We don't do this much any more

What's happening elsewhere:

The NWS Storm Prediction Center expects a risk of severe weather over a large portion of the country on Sunday. The largest area, extends from south Texas into portions of Northeast. In this area, isolated reports of large hail, damaging winds and even a tornado are possible.

What we're getting:

In my back yard:

I kinda miss exchanging wx info with Buck.

Sarge took a day off and turned it into a relevant post.
The muse over here has been teasing, coming close but not quite making contact.

Oh... and who gives a [insert expletive] about the FIFA bribery thing compared to "real world" issues.
Just embargo that outfit and freeze any assets they might have that the DOJ can get their hands on.
Get rid of the corruption, asshattery, and violence here, first.

too much government
 doing too little

The real Memorial Day

Monday was Memorial Day, traditionally we remember fallen members of the Armed Forces.
My Dad (stepdad [for 48 years] - not the guy in the picture the other day) carried the tradition a little further.
He routinely, on May 30 of every year, visited the cemetery and place flowers on the graves of family members.
It wasn't too difficult.
His parents were immigrants and were buried side by side.
His first wife and young daughter are there, too.

That's not what this is about.
I spent the weekend reflecting upon those who passed during the last year.
You could conclude it hit pretty close to home.
Yeah!
In a number of ways.

• In June, a man I'd known since 2006, and felt like I known forever took the final journey. We spent a lot of time together as Lions, but also a true friends. He and his wife helped keep me company when GS had open heart surgery.
• August was another, greater, loss. That story's already been told on the very pages of this blog.
• The Exile in Portales, Buck Pennington, left in December. He and I shared a number of experiences. . .   except for actually ever meeting. We were, you might say, of an age.
• Just before the New Year a Navy buddy, since 1961, passed on. He was almost family, sitting in for me at my parents when I shipped out to Hawaii and he remained in SF.
• In late February a shipmate, who I'd also known since 1961, succumbed to lung cancer after a lengthy battle.
• Finally, another shipmate, though from different ships and different times, who I first met in 2002, finally wore out. The parts just stopped working after 90 years. The mind continued to function to the end. He never ceased to teach and to learn.

You might think I would be sad.
Nope, just reflective   . . .and maybe a little miffed that I didn't have more time with these folks.
I will remember them and any number of others who have gone on before: a daughter, my grandparents, Mom, Dad [both of them], my great grandmother, and a number of other relatives and friends from over the years.
I miss them, some more than others.

c'est la vie

Normal Friday

Wherein we seek the words of others to express our views.

maybe that's a bit extreme

Anomalous

That's what Tuesday was.
See this. . .

I have carefully removed certain data

It's a graph of pageviews on the blog.
You can see that there were roughly 90% more on Tuesday than on the previous four days. . .   or, if we were to extrapolate further, about 70% more than the rest of the month (without discounting other anomalies).

it was either this or weather

Entitlements

I was gonna write a post about how I think the word entitlements is misused and abused.
Then I said to myself, "Screw it, everyone's entitled to their own opinion."

I was given a writing assignment last Friday.
I've been doing some research.
So far I've underlined a few words and written three margin notes  . . .in red.
This assignment could take weeks.
The man who gave me that assignment is having back surgery tomorrow.
He could probably use your prayers.

yeah. . .   and his family

So. . .

. . .there I was*, last Friday morning, turning into the parking lot at Costco.

Before I go any further, let me refer you to this post from last year [go read it. It's what I should've done].

Anyhow, I almost immediately knew I had made a mistake because the looks on the faces of the drivers escaping exiting the parking lot were anything but pleasant.
Some were even is such a hurry as to fail to leave room for those of us wishing to enter the lot.

I had momentarily forgotten it was the Memorial Day weekend.
Costco is bad enough on any Friday, but when there's a holiday involved it compounds the situation to Richter Scale proportions.
There are invaders tourists out of town visitors involved.

Lake Shasta, and its enormous houseboat fleet, is only about 20 miles north of Redding.
The University of Oregon is only about five hours (according to Gargle Maps) away.
It's the last chance for a big fling before school ends for the summer.
The party starts in the parking lot at the Redding Costco. . .   and dammit, we don't care if we do inconvenience anyone.

