RAIN SUN - SLICED APPLES - GREEN ONIONS - SPINNING DISK VIDEO - KATY PERRY INTO SPACE BUSHBARBIE QUESTIONS - JIBBER JABBER

Soaking rains this past week in the Piney Woods. Abundant sunshine in between. Lawns lush, planted onions ready to eat, wildflowers ready to pop, rose bushes exploding, 4-hour power outage last night because "we do not know," and general health of the bride and me in the plus columns. Cats thinning for the summer and several small vermin/varmints have been left on our back door entrance to show their pride in having done their job with extreme prejudice. They have received a few "atta girls" and a few loving touches for their efforts. Much here seems in order. 

A trip to Dallas via a northern route was made during a nasty rain storm this past week. The northern route through Fate and Rowlett to state highway 75 proved that we can still make it into Dallas and not have to fight the rapid fire traffic in Dallas proper coming and going. Takes an hour longer, but much much safer, more relaxing and scenic.

The expansion tentacles of Dallas now reach as far east as Greenville. Road construction and new zero lot-line home construction, protected by circular high walls are reminiscent of our time in South Africa two decades ago. We find no value in that life, but this is a personal opinion. I do not think that Dallas will ever find the smooth lines of coming and going. Competed projects will be insufficient for the speed of growth. The beat will go on till it doesn't.

But for now, we can still traverse this landscape of excessive fast moving traffic, crowed shopping, working and making our appointments at medical offices. We did find a restaurant serving fresh fried oysters and markets offering fresh, although expensive, meats and produce. Trips to Dallas will be adventures and serve to help keep some of our skill sets sharp. Add a few good eats. We will continue all of this until we cannot. 

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WHAT IS OLD IS NEW AGAIN

I cannot remember the last decade in which I used an apple slicer. Today, they are called Apple Dividers. Why it is necessary to change the name for a tool that slices apples? Regardless, treating myself to sliced apples over the past couple years has been easy and reasonably affordable. Pre-sliced and packaged has now turned into too much money, poor quality products near the end of their shelf life  becoming a norm at the local grocery store. I had enough of "lower quality" expensive products and asked my wife to order an old fashion apple slicer. The Oxo choice above was delivered the day after my wife ordered it. My old habit of off-the-shelf sliced apples from the grocery store was finished.

There is surprisingly a bonus from this old school food preparation in the physical positioning and slicing of an apple. Personal satisfaction coupled with aesthetic appearance. Satisfaction of saving money when shopping and an-in-your face of "I don't need/want no stinking store bought pre-sliced apples" ever again. 

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GARDEN ONIONS ARE ON!

We have started adding sliced/chopped onions from the garden now. The first planting is coming on, bright green and healthy. Most every meal from morning scrambled eggs to lunch and supper meals. They do add a flavor pop and visual appeal to meals.

 

Fresh chicken salad with sliced tomatoes and garden onions.  

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SPINNING A DISC. 

This has a wow factor for me and somewhere in the math/science of all of this is more information than I can grasp. Don't know, but I bet you watch it to the end and say "wow." Why did you say "wow?" Yea, watch it again, right?

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KATY PERRY GOING INTO SPACE 

I do not have any take on Katy Perry. Know her by pictures and name. But know not of her music and other things in general. 

From Bushbarbie and all of this makes me laugh. Maybe it is her accent or her take on the absurd. But it does make me laugh.  Adult language, just saying!

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JIBBER JABBER

Roses have been "on" for a month now. This is the spot where I tried to grow lemon trees and failed.  The roses have taken flight.

 

I surprised my wife a few weeks ago by putting a small bouquet of roses on the table for her. The photo below is the third bouquet and one she prepared for this blog.

 

Eventually, the kitchen table will be straightened up as things get put away today. But at this moment, the photo well represents a fresh bouquet of roses brightening up a living space.  

Time over the past few weeks has been spent in our rocking chairs under the car port watching pairs of cardinals hit the feeder and scoot off. We enjoy talking of things in general and soaking up the warmth of the changing days. Any wanting for more is nullified by the quiet of the day, time spent together and our increasing ability to put off chores without guilt.

Appreciate your visit this week.

 

POKE SALAD - JESUS NUT - BOSTON DYNAMICS VIDEO - OSPREY VIDEO - BUY A SAIL BOAT STORY - JIBBER JABBER

 Steamed Poke greens from the Poke weed.

I received a phone call from west neighbor asking me if I had ever eaten Poke Salad? I told him that the only thing I know about Poke salad is "Poke Salad Annie."

Sung by Tony Joe White, tells a good story about the poke weed and cooking some up for dinner. "chomp chomp."

