Year: 2015

Quite the Opposite

(Captain Phil McKnight, USN-Ret. A Great American. RIP). We lost another Great American yesterday. I suppose it is inevitable, but I am getting tired of it. Our pal Joe summed up our collective memory of Phil McKnight nicely this morning- he was on travel yesterday and didn’t get the word that Phil had left us […]

Hazel River Inn

I hate it when things like this happen. I took a trip to East Davis Street last weekend to check out Clarke’s Hardware Store, a one-of-a-kind relic of the older and slower days in the Country. I was going to stop and get a drink at the Hazel River Inn, which is just across the […]

Lighting Up a Lucky

The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly know as the AD- or, ‘Attack Douglas’ in Navy parlance) was a rompin,’ stompin’ airplane. It was an amazing crate, highly adaptable and the culmination of a generation of aviation technology. Dad- that is him above on the wing preparing to mount up- used to say that his could carry […]

In the ČesneČka

(I get suggestions for fine dining from all over. I am a bit of a foodie, when I can afford it and seeing Tracy O’Grady’s culinary skills daily always has me read to truy something new. This is ČesneČka, or Czech Garlic Soup. Image courtesy of Viking River Cruises.) The temperatures brushed 70 yesterday, and […]

Grilling and Pickle Soup

(The Cuyahoga River on fire in this file photo. It has not burned since. Photo AP). I know- it does feel like spring is around the corner this morning. It is about time- and I have to remember to swap out the propane tank on the grill and get ready for the outdoor cooking season. […]

Clarke’s In the Rain

“Yo! Vic!” I was startled in the rain. I keep to myself when I am down in the country, for the most part, though there was an animated conversation with The Russians about where Mr. Putin is hiding these days as Mattski replaced the hot water heater at his farm, and Biscuit the Wonderspaniel and […]

Net Neutrality

(FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has released the net neutrality rules on the agency’s Web site. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais). http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0312/FCC-15-24A1.pdf You can read the statements from Chairman Wheeler and the other FCC Commissioners starting at page 314 of the document, which has been secret until now. I missed a chance to comment- the Commission cut […]

Local Motion

I imagine you have been following the follies here in town- it is spectacular, and hard to get away from. I won’t deal with the events in Ferguson- that is too horrific. But as to the digital scandals in progress the Attorney General joins the former Secretary of State and the former Director of the […]

Rust Never Sleeps

I missed posting a story yesterday, not because there is a lack of material. I was going to write about salt crust, and the fact that my car is slowly disintegrating down in the garage due to the effects of the mountains of corrosive salt that was dumped on the streets of the capital to […]

Lost Weekend

(Ray Milland in the Billy Wilder movie that won four Academy Awards. Jane Wyman has a solid supporting role in this account of a miserable writer who goes on a three day binge. In the Fleet we would have considered him a lightweight- most port visits went four days. Photo Warner Brothers). Yeah, the time […]