Public Service Announcement

Today's public service announcement is brought to you by Chris Rock:



Eldest daughter, please heed the above message. Especially when the man says "Be Polite." Please remember that you do not win arguments with the police on the side of the road, you win arguments in the courtroom in front of a judge. That's why they call it "presenting arguments" when your lawyer stands up to say something in a courtroom.

Policemen, firemen, EMT's, and others who work in what is called the public service sector often do not get to see us at our best. Do what you can to counter that image, won't you?

That's Amore

Another budding romance dies aborning.

Mr Fixit has some advice.

I myself have loved and lost, as have so many. Almost 20 years later I harbor no animosity towards my ex. Meaning I no longer want her dead and in hell. There was a time though...

If we were still on talking terms (I haven't spoken to her since shortly after I got married again) I would tell her that I understand.

The simple fact is that being a Navy (Marine, Army or Air Force) Wife is a hard job, and not everyone is cut out for it. She wasn't, but she gave it her best shot.

She wanted someone that was 9 to 5, supper at 6, off weekends and holidays, split level ranch in the suburbs with the white picket fence, the whole 9 yards. That wasn't me, especially when I was Navy, and it still isn't to this day.

Lucky for me I found someone who would put up with me, which is half the battle right there. She is married to the guy that introduced us so long ago, one of her ex-boyfriends that was a good friend of mine. They have been married for over 14 years now so it looks like it worked out for them as well.

Now that it's so far in the past I would tell her that I wish her well, and hopefully there is a good memory or two in there for her.

AD and Babs, I hope there are good memories for the both of you, too. I'm sorry that time and distance could not be overcome.

God bless you both.

Atlas...

Neal Boortz had a story in the Nuze (link on the sidebar) about the latest oil company "questioning" in Congress.

Short story: the oil company execs went to Congress again, to explain to them again, the difference between profit and profit margin, which again the Congress doesn't understand since most of them have never held a position of responsibility in any kind of for-profit company in their lives.

And once again the execs played the lapdog, not a single one of them pointed out that they are complying with the law, that the "subsidies" that keep getting thrown back at them are in fact tax breaks that all American corporations take advantage of, and that their primary responsibility was to the shareholders, not to the hired temps that make up the Congress and Senate.

Where is Hank Rearden when you need him?

Atlas sculpture on a building on Collins Street, Melbourne

Constitutional Lesson

For all who say "The Constitution does not give you a right to ________________."

I would like to draw your attention to the following:

"Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

In other words, it's there.

What the Constitution does NOT allow, however, is to let you have the Government enforce your "rights" for you. The Constitution does not allow the Government the power to rob the evil hated rich to finance your personal cause of the day. The Constitution does not allow you the right to use the Government to infringe upon the rights of others.

You have the right to privacy, health care, housing, etc. You do NOT have the right to demand that the Government provide them for you because the Constitution does not allow the Government the power to do so.

The Constitution is a document that spells out the powers and limitations of the GOVERNMENT, not the People.

I have often said that the Constitution does not allow you the right to be free from being offended. In light of the above, allow me to modify my statement.

The Constitution does not allow you the right to infringe upon my freedoms in order to keep you free from being offended.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Happy Easter

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

And very early in the morning the first [day] of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any [man]; for they were afraid.

The Gospel of Mark, Chapter 16, Verses 1-8, King James Version

Delayed Gratification

Navy Master At Arms Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Micheal A. Monsoor, who was mentioned in this post, will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for services rendered on September 29, 2006.

LCBrendan at Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler notes that none of the news networks, save Fox News, saw fit to mention this. No one is surprised.

This will be the fourth MOH awarded during the Global War on Terror. The others were awarded to SGT First Class Paul R. Smith USA, CPL Jason L. Dunham USMC, and LT Michael P. Murphy USN.

Remember these names.

SFC Paul R. Smith, US Army

CPL Jason L. Dunham, US Marine Corps

LT Michael P. Murphy, US Navy

MA2 Micheal A. Monsoor, US Navy

Well Done, shipmate.

Attention to port!

Hand! Salute!

.

.

.

RE- cover!

Carry on. Carry on.

Photo from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

Black Gold

I stumbled upon this report from Barking Moonbat Early Warning System. They report that a Georgia man has discovered the secret to making oil from waste.

J.C. Bell from Tipton GA has found, through four years of research, how nature converts biomass (dead rotting stuff) into oil by way of bacteria. He has started his own company, Bell Bio-Energy, Inc., and has patented his work. He anticipates that by October 2009 his company will be busily converting grass clippings, sawdust, and corncobs into oil. This oil will be refined into gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel by the same processes that are used with natural crude, with the added bonus that there is no sulpher to contend with.

His is not the only company that is involved with this type of research. A company called LS9 has genetically engineered our old nemesis E. Coli to produce complex hydrocarbons (that would be oil) out of fatty acids.

A company called Amyris is working on doing the same thing with microbes. And Craig Venter, the guy that led the private effort to map the human genome, is genetically engineering DNA to produce hydrocarbons out of high levels of CO2, as are found in the smokestacks of coal fired electrical generating plants.

I have long opined that the future in automotive technology will be the hydrogen powered fuel cell driving an electric motor, but I would have no problems being wrong about that. The technology that would produce oil out of waste products would be infinitely preferable to using our own food sources for energy, as is being done with ethanol production, and the ability to continue to use the existing infrastructure that has been developed for oil is a nice feature as well.

The highest plus on the list would be the ability to once and for all separate ourselves from the mess that is the Middle East. Eliminate our need for their oil and they can go back to killing each other until the last one dies and we are no longer plagued with them. OPEC has been playing this game with us far too long, it's past time to deal ourselves out.

Better Than A Good Day At Work

That's what I have officially had.

It didn't start off all that well.

We got into the fishmobile and had no brakes. So, we had to make a run to the parts store and get another new master cylinder.

While I was doing that, the UPS guy showed up with another carberator for the Rampage, which has been plagued with idle problems since the charcoal canister went bad. So, I put it on and have the exact same problem.

So, into the fishmobile we went and off to the first fishing hole. As we pulled up, I saw a big splash in the water. We stopped right there and went to the lake to put some worms in the water.

Several times a large splash would announce that another of God's creatures had lost it's bid for survival. We even saw him once, he was large and greenish and on the other side of the lake. Try as we might we could not entice him with our offerings of drowning worms. Off to the next fishing hole.

We tried several more spots with the same results, so when it got dark we packed it in (along with our remaining five undrowned worms) and went to have supper with the Southern Cruisers.

Not a bad way to waste a day.

Picture from http://www.fishing-pics.com/

Another Hero

19 year old medic from Texas takes care of her Soldiers, and does so at great risk to herself. She will be awarded the Silver Star for her actions.

She is SPC Monica Lin Brown. The official military statement says her "bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat."

When I see stories like these, I am comforted. As long as America produces these sorts of young people, we will be fine.

Well done Doc.

The only photo I could find was an AP photo, not included because of the AP's douche-baggery.

Once More

So once again a scumbag politician gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar so to speak, and once again the scumbag drags his wife on stage with him as he admits to his scumbaggery.

Just once I'd like to see the wife sucker punch the scumbag in the shortribs, maybe throw a kick or two in for good measure, while starting her rant with words to the effect of "You lying cheating miserable BASTARD!!!!!!!!!" and ending up, while being dragged off by two large men in cheap suits as he is lying there trying to get his breath back, with "You will be hearing from my LAWYER you SONOFABITCH!!!!!"

That's the one that would get my vote for President.

Train Them Right

My oldest daughter is a constant source of amusement and pride.

I'm amused by her because she will claim that she has no talent at all. Her brother is a pretty good mechanic, her sister is artistically gifted, but she can't do anything, so she says.

The reality is a bit different, of course. She is a talented mother, problem solver and all around good example, among other things.

