LOST IN NC

 I feel about like this old tired man down town Athens, Greece.

I know I am usually here.  But things are a whirlwind for me.  We had a lot of limbs fall in a recent wind here in NC.  AND  It is  Tax time in case you haven't noticed!  LOL 

I am just checking in to Blogger to let you know I ain't  gone and left the building.  At my age one never knows. LOL

comments off.  I guess I am taking a break. LOL

Nite Shipslog.

PS:  Yeah I do our own taxes.  I have always did them, except when my Brother told me I couldn't and I needed to get  a bookkeeper. I still think I would have been $$$$ better off  if I had not went with a bookkeeper for 8-10 years. When I quit and closed out my company, I started back...  BUT to be honest the IRS or somebody is trying to make it impossible for Joe or Jane citizen to do their own.....

We had a safe landing

 Photo of the day: 

These kids live in Taranto, Italy  I was joking with them They were outside a candy store, kids are the same the world over.

So for today

We drove straight thru except for stopping twice to give ‘Flying J truck stop’ some money. Do you keep up with gas mileage on your car or truck?  My navigator Sherry does.  I am  Very disappointed in our gas mileage, we get about 6,5 miles to a gallon.  On the Diesel we averaged about 8 MPG.  But since gas cost is now much less than diesel, I guess the cost is about even.

The trip was uneventful until the last 12 miles. I did a big NO NO but made it out okay. I ran a red light with our rig. IN MY DEFENSE, we were approaching an intersection that WAS ONCE a ‘T’ at the traffic light. Back then you had to turn right or left. I saw the green GO light and started my turn, before realizing the turn light was RED. So I made a left turn on RED. But since no traffic was involved, I made it fine.

BUT still it gave me cause to BE MORE CARFUL.

Anyway we are at our NC home. I have some BIG limbs down and a lot of work in that area.  I get to use my burn pit, I enjoy the outside fires.  It is similar in mind easing to watching a water fall. I do enjoy both.

Take care and all y’all try to be good!

 

Nite Shipslog

PS:  Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate it when I read them.Plane leaving the angle catapult  and below that is a plane coming in for a landing. You have to give those carrier pilots credit for skil landing on a moving runway..

The planes had a tail hook and the deck has three heavy cables to catch them. If he misses all three he MUST give it every thing for power and take off again. I never did see that happen.

This and that…Posted Sat eve, leaving early Sun AM

 Photo of the day: 

 Wandering the streets of Athens, Greece as an old sailor,  this Grandma caught my eye. She was intently watching a couple kids playing. (smart cushion for her elbows!)

Below is an Athens Street Vendor.

So for today

By the time most of you read this (on Sunday), I TRUST we will be on the road back to North Carolina.

Okay, I pressed the retract buttons and everything worked. (I actually wrote that early this morning (Sat) thinking positive.)

BUT ouch, nothing moved the motor hummed, but NADA. I looked at the panel under the coach, I knew which solenoids controlled the slide-out. So I ‘easter egged’, moving them around while saying ‘try it now,’ over and over to Sherry up in the coach. After about 15 minutes We heard a bump as I was moving my hand back. I went back in with my hand while wiggling it and the slide started in.  I must have a short or open in that area. I will check it when we get to NC. We finished up the ‘moving preps’ and left two slides out to be brought in just before we leave, I HOPE.

TO answer Brother Victor’s question about the furniture.  The furniture is stationary on the slide out floors which brings that part of the motor home back in over the main coach floor.. We MUST be careful with the throw rugs on the floor though.  If they get caught under the slide rollers it is a BIG MESS, I did it once. OUCH. I had to cut the rug up to get it out.

They have a neat trick of how they raise and lower the slide floors and they stay practically level when out.