Neighbor said he was chasing a cow that got out of the fence and was in a neighboring pasture when he noticed a large patch of fresh poke weed growing under the fence. Said he was distracted to the point of going to the fence and cutting a large bucket full of poke weed for dinner that night. Poke weed is a thing here and has been for decades. He said that a lot of folk don't like it, that he has to put hot sauce on it and would I like a small bowl to try.  Again, he said that some folk don't like it. He accompanies home boiled Poke greens with a fresh batch of corn bread. I said "sure".

A few minutes later, he pulled up in the driveway with a tupperware container with a handle. Hot out of the pot. See through container showed dark green in a hot bath. "A lot of folks don't like boiled poke greens" he said again. Had a smile on his face.

I thanked him and took the container in the house. Here was an opportunity to try some fence greens common to the fields of east Texas. I showed my wife and she pulled away from me as I asked if she would like to sit down and try some authentic "poke salad greens." She said she had never tried them but "no, thank you."

Opening the lid, I noticed boiled bacon pieces and figured that the bacon was added to help with the flavor. The greens were dark, lush and drained down from the fork like spaghetti noodles as I portioned my first bites into a small bowl. Looked very much like steamed spinach and I am a big fan of spinach in any form. I added a few dabs of hot sauce and dove in.

One bite, two bites and three. Not bad. Good. A little salt, just like adding to spinach. I am a fan of most vegetables. I draw the line at rutabaga, but beyond that, enjoy most all vegetables. Grew up with my grandmother's garden.

Then I made the mistake of looking up Poke weed. I learn that it is poisonous if not boiled and boiled and boiled. The boiling takes out the poison and the weed becomes safe and edible. Folks have been eating this weed for years beyond my age. A poor people food that grows freely in the fields here and there.

Neighbor said that granddaddy lived to be 95 and ate Poke greens his whole life. Grandma, too. Point being, that all you have to do is clean it and boil it and boil it.

I will eat it again. Wife will not.

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JESUS NUT

The recent helicopter crash into the Hudson River has resurfaced the term, "Jesus Nut." It is the one single nut holding the rotor system onto the vertical transmission shaft coming from helicopters. I learned this in 1966 while attending some of entry courses in the U.S. Army's Primary Helicopter School at Ft. Wolters, Texas. That/those lessons were soon reinforced by our flight instructors when we learned how to pre-flight a helicopter. My instructor was adamant that in our preflight around the helicopter, we climb up and inspect the rotor system. That included hand turning the rotor system to visually inspect, and touching/twisting the moving connecting rods in the system.  He was a believer that visual inspecting accompanied by physical touch insured a proper pre-flight inspection and he mandated all his students to do just that. I did that on every pre-flight of every flight I flew while in the Army. And yes, all of the touching and twisting found sticky control rods that needed attention by maintainence. 

The main rotor hub is set down on top of the vertical shaft, special washers and spacers added and then the nut is torqued to specifications. There are metal tabs on one of the nuts that bend up to one of the flats on the nut and prevent the nut from coming loose in flight. I think that there had to be 3 of those flats bent up and touching the nut. Yes, we touched the Jesus nut as part of our inspection. 

That helicopter flight program was by far the best eduction from any formal school or training I ever had to this day. There were many spin-off lessons that have applied to other mechanical devices in my life time and how to pay attention to detail. 

I have watched two videos below trying to figure out what happened in NYC. Too early to say.

CAPTAIN STEEEVE 

MAST BUMPING THEORY 

Now, any news story of this accident is so contaminated with jibber jabber from folks who have no business trying to explain anything helicopter related. 

I have never heard of any helicopter crash directly related to the Jesus Nut coming off in flight. Bell Helicopter and the Army did make a video we saw in 1966 in flight school, of a Huey UH-1 helicopter on the ground, being tested purposefully to demonstrate what happens when lift is applied to a heliccopter rotor system without the Jesus Nut. The video was what expected it to be. Parts and pieces into destruction. 

Whatever did happen in this accident, I am confident that I can say it was an instantanious catastrophic event. I would like to see more good video of the other pieces as they fall down too.

There are many, moving parts and connecting rods/nuts and bolts on a helicopter rotor system. Failure of any of these parts in flight could cause the whole system to instantly fail.

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 WALK, RUN, CRAWL

I thought that I would check in on what Boston Dynmics is up to and some of the advances in their robots over the past couple years. Let your mind play with this!

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OSPREY DEATH FROM ABOVE 

Mother nature and some exceptional photography.

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 GET YOURSELF A 30-FOOTER AND GO

Maybe nothing more than a fun read. 

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 JIBBER JABBER

A week of contractors working on the house. Some more roof repair and preventative maintenance on the siding of the house to prevent eventual rotting. 

All the work is done and we have good bones in this ole house.  

