The Journey

 It will not surprise you, dear readers, that I am a Catholic, though by the previous pope's eyes, a bad one. I have issues with some of it all.  And, well, since wife can't sit up for long, Mass is right out.  So we, wife and I, mass together at home, so to speak.

Yes, the wife is Catholic.  She converted before our marriage so we could get a Catholic mass and have little Catholic children.  Sadly, no children.  It is what it is.  I have my problems, she has hers and now in old age we are good with it.  Now if only my nephews and nieces would start popping out replacements, but that's a whole different story.

What?  She converted?  Worse than that, she's a double convert.  She started in Church of Christ and was a good daughter of that sect of Protestantism, until that sect (the part that she belonged to, maybe not all of it) showed it was more about worldly things and, my feelings, more siding with Downstairs than Upstairs if you catch my drift.  This happened due to many horrid and horrible things and so at 17 she was at the point in her life that she no longer wanted to be CoC.  She acknowledged that there was 'something out there' more powerful and splendid than just ephemeral creatures.

She did, what in her old CoC stomping grounds was right up there with being Catholic (not a good thing) or even worse, a free thinking person, would do and began to research various religions of all flavors and varieties.  The 'Eastern' Asian religions, including the various Indian sub-continent varieties held no truthful feelings for her.  (Me?  I kind of understand Shintoism with its acknowledgment of spirits and non-human powers that are linked to places and things.)  The other Protestant sects were right out, as they felt too much like the CoC.  Catholic-Light, being Episcopalian or Church of England, sorry LSP, held no sway with her.  Neither did the Orthodox Catholic sects.

It was a neck-to-neck race between Roman Catholicism and Judaism.  Which was won due to a very sound and smart rabbi, who challenged my extremely smart wife with hard books about Judaism rather than not-so-learned texts and discussions with Catholic priests (also a little bit of foreshadowing for later.)  So, yes, when I met her my wife was semi-Jewish as she was seen as not-quite-a-Jew but her children would be, a weird thing about Judaism.

Come the time I fell in love with her, she with me, I proposed to her, she finally accepted and plans for marriage were then set in motion.  We both wanted our children to be raised religiously, and she decided to convert to Roman Catholicism for several reasons, appeasing my mother and also so that we have one service a week to go to, and so we could have a Catholic wedding with Mass (partly to appease my mother.)

Ah, time for conversion, no?  So we go to the local Church and present ourselves as penitents wishing to marry and convert and marry.  Ah, the wheels of conversion start to roll.  Wife starts her conversion process and is immediately assigned, in her words, a baby priest who was fresh out of seminary.  So new the price tag was still on his collar so to speak.  And he hands her a kid's version of Roman Catholicism to study, one chapter a week (24 chapters, which would put her conversion somewhere around April after our wedding date... more on that April date coming up...)  Wife is, as I have said, very smart.  She sees calculus equations in her head and the flow of music.  Very very smart.  Why she chose me I only put down to luck, God's will and maybe she saw something in me that I didn't see in me.

She read that simplistic book cover-to-cover, all 24 chapters, in one sitting.  And shows up to the next session with Baby Priest asking about things she should not have been asking about yet.  She proves that she understands all aspects of Roman Catholicism as put out by the book and Baby Priest, Baby Priest acknowledges that she has met the requirements for becoming RC, and then she drops the bomb on said Baby Priest.

Said Baby Priest said they'd set the conversion ceremony for some time in Lent because that's what they always do.

She counters with, "Since it says here according to your book you gave me that once someone acknowledges God and wishes to convert, that their soul is in peril if said person dies before converting then the soul will not enter into Heaven, right?  So why are you making me wait from October to April for my conversion?"  (Note:  Wife can, um, get forceful, like a momma bear, when she needs to.  As she was saying this her presence expanded.  Priest, on the other hand started from a forward leaning position in his chair to what appeared to be cringing in a ball in the corner.  It was somewhat, okay, very amusing to watch from the sidelines, kind of like watching a tier 1 tennis player stonk on an amateur.)

