Kings Hockey and Sierra Nevada

The Kings and Wild are on the FSN-West from Staples Center in Los Angeles. It just got started. The Kings have gone from first in the West to fifth. Losing 3 out of 4 will do that in the Western Conference. The Chicago Blackhawks are in first. And the libation of choice is the afore posted Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. Available at Albertson's in Rosamond and Tehachapi for a fair price, considering it is the People's Republik of Kalifornistan. But there is that CRV thing.

And on New Year's Day it may be some of the above libations when the Flyers and Bruins meet, outside at Fenway Park. The only way to play......................................on Frozen Ponds.

Shipmates, Reminscing and a tear or two

I was playing on the Facebook a while ago and last night. I have run across men with whom I had the pleasure to serve with a long time ago. And I do mean that, a long time ago. Two of them were in VA-145 with me when I got there aboard Ranger in 1979. The other was a fellow instructor at VA-128 from 82 to 85, he retired in 2004 as a Mustang LCDR. One from 145 is a retired full bird captain. Yeah, I said a long time ago. I even got choked up when they said I could be facebook friends. The Bond, it is still there after all these years. My Dad used to talk of it, The Bond of Common Experience. And now as we are no longer the young men we used to be, it still ties us. Across the years and the miles, it still ties us together.
And I still have most of my hair!

Made a Boo-Boo

I was playing around with possible templates and it went................burp. I had to redo my blogroll. And I am still looking for the simple approach. Bear with me folks. It is the last day of a four day weekend, ya know.

Merry Christmas

To all, have a Very Merry Day! With your families and friends.

The Missus and I are headed to Palmdale and the afternoon with Debbie and Ralph. Got him a 12 of Modelo Negra for the drive up a couple of weeks ago to unload. It is pretty good stuff.

Strange with no kids/grandkids for the first time in 27 years, though.

Three months

Today is exactly three months since I had the kidney removed. The one with the big mass/tumor/something on it. The pathology said cancer. It is gone and I have been at the new job since November 9. Getting used to it now. The big incision is a lot smaller now. It was so large then due to swelling up from being opened up. I do have a small tuck and roll but it is quite alright considering the possibilities had it not been found when it was.

Three months. Out of work and in a hospital to moving to the Mojave Desert in California for a job. Once in awhile it is almost one of those, is it real moments. Sounds a little nuts but I am still around for a whole lot longer. The odds say I will watch granddaughters walk down the aisle at some point. That is a good feeling. And one of them is just recently a teenager. Yikes!

So for today, the browbeating I was going to give reid, baucus, dodd and the rest of the new communist party will have to wait.

Remember that perspective post? There it is.

Airplane stuff for Buck and anyone else. And a beer, too!

Just for Buck.

Ain't it just so damn cool. Even us Naval Air and Marine Air guys love this airplane. Tomcat guys do not count for the most part. When I was in the A-6 community, our motto was, Medium Attack, Everything Else Is Just Support.

For the Air Force, these "Hogs" were and still are the best close in attack airplane left in the inventory. I served with Marines who dreamed of a carrier version for those funny, far off, shit holes we always spent time just over the horizon from.

I ran into an engineer from L-M Fort Worth the other day. He described the F-16 Falcon as the "finest multi-role combat aircraft ever built" Old dogs should be wary of the multi thing. And he could have been my son. Jeez, Buck. The engineers are children. And I would have to now argue on the side of the F/A-18E/F. It can also do the tanker thing. I don't think Falcons, Eagles and Raptors can do that.

And a note of somewhat historical significance. The 17th of December would have been my Paternal Grandfather's 106th Birthday. For the uninitiated, that very same day in 1903 was when Orville and Wilbur flew the Wright Flyer at Kill Devil Hill, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

And the top image is of what I am enjoying at present. Got it at Albertson's in Tehachapi. Decent taste and body at a reasonable price.

