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 Silencerco - logo used with permission I’ve already written about Silencerco in an earlier post (click here) but Nutnfancy and his friend PFI Dude got to visit the company in Utah. His video tour and review was pretty darn good and I think Josh and Mike came through in a huge way for TNP Video one has some great footage with Josh (CEO of Silencerco) and Mike (Silencerco employee and longtime friend of TNP) explaining the Sparrow while video two has all the info you could want about the Osprey along with video of both suppressors in action. It’s all very impressive and I can’t wait to hear a few of them shot in person, preferably with my finger on the trigger While silencers are legal in most of the U.S., very few people I’ve met have ever heard one fired. One of the things I love about these videos was the way that they both compared and demonstrated the silencers while also showing the actual correctly measured results. Video cameras and microphones in general don’t accurately pick up the full spectrum of sound from a gunshot with or without a suppressor so you can’t really tell how quiet it is unless you’ve got the numbers to properly explain it. While I would desperately love to have a 45 Osprey mounted on a 1911, I did the math and it would come to about $2,000 which is a bit much for my budget. I’ve decided to go with a Sparrow instead to use on my Ruger 10/22. I’ve been in touch with Josh about a few different things and he says they’ll thread my 10/22 barrel for me and the price they quoted was absolutely unreal because I was expecting it to be about twice as much 8) Josh has been incredibly responsive, supportive, and friendly – I couldn’t ask for and have rarely found someone in any industry who’s been better. I’ve got to say a big THANK YOU to Josh for allowing me to use the company logo in this post and for making this visit and video possible Stay tuned – I might be able to get my hands on an Osprey fairly soon for photos and a write up on that as well  The following are some pics that I took in 1980 with a Yashica TL Electro 35mm SLR. I scanned the prints so they are not the best. But these few pictures are representative of a life that I chose so very long ago. The Black and White of eight of us Argonauts is an official Navy Photo. We were young…………….once……………and our bond was as strong as any.  The Day I got my Air Warfare Designator. The (AW) you all see. Me, first row, middle. AMS2 Tim Lobretto, middle, second row. AQC Ed Zwick to Tim’s left and then the CO, CDR Jim Oliver. This was when I was in VA-147, The Argonauts out of NAS Lemoore, CA and embarked with Carrier Air Wing Nine in USS Kitty Hawk CV63. The following are from the Long Cruise of September 1980 to May 1981 aboard USS Ranger CV61 when I was in VA-145, The Swordsmen. We had the A-6E and KA-6D. Pinch will fill you in on the K version. Tomcats had to plug in after launching!  Prowler shooting off the waist of Ranger. The Rooks of VAQ-137 The above shot also has NE 505, NE 621 and NE 400 in it. 505 is a Swordsmen bird. NE 400 is from VA-25, Lex will know it as VFA-25. I got a few years on ya, there, Lex.  NE112. The Wolfpack of Fighter Squadron One. OK Three Wire. Above is a Tomcat of Fighting One, The Wolfpack. This outfit was consigned to the history books even before I retired! The F-15 is a bad ass fighter but there is nothing on this earth quite like a Tomcat. Any Time, Baby!  USS Independence CV-62 to Port This is a shot of the first ship I served aboard. The guy in the green jersey to the left is AD1(AW) Darryl Hinkle. He was in VAQ137 at the time. We had made two cruises together on Independence when he was in VAQ132 and I was in both V-1 division as an elevator operator and AIMD Hydraulics shop as an AMH3. We go a long ways back.  KA-6D trap. NE 522. Swordsmen. VA-145. KA-6D. An A-6A re-manufactured. The avionics and LOX converters were removed from the aft equipment platform and moved under the radome. The radar was taken out for this. A hose reel and plumbing was installed in the aft platform and we had a tanker. Full fuel on this puppy was 26,000 pounds. Off a deck. Check with Lex and Pinch. They know. The prop job with it’s wings folded back is the E-2C Hawkeye. Think AWACS for the Fleet. Still in production in it’s latest version with those cool eight blade scimitar props! Still a Grumman Iron Works product on Deck in the Fleet!  