This is a 2005 coach. It has been treated well and still looks brand new inside. This coach was mostly a vacation unit, maybe used 2-4 weeks a year. It has less than 39000 miles on it. It has been driven about 2000 miles a year.  For us that would be one trip to Dallas TX and back. LOL

The coach is easier to drive than a car, at least for me it is.  The view is much better of course, you see over the bridge rails and actually see the rivers etc.

To be truthful though, in towns and cities it isn’t quite as much fun.  Left turns are much easier than right turns. When we are towing the car, which is 99% of the time the total unit is near 60 feet long, ;-)

Nite Shipslog

PS:  Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate it when I read them.

Don't know why Athens in on my mind (Just traveling I guess) but this is looking up to the Acropolis,

AND we all know kids are the same all over the world, just cute! This one with her mama at a bus stop.

 

Things can go wrong

 Photo of the day: 

 This is our new to us Winnebago.

The slide at the back is the Bedroom, the slide close to the door is the Kitchen slide (pic below) The the other side has a dining/living room slide. 

Floor Plan:

So for today

In this world of new technology, there are answers to dreams. Sherry and I no longer live on the road full time.  We did that for over 20 years.  Our properties were rented and leased out and we spent the income on the road seeing some of the world, but mostly our country.

When we first started we only had to be concerned with ‘will the engine start’ and we might have a blow out or flat tire. There were minor things but many were similar or the same as living in a house.

Now over the years these RV’s have become more technical. One thing that has us buffaloed with this coach is the leveling jacks do not work.  In Florida that is not a real problem, since most of the land is flat.

However, we graduated up to a coach with 3 slide outs.  It makes life much more comfortable. The basic coach is 8 feet wide. Now this one here in the dining/living area when parked we have a width with the slides out of 14-16 ft. NICE. 

Nice that is, until we press the retract button and nothing happens! For sure we cannot drive With the slides out. So someone must work (or play with stuff) to get the slides in.

That has happened twice now. SCARY when you MUST move because someone else has rented the lot you are sitting in.  Fortunately I have been able to jury rig and play with controls and get the slides in, but that is NOT normal.

(I am sitting here at the dining  room booth looking at the couch on the left. This is the slideout that has given us trouble, it is the largest slide also. youcan see when the couch slides in it will be even with the drivers seat.)

I am sitting here wondering come Sunday morning will the slide come in. So tomorrow I will be trying to get them in and hoping I have no trouble. Technology is grand, until it does not work.

You know the feeling, one day you call up the net and do not get anything, then we modern folk are at a loss. OR you cannot get that great CELL PHONE to connect.

In our case the jacks and slides work on the same hydraulic system.  They are made by HWH out in Moscow, Iowa.  It is a great company; we have been to their factory.  I think I hear something telling me to head to Moscow this year…………

Nite Shipslog

PS:  Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate it when I read them.

Getting ready to leave….

 A picture for today

 

For Today:

We must head north in a couple days. Both of us have appointments with our doctors. I think I told you I must have a mammogram, I had never heard of a man having one, but I guess this is equal opportunity.  Of course since I mentioned it here some of you were not surprised and once I check around I am not all that odd, I am glad to know that.

The lump is starting to hurt a little more and I will be glad to learn from my Dr. what he thinks.  I am sure he will reschedule the test, since I had to cancel the first one, that made no one happy…

Do you have any crazy neighbors?  We have one REAL ODDITY. He plays crazy music very loud. We hear it clear and he is across the street and 3-4 houses up.

He puts on bikini underwear and dances in the street to the music.  At times he dances with his pet snake.  He has painted his trailer with graffiti. He uses fluorescent spray paints.  He calls himself Swag daddy.

Surely he is buying the trailer he lives in, not renting, or some landlord is not paying attention.

David who lives across the street from us here, works at a big concrete production company and told son Mark that Swag Daddy got a job there over the net but did not last a week. He was singing and taking selfies all day. The one that lost him his job was coming to work in his bikinis, to do work in concrete????!

That’s it for me.  Anxious to hit the road.

