A little golf and two new blooms

I got to play a little golf with Superputter today. It was a glorious day to play with a few clouds and in the mid 60's. The trees are blooming and the grass is green from the early Spring rains.



The greens are perfect and even the sand traps look nice aslong as you are not in them.


Superputter was on his game with low straight shots and close to or at par on every hole.


Our curly, yellow-red tulips are now blooming.


The Grape Hyacinth with it's little bells remind me of the Texas Blue Bonnets a wonderful sight and one of the very best things about my home state.


Quote of the Day (Today it's a poem)

Gulfcoast Highway
(written by Nanci Griffith, James Hooker and Danny Flowers)

"Gulf Coast Highway he worked the rails
He worked the rice fields with their cool dark wells
He worked the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico;
The only thing we've ever owned is this old house here by the road
And when he dies he says he'll catch some blackbird's wing
Then he will fly away to Heaven come some sweet bluebonnet spring

She walked through springtime when I was home
The days were sweet, the nights were warm
The seasons change, the jobs would come, the flowers fade
And this old house felt so alone when the work took me away
And when she dies she says, she'll catch some blackbird's wing
Then she will fly away to Heaven come some sweet bluebonnet spring

Highway Ninety, the jobs are gone
We tend our garden; we set the sun
This is the only place on earth blue bonnets grow;
And once a year they come and go at this old house here by the road
And when we die we say, we'll catch some blackbird's wing
And we will fly away to Heaven come some sweet bluebonnet spring

And when we die we say, we'll catch some blackbird's wing
We will fly away together come some sweet bluebonnet spring"

Tillamook Air Museum

Spring is flowering and one of our first is the Clematis on our back patio.

Since spring is here we had to get out in the RV so we drove north and then west to Tillamook and the Air Museum.


It's just past the 4th cow pasture then a hard right.


Out front is a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser (Mini-Guppy) titled the Erickson Air Crane.


Superputter and Scrabble Queen posed in front of the entrance of the museum for me.


The huge hanger doors ride on train tracks to open.


It's hard to describe just how large this hanger really is. It was built as part of the coastal defense system. It's the largest wooden structure in the world. It was built in one year with the start in 1941 and finish date in 1942. I was born the following year. The plane you see inside is not a small plane but a large twin engine plane.


Inside they had one of the machines (Graphotype) used to make dogtags. We had them make a dogtag for Superputter with his name serial number and branch of service.


Here is a view of the hanger door from inside.


This picture, if you click on it shows the wooden planks used to construct the roof.


This is an F4u-7 Corsair.

With its inverted gull wing, and set back cockpit, military commanders felt the pilots would have a hard time landing on aircraft carriers. Eventually a new landing technique was developed in which the pilot made a wide, sweeping approach in order to keep an eye on the landing deck at all times until the last seconds when he would roll the wings level and pounce on the deck

The Air Museum also has it's own soda shop. We found out it was still cold in the hanger with the doors open so popping back in to warm up was a treat.


I know I should have gotten the names of all these aircraft but heck I just like the looks of them and I would forget them in a few days. We all liked this flying boat.


I like this sleek air force vintage fighter.


This is Billy Mitchell's Tangerine twin engine fighter. Billy is regarded as the father of the U.S. Air Force.

During and after WW1 he held a number of command and staff posts in the Air Service, both in France (1917-19), and in the US (Director of Military Aeronautics, 1919; Chief of Training and Operations, 1920). As Assistant to the Chief of Air Service (1921-26), he advocated the creation of an independent Air Service. He arranged demonstrations illustrating the utility of air power through the historic bomber vs. battleship trials (1921), the group flight to Alaska from the continental US (1923), and the Army's Around-the-World Flight of 1924.

Mitchell's public criticism of government policies, in defiance of Army regulations, resulted in his court martial for "conduct prejudicial of good order and military discipline" and insubordination in Oct-Dec 1925. Found guilty and suspended for five years, Mitchell resigned his commission in Jan 1926. He continued to promote aviation and decry government inefficiencies until his death.

I had to do a little censorship on this picture but it really is indicative of the times and the brave boys who did what they could to make the best of their dangerous service.


Fast and sleek the North American P-51 Mustang was an American long-range single-seat fighter aircraft that entered service with Allied air forces in the middle years of World War II. The P-51 became one of the conflict's most successful and recognizable aircraft.


We finally got to the Tillamook Cheese country where we saw a vintage London Omnibus.


Continued tomorrow

Quote of the Day -

In the development of air power, one has to look ahead and not backward and figure out what is going to happen, not too much what has happened. ~ Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell, USAS.

Where is Our Blooming Spring

It's March so where is the blooming spring. We are in our third winter, I even played golf a week or so ago then it rained, got colder, again I might add, and the clouds are not aware they should be harassing North Dakota or Upstate New York. I'm getting my photography business slowly off the ground and sold three pictures (will deliver and get paid Monday) so it's a start.

I have a program on my PC that produces a cool fade in fade out slide show. I was testing some new batteries to see how long they last and in shooting the PC screen I got this image of a Morning Glory in the process of being replaced by a California Poppy. The result was a patriotic (red, white, and blue) image.

So now everyone knows what weird thing go on in my mind when I'm bored. It is a pretty cool image though created by chance. Perhaps I can sell it on E-Bay like the grilled cheese with Marys' image burned in or the screen with an image of Jesus. Well that's just my skeptic speaking. We are on the road near Portland just getting out to to get out again.

I even got so bored I entered one of my poems in a contest Blue Mountain Cards is having. Fat Chance but as I said I was bored but here is the poem

since i met you

my world is wider and deeper
the sky is bluer and higher
my rivers flow faster
oceans are deeper
waves higher
songs have notes sweeter by far
rainbows are brighter
soothing rain falls warmer
everyone is more beautiful
rock music rings true
flowers bloom earlier
nothing and everything has changed
since i met you

It isn't a rhyming poem but heck, at least it's mine.

Scrabble Score Scrabbled Queen 359 the contender 298 (or something like that)

Quote of the Day Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. Dr. Seuss (1904 - 1991)

Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday

Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was a famous American writer and cartoonist best known for his classic children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss, including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His books have become staples for many children and their parents. Seuss' trademark was his rhyming text and outlandish creatures. He also wrote under the pseudonym Theo. LeSieg. He wrote and illustrated 48 children's books.
Geisel was born on March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Ted's father was a parks commissioner in charge of a huge park that included within its borders a zoo and was located three blocks from the library