New Judas Iscariot

I see on the Fox News that the dirtbag from Nebraska has sold his soul to the devil, that being harry reid. ben nelson is as much a whore as mary kay landrieau from cajun-ass land. He sold himself like a whore to get things for his own state as mary kay did. So we now have sixty whores in the senate. Right up there with the two worthless, lying whores that I am stuck with, boxer and feinstein. Personally, I believe all of them are probably guilty of some serious felony. But the cloak of the title supposedly puts them above the law.

I told ya' all that this one could get ugly. At least I do try to keep a lid on the really salty language. Well,,,,sometimes, anyway.

My solution to the current sitting congress? Refer to Cromwell. The man who brought down Charles 1 of England. Look it up. I would put it here but the SS may show up at my door.

The Montana Vigilantes had this, 3-7-77.

The burned toes

The Missus had difficulty with the heater in the Penske Rental Truck. It had two settings. Cold and Blast Furnace. On Sunday we went to the Urgent Care place in Lancaster. It is in a clinic that is a Tricare Provider. Four toes on the right foot and two on the left had blistered up and were very painful. They have been determined to be second class burns. We made two more trips. One each on Monday and last night. Bedtime was late with midnight being sack time on Monday night and last night. She had IV antibiotics and then is on two antibiotics and a pain killer while at the house. We decided not to go tonight as I am bushed and she has an appointment at this same outfit's branch in Tehachapi. It's closer than Lancaster by about 12 to 15 miles. We are a ways from most things here in Cal City.

Penske has been notified but was not really interested. The bills will be sent to them. And it was a very late model International. Amazing lack of quality.

Army-Navy Game No Show

I caught part of it at work during lunch. Just thought I would mention that the community organizer in chief, scumbag, traitor and all around useless empty suit was not at the game. This has been custom for the CinC but I guess the worthless dirtbag from ****cago thinks a nobel prize from my no good norwegian cousins is more important than standing tall for those who will have to someday go in harm's way at his command. What a worthless, no good piece of cow flop. I have know thieves with more honour and character than the magic negro could ever dream of having.

And I consider the 63 or so million of my so called countrymen to be turncoats and low lifes for forgetting what made this Republic what it is. That does include a large number of my own relatives.

My other blog

Be advised, my other blog has a new name. I decided to give it a more relevant title as to the new life. So, it is now Somewhere in The Antelope Valley. The link/address is still the same http:/retiredpo1.wordpress.com/

I am still doing the shakedown cruise on it as well as this one on occasion. As some who are regulars know the ability to read easily is paramount. Me, Buck, kc and the gang are partial to layouts that are easy to read.

Overtime!

Saturday and Sunday for nine hours each day!

This next pay check will be a nice one even with arnold, willie and old moonbeam up in Sacramento doing their level best to hose me out of as much as possible. Something that nancy, harry, dipshit chuckie, babs, dianne and those other two bitches from Washington are already in the process of doing IAW the rat bastard, commie, junkie in the White House.

Made it!

I even got a call at work for the 58 exit out of Barstow. She was stuck in a work zone going from four lanes to one. CalTrans at it's best!
She had gotten to the house just before I did. We went to Chuck's Pizza and had some supper then hit the Rite-Aid for some basic first aid stuff. The rental truck heater caused some problems with the toes. But we got back and I started unloading myself. I got the TVs out and fired up. Even managed to catch the Kings-Sharks game! Kings 5 Sharks 4 in OT.
My Brother-in-Law is coming up this morning to help unload! I shouldn't have to hire anyone but one never knows. I do have a guy's number. Some of the furniture is on the bigger side, like the sofa.
But it is lucky that today is my Rotating Day Off. So I still get a full pay period every two weeks. I don't have much leave/sick leave being here only a month.
So the new life really begins. Blogging will be seriously hit and miss for a few days!

The new weather thingie says...........snow?

Yeah it says snow in the forecast! In the Antelope Valley/Mojave Desert?
It isn't called the high desert for nothing. It beats what the Missus may run into on the way out here in a 26 foot Penske rental. There is a winter storm warning for just to the north of I40 in NM and a blizzard warning for the Flagstaff area for tomorrow. Hopefully it will have passed with just accumulated snowfall by the time she gets there. A day's drive in that with a small dog will be to about Albuquerque or even Grants/Gallup.

