John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History - West Point and Shrapnel (Part 2 of 2)

Part 1 covered a WW1 era artillery shell marked “WEST POINT, KY/ 1918” which lead to looking at connections with West Point, etc. Okay, that was enough about geography and names. Let’s get to the stuff that goes “BOOM!” The shell that initiated this quest is a “Shrapnel shell,” invented by Henry Shrapnel.

Shrapnel shell fired in flight at left, and bursting at right 

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The legacy of two famous artillerists intersect in this artifact from West Point, KY. Both achieved the rank of Major General, both were named Henry, and they really do look somewhat alike. I bet they would have engaged in some fascinating, if arcane, discussions on artillery matters had they ever met.

Major General Henry Shrapnel, Royal Artillery (1761-1842) 

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Major General Henry Knox, U.S. Army (1750-1806) 

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At any range a single round, solid cannon ball (or “shot”) was deadly, but unlikely to strike more than one or a few people. A hollow explosive “shell” fuzed to burst some distance from the cannon would break into maybe 5-10 pieces which increased potential casualties.

At very short ranges, cannons could fire grape shot (bunches of medium size iron balls) or canister (basically a large can filled with lead or iron balls or scrap metal chunks) effectively becoming a huge shotgun. But, ballistics limited the effective range of grape of canister to maybe 200 yards. There was a need for something more effective against groups of troops at ranges of many hundreds of yards.

Around 1804 British ordnance officer Henry Shrapnel designed what was later called “spherical case shot” where a 12 pounder (4.62” diameter) shell would include 78 lead or iron balls (about .50 caliber or ½ inch diameter) mixed with the explosive filling so that there would be dozens of fragments and balls churning up the an area many hundreds of yards from the gun when the shell was exploded by the fuze. But, Shrapnel’s newfangled idea was only reluctantly and slowly adopted for use.

It was a still a relatively new concept during the Napoleonic Wars. At Waterloo, one source (which Sarge may or may not agree with²) claims:

Indeed, there are many military students who are of the opinion that Shrapnel’s murderous creation went a long way to being one of the decisive factors at Waterloo. General Sir George Wood, Wellington’s artillery commander, went so far as to state, “Without Shrapnel’s shells, the recovery of the farmhouse at La Haye Sainte, a key position in the battle, would not have been possible.”¹

 

Spherical Case Shell and Shrapnel Shell

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When breech loading artillery came along, and increased use of elongated (bullet shaped) projectiles, Shrapnel’s concept evolved to what we see in the lower example above. Instead of a spherical burst in all directions. The elongated shells used a small charge behind a pusher plate at the back to blow all the balls out the front, pretty much like a shotgun being fired in the area of the target, with the shell body acting as the barrel, several hundred yards from the gun position. The nose fuze is blown off in the process, and a 4.7 inch shrapnel shell expels 711 balls, each the weight of a .45 auto bullet, to rake an area about a quarter of a football field.

U.S. 4.7 inch “Common” Explosive shell, Shrapnel Shell and 120 x 425mm rimmed cartridge case showing shell in place as a fixed round.

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Ignorance and time have morphed the very specific term “Shrapnel” into a generic name for any fragment from an explosive round, such as splinters, shards or fragments created by explosive shells, while Shrapnel should be reserved for the now rare shells which expel large numbers of spherical shrapnel balls.

The 4.7 inch guns, Model of 1906 were pretty modern (for the time), and could be horse drawn, or pulled by a small bulldozer type tractor. Typical of the single trail designs of the period, elevation was restricted to about -5 to +15 degrees, and only about 8 degrees left to right. Max range was about 8,700 yards with the 45 pound projectile. Only about 209 were completed before the end of WW1, and only about 64 were actually shipped to serve in France. 

So, this souvenir from Camp Zachary Taylor’s artillery range at West Point, KY, is a relatively uncommon artifact from WW1. Part of the fun of collecting or studying historical artifacts is the opportunity (or necessity) of learning their serendipitous history.

 

 

¹ Shrapnel use at Waterloo.

