Stumbling On History
07:40 Friday, 25 April 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 65.41°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 93% Wind: 0mph
Words: 347
It's hard thinking up these titles.
With Mitzi being gone, I've mostly been just watching Perry Mason re-runs on Prime. It's a kind of self-care, after a day of chaos under the Mad Orange King. It's familiar, and comforting and I never get tired at laughing at District Attorney Hamilton Burger and Lt. Tragg boasting that Perry's client doesn't stand a chance. And I crush on Della Street, Perry's confidential secretary/work wife.
I check out the episode guide at IMDB to look at the careers of all the guest stars, some of whom appeared on the show early in their careers. But, I digress.
Last night I watched Season 3, Episode 23, "The Case of the Slandered Submarine." It was one of the better episodes, some of which are surprisingly good. In this episode, Perry defends a sailor accused of murder at a general court martial.
In one of the scenes, filmed at a naval station, presumably Long Beach, there are a number of ships in the background. One of them was DD-723, so I had to look that up. USS WALKE, commissioned on 21 January, 1944. Wikipedia has a pretty good account of its service history, which was pretty remarkable.
The ship served in combat in WW II, Korea and Viet Nam. She supported the landings at Normandy on D-Day, and later transited to the Pacific for the remainder of her career. She was struck by a kamikaze in WWII, which fatally wounded the CO, CDR George Fleming Davis, earning him a Congressional Medal of Honor. She was later repaired and continued to serve in combat, including at Okinawa, where my father served in his mighty LCS (L)(3)-103, "Dragon Lady." (That album is very disorganized, so the captions written on the backs of photos don't align with the correct images. I need to fix that someday.)
Surprising how much history may be almost hidden in the background of a TV show.
(One interesting thing was the flag on the wall during the court martial, it only had 48 stars!)
✍️ Reply by emailMorning Ride
06:22 Friday, 25 April 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 66.45°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 91% Wind: 0mph
Words: 520
I walked 1.9 miles last night, which was overkill as far as closing my move ring and probably a little unwise, considering how my left achilles felt this morning. I figured I'd try riding my bike early this morning instead of walking this evening.
The bike ride turned out to be pretty good therapy for the achilles. It'll tighten up as I sit here at the desk, but when I got off the bike there was tolerable discomfort. I don't think I could do a long walk on it without aggravating it, but I can get around the house without limping.
You may recall that I converted my Priority Classic to an e-bike with the Swytch conversion kit. When I ride in the morning, I don't leave it off but it's set at the level of least assistance. I get a decent workout in less time (and somewhat less exposure to risk from inattentive drivers).
I rode Wednesday morning, since I didn't have a workout with the trainer that day. I left at 05:31 on Wednesday and 05:33 this morning. On Wednesday, I was treated to the rising crescent moon above Venus, often framed by royal palms on the property. This morning was even better, with a reddish sliver of a crescent moon below Venus, and closer to it. Couldn't see it as often, because it was lower in the sky, but that framed it better when I could see it. It is something of a treat, and I will miss that.
I ride in the road early in the morning, because the sprinklers are on at various points along the ride. It's "reclaimed water," from Jacksonville's sewage treatment plants. They have signs everywhere telling you not to drink it, but they're happy to aerosolize it and let you breathe it when you're biking or running. I won't miss that either, not that I'll be doing a lot of biking in New York. (I think we'll bike on dedicated trails, but that won't be a daily thing.)
Speaking of reclaimed water, Florida lawns and everything foolish about this state. JEA, Jacksonville's public utility, doesn't make enough reclaimed water to irrigate all the lawns in this enormous planned development, Nocatee. They're making a significant effort to ration it. Last year, people would try to run their sprinklers and there wasn't enough pressure to get the heads to pop up. And the fancy grass we have here in our Del Webb development requires more water than the utility wants to permit us to use. (Homeowners have slightly more drought tolerant "St. Augustine grass." It gets killed by chinch bugs, fungus, cutting it too short, over-watering, under-watering, too much fertilizer, not enough fertilizer. Other than that, it's "virtually maintenance-free!")
Florida. So foolish and so frustrating. A solution is to switch over to xeriscape using native plants. But no, "Our property values," they wail! I will emphatically not miss the manifestly foolish thinking that dominates this state. Maybe it's the heat?
Could it be the heat? Whatever it is, it's contagious because nearly everyone exhibits the same symptoms.
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