Cactus Jack Calder

I’ve made 6321 today! I’ll either cut you or rub you the wrong way. CJ CRKT 6321 Cottidae Corded Electric Belt Sander with Dust Bag , Black(6321)

Dju ever hear about the Texan who visited Australia. A Texan visits Australia A Texan on a visit to Australia could not help, as Texans are reputed to do, bragging about how everything in his home state was bigger than anywhere else in the world. While walking along with a few of the locals he suddenly fell silent. His companions, concerned by his sudden change in behavior, ask him what was the mater. As he stared off into the bush, he replied, I’ve always maintained that Texas has the biggest of everything in the whole world. Pointing at a Kangaroo he said, but that is the biggest dang grasshopper I’ve ever seen. CJ

Back in the late 80’s our family took a trip ‘out west’. One of the sites we visited was Canyon De Chelly (pronounced Dee Shay I am told). The visit included a tour of the canyon guided by men of the Navajo Nation. One of the features of the tour was a large column of stone (football field size on top). The guides informed us that in the 1800’s part of the Navajo tribe had sought refuge on top of this column from the still hated, Kit Carson and the US Army. During the siege the young braves of the tribe would climb down to the river below via hidden trails, and retrieve water for people and stock that remained on top of the column. The guides further informed us that Carson and the Army eventually gave up and left the Navajo in peace. Even though De Chelly is now a National Park several Navajo families retain ancestral rights to homes and grazing rights within the canyon. I also am not saying a particular group is complicit in the disappearance of the solar panels. However, no one knows a neighborhood better than those who live and play there. As the saying goes, ‘Could Be’. CJ

The one in the middle looks quite angry. Do you think it knows it’s fate? CJ

Obviously I was slow In responding.

From the reference given, I calculated that the barrel of a 4”- 50 would be 4”x50 = 200” long or 16’ - 8”. I served on the USS Guadalcanal LPH 7. It was armed at the time with three 5”- 50’s. The barrel would have been 5” x 50 = 250” or 20’ - 10” long. Not being a Gunner’s Mate, but having seen the Guns I could believe that. I know we manhandled many 5”- 50 shells below decks during “Underway Replenishment at Sea”. A fun exercise to say the very most. CJ

Back in the early 60’s I worked as a ground hand on an electric utility line crew. Almost every lineman carried a ‘lunch box’ to work. Many were empty going in to work, often they were much heavier going home. The rule was “Never steal from the Company”. The linemen were very strict about never cutting Company wire. Even we restrung new heavier wire to replace bare cooper, the cooper got rolled up and thrown into the Company scrap bins to be sold. However, outside contractors temporarily services that had been removed to put in a permanent Company installed service were fair game. On the whole the line personnel were pretty loyal to the Company. The only time I ever heard of a Company employee stealing Company wire, was a yard hand who set a reel of wire on a stand next to a chain link fence. He came back at night and fished the end of the reel through the fence and cut lengths off. The scrap dealer he went to turned him in. The scraper had been caught once buying suspect material and didn’t want to repeat that ordeal. CJ

This is my Dad, Earl and our Collie, Bruce. Dad was 30 when I was born and Bruce was just 1. I learned a great deal from both of them and received a lot of love. I learned patience and a strong work ethic from Dad. I learned how to care for someone you love from Bruce. Mom always said Bruce thought I was his Pup. CJ

Here we call them El Camino’s or Ranchero’s depending on the manufacturer. Although they have been out of production for a while. The ‘Pickup’ truck took over that position in the American consciousness. Sure miss my old Dakota PU. CJ