Passing Gas! That is us. Passing gas to VAQ137′s Prowler! Not the best shot but it is all I have. Other than memories. And the occasional cheap shot in the general direction of Pinch and Lex. With out us and these birds……………………………..  The point of the sword goes..........BOOM! Mark 82, GP, 500 pound bombs. Showing off for some dignitary, I guess. We didn’t get to go to Tehran and use them for keeps.  VF-2 Bounty Hunters On a flyby. The Bounty Hunters now fly the F/A-18E Super Hornet. Out of Lemoore. CVW-2 is a whole lot different these days.  Wolfpack Tomcat off the waist The Wolfpack is gone. The Swordsmen of VA-145 have been gone since six months before I retired. The Rooks of VAQ137 will be transitioning to the EA-18G Growler. A plastic jammer! The Fisties went plastic in 1985, as one of the first two operational Hornet outfits at Lemoore. For a short period of time, CVW-2 was a Grumman Air Wing, per se. Two Tomcat squadrons, two Intruder squadrons, one Prowler squadron, one Hawkeye squadron, in addition were the S-3s and H-3s. Now the Carrier Air Wing is dominated by the epoxy rocket from Saint Louis. The McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet in it’s various versions including the new Growler Electronic Attack platform. I will never call it a Boeing. To old for that, now. Like a T-2 is still North American to me, not Rockwell. I went to sea in January of 1974 aboard the Good Ship Independence. The primary Fleet Fighter was still the F-4 Phantom II. When I retired the Tomcat was looking at it’s end of service. The A-6 was being stood down by then. The A-7 was completely gone shortly after Desert Storm. VA-46 and VA-72 on USS John F. Kennedy stood down almost upon return to the States. JFK is gone, as well. There are no oil fired carriers in the Fleet. And even Enterprise is slated to be decommissioned in a couple of years and by then she will have served over 50 years! But I hope everyone enjoys the pictures. I enjoyed the times I was there to take them. And we are our own Band of Brothers, Cold Warriors all of us. Did that title get your attention These pics are a couple of years old now, but I hope to add some more new ones in the next year or so. All were taken at the March Field Air Museum in southern California on a couple of different visits. There are no Blackbirds in or near Las Vegas, so I have to travel to southern Arizona or California to see one. I’m hoping to go visit Glenn sometime in early 2011 and maybe we can get over to the Blackbird Air Park in Palmdale, but until then these will have to do I’ve gotten the bug again that starts me to learning about the secrets of the southern Nevada desert and the black (as in secret) aircraft that were born in this desolate region of the United States. I’d been interested before I moved here, but that got a huge jump start when I met TD Barnes at the 2004 Nellis AFB Airshow – Aviation Nation. TD is the President of The Road Runners Internationale and also runs another website about Area 51 special projects. TD has worked at Groom Lake and at the Nevada Test Site. It’s thanks to him that I’m an associate member of the Road Runners and because of that I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many of the people I’ve only read about before and who made the U-2, A-12, YF-12A, and SR-71 possible. Click on the links in this paragraph if you want to know the extent of the extraordinary accomplishments achieved by these Cold Warriors which have been totally secret until very recently.
 F-101 Voodoo - The usual chase plane at Area 51 during the Blackbirds' development You’re probably wondering what an F-101 Voodoo has to do with Blackbirds and I wouldn’t blame you. These were the jets most used as chase aircraft during flight test out at Groom Lake – AKA Area 51. The men who flew them are characters like you’ve likely never met and from what I’ve heard they still haven’t changed much at all over the years. One of my favorite stories from a Road Runners’ reunion was that of an F-101 pilot who had made it his daily habit to perform a low level supersonic pass over a remote brothel. One can only speculate as to the reaction from both the clients and the proprietors of that business when he passed overhead!
