"Noel"

Many years ago we found a sleepy eyed little Shih Tzu in a pet shop. Tapping on the window my wife got a heart tugging response…he sleepily opened one eye and “that was it”! That led to a sixteen year relationship that eventually grew to two great and loving Shih Tzu’s.

We struggled with a name for the first dog and almost as a joke (a co-worker said…”just name him DOG) it sparked an idea and “DIOGI” became his name. Diogi was a tricolored Shih Tzu, with flowing tan and white with black highlights. With long flowing hair he fairly “flowed” as he ran.

The second dog wasn’t intended, however, our daughter had a Lasso that Diogi really bonded with. When our daughter moved Diogi went into a real decline, wouldn’t eat, moped around and really looked sad. So enter the second dog…a cute little female we named Gigi.

Sixteen years passed…they traveled with us far and wide, were great and loving pets…”family members”.

When they passed we said “no more dogs”….losing them was tough!

It is said “time heals all wounds”…and so it does. My wife decided she wanted another Shih Tzu for Christmas. So the hunt began. There are many ways to find a puppy…and we researched them all. Finally we found a woman who owned the “mom and dad” and had four great little puppies for sale, one male and three females.

A visit to the basket full of these beautiful little puppies, their eyes barely open, and snuggled together in a tight little ball for warmth, resulted in an instant bonding with one…a tri-colored little female.

So…her Christmas wish is accomplished…we will pick her up on Christmas eve…MERRY CHRISTMAS.

How about “NOEL” for a name?

"Speakeasy"

About this time of the year we try to put our consultancy on hold and savor the aromas of holiday cooking and to reflect on our blessings, and we have a lot to be thankful for. So…to stay out of the way of the master chef…I slip away with a glass of wine and write. Digging into the memory banks and prompted by a recent road trip….

 “Speakeasy”

On a recent trip across Indiana we were detoured off I-70 through Terra Haute Indiana due to an accident blocking the bridge.  Winding our way, with all the other displaced travelers, through town and connecting with Route 40, we finally crossed the Wabash River.

Late in the afternoon, with low dark clouds rushing across the late fall landscape, a flood of memories came back as we crossed the river.

Rewinding life back to the late 1960’s I remembered a night much like this one. We had landed late and the Captain suggested we go “up river” to an old “speakeasy” for dinner. Not having a clue what he was referring to and as a young co-pilot I eagerly agreed.

After checking into the hotel, an old creaky floored hotel in downtown Terra Haute, we quickly changed out of our uniforms and “headed up river”.

The Captain, seeing my confusion explained…”Speakeasies were numerous and popular during the Prohibition years. Some of them were operated by people who were part of organized crime. Even though police and agents of the Bureau of Prohibition would often raid them and arrest their owners and patrons, they were so profitable that they continued to flourish.”

Once out of town we headed up a winding tree covered road along the Wabash River. The road was dark, very few homes or businesses and only the reflections off our headlights guided us through the night. Finally we turned off the narrow winding two lane road onto a gravel road. It was really dark now and only the crunching of our tires across the gravel broke the stillness of the night.

Up on a rise, safe from the annual flooding of the Wabash, stood a non-descript building with no signs of live and certainly not of business.  Cars were parked in the dark, haphazardly under trees and on the grass.

Really curious now, and not wanting to look any “greener” to my Captain I withheld my doubts to his claims of a great steak dinner (I’m the new guy…maybe this is a joke?)

A single bare bulb burned above the door. My Captain walked confidently up to the door and rapped the old brass knocker twice. What happened next I had only seen in movies…the peep hole opened up and flash of light appeared before “an eye” replaced it and a gravelly voice asked us what we wanted…now this really happened, my Captain said…”Joe sent me”.

We were admitted into a very nice restaurant and seated. The beverages washed away the days fatigue, the food was excellently prepared and served…my doubts vanished.

Though many years had passed since the need for secrecy and a password this restaurant had thrived on its historical (and perhaps a little shady) background…”ambiance” we call it now.

So back to now…as we drove into the gathering dusk and away from the Wabash I couldn’t help smile and wonder at the many adventures (blessings) life allow you to experience.

If anyone asks tell them…”Joe sent you”.

