The Daily Grind

Day to day opeations are as normal these days in the Snipe household.  I work, Pocket Monkey goes to school, and Mrs. Snipe does her homemaker thing.  The tempo at work has slowed down and I got voluntold for a mantenance assessment team when we go to dry dock.  Tonight’s dinner was chicken wings with a homemade breading.  Work is a lot of making metal stuff to fix or rePLACE THINGS.  We did a major metal onload the other day and my back is still bitching at me. I must say, it sucks to get old.

Friday funnies and foodstuff

During Thanksgiving, I dug out a recipe for sweet potato pie from Mississippi.  According to Dad, this is a vegetable and not a dessert.  I think that the two cups of sugar that top the ingedient list land it square in dessert country.  My late great grandmother, and most of my paternal grandmother’s side is from that area.  In the words of one of my Califonria friends of ethnicity, “That shit is good. White boy throws down!”.  One of my wife’s friends asked for a couple of pies for Christmas.  I routinely crack up at people who are surprised that a white man can cook.  I am not one of those wimps from weekday evening sitcoms.  At one point in my life, I may have been the inspiration for the Carls Junior commercial, “If not for us, some guys would starve.”  I fixed that.  Dad’s side is predominantly from the South.  NC, MS, LA to name the most commonly mentioned states in family BS sessions.  I asked questions, and learned some family secrets and amazing dishes.  I am also a frequent visitor to www.mostlycajun.com  A lot of his recipes are familiar from child hood.  The rest are easy enough for a Hull Tech to comprehend.  I stole the pot roast from his blog years ago, making a couple of changes based on available tools and spices.  My version is still a hit with wife and company to this day.  One day, when the wife isn’t looking, I’ll post the recipe to the pie on this blog.  Her island culture holds recipes that are from family quite dear, and damn near top secret.  I disagree.  I realized that I’m getting old today.  “HT2, was it really cool when they invented rope?”  This is the same smart guy that realized he was battling acne when my first ship was battling Al Qaeda back in ’03.  What a day.  Ideally, more routine posts to folow.  Fall out, and carry out the plan of the day.

A smorgasboard of new things

I have had a busy end of the year. Marriage, inspections, vacations and more inspections.  We dang near aced one.  We almost aced another. High 80s and low 90s. Very unusual for a ship of my same class.  Elections are coming up and I don’t like it.  The Republicans need a better candidate. I’m not sold on Romney, but I would vote for my housecat Cody to do better than Obama.  We drove to MS from CA. It was a long but beautiful drive. Never again will I do that with only 11 days.  The in laws were fun and pleasant to meet.  Soon, I will be on the way to the Midwest to be an instructor for sailor pups.  I am looking forward to be out of the land of fruit and nuts.

A day late and a dollar short

I was on my current ship for an inspection this year on the anniversary of September 11. I was standing watch during the remembrance ceremony. That is not unusual. I was already in the Navy as a senior E-3 or junior E-4 when it happened. We deployed off the west coast watching for inbound planes while the whole country was effectively a no fly zone. Some of my officers were 13 or 14 at that time. I have yet to forget the fear or uncertainty of those few weeks. It was the only time in twelve years that I have been deployed on a ship that was “weapons free” in my own back yard. As I have said before, I would do it again in a New York minute if called upon.

Life happens

I must apologize for the long delay between posts.  We are one week from a major inspection.  During the pre assessment my shop got 90 percent on the “troubled system” we are in charge of.  That was a ton of work.  We have houseguests right now.  My wife’s cousin and cousin’s young son needed a place to stay until they can find more permanent arrangements.  They are starting to drive me nuts.  I have been bugging Mrs. Snipe about it.  There is a fine line between helping someone get back on their feet and being a sucker.

Our system

I don’t know how to feel about the Anthony verdict.  Did she have a slick lawyer, or did our judicial system work as advertised?  Our legal system was devised to let a few guilty to go free, in order to protect the innocent.  As near as I can tell, the prosecution had weak evidence.  I guess some mysteries are meant to remain unsolved.

Work and stuff

My command is rapidly approching a major inspection.  As such, we are being kept very busy.  As a metalworker and plumber among other things, I have a lot of stuff to fix with my minions.

The Supreme Court has mandated that the State of California release several thousand prisoners to reduce overcrowding.  I have two better ideas. Deport any illegal immigrant currently being held(thank you, Tennessee) and bring back the death penalty. Problem solved.  A guy out here robbed a bank for one dollar so he could get arrested and get health care.  I think prisons should be much simpler.  If I recall my US Civics class properly, inmates are not supposed to live better than the public at large.  I say give them military BC glasses instead of designer frames, a minimal gym and a small TV if any at all.  As it is, I made sure my rifle and pistol are in good working order and my lovely knows how to use them.  She got the eight ring on her first try at a standard NRA pistol target.  Even though .40 Smith is a strong round, I explained to her that if its worth shooting, it is worth shooting twice.  If any dirtbag comes to my door, I feel my family will be ready.

A California lawmaker got busted for DUI. it was below the fold news.  He fessed up and promised to behave. I can appreciate his embarassment.  I was there not so long ago myself.

Uh-Oh

We almost failed to sail last week.  We were shiting from shore power to ship power and the switchboard pooped the bed.  We are preparing for INSURV, a Congress mandated inspection.  A lot of work.  I will be trying to blog regularly from now on.

Bin Laden is dead

I don’t know what to say.  Osama Bin Laden is officially dead.  Wow. Just wow. I guess it is time to crack a beer and smoke a stogie. Apparently, the SEALs were the main unit involved in this adventure.  If that is true, all I can say is GO NAVY! SMOOTH SAILING!.

DADT Repeal News

We received training today on the looming official date of the repeal of DADT.  Very boring.  One and a half hours training could be summed up in about a paragraph worth of words.  Here are the high points.

No fag bashing.  No straight bashing. No sexual harassment regardless of gender(male to male, male to female, etc).  Professional conduct in and out of uniform will still be expected and enforced.  No flamboyant nonsense while in uniform.  A few policy changes that really aren’t important.  As with any brief, there were some good questions and some dumb ones. 

In other news, I completed gas free engineer/gas free petty oficer school. Papaw was right.  I will never get away from math.  A lot of calculating volumes, and converting various units of measure.  I am now qualified as a “competent person” for the purposes of atmospheric testing.  I received 88 percent.  Not bad, but I was aiming for 90 or above.  Tomorrow, is more school, for something else.