² OAFS: Yes, I'm throwing the challenge flag on that. The Prussian arrival and the repulse of the Imperial Guard had more to do with the recapture of La Haye Sainte than the Shrapnel round, as its French captors were forced to retreat with the rest of their army. Nice story but not really.

John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History - Familiar Names, Strange Places … West Point, Fort Knox? (Part 1 of 2)

“WEST POINT, KY / 1918 / 4 Point 7” marked on a fired 4.7 inch Shrapnel shell.
Author’s photo.

On May 12, 1962, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur left the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, his home from 1952 until his death in 1964. He was on his way to address the U.S. Military Academy Corp of Cadets, which would be his inspirational farewell speech on “Duty, Honor, Country.” He opened by remarking:

As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, "Where are you bound for, General?" and when I replied, "West Point," he remarked, "Beautiful place, have you ever been there before?"¹

MacArthur had indeed been to West Point, NY, previously, graduating at the top of his class in 1903 after four years as a cadet, and as Superintendent from 1919 to 1922. Most Americans are familiar with the USMA at West Point, New York, and instantly think of that when they hear “West Point.”

Others have heard of the West Point Foundry, located across the Hudson River from the Military Academy, slightly upstream. Established in 1817 to cast iron cannon for the Army, it was a leader in that industry under management of Robert P. Parrott (USMA 1824), producing 2,000 cannon during the Civil War and over a million shells for them. The maker mark WPF and inspector mark RPP are on the black painted Parrot guns on most Civil War battlefields. The Foundry eventually closed when steel replaced cast iron for most military and industrial applications and new foundries grew in Pittsburgh to be closer to steel suppliers. For many the West Point Foundry is a second guess when they hear “West Point.”

Civil War historians may recall West Point on the Pamunkey River in Virginia, the origin of the York River. Created by the confluence of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers, named after local Indian tribes. Jamestown’s founder Captain James Smith Pocahantas, girlfriend of, (not a Senator from Massachusetts) was a member of the Pamunkey tribe.) This “West Point” name is not related to geography, but comes from the settler who built a plantation there, Colonel John West. “West’s Point” evolved to merely West Point. It was a base of operations for the Union Army while they destroyed Confederate supplies east of Richmond in May 1863, before being withdrawn when Lee moved north for the Gettysburg campaign.

Actually, at least 24 places in 20 states are named “West Point.”

But, I was recently surprised to find “West Point, KY” painted on the WW1 Artillery shell shown above, which was “none of the above” locations.

My first guess was that maybe USMA cadets had some adventures in Kentucky in 1918 and created this as a souvenir. Further research revealed a much more interesting story about military bases and how they grew.

When the U.S. entered WW1, our Army was expanded far beyond any previous notions, requiring massive numbers of men, uniforms and equipment, small arms, artillery, and bases to house and train them, and ranges to make them proficient with their new weapons.

Artillery ranges were especially difficult to create due to the large danger areas surrounding the firing points. Most field artillery used 75mm or nearly identical 3 inch guns firing shells weighing about 12-16 pounds. We also had a modest number of Model 1906 4.7 inch guns (120mm) firing 45 to 60 pounds shells, and by the end of the war had adopted French 155mm (6 inch) with 95 pound shells as well. Bigger guns required bigger shooting ranges.

Camp Zachary Taylor was one of 16 new posts built in the summer of 1917 to handle the expansion of the Army. It was located on the southern fringe of Louisville, Kentucky. In less than 90 days the camp began to receive 44,000 troops in newly constructed barracks and eventually over 1700 structures were built on the 4,400 acre camp. One of the camp’s functions was to train artillerymen for the newly formed 84th division. But, the area was too built up for safe artillery firing exercises.

Bayonet fencing practice at Camp Zachary Taylor. They are using heavy wooden dummy rifles the same length as a M1903 Springfield with bayonet fixed. This was NOT due to a lack of real rifles, but to keep their real rifles from getting really beat up. The USMC uses “Mokuju” wooden rifles for bayonet practice in their “Combatives” training for the same reason.

