Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619

We were in Nogales, Mex a few years back. My late in-laws lived in Green Valley at the time, south of Tuscon. It so happened that it was May 5. All of the schools were out for the holiday, and there was a huge parade. This was the first time we saw those fantastic Mexican equestrian clubs at work with terrific precision riding and great costuming. Anyway, it was a Cinco de Mayo celebration, and a big one. True, Nogales is a border town, but it's fully Mexican, and this was way bigger than a tourist event. We just stumbled into the holiday; we weren't there for any festivities. So, from personal experience, I say that Mexicans celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Whether it's bigger in one region over another, I don't know.

I don't get too optimistic about it. There are many historical instances of troops and tactics being a shambles-- until the force gets its act together under the pressure of experience.

It's usually not hard to figure why a post is pulled. Generally it's because it violates the rules of the site.

I think that in most movies the prop people in fact did pick up the guns after the scenes were shot.

Or even a Red Gauntlet....

Me too....

Just wait, Alpo. I predict the film opportunities will be pouring in.....

I killed seven in one blow once.

As for Winchester 73, the movie was named after the very gun, and it was among those that were laying out there after the battle. It had to be picked up or the story was over.....

I don't think that in any movies they show aftermaths such as picking up guns, furniture, fixing broken windows, etc. Wouldn't be part of the story, after all.

The main rotary engine in WWI in the RCF/RAF was the Clerget engine. My paternal grandfather was an RAF pilot in the First War, flying as an artillery spotter, which was the primary combat role for aircraft then, in what was in many respects an artillery war. His handling notes for the Clerget engine were turned over to the Imperial War Museum about 20 years ago, and they were accepted into the collection. I was 29 when he died, and I grew up a few blocks away, so I knew him well and was close to him. He talked about the war a fair amount. He said the biplanes glided well and in his case, he once lost power at 4,000 feet and glidedi to a safe landing, a short stroll behind German lines. Never asked him about the handling characteristics of the engine or other flight details, though.

From age 19 through 21 I worked swing shift at the Post Office Terminal Annex in the south end of Seattle. I was an undergrad, married young and with children, and the job was perfect; classes in the morning, work from 2 to 10 pm, mostly loading parcel post onto to rail mail cars. Mostly outside, great exercise. They tabbed me to ride now and then with the Registered Mail from the annex at night to the downtown station. You had to be armed, so they gave me a couple of lessons with a .38 S&W snubbie and issued me a Federal license. Nobody had robbed the mail run in generations, but that was the procedure. Veterans told me to lay my gun down quietly in the extremely unlikely event of a heist. One single shift I was told to guard the Queen Anne post office downtown on a Sunday. I walked around the perimeter with the .38 on my hip, in jeans and a flannel shirt, for 8 hours. A couple of Seattle cops saw me in this improbable role and came over to ask what I was up to. I showed them my Federal license. They were friendly and rather amused and departed. I encountered no desperados seeking after the mail....

You can enjoy a glass of wine at dinner, and a wee dram now and then, if you include it in your calorie count. That's the key. A lean steak, salad and veggies, a small boiled potato, a fulsome glass of red can fit nicely into a satisfying weight loss regime dinner. The key is-- one. If you eliminate all junk food and sweet snacks, and plan, you can have real good, real food meals. I think that's one of the keys: you have to discipline, but you don't make yourself suffer with artificial regimes and special severities. That breaks down in the long run.

When I started practicing law in 1973, you could smoke in the courtrooms during recesses. The counsel tables had ashtrays, and the pew seats had those small ashtrays on the back of the seats in front of you. When the judge came out on the bench, the lawyers hurriedly put out their smokes at the table. Within 3 or 4 years, no smoking in the courtrooms, but you still could out in the hallways. Then that disappeared. People hardly can believe it now. I can hardly believe it, and I was there....

Modestly consider his 17,000+ posts as a start.

A cut and paste error of some kind, I guess. I copied the line and the computer did the rest. Looks like it was Frybread's post. Sorry!

Find the calorie intake for your weight which will result in a reasonable weight loss. There are many sources for this. Then eat as normally as reasonably possible within the limit. This will have you tend toward moderately low carbs, but is not a 'no carb' diet. Normalcy in food helps a lot. All of the junk food and most desserts go out the window, but good normal food will do the job. The calorie counting is essential to really know where you are. Never cheat on the count. Don't make the goal too severe; that won't work. Upping the exercise is important. Not to burn calories-- you do that part by not eating them in the first place. But exercise helps metabolism, suppresses appetite, and strongly contributes to an increased sense of well-being, which helps greatly.

The actual line is better: "As Stalin said, dark humor is like food; not everybody gets it." At least, that's how I heard it long ago...

Though I ever strive to fill my waking hours only with that which is uplifting, now and then the impulse to nonsense intrudes, and I gyre and gimbal in the wabe for a moment.

My favorite was the one where he hears that Chuck Norris has been unleashed and is swimming across the Atlantic.

I got my first smartphone 4 months ago, at age 74, when my trusty workhorse flip phone of many years would no longer take a charge. I will say I do like it.

One grandson has just received his at 15. We have 12 grandkids, most of them now in their 20s. All of their folks were pretty conservative on the phone issue and waited until mid-teens to buy them; not 12 or 13.

The 14th Century scholars are long dead.

Right in my backyard. Was just talking to #1 son-in-law tonight about his childhood vacations at Brinnon. The sort of scenario one imagines, but can't imagine will come true!

I buy a new minivan every 10 years. One-car household; very versatile in that situation. First, in 1990, was a Dodge Caravan, it was good, and very good in ice and snow. In 2000, a Honda Odyssey. It was good but not very in ice and snow, surprisingly. Bought a Toyota Sienna in 2010. Great in every respect. Best ice and snow vehicle ever for me (all-wheel). So in 2020 bought another one. These Siennas are the best cars I've owned. The others were going strong after 10 years, but I sold them, usually at bargain prices to one of our many children.