The Time, It Does Fly By

So, on the Book of Face today, there is a link to a news story out of Fort Lewis. It seems that a LTC Olsen is moving his reserve support battalion to Ft Hood for a year. It is a Reserve mobilization battalion, helps units or augmentees to prepare for deployments.

Okay, nice that we have such an organization. No, the story is that LTC Olsen was 2LT Olsen when we first met, in 1994 (?) at Engineer Officer Basic Course, Ft Leonard Wood, Missouri. That's right, Tom Olsen was in one of my first classes I taught as an instructor of Field Engineering, Camouflage, and Demolitions.

Twenty years. And he is potentially up for full Colonel soon.

My, they grow up so fast, huh?

Northwest Guardian Article

How Do They Do It?

I blame the Book of Face. It sucks up all my writing. It is tweeting without a hashtag.
How the heck do all those bloggers out there work the free ice cream machine so, apparently, well. I mean, I follow about a dozen daily blogs and deeply appreciate that the owners can update every day. Usually more than one entry.
Of course, some are aggregates, with nothing but links. Others are writers, putting up their own essays or commentaries.
I appreciate all of them.
Mayhap I can improve my mad-writing skills by trying a bit harder to get a post up more often.

What's in Your Pockets?

A standard of most blogs is the meme of "What's in your pockets, right now"? Well, after laying the content out, here is mine:

Model 36 (w/bobbed hammer)(in a Simply Rugged holster), reload strip, Benchmade folder, Microlight Streamlight, pen, wallet, bandana, phone, key rings. Add a watch, two rings, an Episcopal Service cross, and a steel bracelet, and that's the works.

Flurries of Yawns

So, 4 Feb. Big weekend here in Ketchikan.
Wearable Art Show, RE-INVENT, was Thursday through Saturday. Sold out every show, not even tickets at the door. I am constantly amazed at the depth of talent around here. There were some terrific outfits, some showing far more time and energy than others. Two grunge kids and chunks of guitar-shaped wood, I'm looking at you. Onward to next year, the theme for 2014 is Luminescence.

Super Bowl weekend. Meh. I just waited until Sunday night to look up the commercials. I really have gotten to the point of who cares who wins. I'm loving the fact that this one will go down into the books as the "Blackout" bowl. Thinking of the millions of dollars that went into the spectacle that is Super Bowl, and they blew a fuze? For thirty-four minutes? Superdome staff should be very worried as to who looses their jobs.

Today marks the first day of road closures at the Old Hospital demolition site. The building has been sagging into the muskeg across the street from us for years. Front facade is collapsing, held in place with chain-link retaining screens. Good luck on the city ever seeing a dime in reimbursements from the demolition.

Question, question, question

Happy Marmot Day to all you Alaskans.
Weather prognostication by way of small furry mammals is still a chancy way of life. What if the observer's shadow overlays the burrow, and the marmot cannot immediately see it's own shadow? What then? If the shadow is seen later, but not at first, is it still a valid shadow for the day, or does only that first glimpse in the morning count?
It must be hard to be a forecaster, no matter what the subject.
Political pundits have it the worst. Oh, I know everyone curses the weather man, but think of the poor political pundit. They have to be right all the time to keep their validity. Miss once and there is usually a pack of rabid marmots waiting to rip them to shreds.
Only now I am seeing that the pack of rabid marmots is laying in wait for every utterance, however right or wrong. Both sides of a discussion have trained rabid marmots barely held in check, waiting for the other side to make a statement, preferably a solid statement of "fact".
Let a pundit, a politician, a talking head with thousands of followers on Tweeter or whatever, say an honest opinion and the growling, snapping, slavering pack is on them in nanoseconds. Right or wrong, doesn't matter. Shred 'em first, make 'em recoil, maybe they won't be as forthright in the future. Character assassination by noise.
Question, question, question the voices on the left, right, and center. Accept nothing as true unless proven by time and quality. Quantity of statements is not proof, especially if 90% of the statements are all same sourced. One misrepresentation leaps a thousand times in seconds, unfortunately, the retraction is never seen.
Keep the marmots in their burrows.
Question, question, question.

The House Behind Us

The house behind us has been for sale for, oh, I don't know, maybe four years. It is a small, two bedroom house with some fairly major problems. You know, plumbing (surface laid water supply line), wiring (most of basement is strung with extension cords), water (backs into a hillside that then drains right into the unfloored basement), only one (maybe two) legal fire exits, the kitchen extension was built on a deck, black mold, tiny rooms, rotting front deck, rotting staircase from street level, undersized lot, and those are just the ones that you can see when you cursorily inspect the house.
What it does have is a great sunny location and off-street parking.
The owner and his family outgrew the available space and moved to Juneau. Most of the work that he had done while living here was done by non-bonded handymen, not contractors. An example: the front deck (we call it the aircraft carrier) is built of untreated lumber, with non-code joist spacing, perched on top of mortar pillars taller than code.. That is all the pillars contain, mortar. No aggregate, no reinforcing wire or bar, just cement and sand. You can kick them in half with a stout kick. One lick of paint on the boards and is it any wonder that the deck is already rotten, with holes in the decking after only four years?
We know what the owner paid for the house about seven years ago. We are also well aware of what he is asking now. I'm not sure even a skeevy landlord would purchase this place to rent out. There are plenty of folks who would rent it, but nothing would get fixed and the likely result would be further deterioration and higher rents.
Anyone who buys this place as an investment/rental property is going to maximize the rent, because the turnover will be horrendous. We have seen that already, with five renters in two years.
Make a great spot for a community garden though.