This is a long one. The spring of 1963 I started attending Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. I lived at home in Fair Lawn, NJ and rode the Erie Lackawanna Bergen County short line from Fair Lawn to Hoboken six days a week to classes. In either my first or second year at Stevens there was a longshoreman strike on the docks in Hoboken. Since I walked from the train station to school along the docks I often encountered these men on picket duty. The men were respectful of foot traffic along the sidewalk and never made my walk uncomfortable. I think they recognized that I was a student and felt no animosity towards me as I walked by. So it went for a week or so, until one day the largest man I had ever encountered stopped me by pocking me in the chest with his index finger and said, “ Hey kid, what is the capital of Australia?” I stammered, “Uh, Melbourne, Sidney?” He replied “No, it is Canberra, and don’t you forget it.” “No sir,” I responded, not quite sure if I was off the hook or in danger of physical harm. Then he smiled at me and said, “Kid, I just want someone to remember. I served on the USS Canberra, the only ship in the US Navy to be named for a foreign city. Actually it isn’t named for the city it is named for the HMAS Canberra, an Australian Navy ship that was sunk in WWII.” He told me that the Captain of the HMAS Canberra had maneuvered his ship to take torpedos meant for a US Navy Ship, sacrificing the Canberra to save a ship the Captain considered more valuable to the war effort. I’ve looked up the HMAS Canberra and found this excerpt from an online article: In August 1942 HMAS Canberra operated with the naval force supporting the American landings at Guadalcanal and Tulagi, operations which ended with her loss in the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942. Canberra was struck by two torpedoes on her starboard side and over 20 salvoes of 8-inch shellfire. With power lost and the ship listing, the wounded and survivors were transferred to USS Patterson and USS Blue. Rear Admiral RK Turner USN ordered that Canberra be abandoned and sunk if she could not steam by 06:30. Once all the survivors had been evacuated, and acting in accordance with the orders of Rear Admiral Turner …. Eventually a torpedo fired by USS Ellet administered the final blow. Canberra sank at about 8:00 am on 9 August 1942. The information presented does not mention such a sacrifice, however, the fact is that there was a USS Canberra and a second US Navy ship was commissioned June 5, 2021 bearing the name Canberra. The unnamed President in the excerpt below is President Donald Trump. To honor Canberra, the US Navy commissioned the Baltimore Class heavy cruiser, USS Canberra in 1943, the only US Navy ship thus far to be named for a foreign capital. In February 2018, continuing the tradition of honoring HMAS Canberra (I), the President of the United States of America announced that a future Independence class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 30), will be the second US Navy ship to carry the name USS Canberra. Obviously I have not forgotten that unknown longshoreman and his story. He made a big impression on me as he turned out to be a gentle giant who honored his country and her allies who sacrificed much for the betterment of the world. CJ

YES, CONGRATULATIONS! Many Happy Returns. CJ

Are those for your train ride? They will look snazzy with the suit you displayed earlier. when you go I hope you take lots of pictures to post here. CJ Man Widder beat me with the Snazzy remark.

Back 4-5 years ago my wife and I visited Savanah GA. There was road work in progress just Southeast of the Factors Walk tourist area. They discovered two or more unexplored (actually unknown nature) shells from the Civil War period buried in the ground without any container. They could have been fired and failed to detonate or they could have been dumped as no longer needed. I believe the US Corp of Engineers was called to blow them up in place. We heard the detonation of the destruction charges. They would not try to move them for fear of the old munitions being unstable and detonating. I would guess that is what would be done with the pieces pictured above. CJ

My mother kept a pair(?) of tweezers that were blackened and burned for years. She always told me I would grow up to work in the electric business. Apparently I stuck them in a wall socket just as pictured above. After a stint as an Electrician’s Mate in the US Nav, I earned my BSEE in Power Systems in 1972, 10 years after graduating High School. I was employed at a local electric utility co for 33 years. It was a good career. CJ

This is a true story, I swear it is: Skunk Walk: I worked in the Engineering Dept. of an Electric Utility in southern New York. We had hydro electric facilities near the NY-PA border with the attendant watershed and forest lands. The Co owned an old former hunting lodge that was used as a conference center for employee continuing education. One of our Dept. members was a native born Italian fellow named Marcello. The Engineering Dept. had a two day conference at the lodge and in the late afternoon a couple of us decided to take a stroll along the Jeep roads to settle our supper. Marcello came along. As we were strolling through the woods Marcello asked if we needed to be worried about bears. I said “No, we make enough noise that bears would most likely avoid us. What you have to be worried about,” says I, “is skunks.” Well Marcello says, “What’s a skunk?” None of the other Engineers could believe Marcello didn’t know what a skunk was. So I explained that a skunk was a cat sized animal with black fur and a big white stripe down his back, and the big danger was his spray. Of course Marcello thought I was pulling his leg, even though all of the other men assured him I was serious. As we walked along it became dusk and vision was restricted to mostly black and gray. The return trip from our walk meandered along a grass air field cut into the forest for Company Executives to land their small planes when using the lodge on weekends. There were several clumps of tall grass and small evergreens growing along the edge of the field that appeared as gray lumps. I was in the lead when one of those lumps moved. I stopped everyone an said there it is a skunk. Marcello came forward to see what I was talking about. Fortunately I stopped him from moving to fast and we waited for the lump to wander off. The lingering aroma arrived where we waited and Marcello said, “Oh, I guess you weren’t kidding me.” After that every year Engineering went up to the lodge I would ask, “Hey Marcello, want to go for a skunk walk?” He never did!! CJ