Author: Vic Socotra

What the Hell?

It was black when I got up and things didn’t get much better as the sky transitioned to a sort of depressing gun-metal gray. I went through the traffic and took the bad news like a man, whatever that is these days. I saw the Market dropped yesterday, big time. The Dow plummeted nearly 320 […]

Truth (and Consequences)

(Mac Showers speaks to an audience about the Battle of Midway at the 70th Anniversary in 2012. J2 RADM Paul Becker looks on. US Navy photo). Snow still on the ground, temps still barely climbing to the double digits. I am going to Suitland for a military retirement this afternoon, though I would prefer to […]

Islands and Owls

(Snowy owls- this one a female- are being spotted way outside traditional habitats. Which includes K Street in DC, of all places. Photo Wikipedia.). We may get up to the twenties today, so I am officially bored with the weather. I got to thinking about the Hawaiian Islands yesterday, what with the birthdays, and a […]

They Say It’s your Birthday

(Icebow at Barrow, AK, America’s northernmost city, north of the Arctic Circle and the same temperature as Blue Arlington this morning. Photo Wikipedia). You say it’s your birthday It’s my birthday too, yeah They say it’s your birthday We’re gonna have a good time I’m glad it’s your birthday Happy birthday to you. Yes we’re […]

Surrender

Doppler radar shows the snow is already falling out on the Shenandoah at Winchester, and I wonder if I should turn my day on its head? Go to the office briefly until the snow begins to come down here and at least be outside for a bit today. The heavy dump is supposed to come […]

Halloween Jet

(Spike in the initial roll-out of Raven’s Halloween Jet. He is in the side yard of the house in Grabbingham at Chester and Frank in 1964. The concept was identical to the rib-and-fabric construction of the flying models Dad used to build. Photo Raven). So, down at the farm and not a thought about the […]

Standard Day

(T.I. Martin Field in Culpeper. Image courtesy wikipedia). Hey- it is ‘Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited’ to the waning moon at the farm this morning- and a little colder than the Standard Day. If we were going flying out of T.I. Martin Field today, we would have nice dense, still air and plenty of lift. “Standard […]

Rules of Engagement

Another disastrous morning from the staff of The Daily. Twice this week I have launched off on topics that (when I got to the end of the essay) made me a bit queasy. This is another one. I think it is fairly good, and touches on some of the issues one confronts with the idea […]

Tito Meets Guapo

(The contents of last night’s Socotra medicine chest. Clockwise from lower left, el Cubano Bitters, Deer Park Cparkling Warer, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, el Guapo Tonic Syrup and the finished product. Forget to garnish with fresh lime. Damn.). I was listening to National Public Radio yesterday afternoon as I motored in the Bluesmobile toward the Class […]

Giving Credit

(Front, L-R, John-With, Chanteuse Mary, Lovely Jamie, Joy, (second) The Architect, TLB, Vic Incendiary, Jon-without (back) some guy and Chris-from-Montana. Photo Jasper). Now in the morning pre-dawn, smoking the first cigarette of the day- I don’t smoke in the apartment except for those irritating eCigs and looking out over the parking lot at Big Pink […]