 SR-71 Blackbird - View from the cockpit  SR-71 Blackbird - A very exclusive seat  SR-71 Blackbird - Never thought I'd get to sit here Back in 2006, I made the trip down to March Field for the airshow and to visit the air museum across from the operational part of the base. I didn’t expect to find the cockpit on the museum’s SR-71 open, but I was more than happy to contribute $5.00 for the privilege of occupying a cockpit I never thought I would find myself in. If you remember the period of time when the SR-71 was operational with the United States Air Force, you no doubt remember the incredible shroud of secrecy and fortress of security that surrounded the entire SR-71 program. Armed men guarded the jets and pilots would answer questions about the aircraft vaguely if at all. Back then you’d have to have a security clearance to do what I got to do here. The Blackbirds have come into the light gradually over the intervening years and now the entire flight manual is available online at SR-71.org.  SR-71 Blackbird - You had to keep track of all this while going Mach 3+ Pilots and the public today expect to see Multi-Function Displays (MFDs). The SR-71 is still the fastest manned, air-breathing aircraft but it’s important to remember the time this jet comes from. The original Blackbird was the A-12 which was known under the names Project Oxcart or Cygnus with the jets themselves referred to as “Articles.” Design began in 1958 and the A-12 first flew in 1962 with the YF-12A and SR-71 following a few years later. These gauges are often referred to as “steam gauges” and were what the pilots of this extraordinary jet used to operate it at speeds of Mach 3+ and altitudes well over 80,000 feet.  SR-71 Blackbird - Throttles with TEB counters circled in red Part of the price of going Mach 3+ is dealing with the heat associated with the friction of the air at those velocities. Nearly everything on the jet had to be created and the process to produce it had to be invented. One of the problems with flying a jet heated to between 500° and 1500° Fahrenheit is trying to keep the fuel from exploding. A special fuel known as JP7 was created for the Blackbirds which was very difficult to ignite – you could throw a lit match in a puddle of JP7 and it would put the match out and it wouldn’t ignite with an electric spark either. The solution reached was to use a chemical ignition system. Triethyl borane (TEB) is pyrophoric – it ignites on contact with air. The Blackbirds had two TEB tanks – one for each engine – with each tank containing enough TEB for about 16 shots. One TEB shot was needed each time the engine was started and each time the afterburners were lit. Servicing the TEB tanks required a special cart and the use of full fire suits. The filters on the TEB carts had to be changed from time to time and you can imagine how much fun that was with flame going everywhere! TEB would also occasionally leak from the tanks, but it wasn’t considered dangerous – it would usually just leave a soot trail. With TEB being vital to flying the Blackbird and a limited supply on board, the designers provided the pilots with counters on each throttle to tell them how many TEB shots had been used and therefore how many remained. You can see the TEB counters in the picture above. Also because of the reliance on TEB for afterburner ignition and the requirement for afterburner operation to fly at its designed speed and altitude, the Blackbird family of jets is one of the few aircraft which is limited in range in spite of the availability of aerial refueling.  SR-71 Nose gear  SR-71 Main gear Along with the fuel, hydraulic fluid, and everything else that had to be invented for the Blackbirds to work, the landing gear and tires were specially made. The Blackbirds were made of titanium which is light, but they’re so big that they’re still very heavy. Empty, an SR-71 weighs 59,000 pounds but it can reach 170,000 pounds loaded with gear, pilots, and fuel. Three specially made tires were required on each of the main landing gear assemblies to distribute this load. Early on in the program the tires had a habit of blowing out due to the heat and weight on them after a flight. It became standard practice to place fans near them to cool them off and keep this from happening.  SR-71 top side - Refueling port circled in green and star tracker circled in red Aerial refueling ports are common on Air Force jets, but the SR-71 has something unique on the top side of the fuselage – a star tracker. This instrument (circled in red above) tracked stars in a 62 object database day and night and in concert with the inertial navigation system (INS) to provide reliable navigation anywhere on the planet in the days before GPS. When you’re flying over “denied territory” they don’t tend to give you points of reference like radio beacons to use on your way.  SR-71 - The look of Mach 3+  SR-71 - The look of Mach 3+ With its long fuselage with its distinctive chines, blended delta wing, massive J-58 engines, and inward canted vertical rudders, the SR-71 is unmistakable and unique. Its records have yet to be publicly surpassed even though it hasn’t flown since 1999. Other aircraft may be flying at the Blackbirds’ original home in the remote desert of southern Nevada, but until they too come into the light, we still have this fine aircraft to marvel at and dream about. This post merely scratches the surface of the history of the Blackbird family and those who designed, built, flew, and maintained them. I just wanted to shine a bit of light onto them if I could and give them a tiny fraction of the recognition they deserve. Those men and these machines kept the cold war from going hot and allowing for the eventual victory of west over east. Before we get going, I have to issue a warning to Kath and anyone else who doesn’t like snakes – there are new pics of Ziva at the end of this post Today could have gone better. I’m trying to look on the bright side, but it’s just not all that easy to do. Sure, I didn’t have to work but it could have gone much better.
I decided to head down to Bass Pro earlier today to check out some items for my shotgun. As I was going down the freeway, an alarm went off in my car signaling low tire pressure. I thought it was caused by the damage to the left rear tire that was caused by a rock in the desert. The pressure was at 24 PSI on the freeway and had dropped to 21 PSI by the time I got to Discount Tire Company. I’d put this off for quite a while, but there’s times when you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.
