Existing In BFE

The Lynx has returned to her winter homes in Ft. Myers (December/January) and St. Petersburg (February/March).  The past couple years she has been in drydock in New Hampshire undergoing refitting and maintenance.  On February 18th I, once again, boarded her for an afternoon sail.   Until I post those pictures your assignment is to view the above video.     ++++++++++ In one of my earliest memories, the Wombie and I snuck out of our room while everyone was sleep to watch a movie called Attack of the Crab Monsters, I suppose on Acri Creature Feature, but this is pure speculation.  It scared us so much that the thought of going to our room was simply too frightening, so we went into the parents room and kneeled next to our mother, heads resting on the bed mere inches from her.  I don't have the words, perhaps they don't exist, to describe the noise she made when she eventually opened her eyes and saw us.  ++++++++++ ...

Having a little extra time a week ago or so I took a walk around the extended fringes of where my present incarceration, Waterboard in Largo.  Here's what I noticed. We see these configurations all the time, don't we?  A couple jet trails criss-cross in the sky.  Always straight - always the shortest distance between point a and b.   How then, do we explain this?   This was a trailer court.  This kind of struck me as somewhat Floridy.  Next to a trailer, was this camper.   So they live in the trailer, then wander out to the camper and enjoy a hot sunny patio.   It wasn't till I got home that I noticed the Corvette in the yard. I'm not sure what this pipe used to do or maybe still does.  But that tree now has a toehold and wants it.   It struck me a sad-sack name.  "Grizzle" isn't a good name for anyone, let alone a politician.  I guess there's not much you can do...

Laziness has forced me to repost this Flashback Friday entry of six years ago.   If you have never seen it, then pretend it is brand new, relatively speaking.  If you have seen it before, then revel in the knowledge that repetition is often like a first fresh cup of coffee in the morning can be the best part of the day.  I include this picture of the Wombie and I working on our snowball making skills.  This picture reveals what has been obvious to many through the years.  Mark will shamelessly mug for any available camera, being totally naive and trustworthy, while I prepare to bang his noggin with a big fat iced up snowball that will, I'm sure, have him running to his mommy in just a few seconds.   One must always recognize the possibility for kindness/generosity/revenge/total war.   In a pre-Christmas staged and posed picture-fest we three Kings are doing our best to get this over with so we can change clothes and resume normal o...

Some people are aware of the high-seas collision between the Andrea Doria (above) and the Stockholm in July 1956.  Like many things in history with the passage of time and generations fall off and others take their place, this was a big deal back then.  Sea voyages were beginning to recede as air travel began to really take off.   51 people lost their lives in the collision and when all was said and done, the court inquiries determined the Andrea Doria to have been largely at fault.  Oddly enough the Stockholm , now the Astoria , is still on the Atlantic making passenger runs. Concept cars are a common way for car companies to put their ideas for design or options into reality.  Usually they make one car and send it around to various national car shows.  Sometimes the ideas are used in subsequent models and sometimes not.   With the sinking of the Andrea Doria, Chrysler's Norseman was also lost.  Most car enthusiasts are aware of...

We have an ad running down here telling us to call our reps to pass the new Republican healthcare plan.  Problem is, there isn't one.  Must the Pelosi approach - vote for it then find out what's in it.   Must be one of those, Hey, if its Republican it must be great things.   We also have ads for Judge Gorsuch.  Folks, its a new world - all politics, all divide, all the time. ++++++++++ Poor iPhone picture but caught this motorcyclist wearing a headpiece or helmet with horns an a tail.  Even at my give-a-shit age I don't think I could cross that line. ++++++++++ 1.  Given proper regulation and oversight, why wouldn't sex worker services be OK?  It is in a third of the world including Australia. 2.  Why is ticket scalping illegal?   3.  Why is euthanasia not more uniformly accepted? 4.  If the last election was a "change" election, why are all the old incumbents still in of...

I discovered the Courtney Campbell Causeway when I was incarcerated at Bedlam,  By now you are familiar with it as well, as many posts have focused on the place, usually for night shots.  Today's post gives you a glimpse of the place during the day.  It's a favorite spot for fishing, walking, biking, jogging and sight-seeing.   This is part 2 of a piece I posted on February 8th.   One bird for each pylon. No more, no less. There are two spans going over the Bay.  One for traffic and the other for walkers/joggers and bikers. Pelican, or can't. "Damn your eyes!  Get out there and wipe off the windshield, you lubber!"  (For some reason "Damn your eyes" was a popular epithet back in the 1700's. Jockeying for position. It was a wonderfully breezy day with the the waves pounding the coastline.  Not terribly dramatic, but not bad weather for Kitschland.   ...

This was saved from a flood in North Henderson that also wiped out other old family photos.  It took other heirlooms like my grandmother's wedding dress.  It was a disaster.  Several large garbage bags full of ruined things were put out for the dump.  basements suck.  Thank goodness the Cabin in the Woods does not have one.  I'm so done with them.   This isn't necessarily a Public Service Announcement, but with spring on its way we can expect rain and the inevitable basement water.  Take care of your things so you don't lose precious memories.  My stuff was stacked in plastic containers and once the water rose the totes tipped and water seeped in.  I didn't check as soon as I should have and by the time I did, the items, photos and keepsakes were in unsalvageable condition.  Maybe its just as well I have forgotten what had to be tossed or I would be doubly saddened all over again.   Poor Wombie, almost completely o...

"Under a spreading chestnut tree,  the village smithee stands." Most every kid in my time heard or read that opening line in Longfellow's poem The Village Blacksmith .    We probably didn't really care about it then, and to be brutally honest, it doesn't do a lot for me now.  But there it is, in my head.  Kind of like Joyce Kilmer's "I think that I have never seen, anything as pretty as a tree" poem we also had to learn, probably in the same class.  Poor Joyce, so deprived of real beauty.  What about the bulky lines of a 1963 Dodge 880?  Or that perky calendar girl hanging on the south wall of the North Henderson Community Center?  Now that is real beauty.  To be further brutally honest, if you lined up 5 of the most live trees in front of me I doubt if I could name them.  The one exception is the live oak that is all over down here in Florida.  That and the palm.  But in Northlandia, they all pretty much look alike to ...