Nom de plume: Rivrdog

The Sunday Edition of "Local Yokel News"

Yokel = Bumpkin, prole, Joe Sixpack

Yokel Weather: Sucks. Sucks a big root. Rain now through the next week, big storms off the coast, edging closer. Coast will have hurricane-force winds, maybe Cat 2 gusts on the headlands, in next 24 hours. Here in the valley, we'll get 35-45 mph gusts, coming with some trees still leafed out, and over soggy ground that will be loathe to hold those trees vertical (had 1"+ rain overnight). That's for starters. Then the stormy weather changes over to the Pineapple Express (when they made the film of that name, the weather geeks changed the name of the PacNorWest monsoon phenomena to "Atmospheric River"), so the accumulated mountain snow will melt, the Cascade Mountains will get maybe two feet of rain, and the rivers will fill up and overflow. Yep, that sucks, but it happens in these parts. My genset is freshly tested, I have enough fuel on hand for 1/3 of-the-day running for a month, the M35A2 High Mobility vehicle is ready, it can take 30" standing or flowing water in normal ops, and the Stihl chainsaw is also ready for action. Plenty of food on hand. Emergency gas fireplace heating unless the NatGas goes away, then I can emergency-heat my survival shelter with propane for about 2 weeks before I have to put up a wood stove in there...yep, Yokels are ready. Guns are clean, too....

Yokel Sports: We have a first-class college football team in these parts, the Oregon Ducks. They are NOT un-defeated any more. For the second time in three years, Stanford came up here and edged out the Local Yokel squad in overtime. Seems that Stanford had a plan for the Ducks' (former) #1 rushing offense: mobile linebackers, large, fast guys who could string out the running plays "East and West" and shut them down for no gain. Those same defensive smarties turned Oregon's barely-adequate O-Line into mush, and their penetration to the frosh quarterback pretty much stymied any hope of the excellent Duck passing game saving the failed rushing game. This frosh QB is good, an accurate passer and the second-best rusher on the squad, but #8 Mariota always had at least 7 seconds to unload before, and last night he never had 4. Most NFL QBs can't handle that level of pressure, so how is a frosh college QB supposed to do it? The failure of the Kicker to score on his opportunity in OT was the capstone of this bad night. Alejandro Maldonado missed, doinked it, and the Stanford kicker was true. Game ended 17-14. Now the BCS hopes are shattered, and your Yokel has to sit around and watch the Notre Dame Snappers lord it over everyone for a couple weeks before they get their nod to play for the Championship. With any luck, the Ducks will still play for the Rose Bowl, assuming that they get by an energized Oregon State next week and then beat UCLA (to my lights, as good or better than Stanford) the following week for the PAC-12 championship. If the Ducks don't win the PAC-12, they probably get some mid-level bowl like the Holiday. Also, if they don't win, Coach Kelly probably migrates to the NFL, where his endurance-busting style of offense might work for a few years until all other coaches beat their men into that good of shape.

Yokel War News: Folks, the world is REALLY close to the entire Middle East going up in a ball of flame, possibly nuclear flame. Islamist Egypt edges closer to invasion of Israel, and Hezbollah, aided by the Islamist "Rebel Alliance" fighting Baby Assad in Syria, is ready to send a few battalions in over that border. Iranian medium-range heavy battlefield (un-guided bombardment) missiles rain down and test Israel's Iron Dome missile defense shield, and the best our Prexy can do is, again, fly off somewhere, casting parting words over his shoulder, "You go, Israel, take care of yourself". Well, the IDF will take care of Israel, and unlike the USA, would consider using it's nuclear weapons to do so. The US military HAS made plenty of preparations in case this war goes general over there, mostly Navy preparations in case the Mad Mullahs try to close the Strait of Hormuz. I could get much more detailed, but my source would prefer me not to, so I won't. Just know that we are REALLY close to general war in the Sandy Regions. If it's gonna happen, it will happen in the next five days, so, if it doesn't, we will really have something to Thank God for this year!

 

Omen?

Some believe in omens, for me, I'm not so sure.

Today, I had a longish nap, and awoke at 1530 to take a shower. After the long, hot shower I got out and dried off, then happened to glance out to the East from Schloss Rivrdog, a second-story window, and saw this:

Yep, that's a double rainbow. It seems that a herd of Unicorns had just ridden the stormy skies, and farted. Cue "Ghost Riders"

Is it significant?

You tell me. It's less than two hours to the Grate Dee-Bate.

No matter, I'm prepared, as you can see Adam, the M35A2 lurking out there, ready to take me and my selected load to wherever the HELL I want to go, and yes, it might be that very place.

