Day 174: Saturday Figuring

It is another Saturday and 2020 End-of-Summer weekend.

I started by rolling over at 6ish and finally getting going 9ish.

I read my email and had some coffee. Nothing too exciting.

At noon-ish, I managed to head out for lunch. I first stopped at Tammy’s Hobbies first. I have a model of the USS Maine. A battleship back then, the 1890s, was painted golden yellow and white with light tan wood decks. I needed the correct paints. My current collection of various gray shades for navy ships is from the wrong periods.

Aside: People who build models of warships like to get the colors right. One of the strangest issues for ship model builders is the famous sunken battleship the USS Arizona. There are multiple kits and sizes available. I have built one. But what color was the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941, is an issue the model builder must decide if he or she wants the last look of the ship. Was it gray or blue-gray? Did the tops of the turrets still show red paint? There is no record, and the paint schemes were followed at the discretion of the captain. We know that the order to paint all the pretty wood decks gray-blue was later, so the deck was bright tan. Once you decide on a color, what was the shade? Those black and white photos do not help. Most model builders go with colors of a few years before Pearl Harbor; those are agreed too and come in bottles for purchase.

The model I am building is a tiny scale, but I like to build 1/700 as the final ship does not take up a lot of space. There are lots of models in a 1/700 scale.

The kit is from Russia, and the colors are coded to paints I do not use. So I went with Vallejo paints and found Yellow Ochre, perfect. I also found tan and red-brown for some other areas. I also bought a replacement can of Chaos Black spray paint. My can is almost empty after painting all the Scythe items and mechs.

After getting my paints, I went looking for food. My search ended at Big O’s Pizza. I had a three-cheese Calzone that was huge and a cool hard cider. I had no breakfast, so I did manage to eat the whole thing. The last time I was at Big O’s Pizza was with Bill Butler quite a few years ago. I was happy they were still there. Everyone was wearing masks and careful. The Wifi was good, so I used my Apple while I waited.

I did like the calzone, but I went with their recommendation, three-cheese. I think next time I will go with something with meat in it.

While there, I did some more work on my Howard story, “Howard’s Lockdown.” I was surprised to find so many mistakes. I made corrections through the first section of the story. I will start on the second part on Sunday. I feel I need to make one more pass through the whole work and then send it into Grammarly one more time. After that, it should be done. I was mostly adding a few clarifications. No changes to the story, so I think it is almost finished.

Returning home, I took a nap. The hard cider and the calzone equals a nap. After a few hours, I started up again. I had put out three pounds of frozen skinless and boneless chicken thighs. I cut up carrots, onions, celery, and mixed that with olives and half a preserved lemon with Tagine spices. Add cut-up chicken and baked at 350 for 90 mins.  I made white rice to go with it. It was good.

Susie got up late and watched the ponies–Susie is a fan of horse racing. Susie watched the Kentucky Derby today. I then put on “Mary Poppins” for her while I cooked. We followed this with “Midnight in Paris” while eating the Tagine styled chicken. I caught a few bits of that–it is one of my favorites. A time-traveling writer in Paris getting advice from all the famous writers and artists in the 1920s. How could I not love it?

I am also working on the Scythe items. As these are content items, I cannot discuss them (spoilers), but they will finish on Sunday, and then I will start the USS Maine.

I also bought a 1/700 SMS Scharnhorst model, and it was delivered today. I was surprised I could find one online and at 20% off. Again a Russia made model by the same company that makes the USS Maine model. I have read quite a few books on the battles of SMS Scharnhorst, and last year the wreck was found. The guns on the wreck are still pointed out as if still fighting after 105 years.

SMS Scharnhorst was painted yellow like the USS Maine.

About seven-hundred deaths are reported today in the USA from the virus.

Today I went off a bit and found an ancient Egyptian hymn set to music by Philp Glass.