Arias and Recitivito

I am now convinced that the whole reason satellite radio was developed is so I can listen to live Metropolitan Opera.
No, really.
Growing up in Virginia, I spent many Saturdays at my Great Aunt Mary's house. She was a life-long member of the Met Opera. We listened to the Texaco-Met Opera radio broadcasts all through the '60s. I cannot recall any of the particular shows, but the listening bug must have burrowed in deep, because there are only a few composers that I won't listen to with great appreciation. Most Wagner, for instance.
During a recent trip to Texas, I attended my first Met Opera HD broadcast at a movie theater. Live opera, on the big screen, with surround sound, intermissions, popcorn...what's not to love? The performance was Verdi's Othello, starring Renee Fleming. I am sure that there were other singers (Falk Struckmann sang a fantastic Iago), but they were all overshadowed by Ms Fleming.
I had to call Debi after the show to tell her that I had lost a small piece of my heart and that Ms Fleming held it. Her "Magnificat" or prayer to Mary was a stellar display of voice and comfort and belief. Marvelous beyond words.
Yep, all those satellites just for me.

So, at the recent (two months, but look how long it has been since a blog update) Friends of the NRA banquet, I won a $10 drawing. My choice of guns off of the Wall O'Guns was...a Remington R1, Remington's entry into the M1911 wars. Have not made the chance to take it to the range yet, but it is packed in the range bag with two boxes of 230 grain ball, just waiting. More to follow. (Photo from Remington web site)

Winter Arrives...and Leaves

After several days of snow, melt, freeze, snow, and snow, we now have wind gusts and a temperature of about 39. Good-bye snow.

WGOE - Richmond, Virginia - 1970's

Growing up in Richmond, the earliest radio station that I can remember would have been WLEE or possibly WRVA. Good stations, though I do not know if they are still broadcasting. They may be on the air, but the question is if they are still the same format from the sixties and seventies.

No, it was later that I was introduced to the station that still drives my listening memories. WGOE, the highest point on your AM dial, 1590. This was a top forty station that morphed into album oriented rock. Long before we all started listening to FM stations, WGOE was playing what would become FM standard.

The station never really had a huge power output. In the West End, out in Henrico, it was easy to hit hollows and have the signal drop out. But in-town, music like I still want to hear. Music giveaways like getting a plain white cover of J. Buffett's Son of a Son of a Sailor. The various ball teams (softball, flag football, basketball), all named the Nads. So we could all stand on the touchlines and shout, "GO, Nads!" Cheap, sure, but fun.

Right after I joined the Army, WGOE was sold and went about as far from its format as was possible. Christian music.

I think I'll have a drink tonight in remembrance of what was...and still can be on satellite radio.

Wet, Blustery, Schlect Wetter

Winds are 22mph with gusts to 37mph. Forecast to increase to gusts of 60. Light rain now, increasing to heavy this afternoon.
As of 20 September, we have received 22.47 inches of rain for the month. Since 1 August, 40.2". We are rapidly making up our deficit for the year.
Heard one the other day, "It only rained twice this Summer, once for thirty days, and once for forty."
Stay dry.

11 September 2011

Heh. Just when I feel like tossing the computer into the creek, I also feel creative. Hence the heh.

Lots happening around Schloss Sapper:

1. Visitor season is ending. Soon we will have our streets back, our sidewalks will be empty, and all the carpetbagging merchants will have moved on.

2. Debi will be returning from Denver. She went down at the beginning of August to help her Mom recover from an infection. Six weeks later, Mom is now in an Alzheimer's facility. That fast. Good days, bad days. Prayers are appreciated.

3. Back to the gym. The last few weeks have been so much turmoil, I knowingly dropped my lifting program. Big mistake, as I am sure many will agree. Feel like "...a 1-inch high meat carpet..."

4. My 35th high school reunion is coming up. Much retrospection involved. A great deal of commentary on the class FB page has been fun, with the cold water of just how many of our classmates are no longer with us.

Heh, indeed.

Reporting In

Driech weather. Cold, rain, and wind. The Ketchikan Trifecta.

Quote of the Day - SCOTUS Edition

States may have grown accustomed to violating the rights of American citizens, but that does not bootstrap those violations into something that is constitutional.

----Attorney Alan Gura, in response to a question by Justice Sotomayor, during McDonald v. Chicago.

