Wednesday, May 23, 2018

What Has Technology Wrought?

 Kith and Kin Everywhere on this fine May 23 day of 2018:  As those of us of my generation (born in June 1925) become fewer and fewer; as those of you in the many post-WW2 generations proliferate, America becomes less and less able to recall any history of WW2.  Peruse the output of our factories -- below.

We have sent all of that technology to China and China to whom we owe our very souls is not our friend!

America with only 1/2 of today's population -- you can Google that -- was able to do things impossible today with twice the number of hands and brains (?).

Perhaps that is because of our deteriorated "education" system; perhaps that is because no one is able to put down their computers they label as "phones;" perhaps that is because no one any longer thirsts to learn; perhaps that is because folks are waiting to let a Social George manage their lives; perhaps that is because photos, jokes and porn are more interesting than being a hard-driven American patriot in love with their heritage won then granted by the Founding Fathers and preceding generations of warriors.  Who knows?  Who cares? 

And the Millennial Generation is the most rude, crude, gimme-gimme, asinine generation of all that cannot function without thumbing through the idiocy of their "phones" to see if they missed a call from another nincompoop of their generation.

What have we -- what has technology wrought?

Advice from a nonagenarian and veteran of 3 wars includes learning Mandarin so you will be able to communicate with your new leaders!
https://www.fluentin3months.com/mandarin-chinese-is-easy/
Read on -- the below quotes, then I double dog dare you to leave a comment:


"As the 'greatest generation' dwindles, it is important the nation reflects on the innovation, mobilization, production, and bravery that occurred during WWII.

Seems Impossible
Carefully study this artwork. Then, read what we did.  
Not only is the picture awesome, but so are   the statistics!
 http://www.shangralafamilyfun.com/2014/raiders9.jpg
During the 3-1/2 years of World War II that started with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 and ended with the surrender of Germany and Japan in 1945, "We the People of the U.S.A." produced the following:
            22 aircraft carriers
              8 battleships
            48 cruisers
          349 destroyers
          420 destroyer escorts
          203 submarines
            34 million tons of merchant ships
   100,000 fighter aircraft
     98,000 bombers
     24,000 transport aircraft
     58,000 training aircraft
     93,000 tanks
   257,000 artillery pieces
   105,000 mortars
3,000,000 machine guns and
2,500,000 military trucks
We put 16.1 million men in uniform in the various armed services, invaded Africa, invaded Sicily and Italy, won the battle for the Atlantic, planned and executed D-Day, marched across the Pacific and Europe, developed the atomic bomb and, ultimately, conquered Japan and Germany.
It's worth noting that this all took place in less than half the time the Obama Administration was in place.   With more than twice this amount of time,  the Obama Administration couldn't even build a healthcare web site that worked!!!"
I wouldn't be surprised if both operations cost about the same.

It’s amazing what America did in those days

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Fleet Week Up Portland Way

Kith and Kin Everywhere on this May 20, 2018,

Time is getting short for you to visit a real, honest-to-gosh WW2 PT boat with a real, honest-to-gosh WW2 veteran of the Solomon Islands PT boat combat against the Imperial Japanese Navy on board to shake your hand.

Marlene and I will be traveling to Portland, OR, in a few days to act as docents aboard the PT658, the only fully restored and running PT boat left in the world.  Son Mike will drive us to the boat; we are getting too aged to make the trip alone.  I will be just days short of my 93rd birthday later in June, so that fact mandates this being a fini.

Our object is to publicize the boat, its volunteer crew and, hopefully, raise some serious money to keep her up and running for many years more as a memorial to we kids who manned these "plywood" 77-foot to 80-foot wooden combat vessels that stepped in to carry the fight to the enemy when the Navy's iron ships were sunk at Pearl Harbor.

Marlene and I will be giving our annual donation of $1,000, hoping our presence on the Higgins motor torpedo boat will bring in another $1,000, at least.  See her web site to determine how in case you can't visit her.  Send a tax-deductible donation or $5 or $5,000 or more.  Just Google "PT658" to find out how.

It will be Fleet Week of the Portland Rose Festival.  The boat will be moored at Waterfront Park in downtown Portland along with visiting Canadian, Navy and Coast Guard Fleet ships.  Come visit and bring a healthy donation in honor of all "mosquito boat veterans" of WW2.  See and tour one of the last two of the some-750 of these marvelous machines we kids used to fight the Japanese and Germans to keep America free.

Unlike other museum vessels, the PT658 has no major sponsor and depends on the  kind and generous donations of patriotic citizens to keep her afloat.  Her crew who maintain and operate the boat are all volunteers.

Marlene and I hope you will give until it hurts a little, then add a little bit more to show your appreciation of the sacrifices we kids made of our youthful days.  What might have been our glorious teen years were exhausted fighting in the fetid tropics in places of which you've never even heard.  Tulagi and Rendova come to mind as does Choiseul, Bougainville and Green Island.  Capisce?

Please?