I asked the guys at Discount Tire to bring back the old tire so I could get a picture of the sidewall and that’s when I noticed this sticking out of the tread near the sidewall on the inside portion of the tire. This was the object that hastened my decision to swap out the damaged tire. I try to think that everything happens for the reason and maybe this prevented me from having to deal with a blowout. I just feel lucky that it happened to the tire that was already damaged.
I did finally make it to Bass Pro although I didn’t leave with what I’d originally come for as the money was already spent on the new tire. Still, it’s never a bad time at Bass Pro
Where else would you expect to find a radio control skunk with a realistic flip-up tail
I had a great conversation with one of the guys behind the gun counter, but I also noticed that Bass Pro is diversifying their offerings in that department as well. I’ve got a Heritage Rough Rider myself and it’s been a great gun, especially considering the low price
Last but not least I thought I’d include a couple of pics of Ziva That’s it for now – gotta get lots of other stuff done and maybe some more stuff posted. Have fun  Hey, I'm used to humidity in the single digits Notice to Kath, KC, Pinch, and anyone else who normally lives in muggy conditions – you don’t get to hurt me for complaining about it, either And to think that last week we were at 110° And yes, I’m still considering moving to Miami in the next few years…
Work was not fun this week. Yeah, yeah, I can already hear you saying that it wouldn’t be called work if it were fun, but it still wasn’t. Putting in about 35 hours of overtime last month and another extra 8 hours last Saturday has gotten me rather farther along the path to burnout than I really prefer to be. I need this weekend Thankfully, I’ve got the great guys at Infinite Arms / New Frontier Armory to go hang out with when I need to decompress  11 June 2010 - Infinite Arms PPSh-41 submachine gun Being a licensed manufacturer, Infinite Arms can make brand new machine guns like this PPSh-41. Not all of the parts are new, but the registered portion – the receiver – is a brand new part. This type of submachine gun was developed in 1941 in the Soviet Union and was widely used in WWII. It’s definitely not light and because of this and the 7.62 x 25mm pistol caliber it’s chambered in, it’s said to be very controllable in full-auto fire. What’s really cool is that if all goes as planned I’ll have the chance to try out this very gun on 3 July 2010  11 June 2010 - Infinite Arms / New Frontier Armory - Silencerco .22 Sparrow Most people think that silencers (or suppressors – the BATFE uses both terms) are illegal. That’s just not true for most places in the United States. As a matter of fact, private ownership of suppressors is legal in AL, AR, AK, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, and WY. You can’t just go down to the local gun store or hardware store, drop money on the counter, and walk out with your new equipment but it’s not all that difficult either. You just fill out the forms, get ‘em signed by the Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO) in your area, get fingerprinted, photographed, and send the whole packet into the BATFE along with a check, money order, or credit card number to pay the $200 tax on the transfer of ownership. The feds run a background check which is pretty much the same as the one for any firearm purchase from a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) wh0 deals in firearms, affix a tax stamp to the paperwork, and send it back to your Class III FFL and you can take it home. There are quite a few misconceptions about owning items regulated under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (AKA the NFA). They think the feds can come into your home at any time, that you have to keep a record of how many rounds you fire, that they can only be used at approved ranges, and all sorts of other notions. None of that is true. It doesn’t matter if you own an NFA controlled item – the feds (and any other law enforcement agency) still need a warrant. You can use your machine gun, silencer, short barreled rifle, short barreled shotgun or Any Other Weapon (AOW – generally disguised guns or smooth bore pistols) anywhere it’s legal to shoot. The only real restriction is on interstate transportation of the NFA controlled items and even then it’s easy to do. You just have to get permission from the BATFE by faxing in a form. The silencer you see in this post is a Silencerco Sparrow which is made to be used on rimfire guns like .22 and .17 caliber. It’s full-auto rated in case you own a registered machine gun in one of those calibers.  