USMB Coffee Shop IV

[gallantwarrior]

Well, I mowed all afternoon, got in and saw this: They had a tragic accident in San Diego, and I'm starting to worry.

Two dead as paragliders collide at Torrey Pines in San Diego County

Do you know somebody in San Diego County, B? Paragliding and hang gliding look like they would be great fun for the young and adventurist, but I would want to do it with experts and I think not with many others just because it increases the likelihood of such mid air collisions. Hot air ballooning, expecially with groups of hundreds as we have here does involve some mid air collisions but the balloons just bump into each other and jolt but otherwise don't seem to affect the folks in the gondolas. It has happened that a balloon will come up under and hit another's gondola hard enough to rip the fabric and that could cause a crash. Pilots who fly at the Balloon Fiesta however are all experienced and licensed meaning they are trained in avoiding that kind of situation as are the folks on the ground supervising the liftoffs.

Long ago, in a universe far away, I tried hang gliding. It was quite exhilarating but the Army frowned on such activities. Instead, I started riding motorcycles and found a job working on a Kawasaki pit crew.

After working in hospitals for a number of years, including in E.R. and Radiology, I would think the Army would frown on motorcycles more than hang gliding.

They didn't want us actually racing them, for sure. And in CA at that time, motorcycles were considered more environmentally friendly. Although the weather in most of Cali was good for bikes, Monterey could be iffy when the fog rolled in, kind of...moist.

 

[beautress]

My mowing yesterday went poorly. Near the site of an old well on my property, my zero turning mower got mired in the soft mud, even with a heavy weed/grass cover. I had to call a friend to bail me out because the last time I tried to salvage a mower in the mud, I bent a part hooking a chain to it. I promised to go in and not mow any more, but after my friend left, I mowed the rest of the place for hours on end. My house and the pastures around it are all on high ground, so there were no more problems. Whew!

You need some sheep. Mow and fertilize at the same time, although the mowing is a little uneven. And, they are so much more picturesque.

Prolly. But I live in the heart of cow country and prison farms. I was thinking about some concrete in the driveway area near the old abandoned well area, though. My driveway is about a tenth of a mile long, though, so I guess I'll have to hope that it will just dry out this summer. We've had unrelenting rains for almost 6 months here, following the tornado sweep of my property last year. I'm waiting for one more dead pine to fall before fixing the fence near the house. It's now just a 30-inch wide stick that's about a hundred feet up to the top, some of which already broke off. Those tall pines go way up there, and there are only 2 or 3 left out of a dozen before the drought of 2004-2012, give or take a couple of years. Oh, yes, and there's an upstart farther out from the dead tree area that came up with good rains after the drought was over. The little stand of baby trees were about 4 feet tall last year. A couple of them might have been lost to overcrowding or animal damages in the form of hungry deer. Any way, there's at least one of them made it through, but there are no guarantees. I don't allow hunting on my property, so my place is like a lone sanctuary for our little deer tribes. I've not seen any greater than 5 of them together at one time. They're Texans, through and through.

My drive is only partially built up and we have to keep to that when breakup comes. The rest of the drive becomes a sucking morass until the deep ice thaws. The melting water and soil just sit on the deep ice, but it gets deeper and messier until everything is melted.
We're losing spruce to spruce beetles at an increasing rate. I am fortunate enough to be able to cull my spruce but public lands are "protected". That just means that when the forest burns, we stand a good chance of burning with it. The last couple years, I've been making an effort to clear around the buildings and clear out the underbrush. Goats are handy for that because I can let them browse. Goats are great for clearing brush but sheep are grazers and better for grassy areas.
How much pasture are you mowing? Seems like a lot. But at our age, it sure is nice to have machinery, isn't it?

I have 5 areas that could be considered pasture areas, not counting the floodplain area. There's quite a bit of older cross-fencing, but all I've been able to afford is keeping the outer areas intact, which around 14 acres seems to be about 80% of a mile in length, maybe more. I really never did measure it, because of the trees that were already in place around the fences in all but the road frontage fences, and along the side where one neighbor runs horses. The trouble with the long south border is that there is a seasonal stream that is a deep ravine about 40 feet over, and the neighbor on that side keeps the 40 feet over in wild trees just for the beauty of them, I don't know. They never came over to get acquainted when I moved here years ago, and with the tree cover, I never saw their comings and goings. 8 yrs. later, someone told me there were two elderly ladies live there, but I have never seen them nor the house they live in. The place has been up for sale for about 2 years, and someone said they were asking a couple of million for 164 acres. Don't see how you could make money raising cattle with that kind of a mortgage, so they may never sell it.

Time to go make some supper. Y'all have a wonderful evening. Prayers for the paragliders who passed.

