Beofre this morning, if you’da asked me what the best Led Zeppelin song was, I’d have instamtly answered “Trampled Underfoot” from Physical Graffiti. It’s a not-as-well known song, but many have agreed it is an under-credited great song.

This morning I hit the bathroom radio power button and timed it perfectly for the beginning of Since I’ve Been Loving You, Led Zepp III. Man! it was good! I’ve heard it many, many many times, but it rang my bell good this morning.

I still have both albums, on Vinyl, in perfect shape, FYI, got ’em when I first discovered Led Zeppelin. I’ve always liked III better than Physical Graffiti on the whole as an album. Trampeled Underfoot has been my top choice as best Led Zep song ever. But this morning, Since I’ve Been Loving You sounded goooooood! I’ll be listening to it again very soon, very closely.

Today’s payday, I have some late (not past due) bills to pay and I need an oil change on the van. And I’ve got some problems with the outdoor electrical outlets on the porch. Rust inside the box inside the concrete.. And I gotta work.

Have a great day!

Allright weekend it was. Saturday went looking at cars with the wife. She liked this one.

Three cylinder engine! According to the internet, it’s pretty much only available in India

Sunday I went to the beach. Below was my mode of travel.

I was surprised to find another huge area bulldozed for building.

I created modern sculpture art from beach jetsam.

And now it’s Monday the 13th, half as infamous as Friday the 13th, but twice as yukky.

Have a good week!

Even if they claim its fixed.

Even if everyone claims it’s fixed.

It seems so typical, supervisors who think they know it all and don’t listen to their employees

An article I read this morning HERE says empolyees mocked their supervisors saying the 737 Max 8 was “designed by clowns who are supervised by monkeys.”

As you know I work at an airport. The other day there was a discussion about the crappy Max 8. My supervisor said something like: “It may be the worlds safest plane, once everyone gets done scrutinizing it and fixes all the problems”. I thought “Yeah! It might!.”

Then I read articles like the one linked above, and hear Boeing is thinking about changing the name of the Max 8 because of the negative publicity and I think “better safe than sorry, sounds like a piece of crap from the drawing board, and only got built because stupid, prideful people had authority over those with common sense.”

The Max 8’s woul make good artifical reefs and dive sites! Sink ’em,!

Happy Friday! Have a good wweekend!

I was sitting on the back porch yesterday, and this little guy landed right in front of me. He was about the size of your thumbnail

He looks like he has a lionfish on his wings. Here’s a pic of a lionfish (taken by me) from a previous post.

The butterfly was quite the cool critter. He stopped for a little rest; then he flew off again.

Have a great day!

I’m no expert, and I’m not really following the situation. To me Iraq and Iran are two basically identical countries right next to each other.

I remember when Saddam Husseins Iraq invaded Kuwait, and George Bush Sr sent General Schwartzkopff to liberate Kuwait from Iraq. I saw on TV, when it was pretty much over, the General said, pointing over the desert, Bagdad’s 200 miles thataway, with nothing between us and them. We could take Bagdad while we’re here.

George Sr said “No, the mission was free Kuwait, not invade Iraq. Mission accomplished, come home.” Which I think was the correct thing to do.

Saddam Hussein, said “good, I woulda kicked your ass” which isn’t true, and he knew it, but was just saving face in front of his people.

Skip Bill Clinton and enter George Bush Jr. I personally, had a 401K retirement plan that was getting ready to hit $100,000 when George Jr got elected. It dropped back down to $30,000. The US economy crashed.

I think George Jr said to somebody, “Make something happen, so that the people blame that for the crash instead of me.”

Then 9/11 happened.

I don’t think George Jr knew the specifics, but I suspect 9/11 happened because of George Jr’s request. And then they couldn’t find Osama Bin Laden. Why? Every news agency that wanted to interview him, interviewed him. I know somobody here that say they met him twice. Why couldn’t the US find him? Because he was hiding in the White House basement, that’s why.

Meanwhile, George Jr is upset that Saddam is making fun of his daddy. Later on he decides to do something about it. “Intellegence” comes up that Iraq is producing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). He tells Saddam to disarm or be invaded. Inspectors go in and find nothing. Every day on CNN, there’s videos of Iraq destroying missiles. Looked to me like they were complying as best they could.

But the US went in there anyway, never found any evidence of WMDs, and in the end Saddam Hussein was killed. I don’t have anything good to say about Saddam Hussein, but I can see why the US is so untrusted there. I will say this, If Saddam was never killed, ISIS would have never happened.

To me it doesn’t make sense, the US goes and kills their leaders, (crappy leaders I admit). Leaving kindling for chaos. (I won’t mention Mohamar Quadiffi.) Then those places go to hell, and it doesn’t seem to benifit the USA, or anybody else, at all.

