Spinach

67 thoughts on “Spinach”

1. 3 is Qatar Emiri Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle

   Preparing-
   My hunting gear (better quality than what I was issued) is always cleaned and re-packed when I get home. Have been on local trips with 15 minutes notice.

   1. I know, it becomes a habit.

2. Grossly Incompetent – I thought that was the name of the government training manual?

   1. Are those like Enron ethics manuals, found still sealed in plastic when bankruptcy is declared?

      1. 😳

3. Parting Shot
   1. Good sentiment, but
   2. Discreet and Low profile != camo shirt and “operator” cap

   1. Yes, tongue in cheek – but it’s like the “off duty police uniforms” where young men and women think that they’re blending in but they wear the same stuff.

   2. Though the same thing.
      That’s why I remain slightly overweight and nerdy.

      1. Thought, not though.
         I need a ne kebord.
         The letters come up mising and I don’ notice untul after pressing entr

         1. You and me both, usually iPad typing is next to worthless for me, right up there with my editing skills.

   3. Thought it was a fun example of lack of awareness as is sometimes expressed by different people in different places. Worked with one gal who made fun of guys reaching down and adjusting their package when she would frequently reach up and adjust her bra. Never seemed to notice the irony.

      1. Women never seem to “grasp” the concept that we need to adjust at times.

         1. Chalk it up to sheer female failure to think about that portion of anatomy outside of specific clothing-optional circumstances.
            .
            I used to wonder about the male adjustment, until one night when, with the aid of some adult beverages, I complained in mixed company about the only difference between jeans shopping for women and holster shopping for all humans was us women got changing rooms to discover that of the 23 pairs of Size X, only 2 fit, and only one was comfortable when sitting.
            .
            At which point a male friend launched into a similar rant about the poor fit of clothing for male anatomy in everyday activities, which wandered into emphatic assurances that I lacked the equipment to understand how many ways a climbing harness could be uncomfortable. We agreed that all harnesses were going to end up mashing some portion of anatomy no matter what sex you are, and on the ones that are only there to save your life, nothing before uncomfortably tight is still effective. (He’d gotten blown off a radio tower while still installing things, and the bone bruises were impressive. Watching him wince and hobble for weeks made me a believer in surface-level bruises being acceptable ever after.)
            .
            I owe him more beers for that rant next time we meet, because it truly moved the needle from “pretend you’re not uncomfortable and ignore it” to “just part of being human.”

            1. The same thing is true of the old parachute harnesses, which I am informed have evolved to cinch differently somehow. Maybe attaching to your upper thigh rather than squeezing things not designed to be squeezed (without tenderness). I don’t know how you don’t just slip out, but the lack of a deployment sleeve in the newer parachutes makes the canopy deployment less shocking. (the old T-10s used an A-3 harness)

            2. One female fan of boxers wondered why guys would wear jock straps or tighty whiteys. One guy replied that having sensitive body parts getting caught in the scissoring motion of running legs is not habit forming. Her reply was “I never thought of that.”

4. Identify the Armor:
   1. Vickers MBT Mark 1
   2. Vickers MBT Mark 3
   Identify the Aircraft & Livery:
   3. F-15QA of the Qatar Emiri Air Force

   1. Well done!

5. I’d like to put that piece of artwork in my den; best representation of The Sailor I’ve ever seen.

   1. X2…it is really good.

      1. It makes you want to weigh anchor.

         1. Spinach pie.

            1. I yam what I yam!

6. Screeching and wailing over “cuts” is because for decades TPTB made it impossible to do business here in America for reasonable cost (your Texas v. California illustrates this perfectly). After decades of moving manufacturing to various countries (now mostly China) for cheap labor and inferior materials, and PDJT tries to equalize trade with tariffs (which should effect the removal of the Federal income tax and resulting IRS thuggery, along with an entire created year-end CPA industry that bilks people of more of their income under threat)…the grifters and ignorant among us scream bloody murder.
   Ex: Walmart – the cheapo price store – has announced it is raising prices across the board because…wait for it…tariffs. This is because they have become the Temu storefront, and tariffs interfere with their Chinesium supply chain. It is the only reason. Walmart needs to rethink its business model or they will end up as a Kmart Blue Light Special, disappearing as that outfit did.
   However, there is a simple solution (currently being deployed by PDJT): “Made In America”.
   –
   Anecdote: Got an email from the [unnamed red/white truck] propane supplier:
   – SP: “Log in to see your latest bill” (geez, just tell me without 2-step verification for Heavens sake).
   – Me: “I don’t have a bill…unless it’s the tank rental, but that usually comes in February.” (Checks Quicken…nope, never got one. Okay.)
   – Me (logging in) “$102.68???, for the past 10 years it’s been $52.89.
   (….calling SP…pressing 1 for English)
   – Me: Excuse me, without notification, why did my Tank Rental jump $50?
   – SP “Customer Service” Rep: “Inflation”
   – Me: “You’re not serious, you know inflation is the lowest it’s been in four years, so what’s the real reason for the 100% increase?
   – SPCSR: [longish pause] “Corporate sets these things.”
   …the convo went downhill from there as the excuses to jack up prices ensued and with me saying “you’re trying to get rid of me without offering a plausible reason”. Click (the woman hung up on me)
   A perfect example of corporate scumbags using anything to jack up prices to regain “lost revenues”, same tactic the Federal and State governments (and insurance companies) are using to fleece WTP. Gotta give them an ‘A’ for creativity, but this has got to stop. Snake-Oil salesman and thieves don’t always wear black and sneak around at night.
   ***
   Parting Shot: Yup, fear the quiet man who looks benign…he looks that way because he is confident.

