Folks,

Wildman:

It is a fortunate man indeed who sees himself in his children .... in time to stop it.

Shooting trucks? It sounds to me like he is just growing up to be a superb ground pounder. Children all like to see things go BOOM. Just watch them looking at cartoons. Kids are nearly all like that. They like a big bang. That is probably why I never grew up. I still do.

I certainly understand your wife's concerns. My son practically had an air rifle in one hand and a bottle of milk with a nipple on it in the other. By the time he was eight he could shoot the eye out of a love-making gnat and not even disturb the fuzz on its happy partner. Today, our boy respects firearms, knows how and when to use them and is teaching that to his two kids. Just like your wife, his wife is also concerned. They have finally come to a mutual understanding.

She keeps an eagle eye on me too. I think she expects me to give the kids some C-4 and a long ignition cord. Not me. It might be my car they blow up. I absolutely draw the line at M-80s with very long fuses under the age of seven.

Speaking of M-80s and the old silver salutes, they don't make them like they used to. My best pal and I loved to see things go boom. One night on a dare we took a wide-mouthed Mason jar and put some sand in it just for weight. Then we went down to the Tar River bridge near the old cotton mill. One of us held that jar and its top out over the water while the other lit a cherry bomb and dropped it into the jar. The jar top was instantly screwed down tight and the whole thing was dropped fifty feet into the churning river.

When that sucker went off there was a shower of water higher than the bridge and a sound like the sky cracking open on judgment day. Workers piled out of every crevice, crack, window and door of that mill as we two perfectly innocent fellows quietly strolled by as if nothing what-so-ever had happened. Did I forget to mention that we were stupid? :rolleyes:

Welcome home Old Dux.
Nice to hear from you, and just as I was about to sample your stash of booze. Great timing. True, I tried to do JRT's sabre dance and nearly ended up as fillets. Fortunately I was only using the parade swords that wouldn't cut hot butter.
Nothing kindergarteners do surprises me, especially when it involves trucks. I personally know someone who was expelled from kindergarten for braining fellow pupils with a huge wooden truck. In fact this individual was banned from every school in the town. But in case Lady'M' is reading this post, I am keeping my promise not to reveal the name of the culprit. Otherwise I wood probably be hospitalized with massive head injuries...
hint...hint...wink...wink...nudge...nudge,
you know what I mean?

Folks,

C51:

Don't you get it, it's called a "Saber Dance" not a damn "Sword dance". Take care with those swords. They may not be sharp but they are long and pointy at one end.

It takes long hours of heavy drinking and several minutes of concentrated practice to learn that particular dance step. Once you've mastered the drinking and the dancing at the same time the table sometimes wobbles. And, in my case at least, the room sometimes begins to spin a bit.

Then there are the inevitable distractions from your drunken audience to contend with. You may have to dodge the odd bullet or beer bottle. Women sometimes remove their garments or shake certain attractive portions of their anatomy. Of coarse if you do happen to stumble all is not lost, you can always go back to singing a very high falsetto in the boy's choir.

The individual you so adeptly managed to name without actually naming hasn't changed much, right? Instead of braining the lads with a truck this dangerous un-named individual now does about the same thing on the streets of Toronto with a green mini-van. :rolleyes:

Anyone seen SNAFU lately? Is there some reason I am not yet aware of why we can't all be here and or accounted for at the same time?

Folks,

SNAFU:

Heads up Fearless Founder. You have a wedding anniversary this month and we'd hate to lose you simply because you thought it only came once every other year.

As you are familiar with such things you will pardon me if I brag a bit more today.

We just returned from our second exciting T-Ball game. Our five-year-old grandson got a home-run and a triple off pitched balls (not using the "T") and playing shortstop he made two catches. What I want to know SNAFU is where are those major league scouts when you need them?

I kept one eye on the game, one eye in the camera and the other eye trained on the horizon looking for another P-51 to fly over. Wait, that would be three eyes, wouldn't it. That's OK, I wear glasses and as everybody who has ever endured the pitiless hazing of second grade knows full well, that makes me an old "Four Eyes".

C51 is off a birding somewhere in the outback of Canada I think. Deliriously happy Lady "M" dropped me an e-mail today. She had a great advertising idea to pass along. If the technology is good enough it might even work. 'Scratch and Sniff' food fliers. Not a bad idea unless the food happens to be something like fresh broccoli. Peeuuuweeee.

How about "Scratch and Sniff direct mail menus sent to you from restaurants? How about adding S&S swatches to the TV guide beside the program listings for the Food Channel? The applications are mind boggling.