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In December 1917, land was leased at West Point, Kentucky about 22 miles southwest of Camp Zachary Taylor for a new firing range, easily accessible by road, railroad or the Ohio River. Land there had previously been used for military maneuvers involving several thousand troops. This was mainly farmland along the Ohio River at the confluence with the Salt River, site of one of Kentucky’s oldest settlements founded in 1776, and at that time the western most point of “English” settlement. It had taken over 150 years for the edge of the American frontier to move the 600 miles over the Appalachian Mountains from West Point on the Pamunkey to West Point, Kentucky, on the Ohio.

4.7 Inch Field Gun Model of 1906

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The West Point ranges were only used for a few months, amid growing concerns about frequent flooding of the low lying lands along the river. So, in April 1918 the Army elected to move to higher ground to escape potential flooding problems, and set up a much larger artillery operation in the nearby hamlet of Stithton, KY, forcing the residents to move elsewhere. This new facility was designed as a Field Artillery Brigade Firing Center Cantonment for six brigades, about 45,000 men.²

Major General William Snow was head of the Army Field Artillery (“and those caissons go rolling along…”) and needed this Stithton, Kentucky, training site and another new one in North Carolina in addition to existing artillery posts in South Carolina and Oklahoma.

Of course, every new Army post needed a name, so:

[Snow] … told his deputy to give both camps their names. His one stipulation: they have to be short.

"I'm growing tired of writing Camp Zachary Taylor. I want the names short. They've got to be five letters or less and named after a distinguished artillery officer,'" … So [the deputy] came up with Bragg after Civil War General Braxton Bragg, and Knox after Revolutionary War General and Secretary of War Henry Knox.³

Thus began Camp Knox, later Fort Knox, famous as the home of U.S. Armor and the George S. Patton Museum. (His ivory handled Colt Single Action revolver is in the museum along with several other guns from his personal collection.) But, times change, and artillery is long gone from Fort Knox, and all the armor moved in 2011 to Fort Benning, GA. Meanwhile, the Army built an 883,000 square foot three story, six winged palace for the “Army Human Resources Center of Excellence.” This is the largest office building in the state of Kentucky. This consolidated several far flung paper-shuffling and body snatcher commands into a single location. Thus Fort Knox, named for an artilleryman, famous for armor is now home to personnel management staffies. Perhaps a fitting new name would be Fort Peter Principle.

There is a nice video from Kentucky PBS TV on the history of Camp Zachary Taylor, including a number of motion picture clips of artillery which are undoubtedly from the West Point range. A 4.7 inch gun is shown firing at about 7:19 in the 7:59 minute video.

Entrance to Fort Knox and the Armor Center some years ago.
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In 1936 Fort Knox was reduced by 42 acres transferred to the Treasury Department where they built the United States Bullion Depository, called “Fort Knox” by everyone but the Army and Treasury Department.

But, wait, there’s more!

Kentucky’s Fort Knox was the second fort named for the great, rotund artillerist, and the first was Fort Knox on the Penobscot River in Maine, near the now sleepy town of Castine, home of the Maine Maritime Academy.

Fort Knox on the Penobscot River near Castine, Maine.
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So, why was a massive granite fort built on the Penobscot River near Castine, Maine?

(Most of this section on Castine comes from here. Which I highly recommend for the full, complex story of this location.)

The Penobscot region was a strategic point, with Castine receiving French settlers seven years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, and only six years after John Smith and his expedition settled at Jamestown. The Penobscot was a key entry into the interior for the fur trade, which was the impetus to much of the exploration and settlement of North America.⁴

The French were busy settling that part of the Atlantic coast as “Acadia” and over the next century or so frequently traded possession of Castine with the British who had settled to the south and considered that “Down East” portion of [then] Massachusetts to be theirs. The Brits twice named it “New Ireland” presumably to complement nearby Nova Scotia

Interrupting the bilateral feuding, the Dutch seized the area around Castine from 1674 to 1676. (The Dutch had claimed much of the land between Connecticut and the Chesapeake as “New Netherlands” around 1613 but were pushed aside by the bigger colonizers. The Dutch had squeezed out the Swedish settlements made along the Delaware river circa 1638-1655. Remember all this when someone tell you national borders are sacrosanct and must be defended by other nations’ blood and treasure.