   1. You can change service providers and ask your current provider to haul the current rental tank away. They rely on the fact that irrespective of how hard they rogger you, it’s more work than it’s worth for you.
      .
      I’ve considered the same thing but then I have to hope that the new propane supplier won’t do the same thing.
      And makes us rather bear those ills we have
      Than fly to others that we know not of?
      Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all,
      And thus the native hue of resolution
      Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
      And enterprises of great pith and moment
      With this regard their currents turn awry
      And lose the name of action.

      1. Correct…AmeriGas loves it when people switch. But we are mostly electric, hardly use any propane. Regardless, aggregated utility costs are similar either way. My consternation was the lack of a heads up communiqué, not the cost
         …$102 is chump change. They didn’t ask, they simply foisted it, which is arrogant and uncaring, and that bothers me.
         Yeah, 1st World problems, but this is America, not some dictatorial land (well, mostly anyway).

         1. $100 didn’t used to be chump change. The value of the dollar drops and $100 becomes akin to buying a happy meal. It annoys me.

            1. …as those who think they are geniuses devalue the dollar every year with their asinine and idiotic modus operandi. Yet these people have no concept of reading the room therefore are totally tone deaf to the dystopian reality they created for the majority who “are nit them” (think 1929 market crash).

   2. If you own your tank you can shop around and let the suppliers know they’re bidding against each other. I bought my 500g tanks used/refurbished for half the price of new. They’re also better quality than new, much thicker steel.

      1. Yeah, typically no tank ownership in these parts, and as LL said, swapping the tanks and owned propane is a not uncommon when changing suppliers, but can be a hassle…plus, we painted ours ‘Oregano’ so “it blends” better than a white tic-tac set off from the house. Up a half mile into Wyoming and they sell you the tank if you want, especially buried ones.

         1. My tank came in “Oregano” color and matches the painted skin of the WWM, which is sage colored. I feel so color coordinated suddenly.

            1. Hahaha…see, we started a trend, colored coordinated propane tanks. Who knew.

7. Popeye was a Coastie.

   1. Originally yes but he enlisted in the USN in 1941.

8. ** “Big Pharma…” interesting read. the best , however was the first sentence of the last paragraph
   “As the push to reorient supply chains accelerates…”
   at least the author has a good sense of humor.
   ** Ahmed al-Sharaa, et al:
   ** I realize that we are entering the era of “love one’s brother” but it might behoove us to remember and understand the difference between with تقیة and كتمان (taqiyya and kitmān) when dealing with the Middle East
   ** “low profile – my Aunt Fannie! ” the t-shirt and tats are a dead giveaway

9. Wilted spinach is one of those dishes you don’t realize you crave, until you sit down to enjoy a serving.

   1. I’ve had remarkably good wilted boiled spinach. And I’ve had inedible wilted boiled spinach. Not being a chef, I can’t tell you why one was good and the other was not except that it was. Having been forced to eat the inedible variety as a child I was in Knoxville, TN for work one day and I stopped at a place for lunch. This is (mumbles) years ago and I was offered sides to chose from. I did not chose the boiled spinach and the waitress told me that I made a mistake because the spinach was not to be missed. I replied that I’d never had edible spinach before. She offered to bring me a side to try on the house. Being willing to try anything once, I agreed and I ate the whole bowl and tipped her appropriately. It was delicious. That I recall that lesson from over thirty-five years ago well enough to share it here speaks to the experience. I’ve since had good boiled spinach that I’ve enjoyed.

