Claude Cooper, our OCS alumni group’s president-for-life, took this shot because he lives nearby. It’s the North Carolina source of the very old New River which flows north to become one of West Virginia’s major water ways. Too many rapids for it to freeze there, but not here in NC with its recent record freezes. Could be the start of a new mini-Ice Age. In which case, bye-bye AGW.
Comments Off on Frozen New River
Posted in Infantry OCS, Weather/Climate
Tagged AGW, Anthropogenic Global Warming, mini-Ice Age, New River, North Carolina, West Virginia
Gad, it’s cold. Hovering at 30 degrees at the Rancho and headed down to 22 overnight. I know it’s worse in most places north and east of us. Tom Higdon, an OCS buddy in southwestern Missouri, emails that it’s 4 degrees where he is, with minus 6 expected. We’re not used to this kind of weather. At least we can anticipate being done with winter by Valentine’s Day.
Comments Off on Brrrr
Posted in Infantry OCS, Rancho Roly Poly, Weather/Climate
Tagged Central Texas weather, Infantry OCS
Chatter on our OCS email group not so long ago turned to one fellow’s ownership of a forty-nine-year-old Austin-Healey. Reminded me of what I did on our Xmas break in 1967.
After discovering I had been dumped by my college girlfriend for a civilian, I spent the time sleeping in the bath tub of my sister’s one-bedroom D.C. apartment (the couch was occupied) and driving around town with a friend who had a Morgan. The “live axle” one. No springs. Jar your teeth right out of your head. As the experts used to say: you hit the first bump in a Morgan, missed the second one and hit the third one.
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Posted in Infantry OCS, Scribbles
Tagged Austin-Healey, Infantry OCS, live axle, Morgan
Meaning the mountain man of the old movie, not the running back for the Houston Texans. That’s how our OCS class president-for-life, Claude Cooper, is feeling after several days without power at his rural home in the North Carolina mountains. First the blizzard buried them, then an ice storm blew in and down came the power lines.
He’s emailing our happy group via his Blackberry on an unknown somebody’s stray wireless signal and recharging periodically at a child’s home a few miles away where power has been restored. Fortunately, he has a fireplace and plenty of wood. And a gas grill to cook and boil water on. It not being the height of summer, even the refrigerated foodstuffs may be able to hold out a while longer.
UPDATE: After 3.5 days, the power was restored, and Claude is kicking himself, once again, for failing to follow-through on his old plan to invest in an emergency propane generator. Still happy, however, to live out in the quiet boonies with the deers and the bears.
Comments Off on Feeling like Jeremiah Johnson
Posted in Infantry OCS, Weather/Climate
Tagged Blackberry, December to Remember, Infantry OCS, Jeremiah Johnson, North Carolina blizzard, winter '09, wireless signal
Don’t recall where I got this, but it’s in honor of David Nelson, an old OCS classmate in MA, who awoke this morning to thirty-four degrees and heavy snow. As he says: "Good infantry weather!"
Via AlphaInventions.
Comments Off on Aurora
Posted in Infantry OCS, Science/Engineering, Space, Troops, Weather/Climate
Tagged Aurora, heavy snow, Infantry OCS, snow
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
