Category Archives: Mr. Boy

Big snow

Posted on February 5, 2010 | Comments Off on Big snow

Can’t say I’d mind seeing D.C. buried by a blizzard for a while, so long as Veeshir has a full pantry and keeps his power. Serves the home of hot air right. Can you say Cap & Trade?

I worry more about Mr. B.’s godfather, Richard Torovsky, at the Reveille Vineyards in the rural Shenandoah. Been snowing heavy all day out there, he said on the landline a few minutes ago, and is still coming down hard tonight. More is expected tomorrow. The  snow is not up to his porch yet but it’s wet snow and it packs like concrete. Fortunately, he has a 4-ton, 4-wheel drive tractor to get around on.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Viet Nam, Weather/Climate

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Science Fair winner

Posted on January 30, 2010 | Comments Off on Science Fair winner

Mr. B. won third place at his school’s Science Fair with his experiment to test the common schoolteacher-instructed notion that sneezing or coughing into the inside of your elbow helps prevent the spread of germs. We used colored paper hole punches inside balloons to simulate germs and “elbows” cut out of index cards to surround the balloon. The experiment more or less proved the usefulness of the idea. Mr. B.  said there was more than one third place. About ten he thinks.

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Posted in Mr. Boy

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Old School

Posted on January 21, 2010 | Comments Off on Old School

Just up the street at Mr. B’s elementary, bringing a pen knife to class will get you a free ride to juvenile hall under the oh-so enlightened “zero tolerance” policy. The Oil Ticks do not bother with such half-measures. Oh, no. It’s lashes all around (and six months in prison) for a girl bringing a cell phone. Truly Old School.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Obamalot

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The Last Time

Posted on January 17, 2010 | Comments Off on The Last Time

Speaking of DC-3s (see below), it seems the largest gathering of them (about 53 are expected) will be flying into Oshkosh, WI, this summer to celebrate the silver bird’s 75th anniversary. All the recent snow up there should have melted by then.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, South of the Border, Texana, Viet Nam

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Gooney Bird

Posted on January 16, 2010 | Comments Off on Gooney Bird

airshows

Was thrilled to read that some folks are packing a DC-3 with relief supplies to ferry to Haiti. The venerable (75-year-old) transport (first one was named the “Flagship Texas”) was my favorite plastic model when I was a kid. I even have a new kit of one in the closet awaiting Mr. B.’s interest in such things. Well. Hoping. I last flew in one years ago in the Bahamas. It was painted pink. Flamingo Airlines, as I recall.

In Viet Nam 18,000-rpm mini-guns were mounted in their open cargo doors to support MACV advisory outfits like mine, a role now filled by the C-130. This outfit (making the semi-aerobatic, one-wheel landing above) teaches single-engine pilots to fly them. No, the DC-3 was never called the Gooney Bird. That was the Army Air Force’s C-47. But DC-3/C-47 is a distinction without (much of) a difference.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Science/Engineering, South of the Border, Texana, The War, Viet Nam

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Battleship B&B

Posted on January 7, 2010 | Comments Off on Battleship B&B

battleshiptexas1

Alas, the extended freeze warnings for the weekend across much of Texas have eliminated the Cub Scout’s planned Saturday overnight on the Battleship Texas. It wasn’t the Cub Scouts who canceled, it was the folks who run the battleship. They’re worried about their water lines freezing and so will be cutting them off and they didn’t want the kids to have to bring their own water, apparently. Mr. B. and I are disappointed. Maybe next year.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Texana

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Back to school, Yay

Posted on January 5, 2010 | Comments Off on Back to school, Yay

Not that I really dislike having Mr. B. around. I’d just like to have it not be all day. 😉 So there was a certain joy involved with his going back to school this morning after what the school district calls “winter break.” His next lengthy break won’t come until March. Good for him, too, though, going back. He misses his friends. Only bad part for me was getting up at seven again so I could drive him to school.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly

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