Random Musing and a Lot of Pictures...

Sunflowers from under the weeping cherry

With all the shite that's going on in the world right now, I thought I'd kick back and go through some of my old photos.

And inflict them upon you.

So here we go...

Where the magic happens.
(What magic? Shh, pretend as if you know what I'm talking about...)

Once upon a sunny morning.
Both trees are, sadly, long gone.

Why not pair a sunrise with a sunset?
My old Dodge is the foreground, also long gone.

Mid-November, 2014

General Lee's old house, Arlington, VA

All your computing assets are now mine!

Aviator Memorial, NAS Lemoore, CA

Gadsby's Tavern, Alexandria, VA.
I love eating there...

The Potomac River looking towards National Harbor, MD.
Alexandria, VA.

Near The Nuke's old residence.
Alexandria, VA.

Bridge Over The Pond at Chez Sarge
That too is no longer there.
(We got a new bridge, old one was rusting out.)

Hooman, why are you taking my picture?

Old Glory snapping in the breeze on a cloudy day in Little Rhody.

Sunset. The skies in these parts are often spectacular.

View from a hospital bed. My hospital bed.
(Five years ago, I'm all better now.)

I am Groot!

Easton Beach, Little Rhody

Dad.

A January weekend in Carlsbad, CA.
Not a bad way to spend one's time!

On the way to DC.

Next time I'll try to focus better. But the sun behind/between the clouds was awesome.

The Sarge Has Landed.
Future trips won't be to here, but to BWI instead.

Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge from The Chart House, Alexandria, VA.
Another favorite place to eat! (I have a lot of those...)

Two of my granddogs, Kodi and Bear.

July evening, 2016

The other Master Sergeant at Chez Sarge
(I outrank him by time-in-grade and time-in-service)

The feline staff, Anya and Sasha.
Yes, they're sisters.

Udvar-Hazy.
There's no such thing as enough airplanes...

Hurricane, that's the Enola Gay behind her.

Phantom, Thud, and Gomer.

(MiG-21 actually.)

I like cats.
(PzKfw V, Panther)

I am smiling!
Your Humble Scribe at Udvar-Hazy.

Matilda, non-waltzing variety.

Was I ever this young?
The Missus Herself hasn't changed a bit!
(Blurry as it's a photo of a photo.)

Random old fart saluting-selfie.

Wells Harbor, Wells, ME.

Love that sky!

Favorite meal, bar none.
(Though there are quite a few which are a close second, hey, I like to eat.)

Well, not a lot of musing, but a lot of pictures.

One problem with that last photo, not nearly enough coleslaw, not nearly enough.

Life's been good to me. Really good. Even if there's never enough coleslaw...

April is done, can hardly wait to see what May will be like...

RHT447's Handiwork

Cuppla folks expressed interest in seeing some of the handiwork reader RHT447 had mentioned in a comment t' other day -

RHT447

So I am up a bit earlier than usual. A bit of heavy weather rolled through about 5 am and woke me up. Lots of thunder and lightning, some hail. Our single feline staff member does not care for this kind of weather, no not one bit. She claws at the bedroom door to be let in to hide under the bed. I couldn't go back to sleep, so got up and made coffee. Weather has moved on, feline staff has come out of hiding and wants breakfast.

Have entertained myself the last few days re-finishing and old gun rack. It's nothing fancy, just a wall mount with two uprights notched for four long guns and two cross pieces. It was gift not long after high school, and has followed me around ever since. Used these two products for the first time--

First this--

Walnut Wood Finish Restorer

Then this--

Feed-N-Wax wood polish

I stripped off the old finish first as there were some places that needed to be sanded. Wood looks great now. Like those products--just like the Karate Kid--wax on, wax off.

It has been decades since this rack held a gun. Long gone are the days when you could leave guns on display in your house. I'm going to hang the rack on a wall that can't be seen from outside, then stick an old muzzle loader rifle on it.

So here ya go!

The other side of the magazine well dust cover says "PLAN B"

Very nice work RHT447!

Nautical Art

The Great Wave off Kanagawa
神奈川沖浪裏
Hokusai
葛飾 北斎

I said to myself Tuesday night, "Self, you're wandering into the political ranting arena far too much lately. I mean that's what we 'pay' Tuna for, neh?"