NiteShipslog

PS:  

  PS:  Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate it when I read them

 

I can laugh at myself and some others too!

 A picture from the news

For Today:

I read this just below,  yesterday:

 Missing Daytona Beach found deceased in pond near home, police say

Should I be worried about Daytona Beach or the writer and proofer here? 

If you need to smile---- Some headlines from around the country

 

·         Iraqi Head Seeks Arms.

·         Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says.

·         Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers.

·         Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax.

·         Farmer Bill Dies in House.

·         British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands.

·         Teacher Strikes Idle Kids.

·         Miners Refuse to Work after Death.

 

• Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
• War Dims Hope for Peace
• If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
• Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
• Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
• Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
• 
• (That one was a shocker!!!)
• Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge

And this is enough to close with:

 

Y’all have a good NIGHT TODAY!.

NiteShipslog

PS:  

  PS:  Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate it when I read them

 

 

Title:

AT pic of the day:

 

For today:

Nite Shipslog

PS:

God has allowed us to meet some of the best folk on the planet. In person and here on the net.  Thank you all for being here… and being YOU!

Copy Cat here: When the music stopped!

 Photo of the day: 

 Soldiers at Attention:

So for today

I follow Susan Kane, a witty retired school teacher, and former farm girl. She is a good writer in her own rite:

http://thecontemplativecat.blogspot.com/2024/01/showing-respect-to-flag-and-pledge.html.

After reading her post above She included some good graphics with ‘When the Music Stopped’,  I had to research it and found it in public domain and at a Blog called ‘Off Base’  lead by a lady named Bobbie O’Brian, a blog that interacts between military and the civilian community. I was so impressed I wanted to reprint the whole story. It happened in 2007 -----

 

What Happened When the Music Stopped in Iraq

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Bobbie O'Brien

A fellow journalist shared the story below. According to Truth or Fiction.com, it is a true story that dates back to May 2007. The words are from Army Reserve Chaplain Jim Higgins written when he was deployed. It’s an apt entry for a Sunday.

 

(For  those who are unaware: At all military base  theaters, the National Anthem is played before  the movie begins.) As is the custom at all military bases, we stood at attention when it played before the main feature film began.

This is written by a Chaplain in Iraq :

 

I recently attended a  showing of ‘Superman 3’ here at  LSA  Anaconda. We have a large auditorium that we use  for movies as well as memorial services and  other large gatherings.   

Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000 18-to-22-year-olds  back in the States?  I imagine that there  would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude  comments, and everyone would sit down and yell  for the movie to begin. Of course, that is, only  if they had stood for The National Anthem  in the first place.

 

Here in Iraq  1,000 soldiers continued to stand at attention,  eyes fixed forward. The music started again, and  the soldiers continued to quietly stand at  attention.  Again, though, at the same  point, the music stopped. What would you expect  1,000 soldiers standing at attention to  do??  Frankly, I expected some laughter,  and everyone would eventually sit down and wait  for the movie to start.

 

No!!. . . You  could have heard a pin  drop while every  soldier continued to stand at  attention.

Suddenly, there was a lone  voice from the front of the auditorium. Then  a dozen voices, and soon the room was filled  with the voices of a thousand soldiers,  finishing where the recording left  off:

 

It was  the most inspiring moment I have had in Iraq ,  and I wanted you to know what kind of U.S.  Soldiers are serving you!  Remember them as  they fight for  us! 

 

Written by Chaplain  Jim Higgins, LSA Anaconda is at the Ballad  Airport in Iraq , north of Baghdad.

 

I still stand at attention for the Flag and the Anthem. They represent a country that I dearly love.  I still shed a tear for those who served, and for those who gave all.  God Bless America!

Nite Shipslog

PS:  Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate it when I read them. 

Holy Cow, YOU said WHAT?

