(Nilo Ha Tien: A Novel of Naval Intelligence in Cambodia (Unabridged) by H.L. Serra) This was one of those bright Fall mornings in Virginia’s Piedmont. A front of crisp brisk air rolled in. The dawn fought with the remaining cold night air to bring an odd sort of tension to the small group smoking out […]

The big cold front started to tickle the Piedmont yesterday afternoon. It is coming southeast from the great Midwest and causing things to happen. The down-filled coats came out for the first time. They were not really needed until this morning, but the flat-screen treated us to a view of Marquette, Michigan, with images of […]

(A USAF B-52 with ordnance. The Big Fat Ugly Fellow (BUFF) is leading the big NATO nuclear exercise through the end of October). The two words were borrowed by planners somewhere deep in the bowels of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are intended to convey a sort of non-threatening military strength- the “steadfast” part […]

(Paddle and Bottle, one handmade, of an antique signaling system of uncertain purpose and value). The consolidation phase of things continues at Refuge Farm. We are edging into the “distribution” phase, the part when things have been placed in boxes and stacked to be carried away by helpful profit-takers. Something turned up from the top […]

(This is one of our old signs from around 2008. It is starting to fail around the edges, but we have a new Good Idea on how to fix it so we can use it again for the next big emergency. Our last great idea seems to be failing, so we are drafting the language […]

The new inflation numbers are out this morning and higher than expected. It is only a decimal point number, and not advantageous to those in power, so we expect not to hear much about it. “Worst in 40 Years!” didn’t get much play last week. We are on edge due to the looming election. We […]

So the crumbs showed up yesterday in the downsizing effort at The Farm. Many were unseen for several years. There was the Marylin Monroe collection, all sorts of gimcracks and gee-jaws.There was enough of her to sequester in her own stack down in the garage to help the estate auction team when they arrive at […]

Morning, Gang! It is a pleasant morning following a brilliant Piedmont dawn. Our version of your wakening ritual featured a reprise of yesterday’s events in the “Downsizing” process, and a quick visit to a souvenir acquired 32 years ago. As you can read, complete with an ancient typo in black china-marker, it was on the […]

(USS Forrestal (CV-59) greets a happy couple at Mayport, Florida prior to a Med deployment). Well, it wasn’t. The long stream of gray ships steaming across components of the gray ocean continued after the Soviet Union collapsed. It wasn’t even our personal last cruise, since there was another to follow on a ship assigned to […]

So, we have drawn down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to the lowest point in forty years. Now, we are looking for the emergency that we did it for. There seem to be a lot of emergencies these days, a virtual plurality of pesky problems. We posed questions around the Fire Ring. It is a […]