 

[Foxfyre]

Well, I mowed all afternoon, got in and saw this: They had a tragic accident in San Diego, and I'm starting to worry.

Two dead as paragliders collide at Torrey Pines in San Diego County

Do you know somebody in San Diego County, B? Paragliding and hang gliding look like they would be great fun for the young and adventurist, but I would want to do it with experts and I think not with many others just because it increases the likelihood of such mid air collisions. Hot air ballooning, expecially with groups of hundreds as we have here does involve some mid air collisions but the balloons just bump into each other and jolt but otherwise don't seem to affect the folks in the gondolas. It has happened that a balloon will come up under and hit another's gondola hard enough to rip the fabric and that could cause a crash. Pilots who fly at the Balloon Fiesta however are all experienced and licensed meaning they are trained in avoiding that kind of situation as are the folks on the ground supervising the liftoffs.

Long ago, in a universe far away, I tried hang gliding. It was quite exhilarating but the Army frowned on such activities. Instead, I started riding motorcycles and found a job working on a Kawasaki pit crew.

After working in hospitals for a number of years, including in E.R. and Radiology, I would think the Army would frown on motorcycles more than hang gliding.

They didn't want us actually racing them, for sure. And in CA at that time, motorcycles were considered more environmentally friendly. Although the weather in most of Cali was good for bikes, Monterey could be iffy when the fog rolled in, kind of...moist.

We used to love to go out to the motocross events out in the strip pits outside of Pittsburg Kansas. The terrain was perfect but the strip coal mining left huge football field size and bigger trenches in the ground that naturally filled up with ground water. The state then came in and stocked the pits with game fish and it became a great recreational area on land that really wasn't good for ranching or farming or much of anything really.

But I remember one guy who won his race and was doing a celebratory wheelie in front of the stands, waving to the crowd and completely disappeared into one of the adjacent strip pits. They fished him and the bike out of the water and he dried it off and rode it in his next race but it didn't run very long.

 

[gallantwarrior]

My mowing yesterday went poorly. Near the site of an old well on my property, my zero turning mower got mired in the soft mud, even with a heavy weed/grass cover. I had to call a friend to bail me out because the last time I tried to salvage a mower in the mud, I bent a part hooking a chain to it. I promised to go in and not mow any more, but after my friend left, I mowed the rest of the place for hours on end. My house and the pastures around it are all on high ground, so there were no more problems. Whew!

You need some sheep. Mow and fertilize at the same time, although the mowing is a little uneven. And, they are so much more picturesque.

Prolly. But I live in the heart of cow country and prison farms. I was thinking about some concrete in the driveway area near the old abandoned well area, though. My driveway is about a tenth of a mile long, though, so I guess I'll have to hope that it will just dry out this summer. We've had unrelenting rains for almost 6 months here, following the tornado sweep of my property last year. I'm waiting for one more dead pine to fall before fixing the fence near the house. It's now just a 30-inch wide stick that's about a hundred feet up to the top, some of which already broke off. Those tall pines go way up there, and there are only 2 or 3 left out of a dozen before the drought of 2004-2012, give or take a couple of years. Oh, yes, and there's an upstart farther out from the dead tree area that came up with good rains after the drought was over. The little stand of baby trees were about 4 feet tall last year. A couple of them might have been lost to overcrowding or animal damages in the form of hungry deer. Any way, there's at least one of them made it through, but there are no guarantees. I don't allow hunting on my property, so my place is like a lone sanctuary for our little deer tribes. I've not seen any greater than 5 of them together at one time. They're Texans, through and through.

My drive is only partially built up and we have to keep to that when breakup comes. The rest of the drive becomes a sucking morass until the deep ice thaws. The melting water and soil just sit on the deep ice, but it gets deeper and messier until everything is melted.
We're losing spruce to spruce beetles at an increasing rate. I am fortunate enough to be able to cull my spruce but public lands are "protected". That just means that when the forest burns, we stand a good chance of burning with it. The last couple years, I've been making an effort to clear around the buildings and clear out the underbrush. Goats are handy for that because I can let them browse. Goats are great for clearing brush but sheep are grazers and better for grassy areas.
How much pasture are you mowing? Seems like a lot. But at our age, it sure is nice to have machinery, isn't it?

I have 5 areas that could be considered pasture areas, not counting the floodplain area. There's quite a bit of older cross-fencing, but all I've been able to afford is keeping the outer areas intact, which around 14 acres seems to be about 80% of a mile in length, maybe more. I really never did measure it, because of the trees that were already in place around the fences in all but the road frontage fences, and along the side where one neighbor runs horses. The trouble with the long south border is that there is a seasonal stream that is a deep ravine about 40 feet over, and the neighbor on that side keeps the 40 feet over in wild trees just for the beauty of them, I don't know. They never came over to get acquainted when I moved here years ago, and with the tree cover, I never saw their comings and goings. 8 yrs. later, someone told me there were two elderly ladies live there, but I have never seen them nor the house they live in. The place has been up for sale for about 2 years, and someone said they were asking a couple of million for 164 acres. Don't see how you could make money raising cattle with that kind of a mortgage, so they may never sell it.