Inside the store it was like Black Friday.
(I can't honestly say that it was like Black Friday. I haven't been exposed to Black Friday shopping, except on television) 
It seemed like everyone and their cousin was there and filling baskets to the point of spilling over.
The couple in front of me at checkout had two baskets.
The Oregon folks were like they'd never shopped on their own before.
It was OGA# [yours truly has much experience with implementing OGA on numerous occasions].
I was getting just a bit steamed.
Worse, I was gonna have to deal with the parking lot again.

The clowns in the lot were either oblivious to the fact there were folks who wanted to leave, or they were purposely inhibiting the smooth flow of traffic.
Either way I was glad I wouldn't be going anywhere near the lake on the weekend.

*What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story? 
A fairy tale starts with “Once upon a time” and a sea story starts with “So there I was”. (that previous line paraphrases another blogger's tagline) 

#organized grab @$$ - a term used to describe the pooling of funds over a period of time so that a large party may conducted. . .   then sending the least knowledgeable individuals involved to make purchases for said party

another reason to end three day weekends

Untitled

by design

We've never met

My father, Willis O'Brien, Jr.
(probably late 1942 or early 1943)

...but he was a pretty big influence.

The first picture was taken in front of one of those five houses

yeah. . .   Army Air Corps

Memorial Day Weekend

Ya better have some memorials if you're gonna have a weekend!

Those two are actually from this blog.
Y'all can steal 'em if you want.

I have been to that location more times than I can count.
There's one other place that holds my attention like the Arizona Memorial.

gotta find that picture

Normal Friday

I get a perverse pleasure from calling today Normal Friday.
Heck!
It isn't even a normal weekend.
It's an artificially created three-day weekend.
Monday's a holiday.
It is being called Memorial Day.
Some folks don't even know any better.
They think it's always been on the last Monday of May.
Others think it's for remembering all who have passed.
Many don't even concern themselves about why the holiday even exists, other than for another day off.
There are some folks who won't even get the real Memorial Day off, even though it's on a Saturday.

I am thinking to myself that all of the holidays that've been moved to Monday should just be called WTF Day.
. . .at least until folks understand what they are about.

It isn't about barbecues or shopping for bargains.
It's about remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice to we could even have this day.

redding.com

It may not look like much

I shot this on my way over to the Senior Center at 9:00 yesterday morning.
Eventually there was no blue left in the sky.
It finally rained a little early this morning.

Then this arrived in the Inbox:

A guy texts his neighbor friend:

Dear Keith : I'm sorry. I've been riddled with guilt and I have to confess. 
I have been helping myself to your wife when you're not around, probably more than you. 

I know it's no excuse, but I don't get it at home. I can't live with the guilt any longer. 
I hope you'll accept my sincerest apology. It won't happen again.

The neighbor, feeling outrage and betrayed, grabs his gun, goes into the bedroom and 

without a word, shoots his wife.

Moments later the guy gets a second text:
Damn, found a spelling error, I really should use spell check! That should be "wifi"... Sorry!

Who's yer uncle?

Had I been paying proper attention this post would have been here on Saturday.
Oh, wait. . .
I didn't think of it until Tuesday.
So, no it wouldn't have been here last Saturday.
But, if I'd been paying attention, Monday's post would've been here on Saturday.

What this is all about is that Saturday was Armed Forces Day and next Monday is Memorial Day [because someone thinks we need more three-day weekends instead of celebrating traditional holidays].
Some merchants have already begun celebrating Memorial Day with their annual Memorial Day Sale.
But I digress.

I am reminded of this story because of a post over at the Sarge's place.
It's a kind of biographical post.
It's about my uncle  . . .Mom's younger brother  . . .Cuz's dad.

When he was about 18 years old, Uncle Bob joined the Navy Reserve in San Francisco.
That would've been some time around 1939.
Within about a year national security got a little scary and his reserve unit was activated.
A national emergency was declared just before Christmas 1940.
He found himself manning a net tender in Sausalito.
Sausalito was a lot different then.
The primary purpose of the net tender was to open and close the anti-submarine nets across the opening of the Golden Gate.
Because of the currents and tides in San Francisco Bay that is a fairly tricky operation.
In addition to net tending duties they were diverted to patrolling areas of the coast to look for foreign submarines.
The only armament on the net tenders were machine guns and whatever small arms were in the gun locker.
As the story goes, most of the early career went without incident.
Then he got married and was sent to Newport, RI to some kind of training for anti-submarine nets.
My aunt had the adventures.
First in traveling across country on the train to move to Rhode Island.
Then in traveling back to the West Coast after Uncle Bob was assigned to a ship preparing for the invasion of North Africa.

