Folks,

Dux:
Give a man a fish and he eats just one meal. Teach him to fish and he will forget about eating and fish all day long. I'm glad your weather improved so much. Thank you for the compliment regarding my grandchild. We are both fortunate to have such beautiful granddaughters. "T" hardly got started writing to "M" before she dropped her tablet and that ended her local and international communications. Perhaps she will get another this Christmas? She asked me this morning if I thought her hair was growing back fast? I can't see much difference yet but I told her I thought so. Hair grows 6 inches a year on average. Of course all the children over here are above average.

I have always been interested in technology and thought I kept up with it until the kids began to speak in a technical language I could not seem to fathom. They are the ones that keep up with the latest developments in just about everything. Ask any kid what the most expensive brand name of anything is and, by the age of two, they seem to know through some type of tech osmosis. It tickles my grandson when he can show me something about my phone of computer I did not know.

As for that "old saying" you refer to, perhaps the origin of that saying goes way, way back? Farmers do a lot of bending over. Maybe way, way back farmers worked in their fields naked to keep their bear skins clean? That could account for the redness of their nether portion. ;o

Chaps,

Rog,

I really think you are on to something there...as the bishop said as the choirboy fumbled through the his cassock when searching for the keys to the communion wine cabinet.

Another plausible explanation might be linked to the summer solstice when certain fertility rites had to be performed which included the prolonged exposure of their reproductive equipment to the sun-god Posteriamus.

Folks,

Dux:

Th farmers around here seem to all have red necks or they did when I was growing up. We'd see so many in August and September at the tobacco warehouses where they took their crop to be sold to buyers from the big tobacco manufacturers. Tobacco is not the "cash crop" it used to be. Today the most successful farms are huge and require expensive equipment. The tractors have enclosed cabs with air conditioning, refrigerator, and stereo music. You wouldn't get a sunburn in that.

The farmers I knew growing up had red necks but they did not fit the derogatory stereotype we think of today. They were honest, hard-working men scratching out a good living for their families. tobacco was gold back then. Today, to make a living farmers have to diversify planting other crops than the traditional "cash crops" of cotton and tobacco.

Folks,

I woke to hear a dove outside my window this Sunday morning. If I could take this perfect day and put it in a box, wrap it all up in the most beautiful wrapping, then tie it up with a gorgeous bow, I would love to send it to you.

Of course your day may be just as beautiful. It is hard for me to believe it could be much better. The sun shines down, there is a breeze. The air is warming into the 70s today. Looking out my window, I can see a world that is greening up. I hear the sound of a mower in the distance. Grass is being cut somewhere. I see more and a greater variety of birds fly by my window every day. Spring was here days ago but now it also looks like spring.

I am resisting being a bit down today. That is one reason the good weather is especially welcome. For the first time in his life this week, his kids and I could not be with my son on his birthday. That definitely got him down. He will have many more birthdays and I hope I will too. It has been on my mind, that's all. Next week, my late wife's birthday rolls around. I will miss seeing her too.

Today would be an excellent day to go out to the airport, rent a plane to do some touch and goes or just cruise about for an hour. That is too expensive for me today but in the 70s a couple of friends and I used to do that on weekends. My wife wanted no part of it for some reason. Yes, Dux, I've told this story before. It came to mind this morning. Bare with me. One of my friends had his private pilot, instrument and multi-engine ratings. He joined the navy (yes, OUR navy Dux) just days before he was too old to be accepted.

Naturally, his flight experience meant nothing much to the navy. He had to learn flying the "navy" way. Sadly, Warren was killed during that intensive training as I have mentioned here before. Why the navy was flying in the desert evaded me then. Today, I think I understand why they were training on A6s there. On his first leave I saw Warren. This seasoned flier, newly trained naval aviator, admitted landing on a carrier at night scared the hell out of him. We've probably all done that many times on our computers in F14s, F18s, and other planes. Clearly, if you might have been unaware of it, there is a wide disparity between simulation and reality.

I miss my flight sims, I really do, especially BoB. Maybe one day I'll be able to either build or have built for me another custom gaming computer. Trouble is, most likely, none of my favorite and most familiar titles would run on it. I guess you can still get Win7.

I do not wish to have a dual OS system so I'm not so sure about that. Considering all the articles on-line claiming our PCs are going out of style and most developers are concentrating on consoles. I wonder how many new flight sim titles are actually coming out these days? Third wire is no longer producing PC games, just flogging their old titles. What are the Russians producing? Is the IL2 series done? I really have lost touch.

