Failure to launch

is often nothing more than inability to launch.

I just heard that in order to get a decent mortgage a person has to make about $125K/year. Under Trump it was $75K.

I heard one mother say that wasn't going to happen to her son because he was going to go to college. 

Oh.

I don't see where she and her husband can simply write a check for their Sonny Boy's entire education. A more likely scenario is that he's going to graduate with a meaningless degree and about $200K worth of student debt to pay off.

Looks to me like there's a damned good chance the Sonny Boy will be living with Mom and Dad for quite a while after graduation.

This failure to launch is in a lot of cases a total inability to launch.

Yet Mom and Dad will likely vote Harris because Orange Man Bad.

Even if Trump does get elected he doesn't have a chance of undoing the damage done by the Biden Administration. He'll have a lot of things blamed on him and his presidency will likely not be too successful because the left and the media (one in the same) will create stories out of thin air and try and stymie him every chance they get. About all he can do it try and undo as much bad policy as possible.

I didn't bother to answer the woman as she was simply talking to someone else although I really wanted to tell her that the only way he son was likely to own his own home was to inherit it after they are dead and gone.

  

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Someone challenged me today over a veteran's parking spot at Lowe's

Weird.

I seldom park in those spots, preferring to save them for guys that have been injured in the line of duty but there are four of them and they were all empty so I pulled into one. Why not? I wasn't stealing something from anyone.

Someone that was walking past me when I got out of the pickup 'casually' asked me when I served. There was something in his voice that made me think he was some kind of self-appointed parking space sheriff of some sort. I just had a feeling.

"!973-76 United States Army, French Foreign Legion until '81 and United States Merchant Marine from 1990 until present. I'm still a licensed United States Merchant Marine officer. Credentials upon request. Follow me home after I've done my shopping."

Two out of three ain't bad. Sue me.

"I was awarded the Legion of Honor for shooting 38 Turegs off the back of a camel back in 1979." 

"Really?" he replied.  

"Uh huh." I answered.

There has been only person that I told that to was an Embry-Riddle student that had the absolute gall to challenge me.   He whipped out his phone and figured that the average camel could carry 500 pounds and the average weight of said Tureg was 13.157 pounds.

"Yeah, they looked kinda skinny. That's some serious shooting because they were so small." I replied and he smirked. He's a pain in the ass but I love him anyway. He's one of the few people I call a friend for life.

How the hell do you get 38 people on the back of a camel? I can hear it now. "Hey! quit that pushin' and shovin' back there! as someone almost falls off, hanging on for dear life.

Back to our original story brought to you by Kellogg's of Battle Creek.

Anyway I he left looking somewhat confused which made me feel pretty good about myself.

Leaving someone confused is always a good thing.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

WOW!

Almost missed a day

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Why didn't you go to West Point? It's free and you don't have to pay off college loans.

To which I replied, "Because it was too damned expensive."

While I probably could not have been nominated to begin with, that was my answer.

That's one of the stupidest things I ever heard. You pay through the nose for a service academy education one way or another.

People have no clue about what an education like that costs. 

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Free my ass!

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I'm 72 now and for the first time in my life I sat down and figured out my bills the other day.

I spent the first 35 years of my life living out of my hip pocket. When I found I was carrying too much cash I'd stash most of  it in a trusted friend's safe and kind of forget about it. When I got a bill of some sort, I'd pay it. If I needed something I'd buy it.

I generally kept a mental note of approximately how much I had in the safe, give or take maybe a grand.

When I decided to buy a sailboat I figured I needed a couple grand more and went to work and earned it. When I did buy it and sail it to Kodiak it blew a lot of people's minds because I was living pretty much like a homeless bum.

I sold my camper trailer and lived on the boat.

One time before I bought my sailboat I overheard someone say to someone else that I was a homeless bum and listened to the reply.

"He IS a homeless bum but he lives better than most of us. His camper/trailer is just a place for him to sleep and if you ever get into it you will find 12 year old scotch, good cognac, a propane fridge full of imported beer. He lives on a cash/barter/horse trading economy. I saw him pay a medical bill by hanging a door and I've also seen him fix something at the liquor store and get paid with a couple bottles of damned good Pinch scotch. He also lives on halibut, king crab, venison which is a king's menu that costs him little or nothing. Know who he had for a visitor last summer? Jack Lemmon."

Anyway, I got curious and had the wife give me an itemized list of all household expenses and like I figured, I'm still managing to save money.

I'm glad I did that because it confirmed what I already knew.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

At a match about a month or so ago

the RO showed up with a bunch of these pins and handed them out to anyone that wanted them. Needless to say, I jumped on one because I am that kind of guy. There is nothing I like more than something very important looking that says absolutely nothing.

