"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

My girls took me out this morning to celebrate an early Father's Day. Next weekend is exceedingly busy, and schedules being what they are, today was the only day we could make it work. That's ok, it's the thought that counts, and besides I was treated to a very cool experience that I would've have been able to otherwise.

A local airfield was the latest stop for the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour. There was a B-17 Flying Fortress, a B-24 Liberator (I think), a B-25 Mitchell, and a couple of other planes that were in the air giving flight tours. But the star of the show was my favorite, the P-51 Mustang.

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As a child I thought the Mustang was the greatest aircraft ever. Something about it just stirred the imagination, and I dreamt of one day becoming a fighter pilot. Admittedly I wouldn't have flown the Mustang, but I would have been a heir to its tradition. Alas, less than perfect vision destroyed my childhood dreams before they could even get off the ground.

Still, the Mustang maintains its hold on me, and the opportunity to see one up close was not one to be passed up. We arrived at the airfield just in time to see the pilot start the engines and taxi down the runway to take off. After ten minutes of waiting, and watching a half-dozen pleasure craft land or take-off, I almost missed seeing the Mustang take to the skies. The bombers on hand were great and powerful beasts, but they lumbered down the field and seemed to take an eternity to get in the air. The Cessnas and their ilk on the other hand moved more nimbly, but they still moved slowly and almost leisurely. The Mustang on the other hand was quick, nimble and aggressive. It took off so fast I almost didn't have enough time to get my video camera started.

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It was exhilarating.
 
This afternoon my oldest of the two granddaughters that have lived with my wife and I all their lives graduated from High school. This made me both happy and sad as I was proud of her for her accomplishment yet couldn't help thinking of that little girl dressed up in her princess costume pretending to ride "Flower" her make believe Unicorn. She will enter nursing school and has her heart set on receiving a Masters in nursing and becoming a trauma nurse. She is a part time CNA at our local hospital's trauma center so she already has her foot in the door so IMO that's pretty good for a 18 year old. Here's a couple of pictures we took today the first is Kinzie receiving her diploma the second is both my granddaughters that live with us Kinzie and Kelsey, my wife Ann and myself taken outside the Civic Center right after the ceremony.


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Congratulations, Randy! :thumbup:
You and your family can be very proud! :)

- GT
 
r redden said:
This afternoon my oldest of the two granddaughters that have lived with my wife and I all their lives graduated from High school. This made me both happy and sad as I was proud of her for her accomplishment yet couldn't help thinking of that little girl dressed up in her princess costume pretending to ride "Flower" her make believe Unicorn. She will enter nursing school and has her heart set on receiving a Masters in nursing and becoming a trauma nurse. She is a part time CNA at our local hospital's trauma center so she already has her foot in the door so IMO that's pretty good for a 18 year old. Here's a couple of pictures we took today the first is Kinzie receiving her diploma the second is both my granddaughters that live with us Kinzie and Kelsey, my wife Ann and myself taken outside the Civic Center right after the ceremony.


hchLIky.jpg


fZ1GHkX.jpg
Click to expand...

very nice! takes a strong stomach to be in the trauma center! congrats!
 
Randy, that is so very neat my friend. I can see how proud you and your wife are...ya done good my friend, ya done good:thumbup::cool::thumbup:
 
Congrats Randy! Looks like you have a fine family there.
 
Beautiful girls with hearts in the right place and heads screwed on. I know you are a proud parent and extra proud granddad-and so you should be. :)
Cheers Randy.
 
Re The P51 Mustang.
Indeed an awesome machine.
A few years ago we had one buzz the Mt Keira Primary school.
There is an airshow out in western NSW every year at a town called Temora.
The Mustang was flying to the show. It just so happened that the school secretary was mates with the pilot who rang her and said to get the kids out to see the Stang sweep past Mt Keira.
So we gathered in the playground just before home time and we waited. Kids being kids they got fidgety and impatient very quickly gazing up at Mount Keira.
One of them piped up "there it is there it is!" pointing at an airliner ,a tiny spec about 30,000 ft up.
It dawned on me that none of these kids had the foggiest idea what they were looking for.
I told them to listen and watch out for something like a V8 racing car in the sky.
When it came it was below the the summit of the mountain and dropped in low just over the treetops ,buzzed over our heads at about 150 ft then hurtled out to sea,did a wing wobble and disappeared back round the mountain. There was a lot of gaping mouths ,and no chatter from the kids. "aaaahhh it went too fast" some one said. Then he did a an encore and left.
It was a great privilege to witness.
 
