It Begins Tonight

That would be the Stanley Cup Final... Game One to be played in Chicago.  The experts are almost evenly split when it comes to predicting the outcome.  As for me?  Not so much.  I'll go on the record as predicting a Bruins win in six, mainly coz defense will trump offense, every time.  You only have to look at the Broons' last series to realize what that really means.  But Game One?  I predict the 'Hawks will take the first one and I'm not alone.  Check this out:

That's from ESPN.com and you can register yer vote here.  If'n ya wanna.

And now it's out to the verandah to bask in 100 degree heat and knock back a couple o' Hefeweizens before the festivities begin.  It's gonna be a great evening, methinks.

We Don't Talk About It

Heh.

Another thing we prolly shouldn't talk abut but do:  Today is The Second Mrs. Pennington's birthday.  It's hard to believe that nineteen year old girl I fell in love with in Tokyo these many years ago turns 57 today.  Time DOES fly, even if you're not having fun.  Happy Birthday, Paula.

The birthday girl, age 19.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack: Thwarted

So it came to pass this Ol' Girl and I were having a conversation about cooking recently.  She seemed somewhat surprised when I mentioned that I was a damned good cook, not just passable, but GOOD.  I asked her how she thought I survived as a single man without bein' able to cook and she answered with sumthin' to the effect of "well, you can eat out... and there's frozen food."  All well and good, sez I, but I enjoy cooking when the mood strikes.  I watch cooking shows, too.

She:  You watch COOKING SHOWS?
Me:  Two words: Nigella Lawson.
She:  I know why you watch Nigella... she ain't ALL about cooking.

Well... true, dat.  One of my favorite fantasies always ends with Nigella serving me breakfast in bed.  And this is where we get to the "thwarted" bits in this post.  I wanted to post Joan Osborne's "Breakfast In Bed" but the video simply doesn't exist on the Tube o' You or anywhere else, for that matter.  The lyrics to that tune fit what I was tryin' to get across, to wit:

Breakfast in bed

And a kiss or three

You don't have to say you love me

Breakfast in bed

Nothing need be said

Ain't no need

So, absent the tune o' choice we'll do the next best thing and post sumthin' else by Joan:



Just pretend you're hearing "Breakfast In Bed," mmm-kay?  Further: Aretha would be PROUD.

Yup

And to think I remember Watergate.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

First, this:

Q: What's unusual about that photo? 
A: There's not one single drop o' condensation on that glass and that's because "it's a dry heat," Gentle Reader.

So we went lookin' for a song about G&Ts... coz it's THAT kinda day... and were (a) surprised and (b) disappointed that we couldn't find sumthin' suitable for posting.  Yeah, we found a few tunes but there was nothing that floated our particular lil boat.  So we'll revert to a favorite we heard while lounging on the verandah.  This:



Not a bad rendition, that.  But I still like the original best:

Well now what is going to happen now is anybody's guess
If I can't spend my time with love I guess I need a rest
Time is getting late now and the sun is getting low
My body's getting tired of carryin' another's load
And sunshine's waiting for me a little further down the road

The lyrics have an entirely different meaning today, as opposed to what I thought they meant when I first heard the song back in 1971.  I'm tempted to quote that ol' "plus ça change" chestnut but it ain't quite that... it's sumthin' altogether different.

Aiiieee

Well, I guess it's our turn in the barrel.  Like this:

We've yet to poke our head outdoors due to a very late start today.  We just MIGHT delay a lil bit longer, considerin'.

Survivors

My Buddy Rob In California sends the following along:



Can I get a big Amen?