With the American Revolution, Castine became an American town, and was attacked and captured by the British. Provincial Massachusetts (not the Continental Congress) assembled a massive invasion force with 44 ships in July 1779 for an unmitigated disaster trying to evict the Brits. Americans regained control with the peace agreement at the end of the war.

During the War of 1812, the Brits again attacked and seized Castine, again proclaiming it “New Ireland” and again relinquishing it at the end of the war. Massachusetts settlers (refugees?) flocked to rural Maine, far from Bostonian whims, and in 1820 it split off from Massachusetts and was admitted to the union as a free state to balance the statehood for Missouri, as a slave state.

After nearly two centuries of frequent conflict around Penobscot Bay, and continued mistrust of the British/Canadians to the north, construction began on Fort Knox in 1844, whose name sake had retired to Thomaston, Maine about 20 miles southwest of the new fort. One of the first mostly granite instead of brick masonry “star” forts, construction continued slowly until 1869 when both the importance of the Penobscot River region and usefulness of coastal fortifications had diminished so that it was no longer worth continuing construction. The fort had 74 guns of various types mounted at its height in the1860s, but only a small and transient garrison during the Civil War. A few hundred Connecticut volunteers were stationed there during the Spanish American War. Beginning in 1900, it had only a single Ordnance Sergeant caretaker, until it was declared surplus and sold to the State of Maine in 1923, becoming a state park in 1943.

Thus an old artillery shell led to some familiar and unfamiliar places, like West Point and Fort Knox. We’ll take a look at the shell to understand “Shrapnel” in Part 2.

¹ Speech - It also has MP3 audio of the address which is even more moving in MacArthur’s raspy voice.

² Camp Knox

³ Fort Knox

⁴ The importance of the fur trade to the exploration, settlement and economic growth of North American colonies is sorely neglected. Eric Jay Dolan’s Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America is a great read and most highly recommended! (Used copies less than $10 at ABEbooks.com)

Autumn is Here ...

OAFS Photo

I must confess that I am subject to a certain melancholy at this time of year. For as far back as I can remember.

Summer is over¹, when I was a kid it meant the end of freedom, the end of fun. It wasn't really, but that's what it felt like.

That was driven home today when The Nuke sent me a photo of her first born (Roberto) posing for his first day of school picture. Technically his school started yesterday, but he was ill and had to stay home. Of course he was happy about that.

I get it.

Now I am free as a bird. No school, no work, no worries (for the most part). So why this melancholy?

Tradition I suppose, habit maybe, but it's there, it's real, so I'll just roll with the punches.

Sorry for the short post, I don't have too much to say (because of the melancholy no doubt). I have a couple of John Blackshoe posts I'll share over the weekend. They look good.

It's also been a while since I shared a Robert Gale video. This is a good one. In light of the recent passing of Duke Cunningham² I thought it appropriate to look back at the air war over Vietnam. Mr. Gale has two Vietnam air warriors with him in this video.³ Give it a look.

¹ When school starts, summer is over. You cannot argue otherwise with me.

² Don't bother commenting on Duke's career post-Vietnam. Take your politics elsewhere.

³ I have another of his videos I'll share soon. I haven't watched it yet.

Be Careful What you Wish For ...

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See that road above? That's part of the route I drove to work for twenty five years. The opposite lane is, obviously I suppose, the route I drove home for work over that same time span.

Twenty five years.

Wow.

It doesn't feel that long, truly, it doesn't.

So, I was listening to music, fiddling around (no, not literally) and the music I was listening to filled me with a deep nostalgia for what had been, but was now no more.

Kinda weird, innit?

I mean I sort of looked forward to retirement, but I had finally reached a point in my career where I was a "subject matter expert." Oh, I had been for a long time a "SME" on weapons systems, it's just that no one paid attention.

