Sleepless in ....Texas

Well....It's been a slow week here at Rancho Juvat. 

Which is not to say we had NO progress.  Framing supplies were delivered.

The foreman had told me on his last visit that the framing crew was one week behind on another project due to weather "issues" down here.  We've had several inches of rain over the past couple of weeks, probably nearing double digits.  Which may not seem to be a lot for some, but with the hard soil around here, it tends to pile up fairly quickly.  However, last week's weather was reasonable, so hopefully we'll see some progress "soon".  (Fingers crossed for what has been the foreman's interpretation of the word.)


Update:  Seems he's pretty good with the word.  Framing crew showed up after lunch and began work.  Woo Hoo!

Checked on the project today.  Not TOO bad.

Looking in what will be the front door.  Master suite to the left right. Kitchen & Living room straight ahead and left right rear.  Sarge's Bedroom (if he EVER comes to visit) is front left. (I blame dyslexia.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it)

Master Suite in foreground.  juvat's throne will be on the left.

Had a little excitement Friday night.  I had hired our "next door" (1.5 miles as the crow flies) neighbor's son to shred my field in prep for Spring.  (My tractor is down for the count and requires much more than my mechanical skills to repair. )  He did a great job and the "yard" looks pretty good.  In one of the sections, there was an old wood pile with Mesquite branches from when we cleared a section of the property, probably 15 years ago.  He asked if he could burn that for us.

I asked him if he'd done this before.  He said he had.  I had seen several burns on their property over the years, so I asked him how he planned to do it.  He said he'd wait til we'd had a rainy spell, then use diesel to get the fire started and he'd tend it until it burned out. Sounded good to me, although I had some misgivings.

So...There I was*.  It's Friday night, Mrs J and I have finished dinner and are reading.  (Yes, Beans, we live an extremely exciting lifestyle.)  My phone rings and it's the Grandmother, who also lives on their property.

She's a little upset, mumbling something about a fire.

Well....THAT got my attention!

After a bit of questioning,  I determined that it was the planned burn. It's noteworthy to say, we had not set a date for the burn, nor had I been informed it was about to happen.

Further questioning revealed that the young man had been burned while starting the fire and had been taken to the ER.

As I'm heading out the door, I asked whether I needed to call the Fire Department.  She said no, that it appeared to be under control.

So, Mrs J and I head out to that section of the property and see that, indeed, the fire is under control. But nobody is watching it.  Mrs J heads back to the house, while I settle in for a long night.

Later, the Grandmother drives by and says that the young man and mom are being airlifted to San Antonio.

Perfect!  I ask what had happened, but she didn't know.

Still later, I see the father driving by.  He stops and we chat.  I ask about his son, he says he's got burns on his arms, legs and stomach.  The local hospital was not well equipped to deal with that type injury, so he was med-evac'd.

He then pulled out the membership card for LifeFlight and said "Best $X/month I ever spent".  I asked him what had happened.  He said that somehow, the diesel fuel can had had gasoline poured into it.  His son, evidently, didn't realize that had happened and was expecting the slow light that igniting diesel would give.

Unfortunately, gasoline doesn't react the same.  It was still light when he ignited the pile and must have gotten some fuel on his arms and legs.  He didn't realize it ignited with the fire.  Very fortunately, his twin brother was out there with him and saw what happened, threw him to the ground and started rolling him over to smother the flames.  Then, got him into the farm jeep they'd driven over in, and drove him to the ER.  (He doesn't have a license yet.)

The Czechoslovakian Judge gave him a "10",  nice save by the brother!

Turned out to be a long night for all.  They called the next morning saying the young man was being released from the hospital and while there would probably be some scarring, none of it should be too noticeable and no complications were expected.

So...Thank you, Lord!  (Beans, see what I mean about our exciting life?)

I took a long nap on Saturday.  Completely slept through another 3" of rain.

Which, when I checked Sunday, had effectively put out any smoldering embers.


And...just because...I, truthfully, found it humorous...and truthful. Not that I've EVER been in a situation like this before!

*SJC

Eight Years In

Your Humble Scribe at the wheel of HMS Surprise (ex-HMS Rose)
Sandy Eggo - January 2016

'Twas eight years ago today that I got into this blogging thing. I've mentioned the why many a time. Three-thousand, two-hundred and nineteen posts (including this one), some 68,900+ comments, and 2,239,072+ views later, I'm still at it. I think I've gotten better at this writing thing, but there are days...