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack: In Which We Sing the Praises of Pandora, Yet Again

I've often said I love Pandora because of the way their musical curators seem to be able to reach right into my music collection for the songs they play, no matter what genre I choose to listen to... be it Beethoven, Mozart, The Stones, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Santana, Leo Kottke, Joan Osborne, and everything else.  That's magic, pure and simple.  But there's something even BETTER, and that's Pandora's ability to dive into my parents' music collection.  Like this:



Growing up in my household in the '50s meant being surrounded by music, mostly Big Bands... like the Dorsey Bros, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller, of course.  There were others, as well.  Crooners like Crosby, Sinatra, and Como.  Divas, too... like Ella, Kay Starr, Edith Piaf, and Peggy Lee.  EVERY single Broadway show Rogers and Hammerstein ever produced.  My parents seemingly had it all and those were my musical foundations.

So.  Ain't technology grand?  I can sit out on the verandah and be transported back into my very early youth while listening to Pandora and sipping my beer... and then I can come into the house and go on The Tube o' You and resurrect those old tunes and performances to my heart's content.  Yours too, Gentle Reader... if you have a mind like mine.

Another Small Treasure

See these guys?  Rooshian soldiers...

Click for larger and note their belt buckles.  I wanted one of those shiny brass buckles ever since I saw my first one, back in the late '60s when I was assigned to Wakkanai Air Station.  I knew some Russian linguists who had been assigned to the 6912th Security Group in Berlin before coming to Wakkanai and it seemed like every single one of those guys had one of those belt buckles.  Soviet military paraphernalia was fairly rare back in the day, unless you traveled from West Germany to Berlin on the Duty Train, which was one of the few ways for American armed forces to get to Berlin.  Minor digression: One could fly into Berlin or ride the duty train and in VERY rare cases, drive in a convoy, if you had the proper permits.  So what does that have to do with belt buckles?  This:  the duty train would stop three or four times on its way into Berlin and its occupants would be "inspected," as in "show me your papers."  It also turned out that the Russian troops doing these inspections would give up just about anything on their person for a carton of cigarettes or a bottle of Jack Daniels.  And I mean ANYTHING... hats, belts, uniform items, badges, rank insignia, and so on.  I think the only thing those guys wouldn't trade away were their sidearms, or so I was told.

So.  Fast forward 20-some years, when EDS sent me off to Moscow on bid'niz.  One of the big off-duty attractions while I was there was this big-ass open air flea market about six or seven subway stops from our hotel and we went to that market a couple o' times.  It was there that I found it... this:

It took me over 25 years but I finally got my Red Army belt.  I wear it sometimes and most people don't notice the hammer and sickle in the star, which is prolly a GOOD thing.  I picked up some other military junk at that flea market, as well.  The pics and stories are here and here.

A Tweet

Self-explanatory, nu?  This is what happens when you get up at 0600 hrs.

Linkage

I began following Earth_Pics on Twitter a couple o' few weeks ago for stuff like this:

The individual photos are much larger... this is just a matrix view of recent tweets.  You get about a dozen absolutely magnificent photos every day; this is one of the best "follows" I've ever had, bar none.  Highly recommended.

Saturday: Nucking Futs

This guy:



It was hard for me to even WATCH this, let alone contemplate doing it.  Some people's kids.

It's Flattered, We Are

By this lil article from Scott Burnside at ESPN, which we'll take the liberty of excerpting:

BOSTON -- In the spring of 1997 the Philadelphia Flyers cruised through the first three rounds of the playoffs, winning each series in five games.

The Flyers arrived in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in a decade with the expectation, at least externally, that they would cruise through a Detroit Red Wings team that had been remade before the season and featured five Russian players playing prominent roles.

They didn't.

In fact, after being crushed 6-1 in Game 3 of the finals, head coach Terry Murray referenced the team being in a "choking situation," a term that has become part of the lexicon of playoff hockey.

Whether that was accurate or not, the Flyers lost Game 4 and were swept out of the finals, and shortly thereafter Murray was fired as head coach.

History suggests, however, that despite the presence of Eric Lindros, Rod Brind'Amour, 50-goal scorer John LeClair and goalie Ron Hextall, the Flyers weren't necessarily chokers but rather the victims of a Detroit team that was deceivingly good.