It is necessary to know the choices she has made (choices that I would have not made for her), the predictable results, and the way she chose to deal with them.

First of all, I am a relative latecomer in her life, and when I showed up she made it quite clear she had no use for me and couldn't understand why her mother did. I was required to prove myself to her, primarily I was required to show that I was here for the long haul and wouldn't bail when things got tough.

I'm happy to say I passed her tests.

She left the house at a young age, before finishing school, to marry a man that was supposed to take care of her. She got a couple of kids that she couldn't afford out of the bargain, and that's about it.

Instead of becoming a welfare queen, she realized where she went wrong and set about correcting her deficiencies. Step one was admitting to me that she was wrong and I was right.

"Say that again?" I said, "Speak clearly and into the mike."

"Don't push your luck, old man" she replied. Spunk she has, in truckloads. Which is one of the reasons I admire her.

She moved back in, got her GED, and moved back out. She enrolled in college, applying for the financial aid on her own. She worked two jobs, paid the bills, cared for her children, and went to college full-time without government assistance.

"Why not," her mom wanted to know. "Because Dad wouldn't take it" she replied.

She worked at a convenience store and has been robbed four times. The last time she is clearly shown on the video fighting with her attacker, trying to take the gun away from him. Perhaps not a wise thing to do, but she had decided she had enough. It surprised him so much that when he got away from her he immediately left.

"You could have been killed" I pointed out. "I know, but I just didn't think about it at the time. He made me mad" she answered.

She has since reconciled with her hubby, making sure he had learned the valuable lesson that she didn't need him and would toss him out unless he shaped up. Which he has. He has admitted that she is an inspiration to him, and that she made him want to be worthy of her.

Of course I told him that in my eyes he never would be. He has a daughter. He understands.

She has also started her own house cleaning business and will be graduating sometime next year, if all goes well. She will hopefully be able to find gainful employment in her chosen field when she is done.

There have been times when she has gotten down and just wanted to quit, but her pride wouldn't let her. She knows that nothing is free, and she does what she has to in order to reach the goals she has set for herself.

She is an inspiration to me as well, and I am humbled when she says she gets it from me.

This is one of the reasons I am constantly annoyed by the whiners that say you can't make it in America these days. You can make it, but you have to put some effort into it. The results are directly proportional to the effort.

I am not "lucky" that I have a job that pays well with good benefits. I sacrificed and did what I had to in order to gain the skills that make me employable. Nothing I did is beyond anyone else.

I pity the poor fool that calls her "lucky" when she is able to get a good paying job with benefits in her chosen field. What she lacks in articulation she makes up for in pure energy, and her chosen path has been considerably harder than mine.

If you want to be successful, the first step is to get up off your ass.

Sheepdogs

Once upon a time, I don't remember where, I read about sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs.

I'm not going to explain the difference, I will instead direct you here to read about it.

Sometime later on I read, I believe it was in a comments section somewhere, someone saying he didn't believe all that stuff about sheep and sheepdogs.

Just like the moon landing, the earth as a globe, and the earth circling the sun, facts do not concern themselves with our ability or willingness to believe them. They just are, and they will always be, regardless of our feelings.

Some time ago I saw a video where a Marine was pontificating on the general public's inability to understand that cursing in boot camp is a relatively minor and trivial thing. His point was that training someone to be a warrior is not a nice process, and the cursing is the least part of it.

You can be transformed from sheep to sheepdog, but as the good Sargent said, it's not a nice process. Your entire worldview must be destroyed before your very eyes, your understanding of the world as a nice safe place full of fuzzy bunnies must be done away with and the understanding that the fuzzy bunnies exist only because the predators are being compelled to stay away must be drilled into you.

You must be brought to understand that the predators will stop at nothing to get their prey, it is how they exist. Then and only then may you be introduced to the concept of you as the shield that keeps those predators away from the fuzzy bunnies.

Something that the training leaves out is the fact that the fuzzy bunnies are largely unaware of the shield being in place, and that when they learn of the shield they are as fearful of it as they are of the predators - even more so in fact.

You see, they have never seen the predators, because the shield is there. Therefore they do not have to believe in the predators. The shield, however, is a real and tangible thing, something that they cannot ignore, and because of that they fear it.

Substitute "sheep" for "fuzzy bunnies", "wolves" for "predators", and "sheepdogs" for "shield" in the example, and the analogy is complete.

I highly recommend you read all of the essays at Bill Whittle's place because he explains all of this with the detail and elegance that I lack. Be prepared to spend a couple of days there.

Jack Nicholson's character in "A Few Good Men" explains this very well. Unfortunately, once again Hollywood has used it for a punchline. How ironic that they point it out in the movie. How ironic, as well, that Jack himself has used clips from that very film to endorse the Clinton candidacy. The height of that irony is most likely wasted on Mr. Nicholson. It was, after all, simply a role that he played.

I myself am a retired sheepdog, but I stand and salute all of you that are still out there, guarding that wall. Be you military, police or firefighter I salute you.

God bless you all for the jobs that you do.

Sheepdog and wolf image from Warner Brothers

Random Thoughts

El Capitan and Lawdog are displaying their geekery.

I have never played dungeons and dragons. I was always too involved in the actual world to dive into the virtual one.

The South is experiencing a drought, and in most of North Carolina the drought is considered exceptional. Someone in the North Carolina state-house decided it might be a good idea to monitor water usage from wells, and so has proposed putting meters on them.

The ultimate goal is to collect taxes on this water.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't like taxes, but I realize that government must collect taxes for legitimate uses. It's just the legitimate uses that we have a difference on.

For instance, the car tax is supposed to maintain the roads. Fair enough. Property tax is used to support police and fire departments. OK again. I benefit from these services, so have no issues with taxes collected to cover them.

What about the water tax? Are you going to replace my water pump, or pump out my septic system? I think not. I'll just be paying for the privilege of keeping up my own systems. Thanks for nothing, but no thanks.

Now that Herself has won Ohio, and it is assumed Texas, it looks like a two horse race right to the end for the Democrats. What's particularly amusing is that the Hillary campaign pointed out Obama's biggest flaw - one that I have been pointing out as well - there is nothing there.

Remember "gravitas" during the Bush campaign? At least GWB had governorship experience from running Texas, Obama doesn't have anything. Or as Hillary said, “I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. Sen. John McCain has a lifetime of experience that he’d bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.”

Today on the drive home I listened to the callers answer the question "is the country in recession?" Most of them said they personally were doing well, but the country is sliding towards recession if we weren't already there.

The announcer reported that unemployment is still under 5%, inflation is low, and only 2% of mortgages are in foreclosure, despite what the media tells you about the mortgage crisis.

My question is, how can we be in recession if everyone is doing so well?

I think that's enough for now.

See The Light

The music world is a little darker this week. Canadian blues guitarist Jeff Healey has succumbed to the retinoblastoma cancer that took his eyes at the tender age of one.

Most people probably remember him from his appearance in the movie "Road House" with Patrick Swayze.

Jeff Healey died on the second of March, 2008.

Image courtesy of RAVE HD/Rainbow Media.

Asse-Hattery

Iowahawk has "teh funny."

Yes it's old, but it's still hilarious.

You have to follow the link because of this disclaimer:

"2. All written material on this blog is copyrighted. Linked excerpts are cheerfully welcomed. Those reprinting or reposting this (or any other Iowahawk piece) in full, without permission, will be hunted down and beaten within an inch of their life with a cold rusty tire iron."

And it's too good to be cut and pasted.

Note the new sidebar link as well.

Another New Link

I have long been a fan of Drew Carey, I think it's the portliness and glasses that attract me-in a purely platonic, non-creepy sort of way, of course.

I stumbled upon this by way of an ad on a blog that I was reading by way of another blog that I got to by way of, I think, AD's blog, so I can 't really tell you where I got it.

