The Autumn weather here comes on a bit less ferocious than it does up in
A friend who just made a road trip up there to take up a medical job in a ‘cold’ place – so he could warm up the home treasury because of the premium they have to pay to get people up near or across the Arctic Circle. He’s hoping to get the cash flow up to where he can pretty much wipe out his home mortgage in a year.
Well… I wish him well. Because he wrote in the short time he’s been there the temps have ranged from 25 F to about 5 F… and when old man winter gets really serious about it… it can easily slide down to -25 F. He puts on warm duds – brushes the snow off the windshield and *walks* the block and a half to the hospital. That sounds good to me… and he says it take less time than keeping the car plugged in and heating up the oil which takes quite a few minutes…smart guy. I wish him wel.
I do remember from some books about dog sleds and getting along in the Arctic that you can tell when the temp hits 60 below…spittle freezes before it hits the ground… I think it was Jack London or some such who contributed that bit of info to my education.
Others I recall hearing the story of NOT parking your car in a heated garage – because when he brought the well warmed car from the garage in to the well below seriously cold air… the metal car cooled so fast that the paint couldn’t follow the change in dimension that speedily and all the paint popped off the car.
Obviously that’s not a good start to the day.
Other tales from
Pilots – and there are a lot of them in Alaska – tell about keeping big rotary engines warm at night by idling it… or if it’s not *that* cold putting sufficient ‘blankets over the engines slow down the freezing process.
One more… a bush pilot says his procedure in winter when it’s that cold is to drain the oil when he gets chores done for the day… and set the bucket near or on the stove ready to be poured back into the engine when you need to start the next day… otherwise you’re not going anywhere.
Well these are the stories that come out of the northern latitudes. I’m just glad I don’t personally have to vouch for their accuracy from real experience… Brrrrrr.
There are other variations I have heard – but I won’t go into them here… One final footnote. … a plane which I had flown about 13 or 14 years with mostly good results… and run lots of gasoline and oil through it’s innards… when I finally sold it was upgraded a bit I hear and transferred its registration to Canada. It was a good old plane. But the story that came back down the grapevine was on a takeoff… one wheel engaged a snowbank…and the plane wrapped itself into a large aluminum ball but the crew and passengers got out OK. I wasn’t there so I can’t vouch yeah or nay… but it sounds about right. I’m just glad it didn’t end its useful life at the hands of drug runners – of which I hear there are many. I hate to think of that good old aluminum servant ending up in gangster mattes.
You’re probably saying… well a plane doesn’t have a soul. But if the character of the plane has saved your biscuits a few times… you’re thankful for it and for who ever put it together and maintained it.
Enough for this remembrance. Tomorrow we’ll visit the Bait Shop and Sushi Bar and talk with the fellers.
Cordially, IN HIM
Jack Buttram
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“JUST A MINUTE”
THE WALL ST. JOURNAL SAID HE WAS A ‘FLYING ODDBALL’
Just a Minute: Did-ja ever stopped to think of the difficulties which surround royal celebrities? In British news footage which I saw as a kid in the 40’s I felt sorry for ‘Prince Philip.’ Did you know both he and his father were Greek royalty rescued from
Turns out the family name Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh uses is Mountbatten, the “Royal House of Windsor. So Prince Charles' proper surname is Mountbatten-Windsor. Philip studied in
Philip Eade has written a new book about Queen Elizabeth II’s consort which contains some of his WWII combat engagements when he deflected dive bomber attacks disguising a raft as his ship’s burning wreckage. It’s a fascinating story including Prince Philip’s ultimate Marriage to Queen Elizabeth II in 1947.
Actually the family name is Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksbug – can you fit that into a one minute news break? Well… you needed a bit of respite.
<> I’m Jack Buttram. (END)
Jebco Editorial Service
E-mail n4zhk@arrl.net
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