Once I got onto the right project, it was as if a light had been turned on in the ranks of middle management. Of course, I finally had the right type of middle management. People who wanted to make a difference, not just people chasing metrics and attending all the latest process du jour classes. That really did count in some people's eyes.

But I truly was at the top of my game. Then things began to change.

A new manager was somehow appointed over our project who literally didn't know his ass from his elbow. Within the first few months of his new regime, at least two people, very good people, left the company. Not just the project, but the company. Because of this guy.

After a while I decided that it was time to pull the plug, before this new person's influence screwed things up. So I retired.

Do I miss it? Yes, yes, I do. Especially most of my co-workers, most especially my old boss. After years of getting overlooked by the company's software department, she transferred to systems. She kept the same job in the lab but now she was promoted and paid significantly more than she had been.

Better news followed some months after I retired, that new manager? Fired.

Not just from the project but from the company. Made me smile that did.

Maybe my old company had learned. We shall see.

Would I go back?

I really don't know, I'm enjoying not having to get up early, not having to be at someone else's beck and call. But for my old boss? Yes, I'd go back, for her. She was that good.

But there's an old saying, you can't go home again.

And the place that was home for twenty five years isn't the same anymore.

But my old boss has things well in hand and she has a good team.

I do miss the old job sometimes, I miss working with her all of the time.

Good people she is.

I wish her well.

Kinda wished I'd worked one more year, but ...

Water under the bridge, my friends.

Water under the bridge.

Stuff and Nonsense

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There is much in the world to get bent out of shape over. I don't know how long it's been since I watched a news broadcast from any of the major networks. Yup, that includes Fox. I don't trust any of them.

Why?

They're there to make money, that's the bottom line. We are not the customers, the advertisers are the customers. Get enough viewers, no matter how, then you can sell advertising time. Sensationalize the news, more people watch.

Bread and circuses, folks, that's all we get these days.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of this shite.

In other news, the story I had in mind to take place during the samurai period in Japan isn't going to happen any time soon. Sorry, TB. I've just got too much on my plate right now to give it the attention it deserves. Gotta finish my WWII epic first, dontcha know?

I can tell that it's been a while since I posted regularly, it is now, officially, irksome to do so. Might be all that freedom I had for a month.

Did I miss posting regularly?

Yes, a little.

Might the blog eventually just fade away?

Yes, without a doubt. Someday I will shuffle off this mortal coil and will, by definition, become an ex-blogger. Hopefully that day won't happen real soon, but ya never know.

So after posting my semi-anti-travel rant yesterday, a dear friend of mine posted some pictures she took of her trip to Niagara Falls, the USA side. I did mention that I'd like to see that someday. After looking at her pictures, I would really like to visit.

Of course, I do have a thing for large bodies of water.

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I'm pretty sure that I could just stand there for quite some time listening to the roar of the falls.

Once that's done though, it's probably back in the car and head home. Perhaps a stop at the Saratoga battlefield could be worked in, somehow. I mean, it's on the way, innit?

But knowing how The Missus Herself feels about battlefields, I don't know. Truth be told, she did tolerate Antietam and Gettysburg rather well. Of course, we did have the grandkids along.

That always helps.

Anyhoo.

Be back tomorrow.

With something.

Sigh ...

It's almost like a job now.

On Being a Tourist

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That opening photo? Been there, done that.

Our first Easter in Germany we discovered that in Europe, Easter is a four day weekend. We also discovered that my unit liked to arrange tours to various places within a reasonable bus ride of the base. Prices were also reasonable. One of the first trips they did after our arrival was Paris.

How could I not go?

This was in the days before cell phone cameras, in fact, this was in the days before digital cameras were around. (They might have been around but not that anyone I knew had one.) So photographs were of the old fashioned variety. Film.

As one wag put it, now you can instantly see how bad the photo is, back in the day you had to wait a week or two. So yeah, we have pictures of our trip to Paris, somewhere ...

