Thursday, September 10, 2020

Random Mutterings


Having survived the outrageous antics of certain people traveling upon the thoroughfares betwixt Little Rhody and the Old Line State, I arrived safe and no less sound than usual upon the shores of the Chesapeake on or around 1715 hours local on the 8th of September in the Year of Our Lord Twenty and Twenty. That is, Tuesday.

Greeted by my middle daughter and her hounds, the latter two of which were growling at me until they caught my scent (who thereupon became deliriously ecstatic as only a canine can), I was once again at Chez Tuttle et Nuke. I should note that The Nuke continued to growl at me, even though I was recognized and allowed entry. Perhaps I should have arrived bearing gifts?

That being said, this trip to Maryland is a little shorter than the last. Instead of a full week, with a travel day on either end, it's only four days, two of them being travel days. As my supply of PTO is not endless, I need to preserve some for later trips. Of which, I'm told there will be a few. After all, Maryland is "only" 400 miles from Chez Sarge in Little Rhody.

Haven't worked much on the book as it was kind of a quiet spell in Europe in late summer of 1944. The Germans were nearly finished retreating into the West Wall. (What many referred to, and still refer to, as the Siegfried Line, auf Deutsch it was known as die Westwand, not "Westwall," which, as near as I can determine, is just a bad translation. In English it would be known as the West Wall. I guess Siegfried Line just sounds cool.)

At any rate, the Germans were retreating in spots and were trying to reconstitute what units they could. Including two Waffen SS divisions in the vicinity of a Dutch town named Arnhem. Which Monty didn't see because he didn't want to, it stood in the way of his "pencil like" thrust into Germany.

Speaking of which, there are no units in the book which actually participated directly in Operation Market Garden (started 17 September) the British 11th Armoured Division provided flank support. So it's possible I'll touch upon that. But not this week.

Since Sgt Brandt's wounding (and Ollie's death) you might notice a refocus from Brandt's squad to the entire platoon. 2Lt Paddock is a character I intend to explore further, his relationship with his troops, especially his platoon sergeant, and his company commander.

At first I wanted to make Captain Josephson a screaming prick, then decided against it, sort of. What makes a man be a jerk? So I plan on exploring his character more as well. I rather regret having Bill and Ollie get gunned down on the street of a Belgian village but that happens in war. If it doesn't happen in the book, makes the book a little less authentic, to me at any rate. But what do I know? I've never written a book before, and there are days when it really shows. Those of you who spot the errors and let me know, I really appreciate it.

Oh one last thing, when you take a "selfie" with your cat, don't be surprised if she looks at you like you're an idiot. Which isn't far from the truth...

Or so I've been told.


Cats can be pretty judgmental at times.

DAMHIK...



46 comments:

  1. Cats are judmental ALL the time Sarge but then I'm a dog person......go see "Stella leaf run" on You Tube. Hey Beans, did you catch the photo of the camo'd Chinese troops on the Indian border sporting the pole arms? Looked to be their guandao but without the notch and spike.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cats are judgemental and love knocking lesser things down, which is why we have proof that the earth isn't flat, else everything would have been knoncked off by now.

      I will have to go look for the ChiCom troopies with pole arms. Sounds... different.

      Delete
    2. When you find that, give us a link?

      Delete
    3. (Don McCollor)...Cats do respond to commands. Cat pawing my TV remote..."Knock it off." She did.

      Delete
  2. 400 miles is a walk in the park out here. It's 450 from my table to the old place where I grew up. And no state lines to bother about. It's all glorious Texas the whole trip. Just one major city to go through, too. But Junction, Eden, Ballinger, and Sweetwater are nice places. Not too sure about Snyder though.... Post is really nice. And then it's the Llano Estacado. You can see next week out there if you stand on your toes...

    Got a call from dispatch on a Saturday afternoon several years ago. "Hey, El Paso is not passing data. The trucks are not acknowledging. I need to you run out there and take a look at it." "You want me to leave now?" "Yeah, call me when you get there." "If I leave right now, I won't get there until tomorrow. How long are you gonna be in the office, you gonna wait for me so we can troubleshoot together?" "WHAT!? Tomorrow? How far is it?" "About 600 miles..." "Wow, okay... We'll get a contractor out there on Monday. May need you to head out then, keep a few days open.... I had no idea..."

    We'll keep all the miles out here, if you guys keep all the people over there.... Please and thank you...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 400 miles in Texas is nothing.

      400 miles down the Eastern Seaboard would be 1,000 miles in Texas. DAMHIK

      Delete
    2. Traffic down the Eastern seaboard can definitely make those 400 miles FEEL like 1000...just saying...

      Delete
    3. Given that the Interstate mile markers start at the west and increase east bound, my interstate entry point if 508 and the bridge into Louisiana is 880, I'm closer to Louisiana than I am to El Paso. However, because of Austin/San Antonio and the Houston megalopolis, I would much rather drive to El Paso. Besides, when I hit the Interstate west bound, the speed limit is 75 and about 10 miles later it's 80, 84 puts you at 1.4 miles per minute or 7 miles every 5. Not quite F-15 speed, but still...

