these here parts. I thought I’d share with you a little example of a UK version that took place this morning between me and my oldest pal. We applied for the services on the same day in the same recruiting office, he was accepted into the RAF, I was offered an officer cadetship in the RN, (but how I ended up at Scotland Yard is another story).
ReplyDeleteHe’s none too technical with mobile phones these days. Here is our exchange, after I received a WhatsApp text from a number I didn’t recognise, but guessed who it was;
Me: Am I to assume you have got a post 1980 mobile phone at last?
Pete: Do you remember your wedding vows'with all my worldly goods I thee endow'
Well this apparantly only goes one way ,and certainly doesnt include 'er indoors' mobile phone ,
So yesterday I was booted out of the house and told not to come back until I came back with a phone ( some one did try to sell me some magic beans ,but I resisted)
Big Al has just payed £1500 for one ,I got mine from the bargain bin of 'toys R us' , mine was almost the same price ,well there was a 1and a zero in the price
As me trying to operate this is a bit like giving an iPad to a sheep !!!! Prepare for some monumental cockups.
Me: Ok, so I’m slowly deciphering this. I’m breaking it down into simple Y/N answers:
•Are you my oldest pal Pete Ramage?
•Is the plastic thing with a keypad and numbers that you are jabbing randomly at with your handful of thumbs your new mobile phone?
• If you answered Yes to the above, my third and final verification question is; Were you the bloke that was trained to screw the oil filler cap onto Rolls Royce Spey Turbofans in F4’s and in whose surgeon-like hands young pilots and their navigators placed their trust as the flung themselves at our enemies?
Pete: The cap got crossthreaded ,and it got filled with avgas not avtur, oh !!! And we kept quiet about the speedy brace that fell into the HP compressor
Ps Pete’s Dad was ex Fleet Air Arm and flew Hawker Sea Fury’s
DeleteHahaha, well you chaps invented banter, didn't you? (Couldn't find the original, blasted ee-jits.)
DeleteCross-threaded the fuel cap? Par for the course for an engine mech. (There are even insults between different shops on the flightline, avionics techs, of which I was one, were the highest on the enlisted evolutionary scale. Just want to put that out there.)
FWIW, it's nice having a cuppla readers from the UK, gives us a certain poshness.
Love the Hawker Sea Fury. I should do a post on the products of Hawker Aircraft Limited, they built some lovely birds.
DeletePosh? Moi? 😂 Oh well, I must try to stop dropping my h’s whilst mingling amongst the yokels (😂)
DeleteSea Fury and Bearcat 💕 just about the pinnacle of the prop driven kite.
The Sea Fury and the Bearcat could be first cousins!
DeletePs, Sorry Sarge, but you’re banter left me gobsmacked; I nearly went arse over tit!
DeleteSorry Squadron Leader, didn't get that...
DeleteCabbage crates over the briny!
🤣😂😭
Delete🇬🇧
DeleteI recognized the Newport establishment as the Brick Alley Pub. My favorite place in Newport. I haven't been there in quite some time (10 - 12 years), but the amount of per diem I spent there while attending SWOS Divo course kept them in business in late 1985 - early 1986!
ReplyDeleteI've only been there the one time Tom, been meaning to go back, really liked it there.
DeleteGood to have another shoe, er, I mean professional Surface Warfare Officer aboard. The two oldest of the progeny were SWOs.
8 years!!! Wow!!!
ReplyDeleteI have been reading you since about day one, and have learned ALL sorts of things related to aircraft, ships, tanks, as well as history. Thank you very much for continuing to persevere!! Personally I have enjoyed your (and your co-bloggers) "brain squeezings" (to quote another blogger) a great deal.
Here's to another 8 more years...at the very least!!!
Suz - I think autocorrect changed 'droppings' to 'squeezings'! :-)
DeleteSuz, there's another question on yesterday's post you might be able to answer.