[...]

We were reminded of that 1997 series as we watched the Pittsburgh Penguins drop a gut-wrenching third straight game to the Boston Bruins on the road Wednesday night.

So much of the attention coming into this series was on the star-studded Penguins. They had been buoyed by the addition of key veterans Jarome Iginla (who spurned the Bruins to join the Pens), Brenden Morrow, Douglas Murray and Jussi Jokinen. That made them, on paper at least, the kind of team that seemed well-positioned for another long playoff run after several seasons of postseason disappointments. 

And they appeared to be peaking at the right time, outscoring the Senators 22-11 in the second round and coming into the conference finals with the most potent power play in the postseason.

It wasn't quite the Penguins as Harlem Globetrotters and Bruins as Washington Generals, but the focus from many quarters as this series began was clearly skewed toward Pittsburgh.  (Ed: that would include those ass-kissing NBC SportsNetwork commentators.  Heh.)

But just as the '97 Red Wings were a very good team that just hadn't been recognized as such, this Boston team has not been given full credit for all of its success.

Yeah, what he said.  There's more and all of it is extremely good... RTWT.

We're about an hour away from puck-drop of Game Four, where the Broons have the opportunity to sweep the Flightless Birds.  We are SO hoping for that sort of result, as the Flightless Birds are Number One With a Bullet among those teams we love to hate actively dislike.

You GO, Boston.  Skate to the throat and DO NOT let 'em up.

Update, 2115 hrs:  HELL YES!  Tonight's game was the best 1-0 game I've seen in years.  Boston played a masterful defensive game... and series... holding the NHL's (arguably) most explosive offense to just two goals in four games.  It just don't get no better than that and I think I see another Cup in Boston's future.  Well done, Broons, VERY well done.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

We're recently in from Cannon Airplane Patch, where we went to do the usual, customary, and quite reasonable first-of-the-month chores, which is to say pick up the monthly meds, beer, and foodstuffs.  We heard this tune by Dan Fogelberg on our way out:

Darker, darker
Don't let her talk her way into you
Lonely, lonely
You know she's only no good for you
Darker, darker
Don't let her talk her way into you
Lonely, lonely
You know she's only no good for you

About those lyrics:  just remember we don't choose love, love chooses US.  Is all.  It's prolly been 15 years, or more, since I last heard this tune.  I was sufficiently surprised (a) by how absolutely GREAT the song sounded and (b) that I still know most of the lyrics or enough to sing along with the tune, and credibly, at that.  So mebbe we don't need Norton Brain Utilities, after all.

And now it's out to the verandah for Happy Hour and to see if I can find some more Fogelberg on Pandora.  Mainly coz we WERE a Sensitive Seventies Kinda Guy, once upon a time.

Sounds Like a Good Ideer

I've thought there should be such a thing as "Norton Brain Utilities" since about 1984.  That might be lost on most o' you Gentle Readers coz no one buys utility suites any longer.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Calling all old hippies...

Call out the instigators
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here, and you know it's right
And you know that it's right

We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now

Ah, memories.  This tune is from the soundtrack of a great little movie titled "The Strawberry Statement," which is memorable mainly for its brilliant soundtrack.  I mean... we have all the principals in CSN, a song written by Joni, and various other astounding tunes... what's NOT to like?

We loved The Strawberry Statement then and we still have a place in our heart for that flick today.  We may have grown older and wiser (thank The Deity At Hand!) but we remember our younger and much more naïve days with a certain fondness.  I'll quote Sir Winston:

"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart.  If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."

It's good, that, and even if Churchill never said it... it sure works for ME.  I met Sir Winston's test, BTW, in that I became a conservative right at 35 years of age.  That would be 1980... the year Reagan made me change horses.  I've not looked back where my views and opinions on things that matter are concerned... but I've looked back often with a certain wistfulness about the great good times we had in our youth.  With apologies to Dickens: it was indeed "the best of times; it was the worst of times."

