Strange things one finds in attics and shoeboxes…
I cannot imagine being able to watch my own bailout sixty years later! Kudos to those brave men who flew into harms way, and the sailors who saved those they could…
Video has been removed due to autoplay… Sorry
h/t JP
PPP and Jace are back home, and I’m sure Vito is in dog heaven about now…
But, as with most boys, regardless of age, he’s enamoured by trains. Sadly, we didn’t read the fine print, and found out the little museum was only open on Saturday. Needless to say he was disappointed…
But he was having thoughts…
If I climb up here, and turn sideways… And nobody’s paying attention, I’ll bet I can slip through the bars…
But that didn’t happen… So yesterday morning he got a Mickey Mouse pancake from the nice folks at the cafe, and he was happy with that.
Thankfully, they got out of here before the bad weather hit. And frankly, we were very lucky! This is a catspaw, basically a precursor to a tornado, that tried to form over us late in the afternoon. It was one of five or six that we watched, but none of them got fully formed, or made it to the ground. We had one good gust of wind, probably around 60 mph, a little bit of light hail, and about fifteen minutes of rain. That was it.
But I would ask that you keep the folks in the Central US in your prayers, I know their weather was MUCH worse than what we had. I don’t know the total count of tornadoes last night, but I know there were some.
All the cops quit?
The town of Green Mountain Falls no longer has any police. The chief announced his resignation on Thursday, April 14, with the three other officers following his lead.
An anonymous source tells us the entire department quit over policy and unhappiness with the new mayor, who was sworn in just Tuesday night. As of Monday, their resignations went into effect, leaving the folks of Green Mountain Falls with no cops and a lot of questions.
The rest of the story HERE, so far…
Granted the Sheriff’s Office will pick up the slack and cover policing for the town, but one really wonders what the backstory is on this…
The town is about 15 miles from Colorado Springs, so one wonders if a libprogwhatever got elected, and the LEOs weren’t liking what they were hearing was going to happen.
Day three with grandson Jace, and we’re still doing okay…
The boy is quite the bug killer, and got a bit ticked when his waffle stompers caused him to miss some of the bugs. Soooo… He got sticks and went after them with that!
BUT… I made a mistake… I bought a cheep train set, just to keep him occupied.
And made the second mistake of putting batteries in it!!! Had to, to make the train actually run, but I never should have in the ‘station’ part. Annoying does NOT begin to describe the whistles, honks and assorted screechings coming out of that piece.
It’s battery WILL die tomorrow morning… Just sayin’…
In other news, there’s a park just down the street, so every time we turn around it’s, “Park? Park? Go park now?” And at 2 1/2, he’s still fearless!!! Sigh.
I’m hoping I survive until Tuesday! 🙂
In honor of our Australian comrades who gave their all…
I believe this was the single largest loss of life by Australia in any war. And the Turkish losses weren’t much better.
May they rest in peace.
Duxford became home to the 78th Fighter Group when they arrived in England with their P-47B Thunderbolts in 1943. The objective of the American fighter units was to gain air superiority over the Luftwaffe in support of their daylight bombing campaign. By 1944 they achieved their objective. Richard Taylor commemorates the valiant contribution of the 78th Fighter Group with a fine new rendition showing P-47D Thunderbolts departing Duxford en route for the north coast of France, and a low-level strafing mission. It is the spring of 1944, and with the Normandy invasion just days away, the Thunderbolts are already painted with invasion markings. The checkerboard pattern was used by the entire group.
PPP and Jace are spending a few days…
Out come the toys…
Note to self- Wear shoes when I stumble out to get coffee in the morning… Sigh
Looking forward to a few days with them, so light blogging and commenting. Go read the folks on the sidebar!
If you’re an old fart, you’ll remember how ‘we’ grew up…
By today’s standards, none of us were supposed to ever make it.
HIGH SCHOOL — 1957 vs 2016
Scenario 1:
Jack goes duck hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck’s gun rack.
1957 – Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2016 – School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario 2:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1957 – Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2016 – Police called and SWAT team arrives — they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged with assault and both expelled – even though Johnny started it .
Scenario 3:
Jeffrey will not be in class, he disrupts other students.
1957 – Jeffrey sent to the Principal’s office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2016 – Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The family gets extra money (SSI) from the government because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario 4:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping.
1957 – Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.
2016 – Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy’s sister that she remembers being spanked herselfand their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has an affair with the psychologist.
Scenario 5:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 – Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock .
2016 – The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario 6:
Pedro fails high school English.
1957 – Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.
2016 – Pedro’s cause is taken up by a radical group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement forgraduation is racist. ACLU files a class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English is then banned from the basic curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway, but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario 7:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed..
1957 – Ants die.
2016 – ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents – and all siblings are removed from their home. All computers are confiscated. Johnny’s dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario 8:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee .. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 – In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2016 – Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.
8 years…
Somewhere around 3000 hours… I started in P-3s sittin on the ‘rail’ as it was known…
Started in the left station as a SS (Sensor Station)2 operator, then qualified as a SS1, the second seat from the left. These are AQA-7(V)3 units, along with the rest of the airplane were highly classified back in the day, now… Totally unclassified! The AQA-7 used thermal paper that was ‘burned’ by the four little spikes you see above the lower control panel.
The real PITA was changing the ‘pins’ that burned the paper in flight, as they were about the thickness of a needle, and had to be inserted into the pins very carefully…
“Fun” to do when you were bouncing around…
And even more ‘fun’ was to accidentally stick your metal ten points too far down and catch one of the pens… You got a nice little shock, but it WOULD wake you up! 🙂
Long hours on patrol, some good, some bad. But the crews did what had to be done, day in, day out in all kinds of weather.
h/t Revo 🙂