Baby Priest uncurled from his metaphorical cringing ball, stood up, said "Wait here for a minute or two while I check with the pastor," and ran out.  Came back 5 minutes later with, "How about we do it this coming Sunday, which Mass will you be attending?"

So you're probably wondering where this is all going?  

Tuesday's post by Tuna (Chant du Départ: Politics is in my Genes!,) in response to TB's comment about Sydney Sweeney and the possible shifting of Hollyweird to something somewhat righter of Stalin, well, see the comments below.

Toirdhealbheach BeucailAugust 5, 2025 at 7:26 AM

Very nicely done, Tuna. Just the right balance of analysis and opinion.

RE Sydney Sweeney: I will say in certain quarters - the dreaded "Modern Audience" this has kicked up quite a fire storm. The irony of a philosophy of "Live and let live - as long as I agree with you" is not lost on many. And doxing, in whatever form, is just wrong - although I also that even different from two years ago, being a Red voter in entertainment is carrying less and less of a stigma. I would be lying if I did not say that figured into my own entertainment choices.

The Current Resident has done a lot - but to your point, it can all go away again unless it gets enshrined in law. I do wish all the changes had included more fiscal discipline.

Perhaps the strategy is to role The Vice-Resident in once the initial heavy lifting has been done to maintain things and deepen the changes, in some way "making" the policies his own in a way he can point to in the future.

Reply

Replies

1. 
   TunaAugust 5, 2025 at 7:45 AM

   Hollywood is slightly shifting, because they don't really have any other horse to back right now, but I think Sweeny will not have to worry much, since it's not her acting skills that are getting her the work. As for entertainment, have you seen the stuff Angel Studios is putting out? Good quality stories.
2. 
   BeansAugust 5, 2025 at 11:13 AM

   Pure Flix and Ignatius Press are also two great houses.
   
   Pure Flix is the one that put out the "God's not Dead" series. Amongst other great titles.
   
   Ignatius Press does a lot of very Catholic (go figure, Ignatius, duh) stuff. We're currently starting the 10 episode "Catholicism" series, which is a very nice delve into the whole of... Catholicism.

So this is about said Bishop Robert Barron's "Catholicism" Series.  Said Bishop being the narrator and he's very well spoken and full of energy, one of those teachers that entrances you. Which, though we are now halfway through, is so good as I'm learning stuff about Catholicism that being born into it never answered and she is getting the deep stuff Baby Priest couldn't answer.  It is everything that I wished Sunday School and CCD (Sunday school for teens) never taught or dealt with and is much better than the 24 chapter book that she was handed and read in one night.

You can buy the dvd set or watch it online.  And peruse other thoughtful titles about stuff that may expand your world view.

I know, not a thrilling post of derring-do by juvat, a historical drama by OAFS or a political post by Tuna, but it's a little something something.

You're never to old to question, never too old to learn.  And never to old to learn about something that you supposedly knew about all your life.

(I would have linked to some really good Gregorian Chants, but they're all at least 1 hour long so find them on your own, on youtube or other services.

I like Gregorian chants.  They set my mind straight a lot.)

Reminiscing Volume 2

Well Campers, this is a reprint from about 18 months ago.  With Sarge on R&R, I needed to pull one out of the Archives and repost it.  Sorry, Just  in Case!

For which I'm relieved and just happy to have an idea. So, as the song goes, "Off we go..."

Anyhow!

I got to pondering my flying career.  Yes, I've got several stories about it in Sarge's vast library.  Some were about the Leadership I worked under and learned from. Others were about the fun and games of being a fighter pilot on TDY's away from home without much supervision. Yes, I learned a lot from them.  Usually the hard way.

A little historic chronology might help understand how I got where I am. I was commissioned in '77, came on AD in '78.  Got my wings in '79, went to my first assignment, Kunsan ROK, in the F-4D in '80, second assignment in the F-4E at Moody AFB GA in 81.  