Encouragement

“And peace rolled over the land…first one then another were awakened to what negativity was doing to them”.  Strife and turmoil blanketing their lives were taking a terrible toll. One by one they decided to offer a smile and extend the hand of fellowship to someone in need, to use positive words instead of criticizing, to encourage instead of discourage.

It wasn’t easy…time, disappointments and setbacks had hardened them. However, one positive exchange with another gave way to another and another until (regardless of the rebuffs) the smiles on their faces and their positive attitudes began to take root…good roots make strong plants.

“Mighty oaks from a tiny acorn grow”.

They didn’t think they could control the outcome of their times, nor change the circumstances of their neighbors…but took the first steps toward change.

While this may be a fanciful, wishful story…it is possible…I am going to plant the seed of positivity and give it a try.

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving and a most joyous Christmas.

Knock Knock

Knock, knock…”anyone still here?”

I know…I seem to have wandered off the edge of the earth into some dark hole…swallowed up in cyber space…the bits and bytes no longer flowing.

Truth is…it took me a few years to figure this out, but my little consultancy gets busy late in the year. Seems any budget surpluses cause folks to think…”let’s get that consultant in here”…so (not complaining) I “hop to” and hit the road when they call!

From Mississippi to California, Texas to Pennsylvania…driving and flying I make my rounds.

As I said…I am not complaining (I would rather spread this out over the year)…”but gotta go” when they call!

I specialize in two areas…so I have variety and constantly meeting new people and challenges…both I thoroughly enjoy.

Opppsss…gotta go, phones ringing and the computer is “binging” …”you have mail”.

American Greatness!

American greatness is still here...we are just confused by the debate. However, the core essentials are still here...hearty people, democracy, and opportunity.

 Nothing has changed...just confused...listen to the debates on the channels and listen to them all, liberal to conservative, read the blogs, talk to your friends... the basics are still here...just confused as we are increasingly polarized into "no move camps"!

Where is the voice of reason and reality? Where is that voice that transcends politics and agendas and strikes to the heart of the issues? This...disregarding personal agendas and speaks only to the core issues...and with realistic solutions?

We are still the nation that ALL want to come to...that should tell you something...and we CAN prevail!

Alligator Cove

The drought continues, the rains still just a memory, and the lake, our lake continues, to recede! We are now down over four feet!

The “dribbles” coming out of our sprinkler system alerted me to a potential problem! I went down to the dock and looked at the water pickup off the end of our dock…and sure enough it was sitting on top of the water…not good for the pump!

 I turned it off!

Today we ran the pickup line further out into the lake…another twenty feet!  The channel in our cove is usually about twelve feet in the middle (now down to eight feet!) so that “should “take care of the problem (until the lake is dry…”can that happen?”).

Now the point!

When we put the sprinkler system in the water was up four feet and the neighborhood alligator was “patrolling” the cove. Needless to say the installers were “wary!” They “watchfully” installed the pickup line off the dock.

Today they carefully “waded” out and made the necessary adjustment, a 90 ° elbow to a twenty foot extension to another 90° up to the inlet screen…cleaned out some of the valves and we were up and running.

Oh…and no alligator in site!

We are back to watering...until??

Alligator Season:

I’ve been working in Louisiana for the last ten days and was anxious to get home. Up at 0500 I was in the elevator heading down to check out by 0545.

Riding down with me was a fellow hauling a large cooler. Creating conversation I said…”looks like your heading out early also?” He replied…”have to get out early to beat the heat.”

Checking out the woman looked over at the group, including my elevator companion, and said they were headed out for alligators…”today is the first day of the alligator season.” Alligator season runs from the first Wednesday in September and runs for 30 days. During that time 30,000 to 35,000 are harvested.

She also added that a film crew from Swamp People had recently held auditions at the hotel for this seasons alligator hunters.

My companion in the elevator would not be one of them as he was too corporate looking, clean cut and average looking. Most of those profiled on Swamp People are more colorful in appearance and speech.

Heading west out of Houma and across the swamps, the mist and ground fog clinging to the trees and floating on the swamp, I thought what a primordial scene…not changed since dawn of time and neither have the alligators!