meako said:
Re The P51 Mustang.
Indeed an awesome machine.
A few years ago we had one buzz the Mt Keira Primary school.
There is an airshow out in western NSW every year at a town called Temora.
The Mustang was flying to the show. It just so happened that the school secretary was mates with the pilot who rang her and said to get the kids out to see the Stang sweep past Mt Keira.
So we gathered in the playground just before home time and we waited. Kids being kids they got fidgety and impatient very quickly gazing up at Mount Keira.
One of them piped up "there it is there it is!" pointing at an airliner ,a tiny spec about 30,000 ft up.
It dawned on me that none of these kids had the foggiest idea what they were looking for.
I told them to listen and watch out for something like a V8 racing car in the sky.
When it came it was below the the summit of the mountain and dropped in low just over the treetops ,buzzed over our heads at about 150 ft then hurtled out to sea,did a wing wobble and disappeared back round the mountain. There was a lot of gaping mouths ,and no chatter from the kids. "aaaahhh it went too fast" some one said. Then he did a an encore and left.
It was a great privilege to witness.
Click to expand...

Your story reminds me when one day we were having an aperitif in the garden of my parents in the Alps, when we heard a tremendous buzz coming from the other side of the mountain and suddenly we saw a Flying Fortress very low over our heads. It was so low that we could see details. The last time my parents had heard that noise was in april 1944 when they were bombing the important La Chapelle marshalling yard.
Too bad we did not react quickly and shoot a picture. All day long we stared at the show of vintage planes going to a meeting near Lausanne just the other side of the Léman lake. They had to fly incredibly low as they were crossing the way of commercial planes towards the Geneva airport.
 
good stuff Randy - congrats all around to the kiddo for having her head on straight and you & the Mrs for taking the girls in and raising them right. :)
 
kamagong, sounds like a wonderful day! The P51 is my favorite airplane, too. I had the opportunity to witness several flying at the Reno air races a few years ago. Magnificent machines!

Randy, congratulations! You deserve to be proud. Sounds like a fine young adult you've got there. I admire her aspiration.

We just got back from our first camping trip since I got the traditionals bug. I must say, I was very happy with the Opinel #10 I brought with us. So much better than the cheap little paring knife we used to bring along! :D

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Randy, congratulations!



I'm back from Ulster. Had a nice time with the in laws and family but its good to be back home.

Before I left I was rummaging around in a box looking for a spare multi-socket extension to take with us. Don't we need so many things plugged in these days? The box was of the sort that I'm sure most of you have; it contains things which we didn't throw away the last time we moved house but probably should have and other odds and ends. Anyway, I found this in there:





It was my paternal grandfather's and I remember him wearing it up until he had to go into care due to dementia.

I know nothing about watches really apart from the ability to tell time but I know many of the members here do...





It does not work. From what I can tell, it has the brand name Tudor with the old rose emblem, and says "oyster prince" on the dial under Tudor. At the 6 o'clock it says "T swiss T". The face is a lovely champagne colour. Its clearly well worn and the glass/sapphire (??!!??) dome is scratched quite a bit. From what I can tell its from the 60s which sounds about right, but I can't find a model number or any other info about it.

Anybody know anything about it? Is it worth getting it restored?

Thanks for looking,

Paul
 
That's an automatic watch Paul, are you sure it doesn't work (some automatics can be hand wound when they've stopped working due to not being worn)? If not, it might just need cleaning.
 
I tried wearing it for a while to see if it would kick start - no joy. I was reluctant to wind too much for fear of doing damage. I know very little about watches, the last watch I wore was a Casio Gshock that was ripped off my wrist (for the second time, and the second strap) in a barney at work several years ago so I just stopped wearing them. But if I can get this running again I'd love to wear it off duty perhaps...
 
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