One year ago today: November 1, 2018, red scooter history.
Five years ago today: November 1, 2014, to be left alone.
Nine years ago today: November 1, 2010, Johnatham?
Random years ago today: November 1, 2016, that’s reported crime, not crime.
Welcome to Nashville. I just slept nineteen and a half hours. Sounds lazy. Hey, not in one stretch I regularly had the dogs out for walks. Me, in a blasting NW wind. Look closely how it peels the parka off Sparkie. He’s wearing two layers. It’s not that cold but the Velcro is worn out making this video look more severe than it is. Things don’t stay on when he is just plain trotting along. But this is the country music capital, where everything is allowed. What’s a little emotional dishonesty now and then? The dogs got to sleep it along with me and you don’t hear them complaining.
I wonder though, after a certain age, do you pick your projects or is it vice versa? I examined the dilapidated state of the birdhouses and it is all wear & tear associated with neglect. That isn’t as negative as it sounds, most people throw up a birdhouse for decoration and forget about it. The units here are far too high up off the ground to maintain. They also lack a hinge for annual cleaning. Many species, as in the ones you want, won’t reuse a nest due to parasites. I took measurements and went up to the lumber yard for parts. While up there, I bought those heavy duty parts for the fence lock. There is a trade-off between strength and weight which will be put to the test tomorrow.
Worse, it was not in the location most people get it, adding to the confusion. But, I developed a taste for apple cider vinegar and take the recommended spoonful a day, sometimes making tea with it. Last day, I found this product. Vinegar in the form of a pill. It is convenient but you know what I would like? The same product in fizz form, like Alka-Seltzer.
Tire durability test.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
The foggy cold continues. So I thought I’d source a new pestle and mortar for the Reb, it’s how we get the dogs to take their vitamins. Ceramic models can and do break. You’d think with all the amateur alchemists running independent research facilities throughout the Tennessee countryside, this would be easy to find. The bottom line here is I would not order toilet paper on-line, compromising my identity, credit card, phone number and address, much less order a product like this and tell Wal*Mart I’ll return to this specific time and place in two days to pick it up. Please understand that many people have considerably less experience than we do over handing out their personal details to strangers.
I extended my examination of the other bird-houses and some of them are indeed very well made. The best of the lot, this cottage style, has vent holes, drain holes, a cleanout door, and I love that little red chimney design for the rope hook. It’s a piece of wooden stake. The joints are impressively tight and still fit after many obvious seasons of weathering. There are two spots that need replacing. One is the rodent damage around the entrance, shown in the first panel. That’s a typical rat attack. Also, the chimney has rotted through, all water damage.
While an overall great job that will have me copy the best features, the vent holes seen under the eaves and the drain holes (not shown) indicate a sloppy job added later by unskilled labor. Maybe while taking a break from their duties at the lab in the woods. Who said building boxes wasn’t a good hobby? There is an old bluebird nest visible inside the entry port. This repair is also awaiting a warmer day.
ADDENDUM
Tennessee gives me a lot more time to review documentaries. Sorry I don’t get into more detail for you, but my interest is more like curiosity. You know what I would like to produce? A series of videos on late war German weaponry. Ally you hear in America is the victor’s side of the story, that the weapons were evil, the Germans were monsters, and the soldiers were all Nazi fanatics. This extends to the weapons. We are told over and over that they were unsafe, glued together, and meant to be flown by children. That nonsense shows indoctrination at its utter finest, since some people still believe that hoodwinkery seventy years later. And anyone who believe jet engines can be built by slave labor will believe almost anything.
Now what is curious is the many definitions of victor. One that fits is a group of capitalists who would give anything to get their hands on German technology, at that time 15 years ahead of the world. You know that little Heinkel 162 jet with the engine mounted on top? The propaganda goes that teens were to be trained on gliders and how it was an unstable death trap. I call the bull on that one. Germany would never allow an unsafe weapon to enter service. British test pilots who flew the airplane after the war seem to have lost their ability to speak or write about the aircraft performance. They were not even allowed to tell each other which resulted in several unnecessary deaths during trials and demonstrations. There is something funny going on about most descriptions of advanced German armaments of this period. Somebody is telling the big lie.
The fact is it was tiny and hard to hit, flew over 550 mph, and had no more of a bad accident record than non-jet aircraft. Not too shabby considering it had been designed and built in 90 days. As for the allied propaganda machine, which is still owned by the same people today, one might ask if the He 162 was so bad, why was it highly praised by the Fleet Air Arm before the gag order? The fact is, it was a first-rate aircraft, light on the controls, and the design was up to excellent German standards. Defects were caused mainly by production errors. Pilot safety was always paramount and it was the first combat aircraft to feature an ejection seat. Germany does not build junk and you should question the motives of anyone who says so. The jet engine was apparently designed to be replaced by loosening one bolt and the wing by four bolts.
As for the bad press about the plane being flown by children, that could be taken either way. Lots of American pilots were teenagers. As for training the pilots in gliders, it makes sense if you have a gas shortage, but it never really happened. The He 162, like all pre-computer era jets, while easy to fly, had a complicated set of engine controls and was assigned only to the most experienced German pilots. The jets were designed to shoot down bombers, not engage in air-to-air combat, so fancy maneuvering was not critical. By this time in the war, German production was deep underground, meaning the Allied Air Force was not bombing military targets, but waging deliberate wholesale slaughter on German cities full of civilians—a role still utilized by US bombers to this day. I said bombers. It was known before the war the Germans had no long-range bombers and could not retaliate, much less conquer the world as today’s historians would have us believe.
The bottom line, as this picture shows, the He 162 was a very sleek design with well-fitted panels and showed all the refinements of late-war German experience. Since most aerial combat takes place around 600 mph, the He 162 could probably cause a lot of trouble today. I think in time it would have become known as the German answer to the British Mosquito. Cheap, wooden, and fast. Only this one had a jet engine.