What exactly is "it" you ask? It is a series of videos that were filmed by Mr. Carey illustrating some of the results of government actions. Things like eminent domain, a personal favorite of mine, being used to seize land to turn over to private developers under the guise of improving the tax base - excuse me, "redevelopment."

Mr. Carey describes himself as a Libertarian leaning conservative, which should give you an idea of where his stand is regarding the issues he addresses. The shows are kind of like a visual John Stossel column.

The link is to Episode 1, which explores free-market alternatives to traffic woes in Los Angeles, with links to all the other videos so far filmed. I plan to check it regularly.

Photo from TV Guide's website.

Well Done

A hearty congratulations and a job well done to the crew of the good ship USS Lake Erie.

It - Is - ALIIIIIIIEEYVahh!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mighty Rampage rides again...again.

The problem has been tracked down to the 26 year old charcoal canister coming apart, the "rat turds" are actually bits of charcoal and foam from the canister. A rebuilt carb, an inline filter in the canister line, and all is well.

The tank has been dropped and looked clean as a whistle, the lines have all been replaced, and I even rewired the radio connection to use a factory radio. I need to do a bit of tuning to the idle, but otherwise it runs as good as it ever has.

This car/truck gets 28 MPG during my commute, even better than the fuel injected Aries, and I have really missed driving it because it's a fun little car/truck. I'm glad to have it back on the road.

I may need a battery, but that's easy.

The motor rattle in the Aries turned out to be an auxiliary shaft. With the shaft changed out the rattle went away.

My eldest son hit a deer with his mom's Pontiac a couple of nights ago, so we had to go junkyard diving for a headlight and marker light. We were hoping for a fender and hood as well, but this color is kind of difficult to find. I'm just glad he didn't scoop the deer up and put it in his lap.

And he didn't even bring the deer home.

This Post Almost Writes Itself

Montana has decided that the flap over the Heller case is already decided, in the Second Amendment's favor, according to an article in World Net Daily.

It seems that when Montana joined the Union there was an agreement that "all persons" would be allowed to bear arms, which makes the right an individual one, rather than a collective one.

They further say that if the case is decided wrongly the agreement for Montana to join the Union will have been contractually violated.

This will be interesting to see.

In other and more amusing news, it seems that John McCain is being bitch-slapped by the McCain Feingold Incumbent Protection Act.

I can't express how insanely funny I find that.

Wasting Time

There's a stomach virus going around, and of course my wife caught it. She's been so sick she can't hold water down for about 5 days now.

I took her to the ER so she could at least get fluids with absolutely no hope that they could fix what was wrong. I was correct, we were told "it's a virus", which is medical speak for "we don't know what the hell causes it" as far as I can tell.

We ended up spending about five hours in the waiting room while the ER staff struggled through a busy night. It's kind of amazing they were that busy that late at night, even the receptionist was a bit stunned. By 5 AM (lots of fives here) when we were walking out everything was quiet.

She's doing a bit better now, but she won't feel all the way better until this crap works it's way through. At least she's been able to keep a little bit down here and then, so that's a good sign. For now it's lots of vitamin water and chicken broth with the occasional piece of toast.

The doc says it's OK she's missing her treatments, it won't affect the expected final outcome. He's still optimistic that it will be another 6 weeks or so, maybe finished up with 2 or 3 weeks of chemo. The chemo is the rough part.

Now we're just waiting for her to feel better so she can continue her treatments.

More Good News

The docs say that the tumor has shrunk by more than half. The treatments are expected to go on for another month and a half to two months, at which time they expect a full remission.

On another note, the questions are already going around; "What are you going to spend your tax rebate on?"

Meh. I'm paying my taxes with it.

Yes, I'm painfully aware that any checks will be mailed out this summer and taxes are due in April.

Military Aircraft

Some of the names that are applied to military aircraft are pretty amusing.

I don't mean the given name. I mean the names that the aircrew and maintainers call them.

Take the B-52 in the post a bit farther down, for example. Officially it's called the Stratofortress, the last in the line of mighty Fortresses begat by the B-17 Flying Fortress, but it's affectionately known as the BUFF (Big Ugly Fat F**ker).

The F-14 Tomcat was called the Turkey, and if you have ever seen one land on an aircraft carrier you know why. The tail is way down, the nose is way up, and the whole aircraft waddles in the air as the pilot corrects it's glideslope.

The A-7 Corsair II was known alternately as the Sewer Pipe or the SLUF (Slow Low Ugly F**ker). The S-3 Viking was called the Hoover because of the sound of it's engines. The A-6 Intruder was called the Dump Truck because it could haul more payload than the B-17. Anything with a pointed nose has been called a lawn dart at least once.

The A-10 Thunderbolt is called a Warthog, the A-3 was called the Whale, and I don't really know what it's official name was. All of these aircraft have served, or are serving, their country faithfully and well. Their aircrew and maintainers will staunchly defend them, no one is allowed to talk trash about them except for those who are associated with them.

I'm sure that if you talk to a military aircraft aircrew or maintainer they will have a name that isn't very politic or polite about the aircraft they were associated with.

And that's where this ends. If you were looking for a point here, there isn't one. I just thought it was funny.

Picture by Rex Nelson, USN

And Then...

Mitt Romney has quit the Presidential contest, thereby conceding the nomination to John McCain. Mike Huckabee, as I predicted when he won the Iowa caucus, won't be the party's nominee.

Ron Paul doesn't have a chance. If he wasn't in league with the Truthers and other assorted idiots he might have done better. (Note to the Paul campaign, you have to act like you have a brain in your head and associating with fruit-bats isn't the way to do that.) I could have supported Ron Paul for president if it wasn't for his absolute pie-in-the-sky-be-nice-to-everyone-and-it-will-be-all-roses view on the War on Terror, his insistence on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq, and his association with the nut-house inmates. Where has he been for the past 10 years?

And once again the GOP has told it's conservative base to eat the sandwich and shut up about it, people in China would be glad to have it, if you don't smile and chew we will have disasters of Biblical proportions, check's in the mail, I promise I won't c...er...you get the point.

What we will have is John McCain as the nominee, getting soundly trounced by the Democrat (whoever she ends up being), four years of absolute Carterish hell, followed (hopefully) by a re-awakening and a realization that Conservatism makes the party, not the other way around, then maybe we can get a Duncan Hunter or Fred Thompson nominated.

The message was sent last election cycle that given the choice between a Democrat and a Republican that acts like a Democrat people will go to the Democrat every time, that way there is no surprise. The GOP, predictably, misread the message. Maybe, just maybe, they will get it this time.

This year we will have disgruntled Conservatives go to the polls to elect Congress critters or Senators and either write in a candidate (I have heard everything from Fred Thompson to Mickey Mouse) or completely ignore the Presidential race altogether.

With luck we will have a crop of Conservative candidates to show for the Congressional and Senate races, and we will be able to put a block on the ambitions of the President. This should minimize the damage that can be caused in Supreme Court nominations, which is the club that the Party 'bots are trying to use to beat us up with. It isn't going to work, but it may leave some bruises.

If not, we will survive. We lived through the Socialization of the government in the Roosevelt years, we lived through stagflation and the misery index of the Carter years, and we will live through this as well.

But nothing will get that taste out of your mouth.

Another Quiz

Friend James should like this one. He was a BUFF tech, after all.

What military aircraft are you? B-52 Stratofortress You're a B-52. You are old and wise, and you absolutely love destruction. You believe in the principle of "peace through deterrence" and aren`t afraid to throw your weight around.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Latest Report

The doctors say that the tumor is shrinking, which is exactly what we want. I was under the impression that there was more than one, but apparently not. She has some other spots that the doc thinks is just fluid, so she's going in for another MRI to make sure.