                                                    

The pin itself is much smaller than shown here, it's under an inch at its widest point and says absolutely nothing in a very official looking way.

Someone has already seen it and asked me what I was awarded it for and I replied "Achievement."

"What did you achieve?"

"Being awarded this pin." I answered.

"What did you do to be awarded the pin?" he asked.

"I achieved something." I replied.

"What?"

"Being awarded this pin."

He knows me well so he figured it out then and there. "Well, it sure looks official as hell, but it don't mean nothin'! " he answered.

Most of the guys took one and put them on their shooting stools alongside whatever other odds and ends they have accumulated.

I know I am a sick puppy but I like $hit like that, something that looks official as hell but means nothing.

My Good Conduct medal lapel pin turned up missing after the fire which kinda sucks even though I didn't have the moxie to wear it publicly except for once. I've considered it a couple of times and figured that if anyone asked me I'd tell them it was awarded to me because against overwhelming odds I managed to behave myself for three long years and not murder anyone. 

Do you know hard it is not to hack at least SOMEONE up out of all the stupid people I met in the Army?

===============================

Yesterday there was a reduced course state match at my local club and much to my surprise they had a bunch of various awards and medals to award to the winners. 

We have a lot of new blood in the sport and there are only a couple of us old timers still in the game and I have rarely seen any real awards given. The new blood is pretty energetic and it's a breath of fresh air.

Many moons ago I put in for my Sharpshooter's card which I had honestly earned and the Geritol deprived old man with iron poor blood running the show never bothered to send the scores into the NRA.

This young buck asked me why I was not listed as a sharpshooter and I told him. He gave me a determined look and said, "I've got a big box of the old records. I'll fix THAT one!" A couple months later my SS card mysteriously appeared. I have no idea how he pulled it off but I am grateful.

Personally I really didn't and still don't care about medals, plaques and other trinkets. The only one I have is that I bronzed in the Police Olympics back in 199?. There's the medal somewhere that survived the fire and the subsequent cleanup afterwards. To be honest, I am kind of proud of that one simply because it means I outshot every police officer that was in attendance. 

Update. While going through some stuff I found another long forgotten nothing medal. High score Marksman which means absolutely nothing. I got it mainly because Mister Forgot To Take His Geritol didn't send get me my Sharpshooter card so I had to shoot in the Marksman class. In a way it's kind of an insult akin to being a former male professional athlete turned female and winning something as aa woman.   

The Police Olympics match was actually a mid-week club match we opened up to the police that were in town for the 'Olympics' which was really an excuse for the cops statewide to do some networking.

Still, seeing the young blood actually taking the effort to get some kind of physical awards was a nicety that I noticed. It's kind of like getting a few sprinkles on an ice cream cone.

************************************************

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Army and Merchant Marine schools.

I was cleaning out files. I saved all of my diplomas and certificates for whoever has to deal with things after I am gone. I also saved the grades report from my captain's license.

During my army and sea careers I attended just about every school I could find and get into. In the army if anything was offered to me the answer was generally "Sure. Why not?"

When you were in an on post classroom type school you were exempt from formations, inspections and the usual crap. I lived off post and got up and went to school and went home after class. It got me away from the drudgery of barracks life.

At first I didn't realize it but it gave me promotion points. I had figured on getting out of the service as an E-4 and hadn't given E-5 much thought. While I was trying to escape the drudgery of barracks life I was also aiming myself toward promotions.

I had been in service for a total of maybe 1.5 years and had already made E-4 and little did I know I'd make E-5 at about the 2 year mark because of being as close to a professional student as I could make myself. All I had to do was keep getting good grades.

Same held true for me during my career. Every time a school came up I'd call my port captain and said I wanted in.

By then I realized that every single course under my belt made me more and more valuable. I even took a cooking course at Piney Point, the union school. I got paid for a lot of this and it also gave me value as an employee. 

While the truth is that a lot of these courses and schools in reality did little or nothing to improve my actual hands on job performance, they established me as a serious and motivated employee and may or may not have actually helped the company on insurance rates as I do know that insurance companies take an interest in on paper credentials. 

During my career I recall three or four layoffs and I never suffered one although some people with more seniority got laid off. I managed not to get laid off and I seriously think it was because they had invested more in me than they had a lot of other people. I knew my job and they had invested a lot of money into me and they wanted a return on it.

The more education I got meant the more they had into me and as a result I became more valuable.

When I first entered the industry I sailed with a few skippers that had been grandfathered by the Coast Guard and been given smaller licenses that enabled them to keep their jobs when they changed policy and required licensing in the tug industry.

Some of these men were either totally illiterate or semi-literate. Many of these men saw the writing on the wall and upgraded. Others stayed with their licenses and either fell by the wayside or hung onto their careers by a thread.

