For those of you wondering why or why not a “No Fly Zone” in Ukraine might be a good idea, I have a discussion of that by two knowledgeable individuals HERE.
One of the people is Ward Carroll, an ex-navy F-14RIO (radar intercept operator). He has a fairly interesting You Tube channel that mainly discusses various aspects of Naval Aviation. They discuss in great detail what can and cannot be done to aid Ukraine while simultaneously avoiding things getting out of control.
Today is PI day (3-14). It’s also the eve of the Ides of March (Marcus Junius Brutus, call on white courtesy phone; Brutus, white courtesy phone). The world is also waiting for a Russian equivalent of Brutus (Brutowski) to step forward to give Russia a way to let go of the tar-baby of Ukraine.
I’ve noticed a shift in tone in a lot of news reports. A Russian attack (using cruise/ballistic missiles) on an airbase 15 miles from the Polish border is being hyped as a (near) attack on NATO triggering a Rule 5 violation. It was an attack on a purely military installation, probably a site for receiving military aid from Europe. I am much more concerned with civilian casualties in Kyiv,
It looks like Putin is following the pattern of his previous victories in Georgia and Chechnya, particularly in his victory of the battle of Grozny. Facing unrelenting opposition, he backed off, shelled the city to rubble, declared victory, installed a puppet government, and rebuilt the city. The difference now is that Ukraine is distinctly European rather than somewhere off in the Caucasus between the Black and Caspian Seas.
In my view the U.S. must remain on the sidelines and let Europe deal with European problems. Let the Europeans invoke a no-fly-zone if they desire, and we should provide all the arms we can to Poland and Romania and let them distribute them as they see fit.
Yes, the people of Ukraine will suffer mightily, but if we wind up expanding to Global Nuclear War the suffering will be, well, Global. However, while Ukraine bleeds, the Russian’s will be bleeding more, the Russian Army and the Russian Economy particularly. The only escape for Putin is to escalate into a NATO confrontation so he can portray himself as the defender of Russia against US/NATO.
There are of course comparisons to the 1930’s and Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland and Austrian Anschluss. If the Allies had intervened in either one of those, could WWII have been avoided? In my view, the difference is that neither of them had the level of opposition that the Russians have/will encounter (Mandatory Sound of Music reference). I think now is the time for the US and NATO to pull back (while continuing to arm Ukraine and provide solace and succor to the women and children). Let them exhaust themselves and drive their army and economy into third world status. Keep the sanctions in place until the Russians depose Putin, withdraw, and rebuild Ukraine. Maybe offer to purchase all of Russia’s nuclear weapons to help them rebuild.
Important things to take from recent developments:
Russia has seriously miscalculated; managing to unite all of NATO and the EU and even getting Sweden and Switzerland to unite on imposing sanctions and providing arms and other aid to Ukraine.
Putin has evidenced that he is seriously isolated and even more paranoid about COVID, etc. then most of us have thought.
Given that he cannot sweep into Ukraine as expected and establish a puppet government; he has definitely grabbed the tar-baby, letting go will be the problem.
As he struggles against the sanctions, and is bogged down by the active resistance, and body bags start coming home and he faces growing opposition by the Russian people he will be tempted to double down on the scorched earth policy, even to using (tactical) nuclear weapons.
I can only hope that if he orders use of nuclear weapons his underlings will step in and either retire him to a dacha somewhere or give him the 9mm retirement package.
If “Things get out of hand” we can only hope it is restricted to a brief exchange before we all step back from the brink.
I’ve been following the issues in Ukraine fairly closely especially, as a professional interest, since Putin invoked the possibility of canned sunshine (a delightful phrasing I stole from HERE).
I stumbled across another YouTube video (HERE) that focuses more on recent history and draws the implications from the geography of Eastern Europe, and Russia’s preoccupation with buffers between NATO states and itself.
The other interesting thing is the connection that Ukraine is basically a replay of the invasion of Georgia (the nation, not the State) in 2008. Basically, Georgia had two breakaway provinces (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) with large Russian populations. They were recognized (and occupied) by Russia who then launched an invasion on the pretext of protecting the Russian population and reintegrated Georgia as a buffer state.
Today is Fat Tuesday (french: Mardi Gras) the day before Ash Wednesday for Roman Catholics (for Orthodox Catholics YMMV). The reason for the nickname is that traditionally you used up all of the fats and oils before fasting during Lent.
One of the traditional meals for Mardi Gras is pancakes which, this year presents an issue. In 2022 it falls on Tuesday which brings up the question of Taco Tuesday. Pancakes or Tacos – that is the question.
By a happy coincidence I had to mail a UPS package today and right next to the UPS store was a Taco John restaurant.
My longer-term plan for the property is to maintain some independence from grid-tied utilities. It’s not that I specifically mistrust the local utilities, but I don’t see prices dropping any time soon. For instance, it would cost me over $14,000.00 to connect to city water (plus monthly costs that will be going nowhere but up).
Last fall I purchased a solar power system that I will be installing as it warms up this spring. I purchased the parts from a mail order place – The altE Store. I got a 5.28 KW Residential solar power system that can be seen HERE.