Uncle Bob's was at Oran, in Algeria.
I remember hearing that he stood Shore Patrol there.
I also remember hearing that his C.O. had put him in charge of a large chest and told, "...under no circumstances can anything happen to that chest or its contents!"
When things had settled down after the Allies took control, he found that the chest contained recreation equipment for the occasional moments of R&R.

When it was determined that he was no longer needed in the Atlantic, Uncle Bob was transferred to the Pacific.
More specifically the Western Pacific.
The time was ripe for another invasion.
This time it was Okinawa.
He didn't relate much about that, either, other than to say there was no place to run from the Kamikazes on a net tender.

About the only personal memories I have of my uncle's brief* Navy career is as a small child, probably two or three years old, seeing him walk down the street in his Chief Petty Officer dress blues, and having no idea who he was.
I do remember there were a number of people really happy to see him.
I wasn't really impressed until much later when I realized he was a Chief Boatwains Mate and knew what an achievement that is.

thanks!

*brief in that he only served until the end of his enlistment

Just filler

I have lots to do today.
So for your amusement [I hope] I submit the following, of which I would have been aware if I didn't read Dave Barry's blog:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/american-english/parmesan-cheese

Hint:  turn on your sound and click on the little speaker icon.

ooh. . .   look, a squirrel

Back home. . . no pictures

This was the weekend of the Century Bike Ride* sponsored by the Lions Club.
The weather for the ride was ideal, temperature in the 70s with no wind.

I missed it.
While PHG and others packed stuff off to the usual venue for the lunch stop, I packed a small bag and drove south to Vacaville.
Without context that makes little sense.
The entire purpose of V'ville, IMHO, is economic.
The city lies astride Interstate 80, which goes across the continent from San Francisco to Teaneck, NJ.
The junction for Interstate 505, which connects to I-5 about 30 miles north, is there.
That connector saves miles and hours for those driving north.
More than anything else it provides numerous roadside services and shopping opportunities 30 miles west of  Sacramento, the state capital.
It used to be a wide spot in the road.
It is still only a destination if one is going shopping.
There is a huge outlets mall.

I was there to meet Cuz and Mrs Cuz.
We were then traveling to Sonoma for an after-wedding family gathering at Cuz's youngest brother's (also my cousin) house.
It is family.
We don't miss opportunities to get together unless we can't help it.

We kinda like the bargains at the outlet mall, too.
I found a pair of cargo pants for the annual birthday sojourn.
Yeah, we're going again this year [more on that later. . .   much later].

There were no complaints about the weather.
It was about as close to normal as it has been this year.

My only complaint has to do with an oversight on my part.
Saturday was Armed Forces Day.
I completely forgot about it until yesterday afternoon when I got home.

 
 *Century refers to the 100 mile length. . .   or in the case of the metric century, the 60+ mile length (roughly 100 kilometers)

Sarge might not tell this one

I'm away for the day, but have to leave you with something:

An Air Force story


(Thule, Greenland)
A US Air Force C-130 was scheduled to leave Thule Air Base, Greenland, at midnight during a winter month.  During the pilot's pre-flight check, he discovers that the latrine holding tank is still full from the last flight.
So a message is sent to the base and an airman who was off duty is called out to take care of it.  The young man finally gets to the air base and makes his way to the aircraft only to find that the latrine pump-truck has been left outdoors and is frozen solid, so he must find another one in the hangar; which takes even more time.
He returns to the aircraft and is less than enthusiastic about what he has to do. Nevertheless, he goes about the pumping job deliberately and carefully (and slowly) so as not to risk criticism later.