 

My Phantom! (Source)

Went to Holloman AFB in '84 flying the AT-38B as an IP. 

 

Source

 Finally got an Eagle in '87 through '90. 

Yeah, I'm in there!

 That was my last flying assignment.

More's the pity.  Do I miss it?  Silly Question!

Now, the reason for that chronology is that up through my AT-38 assignment Air to Air Basic Fighter Maneuvering was pretty much the same in all the airplanes I had flown/fought in.  The jet on the offense would be about a mile back and about 30 degrees off the tail of the jet on defense.  This was just outside of weapons parameters.  The defender's sole advantage was he got to call "Fight's on".  Typically, because the radio transmit button was on the throttles, he would make the call, just after he had slammed the throttles to the stop and the afterburners had lit.  

Hey, it ain't cheatin' if you win.

The guy on offense would pull the nose up (lighting the AB's also) and turn a bit towards the defender.  

Source

This was called a High Yo-Yo, if he'd gone below the defender's plane of motion, it would be a Low Yo-Yo. He would use these maneuvers to get within the launch envelope for a missile as well as close the distance to use guns if needed.  Once he had altitude separations, he would roll the aircraft to put the lift vector of the jet out in front of the defender and below the horizon.  

That would give him an extra G more than the defender would have as the defender wants to keep the offensive guy as close as possible.  Turning room is everything for the guy on offense.

Without going to much more details, this had been the way air to air was fought since the Korean War.  Probably all the way back to WWI in the mechanics of it.  I don't know, ask Sarge, he was there in that one.

Now, Now, Sarge, just kiddin'

When I got to F-15 RTU (F-15 school), I thought I was pretty good at air to air.  My primary mission in my previous 3 assignments had been air to mud, but we did a bit of air to air just in case.  

My first F-15 ride taught me a lot.  First, an afterburner takeoff in the Eagle can put you behind the aircraft in a heartbeat if you're not ready.  If you are ready, it's a blast!  You just got to remember that the instant you're airborne, put the gear up or the gear doors might be left behind.  Right after that, pull the stick back until you're pointed just about straight up.  Otherwise, well, the people on the ground might not like that sonic boom thing you got going on behind you.

Second, when my IP/Flight Lead got us out to the area and set us up for the first BFM engagement, he went out front on defense.  He called "fight's on" and I started my tried and true tactic.  Slight turn into him, AB lit, climb a bit above him, just like a thousand times before.

Except, he pulled to the G limit with AB lit and I was above him and basically even with him fore and aft.  Very shortly thereafter, I was looking over my shoulder at somebody pointed at me.

We had a short air to air debrief as we got set up for the second engagement.  I did better, I wasn't out front, however I was looking out the side of the canopy at him.  He then demonstrated the slow speed scissors  capability of the Eagle.

Source

 

Something I also didn't know.  Pretty soon I was looking over my shoulder again.

Another short air to air debrief, set up again and...well, I'm learning.  We do end up in a slow speed scissors but we were neutral.  Betty* hollered at me, so I glanced at my fuel gauge and called knock it off, I was at Bingo Fuel.  Meaning I had to go home as I was low on fuel.

Debrief was long, but educational.  I had a rematch scheduled for the next day.  I did better.

I did well enough thereafter to graduate and get to my F-15 Base at Kadena AB Okinawa.  This was in the Reagan years, flight time was abundant.  There were a lot of very experienced Eagle Drivers in the squadron.  I learned to listen to them.  (To be sure, there were some F-15 Pilots there also.  Good at instrument flying, not much else.)

 The place/operation I really learned to fly the Eagle was Cope Thunder.  This was the Pacific's version of Red Flag.  It was an full scale aerial war game.  By full scale, I mean, there could be about a hundred airplanes in the airspace during any one mission.  The airspace wasn't all that big, so it got crowded quick.

But, it was very instructive and I learned a lot.  After a few exercises, I was fairly confident that if the NORK's wanted to vacation in the south, their Air Force would be non-existent very quickly.