I also got an option that included 2 ea SimpliPhi LFP (Lithium Ferro-Phosphate) batteries. Model: AmpliPHI-3.8-48 (AmpliPHI 3840 Wh 48V) batteries can be seenHERE.
Below should be a 3 page PDF file that diagrams how it is all hooked up
File Name: KITOFFGRIDBASE2_16-panels.pdf
PDF Loading...
The actual hardware is currently stored in preparation of better weather next month.
Given the bouts of below-zero weather, you will note I moved the batteries & chargers inside the storage container last fall.
I would certainly welcome any comments (especially from any electrically trained nuclear officers, Jon)
The first week was that I was in Pensacola, Fla working with my two brothers on fixing up my nephew’s house in order to put it on the market.
David, Jon & I were working on David’s son, Michael’s house as he prepares to move back to Calif (and back to the reserves from Active Duty in the Navy). David was responsible for creating the shirts, with the inscription created by our sister Jill. I’ll spare you the somewhat politicized front of the shirt which offer encouragement to some unknown Brandon. This is the first time, I think, that all 3 of us worked on a project together.
I didn’t take any pictures of the actual work we did, I’ll leave that to Jon, but it was basically reworking the downstairs bath and making it an ensuite bath (since there was another bathroom downstairs).
I too had a connection to Pensacola, in 1969-1970 I spent a year there, after ET-A School, learning the ins and outs of being a CT(M). (If you’d like a detailed explanation of what the bundle of acronyms actually means I could arrange it; but it will cost you at least 2 and possibly 3 margaritas)
We took Wednesday off, and I revisited Corry Field where I was stationed back in 1969. Back then it was a disused subsidiary airfield of NAS Pensacola, used for training during WWII. After the war it was converted to training the various branches of Communicatons Technicians in the big brick hangers that were left over from being an airfield. (Hangers also served as emergency shelters when Hurricane Camille blew through, with the emphasis on “blew”).
Corry Field is obviously changed in the last 53 years, the runways are gone; supplanted by Navy Exchange and Commissary for the whole region, but the old buildings are still there, tucked in amongst the newer stuff. We also drove over to NAS Pensacola to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum. The Museum was truly amazing. It has representative of all the aircraft flown by the navy, and others. In my first pass through the ground floor, while examining a WWII era PBY (with sections cut away so you can see the insides) I completely missed an adjacent Messerschmidt Me-262. I noticed it on our second pass through the area. One sad part is that post-9/11, the general public no longer has access to it since it was built directly adjacent to the Blue Angels compound and the initial pilot training area. Since both Jon & I have retired ID’s and David has a disabled veteran ID we had no problems.
We finished up Saturday morning (19 Feb) and Jon gave me a ride to the airport. I noticed that morning I woke up with a scratchy throat. I got back to Casper a little after 8:00PM to cold snowy weather. By the next afternoon I definitely had case of influenza (pre-COVID idiocy) symptoms, low grade fever, coughing, and general malaise. I treated it like I did for every cold for the past 60 years: OJ, supplemental Vitamin C, rest and gin & tonic (for the additional Vitamin C from the limes and anti-malarial properties of tonic water-just in case). I didn’t get any worse and now it’s Friday and I am back to reasonable health (other than being on Day 2 of the War in Ukraine).
Speaking of the Ukraine War, I had gotten some stuff from The Great Courses website over the years, and today they sent me a link to a section of their Eastern European History. It’s only a half hour in time but explains an enormous amount. See LINK Here.
Looks like I finally figured out how to embed & publish videos.
May be some pauses while it downloads the video, depending on your transfer speed. Note this was while it was snowing with no wind, not a common occurrence. Let me know if you encounter problems.
I was updating an e-mail correspondent on the status of my homestead (hi Fred!) and I realized I haven’t updated the blog so below is an update of where we stand today (Feb 9, 2022).
Below is a view of the homestead during the recent snowstorm. Also shows my pick-up truck and the side-by-side utility vehicle.
A night view which shows the lights installed. Also shows the stairs over the Storage Container.
Below is the back of the container with both rainwater storage containers.
The storage container (blue one) holds the stuff I moved out of the apartment, until I get the house built. It is also where the Solar Power & Batteries will be installed.
Below is the Workshop container (dark grey one), with workbench and tools starting to be organized.
Upcoming projects:
Ramp up to front door (with guardrail) to help with steep stairs (also for the sisters with bad/new knees & hips).
Workshop French Doors behind end doors for summertime use.
Solar arrays – Currently planning to install behind the containers, between the orchard and rainwater containers.
Gravel driveway out to road (I expect 10-15K in gravel)
Septic system & house, expect to begin construction in March/April time frame.
Well, the week has flown by but we have made progress. The missing tank mysteriously appeared and was delivered Monday. I got it hooked up and (more importantly) got the tank heater installed.
The cat was out exploring, apparently not unduly bothered by the snowfall. Below he is investigating the top of the trailer. he apparently leaps from the stairs to the slide out extension.
I’m closing this out on Tuesday the first of February. I awoke to snow flurries and dropping temperatures. Below is the weather warning:
It was snowing heavily by midmorning: but with calm winds and large flakes.
We only got 6-8 inches, and the snow stopped by mid-afternoon, with the clear weather it will drop down to very cold overnight. See below for the (frigid) forecast through the end of the week.