Greetings!
Sorry for missing yesterday… It’s now Day Four of “The Nuklear Powered Gran Versus The Puppers”
Telling you, if I could harness even one third of the energy these two have, I could power the Greater Tampa Area for the next five hunnerd years…
Maybe even moar.
Chili is fitting in rather well. In fact, I hate to curse myself like this, but so far she’s the most laid back and mellow puppy ever when she’s not wound up by the Redheaded Nook. Also went outside first thing and did her pee-pee thing outside for the first time… she’s only had 2x accidents ‘off the training pads’ and I’m now trying to figure out the timing for her lil butt so I can get her out before she dumps inside.
At least she hits the training pads there too. Clean up on Aisle Nine has been a breeze. The only issue is occasionally I’ve laid down the new clean training pad after she hits it, and if I don’t watch her, she’ll go over, tear it (the new one) off the floor (they have adhesive corners) and decide to play “Let’s SHRED this shit Big Daddy!”
At which point it becomes ‘hot pup-suit’ to paraphrase Roscoe P. Coletrane and chase her ass all over the house while she leaves a trail of destruction and pieces-parts of the pad and stuffing everywhere. Queue Yakkity Sax.
Send. Drugs/Monsters. NOW.
Seriously though, her and Stella have been getting along pretty well too:
…although the Sausage Princess in Dog Years is now about mid-fifties like be, and doesn’t put up with a lot of shit. She’s more being like an instructive Auntie, rather than a momma.
She also has been doing the pouncing thing like Chili is doing, and doing the play bark/growl thing, to which we’ve discovered that the Pup has a cute lil baby-bark and growl. She’s really quiet otherwise.
So today we went to the Villages for Gretchen’s Dad’s B-Day. He turned 87 this year. Still kicking it despite being all banged up. The man just needs a new carcass and I think he’d be good for another 80+ as he’s sharp as a tack.
We took the Nook AND the Pup, as well as for his lunch/supper, I also took all the fixin’s for “Breakfast for Supper” I made Eggs to order, two pounds of thick cut maple smoked bacon (the good stuff), Hash Browns, and pancakes that got topped with a Crown Maple Madagascar Vanilla Infused Organic Maple Syrup.
Hey, I’m from New Hampshire… we tend to be “Syrup Snobs” OK? This shit is THE BOMB!!! Link to it is HERE
And yeah, I get (pardon the pun) a ‘taste’ if you order some.
We then had the cake, which was a White Chocolate Raspberry “Nothin’BundtCake” with that awesome cream cheese frosting.
Gah… I’m still full from eating everything.
I had to bring my own cookware which disconcerted Mom, but hey, not to be mean, but her pans date back to when TV Dinners were the “latest and greatest” and I’m pretty sure that just looking at some of her non-stick pans from back then could cause cancer, never mind actually using them to cook.
I use All-Clad stuff for the most part. Damned shame that Willaims and Sonoma card had to go into the default mode…
Le Sigh
What? Y’all think I could normally afford the good stuff?
If it wasn’t for my used-to-be good credit from about 4 years ago, I’d be using WalMart Specials like I did when I first got divorced. Unfortunately, the Williams and Sonoma card was the last card that I had to kill off in this soon-to-be-done bankruptcy. I purely love to cook, and in many cases the tools do actually matter…
So to explain the “Squee!”
Gretchen has a Brother. Well two, but I’m not going into the whole family dynamic. This here is “GoodBro” that I’m referencing. Navy Vet. TOTAL nerd. D&D dude. BIG TIME gun guy like me. Very cool. He’s got a kid. Junior. This’s Gretchen’s nephew. He too, is a good kid, albeit a bit of a stoner and trying to figure out what he wants to do w/his life. He came down here 2? maybe 3 years ago and stayed with us for like 2 weeks.
Fucking kid practically ate me out of house and home.
Gretchen had strong words with GoodBro about the next time Junior came, that a healthy $$$ check for groceries needed to be sent with, or the kid would be stuck eating old MREs and Dollar Store Spaghetti Os.
Not that I think Junior would have noticed.
TL;DR, Junior came down for a visit with his squeeze. New G/F. Everyone is all like “OMFG!!! They’re such a cute couple!!!”
I’m like “The kid is 2 months away from turning 21… Miss Teen Queen? Unless that box is Platinum Lined and she’s a nympho, or her dad owns a Liquor Store? As they say, ‘this too, shall pass.”
And then every calls me an asshole…
Hey. Reality bites.
So they came to visit. They’re staying with her Grandma, who apparently got on the phone w/Mom and Dad… I think the Lass-in-Question’s Granma wanted to check to see where she’s be staying whilst Junior came by to visit the In Laws.
Seems they exchanged Boomerisms and whatnot, and somehow WW2 came up in conversation. Now Gretchen’s Great Grandad, Mom’s Pops, was in WW2 and was in Normandy at some point. I have no real intel and Mom is sort of really having a tough time mentally after Vax #2. I’ll see if I can get some intel and do a dive as I like doing that… if and when things slow down around this joint.
