“The Move" and other subjects

 Ok, I'm gonna start out with a YGBSM Rant!  Sorry! (OK Not Sorry!)

How about the USS Gettysburg shooting down an FA-18, shooting at a second, but missing and targeting a third?  Fortunately, the crew of the one shot down was able to eject and was rescued.  The report reads that the Captains Situation Awareness was low.  

No SHIT, Sherlock!

 Apparently, the Captain thought the three jets were inbound Houthi missiles.  HMMMM, I can think of several, maybe a dozen, different ways to identify inbound targets and that's from experience 20 years ago. None of which will be discussed here, but which have very good reliabliltiy in ID'ing targets.

USS Gettysburg 

Source

YGBSM!  Court martial, reduce in rank to E-1 and cashier him out of the Service after a lenghty dereliction of duty sentence.  But that's my charitable side.  Is Criminal Stupidity causing fratricide a crime? If not, it damn well should be!

ANYHOW enough on that debacle...On to this week's assessment of progress in the "Move to College Station" campaign plan.  The ratio of Boxes packed to Boxes not packed yet is getting closer to turning the tide.  (I'm writing this paragraph as I look at a picture of a cruiser, so...a Navy quote.)

Movers come for pickup a week from today and we depart for our new location the next morning.  Should be interesting, 3 dogs and a cat in a small-ish 4 door, for about 4 hours.  Sanity?  Who needs Sanity?

Rental house is standing ready, a bit small, but will work until the new house is built (about 8 months, if we're lucky).  But there is quite a bit of work that needs to be done. So...Grin and bare it. 

No, that's not a typo!

On a different note, we attended the annual 'Burg Christmas Parade, Friday Night.  

Traffic was terrible.  We're an hour and a half prior to parade start and 4 blocks from where we parked our "place holder" car and now can't find a parking space.  The parade IS a big deal!

 

Always a big turnout and it's great to see people you know but haven't seen in a while, (Unless at HEB, then it's almost a foregone conclusion).  MBD and gang joined us for the parade festivities.  The Grandchildren are now old enough to somewhat understand the goings on.  So, a good time was had by all.

 

 

 

 

Yes, a truck and horse trailer decked out in lights, Who'da thunk?

 Now, be advised, these were only 3 of the hundred or so float pictures I took.  The parade went on for 90 Minutes.  There were "a few" floats in it, ok, "Quite a few".  The parade route was about a mile and a half.  We were at the end of the route.  By the time the FHS band marched by our spot, well, one could tell they were a bit tired.  But, as the song says, "The Band played on!"

A little chilly, but all in all, well worth the time.  BTW, both sides of the street were parked in completely.  It's a big deal in "The Burg".

As to the title,  as mentioned above, this time next week the movers will be in the house schlepping boxes and furniture onto their truck.  The horses will be chauffeured to their temporary quarters awaiting construction of their quarters on our new property.  Again about 8 months.  

No, Beans, their conveyance isn't pictured above.  At least, I don't think it is!  Who's to say?

We'll be headed to College Station shortly after the horses depart here.  And then the "New Adventure" will begin.

Wish us luck!

Peace out, y'all! 

The goose is getting fat!

 Well, Campers, here we are halfway through Advent.  Hopefully, the decorating, gift buying and wrapping, menu planning, shopping, finding and polishing the good china and silverware, more gift buying, more grocery shopping...hasn't stopped y'all from sitting by the fire quietly enjoying a hot toddy or hot chocolate with your loved ones.

IMHO, the latter is what Christmas is all about, the prepping is useful, but not crucial.

OK, off my pulpit and on with the show.

First, to answer the question on everyone's mind. Yes, my Brother arrived safely and has somewhat settled in to our guest house.  He's having issues getting his computer on line.  Since that is his connection to his on-line job, solving this issue is somewhat important.  So, I'll be going down to take a look-see when I get done with this.  

Met him for Breakfast yesterday at our favorite Sunday Post-Church Brunch restaurant, Texas Sunrise. We thought we'd start getting him transitioned from California to Texas, cuisine wise.  My normal breakfast there is Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs. Superb!

He mentioned that he wasn't quite ready for that big a leap cuisine wise and went with scrambled eggs, Bacon and Hash Browns.  Oh...and water to drink.  

He's not quite ready to embrace Texas although he does have an appointment with DMV to change his license and ditch his CA plates.  Small steps, but in the right direction.

It is good to have him around.

