I took a ride on my stationary bike this morning, back to a simpler time…
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Columns, short stories, and other bloviation
He was a young farm hand born in Blanco, Texas, in 1922. His family had only been in the U.S. a couple of generations–German was his first language and his English would always carry that accent.
He’d never really been out of the Texas Hill Country until the Army drafted him in the fall of 1942, assigned him to the Ordnance Corps and put him on a troopship bound for China.
*First appeared in Air Force Times, fall 2000
This week* we celebrate the 46th anniversary of the Cessna T-37, which first flew on 12 October, 1954. Nearly 1300 “Tweets” were manufactured before the production line closed in 1977: this number includes the trainer, attack (A-37) and Forward Air Control, or FAC (OA-37) versions.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point being a damn fool about it.”
– W.C. Fields
Hard work and practice are necessary to perfect any skill. But sometimes an utter lack of aptitude rears its ugly head, and no amount of hard work and practice can overcome it.
I’m reminded of this whenever I pick up a shotgun.
Continue readingAs I mentioned in part 1, one can’t always be up and doing. Sometimes more sedentary pursuits are called for.
Having already discussed book favorites at some length, I’ll move on to other media:
When the siren song of the workbench falls on deaf ears, the mysteries of ballistics fail to fascinate, or the howl of power tools late on a school night upsets the neighbors, it’s important to have more sedentary pursuits to fall back on.
These are some of my favorites.
Seeing this car brought back a vivid memory of my grandmother driving a bunch of kids through the Texas Hill Country for an afternoon swim in the creek.
Those ranch roads could be rough, but “the Plymouth” was up to the task.
You had to pump the brakes to make them work, and sometimes they didn’t work then.
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First appeared in Air Force Times, summer 2000
The airman who strapped me into the airplane at MAPLE FLAG XXXIII wore a huge grin on his face. And the reason for his high spirits? The day before he’d gotten an incentive flight in an F-16D.
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