Time to go make some supper. Y'all have a wonderful evening. Prayers for the paragliders who passed.

They may not be hoping to sell to ranchers. 164 acres is a nice piece of property, though. Hell, if I were vested in my 200 acres up here, I might consider moving down there and raising goats and sheep.
Have a nice meal. Chat later!

 

[gallantwarrior]

Well, I mowed all afternoon, got in and saw this: They had a tragic accident in San Diego, and I'm starting to worry.

Two dead as paragliders collide at Torrey Pines in San Diego County

Do you know somebody in San Diego County, B? Paragliding and hang gliding look like they would be great fun for the young and adventurist, but I would want to do it with experts and I think not with many others just because it increases the likelihood of such mid air collisions. Hot air ballooning, expecially with groups of hundreds as we have here does involve some mid air collisions but the balloons just bump into each other and jolt but otherwise don't seem to affect the folks in the gondolas. It has happened that a balloon will come up under and hit another's gondola hard enough to rip the fabric and that could cause a crash. Pilots who fly at the Balloon Fiesta however are all experienced and licensed meaning they are trained in avoiding that kind of situation as are the folks on the ground supervising the liftoffs.

Long ago, in a universe far away, I tried hang gliding. It was quite exhilarating but the Army frowned on such activities. Instead, I started riding motorcycles and found a job working on a Kawasaki pit crew.

After working in hospitals for a number of years, including in E.R. and Radiology, I would think the Army would frown on motorcycles more than hang gliding.

They didn't want us actually racing them, for sure. And in CA at that time, motorcycles were considered more environmentally friendly. Although the weather in most of Cali was good for bikes, Monterey could be iffy when the fog rolled in, kind of...moist.

We used to love to go out to the motocross events out in the strip pits outside of Pittsburg Kansas. The terrain was perfect but the strip coal mining left huge football field size and bigger trenches in the ground that naturally filled up with ground water. The state then came in and stocked the pits with game fish and it became a great recreational area on land that really wasn't good for ranching or farming or much of anything really.

But I remember one guy who won his race and was doing a celebratory wheelie in front of the stands, waving to the crowd and completely disappeared into one of the adjacent strip pits. They fished him and the bike out of the water and he dried it off and rode it in his next race but it didn't run very long.

I was into road racing, working at Leguna Seca, Sears Point, and other tracks on the Cali coast, when I could. I've seen people die doing what they loved and people injured pretty badly, too. Didn't stop me from saddling up on my first bike, a Honda 350, and heading cross country to my folks' place when I was transferred to Europe. What an adventure! Would I pull such a stunt now? Not likely, but it's fun to reminisce.

 

[beautress]

My mowing yesterday went poorly. Near the site of an old well on my property, my zero turning mower got mired in the soft mud, even with a heavy weed/grass cover. I had to call a friend to bail me out because the last time I tried to salvage a mower in the mud, I bent a part hooking a chain to it. I promised to go in and not mow any more, but after my friend left, I mowed the rest of the place for hours on end. My house and the pastures around it are all on high ground, so there were no more problems. Whew!

You need some sheep. Mow and fertilize at the same time, although the mowing is a little uneven. And, they are so much more picturesque.

Prolly. But I live in the heart of cow country and prison farms. I was thinking about some concrete in the driveway area near the old abandoned well area, though. My driveway is about a tenth of a mile long, though, so I guess I'll have to hope that it will just dry out this summer. We've had unrelenting rains for almost 6 months here, following the tornado sweep of my property last year. I'm waiting for one more dead pine to fall before fixing the fence near the house. It's now just a 30-inch wide stick that's about a hundred feet up to the top, some of which already broke off. Those tall pines go way up there, and there are only 2 or 3 left out of a dozen before the drought of 2004-2012, give or take a couple of years. Oh, yes, and there's an upstart farther out from the dead tree area that came up with good rains after the drought was over. The little stand of baby trees were about 4 feet tall last year. A couple of them might have been lost to overcrowding or animal damages in the form of hungry deer. Any way, there's at least one of them made it through, but there are no guarantees. I don't allow hunting on my property, so my place is like a lone sanctuary for our little deer tribes. I've not seen any greater than 5 of them together at one time. They're Texans, through and through.