She went out with a friend who is also a cancer survivor to buy wigs yesterday, today there are large areas of no hair on her head. She is no longer tearful about it, but I wouldn't say she's OK with it.

The docs say it won't take much longer, and they are no longer talking about surgery, so I'm thinking that is a good thing.

On a related note, my daughter who lives in Florida has been getting flowers and consolation notes at the reported death of her mother. Her boss even called her to verify she was taking the day off because of it.

To which her mother responds "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

Or something like that.

New Motive Power

The Model Power Pacific and the Bachmann Spectrum Consolidation arrived yesterday, and they are beautiful.

I had to rewire the Pacific because the person that put the rubber tired drivers in left some of the wiring out. It runs good, but is picky about it's power pickup. I'm guessing that has a lot to do with the heavier wire I had to use because I didn't have the fine wire used originally. The tender doesn't move as well as it should. The Bachmann ran like a jewel straight from the case, it's not as picky about it's power as the Pacific.

The only problem is that neither of the new locos will negotiate the tight radius curves on my present layout.

I made the beginners mistake of putting the toy train 9 3/4 inch curves on the layout, and they are too tight for all but diesels.

My standard Connies and my Northerns negotiate these curves only because I ground off the flanges on their center drivers (called blinded drivers), but they don't do so happily.

I have no problem blinding the drivers on cheap $50.00 train set locos, but I won't even attempt it with the $150.00 ones.

So for now my best locomotives are on the shelf until the layout can be rebuilt with broader curves.

But they sure do look good!

Airplane on a Treadmill

Mythbusters did a little spot about an airplane on a treadmill the other night. The question that they were trying to answer was, if the treadmill were to move opposite the plane's direction at it's takeoff speed would it be able to take off?

The answer is yes, because the airplane cares not a bit about what speed it's wheels are moving.

Airplanes function by way of airspeed, not ground speed. The difference is the velocity of the air relative to the wings of the aircraft, not the velocity of the ground relative to the aircraft. To generate lift, air must be moving over the wing surfaces, the more the air moves the greater the lift is generated. You can take off in a small light plane in a strong headwind and not move an inch relative to the surface of the earth. Helicopters move their own wings in a rotary motion to achieve that velocity, which is how they can generate the "airspeed" needed to lift at zero ground speed. This is also why helicopters are called rotary wing aircraft, as opposed to fixed wing (regular) aircraft. This is also how kites work, by the way.

In fact, the US Navy takes full advantage of this fact when launching carrier aircraft, they juice up the speed of the ship and head it into the wind to create wind over the deck for both takeoff and landing. This makes the takeoff and landing distances far smaller, and with the aid of catapults and arresting gear heavily laden (swallows - NO) high performance aircraft can and do take off and land from teeny tiny airfields built on top of ship's hulls. Been doing it for a while now.

In fact, the DoD managed to launch and recover a Marine KC-130 from the deck of USS Forrestal in 1963 without the use of catapults or arresting gear, taking full advantage of the aircraft's phenomenal short-field capability and the speed of the carrier.

But I digress. The entire reason I'm bringing this up (or, as comedian Ron White says, I told you all that so I could tell you this) is that according to Neal Boortz, some people are claiming foul on the whole Mythbusters scenario.

As Boortz puts it, "They're saying that the Mythbusters guys cheated because they allowed the airplane to move relative to the earth. Yeah ... as hard as it is to accept, there are actually people out there who are so dismayingly stupid that they think that the rules of the game were that the airplane would not be allowed to roll forward when the propeller started turning."

For those of you not able to figure this out, there is absolutely no way on Earth anyone could have STOPPED the aircraft from moving, relative to the Earth, once the brakes were released and the throttle advanced. Yes, the aircraft would have been dragged backwards on the tarp and the motor would have had to throttle up slightly to maintain position relative to the earth (or zero ground speed) while the tarp was moving, but that's because the aircraft's propeller would have had to overcome the force of the friction from it's wheels and bearings. Once that friction was overcome, the wheels would have had absolutely no further effect on aircraft speed.

During the Mythbuster's testing, they ran a control test of the aircraft's normal airspeed and takeoff distance. The aircraft being used was a form of ultralight that only required an airspeed of 25 MPH to generate sufficient lift to take off. The testing was held in early morning when the relative winds were non-existent to keep the tarp from blowing all over the field, as had happened the evening previous. With no relative winds (that means the air moving relative to the earth's surface), the airspeed and ground speed of the aircraft would have been equal.

At the time of rotation (that's when the nose comes up, the tail goes down, and the wheels leave the ground) the aircraft was traveling 25 MPH relative to the ground (ground speed). Again, with no relative winds this means the aircraft's airspeed was also 25 MPH. This was done before the aircraft was put on the treadmill, by the way. The airspeed and takeoff distance was recorded, I don't remember the takeoff distance but I thought the 25 MPH airspeed was remarkable so I remember that. The aircraft landed and was then put on the tarp that would serve as a treadmill. The treadmill was accelerated (by way of a towing truck) to 25 MPH relative to the ground at the same instance the aircraft's pilot unlocked it's brakes and pushed the throttle forward.

The tarp was moving in an opposite direction to the aircraft. When the aircraft achieved sufficient airspeed, corresponding to 25 MPH ground speed, it rotated and lifted from the tarp. The ground speed and takeoff distance were COMPLETELY UNAFFECTED by the tarp's speed and direction. The aircraft's wheels at the time of takeoff were spinning at an estimated 50 MPH, and the aircraft was not bothered a bit by that fact. The aircraft was concentrating on gaining airspeed, not ground speed, driven by it's propeller, not it's wheels.

All of this, for what it's worth, was fully explained on the show.

If, for instance, there had been a headwind for the aircraft, it's ground speed and takeoff distances would have been lower and shorter respectively. The aircraft is not concerned by the speed of the ground under it's wheels, it is only concerned with the speed of the air over it's wings. As I said, you could have taken off in that aircraft with a 25 MPH headwind without moving relative to the surface of the Earth.

For what it's worth, the pilot of the aircraft bought into the farcical notion that ground speed has something to do with airspeed, and didn't believe the test would be successful. He was proven wrong, and admitted to his amazement. This tells me he needs to go back to Aviation 101 to learn how an aircraft actually works.

And for the record, I are not a pilot, I are just a knuckle-dragging ex-Navy aircraft electronics tech. Rudimentary flight physics was taught to me in a class called Enlisted Basic Aviation Training, which was over 25 years ago. We didn't put an aircraft on a treadmill, but we did discuss the effects of airspeed and groundspeed on fixed and rotary wing aircraft.

And now you know.

Ha!

From The Other Side of Kim comes a link to this gem.

Friend James, who remarked the other day that I have not been posting much of late, should especially appreciate the charges that were filed.

Before you know it they will be posting insurance ads at his site.

The Taxman Cometh

I worked half the year at one company and half the year at another.

Because of that my income from each place was taxed at a lower rate, but my combined income from both places, plus my retirement pay, puts me in the next higher tax bracket. I'm not quite in the class of evil hated rich, but it looks like I'm into UMC territory. I just wonder where it all goes.

The end result is, I owe an additional 1 large more in taxes than I have already paid. All this on a single income, no less. I now have a big BS flag to wave at those who claim "You can't make it on a single income these days."

I have now become a supporter of Mike Huckabee because of his stand on the Fair Tax. Since only RINOs are running, I might as well get something for my trouble.

Hair

The hair loss has begun.

It wasn't unexpected of course, but it's still quite a psychological blow. She had gotten it cut because she couldn't care for it anymore, and now it's deserting her.

I held her as she cried, holding a handful of hair from her brush. I told her it will grow back, and that I will love her even if she never has hair again. It didn't seem to help much.

The good news is that the chemo drugs are working. Chemo is primarily used to keep the cancer from spreading in the bloodstream, it targets any rapidly growing cancer cell and destroys it. This will keep the cancer localized so that the radiation will kill it off.