We drove to Edgewood yesterday to meet family at the Lumber Yard cafe. Delayed wife's birthday gathering and excellent food. My wife was gifted 8 lobster tails on ice. We have not had lobster since we left New Hamshire 5 years ago.

My wife steamed the tails in steamer bags for dinner tonight, two at a time, 2 minutes at 80%. Plated and devoured. She was like a kid digging, cutting and dipping into melted butter. Yea, it was grand. "Chomp chomp."

Thanks for the visit this week.

GREENING OF EAST TEXAS - SV AIRSPEED VIDEOS - 2 CHAIRS

I had just gotten "BOB" back from the shop, repaired and serviced for the season. The bride wanted to go visit neighbors and I found the time to explore their far fields and take a few pics. The early morning sun was perfect for  capturing some of the natural beauty of these lands as the Texas rain and sun play March going into April. I often refer to these days as the greening of east Texas. 

I also had the opportunity to visit some of the damage on neighbor's hillside from the baby tornado of a few weeks back. The hillsides and morning sun were perfect for photography. The baby tornado has left its mark across big swaths of our large neighborhood giving reminder of how the best of times and the worst of times can, at times, be seen together.

Large piles of debris are burning as the wet weather and winds permit. This coming week is filled with rain showers and some thunderstorm activity and will also be helpful for me getting flats of green and red bell pepper plants in the ground.  There is magic associated for how quickly things grow here.

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FROM "CAPTAIN AIRSPEED" two weeks ago.

 

"Two days ago we left Ensenada Sun Bay on the southern cost of the island of Vieques. There's not a lot to do there. We picked up anchor and made the 50ish nautical mile transit to Culebra. The minute we hit the southeastern tip of the island and turned north, we raised the main and the Yankee and were immediately catapulted to nearly 10 knots. This boat loves 60 degrees of apparent wind like you cannot imagine. We anchored in relatively close quarters to too many other boats and the holding was suspect. We spent a calm night there and went ashore for dinner that way too mediocre to justify the price. We spent $160 for the four of us to essentially have comfort food and four bottles of water. 

We came back to the boat and the next morning decided we would leave for  Charlotte Amaile at St. Thomas USVI. I never could have imagined the conditions that were about to present themselves. We knew that some wind was coming but not this much and not this soon. We clocked 32 knots at 000 degrees AWA right on the nose. The seas were extremely confused and steep building to 8'.

This boat is like a piece of fine art. Every time you stare at it you see something new, revealing and amazing. Every time we put it to the test, it devours the test and shows us how absolutely capable it is. 

As we got closer to St. Thomas, the sea state settled and the wind laid down quite a bit. We were always within a mile or two of our buddy boat who has been a great friend and cruising buddy for the 5th season in a row now. We have become fast friends and have had a good time together. 

We slowed down some to wait for him to catch up as we were going to be navigating through a tricky and narrow cut. Once he caught up, we made our way through and anchored in a beautiful anchorage called Charlotte Amalie, which is the cruise ship terminal as well as the downtown of St. Thomas. 

The crossing across the virgin passage was formidable but safe and not uncomfortable aboard Airspeed, but other boats looked to be having quite a ride.

It is really beautiful out here and this boat is absolutely incredible. The new boat is 100 times the boat that the last one was, and I loved the last one."

 Quite a ride indeed.

I have been sharing the adventures of the family sailing on SV AIRSPEED for the past few seasons. In my heart, I would love to take up their offer to come join them for awhile, but it is too late for me. A fact of life. 

"Facts are Stubborn things" (John Adams)

and I have been fortunate enough to take times when I was younger to have adventures such as this. But knock off 15 years from this old mind and body, and some of these stories would be from the decks of SV Airspeed and the photos taken outward. Regardless, I do love this stuff to the "Nth" degree.

Sailing SV Airspeed is proof that we should all live dreams and adventures when we are young. I am a firm believer in the now. 

When you become my age, you can sit back, write stories, share photographs and share advice to younger folk having earned and learned some of the meanings of life along the way.

And to my good friends on SV Airspeed, write stories now, everyday. 

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2 CHAIRS

Finally power washed and ready for the bride and me to rock away time surveying our kingdom and soaking up the warmth of the days ahead. Neighbors driving by will stop, pull in the driveway, pull up a couple lawn chairs and we will talk an hour away about nothing!

 Thanks for the visit this week.

 

 
 

MIDDLE SCHOOL SHOP CLASS PROJECT - SV AIRSPEED - WARM WINDS IN EAST TEXAS - JIBBER JABBER

 8th grader's shop project earns top grade in class.

I have been dragging my feet getting up a post. No reason other than foot dragging.