The "End of the Road"

I’ve often wondered what lay at the “end of the road”. Today I found one road that indeed ended in the marshes, the gentle wave of the Gulf of Mexico lapping at the shores…Cocodrie, Louisiana.  Cocodrie is at the end of Hwy 56, south of Houma Louisiana and is at the “end of the road”. 

Shimmering in the heat of the afternoon sun, flat waters and no breeze, Cocodrie is an assemblage of fish camps, shrimp docks and boat launches. Unless you’re curious like me you probably wouldn’t go there…even if lost you would probably turn around before you ran out of road.

On the way down I passed many, if not most houses, trailers and businesses that had been “shored up”…that’s what the advertising signs offered. One in particular caught my attention as it was firmly elevated, with its two garage door at least twelve feet above the ground…no water was going to get in there…and no cars!

Finally arriving I found a great marina / restaurant called (imagine this) Coco Marine. Seated I asked the young lady what does this restaurant at the end of the road do best?

Without hesitation she replied “Wine Shrimp”. And that is I asked? Smiling she replied…”grilled shrimp in a skillet with a spicy wine and cheese sauce poured over it and baked and garlic toast for “sopping” up the gravy”.  

 Wow that sounded good (may send my blood sugar out into the Gulf) but the day was early and I could exercise it off, so I agreed to try the wine shrimp…and was it good, no GREAT! After a chilled glass of wine and the sumptuous (and rich) dish I waddled out (maybe I’ll exercise later…much later!), very contented and marveling at what you can find at the end of a road.

Drougth!!

Over the last few years drought has plagued much of Texas.  All Texas lakes have suffered, their levels decreasing annually…all that is except Lake Livingston, our home lake.

Lake Livingston is a man-made lake that is part of the Trinity River watershed. Fortunately rains to the north have kept our lake at or near it defined level of 131 feet…until now. As the large high pressure system settled over Texas and blocked the moisture laden Gulf of Mexico air from providing our summer thunderstorms.

The rains have stopped, the temperatures have soared into the 100’s and the water use and evaporation have sapped the lakes…even our Lake Livingston. Slowly at first then at an ever increasing rate the water along our bulkhead began to recede…now we even have a small (but growing) beach.

The 100 degree day continue, the rains are but a distant memory and the forecast is grim…no change for the foreseeable future…maybe until November!

TEXAS WEATHER

The scorching Texas sun has finally set.  The ceiling fan in the kitchen squeals and whines in a futile attempt to cool.  The screen door to the back porch creaks and groans as the old dog wanders in and, tongue hanging out, flops on the floor under the table. No one moves, only the sound of the ceiling fan and the windmill in the yard, barely turning in the hot evening air, breaks the silence.

Fast forward sixty years…same hot Texas sun but ceiling fans purr quietly as they circulate the cool air conditioned air around the room, but the discussion on weather goes on, from the morning coffee down at the local café in Onalasaka (yes there is an Onalalaka)  to the concrete corridors of Houston.

Much is written about the weather…

 “Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.”  Mark Twain

 On February 9, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a joint resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of War to establish a national weather service. The resolution required the Secretary of War... “To provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories”.

So the records are still being made and broken, season come and go…and the weather cycle goes on.

Though the air conditioning makes life more comfortable I can still hear the opening and closing of a screen door, the creaking and groaning of a windmill…life move on.

Humpty Dumpty

The rhyme does not explicitly state that the subject is an egg and in my case it refers to an aging laptop computer.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, (on my desk)
Humptyi Dumpty had a great fall; (blue screen blues)
Threescore men and threescore more, (Dell technical support)
Cannot place Humpty dumpty as he was before. (the more Dell helped the worse it got!)

So…I finally decided to buy a new egg (err laptop).  The purchase was easy, delivery was prompt and then the process bogged down. “Humpty” sat on the desk in various “patches” (external hard drive, files scattered all over….like a shattered egg shell).

What to do?

I really needed someone to come and take a look at “Humpty” and put him back together again. Well Dell didn’t offer that service, a nationally advertised service (they drive around in little funny cars) failed twice to show up! So…I went with a local technician who showed up and carefully looked at poor “Humpty” and declared he would take all of “Humpty’s” parts and pieces and reassemble them into the new shell (laptop).

And so he did…the scattered pieces of shell were reassembled into one smooth egg (laptop) and “Humpty” sits contentedly on my desk, ready to resume our cyber life of bit’s an bytes.

