All,

JR2, congratulations on your find. Very interesting indeed. Be careful though. If there is a medicine bottle, there could be a patient. I would hate you to be digging around for a sword or something and instead find a body or parts thereof. Well, then again it would be an even more important find and would likely bring more than a few historians and the like to your lil grove of trees.

It would not be any of my relatives. As far as I know the Irish birgade was not down your way and aside from that we dont think any of our family made it to America until the early 1900's.

I would agree with you that the Saber would need to be included in the discussion of lovely birds. I would have to add the Mustang and Corsair to the list as well.

Sir Bader has sure got my attention. I wonder what the BDG has come up with. Whatever it is I bet it will be terrific. I cant wait to see!

I am building a new flying machine enabler otherwise known as a pc. Looking at the AMD 64 CPU as the heart of the beast. It will be a while before I do it but prices are so good it seems a good time to do it.

C51, how is the Lanc coming along?

Z, is part 10 soon to arrive?

Folks,

Stickman:

Thanks for finding time to help our buddy Z2 and for all your BDG work as well.

Let me see, Laudanum was and opium derivative I think. Powerful, and addictive yet at the time it was available over the counter to all. Your guesses are as good as mine as to how it got there.

I found it near where our little spring bubbles up out of the ground. That spring was known and perhaps in use at the time of the war. I can certainly imagine troops camping near it. Perhaps there was a hospital tent set up too.

There was no battle here. Mostly Sherman's boys were camped around Bentonville 50 miles or so from here. There was a large battle there. The headquarters was located in the larger town of Goldsboro. Raiders were sent here because of the railroad, to dispose of our cotton mill... and to do other nasty things. Sherman wasn't particularly discriminating when it came to denying sustenance to the "enemy".

Great Granma Young don't you dare listen to this heresy or you'll bust that coffin wide open this time... Sherman's pitiless, destructive march shortened the war and that saved lives on both sides. I can't believe I just said that.

SNAFU:

I'm surprised that your folks came here that late. That was about the time my grandmother was born in fact. Both she and her mother (my Granma Young) lived to be 95 years of age. Together they witnessed a lot of history actually being made.

It is good to hear that none of my kin were ever taking pot shots at any of yours, or the other way 'round. Those living around here were pretty well worn down by the war. Farmers grew crops and tobacco and the railroad made it possible to sell. Most were down to subsistence living when Sherman came poking around making ashes or Yankee provisions out of what little was left. There was little resistance if any. Certainly no organized resistance here was possible. They just took what they could find and carry off and burned the rest.

I haven't yet, however I am definitely going to be doing some more prospecting around that spring soon. If Hurricane Jeanne hits us next week who knows what will be washed out and uncovered (besides me)? If I find a lot of such artifacts I suppose I will have to notify someone more knowledgeable to check them out at some point. Archaeologists are already digging each summer directly across from us on the other side of the river for Indian remains.

I found a photo of the same type of bottle on the Internet last night. Unlike mine, that one was actually found on a un-Civil war battlefield.

I agree about the long-legged Mustang and everyone knows I love the gull-winged F4U. In fact, speaking of that plane, in addition to that book on "Boyd" I mentioned, I am also reading a new biography on Greg "Pappy" Boyington,who is undoubtedly the most celebrated Corsair driver of all time.

Now pal, to my own certain knowledge it has been no more than a year since your last upgrade, and maybe less. How do you justify another one so soon? OK, the prices are about right. I can use that one too. What other arguments do you plan to use when Lady "R" cocks one eye and stamps her foot?

Gentlemen,
Firstly, may I say a big thank you to JRT and Stickman for their unbounded kindness in helping me with my presentation. You are both Gentlemen of the very highest degree.
Stickman old fruit, what is your web addy?

Unfortunately, I will have to fly out to Belgium over the weekend where I must stay for the week (and where I must do my presentation to men of several nationalities).

