Fleet Week 2017 Los Angeles

Figured I should post something a bit more serious after the previous post....

Fleet Week 2017 in Los Angeles kicks off tomorrow, and if you can stand the crowds, and you're in the area, I highly recommend you swing on by.

This year we have the following ships docked next to the Iowa:

USS Dewey (DDG-105) – is one of the Flight IIA ARLEIGH BURKE Class of Aegis guided missile destroyers and the third ship in the Navy named after Admiral George Dewey.  Besides the 62 vessels of this class (comprising 21 of Flight I, 7 of Flight II and 34 of Flight IIA) in service as of 2017, an additional thirteen ships are under contract - including the most recent contract award on June 3, 2013 for nine ships as part of the FY13-17 multi-year procurement contracts with Huntington Ingalls Industries and Bath Iron Works.
Keel laid: October 4, 2006
Launched: January 18, 2008

Commissioned: March 6, 2010 – Seal Beach CA Naval Weapons Station
Builder: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' Ingalls Operations, Pascagoula, MS
Cost: approx., 1.843 billion dollars.
Propulsion system: 4 General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines
Propellers: 2 five-bladed reversible controllable pitch propellers Power: 3 Allison AG9140 Generators (2,500 kW each, 440 V)
Length: 508,5 feet (155 meters)
Beam: 67 feet (20.4 meters)
Draft: 30,5 feet (9.3 meters)
Displacement: approx. 9,100 tons full load (long tons)
Speed: 32 knots
Weapons: 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 62 Mk-45 mod 4 lightweight gun; two Mk-41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) (96 cells - 32 forward and 64 aft) for Standard missiles, ASROC missiles, and Tomahawk ASM/LAM missiles; one 20mm Phalanx CIWS; two Mk-32 triple torpedo tubes for Mk-50 and Mk-46 torpedoes; two Mk-38 Mod 2 25mm M242 Bushmaster machine gun systems Aircraft: 2 SH-60 (LAMPS 3) helicopters Electronics: AEGIS Weapons System (AWS) including SPY-1 3D Radar, multiple sensors and processing systems, electronic warfare and decoy systems
Homeport: San Diego, CA
Crew: approx. 320 (20 officers and 300 enlisted) USS Anchorage (LPD-23) – Landing Platform/Docks (LPD) are used to transport and land Marines, (with their equipment and supplies), by embarked landing craft / augmented by helicopters or vertical take-off and landing aircraft (MV 22 Osprey). These ships support amphibious assaults, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions and can serve as secondary aviation platforms for amphibious ready groups.  There are 10 San Antonio Class warships in service, with an additional 2 ships under construction; LPD 27 and LPD 28. Keel laid: September 24, 2007 Launched: February 12, 2011 Commissioned: May 4, 2013 at Anchorage, AK Builder: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Avondale, New Orleans, LA Cost: Their average cost is $1.6 billion Propulsion system: 4 sequentially turbocharged Marine Colt-Pielstick Diesels - 40,000 hp (30 MW) Propellers: 2 fixed pitch Length: 684 feet (208.5 meters) Beam: 105 feet (31.9 meters) Draft: 23 feet (7 meters) Displacement: approx. 24,900 long tons Speed: 22 knots Armament: 2 Bushmaster II 30 mm close-in chain guns; 2 RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) (anti-missile missile) launchers; and ten .50 caliber machine guns Well deck capacity: 2 Landing Craft Air Cushion hovercraft (LCAC) or 1 conventional Landing Craft Utility (LCU) and 14 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV). Aircraft: landing platform for all helicopters and the MV-22 Osprey; maintenance facilities for 1 CH-53E or 2 CH-46s or 1 MV-22 or 3 UH/AH-1s. Crew: Ship: 28 officers, 332 enlisted Marine Detachment: 66 officers, 633 enlisted (can be expanded to 800) Homeport: San Diego, CA  USS Scout (MCM-8) – is the eighth, (out of 14), AVENGER Class mine countermeasures ships, designed to clear mines from vital waterways.  