      Which means, I agree with Suz!

      Delete
    4. On the other hand, that's a whopping 6(point)00 nautical miles per five minutes. Smokin!

      Delete
  3. Cats are such strange creatures - aliens, if you will. Mostly good aliens, but some are terrors. I will give them this - they know how to go all in on a fight - DAMHIK.

    Just put about 3000 miles as the odometer flies on my trusty Taurus (touching wood) the last two weeks. NC to NH and environs, back to NC, then to KY and back, with a fair bit of driving in KY. Then to the beach this week and off to VA tomorrow and back to NC Saturday evening. No wonder I've got a hitch in my get along!

    But growing up in Dallas and having a girlfriend from El Paso and friends in Santa Fe got me used to long 12-13 hour drives (only about nine hours today but back then the speed limit was 55 even in West Texas), just had a younger, more tolerant body then and was easier to recover from those trips.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey AFSarge;

    The look on your cats face is "What is the heck is my support staff doing?" As far as the story goes, you were following the muse not the Meuse, (haha, I know...I will be here all week, don't forget to tip your wait staff and ...Try the Veal!) Just keep on rolling and you and weuns will be good, LOL

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don’t mind long drives in the country. It’s the populated areas that disturb me. The drivers there all seem to be doing something else besides paying attention to the job at hand. Worse, most of them are out of blinker fluid and are late for an appointment.
    I lived in the rural too long.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The reason they do that, in my estimation, is that they have no real idea of what they're doing nor how dangerous it is.

      Delete
  6. Cat: "...and this is my trained hooman".

    Guy from Texas: "It takes me all day just to drive across my ranch".
    Guy from Delaware: "Yeah, I owned a POS car like that once".

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just in case you Texans haven't noticed COVID 19 is not the only pandemic. You are is serious danger of becoming Californicated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Everywhere is in danger of becoming Californicated. We are getting it here in Florida. Along with a strong case of NewYorkCityitis.

      Delete
    2. Dave - When rats leave a sinking ship, do you really think they'll improve wherever it is they land?

      Delete
    3. Beans - Don't give much credence to what you hear/read on the news and on the Internet. Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

      Delete
    4. I am going by the license plates I see on the road. More and more, CA and NY plates, everywhere.

      Delete
    5. Perhaps in Florida. What a pity.

      Delete
    6. On the plus side, the new crop doesn't appear to be like previous waves down here Tampa way.

      They're not retirees for one.

      Father in law got asked by one of them how to get to some kind of license bureau that we don't even have here.

      Wait until he notices the income tax we don't have!

      I've stood in line with them at the gun shops and listened to them ask where they get their permission slips to buy a gun. "We don't have that, do you have your Florida ID?" is the reply that causes damage to the floor from their jaw hitting it. The happy smile a moment later is almost as good as a first shooter smile.

      Delete
  8. Glad you have/had/will have/will have had a good trip down and back, even though the fiercesome stare of the dreaded Nuke greeted you. And what, you aren't a gift all by yourself? Pshaw...

    Stupidity does seem to make the travel time longer. DAMHIK (involving a Ford van, an overpacked trailer and one twit of a driver.)

    As to all else, it is what it is. If it isn't, and you don't know it, remember the most serene and thoughtful statement from "Galaxy Quest," "What is it? I don't know. Hit it with a rock."

    There are too many drivers that need hitting with a rock.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sarge - off topic, but what's going on at URI??
    https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/09/uri-removing-murals-commemorating-wwii-veterans-for-lacking-diversity/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Calling these over-privileged, racist, moron, communist, criminal's idiot give a run of the mill idiot a bad name.

      Glad you had a safe trip, May the return be uneventful also.

      Delete
    2. Lacking diversity...that's not what everyone thought back in the 20's and 30's when all the Swedes, Poles, Eye-talians, and Irish were looking for jobs amongst the English and Scots that were 3rd and 4th generation small business types back then.

      Guess it is all about perspective as to what is diverse.

      Delete
    3. Juvat - Yup, you're right. They go well beyond idiocy. Traveling tomorrow.

      Delete
    4. Suz - We all know that the mob equates diversity with skin color.

      Delete
    5. Just like those who criticized the movie Dunkirk for its lack of diversity. Morons and/or sh**-stirrers.

      Delete
    6. I'll take "Both" for $500, Alex.

      Delete
  10. I would have liked to know why he was Ollie.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sarge, if you think cats are judgmental, try rabbits. They are forever judging (and disapproving) of you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dog growl reminds me of the first time Nona saw tee-vee. She attacked the news boob on sight. Threw out the tee-vee shortly thereafter.

    A 400 mile drive from Kimball takes me to Omaha, North Dakota, Utah, and, er, Texas! And all points in between, of course. To the east they're all in Nebrasky.

    Cats is cats. I wonder what they think about people and the interwebs....?

    ReplyDelete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

NOTE: Comments on posts over 5 days old go into moderation, automatically.