      1. My mother made wilted spinach and wilted lettuce. She would fry some bacon cut in small pieces, pull out the bacon, add some vinegar, add some seasoning including a little sugar, and pour it over the leaves while the dressing was hot. I think what made it better was chopped green onions tossed into the salad with the bacon bits.

         The best boiled spinach I ever ate was while working offshore. I don’t know how the cook seasoned it, but the chopped ham, or bacon, made it something I would eat when he made it.

         1. Along the same line, Jess, one of my favorite salads is grilled lettuce salad. You put Romaine Lettuce on the BBQ and singe it. I first had it at a restaurant in Newport Beach, CA and it remains a big favorite. You can add BBQ chicken or BBQ shrimp https://www.howsweeteats.com/2022/06/grilled-romaine-salads/

10. “Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations” on May 9, 2025.
    Is the answer sunset terms? The laws that authorize (enabling legislation) the regulation must be renewed every so many years. Oh wait, that would mean Congresscritters might need to do meaningful work.
    ——–
    Building costs. In every project the first two questions should be (1) where is the water? and (2) where does the s**t go? In Colorado, if not elsewhere, the answers are usually high. Like, $30,000 per unit tap fees.
    ———
    Apartment rents. The rent on a new unit will almost always be higher. Rents on existing units go up as owners charge “average rental rates”, because they can.

    1. Don’t forget SEAC, Structural Engineers Association of Colorado, who changed the wind and snow load model in order to generate more business, reflecting large, and ridiculous, increases in both, then shopped it to every county under the guise of “public safety” that ends up costing homeowners an additional 35% on foundation, structural, and roofing…and…now requires a higher level of SEAC member participation in every project, from a shed, barn, or home (known as ‘billable hours’). When I took them to task, the gal denied the new wind and snow loads would cost more (talk about tone deafness…or flat out lying). Ours went from 120mph &50psf to a stupid 155mph & 78psf., so asked her if the perfectly square and straight ridge barn built in 2004 was now out of compliance there unsafe, she had no answer. Then told the gal, “Hell, why not just demand everyone build a concrete bunker, which has the benefit of being fireproof as well”, to which she suggested was not funny. That ended our conversation.

       1. Everybody needs their little fiefdom, don’t they, along with some income to support it?
          —–
          Circa 1980, before getting into the car biz, we had a job putting a building on bedrock. Blasting a trench for utilities was required. Also required, 48″ concrete footers. No correlation to the building inspector’s brother-in-law owning the local concrete company was there?

    2. Congress rarely does meaningful work that is selfless in its application. Sometimes I’m surprised. But not often.

11. way off-topic, ‘cept
    speaking of totally tone-deaf
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/16/supreme-court-block-migrant-deportation-alien-enemies-act/83186051007/
    I don’t believe the Supremes are listening to/hearing WTP – or is the Liberal/Weird wing of the “Bench” attempting to foment a revolution

12. Ahmed al-Sharaa-
    Al-Sharaa joined al-Qaeda in Iraq shortly before the 2003 invasion of Iraq and fought for three years in the Iraqi insurgency that killed and wounded some of my friends. While fighting for al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Sharaa was captured by U.S. forces while planting explosives and imprisoned at Abu Ghraib and other detention sites. Iraqi intelligence believed al-Sharaa was Zarqawi’s deputy in 2004, although he claimed to be just a “foot soldier” for AQI. Ever wonder how we kept rolling a donut on Zarqawi until his death in 2006? Or how the CIA Special Activities Division gained its intelligence to a raid that located Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2017? The devil is in the details, and Abu Mohammad al-Julani or Ahmed al-Sharaa will always be the sadistic dog we hunted down for so long but could never quite kill or capture. The only explanation to why he is even still alive can only be that he is our asset. He will sign the Abraham Accord agreement and do whatever else he needs to maintain power in Syria, but Ahmed al-Sharaa, Abu Mohammad al-Julani or whatever other name he gives himself will not wash away the American blood that is on his hands. Boron nailed it with تقیة and كتمان (taqiyya and kitmān) when dealing with the Middle East but none the less we will work and negotiate with terrorists in today’s world which will never sit right with me or with some of my teammates that gave all.
    -⚡STA Lethal⚡

    1. The Wahhabists in Saudi Arabia are responsible for the 911 attacks. How should we conduct our relations with the Magic Kingdom, given that?