Got Map and Weather Thingies!

Did pretty good on that one! I managed to find a map and weather thingies to put on the blog. Do not let the pretty map fool you. There are about 13,000 people in Cal City. Many empty houses and many more empty lots. But it does have thriving small business community. And with the big OHV area, long weekends bring a lot of folks to town. But everyone should see where the proverbial "middle of nowhere" is. Yeah, it's here.
And if you notice the forecast...........it is going to get nasty next week. The locals will be looking like Eskimos. The wind out here can carry a very sharp edge, though. And I have seen snow in the Mojave.
In a short while, I am out the door for some overtime! Just a few hours today and tomorrow. But it will help with the move. Rental Truck is at the house in Wichita as we speak. The Missus figures on being here, sometime on Thursday the 10th.

Elaboration on a comment at instapinch and other observations of a life at sea

Pinch had a really cool shot of the Island on USS Harry S Truman CVN75's Island. It was decorated with all sorts of Departmental Awards. Seems to have it's act together?
The post had comments as to who got what "E"
The black "E" is something familiar to me. I was a recipient twice.
The first was aboard USS Ranger CV61 during the 1980-1981 cycle as a member of the AIMD Hydraulic/Pneumatic Shop. Best in Pac Fleet.
The second was aboard USS Kitty Hawk CV63 for the 1986-1987 cycle including the World Cruise. Best in Pac Fleet, again.
In the early part of 1988, as a member of SeaOpDet Lemoore aboard USS Nimitz, I informed the assistant department head that the black "E" that the Nimitz had won while still in the Atlantic Fleet should be mailed back to ComNavAirLant. He enquired as to why and also desired that I qualify that statement.
First: I told him his Hydraulic/Pneumatic shop LPO, fresh out of the F/A-18 RAG at Cecil Field was out of his league. The man had more of those green government "record" books for things that he spent the bulk of his time in the logs and not running his work center. And I then informed him of the two black "E"s I already had. I even drew my service record to back it up. His answer was: you're right, we don't deserve it.
This was the point in my career that I realized things were changing. And not necessarily for the good. But I was also over 14 years of service and pushing 15. The first draw down was being started and I almost got out. The set up was that if you had an End Obligated Active Service between April and September of 1988, it was re-enlist for two years or get out. I shipped over with a few days left. A lot of men I knew got out and some were very senior second and first class petty officers who were the experience the Navy could ill afford to lose. Understand this is before we had the number and low quality of idiots in the congress that we have now. We are talking 21 years ago. Keep that in mind.
Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm: The fallout after this was incredible. I was on my last shore tour during this. It was following this that the Graham-Rudman act took effect and the beginning of the most massive draw down since the end of WW2 began. I had to re-enlist to obliserve for a sea tour. I shipped for four years. Six months later, I completed a PCS transfer to a seagoing squadron. It was walk out of one hangar and into another at NAS Whidbey Island, WA. When I checked in, the Command Career Counselor said to me that the window to request transfer to the Fleet Reserve had been opened to 18 months from the projected date. That day was exactly 18 months out. They got rid of us in bunches. I averaged a retirement ceremony per week for those last 18 months, of someone I knew and had served with.
I enlisted on 29 September 1973 at AAFES Butte, Montana. I had a draft lottery number of 343 as a member of the class of 1972. Let that sink in, a lottery number in the draft, the last draft. I am almost 2 generations removed from those who now serve................at a spry age of 55! Think about it. The primary fleet fighter when I first went to sea was the F-4! Three of the five ships I went to sea on are gone, awaiting their fate in Bremerton, Washington. Three of the squadrons I was in at sea and ashore are gone, along with a Naval Air Station.
Buck, Old NFO, MCPO Airdale and my brother-in-law, fair winds and following seas.