JUST THINKING ABOUT....

 54 years ago, I was a seaman apprentice newly assigned to an old Coast Guard Cutter. At 19 years old, I was on the Deck Force still learning the ropes.in 1967, we were charged with search and rescue and keeping a watchful eye on Russian ships right off our coast. This was the CGC TAMAROA, an old, old

 sea going tug that somehow managed to get us

 home after every patrol. The above photo was taken from the flying bridge in heavy seas.

Below is me relaxing on solid ground followed by a photo of the wheel house where I spent many hours steering the TAMROA through some sporty weather. Next is a photo I took of us towing the Mackinac down to be decommissioned.

Then a side view of the old girl in moderate seas. The last photo was when she was sunk as a reef off Cape May. There were a lot of heavy hearts that day.

She was an old cutter but she served her nation from 1943 to 1994. We crew members would bitch and moan about rotten weather, rescuing crazy fishermen, tailing the Russians and going after drug smugglers (we had 10 marijuana leaves painted on the bridge representing our drug busts). 

We had no air conditioning in 67-68. We squished 70 odd people in two tiny berthing areas, but when we left her or the CG, we always managed to remember the good times. Believe me serving your country on an Ocean Going Tug like this made you grow up fast!

I will always remember the lessons learned and the pride we felt when we sailed the seas with our national flag fluttering in the breeze.

FINGERS CROSSED

 The old chariot is in for it's annual physical today. It is 14 years old and so far is treating me OK. 

It's in for a oil and filter change with a check up on fluid levels, leaks, cracked hoses, belts etc. Hope to keep it many more years. Can't afford one of those EV monstrosities that Biden is trying to ram down our throats.

P.S. just got back from the repair shop. It was cheap this time. Just an oil and filter change. Then said the rear brakes were a little low but didn't need replacement yet.

INSPECTOR MAGELLAN

 My sister and I had a treat today. She came over for a visit and brought me my customary coffee and two donuts holes.

We watched something different. There is a French TV series called Magellan. It is about a divorced police inspector who has custody of his two daughters. 

Also in the mix is Magellan's journalist girl friend, a nephew and his partner. We enjoyed the first episode  very much. It's in French with English subtitles. There are seven seasons, I think.

I know that many people are not crazy about subtitles, but I think this series is worth it. If you are a fan of Midsommer Murders, odds are that you will like this show as well.

ELUSIVE SLEEP

 I have been tossing and turning since 4:30 this morning. It's driving me nuts. Over the years as an Operating Engineer I have worked all shifts around the clock. I even worked the dreaded swing shift for two years. That pretty much meant I worked everyone else's day off. 

After several years in the field I finally landed on days. But in order to commute to the City and get to work on time I was up at 4:30 a.m. every morning. 

After a couple of decades of that, my body just won't sleep longer than 6 hours. Even though I have been retired for 11 years now, no matter what time I go to bed, I awaken 6 hours later. 

Last night I was tired. I go to bed at 10:30. Sure enough, I'm awake at 4:30. And mind you this is using a CPAP machine because I have sleep apnea.

I wonder how much sleep people with regular 9 to 5 jobs get? Oh and even before this job, I was in the military. On board a cutter, we stood watches 4 on, 8 off plus turned to ships work. 

So pretty much all my life, I have been subject to weird sleep patterns. A couple of times, I slept until 9 a.m. but guess what, I went to bed at 3 a.m.!

Can't win😴

GREEN ENERGY, TOO FAR, TOO FAST

 My oldest son and I  converse on a number of subjects other than my grandchildren. One subject we discuss is green energy. 

Once upon a time, I was the Environmental Manager for one of our accounts in the city.  I didn't want the job and said so. But no matter, they made me do it anyway. I learned a lot of things in the process. Mainly, the wrong way to do it. I was told for the first year, go green, but spend no money! Being a former Chief Engineer, I had already implemented a number of cost saving measures that reduced our carbon foot print since it is beaten into us engineers to save money.

Eventually I got them to loosen their purse strings a little bit. We bought VFD's for our large package units, etc. 

Well I have been retired, out of the field for a tad over a decade now so I decided to ask my son who is knowledgeable in this area what he felt had the most promise in the future. 

His opinion is that solar energy is the way to go for the future. I think he is right, but we are not there yet. Our government is not very smart. They are trying to do too much too fast. As a result we are suffering 6% inflation. Fuel costs are starting to rise again. We have supply chain issues and food is expensive.

I agree that we should demonstrate a better stewardship of the world. However states like California and probably New York are not thinking right. If they go all electric in California regarding cars, do they realize that they will have to spend millions to upgrade the power grid? We need to  produce more electricity for additional charging stations. 

It varies by state, but those states who don't have an abundance of hydroelectric power will need to produce electricity by using nuclear reactors, oil, natural gas or coal. so how is that going to help reduce our carbon foot print? Then with an increase in EV's we will see an increase in battery reclamation and an accompanying increase in cost. We should not rush the process. We will just make it worse.

A message to government bureaucrats. We want to help, but we don't want to be driven into poverty and food shortages just so you can look good.🙂

Pecks Pond

 One of the places I like to visit regularly is Peck's Pond. A nice relaxing park close to the river. It has water fountains, gazebos and plenty of ducks and geese.  There is a path circling the pond that people use for walking and exercising their dogs.

A very nice place. We used to come here as a family a lot when the  kids were young.

Right now I have the windows down and am grooving to Taylor Dayne, one of my favorite female singers. Nice breeze blowing through the car. I'm enjoying the antics of several dogs.

ON THE HUDSON

 Beautiful day. 58° slightly hazy to the south.  Enjoying the water, the breeze, the geese and the people. Not as crowded as yesterday. The river is glassy, you can barely see a current.

Makes me forget all the B.S. going on in the world today.

73° now. Heading back for another round of nature.