(Yes, lads, pay is in quotes for the reason you surmise. It's all virtual here, I mean the rewards are intangible. We're all famous now! What? We're not? Ah well, in my mind we are.)

So really, I have ranted too much as of late (once in a quarter seems more than sufficient, perhaps even too much from my point of view). I'm not sure why people come here to read our thoughts and the like, but I like to tell stories about history, the family, the garden, music, books I've read, movies I've watched, and so on, and so forth.

Ranting can be, I dunno, tiresome for me. So I decided that I needed to take a step back and CTFD. Yes, an acronym, C for Calm, D for Down, I leave the middle bit to your imaginations. Most of you will, no doubt, figure it out fairly quickly. No, it's not in the Acronym List, seems too crude for that. Not that there aren't other crudities over there, but well, ya know. I try to keep it clean.

So yeah, nautical art, I like it. I keep looking at the opening painting from yesterday's post (which I reproduce below so you don't have to chase a link). I like pictures of ships at sea. Sometimes just a seascape by itself is good enough. Though I do like ships and boats, and what have you.

Stormy Weather at Sea
Frank William Brangwyn

That modern vessel in the foreground, is she foundering? What are the men in the small rowboat doing out and about in such filthy weather? (They are heading towards the vessel in the foreground. Ask me how I know.) Then in the background that sailing vessel looming into view. The past, reminding those sailors of their origin? I don't know. I couldn't find any explanation online for the painting, though I didn't look that hard. I'm feeling rather lethargic tonight (last night as you read this). Worth noting, I suppose, it that this painting hangs in the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. So leading off with a quintessentially Japanese painting seemed appropriate.

So paintings, nautical art, I love it.

Here are some from one of my favorite painters, Winslow Homer -

On the Beach

A Basket of Clams

Sunlight on the Coast

The Herring Net

Rembrandt did some work in this vein -

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee
Rembrandt van Rijn

Sadly, the whereabouts of this lovely work are unknown, the painting was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. Art thieves, we hates them Precious.

Schepen aan lager wal
(Ships running aground)
Ludolf Bakhuizen

The Kearsarge and the Alabama
Xanthus Russell Smith

The Battle of Trafalgar
William Clarkson Stanfield

The Continental Navy frigate Confederacy
From the Navy Art Gallery in the Washington Navy Yard

USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere
Michel Felice Corne

A Perfect Wreck
Tom Freeman
USS Constitution vs HMS Java
(Source)

I feel better already. Nothing like a good painting to calm me down!

Who are your favorite painters. Maybe I'll do a "Readers' Choice" post.

Hey, it could happen!

Never Attribute to Malice...

Stormy Weather at Sea
Frank William Brangwyn

In the last 42 days I have spent about four hours physically at work, virtually I've been there the whole time thanks to the magic of the Internet and my trusty laptop.

For the first few weeks though, I had nothing to do, waiting on a contract to free up some shekels so I could get back on my old team. Failing that, to get on a new team. Well, (and I think I mentioned it in these spaces before) I got back on my old team. With some new stuff thrown in working with a guy I got to work with before. I am pretty excited about the whole thing.

At first it was a part time kind of gig, but now I'm head down, full up, and rocking forty hours a week. I'm actually busy again. The days go by much faster than before, and for the time being I can work at home. Makes for an easy commute dontcha know?

Though the trip down the hallway is sometimes fraught with difficulty as the feline staff don't ever use their turn signals. While I want to get the computers up and running, and online of course, they are more interested in having breakfast. I understand that but I need to check the overnight mail while I'm doing the glaucoma eye drop thing. One in the left eye, the lesser of the two, which used to be my "go to" eye, and a different one for both eyes. As I have to (read should) wait for five minutes between drops, firing up the machines, getting logged into the VPN and checking the mail is about five minutes.

When that's done, the feline staff gets breakfast and I get coffee. Then I may or may not get out of my gym shorts and t-shirt for my official work attire. (Jeans and a polo shirt, the only difference between the lab and home is that I don't wear shoes at home. It's a Korean thing dontcha know?)