While cleaning out email, I find this from Foxhat in New Hampshire. Proud grandmother posts her grandson's shop project he built for her. A very special basket for her kitchen (wipes). My bet is that this basket has a special spot in her kitchen forever. She will also share this with friends who visit, boasting "look at what my grandson built me." 

What I love about this project is the solid look and solid build. Simplicity in design and function. 

I can see that proud smile on your face "K." Get some cookies on the bake for his next trip to the farm. Like I even had to suggest that? 

My wife says this is "birth of a family heirloom." Agreed!!

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MIDNIGHT SAIL (SV Airspeed) sailing the midnight watch and to myself I sing; "I realized why twice you ran away."

 The mood bright enough to sail at night nearing Puerto Rico,

and the sun rises on calm seas. Moments like this, huh? Hope someone is writing a book here.

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WARM WINDS blow in east Texas,

and chainsaws sing in the early mornings and after lunch and a nap. Large burn piles rise from the empty fields around us. When weather permits, these vestiges, once picturesque and long friends of the lands, will be burnt and returned.  They will enrich the soil and a new circle of things growing will begin again. The recent "baby tornado" is still a ways from being cleaned up and other property damage repaired.

 

Our backyard and neighbor's back yard are very good examples, although small scale, of some of the tornado damage. 

The wife and I picked up limbs and small debris yesterday afternoon. Lots of work for seemingly little visual improvement. Then we sat down to take a break and "who knew" how cleaning up a few small limbs and some debris contributes to to the big picture?

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JIBBER JABBER

Officially Spring, frost chances are over I am told, daylight savings time and body time still at some odds. Baby flowers sprouting, onions growing and yard work progressing.

A road trip to Mineola Saturday to shop a wonderful nursery just west on highway 80. The bride filled her hand cart and we headed home. Wifey smiles and talking of how she is going to plant gate entrance flowers. Will share.

REACHER SEASON 3  movie night review.

I am not sure that sharing movie/TV series reviews requires anything more other than an opinion on what we like or what we do not like. 

We are fans of the REACHER series. Action-filled, bad guys, good guys and so forth. But season 3 lacks on every scale of measurement and opinion. The actors do not fit, interact or reflect who they are trying to be. No chemistry and the kissing and brief sex encounter could not be more fabricated. Wet mops would have been more interesting. 

The acting is force fed on all accounts. Simply said, nope, we do not like it "bigly." A gigantic let down over seasons one and two.

The final episode, and I concur with some of what others hint at, that this last episode needs a gigantic finish just to save the season. I have zero hopes.

Last night her and I opted to start season 1 over again and instantly fell back to enjoying REACHER. Alan Ritchson was more believable as an actor and kick ass character. All other actors in that season brought an "A" game to their characters.  The only things saving Season 3 this year are Season one and Season two.

Appreciate the visit this week.

F1 TORNADO - "THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD" - JIBBER JABBER

Being in the touchdown path of an F1 Tornado was never on my bucket list.

We were watching the radar track the storm from Dallas towards us. Yellow, orange, red with a middle of ominous dark red color. That was the part of the storm we would eventually encounter and that was the part of the storm that worried me. 

There were also radar warning zones tracking on the leading edge of the storm showing "Tornado Watch" and Strong Thunderstorms."

We had lost power an hour earlier just prior to daybreak. Our home generator kicked on. We moved our basket of keys and important papers to the shelter and then we followed, bundled up with winter clothes over our "jammies." We pulled up two lawn chairs and watched. 

As the storm drew closer we moved into the shelter and I bolted the 4 bolts on the door. The shelter is made from hardened steel able to withstand penetration from a .308 hunting round. We watched through the carport, down the driveway and towards the front road that passes by our house.

The wife jokes that she used to gather with friends, a case of beer and chase tornado's when she was in college. She calls an F1 Tornado a "baby tornado." She has also told me several times that a tornado can be heard just a moment before it arrives. Sounds like a freight train, she says. And it does! How many times has my youthful narrative of playing with friends also included a case of beer?

I stepped to the side of our small window view so she could peak out too. The "freight train" did indeed sound and wall of weather moving through and over our home was just that. I have searched for words to help describe the inside of this skipping tornado through our neighborhood. I have experienced quite a few thunderstorms pass and a few microbursts in my years. But these were strong winds. A tornado, even this "baby one", was a compact wall of wind and debris. Wind and rain so tightly packed that it appeared to be a moving solid. It lasted for a long minute. There is no way, other than a miracle, that a human body could survive in the open in this type of weather event. 

I'll not forget this baby tornado and my wife will no long have to coax me into the shelter as future storms approach. I am still teachable. 

The radar showed the storm pass, the red touch down zone of the tornado and  our neighborhood was in the middle of that path. An F1 tornado causes extensive damage.