DeleteThanks Suz, as The Chant's Medical Officer you're very important, as yesterday's post showed.
DeleteTom - Depends on what day it is, sometimes one, sometimes the other. Especially if it's me posting. Nothing but quality from Tuna, juvat, and Beans.
Tuna - Did I miss one? I better double back and read that.
Yes, it came in earlier today (Sunday).
DeleteI don't know if Suz goes back to old posts.
DeleteI do read old posts--some days. :)
DeleteHere is what is wrote there:
I think the increase in lung infections is a bit worse than the usual. With the seasonal flu, the main side effect is a bacterial pneumonia, which is sort-of easily fixed with a butt load of heavy duty antibiotics, lots of oxygen, physical and respiratory therapies.
With this covid-19 infection, it was originally "found" by a doc who noticed he was getting a lot of x-ray readings stating interstitial pneumonia, which is not a common diagnosis, as I understand it, and leads to a VERY slow recovery, needing a lot more "supports"--ie lots of oxygen, ventilators for much longer than usual, and the highly skilled nurses and doc to manage these patients. Typically these folks are given large doses of sterods and NSAIDS to help hasten their healing, however the Covid-19 patients get worse when these meds are used. So do not take Motrin or any Ibuprofin or aspirin if you come down with this as it makes it WORSE. Tylenol/acetaminophen only.
There have been studies that show that while kids live through the illness, they are left with pulmonary fibrosis, which is basically significant scarring inside the lungs around the air sacks, which decreases how much air you can breath in and get into your blood system.
So, basically, you have patients needing far more resources to survive to the point when they can be discharged and the bed can be used for the next guy in line. If you can't turn the beds over quick enough, you exceed capacity pretty quickly. So you come down to exactly what IS the hospital capacity here in the US. Obviously they don't have enough in places like Italy, or Germany or Switzerland compared to places like South Kora, who, thanks to their neighbor to the north have always maintained a LOT of extra capacity as they never know when NK is gonna punch the button and try to invade. Treating wounds from war requires lots of beds and all the staff that goes along to support them.
With the seasonal flu, yes, we have a couple of hundred thousand hospitalized every flu season--which ranges from December through end of March across the entire country, so it is fairly well spread out. This Covid-19 virus is hitting hard and very very fast--so instead of getting a slow rise in need for beds, hospital are getting hit with a huge wave. And don't forget--it has really only been on most folks radar for a few weeks now or less. I heard one chick on TV say it had only been 12 days that the MSM has been paying attention. So the curve is pretty well flattened for the flu, not so much for the Covid-19 virus. Yet.
SO far as the PPE goes, this is a capitalistic society. Our medical products industry (what there is in this country) sells to folks who call up or get on Amazon and say Hey!! Need some XYZ...so it gets made and sent. The problem is most of the companies who make this stuff--masks, gowns, gloves, ventilators, etc are located in CHINA...and wait for it...in Wuhan!!! Which has been closed for business for a few months now. Rumors are they are trying to get back up and running--but they have fewer folks due to the illness, and they need to get their supply lines back up and going. It all takes time to do. In the meantime, folks in other countries are using a HUGE boatload of PPE--more than their usual--simply because that is best medical practice. After all this is the 2020's, not 1865 when no one used gloves, and physicians used a leather apron to keep their clothes clean and were not worried about giving the patient someone else's germs. So it is simple supply and demand. In normal flu season, the flu doesn't hit everywhere all at once, and not this hard.
I agree there might be a bit of panic involved as well--people who wouldn't normally buy Purell are buying it by the bucket load, but I do admit to being confused about the entire toilet paper thing--don't folks NORMALLY have TP in the house??? I understand the lack of flour, sugar, oil, and generally food, as folks are not going to want to go out around others, and with restaurants, etc closed down, home cooking is gonna be something done by more than just Gramma. Which I giggle about to be honest.