Point is, Grandma sent a gift via her Granddaughter as a ‘thank you’ for hosting her, to Dad for his birfday. Dad in turn, while really appreciating it, gave it to me, knowing it’s significance:
Holy. Fucking. Hells.
That frens, is a field-improvised neckerchief cut from a section of a 1943/1944 T-4 Camouflaged Parachute from the jump on Normandy France, the night of June 5th, 1944 from the 101st Airborne.
<Queue Angels Chorus and Shit, Beams of Light From Above>
Again….
Holy. Fucking. HELLS!!!!!
As Indy would say
“It belongs in a Museum!!!”
Whew… I am just sooooo blown away.
Tell you what, hell or high water, or I dunno how, sell plasma maybe, and get it framed. Like professionally. I did some research on it as soon as I got home… like right before I hit this. Seems the camo parachute was very rare and from what I’ve found, only used by pathfinder elements of the 101st on the late-night of the 5th, before the early morning dawn drops. I also found it’s a wee bit on the valuable side:
I can’t tell if it’s early nylon or silk. Either way
To an Airborne Guy like me?
Hell, any Wing Wearing Motherfucker?
This’s like getting a piece of the For-Fucking-Real “True Cross” or some such similar “Holy Relic.”
A piece of ‘The Big Jumpmaster in the Sky’ OG Chute so to speak.
Mind you, There’s a LOT of fakes out there.
eBay is positively covered in them.
However, according to what Dad was told, Grandma said Grandad (now deceased a few years back) landed in Normandy at Omaha in 44 on the 6th as a straight leg grunt. He ran into a couple of 101st Guys after a few days in-country who were selling sections of their chutes for $5 as neckerchiefs, of which Grandad bought one. That, by today’s standards was about 75, 80 bucks. That sounds like some guys I know, including myself… It also explains the triangular shape and ragged cut to it, as they probably had to use a knife/scalpel or bayonet.
How fucking cool is that!?!
Now this thing is a wee bit faded and stained, and I’m not sure how to get full Provenance on it, but TBH perfectly Honest, much like a lot of recovering Catholics, I’m taking this one on faith. Primarily there is zero fucking reason for an 80 year old something widow to be having a section of a fake Airborne Camo Canopy from 1943/44 laying around. Odds of this being legit?
Probably, like Ivory Soap, 99.44% Legit
So… the interesting shit that keeps coming my way Aye?
It’s not always a bad thing.
I blame MomUnit.
She cursed me long ago with the Chinese Curse of: “May you live in interesting times” I have no idea that I had pissed her off that badly at the time, but hey… sometimes it –is– fun to be me.
More Later
Big Country
Yeeeeah, Dat Me…
And, of course AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY!
I went into the Army and being a Swede and a farm kid bucking 175 # bales of alfalfa over my head and tossing it, I had shoulders a tackle would envy and I wrestled and played catcher on the jr high and sr high and weighed in at 190 # at 5’10” and I could not do a fucking pull up to save my life. I got so much shit from the DIs but I was able to do all the other PT bullshit and obstacle courses except the fucking pull ups and I was consider obese too. WTF, I was in the best shape, just built like a fucking fire plug tank, Animal Mother if you will. I couldn’t run worth a fuck, my legs have a 23″ inseam, yeah, long body, short legs, thanks the gods my pecker followed my torso. I just squeaked in my mileage time…
Those dags are adorable, good fer you, the Love is strong!
Oh. My. F##kin’. GAWD!
Provenance or not, you take that piece of silk and frame it in the best you can afford, behind UV proof glass.
You write down every. fuckin’. detail, just like you did above, and make at least two printout copies. One (in a plastic sleeve) goes INSIDE the frame, the other goes on the outside back of the frame. Waterproof/sleeve the printout on the outside.
Next you need to decide who to will it to when you finally shuffle off this mortal coil (may you live forever). Any of The Spawn? An Airborne museum? Sell it to a private collector? Just think on it.
I’m not airborne, never came close, just a REMF pogue that fixed the commo shit that a’ya’all would break. But I inhaled a gasp when you started going into detail on the precious scrap of cloth.
Talk about landing in the shit, and come up smelling like the rose.
Thanks Man… I feel like an “Airborne Apostle” now or something that thereof.
I mean FFS it’s 80+/- years old… and in immaculate shape.
I already do have my own mini-museum here in the house… I think I’m going to have to do a FULL post about it. I’ve been collecting Cold War memorabilia since I was a kid, never mind as an adult. Lots of repros (as a lot of the stuff is just ‘gone-gone’) but Dis fukkin’ thing????
Like you said:
Oh. My. Fucking. God!
And BTW: Thanks for the correction on the SP… I had quite a few “bleers” tonight and couldn’t remember the term!
Updated thusly
With the exception being unarmed combat instructors (and even that is sometimes iffy), being a ‘PT God’ often doesn’t equate to being able to fight worth a damn.