In pelting rain, folks emerged. One neighbor with his tractor. First words out of his mouth, "you alright?" We were. I had just made a walk around the house and confirmed we had been lucky. No trees on or threatening the home. Debris yes, but the home not damaged.

r

My wife and I followed him in our side by side. I had thrown in my small chain saw just in case.

Folks in this small part of our neighborhood were out laying the ground work for repairing a local home so a neighbor could be back "dried in" by the end of the day. 

Just before sun set Tuesday, that home had a new metal roof replaced and a vertical wall repaired to original condition. The young man organizing these folks lived close by and was adamant that who ever needed any kind of help would be addressed him and his crew as needed.  He was also absolute in the fact that there would be no costs to anyone for anything!! Not open for discussion.

Neighbors who could not help with the reconstruction, fed the crews that day. Everyone worked. My wife and I had a few neighbors over for a warm lunch as they had no power. A little thing, but home made chicken soup and a sandwich were the least we could do.

My son, a lineman in NH, warned me over the phone to be careful of "widow makers" when outside cleaning up after a storm like this. He said the first 24 hours is the most dangerous time from falling debris hanging in trees. He was correct. I found this widow maker just outside our front fence.

Here the power company working was one of the many trees taking down the power lines. This is a good photo of trees that have taken down farmers' fencing too. This small passing tornado left a path of downed trees like the ones pictured above.

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CATS

I think both cats have a story to tell from the passage of this tornado. They were gone for 36 hours and we feared the worst. The cats have been gone before and have always returned. But this was their first tornado.

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, they came to the bedroom window yelling they were home and "get up and feed us." Both none the worse for wear, skittish and weary, they ate and then ran back to whereever they must have weathered the storm. They were/are fine.

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JIBBER JABBER  

Storm damage and clean-up owned this past week and will into the next few months. There is costly damage to many folks homes and properties around us.

As I get older and speak to some of that here often, this past week proved some things in life to hold true over time. Using the small tractor and small trailer, I was out picking up debris. A big clean up task for us and I will pick at it a little at time. 

Turing around is one of the debris piles, I picked up a limb that could not be removed. It had wound itself around the axle and could only be remove by removing the tire. I had a workable clean-up routine going only to be sidelined by a little thing. Always seems to be a little thing that can shut down work in progress. Good news was that I had tools to get the job done, just shut down my project and flipped my switches turning on bad attitudes. 

Weather warming some this week. Planting wild flowers today and picking up more debris. We did find a leak over the stove vent on the roof, shutting down our kitchen stove and vent fan. Roof guy is promised to arrive this morning. Side by side needs more mechanical attention right at the time I need it the most. 

Not complaining, really! By the grace of God, we were spared big damage from the touchdown of a passing tornado.

Have a good week, appreciate the visit.
 

 

 

 

 

DIRT THERAPY - CINNAMON ANTS - LAP CAT - AIRSPEED UPDATE - JIBBER JABBER

With warmer weather and a little desire to get some kind of garden started, I found myself sitting on a homemade stool yesterday, playing in the dirt. Red onions planted to the right and the middle planter was being cleaned of weeds, new dirt added along with compost, food and a bag of potting mix.

My mother taught me long ago, along with my grandparents, the feel of good dirt. Texture, crumble, moisture, color and experience. Good dirt feels good and I am at a loss of a more in-depth explanation. Bad growing dirt feels bad; hard, no adhesion, no moisture and no color of nutrition. So, the middle bin above had just completed the transition to becoming "good dirt."

I found that sitting there running my hands and fingers through the dirt to be a simple pleasure. Quiet time with a satisfaction that this day and moment was officially starting my growing season. Although weeks late as far as the onions go, it was still a start. I had purchased the last two bundles of red onion sets the day before from a local nursery. 

The cardboard on the ground between these two beds had been a makeshift covering covering the right hand bin. When I removed it for planting the onions, there was not one weed in the bin. The bin to the left was full of weeds and needed a complete cleaning and re-make. Lessons I knew, just had not practiced. Bin #3 to the left a very good example of neglect.

CINNAMON DIRT

The three round bins in the garden this season will be wild flowers. Fun color and an invitation for more bugs, bees and insects that pollinate. Mostly, though, for less to take care of other than watering. 

This particular bin was full of red ants. They have been here for months and were in my sights all along. I cleaned out a layer of weeds and turned the ant hill over and over. Then a bottle of cinnamon seasoning was emptied on the dirt. Cinnamon is not poison to anything planted, but the ants hate it. They tend to move on. A little more cinnamon around the outside base today or soon.

Now I will add "good dirt" and prepare this bin for the bride to sprinkle in her mixture of wild flowers and then give all of this to God and Texas rain. 