My drive is only partially built up and we have to keep to that when breakup comes. The rest of the drive becomes a sucking morass until the deep ice thaws. The melting water and soil just sit on the deep ice, but it gets deeper and messier until everything is melted.
We're losing spruce to spruce beetles at an increasing rate. I am fortunate enough to be able to cull my spruce but public lands are "protected". That just means that when the forest burns, we stand a good chance of burning with it. The last couple years, I've been making an effort to clear around the buildings and clear out the underbrush. Goats are handy for that because I can let them browse. Goats are great for clearing brush but sheep are grazers and better for grassy areas.
How much pasture are you mowing? Seems like a lot. But at our age, it sure is nice to have machinery, isn't it?

I have 5 areas that could be considered pasture areas, not counting the floodplain area. There's quite a bit of older cross-fencing, but all I've been able to afford is keeping the outer areas intact, which around 14 acres seems to be about 80% of a mile in length, maybe more. I really never did measure it, because of the trees that were already in place around the fences in all but the road frontage fences, and along the side where one neighbor runs horses. The trouble with the long south border is that there is a seasonal stream that is a deep ravine about 40 feet over, and the neighbor on that side keeps the 40 feet over in wild trees just for the beauty of them, I don't know. They never came over to get acquainted when I moved here years ago, and with the tree cover, I never saw their comings and goings. 8 yrs. later, someone told me there were two elderly ladies live there, but I have never seen them nor the house they live in. The place has been up for sale for about 2 years, and someone said they were asking a couple of million for 164 acres. Don't see how you could make money raising cattle with that kind of a mortgage, so they may never sell it.

Time to go make some supper. Y'all have a wonderful evening. Prayers for the paragliders who passed.

They may not be hoping to sell to ranchers. 164 acres is a nice piece of property, though. Hell, if I were vested in my 200 acres up here, I might consider moving down there and raising goats and sheep.
Have a nice meal. Chat later!

You'd make a good neighbor, GW. Just sayin'.

 

[gallantwarrior]

You need some sheep. Mow and fertilize at the same time, although the mowing is a little uneven. And, they are so much more picturesque.

Prolly. But I live in the heart of cow country and prison farms. I was thinking about some concrete in the driveway area near the old abandoned well area, though. My driveway is about a tenth of a mile long, though, so I guess I'll have to hope that it will just dry out this summer. We've had unrelenting rains for almost 6 months here, following the tornado sweep of my property last year. I'm waiting for one more dead pine to fall before fixing the fence near the house. It's now just a 30-inch wide stick that's about a hundred feet up to the top, some of which already broke off. Those tall pines go way up there, and there are only 2 or 3 left out of a dozen before the drought of 2004-2012, give or take a couple of years. Oh, yes, and there's an upstart farther out from the dead tree area that came up with good rains after the drought was over. The little stand of baby trees were about 4 feet tall last year. A couple of them might have been lost to overcrowding or animal damages in the form of hungry deer. Any way, there's at least one of them made it through, but there are no guarantees. I don't allow hunting on my property, so my place is like a lone sanctuary for our little deer tribes. I've not seen any greater than 5 of them together at one time. They're Texans, through and through.

My drive is only partially built up and we have to keep to that when breakup comes. The rest of the drive becomes a sucking morass until the deep ice thaws. The melting water and soil just sit on the deep ice, but it gets deeper and messier until everything is melted.
We're losing spruce to spruce beetles at an increasing rate. I am fortunate enough to be able to cull my spruce but public lands are "protected". That just means that when the forest burns, we stand a good chance of burning with it. The last couple years, I've been making an effort to clear around the buildings and clear out the underbrush. Goats are handy for that because I can let them browse. Goats are great for clearing brush but sheep are grazers and better for grassy areas.
How much pasture are you mowing? Seems like a lot. But at our age, it sure is nice to have machinery, isn't it?

I have 5 areas that could be considered pasture areas, not counting the floodplain area. There's quite a bit of older cross-fencing, but all I've been able to afford is keeping the outer areas intact, which around 14 acres seems to be about 80% of a mile in length, maybe more. I really never did measure it, because of the trees that were already in place around the fences in all but the road frontage fences, and along the side where one neighbor runs horses. The trouble with the long south border is that there is a seasonal stream that is a deep ravine about 40 feet over, and the neighbor on that side keeps the 40 feet over in wild trees just for the beauty of them, I don't know. They never came over to get acquainted when I moved here years ago, and with the tree cover, I never saw their comings and goings. 8 yrs. later, someone told me there were two elderly ladies live there, but I have never seen them nor the house they live in. The place has been up for sale for about 2 years, and someone said they were asking a couple of million for 164 acres. Don't see how you could make money raising cattle with that kind of a mortgage, so they may never sell it.

Time to go make some supper. Y'all have a wonderful evening. Prayers for the paragliders who passed.

They may not be hoping to sell to ranchers. 164 acres is a nice piece of property, though. Hell, if I were vested in my 200 acres up here, I might consider moving down there and raising goats and sheep.
Have a nice meal. Chat later!

