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[Alkarii]

I had once gotten a nose-on picture of one of the F-22 prototypes at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson. The rod that extended from the nose looked like a dot in the viewfinder, but the picture didn't turn out right.

Also, B2s are friggin' intimidating in person.

[Catawampus]

And I've decided to finally let everyone know that there won't be any new Jasper updates after this one.

I had to say goodbye to her last month.

I'm sorry to hear that you won't have your friend around any longer. But at least you had her around for all the time that you did, and you gave her a good life. That's the best that anybody can do.

I had once gotten a nose-on picture of one of the F-22 prototypes at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson. The rod that extended from the nose looked like a dot in the viewfinder, but the picture didn't turn out right.

Also, B2s are friggin' intimidating in person.

I wish that I still had all of the various pictures I took of aircraft over the years. I had some interesting ones, including a few that I perhaps wasn't supposed to have due to security reasons. . .

I'm still disappointed that the space shuttle was diverted to an alternate landing field the one time I snuck onto an Air Force base to watch it land. I had a great spot overlooking the runway.

[Warrl]

I think it's a good time for this story...

[Bookworm]

I'm glad you let Jasper go with what dignity you could. Too many people go for the torture route just so they can put off the sense of loss just a bit longer.

[Hansontoons]

Thank you for the hugs, kind words, and a story with many feels. The J was a huge goofball that loved unconditionally and always wanted to be by my side. It is quiet around the house, but I have a couple of her toys placed where I can easily see them- not that I need a reminder of her, they are there to bring a smile to my face when I look at them.

As much as I like dogs, I'm going to wait a bit before embarking on another canine adventure. One reason, I'll have an entirely new critter to influence early next year. My daughter is expecting, late February or early March. I'm in Houston, she's in Austin area so there will be many road trips in my future. I raised her on Star Trek Next Gen, Star Wars, Legos; she likes anime, sci-fi, LoTR, and Led Zeppelin- she can name the songs that were influenced by the books. Will see how it works out with my next gen! I am considering having the little sprout call me "Grandalf". I do have the eyebrows.

[TazManiac]

Damn, toon- I’m just now finding out. I don’t mean to drag on the condolences, but do keep in mind you’ve got lots of arms about your shoulders.

Peace and Love

[Hansontoons]

Howdy, y’all!

It’s been a while since there’s been much action on the forum, so why not post some photos of things I’ve done this year. But before getting to that, hopefully everyone enjoyed Paul’s latest animation. I know I did, laughed out loud several times while watching. Now that he finished, it’ll be interesting to see if he starts the comic back up, if it’ll pick back up where he left it, or if there’ll be a time jump, or if we’ll see brand new characters, or catch up with the original cast for a bit. Just speculation on my part, I have no inside info on what’s next.

I’ve had plenty of time to do things after retiring a year ago from my job as the grey-haired-guy-that-know-stuff. I’d been with the company for 43 years so I had a lot of stray bits of information bouncing around in what most people call a brain. For me it’s the mushy oatmeal that keeps my eyeballs from falling back into my skull. Speaking of eyeballs, I had cataract surgery a couple months back. It was amazing. My world view is no longer that of a hazy, dust laden sky. It is now clear and sharp, the sky is blue again! They do one eye at a time so the difference was quite noticeable. Enough about me, on to the pics.

The Battleship Texas was launched in 1912 and served in both world wars. Shelled the Normandy coastline during D-Day and dropped a few on Iwo Jima the next year. After being retired from the navy in the late forties it was brought to the Houston area and docked in a permanent berth at the San Jacinto Monument. There's a ship channel from Galveston that passes the SJM and eventually gets ships to the Port of Houston. Lovely place- history, salt marshes, refineries. A lot happened after 1836.

There, the ship sat in brackish saltwater while enduring heat, hurricanes, and hosting visitors that managed to find their way to it. Over the years numerous leaks kept bilge pumps running constantly. Then a couple years back the decision was made to place the ship in dry dock to patch the hull where corrosion over the years had reduced its thickness to maybe a quarter of an inch in places, leaving it in real danger of sinking.

The ship was released from its berth and carefully towed to a shipyard in Galveston where it was raised from the water to allow restoration to begin. Tons of steel was cut away and replaced, each section required shaping and forming as there’s not a flat spot on the hull. After a while the foundation that takes care of the ship began offering tours where you were able to board the dry dock and see the ship up close. And yes, you were given the chance to squat down and duck walk under the hull for a once in a lifetime experience of having 75,000 tons of 102-year old steel inches above your head. I’ll admit it was a nervous feeling despite the fact there was no way it was going to suddenly collapse and mash you flat. Hopefully not. The ship is currently back in the water with still plenty of restoration work to be done. The plans are to have the ship remain in Galveston at a new permanent berth sometime in 2025.