Does the Devil's herd ride tonight? Vaugn Monroe, sung by Burl Ives

If it does, are YOU prepared?

Okay, one more: Marty Robbins

Some history: The Ghost Riders, US Navy Attack Squadron VA-164, flew A4Ds during the Vietnam war (same airraft flow by "Viper" in the movie Top Gun)

Blog Station Alpha, reporting online, sir.

Okay then. Too much to blog and a Scotch and Zinfandel fog to blog through. Yes, I probably imbibed more than my share tonight, but not enough to get to the blog-blackout level, and just the right amount to put up my shields against the pusilanimous Veep Biden's abrasive (and losing, if you score on REAL debate standards) debate vs. the NEXT Veep, Paul Ryan.

But, I'm ahead of myself. I arose early this ayem, put on the Coveralls, Men's Cotton Sateen, Ty pe 1, FSN 8405-00-131-6509, and got to work. Work involved End-of -Summer/Start-of-Winter preparation, and here's why:

That's the first winter-weather front of the season, right on time to enter the PacNorWest tomorrow. It will be followed by several more over the next six days. The WET season is less than 10 hours away as I write, so first up was the winter-covering of the M35A2, end result shown here, time expended, one and a half hours:

 

Next, the winter-covering of Petey The Popup, shown here, time expended, forty-five minutes including trimming back the rosebush hedge so I could tie the tarp down on that side:

Then I loaded the empty propane bottles and 5 empty gas jugs into the Little Black Truck and drove out to Shorty's Corner, about 12.5 miles East of here, where they sell 92-octane gasoline MINUS the Ethanol (it's $4.65/gallon and worth every penny), so I now have 35 gallons of gas on hand, and 30 gallons of diesel, and all vehicle tanks are full. That's prepping, baby! Some of the supply below:

 

Cleaned out the garage, swept it out, and now the LBT sits snugly in it's Winter Haven. Rolled up the garden hoses and stacked the outdoor chairs, while the gudwife stored their cushions in their "hole" under the second-story stairs.

At 1630, fired the big Pit for the last time this season, and, thirst slaked with Famous Grouse,  cooked a small Cross Rib Roast for the gudwife, I and our Dee-Bate guest for the night, the Founder of the Gresham TEA Party. A delightful BBQ dinner ensued, the wine being Wilson Creek Zinfandel 2007 (appelation, Temecula Valley). Had several glasses, and noted that the Guest was live-tweeting the dee-bate, so I began suggesting tweets to her, and she published several.

A delightful evening was had by all, but somewhat overshadowed by intell from the Middle East suggesting that Bibi Netanyahu might have also been tweeting the debate, but his tweets would have been to his Chief of Staff. Best guess is that if Bibi figures that Obama gained back his lost initiative, the Israel/Iran war might start this weekend, because of three factors: First, Bibi hopes to finally convert the US Jews from being hopelessly bound to the (D)onks, and a war of Israeli survival would do that, and Second, if Bibi thinks that Obama has the best chance to win now, the war has to start before 06 November, because an Obama win would make that war damn near impossible to carry off, Third, the New Moon is Monday. Bibi might bluff the Won into air tanker support BEFORE the election with 3 to 5 million Jewish votes hanging in the balance, but NOT after an Obama victory. BTW, that 'splains MY prepping also. Bibi is a better prepping guide for the 'ol Rivrdog than is Obama.

Oh, the Dee-Bate: the liberloons say Biden won with his forceful presentation, but real Dee-bate fans know he lost. Whines lose, and he whined to the Moderator three times that I counted. Facial expressions such as smirking count for points off, and Biden smirked all the time. Verbal put-downs, unsupported by facts, count BIG against the put-downer, and Biden did that about 4 times that I noted. On points, a loss for Biden. On "style" where points don't count, Biden at least tied, maybe won, because of his more aggressive style. Depends on how you score. I score like I was trained to score, and so Biden lost, in my view.

The MSM will likely declare a Biden victory, but the result of THIS debate only counts in Israel.

Rivrdog MoPoo, ready for assignment

After a 25-mile road test in the Cascade foothills, I pronounce the M35A2 ready for duty, combat or otherwise. Tomorrow, the Gudwife joins her TEA party bretheren and sisteren on the protest line for the Obama campaign visit, so there might be a last -minute assignment there, and this weekend, the M35A2 will be the primary logistics vehicle for the RivrSon's move to better digs, commensurate with his better station in life with his new job at Nike, and his increased fambly size of TWO chilluns now (all three were guests aboard M/Y Lofoten Girl this past weekend).