The Avengers have wooden hulls with an external coating of fiberglass. They are equipped with sophisticated mine hunting and classification sonar systems, as well as remotely operated mine neutralization and disposal systems. Launched: May 20, 1989 Commissioned: December 15, 1990 Builder: Peterson Shipbuilders, Sturgeon Bay, WI Cost: 61 million Propulsion System: 4 Isotta-Fraschini Diesel engines (600 hp (450 kW) ea.) Propellers: 2 with controllable pitch Length: 224 feet (68.28 meters) Beam: 39 feet (11.89 meters) Draft: 15 feet (4.6 meters) Displacement: 1,312 tons Speed: 14 knots Armament: Mine neutralization system, 2 .50 caliber machine guns Homeport: San Diego, CA Crew: 8 Officers, 76 Enlisted USCGC Active (WMEC-618) - is one of 14 active United States Coast Guard medium endurance Reliance Class Cutters.  Active is assigned primarily to law enforcement and search and rescue duties. The law enforcement duties involve counter-narcotic operations, fisheries, and environmental protection. Launched: July 31, 1965 Commissioned: September 1, 1966 Builder: Christy Corporation (now Bay Shipbuilding Company) Sturgeon Bay, WI Cost: 3.5 million – mid-life 20 million dollar upgrades to class (1990s) Propulsion System: 2 V16 2,550 horsepower ALCO diesel engines Propellers: 2 (assumed) Length: 210 feet (64.2 meters) Beam: 34 feet (10 meters) Draft: 10 feet (3.28 meters) Displacement: 1,127 long tons Speed: 18 knots Armament: 1 Mk 38 25 mm machine gun, 2 M2HB .50 caliber machine guns Aircraft carried: 1 HH-65 Dolphin helicopter Homeport: Port Angeles, WA Crew: 12 officers, 63 enlisted HMCS Ottawa (FFH-341) - is the twelfth and final ship of the Halifax Class that was built as part of Canada’s Patrol Frigate Project.  The Halifax Class frigates were designed as a general purpose warship with particular focus on anti-submarine capabilities.  Ottawa serves on Maritime Forces Pacific Formation (MARPAC) missions protecting Canada's sovereignty in the Pacific Ocean and enforcing Canadian laws in its territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone. Ottawa has also been deployed on missions throughout the Pacific and to the Indian Ocean; specifically the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea on anti-terrorism operations. Launched: May 31, 1996 Commissioned: September 28, 1996 Builder: Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd., Saint John, New Brunswick - Canada Cost: approx., 795 million Propulsion System: Combined diesel or gas (CODOG) - 2 General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, generating 47,500 shaft horsepower (35,400 kW) and one SEMT Pielstick 20 PA6 V 280 diesel engine, generating 8,800 shaft horsepower (6,600 kW) Propellers: 2 Escher Wyss controllable pitch propellers Length: 440 feet (134.2 meters) Beam: 54 feet (16.5 meters) Draft: 23 feet (7.1 meters) Displacement: 4,750 long tons Speed: 30 knots Armament: 8 RGM-84 Harpoon surface to surface missiles in two quadruple launch tubes; 24 Honeywell Mk 46 close-in anti-submarine torpedoes launched from twin Mark 32 Mod 9 torpedo tubes; 16 vertically launched Evolved Sea Sparrow anti-air Surface to Air Missiles carried in two Mk 48 Mod 0 eight cell launchers; and 1 20 mm Phalanx CIWS for missile defense Countermeasures and sensors: 1 AN/SLQ-25A Nixie towed acoustic torpedo decoy; 2 BAE Systems Shield Mark 2 decoy chaff launchers; SLQ-501 Electronic Warfare System; and the SLQ-505 radar jammer - AN/SPS-49(V)5 long-range active air search radar Aircraft carried: 1 CH-124 Sea King helicopter Homeport: Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca Crew: 17officers, 198 enlisted / aircrew; 8 officers, 17 enlisted		-

And there will be live bands most every day and night playing on the mainstage setup on the Iowa's fantail.




The USS Pasadena  SSN-752 will be in the outer harbor, but sorry, no tours!


C'mon down if you can. It's quite the experience!

Oh, The HUMANITY!!!

More like the HUMORmanity, but that's not a word....