I remember one illiterate skipper upgrading all the way up to a 1600 ton license by passing oral exams. Later I actually got to watch him get pissed off and had his crew teach him to read and it's a rather heart warming tale along the lines of someone getting eyesight for the first time. Maybe I'll post that one later. There's a lot of humor, kindness and pathos in the story and the crew used practically every teaching aid they could, including the Three Stooges. Seriously. They used part of a Stooges episode to help teach the skipper to read.

A tug skipper on my first tour in the industry told me, "Piccolo, if you can get a license to drive a battleship then get it. You'll never need it, but get it anyway. Fill your jacket up with as much good paper as you can. It will keep you employed because not only is the company interested in paper but so are all of the other companies."

I followed that advice and had an excellent career.

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Reruns of Pawn Stars and the future.

They seem to buy a lot of 'collectables' on that show and they seem to be doing rather well. 

Judging from what I think the future is going to bring us there are going to be a lot of 'collectables' being sold at fire sale prices and few purchasers.

It looks like the pawnbrokers are going to be purchasing a lot of basic household items for cheap and reselling them at a pretty thin margin in the not too distant future.

A lot of collectors are upper middle class and the middle class is going to start taking some pretty big hits and when that happens things like collections and the family yacht are the first things to go.

On places like Facebook I'm seeing a lot of halfway decent sailboats going for little or even in some cases nothing but the cost of their storage bills.

Quite frankly, it I was in better health I would seriously consider picking a sailboat up to live on  and renting out the family manse.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Pea gravel driveways.

are a royal pain in the a$$ because I am constantly tracking pea gravel into the house. 

As usual it was chosen because it 'looks good'. As usual 'looks good' means high maintenance because the damned gravel has to be added to every couple of years and it means an increase in house cleaning.

It's time to start fall cleaning, a deep cleaning process that will take days and all sorts of moving stuff all over hell. As I look at the kitchen floor that was mopped fairly recently I see no real reason to mop it although I will. What it needs more than anything is to be given a good vacuuming to pick up a few onionskins and the accumulated gravel along the edges.

We have a couple of cold air returns that are not seen. One is behind the couch and the other is under the desk I am sitting at and although this one is clear, it is hidden and requires me to move the desk which weighs in at six metric tons or thereabouts. It's heavy. I have done both this desk and the couch but it's going to mean pulling up the area rugs and so on to give the floor a good scrubbing.

My work's cut out for me.

=========================

The other thing that I consented to because it 'looks good' is the kitchen sink that I really wanted to be stainless steel but consented to white porcelain. It stains easily and it took me a while until a plumber gave me a tip to making it look new again. 

He told me to use that blue toilet bowl cleaner on it and it certainly works well. Still it's a pain to keep clean. Stainless would have been a whole lot easier to maintain.

===========================

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

A peaceful weekend

because I only had one one single spam phone call. 

I'm pretty sick and tired of scammers trying to scam people. While I think they prefer to target the elderly, it's apply anywhere, really.

One of the things my wife is onboard with me is that we do NO on-line banking and we have made it clear to our financial institutions that we are not going to. Yeah, sure, it makes it easier for them but it makes it unsafe for us. 

As time passes I think I am going to start to close a number of things down because I am not as sharp as I used to be and the probability of making a single mistake goes up with time.

I can't keep up with technology. Actually I don't see how anyone but a few eggheads can. It's growing too fast and all it takes is a single screwup and the scams are getting slicker and slicker by the day.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Many online scams come out of India and I see that the government doesn't make much of an effort to go after the scammers. 

Personally I would have nothing against having Uncle toss a JDAM through the window of a scammer office although I would imagine India would not think too much of the idea.

What we COULD do is simply stop any financial aid including HB2s and  other things until India cleans up their act. 

Same holds true for Africa and other places. 

Of course, a lot of this is stateside based. It's time to create a serious task force to eliminate internet crimes here. The DOJ spends a lot of time and effort checking up on honest citizens exercising their rights and if they used that energy to go after internet thieves it would go a considerable distance in making us safer.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

So I see where Tupperware is in bankruptcy.

which is no surprise to me.

The story is that Covid hit it and kept the Tupperware parties from happening which leaves me confused because I have not heard of a Tupperware party in years although I never searched to see if they still have them.

Anyway, I am surprised Tupperware has lasted this long. I have not had a piece of it in close to two decades because thee substitute is free.

I think it started with the Cool Whip container that some people started using for leftovers, my own mother included. 

An awful lot of products come in snap lid containers and are easily reusable It's amazing that Tupperware has lasted this long.

My freezer will be full of Grandma's potato salad and various luncheon meat containers again later this afternoon as if gets after I cook up a big batch of whatever.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Yesterday I met a woman that's both a troll AND married to one.

