Milestone 300K

I must not have been paying very close attention.
This here humble little blog cracked 300, 000 views this weekend................................
Wow! Who would have thought?
To all those who helped me out at the beginning, Many Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Buck, Jeff, Cindy, Joy, Kate, KC, Old NFO and all the rest!

CVN 78 Island Landing Video

PCU Gerald R. Ford.
The good stuff starts at a about 36 minutes in or so. Sorry for the length of it but it is really cool..............................................

California for Beginners

This is a funny map. I live here. I will make fun of the place. Gotta do that to maintain ya know.
If ya click it, it will get bigger...........................

Just so everyone knows...............................

You are here...................................................................
Nice to know, isn't it.....................................................

Got it? Good. I wouldn't anyone to get lost, ya know.
Have a Fine Navy Day..................................................

Sixty Uses of Baking Soda

Got this from Google +.
Too good to pass up!
Some of us remember these from Mom or Grandma or That Aunt.................................................
Hit the link and have a read........................................
http://www.prepperideas.com/sixty-uses-of-baking-soda/

Last Flight Out Of Stapleton

This is on the Old Frontier Airlines site. I spent a fair amount of time transiting Stapleton when Mom and Dad lived in Farmington NM and suburban Denver. The First Missus ORPO was from the Four Corners as well. DEN was the connection point.
This is the narrative, of sorts of the last flight out. Continental 34 to London Gatwick, February 27, 1995.
http://www.geocities.com/~aeromoe/stapleton.html
It is a good read. Enjoy it as I did.

DC-10-30 N12061 receives a final de-icing at the gate prior to pushback.

Hockey Night in Canada set to kick off exciting 60th season

It is that important.................................
I grew up on both sides of the 49th in Montana and Alberta.....................
I am as much a Canadian as an American.............................................
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/community/opinion/2013/01/hockey-night-in-canada-set-to-kick-off-exciting-60th-season.html

Picture without further comment

Saint Jude Thaddeus Church - Havre, Montana

Came across this rather unique blog, Photos from The Big Sky. The kid is from Havre. So am I.
As piece of history, I was baptized in this very church in the Autumn of 1954. It was a Jesuit run church for many years and went generic sometime after I went back to Havre when I retired from the Navy.
There are more pics at the link along with other shots of Havre and other places in Montana..

http://www.bigskymtimages.com/2012/12/saint-jude-thaddeus-church-havre-montana.html

How Dictators Kiss Babies

I got this from a friend and one of us Lexicans. Not giving the name out......................the way it is.
Good read here folks. Really good read.
 

http://jamesthomassnyder.com/2012/07/27/how-dictators-kiss-babies/

Absent

Busy end of week at work last week.
The Missus and I went to Las Vegas on Saturday to see Paul Revere and The Raiders at South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa. It was her birthday present.
Pics will be uploaded at a later date, ie, when I get the SD card out of the camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW, it is bloody cold here in the Kern County Desert!

A must read

This is from a Facebook post on my Timeline, yesterday.
Who posted it? I do not remember. It is simply a must read.........................................
They don't make them like this anymore. The few that are left are leaving us at an alarming rate.......................
We should rejoice that such men lived....................................................................................

And think of the media circus, and all the things that are said of Hollywood "celebretites" when they die. This hero died with barely anyone's notice.

No Comment required

"Shifty" By Chuck Yeager

Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy

Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st

Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the

History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10

episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't

know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having

trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was

at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle," the symbol of

the 101st Airborne, on his hat.

Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne

or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the

101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served,

and how many jumps he made.

Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so,

and was in until sometime in 1945 ..." at which point my heart

skipped.

At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training

jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . do you know

where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped.

I told him "yes, I know exactly where Normandy is, and I know what

D-Day was." At that point he said "I also made a second jump into

Holland , into Arnhem ." I was standing with a genuine war hero ...

and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of

D-Day.

I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said

"Yes... And it 's real sad because, these days, so few of the guys are

left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip."

My heart was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in

coach while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to

get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came

forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have

it, that I'd take his in coach.

He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are

still some who remember what we did and who still care is enough to

make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it.

And mine are brimming up now as I write this.

Shifty died on Jan. l7 after fighting cancer.

There was no parade.

No big event in Staples Center .

No wall-to-wall, back-to-back 24x7 news coverage.

No weeping fans on television.

And that's not right!

Let's give Shifty his own memorial service, on line, in our own quiet way.

Please repost to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans.

Rest in peace, Shifty.

Chuck Yeager, Maj. General [ret.]

P.S. I think that it is amazing how the "media" chooses our "heroes" these days...

Elvis, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston & the like.

News on Humpty Dumpty

Well it is a slow day, ya know..........................................................
http://www.omg-facts.com/History/Humpty-Dumpty-wasn-t-an-egg-or-a-person/55315?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Facebook-231435026494&utm_content=FBPagePost
Ya simply cannot make this stuff up...........................................