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CAT SNUGGLE 

Quality days for my wife and me are time spent in the carport, sitting in lawn chairs after some yard work and soaking up the onset of the warm winds of spring and summer. A blue sky, a rising sun an inch or so each day along with new shadows. And the consistency of her cat.

Since she was a kitten, barely weened from her mother, my wife's cat has taken to her. Our two cats follow us around like dogs. Meowing advice or complaints and often pushing us to park ourselves so they, too, can find important cat moments of closeness. My cat is standoffish. But she is my cat. No lap time but rather a drop dead moment on the warm cement in front of our chairs. Her meow is quiet as if it is a necessary forced comment on these kinds of moments. But wife's cat seeks her lap and quickly puts a face to what relaxing should be. 

If my wife moves or adjusts herself for comfort, her cat has to comment. Eyes somewhat open, verbally pushing her for the perfection of her lap time. It works! 

All four of us enjoying the welcome warmth of seasons change and closeness of this family. 

And after all of these years here we have finally put out bird food. We fed the birds in New Hampshire and had to fight with the bears and squirrels. Not here, though. Birds of all sizes and shapes are starting to flit filling in voids to this picture. A good day.

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AIRSPEED BOAT #2

 

Our good and younger family friends are at a dock somewhere south of the Bahamas. A newer boat for them with more room.

I have had my sailing days in the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.  But being on boats and on the water has always set me at ease. And I knew this years ago that if I was going to want for this, it needed to be done then, not when I got older. I did not miss these kinds of adventures. They are good memories now. 

From the "Captain"

"We sailed 700 miles in 20 days, so we've been on the move a lot. We're hoping to start really soaking up the enjoyment. Unfortunately, I got food poisoning two nights ago which knocked me out all day yesterday. Late last night, our oldest son got very sick and his mother is not feeling well now. And, of course, our youngest son has a stomach made out of a cast iron boiler and he was and is completely fine."

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 JIBBER JABBER

Finally, a normal Sunday post, on time, on the schedule at least for this week.

Worldly things seem to be of less and less importance in the life of this blog. Maybe just a hiccup, but I am finding more and more that grabbing the little things along each day are more important. 

I am loving afternoon naps, but I have had a life time of practice. The noise here in the land of farms is quiet. Maybe a car passing, a tractor pulling a load of hay to a far off field of cattle or the chimes on the porch reporting break that quiet. 

My wife put a chuck roast in the crock-pot last night and we awoke to the smell of home cooking this morning. Breakfast consisted of fall-apart roast covered in fresh gravy. The first time in years, I have not had a fried egg for breakfast. Not having to cook a lot is also becoming more and more "a thing." Warming up leftovers is becoming a desired norm for us. Call me lazy.

Thanks for the visit this week. "Times they are a changin"

 

LEAVING FLORIDA - DUSTING OF WINTER SNOW - CITRUS JUICE AND HOMEMADE SOUP - 3D MODEL RADIAL ENGINE PROGRESS - JIBBER JABBER

Adventures of SV Airspeed returns season #3. The captain and crew of SV Airspeed are starting to check in and share videos and photos.  I will share more as they sail south.

 A new boat, same name. I asked my friend how he likes the new boat.

"OMG, the new boat is incredible!. This is a serious ocean-going machine. It's fast, it's comfortable, it doesn't bob and roll much at a "rolly anchorage." We've been in some extremely heavy seas and the boat always feels comfortable and safe. So happy with it."

SV AIRSPEED LEAVING FLORIDA

FALCON 9 STARLINK ROCKET LAUNCH

 

LARGE SHIP PHOTO

I would enjoy a walk through visit.

 

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WINTER 2025 EAST TEXAS

Thirteen degrees this morning. The coldest day of the year and hopefully this will be the last of it. A dusting of snow was winter 2025. Maybe I am calling this too early, but temperatures are increasing each day and spring is springing. Nothing compared to winter around the nation, but we will take it. 

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FINALLY TRIED A SHOT OF LEMON/LIME JUICE IN HOMEMADE SOUPS

The slice of lime is only for the photograph.

Over the course of time, I have read that adding citrus will bolster the flavor of soups/stews. I have not tried this until now. 

In the cup of beef soup above, I added drops of lime juice (I had lime parts in the fridge) and stirred it in. Who knew?

I figured that one cup of soup was worth trying this hack. Nothing to lose. 

I was surprised that adding some lemon or lime juice does increase the flavors of  soup to the point that I will continue this. The flavors "brighten and sharpen" noticeably. 

Give this a try

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3D PRINTING MODEL RADIAL ENGINE

I have been trying to design and print a reasonable 3D model, 7 cylinder radial engine. I do not need a high degree of detail but more that I have currently produced. The black cylinder picture below is a failure as trying to print any kind of overhang without some bracing does not work with 3D printing. Think of trying to print a solid in mid-air. 