So SNAFU,
In answer to your question, part 10 of the story will have to wait for a week or so (and there are twelve parts all told). Sorry old fruit. I will get on to it as soon as I can

Fortunately, Belgium is well known for its excellent beers. I can't think what I'll do with myself for a week in Belgium.

ZTM2

All,

JR2, I was shocked to see you write that Sherman's march to the sea actually saved anything. I happen to agree that lives were indeed spared however horrid some of those acts were. I can respect a man with an open mind.

My last primry upgrade was actually some three years ago. I include in that the cpu, motherboard and memory. I have changed vid card and operating system this year though. When she see's that unmistakable gleem in my eyes Mrs R just shakes her head and walks away knowing an upgrade is upon us once again.

Folks,

Z2:

It was the least I could do .... being lazy, if I could have done any less I probably would have.

Be careful while in Belgium. Drink the beer, eat the waffles but confidentially, I hear those otherwise lovely folks actually put...dare I say it... mayonnaise on their French fries (that's chips to you lot).

I wouldn't want to put undue pressure on you old sport however if we must wait a full week for the next thrilling chapter to be posted then that may be a tad too late for me. If hurricane Ivan barges in the back door as hurricane Jeanne kicks in the front door next week then because for some reason I did not have the foresight to purchase a water-proof, battery operated computer, I may be unable to read it.

Such is life.

SNAFU:

Open mind? Well perhaps, but my wife says if I'd close it now and then something she says might actually stay in there. :rolleyes:

Nice try. Like love and money, you can never have too much computer. Only I'd never squeeze that one past the computer double-speak decryption unit operated by SWMNBN. An upgrade is an upgrade sport. This will make two in one year any way you slice or dice it. Lucky stiff. I must wait until Christmas. This Christmas...I hope.

good day lads,
I have probably been more conspicuous by my absence than I ever was by my presence.
bottom line: work sucks.
I don't really have time for it.
But then again, one must be able to support one's habits, such as eating, drinking, paying for the PC so one can Bob and read HWH, drinking...
did I mention drinking?
It will take me a while to catch up on all the posts so I had better get back to it. As soon as a grab a drink.

Folks,

C51:

You have always been conspiq... conspikuos... make that conspicuous. Great to have you back too. Yes, even in Canada one must work so the little chillin' can have shoesies and clothesies to go off to college in. Isn't it quiet around there with no kids and only the sound of the north wind swirling around the igloo?

I hear from Lady "M" that you've been very busy getting back into your teaching routine. Perhaps you are just flustered? From what I've been told, school up north ain't what it was down here in Dixie. Do tell us some time about that wink you got from the er...let's call her a young lady of the evening.

I wonder if any of the spy satellite feeds picked that friendly transaction up? If Lady "M"s check clears the Bank of Canada there could be a picture of that somewhere. OK, the bidding starts right now...so maybe not.

A week in Belgium? Marvellous. Lots to do.

And as you rightly say they have some excellent beers. A Moules Frites washed down by a few Duvels and then working up to a Trippel Grimbergen will raise your spirits sure enough.

'til the following morning

All,

JR2, It take little to no luck at all to do an upgrade. It simply means to pay for it, I will be outside on the porch having dinner with the pooch for a while.

Folks,

Bader:

When you see a temporary sign out front of an American restaurant advertising "Moules frites", it is usually a good sign you have found a reliable place in which to eat your moules frites (mussels with fries, for those of you unfamiliar with the term). Moules frites is a very working class dish, but to my mind it's one of those examples of the working classes getting the better end of the deal. (Pot au feu, on the other hand, is not. Watery beef and over-cooked vegetables, not so good.)

Why is the temp sign a good sign? Because it's a temporary affair and only put up when the café has received a fresh consignment of mussels. If a café has mussels on the permanent menu, you can be fairly sure that they are using frozen ones (unless, perhaps, if you live in Belgium or near the sea).