Keeping a straight face is imperative to being a good troll. I asked her what was the hardest time for her to keep a straight face.

She laughed and told me that one time they were in the Walmart parking lot and there were a whole bunch of people within earshot as they neared their car and her husband unexpectedly snapped a her, "Get in the car, you whore!"

She saw the looks of outrage of those that heard it and that she was dying inside but obediently got into the car and managed to hold it together until they got out of the parking lot and the pair of them laughed all the way home.

I wonder what she did to him to settle the score. 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I AM rich.

Or at least as rich as I want to be. 

Over the years I have thought about how being filthy rich would be a royal pain in the ass. Everybody wants to take your money from you and thinks you have a big vault full of cash somewhere.

Truth is I'm rich because I have what I want.

I am perfectly content with my 15 YO Tacoma and having a 32 YO Miata in the garage and a home that's paid off. I drive myself around and take care of my own business.

I like doing my own cooking and cleaning and like generally taking care of myself. I'd go straight to the screw factory for rethreading if I was driven around in a limo everywhere I went.

I've got a suitable income and am getting by nicely. I worked an extra nine long years so it would be this way and I'm glad I did.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Well, Harley-Davidson has thrown themselves down the toilet

by getting woke. Get woke, go broke.

I can not see for the life of me why they were stupid enough to think that liberals would go charging out to buy a big, fuel inefficient heavy motorcycle. 

The libs I do see that ride seem to favor light, quick fairly fuel efficient  smaller bikes. 

At Sturgis this past year the Harley shop was practically empty having alienated their customer base.

Smooth move.

****************************

In other news my recently retired neighbor reports having strange dreams akin to what I went through when I retired.

******************************

I can picture Maxwell Smart saying, "Well, Chief, I got him with the old exploding pager trick."

Shortly after a bunch of Icom HTs blew up. 

Hezbollah is in a serious quandary on what to use for communications now. 

They went to pagers because cell phones track their whereabouts. That got switched to pagers which (presumably ) Mossad blew up on them and when they switched to Handy-Talkie VHF radios the HTs blew up.

That's pretty slick if you ask me.

OTOH I don't see myself buying any new ham radio electronics in the near future.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

This has been one hell of a day.

I will not get into the details save to say maybe I can survive this.

Who knows?

There are times I think I SHOULD have joined the French Foreign Legion and made a career out of it and retired to French Polynesia.

Beau Piccolo.

Or maybe retired when I was 62 and moved to the Philippines or some damned thing.

Anyway it is what it is. 

Not a good day.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

If you try to eat my cat I can shoot you and probably not go to jail.

Trust me on this one.

While I certainly don't want to shoot anyone I will do what is right.

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

One of the things that irks the $hit out of me

is that when a young man puts on a uniform he's still considered a minor.

Over the years I have cheerfully bought beer for GIs that have been in service a while simply because they are not children anymore.

To be completely honest, I won't buy beer for a kid fresh out of basic training, though because that's trouble looking for a place to happen. But once he's been in a unit a while and settled in I will and that's just too bad. If someone doesn't like it that's just too damned bad.

Once a child puts on a uniform he stops being a child.

88888888888888888888888888888888

Jesse Ventura said he returned from Vietnam and after about a week went into the XOs office and asked to be returned to Vietnam.

When asked why he said he was treated like a man while he was in-country but reverted back to being a child when he got back Stateside.

I certainly see his point.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Well, I screwed myself.

I was looking for a used NA Miata and found one that actually looked pretty good. I didn't have a rack handy so I looked underneath as best I could and it looked acceptable so I took it for $2000.

Later a friend offered to put it on the rack and look at it and it turned out that the middle bottom I couldn't see was rusted to beat hall and I probably can't get an inspection sticker for it when it needs one.

I can't take it back as I had inspected it myself and accepted it as is, but the scrappers will probably give me in the area of a grand because for some reason people look for NA parts so the junkyard will take them. I got a $700 sight unseen offer on it which I may/may not accept. 

Update. I found another one that I put on the lift and there's not a bit of rust on it. NONE! Not in the wheel wells, NOWHERE.

I snagged it and even with my mistake I'm coming out ahead. O could probably flip it for $8K which put me back in the game where I want to be.

Everything else is clean. The seller is a car guy that stores his good stuff between Oct/Nov and late Mar/April. You don't find many guys with a rack in a 2 car garage.

I made an offer and he took it and BINGO! It's in the garage now. 

I can simply flip the plate and all the insurance company has to do is change the VIN which I will get done over the next day or so.

Anyway, I was puttering around with it at about 0630 and felt alive for the first time in quite a while. I had something to do, a labor of love.