Whooah, Mr Gura!

2030 and Debi is still at work

Another Wednesday, another long day for SWWBO. She had a total of seven clients today. The last one finished their IV administration at about 1700, and only then could she get started on the charting for all.
Long days. Weather is terrible tonight, so no hot tub. Supper will be later than normal which means staying up later. We both hate to go to bed soon after supper.
Long hours. Manhattans at zero paces. Maybe two.

Another Fine Supper

Last night was the Annual Robert Burns Supper. This year, the Misty Thistle Pipes and Drums were the sponsoring organization. Jane Bolima, President of the MTP&D, did the lioness's share of the prepping, decorating, organizing, cooking, calling, arranging, and running. Really, she is an amazing woman, with far more energy than I want to have. Energy like that means everyone wants you to do everything, because, apparently, you can.

Good crowd at the Supper. We ordered rotisserie turkeys from A&P and that turned out to be a very good deal. Tatties and neaps, salad, and, of course, HAGGIS. We ordered six pounds from Charles Lamb, in Oregon, and Jane tried her hand at home made haggis. I think hers was better.More pepper is needed, but if she is willing to prepare it next year (see, I do it, too), that is another $200 we will save in costs. The turkeys, used instead of salmon, saved us almost $500. All told, it appears that we netted over $1100. That is a few pipe reeds or kevlar drumheads.

Left, Northern coast weather: overcast, warmish, intermittent light drizzle

Fun, ach, aye.

Where Do The Thoughts Go?

November 20th? Really? That is a pretty long time to not have any trivial drivel to write down or comment on.

Right now, working on the Wearable Art Show 2010 "On The Rocks" script. Lot of repetitive typing, working from the piece descriptions by the artists. It can be...rocky.

New haircut, or rather, loss. Just had Nicole give me a zero buzz cut. That and a beard trim. Looking kind of svelte. Then I look below my neck and that thought no longer holds true.

Left, Northern coast weather report: Rainy, complete cloud cover, gusty wind.

This Will Go On My Permanent Record

I received my first tattoo yesterday. Small one, in a usually non-public location.

I won a silent auction for the work at the Arts Council's Bouy Ball last Saturday. Angel, one of the artists at Rain City Tattoos, did the work. Fast, and very well done.

And no, I will not post a photo.

November 9th, 1989

It had been another day of classes at the Non-commissioned Officer Academy, at Ft Leonard Wood, Missouri. I was there for the Combat Engineer Advanced Non-commissioned Officers Course (ANCOC). Those of us that got a lift in the shuttle van entered the barracks hallway and went to our rooms. We pretty much agreed to meet in the small commons area to head for the dining facility in about five minutes.
Upon entering our rooms, we all pretty much automatically turned on our televisions. They were all tuned to either MTV, the Weather Channel, or a news channel.
Pause.
We were all senior NCOs. All of us had either done one or more tours in Germany or Korea. We all had a pretty good idea of what we could be called upon to do, in the event of a breach of the fences in either place. We jokingly, as had thousands of our predecessors, called ourselves "speed bumps".
We had performed border patrols, practiced our wartime missions (in sector), and generally knew what a terrifing amount of firepower, death, destruction, and pain was awaiting all forces, on both sides of the fences.
But, that was our job, and not a one of us was serving as a draftee. Volunteers all.
End pause.
BANG! CRASH!
Every door on the hallway slammed open.
All of us were standing in our doorways, staring at each other with a Cortezian "...wild surmise."
We moved as a group to the commons and spent the next several hours in front of the big television in that room, watching as The Wall came down. We watched as thousands of Berliners, East and West that morning, but just Berliners now, climbed on, over, and atop that hateful barrier of concrete and wire that snaked like evil thought through the heart of Berlin.
We watched people pick up sledgehammers and chip away at the face of The Wall. We watched whole sections of The Wall pulled thunderously down, to thunderous cheers.
We saw the world turned upside down, the world that we grew up in and served in, flip on its axis and reright itself in a new way.
To this day, I will proudly proclaim that, after forty-plus years of staring at each other, we (the West) outlasted those evil bastards on the other side of the fence.

That is what I remember about November 9th, 1989.

Fictional Friendships

I have been working on the set of "The Wizard of Oz". Like many shows over the past ten years, this one has high points, low points, jerks, sublime moments, in short, all the things that make up live theater.
I have found myself near tears, several times. Never having done any studies of theater, or the interaction of life, history, and scripts, I have to say that this play, and the memory of the movie, strike me at my heart.
The Tin Woodsman is correct, I know I have a heart, because this one is breaking.
I have seen, felt, discovered, and recognize, in every scene, a separate moment of truth. Baum wrote a pretty good book. Then came the movie that most of us recall from years of annual television viewing. Then came the play.
All of them contain moments of humor, terror, pathos, love, and almost every emotion that I can think of.
I am in awe of the powers of suggestion, of imagination, and of recognition.