Whatever system I might get it will have a very large display. This tiny notebook screen is a real strain on my failing eyes. I will also want all the SOTA peripherals, pedals, a very good stick, throttle, Track IR, parachute, machine guns, 20 mm cannons... chain gun.... wait, I got carried away.

Folks,
JRT:
Thanks for sharing your beautiful and melancholic day with us. Yes, we both, and probably most of us know how to celebrate lives and loves we ache for and miss, and celebrate having them close to us at least for moments.
-Although in truth, yes they are a part of us if sometimes it seems for only a while.
We raise a cup, a glass or just a smile for the warmth they bring.
Meanwhile, Happy Birthday to your young man, and sweet smiles to your "T" for her brave deed and yes, it will grow back.

I've never landed on a carrier, day or night. It's enough to keep you on a calm edge to land on a short or a windy strip or a black hole in a moonless night; but a stormy night or a snowy runway always got my full attention.
But it didn't move up and down and tilted. It just seemed to, but it's not the same. You knew it was you getting thrown about some.
Unfortunately, PD3 or FSX or other simulators seem to cause a crash when that's attempted. Maybe that's for the better.

Just read that perhaps desktops are not to be dismissed yet. (PC World, I think). And I'm pretty sure Windows 7 for business is still available through Dell?
I know the 27" screen I use -when the desktop is working- sometimes does not seem big enough.

I better go pack. The trek to San Antonio starts tomorrow and yep, thunderstorms are expected most of the way. And I'm driving. One less dimension but a thousand times more dangerous.
Looking forward to seeing the guys with whom I shared some awesome skies and that cold-water tub-dunk for the first time over fifty years ago.

Gents,

I dusted down my long neglected stick a fortnight ago and brought it down here after my last trip up to Derbyshire. I think I have had enough of MMORPG games for a while and the smell of castor oil or glycol is drawing me back to the flight sim. Maybe a return to the Cliffs of Dover forum at ACG pilot school or Wings Over Flanders Fields perhaps which now has a huge number of flyable aircraft.
I used a low cost track IR system which is Ok but the monitor mounted camera has to be blanked off with a thin film behind the lens for it to work. Investing in the definitive Track IR system is expensive but worth it in the long run I should think.

Folks,

Fittop:

Like a watercolor painting of an old country road, thoughts of yesterday haunt my mind. Especially so on soft spring days like this. Then life intrudes, one way or another, drawing my focus back. to reality. The older I get the more seductive are thoughts of the past. Perhaps it is true that before you die, your life passes before your eyes. Not at the moment of death but in the short years just before? We remember through the prism of many years gone by. These glimpses of cherished, emotionally charged, moments can sometimes be distorted. They are however worth more than gold on lonely days when cold winds blow, the sky is dark and our emotions mirror the profound darkness crowding in around us. At such times, better than chemicals, taking a treasured memory of a happier time in a happier place from that secret place where it is stored can lift one's spirits like helium lifts a balloon.

Take care my friend. Keep that car between the ditches. Be safe. Enjoy your reunion. Reminisce about old times. That reinforces old memories and adds new perspectives. You'll also make new memories that will last your lifetime. The first class reunion I was invited to was looked forward to. Until I asked the caller what had happened to my old girlfriend. When I learned she had died in 1976 from bone cancer, somehow my heart was no longer in it. i went anyway and actually had a great time. I hope the PC continues to be viable.

Dux:

It is good to have you back with the guys who style their hair with propwash. Well, I used to and perhaps the others can. I was just thinking about formation flying, I would think flying in large,close bomber formation as they had in WW2 would be excruciating. Especially the Brits early on when fighters kept a tight formation. The Germans already used the "finger-four that every air force still uses today. I discussed it once with one of the Blue Angels exhibition team. He said what they did required practice, planning, complete trust, and perfect timing. How could you, I wonder, keep your station, check your instruments, watch your six, and look for bogies all at the same time?

I have struggled without peripherals beyond a stick for years and swear if I get back into it I will have it all especially Track-IR or equiv. I still have COD on the stear cloud but I wonder if it will run when I am ready for it again. It ran well on Win 10 but the sight reticle in some planes did not show. As I recall, the ME 110 was the only craft I did have a gunsight reticle. It needed one. I still got kills in all the planes, but it was weird. It was not an uncommon affliction on PCs with their graphics card on the motherboard. I liked being able to choose my ammo and sight my guns. No other sim I had offered that. still I missed BoB so I played that on my old XP PC. Post some after action reports.

