(Medical Mask) One of the advantages of a Gypsy life is that you get to see a lot of things would normally observe if you actually worked for a living. There is a downside, of course, in that you never get particularly good at any one thing. But you are forced to develop a sort […]

(Night Train Hog) They don’t call Harley-Davison motorcycles Hogs for nothing. They are big and noisy and as efficient as a Zippo Lighter. My pal road his over to Big Pink on Saturday, and we compared the matchless classic lines of this unique American breed of swine.   My pal looks positively regal on his […]

(“SERE-Trained” Patch Available for purchase in the Coffee Mess, on completion) Seven-six-eleven-five-nine-an’-twenty mile to-day – Four-eleven-seventeen-thirty-two the day before – (Boots-boots-boots-boots-movin’ up an’ down again!) There’s no discharge in the war!                                     – “Boots,” by Rudyard Kipling   It is a long time ago now, and a lot of water over the board since. It is still […]

(Truth, in a way) Apparently we are going to be treated to another batch of pictures depicting the abuse of prisoners in the two war zones. The ACLU sued for release of the pics under the Freedom of Information Act- FOIA- so here they come, ready or not.   The ACLU claims that the release […]

(SERE School Shoulder Patch)   I got the Top Secret memo in the unclassified e-mail the other day. It is one of the ones the Administration has declassified about the harsh treatment of the assholes who have killed thousands of us, and would like to kill more.   We must be in Neverland, right? The […]

(Ram Rod)   I officially became a senior citizen when I signed up for the County-sponsored trip. It was $20 bucks, a bargain, really, and I heard that what the trip was going to see was in danger, and might not be there much longer.   I get ominous solicitations from the battlefield preservation folks […]

(Arlington’s Oldest House) So, it is a day with brilliant sunshine and the air so clear it hurts. Spring cannot be denied much longer, regardless of pouring rain and insidious chill.   The time is here.   I got in the Bluesmobile to check out something right in the neighborhood- or what would have been […]

(The Bird Grooming the Mound) It is raining and I have committed myself to a trip across the rivers, and a long walk in the rain. Thank goodness it held off long enough for the home opener downtown, though if the game had been in Phillie, at Citizen’s Bank Park, they would have cancelled it. […]

(Partially Enclosed Lifeboat Similar to that from Maersk Alabama)   Richard Phillips is going to get the Easter Egg that his family told him they were saving for him. That was splendid news, and it came as I was rolling back from a jaunt over to the local pawnshop, something I should have done last […]

It is Easter, and I am risen, if not in the same divine fashion as some.   A sciatic nerve got pinched last Thursday and I have been lurching through the day. As usual, the events of the calendar snuck up on me. Having no children underfoot, the whole Spring Break thing never came up […]