A Week After

The Ice Monolith
OAFS Photo

Tuttle pointed out that block of ice out by the street the other day. Later on, when The Nuke and Your Humble Scribe went out to fetch BBQ for the tribe, there were a lot of those ice monoliths everywhere.

Last Sunday we started with snow, by the time I got up (9-ish) it was sleet, around noon it was light rain and as it was still very cold, that drizzly rain froze when it landed. By sunset we had a thin glaze of ice on everything. Fortunately there wasn't much of that.

But the parts of streets, roads, driveways, and so forth that hadn't been plowed (or treated) wound up with a good inch or two of ice on top of the snow. So when the town (and state) got out from under all the snow on the main roads and came back to plow the neighborhoods once more, the plows were lifting up those frozen monoliths depicted above.

The Nuke went into work on Wednesday and saw that someone had collected a number of those ice blocks and had built an igloo! I'm guessing it was kids and not that the Inuit were tracking polar bears and seals this far south.

But ya never know!

The knee is better, gets a bit better every day and I'm happy with that. I have avoided walking on ice since then. Should have avoided it altogether but my attention wandered and BAM, next thing you know I'm on the ground wondering just what I was thinking.

I mean, I grew up in this stuff, walking on (as is driving on) ice is not possible without special equipment. Armored fighting vehicles weighing in at nearly 70 tons will slide on that slippery stuff.

Par exemple ...

I mean I'm fairly hefty but nowhere near as hefty as an Abrams, those bad boys slide on ice too. But they don't tip over like I did ...

There's a lesson there, somewhere.

January, Just a Giant Monday?

Mid-January, Little Rhody
- and yes, that was taken Monday morning, this week -
OAFS Photo

A friend of mine over at the Book of Faces posted a January = Giant Monday meme over the weekend. My first reaction, which I left in the comments was, "Not if you're retired." Which is true, to a certain extent.

Then it started snowing.

Now I've been through much larger snowstorms, what we had Sunday would be scoffed at in Buffalo. (A place I drove through in December of '75. There was probably a foot of fresh powder on the ground. When we stopped for fuel, the attendant admitted to having received "a dusting" in the night.) But Sunday's snow fall was heavy and wet. Nasty to be out in, nastier still to have to shovel. (I thank the Lord for my next door neighbors every day, they cleared the driveway for us and cut a path for the oilman.)

Anyhoo.

Another friend pointed out that for her, January is very much a giant Monday. She is also retired. Looking outside, I realized, it's the weather that makes January such a bloody Monday.

January in the northern tier is cold, snowy, unforgiving, and generally unpleasant as to its weather. So yes, I informed her, I now understood what she meant. Thanks, Helen!

Source

In my post regarding the games I had received at Christmas, one of which covered the Battle of Blenheim, comrade-in-blogging Toirdhealbheach Beucail (THB as I call him) mentioned the book depicted above. Which I, on something of a whim, decided then and there to order from Amazon.

Having had a number of books recommended to me by a number of readers concerning subjects which lie within my "sphere of interest," so to speak, and having yet to be disappointed, my decision wasn't that hard. (I should also note that the author is brother to the late Princess Diana, a lady I much admired.)

Well, long story short, I started reading it Monday, I'm through the first chapter and am captured, enthralled if you will. The book is superbly written, history told, as it should be, as a fascinating story populated by real people.

Well done, THB! Thank you for the tip.

Now THB's blog is called The Forty-Five, and by his moniker and the graphic depicting the blogger, is Scots-centric, after a fashion. The lad is also an incipient samurai. So there's two things I like, the Scots-ness of him and his love of things Japanese, something I share.

(Uh, Sarge, where you going with this?)

Ah yes, the '45, not the blog but the uprising which took place in 1745 in Scotland. An uprising which wanted to put the Catholic "Bonnie Prince Charlie" on the combined throne of England and Scotland.

Now as a lad I grew up being all in favor of the Prince. Being "all growed up" now, I realize that the '45 was sold to me as a glorious and wondrous thing when it reality it wasn't.

Now I recalled having seen a documentary done by the BBC back in the '60s about Culloden, the battle which really ended the '45. So I went looking for it, and found it.

Now it's longish (over an hour) but very well done. I liken it to being on the field with a reputable news crew (i.e. not any modern network) covering the fight as it happens. And it's aftermath.

I'm thinking of posting it tomorrow, what say you?

We shall see.

That's it for now, enjoy the week. I need to rest up from an overdose of football over the weekend!

Ciao!

Slow Day at the Lithium Mine ...

"Borrowed" from the Book of Faces

I mean really, how did that happen?

I am without ambition today, totally being a sloth and not caring.