Still and even, some of those leftie things remain lodged deep in my heart and that's not ALL bad.

News Item

From the Portales News-Tribune:

Rain hit eastern New Mexico hard Wednesday night, with Portales taking the brunt of the inclement weather with about an inch of rain, but emergency crews in both Portales and Clovis reported they responded to no calls for injuries.

PNT photo

Mark Fettig, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said the highest rain total reported in Roosevelt County was 1.1 inches a mile northeast of Portales. The biggest issues in Curry County were with dust and wind, Fettig said, but he noted reports of hail in Texico and west of Clovis, and rainfall measured at .78 inches a mile northwest of Clovis.

At the Cannon Air Force Base monitoring station, Fettig said, there were reports of .55 inches of rain, with wind gusts of 69 mph and 4-inch diameter tree limbs broken.

[...]

Several vehicles were reported abandoned on 18th Street Wednesday night in Portales because of severe flooding, according to Portales police, prompting officers to close off the street.

Dora Fire Chief Paul Luscombe said trees and power lines were down in the area but there was no significant damage. Luscombe said he’s thankful people remained safe and that damage was minimal, a small price to pay for the rain the area needs.

“It was a pretty big event,” Luscombe said. “Thank God for the rain. We’ll take the hiccups as long as we get the rain.”

"A pretty big event" doesn't begin to describe the storm; it was the worst/best I've seen in my ten years here in P-Ville and among the hardest rain I've EVER seen... and remember I've been in monsoon rains in both the Pee-Eye and Thailand.  Oh, and Mrs. Hippy, too.  The other thing that was significant is how long the rain lasted... the better part of three hours.  Most rain storms we get here on The High Plains o' New Mexico last about a half-hour and then they're gone.  It rained so hard and so long last evening that the empty field across from El Casa Inmóvil de Pennington turned into a veritable lake.  I was also worried that the 17th Street Canal and Intra-City Waterway might just make it up to my front door, as it was higher than I've EVER seen it.

We lost our satellite feed as well, right in the middle of the Broons-Flightless Birds game.  I missed most of the second period but the feed came back in time for all of the third, the first OT, and Bergeron's winner in the second OT.  THAT was quite the game, Gentle Reader.  Quite the storm, too.

D-Day

Sixty-nine years ago today.  My annual D-Day post, first published in 2009...

D-Day

Sixty-five years ago today. All images as captioned in the Life Magazine photo archives.

Tracer fire from many different ships lighting up the night sky over the English Channel during opening phase of D-Day, the Allied invasion of France. (no credit)

American B-26 Marauders with special D-Day markings make a bombing run over Cherbourg around the time of the Allied D-Day invasion of France. (Frank Scherschel)

Aerial view of American troops and tanks coming ashore as landing craft continue to unload on the first day of Operation Overlord, the invasion of France, aka on D-Day. (no credit)

Massive landing and deployment of US troops, supplies and equipment in the days following victorious D-Day action on Omaha Beach; barrage balloons guard against German aircraft while scores of ships unload men & material. (no credit)

Bodies of 8 American paratroopers lie outside the wreckage of their glider near Hiesville, France on the day of the invasion of Normandy, aka D-Day. (no credit)

Chaplin saying mass aboard HMS Scylla, laying at anchor off the Normandy coast shortly after the D-Day invasion of France. (no credit)

As always... click for larger. And spare a thought and a prayer today for those who made the ultimate sacrifice 65 69 years ago. There were many thousands who gave their lives for freedom on this day...

The world will probably never see another military operation like this ever again.  The focus is primarily on the men who scaled the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc and landed on the beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Sword, Juno and Gold, and rightly so.  But the Allied navies and air arms deserve equal attention, as do the behind-the-scenes logisticians who managed an incredible supply chain; that supply chain was a modern marvel in every sense of the word.  As I said, we'll never see another military effort like this ever again.  Let's hope we never have cause to mount such an invasion, too.