One of the big deals in our little slice of Heaven is the annual Christmas parade downtown.  That happened Friday night.  All of the participants were lit up and decorated with Christmas themes.  The parade route is 10 blocks of Main Street (AKA US290&US87 more to follow on that aspect).  It's a round trip kinda thing, down one side, back up the other side.  Folks were lined up on either side and about 4 deep.  Kids were sitting on the curb, adults in the back.  It was pretty well packed.

Surprisingly, there were also a lot of visitors there.  They asked lots of questions about the town.  Future Residents?  Who knows?

Yeah, I know, a baseball cap doesn't provide a lot of heat!

It was a tad cool, so jackets, hats and gloves were pretty much mandatory.  We did have a short 5 minute rain shower, but nobody bailed on it.  The parade MUST go on. 

Heck, even the Glockenspiel OOPS I meant Weihnachtspyramide was gussied up! ;-)

 

I didn't count the number of floats, but US290 and US87 were blocked in town for an hour.  There were a LOT of 18 wheelers in the post-parade parade when Main Street reopened.    Oh well!  Small town Texas.  Gotta love it.

Other than the cold, my ex-LA Brother thought the parade was pretty neat.  I did also. He's settling in pretty well.

Not much else going on round here.  Think I'll go take a nap!

Peace out, y'all!

 

 

Oh what fun.....

 So, there I was....minding my own business a week ago last Saturday.  My phone dings and it's a text from the guests staying in the Guest House.  Apparently, the Heater/Air Conditioner isn't doing anything and is displaying a code in red.  It's in the Mid-70's, so not an emergency, but...It's expected to get cooler that night.  I walk down to the Guest House  fully expecting to use the tried and true technique used by both aircraft crew chiefs and technology folks throughout the world.

Beans, c'mon, you know this one donch'a?

Turn it off, turn it back on.  

So, I do, fully expecting the round of applause for my heroic brilliance.

Which I'm sure I'd have gotten if the AC had come back on.

So, I go and cycle the Circuit Breaker. 

Nada.

Well, crap! That's why we pay for premium service from the Company.

He shows up about 30 minutes later.

Yes, Beans in spite of what I told him I tried already, he turned it off and back on then cycled the circuit breaker.  Thankfully/unthankfully (My Ego/My Guests), he had no better luck than I.

So, he calls his boss who tells him to check the wiring to the rapty-fratser or something.  After unscrewing half the screws in the western hemisphere, he peers in and discovered that some rat bastid (or is it bastid rat) had chewed through the sensor wire.

"juvat, we'll have to order a new rapty-fratser.  It's Saturday, we'll send the order today, but...nobody will read it until Monday, so you're looking at Tuesday...Wednesday at the latest. "

I convey this information to our guest, who happens to be a plumber.  He says "No problem, I deal with that supply problem all the time."

So I drive down to Lowes and buy an oscillating heater to keep them all warm if it chills off during the remainder of their visit.

Wednesday comes and goes, and we've got Guests this weekend.  Granted they're Family and it's the "Gathering of the Clan" for the Lighted Christmas Parade, but gotta make an impression, right?  So, Mrs J calls the Air Conditioner Guys.  They said they'll check on the parts status and get back to us.

Well...They do. It's a good d**n thing the forecast is warm for the weekend. Evidently, the part is off the coast of California on a container ship and isn't expected to be allowed to dock and offload till the end of the month at the earliest.

HELLUVA fine job you're doing, Mr Buttgieg!  And you want to be President?  Why? So you can make slow Joe look competent?

YGBSM!

Let's think Happy Thoughts, juvat!

Happy Thoughts, Aye Sarge.

Mother and Daughter having a snooze in GrandDad's chair. Don't get no happier than that!

Our second annual "Gathering of the Clans" occurred this past weekend. SIL's immediate Family arrived Friday.  The juvat Clan was underrepresented as Little J and DIL won't arrive in country until Dec 29th (and they'll be jet lagged badly, so we won't see them until the 30th).  That having been said a good time was had by all and we tailgated at the FBG annual lighted Christmas Parade.  The parade had been canceled last year because of you know wu.  But the City grew a pair and went ahead with it this year.  Very nice evening, low 70's at parade start.  And this was the first viewing for SIL's family.  The parade lasted 2 hours (the longest time TxDOT will allow US87/290 to be closed, but here come the highlights.

Almost like normal.

Peace Out, y'all, We're winning. Never Give Up! Never Surrender!