Today’s A&J oldie goes way back, to 1996. As usual, you can click on the link beneath the strip and view all the entries in what was a week-long sequence. It makes a little more sense in context. Arlo’s love of boats and things salty was a major theme in the strip for many years. It isn’t so much these days, but who knows? Things can change.
A Different Tack
By Jimmy Johnson
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51 responses to “A Different Tack”
Is that a portent of things to come?
Stood too close to the rock bands’ speakers at all those college frat parties, did you, Arlo?
My excuse is all those thousands of hours I spent behind and between aircraft engines. Also that Jackie waits until I’m three rooms away to ask me something. 🙂
“She can’t hear thunder,” is what we used to say about my maternal grandmother. Unfortunately, in her case, it was true, bless her heart.
My hearing loss and tinnitus were caused by being too close to too much outbound back in ’72. That’s right, outbound, as my ship was providing shore support on the Gun Line in Tonkin Gulf and I slept in the forward berthing compartment, two decks below and about forty or fifty feet back from our gun mount.
My hearing loss and tinnitus was being in sonar on a submarine.
4 years of being in close confinement with multiple teletype machines all going at once did it for me. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it, since I didn’t do the concert thing young.
I had posted on the site before Jimmy changed to today’s retro, but when I went to post on this, my info was gone and it was just a blank.
As we age, we lose many of our dreams and passions in the darkening mists of time.
Out of the leg brace but not wheelchair. Get to start physical therapy on left leg now, broken one. He thinks it has turned out amazing.
Worst leg he has ever repaired, never done or seen one like it. Now he has a second, lady fell on ice in our storm. He is operating tomorrow.
Man to friend: I got a set of new hearing aids. Very expensive but they work great!
Friend: What kind are they?
Man (looking at watch): It’s 10 ‘til one.
“Eh? Wha’ didja say, sonny?”
I use – sometimes – what eBay sellers cannot call a hearing aid for legal reasons. It fits nicely in my ear with a button-sized device visible and a behind-the-ear oblong remainder. It does well. My MBH has been telling me to cough up for a legitimate hearing aid set for years, no doubt at a 4-digit sum. I figured out that, even if I needed to replace the non-hearing aid device every single month [along with batteries], I could go for 5 full years before I’d be out even a single thousand bucks. Hey, it works and is cheap; no need to overspend money.
So far, it has lasted going on 1.5 (or is it 2.5?) years with no more costs attached; it is lasting and the button batteries can be had by the dozen, cheaply, too…and I haven’t needed to buy more of them, either. I am pleased with the set up.
My tinnitus and hearing loss in the treble range are in my right ear. While I almost always drive with my bride of almost 41 years on the right, it’s safer to blame it on the brass section!
My tinnitus and hearing loss is in both ears, but the left is worse than the right. That’s lucky for me since when driving my wife is on the better hearing side… when sleeping, I can turn on my right side with the left ear up if she happens to be “breathing loudly” while she’s asleep. 🙂
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My hearing loss is undoubtedly due to the M2 .50-caliber machine gun range I ran one summer as the 1LT officer-in-charge. Those yellow foam earplugs just aren’t up to the capabilities of large caliber automatic weapons for an extended time. The hearing loss is part of my VA rated disability. Glad I wasn’t in field artillery! Those 155mm and 8-inch howitzers are REALLY loud.
PS– the prefilled form fields for name and email did not have my information, but did have someone else’s, including email. :O
Sadly just heard of Tiger Woods car wreck and serious
Injuries. While I no longer watch golf I once did. He was an incredible golfer with a messed up life. I was hoping he’d make a late life comeback..
His injuries were to both legs. Your legs are important to. Your swing and play.
Is JJ telling us that Arlo may get back into his boat fantasies?
Well I almost left a post as Montana Phil… The hearing aid arc this week hits close to home. I have been trying to get my wife to see an ENT for months now and she has resisted. In the meantime, a whole lot of shouting going on.
I have an appointment to see an Ophthalmologist (instead of my Optician) as my right eye is getting weaker. It has always wanted to go in it’s own direction when I get tired, but recently it has been doing it all of the time. I often have to close one eye to focus, which is not good for depth perception. But I realize that I need an expert to look at it and not rely on what I read on the internet!
Well, the “wrong name in the box” problem continues. I just noticed that David from Granbury’s name and email address are showing as mine on this end.
Don’t worry David, I won’t tell anyone what a weird last name you have. 😀 And now, mine will probably show up as yours. And it’s weirder.