We can probably move his entire apartment furnishings in two trips with the M35, with it's 12'X8' bed, with my LBT pickemup thrown in for escort duty.

The RivrGranpa will be good for the incentive pay for the volunteer moving labor....cases of cold brews at both ends. Since I'm the M35 driver, and that involves CDL work, I won't be imbibing, but will take a raincheck...

Today, I detail-scrubbed the M35, with Softscrub to remove the algae which had accumulated in the places that don't readily dry after a rainstorm. I also retired the Winter Tarp, which had given it's last. I left the Cargo Cover Hoops on, so as to have tie-down points for furniture, etc. I will NOT engage the first gear without the load adequately secured. The RivrSon is moving from a less-toney 3rd-floor walk-up in Garden Home to a tonier ground-floor apartment in Bethany (both Washington County locations), closer to work with more room and laundry machines, so it's a major step up. If I can get close enough to his new ground-floor patio, I can drop the loads there and then all there is will be guard duty while the gear is stowed, and we BOTH know Guard Duty, and so does my 1911A1...the weapon of choice to defend a 1972 M35A2 Deuce and it's load with...

Yep, that's my HD Bug-Out truck, but it has other uses while waiting for the Bug-out mission...I thought about the offer of a Ma Deuce mount on a gun ring over the cab, but decided if I'm going to spend that kinda moolah on the M35, it's gonna get a change to a 6X6 configuration instead of the stock 6X10 that it has now. That would give me about 4" more ground clearance, as if 30+ inches fording depth wasn't enough...the new configuration is simply new tires and wheels, with single wheels and tires of a larger size replacing the treads of 9.00X20 that are on there now on all three axles. It's about $600-800 per wheel to make the change, so $3600-$4800, but when it's done, I also get about 5-8 mph more road speed, and can keep up with normal truck traffic on the freeway (road speed now is 52 mph @ 2200 rpm in 5th OD). Traditional "road march" speed for these was 45 mph, but their replacements can tool along at 70 mph per their specifications.

 

 

Rivr Logistics Division, standing down

Aye, standing down.

The Coast Fork of the Willamette River, normally a small stream, large creek really, that flows by the Rivrsis' Rivr Cottage in Cottage Grove, OR, has had a hungry eye on her place recently. Seems that the Corpse of Engineers got taken in by some failed weather models, and let the reservoirs upstream of her get too full, so they had to have an emergency max opening of the floodgates at the dam just a couple miles above her.

That raised her River to it's max known flow rate and max gage height.

Then it commenced to pour. We have a Pineapple Express in progress, it's tropical connection going straight to the coast of Vietnam. It's been SERIOUSLY raining. In the inches. The tributary streams, and there are a few above her and below the dam, rose, and contributed their flow to the river.

I didn't like the look of this after she reported the second level of her three-terrace riverside lot going under, so I put the M35A2 at her disposal, and she began to make up a list of stuff which would be dragged out of the cottage and tossed into the truck (which can handle 30 inches of water with no problems.

The Corpse of Engineers lowered the reservoir level enough with the emergency opening, though, so now they've partially shut the floodgate, and the Coast Fork is receding.

The steep climb of the trace on the 28th is when they opened the gate, the steep drop of the trace today (just 1.5 hours ago) is when they closed it....

Standing down now (and saving the 50 or so gallons of diesel it would have taken to make that trip).

 

Cool Weather movie

...not all the cool weather movies come from Storm Chasing, which has become a paid profession in the past few years.

This movie was shot from a rooftop camera in Seattle, my guess: a camera run by the University of Washington's formidable Atmospheric Sciences Dept.

Professor Cliff Mass teaches, does research and blogs from there, and he brought us this video of a Fall Pacific Cold Front moving in over Seattle. Quite dramatic, and right towards the end, you see the clouds just racing by, and indication of the strength of the pre-frontal winds at lower and mid levels. since the Front comes from the West, those winds are from the South. As the front approaches and the cloud deck is just about to drop to low-level, you can see SNOW coming out of the clouds. This front lowered the freezing level in the Cascade Mountains to 3,000 feet, dusting all the ski areas with 2-5 inches of snow

Your blogger knew this front was coming, so yesterday I broke out a new OD tarp, and tarped over the M35A2. I started about 4pm, and got finished  in darkness at 5:20 pm, 10 minutes before the first raindrops fell (we're about 160 miles South of Professor Mass, but the same front hit here just at about the same time, due to us being directly South of Seattle and the front being oriented mostly North-South). Note to self: Installing and lashing down an 18X24 tarp to cover a military cargo truck, including installing the Cargo Cover bows, is a big job for two Soldiers, and a real hustle for one. How I got that job done in less than 1.5 hours I'll never know. next time, allocate two hours or have s Second Soldier handy.