The junker had a lot of 'nice to have' things and needless to say, I swapped them out MOST riki-tik. The junker had actually been some sports car enthusiast's pride and joy and there's a plaque on the dash because it won some prize or another. I guess the guy I bought it from decided to use it as his daily driver and run the snot out of it all year 'round. That's actually pretty stupid because a rear wheel sports car, while they are outstanding on dry pavement, they're not worth a penny farthing in the snow.

Anyway, for the first time in a LONG time I feel alive again and that's a damned good feeling.

888888888888888888888888888888

Over the years I have done quite a bit of wheeling and dealing and almost always come out on top, meaning I have almost gotten a good deal on what I wanted.

Once I bought something worth about $700 for $200 and traded it for something else worth $500. 

Some people said I should have held out for a better swap but if you do the math I got what I would have paid $500 for at the cost of $250.

I always liked that deal because it was win/win. I got a $500 item for $250 and left a little meat on the bone for the other guy. All in all, not a bad deal.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

This ought to be good.

I pretty much stared all day and I'm ready for bed and still starving and have no beer, either.

A quick trip to Sheetz and I have beer and a humongous burrito.

Not a good choice but we shall see what happens.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Ahhh, yes. The friendly, local, neighborhood Coast Guard small boat station back in the 60s

which was within bicycle station for a 14 or 15 year old kid.

Maybe I was 13 but whatever.

I was a river rat from the age of about 11 until well past high school. I was probably about 13 or 14 at the time and for some reason the Coast Guard was doing something on the river. Anyway someone  started following me up past Damon's Point and for some reason a Whaler was following me. Something instinctive made me decide I didn't like it very much so I went straight to flank speed.

I was in a flat bottomed Delano and decided to lose them. A glance told me the mud flats had JUST enough water for me to cross, maybe 3 inches. I decided to cross the flats and as I lost water I lifted the outboard and skipped across the flats.

The Whaler in hot pursuit didn't have the 'lift the motor' option and promptly ran aground. As I cleared the mud flats I dropped the motor back into the water and went on my merry way. 

Later I found out it was the Coast Guard. 

Oops.

It was an incoming tide so they didn't have too long to wait to refloat. Oh, well.

Now to this day I do not know how it got pinned on me but it did. Looking back on this I seriously think I was the victim of a conspiracy of the Chief running the station and my father.

Anyway the Chief knocked on the door shortly thereafter and Dad answered it. Two seconds later he called me.

"This is the Chief Petty Officer that runs the small boat station and he'd like to have a word with you," said Dad.

I think at the time if he thought he'd have gotten away with it the first thing out of his mouth would have been "You little criminal!" 

He would have gotten away with it if he'd have given Dad a smirk ahead of time. If I had an ass chewing from someone coming that was fine by Dad if I got it.

Anyway he asked me if I would be interested in showing some of the his people where the mud flats were on the North River. It seemed a Coast Guard Whaler had hit one of them recently.

At that age my only possible reply at the time could possibly be "I sure can!"

This was back in the mid 60s and the small boat stations considered a thing called 'local knowledge' to be far more reliable than NOAA charts. (I've heard they should STILL do this, unofficially. You can't beat it. It's updated on a daily basis.)

That was a pretty good deal for me and I became a very regular regular at the small boat station. I ran a couple of Coasties up and down the river and showed them where the flats were. Actually the channel all the way up to the second bridge was marked properly with the usual buoys. Basic seamanship would get someone around. It's the outside the buoys part that is interesting. 

In addition to this, I took the Chief and his wife out in the family skiff for an evening tour and showed him the locations of the flats. His wife enjoyed it. She was (IIRC) from Chesapeake Bay and enjoyed herself. I imagine the Chief did as much as she did. I believe he was from Virginia but did a damned good job of taking to a 1965ish New England. Running a small boat station generally means you don't get to get off the beach too often. You're too busy with administrative chores. It's kind of like the guy that loves fishing and opens a bait and tackle shop. He never gets to go fishing.

They just wanted to learn a little more so they didn't make the same mistake they had made with me. 

My reward for a day's work was I got to go on sunset patrol on a 40 footer. A couple of times I got to steer. The Official Speed of the patrol was explained to me by the Second Class coxswain. "Half past bustass. Ring it up!"

After the first time the guys dug me up a set of dungarees and a Dixie cup hat so it didn't look like a kid was on board because someone might say something.

One day the Chief came by as I was helping fix something and commented to a couple of the guys, "I don't mind Piccolo hanging out here and helping out but if you get one whiff of someone showing up from Boston, get him the hell out of here fast."

"I'll stuff him in the paint locker, Chief," said a Second Class.

The Chief chuckled. 

Anyway, the inevitable happened. I walked around the building once and found myself face to face with a lieutenant and saluted, hoping to slide by. He returned the salute and asked me who I was.

"Seaman Apprentice Piccolo, Sir." I replied.

"What are you doing here? he asked.