Texas Heat

The long hot and dry summer of 2011 drags on.

The promise (well actually only a “chance”) of rain today has yet to materialize and the temperatures are once again hovering near 100 with humidity’s at a sweat dripping level. Fortunately I received a job request that will take me for cooler climes…Fairbanks Alaska, for a few days work (high of 67 with rain tomorrow on arrival).

Last month I got a similar reprieve and a trip to Yellowknife NWT Canada…ironically both Yellowknife and Fairbanks are the jumping off points for Ice Road Truckers series…fortunately it won’t be -22 when I get there! This Texas boy no longer owns cloths for those temperatures.

It is sometimes hard to remember that this drought and high temperatures aren’t being felt by everyone. The south is known for its heat and humidity so there is no surprise there, however, this year seems worse. Houston is almost 20” below normal rainfall, and no relief in sight.

So…its off to Alaska and a few days of cool and wet weather.

"The Tank"

At one time I thought Russia was a totally isolated and totally self-sufficient. I found on one of my early trips to Moscow, in 1990, that wasn’t the case.

My company was one of the early ones trying to forge a relationship with Russia to drill and produce oil and aviation would be a necessary component and as the aviation advisor I was sent to define the use and arrange and coordinate with a Russian company to provide the airplane and helicopter support we would need.

Initially I wasn’t having much (actually none) success in making contact. Hours of sitting around the hotel waiting for translations and contacts to be made and meetings to be arranged.

Our resident managers wife took pity on me one day and asked if I would go with her to one of Moscow’s open air markets…it was the middle of the winter! Desperate to get out of the hotel I agreed and we bundled up against the below zero weather and took the subways (Moscow has a most architecturally wonderful system, built on the bones of the thousands of workers it took to build the ring) out to the market.

The market was spread across the hills of a large park and filled with vendors selling all kinds or wares from all over the communist world (Cuba, theRepublics, Africa and more). Trudging across the snow packed ground, the air heavy with the frozen breath of the amazingly large crowd, we surveyed the tables of mostly cloths made in China and other Russian republics.

At one table, where what I thought were toys, were some small military tanks. Crudely crafted I was assured they were models of authentic Russian tanks. As they were small (about 1” long)and of rough molding I took him at his word and bought the small tank for a few Rubles.

Years later I happened to “closely” examine the tank and to my surprise (well not really, I should have suspected) the “Made in Russia” tank had actually been “Made in China. отсутствие проблемы which means “no problem”.( ”Nyet problema'')

Alaskan Cruise

Alaska has moved many to try and capture its magnificence. Michener’s Alaska, Jack London’s Call of the Wild and of course John Wayne and North to Alaska. Over time the fascination of Alaska has called many.

That fascination still calls and the cruise line do a great job of showing a slice of that rugged states beauty. Today over forty ships ply the Inland Passage between Seattle / Vancouver and Alaskan ports as far north as Anchorage. Each of these ships carries thousands so you can see that during the cruise season (May to September) thousands get to view the marvels of the Canadian / Alaskan Inland Passage.

Last week neighbors Larry and Regina Mercer and Bobbie and I added their names to the long list of those legions that have made this spectacular trip.  Bobbie and I  also celebrated our 45th. Anniversary in Seattle before boarding the ship.

Boarding in Seattle they were treated to some of the most beautiful scenery nature can provide. They were treated to great sights and “a lot of food!” (and…no one gained weight?)

With stops in Tracy Arm Fjord, Tracy Arm is a magnificent glacier-carved fjord just south of Juneau.


Many cruise itineraries include a visit to this incredible place, often as a substitute for the comparable Glacier Bay National Park.

The fjord is part of the 30 mile long Tracy Arm - Fords Terror Wilderness region, located about 60 miles southeast of Juneau.
The fjord is truly one of the most dramatic locations in Alaska, or in all of the world, for that matter. The sheer, glacier-carved walls are often shrouded in mist.

Glacial calving in Tracy Arm can often be quite spectacular, as huge chunks of ice break off and plunge into the frigid waters below.


Skagway, where they took a train ride on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, this narrow gauge railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a designation shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty.