Apropos o' Not Much...

This...

H/t to Boston's Enforcer who gets the whole Cindy thing... and O! My! does he EVAH.  I think the East has been the most interesting of the two conference finals so far but I say that from a perspective that positively wallows in schadenfreude.  We get it where we can, yanno?  I'm not ENTIRELY reveling in the Flightless Birds' misery... we do have a sort of soft spot for those Broons.  They are an Original Six team and one of our best Blog-Buds is rooting for them.  So there's that.

That said, I was glad to see El-Eh won last night.  We might have a series out West, after all.

There She Goes, Again

Not her, but damned close... both bike and girl.

I was out and about earlier today and I saw her again.  There's this raven-haired beauty here in P-Ville who rides a Sporty and the town is small enough that I see her two or three times a week, sometimes more.  My FIRST thought when I see her is "Damn.  I need a woman like that in my life."  She's striking, indeed, what with that jet-black mane flowing behind her and that tight-fitting tank top that accentuates all the best points... pun intended... of the female form.  She's a sight to see... confident, beautiful beyond a doubt, and she's on what appears to be an immaculately-maintained bike.  What's NOT to like?

Well, this.  My second thought when I see that girl is "she ain't all that smart."  First: no helmet.  Second: that tank top, which would be fetching in the bar, is gonna coz her immeasurable grief when and if she unloads.  (Short parenthetical digression: there are only two types o' bikers, those who HAVE been down and those who are GONNA go down.  No exceptions.)  Bottom line: not all that smart.  We're at an age where "smart" outweighs pulchritude by a large margin.  Still and even, I do think I'd like to have a couple o' beers and bench-race a while with that woman.  There's an outside chance I could change her attitude and get a helmet on that pretty head and leather on that well-put-together body.

A mission, eh?

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Coz it's rather warmish out...



Just how warm is it, Buck?  Well, we'll be flirting with triple-digit temps today.  Like this:

It's waaay too early to start complaining about the heat, so we'll just enjoy it.  I mean... we're all stocked up with summertime beers, good cigars, and fine music so life don't get much better than this, Gentle Reader.  OTOH, we'll start bitchin' when we get to our sixth or seventh consecutive day o' triple-digit heat.  But until then?  It's ours to sit back and ENJOY.

Same Ol', Same Ol'

From the Usual USAF Source...

Pushing Partisanship Aside
In an open letter on Monday, a bipartisan group of 25 members of the national security think-tank community urged Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and congressional defense overseers to address the "growing imbalances within the defense budget" before they "threaten the health and long-term viability of America's volunteer military." Associated with think tanks ranging from the liberal Center for American Progress to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, these experts called for an additional BRAC round, a thorough review of the appropriate size and structure of the civilian workforce, and a comprehensive evaluation and modernization of the military compensation system. The June 3 missive acknowledges that "there is no shortage of useful ideas" to address these concerns and that no change will be painless. During a Monday panel discussion on Capitol Hill (see below), members of this group argued it's critical for the Obama Administration and Congress to take action now. "Those of us who have joined together in support of these efforts find ourselves with differing views on many other issues, including the proper level of defense spending and how that money can best be allocated," states the letter. "But, we are all in strong agreement on the need to pursue these key reforms for a transforming military." (See also link to video of the Capitol Hill briefing.)