There are experts who can verify its authenticity based on the pattern, stitching, etc. Contact a museum.
What kemp said. The D-Day Museum in N’awlins should be able to help.
The National Infantry Museum in Columbus, GA may be able to, also.
And then there’s the US Army Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, NC.
As to establishing the bona fides of Granddad in Normandy, well, you’re pretty good at running down that stuff so you don’t need my help.
Good luck and keep us appraised of what you find out.
And soooo totally cool.
Weird stuff happens sometimes, you know. My dad found his flight helmet from his jet school, “J-Flight Jets.,” flying the mighty T-33 (training version of the P-80 Shooting Star,) in an army-navy surplus store back in the mid 60s when he bought camping gear for the whole family. Seriously, has his name on it and everything. Soooo coool.
Army History Education Center (AHEC), Carlisle, PA. Outside the gate at the Army War College, so civilian accessible. They are the custodians and historians concerning Army “stuff”. They might be able to provide some info….but don’t just send it to them without an ironclad agreement how and when you will get it back. Have heard stories that people send them grandpa’s WW2 footlocker full of stuff….and when they open it, they find they need to call EOD. They have some great exhibits, especially outdoors. Worth a visit, it’s free.
PS: I have a big piece of similar camo parachute material, but its probably 1960s-70s vintage, same camop pattern, though.
Get a bag of rubber bands. The skinny ones are difficult, 1/4 wide,I shoot flies, much easier than a swatter. You can Redirect the pups Energies right quick. No need to try to leave a mark,,
I Can put one on my wrist and have one ready. You’d lose a hand.
“Telling you, if I could harness even one third of the energy these two have, I could power the Greater Tampa Area for the next five hunnerd years…”
Diet and exercise will get you there. Nothing worth have comes easy.
I’m wondering if one of those triangular display boxes people get for funeral flags would be a good way to display those treasures. They’re like 30 bucks on the ‘zon. Getting them out of the dust and protected from UV is going to be important. What a piece of history you were given!
We had a couple of funeral flags for uncles and such, but I paid like $80 for the box after my father died, years ago. The honor guard and the words spoken when they gave the flag to my mom fucked my siblings and I all kinds of up. The price was worth me probably getting fucked over for.
Nothing can beat a historical piece of gear like that.
My favorite gun that I have is my M1 carbine that I bought in an estate sale back in the mid 90s.
An old WWII vet passed and I went with the Ex to his estate sale after he passed. He had a wife and daughter who wanted none of his old “war stuff”. He had a shadow box on the wall with his decorations and was a sgt. in the 82nd airborne in WWII with jump wings with several drops.
One of the items for bid was an old black from age M1 carbine that had sat in his basement for 50 years. The wood stock’s sling had chaff marks where he had hung it from his leg during a jump.
I ended up getting that M1 for $600, cleaned it up and it is all original parts and there is no doubt that it killed Nazis. It is literally in mint condition and fires today sweet as can be. It is the pride of my collection but it’s historical value makes it priceless.
What a great score! A little trivial bit of family history on my wife’s side: Her grandmother went to work in a parachute factory during WW2 and while there she developed a stitching technique that strengthened the parachutes by several times what they were. She was awarded some kind of government service medal and was supposed to travel the country and teach this technique at other factories. Only she didn’t go. She quit going to work altogether. You see, she lied about her age to get the job and was scared she was going to get into serious trouble for doing so.
As for the PT, yeah, I was the gorilla. I got put on the “Fat Boy” program and got flagged for promotions/passes/leave by a Connecticut Yankee nigger CO who hated anyone from the South or with a country accent. Nevermind that I could ace PT tests and spent all my free time lifting weights in the gym. I had to go to the division surgeon and get a body fat dunk tank test (which showed that I was at 12%) to get the flag lifted and kicked off the “Fat Boy” program. That CO? Wound up under congressional investigation – not for that, but for a bunch of other things he did to other guys in the company.
If you can get just a few strands from one of the more frayed corners, run a test with a match on those.
Silk burns and smells like burning human or animal hair as the molecular structure has similar proteins.
Human nose will pick it out instantly. Our brains are hard wired to flee from that smell.
I suspect you might have nylon as the US Army was an early adopter of the tech. created only 6 or so years before D day. Still, that is a fucking holy grail item for any collector of memorabilia.
Here is a good article in fiber identification from online:
https://knowingfabric.com/how-to-identify-fabrics-can-you-burn-test-fibers/
Hope you survive the week, sounds like it is going to be “in the trenches” for ya.
Off topic but did you read about the Nh Guard commander killed in a hit and run? https://www.wmur.com/article/rochester-new-hampshire-crash-john-pogorek/61545167
What is this the third general to die on US soil in a month?
What ethnicity is “Pogorek?”
I’d guess Polish origin. And the name might be Americanized (trimmed/truncated) versus the original. But that’s just a dumb WAG.
BCE, THIS IS NUMNUTS719. REQUEST PUPDATE. OVER.