The WP&YR railway was considered an impossible task but it was literally blasted through coastal mountains in only 26 months.

Juneau, the Mendenhall Glacier...another beautiful stop showing the magnificane of nature.

Ketchikan…where the boats were stacked four deep…end to end (parallel parked “beep beep”).

With one more stop in Victoria Canada the group were headed home, cameras full of pictures, memories full of good times, fellowship and marveling over the sites they had seen.

 

The passing of time

January’s freezing temperatures thawed like icicles dripping off a roof...slowly. February and March were dry and windy blowing the remnants of the dead leaves off the trees…not at all like southeast Texas winters. April showers did not happen, a drought gripped Texas. May flowers only occurred after much watering…so the months dissolved into one another with no clear arrival of spring.

Dreary as that may sound there were many crisp and crystal clear days to enjoy, no one wanted to rush the heat of summer. The tomatoes plants seemed to thrive with the cool weather, the grass lush and green, and the catfish off the dock were plentiful…so it is hard to complain (too much).

Today we are watching another line of thunderstorms headed toward southeast Texas, hoping that “this” line will hold together. Lately these lines tease us…roaring toward us we store the lawn furniture and loose items…only to have them “fizzle” out just before arriving….like I said “teasing” us!

Maybe today?

Great Day!!!

With the winds of late on our minds we awoke on Friday morning for a scheduled trip out on Lake Livingston...it was "great", flat and smooth.
Our good friends were in town and we were going to "try" and find some white bass for a fish fry. Now bear in mind that we haven't been out fishing this year (Lady Wings is the fisherperson...she'd already caught four nice catfish off the dock) and our friends had never caught any white bass on the old 190 roadbed. So...with all that we headed out early (in case the winds kicked up later) with little expectations but having a "great" day on the lake.

With the GPS we found the roadbed and started trolling. Nothing...then one, then two...then two at the same time. And so it went...slow (but we are all novices) until we had both live wells full of fish. "Great"!!!

And so the morning went...the ladies catching most of the fish and the guys driving and repairing lines...yes we lost a few to snags. One funny snag resulted in pulling up our "previous" snag...complete with Jet Diver and Pet Spoon!

"Great day" of fellowship and fun...and a few fish.

Jungle Heat (A new novel by)

As I continue my "ramble" through retirement, tring new adventures, a novel seems possible...here are the opening lines.

The sweltering heat hung over the airport like a wet blanket. Heat waves shimmered off the runway, giving the jungle on the other side a surrealist image of trees melting into the ground.

He stood on the ramp next to the old dilapidated hangar, the popping of the tin roof, from expansion caused by the noon day sun, the only sound interrupting the silence. He wondered how he had sunken so low to have this desolate end of the world assignment as his only flying job.

Where had it all gone wrong?

Steve Wright had certainly not always been “right”, more often “wrong” in his choice of booze, women and jobs. Demon rum had started the downward spiral to this God forsaken airport in the wilds of central Africa.

Steve’s mind drifted back to a time when all seemed like his life was charmed, he had a beautiful wife, a great job flying for an airline and his reputation as a pilot was spotless. He was known for his prowess and called “Stick”. “Steve’s the best stick we have” they would say, alluding to the yoke that controls the pitch and roll of the aircraft and reverts back to the days when airplanes had a “stick” between the pilot’s legs to control flight.

To fly with Steve was almost poetry, a soft touch on each control deftly moving the control for the desired effect. From take-off to landing his flights soared, as if on eagles’ wings, through the sky.

Circadian Rhythm

Circadian rhythm isn’t a cacophonous chorus of crickets but our bodies program to be in its deepest sleep between 3:00 and 5:00 AM. I am a good sleeper, usually “soundly” sleeping during those hours. However...not this morning. Maybe it was the time change this morning (“spring ahead”) or the fact I’ve been on the road for over a week...whatever the reason, there I was at 5:00 AM awake.

Looking at the clock I took comfort knowing that I had more sleep allowed and would enjoy the time. That was not to be. First I noticed the quite...no cars driving by, no planes flying over, no lawn mowers or any of the myriad of the noises in our lives. Just quite!

The city was asleep on this Sunday morning and I wasn’t. After marveling over the quiet and the image of most of the city asleep (good guys and bad guys) I decided to get up, make coffee and read the paper...someone had been awake because there it lay on the walk, ready to be read.