Gents,

Red as a farmer's arse in June. That phrase reminds me of one of my Grandmother's sisters. She was married to a Naval man and the tone in the household was at times very direct. It was all a Commander's fart and it had to be so big you could use it to gurgle., she used to say. They used to live in a small flat the city but had an allotment where they could retire for weekends and vacations, planting and harvesting berries, potatoes and carrots etc. When discussing something she didn't like or appreciate, she would say that further discussion could be directed to the point where she was tallest when working that allotment. Referring to the aforementioned farmer and his red bottom, I think that some of the rationale behind such imagery suggest an amount of manual labour and farming is inferred.

April 9th, 1940. The Nazi's attacked Denmark and Norway. A 2015 movie dramatization was televised yesterday. Against the mechanized Nazi forces of the Wehrmacht stood very few, highly disorganized platoons equipped with motorbikes, bicycle, rifles, a few machine guns and very little in terms of communications with other units or overall commanders. The politicians were of no help either. After a few hours of futile defensive retreats, the last Danish forces capitulated. Ju-52 aircraft occupied the airfields and five years of occupation was a reality. When I was serving in the Air force, the roads leading to the base were the roads built by the invaders. The huts we used as quarters were also erected by the Nazis.

Folks,

Today, weather-wise, seems a carbon copy of yesterday. Lucky me. I hope Fittop has safely arrived at his destination and that the weather there in San Antonio mirrors that which we have here. I'll keep an eye on the Texas newspapers on line to see if there is any mention of the incarceration of a rowdy bunch of ex-navy guys. If I do see that, we will know the reunion was a big success.

MG:

I had never heard that particular saying before. I read what Dux wrote. Possibly that was because, when I was growing up, the word "ass" or even the Anglicized version "arse" was considered a mild expletive. On further consideration, I actually think the term was simply a British colloquialism that never made it to my neck of the woods. We Americans and our British cousins are more alike than different but we are still "separated by a common language," as Will Rogers used to quip. I wonder what effect Brexit will have on that relationship, if any?

Gentlemen:

I recently received a brief note from that very friendly nurse we all liked to go out with. You remember the moderately lovely Wanda Beekissed, don't you? She wrote that she is doing well and presently living in a grace & favor cottage in London. I suggested she begin reading our thread so she could keep up with the HWH squadron these days. She promised that she would if she ever figures out how to turn the computer on her son left behind. He recently joined a naturist, bird-watching commune conveniently located on the Canary Islands.

She supposed he would return as soon as he either suffered from acute sunburn on his genitals or grew tired of watching nothing but Canaries. I have not had the time to write back and both disillusion her as to the Islands or to explain how to safely turn on and use her son's computer. I may do that presently.

Wanda lives alone now and is therefore lonely. She invites all of her old friends (meaning us) to visit her in London. As it is a bit far for me to walk and there are no buss from here headed to London, I am unfortunately unwillin...unable to satisfy her considerable needs. It looks like Dux is her nearest and best hop... victi...choice. I'd offer up MG however he seems isolated. If there is a direct bike route from Denmark to London, I am, so far, unaware of it. If there is one and you wish to take Dux, off the hoo...out of dange... out of the picture, for your own amorous advantage, please do let Dux know, MG.

Do any of you remember the time Dux and Wanda got lost in Drubbin's woods? It took the search party that eventually convened at the P&P pub two weeks to find them. Yes, it took one week of serious boozing up. Three full days of agonizing recover. Three additional days of more moderate drinking while discussing in which direction to begin the search. And then it took one final day of actual searching. When we came upon the "lost, they had erected a tent in a clearing deep in the woods. There we found a terrified Wanda up a sizable tree and our mate Dux unconscious on the ground not more than two steps away from the trunk of that same tree.

There was no moon that night. Doing so was difficult, yet we finally coaxed Wanda down from the tree. When we had calmed her down, we learned that Olga had come upon the two, rather like a thief in the night. mad with jealousy, Olga clobbered Dux outright before she went for Wanda. Wanda was already seeking refuge in the tallest tree she could bump into in the dark. Olga stumbled around for a time cursing in Russian searching for the girl.

Mercifully, Olga never found Miss Beekissed. From what Wanda could make out from the terrible sounds coming from down below, Olga was taking out all her frustrations on the comatose body of Dux. This took some thirty additional minutes. Then all grew quiet save for some unidentifiable crashing sounds in the distance. After an hour of quiet directly below, Wanda had assumed, correctly, that Olga had left the clearing and was then moving away. Unknown to Wanda, this movement was away from the approaching sounds of the half inebriated search party stumbling about and crashing through the thick forest toward the clearing. Dux spent several weeks in the infirmary. Wanda required months of psychiatric care. Olga forgave Dux, as she always does, but she never did forgive Wanda.