I'm kind of missing the old job, not the job so much, but certain people there. I made some very good friends and, truth be told, it hurts not seeing them all the time.

In other news, grandson Roberto observed that Grandpa was heavy.

"You mean, like serious, right?"

"No Grandpa, you have a big belly."

Ah yes, the bluntness of children, probably why I like hanging out with them.

Somehow I will shake this ennui.

Oh wait a minute, going on vacation¹ in a week, down to the Eastern Shore and this paradise ...

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It's going to be great. And yes, no boring moments there, I can tell you.

¹ Seriously Sarge? Aren't you on vacation all of the time now? Well yes, sort of ...

Tired, But So Blessed With Family¹

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So Spiderman was explaining to me the various house rules when it struck me, I can visit the kids anytime I want now. No worries about work, vacation time, etc., etc. Of course, the ability to pay for these excursions still has to be considered. But from my examination of our financial state, should be no problem at all.

So short rations lately here as far as the "free ice cream" goes, but most of us are busy with the holidays so we don't expect a lot of visitors over this time period. I'll do what I can to keep the lights on and provide something for your morning coffee.

To be honest, I've having far too much fun with my grandkids to worry about much of anything at all.

Sunday's post was a first, I posted from my cellphone. It was interesting, can't say I enjoyed it but hey, at least I posted, right?

I'll try and do better.

I've scheduled JB's Trenton story for Christmas and Boxing Day (it's a two-parter). He suggested doing so in order for me to relax and enjoy the holiday.

Good man that JB.

Anyhoo, I'll be back after Christmas with something new, I hope. Yes, the tank vignette is still in process. I promise, I will finish it. Soon.

To you and yours, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.

Aloha.

¹ Oh yes, I am. Good suggestion Tuna.

Still Alive ...

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Alive and exhausted.Long day at the wheel yesterday.

But we arrived safe and sound.

Now, as my grandson says, "Time to beat up Grandpa!"

Yes, let the beatings begin ...

Ex-Smoker

Lindsay Fox Photo
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So, some ten years ago I quit smoking, you can read about that here, written on the second day of the latest (and so far last) attempt to quit smoking. In ten years I have never had the urge to light up, the smell of cigarette smoke bugs the Hell out of me, the thought of actually smoking again is anathema. Ten years, hard to believe.

I used Chantix to help me quit, apparently the active ingredient in this Pfizer-produced (yup, scares me now) drug can cause suicidal thoughts. I knew a guy back in the day who used it to try and quit. He stopped almost immediately. As he said, "I would've quit, that's for sure, dead people don't smoke."

I had no such thoughts, I just had some very vivid and very violent dreams. Which, truth be told, I kinda missed after completing the regimen. I learned later that Chantix had been discontinued because -

"As part of regular safety monitoring, Pfizer discovered the presence of a nitrosamine in batches of Chantix during production. The amount of the contaminant present was higher than what’s acceptable according to FDA guidelines. Because of this, Pfizer stopped producing the medication." (Source)

 

Apparently those nitrosamines can cause cancer, something I quit smoking to avoid. Ah well, perhaps I got a good batch.

When I was done with Chantix (which was rather expensive) and smoking, I had occasion to talk to the company nurse about my accomplishment. She mentioned that my employer would have paid for that, "They give you a coach and everything."

Uh, I don't do "coaches." Some random individual harping about "How are you doing, have you felt the urge to smoke?" Smoking helped me relieve stress, so yes, adding more stress would really help.

I had to wait for The Missus Herself to travel out to California for a couple of weeks before making the attempt. She would have "helped" as well, I'm sure. While people mean well when they are "helping" in such a way, it doesn't "help" me at all. I need to do certain things on my own.

I'm pig-headed that way.

Oddly enough, I still smoke cigarettes in my dreams. Then I wake up pissed off at myself for picking up that old bad habit again. The brain is a strange place, at least mine is.

So yesterday's post originally was about twice as long as the one you got to read. There was some major league incoherent ranting going on, I can tell you. When I wrote the post I got myself worked into such a state that actually quoted Mencken! Not something I normally do.

I actually woke up at 0200 hours and thought, "Hhmm, some of that stuff is borderline sketchy, just saying such a thing might earn me a visit from certain agencies who would have 'questions' about what I meant." So I deleted it, sedition doesn't look all that great on a résumé, and I don't need that kind of stuff in my life. Not now, not ever.

So I'll leave it at that. Revolutions eat their young, I'm an historian, I know this.

I haven't touched upon the horrible accident which occurred in Dallas over the weekend and I don't plan to. I've seen the video and I've also seen aircraft crashes resulting in fatalities live and in person. Not something I care to think about. I've also lost friends in aviation mishaps (as the Air Force likes to call them, a crash resulting in major damage to an aircraft and/or death is a Class A Mishap. At least it was back in my day.) All I'll say about this is that I pray for those lost and their families. A tragic affair.