Winter has begun! (temp topped out @ 50 here today, and we had sun most of the afternoon!)

Cele-bration time, uh-huh!

Just pulled in with a pickup load of long-term food, will unload and store it tomorrow during the forecast cool, rainy weather.

Tomorrow begins the accumulation of the cash supply, to be finished by next Wednesday (don't even think about a rip-off, we're in Condition Red around the Schloss now, meaning sidearms for all and long arms no more than a few steps away, all in Condition One).

All else is in readiness, with the possible exception of a couple pounds more rifle and pistol powders I need to add to my list.

I'll probably troll through Harbor Freight tomorrow to see if I need any more tools.

Other than that, I'm set. Bring on the currency collapse. Bring on the civil unrest from the dope addicts not getting their SSI. Bring on whatever, except maybe the Zombie Apocalypse, and only that because I've not trained on real Zombies yet (but who HAS?)....

Oh, and the celebration bottle tonight is was Domaine Ste. Michelle (appelation: Columbia Valley), Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006. Very good bottle...the meal was T-bone Steak, grilled, very rare, and Pork Loin Steak, grilled, "white", together with steamed Broccoli and Spinach Tortellini, al-dente, al-Parmesano.

Now is the time to laugh at the lesser mortals, who, unprepared, go to Condition High Stress whilst I relax, having TOTALLY prepared....

Oops, I almost forgot...I could use another 10 gallons of stored DF-2 fuel for the M-35A2 to bring my bug-out plan to max range of 650 miles. Will do THAT tomorrow also (cursing at the $4/gallon he will have to pay for that fuel).

News Flash

Armed man shows up at church, driving a REAL War Wagon, and everyone cheers...

Some churches are different. Good Shepherd Community Church is one of the different ones.

Every year, on the last full weekend in June, the church puts on it's Patriotic Services, which I have been to for three years in a row now.

Of course, I go strapped to church, don't you?

This year, I also showed up in my M35A2, which, despite hip dysplasia or whatever old war-dog degenerative disease it is I've got, didn't stop me from putting in 2.5 hours washing "Adam" (the M35A2) yesterday, or boosting the Gudwife up into the Second Soldier seat early this ayem and trundling the 5 miles over to Boring, OR to the Church. At the church, Bob the Parking Marshal (who drove these rigs in the jungle in 'Nam) gave me a choice parking spot where everyone coming in to the parking lot would have to pass Adam and admire his well-preserved lines, as YOU now can:

Yep, those are Old Glory on the right, and the Gadsden Flag on the left.

Inside, at the service, we were presented the colors by an ancient Sergeant of the Army Air Corps, B-17 gunner and later electronic warfare crewman (first I'd heard we'd used EWs in WW2). 30 missions, and still ramrod-straight he was.

The Church has an excellent full orchestra and large choir, and my good friend and founder of the Gresham TEA party sang so sweetly that I was inspired to take her out to lunch afterwards! She's the one in a red blouse near the right end of the assembled choir, in the lower row:

The 5 military services are then recognized, and veterans of each service stand while their service anthem is played. The Army predominates, but my Air Force had at least 8 standing along with me. The USMC is most impressive, though, since most of that service's veterans put on their dress uniform for the occasion. Brings a tear to see all that military pride, yessir!

Before the services, slides of the sons and daughters of church members who are on active duty are shown. There are dozens of slides. The afore-mentioned TEA Party lady had a nephew, now posted to the Army's Golden Knights parachute team, and her son, two-tour Iraq veteran Cavalry guy, drove Strykers his last tour in the Sandbox, now in between tours with the 25ID up at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Both those slides were proudly shown.

I was invited to bring the M35A2 back, but I won't have to wait until next June to do it. There's a Veteran's Day service, and I'll be there for that one. I hinted that I might just be able to arange a few more military collector vehicles, maybe even one with tracks and a turret!

Where was my Second Soldier?

After the evening with my M35A2 truck in rainy downtown Portland, I came home to my darkened R/V driveway and TRIED to put the truck in it's slot. I stopped on the street, got out and placed two lights at the margins of the parking pad, at the rear of the pad. Then I backed in.

While backing in, using the lights and the mirrors, I heard a crash, stopped, got out and investigated. I had just removed half of my cedar-fence gate for the R/V pad. I moved the wreckage out of the way and finished parking. It seems I had an angle in the driveway, and while lined up with the REAR of the parking pad according to my guide-lights, I was not lined up with the FRONT of it (where the gate is).