You'd make a good neighbor, GW. Just sayin'.

I think we'd fit in just right, as long as you like bbq. We like to grill a lot during the summer.

 

[Foxfyre]

Prolly. But I live in the heart of cow country and prison farms. I was thinking about some concrete in the driveway area near the old abandoned well area, though. My driveway is about a tenth of a mile long, though, so I guess I'll have to hope that it will just dry out this summer. We've had unrelenting rains for almost 6 months here, following the tornado sweep of my property last year. I'm waiting for one more dead pine to fall before fixing the fence near the house. It's now just a 30-inch wide stick that's about a hundred feet up to the top, some of which already broke off. Those tall pines go way up there, and there are only 2 or 3 left out of a dozen before the drought of 2004-2012, give or take a couple of years. Oh, yes, and there's an upstart farther out from the dead tree area that came up with good rains after the drought was over. The little stand of baby trees were about 4 feet tall last year. A couple of them might have been lost to overcrowding or animal damages in the form of hungry deer. Any way, there's at least one of them made it through, but there are no guarantees. I don't allow hunting on my property, so my place is like a lone sanctuary for our little deer tribes. I've not seen any greater than 5 of them together at one time. They're Texans, through and through.

My drive is only partially built up and we have to keep to that when breakup comes. The rest of the drive becomes a sucking morass until the deep ice thaws. The melting water and soil just sit on the deep ice, but it gets deeper and messier until everything is melted.
We're losing spruce to spruce beetles at an increasing rate. I am fortunate enough to be able to cull my spruce but public lands are "protected". That just means that when the forest burns, we stand a good chance of burning with it. The last couple years, I've been making an effort to clear around the buildings and clear out the underbrush. Goats are handy for that because I can let them browse. Goats are great for clearing brush but sheep are grazers and better for grassy areas.
How much pasture are you mowing? Seems like a lot. But at our age, it sure is nice to have machinery, isn't it?

I have 5 areas that could be considered pasture areas, not counting the floodplain area. There's quite a bit of older cross-fencing, but all I've been able to afford is keeping the outer areas intact, which around 14 acres seems to be about 80% of a mile in length, maybe more. I really never did measure it, because of the trees that were already in place around the fences in all but the road frontage fences, and along the side where one neighbor runs horses. The trouble with the long south border is that there is a seasonal stream that is a deep ravine about 40 feet over, and the neighbor on that side keeps the 40 feet over in wild trees just for the beauty of them, I don't know. They never came over to get acquainted when I moved here years ago, and with the tree cover, I never saw their comings and goings. 8 yrs. later, someone told me there were two elderly ladies live there, but I have never seen them nor the house they live in. The place has been up for sale for about 2 years, and someone said they were asking a couple of million for 164 acres. Don't see how you could make money raising cattle with that kind of a mortgage, so they may never sell it.

Time to go make some supper. Y'all have a wonderful evening. Prayers for the paragliders who passed.

They may not be hoping to sell to ranchers. 164 acres is a nice piece of property, though. Hell, if I were vested in my 200 acres up here, I might consider moving down there and raising goats and sheep.
Have a nice meal. Chat later!

You'd make a good neighbor, GW. Just sayin'.

I think we'd fit in just right, as long as you like bbq. We like to grill a lot during the summer.

Just remember that in Texas, BBQ isn't the same thing as grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, or steaks.

 

[gallantwarrior]

My drive is only partially built up and we have to keep to that when breakup comes. The rest of the drive becomes a sucking morass until the deep ice thaws. The melting water and soil just sit on the deep ice, but it gets deeper and messier until everything is melted.
We're losing spruce to spruce beetles at an increasing rate. I am fortunate enough to be able to cull my spruce but public lands are "protected". That just means that when the forest burns, we stand a good chance of burning with it. The last couple years, I've been making an effort to clear around the buildings and clear out the underbrush. Goats are handy for that because I can let them browse. Goats are great for clearing brush but sheep are grazers and better for grassy areas.
How much pasture are you mowing? Seems like a lot. But at our age, it sure is nice to have machinery, isn't it?

I have 5 areas that could be considered pasture areas, not counting the floodplain area. There's quite a bit of older cross-fencing, but all I've been able to afford is keeping the outer areas intact, which around 14 acres seems to be about 80% of a mile in length, maybe more. I really never did measure it, because of the trees that were already in place around the fences in all but the road frontage fences, and along the side where one neighbor runs horses. The trouble with the long south border is that there is a seasonal stream that is a deep ravine about 40 feet over, and the neighbor on that side keeps the 40 feet over in wild trees just for the beauty of them, I don't know. They never came over to get acquainted when I moved here years ago, and with the tree cover, I never saw their comings and goings. 8 yrs. later, someone told me there were two elderly ladies live there, but I have never seen them nor the house they live in. The place has been up for sale for about 2 years, and someone said they were asking a couple of million for 164 acres. Don't see how you could make money raising cattle with that kind of a mortgage, so they may never sell it.