Photo of the day: 

 

So for today:

So I have been a church goer all my life. As a kid it was not always voluntary, but daddy said, 'you will go to church.' I don’t think it warped my mind.  At least that is NOT what warped my mind, however, my mind is not as warped as Victor over in the UK who said he once had a watch so old that it was a sundial. ;-O

My mama would use a hickory switch if she heard me say ‘Durn’ or even ‘Shoot’, if it was out of context. You are just substituting slang for the ‘bad’ words.  It was not necessarily cussing, but that using ‘bad’ words was wrong.

            

We attended a non denominational church service a few days ago.  It is said to be VERY CONSERVATIVE. Most of the attendees are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

But during the sermon the pastor said, “Some things piss me off!” I wasn’t floored. Hey, I was a sailor, BUT my dad was also a preacher and I never heard him say that even OUT of the pulpit. I smiled to myself and justified it as the pastor trying to reach men who were never church goers.  I just hoped he did not go further and he did not.

Shucks language is a lot worse in movies and even on TV now than in the past. I have even heard ministers recommend a movie and say, “Now you will have to ignore some bad language!”  WHAT?

There was a time that mostly men used foul language, but now it seems that some ladies want equal time.  Do you ever look for supplements or vitamins in a large store where they have at least a million different containers of the stuff. My girl takes Ginger Root daily and I was trying to find some for her a couple days ago.  It is sorta like an Easter Egg Hunt. There was a nice looking lady beside me and dropped the ‘F’ bomb twice as she tried to find something.  I started to say, “PARDON ME?” but I didn’t want to get hurt! ;-)

Have you noticed a lowering of standards in our language? And I bet you never heard the Piss word in church.

Nite Shipslog

PS:  Okay, it is tax time and some folk will use a lot of bad words.  I wonder why holy is used also.  

Thank all of you that read this drivel. I enjoy comments and appreciate it when I reads them.

Know your product (and salesman) before you buy

  Photo of the day: 

 

                    

These are Rolex watches You can find then with prices in the millions....

Real or fake? I would not know....

So for today:

In traveling thru Switzerland once I did actually see watches in display windows with prices into the Thousands of dollars. I thought what I had heard was just someone blowing smoke. Now I learn the Rolex is just one of those that goes up above the $100,000 mark and higher.

Anyway, I had a customer on my Roach Coach route once who told me he had just made a deal, a man came into his office needing money, He had a Rolex that he hated to sell, but he would sell it for $100.00.  My customer bought it. He later learned he had been conned and it was one of those ‘knock-offs’ worth $10.  He was very upset.

Years ago my daddy told me in life do not play others' games unless you know the rules. Buy and sell only if you know the value.  I mostly follow that rule, but I haven’t always, and it costs.

Shjerry bought me a Gold Elgin watch (I think it is still in a drawer somewhere), I have used a $1 pocket watch and a $10 Timex.  I now wear a $19.00  Timex. My Timex is as accurate as a $12,000 Rolex or for my use it is as accurate. Some folks must have more money than they have time enough to spend it! (I heard that once)

Sailors in foreign ports are hounded by men wanting to sell all sorts of ‘gold, silver and diamond’ products. There again, I cannot tell those precious minerals from fake at a glance. I avoided them.

YES. I would not know a diamond from glass, all I know about real diamonds is what I heard a long time ago: a real diamond will cut glass.

Have you ever encountered or heard of the guy whose coat is lined with his stolen watches and rings for sale, like this guy?

I met one in Messina Sicily. On the way back to the ship a guy hailed me, “Hey Joe, wanna buy a diamond ring?  Look! It is real it cuts glass.” He leaned over a nice Mercedes and made a swipe, leaving a scratch across the windshield.

 This sailor RAN back to the ship I did not want to be accused of the damage.

 Just warning you, be careful next time when you buy a Rolex.  ;)   

Nite Shipslog

PS:  God has allowed us to meet some of the best folk on the planet; in person and here on the net.  Thank you all for being here… and being YOU!