All good things must come to an end.  I got orders to Army Command and Staff.  Shortly after arrival, I got called into the Commander's office and notified that one of the members of the Flight I commanded had been killed in a mid-air collision at Cope Thunder.

That took a lot of air out of me.

Unfortunately, Kadena was the last time I flew as a pilot.  Dream about it often, miss it a lot. If I got to do it over, I wouldn't do anything different.  Well...Except warn Rocket about keeping his head on a swivel so he wouldn't hit anything.

Peace out, Y'all! 

*Betty is the somewhat affectionate name for a verbal warning of various serious conditions i.e low fuel, engine fire, over stressing the aircraft etc.

 

Politics is in my Genes!

Well, I saw Juvat's plea for assistance here at The Chant so I'm wading into the deep end here.  I'm going to wax political if you don't mind.  It has been a while for that from me anyway, but don't worry, I won't get too deep, too angry, or too acerbic.  With the great 6 months we've had, those emotions come solely from the left.

First off, I am sure you have seen the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle jeans ad, or at least heard about it, because that's about all conservative media seems to be talking about right now.  I kind of think it's much ado about something.  It's not nothing, because man, she is something, but it seems to be more bluster from the right than it is real angst from the left.  Yes there was some idiotic comparisons to Nazi Germany and Aryan race stuff, but from what I can tell they were minor voices from just a few people that were highly amplified by Fox News and conservative social media.  But I get it. Having the opportunity to show a beautiful girl is probably good for views just like it was for American Eagle to sell jeans.  

However, there was an attempted* doxing, with a release of her voter registration info, and the fact that she did vote Republican in 2024.  That doxing is definitely something, but it's sort of backfired on them because that just made a lot of people like her even more.

And if you needed another reason...

Now with that little palate cleanser I will get into a little dryer political analysis.  I'm a little worried about Trump being so successful, and how it might relate to the midterms.  He's done so much, and so little time, that I think Americans will forget how good it is.  We'll start taking things for granted, start listening to the left a little more, and that side will gain traction for the midterms.  And that's a royal "we" of course.  I am overjoyed with all the successes we've had, but where does he go from here?  Hopefully more of the same, but I'm not sure how many campaign promises he still has left to pursue.  He's restored our borders, reaffirmed religious liberty under the first amendment, improved our global standing, detoxed some of our food supply, penalized Hamas-supporting colleges, ended a bunch of minor wars around the globe that we no longer hear about, improved our economy, boosted NATO and our own defense industry, fixed our trade imbalance, and made them pay for it.  Some of the corruption has been tamped down as well, with some bombshells about Russia gate, Obama, Hillary, Biden, the FBI, Auto-pens, and USAID being dismantled.  He has protected women's sports, put an end to DEI and liberal wokeness, and trans stuff is down for the count. 

This is all well and good, but Americans have a very short memory. The leftists will never give him credit, and will continue to attack him.  Those attacks always weigh heavily on the low information voters who will forget how good they really have it.  They could spin the midterms saying that we need to tone down the rhetoric, we need to counter his power base to help women and the poor, all the while amplifying minor verbal faux-pas, allowing a closing of the gap in the house. 

The GOP also has a problem in that all of Trump's successes could go away when he leaves office.  This is because of the frequent use of executive orders to achieve them, and our milquetoast GOP majority in the house that refuses to pass any bills supporting those executive orders.  We need simple legislation, with no big beautiful bills, to enact his orders as law.  Single page single issue bills are a thing of the past that need to be brought back in force.

Source

I also think he needs to step back from the spotlight a little and push J D. Vance forward.  Make his VP as a named successor to his legacy.  Put him in front of the cameras more, have him talking about those legislative needs, and show the American people that the successes under Trump will continue through the decade. 