Now our trip to Paris isn't really the topic of this post, travel in general is what puts me in front of the keyboard.

While out to dinner with friends last Friday, they mentioned that they were going on yet another cruise, something they do with appalling frequency. (Not that I've got anything against cruises, leave me alone on the ship to wander the decks and enjoy the sea and I'm happy. Put me ashore and make me do "activities" and I'm a bit more reticent.)

On the way home from dinner The Missus Herself mentioned that one trip the cruise couple were planning was a trip to Portugal (that had been mentioned at dinner) and wouldn't that be nice?

I had to disagree, in the words of the ancient curmudgeon I have become, "I have no interest, no connection to Portugal."

"But it's pretty!"

"I'm sure it is, so is Brenton Point and that is but a short drive. Sure, you have to go through Newport and the annoying tourist mobs, but it's not far away, and it's pretty."

"But that's not the point!"

"Then what is the point?"

Apparently some folks, my wife among them, enjoy going to different places and seeing different things. Now I'm not averse to that, it just seems to involve a lot of effort and no small amount of cash to do such things.

Seeing a thing is kinda cool. I flew over the Grand Canyon once, truly magnificent it was from 30,000 feet.

"Wouldn't you like to see it from the ground?" I was asked.

"Heavens no. It's in the bloody desert, I have zero desire to be in the desert. Did it once, didn't care for it. Besides which, I've seen it, haven't I?"

"But it's not the same ..."

True, but I'm content with that. On the aforementioned trip to Paris we arrived well before check in time at our hotel, so we went to the Eiffel Tower. Bus rolled up into a mob scene, lots and lots of other people and buses. At that moment the atmosphere decided to go crazy as well. Went from bright sunshine, to rain, to snow, back to sunshine, then hail, then more snow ...

It was nuts. But it eventually settled down to just plain old non-precipitating overcast. I was asked if I wished to go up to the top of this iconic landmark. I saw the line involved in doing so and said, "No, I'm good. I'll enjoy it from the ground."

"Wouldn't you love to see Paris from the top?"

"Nope, not and wait in that line. Besides which, I'm antsy about heights."

While I'm good in an aircraft, being attached to the ground in a tall structure freaks me out. A personal problem, I'm sure.

Besides which, I got to see the Eiffel Tower up close. Sucker was bigger than I thought.

Anyhoo, I'm not much of a tourist. If there's a military aspect to the visiting, I'll go. Again and again, ask The Missus Herself about Waterloo. We did that every year when we lived in Germany. Well, actually, I did that every year, three times and she had had her fill.

The Army Museum in Paris (le Musée de l'Armée) was another stop on our trip to Paris. The other members of the group had to drag me kicking and screaming from the place. I could spend hours there, and did, problem was I wanted to spend hours more, which the others did not.

I think my traveling days as a tourist are over. Though I will say, I would like to do Niagara Falls at some point. My old boss is up there this week, she mentioned it at breakfast the other day. Now that's not a really long drive and it's a cool place.

What's more, it's not in a desert.

I'm like a cheap wine, I don't travel well.

It's another Tequila, Monday*

Ok, Campers, we are officially back on our normally scheduled postings.  Beans, that means I only have to write one post a week, not one daily for 11 days or so.

Folks, I don't know how Sarge does it (and gets it done as superbly as he does).  Heck, almost all the posts I did in the past couple of weeks were reruns.  Still a bit of work, updating them a bit, choosing better verbage, fixing misspelled words. That sort of thing.  And even with all that already done, getting it published was still a bit harder than I thought it would be.

Beans, that means the next time Sarge goes AWOL, you've got the keys to the blog until he shows back up.  Your gonna  love it.  I absolutely guarantee. Bwaa-Ha-Ha!

Anyhow.... An update on the Mrs J and my "Move to College Station Front".  Some progress has been made.  Almost a month ago, we had a realtor from Colorado contact our Realtor and ask him if he could visit and video our house.  Our Realtor contacted Mrs. J and I.  We went into the clean and store extraneous stuff out of sight mode.  That was the easy part of this episode.