The bad news is that hair and nail cells are also rapidly growing cells, and the chemo drugs do not differentiate between them. They simply can't tell the difference. This is why the hair falls out and the nails get brittle.

I can't say if the Propel sports water would have helped or not because she hasn't been drinking it. She was sick on the first day she had chemo, and had been drinking the Propel all day. Now the two are linked in her mind, so she doesn't even want the Propel. It may have helped, it may have not, there is no way to tell now.

Her doctors are very happy with her progress, they are talking remission without surgery now which is different than what they were saying before. This is a good thing. Of course that means the treatments will drag on longer, which means more rounds of chemo, which means a longer time before the hair grows back. That's not so good.

But she is feeling better, less pain and easier breathing. I think her positive attitude has been a definite help. I'll feel better when she feels better, I'm hoping it won't be very much longer.

More About Trains

My first attempt to secure a 4-6-2 Pacific was an Atlas model made by Rivarrosi. I'm not a big fan of Atlas by Rivarrosi as a result, the frames are made of cheap pot metal that gets brittle as it ages. The loco I got had a badly broken frame and bent drivers, was missing the meshing gears and the motor. It has since been disassembled, maybe I can do something with the pieces one day.

I have another Pacific on it's way to me, a Model Power unit, as well as a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 Consolidation. I have two of the standard Bachmann Connies, so I am going to be able to compare the running characteristics of them. I expect to be pleased going by all that I have read.

I didn't really need the Connie (according to The Management I didn't need the Pacific either), but I couldn't pass up the price. I just missed out on a Kato Mikado from the same source, I didn't really need it either but it's supposed to be a sweet machine and I wanted to check it out.

My plan is to designate the Pacific as the passenger locomotive and relegate the resulting standard Connie to freight duties. As it was bought for that purpose in the first place, it's not really a demotion. I'll have to change the shells back from red (custom painted for the passenger consist) to black, but I have the extra shells just so I could do that. It makes the existing two Connies appear to be six, a quick shell change and I have four more completely different locos.

The two Bachmann Northerns I have are reclining in the roundhouse, waiting for the day I have large enough curves to be able to run them comfortably. The SF unit with the standard tender is a good runner, it has been remotored and crawls nicely. The UP unit has also been remotored, but in the UP's case the remotor didn't go as well as it could have. The worm gear is off-center and doesn't mesh right. I have to get a new worm gear from Northwest Shortlines and have it redone.

That leaves the Spectrum Connie. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this loco. Probably freight duties as well. I have Spectrum F-7B units that I really need to have A units for (trying to convince The Management is a different story altogether) because they are soldiering on with a pair of standard A units, and one unpowered A unit, to make AB pairs. They see occasional duties, whenever I want to pull long freights or when I want to "update" a bit.

I also have some of the Bachmann old-timer 4-4-0 Americans, an entire fleet of them, including the rolling stock to make either a UP or CP freight or passenger train, as well as a tourist era consist of open passenger cars and a gondola with benches. They get run occasionally.

Then there is the narrow gauge. You may have noticed the occasional EBT pictures scattered here and there. I have three narrow gauge locos, two of which are EBT prototypes and one which is a narrowed Bachmann 4-4-0. The other two are built on Marklin chassis, one is a 2-6-0 Mogul and the other is a 2-8-2 Mikado. The American was the cheapest and easiest to build, the Mogul has a scratchbuilt superstructure that started with a Bachmann smokebox, and the Mikado is built from a Republic Locomotive Works kit.

The Bachmann hauls a mixed passenger and freight consisting of a narrowed Bachmann combine, a Microtrains boxcar and an RLW flat trailed by a narrowed Bachmann bobber caboose. The Mogul, EBT#1, usually hauls the President's car, the Orbisonia, parlor car #20 made from a Bachmann coach, but occasionally gets pressed into freight (box and flat cars plus bobber) or passenger (two or three narrowed Bachmann coaches plus the Orbisonia) service, and the Mikado, EBT#17, hauls the rock train of ten RLW hoppers, one RLW boxcar and a RLW caboose or Combine #15 made from a MDC Overton coach and combine.

I'm saving my nickels and dimes for a couple of Fast Tracks jigs so I can build my own turnouts in N and Nn3. That's an expensive startup, but it gets cheaper with every turnout that gets built.

I'm going to go run some trains now.

Kiss of Death

The New York Times has now endorsed the candidacy of John McCain.

Actually, they say right out that they don't truly like any of the Republican candidates for President (big surprise), but that one has consistently crossed (or should that be double-crossed) party lines to vote with Democrats.

McCain-Feingold, the Kennedy immigration plan, the criticism on the management of the Iraq war, and his stand on global warming are all quoted, just before the money shot:

"That doesn’t make him a moderate, but it makes him the best choice for the party’s presidential nomination."

Actually, all of that disqualifies him for the nomination in the eyes of staunch Conservatives. The fact that the Times likes him just puts the icing on the cake.

Big Sigh

You may have noticed that the Fred! campaign button is gone.

Gone, too, is any chance the Republican nominee will be a conservative. Fred! and Duncan Hunter were the only ones, and now there are none.

Duncan Hunter just didn't have enough name recognition, which made this race Fred's to lose. And he did. Just like the KosKids found out, a strong Interwebtubiethingie presence does not mean a strong overall presence. You have to pound the pavement and get the word out in the actual world.

I haven't decided yet if I am going to write Fred! in, become a single-issue voter and go with Mike Huckabee because of his support of the Fair Tax, or if I am just going to vote Democrat.

Why Democrat? Because if I am going to have to put up with a left wing leaning stinking pinko in the Oval Orifice, I would rather not have one that hides behind a Republican label and pretends to care about conservative values.

You know, things like securing the border, reducing the tax burden, reducing the size and scope of government, and enforcing the Second Amendment?

It's funny the politicians can't figure this out. They are losing, not because they can't convince enough independents to vote for them, but because they have turned their collective backs on their base.

Ronald Reagan ran as a conservative, twice, and won, twice. The Reagan Revolution is not dead, it has been abandoned by the politicians.

Save the Second

For those of you in Virginia lucky enough to have Eric Cantor as your Congressman, I salute you.

He's got a good idea here.

It would be worth your time to add your name.

Not All News Is Bad News

Mr Fixit, who has been traveling through the valley, has had some good news. Stop by and offer congratulations.

On the home front the docs say she is responding well to treatments and they predict a full recovery.

Please Help

Pardon me, but could you help a fellow American down on her luck?

New Link

Your attention please.

One of my favorite blogs is Hammer's, but up until now for reasons unknown even to me I have not put in a link. That oversight has been corrected. Go, read, enjoy.

As you were.

In Sickness And In Health

Chemo started yesterday. She was sick last night, mostly because she delayed taking her anti-nausea medicines until later on in the day. She has a medicine regimen for the rest of the week. Next Tuesday will be another round of chemo, then more medicines for the rest of the week. After that two weeks off, then we start all over again in February. After that the surgery.

The chemo drugs are administered via IV. She was supposed to have a medport installed but the company I work for changed insurance carriers at the beginning of the year and the new carrier will not cover it, so she has to have them via traditional IV's instead.

Of course I'm not allowed to be worried at home where she can see it.

That's why I have a blog, I guess.

Home Again

Florida was nice but it's good to be home again.

The weather was great there except for the last day, which was COLD! Cold in NC as well, and we battled the wind all the way up.

95 wasn't bad, so we made good time - 8 hours for this trip instead of 12.

Now to unpack, back to work Monday.

New Toys

Blogging live from Florida on my wife's laptop, using her new wireless satellite internet connection thingy (technical term).

Man, technology is GREAT!