11 June 2010 - Infinite Arms / New Frontier Armory - Silencerco .22 Sparrow disassembled I’ve been planning on purchasing a suppressor for quite some time now. After shooting some of them, I’ve been hooked There are many reasons to own a suppressor. They make shooting much more pleasant not only from the standpoint of noise, but also by reducing felt recoil. .22 rounds may not be all that noisy from a rifle, but they’re FREAKING LOUD when it comes to pistols. Rimfire suppressors aren’t all that expensive and with muzzle mounted units like the Sparrow I can use the same can on both my 10/22 and a pistol to be purchased later. I’ve shot some of these cans that are so quiet that the loudest thing you hear is the hammer hitting the firing pin The downside of rimfire suppressors is that rimfire ammo is dirty in a couple of ways. First you have the carbon and debris from the burning powder which can accumulate on the internal parts. The other thing you have is a spray of molten lead coming out of the barrel of the gun because rimfire bullets aren’t copper jacketed like most centerfire is. This mist of liquid lead particles cools and hardens on the internal parts of the silencer. The combined accumulation of carbon and lead causes suppressors to become heavier and due to decreased internal volume they also become louder. Sealed suppressors have to be shipped back to the manufacturer for cleaning which takes paperwork from the BATFE, time, and money (usually about $120) about every 1,000 rounds. I don’t know about you, but that’s like an afternoon of shooting to me. There are quite a few “user serviceable” cans out there for centerfire and rimfire these days. The problem is that they all have the baffles in contact with the outer tube as well as threads for attaching the end caps on that tube to attach the end caps. You have to unscrew the end caps and then pull the core out against the accumulated lead and carbon to clean it all. If you damage the registered part (the one with the serial number – usually that tube), you’re on the hook for another $200 transfer tax payment to the BATFE no matter if the new one is free or not. Silencerco went a different route. As you can see in the picture above, the half shells go over the one piece (monolithic) baffle stack which is then slid into the outer tube before the end cap is screwed onto the baffle stack. There are no threads on that serial numbered part (you can’t damage it with cross threading) and it’s never touched by the flame, carbon, or lead from the ammunition as it’s fired so it’s very unlikely to be damaged. Adding to the ease of servicing, the half shells can be pried away laterally from the baffles so you don’t have to try to drag the stack out against the crud and the threads never come in contact with any nasty stuff either. Because that serial numbered part is the only thing that has paperwork hassles associated with it, replacing a damaged end cap or baffle stack is as easy as shipping anything else. I’ll say right up front that the Silencerco Sparrow is not the least expensive rimfire suppressor on the market. I’ve seen new rimfire suppressors from other manufacturers which cost as little as $175 while the MSRP on the Sparrow is around $450. I was quoted $375 for this Sparrow yesterday at Infinite Arms which is of course subject to change  11 June 2010 - Infinite Arms / New Frontier Armory - Silencerco .22 Sparrow monolithic baffle  11 June 2010 - Infinite Arms / New Frontier Armory - Silencerco .22 Sparrow monolithic baffle  11 June 2010 - Infinite Arms / New Frontier Armory - Silencerco .22 Sparrow monolithic baffle I’ve talked about the baffle stack and I thought I’d give you a better look at that part of this unit. By allowing the propellant gas from the gunshot to expand and cool in a controlled manner while slowing its exit, the silencer keeps the noise down. It’s a lot like the muffler on your car. Mufflers usually have baffles which work in a similar manner – they slow and control the exhaust pulses from your engine. The bullet passes from left to right in the pictures above. As it passes through the hole in the center it allows the gas to enter the next chamber. You can see that they’ve done some research and development on the cross sectional shape. Instead of a slant baffle, they’ve gone with this shape to decrease the possibility of bullets tumbling and causing baffle strikes. It also helps to keep the shift in point of impact vs. point of aim to a minimum. This can be a big problem with some silencers – you put your suppressor on the gun and the bullet hits in a different place relative to where you were aiming. That’s not good  11 June 2010 - Infinite Arms / New Frontier Armory - Silencerco .22 Sparrow stainless steel threads This stainless steel thread insert at the base of the suppressor is where the silencer meets the gun barrel. The rest of the unit is aluminum to keep weight down to an incredible 4.7 ounces. That’s important to keep your gun comfortable and balanced in your hand, but steel is ideal for the required strength at the interface point. The other thing to notice are the scallops machined into the end cap. Those are there so you can use a special tool to help take the unit apart. Most other suppressors need a specialized tool to be able to take them apart, but it’s really optional on the Sparrow due to its design. They say they sell very few of them.  11 June 2010 - Infinite Arms / New Frontier Armory - Silencerco .22 Sparrow OK, I just had to do a close up shot of the logo and markings. Even though it’s still in the store’s inventory and I’ve been told not to worry