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[Hansontoons]

Springtime in Galveston (seems to be a theme here...) is when the sailing ship Elissa has day sails where you are able to purchase a spot as a “trainee” and sail with the regular crew for about 6 hours out into the gulf of Mexico and back- the 147-year old ship isn’t allowed to take passengers on board while sailing. Elissa was launched in 1877 which was near the end of the age of sail. The hull was iron rather than wood but sails still provided the power. A diesel engine was added in the early 1900’s to assist with entering ports while under power. The ship’s story is rather interesting, I’ll leave it to the reader to look that up.

This was my second time to sail and it was rewarding in that all sail was set that day. You are allowed and encouraged to help with the lines as sails are set and adjusted to catch the wind. I did get a little hand-on time but left most of it for the folks that really knew what they were doing. I just pulled and tried not to fall over or trip on anything.

[Hansontoons]

Later in the spring I went on an adventure with a college buddy to visit national parks and other sights in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. We spent 18 days together and are still on speaking terms. Some of the highlights were Arches NP, Bryce Canyon NP, and Zion NP. If you have any thought of visiting these places, I highly recommend doing it in mid to late April before the crowds descend on the parks. There were still plenty of people there, but according to park rangers it gets really crowded after May. The photo of the red rocks in Bryce was taken at sunrise, it was maybe 32F at the time. So come prepared!

[Hansontoons]

The most recent event in my simple life was the arrival of a steam engine that was on a tour of middle America this year. The UPRR maintains this engine and tours it occasionally to the thrill of young and old. It’s quite a sight- the engine and primary tender are 132ft long and weigh in at around 1.2 million pounds. It was built in the early 1940’s to haul freight from the midwest over the mountains to the west coast. The engines were originally coal fired but now “Big Boy” as the engine is named runs on oil. A friend of mine and I chased the train through a couple of towns northwest of Houston and then again as it rolled past downtown Houston. It was a good day.

Hopefully everyone in the Wapsiverse are well and managing to persevere in these interesting times. Take care and be nice to others if you can.

[Sgt. Howard]

I would LOVE to handle the throttle on that bad boy! I drove the 'Liberty Train' of the SPRR for a short haul back in the 70's, the controls are near identical. #4014, a 4-8-8-4 articulate, is what you show here. She is the last of her kind. 300 pieces of rolling stock was her normal load. Going up the Rockies, she would have two firemen shoveling coal to keep up with the needs of the engine... and they would be happy to be relived at the summit!

[Warrl]

I've been to Bryce Canyon. Took a lot of pictures with my phone. Got back to the RV and discovered that my phone-camera had somehow gotten set (or decided on its own) to use a blue filter.

So in a setting known for its rich color, I effectively took a bunch of black-and-white photos.

[Just Old Al]

So in a setting known for its rich color, I effectively took a bunch of black-and-white photos.

Ansel Adams has entered the conversation...

[Hansontoons]

I've been to Bryce Canyon. Took a lot of pictures with my phone. Got back to the RV and discovered that my phone-camera had somehow gotten set (or decided on its own) to use a blue filter.

So in a setting known for its rich color, I effectively took a bunch of black-and-white photos.

Been there, done that. Fortunately I did an image check early on and discovered the settings were off.

The image in the post was during sunrise. The formations simply glow as the light reflects off the canyon walls. Here's another morning view with a person in the shot to give an idea of scale- and these are shorter formations. Middle of the day still has plenty of color but the color isn't as intense. Sunset gives a different look to the formations, it wasn't just spectacular in my opinion.

We were there later in April so it was rather chilly while waiting for sunrise. There was a group of Japanese college age people that weren't prepared for the 30F temperature that morning- they were wearing shorts and t-shirts. A couple jogged in place to keep warm, one of them had what looked like a thin blanket wrapped tightly around their body. They did depart swiftly after the sun was up. Sunset was also chilly. We knew BC is a dark sky location so we brought folding chairs to an overlook point and waited for a beautiful star-filled sky. Unfortunately moonrise was not long after sunset and the moon was almost full, its light illuminated the formations and washed out the sky overhead. Oh well, maybe next time!

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