Catholic Pipe Smokers

Here's an interesting blast from the past
http://life.time.com/curiosities/bee...lf%7Cmostpop#1

A cemetery is also a splendid place to enjoy a pipe or cigar
Nobody is going to complain about your smoking

I used to be a Supercub driver, long ago.
I thought I'd gotten over it, but then I ran across this youtube today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nsBAuNugDI

Dang!
The smell of dope and fabric and hot aeroshell, the sound of the Bendix magnetos crackling over the David Clarkes, the warmth from the Lycoming engine coming back through the firewall are all coming back to me.
I got it bad, fellas
I do hope there are turf strips, CAVU and Supercubs in heavan!

I completely forgot it was derby day. Never had a mount julip though. Always wanted to try one

Alone on a rainy day in a big city, you come across a tobacconist and enter the fragrant shop to esape the rain and explore a bit, only to exit with a new pipe (perhaps a proprietary model with the shop's name inscribed on it) and a two ounce baggie of some "custom" blend, and it is that bowl of tobacco, in that pipe, in that rainy city that provided one of the tastiest smokes you've ever had, so much so that ten, twenty, even thirty years later you still fondly recollect the exprience?
Has that ever happened to you?

from elsewhere on the internet---
AVIATION 101

Takeoffs are optional. Landings are mandatory.

If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger, if you pull the stick back they get smaller. (Unless you keep pulling the stick back -- then they get bigger again)

Flying is not dangerous; crashing is dangerous.

It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here.

The propeller is just a big fan in the front of the plane to keep the pilot cool. Want proof?

Make it stop; then watch the pilot break out into a sweat.

Speed is life, altitude is life insurance No one has ever collided with the sky.

It's best to keep the pointed end going forward as much as possible.

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

Every one already knows the definition of a 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. But very few know the definition of a 'great' landing. It's one after which you can use the airplane another time.

The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival.

Always remember you fly an airplane with your head, not your hands. Never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.

You know you've landed with the wheels up when it takes full power to taxi.

Those who hoot with the owls by night should not fly with the eagles by day.

A helicopter is a collection of rotating parts going round and round and reciprocating parts going up and down - all of them trying to become random in motion.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.

Trust your captain .... but keep your seat belt securely fastened.

Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.

Aviation is not so much a profession as it is a disease.

A fool and his money are soon flying more airplane than he can handle.

Remember, you're always a student in an airplane.

Keep looking around; there's always something you've missed.

Try to keep the number of your landings equal to the number of your takeoffs.

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.

There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold, pilots!

Gravity never loses -- the best you can hope for is a draw!

You start out flying with a bag of luck and a bag of experience, the trick is to get your bag of experience full before your bag of luck is empty.

Do any books strike you as being especially well suited to reading whilst have a pipe at hand?

A fantasy of sorts.
I suppose if you smoke a pipe long enough people will send you letters asking you to solve problems and give unsavory scallions their come-uppance.
And of course, being a pipeman, your response will be total and merciless.
Enjoy the fantasy---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58t5P8YlDZ8

Living in Alabama, sumertime is difficult. Keeping tobacco in the car is hopeless. I have resorted to carrying a waterproof plastic drink mixing bottle that contains a pipe along with tobacco and all the implements. I leave it in the garage which is comparatively cool and throw it in the car or motorhome when I am likely to be somewhere that I would be allowed to enjoy it. (precious few of those places remaining). A glass jar of my favorite bulk tobacco can be added if I am likely to stay a while.

Heres a good one!

The Quitter
by Robert Service

When you’re lost in the Wild, and you’re scared as a child,
And Death looks you bang in the eye,
And you’re sore as a boil, it’s according to Hoyle
To cock your revolver and . . . die.
But the Code of a Man says: “Fight all you can,”
And self-dissolution is barred.
In hunger and woe, oh, it’s easy to blow . . .
It’s the hell-served-for-breakfast that’s hard.

“You’re sick of the game!” Well, now, that’s a shame.
You’re young and you’re brave and you’re bright.
“You’ve had a raw deal!” I know-but don’t squeal,
Buck up, do your damnedest, and fight.
It’s the plugging away that will win you the day,
So don’t be a piker, old pard!
Just draw on your grit; it’s so easy to quit:
It’s the keeping-your-chin-up that’s hard.

It’s easy to cry that you’re beaten-and die;
It’s easy to crawfish and crawl;
But to fight and to fight when hope’s out of sight-
Why, that’s the best game of them all!
And though you come out of each grueling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try-it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.