I started as a solo act but picked up a few co-bloggers along the way...

- Your Humble Scribe and Tuna -
Note the Lexican challenge coin.

Tuna hails from out Sandy Eggo way and is the only one of our merry band to have actually met Lex in person. My claim to "fame" is having swapped emails with Hizzoner. I once mentioned to Tuna that I'd seen something in Sandy Eggo that reminded me of him, but couldn't find the time to build a post around it. Well, here we are...

I had seen this at the Maritime Museum of San Diego when I was out that way in January of 2016. (That tale was told here.) This plaque was aboard the Star of India, I saw it, chuckled, and snapped the photo, thinking to show Tuna in the near future.

On the geological scale, this is that near future. (It's only been four years, not even a drop in the bucket, time-wise, in the great scheme of things. Yeah, yeah, better late than never.)

Tuna is a retired squid, er, Naval Flight Officer of S-3 Viking fame, the mighty War Hoover. (I have to be deuced careful these days, the nautical types far outweigh the Air Force types in my family.) A good man, he comes round these parts fairly often for work. No, not looking for work, he travels for his employer. When he stops by we buy him dinner, it's the least we can do. (In lieu of pay, here at the blog, this is not a paying gig by any stretch of the imagination.)

The next fellow to join the crew here at The Chant was a Phantom and Eagle driver back in the day. We actually served together (though we ran in different circles, he broke, er, flew Phantoms, I fixed them, well the radar bits anyway) in Korea circa 1980.

Left to right: Your Humble Scribe, juvat, Mrs. juvat, and The Missus Herself
Our meet-up in Newport where food and adult beverages were involved.
Of course.

I've met up with Tuna a number of times, with juvat just the one time so far. Though I hope that once I retire from the current gig (and if the world ain't ended in the meantime) I can get down to Texas and visit rancho juvat. No, the new place they're building is not for my visit, that was already planned. There is an awesome museum I need to visit while I'm down that way. So that will happen, eventually.

Apparently that's the guy who taught Beans how to type.

Speaking of Beans. I have no photos of the man, I know he exists as he writes the occasional post and makes oodles of comments, each a mini-post in its own right. He joined up after a number of comments and juvat suggested, "You ought to invite him to the blog!"

So I did, and have never regretted it. No really, not even that one time, where he... (Just kidding, he's never annoyed me, ever.)

Anyhoo, this is how I picture Beans at home down in Florida with his buddies...

Warning, gore alert!

Yes sir, Beans, we are most certainly entertained! (Note closely how he deals with trolls.)

At the end they're chanting the Latin word for "beans." (Not really, they're chanting "Spaniard." Faba is the Latin for "beans.")

Your Humble Scribe channeling his inner gladiator.
(While assisting in pond cleaning.)

Family meeting, that's LUSH in the middle, she allegedly is a co-blogger. Well, her name is on the roster but, as she's the boss' daughter, she is not required to actually, you know, write any posts. Yes, Beans has pointed that out a cuppla times.

The look on my face when co-bloggers ask for a raise.
I don't even know what that means...

Sandy Eggo Harbor at dusk. Yes, I love that place.

Low pass by a Corsair at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy.

Rasputin likes this blog.
Well, not really, he's dead.

Give me a fast ship...

Yes, I'm still surprised I've made it this far.

Here's to another eight, or more. Just when I think I can't go any further, or write anymore, one of you readers will inspire me with some cool story or some weird thing. While I do this mostly for me (no, no, I'm not selfish, not at all... Okay, maybe a little) I really hope that y'all are being entertained in some way, shape, or form.

SQUIRREL!!!

Well, I did warn you...

Watersheds

P.A.T.C. Facebook Page

A little play on words there, a riff on the pop-rock band Panic! At the Disco.  It's actually the name of a cover band founded in 2015 that plays 80's and 90's hits, although it works well for what's been going on at every Costco in the Nation due to COVID-19.  I'm sure their Tee-shirts are selling quite well right now.  Not sure if you have a Costco where you live, but it's a big warehouse store, like Sam's Club, that is experiencing huge crowds and massive runs on bottled water and toilet paper.  And this often results in mob-mentality behavior as seen during Black Friday- pushing, shoving, fights, injuries, etc.  Damn hoarders, I'm almost out of TP!