The paper quickly dispelled the notion of quite...the world hadn’t been asleep, to the contrary, even on a Sunday, the world was about its calamitous ways, both natural and manmade. I turned on the TV and there “spanning the globe” newsreel coverage of the worlds noises.

A new day had begun...earlier than normal and soon the sun rose and brought with it life’s noises.

I may need a nap this afternoon.

Ahhhh the endless cycle of yard work!

TREES: We bought our house because of the trees and the shade...then cuss them every fall for all the leaves they deposit...especially our huge Mexican Sycamore, which has been around for a while...it’s huge!

The sycamore has plate size leaves that are as hard as plastic. I’ve raked them (difficult if not nearly impossible) and I’ve mowed (mulched) them (sounds like the mower is falling apart from the inside) which is the easier way, although it takes two passes!

GRASS: Another contradiction...we carefully apply pre-emergence, aerate, fertilize, patch bad sod and water until we have a lush green carpet of grass...then complain that we have to mow twice a week to keep it looking good.

The mowing goes on until late fall...then continues when the big waxy leaves start falling off the sycamore...so the cycle continues until the end of January...THEN there is a lull until the warmth of spring wakes up the yard for yet another cycle of yard work.

WEEDS: Now I’ve explained my part of this equation...NOT part of my efforts are the “beds”...defined as home for the myriad of shrubs and flowering plants (annuals and perennials). The beds are the domain of my live-in horticulturist. She too has a love / hate relationship with our yard...not the planting, nurturing and watering of this array of flowering color, BUT the weeds!

I long ago said “I don’t do weeds”. This is not a “cop out” but a matter of survival. You see, over the years, I’ve pulled many a prized planting because it “looked” like a weed. They all eventually flower (even weeds I’m told), however, much of the time they look like weeds (to me!).

So...as the days become longer, the weather warmer and the arrival of robins and cardinals digging for worms (“the early bird gets the worm”...sorry, couldn’t resist the pun) we wait for the cycle to begin again.

“Gentlemen...start your engines”.

PILOTS (GREAT VIDEO!)

"But we are pilots!"

I have been blessed during my life time and probably have much more than I deserve. That being said I occasionally see something that I totally do not need...but wouldn’t mind having...until I see the price!

Some time ago I ran across a great flying video advertising a watch, a “Pilot” watch!

The video, is with John Malkovich, a couple of Supermarine Spitfires and a Junkers JU52 and “the watch”. The message...basically said they don’t make pilots like they used to and “this watch was made for real pilots.”

In this fanciful story two airline pilots are checking out of a hotel and the captain sees a watch that he must have. The Concierge (John Malkoivich) asks “but do you deserve it?”

Well the video goes on with great aerial flying scenes but never answers whether the captain deserves the watch.

That got me to thinking (careful now...this can be dangerous). “That’s’ the one I want” (just like the captain said) I thought...only to hear John Malkovich saying “but do you deserve it?”

Deserving isn’t the issue here...I checked and found that the PILOT watches start at $2,300 dollars.

Besides...”real pilots lived in the old days”...but that’s a story for another day.

Enjoy.

About this time of year the endless stream of cold fronts pushing across the Gulf Coast, bringing leaded gray clouds and rain, and this year freezing temperatures, ice and snow, causes dreams of warmer weather and clear water to seep into my mind.

I ran across the video while reading one of the blogs I follow, people who are on the “Great Loop”, which is defined as a journey around the waterway of the US. The start point can be anywhere and ends when the boater has transited the loop back to their starting point...up the east coast, Hudson River, Eire Canal, Great Lakes, Chicago River to the Mississippi, Ohio River, Kentucky Lakes, Tombigbee to the Gulf Coast and around Florida and often onward to the Bahamas...and here I found “Knee Deep in the Bahamas”.

Now with every hint of spring, warmer weather and the occasional robin and cardinals flirting around the bird bath, comes yet another round and reminder that winter (I know a Texas winter isn’t anything like northern winters) is still not passed us by.

So enjoy this moment of dreaming of warm weather and clear waters.

I am still learning about “blogs” , “Facebook” and the “social media...and my granddaughter said I was too old!

