Trailrider #896

And I saw it go the other way in about ten minutes time up there! No matter what the weather was when we drove out the base gate, we were equipped for sub-zero and blizzard conditions. In the Judith Basin country there was nothing between you and the Great Slave Lake in Canada...but a barbed wire fence! We used to say, "Colder than the North end of a Southbound missile maintainer!"

Either that or when the elephant he helped wasn't wanted by the people who captured her because she limped! When she no longer limped....her freedom was lost!

The U.S. military no longer teaches their comm people Morse code! By the time I was old enough to drive, my folk's cars were all automatic transmission. I didn't learn how to drive manual until one of my NCO's taught me on one of our AF pickup trucks.

New Years Day 1969 it was -52 deg. F. in Great Falls, and there was NO WIND! Couple of years later I heard (left the end of that January for Colorado) it was -54 deg. F.! With a wind chill thrown in, at -60, try manipulating the controls of a Swiss-made theodolite surveying in a Minuteman I Launch Facility! Cheer up. In another six months we'll all be complaining about the heat!

Had a tornado last summer. Damaged a couple of buildings a couple miles away. No damage to our house, but four of our 37 year old spruce trees were uprooted, as were over 1,000 trees along the ajacent parkway!

When some people ask to be called on the telephone, some may still say, "Dial such-and-such a number." Fourteen years ago, when my grandchild and our daughter, son-in-law and my wife went to a museum, my s-i-l lifted the kid up and showed how to operate a dial phone. I ask every once-in-a-while if the kid remembers how to do it. You never know when you might need to use one in an emergency! And most of the even-high-level school systems don't teach cursive handwriting. (Oddly, the Chicago public schools did teach it seventy-odd years ago, but the suburban schools didn't!

Regardless of the care you received from your furry friend, how up to date is your tetanus shot? I'd not be so worried about bacteria from your dog, but what might have been picked up when you dragged the branches through the dirt. I get a booster every ten years, unless I cut myself on something dragged through the dirt. And, no, it isn't just something rusty that can be a problem. In the CW, more people died of lockjaw (tetanus) in the Eastern theaters than the West because the ground in the more-settled East tended to have more of the bacillus from cattle and horses.

Just showed what American ingenuity and hard work could accomplish in a very short time. Look what was done to the Yorktown after the Coral Sea in just 72 hours! But what they didn't mention in the newsreel was the absence of the carriers at Pearl Harbor on December 7. That alone spelled defeat for the Japanese at Midway and later. God Bless them all, and RIP!

Body piercings are far more difficult to recover from when the piercing was done with a bayonet!

In the movie, "Master and Commander", the British ship engages the French ship, but finds the guns are not effective against the American-built French frigate's hull. The British captain orders his gunners to aim for the French masts and rigging, as the French hull was apparently of the same live oak as the Constitution!

Looks to me like those two boys in the back meant business with them drum magazine equipped Tommies!

And the best was yet to come...Ma Deuce!

Worse yet. With a map! (Of course, I had one...still have it...showed what roads to take to 220 Launch Control Facilities and Launch Facilities in Montana.)

The state of the union is great...the xxxx's union, that is! The rest of us are xxxxd!

In case more fire(power) is needed, break glass!

Time: 0720 Local Date: 7 December 2324. Lieutenant thinks a minute, then adds: "Yeah, well we need confirmation. Don't worry about it."

"Planetary Defense, Guardian Aimless speaking, Sir!" "Guardian, this is the Deep Space Observation site! We have indications that the Romulans are about to land at Site Bravo-Two-Six. I've tried calling the President, but he's on vacation. The Veep is unavailable! I tried calling the Secretary of Defense, but he's in the ICU. Who's your duty officer?" "Uh, that'd be 2LT Jones. Just a minute an' I'll get him." (Pause) "Second Lieutenant Jones, here. You told Aimless the Romulans are about to land at Site Bravo-Two-Six? I'm not sure where that is...Wait, I'll check my map!" (Deep breath on the other end of the line.) "Say, lieutenant, who's minding the store?" "Store? What store?"

Take this post down! Somebody in the Gub'mint will decide your '73 Winchesters are potentially machine guns or assault rifles or something!

Maybe if you gave her enough steelwool she could knit you a stove!

Does that mean I won't be able to buy any 155mm ammo? All going to Ukraine, I guess???

Oops! Typist error. The F6F Hellcat was another great product of the "Long Island Boiler Works", aka Grumman. Used to see a bunch of them and other WWII Navy aircraft sitting inside a fence at Chicago Vocational School on the South Side, where they were used to train aircraft mechanics.

Call the garage door professional! The cost will be MUCH LESS than a trip to the emergency room or worse!

And if it is spitting jacket material from USAF .38 Special ball ammo from a Navy reject M10 it is time to reschedule your annual qualification and go to the local gun store and buy a M19 to qualify with! Which is what I did in 1967!

When they crossbred with European wild boar as happened in parts of Tennessee and Alabama, you get a really nasty critter. Got a pair of the heads on my wall from a trip to Central Tennessee back in '63! Great eating, if you marinate them. No bacon on them, however, especially the more pure "Roosians"! Took one with a .30-06 at about 5 yards in heavy brush! The other one with a .33 WCF at abut 25 yards. Happy New Year, Pards!

One each, 7-1/2" OMV and 5-1/2" OMV, both with convertible cylinders .44-40 and .44 Extra-Long Russian (aka .44 Mangle-em). Haven't been shooting for a couple of years, but hope to get back into it when the weather gets a bit warmer (but not too warm!). Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year, Pards! Your obedient servant, Trailrider