Yesterday, my oldest daughter and her engineer hubby came over and we put in the afternoon setting a new gatepost and hardware*, rebuilding a panel of fencing and re-setting the gate. Bill of repairs was in the mid-$90 range for parts and in the mid-$70 range for dinner afterwards.

The proximate cause for all this work and expense?

No Second Soldier. I needed an assistant to park that truck, didn't have one, tried to do it myself, and failed. I also could have put the truck in forwards, then after dawn, turned it around, but I didn't do that, either.

Never over-estimate your ability, especially on something you've not attempted before (never tried night, confined-space parking with that truck before).

************

Some very smart guy is making good money on an invention. As we excavated the spot where the old gate-post had stood, we ran into a HUGE concrete footing, probably over 100#. That would have made a big problem to dig out and re-set. At Home Depot, they have a repair kit just for this FUBAR. It's a metal 4X4 socket, welded to a 24" metal stake with "X" cross-section. Using a long spade bit and a 1/2 hp drill-motor, we chewed up the remaining wood in the footing, then using a section of the old post as a drift, sledge-hammered the repair unit into place, and installed the new post on it. New fence-joining hardware stiffens the old fence panel and helps hold up the gatepost, and new gate-hardware completed the work.

Downtown...conservative invasion of Stumptown! UPDATED! BUMPED! The BLAZE VIDEOS!

Just got here, the genset is humming and I'M WARM ENOUGH, BUT SOAKED! 1615...

******************************************************************************

Vets coming out of the woodwork...M35A2 draws 'em in!

******************************************************************************

The M35 is covered with Signs of the Resistance, "We the Band" is playing Southern rock, all is well @ 1748...

*******************************************************************************

Now we're into the Great American Oratory...the Soap Box, as it were, a phalanx of Portland's Finest is on hand to keep the two detachments of the Black Shirts at bay, but the cold rain is doing a better job on the Alpha Hotels. 1844/ temp 46

*******************************************************************************

That was an interesting hour...the antis got right in my face here, so I and several others just snapped away, and PJTV will do the photo interpretation. The cops just busted the loudest of them, and she's cuffed and stuffed...just had family drop by...oratory over, now second band, more metal....2015

The above subject in the red shirt - I made him to be a union organizer. Said little, didn't chant, everyone was defferential to him, mostly he just shot video and was in the middle of the anti-crowd.

Typical of the anti-demonstrators. The usual "Little Beirut" crowd. Note that the bike cops seem fairly relaxed at this point. I have reports now that the crowd, which (as depicted in the vids) was above on the high ground, suddenly discovered the M35A2, and tried to charge it. That provoked the bike cops to do an intercept maneuver, and this is where they wound up, right outside my cab door, with only that wrought-iron railing between them and your blogger. They were content to scream and curse, though, so MY arms remained concealed. All Soap Box action, no Cartridge Box required. BTW, that "Koch sucker" sign is a HUGE insult to Hizzoner the Queer Mayor. Frankly, I hope he's seen the vids and photos...

Here are some Blaze vids of the anti-action which Glen Beck linked. Made me wish that I'd bought that Gun Ring for the M35A2...

(I've seen what waving a quad-fifty tail barbette on a B-52D at Zengunro demonstrators on Okinawa in 1970 could do to scatter THAT mob)

Captain sez 15 min to go, got to get in the tear-down mode...10-8

******************************************************************************

Wrap-up: tear-down went well, drive home at the edge of a warm front was interesting, but safe, but I FUBAR'd upon arriving home. In the dark, tried to back Adam into his slot on the RV pad, and even with guide-lights set, missed being square with the pad and knocked down half my gate, which now has to be repaired on a priority basis (means getting wet AGAIN)! (Repaired 4/16, thanx to the USMC Dau & engineer hubb).

I put out a family all-hands call at 2230 last night, we'll see how many respond today. Prolly have to reset the gate post, maybe replace it (it's not broken, but it's been in the ground 4 or 5 years, so it's half-gone). Then reassembly of the last fence section and then hang the gate, which is intact and undamaged. It's winter-soaked Cedar, and weighs about 180#, by my feeble attempts in trying to hoist it last night..

Then, there the not-inconsiderable job of stowing all the gear I'm drying out in the shed. Most of it goes right there, but has to be stowed for the shed to be useful again. Another big day breaks....0801 4-16-11

BTW, there are lots of photos of yesterday's action. I have to send them from my cell phone, one at a time, to my main puter, via email. It's very labor-intensive, so I will do that later. Got to fuel the body now and put the Carhartts on, it's gonna be a busy day...