It was a grand Thursday down in the country. There was a birthday celebration, gentle but extended through a mild day with lovely colors. Not the leaves- this is the Piedmont, after all, and not the hardy Northern brilliance of the seasonal passing of the green to brilliant hues of crimson and yellow. This local […]

Some of the detritus of several lives appeared in the big clean-up down at Refuge Farm. One of the boxes that came out of the parent’s estate showed up amid the wreckage down at the Office Complex as Splash, Loma, Rocket, Mel and DeMille looked on with mild interest. The Socotra members were amazed as […]

(Colonel Tom Parker and his “attraction,” Mr. Elvis Presley) The Writer’s Section at Refuge Farm was delighted that Arrias had penned (pecked?) a thought piece on the nature of our unique American society. First was that the Chairman was not shouting for new copy early on a Monday. Arrias noted the role of Col. Tom […]

I think my index finger hit the keyboard before the short and long hands on the clock went straight up, so this is an official Daily on a busy morning! The Crew from the Writer’s Section was rounded up, not by force, but in the interest of public good to get our heads suitably cropped […]

OK, it is October, the 10th month in this strange year. This is the tenth day of the tenth month. Even the letter “O” looks like a zero. The Writer’s Section at Socotra House naturally is befuddled. That is aggravated by the fact that this 10/10 is happening on a Sunday, an artificial oddity in […]

This is a tough one, not because the events are too crazy, but because the words contain two separate but linked stories. The picture below came from the volunteer staff at the USS Midway Museum, part of the ceremony honoring LTJG Winky’s return to the finest damn carrier in the Fleet. This image is part […]

There would be plenty to talk about this morning under normal circumstances, but we agreed that things have changed. We had contemplated going ahead with the touching story we laughed about at the Belmont Farm’s Farm-to-Flask happy hour the night before. It seemed appropriate at the time, but thankfully the artwork took unenhanced labor, and […]

The MWSA has published their Anthology of military themed writings for 2021. Socotra House Publications is proud that our entry to a very talented pool of authors is included! Vic generated a marvelous little tale of how the Swamp really works, as he reports to the Navy’s Office of Legislative Affairs and discovers he is […]

Amid all the other chaos of American life this week was an account of a small but significant event: a former USS Midway (CV-41) crew member returned to his favorite ship, courtesy of East Coast member Pat Alderman. His return would have been “above the fold,” in the latest edition of the Scuttlebutt, but rightfully […]

A shipmate sent along a remarkable link to a set of pictures I had never seen before. They are images of the weapons used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and delivered by B-29 long-range bombers operating from Tinian Atoll in 1945. At one time classified “Top Secret,” they now open a window on horror as a […]