"I'm striking for Coxswain's Mate, Sir. It's the backbone of the Coast Guard," I replied.

"Good for you, Son," he said and we parted ways. The instant he was out of sight I made a beeline for my bicycle and vanished.

 A few days later I showed up again in my street clothes with the dungarees in a small laundry bag. This was before the ambiguous day pack became the norm.

The Chief happened by and looked at me. "Striking for Coxswain's Mate, are we, Seaman Apprentice Piccolo?" He was smirking.

"All I could think of, Chief," I replied.

"Perfect answer," he said. "That was Lieutenant Walczak. You impressed him and he was really surprised when I told him who you were. The Lieutenant's one of the good guys." 

I sighed visibly.

"Save the dungarees for Sunset Patrol," he said.

I didn't think the Chief knew I was a ridealong for Sunset Patrol but then again, I figured the Chief of a small boat station probably knows a lot more than he lets on.

**********************************

I grew up in CAMP.

I walked on the shoulders of GIANTS.

 

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I am certainly not some kind of genius.

I certainly could not step into a major power plant and run it but at least I am aware that electricity is generated somewhere and delivered through wire of various sizes. I know that electricity is not some magic energy source that's produced in the little outlet boxes throughout the house.

Or the guy that said the blockage of the Suez Canal wasn't going to effect us because it's 5000 miles away.

When I asked him who was going to pay the fuel and wages required to ship everything an extra 8000 miles around Africa he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Why, the shipping company, of course."

It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant a large portion of the public is.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Is he married?

Over the past couple of months a few older women have asked about my marital status, either face to face or through others.

When I was helping pick up things after my hot air balloon ride the pilot came over to me and commented that one of the women on the flight asked him if I was married. He said he thought so because I had mentioned my wife in an earlier conversation.

About a month or so ago one of the dog walkers, a woman about my age asked me if I was married and I told her I was. she said, "Oh. My mother is looking for a mate." (WTF?!)

I had a neighbor trained until he passed a couple of years ago. If the subject came up over my marital status he'd answer, "He's married to a very striking Moroccan woman he met when he served in the French Foreign Legion. She's still gorgeous and doesn't look a day over 40 and never gained weight." 

He reported he only said that twice. 

Still, it's getting pretty weird having older women ask about my marital status, especially at my age.

I figure either they are gold digging or are lonely and/or looking for a companion.

One thing is certain, though. If I was single and met someone the first date would consist of going through her assets. The last thing I want to be is someone's meal ticket. 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

One of the things I attribute my longevity to from my career is

that I had enough sense to avoid tug skippers that were more afraid of the ocean than they were afraid of the office.

A couple of years into my career I said to an old salt skipper "Floyd is more afraid of the office than he is of the ocean which is why I got off of his boat."

"Smart move," he said.

Rule One: The object of the exercise is to go back home after your tour is over.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

My hot air balloon ride.

was interesting. I went into it with no preconceived notions other than I figured it would be relatively windless in the basket because it travels with the wind.

It was cramped because five health care professionals, all women were scheduled to show up and they brought along two more which made a total of 8 people stuffed into the basket. 

It was made to haul 8 passengers but would have been a lot better with only six but that's OK.

Anyway, there is no real sensation of flying in a balloon and no wind, either as a balloon is carried along by the wind and that's how fast one travels.

The landing was the gentlest landing I have ever  had on any flying machine in my life.

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

One of the things that makes me laugh is people that think a person's net worth

is all in the form of cash in a vault somewhere. They seem to think that if someone's net worth is 60,000,000 bucks he has that much money in available cash somewhere. They don't realize that maybe the guy may not have $10 in his pocket and he can't buy lunch today. His money is in assets. In order for him to round up any serious amount of cash he has to sell something.

When the liberals (who don't understand anything economics or finances) start talking bout taxing the rich they don't know what they are talking about. They seem to think that they can just hand J. Poopley Potts a tax bill and he'll reach into a safe somewhere and pull out a gigantic wad of cash and hand it over to the tax collector. The smarter ones think he'll just write a check.

They don't seem to understand that, for example a middle class guy's net worth includes the house he paid off over 30 years and that he's still working away at the salt mines making a basic paycheck.

In fact one of the primary ways a working still can accumulate wealth is through his house and even that's somewhat of a crap shoot. Over time homes can lose value. They're subject to the market just like everything else. 

-------------------------------------

Then you have cash mentality which sometimes I call pimp mentality. The believe that their net worth is what they have in their pocket. I also call it poor people mentality because they they will be poor their entire life. 

These are the people that will win, say a million bucks in the lottery and be broke a year or so later with a pile of broken down year old cars and other stupid stuff to show for it.