I have thus decided to try to print the cylinders one piece at a time. The center shaft with each spacer and cooling fin placed on the shaft, one at a time. It is going to work much better, just taking more time.

The new cylinder in the upper left corner has a few rings on it showing that the idea is workable. The cylinder in the upper right hand corner shows the mess with adding bridging (scaffolding, if you will) support when printing overhangs. The bridging (scaffolding) has to be peeled off and in this case there is so much that it trashes the finished part. 

The round rings are spaces and sized cooling fins.

I am close to a finished cylinder but ran out of time last week. Next posting should show a completed cylinder, maybe even the engine. 

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 JIBBER JABBER

Cold here in bedroom/office. We just have the fireplace going in the center living room which is toasty, but the back rooms need a little boost from the heat pump. A warm cup of tea helps, though. 

Friends from NH were down and visited a few days over Valentine's Day weekend. It has been 5 years and the only thing that has changed is that we are a little older. The hugs, well-wishes, smiles and laughter as we were getting caught up, seemed like yesterday. Good friends are just that. They are still young enough to do all the traveling. We are still young enough to host. Good eats, too.

I am looking forward to warmer weather. Who isn't? I want to get onions in the ground and I am already behind. Yard cleanup beckons but it does everyday I venture outside. Throwing birdseed down on the sidewalk, hanging suet on trees and a large bucket lid of bird seed on the side of the driveway. I see more and more birds flitting back and forth this afternoon. Feeding birds is rewarding.

Another plane crash. Hard landing followed by a landing completed upside down. No one hurt for the most part and given all that can go wrong,"any landing you can walk away from is a good landing." The end of this investigation will be an interesting read.

Pilot(s) information still not being released as of this posting. 

Airline Pilot Review. Good information, well presented.

Appreciate your visit this week.

 
 

HOMEMADE BISCUITS - LAND CLEAN UP - LAWN MOWING IN FEBRUARY - JIBBER JABBER

 I use this video for making homemade biscuits. Works perfectly.

How to cut butter into flour.  

We have friends arriving soon for a few days' visit. Thought that they might enjoy breakfast one morning with homemade biscuits and sausage gravy. It has been a few years since I have made biscuits so thought a test of the old recipe was in order. Bingo!

I have included that site above. I make 2% milk from morning coffee cream by adding a little cold water to fill up the 1/3 cup portion of the recipe. The self-rising flour was also over 2 years old, but still worked. Fresh flour will be used for guests. 

My try with this batch was a little wet compared to the video. Adding some flour to the cutting board as I folded worked just fine. Do not over work the dough. I folded 7 times and cut 2 biscuits and also baked the leftover "play dough." 

These biscuits were a real treat for us. 

Give this a try if you want to be the biscuit king in your kingdom.  Doubling or tripling the recipe works just fine.

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LAND CLEAN UP  (FINALLY)

We had two dump trucks of brush, fallen and dead trees hauled out. The Kubota Skid Steer (above) is one of the most useful workhorses for this kind of job. The kid operating this was a surgeon with a very special skill set.

We now have a cleaned out trail I can drive the side-by-side on to maintain a big part of this small acreage. We also had some low hanging pine tree branches cut away from the house.  

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FEBRUARY LAWN MOWING (PLANNED)

It was 81 degrees yesterday and I had plans for a second day of front lawn mowing/mulching. By end of day, that front yard project would have been completed, checked off the long list of outside chores. 

But the wife yelled at me as I started down the driveway. A yell that stopped me dead and pissed me off. I was not expecting her to do anything like that. "Why yell at me" I thought. A flat left rear tire was why. I filled the tire with hand pump air and limped into the garage with the tire flat again. 

The air compressor filled the tire instantly and I could hear the leak. Fairly large cut in the rear tire from something large and pokey.  

I used a tire repair plug kit for the first time and it worked perfectly. Lawn mower tires, side-by-side tires and equipment such as this often requires a quick tire repair fix somewhere out in the fields or on the back roads. The repairs will last damn near forever. Anyone who runs any off-road equipment has several of these repair kits with them at all times. 

I decided to check all of the other tires for air and found the left front also flat. Front wheel zero-turn tires are a major pain in the ******** for going flat. So much so that many folks go to the hard front tires that never goes flat. 

The tire shop in town told me that they could not/do not repair tire tubes because inner tubes now are made with different materials on which the old inner tire repair methods do not work. 

So, the new zero-turn is down and the work I wanted to do, well, you probably know the drill!

