Friday cat

He’s back again.

Sebastian hasn’t figured out the cat and boxes thing yet.

Whassup?

Did you know that when you're retired you don't have to have permission to go someplace else.
That's right, there's no AWOL in retirement   . . . MIA is another story.

I don't post nearly as often as when I lived up north.
Mostly that's because the PC is my preferred method for accessing the blog   . . . the phone and tablet are not blog friendly.
They aren't exactly enemies but they're real crappy allies.
I'd give an analogy but don't want to cause an international incident with any allies.

So . . .
Wait, Skip, back up!
It came to our attention that one of the grandchildren was going to be considerably closer to us than usual.
Closer being a relative thing.
But 250 miles and a whole 'nuther state is something.

The reason was a gymnastics meet last Friday (Feb. 7) in McMinnville, Oregon, only about 575 miles from here.
We attended a meet there last year, too.
The weather was much more cooperative this year   . . . it only rained a little.

The best thing about this particular meet is the venue, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.

go ahead, click the image

It's conveniently located across the highway from the McMinnville airport.
As you may imagine there are lots of things to see here, mostly to do with flying.

We drove north in two stages, starting Wednesday morning.
We have a friend in Grants Pass who's been asking us to visit since she moved there.
We stayed over because who wants to drive nine hours when they don't have want to?
Besides, the town has a really fine downtown shopping district with a great toy kitchen store.
We did not leave empty handed.

We'd found accommodations in Mc'ville at Air BnB because there'd be six of us because granddaughters have camp followers families traveling with them.
We checked in and went directly to the museum because we knew there'd be little time to visit on Friday.
Because time was limited for viewing, we were given a special reduced entry fee.

We took photos.
These are the ones I shot.

[clicking the images will enlarge them]

Above is a model; below the specs.

It's too big to get into one shot inside the museum . . .   trust me.

Yeah, the Spruce Goose . . .   "It's Huge!"

That's the model from above in front

Under the port wing

Looking aft

From maybe as far away as I could get.
I think all of the other aircraft are here just to give some scale.

We climbed up to view the interior.

Looking forward in the cargo bay

Looking aft  . . . Howard Hughes used the Sears Roebuck & Co. beach balls for additional flotation in the pontoons and bilges. Those beach balls are some of the originals, including the air that inflated them.

Then, with the remaining time, we took a closer look at some other goodies.

PBYs are some of my favorites

Yeah, that big sucker dominates the scenery

Somewhere there are some pics of aircraft [more modern ones] outside the building.
The docent told us there, at one time, were more vintage (WWII) aircraft, but they'd been sold to the Collings Foundation.

Our last stop was at the museum shop, added a magnet to the collection.

 it only took about a day

 and half to write this post

Yeah . . . I know

I haven't posted for awhile.
I have some stuff to post.
I will, POCIR.

I have choices

I may post anything I wish.
It's my choice.
Sometimes there are consequences.
Those remain to be discovered.

You might notice the post is earlier than usual?
That's because of the hour at which the Men's Bible Study begins [2 Corinthians if you must know].

I mentioned on Sunday about the Men's Choir and how each member picked a sports jersey to wear.
Most picked a professional football team.
I don't have a group shot [. . . yet!].
Here is mine.

I should've had a shot of the back taken, too.

oh, well

feeling a little clammy

source: dailytimewaster

So . . . I guess it's a big deal for some

Today is the Big Game in Miami.
Once, for about 62 years until about five years ago*, I was a fan of one of the teams playing.
Actions of some of the participants in football prompted me to take a closer look.
I concluded that the full contact version, played at any level (peewees to professionals) is no longer a game.
It's about money.

Our house will be filled with folks watching the game.
I will probably watch as well.
I've watched three other games this year, which is three more than I have watched in the prior four years.
My favorite chair is in the room where the TV is.

I've found that since I'm not the fan I once was, I can actually enjoy watching.
I enjoy games even more when Joe Buck isn't# doing the play by play.

This morning is the one day the church has a Men's Choir because . . .   see the first part of this post.
The idea is for the choir members to wear their team jersey.
I guess I will have to post a photo, if we get one.

#Jim Nantz and Tony Romo this time

*No, I'm not 67 years old. That ship has sailed.

Is there ever enough?

It's a rhetorical question . . .   okay?