It's obviously not the first time we've had a major crisis that affected the entire nation. 

Remember the subprime mortgage crisis?  President Clinton rescinded a couple acts and signed a couple more leading to risky housing loans for millions of people who had no business owning a home in the first place.  Ninja loans as I recall- No Income, No Job - no problem.  And he pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to secure these loans with our money.  It was a big house of cards that eventually crashed and caused a global recession that hurt the world for nearly eight years and put 10 million out of work.

And of course you remember 9-11.  We had never heard of, or at least cared about Al Qaeda, but there they were, on our doorstep, killing thousands of Americans in a matter of minutes.  The economy tanked then and a million people became long-term unemployed.

These are all watershed moments in recent U.S. and world history.  Whether it was actions by terrorists, leading to the deaths of over a half million people, or policies put in place by terrible politicians, causing eight years of suck and a crushing recession, they reshaped the world and have forever changed how we live, how we fly, and how we borrow.

However, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Coronavirus, aka COVID-19, aka the Chinese Wuhan Virus, the Kung Flu, or whatever you want to call it, will have an even greater and longer lasting impact on us and the world's economy.

You see, it's quite a different world than it was just three weeks ago don't you think?  We were sitting in financial bliss with the stock market soaring, unemployment barely on the register, and a virus over in China.  And now we're 180 out from that- on lock down as we attempt to flatten the curve, social distancing ourselves, with thousands sick, millions soon to be out of work, and the market crashing more and more every day.  After 9-11 it was a gradual decline.  After Clinton, it took years for the Great Recession to come about and about three years more for unemployment to reach its peak.  

However, COVID-19, originating in China and possibly manufactured*, has caused an immediate and massive closing of the world's economy.  In order to avoid being infected, we've closed EVERYTHING.  We're on lock down here in California as of last Thursday at 1700 to help slow the rise in infections and flatten that curve.  That means ALL businesses are asked to close, not just social-type gathering places such as bars, restaurants, coffee shops, etc.  The Governor of CA is now ordering everyone to stay home.  Think of how many people are now out of work, doing nothing but watching Netflix, ordering takeout, and staying inside- not working, not earning money that gets put back into the economy, not buying, selling, trading, building, paying taxes, or anything that is vital to our economy.  

Source

It's not just the economy that is on hold.  I feel really bad for the kids, over 50 million of them, who have to put their education on break for what is likely to be six months or more.  I don't know how the education system will correct for that.  It's not as if they can just start in September with an automatic promotion to the next grade, nor can schools easily add months to a school year.  Budgets are somewhat fixed and teachers would require additional pay to teach longer, or during cancelled or reduced holiday breaks, etc.   College applications, scholarships, cancelled graduations (my daughter's included) are lost opportunities to some extent.  

The Artist as a 16 year old on her College tour

We're very disappointed that our daughter, once the Teenangster, and now The Artist as I've referred to her a few times, won't be having a commencement ceremony.  She's devastated.  The school told them to extend their spring break by a week, then cancelled graduation** and ordered them out of the dorm for the year, moving to online coursework for the remainder.  For the seniors, that meant not getting to say goodbye to friends, roommates, professors, nor see the product of their year's efforts at the end of year showcase of their art.  Those were very important as they were used for their resumes and a key component of their job hunt.    

I'm flying to Savannah GA tomorrow with her to help her pack up and ship stuff back.  I'm sure more tears will flow.  Probably some from her too.

Weddings, vacations, anniversaries, and many more milestones are gone as well.  Some will be re-attempted, but many just can't be rescheduled.  Our timeshare reservation in Orlando following her graduation is probably gone because there just isn't excess inventory or open dates for us to reschedule into- all the other dates are booked.  Even if we could get down there, I'm not sure that the Disney parks will even be open.  Same for restaurants, bars, the pools, etc.  We have until next week to cancel, but I'm not sure we have any good options.  Oh well.  Yet another victim of the virus.