—Amy McCullough

Well... about that BRAC stuff:

No BRAC, says HASC Panel
In its mark-up of the Fiscal 2014 defense authorization bill, the House Armed Services Committee's readiness panel opted to prohibit the Defense Department "from proposing, planning, or initiating" another round of BRAC. That move came despite the Pentagon leadership urging Congress to authorize another BRAC round in Fiscal 2015. Among its other decisions, the readiness panel increased oversight of the F-35 strike fighter program and required DOD to issue a lifecycle sustainment plan for the stealth aircraft, according to a May 22 HASC release. The panel's mark also would ensure "appropriate stationing of missile defense capacity in Asia" by requiring DOD to analyze and report on missile defense capabilities on Guam, states the release. Overall, the panel, led by Rep. Robert Wittman (R-Va.), said it addressed "many issues of concern for depleted force readiness levels and related high levels of assumed risk." The full HASC is scheduled to hold its mark-up of the defense bill on June 5. (HASC readiness panel mark; caution, large-sized file.) (See also BRAC Again.)

And this about item one, above:

Too Bad It's Not Going to Happen
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee's strategic forces panel, said on Monday he doubts "very little, if any" of the ideas discussed that day during a bipartisan panel of think tank representatives on fixing the Pentagon's budget imbalances would actually be implemented. That's because too many members of the congressional defense oversight committees hail from constituencies with a strong defense presence, said Cooper during the June 3 event on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers "are more concerned with the parochial rather than the national level," he said. However, he commended the bipartisan effort. During the discussion, the panelists advocated for another round of BRAC. Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute said the Defense Department has been shedding overseas infrastructure over the last few years, but Congress refuses to acknowledge these efforts. "I'm concerned Congress is ignoring the Pentagon's base closures abroad in an attempt to stall domestic closures," she said. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments' Todd Harrison said DOD needs to rethink its compensation system, noting that about half of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans would leave the military after five years, meaning they will not even qualify for costly yet coveted military retirement benefits. (Link to video of the Capitol Hill event)
  —Amy McCullough

"Costly yet coveted."  Uh-oh.  The asshats won't close unnecessary bases but I'll give ya a dollar to a doughnut they fuck the retirees.

Broadening, LXVI. And Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack.

First... our soundtrack, the new-to-me Amy Rigby with an interesting tune:

Jeanie is my new husband’s exwife

It looks like she’s gonna be a part of my life

Cause there’s a couple of kids and twenty some years they share

So I guess Jeanie isn’t going anywhere

I even tried to hate her like I thought I should

But since we met she’s been nothing but good

And the trouble with Jeanie is she’s alright

And the trouble with Jeanie is she’s so nice

Would somebody explain to me this modern life?

How can I pick up where she never left off

We’re like a club of two who’ve seen him with his clothes off

And there’s nowhere to hide because it’s all out in the light

Can I help if I’m a little bit uptight

I must admit I don’t know how I’m supposed to act

She’s hugging me instead of stabbing my back

And the trouble with Jeanie is she’s alright

And the trouble with Jeanie is she’s so nice

Would somebody explain to me this modern life?

The trouble with Jeanie is

The trouble with Jeanie is

I’ve heard of divorces where bitterness forces

Extreme mortal combat and I wouldn’t want that

But I hadn’t planned on something quite so hands on

Instead of a blessing, it seems to be messing with my mind

And the trouble with Jeanie is she’s alright

And the trouble with Jeanie is she’s so nice

And the trouble with Jeanie is I’m uptight

Would somebody explain to me this modern life?

The trouble with Jeanie is

The trouble with Jeanie is

I don't often post the complete lyrics to the tunes we play during Happy Hour but these lyrics are just too good not to do so.  I've heard of relationships with ex's like this but I've never actually seen one; the relationship between my ex-wives... such as it was... could never have been put in these terms.  My experience is prolly typical and it's a shame more aren't like that about which Ms. Rigby sings.  I like this tune... a lot.

But on to better things, in a manner o' speaking.  Here's what we're drinkin' today:

I'll freely admit the colorful carrier caught my eye but it was the selection of beers... an ale, a lager, this Porter, and one other... that made me jump.  Didja see the legend on the bottle?  "Pay the ferryman."  Heh.  I loves me my beer and I loves it even MORE when it's frickin' literate.  Now, that said... the beer is a lil bit thin for a Porter... more like a dark lager, actually... but it's eminently drinkable, sorta a "summer Porter," if there's such a thing.  I'd like to let you know what the Pros From Dover think about this beer but they apparently haven't tasted it yet.  Chalk one up for me... this is the very first time I've had a beer that the Alström Brothers haven't.  Yay, me!