Grimbergen is one of Alken Maes' attempts at producing a range of abbey beers. It is brewed under license at the monastery, the site of the world's oldest abbey beer museum, apparently. The beer is powerfully fruity, with alcohol and fruit aromas as soon as the bottle is opened. It pours with a fairly high-rise head and loose bead. There is a hint of a chemical flavor after-taste that I can't quite get used to.

If you like that beer, try Bavik-De Brabandere Petrus Triple. It has a strong, slightly sherbety, vanilla and light fruit aroma, very reminiscent of a weissbier, and a thick, lumpy, tenacious head. There is lots of rounded, light fruit (bananas, lemons, apples) in the mouth, with distinct coriander notes, and a sharp, wheaty, moreish, sour citrus tinge. There is also, perhaps, a little chocolate in the middle. The aftertaste is clean and middling-short, with some vanilla and a little bitterness. For my taste, this is a marvellously complex and pleasant triple-fermented abby-style beer.

SNAFU:

On the porch with the pooch, eh. I've been there too. It could be worse. Frankly, I've found the Alpo brand a good choice in meaty fare and as for the kibbled variety, Purina Dog Chow has a very satisfying crunchiness. :rolleyes:

C51:

Unfortunately Lady "M"s generous check cleared the Bank of Canada before you even had an opportunity to bid. Two suspicious looking Polaroids are even now bouncing in your rusti, beaver-shaped mailbox.

Folks..

During my mother's 10 year long genealogy quest she uncovered only 1 Civil War veteran, even though many lines run back to before the Revolution, even 2 ancestors that crossed aboard the Mayflower
(tho, I mention these and usually get a sneer or outright derision!)
A line of New England Yankees and Pennsylvania "Dutch".

Private Arrants from Licking County, Ohio was with Gen. Price on his cavalry raid into Alabama to disrupt the railway from Birmingham to Jackson MS. Probably other acts of destruction and general mayhem were done also along the way. I think it was 1864, and by now the love/hate relationship between soldiers of opposing sides had been replaced by pure hate and a burning desire to finish the damn thing.

There were no kidnapping of Southern Belles to keep their mouth shut, and probably little gentlemanly behavior given to any of the enemy including the slaves. Unlike the John Wayne and William Holden movie that this raid inspired.

JRT, I do not know if he got as far as North Carolina in 1865. My mom has his records. I know he got sick from forced marches and bad food. He was mustered out before the war's end.

Another ancestor (I forget his name, tonight) was farming in southern Missouri in 1862. He told a story of sitting on a fallen tree while listening to the fire and watching the smoke from afar as the battle of Wilson's Creek was happening.
Not exactly sure where his sympathies were, but when he heard that Gen. Lyon, USA was killed there, he probably advised his 24 year old son to move out. Southern Missouri became like Iraq is now. Family moved to Nebraska.

Zerosan2..

my E-mail addy is:
stickleye001 at hawaii.rr.com

Aloha!

Folks,

Aloha Stickman:

Would this not be a small world indeed if that old bottle I found could be traced back to the very hands of one of your ancestors? No way to do so of coarse unless there were some moldering document found mentioning such a thing. Still, one can sit here in the dim morning light of a very cloudy day and become completely bemused by the thought.

We're getting a good breeze from the remnants of hurricane..... um.. Ivan as it passes well to our west (I had to stop and think which storm this is, there have been way too many this season).

Hurricane Jeanne continues our way however there is hope and scientific reasons to believe that it will not get this far. Like so many things, it is all a matter of timing.

How does one reconcile the feeling of happy relief one feels when you dodge a bullet like this with the full knowledge that in the zero sum game of big winds what misses us will only hit someone else? Other people will sit in dread in front of their TVs or huddle together with their little children in shelters and listen to the wind howl. Others will hold their breath fearing for their lives or at least what they will find when they can finally go home again.

We are not yet under a tornado watch today. Other counties west of us are. Tornadoes are a real threat when hurricane winds blow. So many are spawned by these storms. Most of the fatalities from hurricanes seem to come from water or tornadoes. One more month of hurricane season.