Found over at Western Rifle Shooters, courtesy of Matt Bracken.....

For Brig.....

This song pretty much describes living in Southern Kalifornia....

Music To Leave Kalifornia By....

Getting ready!

Plane, Profile, and Track Are One!

Well, things are going along here pretty well.

Almost all of the radio gear here in my little Comm Center has been safely packed up, and all the books are packed. GAWD....I hate moving boxes of books! They're like moving solid blocks of wood the same size, or maybe even heavier.

We're going to have six "pods" dropped off in a few weeks, and the "Pod People" will pack them, ship them, and store them for us until we buy a house. Then they'll deliver them, unpack them, and set up the furniture and other things for us.

The biggest trailer I can rent from my local-down-the-street U-Haul is a 6'x12'x5.5' dual-axle rig rated for 2,500 lbs of cargo. I'll probably let the "Pod People" take my two rolling toolboxes, and stuff the rest of the garage stuff in the trailer and Jeep.

I'm planning on overnighting in St. George, UT, and Grand Junction, CO, as St. George is about 8 hours from here, Grand Junction is about 8 hours further down the road, and Fort Collins about 8 hours from there. I really don't want to push it too hard dragging a trailer behind the Jeep, and I think an 8 hour stint behind the wheel will be tiring enough.

Oh, and the back brakes on the Jeep wore through the pads yesterday, so that's something else I have to fix.

I've never owned a vehicle where the rear brake pads wore out before the fronts. I checked the front pads a couple of weeks ago, and they still have about half the lining on them, so geez....the rears should be just dandy, shouldn't they?

Nope....and since there aren't any "wear indicators" on the OEM pads to squeal and squeek before the lining evaporates, they wore out and started munching on the rotors.

Oh, well......I'll get two new rotors for the rear, along with a set of rear pads, and FRONT pads, too. Might as well make sure all four wheels have new pads before I start towing a trailer through the mountains.

The wife's stress level has decreased somewhat, at least until the next "crisis", and then she'll ramp it up again.

Might Be Staying In Kommiefornia A Bit Longer..... ***UPDATED***

WELL...the saga continues.

The alleged buyers, through their realtor, gave our realtor a verbal OK to our response of "NO!" to their request for a $5,000 price reduction, but have not yet responded with a signed, written agreement.

Unless they submit a signed, written agreement accepting the listed "contingencies", our realtor tells us they could decide to drop out of escrow at any point, up to the last day.

Since this is not acceptable to us, he sent them another written document stating they have 48 hours to respond, in writing, or the sellers (us) will consider the entire contract null and void.

The extra 48 hours we gave them is up today at the close of business, and they still haven't responded.

He talked with their agent a couple of times, and she replied that the buyers will not sign anything electronically, and that she has to meet them each time, explain things to them, wait for their decision, get them to sign the documents, and then submit them.

It's almost 1500 here, which means they have two hours to get the signed documents back to our agent, or the deal is dead.


***UPDATE***

Well, my wife just called our realtor, and he was like...uh..."OOPS! They sent the docs by courier this morning and I should have immediately notified you, but I didn't..."

So they accepted our NO reply to their cheap shot at trying to get $5k off the already agreed upon price and conditions, and things are rolling along.

He told her it will probably fund (means we have the money in our bank) several days before the official close of escrow on September 20th.

What really flipped me out was I heard her bawling away in the living room, wonder what the ^^&&%% happened, and almost twisted an ankle getting out there on a dead run.

She tells me was just relieving all the built up stress over "having to go through all this again in the spring".....

I'll never understand women....

2017 Eclipse in SoCal....

Everybody else is posting about it, so......no, I wouldn't jump off a building if Johhny did it!

Got noticeably dark here this morning, more than I expected.

Made a "pin hole" camera with a piece of cardboard and some aluminum foil, and used it to observe a small bite taken out of the Sun.

I've seen greater totality before, so this was pretty ho-hum for me.

Back to your regularly scheduled whatever.......

Meanwhile, in Cheyenne, WY where out daughter-in-laws younger sister lives, she got this picture:

Last Minute Buyer Shenannigans....

