New Things! and how was your weekend?

How about that? I got the weather and location on here now! I have been toying with a blog on Wordpress but I think I will stay here, also. This is the main one along with Jeff and Kath. And as I figure how to get weather and such widgets on that Wordpress blog, I will.
Thursday was great. The visit to Palmdale and cooking other than my own! And back to the grind tomorrow.
And prayers to the families, friends and colleagues of the four Lakewood, WA police officers who were murdered today. I know the area. My in laws lived there.

I never was in a Hornette Squadron but the CAG birds are usually very sharp. One of the sharpest is VFA-102 over there in Atsugi, Japan riding the USS George Washington. A long time ago, they were flying Phantoms from the USS Independence. Used to chock and tie those airplanes.
I did a new shot in the header because it has airplanes that represent 11 years or so of my career. Nine in the A-6 and two in the T-2. The pic is of the bone yard at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson.
There is a site called Air Fighters at http://airfighters.com/ that has a section devoted to bone yards.
I have one down the road in Mojave. ANA 747s, about a half dozen Air Canada 767s including the Gimli Glider.
For the non aircraft enthusiast, places like Davis Monthan, Mojave, Victorville, Kingman and Marana are where airplanes go to die. Sometimes they do get a reprieve, a fair number are given heavy checks and serviced and sold to other countries.

Great Northern and offspring

First things first. The logo is out of my child hood and my sister's. When we were kids, trains had that goat on the front. He has a name, Rocky. The steam locomotive is the only Baldwin S-2 Northern left. When I was just out of diapers, that locomotive was on the local from Havre to Malta. There are three Hills in Montana, Up Hill, Down Hill and Jim Hill.
And last but not least, a BNSF Stack Train going up the hill from Barstow/Lenwood to the Cajon Summit. The locomotives are painted................Great Northern Orange. Santa Fe? Yeah. Right.
Have a Rocky day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Train pics for the Kid Sister

Herzog Plus Train, BNSF 3 on the Red River Sub. This line runs right next to US 287 from just north of Fort Worth to Amarillo.

Airplane nuts and certain differences

As you fine folks have noticed that I do have a fondness for airplanes. I love airplanes, specifically those airplanes with launch bars, tailhooks and folding wings. Kind of obvious don't ya think?
But somewhat over twenty years ago, I was an Argonaut. But of a slightly different type. When we completed the Circumnavigation aboard The Good Ship USS Kitty Hawk CV63, we were flying and maintaining the LTV A-7E Corsair II. After that deployment, I transferred to NAS Lemoore SeaOpDet. But within two years of the completion of that deployment, the original A-7 squadron had become a Strike Fighter Squadron. That being said, I was still an Argonaut so pictures of that squadron's aircraft will be found at Old Retired Petty Officer on occasion. Even if they are Hornettes(that is for Buck!)
When we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the squadron, most of the people in that photo were children!Reference: Bob Dylan, The times they are a changin'.

The Old Days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stolen from Steve Beals at the Swordsmen website. This is the Mighty A-6E TRAM doing the Vis Weps at NAS Fallon, Nevada. Can a Hornette do that? Not on a bet!
I was a member of the Swordsmen of Attack Squadron One Four Five from 1979 to 1982. I made one WestPac and then the Jimmy Carter Hostage Cruise from 10 September 1980 to 5 May 1981. Five days shy of nine months.
And it simply looks vicious in Black and White!

Too much time on my hands

Can you tell? It is Thanksgiving and in a couple of hours I will be heading to Palmdale for dinner with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law.
But I had to keep messing with the template. It may change again, who knows?
And since a fair number of my readers are sort of airplane nuts, I give to you CVW-5 doing the obligatory shot with Mount Fuji. CVW-5 is forward deployed at NAF Atsugi Japan and embarks in USS George Washington CVN73. As you can tell it is mostly Hornets. These are the "CAG" Birds with the neat paint schemes on them.

Messing with colours and fonts

Trying to make it easy for guys like me..........................and Buck..............and Pinch.........and that Lamps guy Contrast is where it is, maybe? Feed back is welcome!

Have a great Thanksgiving

All of you all out there, have a great day with family and friends!!!!!!!!!!!! I will be in Palmdale tomorrow at my sister-in-law;s for the big meal. And since I sent the Missus back to Kansas to get the rest of our stuff out here, I am tired of my own cooking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rental Agent

The agent finally got someone over here to handle the garage lighting. The overhead is fluorescent tubes and they were mostly flickering. And the garage door opener had no working lights at all. The handyman showed up and it is fixed. I took a list in shortly after we took possession if the keys. The gal is a bit slow on the uptakes at times.
These are from the jaunt to Palmdale yesterday. Buck ought to like them. They were final assembled just up Rancho Vista Ave at the Super Secret Plant 42. The Skunk Works is also here after moving from Hollywood/Burbank Bob Hope Airport. It used to be the Lockheed Air Terminal.