Cactus Jack Calder

Luck to you on your purchase offer. CJ

I don’t know if the units on the US Navy ship I served on (1968-1970) were exactly the same, but they had big reels of tape as shown in the video. Personnel Dept. had a worn out tape that was unreliable in recording data. They brought it to E Division so that we could rig up an electromagnet to erase anything on it. Once we gave it the once over (several times) they took it to the fan tail to dump it. We were still practicing ‘dumping at Sea’ in those days. The Clerk unspooled tape into the water so that there was enough drag to let the tape free spool off the reel held up on a shaft. As the tape payed out into the sea a Russian Trawler came behind a fished it out of the water. They were our constant companion for that cruise. I often wondered what the sailors on that Trawler thought of handling miles of wet recording tape. How could they dry it? It certainly would have fouled a tape machine if they tried to read it wet. CJ

From the white puffs of smoke(?), it looks like they might have fire a salute both Port and Starboard side just when that picture was taken. If I remember correctly Pat Riot witnessed a turn around maneuver a couple of years ago. Would have loved to see that. CJ

I once ordered 10 bags of rubber mulch (ground auto tires) delivered Tom my local Home Improvement Store. The driver neatly piled them on my front porch so that I would have had to climb over them to exit that way. He/she had to carry each bag 10 feet up the walkway from the driveway. The 2 car wide garage door was less than 5 feet from the tire tracks left by the delivery truck. After I moved the bags I realized I should have taken a photo and sent it to the store manager. At least I’m retired and had all the time in the world to Strategical Transfer Equipment (move the bags) to an Alternate Location. CJ

What is Purple and has conquered the world? Alexander the Grape! How can you tell if an Elephant has been in your refrigerator? You will see his footprints in the Cheesecake! 😁CJ

In the late 1930’s my Mother taught a Nursing Course at Mt. Sioni (sp?) Hospital in NY City. She once told me she had had a student from Ceylon. I believe that is now known as Sri Lanka. Mom said this student liked a little coffee in her sugar. According to Mom she ate it with a spoon. Yes I use more sugar than I should in my coffee, but that is too sweet even for me! CJ

It’s O.Dark :22 and I made it home with no glitches. Thanks to all that wished me luck. I’ll say it worked. Now I’m gonna sleep till noon. Nothing to Grump about tonight. Tomorrow I’ll see what happened here while I was gone and find a reason to Grump about that. Just to keep up the community standard you know. CJ

This is the first time I’ve posted here. I’ve followed this thread for a while. I know this will be a bit lengthy. My Grump: I decided to spend Christmas with one of my Son’s and Family and New Years with the other Son and Family. I live in North Carolina, first Son in Sault St. Marie, MI and second Son in Rochester, NY. I flew from Raleigh, NC to Detroit, MI. In Detroit I had to hike from one end of the very long terminal to the other then they changed the gate to the original end. At least the flight was delayed 2.5 hours so I had plenty of time to walk. Then the flight was delayed another hour. I thought I might have to sleep there. Finally made to SSM. 12” of fresh snow on top of 12” of old packed down snow and my Grandson picked me up at the airport to drive home. He’s a new driver so we went 20 mph slower than the speed limit. I’m glad he is cautious but the other drivers seem to think we are on a racetrack. After Christmas my next leg of travel was cancelled due to continued snowfall. So I rescheduled for a later date, which was cancelled the next day. Rescheduled again, get to the airport and there is a paper note on the entry the flight is canceled. However, there are people inside who look like they are checking in, so I went over to the counter and when I asked the clerk said “Oh, that was yesterday’s flight. I forgot to take it down. Your flight is only delayed 2 hours. There was not that much time in the Detroit layover. I asked about the connection and the clerk kindly informed me that the flight from Detroit to Rochester was also delayed, 4 hours. Finally got to Rochester on 01/04/ 26, missed New Years with my second Son, but we still get together. After one more reschedule of my trip home I seem to be set to get home to NC tomorrow.01/11/26. I also got to visit one more time with my Cousin here in Rochester. He is in Hospice Care and I’m not likely to get up here again before he passes. So despite the hassles of flying in the north in winter I very glad I came and saw family. Some Grumps, but several happy memories also. Wish me luck tomorrow!! CJ

Merry Christmas from Sault St. Marie in the UP of Michigan. It is somewhat cold compared to my home in North Carolina. 14°F this morning @ 8:00 am. My friend at home said it was 70°F in NC this morning. 🥶 CJ

Wow, really slow internet here in the UP of Michigan. CJ

As a teenager attending Youth Group activities we had a supper meeting. The desert was Neapolitan Ice Cream served sliced on a flat plate. The room was small so items were served “family style”. Our resident comedian, who happened to have lost an eye, popped his glass eye, placed it on top of a slice and passed it on. When it reached the first young lady, she screamed, threw it up in the air and bolted from the room. Took us a few minutes to find his eye on the floor. Fortunately it was undamaged. CJ

Smart enough to step on the gas when only his front tires are in contact with the earth. Thereby pulling the front end forward faster than the rear end was tipping over. “Whew, made it!” CJ

A tangent is a straight line produced when you are going off on a curve and the string breaks. 😁 CJ

Dunn Rowvyn Dunn Werken Dunn Nutten I had some inspiration from local places and 40 Rod’s “Dunn Tockin”. There is a local gift/junk store named Dunrovin, it took me many years to realize what the owner was saying when he named the store. An unrelated local farm is named Dunwerkin, that is what finally kick my brain into gear. The Dunn Nutten was my idea after the inspiration. CJ

Back to the OP question. I like the look of the TRP much better than the Prodigy. I can still handle the 45 ACP so on that shallow basis’ I’d take the TRP. If I really had a chance to handle them the choice might be more definite. Shooting them is the real test. Widder, anytime you want give me one I’d be happy to accept.😁 CJ