As he's leaving the plane, the pilot stops him and says, "Son, your attitude and performance has caused this flight to be late and I'm going to personally see to it that you are not just reprimanded but punished."
Shivering in the cold, his task finished, the young airman takes a deep breath, stands tall and says: "Sir, with all due respect, I'm not your son; I'm an Airman in the United States Air Force. I've been in Thule, Greenland, for 11 months without any leave, and reindeer's asses are beginning to look pretty good to me.
I have one stripe; it's 2:30 in the morning; the temperature is 40 degrees below zero, and my job here is to pump shit out of an aircraft. Now, just exactly what form of punishment did you have in mind for me?"

Away

Going to meet Cuz and Mrs. Cuz  in Vacaville.
Then we're heading over to Sonoma for a family get together.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

maybe there'll be pictures

Normal Friday

Really, Google?

Just for grins, after seeing the expletive expression of surprise posted in another's blog, I determined to see what the search engine had to say.

They seem to have cleaned it up a little.
Back in the mid to late sixties I worked with a couple of Frenchmen.
I can guarantee they would not have translated it as such.

Odds 'n Ends

Things I wouldn't have seen if there wasn't an Internet. . .

 "heteropaternal superfecundation"
 is known informally as Have None of These People Ever Heard of Birth Control Syndrome

 . . .like a vegetarian boycotting KFC 

 . . .what difference does it make?

 Did anyone know that Monday was Root Canal Appreciation Day?

A woman decides to have a facelift for her 50th birthday.
She spends $15,000 and feels pretty good about the results.
On her way home, she stops at a newsstand to buy a newspaper.
Before leaving, she says to the clerk, 'I hope you don't mind my asking, but how old do you think I am?
'About 32,' is the reply.'
'Nope! I'm exactly 50,' the woman says happily.
A little while later she goes into McDonald's and asks the counter girl the very same question.
The girl replies, 'I'd guess about 29.'
The woman replies with a big smile, 'Nope, I'm 50.'
Now she's feeling really good about herself.. She stops in a drug store on her way down the street.
She goes up to the counter to get some mints and asks the clerk this burning question.
The clerk responds, 'Oh, I'd say 30.'
Again she proudly responds, 'I'm 50, but thank you!'
While waiting for the bus to go home, she asks an old man waiting next to her the same question.
He replies, 'Lady, I'm 78 and my eyesight is going. Although, when I was young there was a sure-fire way to tell how old a woman was.
It sounds very forward, but it requires you to let me put my hands under your bra.
Then, and only then can I tell you EXACTLY how old you are.'
They wait in silence on the empty street until her curiosity gets the best of her.
She finally blurts out, 'What the hell, go ahead.'
He slips both of his hands under her blouse and begins to feel around very slowly and carefully.
He bounces and weighs each breast and he gently pinches each nipple.
He pushes her breasts together and rubs them against each other.
 After a couple of minutes of this, she says, 'Okay, okay....How old am I?'
He completes one last squeeze of her breasts, removes his hands, and says, 'Madam, you are 50.'
Stunned and amazed, the woman says, 'That was incredible, how could you tell?'
The old man says, 'Promise you won't get mad?'
'I promise I won't' she says.



'I was behind you at McDonalds

What I wanna know is how old do you have to be to get away with that?

Oh, and it snowed in the hills east of here.

Old Station (from F/B)

Hat Creek (from F/B)

Hatchet Mountain (from F/B)

It wasn't much, but it's better'n nothin'

Guess what

Despite what my rain gauge and the NWS say, we had some rain.
Granted, it was minimal and localized.
Hence the lack of a reading on my rain gauge and the failure of the National Weather Service to acknowledge it.
But the local TV guy showed the cell on the radar during his segment of the news.

This is what we had in the aftermath.

There was thunder, too.

a terrible tease

Monday update

Unlike previous Monday updates there is nothing profound in this post.
Well, maybe a little something.

Sandwiched between couple of speaker meetings, there was a Mothers Day brunch at the local casino.
It was the first time I'd been there.
They opened it 22 years ago.
There is nothing about it that attracts me. . .   except spending time with family.
It was a pretty good buffet. . .   except when the beverage server spilled a mimosa down NT's husband's back.
There were a total of 13 of us.
We could've added at least one more at out table.

NT and PHG (I think they're beautiful)

The speaker meetings were good, too.
They both talked about themselves.
They both know the subject really well.
They had tough audiences because it was after dinner.
Nobody fell asleep.

