Staging meal.....

Still in process, yesterday we went out to Catalina Island on a really nice boat, an hour and a half trip.
A fun trip across, esp. on the way back when the 10+ miles had some 6' swells.

Tonight L. cooked a casserole, cauliflower and various cheeses. Rather good, and a good beer to go along with it. 

Tomorrow is a packing drill, then deciding we don't have any of what we actually need, frantic shopping, etc. I intend to get a call at 6am from a former client that requires my immediate attention. 

Next pic should be of the business class section of a chicago to rome 767. 

Staging

Still in LA, gradually getting ready to take off next week for Rome.  Thankfully the cruise company no longer 'requires' formal evening wear for some of the dinners. So a sports jacket and khaki pants will suffice. They still say no jeans at dinner, which is odd to my mind. If one is shelling out a months salary they should be able to wear whatever they want (short of birkenstocks, of course).

It's been unbelievably hot here, it's mid-October, right?  It was 98f in the backyard here, and it's only about a half mile from the beach. It should be low 70's.

I should be able to post along the way, initially we're in Rome overnight, ending up with two nights in Lisbon.. If not, the pictures will come along eventually. 

Cheers

Just another day, in the land of the free......

A couple quotes from the comments section of the Oregonion today. 

lalochezia15 minutes ago

We're just going to have to accept that gun violence is the price of living in a free country.

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pdxsoftwareguy19 minutes ago

Posted on a British website:

isn't it time you yanks enter the civilised world and stop killing your own kids!

They're are not laughing with us ....

A prediction:  Yesterdays incident will not even make the national news, above the fold, in a year. 

I've said it all before, it's just getting boring and tedious to repeat. I expect there are at least 10 families out there who are freshly torn up, but that's how it goes, eh? Price we pay......

Where in the world is........?

The cook down the street is on walkabout, he's been taking a diving class on an island off Thailand and generally making a nuisance of himself by sending photos of beaches and food. He's also been travelling apparently.  He sent this one the other day, and it took me a bit to figure out that I have seen in before, in person. Any guesses? It's a place that has had thousands of photo's taken, most on a certain date in 1975.

Maybe adding one thing might help, a helicopter....

I had a chance to go back several years ago, to help start a cardiac center in Hue, and declined. 

USS Kauffman

Does anyone else think that 30 years isn't a long time to keep a ship in commission?  Planes, sure, cars, ok. But shouldn't ships last longer than that?

Anyway, the oldest is back east this weekend, attending the decommissioning of the USS Kauffman, named after her grandfather and great-grandfather, Adm J. Kauffman and Adm D. Kauffman, father and son

Draper Kauffman is also known as the father of the UDT program, and the SEAL Navy special forces. I was lucky enough to have had hours of listening to his stories, everything from being captured by the Germans in WW2 while serving as a French Army ambulance driver, being commissioned in the Royal Navy to disarm unexploded bombs in England, to founding the underwater warfare program for the US Navy. 

I'm back in Montana, we have snow on the surrounding mountains, fall is at hand.  I leave in a couple weeks for Europe, will post pictures of that as it occurs. 

Clearing skies, my school, re-purposed.

It rained off and on last night, which cleared the skies somewhat. For the first time in a couple weeks the mountains only a mile or two away were visible, and one's eyes didn't burn just from being outside.

My old school or You can go home again, and it's even better

My elementary school, St. Francis around 1953, I'm at the very far right, my sister is way off to the left side. 

My school now: 

I can now have a beer in the same general vicinity that surly nuns whacked my knuckles. Perhaps time does heal all wounds, eh?  

A request we're gonna get right on........

Left by a visitor/guest at the main lodge in Yellowstone:

I'm assuming this person is also one who want's to take a 'selfie' next to a bison.  No problem, step right up sir.