Ummmmm. The National Zoo could send out pamphlets with pics of all the exotic animals in full color and beside those pretty pictures there could be a S&S swatch so you could look at the picture and actually smell the cute giraffe or the ferocious Lion or the huge Elephan.... OK, I've smelled an elephant before so perhaps not.

Along the same lines, someone get C51 to tell us about his brilliant new book idea. Canadians are so resourceful and ingenious, it must be due to the harsh climate of the sub-Arctic. IMO his revolutionary idea has the sweet smell of success written all over it.

Folks,

It is another fabulous day down in Dixie. The sky is blue, the birds are singing, a breeze is blowing and my hammock swinging. Ahhhhh. There is even blossom scented, clean air to breathe. What more can one ask after a sumptuous mid-day meal cooked to perfection by SWMNBN? OK, a cool drink and a good woman would also be nice. A bad woman might be even better? But bad women are hard to find around here right now. Truth is, I'm a fortunate man indeed to have a cold beer served to me by the incomparable lady that I married.

Yes, C51 you guessed right, she was reading over my shoulder as I typed.

I've been taking some fall foliage pics and working away at the Sunday crossword puzzle this morning. I don't know why I bother with that puzzle. The un-named chap who puts these things together apparently knows me far too well.

Although everyone will agree that I am a veritable fountain of inexhaustible knowledge this fellow somehow contrives to assemble a maddening collection of diverse and obscure clues regarding only the few words about which I know absolutely nothing.

That must be hard work and trying upon his patience at times, I know that it is on mine. Right now I'm completely stumped on just one single letter and I can finish today's puzzle. Perhaps someone here can help out?

It is a three letter combination for the name of a famous RAF pilot who used to drive a gas truck and write amazing stories about a Russian-born super anti-heroine. It starts with a "D" and ends with an "X". :rolleyes:

DOX

Our birds aren't singing over here, I must say. The weather is rather like being in a washing machine. With cold water only. Lovely.


Sorry that it's been a bit quiet from my side. We have been beavering away on something. Hope to be able to say what soon enough.

Folks,

Bader:

Sorry to hear about your nasty weather. Ours has considerably improved after all those hurricanes finally blew over. We were having one a week pop up for the most part of September. In fact after Jeanne last week the grounds around casa JRT are still quite soggy in the shady spots.

DOX? Thanks, that certainly sounds about right so it must be correct.

Ummmmm. No, wait, the across would be a bit tricky to work out then. The Acronym for a flying saucer isn't OFO is it? No, that would be...let me see now...

I think I've got it, the letter in question is a "U". So DUX it is and not DOX. Thanks Bader you were actually a big help.

I see that you and the other amazing BDG types are still surreptitiously working away down at the Red Hill annex of Bletchey Park on something stamped Tippity_Top_Top Secret.

You are an old tease aren't you?

JRT,
hmmm, scratch and sniff, yes. The possibilities are endless. And with Bader beavering away, I think I have a tremendous idea....

Are you sure it isn't DIX ? that would make your saucer an IFO. That sounds correct since nothing flying past you could go un unidentified.

Just a thought.

I think I'll get back to the drawing board, since thinking isn't my strong suit.

Folks,

C51:

Nope, I think it definitely is DUX.

I already used the term you suggested. That was penciled in for "What girl's just want to have" across in only three letters. What's that SNAFU? You say "Girls just want to have FUN". Really? F-U-N? Drat! Then the ancient capital of North East Mongolia probably isn't Xanadu? There goes the whole damn crossword. Thank you very little. :rolleyes:

Yes, I think you should get back to that drawing board of yours and then post some new drawings for us to marvel upon. You mention your strong suit isn't thinking. That begs the following question C51:

And your strong suit actually is?

Right!...you impertinent shower! What is all this business....offering up puns around my good name. I won't have it...d'yer hear?

Good day at Duxford and the weather just held out until we were on the way back! After the meeting, managed to get a couple of hours in looking around the current stock.
Certainly nowhere near enough time to absorb everything there is to see.

The Beaufighter has been under construction for quite a few years but is making good progress. The two mighty Bristol Centuarus engines are nearby. The Gladiator is in an advanced stage of construction...I wondered what markings they might decide on. Maybe Pattle's 33 Squadron kite in the Greek theatre? Perhaps one from the Norwegian campaign?
I was impressed by the He111 fin and rudder which was fished out of a Norwegian lake on which frozen surface it alighted in April 1940.

So much history and well within the span of an average lifetime.

The Dragon Rapide and a Tiger Moth or two were on pleasure flight duty. I suppose it's all down to available manpower but some of the outside static exhibits could have done with a good cleaning. The Varsity and Victor are showing extensive areas of green mould...