DeleteBottom line wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, or sneeze, and then...wait for it...wash your hands. And keep your hands away from your face. Doing those things will definitely decrease your chances of getting the seasonal flu, the common cold, as well as Covid-19.
And I'm not even going there about the economy--basically I agree with Tuna that it will not be at all pretty for the next year or so. My niece's wedding is about to be on the indefinitely postponed list as the end of May is not looking like a healthy time to fly cross country. So my sympathies to Tuna's daughter.
DeleteThanks for all that info Suz.
DeleteThose tiller ropes look kind of loose, but that could be an optical illusion, from the camera angle.
ReplyDeleteWell, she's tied up to the pier, and I don't know if they ever take her out anymore, which they did in Newport, rather frequently, but yes, they are.
DeleteThe last time we dined in Newport we ate upstairs at Salas and that has been closed since 2012. Obviously we are overdue for a trip back to the area.
ReplyDeleteHogdayafternoon (I typed "spot on" into the English-American translator to be sure I got it right) was spot on when he mentioned the "jolly banter" between the services.
And it isn't only the jolly banter, it's the fact that each and every comment is answered by the duty blogger. That invites the give and take and a sometimes lively discussion that often ranges far afield from the start point and leaves me with more knowledge than I started with.
Thanks to all the blogging team for the incredible amount of work and thought that goes into a post, and Happy Anniversary.
I believe strongly in interacting with The Chanters, otherwise they might become an unruly mob. 😉
DeleteThanks John.
Congrats!!! I always enjoy your musings!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rumbear, or should that be "The Honorable Rumbear, Hizzoner, and Such"?
DeleteSarge - Happy Anniversary! It is a lot of fun stopping by here! And to everyone - your contributions to this 'community' (for that's what it is) are all much appreciated. I know you enjoy it, as do I, or we wouldn't stop by so often (as in most every day, tempered only by the occasional trip to areas without convenient interwebz). Your using your time to educate us, to challenge us, to make us smile, even laugh out loud (as in the squirrel video - glad I had just swallowed my morning beverage!) and to give us a place to connect with other somewhat intelligent life forms with common interests is a gift - thank you very much! and here's to another eight years.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy doing this, it's great to have juvat spell me every Monday and when Tuna and Beans chime in, it's like an unexpected day off. As you might gather, I enjoy days off. Probably way too much, but there it is.
DeleteThanks Tom.
If you enjoy days off so much, continue to think about retirement!
DeleteTakes the pressure out of staying at home since I'd be doing that anyway - sort of... 😉
Not a bad idea, it's an option.
DeleteI've enjoyed my time reading and writing here, so thanks. (No the past tense of that verb does not connote a discontinuance.) Lot of fun and games down here recently, some of which will be brought to light tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteCheers, and thanks for all the nice compliments.
Couldn't do it without my co-bloggers!
DeleteThanks for being here juvat.
As to what I look like, there is that photo that used to show up. If you can't find it, just look up a corpulent Orson Wells, make most of his hair fall out, remove the beard, put a pair of Dewalt contractor-grade safety sun-glasses (Lowe's, $10.99, good enough to be used as shooting glasses,) a boonie hat, cargo shorts, loose t-shirt (hopefully without holes, thanks Kegan) and flip flops. Who, if in direct sunlight, can be quietly heard sizzling like a pound of bacon in a pan at 350 degrees. But not as good looking. And whose nose, if it is allergy season (spring and fall,) is running (used to be worse, as when I lived in Brevard County, allergy season consisted of all year long, just moving north a hundred miles or so got me out of tropical plant hell and into almost temperate climate.)
ReplyDeleteIn other words, kind of a non-descript 60ish overweight dude. In Florida. Which is like the ideal place to be a non-descrit old guy dressed in cargo shorts, boonie cap, t-shirt and flip-flops, all year round. (I will put a jacket on, when it's cold (below 45 degrees and windy. Said jacket is a camo jacket with hood, bought on sale at Walmart for $15.00 one year when my previously 50 year old jacket was kind of... shrunken on me (of course, it wasn't that I was expanding, noooo...))