I skipped dinner last night because brunch was at 1pm [I know, right?].
I was not hungry in the slightest.

Next weekend is a family gathering in the Wine Country.*
I will see Cuz and Mrs Cuz.
Somehow there's a small wedding involved.

*That would be the NapaSonomaMendocino wine country as a opposed the one of the numerous other designated wine countries in California
You almost can't go anywhere without finding a winery

We're gonna stalk that h'bird

So. . .   the camera is withing reach.
I even made it a point to shoot some more pics of the plants.

the one on the left

the one the hummingbird likes

I am guessing he will return and that I will have an opportunity to get his picture.
It is obvious there will be more blooms   . . .unless something gross happens.

Now it's time to water the tomato plant and send the following to my daughter.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.

couldn't resist

Darn!

My camera is in the trunk of the car.

I just saw a hummingbird hold field day in a flower on the patio.

The red flower on the right.
The only thing I have available at the moment is the smartphone.
It does not do hummingbirds.

That li'l sucker was out there on that flower for about ten minutes.
Most of the time he hovered, but for a few brief moments he actually perched on the flower whilst indulging.

I'm gonna have to start lugging that camera wherever I go.

crap, crap, crap,

Routinely. . .

Each morning, after making sure I am fully awake and the cat won't disturb me, I make my rounds of the various and sundry blogs [some of which are found on the sidebar] looking for ideas.
This morning this post reminded me of just how things are snowpackwise [a new word I just coined].
It isn't good.

Yes there is snow.
According to the National Park Service at Lassen Park the snowpack is 23% of normal for this time of year.
Usually the highway through the park is still closed because of the snowpack, with hopes that the roads can be cleared by the July 4 holiday.
This morning the highway's open and clear.

Here are some other examples of the sights at the park.

usually still iced over here at Manzanita Lake

somewhere on this blog is this same view with the usual snow

usually one would need snowshoes or skis to reach here to take a photo

This summer won't be pretty.
Everything is already drying out.

Uh. . . yeah, that's it

stole it from the BP's blog

I don't particularly care for watching ballet, either.

Not feeling it

The Muse is around here.
There are some ideas floating around.
But I'm seeking something whimsical and that's just not working at all.

Meanwhile, before anyone thinks I'm bummed about the breakfast on Sunday, I'm not.
The event was quite successful.
I routinely is.
The issue was about how some (one in particular) persons dealt with the fact that there were two new ladies waiting tables.
(At this point I will point out there are only two persons waiting tables.
We had two new ones because the regular wait staff were both on a vacation trip they'd originally planned for last September)
The actions of the offending party didn't particularly effect the wait staff.
However, one of the coffee servers found it necessary to vacate the premises until after the offending party left.
The coffee server was absolutely livid because of the language and attitude of the offensive customer.
That kind of stuff kind of trickles down to the rest of the volunteers    . . .except for, maybe, the dishwashers.
I'm pretty sure I know how I'd have reacted had I been involved.

Whimsy is better.

!!!

After yesterday's post

I went into my library.
(That is the space behind of the things stacked on the floor of my office den hideaway)
Without too much difficulty I found the book I was seeking.
I have had it for about 20 years.
Everyone should read it.
The lessons are applicable to Everyone.

The premise is simple.
Everyone everybody deals with is a customer, some more so than others.
They camouflage that idea very carefully until some distance through the book   . . .after the reader has bought into how to treat the folks we want to impress    . . .and spring it on the reader.

The idea is that anyone we have any relationship with is our customer.
You don't have to be in sales.
You want them to be, at the very least, neutral if not positively affected by your approach.

If I were emperor, I'd make it required reading [right after I made everyone learn to read].
There would be a test.
I would probably fail.

c'est la vie

How I reacted to the crowd at the breakfast yesterday

Oh. . .   and May the Fourth be with You!

one of those days

Burning toast and cracking eggs

It's again time for the monthly breakfast at the Frontier Senior Center.
PHG and I are out the door and on our way to help.
This month she's been promoted to waitress.
I will be doing the usual because it's best if I don't deal directly with the public.

Some day maybe I should tell about having worked surviving in the Service Industry for 38 years.

maybe

Yes!!!

click the pic for more info

Wow!

who clean up after?