Our realtor called us this afternoon, day 14 of the 15 day escrow "perform or die" time limitation.

The buyers wanted a $5,000 price reduction due to asbestos in the 1942-era "popcorn" ceiling, and the "possibility of lead-based paint, both requiring remediation".

These items were fully covered in the home inspection report, and the disclosure, which they've had for quite some time now.

We damn near told them to take a hike, as we have no problem sitting here until spring. And if we do stay until spring, we'll probably get the ceilings scraped and refinished, and the house will go back on the market and sell for $550k, as long as the market doesn't tank.

Our realtor agreed it was definitely a cheap stunt to pull, especially considering they KNOW we aren't in any pressing need to move.

After he and my wife calmed me down a bit, we all agreed the best thing was to "Just Say NO!" to them, and if they pull out, no skin off our nose.

He called back a few minutes ago saying they accepted the "NO!", and things are still on.

Geez......some people's kids!

Termite "Inspection" Team Here This Morning

And it sounds more like they're the "Termite DEMOLITION Team".

Granted, I've never watched this being done, so I'm probably gonna get get called "STOOPID" by somebody, but these guys are checking for termite infestation by using a "probe" on a painter's pole, and banginging it against all the exposed wood they can see and reach.,

thump, thump, thump, thump,thump,thump for the last 35 minutes.

And once in a while you hear thump,thump,thump,thump, CRUNCH, thump, thump, thump.....

The "crunch" is not good because it means their "probe" just busted through what was left of a piece of wood that the termites have been feasting on.

So far they've found a couple of spots they're calling "dry rot", a couple of boards on the fascia for the garage, and the 4x4 holding the window A/C unit up.

Orkin was here two years ago and gave the place a clean bill of health, but then they didn't run around banging on stuff, either.

Hopefully this stuff won't be too expensive to repair.

Escrow Closes September 20th.....

Our realtor just called, and the official closing for the house is 20 September 2017.

This totally screws me for going to Supras In Vegas this year, as the event is the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of September. I'd planned on leaving on the 20th, but now I have the wife, her car, and the dog to worry about getting moved. Her BFF was going to split the driving of her car with her, and I was going to head to Fort Collins right after the event, drop the Supra off, fly home, rest for a day, and then head back to Fort Collins in the Jeep with the dog.

Turns out I'd counted the days wrong, and thought it closed a week later, which would have made Supras In Vegas a bit difficult, but "doable".

Home Inspection Details and Repairs

The "minor leak" under the bathtub drain turned out to be a bit  more than the inspector found. Our plumber friend from across the street went under the house today, and found that the drain wasn't just leaking from the threaded connections, but had a hole corroded through it! He'd brought all the bits and pieces to replace the entire assembly, so it wasn't any big deal, but he said if the inspector had noticed the dirt in the crawlspace was wet, or even damp, they would have called for a "professional" cleanup crew to remove the dirt, and "sanitize" the area in addition to the repair of the corroded away parts.

And in Kommiefornia, "Remediation" means HAZMAT teams coming in, and a HUGE bill when they're done. They've shut down entire freeways for hours to clean up a couple of gallons of spilled fuel after an accident.

That's insane! It's drain water from a bathtub, for cryin' out loud, and unless we were washing off radiation contamination, or giving baths to Ebola victims, it's just used, soapy water from taking a bath or shower.

He also replaced the entire vent assembly for the water heater, using double walled tubing made for the task, and added a discharge line to the safety blow-off valve at the top of the water heater, so now the water heater issues are not only repaired, but fully "up to code".

I replaced the outlet in the bathroom with a GFCI unit, and also the one near the kitchen sink. The one near the kitchen sink was just a regular duplex outlet and two switches, one for the disposal and one for some recessed lighting, BUT, in order to make it look nice, I not only had to replace the outlet, but also the switches, as NOBODY makes a wall plate that has the rectangular cutout for a GFCI and the two oval cutouts for the switches. So add the cost of a new switch ($20) and new wall plate ($8 for a new wood one) to the $18 for the GFCI outlet.