Time to go make some supper. Y'all have a wonderful evening. Prayers for the paragliders who passed.

They may not be hoping to sell to ranchers. 164 acres is a nice piece of property, though. Hell, if I were vested in my 200 acres up here, I might consider moving down there and raising goats and sheep.
Have a nice meal. Chat later!

You'd make a good neighbor, GW. Just sayin'.

I think we'd fit in just right, as long as you like bbq. We like to grill a lot during the summer.

Just remember that in Texas, BBQ isn't the same thing as grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, or steaks.

I'm aware of that. In NC, where I grew up, BBQ is also not considered grilled meats. We'd have to have a BBQ cook off!

 

[007]

It's been seasonably warm here. I'm currently hunkering down in the partner's city place, waiting for a military "hop" to Japan. Crossing my fingers for the flight scheduled to Yokota, Japan Friday. The schedule sucks but the price cannot be beat. I really just want to spend some time with my daughter and granddaughters.
I hope the partner will survive the commute to the "country" place. He locked the keys for the Lexus in the Lexus and has to drive the old Dodge truck until the dealership gets a new set of keys for the commuter. The old Dodge truck has no heater, no current registration, and needs the transmission overhauled. His fault, though, he's such an ass. I've told him how to minimize problems like this but his passive-aggressive illness will not allow him to take good advice. His problem. I'm going to Japan. I have no idea when I'll be able to travel again.

Bon voyage, Gallantwarrior. Have a wonderful time and take lots of pictures! Maybe you took your laptop and can communicate when you're on the bus going to see something nice.

Yup, done and done. I forgot my camera, so pictures will be from my cell phone. At least that function still works. So far, it's been dim, gray and rainy, but I am given to understand that this is how Okinawa is. Oh, and warm! These temperatures are hot summer temps for me. My daughter and I are having a blast, my granddaughters did that "Meh!" [shoulder shrug] common to teenaged communications. I smacked my SIL in the head, drank a few beers with him, yelled out agreement about some political issues, and then I fell asleep, exhausted by the journey.
If any of you can fly military Space A, I recommend it. The deal is, an unfilled airplane is wasted space and wasted cargo lift. So, to maximize the "bang-to-buck" ratios, the military will allow certain military-affiliated folks to hitch a ride. It has its drawbacks, like really crappy scheduling and you take your chances what type of aircraft you might be flying on. But you sure cannot beat the price! I was loaded into a C-17 Skymaster, the Air Force replacement for the C-140. It's a heavy lifter with lots of space, hell, we could have played soccer in the cargo hold!
My ride looked like this:
View attachment 249457

Seating was really great, too. No windows, so no window seats. No middle seats, either. Everyone had lots of elbow room when seated and as soon as we reached cruise altitude, most everyone tossed their sleeping bags or hammocks out and had nice naps. Here's what the passenger accommodations on board looked like, those are seats stowed up along the bulkhead (wall):

Great pics, pard! And yes, I CAN ride military air craft as a 100% service connected disable veteran. Last cargo plane I flew on was a C-141 stretch. I'd have to coordinate with Truax Field in Madison, WI, but I just might do that. I FULLY trust military a/c over civilian. In fact, if I ever had go down in a plane crash, I'd be proud to do it in an AIR FORCE plane...

Have you got a return flight arranged already, or how does that work?

 

[blackhawk]

 

[007]

Well, I seem to be falling apart a little bit at a time here lately. First off all, I,ve gone completely deaf in my left ear. Along with it I have developed BVVP for which I will have to have some physical therapy sessions for. Now I have received a phone call from my family practice doctor that tells me I have way to much protein in my blood and he is scheduling an appointment with a blood specialist to help him figure out why. The concussion and wounds from the recent fall on the ice are all better and I’mhappy about that but little children begin to cry when they see me because my face is so full of scabs. I have a theory about all of this. I think I need to change the brand of coffee I drink.

Well DAMN IT, man... maybe you need to break out that dusty old bottle of Jack. George Burns lived to be what, 100? When asked what his secret was to longevity, his reply was, "a shot of whiskey and a cigar a day."

C'mon up to Wisconsin here, I'm not too far away, we'll have a shot of Jack and I'll unplug that ear with one of my stereos...