The attached video, one of my favorite, (with great music from another favorite 633 Squadron) about the circuitous approach into the old Hong Kong airport called Kai Tak.

The approach required a twisting approach, a hard turn toward the airport, a decent almost at roof top altitudes and finally lining up with the runway which was many time a challenge due to crosswinds (as the video shows).

In my “airWing” blog I note this is a classic example of the cockpit full of risk assessment and mitigation required to safely conduct the approach and make a safe landing.

Dashed Expectations:

William Shakespeare said in his play, Much Ado About Nothing "He hath indeed better expectation than you must expect of me to tell you how."

And so, evidently, were the weather prognosticators of last evening!

I awoke several times during the night and like a child, waiting on Christmas, peaked out the window, waiting to see “the snow.” In the early morning hours, with the house chilled to our lower thermostat setting for sleeping, I gave up and waited snuggly in our bed, for the first gray light of morning.

I am usually awakened by the traffic noise of those who still have to go to work (it’s great being retired)...but not today. As the gray of morning began seeping through the curtains I realize there was no traffic...”great, it snowed!”

Leaping out of bed and rushing to the curtains I was disappointed to see NO SNOW!
In the place of the “forecasted” snow was an ice coated world...cars, trees, patio furniture and streets. Turning on the TV we were able to watch the hearty or foolish slipping and sliding on Houston’s roads. Like “bumper cars” they ricocheted off each other and the guard rails (so that’s what they are for?”).

It’s afternoon now...the temperatures have crept up to where the ice is just beginning to melt...the problem is that the forecast is for it to dip below freezing in the next few hours and start the cycle again.

Not a problem...I have my blog, a good book and a glass of wine, so I will survive this momentary inconvenience...this is Texas after all and hot weather will be her soon enough!

WINTER STORM WARING:

Houston is the fourth largest city in the country and is in Harris County, the third most populated county in the US. In spite of those impressive numbers and other factors like the world famous Medical Center, home to some of the best hospitals in the world, Houston is often overlooked for it’s more famous cousin to the north, Dallas (we need a JR and the Ewing’s)

As I sit here tonight watching all the networks and cable channels interviewing Houston and Harris County officials about the impending snow storm...yes I said snow storm, I marvel at what it takes to put Houston on the front page...snow!

This will be the third year in a row that we will have a measurable snowfall, they are calling for 1 to 3 inches. I know that isn’t anything compared to what has been sweeping across the mid-section of the US and pounding the northeast, and we haven’t had ANYTHING, yet the POSSBILITY has excited the media to chronicle this rarest of events...for southeast Texas anyway.

The highways are clearing, the schools have announced their closing for tomorrow and the media are restlessly cruising the city looking for that first snow flake.

Boy...it better snow or there will be a lot of disappointed folks.

Standby for the results.

The "Seventh Wave"

Winter storms are rolling across Texas like waves across the sea. It is said that every seventh wave is a big one and surely the one coming next will seem like one of those.

A deep arctic low is forming and will bulge as it races to the south, bring yet another round of plunging temperatures.

In the years I’ve lived in Texas I’ve seen warm winters and cold. The last three years have been really cold and causes one to ask about “global warming?” Some will argue that these extremes are indeed part of the global warming effects, causing wild swings in our climate.

Or...could it be the natural cycle of weather, like the seventh wave...every so often you get a big (read that cold!) one?

Big is better...or NOT

Someone “may” have said, “why use a small word when you can use a large word.” I Google’s it and I couldn’t substantiate this contention. Quite the opposite...I found multiple references to advocating the opposite or use small words in short sentences as the best way to make your point.

Well I would have to agree with that, unless you are trying to purposely obfuscate an issue and test your audience’s attention to your ramblings.

Case in point...recently I posted on my Facebook account... ”For those of you who track esoteric bits of minutia...my A1C is down from 9.6 to 5.5”...thinking no one would notice.


“Esoteric, minutia and A1C...what is he talking about?...move on!, he’s rambling again.”

And indeed I was bloviating...obfuscating, or attempting too...however, It didn’t deter a few responders, who in turn added to the twist by responding in equally obscure terms, one questioning how many "stones" I've lost?"....”way to go.”