And I still have to recaulk the tub to the tile on the wall. I dug out all the old caulk last year and laid in some good stuff, but ran out before I had a really nice "above grade" bead. Well, the caulk shrank a bit, and left a couple of gaps that the inspector squawked about because water could get back there and "Promote MOLD and BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION!!!"

ZOMG! ARMEGEDDON!

Geez, after reading Old_NFO's post this morning, I really do wonder how so many of us managed to survive those unenlightened and barbaric days of old, before the nanny state insisted on so many "safety" regulations.....

As far as upgrading all the power to the garage, all I can say is "'Aint Gonna Happen"!

The inspector noted that none of the outlets were grounded, and well, DUH! There's only a hot and neutral running to the garage, so what do you expect? And considering when the house and garage were built, it wasn't required, and we're grandfathered in from requiring it to be brought up to code.

Again, I really have to wonder how many people were injured from two-wire, non-grounded (three pin) outlets over the years....

Weather In Fort Collins

As I've told my wife numerous times, she's going to get a whole different perspective on what REAL weather is once we're in Colorado.

This past Thursday, a violent but brief hailstorm pounded parts of the city. Out where the kids live, North West of the city, there was 2" hail, driven by high winds, causing quite a bit of damage.

The house the kids live in got clobbered. Three sides of the house look like this:

And the roof took a beating, too. I'm surprised they didn't have some broken windows.

The nice 1/8 acre garden they had looks like the not-so-jolly Green Giant came in and stomped on it.

AFAIK, my wife has never been through a real Midwestern-style thunderstorm, with high winds, driving rain, and large hail. Fort Collins is a bit protected, being in the Cache La Poudre valley, but it's still in open enough country to get really clobbered. The last time we were there in the summer, I notice really big anvil-heads to the East, and mentioned to my wife that somebody was really going to catch it. Sure enough, as we got in the car the EAS warnings came on the radio about severe storms in Weld County, with tornado warnings. Seeing the anvil-heads reminded me of growing up in Illinois, where we had weather like that several times per summer.

It's one thing to see the damage a storm like this can do, and another thing to be right in the middle of one, and not really being able to do much about it.

I hope whatever we buy has a basement!

House Inspection Complete

One minor issue. The bathtub drain has a slight leak, easily fixed, but not by me. I'm just too old anymore to crawl that far under the house and do anything other than string some cables!

We haven't received our copy of the report, which I had expected sometime today. The new "owners" came by with the inspector, and brought their realtor with them. They were all pumped up up getting their first house, and the guy's wife complimented us on how nice the house looked, and how happy they were that we accepted their offer. They'd been out bid three times on other houses they'd wanted to buy, so they appear to be completely serious about wanting to get this one.

After the report comes in, I'm sure they'll go back to our agent looking for some "compensation" for any issues that were found. Our agent has told us that he'll stand pretty firm on what's already been negotiated. They want the house ASAP, and we have no problem sitting here until spring, so it should be interesting to watch the rest of these proceedings finish....

Miscellaneous Moving Mumblings....

Been "working" in the garage to attempt to get things ready to go. It always seems that whatever I'm doing, the wife thinks I should be doing something else.

Always....

And of course, her constant litany of "Throw It Away" drones on and on and on and on....

So, do I "throw away" $2,000 worth of stuff to save $500 on moving it?

And by the time I go to replace the $2k of stuff I dumped to shut her up, the cost will have risen to $3k.

....SIGH....

And in the process of "decluttering" the house, she just dumped shit everywhere in the garage, with no rhyme or reason as to why things got stacked where they did.

Which means that to even get at my stuff, I've got to tear the whole freaking garage apart........AGAIN.

And she wonders why I have such a hard time getting started on these things......

New "Owners" Coming By Tonight

Technically, their BANK is the new owner, but we'll be nice and play along with them.

Our agent called and said they'd asked if they could come by to show their kids "Our New House", so he checked with us, and we don't have any objections.

The guy wanted to see the garage, which is packed floor-to-ceiling with boxes, and I think the gal wanted to have a closer look at the kitchen and the bedrooms.

We're investigating movers right now, and I can see the fights between the wife and myself brewing  in the distance.

She's going to scream bloody murder about all the "junk" I have in the garage, and how she's not going to pay to move it, and I'm going to insist it goes.