As a member of DoD, we were directed to go to essential/non-essential manning at work.  I'm so non-essential that I'm barely useful.  This was after USNORTHCOM set HPCON Bravo, then Charlie (minus).  That minus is key.  Not really anything like DEFCON, HPCON is Health Protection Condition.  I think my command's work was fairly unimportant over the past week or so since every exercise or event in the next couple months was already cancelled or pushed back, so that we really didn't need to be at work anyway.  But I work for Surface Warfare Officers who could be given no job, no duties, and they'd figure out a way to work Sundays.  Give them a deadly pandemic, cancel everything, and they still found a way to keep working.  One of the O-6's at work who is on his last job just raised the BS flag and ordered his folks to stay home several days before the NORTHCOM order, and despite what our Admiral at HQ had ordered.  Gotta like it when common sense breaks through.  And in an epic showing of bureaucratic intelligence, we're directed to come in to work today, to be told to go home.   We set up a phone tree and a group text to pass the word, but nope- come in to hear it live and in person I guess.***

I think this virus will hurt the economy far worse and far longer than the previous recessions since so much is shut down.  After 9-11 and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, people were still working.  Many were out of work, but not everyone.  This time, we're hiding from a virus and nothing is happening.  No work, no travel, no manufacturing, no buying anything but food and excess off of Amazon.  Small business will go out of business, big businesses will be laying off workers, and we don't know how long this might last.   It's not just for 14 days of incubation, it's not just a few weeks and we'll all go back to work like it was the Christmas holiday, this is expected to go through the summer.      

Like President Obama did in 2008, an Economic Stimulus plan has been proposed by the White House.  In 2008 it was $152 Billion.  Trump does everything bigger and it's $1 Trillion.  Understandable because of how far reaching this virus is though.

Finance.Yahoo.com

While that '08 stimulus sort of worked, over time, the economy show signs of recovering in 2011 or so.  It took another 5 years for marked recovery.  Amazingly right after President Trump was elected.  I think that was a key factor.  Consumer confidence has been at an all-time high under Trump.  I do think this will happen again.  He is not the stuffy refined diplomat that some might wish him to be, but he understands business.  I think everyone believes in him, even if they hate him and will never admit the economy was good before, and that eventually we'll recover from this.  It's a watershed moment, but water flows and is eventually water under the bridge.  Wow, two metaphors in one sentence.  My high school English teacher would either be proud or appalled.  I'm not sure which.

So I guess I have that same consumer confidence that we've all had since 2016.  You could say I have high high hopes for the economy.

However, and this is more of a post-script epilogue, I'm not a big fan of those stimulus packages to be honest.  We're just screwing our economy over the long term- adding more to the debt.  We're into crazy town with the debt now- over $23.5 Trillion, 24.5 with this latest package.  Nobody is a fiscal conservative any more and it's going to come back to bite us, but probably in our children's lifetime, not ours.  Oh well.  Nevermind that! Lets get that stock market back up!

*Not to be a big conspiracy theorist, but I think COVID came out of China's bio-weapons program.  Not that it was an intentional release into the world, but it probably got out somehow.  They claim it was from people eating bats or snakes, but the Chinese have been eating weird stuff for centuries so I don't buy it.  

**Parents begged for them to just postpone the graduation, but the school claimed it wouldn't be fair to ask grads to return at the end of the summer, financial hardships, disrupting jobs, etc.  

***Found out as I came in Friday morning that not only is the Military is exempt from the California order, but  civilians aren't part of any essential/non-essential plan.  So I'm still working, violating 6 foot spacing, like nothing ever happened.  More stupidity- while the CA order and intent of HPCON C is to help the social distancing, my command only seems to care about the mission that isn't really being accomplished now anyway.  The C- means that it's up to the Commander to decide what he wants to do.  

This Is Getting Annoying...

(Source)

I don't know how you readers are handling this pandemic, it's not a subject I wanted to write about, but there ya go, I don't have anything else at the moment. I guess the Muse is out hunting for toilet paper.

When the most exciting thing that's happened all week was, yup, finding toilet paper, then you know the week has been rather sad. True story right there, I was headed into the local grocery emporium and saw people coming out with, you guessed it, toilet paper.

While we are at a normal supply level here at Chez Sarge, it doesn't hurt to strike while the iron is hot. So to speak.

There in the store, between shelves absolutely barren of paper products, was a wheeled cart, with about ten packs of toilet paper. So I headed that way, as I reached for a pack, I heard a voice sing out, "Those are mine!" Followed by raucous laughter.

I looked up to see a guy with a big smile on his face, saying "Just kidding, I only need one." As a store employee in the background said that there was a limit of five packs per customer. (Each pack contains four rolls, for those who keep track of such things.)