I'd post a picture of me in the SCA but all the good ones you can only see like a part of my helmet or my foot or a weapon. The bad ones you can't even see that much.
Try googling my real name? Hahahahahahaha. Nope. Either profiles or pictures, nope. Nada, nyet, so not there.
Google my nom-de-guerre in the SCA? Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahaha. Nope. Profiles or pictures. Nope.
I am that faceless guy who looks like someone who someone knew in school or prison or the military. When in the store, dressed like I have previously described, I get asked all the time if I work there. That guy. Kinda looks familiar, looks like he works service industry. People have had conversations with me and at the end said, "It's good to see you, (Insert NOTMYNAME,) we need to do this more often."
Yeah. The avatar actually kind of looks like me, just I am paler. And I never got to wear a maille hauberk with a ventail. (Chainmail shirt hanging down to the knees, with a maille flap one can hook up on the hood to cover the mouth, and, yes, a chainmail hoodie, if it was good enough for Duke William, it would be good enough for me...)
Sounds like a perfect description for an intelligence officer, i.e. spy, if they're on the other side.
DeleteIn the middle of your description I pictured Sean Connery as Marko Ramius taking one step back when Jack Ryan introduced himself, and saying "CIA?" We're all just a bunch of buckeroos at heart.
BTW, I like that header today. It get me excited. 😆
ReplyDeleteI figured that you'd like that. 😁
DeleteWait. When did it go from land-based boom-stick to squids in airspace? Whut the heck...
DeleteIt's magic!
DeleteCongratulations on eight years OAFS, and thanks to you and your krewe/posse for the entertainment, enlightenment, intelligent and well researched and written blogs. Thanks for allowing me the too frequent opportunity to add a war story/comment to all of y'all's fine musing. "Keep up the fire, Manchu!" regards, Alemaster
ReplyDeleteThanks Alemaster, it's been a good trip so far!
DeleteCongrats Sarge to you and your co-bloggers and thanks for all the work everyone has put in, learned macho grande here......:)
ReplyDeleteWe try!
DeleteThanks Nylon12.
Happy anniversary Sarge. You have a special place on the net. It's like a soft cushion today. Thanks for letting me hangout and vent my spleen / wander in the memories every so often. I don't have a lot of close friends, and darn few that see reality like me. You folks help me hang on to the knot at the end of my rope!
ReplyDeleteWe relocated a facility this weekend, after the city of San Fran on the Brazos fouled the occupancy permit a month ago.
I'm so bushed, I'm having a hard time paying attention.
See you tomorrow....
Thanks STxAR, always good to hear from you.
DeleteGreat post for a great milestone Sarge! And great comments to boot. Love the squirrel video. I scream just like that when rushed by small critters. ;-)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to much good stuff to come!
That squirrel video is a trip innit?
DeleteFun to see everyone in one post. Congrats on the milestone, achievement, goal, etc.
ReplyDeleteGreat work. Drinks all around.
Sarge could we have your VISA number to corroborate our records?
Hahaha!
DeleteThanks Dave.
(And no...😁)
Anybody up for throwin' brick at Blooger?
ReplyDeleteI wrote, what for me, a lengthy comment this morning.
Granted, I was using my iPad, but it was Blooger who dropped the load and left what I wrote in the ether.
It was one of those congratulations things that on blogger does for another.
Anyway, I was here.
I've noticed lately that hitting "Preview" causes the comment to vanish. Not really what I consider a feature. Sometimes I think I hit publish, but apparently didn't. Navigate off the page, bye-bye comment.
DeleteOh well, you get what you pay for.
Thanks Skip.
Whatever your expectations for the Pacific War Museum are, you will find that it is much better than that.
ReplyDeleteGood to know!
Delete