Top twenty songs . . .

. . . mine, at least. And they'll change by next week. If I had all of these on one disc, I'd be happy for a while. In no particular order:

• The Loadout/Stay - Jackson Browne
• Nights in White Satin - Moody Blues
• Key to the Highway - Clapton & cohorts
• Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
• Smooth - Santana
• Piano Sonata #14 ( the Adagio Sostenuta) - Beethoven
• Bonny Portmore - Loreena McKennitt
• Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
• Harlem Nocturne - Earle Hagen
• California Dreaming - Mamas & Papas
• Wind of Change - Scorpions
• Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
• Exodus - Ferrante & Teicher
• Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits
• Georgia on My Mind - Ray Charles
• Under the Boardwalk - The Drifters
• Dust in the Wind - Kansas
• Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
• Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Simon & Garfunkel
• String of Pearls - Glenn Miller

Night Visitor . . .

. . . I was on the phone when Mrs. B. asked me what was stuck to the large window over our front door. At first, it looked like a tidy green package that may have been left by one of the birds that try to nest in our eaves.

Closer inspection revealed some little feet. By the time I retrieved my camera he was gone, but I found him outside clinging to the trim. I suspect it's a type of H. cinerea.

Strawberry Fields Forever . . .

. . . No, not the song. The real thing. We just picked up a gallon of them on the way home today. Have one. :o}

We live south of "The Green Line" at the very southeast corner of Virgina Beach. Development is very limited in this zone, and most of the area south of us is farmland. It's also prime strawberry territory, with plenty of rain and sandy soil.

The strawberry harvest has already started, and you just don't find better berries than the ones picked - fully ripe - from the vine.

Every Memorial Day weekend, there is a strawberry festival at a little crossroads named Pungo - about five miles south of our home. It is truly just a crossroads, (check the photos) but about 120,000 visitors show up during the two day festival. We never fight the crowds, but we have at least a month of yummy hand-picked strawberries. Then it's back to the cardboard versions shipped from wherever.

Politics is war without bloodshed . . .

. . . while war is politics with bloodshed (Mao Tse-tung)

The United States is not the only country that has weathered a civil war. Ours cost more than 600,000 lives, including those buried in the National and City Cemeteries in Natchez, MS. I was reminded of this on our recent holiday in Natchez.

It remains strange to me that the cause of the war is still vehemently argued. While the majority opinion is that slavery was the cause, a vocal minority still lays the blame on tariffs or the right of succession or the concept of states' rights in general.

Although I had relatives on both sides, I am a firm believer in the majority opinion - particularly because the articles of succession of most of the Confederate states make strong statements about "our peculiar institution."

143 years later, there are still arguments, but these men have had their say. Every marker says "Unknown Soldier," but sometimes the unknown are the most eloquent - in numbers, if nothing else.

National Cemetery, Natchez, MS

City Cemetery, Natchez, MS

The battle flags are placed on the graves of Confederate soldiers on Confedreate Memorial Day, a day still recognized by 13 Southern states. In Mississippi, Confederate Memorial Day falls on the last Monday in April, which coincided with our visit.

This practice is taken as highly offensive by certain segments of our society. I do not agree. I do not fault the common soldier fighting under either flag. POLITICIANS fought for or against slavery. The common soldiers fought and died because POLITICIANS could not resolve their disagreements in a civilized manner. Condemn the politicians, but allow the commons soldier to rest in peace.

You never expect the Spanish Inquisition . . .

. . . or a tornado in Hampton Roads.

After all, this is hurricane country, not tornado central. We moved from tornado central (aka the United States' Great Plains) six years ago. We expected to see the odd hurricane or two, but while we were on holiday in Natchez, Mississippi, an errant EF-3 twister struck nearby Suffolk. This photo shows the formed-up funnel cloud that we former flatlanders are so familiar with.

Photos of some of the damage are here. Fortunately, injuries were few, and not too serious. There were no recorded deaths, but properdy damage is significant. Estimates range from $20-40 million.

I can't post actual photos because all of the local media use Adobe Flash to keep me from pirating their stuff. Bastages . . .

Odd photo . . .

. . . to describe a vacation destination, eh? Mrs. B and I are off on a short bit of R&R in the hometown of this moderately famous lady. Moderately famous, if you read books by Greg Iles. This watchful lady is known as the "Turning Angel" because when you drive by, her gaze seems to follow you. It's also the title of one of Iles' recent books - an excellent read, by the way.



While in the "Angel's" city, we're staying at this hotel, which dates back to 1927. We're also going to a reunion of the descendants of the original settlers of this county who came there in the late 1700's. My 5th great-grandfather was one of those settlers.

We also plan to stop in at this tavern for a bit of their famous prime rib. King's tavern is in the oldest building on the Natchez trace. The original owner was also one of my ancestors.

Legend has it that it's haunted. The bones of two men and a woman were allegedly found bricked in to a wall when the building was renovated in the 1930s.

I will be incommunicado for a while. See y'all when we get back.

Jet noise . . .

. . . we have a lot of it around Virginia Beach.

Virginia Beach is the home of Naval Air Station Oceana, and is the Navy's east coast master jet base. It's been the home of just about every type of aircraft the Navy has flown since WWII, including: SB2C Helldiver, F6F Hellcat, TBF Avenger, F4U Corsair, A-4 Skyhawk, F-4 Phantom II, A-6 Intruder, F-14 Tomcats and finally, the F/A-18 Hornet.

Each new type of aircraft seemed to be louder and louder, and the city expanded closer and closer to the airbase. Now, noise is a huge issue. I don't mind the "sound of freedom," but there are a lot of NIMBYs around.

The latest flap is over the need for an outlying landing field. In order to maintain top-notch pilots, the Navy needs a place for them to practice aircraft carrier landings - among other critical maneuvers. The NIMBYs have arisen again. Every time the Navy suggests a possible location, the pitchforks and torches come out and the locals storm the castle.

Then, a local "genius" decided he had the perfect solution: anchor a retired aircraft carrier offshore and let them practice there. Since carrier landings at night are probably the second scariest things a fighter pilot has to do - perhaps behind dodging a SAM - I could not believe anyone could be that abysmally dense, or that the local rag could be stupid enough to publish his idea.

I submitted a response laced with a bit 'o sarcasm, admittedly rare for me (yeah right) and to my everlasting surprise, they published it this morning:

RE 'CHALLENGES FOR the Navy' (Sunday Forum, April 20): Yet another letter writer suggests the 'smart solution' for an outlying landing field for NAS Oceana is to use a retired carrier? If that's so smart, how about driver's training on I-264 at rush hour, in the rain with bald tires?

I am now a legitimately published smartass.