Well, I took two packs and I did feel somewhat guilty about that. Did I really need those, right now? Well, the wee voice in my head asked me how I'd feel a week from now if (for whatever reason) we ran out of toilet paper because I'd only picked up one pack.

Still, it feels damned odd rationing toilet paper, whether through necessity or through choice. What is this, the old Soviet Union? I mean Comrade Bernie hasn't won yet. (Nor will he.)

I won't comment on the disease itself, nor what the gubmint is doing in response, though I think what's being done is necessary and proper. Rather irksome to be sitting on the sidelines though, while work can be a pain in the butt at times, I miss my mates. 'Tis a good bunch and we all get along well.

Sigh, well nothing lasts forever I suppose, eventually we'll get control of this thing and life will return to something which passes for normal.

Whatever normal means...

Here's some A-10 to cheer you up -

I feel better already.

Update:

If any more ill-informed assholes care to leave a comment inviting us "Boomers" to go ahead and die over "this flu," I invite yourselves to go ahead and not bother commenting. I will delete your sorry ass "Anonymous" comments. Instead, go reproduce in solo fashion.

That is all...

Ultima Ratio Regum - Pars II1

Inscription on a French Cannon
"The Last Argument of Kings"
(Source)

Chanter John in Philly sent me a link yesterday which I found to be very uplifting and cultural...

Who doesn't love Tchaikovsky? Especially with cannons!

John pointed out that the vehicles in that clip making all that wonderful racket are not, unlike yesterday's post, tanks. They are not, in the parlance, armored fighting vehicles, or what the Germans call (you knew I would go there) Panzerkampfwagen. Yes, like TOPGUN, it's all one word, but not, in this case, all caps. Yes, you can ask.

Anyhoo, while this post is not about tanks, I will answer this: What is it about a military vehicle which makes it a tank and not an armored personnel carrier, or self-propelled tracked artillery?

A tank is an armored fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat. Tanks have heavy firepower, strong armor, and good battlefield maneuverability provided by tracks and a powerful engine; usually their main armament is mounted in a turret. They are a mainstay of modern 20th and 21st century ground forces and a key part of combined arms combat. (Source)

Having the main gun mounted in a turret is not an absolute requirement, though it is often the case. Witness the original tank and the Swedish Stridsvagn 103, or S-Tank:

British Mark I Tank
No turret to be seen!

Swedish S-Tank
What turret?
(Source)

So now that I've spent a bit of time actually talking about tanks, which was not my point, what was my point? Well, artillery to be sure, both the land and the seagoing variety!

I've seen HMS Belfast in the Thames River across the pond in England. I was rather excited to find a clip of her firing all of her forward guns!

Here's another British warship, slightly older in origin...

Imagine being on an enemy ship and having that open up on you?!?!

Here's the Hollywood version and to be honest, they did a pretty good job on this film. FWIW, HMS Surprise, the ship in the movie, used to be based here in Little Rhody, where she was known as HMS Rose, a reproduction of one of His Britannic Majesty's frigates. The original actually served in the waters of Narragansett Bay enforcing the King's customs regulations. I went aboard her out in Sandy Eggo, where she now resides. She's been modified somewhat from the film. The gundeck isn't nearly as accurate, nor as cramped, as in the film.

Once upon a time, in the long, long ago, Your Humble Scribe served a cannon. Learned how to load and fire it I did, without blowing parts off of my anatomy, which can happen if you don't know what you're doing. (Now if I could only learn to close a door!)

See that big grin on that guy's face after firing the gun?

I got to do that for an entire summer. Fun? You betcha!




1 The Last Argument of Kings - Part Two, as I've used this title before, here. No, those Newport cannon cockers never answered my email.

Daffodils and Beer...

So right, daffodils and beer, what's that all about Sarge?

This post was written on St. Patrick's Day, as I'm part Irish I only celebrated part of the day. That part which had beer in it. The photo of the daffodils (that fine lad photo bombing the garden shot is Hercules, the neighbor's dog) was taken on the non-beer drinking portion of St. Patrick's Day, which, as you might know, was the 17th of March.

Here's what things looked like at Chez Sarge ten days before St. Patrick's Day -

Yeah, the white stuff made a call to Little Rhody. It's been scarce this year, not that I mind all that much. An inch or so and it looks all pretty and is mostly gone by the afternoon. No shoveling involved. I did sweep off the deck, knowing that if I didn't that it wouldn't all melt but would then freeze at night. Giving me the chance to practice falling the next morning on my way out the door.