My bestest gift was a new air compressor, and the tools to go with it. Now I just have to keep my eldest son's greasy paws off of them. Wish me luck with that, so far he's gotten into all the rest of my tools.

The trip went well, although it took 12 hours instead of the expected 10. Congestion on I-95, for reasons unknown. After crawling along at 5-10 MPH for an hour or so the speeds would hike back up to 70, and there was no indication of why the slowdown occurred in the first place. I made better time on secondary roads at times. I really hate I-95.

Hope Sandy Claws was good to you and yours.

Merry Christmas!

It's been a busy year at the Refuge.

Last year at this time I worked for a different company, so this year brings a new (and in many respects, better) job.

Last year I had one grandson I had never met. This year he and his brother came to stay with us for a month.

My younger sister and her husband came to visit, and a good time was had by all.

My older sister moved to Virginia, a couple of hundred miles away. Big changes this year for her as well.

And finally, my wife of 14 years has been diagnosed with cancer, a potentially life threatening condition. I am hopeful, but more to the point, I have taken to heart the lesson that we must cherish every moment as if it were our last, because one day it will be.

Thanks to all of you for dropping by, have a very Merry Christmas and a glorious New Year!

God bless us all, every one.

Good And Bad

The good news is I won't have to work Christmas Eve or Christmas night.

That means I get to spend Christmas day with the grandkids as they rip and tear their way through miles of wrapping and tape.

That also means I'll be able to sleep all night Christmas night instead of being up. So instead of leaving work at 4:30 to put the wife on the plane, we will get up early and I'll load her and the boys in the car and leave the house around 5:30. We will drop her off at the airport and continue to head south from there.

The bad news is now I get to drive the day after Christmas during the daytime, while the boys are awake.

And since I'll be the only adult in the car, I get to handle any problems as well.

At least it's only 500 miles or so, it should only take me about...

TEN FREAKIN' HOURS!?!?

Treatment

The radiation therapy started Monday, 15 minutes a day until it is done, estimated at 7 weeks. The chemo will start after the new year.

So many new things you learn when you are involved in the battle against cancer, many of which I hope you will never have to learn.

The chemo therapy is tailored to each individual patient, so there is a...shall we say, collection process...that has to occur. Suffice it to say if you are ever in the house with someone that has been recently diagnosed, don't drink out of the orange jug in the refrigerator.

My younger sister had a patient (both my sisters are RN's) that drank Propel sports water during her chemo and was able to keep her hair. We stocked up on it today, we will see how it works when she starts her chemo. I hope it works.

She wants to travel south for Christmas and I am worried that she will not tolerate the trip well. We will be taking our 2 grandsons back home, ages 2 and 4, as well as our youngest, age 8. We decided that she will fly down and I will drive at night while the kids sleep and she can ride back with just me and Chris on the return trip. Less stress, and she can lie down in the backseat on the way back if she wants.

The chemo will start when we get back, she will have a "port" put in, which as near as I can tell is a semi-permanently attached IV line. This will remain until the end of the treatments.

The docs hope that the masses can be cut down to a manageable size in 7 weeks, at which time they will be able to go in and "section" the lung to remove the bad parts. Her type of cancer generally responds well to the treatment regimen that is planned, and they are confident that within a couple of months she will be back to normal...or at least back to what passes for normal for her.

They are also pretty confident that the radiation will knock back the tumors enough to relieve some of the pain by the time we head south next week.

I was mulling all of this over in my mind as we drove back from the treatments today. She told me I looked worried.

I'm going to have to work harder on that.

Fear in a Handful of Dust

Cancer is a scary word.

When it's used in reference to someone you know casually, it's scary.

When it's used in reference to someone you are close to, it's terrifying.

When it's used in reference to someone who carries your soul in their pocket, terrifying is too mild a word.

She went to the emergency room on Monday, December 3 because the pain in her side made it hard to breathe. They found spots on her lungs, one of them large.

Tuesday the 4th was our anniversary. I've had her for 14 years now, and I'm afraid that I may not have much more time with her.

Afraid means I've never been more scared in my life.

I will be strong. For her.
I will do anything for her.

Her doctor called her on Thursday the 6th to come in, without an appointment. I held her as she sobbed into my chest, and pushed my own helplessness and tears down where she couldn't see them, as he confirmed the diagnosis and set up the appointments with the oncologist.

I will be strong. For her.
I will do anything for her.

She went to the oncologist on Friday. He says that chemo and radiation therapy should knock the tumors right down, and that she will be back to her old self in 7 weeks. She is upbeat and happy at this news.

I think about an article I read while researching that says sometimes chemo and radiation therapy fails. I keep it to myself.

I will be strong. For her.
I will do anything for her.

Yesterday she went in to get the tumors mapped. She starts the treatments on Monday. I will take care of things around the house, work schedule permitting, and keep a happy face on.

I will cherish each and every moment with her, realizing that while I thought I was doing so before, I really wasn't.

I will suppress my fears and not let them show. I will not show any sign of hopelessness or despair. I will use my blog, which she thinks is kinda silly and doesn't read, as my outlet instead of burdening her with my insecurities.

I will be strong. For her.
I will do anything for her.

And I will pray for Mr. Fixit. Because he is riding the same roller coaster through the darkness that I am.

Gotta Have It

Presenting:

The Stanley FUBAR!

I don't have anything to destroy (yet) but I want one of these just because it's the coolest, most descriptive name ever given to an implement of destruction.

That and the fact it has an awesome demo website.

If you don't recognize the name FUBAR, it's a military acronym. Google it!

Something To Be Thankful For

Today something wonderful happened.

My Eldest Son has been having a running battle with his soon-to-be ex over his two boys. He hasn't seen them in quite some time because of it.

A couple of days ago she called and asked if my wife and I would take the kids for the month and bring them back when we went to Florida after Christmas. Of course we jumped at the chance.

We said nothing to ES because he has been disappointed in the past. Everyone else knew except him. A family conspiracy, so to speak.

The boys arrived just a while ago while their dad was away from the house. When he got home his jaw hit the floor, and for the past hour he has not let them go. I can't say I blame him.

Happy late Thanksgiving Son. I love you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Veteran's Day

Remember us.

Milestones

It has come to my attention that I have now received over 1000 hits on my little corner of the world.

Sad to say, a lot of them are, in fact, your humble scribe. But, a hit is a hit!

Number 1000 came from Beachwood, Ohio on the 4th of November, 2007 to read "Peace".

Thanks for dropping by, and I hope you enjoyed the stay.

Project Valor-IT

I have been remiss.

It's time again to pitch a worthy cause, that of Project Valor-IT.

Project Valor-IT is a program from Soldiers Angels that provides laptop computers with voice recognition software to our injured Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who are unable to use a computer through the regular means.

Every year the milblogs have a little fund raising contest, joining a team to raise funds in the name of their favorite services. I was involved last year but I come late to the game this year.

Here's your link. I strongly urge you to donate on behalf of Team Navy or Team Marines, but if you have the misfortune of being associated with the lesser services (coff*james*coff) you may certainly donate in the name of the Army or Air Force.

You don't have to give a fortune, every little bit helps.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

Fun With Cars

The Aries is now running right, I worked on a few connectors and removed a broken radio suppression cap lead on the coil. I don't know for sure which was the problem, but the car now starts on cold mornings without a hassle like a fuel injected one should.

A little background first.

I told you about the car cutting out on me, and said that I had changed the power module. Well, that wasn't it. I ended up changing the coil on the last morning that the car started fine for me, and that's when I had the problems with the cold weather starts. I changed the coil because the car had cut off on me the night before. I was able to disconnect and reconnect the pickup coil, and the car fired back up.

Thinking back on it, I had messed around with the connectors trying to get the car to restart that night and it started just fine the next morning. So the problem was most likely with that radio suppression cap. I haven't had a problem with it since I took it off, and I have driven the car to work every day for the last week.