Even Stickman, who lives in Paradise, is not immune to these giant storms. I think they call them cyclones not hurricanes in some areas of the Pacific where they rotate in the opposite direction of ours. I'm not sure exactly where the change takes place though, probably Hawaii gets hurricanes. What ever they are called they are dangerous. More so if you wake up every morning on a little tropical island only 8 or 10 feet above sea level. Stickman of coarse, being the wise man that he is, lives on a much bigger island and probably far enough away from storm serges and Tsunamis. I hope so.

It is good to have you visit here Stickman. We know that you are busy with work and volunteer what little free time that you do have to doing BDG work. Unlike mine, your posts are always notable and especially interesting.

Storm Update, just in case we disappear for a short spell:

It is 2:30 PM now and we are now under a tornado watch until late afternoon. There have been tornados reported in other areas of the state already due to Ivan.

It is a good time to fire up BoB and think about another variety of hurricane.

A special thank you to Stickman for posting those lovely girls on your site. I can see my appreciation of the beauty of the female of the species is matched by your own.
I have spent a good couple of hours perusing the pin-up site looking over the works of Vargas, Driben, Elvgren et al. Heaven. All these artists managed to combine beauty and respect. The art they inspired was seen on so many American and Allied aircraft in WW2 and has become iconic in its own right, forever assoiciated with the 40s and all the brave young aircrews who gave their lives in the name of freedom.

I have now completed my presentation largely as a result of the help recieved from my friends here on HWH. Those ladies and the other beautiful lady, the Spitfire, feature prominently. Though I say it myself, I am impressed with the quality.
So its Belgium here we come.
Thanks all once again.
See ya'll later.

Folks,

Z2:

Ya'll? Is that a 'sho' 'nuff' southern accent or has your spell checker malfunctioned? I was happy to help. Let us hope that your presentation will have the desired effect. Have a safe and profitable journey. Try those beers Bader and I recommended and load up on plenty of fries.

Looks like Crazy Ivan will be mimicking the submarine tactic by the same name by turning back on us tomorrow. Believe it or not, he may even end up back in Florida. That will mean more rain for us tomorrow. This I do not mind so much because he will ward off hurricane Jeanne by doing so. Still it will mean we will miss our grandson's first 'T' Ball game. A small price to pay when one sees the devastation wrought across the south by this last powerful storm.

According to the experts, Ivan's trip south again should help to prevent Jeanne from coming our way. She may stall and then go somewhere west. I've had enough hurricanes for one year. I know those ailing folks down in Florida ditto that statement.

All,

JR2, Having to find ways to get through the barrage of hurricanes and other nasty weather is one thing. Having to miss your grandsons T ball game is a completely different thing. I remember how sad I would get when my games were rained out. Hopefully there will be a makeup.

Ivan's long arm has reached us here in Maryland. Heavy heavy rain has been overhead since early Friday. Light winds blow the water all over the place. A blown weekend is not a good thing as USS SNAFU will lay idle in her slip but a small burden compared to others down your end. We too had tornados in several local areas as well. No significant damage or injury to my knowledge.

I think I will sit down and play a week or so (in game time) of BoB. YAHOOOOOOOO!

Folks,

SNAFU:

It is good that you are weathering Ivan in typical good humor. Much of this system still plagues us too. It is a dreary day in Dixie.

How good it is that with BoB we can always choose to fly in sunny weather. There is no better escapist pastime that I can think of than your idea to retreat into the slightly more predictable world of BoB. I have spent most of today reading. I have finished "Boyd". I'm reading two large volumes on PhotoShop, one on Illustrator and of coarse I'm mid-way into that biography of "Pappy" Boyington.

As for John Boyd, I understand there are at least two websites devoted to this amazing yet mostly un-sung man. I'll check them out and post the addresses soon in case anyone is interested.

Boyd died of cancer in 1997. There is a building named after him at Nellis AFB and other such tributes the public knows little about.

Although he was a blue suiter the Marine corps seemed to take his theories to heart more than other services. Vice President Cheeny and Sec. of State Colon Powell were influenced by his thinking.