Their realtor came by and did his Cecil B. DeMille work and emailed it to them.  Didn't hear back from them for about 3 weeks.  Oh Well!

But then, their realtor contacted ours and said they wanted to fly down and do a walk through the following week.  We were able to work out a date which worked for AlCon.  That morning, as the time of the walkthrough approached and the house had been set again (we're getting pretty good at that!), we loaded up the 4 dogs on leashes and the cat in a carrier and put the gaggle in the two cars.  Drove into Town and went to the Sonic Drive-In for a Route 44 Diet Limeaid with Burgers and Fries. Taking lunch slow and easy for an hour and a half until we got the all clear.

Well, they asked our Realtor if we would accept a Contingency clause of 60 days so they could sell their house in Colorado.  Since that's what we will have to do soon with the house we like in College Station, we understood that the Real Estate market isn't exactly booming, so we said OK.  Haven't gotten that paper work yet (or the offer), but progress!  

So, fingers crossed and prayers going heavenward relatively frequently. We shall see what will be!

One of the irritating things about getting the house ready as well as living in the country is animals.  Now, I'm not talking about our pets, or our horses. (Oh, did I mention the folks from Colorado have horses and want to bring them with them?  Merlot and Cabernet (our horses) will have some new friends (if this goes through, Please Lord!)

Back on Subject, juvat!  On subject, Aye, Sarge.

No, animals as in undomesticated animals.  It seems we have a Roll of Armadillo on our property. A "Roll" is what a herd of Armadillos is called, didn't know that until now. Now you do also!  

ANYHOW!  They don't really do any damage to the property and they do keep the ant population under control.

BUT, I'm sure you remember our two adopted Great Pyrenees (GPs) , Atticus and Gryndhll. 

Atticus

Gryndyll . Both have been on guard duty all night outside, Chasing who knows what!

Well...They seem to like "playing" with the Armadillos. No, Beans, the Armadillos don't reciprocate in the liking of the game.  

In any case the Armadillos seem to have taken residence under the shed where we store our lawn mowers and other gardening equipment.  It's far enough off the ground that they can get under it, but not the dogs.  But like all of the Lord's creatures they must eat.  Since the GP's are guard dogs by genetics and bark at any strange noise and I like my sleep, they have been sentenced to spend the night outside.  Which is when the armadillos come out to eat.  That's when the fun and games begin.

Well,  I've gotten used to waking up in the morning, getting dressed, getting a shovel out of the garage and scouting the yard for dead armadillos.  Yes, Beans, the dogs' Kill Ratio is rather high.  I'm thinking about painting Armadillo silhouettes on the sides of their Dog House, but I'm pretty sure (OK positive) Mrs J will not approve.  Party Pooper!

(Update as of this morning) Canine armadillo Kill Ratio went up by one.

Just in case anyone thinks I'm spoofin them.
 

So, Mrs J has decreed that my anti-armadillo project for today, as you are reading this, is to put some wire mesh for horses around the bottom of the shed to see if that keeps them away.  So it is written, so it shall be! 

Finally, this week has an important date in it.  It's one of the two most important dates for me to remember in any given year under a penalty worse than death.  Any married guy reading this already knows what dates they are.  Yep, Beans,  the date of your Anniversary and her Birthday.  This one happens to be our Anniversary.

So, I've spent the last few days in my workshop working on a Top Secret project for our kitchen.  Saw it on a YouTube video.  It's a 6 part video on easy gifts to make (They had me sold at "Easy").  This one was #5.

Yeah, I threw in a new Cookbook also

It's a combination Cookbook holder and can be used as a cutting board if needed.  The Board itself is popler and walnut. The Stand is Maple.  3 coats of Lacquer for the finish.  Mrs. J thinks it looks fabulous.

That opinion is the only thing that matters!

 Well, that summarizes a fairly busy week.  I'm looking forward to Sarge getting his Muse spun back up to speed and some of his excellent posts coming into view.

Peace out, y'all! 