Today the youngest and I went to get tires. While we were there we picked out some fabric for the headliner, he picked out a gold dragon with red flames on a black background motif. It should look interesting with a tan interior. The Rampage has a blue cammo thing going, so I guess I can't say too much about dragons and flames.

We also got a set of wheel covers, so now all of the wheels have covers and all the covers match. I was only able to afford two tires, so the other two will have to wait until next payday. At least now I have a spare, and I also bought a scissors jack, so if I have a flat I can fix it.

Next on the agenda is rod and main bearings, there is a slight tapping noise that sounds like it's coming from the bottom end. Lesson learned from the Rampage, this is easiest fixed when you first hear it, otherwise a spun rod bearing will be the likely result. It's not hard to find 2.2 Dodge engines, but it's still a pain to swap motors. Especially now, since I don't have access to a shop with an engine hoist like I had before.

This shouldn't be a large job since the oil pan is easily removed from the bottom without pulling any frame components. The oil is already getting dirty after only 500 miles, so I'm guessing the rings were sticking. I'll change the transmission fluid and filter at the same time.

Now that this car is finally reliable, I can turn my attention to the Rampage. I suspect there is debris in the gas tank that is clogging the intake screen, the car idles just fine but seems to run out of gas while driving at highway speeds. The fuel pump is new, as is the filter, and the carberator has been freshly rebuilt.

First though, I'll have to replace the alternator on my wife's Pontiac. It's been trying to go out for a couple of months now, but I've been putting it off. I do need to get it done though, before it goes out completely. That would put me in hot water with SWMBO. That would be a bad thing.

Maybe by Christmas I'll be done fooling around with cars.

And maybe something to do with monkeys will happen too.

Arrrrgh!!!!

Last night I drove the Aries in to work. It performed flawlessly all the way there. This morning I go out to start it to go home and the motor spins over but won't start. I have spark and I have fuel, but the motor won't start.

To add to the confusion, I don't have a power loss light any more so I can't pull the engine codes. The last time the power loss light didn't work the logic module was fried, so I'm worried that it's going to need another one.

This afternoon my eldest son and I go to fetch the car. I figure that the last time the computer went I was able to do a full throttle start and at least get the car home, so I'm going to try that again.

I try the full throttle start and to my complete amazement the power loss light flickers on and the motor tries to start. I then try a regular (no throttle) start and the motor starts, runs roughly for a few seconds, then cuts back off. Several starts later the motor finally stays running, and the longer it runs the smoother the idle gets.

I get the car home, and once more it's running beautifully. I wonder if the temp sensors are going bad, but yesterday morning the car started fine and it was colder yesterday than it was this morning.

Of course, yesterday night the car cut out on me again and I had to disconnect and reconnect everything to get it to start again. I changed the coil on it on my way home from work yesterday morning, so hopefully that problem is fixed. It probably is, since the next problem doesn't crop up until I get the current one solved. And like I said, it ran flawlessly all the way in.

What I hate most of all is an intermittant problem because they are so hard to track down. Tomorrow I'll pull all the connectors apart and check them out, that's another common Dodge problem.

I'm glad today is a day off.

Comeuppance

I told you bad things were going to happen to me.
This morning the war wagon wouldn't start for me as I was leaving work. It looks like the computer again, at least that's what the symptoms are. That's what I get for buying a used computer, trying to go cheap.

My partner had to give me a ride home, and to make matters worse my wife was walking the dog as we drove up. So, of course, I got the whole "I told you so" from her. What a great way to start the day. Or end it, as the case may be, since I work nights and sleep days.

But, as a bonus, one of my pictures is going to be in a 2008 calender. I wish it would have been this one, but hey...I'm published now! Get yours here when they go on sale (the East Broad Top one, of course).

Now I'm tired and going to bed. I have a Dodge to fix tonight. Wish me luck.

Photo to be used in the East Broad Top calender from BHI publications.

Bad Things Are Gonna Happen To Me

Lawdog reminded me of these videos, which I of course found completely hillarious.

What I also find completely hillarious is the humor of our troops, who refer to the "tail gunner" in a Humvee as a "trunk monkey".

And finally, who needs an Ambulance Driver when you have one of these?

Oh yeah. I'm going straight to Hay-ell for that one.

And while I'm at it, I finally linked AD. Find it on the sidebar, prepare to shoot coffee out of your nose. I deny any responsibility for ruined keyboards or monitors.

Mopar Or No Car (What's the Difference?)

Well, here it is the end of the month. I apologize for the light posting, it's a good thing I don't do this for a living or I would have made some editors very angry. Of course if I did this for a living I would have much more time to dedicate to it.

My time has been eaten up with work, one of my co-workers had to go away unexpectedly and we had to take up the slack. I've also been very busy with another project car, this one has been more trouble than it's worth.

When I say project car, I don't mean some exotic collectible that will be worth a fortune when finished. You see, I seem to have a knack for finding cars on the cheap that just need a bit of work. The last 3 acquisitions have been Dodge front-wheel drives, not by design but by accident. The last two are vehicles that I swore I would never own, a minivan and a station wagon.

It all started with a Chevy Cavalier. The Chevy died on me and I needed a car quick. An associate from work hooked me up with the mighty Rampage for cheap ($50 USD) because he couldn't keep it running. I was able to diagnose the problem (pickup coil, as I found out later a common problem with Dodge 2.2 and 2.5 motors) and seven years later I'm still driving it.

The next was the minivan. I got the van for free, the original idea was to pull the brakes off of it for the Rampage. However, my friend Tommy decided he wanted it and paid me to put an engine in it. I couldn't get the engine running (I literally worked on it until closing time at the auto hobby shop and had to go on cruise the next day) so I gave him his money back. When I got back a fuel injector fixed the problem. Now I had a van I didn't want, but since it was running and in decent shape I hated to do anything bad to it...like strip the brakes off. About that time my daughter called, needed a car, so I gave her the van. She drove it for two years and sold it for $400.

The latest is an Aries station wagon. Initially I paid $150 for it, my intention is to use it as a camping and fishing car. When it was just me and Christopher the mighty Rampage did fine, but now we have family closer that also enjoys the occasional camping and fishing trip so we needed something that would carry 4 adults and 2 children. It seemed the Aries would fit the bill perfectly. This one has been a nightmare.

I got the car from a consignment lot. The owner of the lot tells me that the owner of the car brought it in to use as a trade-in, but he wasn't interested in it. So, the car sat on the lot for over a year as the owner delayed coming to get it. Since I have started working on it I have no doubts as to why that is. He was trying to shaft the consignment lot owner, and hard.

Initially the car started and seemed to run great, especially considering that it sat unstarted for over a year. Now it seems to have decided that since it has an owner that fixes stuff, it's going to break as much as possible just to see what I'll put up with.

First I replaced the front rotors and pads, discovering the left side pads were untouched and the right side was down to metal. Further investigation showed the brake line had been removed on the left. The metal brake line, between the distribution block and the rubber line. No way the Previous Owner didn't know about it.

A full tune up and fluid/filter change was next. I found the radiator drain cock fully sealed with bathtub sealant, the rubber gasket had fallen off somewhere and apparently the PO couldn't be bothered to just go to the parts store and buy a new $3.00 plug. But I did.

Next I replaced parking brake cables, both the front and intermediate. In the process I have found much cancer in the floorboards, and during the latest rainstorm have discovered the windshield, doors and the tailgate all leak. Additionally, the water standing in the spare tire well gives off an interesting stench, no doubt due to the mouse nest I found under the spare tire as I was cleaning out the car. Soap, water and Febreeze have done wonders to eliminate the odor, but the parking brake still doesn't work. I'll have to pull the brake drums to find out why.