My bottom line?  I like it and I'll most certainly buy more.  It beats the livin' hell outta what The Most Interesting Man In The World drinks.  By far.   (Short parenthetical: We're talkin' Mexican beer here, dontcha know.  And DON'T even start me up about freakin' Corona.  Bleah.) 

Wait. What's Today?

That used to mean sumthin', but it doesn't today... Thank The Deity At Hand.

The Sunday Re-Run

One of the very early posts.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, IV

Lompoc AFS, circa 1964

End of the Night

Lompoc, California. Summer, 1965

Some are born to the endless night

It’s late, just past 1:00 a.m. I just dropped the girlfriend off at her house, now I have to get to work. My shift began at midnight, but it’s OK. I greased it with the guy I’m relieving last night; told him I had a date and would be an hour or so late. Close enough. But first I have to do a little favor for a friend. My best friend Pete, a sky cop who works the same shift rotation I do, asked me to drive by his apartment to see if there was “anything strange goin’ on” before I head up the hill. So, I drive by Pete’s place, and sure enough, there is something strange. All the lights are off in Pete’s apartment, but there’s a car parked outside, and it ain’t Pete’s.

Just as he suspected.

So, I point the Triumph up the hill and motor on up to the site. 15 minutes later I pull up to the gate. Pete steps out of the gate house, opens the gate, waves me in, and pulls the gate closed. I pull up to the gate house and get out of the car. Pete walks over.

“So?”

“Yeah, you were right. He’s there. No lights.”

“Will you do me a favor?”

“I just did. What now?”

“Loan me your car and watch the gate for me for an hour.”

I frown.

“Damn, Pete! That’s asking a lot, Buddy!”

"Asking a lot" is a classic understatement. Pete is going to desert his post and I’m going to be a freaking accomplice. If we’re discovered the best that would happen would be a real ass-chewing and extra duty. Worst case, we could be court-martialed. I’m thinking worst case.

“C’mon. I really need to sort this out.”

I realize he’s really hurting and there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind he’d do the same for me if I asked.

“OK. An hour, no more. If you’re not back in an hour…”

“I will be.”

“Let me go relieve Bob and I’ll be right back.”

I drive up the top of the hill to the radar tower, park the car and go in. Shift turnover takes less than five minutes, and that includes Bob’s mandatory debrief on my date. Nothing’s going on (Thank God), all the systems are up, and there’s nothing unusual scheduled for the rest of the night. Bob walks out the door, I hear his car start up and he leaves.

I take about five minutes to step through my routine shift checks and then go out, get in my car and whip down to Ops. I go in, make my presence known, exchange small talk with the Ops shift supervisor and then get back into my car and drive down to the gate.

Most of the guys in Ops were already asleep, and the shift supervisor gave every indication he was gonna get that way as soon as I walked out the door. Such is life on weekend mid-shifts.

Pete’s pacing up and down outside the gate when I get there. I get out of the car and Pete says “Damn! That took long enough!” I smile and toss him my keys. He’s in the car and gone before I can say “Be careful!”

I swing the gate closed and watch the headlights of my car disappear down the hill. I watch until the car is out of sight and then go into the gate shack, pour a cup of coffee and fiddle with the radio. It’s about a ten minute drive from the site in to town, so an hour is more than enough for Pete to get to his place, kick our friend out, confront his girlfriend, do what he has to do (whatever that may be), and get back. It’s not quite 2:00 a.m. so I figure I’ll see Pete somewhere around 3:00.