I've already dumped several thousand dollars worth of perfectly usable stuff, and I'm down to "If I dump it I'll have to replace it" items like antennas, antenna rotators, sections of heavy gauge mast, and a bunch of other stuff that simply isn't available any longer.

Since escrow won't be closing until the end of September, I've made the decision to leave from Las Vegas after the "Supras in Vegas" event and head for Colorado. It'll be a long drive, but I can always overnight somewhere if I have to.

Hey, I did L.A. to Fort Collins in one shot carrying two wimmens and all their stuff, so "just me" in the Supra from Vegas to FTC should be a piece of cake!

But I'm not looking forward to the Great Garage Pack And Move, at all....

Documents Signed, Should Be "In Escrow" Early This Week

And now the waiting begins.....


And the packing.


I'll start going through the garage this week to see what I'm going to keep, what I'm going to sell, and what my wife will insist I throw away.


The big thing to sort will be all the car parts I have for the Supra. I have gaskets, hoses, belts, water pumps, tune-up parts, brake and clutch master cylinders, clutch slave cylinders, and a ton of other stuff. That stuff can get packed away for shipment, except for the belts and hoses. If I drive the car I'll take those with me. If I ship the car I'll stow them inside.


Radio gear, both in the house and the garage, will get packed for shipment, except for my little Elecraft K2, power supply, SignaLink, and portable antenna. I'll want to take those with me so I can get on-the-air at our temporary dwelling. And I'll take a VHF/UHF handie-talkie or two. The Jeep has a Kenwood TM-D710 in it, and that should be fine for checking into local nets and making some new Ham Radio friends. The radio also has a GPS receiver connected to it, so I'll be "trackable" using any of the APRS applications out there.


And I'll take my camera, a couple of laptops, and a suitcase full of clothes, including my N3B parka!


With the 45 day escrow ( ! ) the buyers insisted on, it looks like we'll be here through September. Our realtor told us the buyers should have all their funding in place after 21 days, so we might be able to push them a bit faster than 45 days, but that remains to be seen.

Counteroffer Accepted. Papers Get Signed Tomorrow, Sunday

At this point I think I can say the house is "sold".

Still have the inspections to do, which should happen in the next 10 days or so. I don't expect the inspections to find anything, except for the termite inspection. They ALWAYS find some termite "damage" that has to be repaired.

They wanted, and got, a 45 day escrow. Not sure why they couldn't do it any faster, but I'll talk to our agent when he comes by Sunday.

Negotiations In Progress! **Updated**

Well.....DUH!

I just  found out from my wife that we did get an offer from the nice young couple that came by Tuesday at 1800 to look at the house.

They've offered us the asking price, but our agent told them we have multiple offers (true, but one "offer" was a joke), and their agent told ours that they'd be willing to go "into the $520k range", which means that they just hit our target price.

My wife was visiting one of her friends the last few days, and our agent sent her some paper work which she electronically signed, and returned to him, and now he and the other agent are going to hammer out a few fine points to get to the final price and what contingencies are and aren't covered.

These buyers seemed to be extremely serious, they have $50k cash for a down payment, both grew up in this area, and have been out bid on the last three houses they made offers on.

I don't know what they're going to come back with as a counter to our counter (see your 20 and raise you 50), but if it's at or above $515k, we'll accept it, and then the clock starts running out for us to get moved.

They were asking for a 45 day escrow, and our agent said he'd try and get them to agree to a 30 day escrow, but that was about the only thing he didn't like about their initial offer.

So, (fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed) the house might very well be "under contract" next week.


UPDATE 

 We just heard from our realtor that the other realtor is going over our counter offer, and we should know something Saturday.

Solid Offer Received On The House......

They've offered what it's listed at, have a credit score well north of 700, have 20% down, and our agent says they're seriously looking to buy, and have been "priced out" (I think he meant "out bid") of the last three houses they've made offers on.

He says they really like the house, and really want to buy it.

He told us he knows they can go higher, so we're in the negotiating stages right now.

We should know tonight if they'll come up enough to satisfy my wife.

The fat lady just might be warming up in the wings.......