*With apologies to the Eagles

Getting Up Steam

The Great White Fleet
John Charles Roach
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As I sat down to write on Saturday, it struck me, I'm not ready!

Went to breakfast with my old mates from work, got up to date on things in the lab and was well-pleased. Though any team is never perfect, my old group has managed to add some new folks who have a lot of talent. Now that the boss is getting paid more (and with a promotion in hand) things should go well. If the project fails, it ain't because of them. I love my old boss, she's talented and very smart, she's one of the few things I miss about the old salt mine.

Breakfast was good, the food and the company. But I had to get up entirely too early for my tastes. Though we usually meet at 0800, today was 0900, still too early for me but tolerable. (Tom is the early bird of the group, I swear, the man is the Energizer bunny. He's like that at work too. He wants to, no, he NEEDS to be busy. Good man.)

Liz and I like the later time as we're both night owls. Stay up late, get up late. Let the early bird have the worm, I'll take the buffalo chicken eggs benedict!

Anyhoo.

I have in mind to write a story set in Japan of the samurai era. I am fairly familiar with that era, I actually have a copy of Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings floating around somewhere. Yes, I did read it. I was rather amused at all the business types buying the book back in the day and then wondering why. Every time some westerner tries to introduce some Japanese concept here in the States, it doesn't go well. Our cultures are very different. Ask Toirdhealbheach Beucail over at The Forty-Five, he gets it.

At any rate, I thought a story set in that period might be interesting. I just have to shed my gaijin ways and remember what it was like living over there. (Two and a half years on Okinawa, four years in Korea.)

So really, what I need to do is raise steam before I can weigh the anchor and get underway. As I haven't written for a few weeks, that might take some time.

Be patient, we'll get there ...

As to raising steam, watch this -

Be seeing you.

What a Month It Was ...

No those standing cranes are NOT native to this region.
(But they look cool ...)
OAFS Photo

Hi, remember me?

Yup, I've been away from the keyboard for about a month, at least it feels that way. Seems I've been down in Maryland rather a lot lately. Which means grandkids, which is a good thing, a very good thing.

Now back in July you might recall me regaling you with tales of LUSH and her progeny visiting and The Nuke with her whole tribe at the same time. Much fun was had though I did catch some vile bug which lingers still. That hasn't been much fun. But it's the vicissitudes of aging, I suppose. (Those of you wishing to offer me advice at this point, here's a tip - write out your comment, then delete it. I'm a big boy now, whatever advice you might give I will ignore, guaranteed. It's just the way I am, set in my ways and all. But thanks for playing.)

Anyhoo.

It all started with a call from The Nuke, due to Tuttle needing to travel for work, and her being needed in Washington DC for a number of late meetings which would preclude her from picking up the boys from camp/day care, someone was needed to provide limo service for the grandsons. I was an obvious candidate.

So multiple trips to Maryland and back later, I get a few weeks respite. I really need them. I ain't as young as I used to be!

But those trips convinced me that we, as Americans, are among the worst drivers on the planet. Don't feel bad now, we're tied for second with a number of countries. There are certain countries in Europe and Asia where the automobile is not something the locals seem all that familiar with. Who are the best drivers on the planet?

Here's a clue, they speak German.

Anyhoo.

Juvat has done a great job keeping the blog going. He's republished a number of his classic tales, most involve his service in the Air Force, most involve flying. All good stories which was the reason I hired him. (He's still bitching about the pay! Hahaha!)

So well done, juvat. Bravo Zulu in Navy-speak and Sierra Hotel in Old AF-speak. Yeah, we actually used to talk like that.

So I'm back. Not sure how long it will be before there's any new fiction, as I mentioned a while back the "Prequel" is in the editing process so I can start writing about WWII from December of 1941 to June of 1944. I miss the old characters from Almost a Lifetime, this is a way of writing about them some more.

Anyhoo, it's off to breakfast with a couple of dear friends from the old days of naval combat systems. I'll have something for Sunday as well, so juvat, you can stand down until Monday.

Be seeing you.