-----------------------------------------

What's interesting is how many people that actually are well -to-do

run around in basic simple automobiles and walk out to them wearing Walmart sneakers. 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I was reading about a Vietnam veteran Army nurse a while ago

It was an interesting story. I've read more than one account of nurses in combat areas and one thing they all said is that it was the high point of their entire nursing careers.

Generally they didn't get into the $hit. Instead they cleaned the aftermath as best they could. They learned to listen to the world around them. One helicopter making a delivery was routine. They hoped and prayed it was a single Whiskey (wounded) with a small wound.

What scared the hell out of them was when there was a number of choppers incoming. That meant that 'Their boys' had gotten chewed up. They jumped out of their racks praying as the put on their steel pots and went to work. Most of then didn't need to be told what to do.

I read where they had a large influx of casualties and a doctor told them to open an 'overflow ward'. A nurse replied, "It's already open. Julie and Tom went straight to it when they heard the 4th chopper."

What was interesting is that they adored the medics that were there assisting them. 

It's one of those rare situations where you can take the homeliest woman in town, put her in a rumpled set of jungle fatigues, deprive her of sleep for a couple of day and when some torn up GI sees her starting an IV on him she becomes the most beautiful woman in the world.

About 9000 nurses served in Vietnam, most of them were recruited straight out of nursing school. What a way to start a career in medicine!

After they returned home they generally kept their service quiet as the war was unpopular and they went their own ways. Some returned to the area of expertise they were trained in only to find they were bored so they headed off to the ER where their skills proved very useful. 

A couple reported getting into hot water with the hospitals for  performing procedures they had routinely performed in Vietnam but were not permitted to perform stateside for liability reasons.

Some took their GI bill and went back to school and became PAs and MDs.

Most of them returned and simply found work and quietly made lives for themselves.

Any nurse that serves in a combat area has a LOT to be proud of.

--------------------------------------------

One of my favorite WW2 stories was the school sweethearts the got separated because her parents move. They lost touch.

A few years later a nurse was evacuating a wounded GI from one of the Pacific islands and she found him wounded on the airplane they were evacuating him on.

"You're not going to get away from me this time," she said.

Shortly after they were married and stayed married until death. 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

You can't get something for nothing.

The Android people just downloaded their periodic updates which I suppose is a good thing.

However, it's not free because I have to go and uninstall a number of stupid games I don't want.

There's always a catch.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Right now I have my nose in an interesting book.

The Secret of Sherwood Forest: Oil production in England during WW2.

Everyone and their cousin can name all of the battles and a lot of the heroes and bums that took place in the fighting.

Still, there's a LOT more to war than the pitched battles. 

Where does one get all the hardware, equipment, supplies and so on to fight a (then) modern war?

That's in interesting thing to look into if one really wants to understand more fully what went on.

It's interesting and they cover what it was like for about 50 oil workers sharing a monastery with a large group of monks. I don't think you'd be surprised to find out they got along quite well.

One of the things that irked me is little fiefdoms like petty UK government officials and American officials that made life a little more difficult. As usual. 

Sometimes I wonder how we managed to win the war.

eBay, I paid $8.11 for my copy, delivered. You might get it for less.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I just bought an NA Miata a couple days ago.

NA Miatas are first generation, 1009-1998 IIRC. 

I didn't pay a whole lot for it but when the first thing major goes then the whole thing is going to wind up in the scrapyard. I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole. I got under it and see that it's in a lot worse shape that it looked from the outside. It's not in very good shape but for what I paid for it and what I want out of it I suppose it'll do.

NA Miatas have gone through the roof in recent years. The NA I bought a decade ago and burned up in the fire cost me a measly $1200. It had been garage kept and the woman that sold it to me wanted $2000.

Much to her credit, she took it in to get a sticker first and found out the tires were rotten and the brake pads were marginal so when I showed up she explained it and that to get it up to inspection passing grade they wanted $800. She gave it to me for $1200!

Needless to say, when I took it home I bought good rubber and fixed the pads myself. 

An NA in the condition I got a decade ago now runs $10,000 and up!

I've driven a couple of the newer ones, an NB and an NC and the truth is that Mazda got that one right with the NA. There's something clean and righteous about a simple machine like an NA base model, no frills and a wonderful driving machine. 

Needless to say, like all plain and simple things people decided to f**k with it. The whole thing turned into something a captain said to me about the P-38 can opener. Anyone that's ever used one to open a can knows what a P-38 is.

"One of these days the Army is going to invent the P-38A1 and it will have 356 moving parts, a battery pack, weigh ten pounds and won't open cans worth a $hit."

Fortunately for GI Joe the MRE entered the picture and he didn't have to carry around a brick sized object to open his canned rations.

Same thing with the Miata. They got it right the first time. They really nailed it.