The other day, a US drone killed this Iranian general. I don’t know the circumstances. But I imagine, what if the roles were reversed? Some foriegn government kills a US politician or Pentagon official remotely. What would that be like? But as ex-military, I back up my leaders, knowing I don’t have all the information.

I remember kindergarden, big kids picking on me, thinking “I can’t wait till I grow up, and we’re all adults, all this crap will end, Well, it’s never ended. The wars and the stories in the news we have today are exactly the same as kindergardners squabbling in the playground.

I think people are fundamentally the same, but we do have differences that we cannot recognize in each other. When I was a teeny tiny little kid, I figured out that cats were female, and dogs were male, Horses were female, and cows were male. Even after I grew older and became educated on the subject, and know that it isn’t true, I can’t un-do the basic idea in my mind. I think this is an example of the differences we can’t understand in other cultures. Different is not necessarily evil. The people we see as bad guys for what we think are legitimate reasons see us as bad guys for what they think are legitimate reasons too. And probably, in reality, none of our reasons are legitimate.

This post is going on too long, I started it yesterday, and don’t think I’ll finish it today, so I’m just going to post it. But know that I don’t trust the historians version of history, and I don’t trust politics.

Have a great day!

I guess it was delayed as long as possible, which, upon examination and reflection, I’m not sure is a good thing or a bad thing, but the years first Monday is today. The above picture depicts my emotional response to that.

The first work week of 2020, while it was only two days long, was a long and brutal week. This-un should be a whopper!

The weekend was acceptable. Made it to the beach yesterday. Friday we had somee friends over for a cookout.. The thought occured to me that we should always do something Friday night, as it makes the weekend seem longer.

Its breezy and cool, wondering about the rain part though. I guess today is a van day, not a scooter day. The van needs an oil change and I’ve been wondering why I’m not getting the customary email fromthe garage reminding me of the fact.

Anyway, I caan tell I’m boring you, so I’ll shut up.

Have a good first Monday of 2020!

Most of Y’all know I don’t drink and am in A.A.

Yesterday I celebrated 29 years. At the meeting, there were people visiting from Chesapeake, Virginia. Chesapeake is where I moved here from, and the Tidewater area is where I first got sober. They knew a lot of the same people I knew. It was fantastic beyond belief for me.

Friday! Yeay! It was a long, hard week!

2020 is very pleasing to type, isn’t it?

First day of the 2020 workyear today, I’m back on my routine. Got up at 4:45, walked the dogs. Sitting out back with the coffee and the post posting.

Not sure if I’d call it a good vacation or not, only made it to the beach three times, no diving. I gotta go diving, I didn’t dive much in 2019.

Yesterday I pressure washed the back porch. There’s this grey concrete dust stuck all over the place. It didn’t come out well, once it got wet, I couldn’t see the dust, and when it dried, I could see pressure washer marks on the deck. It’s better than it was, knocked all the big chunks off…

Not much to post about today, its Thursday, and I think it’s good to have a short week to start off the new year.

Happy 2020 and have a great year!

Last day of the year, last date in the decade. But it’s not the last day of the week, and I have to go to work Thursday.

I’m out on the back porch, Wife’s still sleeping, It’s cloudy and the tempurature reminds me of the first cool day near the end of summer in high school. You know, later in the morning, that it’s going to get hot, but you can feel a twinge of coolness in the morning. And there’s a quality of stillness.

2020 Tomorrow. I remember Y2K. Computers are going to blow up! Planes are going to drop out of the sky! I knew nothing would happen.

I’m rambling, just started the second cuppa coffee. Have a good 2020 and beyond!

Goodbye 2019! Hello 2020!

In 2020 I’ll turn 60. It seems like I just turned 40 a few weeks ago. When I turned 40, I figured my life was about half over. Let me tell you, that second half goes by a lot quicker than the first half.

It was just the other day when I turned 50, in Tuluum, Mexico

My father died at 79, my grandfather died at 75. I figure 60 is the beginning of my last two decades. If I’m lucky.

But back to the title of this post, I decided that 50 is the best age.

When I was 50, I felt as strong, physically, as I always did, plus, I have a broad life’s experienes. Now, I notice weakening of the body. It was hard carrying those 80 pound bags of concrete, and more than one of the 94 pound bags of cement pushed me to the limit. And I notice that shovelling and pickaxe-ing gets me winded pretty quick. (I’ve been trying to remove the lake of cement left by the construction team.)

This isn’t intended to be a morbid post, I’m just telling you that so far, I think 50 is the best age. I don’t want to die, but I’m not afraid to go. I just hope it’s quick, no painful, drawn-out, senile, brain-dead lingering burden of an illness for me.

But I sure am going to miss my wife, more than anything.

My friend, since grade school, turned 60 a few days ago. I called him on the phone and he said “I made it! I made it to 60!” That’s a better attitude than I had, and it gave me a new perspective.

I rekkon these last 20 are going to go fast, and I better enjoy them.