I will find an answer for this situation tomorrow when I go to the fellow I purchased the mower from. I have had too many flats with these front tires already and only have 30 hours on the machine. But I not want a rough ride from hard front rubber tires. What to do?

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JIBBER JABBER

From the story above, it is still rings true in my 80th year. Things always fail on the weekends when the availability to get repairs done is nearly impossible.

Thirty degrees colder today with rain in the forecast for the next few days. The bride and I did get some hand-trimming done of bushes and trees yesterday. Added tree fertilizer spikes to many of the small tree shrubs around the front yard. 

I am noticing more and more that all of the hundreds of things I use to do with ease and without issue are no more. I am not liking aging and hate asking anyone for help or assistance. It is a man thing. BUT, I can still function well enough to get basic outside chores attended to. Right now, I believe I have one more good year in me with hopes for this to extend for a few more years. And we have good neighbors that will help. 

As for worldly worries, I may be leaving more and more of these off the posting table here. Sitting in lawn chairs with my wife yesterday, surveying our kingdom, with a warm breezed blowing and two cats rolling at our feet was a simple slice of heaven. We both believe we can become experts at this behavior. 

Appreciate the visit this week. Have a very good week. God Bless. 

EARLY FEBRUARY JIBBER JABBER

 

The video above well demonstrates the unusually warm sunny weather we are experiencing in east Texas. It appears that this will be a norm for the month leading into spring. Already, mosquitos are a problem working out in some of the fields. 

I have been in shorts and t-shirts for two days and this morning a rack of ribs were seasoned and set in the Pit Boss at 09:00. I cannot control the urge.

 

The zero turn has been serviced for the season, the bride's cub cadet tractor has been run through upgrades here and ready to go. The side by side goes in this morning for seasonal oil change, filters, tune up and inspection. Tree guys have been hired to trim pine trees close the house within the next several weeks. Fence painting is in the queue, a job the wife and I will be doing. 

Friends scheduled to visit a few days over Valentines Day and a young couple with children return for a visit at months end. 

The wife's eye surgeries are over and all appears to be 100% successful. We are most thankful as her eye sight was slowly deteriorating.  

Yard cleanup hangs over our heads.

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Aviation accidents have been in the news for nearly a week now. Digging for truths finds more and more coming out about the Black Hawk flight. As all of this is still in an investigation phase I will not put in my 2 cents, but I can tell a story.

"Operation MGM", the name we pilots and crews gave to a fiasco set upon our company in Vietnam in 1967. Someone wanted to make a film of all of our available helicopters flying in formation and all diving and firing rockets at the same time. Yep! Maybe a dozen plus helicopters at one time. A one-time shot. Show of force.

We were all to be in echelon formation, flying up the An Lao Valley. A command was to be given to 'ARM' the rockets. Next, a command to start our dives in formation. Then the command to fire in which all helicopters would expend their 96 rockets in unison. We would then all fly/climb out straight ahead. Sounded wonderful. 

We spent time in the briefing, asking questions and confirming the commands and command sequences. In a perfect world, every pilot/helicopter would execute at the same time.

I was flying near the left side of the formation, maybe third or fourth helicopter in. Captain's helicopter was flying on my right.

When the command to dive was given, the formation did just that, except him. He kept flying straight and level. Realizing that he was behind, he began his dive while drifting left over the top of my helicopter.  It was the crew chief and door gunner on my helicopter that saved our lives. They screamed over the intercom that Captain was descending directly over top of us. Coming directly down on top of our rotor system.

I bottomed the collective causing my helicopter to drop out of the sky. I banked left to get completely out of the formation. I could only hope that others were seeing what was happening and that I was not banking into another helicopter.

It was the eyes of the crew chief and gunner and their immediate input that saved our day. Somewhere in the Army archives there is footage of that flight event. I would so love to see that.

The only time in my Army years flying did I ever face off against a higher ranking officer/anyone. I got in his face, yelling and screaming at how badly he fucked up. I did not quit and was physically pulled away. I knew that my wings and rank were all on the line. But the stupidity, inattention and incompetence of this pilot had me livid. Those emotions all surfaced after we landed.

I was talked to by leadership, calmed down and warned to never ever do that again. But everyone knew what had happened. I never ever had to fly with captain on any mission. Someone was indeed looking out for me on so many occasions.

I will offer this here that for the nearly 1000 combat sorties and other flying I did as a Warrant Officer, every single person associated with any and all missions I participated in, were gold standard. Gold standard in leadership, performance, experience and operations. I was and still am a most proud Army Helicopter pilot and Vietnam combat helicopter pilot with utmost respect for military aviation. 

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God Bless. 

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Behind on postings. Missing my posting dates. I have no viable excuse or reason but I am looking for one.

Have a wonderful week and I appreciate your visit.