       1. Good question. I wonder if we are at this point yet.
          ——
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmjXim0lAto

       2. Collaborate on containing Iran’s influence and stabilizing conflicts like Yemen, while urging Saudi Arabia to avoid actions that exacerbate sectarian tensions. Relations should balance strategic interests with accountability. Completely severing ties risks destabilizing the region and empowering adversaries like Iran, but unchecked alignment ignores legitimate concerns about extremism and human rights i.e. ethnic cleansing and torture. A calibrated approach—cooperation with clear conditions—best serves U.S. interests. It’s a tough pill to take but necessary to prevent attacks on U.S. soil. Especially now that we have so many illegal unknowns and got-aways in our country, thanks to the BHPJ&HO administration.

       3. Akin to this: “England has no eternal friends, England has no perpetual enemies, England has only eternal and perpetual interests.”

13. Popeye the Sailor Man reminded me of the post 3 days ago topped with the painting of U-115, which had later brought to mind a book I’d read years ago. The very similar cover art of A Sailor of Austria: In Which, Without Really Intending to, Otto Prohaska Becomes Official War Hero No. 27 of the Habsburg Empire is of a WWI U-boat. It’s a very good book, well written, often funny, and technically pretty accurate, with many scenes based on actual historical events, including the one with the camel. It’s a good look at WWI submarine warfare, too. A couple of the events depicted happened to Georg von Trapp, who truly was an Austrian naval hero. His memoirs, To the Last Salute: Memories of an Austrian U-Boat Commander are definitely worth reading. He was nothing like how he was portrayed in The Sound of Music.

    I hate to say it, but our military establishment today (especially the flag ranks) is reminiscent of the bureaucratic military nonsense and frank ineptitude of the last years of the Habsburg Empire. I hope Trump and Hegseth can get a good start at rebuilding the military (including a purge of most of the top ranks, where a permanent 80-90% reduction in the number of four-stars with progressively lower permanent reductions in lower ranks is desperately needed), but it will take another 8 years of solid presidential leadership after Trump, backed up by Congressional action despite the Dems and the GOPe. I have hope for J.D. Vance, who has often impressed me so far.

    1. When the Sound of Music was released, some people were hard on the Georg von Trapp character in the film for tapping the babysitter. I was a young man at the time and wondered why he waited as long as he did. Different perspectives.
       .
       As to JD Vance, I respected the man but felt that his politics (though Republican) were further left than I thought optimal. In the same way, Donald Trump is a populist, not a conservative. It doesn’t mean that I’m anti-Trump or Vance. I think that they’ve both done remarkably well. Finding somebody who is an LL clone in American politics is impossible. I’m not sure that an LL clone is even desirable. Sure, he’d be impossibly cool.
       .
       The problem with politics is “who owns them” and it’s impossible to be a politician in a place like the USA and not be owned at least in part. “Owned” may be too harsh of a term, but you can’t be in that slot without bowing to both power and reality unless you’re creepy Pedo Joe and you have no idea where or who you are – “I want more ice cream before I take my nap. I’m too tired to sign anything, just use the autopen.”

       1. “tapping the babysitter”? Geez, LL, now I’ll never look at the movie the same ever again. Oh, and let’s not forget she just arrived from a Convent…which makes your take even more…ahem…sordid.

       2. 1> It’s not like von Trapp was married. And he did marry her, after all. It was a different era, but not that different — I was a 3-month preemie, and so was my wife.

          2> I guess I should have clarified that Vance has impressed me compared to the competition, of which there are precious few in D.C. that I would piss on if they were on fire.

          I have grave doubts that Trump is doing much more than buying us a short reprieve. I pray that Democrats continue to self-immolate in their hatred and fear of the man.

          1. X2…the Dems are accelerating off the cliff, they somehow believe their own hubris still works.

14. New gun. Am actually selling a few rifles. They are from my NRA Highpower Rifle competition days. They have been gathering dust for a long time now. Time to find them new homes. Not to worry, there are plenty more where those came from. Likely there is a lighter weight AR upper in my future.
    —-
    Spinach. Yum. I have officially arrived. I am on prescription meds. It is time to lean out (even more) my cholesterol, carbs, and salt. Breakfast this morning–cook down a pile of raw spinach in frying pan, add it a couple of heaping table spoons of (already cooked and drained) venison sausage, dust liberally with garlic powder, then dump in egg beaters. Quick oats oatmeal with sugar free syrup on the side.

    1. One of my preferred breakfasts is quick oats (hot) and fresh blueberries. Or I’ll cut up a fresh apple in the bowl. I have no idea about calories and carbs. I add a little milk. Maybe it will kill me, but the meal tends to stick with me through the morning, and I like it.