Master Chief Gunner's Mate Jack Duncan, Navy retired
Lake Havasu City, Arizona
(928) 854-1438


Thursday, May 17, 2018

Snippet, 5/17/18

Kith and Kin Everywhere,

Just as winter never really hit the desert, summer is late, too.  So far, it's been pretty pleasant weather in only the mid- to high 90s.

Debbie is here today, shoveling out the house and getting us ready for both boys this weekend.  Debbie reminded us that she's been cleaning our house for a full decade, now.  Wow, doesn't seem that long.  She's more daughter than housekeeper.

Son Jeff has Boy Scout business in 'Vegas on Friday/Saturday in which one of his Tennessee Scouts, whose family moved to NV, is receiving his Eagle at a Court of Honor.  When that ceremony is over, Jeff will rent a car and drive down to LHC for a couple of days for a visit.  Leaves Tuesday.

Son Mike and Carolyn have their bowling league annual thing in Laughlin this weekend and will come down Sunday.  First time the two boys have been together in decades -- not sure how long.  Maybe a quarter of a century?  They leave Monday.

No big jobs for them -- rehang one balky cabinet door in the kitchen.  We replaced our A/C this week; 'bout the only other thing not perfect around the old teepee.  Here in the desert, an A/C lasts only 15 years and we got 20 years out of the original, so we thought we'd put in a new 4-ton unit before this one crashed, perhaps in mid-summer.

Got another chunk cut out of my foot -- the left one this time.  An old "freckle" turned nasty and had to be taken out.  Also, one of the Wrightus brothers, Arthur, has hit my left-thumb big time, so no twisting action with the wrist.  Thumb basal joint arthritis is no fun and that's why I can't tackle the kitchen cabinet hinge.  Maybe I need my Shannon who knows about such things, but Mike has a firm grip on her and he's still working.  Doctor doesn't want to inject it with that "big square needle" until he must.

We had a first on the back patio when Hardee and Babe brought 2 kids to learn from whence all meatballs can be found.  Four roadrunners at one time.  Dad Hardee still prefers eating from a plastic lid "plate" on the floor while mama Babe would rather that I hand her one while she's atop the wall.  She takes in from between my fingers unerringly without touching me.

One baby takes a meatball from atop the wall, but not until I back off.  If I understand the scoreboard correctly -- unlike baseball players, they don't wear numbers -- one baby still refuses coming over the wall onto the patio at dinnertime.  Mom and dad may still be carrying food to him.  But, only by their actions can one roadrunner be distinguished from another -- by me, at least.  What fun!

We're still flirting with triple digits; only hitting 100 to 106 a couple of times, so far.  When we return from our trip to act as fund-raising docents on the PT658, it should be just in time for the 120s.  I made enough frozen meatballs for Harry to keep the roadrunners in food until we return.  Jazz, as you may know, refuses to have a thing to do with them.

Guess the last measurable rain we had was in January -- if memory serves, so if and when the monsoons hit, they will be welcome.  We are still harvesting lemons and kumquats, but one of the new tree's fruit is quite tangy!  Must be a different strain.  They will be OK dried and added to casseroles, but not for plucking to savor.  

The drought is throughout the southwest and could become serious down Phoenix and Tucson way unless the Colorado River increases its flow.  We need some serious winters upstream in Wyoming and Colorado as well as some serious summer monsoons in AZ.  Too many people in L.A. and San Diego sipping from Lake Havasu as well as pouring over the non-existent but needed Trump wall.

Question:  Instead of us harboring and welcoming "economic refugees," why don't they stay home and fix their own sh#@-hole countries.  I know, "streets of gold."  But that's wearing thin.  Ignorant, uneducated, refusing to become e pluribus unum USA Americans and prefer their own enclaves.  Do nothing for this country except take, take, take.  If I may quote my friend Jerry in Santa Barbara, "Bullshit -- all is bullshit."

In my lifetime, we've added 200,100,00o peeing, pooping, eating, drinking, farting people to our fair nation!  

Google it if you're doubting me.  If they all paid taxes, it might be OK, but too many collect from the Treasury, not pay into it.  Who in their right mind invented this "chain migration" stupidity?  Dims, that's who!  Let one freeloader in, you get the whole stinkin' village!  Automated America does not need more freeloaders!

By the way, should anyone be reading my Snippets, please make a comment.  I'm broadcasting in the blind, not knowing if it's in vain without you at least saying, "Hi."

All is well in the desert,

Love and hugs,

Jack&Marlene

Friday, May 11, 2018

China's Grab II


All,

While America’s future is mired in internecine warfare, Dems vs Repubs, it really is intellect vs panting shortsightedness.  Elitists or those who believe themselves to be among the elite known as Dems, but in reality Wilsonian Progressives, are stubbornly remaining loyal to party rather than endorsing undying loyalty the experimental nation given them by the Founding Fathers. 


The rest of us are patriots who think our love of America is beyond party, seeing Trump as neither Repub nor Progressive, but a swamp drainer. 

Check this out!!!!  What are YOUR priorities:  Party or America?

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Events along China's New Silk Road

Snippet of May 9 afternoon,

We've been in cyber-communication with a dozen retired senior military officers inre my ramblings on OBOR, China's New Silk Road adventure.

Included are such faraway places as Yunnan, Djibouti, Dakar, Khorgos, Doklam, Port Sudan and Jiwani.  Even Sri Lanka and Brazil as well as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Inasmuch as No Such Agency and/or Google doesn't like me to send such vital info to ye of Jack's Pack, you'll have to request e-mail selections until I can figure out the method of attaching them to my blog.

We had Hardee, Babe and their two babies on the back patio yesterday and today.  Babe prefers for me to hold her meatball in my fingers from which she takes it.  Hardee still takes his from between my feet while the babies eat atop the patio wall just inches from my hand.  What a cute family!  Soon, instinct will drive them to separate, each seeking his own patrol area to search out snakes, lizards and insects
 -- except one that will be chosen to remain where the meatballs are available upon demand.  When is the last time anyone has seen four reclusive roadrunners together ganging up around the guy with the meatballs?

We are well and feeling wonderful now that triple digits have returned.  It was 108° today with wall-to-wall sunshine.  Nice!  

Getting ready for the May 19 arrival of both sons, Jeff from TN and Mike from CA.  I'm too old to cook for 3 additional folks, so we'll eat out a lot.  Jeff will go home on Tuesday, Mike and Carolyn probably Monday.  We'll be alone until we leave for Portland's June Fleet Week, when Jazz takes over our house watch here at home.

Marlene lugged home 23# of pork chops today from Basha's.  Only 99¢ a pound!  The BBQ was fired up for lunch!  What a bargain!  Yes, of course, thick cut.

All is well in the desert,

Love and hugs,
Jack&Marlene


Sunday, May 6, 2018

Snippet of 5/6/18

Kith and Kin Everywhere on this beautiful Sunday,

Marlene and I arose at 0500 to perform our early morning personal chores before the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's 0530 Sunday morning TV serenade.  Musical oriented Marlene who has attended the Choir's live recital, loves to watch/listen.  I got on the computer inasmuch as I'm too tone-deaf to appreciate music of any kind.

Breakfast, then she hauled me to the gym.  Treadmill, seated-row machine and I was ready to quit.  We came home to lunch of left-over stuff.  I had made a "spaghetti" dish of chicken thighs, Brussels sprouts, alfredo sauce with soba noodles rather than spaghetti.  It was enough for 3 meals -- one more to go.

With Homer moving off to new territory, apparently, his son Hardee acquired Babe to be his mate.  There is a baby or babies somewhere for we can hear the baby roadrunner very loud, "Erk, erk, erk, erk." cry to be fed.  Silent Babe wants to stay atop our back patio wall and be fed from my fingers, while Hardee prefers to utter coos to me and eat between my feet from a plastic lid.  They present totally different personal characteristics.  So cute!

Into the fourth generation, now, we are seeing a phenomenon:  The new generation chick, grown to adulthood, takes over the territory while the dad disappears -- to new pastures?  The Web proclaims a lifespan of 7 to 8 years, though.  Interesting; another desert survival trait?

With the Snowbirds flocking back northward, our city's traffic is once again light and peaceful.  We've already had some triple digit days that we love and the Snowbirds abhor like the plague.  The forecast is for triple digits through next Friday.

Quarterly blood test tomorrow, then breakfast out.  Tuesday, our new heat pump will be installed beginning at 0630.  Sometime during the coming week, we both need to go to the range and pop some caps.  My Sig P238WTP still is not broken-in.  Marlene needs to exercise her carry-gun, a Ruger LC9.

We're seeing quite a few houses for sale and new homes going up, so we assume that the exodus from Draconian Kalifornia's idiocy remains in full bloom.  Now, some bozo wants independence from the USA.  Mexico's 32nd state?

Full bloom reminds me of our saguaro in the front yard -- blooms all over it!

Let us know what's happening around your casa.

All is well in the desert,

Hugs,

Jack&Marlene


Tuesday, May 1, 2018

OBOR Continues to Weave Its Web



By this time, most of you know that my dryfrog103 account was summarily closed, perhaps by No Such Agency, if I may be paranoid, as my being a spammer. 

Really, it was just musings addressed among all of my friends collectively called “Jack’s Pack.”  It had been in existence for perhaps a quarter century when I was thrown off the Internet without warning.  It coincided with my analyses about Communist China’s erupting emergence upon the Western Civilization scene with Xi Jinping’s New Silk Road.  Hm-m-m!  The MSM is ignoring the gigantic move.  Why?

Many of you are veterans who might have studied Admiral Alfred Mahan’s theories of sea power, becoming familiar with trade routes affecting the entire world.  Xi Jinping seemingly has adopted that and added Marco Polo-like, similar land trade routes through Central Asia, South Asia and even Africa.

Hopefully, by this time you might have read some of my personal analyses of the One Belt, One Road initiative of China’s Xi Jinping, otherwise known as the New Silk Road.  It’s a web being woven to encompass direct trade routes throughout Asia, Europe and Africa with inroads to South America.  Such a network of sea lanes and rail lines interwoven with new highway routes would just about ensnare the world except North America.  The USA, in my analysis, would sink from being the dominant world power simply by commerce and be relegated to Third World status as consumers of goods and exporter of foodstuffs – a nation of poor farmers sort of category.

Mahan’s sea lanes as applied to the Communist Chinese would be mainly China’s East Coast manufacturing complex through its newly-fortified South China Sea, through the Straits of Malacca, the Indian Ocean, Bab al Mandeb and the Red Sea.  The Indian Ocean would become a Chinese lake with PLAN bases possibly at Chittagong, Bangladesh; certainly at Hambantota, Sri Lanka; Jiwani, Pakistan; and Djibouti.  Commercial Chi-Com sea ports are underway in the Aegean Sea, the Adriatic, the Red Sea at Port Sudan and Gwadar, Pakistan.

To continue:  I would like to hear from each of you. 

Have I overstudied the move or are the Chi-Comms our real nemesis in the global scheme of geopolitics?

China is funding (with the American dollars we pay for the ubiquitous “Made in China” consumer everything) new high speed rail lines in southern Europe.  New trans-African railroad is being constructed from which a whole network will deliver consumer goods and ship Africa’s raw materials back to Chinese manufactories.  The initial line stretches from Port Sudan all the way to Dakar, Senegal.


Yet, the MSM is still screaming, “The Russians Are Coming!”

The new land-port at Khorgos connecting China with Kazakhstan is amazing.


Again, it applies Mahan’s theories to land routes opening highways to Gwadar via the Khunjerab Pass in Pakistan as well as an alternate route via Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and southward to Gwadar.  That the major port of Gwadar is indeed a Chi-Com exclave is indicated by the Chinese yuan being accepted there as is the Paki rupee.

Next, follow the hotel chains, mostly American, which have followed or preceded the New Silk Road by Googling the various land routes ever westward from China to Western Civilization nations.

Marlene and I would love to hear your thoughts on our fears for a future America, keeping in mind that the Orient plans in decades and generations while the West plans in four-year administrative increments.

Are we bats or fruitcakes or are we seeing something perhaps too dire for Joe Sixpack’s consumption?

massacheepjack and M5.


What Beijing is Building in the South China Sea

Stratfor has obtained satellite imagery of Mischief Reef in the South China Sea, and we show in this visual analysis what China is putting in place

Since China began its extensive land reclamation program in the South China Sea in 2013, Beijing has focused on improving its presence and infrastructure at seven locations in the Spratly Island chain: Cuarteron Reef, Fiery Cross, Gaven, Hughes, Johnson, Mischief and Subi reefs. Of the seven locations, the Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi reefs received particular attention in the form of large-scale airfields built there. Over time, China has also added harbors, barracks, radar and other sensors. This is in addition to communications equipment, storage bunkers and general infrastructure installed across all seven islands. Stratfor partners at AllSource Analysis have provided imagery that confirms mobile electronic warfare (EW) equipment was recently deployed to Mischief Reef.

Beijing deployed EW equipment to prepared positions in Mischief Reef, consisting of 13 concrete pads located between an airfield to the north and what is probably a motor pool area in the southeast. The imagery shows that two camouflaged vehicles, most likely mobile EW systems, were moved to the deployment site as recently as March 13. The imagery indicates that China likely engaged in periodic training at the airfield for mobile electronic warfare operations during February and March of 2018.

Satellite imagery showing how China has deployed electronic warfare assets to the Spratly Island chain in the South China Sea. <
https://www.stratfor.com/sites/default/files/styles/wv_small/public/china-spratly-islands-electronic-warfare-satellite-imagery-focal-point-042718.png?itok=0oaTJiJx>

The recent addition of mobile equipment for electronic warfare to Mischief Reef adds to the already-extensive electronic network on the reef. To the southeast, China has constructed what is probably a high-frequency, direction-finding antenna array installation which could be used to collect electronic or signals intelligence from transmissions by aircraft or ships in the region, as well as to detect stealth aircraft. North of the island, China has also built what is probably an inter-island communication tower with an associated antenna array similar to the ones found at Cuarteron, Hughes, Johnson South and Gaven reefs. On top of that, China constructed a Doppler very high-frequency omnidirectional range (DVOR) radio system adjacent to the airfield on Mischief Reef. DVOR systems provide short-range navigation information for aircraft without using satellite navigation data.

These developments are yet another example of China reinforcing its territorial claims in the region.

The deployment of EW equipment is particularly notable because the gear could be used to harass and jam the electronic equipment of various actors in the South China Sea, including the United States. In fact, the equipment deployed to Mischief Reef could have already been used for this purpose. A recent statement from a U.S. Navy pilot, for example, alluded to an incident in recent weeks when his aircraft was likely jammed by Chinese electronic equipment. As Beijing continues to build up its capabilities across the South China Sea, tools like electronic warfare equipment will make the country better positioned to continue asserting its territorial claims in the region.


Monday, April 30, 2018

Musings

Kith and Kin Everywhere on this Monday, April 30, 2018.

Watch out!  Unless it's a ruse, which it more than likely is, the Crazy Fat Kid With The Bad Haircut just may be eradicated by his entrenched and ancient generals -- poisoned, of course, so his demise could be attributed to ill health.  Due to overeating.

Those wizened olpharts with Cracker Jack medals covering their emaciated chests clear to their knees like chain mail armor of eld ain't about to give up their nuclear toys.  Un needs to hire a taster IF, I say again, IF he really is sincere about peaceful reunification.  NoKo has begged to be turned into a glass parking lot since 1953, but few are alive today to recognize that Ike really screwed the pooch with his failed negotiations at Panmunjom. 

Watched too many minutes of that 32-year-old SYT from Hershey, PA, as she clumsily tried to emulate the pregnant pause used so effectively by the renowned Jack Benny.  Her nasty and lewd comments at the WH Correspondents' Dinner went over like a concrete cloud -- unless you are a swamp creature yourself who applaud stabs at the non-politician President.  BTW, the "comedienne" has a voice that reminds one of a scraping of nails on a chalkboard, according to my hearing aids.

And the Progressives, like a broken record (whatever that is/was) keeps harking that the Russians are coming, the Russians are coming.  The Russians already came thanks to the Evil Witch of the East.  They bought with bags of money her very own supply of uranium -- oh, was that America's, not hers?

No, the Russians came and went home with tons of uranium to produce more nukes.  Then, thanks to Bill, George W. and Barak, the Chinamen are not coming; they are here. There. Everywhere.  
Image result for dragon spider pictures
The Spider Dragon is casting its web very rapidly throughout Central Asia, the Middle East, Eastern & Western Europe, Asia Minor and Africa.  New seaports, new rail lines are already spreading rapidly.

Uncle Sam, the Federal bureaucracy, apparently, is too caught up in Trump bashing to pay attention.

Hotelier Trump, you can bet, is well aware of the web, however, as his site location scouting geographers must be on top of the American-based hotel chains a-building apace with the advance of the Sino-railroad building spree. 

America, which makes relatively little of consumer merchandise, is being reduced to a shell of its once magnificence.  Communist Chinese Capitalism is poised to force America to wither on the vine.

The joke may be on the "refugees" pouring across our southern border when Yanks will be forced to mow their own lawns and make their own beds as the USA economy will dry up.  Unless the freaking idiots at the helm in Congress open their less than brilliant eyes, we Americans are hide-bound for Third World status.  No longer able to produce profits to purchase Chinese-made goods, our progeny simply will have to do without.

Log on to The New Silk Road, OBOR or BRI to read, understand and observe Trader Uncle Sam have to file for bankruptcy.  We already owe almost $21,000,000,000 for heaven's sake, $1.17-Trillion of it to Communist China.

While I'm picking on the Lazy Laughable Loons in Congress, who universally begin every paragraph spoken with "Well, first of all, XXXX."  Have you reached your limit?  How about the Millennials who must begin every sentence with a preceding, "So, XXX."

As I found out during my first year in college, the English profs spend so much of their time brainwashing students with their Progressive political agenda that they don't have time to teach English, written or spoken.  Some of you older friends may recall that I set out to be an English major until finding that my unabashed American patriotism would result in the murder of the whole English Department of Comm-Sympathizers -- Progressives!  I changed to American History, Geography and Cultural Anthropology in order to remain in the Navy and out of prison.

So, went my rambling rampage for today.  So, I would like for you to click on "make a comment" and, so, inform me that you read it.  So, that about wraps up this harangue.
So, what do you think about my various subjects wrapped in one long discourse?

So, It's been a long, hard day of yard work.  So, I might as well put this one in the NSA record book.

Good night, all.

massacheepjack






Sunday, April 29, 2018

Snippet of 4/29/18

Well, now, Kith and Kin everywhere or someone who might happen upon this Sunday evening, April 29, 2018, blog:

Today turned out to be a balmy 89° here in Arizona's Mohave Desert, although yours truly didn't venture any farther outside than the back patio today.  And that was to feed Babe and Hardee, our two resident roadrunners. who are sitting on a nest somewhere across the wash behind our house.  They both come to beg for the high fat hamburger balls they seem to love.

They both have their own character, too, Babe prefers to take meatballs from my fingers while Hardee likes to eat from a platter at my feet while coo-ing repeatedly his appreciation for the handout.  Babe is the silent one.

Natural food; insects and reptiles have become pretty scarce with our continued drought.  If memory serves me right, there have been only two rainstorms during the past 8 months.  We had some rain in August of '17 and a light rain in January of '18 and little else.  Maybe that's why it's called a desert.  We are wondering if the summer monsoon rains will resume after they went AWOL last year?

Of course, of even more importance is that snowfall in the high mountains that feed the Colorado River has been in a more than decade-long drought.  Our paper today speculated on the consequences should the drought continue.  Tucson, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego depend on the Colorado, too.

M5 and I have been "trapped in irons," as the old days of sail called it -- ain't been doin' much.  Oh, yes, getting caught up on much reading with the mornings taken up with cooking.  I made a Brussel's sprout and chicken dish today following an actual recipe.  Wow!  Complicated that I could reproduce much more quickly.  The lady who wrote the recipe earned a "D" from me in her writing, but an "A" in taste.

We are scheduled to get a new heat pump on May 8.  Our A/C units here have an average life span of 15 years.  Ours of 20 years and showing instrumentation of being on the downhill side.  Rather than having it crap out in July with a backlog of installers, we decided to replace it while it's still functioning.  We hit 126° last June, to give you the idea.

Another big expense will be reroofing our rental next door.  The 1979-built house had a new asphalt-shingle roof put on about 15 years ago as we remember.  This time we are looking into a permanent lightweight tile of some kind that doesn't involve reinforcing the roof.  A roofer scheduled an inspection, but never showed up for the appointment.  Eh, manana time!

M5 and I will be going to the range this coming week to exercise her 9mm Ruger and I need to break-in my .380 Sig.  We keep putting it off for no really good reason!  I'm supposed to run a couple of hundred rounds through the Sig to ensure flawlessness.  And, we both need more gym time to built up stamina.  I can always drum up a reason not to go and must stop that.  My 93rd birthday is less than 2 months away!!!!  We have an annual membership, too, that's wasting away!  "No excuse, Sir!"

Make a comment of what's happening at your castle.

Neanderthal Jack











Wednesday, April 25, 2018

The Alpha and Omega of My Navy Career



THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF MY NAVY EXPERIENCE

Jack Duncan


Upon enlisting in the Navy in Bakersfield at the Recruiting Office in the basement of the old Post Office, finally when Chief Boatswain's Mate Frank B. Wilson got through with my lengthy preliminary paperwork, he put me on a bus for L.A. on August 14, 1942.    Frank had been recalled to active duty after retiring from 30 years on active duty beginning with Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet 'Round the World Cruise.  I had seen a photo of him riding a camel at the Great Pyramid in Egypt.  The exact memories of a 17-year-old are long-erased, but somehow I got from wherever the bus took me to the Naval Reserve Center at Chavez Ravine.

Miles away from the coast, in a narrow canyon near what is now Dodger Stadium, generations of navy and marine reservists were trained to fight a war at sea. The Navy and Marine Reserve Center, located in Chavez Ravine near Echo Park, opened just before World War II with a radio tower, basement pool and a football sized “drill deck” equipped with a torpedo sight, 5-inch cannon and  a 40mm anti-aircraft gun that reservists would find on a battleship. Decades after the last military reservists received training, the former armory, still equipped with cannon and anti-aircraft gun, has been nominated to become a city cultural historic landmark.
Why would  a Navy armory and reserve center be built so far from the sea?  Because it would be “inconspicuously nestled in the hills where raiding bombers in a possible attack by enemy air forces will be least likely to damage it,” a Navy official was quoted as  saying.

Omigosh, typing my paperwork with me sitting right alongside him was a real movie star.  He was a yeoman (clerk-typist) and a petty officer.  I was aghast as the beginning of a long Navy career was to start with such a flair!  Richard Denning himself.

Denning was born as Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger, Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. He became an actor, best known for his recurring starring roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. In later life, he had a recurring role as the fictitious governor of Hawaii, Paul Jameson, in the CBS television crime drama series, Hawaii Five-O (1968–1980), starring Jack Lord.   According to Denning, his military service during World War II in the United States Navy, effectively disrupted his acting career, and after his discharge from military service it would be another year and a half before Paramount Pictures offered Denning any more acting work. During that time period, Denning and his family lived in a mobile home that he alternately parked at Malibu and Palm Springs. His period of unemployment ended when he was hired to star on the radio opposite Lucille Ball in My Favorite Husband.[3] Denning later appeared in several 'B' crime drama films before starring in a number of science fiction and horror films. In 1957, he began the first of what would become a steady series of television appearances, usually as a supporting character, though he did star briefly in two television dramas, The Flying Doctor (1959), and Michael Shayne (1960–61).
With such an auspicious start, what was possibly the omega of things Navy almost had to be "over the top."  And it was with the cutting my 90th birthday cake assisted by the Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet and the Secretary of the Navy aboard the guided missile cruiser, USS Chosin.  June 5, 2015.

Arranged as a surprise by the all-volunteer crew of the PT658 during Fleet Week of the June 2015 Portland Rose Festival and Vice Admiral Kenny Floyd whom I'd met the year before, the whole thing totally surprised and shocked me no end.

http://www.savetheptboatinc.com/

My Marvelous Marlene had been in on the surprise for weeks without giving me a hint.  I believed that the crowning glory was that the crew had pulled strings just to get us an invitation to the Admiral's Reception.  I had kept many of my Navy assignments secret from her and she did a superb job on this one keeping it from me!

Then to have the Admiral call me front and center to introduce me to the assembled crowd of 200 to 300 VIPs and to SecNav Ray Mabus was beyond belief.  When SecNav slipped me a challenge coin during the introductory handshake, came another shock for an old knuckle-draggin' Cannon Cocker. 

Totally as aghast as at the movie star who did my paperwork when I was fresh out of Miss Mary Virginia Owen's East Bakersfield High School homeroom, I was ushered by the Admiral and Secretary into the hangar deck where a large cake sat. 

Mary Virginia finally married George DeArmond and their kids became successes, I'll add parenthetically.  But that's another story.

Admiral Floyd handed me the sword, asked me not to cut him with it and the duo thankfully guided my trembling hand as we ceremoniously sliced the cake to the accolades of the multitude.

Handshakes were offered by hordes of people with stars on their shoulder boards or eagles on their collars.  The wife of a Canadian Navy ship's captain even planted a kiss on my left cheek.  I know it's hard for non-veterans to grasp, but it's even tougher for the veterans to realize that it would ever happen to a mere enlisted man.  Thanks to digital cameras, there's proof.

My own chin was bruised for a week afterwards due to my jaw hitting the deck so many times as event after event unfolded.

Now, with 18 years in grade as a Master Chief, I had had many adventures with the "brass" while serving Navy Captains and even "raising" young JGs up to become two-star Admirals, but after being retired for 30 years to receive this recognition -- might I express a not-too-subdued WOW?  This was beyond belief.

When Annapolis grads, nicknamed "Ring Knockers," might knock their class rings, I could knock my own Fresno State graduation class ring as not being too much of lower caste member of the Goat Locker.  Yet, Ray Mabus was the first SecNav upon whom I'd ever laid eyes, let alone receive a challenge coin as well as an assist with cutting a cake!

My retirement had been underwhelming.  I was a Reservist, serving in a Pacific Fleet billet on active duty.  The Navy Reserve didn't know me; I didn't belong to the active unit, either, so I had just "left the building" after 43 years, took off my blue suit in exchange for mufti and gone to work as a Department of the Navy instructor at Fleet Training Center, San Diego.  Maybe there might have been a handshake or two; that's it.

Much later, I did receive an honor along with a flag by an NJROTC unit that was much appreciated. 

And while a lot of this is repetitious, you've seen it before, this is a summation and the beginning of another of The Many Mini Tales of an Old Dry Frog that make up the story of my life -- so far.

Three Sons


THREE SONS
Three sons of neighbors; a contrast:

              Marlene’s son Mike thrashed around during high school, went on to become a Journeyman Carpenter after a four-year apprenticeship.  Bored by the rote of the occupation and apprehensive of losing fingers or falling from scaffolding, he became an Engineering Aide with the city government of his hometown.  This was after simultaneously obtaining a two-year degree from his local community college. 
              His mother, Marlene, her graduate work in Geography, was variously a teacher, a welfare worker and finally a mid-level administrator for a large County.  His late-father was a civil engineer with his own company.
              After several years, Mike’s city position was outsourced.  He then was hired by a contractor and trained to become a fiber-optics technician at the Navy Air Warfare Center at China Lake, CA, where he works with testing exotic weaponry.  Involved in civic work, he is a long-term Treasurer with the Eagles in Ridgecrest, CA.
               A champion bowler, his hobby morphed from competition Smallbore Rifle to that indoor sport.  His several finger-rings he has earned attest to his prowess.
His job is helping keep America safe by working with weapons to eradicate the enemies of our nation.  Or, as his proud step-father proclaims, he is employed at helping kill the bad guys of the world.
Not an easy task there in the brutal climate of the Mojave Desert; he works outside in weather alternating from snowy wintry storms on high mountains to the stifling intense summer heat of dry lakes on the desert floor.  Skin cancers from exposure to the sun’s deadly rays are one result.
              Jack’s son Jeff bluffed his way through high school, plowed his way through the University of Tennessee all the way to a PhD in Ecology. He was determined to save the world from self-destruction.  Interning with the National Park Service, his work was outstanding enough and his experience wide enough to be hired onto the Park Service staff. 
              Jack was just a Navy enlisted man albeit possessing an education.
His son had wandered through the fringes of academia from living on a raft in the Everglades while doing research to teaching classes in the Amazon at the University of Manaus in Brazil and scuba-diving to study the coral reefs of the Florida coast.  Jeff serves as an Adjunct Professor from time-to-time at the U of TN-Chattanooga.  His expertise in fisheries, riverine and limnology sciences is so vast that he has been detached by the U.S. National Park Service to aid with the amelioration of the Mekong River halieutics that are being disturbed by Chinese dam-building upstream.
First, Cambodia asked for his assistance.  Next, Vietnam sent for him to help their plight.  Both nations fear for the diminishment of a vital protein source to feed their millions.  Vietnam, especially, fears for a dearth of river water to flood the rice fields.  Millions more throughout Asia depend on Vietnam’s exports of rice grown in the Mekong Delta.  Reducing that flow might result in famine.
Linda’s son Bryan chose a different route while in high school.  He decided to be one of the gang addicted to some of the various forms of narcotics.  Showing that he was one of “the gang,” he spent a majority of his adulthood to date in Florence, AZ.  Now, in case the reader doesn’t know, Florence is noted for its several Arizona State Prison complexes. 
Bryan, not educated enough to make any other type of living, had become so “institutionalized” that he was unable to survive in adulthood outside of the drug trade.  Ignorance, lack of education, also made it easy to make many mistakes repeatedly leading him from idyllic Lake Havasu back to Florence and incarceration.
Now, 38 years old and once more living at home with Linda, he returned to his addictive behavior and began dealing dope from mom’s garage – at night.  “Under the cover of darkness,” stupidly, is just when authorities expect these drogues on society to engage in their nefarious activities.  Bingo!
Again, he was apprehended and Linda’s house subjected to a SWAT team night time search complete with a phalanx of heavily armed agents.  There were flashing red and blue lights, hailers ordering occupants to exit with their hands up as well as the employment of a “flash-bang.”  The entire peaceful neighborhood was disturbed by a miscreant unable to ever be a productive member of society.
Bryan’s mother, apparently still feeling she could never become a viable member of the amicable neighborhood, ostracized herself.  Her son never contributed to society; quite the opposite, his dealing of drugs mired others into the cesspool of the drug culture.
Life is funny that way.  Some “do.”  Some “don’t.”  Some contribute; some rip asunder.  Marlene and I thank God that our two sons both became contributing citizens.
--end--




Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Snippet of 4/19/18

Kin and Kin on this April 24, 2018,

Summer in the desert has been elusive this year with the temps yo-yoing between the 70s and the 90s and windstorms seemingly every other day.  Today the Weather Wonks predict our first triple digit day!!!!  The one we've been awaiting.

The Snowbirds have been flocking on their northward journey right into stormy conditions.  Ha!  That will teach them to stop the nomadic life and settle down here in our wonderful desert.

We've been on borrowed time with our heat pump.  In these torrid conditions, a life span for A/C is about 15 years and ours is 20.  So, before it goes down, we called Samons A/C and ordered a new 4-ton heat pump.  We didn't want to wait until it quit completely in the middle of a 120° week and then be put on a waiting list.

$6,000 in case you're curious.  Ouch; the price of living in the warm desert.

Last week we had lunch at Jersey's Grill.  Excellent food downtown.  We'd never tried it before.  Pretty funky place for olpharts, but as MacArthur said, "I shall return."  Well, WE shall return.

Last week we stopped by London Bridge Arms and picked up two extra magazines for my Sig P238WTP carry gun.  Now, I can get into a prolonged gun fight when really, only one round is needed right 'twixt the eyes of a raghead or bad guy.

I spent most of one morning making another pound of hamburger meatballs.  We're feeding two roadrunners that are nesting somewhere down in Whaler Wash.  We soon shall have babies, we're sure.  Hardee gives me coos as I put meatballs in his dish between my feet while Babe, the quiet one, prefers to eat out of my hand while standing on the patio wall.  How much fun can you have???

Then on Friday we left for Tucson.  Quick trip, down and back on Sunday.  A project of Tucson's University HS was a veterans heritage book presentation and signing.  Inasmuch as the book led off with a brief of my WW2 service, we just had to go to honor the kids and their project.  Thanks to Vivien and Henry for suggesting to Matthew that he pen the brief of yours truly.  Martina and Ken treated us to a Mexican dinner after the book signing.  A great family including Ken's dad, Dave.

Yes, Marlene drove and we did stop a couple of times for her to get out and walk a bit.

Traffic was safe and sane until the home stretch on AZ-72 from Vicksburg to Parker.  Marlene was holding the speed about 73 mph along that 55 mph speed limit two-lane road.  At various times we were passed by black pickups and black cars, 2 of each, doing close to or above 100 mph!  They weren't together, but four separate incidents.  You must understand that the road is rough with dips and Marlene's 73 was pushing it.  Wow!  Idiots are still among us and eastbound traffic returning from the river was heavy.  Methinks the drug alcohol might have been fueling the drivers.

Babe was waiting for us, begging for meatballs and eating both from mine and Marlene's hands.  No sign of Hardee.

Yes, yes, the 600 mile round trip was hard on both of us.  We learned a couple of years ago that about 350 miles a day is her limit.  300 miles on Friday, 300 miles on Sunday with a hectic Saturday just about enough for a weekend.  We crashed on Monday, lazing around the house -- except Marlene's new laptop needed to be tweaked at the Whiz Kidz shop.

Nothing planned until son Jeff's proposed brief visit from Tennessee on May 19 & 20.

Then comes our trip to Portland and the PT658 at Fleet Week the first week in June with son Mike doing the driving.

All is well in the desert.

Jack&Marlene