The unorthodox tactics of the Gulf War were played out according to his theories. Some say he had direct access to Cheeny who was Sec. of Defense at that time. The original Army plan was the orthodox "hey diddle, diddle, right up the middle, toe to toe, last man standing is the winner type plan. That was rejected by Cheeny. The famous "left Hook" tactic used by "Stormin' Norman" may have originally been Boyd's idea. His Prophetic thinking embraced even the so called War on Terror" of today's headlines.

Not much actual combat in this book about a highly controversial figure however from a tactical, theoretical and political point of view, especially regarding the inner workings of the Pentagon it was an interesting and an eye-opening read. A little bit like Col. Hackworth's "About Face".

Good grief, a simple Google search using "John Boyd" shows there are way too many web sites now even to list here. Much has happened since the publishing of this book. There were only 2 sites found at that time by the author.

Here are a few sites just to get you started:

http://www.aviation-history.com/airmen/boyd.htm
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/59/pilot.html
http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/comments/c455.htm
http://www.parapundit.com/archives/000950.html
http://www.parapundit.com/archives/000950.html

Folks,

I can't believe it. Almost one more week of summer and tonight we will have C51 weather. Temps will fall into the low fifties F. (13-C.)Today was a beautiful day down south. Temps in the low 70s F. (21+C.). There was a brilliant sun accentuating a gorgeous Carolina blue sky. A steady breeze was rustling the green leaves as I paused for a moment along the garden path to reflect on this last week of summer, how soon I'll be raking leaves and on friendships.

A poem slowly came to mind, bit by bit, verse by verse and I do not have a clue who wrote it. It is about friendship. Here is what I can remember.

Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell.
And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.
"Tomorrow" I say! "I will call on Jim
Just to show that I'm thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner, yet miles away,
"Here's a telegram sir," "Jim died today."
And that's what we get and deserve in the
end. Around the corner, a vanished friend.

To me it means to remember to always say what you mean. If you love someone, tell them. Don't be afraid to express yourself. Reach out and tell someone what they mean to you. Because when you decide that it is the right time it might be too late. Seize the day. Never have regrets. And most importantly, stay close to your friends and family, for they have helped make you the person that you are today.

Thanks for always being there clicking away at your keyboards SNAFU, Dux, C51, Z2 and all the others.

JRT,
wiser words than yours have never been spoken.
If ever there was a time to put into practice the things that you suggest, it is now. So now I will begin.
The poem "Around the Corner" by Charles Henson Towne illustrates your point brilliantly.

Folks,

C51:

That's it! I'd forgotten the poet. Thank you.

Here's another one about friendship that I can remember but not attribute:

"You are my friend and I hope you know that's true.
No matter what happens I will stand by you.
I'll be there for you whenever you need.
To lend you a hand to do a good deed.
So just call on me when you need me my friend.
I will always be there even to the end."

Tell birthday girl Lady "M" to check her mailbox.

Folks,

C51:

I hope that Lady "M" is having a great day today. Enjoy a large piece of birthday cake for me. After giving her a new car for her last birthday I have to wonder how you will possibly equal much less top that one this year?

It is a rather chilly late summer day down here. At noon it is cloudy and only 66 Deg. F. (19 deg. C.). September weather more befitting C51 country to my mind. The air conditioner is finally getting a good rest. Perhaps I will not have to take out a loan to pay the electric bill this month? This won't last too long and we'll need it again soon I'm sure. We often enjoy "short-sleeve" weather as late as Thanksgiving Day. Right now I'd guess we are going to have an early fall and perhaps a colder than average winter.

Our niece took up the flute at Meridith college and enjoys playing today at church or just for her two small daughters. She passed this ditty on to me by e-mail last night. Considering your chosen occupation I think you might like the following limerick:

A tutor who taught on the flute
Tried to teach two young tooters to toot.
Said the two to the tutor,
"Is it harder to toot, or
To tutor two tooters to toot?" -Unknown author