All that being said, this was written on Day Two of the great Stay At Home And Pretend You're Working adventure. Great fun was had by all, didn't even shave and took a shower just before lunch. Didn't really put on nice clothes either...

(Source)

Wasn't really a problem, though the feline staff thought my lack of proper work attire somewhat questionable.

When you consider that they are always wearing tuxedos, I kinda see their point. So I put on a pair of jeans after lunch.

Many places are discovering that their VPNs¹ aren't really designed to handle the load they're experiencing now. F'rinstance, an acquaintance of mine who works for the Federal government tells me that their system is designed to handle 10,000 users. Guess what happens when you have 40,000 stay-at-homes all trying to use that network. Nah, it ain't pretty.

I find that my employer's VPN is fine first thing in the morning, and again around 1400. So why am I up early enough to know this? Well, it's the military thing, getting up at a certain time is an ingrained habit, even after twenty years of retirement. Weekends are a different thing though, I can easily sleep in until 0900-0930. (I long for the days when I could stay up until 0300, sleep until noon, then hit the ground running. That was a long, long time ago.)

Oh yes, the feline staff expects their victuals at a certain time as well. If I don't get up and feed them, they go harass Mama. We all know what happens next, don't we? (She doesn't mind on the weekends, but during the week The Missus Herself wants to sleep in a bit, like until 0800. If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. I may be stupid, but I'm not that stupid.)

As to other activities I amuse myself with during this period of forced absence from the place of gainful employment. Let's just say that my books, my drums, my music, and my video games are all close friends. Netflix and Amazon Prime fill whatever gaps are left. I would go out walking but then I might encounter the GenPop. That ain't all that healthy at the moment. (It ain't the zombie apocalypse, not yet. That might happen come November.)

I do find the odd moment, here and there, to blog as well. Gotta keep y'all happy don't I?

Therefore the day goes by and...

Hhmm, I'm thirsty, I hear a stout calling.

Gotta run, see you mañana.

Oh yeah, I am working on the book. Writing about fire fights, and shot clanging off steel is all well and good, but folks these days expect plot and character development (so I've been told). Otherwise it's just tank porn.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Ciao!



¹ Virtual Private Network

Sent Off!

(Source)

Went into work on Monday, noticed that the traffic was awfully sparse. Noted that schools were not in session, the dearth of the big yellow school buses was noticeable. It was very quiet...

Too quiet.

When I arrived at my place of employment, I noticed that the parking lot was surprisingly empty for a non-holiday Monday. As I walked to my lab, noticed, well, actually I noticed nothing, the hallways were empty.

When I walked up to the cafeteria for a cuppa, saw that all (save one) of the window offices were closed up tighter than a drum. A lot of so-called managers (strap hangers for the most part) will "work from home" on the Friday before a Monday holiday. But this was different to say the least, even the useful ones were conspicuous by their absence.

The cafeteria was deserted, while there weren't tumble weeds blowing across the floor (and a saloon door in the distance banging against the stops from the wind), there were very few people about.

Got my cuppa and headed back to the lab, where I have been gainfully underemployed since December. Contracts are expected, but the money hasn't shown up yet. So I am kept in reserve, ready to spring to my task at the drop of the hat.

Nobody is wearing hats this week.

On my computing apparatus was an email. "If you can work from home, do so. Just check with your section manager first."

So I did.

In short, as I have nothing to hold me to my oar, I was sent off.

For the foreseeable future.

Yes, I'm still getting paid, full benefits, and I still have a job. But, until the zombie apocalypse subsides, I'm on the sidelines. Laptop at the ready, phone in hand, nothing to do but wait.

As we're well supplied here at Chez Sarge, I fret not.

Still and all, having been gainfully employed for the past forty-eight years,* it feels damned odd to be sitting at home with nothing to do work-wise. I'm thinking this is what retirement will be like, without the having to stay in touch with the office.

Most odd this. But we'll adapt, we must, so we shall.

Still and all, 'tis rather off-putting.

Hey look! Another odd-looking flying machine!

Blohm & Voss BV 141
(Source)

So it isn't just the Brits who build funny looking aircraft...





* Well, there was that six month stretch at Lowry AFB where the work was so scarce that I worked two hours a day, yup, two hours a day, Monday through Friday, for six months. Hey, rough job but someone had to do it.