about showing a serial number, I fuzzed it in the picture for the privacy of whoever buys this one in the end. That’s all I’ve got for this post. Here’s hopin’ y’all weren’t too bored and maybe that you learned something from all my ramblings I also have to say thanks again to Infinite Arms for giving me the chance to see, handle, and photograph all this cool gear Have a great weekend everyone If you’ve been around this site for any length of time, you should know by now that I’m a fan of just about all the stuff that goes on in Nevada that can be described as “black” or Top Secret. I’ve actually been fascinated with these things since long before I moved to Las Vegas, but once here I had the good fortune to meet T.D. Barnes and the Roadrunners Internationale  University of Area 51 - Est. 1955 People who’ve seen this mug joke about little green men and all, but it’s fun to tell them that while I’m not a graduate of the University of Area 51 (Est. 1955), I know some of the founders and later graduates I picked up this particular decoration up at the Little A’Le’Inn on one of my trips to Rachel, NV. I just thought it was pretty darn cool for the radiation symbol and the Blackbird in the coat of arms  Items from Brian Shul - author of Sled Driver Somewhat related to the item above, I bought this patch and photo (seen here as they are now displayed in my office) from a man named Brian Shul. Brian is a decorated former combat aviator who not only flew the A-1 Skyraider in Vietnam (and was shot down in one – that’s where his burn scars came from), but he also flew the A-10 Warthog during the Cold War before transitioning to the SR-71 Blackbird. Since retiring from the Air Force, Mr. Shul has become an excellent motivational speaker, author, and photographer. Click here to visit his website That’s just a little bit of my collection. Maybe I’ll post more later James Horner has written the musical score for a multitude of Oscar winning films including Apollo 13 and Titanic. What I didn’t know until recently is that he’s also an avid aviation fan and a licensed pilot as well. Now he’s teamed up with The Horsemen after becoming good friends with the guys on the team. For those of you who don’t know, The Horsemen are the only team to fly precision formation aerobatics in vintage aircraft. Their usual mounts (there have been others at times) are WWII vintage P-51 Mustang fighters. After much discussion, Mr. Horner has been tapped to write the musical score to which The Horsemen will fly their performances. The full video on that isn’t available yet, but this one tells the tale of how it came to happen and includes some great scenes and sounds of the Mustangs flying hard and gracefully while his new music plays in the background. I don’t care if I have to pay for the video of this when it’s done – I know it’s going to be worth it So kick back, click on the video, and enjoy some real aviation magic Folks, it’s getting to be really late/early, but I know I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I didn’t get this posted first If you’re an aviation nut like I am, you’ll love this video. Seventeen B-25 Mitchell bombers got together for a mass overflight of the Jimmy Doolittle Memorial at Wright Field in Dayton, OH on the 68th anniversary of the famous raid on Tokyo. While eight of the original Raiders are still alive, only four were able to make the trip. Thanks go out to the organizer of this event, Larry Kelly, for posting a comment correcting an earlier error I had posted. I grew up going to airshows and I’ve never stopped. B-25s have been a favorite of mine for a long time – they’ve got the speed, the looks, and an incredible sound that just screams WWII So just turn up the sound, click on the video, and remember what those men did all those years ago. Tomorrow marks the twenty seventh wedding anniversary of Me and The Missus Old Retired Petty Officer. Or in Buck Speak, The Second Missus Cassel! Yeah. She has put up with me that long Love her to death. Through the good and the not so good. Moved her at least one time too many. Four kids who have turned out to be great adults. Eight children total. Married in Oak Harbor, Washington. The second go around for both of us. Think it worked, ya know. Going to Sea, Visweps Dets to El Centro sometimes too often. Even spent five years chasing rock trains all over the BNSF and UP systems. Gone, like the Navy. Always waiting at home when I pulled in after up to two months on the road. WOW! |
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Of course, I’d be sadly remiss if I didn’t send out some thanks to Mike for his part in the video and Nutn and PFI Dude for taking the time and putting in the effort to show us all something we’d likely not see otherwise 
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? I can think of a few people I’d like to give this to…
Yes, it’s true – the humidity is the cause of most of the problems, not the heat and I’m used to a dry heat. We’ve got thunderstorms in the vicinity and I’m sweating much more than normal. I’d bet a cold drink would even have condensation on it in this weather! I haven’t seen that in quite a while 