Will all of this guarantee future success? I have no idea, and any ground that has taken must be rigorously defended.  The majority in the house seems to keep dwindling, with unexplained retirements (blackmail anyone?) and legislative agendas that are constantly at loggerheads.  The left has the media, and they give no quarter, so the messaging about how good we have it needs to be loud and continuous, and if so, we may have a chance.

* Is it attempted because it didn't have the desired effect, or successful because they released some info?  Either way, I think she'll be crying all the way to the bank.

"I don't like Mondays!"

 Well...Campers, it's another Monday and Sarge has taken leave of his senses.  He's left Beans, Tuna and I in charge!   Mwah-Ha-Ha!  There will be some changes around here this next week or two, that's for sure.

Now, as to the title.  I was looking for a video that dealt with Monday, but not one I had already used, "Monday, Monday" by Mamas and Papas, "Come Monday" by Jimmy Buffett and "Manic Monday" by the Bangles. So, I went searching on the Tube of You.  Found this song, clicked on it.  Kinda catchy, so added it in.  Then I read the story behind it.  Wow!  A 16 YO girl popping kids with a rifle from a building next to a park!  That happened in the late 70's, fortunately, she's still in prison.  IMHO, she should be 6' deep in a box, but that's just me being charitable.

In any case, here we go. *

 

 

Interesting?  Not my favorite for several reasons, not the least of which is the story behind it.

Lookin out my Back Door

 

Anyhow, juvat, how are things going in Texas?  Well, Beans (since Sarge isn't here), it's forecast to be in triple digits for the next few days.  That and the humidity are presenting a comfort factor (yeah right!) of 105.  So, I think I'll be inside most of the day.  Walking the 100 yards over to the horse barn this morning, effectively proved that anti-perspirant doesn't work, and that was at 10AM.  Really looking forward to the evening feeding at 5PM.

But....all complaining aside, my tour in Korea and TDY's to Alaska proved this Texas boy can tolerate heat better than cold.  So, I got that going for me.  But, October can't get here quick enough.

On the Real Estate/Moving front, we've had 3 lookers (2 actual visitors, 1 online visit)  All three have liked the property and seemed interested.  They all happened last week, so still waiting on the next step in the process, the offer.

Well, except for the last one.  Retired Air Force Officer living in California looking to move to Texas.

Lookin' out my front door

 

To set the stage, we own 30.9 acres of ranchland 10 miles south of town.  On it are 4 houses, 2 with 3 bedrooms, 2 with 2.  1 is where we live the other 3 are B & B's.  The occupancy rate is pretty good and we turn a decent profit.  Also included are a barn with 2 horses, covered parking for 5 vehicles, a large storage area and two workshops. Our house is quite nice, good views, plenty of room, great Kitchen (important for the Chef in the house aka moi).  

The two groups that actually visited ooohed and aahed quite a bit, so...Maybe.  The Retired AF toured it via video, so, no feedback.

Now, as to the latter,  She, the retired AF, sent us an offer through our realtor.  He called us and asked us to stop by to discuss.  We were pretty excited.

For a bit.  Without going into details when we started this venture, our realtor had suggested an asking price of 7 figures and showed us similar properties and the prices they sold at. His recommendation was in that ballpark. Now granted, real estate has taken a turn for the worse recently, but the sales prices were fairly new.  So...

This person sent us an offer of 75% of our asking price.  You can figure out what she offered-ish.  

When I was told the amount offered, my response started with the other word for copulation followed by NO!  I told the realtor to counter with a $1 drop in price.  Fortunately, he's calmer than I and talked me out of that.  I did reiterate the "NO!" and said I don't want to discuss anything close to that level of ridiculousness.  I told him that we knew the market was slow, but we're not in any rush to sell and move.  We can wait this out if needed, but we're not going to give the property away, except  to our children through a will.

He said ok.  

We shall see.

Yeah, just telling that story and it's YGBSM factors to you all pushed my BP up kinda high right now, not as high as it was that day, but...

