It was a nice Sunday, weather wise, and the squirrels took advantage of it. They are constructing a nest in the lower branches of the maple that blocks the sun from my balcony high above the pool at Big Pink. One of the little bastards was actually on the balcony this morning, bold as brass […]

Got up early and am about halfway through resetting the clocks. I hate this- I think they ought to just let the sun alone. In the snail-mail there were a couple clippings from my 84-year-old girlfriend out in San Diego about dementia, commenting on the saga I have been trying to document on the decline […]

I am way behind this morning- normally not a big deal on a Saturday, but I had to cook this morning for the 0915 pick-up in the Alternate Lifestyle Jakemobile. Jake was a good sport when we started to disparage his old car, a 1998 Subaru Outback as being rated number one in the nation […]

Uncomfortable chairs have been the signature for the week. I was one for the second consecutive day yesterday, getting my quarterly teeth cleaning yesterday, and so grateful that they didn’t ask me to answer any questions while they worked. I hate the polygraph- it is the closest that non-Catholics get to the confessional. Of course, […]

“I don’t know anything about polygraphs, and I don’t know how accurate they are, but I know they’ll scare the hell out of people.”  – President Richard M. Nixon, whose paranoia helped establish the US Government polygraph program Kristi looked up at me with surprise as I hit the door to the suite on the […]

I am in Virginia- I think. A pal caught me up short when I was first looking at the computer screen this morning and the Dazbog Russian-roasted caffeine had not kicked in yet. I had some vivid dreams in the second installment of sleep last night which convinced me I was in Michigan. The whole […]

You do not get to The Dan without The Vince. It is a measure of how much those two men were regarded by their co-workers. But first things first. Our world changed the day that Dan and Vince- the men- perished along with 123 other Pentagon workers. Five other Naval Intelligence people died in the […]

Quarters K, the legendary Navy Exchange Gas Station closed last Friday. I stopped by on Saturday, having missed my chance to stop while it was still open on Friday. As I have mentioned in these electrons before, the Secretary of the Army is expanding Arlington National Cemetery, and they are going to rip down the […]

I am still a little surprised to be here, in the safety and comfort of Your Nation’s Capital, and that I managed to avoid the storm. It swept through Arlington all day; steady rain to start, and then the temperature plummeted and the wind picked up. I made a sentimental pilgrimage to the Navy Exchange […]

I could not pay attention to the ballgame last night, the culmination of what might have been one of the best World Series played since World War II. I was too tired, and too wiped from the road. I have had all the emotions drain out of me, and the mental toughness on which the […]