Anyhoo. One of the things I find somewhat annoying is all of the virus-thingee news we get from corporate, half of whom I don't recognize as we merged with another company at the beginning of April. Most of the messages are from the new bosses, (same as the old bosses), which at least we get to learn who they are. Not all are from the other half of the merger, some are from my company's division out west. We consolidated some functions.

I mean a lot of it is good information, but some of it is of the "we're doing everything we can to prevent, protect, and yada, yada, yada." Okay, I get it, none of the multitude of corporate big shots want to kill us. Nice of 'em. But please, every day there is an update which actually doesn't really say anything new. Hey, if it's an update, shouldn't it contain an actual, ya know, "update."

So the virus-thingee, which was sorta the point of the post, which I will not speak (or write) it's actual "given" name. To name a thing is to give it power. Or something like that (I have no idea who said that). The virus-thingee is a good enough name.

Now there are many conspiracy theories floating about, "the gubmint is evil, they wish to steal our freedoms," etc., etc. That presupposes that people in government are actually competent, efficient, and hard working. The same government that many claim "can't do anything right" is trying to enslave us.

I don't think so.

Most politicians are elected based upon what they look like. At least it seems that way to me, often it's the choice of what one perceives as the lesser of two evils. I mean, most of these folks may seek office to "make a difference" or what-have-you but soon get bogged down in the party politics and the bureaucracy. If evil governments were so damned efficient, why then did the Nazis and the Soviets lose?

At any rate, the stay at home thing is probably a good idea for us susceptible old farts and if I hear one more nitwit use the phrase "herd immunity" I daresay I might have to DiNozzo the offending party. Yup, get out there, that way we'll all get "herd immunity." Most of the ee-jits who use that phrase don't even know what it means.

At any rate, soon the whole overreach by panicking nitwit politicians will subside, people will get sick, people will die. Happens anyway with the flu and a host of other things. As the virus-thingee is different, as in "new," we don't have a handle on it yet. Soon actual scientists  and doctors (i.e. not Bill Nye and his ilk) will get a handle on it and things will get better.

Or they won't.

My worry is for all the folks who have lost their livelihoods over this. Will they get them back? Given enough time yes, but the idiots in Congress won't be the cause of that. Their forte seems to be doing the stupidest thing possible over and over again and expecting different results. All the while spending money like an 18-year old Marine on Okinawa who spent the last month up in the Northern Training Area. (Or a sailor in Olongapo from what I've heard. I've seen the former, only heard about the latter.)

Will all the nonsense that is floating around out there, remember,

This life’s hard, but it’s harder if you’re stupid.²

Don't be stupid.

And no, I don't know if Kim Jong Un is dead or not.

And yes, I am a bit out of sorts lately. Aren't we all?

/rant


P.S. The painting at the beginning of the post doesn't really have anything to do with the post. I just like the painting.

P.P.S Started watching Season 6 of Bosch. Which is good. So I've got that going for me...



¹ Unknown
² George V. Higgins

PPE

Had a "mostly" uneventful week since last we spoke.  Went to the grocery store twice and the liquor store once.  While at the grocery store, saw and spoke to a couple of teachers that I knew and liked from my most recent prior existence.

One happens to teach first grade.  So I asked her how the home schooling was actually being accomplished at that level.  Parents would come by the school and pick up paper packets with assignments in them.

I blinked twice as I heard that.  She said "Yeah, I know...But most of my kids are lower income and don't have computers."  Which brought up a short question about Gov Abbott closing school for the duration of this school year regardless of starting the "re-opening" process.

"Damned if you do, damned if you don't."  There's been so much time lost so far, that getting butts in seats alone will take most of the day.  So...little upside.  Potential for big down side.  However, the other downside is with low income families, the school takes the place of child care.  Obviously, education is also part of that picture.

Or should be.  So, if the school's don't open, Mom and Dad are going to have to find someone to take care of Little Johnny, which means either one of them stays home, or they hire someone.  Both of which means less money for the family.  Best case is maybe a family member can help. 

As I said, no good answers.  I think if I ever hear "....an abundance of caution" again, I'll come unhinged.  I think that statement actually translated from the original Russian means " ...an overabundance of cowardice."

Just me....being charitable.

Other events for the week, MBD and T-Dawg  came over for a few days.

T-Dawg is the one in the middle.