😀
Nope– this time my own name and email are showing…
Jackie convinced me I should have my hearing checked when she came to visit me in Tuscaloosa the first time. And they discovered I had enough hearing loss in the high frequency ranges to need hearing aids. That is a bad set of frequencies to lose, since women and children both speak more in that range. I wouldn’t be surprised if that isn’t the cause for the stereotypical joke about men having selective hearing when it comes to wives and girlfriends.
And the VA has now scheduled me for my COVID vaccination, both first and second dose. First will be this Friday.
Good on the VA, Mark. Stay healthy in the meanwhile. The jury seems to still be out on what the ultimate effect of the vaccine will be, society-wide.
It’s not spring yet. https://clarkdeals.com/clothing/heated-jackets-socks-hand-warmers/
Dear Jimmy: On Feb. 10, I sent a long email (in your favor, of course) to a Mr. Glynn–and to the email address I have had for you. I have not heard back, and you were having site troubles, and I an extraordinary adventure. Please, might you help? Did I use the right email addresses? I notice that yours is no longer readily available.
I enjoy reading the village goings on quite frequently but contribute much less often, always with a nom d’moment without bothering to save it. So I do not have a cookie that auto-fills my saved information when the page loads; nor mistakenly display crossed info. The three fields name, email, and website remain blank while I type this.
I’m curious to know, when the stray details are shown, is it from the first page load and is there when you add a fresh comment to the topic; or does it appear after you select ‘reply’ which triggers some housekeeping to nest your reply into a sub-thread. This distinction may help locate the bug.
I hope to assure regular visitors that these details do not display for this transient visitor. And might not (?) for others who are not already in the village directory.
Personally I lovr the boat arcs, as do other sailors.
Jackie:
Not living near a sizable body of water, I favor sports cars.
Considering my former professions and incomes, all I can do now is what Arlo does – dream.
Agreed 100%!
Rusty
Interesting when I clicked to come here on my phone it took me to October, 2020 as Page 1, then to here? Lots of gremlins residing.
Lovely Tulsa weather. Just had barbeque shrimp at my favorite Mexican chain restaurant Abuelos. I have been eating their food since back in 1980s and printed menu on mimeograph.
JJ – It just occurred to me to wonder where you fall in the spectrum of boating enthusiasts? Are you like Arlo, a hopeful dreamer, or like Jackie, someone with abundant experience? Or somewhere in the middle?
Trucker, Jimmy is FAR more experienced than I. He owned and sailed extensively in the coastal Mississippi to Florida waters.
He knows sailing, boats and can draw correctly. I can do none of that.
I own a perfect boat for Arlo however.
Don’t sell yourself short, Jackie…you are a VERY experienced sailor!
Rusty
Jackie, do you still own Cowboy Cookies?
Yes I do. In warehouse.
Just reading article about things we eat that are bad for us. Too much red meat, beef, pork and lamb- beef being primary red meat in America. The USDA confirms the average American ate 222.4 pounds per year in 2020.
That is 10 ounces per day or ten large meatballs or a large ribeye steak or two fried porkchops. Every day for a year.
Ghost and I want to know who ate ours?
I want to know who ate mine all my life? Someone did.
A long time ago, I dated a dietician who was working on her Master’s. She told me then that it was recommended that a person not eat more than 4 ounces of red meat a day. She said an easy way to gauge was that in one lump that would be about the size of your palm.
Dietary advice changes a LOT over time as actual science is finally being done. I ran afoul of the “fat is bad for you” advice of the 1980s. I’m still struggling to get rid of it… and even have been told to not be so strict about sodium (mine is too low!). Maybe I’d better just cut out everything easy and convenient? And only eat what my wife and I cook from scratch? While dealing with 3 autistic kids who’ll never be self-sufficient adults? Yeah, that would get the pounds off!
When I lost 100 pounds in a year I ate almost no red meat, consuming a diet of fish, poultry and vegetables and fruits with limited grains, no added sugars.
I ended up losing about six sizes of clothing and a ton of medications. My diabetes almost went into remission.
Honestly I believe my diabetes could be modified now because we are controlling it so well. Of course I can’t get into the kitchen!
Trucker are you a diabetic also on insulin? I am trying to learn to manage the insulin and food intake because it is dropping TOO low which is also bad for anyone, especially cancer patients. This leg fracture has impressed upon me how important our eating is on our health and recovery on all things.
My life has been 77 years of uneducated eating and weight. I became anorexic by about age twelve and spent 65 years going up and down the scales.
All of us need education and training, especially our children. American children are becoming more and more obese and more diabetic each year.
Mark when Ghost tells me a portion is a handful I think how big his hands are. So are yours.