I am considering changing my e-mail address. In case Wanda and I should somehow lose contact with each other, I have taken the liberty of asking LeRoy to give Wanda Beekissed all your e-mail addresses. That way we will know if she ever gets that computer working. To that end, I have now sent detailed instructions on how to boot up the system, open the e-mail client, and send e-mails. Yes, I thought you would applaud my efforts on your behalf. Do not thank me. It was the least I could do after all the "kindnesses" you fellows have done to... for me.

Hello chaps,

JRT,

K recently went to London to receive an award for services to women. I was tempted to inform her that I had been servicing women for years but never received an award for it. Being an officer and a gentleman, I thought better of it.
I have PM'd a couple of her pics from London visits to Kensington. She made a nice lunch on Saturday out at her bungalow at the foot of the Presceli hills. Such a beautiful day. Eventually, I had to tear myself away and get ready for a barby back at Saundersfoot later that day.
A bitter sacrifice but one that had to be made. Life can be hell at times...

Folks:

Dux:

The beautiful "K" deserves our congratulations.

LOL! Had I but known they gave out honors for service to women I might have been even more diligent in my efforts over the years. The "Here, heres" just heard from our more sober members seem to echo a similar affirmation.

Yes, I can only imagine that being forced by a sadistic fortune to choose between unimaginable pleasure and unbelievable happiness might be difficult indeed. It is cheering to know such things still exist in this unsettled world. My choices seem to be just the opposite these days. It is far easier to choose between pure misery and indescribable unhappiness.

In truth, we all have so very much to be thankful for. So much that it shames me to suggest otherwise even in jest. Please convey my personal congratulations to "K" although I see no possible reason why she should care a fig what some unknown admirer in distant North Carolina thinks.

Folks,

We'll see the low 80s F today with the humidity dripping into the 70% range. It will feel quite warm even with an 11 MPH wind coming from the SW.

Isn't this silly? Every time I start a post with my current weather, it reminds me of "As Time Goes By" with Dame Judy Dench. I am reminded of Lionel's father's housekeeper, Ms. Bale. She would come into the sitting room to announce the next meal would be ready in precisely 10 minutes and 39 seconds. Then she always proceeded to give the family a riveting weather report for the English Channel before returning to her kitchen... You probably can't find domestics like that lady even in Britain these days.

As I am using Win7 and I only have 1 GB of ram in this small notebook, I have added a memory manager, oddly enough, titled "CleanMem". I used to use one of those in years past but came to think of them as "Snake Oil" and rather useless. If you are using Win 8-10 or if you have plenty of RAM you probably have no need for one. This manager does not work like the others I was familiar with. Most so called "memory managers" just use up all the available memory forcing Windows to move memory to the page file and that is run off the HDD. That is a "bottleneck" and slows things down.

CleanMem works by calling a Windows API. It doesn't change the working set of a processes. It simply asks Windows to do all the work. So Windows does the trimming, the moving and manages everything. This is why there is never supposed to be any crashes of programs and any performance hit to the system. In other words, CleanMem doesn't work against the Windows memory manager, it works with it and keeps Windows from relying so much on the slower page file.

It seems to be working for me at this point. However I have only had it on my system for about 24 hours. With only 1 GB of RAM I can actually use up to 90% of my available memory when Firefox, IE 11 or Chrome is running. Bummer! So far, CleanMem has kept that down to just below the 75% range with either browser. If usage goes above 75% I have set the program to kick in again automatically. Probably none of you fellows need it. What I should do is add more RAM and I think that is possible. I don't know what the going rate for memory is these days. Last time I cared enough to check it seemed to be getting cheaper. But that was some time ago.

Chaps,

Rog,

I attempted the PM but was confronted with another example of someting fixed that wasn't broken.

It used to be a simple matter to post from My Pictures to the forum but now a URL is required and I no longer put personal pics on Photobucket hosting or any other for that matter. I will send them via your email address in due course!

Folks,

Dux:

I had the same problem when I posted the pix of "T". MG enlightened me so I will now give you the closely held secret so far known only to Americans and Danes. Lean near as I will whisper. It is no longer located at the top. Look down at the very bottom on the left hand side. There you will find the tool you are looking for. I think it is easier than the former tool. Well, it is when you find it.

Anyone have any experience with the Opera or Opera mini browser? I'm trying it on my phone. Chrome and Firefox have both gotten slower than a 50 lb turtle turtle with a 500 lb shell.