And then it hits me. Pete didn’t leave his gun. He’s armed, pissed off, and he’s on his way to roust some poor SOB out of HIS bed. Goddamn! I tell myself Pete’s level-headed and won’t do hard time for that wench. I try and relax. It’s no use. Why didn’t I think about the freaking gun?

Three o’clock comes and goes. Four o’clock comes and goes. I’m outside, pacing back and forth, scanning the road below for headlights. Pitch dark. Five o’clock comes and goes. No Pete.

I’m pretty damned frantic by now. My imagination is running wild. Double-murder. Suicide. Worse. I’m wondering what Leavenworth is really like, sure in the knowledge that I’m gonna find out, up close, personal, and real soon. I can’t call Pete’s house, there’s no direct dial off the site. I’d have to dial zero, from the freaking gate shack, fer God’s Sake, and ask the Comm Center operator to put me through. That’s a serious no-go, a dead give away something’s not right. Besides, the freaking operators listen in on phone calls. So, I stew. And sweat. A lot.

Half an hour later the sky is rosy pink…dawn is nearly here. At 5:45 I see lights in the canyon. I go outside and watch the lights crawling up the hill, praying it’s Pete and not some other guy, or God Forbid, an officer. Two or three minutes later I can hear the car. It’s mine. Thank God!

The gate is wide open by the time Pete gets to the top of the hill and he roars in and cuts the motor. I scream ALL the curse words I know at him before he’s even out of the car, and probably made up a few new ones right on the spot.

“Coffee fresh?” he says. I could freaking KILL him, and all he can say is “coffee fresh?”

He grins and says something like “Be cool, everything’s OK,” and we go in the gate shack. He sits, I stand, and he fills me in. He never drew the gun, but told me our friend saw it in his holster right off the bat. The boy was scared shitless, and I don’t blame him for being scared. He should have been damned scared! Pete didn’t even smack him around, although he admitted he wanted to. Pete said he threw him out the door in his underwear, clutching his clothes. We laugh. Pete tells me about the ensuing conversation with the girlfriend. I try and be as empathetic as I can, considering I'm still six different kinds of pissed.

I told Pete I thought he really abused me, told him how freaking worried I was, and on, and on. Pete apologizes. I go out, get in the car and drive on up to the search tower to complete the night's work and fire up the coffee for the day shift.

Eventually I would forgive Pete. But not that night. Not even that week.

One week later and Pete moves out. The girlfriend is never going to change, and Pete is smart enough to realize that. And better off for it, too.

As for me, I never, ever, did a “favor” like that again. For anyone, in or out of the service. One Endless Night is enough for a lifetime.

I thought about re-posting this one on the recommendation of that other Ol' AF Sarge but we've posted that piece twice already.  Apropos o' not much, I was on top of that radar antenna on the left hand side of the pic (below the "bubble") when I was surprised by that Voodoo.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

It's a beautiful day here on The High Plains o' New Mexico... The Deity At Hand finally turned off the wind machine and has graced us with a crystal-clear day with temps in the mid-70s as a reward for our forbearance over the last week.  We really SHOULD have our windows and door open and should be listenin' to our own music.  But we're not; while we DO have the windows and door open we simply couldn't be bothered to choose suitable music for this day.  So: In Pandora We Trust -- specifically the Annie Lennox station, which is nothing more than one heartbreak tune piled upon another.  Like this:

I know I left too much mess and
destruction to come back again
And I caused nothing but trouble
I understand if you can't talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"
then I'm sure that that makes sense

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be 

Oh... shut UP, Dido.  No one wants to hear that krep, with one possible exception. 

Strange music for a beautiful day, eh?  But it is what it is and we shall get back out on the verandah to continue as we've begun.

Saturday

Presented as a public service, so don't ever say that EIP isn't educational and stuff.



The associations the video makes between elements and their uses is pretty interesting, especially silicon (insert smiley-faced thingie here).  If you're anything like me you'll watch it two or three times... coz the elements all go by so fast.  Kinda like the way time goes for geezers, eh?