Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967

Huh! Can't believe I just now remembered this... While he was growing up, my son had a "hero" - Ken N. Kid's mom's best friend's husband. And when asked, he'd told the Kid that he'd "served in the Air Force." When further pressed, he told the Kid that yes, he had been in Viet Nam. No details; just that he'd flown some large airplanes around. Sadly, Ken passed back in '16. The Kid was surprised when I pointed out this line from the obituary: "Ken served his country in combat as an Air Force pilot and gunship commander during the Viet Nam war and afterwards in other duties in the Reserves..." Ironically, when he was little, I'd bought a kinda cool toy for the Kid. And I also just remembered and found it atop a cabinet in the guest room. Don't recall who made the thing, and can't find a maker's mark on it anywhere ~ but it's still cool.

One of those situations where, just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

I snapped these at a Pinewood Derby a few weeks ago....

I was in Tucson last weekend, and took a wrong turn - which turned out to be fortuitous; it took me right past the "Boneyard." And from my rough estimate, there were over two hundred C-130's neatly parked there. Don't know how many - if any - were gunships, but it was an amazing sight! Row after row after row....

A loss, for sure. He was part of the best concert I ever attended ~ Joe Walsh and Barnstorm, JCY, The Band, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and [Neil] Young. All on the same ticket. RIP, Jesse

Picky, picky.... 🤪

So this ain't political, but what the hay ~ I thought it was kinda funny.... There's a certain segment of the citizenry who like to think of themselves as "green," and often seem to think that everyone else should think like them. And for many of 'em, driving a "fossil-fuel powered" automobile is considered to be some sort of an abomination. And so, they tend to drive electric automobiles ~ and think everyone else should, too. And by far the most popular EV (Electric Vehicle) brand in this country is Tesla. And Tesla's major stockholder is a particular individual who has become, for other reasons, the total antithesis for them folk's, well... political values. To a point where Tesla dealerships, charging stations, and privately-owned vehicles have become targets of vandalism. Nice folks, huh? So what to do, what to do... Why, simple!! They'll just "re-brand" their automobiles!! Reckon they'll fool anyone...? The Honda Civic Tesla The Mazda (Miata?) Tesla The "Audi-Doody" Tesla Mebbe a phony grille will throw 'em off

Well... it just so happens I gots one o' them, too!

Bake a quiche! 😄 And, for what it's worth, real men DO eat quiche. In fact, we can make it ~ even in a Dutch oven over/under hot coals. (Possible drawback ~ she might get home from the protest and see what you can do and mebbe feel a mite less indispensable... )

I gots an old one! 1874 Gras, or Fusil Modèl 1874 - 11x59R Ironically, the round was later used in the Hotchkiss M1914 and Vickers aircraft machine guns.

When I was a kid - which was a long time ago - I had a bunch of older grownup male relatives who were truckers. Flashing to warn oncomers of a "speed trap" was common practice among truckers and considered a courtesy. Generally, the only non-truck "warning flashers" were off-duty or former truckers. Somewhere along the line (seventies?) it kinda got picked up by others; but like @Cypress Sun pointed out above, most folk wouldn't know what it means anyway. In today's world, your cell phone GPS screen will show "speed traps" reported by someone else, then ask you if it's still there.

"Patients" are now "clients."

Wal shux... heard it a hundred times. The classic answer is "one is heavy and the other is a little lighter" ~ just ask any Cub Scout or Boy Scout.

So, @bgavin, where's this "feedback button?" I reckon they must've hidden it - "Lookie, Boss! No complaints! I done good, huh?" - With the "old version," you could scroll from the most recent item in every "folder" all the way to the oldest. Now it's limited to 25 per "page"; after that you have to find the faint ">" and click on it to move to the next 25. - Each unread message has a blue dot next to it; you used to be able to simply click on that blue dot to make the message appear as "read." Now, you have to click on the check box, click on the "Actions" button to open a drop-down menu, click on "Mark as Read," then click on another "Apply" button. - You used to bea able to select a range of messages by clicking on a check box, scroll to the end of the range and +shift+click on that message, and the entire range will be selected. Now, you have to individually click on each message check box. - You used to be able to format the text of your messages - size, font, color, style, etc. No longer available. Everything is one font, one small size. - You used to be able to easily insert a graphic in the body of a message. Cannot be done at all now. I'm sure I'm leaving out some gripe - bottom line is, it's messed up. It had worked pretty darned well - so of course, some propellor-head wingnut had to fix and improve it to the point it's barely usable. Prolly a former MicroSoft'er.

Not really clear if, in Wake Of the Red Witch, he drowned or was squoze to death by the giant octopus that wanted to have him for lunch.

It has been my experience that the fastest way to not find sheds is to set to find 'em.... I seem to recall reading not long ago where some "greenie types" were squawking that picking up sheds was a horrible thing to do 'cuz the po' field mice liked to gnaw on 'em, and pickin' 'em up deprived them po' field mice of a "critical" source of calcium. Meanwhile, I'm a-gonna keep pickin' up any I might come across.

Cool video embedded here. https://www.rockislandauction.com/riac-blog/winchester-one-of-one-thousand-thomas-stuart

They've relented! Evidently after mountains of complaints, there is now an option to return to the fully functional "old" version!

African-American....

And a smokey booger on takeoff, too

I dunno, Alpo... it looks pretty crisp and clear in photo no. 22:

Both. My type 99 still has both, although the receiver Mum has a couple of sharp chisel cuts in it - the less offensive alternative to a grinding wheel. This one has an interesting domestic history... back in 1971 or 1972, my then seven or eight year old cousin found this thing on the roof of our aunt's garage. His mom immediately asked me to "get rid of this thing!" and of course, I immediately agreed to. I took it home to the Kappa Phi Delta house, and contemplated it for a bit. All moving parts frozen solid. A solid coating of patina beneath a rather thick layer of dirt, grime, and bird poop - no telling how many years it had resided atop the garage. I tried to give it away; no takers. Finally, I scraped it off, and weekly would give it a dosing of either WD-40 or Liquid Wrench ("Tiger Pee") and lean it back in its corner. Finally, after a few months, I picked it up one day and on a whim whacked the bolt handle. It moved! Not much, but a bit! I worked at it, managed to get the bolt release pried open, worked the bolt out of the reciever, then tossed it up to peer down the barrel. I expected it to look like an old sewer pipe - imagine my surprise when it gleamed like a newly polished chrome bumper! I'd had no idea that they were indeed chrome lined! Rifling was crisp and sharp. I disassembled it, and over many hours of scrubbing with oil and bronze brushes and steel wool got it cleaned up - and it cleaned up quite nicely, in my not so humble opinion. I was gratified to discover that beneath that patina, dirt, grime, and bird poop most of the original bluing was still intact. And it shoots quite well! About as accurate at a hundred yards as the old Winchester .30-30. It's relatively light, and handles surprisingly well. Although I have not taken a deer with it, I have carried it afield. A comfortable rifle to carry or sling. And I still shake my head when remembering the old-timers telling me when I was a kid that "them Japanese rifles are junk! They're dangerous! If'n ya git one, toss it away!" Yeah, fellas... toss 'em MY way!