OK, I'm going to pause for a while, see if my fellow co-conspirators can come up with a posting for Tuesday.  I've been pretty regular on Monday at 1 posting per seven days.  I can't conceive of how Sarge does it the other 6 days even with the occasional guest posts. So, he deserves a vacation.  Have fun!

Peace out y'all! 

 *I chose this video about Monday, because Beans decided this was rarely heard music week and published this video .  I'm just following his lead. I'll do better next time.

 

 

 

 

Where Beans Makes a Pseudo-Meme

 What other people think when they hear "warrior-monk."

Shaolin Monks doing their monkish things.

What I think of when I hear "warrior monk."

The Big 5 Orders in the Holy Land.

There were and are others, like the Lazarines and the Order of St. John.

But, well, these are the big guys.

My favorite, Order of the Holy Sepelchure,

as the Cross of Jerusalem seems to call to me from ancient times.

I know.  I'm a simple person in a complex world.

And now for a musical break, the incomparable Electric Light Orchestra...

"Ticket to the Moon," by Electric Light Orchestra

Lyrics for "Ticket to the Moon."

Remember the good old 1980s
When things were so uncomplicated?
I wish I could go back there again
And everything could be the same

I've got a ticket to the Moon
I'll be leaving here any day soon
Yeah, I've got a ticket to the Moon
But I'd rather see the sunrise in your eyes

Got a ticket to the Moon
I'll be rising high above the Earth so soon
And the tears I cry might turn into the rain
That gently falls upon your window
You'll never know

Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)
Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)
Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)

Fly, fly through a troubled sky
Up to a new world shinin' bright, whoa, whoa

Flying high above
Soarin' madly through the mysteries that come
Wonderin' sadly if the ways that led me here
Could turn around and I would see you there
(And I would you there, waitin') standin' there

Ticket to the Moon
Flight leaves here today from Satellite Two
As the minutes go by, what shall I do?
I paid the fare, what more can I say? (What more can I say?)
It's just one way (only one way)

Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)
Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)
Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)

Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)
Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)
Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)
Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)
Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)
Ticket to the Moon (ticket to the Moon)

Very sad song.  

And Jeff Lynne's right, at this point long-term (multi-year) exposure to lower to no gravity is basically a one-way ticket.  There ain't no coming back to Mother Earth once you lose enough bone density and muscle power.  Pseudo-gravity from spinning on a ship or accelerating at 1G will solve some problems, as long as one stays at roughly the equivalent of 1G or 'standard grav' as it's called in sci-fi.

And We're Off ... Again

Source

Headed down south for a couple of weeks, I may not post at all. Frankly, I'm getting tired of the internet. Too much "AI" and not enough actual intelligence out there. Gargle and Failbook are ruining it for me. Too much crap.

Flying cars?

When pigs fly.

Be seeing you.

Feel free to beat each other up in the comments.

Not Feeling It ...

Source

So did the boat thing, Tuttle missed out as he had some sort of bug. (All the women indicated that it was a "man cold." Apparently we suffer from such things which the ladies mock us for. Sigh.)

Guess what?

Went to bed last night feeling a bit off. Woke up in the wee hours and felt like five miles of bad road. Doused it with medicine, which helped me sleep, but the length of sleep was inadequate.

I feel like that ship looks, still underway but kinda beat up.

I had to get up and go to a funeral, didn't have to get up at 0700, but I did. My body said, "Hey, get your ass out of bed and drink coffee or something." So I did, didn't really help.

Got dressed up (i.e. put on one of my two suits) and went down to church to say goodbye to a really fine man. Born in a bomb shelter in England in 1941, he and his folks emigrated to the U.S. after the war and he then spent the rest of his life in Little Rhody, well, except for a four year hitch in the Navy. A really good guy, sad to see him go.

That's one problem with aging, your friends start leaving for the next world. Sucks to lose 'em, but it was good to know them.

Maybe tomorrow I'll feel more up to snuff. I am pissed, I wanted to go see the dinosaurs at the zoo with the grandkids, but I missed out.

Dang.

Maybe next time.

Be seeing you.