Long arm qulting table

The trip down retirement’s twisting road hasn’t been a solo journey. My co-pilot of forty five years has patiently suffered the away time (as I was off flying around the world). So now we are realizing some of her dreams.

I have always been aware of her many talents, in the kitchen, genealogy and quilting (actually all the sewing arts). But, I had no earthly idea how complicated quilting was!

First...this is not your grandma’s quilting!” Second...it comes at a price that would have bought grandma’s farm, two horses and a wagon load of hay. Third...the space required to set up this myriad of tables, machines and store the materials (fabric, threads, bobbins, and various other sundry “necessary” items) would take up ALL of grandma’s cabin.

Now I am not complaining, actually I am fascinated by the engineering that goes into the marvels of computerization, joinery and roller bearing gliding parts and pieces. The centerpiece sewing machine is a big screen television (some exaggeration here) mounted into a sewing machine (you have to have a slew of course on how to just turn this thing on!)

And then there is an embroidery module, and on and on. Attachments?...did I mention attachments? Well there are more “hoops, loops, stand alone serger, another sewing machine for “piecing” and other “essentials.” Thread...of every imaginable color in the rainbow. Material...there is enough stored with precision detail to colors and other criteria to make a thousand quilts! (more exaggeration). The quilter’s mantra is “she who dies with the most fabric wins.”

Her room bulges with “necessary” items. The room glows like a NASA control room with computer screens, and the hum of precision and intricately engineered motors.

Ok ...I am almost done.

The last piece to this array of “necessary” equipment is a quilting arm (long arm to be precise). This takes up a whole room! The “pieced” quilt, batting (the middle) and the backing are rolled onto this monster, across to the receiver and the computerized “big screen” sewing machine in mounted on top. After more computer programming, proper tensioning you are ready to go...I think? I say that because I hear mumbling and a few expletive deleted coming from the “control room”...so perhaps this technology and engineering precision has a “learning curve.” Hey, I haven’t bought her anything she didn’t ask for!

DISCLAIMER....the author of this article has no earthly idea what he’s talking about and it has not been approved by the aforementioned “co-pilot” / master quilter.

Christmas Storage

FINALLY! The boxes are starting to return to their hiding places, under the stairs, nestled in the attic and “hanging” out in the rafters of the garage.

There is, however, an annual mystery about this event...every year the amassed array of ornaments, garlands, beads, nativities and our “blue santa’s” (many of which have their own box) seem NOT to match up with the box or bin they arrived in?

Well actually they do...BUT the dedicated boxes seem to eventually be found in another tub (every different type is assigned to a tub). So the mystery is really how we can (we think) carefully unpack and display this plethora of Christmas decorations, carefully segregating the myriad of dedicated boxes and bins...only to have then ”re-arrange” themselves?

Eleven months of the year they quietly and patiently stay where they are assigned during the storage process....but for that one month they are collectively stored in one bay of the garage they celebrate this gathering (in one place) by playing musical chairs, then laughingly enjoy the consternation of the packers as the try to corral this assemblage back into their assigned boxes and tubs.

So...for now they are quietly resting in their assigned place...waiting for the game to begin again next Christmas...”Merry Christmas.

“HOPPIN JOHN”

For those of you who read the blog you will note that 2010 certainly held true to the title “The Ramblings of a Retiree.” And that is the fun part...taking life one day at a time and waiting to see what’s around the next bend. I believe it was Yogi Berra that said...”when you come to a fork in the road...take it”...and we have!

Someone else coined the phrase “water under the bridge” and that now applies to 2010, good bad or indifferent it is now history. It will, however, be a most memorable year! One that will easily be one of the road markers that defined our passage along life’s road.

That being said and not wanting to “wax philosophical” we move on with the excitement and anticipation of what is around the next bend.

Today we start that journey with a southern tradition, eating “hoppin john”, black-eyed peas. The dish goes back at least as far as 1841, when, according to tradition, it was hawked in the streets of Charleston, South Carolina by a crippled black man who was known as Hoppin' John.

Or... traced back to a legend that during the Civil War, the town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, ran out of food while under attack. The residents fortunately discovered black-eyed peas and the legume was thereafter considered “lucky”...there are more,your choice ).

So however you celebrate the New Year...we wish you a most prosperous, health and happy 2011.