Gents,

Rog,

No....it aint there so back to Plan B )

Folks,

Dux:

It is on mine. Click on full text editor. When that loads go to bottom left corner. click on "Attachment Manager" and, as you might say, "Bob's your uncle."

Folks,

We have 70 degrees F at 11 AM as I begin this text. I expect a toasty afternoon much like yesterday with temps rising to near the 80s. There is a 7 MPH breeze coming from the W at the moment that shifted from the SW when I wasn't looking.

My granddaughter brought me a pretty weed from the garden this morning and insisted I put it in a vase with water. I did that to humor her, and then I put in my sunny, south facing window. Spring is here for sure. It was about this time of year, for 40 years without fail, that my late wife used to go out in the back garden and find a four-leaf clover. She would proudly bring that to me for good luck. I thought of her this morning when I put that pretty weed in water. I have never had much luck finding a lucky clover. I miss that little but touching tradition today.

The annual celebration of Easter comes this weekend for many of us. Our kids are going to church this afternoon to make plain, everyday eggs into gloriously decorated Easter eggs. Surely you know, that is a rite of spring in which the adults hide colorful ,candy or real hand colored eggs in the tall grass of a field or well manured pasture. Then they turn loose a large and excited pack of kiddies who are in various sizes, colors, sexes and ages, to find said eggs. It is meant to be a pleasant outing for the whole family.

Naturally, the biggest kids hold the advantage and this causes distress in the minds of many of the parents of the smaller children. This requires those adults to rush in and rip the eggs from the grasp of several big kids and give them to their small children. Of course this intervention is usually followed by howls of displeasure from the mouths of the parents of the big kids who were just perceived to be robbed. That requires those adults to rush into the milling crowd of children and adults to forcibly return the eggs that rightfully belong to their older children. At this point things can sometimes dissolve into chaos.

The return of those eggs is not missed by the smaller kid's parents, who then rush back in to console their small, crying children. They wish to right the wrong done to them. There is usually much heated bickering amongst the irate parents of all the kids by now but that seldom comes to blows. While this is going on most of the kids have ignored the fuss and happily returned to the egg hunt in an orderly and friendly fashion. Before so very long this return to normalcy by the kids is noticed by the battling adults. Those not attending to black eyes or attempting to staunch bleeding scratches or reinsert pulled out hair just throw up their hands and leave the field of battle more or less friends again. It will be a memorable day for all.

Folks,

Dux:

Got your e-mail. Thanks for raising my...... my....blood pressure.

You may be interested to learn that both my grandson and step grandson are really into guitars these days. My grandson "T" only recently acquire a 40 year old Aspen acoustic with soft case and electric tuner. I think it is an Aspen. My step grandson, "M" already is beginning a collection of both acoustic and electric guitars. He has a very nice Les Paul electric he plays regularly and a very fine Martin acoustic that he never touches. I think it a shame that he has the Martin for, IMHO, it is unfortunate for such a fine guitar to languish in a corner, leaning on its stand. My grandson "T" told "M" he has a case for the Martin if he wants to give that to him. He would play it daily.

I hope to see the kids and my son playing together one day. "M" goes to the same music teacher I sent my son to so many years ago. My son and he became good friends together and even set up a recording studio at one point. They played in bands together. The teacher was a professional musician who made most of his living playing music. He is retired now and just teaching a few students these days. "M" goes to him and "T" will soon follow. He will have soon taught all three. Any secret tips on care and tuning of an acoustic guitar you might pass along would be appreciated by me. I have already told him he must replace the old strings and tune the guitar properly. When is able, his dad will help him a lot as well. I don't want him to get too frustrated early on. He is learning from the beginning tableture, chords, fretwork, the lot. So far, playing on a guitar owned by someone else, he seems to love it.

Folks,

Dux:

Sorry. It just now dawned on me that you wanted to send a PM with those pix in it. there is indeed no clear way to do that. Maybe MG knows how? You can do that the way I texted on the forum pages not in a PM. I just checked that out.

Gents,

We can look forward to an Easter with temps around 10 C, rather windy conditions and intermittent showers, so indoor activities are go. Perhaps I should consider turning a few laps at the local indoor kart track?

Roger, a slow cellphone is no joy and in my experience the ones using Android for inexplicable reasons start to slow down and perform worse and worse over time. Is it only the browser which is slow, or is your entire phone slowing down?

And I can report not seeing any possibility of adding images to pm's either. If the functionality was available in the past, it might have gone for a Burton due to storage costs. My experience from when I was a staff member taught me that this site is more a labour of love than a gateway for turning a profit. When I think about sites like this, that have survived for as long as this one, I fail to come up with other names.