    2. Add some feta cheese and you’ve got most of the makings of a good “greek” omelette.

       1. Just had one this morning.

    3. It has now been 6 days since I bought another gun that was promptly lost in yet another tragic boating accident.
       .
       Dang, RHT, sorry to hear you’re out of high power but considering the shit-show NRA Competitions Division has turned our thing into, I get it. Many programs are converting over to CMP format because it’s less expensive, more responsive and CMP doesn’t talk to you like your poo on their shoes. Comp-Div doesn’t get it, unless they do and are trying to kill it. They suck.

       1. WWW. thanks for the kind words. I’ve been out of the game for some time. Got my Master card in 1990, so I had a good run. In my early days, I got to shoot along side some of the greats like Mid Tompkins. You can also find me here under the same screen name–
          ——
          https://www.texasguntalk.com/

15. “monitor performance and have remote access for maintenance. ”
    In manufacturing, there is a big move to restrict access to computers on the plant floor.
    It makes it so difficult to support the customer.

16. “Al-Sharaa’s claims to have been reborn as a tolerant democratic leader were shaken in March by a series of massacres of up to 1,500 Alawites”
    …
    Can anyone point to a guerilla/terrorist movement taking over and proclaiming a peaceful new reign of democracy to the world that *didn’t* result in the opposition parties / other guerilla/terrorist movements in country being quietly liquidated within a few years?
    .
    Because the more I read primary sources that haven’t been blandly whitewashed into current political acceptability or lost all detail in order to fit in a powerpoint presentation-level history, the more of the “Huh. There were actually thirteen groups at time independence was declared…. today there is one, and it claims it was always the only one.” I find…

    1. They “unified” at the point of a bayonet.
       .
       The American Revolution didn’t liquidate the opposition unless you’re going to discuss the Whiskey Rebellion that George Washington crushed. Most Tories were forced to relocate to Canada or to Great Britain.

       1. So that interest on the national debt would give the Eastern establishment banking families ownership of a controlling share of the GDP in ten years. America is not historically exceptional in the way it does its central banking, and the resulting structure of political control. I don’t know enough about British history to compare but I suspect the founding lawyers copied Britain.

17. “Democracy is cancerous, and bureaus are its cancer. A bureau takes root anywhere in the state, turns malignant like the Narcotic Bureau, and grows and grows, always reproducing more of its own kind, until it chokes the host if not controlled or excised. Bureaus cannot live without a host, being true parasitic organisms. (A cooperative on the other hand can live without the state. That is the road to follow. The building up of independent units to meet needs of the people who participate in the functioning of the unit. A bureau operates on opposite principles of inventing needs to justify its existence.) Bureaucracy is wrong as a cancer, a turning away from the human evolutionary direction of infinite potentials and differentiation and independent spontaneous action to the complete parasitism of a virus. (It is thought that the virus is a degeneration from more complex life-form. It may at one time have been capable of independent life. Now has fallen to the borderline between living and dead matter. It can exhibit living qualities only in a host, by using the life of another — the renunciation of life itself, a falling towards inorganic, inflexible machine, towards dead matter.) Bureaus die when the structure of the state collapse. They are as helpless and unfit for independent existence as a displaced tapeworm, or a virus that has killed the host.”
    ― William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch

18. Damn, but I hate Facebook. On my phone, it will sometimes let me see videos, but for others, it insists that I verify that I’m human by taking a video selfie for them, turning my head as prompted. That’s always the case on my PC. Eff that. That’s the kind of crap I’d deleted my account 10 years ago over, that and the repeated privacy violations and cases of data mining of users’ computers. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason why it allows some videos, but not others, when occasionally, if I try again, it will display a video it previously denied me. It’s frustrating. Eff Zuckerberg and the horse he pranced in on.

    1. LL … looking forward to the book.
       *
       Remote computer access due to the criminals hacking systems will remain contentious. I personally removed remote access in my career to computers controlling critical infrastructure. It was a decision not done in haste but the potential for a very bad outcome if hacked was too great. As to, there are ways to prevent, all it takes is an external or internal employee to sell the access. It happens.

19. I live rurally and occasionally carry concealed ,mean dumped feral dogs come and go , coons destroying shit etc…My carry attire is loose fitting faded overalls , Key brand specifically . They don’t look menacing and blend in quite well in my area , and they are comfortable as hell . Funny I can shoot a firearm in my backyard /pasture but fireworks are illegal .

    Breakfast , rarely eat it but when I do I feel better and can make it till dinnertime without snacking.

    Interesting comments and articles , glad comments weren’t closed yet . Popeye picture..Ha..Hell Yes !

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