Working from home has some perks.  One of them, for me, was listening to her running a meeting for her team on a project.  The young lady has some MAD people skills.  Must have come from her mother's side.

Her looks obviously came from me,  thank you very much!

The other highlight was a Skype call to our refugees.  That would be Little Juvat and his wife (comments here occasionally as LJW...get it?).  I may not have mentioned this, but they are assigned to the US Embassy in Kuwait.  Back in January, he was sent on a short TDY to another Embassy in the region.

Then, for some unknown reason (yeah right!) all travel to and fro was shut down.  He's been there 65 days now and counting.  No end in sight yet.  I asked him about short tour credit. He said he's quite likely to get it, I think he only needs about 3 more weeks.  Good news is he's staying busy, 10-12 hour days.  He keeps track of weekends by working only 8 hours.

LJW isn't much better off in Kuwait.  The Embassy compound is shut down, so there isn't a lot of activity to keep busy.  This is her first long term overseas experience and is a bit OBE.  She seems to be hanging in there, but...

Indications of "wearing thin"  are quite evident in both of them.

They are number one in my evening appeals to a higher power.

I read an excellent article this past weekend from a link of Feral Irishman's blog.   It's a bit long, but written by a Doctor in Alabama in consult with some other physicians he associates with.  He pretty well lays bare what's really going on.  Highly recommend reading the whole thing, but IMHO, here's the money quote.

According to worldometers.info from January 1 to April 1, 2020 the worldwide deaths from COVID-19 were 46,438 as opposed to 121,993 for influenza. To recap, during the same three months, with the same social distancing, the same shelter in place, and even handicapped with a vaccine against it, the flu still killed more than two and a half times as many people as COVID-19. (Emphasis mine)

Yep!  We must put millions out of work right now!  Because....

Stolen from BarbaCat's site  Thanks!

The dog's got the right answer!

Now that my blood pressure's up, we'll change the subject.  Anyone?

"What's going on with the "Big Project", juvat?"

"Well, Sarge, it was PPE week at Rancho Juvat."

"Personal Protective Equipment week?"

No, silly!  Painters, Plumbers and Electricians."

Monday morning I'm walking up to the Horsebarn to feed the Hay Burners and a truck drives by.  Asked him what he was here to do and he said we're the Painters.  By the time I got the hay thing done, they were starting to tape things off and by the evening feed, they were done.  Or at least for this part of the project.

Mrs J and I were a bit concerned as the hardy board was this puke yellow color and we were afraid that something had gotten lost in translation.  However, the actual color is a beige and really sets off the Cedar accents on the rear of the house.

The two walls to the right side of the picture will be all brick.  As one can see by the protuberances  on the roof, the plumbers have also been there.  The gas lines have been installed as well as the hot and cold water lines.

No, Beans, the drains are still in the middle of the hallway.

This is the hallway to the master suite.  The bathroom sinks are on the OTHER side of the wall to the left.

The electricians have installed most of the boxes and electric wire to each, so while progress is not as noticeable as it has been so far in the project, it is still being made.

My personal project is to do something about this.

My workshop.  Having a computer background, my first effort was to try and use Sketchup to figure out a more optimum configuration.

RIIIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTT!  What a PITA that was!  So I got out the old drafting tools and some graph paper and drew me some scale plans

Now, an astute observer (AKA Beans) will quickly discern that the two elevations are not oriented correctly.  As the horizontal elevation is oriented with the observer at the top of the drawing looking in. Whereas the bottom one is looking in from the door.

So...the Draftsman didn't get paid for his work, but scale was more important than precise layout.  In a 15' X 11' space, storage is critical.  My plan is to build two plywood walled floor to ceiling garages where my router, drill press and bandsaw will be stored when not in use.  The middle section will be 2  60" W cabinets from Lowes with 4  30" W cabinets along the ceiling.  That should give me enough storage to clear off my work bench and stop using my table saw as one.  That will be a major improvement.

Lowes has got 10% off on the cabinets now, so I think I can do this whole thing for less than $500.  Mrs J has approved the expenditure, so now I just have to move stuff around so I have room on that wall to work it into being.

So.  I've got that going for me.  Hope all y'all are well, mostly sane  and will shortly be able to return to a somewhat normal living.