 

[007]

My mowing yesterday went poorly. Near the site of an old well on my property, my zero turning mower got mired in the soft mud, even with a heavy weed/grass cover. I had to call a friend to bail me out because the last time I tried to salvage a mower in the mud, I bent a part hooking a chain to it. I promised to go in and not mow any more, but after my friend left, I mowed the rest of the place for hours on end. My house and the pastures around it are all on high ground, so there were no more problems. Whew!

You need some sheep. Mow and fertilize at the same time, although the mowing is a little uneven. And, they are so much more picturesque.

Prolly. But I live in the heart of cow country and prison farms. I was thinking about some concrete in the driveway area near the old abandoned well area, though. My driveway is about a tenth of a mile long, though, so I guess I'll have to hope that it will just dry out this summer. We've had unrelenting rains for almost 6 months here, following the tornado sweep of my property last year. I'm waiting for one more dead pine to fall before fixing the fence near the house. It's now just a 30-inch wide stick that's about a hundred feet up to the top, some of which already broke off. Those tall pines go way up there, and there are only 2 or 3 left out of a dozen before the drought of 2004-2012, give or take a couple of years. Oh, yes, and there's an upstart farther out from the dead tree area that came up with good rains after the drought was over. The little stand of baby trees were about 4 feet tall last year. A couple of them might have been lost to overcrowding or animal damages in the form of hungry deer. Any way, there's at least one of them made it through, but there are no guarantees. I don't allow hunting on my property, so my place is like a lone sanctuary for our little deer tribes. I've not seen any greater than 5 of them together at one time. They're Texans, through and through.

My drive is only partially built up and we have to keep to that when breakup comes. The rest of the drive becomes a sucking morass until the deep ice thaws. The melting water and soil just sit on the deep ice, but it gets deeper and messier until everything is melted.
We're losing spruce to spruce beetles at an increasing rate. I am fortunate enough to be able to cull my spruce but public lands are "protected". That just means that when the forest burns, we stand a good chance of burning with it. The last couple years, I've been making an effort to clear around the buildings and clear out the underbrush. Goats are handy for that because I can let them browse. Goats are great for clearing brush but sheep are grazers and better for grassy areas.
How much pasture are you mowing? Seems like a lot. But at our age, it sure is nice to have machinery, isn't it?

I have 5 areas that could be considered pasture areas, not counting the floodplain area. There's quite a bit of older cross-fencing, but all I've been able to afford is keeping the outer areas intact, which around 14 acres seems to be about 80% of a mile in length, maybe more. I really never did measure it, because of the trees that were already in place around the fences in all but the road frontage fences, and along the side where one neighbor runs horses. The trouble with the long south border is that there is a seasonal stream that is a deep ravine about 40 feet over, and the neighbor on that side keeps the 40 feet over in wild trees just for the beauty of them, I don't know. They never came over to get acquainted when I moved here years ago, and with the tree cover, I never saw their comings and goings. 8 yrs. later, someone told me there were two elderly ladies live there, but I have never seen them nor the house they live in. The place has been up for sale for about 2 years, and someone said they were asking a couple of million for 164 acres. Don't see how you could make money raising cattle with that kind of a mortgage, so they may never sell it.

Time to go make some supper. Y'all have a wonderful evening. Prayers for the paragliders who passed.

I only have an acre and a quarter, but when I bought the place they mowed quite a bit of it. About half of it is a little woods, and when I had my little John Deere it took me a good 2 hours to mow all the prior owners used to mow. After I got the big John Deere with a 54" deck it takes considerably less time, but there's a little back alley I quit mowing, and a little side alley I quit mowing. I grubbed out a bunch of other over growth though so I still have about the same amount to mow, but it's all nice and open and a straight shot, no driving around lots of trees and going around things. It looks nice in the summer when it's green and freshly mowed.

 

[gallantwarrior]

It's been seasonably warm here. I'm currently hunkering down in the partner's city place, waiting for a military "hop" to Japan. Crossing my fingers for the flight scheduled to Yokota, Japan Friday. The schedule sucks but the price cannot be beat. I really just want to spend some time with my daughter and granddaughters.
I hope the partner will survive the commute to the "country" place. He locked the keys for the Lexus in the Lexus and has to drive the old Dodge truck until the dealership gets a new set of keys for the commuter. The old Dodge truck has no heater, no current registration, and needs the transmission overhauled. His fault, though, he's such an ass. I've told him how to minimize problems like this but his passive-aggressive illness will not allow him to take good advice. His problem. I'm going to Japan. I have no idea when I'll be able to travel again.

Bon voyage, Gallantwarrior. Have a wonderful time and take lots of pictures! Maybe you took your laptop and can communicate when you're on the bus going to see something nice.