I can't blame Mazda for creating the NB-ND models, though. They have to make money and the NA had run the better part of a decade and I imagine sales slowed down.

Still, the next three generations managed to eliminate an awful lot of the simplicity and charm of the base model NA. They slowly  changed it from being an Old School sports car to a 'touring convertible'.

The third generation, the NC added a power driven fold down hardtop. It actually took longer to put up than the original ragtop. The ragtop was dead simple, pull it up with one hand and snap the two catches. Done and secured in well under 5 seconds. No motors, no fancy mechanisms. Just pull it up and catch the catches which you have to do anyway with the power driven model. Simple.

Of course it's been 26 years since the last NA rolled off the assembly line. Change is inevitable and some is good and some is not so good.

The newer Maitas started adding comfort to their line. They slowly changed their customer base which is good business, still they pulled the entire spirit out of the car. It's nowhere near the same. 

A sports car without a manual transmission is like chili without peppers. 

Yes, there were a handful of NAs with automatics but I think it was well under 6%. They were originally designed for sports car people that were familiar with things like the Triumph Spitfires, MGB and that type of vehicle...but without things like 'Prince of Darkness' Lucas electrical systems.

Japanese engineering not created the return of the Old School sports cars but their engineering made them bullet proof!

Anyway I now have what I consider to be a real Old School sports car.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Someone pointed out to me that my cell phone tracks me.

You don't say! Whoda ever thought such a thing?

I told them I was perfectly aware of that and when I'd go off to commit crimes I take a piece of gum and stick my phone to the bottom of the third stool at Clancy's.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

The left wants Elon Musk arrested.

for this.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1816974609637417112

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1816974609637417112

Not only is it hilarious, but it's fairly true.

Robert Reich seems to have made a big deal out of this and is all worked up over the video.

Here's what the little half-pint tyrant has to say:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/30/elon-musk-wealth-power

Looks to me like Robert Reich needs to be reined in. Someone take him to a rowdy bar somewhere and start a game of dwarf tossing. That should settle him down.

*******************************************

I just saw a Harris ad where she says she's going to go after the corporations and the oil companies that 'keep ripping us off'.

I presume that means she wants to raise the corporate tax through the roof. Of course all the idiots out there think that will lessen their taxes which it won't because the government will find yet more ways to piss our money away.

People forget that corporations don't pay taxes. Corporations  only write checks to the government to cover their tax assessment. We, the consumers, end up paying the taxes via the higher prices route.

Joe Citizen's taxes don't drop a cent, the costs of corporate manufactured goods goes up and Joe's worse off for it.

Politicians then double down and scream and tell everyone they're being ripped off and they're going to raise the corporate tax even MORE. 

Rinse, repeat.

I am far from being an economist but I do know how to count.

Listen to this. It'll increase tax income for the government. Lighten up on corporate taxes a bit and free up some money for them to expand. It'll create jobs and jobholders pay taxes. It'll probably lower the price of their products, also.

Still, demanding Musk be arrested is living proof that they left doesn't believe in the Constitution.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

My SO just told me I dress like a coolie

and I have to admit she's right. I suppose that it I were a British PW working on the Burma Road I'd fit right in because the outfit I am usually wearing could easily be described as 'working kit' by the prisoners.

It's just the simplest thing to do in the summer months. I generally don't go anywhere out of the general AO other than maybe Lowe's or the convenience store or someplace long those lines.

I hit the shower, put on new skids, pull on my baggy well worn shorts and an old T-shirt, stuff my feet into Topsiders and greet the new day.

If I am mowing the lawn or gardening I put on a Vietnamese rice grower's coolie hat.

Of course if the day finds me taking my wife anywhere I put on a pair of regular long pants and a shirt with a collar on it. That's not too often.

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

This post intentionally left blank

 

If I ever decided to commit a major crime I think that if it hit the media in a big way and became a multi agency task force issue

that I would not worry about it for an instant because it would create a real ratf**k between the assigned agencies.

Now any one of them as a single agency could probably nail me cold inside a short period of time. That's a given.

On the other hand, with all of the agencies fighting for credit and withholding evidence from each other and  all of the agency infighting the would eventually solve the case long after I am dead and gone.

That ain't no $hit.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

Harry Truman, pencils and Big Chief writing tablets

Harry Truman said that he used to like reading letters the people sent to him during his presidency.

He said he put more stock into letters in pencil that had been obviously been written at the kitchen table than he did typewritten letters from those a little more well-to-do.

I would imagine that todays politicians would laugh at anything like that they received in this day and age.

It shows with the way they treat people these days.

Can you imagine writing a letter on a basic paper tablet with a pencil to the President and getting an answer in this day and age?

If you get an answer you had better invest heavily in lottery tickets!

In the FWIW department after an absence the Big Chief tablet is available now.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY