The REST of the story.

I had mentioned in my last blog that a gent (after this, referred to as C), had growled about my not knowing about things near the moon landing.  So.  To expand.

C and I met through Amateur (ham) Radio.  He had been in the military, (Marines), and I don't have a clue why, but we both hit it off, and were pretty good friends ever since we'd met.  He was pretty laid back... Until someone would get him upset about his wife, family, or on rare occasion, bureaucracy.  He would roar a lot about the paperwork and snarl.  However, the one and only time I saw him injured, was when the hospital he went to wasn't going to do something for his wife, and she was very ill.

I saw him the week after, and noticed his hand was bandaged.  He had become so furious, that he managed to pound the wall for emphasis, and didn't realize quite HOW hard he was pounding, when his fist went through the wall board and hit a stud, breaking his fist.

 Um.

 He was in more than a bit of trouble for that one.  His wife, however, DID get looked at!  It's just sad that he had to go through all that for it to happen...

I mentioned he was a Marine.  I, at that time, wasn't acquainted with any other Marines...  I had been reading an article, and the byline was, X. Marineguy 3/5 yada.  I asked him, what's with the 3/5 part?  I thought Marines were full time, 3/5ths?  What, is he a Navy guy the other 2/5ths?  He just stared at me for a moment, then started laughing, when he realized I was serious.

 Laughing, to the point he was tearing up, and had to hold his sides...  When he finally was able to settle, he told me it was something on the order of  3 regiment, 5th battalion of such and such area. 

Oh.  (I later found out the various military groups have a running thing with ragging on each other, so he was wondering if I was doing a put down, rather than being my usual clueless, but curious, self.)

We had practiced emergency drills at our local hospital. (NOT the one he got... upset... at.)  We had to use 'tactical' calls.  That is, the normal way to use the radio, you give your call, then every ten minutes, give your call again.  In this case, we just used our calls, if we needed to talk to a specific person.  Otherwise, we would use a card, which would give the areas folks were at.  We would check in, and oh, for example, Bobby would be at the entrance, which was Alpha station, Rick would be at the Emergency Department entrance, which would be Bravo station, and so on.  I had arrived well after the drill had started, and took my place.  C was heading things up, and asked for us to give our calls, and locations for the hour.  I gave my call, and then went blank.  I was WHAT station?  Looking at my info, I was in C station.  Gah.  My brain went blank.  C, c is for... Bah.  I told him,"Brain fart, I am at C, that is Cookie station, until I can remember my letters." He wasn't the only one to laugh, but his was the laugh I could hear the furthest away!  (Annnd, if you ever get on Jeopardy, it's CHARLIE. Sheesh.)

So, we were talking about Jane Fonda, who had been in the news for something, and he was much hot under the collar about her.  "Hanoi Jane" was said, repeatedly, and I was again, clueless.  I hadn't heard much about her, and didn't know why he was upset.  So, in my brilliantly clueless way, I stuck my hand right in the middle of the hornet's nest...

So, what is wrong with Jane Fonda, what did she do?

Ohhh, boy...

Let's just say that he gave me a FULL rundown on military service, and what one does, and does not do, to assist captured soldiers.  Ahem.  That was when he snorted, and half bellowed, "You should KNOW this, it was on the news almost every night then!!!

That's when I regaled him with my not quite 2 year old self story of the moon landing.  His jaw dropped.  He then said, I thought you were a lot older than that! 

I dryly responded, thanks.  He spluttered, But you act older!  I started making digging motions, he clicked, started laughing, aaaand we went on to a less pyrotechnic topic. 

He has since passed away, but he was a good friend, and I think, even if we were both a bit clueless, or tactless, or both, well, we both had a pal to cover for being a doof.

But, I must say, this was better than when I was in college, and had to write a report on where I was when Kennedy was shot.  Having not been born yet, it was an interesting experience.  (So, you and I have something in common, Messimimi!)  At least the teacher admitted she'd made a mistake, and thought she'd checked ages so that wouldn't happen.  I did get an A, so it worked out. 

The amazing young folks and their flying machines...

Amateur (Ham) Radio folks have a get together called Field Day.  It's to show people ham radio, to see if equipment works, socialize (a lot), and generally enjoy the hobby with other people.

We went to a friend's field day, and were told there was a fly-in next door.  Huh. Cool!  So we had a radio set to the fly in frequency, and heard various ones ask info about wind, clearance, etc.  Husband had wandered down to the area, and when he came back, mentioned that I might like to go see it. 

Sure!

So, we let the people we were with know we would be back, and wandered over to the fly in.  Various of the amateurs had been going over, and this was, in fact, encouraged by the other group.  As we walked up, there was a big strip of mashed grass where the planes had been landing.  A sign said Aircraft Crossing on the path we were walking on.  A gent in an orange vest said hi, and mentioned that we should wait to cross as there was a plane coming in.  Sure enough, a bit of a roar, and then it faded, as the plane eased up to land.  Zipped down the runway, then rolled over to the 'parking area'. 

We continued across when the plane passed, and walked up to the main gathering.  This was more or less one big party.  They had about 20 or so planes when we walked around, with more coming in bit by bit.  Also some very nicely restored 20's and 30's vintage trucks, that were the parking area "border".  We watched as one of the planes came in, then shut off, and about 4 or five folks grabbed it and rolled it to a parking 'stall'.  I gather that it was mostly because of congestion, trying to park a plane in that small area could have lead to some problems, so they just moved them bodily.

I walked around and looked at all the different kinds.  Some were older, one or two were even bi-plane-y looking, but I don't know if they were older planes or restored or what, because they were highly painted and even glittery, in one case.  One was painted up to look like a plane from the Royal New Zealand Air Force, complete with little Kiwi bird on each wing.  Which is funny, if you consider it's a flightless bird...

Lots of planes were, I suspect, hand built, and were very specific, small batch type planes.  More than a few had experimental written on them.  However, I laughed, as several had it on the front near the pilot, written out as "EXPERI    MENTAL".  I keep wondering if that was because of space, or personal opinion...

I walked over to where they were having the actual picnic, which was being held in a very, VERY nice horse barn.  I said hello to the two horses, one ignored me, the other checked if I had any treats, then ignored me.  Can't win 'em all! 

I walked back out, in time to see another plane coming in.  Husband told me the plane was "crabbing", which, from what I gather, is when the wind is coming across the plane, so it has to compensate, and fly in an almost crooked angle to get lined up.  It did fine, and I realized, that was one strange looking plane.  The propeller was on the top, pointed backwards!  Mentioned this to Husband, and he said he thought it might be a remodeled float plane.  It had wheels, not floats, (lot easier for those land type landings), but the set up with the propeller would make it less likely that water from waves or such would get in the engine. 

Shows where my mind was though...  I figured someone from Google had one of those cameras on top of the plane!   I know Husband was quite enthused, and checked out several of the planes.  He had worked towards getting his pilot's license before we met.  I gather life intervened, and he never did finish up.  But he still has an interest in planes, as a tool, so he was checking them all out.

I saw them as pretty (mostly) items, sort of like art objects.  I am scared to fly, and don't know if I could handle a few of the open cockpit, take off and see if it hangs together type jobs, but I know that the people were friendly, couldn't have been nicer, and the event and place was amazing. 

Guess I will have to see about sneaking over next year, as they were saying it's an annual event, too!  (And the Field Day event was a success, too, but very laid back this year, where we went...) 

Am I a grouch, grinch, or just... ? (LOL)

I don't watch the morning shows too much, but when I went to my Moms the other day, the TV was on, and the local show had two women talking about texting, and the foreshortened terms and spelling used.

The one was a mother of a 13 year old, and was absolutely upset because her daughter had written a birthday card to a friend of the same age, and had written it out text-like.  Then it lead to a discussion of the poor state of language, and I believe I left before it became a treatise on the downfall of Western Civilization.

OK, here's where I am sort of on the kid's side, rather than the Mom's.  It was another kid she was writing to.  It was a birthday card, usually not what we write long missives or spout pages of Shakespeare, right?  In fact, most of mine from friends, are either "Happy Birthday, Love X", or just "Love, X".  If I was a 13 year old, I don't think something like "Hpy BD, BFF!" would send me to bouts of dark depression.  Now, if it had been a school report, or a letter to a grandparent, I might have been more on Mom's side, but I guess, in context, it seemed rather silly.

I then proceeded to try and think if, and how many of the 'text' things I could actually come up with.

BFF -  Best Friend Forever
B4 - before
YMMV - Your mileage may vary (usually in patterns on the knitting chats I read)
IMO, IMHO - In My Opinion, In My Humble Opinion
POS - Parents over Shoulder.  (Except in one of Husband's Machinist groups, they tend to use it as Piece Of Sh*t)
LOL - Laugh Out Loud
ROFL - Rolling On the Floor Laughing
ROFLMAO - Rolling On the Floor Laughing My A** Off.
TTFN - Ta Ta For Now.

(The spell check is having heart failure at this moment...)

I am sure I could come up with others, w00t, and things like that, but anyway, I guess my thought is, I use some of these very same terms as an adult when emailing, or even on rare occasion, LOL to a friend in my letters.  Do any of you use these terms?  Do you know any that I haven't put down?  (I like to learn them...) 

The irony, I think, is that as a ham radio operator, shortened words have been in use for a LONG time before the computer kids got a hold of it...

So,  73's*, TTFN!

* Best Regards, common ending for "ham" radio contact.

Zoom, zoom, zoom!

I have a moment. Breathe... Blog... Ahhhh. Ok...

I don't know why everything has decided to happen at once. I was out doing stuff the last few days. Dad and I worked on a bike race, making sure those who left, and those who returned were the same number. (Thank goodness, they were...)

Then, later that day, Husband and I went to a... Well, for lack of a better term, a Memorial Wake. The body wasn't present, but the spirit was. So were spirits, for that matter, everyone was commenting on the deceased's penchant for brewing, and sampling brews, and more sampling, and MOOORE sampling, etc..

It was kind of funny, because most of the folks there know my husband, but didn't know me all that well. So I sat around, sort of bored, until I asked the bartender for a Shirley Temple. (I know, how can I drink the hard stuff like that, but we do what we must...) Just incidentally, he put it in a cocktail glass. People started talking to me! Isn't that odd?

Then we went to visit my Mom's cousin on Sunday. They had visited New Zealand, oh, the pictures! WOOOW! I really hadn't ever thought much about New Zealand, and that made me want to see what it would take to go! (But I still want to go to Alaska, first.) We had dinner together, and I found a new knitting friend, so all is well in the W. Valley.

I am working on a baby layette-y thing, will post pics later, it's a sweater, hat and shoes set, I knit for the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society.

Went spinning, and have decided the spinning I am doing will not be for a shawl after all, it will be socks. Now I just have to wash and hang the yarn, so I will have it for said socks...

Kept the animals in water during the hot spell, it is amazing how fast we can all go through liquid when it's 90+. Especially when it was 60ish the day before. And now it's 60ish again. Mom Nature is having a nervous breakdown again... Or a hot flash. Or both...

I have some whatsits growing in the flower gardens. I am impatiently waiting to see what they are. They look like little green blobs right now. I have some that I do know, I planted Peacock Orchids (which is really strange, as it's NOT an orchid...), Daliahs, and Cosmos. Those, and in the front, I have a Hosta. I think I buried planted some phlox, too. Uh, there should be some Daylilies and... Er. Lily lillies? Anyway, I have a bunch of stuff in the ground, and the majority seem to have survived my ministrations on them. Oh, and some fir trees, a holly thingy, and I will be planting a Golden Chain tree or two. Am I a crazy plant woman, or what?

To that end, two funnies. A church sign. "May is God's apology for February." and a bumper sticker, "Another Gardener for Peas."

Peas to all...