I also haven't touched upon the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, I let my Polish correspondent Paweł handle such things. He's closer to the scene and has some interesting thoughts on the subject. To me it's a war of aggression under some pretty shady pretenses. Both sides have assholes in their governments but seriously, what nation does not?

The deaths of two Polish farmers due to an errant missile is a tragedy and my prayers go out to those involved. You think innocent Ukrainians and Russians haven't been killed in this fighting? War sucks, but you knew that.

Anyhoo, enough of that. For now.

As you might notice, I'm not writing fiction this week, at least not historical fiction. I've been out of sorts for "reasons." I anticipate getting over all that with the help of a decent night's sleep. Which is on the calendar for this weekend, a three-day weekend I might add.

I really need to buckle down and get Almost A Lifetime ready for publication, I'm close but am still looking at a few days worth of work to get there. I've incorporated a number of your comments (note that I didn't say "all of them," for various reasons). I'm also putting together The Prequel, which is book number two. Getting it off the blog and into Word for formatting and editing takes a while.

There's a temptation to "just keep writing" because it's entertaining, but as I would like to make this writing thing a third career, I need to actually finish something and get it published. I'll probably go the self-publishing route, as many of you have suggested, it seems viable.

Expect more whinging tomorrow, my creativity has flown.

Slow Day ...

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So I took five days off from the blogging thang, it was relaxing. Didn't have to rack my brain coming up with something to write about, got to hang out with my grandson (and his folks of course) during a period of very fine November weather.

Leading up to their visit I rather felt like the guy on the horse with the bandaged head, kinda half-dead. Wasn't sleeping well, just generally out of sorts.

Amazing what a few days off in good company can do.

However, I find myself severely unmotivated to write fiction. Not sure why (ahem, lower hit counts on the recent postings) but there it is. As much as I love the Napoleonic Era, it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Of all the fictional stuff I've done, World War II seems to be a favorite, particularly when Americans are involved. I get it, no, really I do. Can't please all of the people all of the time.

Anyhoo ...

In yet another blow to my fragile morale, had this for page hits during my mini-sabbatical:

The 4th was a Beans post, then a Tuna, then a Beans, then a Juvat, and finally a Sarge. While deep down inside of me I know it's probably the occasional wave of spambots showing up that occurs from time to time, but part of me thinks, "Damn, maybe I need to take more time off."

I can be a whiny bitch, neh?

So yeah, things are going to be slow for the next cuppla. Gomen nasai.

Maybe I should write about politics.

Heh, like that's gonna happen ...

Oh, one more thing, sorry Beans, but day two of "no clown videos."

I should work on that.

Not Random, Not Random At All ...

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You're probably already asking yourself, "What the Hell is Sarge posting about now? Ladies yelling at cats? Randomness versus Open Thread? Has that boy been drinking or what?"

No, I haven't been drinking but ...

Quick Aside: Friday last I mentioned going out to eat with friends, while there I ordered a Guinness and was extremely disappointed. It tasted, I dunno, off. It was room temperature and, as I'm not British, I didn't like that all that much. (I like my beer cold damn it!) It also tasted like a bad imitation Guinness. But I digress ...

Now where was I, oh yes, no, I haven't been drinking. What I have been is exhausted. As the calendar year draws down to the last dregs in the keg (maybe that's why my Guinness tasted bad, okay, okay, I'll climb down off that particular horse, for now), I get really, really, really tired.

Why not take a vacation during the year, Sarge?

Well, I do, for maybe a week at a time, which usually involves going somewhere, which is, tiring. Though I enjoy the being there, the journey is tiring.

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Sorry Ralph, I get it, but I disagree. You've obviously never flown coach from NYC to Tokyo, or even to California. There's your journey right there bro.

But at the end of the work-year lies the Christmas holidays, the winter break, whatever the proper corporate term du jour is. Back in the day I always tried to save enough PTO to make it a two week vacation, now it's three. Three whole weeks of R & R¹

While there is the drive down to Maryland and back, which I'm so used to that it isn't that bad, besides which, I'm driving and there's plenty of leg room in Blue. Besides which, who doesn't like the drive through the dystopian landscape which is northern Jersey?

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Now that being said ...

Harvey probably should have thought that scheme out a bit more.

So today (tomorrow as I write) is my last work day of 2021. I won't return to the office (actually it's a computer lab) until the 10th of January. Twenty-three days of ...

Yup, freedom.

Okay, that was kind of random.

¹ Rest & Recreation. Can also mean Rock & Roll. There will be some of that as well.