Yup, done and done. I forgot my camera, so pictures will be from my cell phone. At least that function still works. So far, it's been dim, gray and rainy, but I am given to understand that this is how Okinawa is. Oh, and warm! These temperatures are hot summer temps for me. My daughter and I are having a blast, my granddaughters did that "Meh!" [shoulder shrug] common to teenaged communications. I smacked my SIL in the head, drank a few beers with him, yelled out agreement about some political issues, and then I fell asleep, exhausted by the journey.
If any of you can fly military Space A, I recommend it. The deal is, an unfilled airplane is wasted space and wasted cargo lift. So, to maximize the "bang-to-buck" ratios, the military will allow certain military-affiliated folks to hitch a ride. It has its drawbacks, like really crappy scheduling and you take your chances what type of aircraft you might be flying on. But you sure cannot beat the price! I was loaded into a C-17 Skymaster, the Air Force replacement for the C-140. It's a heavy lifter with lots of space, hell, we could have played soccer in the cargo hold!
My ride looked like this:
View attachment 249457

Seating was really great, too. No windows, so no window seats. No middle seats, either. Everyone had lots of elbow room when seated and as soon as we reached cruise altitude, most everyone tossed their sleeping bags or hammocks out and had nice naps. Here's what the passenger accommodations on board looked like, those are seats stowed up along the bulkhead (wall):

Great pics, pard! And yes, I CAN ride military air craft as a 100% service connected disable veteran. Last cargo plane I flew on was a C-141 stretch. I'd have to coordinate with Truax Field in Madison, WI, but I just might do that. I FULLY trust military a/c over civilian. In fact, if I ever had go down in a plane crash, I'd be proud to do it in an AIR FORCE plane...

Have you got a return flight arranged already, or how does that work?

This was my first hop and I liked it. I was on a C-17, which replaced the C-140 series. Space-A (available) means just that, if they have the space, you have a place. You can register up to 60 days ahead of your desired departure for a number of points of origin. Then you monitor the flight schedules, which are posted most of the time 72 hours in advance. (On Okinawa right now, they can only post a day in advance because their system is down.) Then you take you chances. Just because a flight is scheduled doesn't mean it will fly because they tend to reschedule, depending on mission requirements. It was great coming out though. My daughter clued me in and I was prepared with a thermarest and nice, warm blankie and was able to sack out on the deck.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I was prepared with a thermarest and nice, warm blankie and was able to sack out on the deck.

Hell that sounds like 5 Star accommodations... I've seen A & P's stand up and sleep in the rain...

 

[gallantwarrior]

I was prepared with a thermarest and nice, warm blankie and was able to sack out on the deck.

Hell that sounds like 5 Star accommodations... I've seen A & P's stand up and sleep in the rain...

Yup! You do whatcha gotta do. It was a tad cold, but that's why you pack a warm blankie or a sleeping bag.

 

[Foxfyre]

 

[Foxfyre]

And good morning everybody. Hombre is volunteering at the gift shop this morning so I slept late until Microsoft called to advise me that my license would expire in two days unless. . ..I hung up before they got any further. On my first cup of coffee and working on attitude adjustment so that I can do our taxes today.

I don't want to do taxes.

But it's okay.

 

[gallantwarrior]

And good morning everybody. Hombre is volunteering at the gift shop this morning so I slept late until Microsoft called to advise me that my license would expire in two days unless. . ..I hung up before they got any further. On my first cup of coffee and working on attitude adjustment so that I can do our taxes today.

I don't want to do taxes.

But it's okay.

Good Morning, Foxy!
At least it's 1100 back home, which is probably the reason I'm up at 0400 local. Good call, hanging up on that scam. I've had to have my laptop cleaned up because of those pukes. Did the caller have a funny accent?

 

[Foxfyre]

And good morning everybody. Hombre is volunteering at the gift shop this morning so I slept late until Microsoft called to advise me that my license would expire in two days unless. . ..I hung up before they got any further. On my first cup of coffee and working on attitude adjustment so that I can do our taxes today.

I don't want to do taxes.

But it's okay.

Good Morning, Foxy!
At least it's 1100 back home, which is probably the reason I'm up at 0400 local. Good call, hanging up on that scam. I've had to have my laptop cleaned up because of those pukes. Did the caller have a funny accent?

Yes, most of them have 'funny' accents though some are wising up and using callers with pretty much no detectable accent. We generally get a half dozen or more calls from scammers every week. We know them all now.

The police are on their way to arrest us if we don't pay the IRS what we owe right now scam.
The "hello" Grandma or Grandpa scam of a grandson we didn't know we had needing fine money or bail money right now.
The Microsoft needs to fix your computer scam.
The better rate on your credit card or mortgage scam.
The 'how are you today' scam--they want a 'fine' or 'yes' or 'okay' on their recorder that they will then use that as your confirmation of something you didn't know you ordered.
The one question poll scam in which you punch 1 for yes and 2 for no--no telling what you are agreeing to with that one.

And on and on and on. . .