So why haven't I done that, you ask? Well, it was about this time the true nature of the car showed itself. I was taking it to get tires, ten miles from the house, when at the halfway point it started belching black smoke. The check-engine (actually a power loss light on this particular car) never did work, so I couldn't pull the codes. Added to this, the radiator fan always came on with the key, something I found interesting but not worth chasing down at the time. I should have.

I tried an O2 sensor and a fuel injector before finally biting the bullet and checking the logic module out. It had been water intruded and fried, also something that the PO had to have known about since it was old damage. Apparently sitting as long as it did allowed the computer to reset itself (dead battery) just long enough to lull me into a false sense of security. Changing it out fixed the problem with the running, gave me back a power-loss light, and fixed the radiator fan issue.

(It was about this time that I had to go on extended shifts, and of course that same day the Rampage's carberator went all to pieces. I was hoping to drive the War Wagon, but of course it had other ideas. It's a good thing the wife works opposite shifts.)

The next thing to go was the power module, which is the other half of the engine computer suite. Fortunately since I had a power loss light now I was able to troubleshoot and repair this using the engine codes. At the present time the car now runs, I was able to drive it around the house for an hour today with no problems, and the smell has been washed out. The headliner has been removed and the foam remnants vacuumed off the headliner shell. The rotting cloth has also been removed from the sun visors. All this will be repaired when the water leaking problems have been resolved.

I'm going to tear into the rear brakes next week and fix the parking brake problems, then finally the car should pass inspection. I'll get a jack and a spare tire for it and just drive it for a couple of months to work out any more bugs, then I'll work on the water intrusion problems before doing any interior work. Maybe I'll even get the air conditioning fixed before next summer.

Of course my co-workers find this saga highly amusing, especially the part where the mighty Rampage let me down the very day I had to start working extra days and the war wagon kicked out it's power module that night as I was driving in.

You would think I would be over my recent Dodge fetish.

You would be wrong. I want one of these. And I'll wait for this one.

This Rampage was formerly owned by SGT R. Kennedy, USMC. I wish mine looked like that.

Playing Catch-Up

Several things since my last posting, over a month ago.

Most important, and so first, is the news that the first Medal of Honor given for Operation Enduring Freedom will be awarded posthumously to Navy SEAL LT Michael Murphy of Patchogue, NY. Teammate HM2 Marcus Luttrell, known in the SEAL community as "The ONE", tells the story in his new book "Lone Survivor".

The award will be presented to LT Murphy's family at the White House on October 22, 2007.

LT Murphy joins fellow MOH awardees Army Sgt 1st Class Paul R. Smith and Marine CPL Jason Dunham in the honors, and will be commanding the Valhalla Detachment of the US Navy SEALs, a unit which includes fellow SEALs AO2 Marc Lee and MA2 Michael Monsoor among others.

One New York paper apparently decided this was not news fit to print and failed to report the story at all.

Next, James Rigney, better known as Robert Jordan, has passed on. Fellow author Stephen King used to say about his Dark Tower series that he would finish it as long as the reader retained interest and the author retained breath. Happily, both occurred with the release of The Dark Tower, which was the last book of the series. Sadly, fans of the Wheel of Time are not as fortunate. Rest in peace Mr. Rigney, and thanks for everything.

Another milestone in the literary world was the 50th anniversary of the publishing of Atlas Shrugged. Not a book for everyone, a bit wordy in places, but a compelling story nonetheless.

In other news, some dolt got some prize for doing something doltish that other dolts were very impressed with, the end result is that now everyone who uses their brain for something more than making excuses now is fully aware that the Nobel Peace Prize is worth exactly squat. Of course, anyone with half a brain realized that when it was given to a terrorist.

Finally, Jeff Gordon wins his second race in a row at Lowes Motor Speedway to retain his spot at the top of the Nextel Cup standings; this feat was witnessed by freshly inoculated house staffers. I can see influenza, but hepatitis? I mean, really! Just what were they intending to do there?

No house staffers were injured in the writing of this blog post, although the temptation was great.

Photo from the US Navy

Fred!

Notice the addition to the sidebar.

Moving Day

Ahab, from What Would John Wayne Do, has moved.

Accordingly, his information on the sidebar has been updated.

Check out his new digs.

Linky Linky

One of my oldest daughter's friends, when she was still young enough to be at home, told me "I wish I had a Dad like you."

This statement was made by a sixteen year old girl who was raised by a single mom. It was made without sarcasm, just a simple wistful statement of what she wished could be.

What could I say? I just hugged her and said "I wish you did, too. But if you need to borrow me, I'll be here."

Ten years later she still calls me Dad.

I have added Kim du Toit to my links just because of this essay.

I have further decided that he is among the luckiest men alive just because of his wife's attitude towards his essay. I am likewise blessed.

Thanks to Emperor Misha I for bringing this post to my attention.

Rebirth

Richard Bach wrote about the light in the toolbox in his book "One" that I read way back in high school.

He spoke of how machines have a soul, how they have a life and personality all their own. Not life as defined by scientists, but any mechanic will tell you that each machine has it's own quirks.

Richard Bach is a pilot and writer; his passion is flying. I do my flying a little closer to the ground. My passion is motorcycles.

We departed on a Sunday, the sun felt good after days of badly needed rain. The road hummed beneath her tires as she took her bearings from the rising sun and headed north.

My son and I have been riding her now for a couple of weeks, letting her stretch her legs and letting her and I get used to each other. Now it's time for us to go see the Man.

US1 north from Franklinton is a four lane highway, but where it joins with Interstate 85 in Henderson it turns back into a two-lane road that winds through the small towns. We are not in a big hurry so we take the back roads, ignoring the ease of the interstate in favor of the more challenging twists and turns of the two-lane.

Halfway between South Hill and Kenbridge VA we turn off onto Bacon Fork Road. Our journey is almost through.

We roll into the yard, the sun sparkling off her fresh coat of blue paint. He looks out the window. She shows off her new gold pinstriping for him.

"Damn", he says. "She looks great!"

She hears him.

We spend the day there, he takes his powered wheelchair for a lap around her to see her up close. We talk of days past, of rides taken and sights seen. We enjoy the day, my friend and I.

All too soon the sun starts to sink in the western sky. I turn the key and push the starter button.

We once again take the back roads home. It's a day for riding, and remembrance, something that is difficult to do on the mindless expanse of asphalt that is the interstate highway system.

The sky is purple as we arrive back at the Refuge. I leave her in her shed, along with the Harley that eyes me balefully. Lucille is jealous, but like most redheads making up with her will be the most fun.

This ride is done, but there are many more ahead.

For both of us.

Note from the Scoundrel: "This post was originally written as the third part of a triligy. Parts one and two are here. This part has been a long time coming. I thank you for your patience."

Lest We Forget

My sister has moved to Roanoke VA and will be visiting this weekend. Her daughter has the misfortune of sharing a birthday with a terrible event.

On her birthday she experienced the horror of watching, along with the rest of America, the twin towers fall in New York City. Tearfully she turned to her mom and asked "How could they do this? And on my BIRTHDAY!!!!!"

She will never forget.

And neither will I.

Photo from http://www.janknepper.com

So whaddaya want fer nothin?

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It has been over two months since my last post.
No, nothing wrong, I just haven't taken the time to write.
I have been busy, what with the new job and all, but not so busy I couldn't sit down and jot a line or two. I just haven't found anything that captures my interest enough to write about it.
I also have not been reading my normal selection of blogs, nor have I been paying much attention to the news. This probably explains why I haven't found anything worth writing about.
I wish I could tell my loyal readership (there are still one or two of you that check in regularly, I offer my baffled thanks) that I have been working on a project of stupendous achievement that will be well worth the long wait.
Sorry, not the case. So sue me, it's not like you are paying me to do this.
But as long as you are here, I hope you enjoyed the links.
Photo courtesy of Blues Brothers Central.