Ripley's friend passes on to a place in all our hearts

Sassy Wild, 2003-2014

a big yawn at breakfast time after a sleepover with Ripley

 Sassy was a big girl, a gentle girl who loved her friend Ripley.   She came into my son's life some eleven years ago, as a puppy, and was always his best friend with four legs.  She lived in North St. Louis County, then Eureka, Missouri, and survived his short lived marriage yet never left his side.  She moved with him to Indianapolis, and never complained about spending all day waiting for him to come home.  She even endured living with his grandmother, who never realized how great a dog she was, and later lived with another dog in a small two bedroom in the Broad Ripple area, where she at least had a nice fenced yard to run.

the last sleepover, April 2014

When J.B. moved to Florida, she never complained about that long cross country ride, as she was with the boy she loved, as he loved her.  She even made friends with Bobby, the gruff New Yorker who was a family friend willing to take her out during those days our son's schedule kept him unable to walk her during the day.  My wife and I had the privilege of walking her some days, and she was always happy to see us.

From time to time, she'd come out to the island, and spend a night or two, where she'd play with Ripley's squirrel toy or just sit with her smaller buddy.  She was a powerful girl, who loved little dogs and would pull on her lead whenever we walked her, we'd have to restrain her with great difficulty.

I will always remember her as that proud lab/chow mix, who enjoyed walks and would lay down a prodigious pile of poop.  I last saw her about a week ago, and while she was getting thin, I figured it was just old age.  Big dogs don't always last as long as smaller breeds, like Beagles, but she had a problem which manifested itself in what we believed was a stroke.  One vet ended up taking an inconclusive Xray and we took her to Critical Care Vets, where Ripley had his back surgery (earlier blogs spoke of this escapade of his).  Dr. Anne Chauvet was not present, but her able staff administered a MRI, which revealed a cancer with fluid around her heart, and my wife was able to have them wait until my son arrived, so he could make his goodbyes.  They witnessed a devoted dog trying to hold on until her master arrived to let him say goodbye.   Blessedly, the cancer took her quickly as it was not operable.  Many tears that day, many the following, and some while I write this.

Sassy, I'm the lucky one - I'll never have to hold the memory of your passing with dignity, weak with fluid surrounding a very faint heartbeat, holding on those final moments with my wife and son.  I'll just have to remember the good days, where you'd want to pull me up the street wanting to say hello to smaller dogs who frankly where somewhat terrified at the sight of an 85 pound freight train on four legs bearing down on them.  I knew you just wanted to say hello.  And in remembering those moments of a wonderful friend at her strongest, I will offer these pictures taken within the past 30 days.  Sometimes we adults think its heroic to try to spend thousands more to eke out another six weeks, while not thinking about the dog enduring more procedures ultimately end up at that same place.   My son made the hard call, as he had done with my Millie three years ago - I know there's a horrible hole in his heart tonight, as there is in mine - this eulogy is my way to grieve.  No offense meant to my son's way of grieving, mine just is a bit more cathartic, and public.  As we'd say whenever she'd stay over on her blanket on the floor at the foot of the bed "lay down Sassy, it's time to go to sleep"...............

Nose art, a lost art

on a Black Widow night fighter from WW2

If you Google "nose art" I'm sure you'll find many, many fine examples, but when I see some, I generally try and take pictures to keep.  A couple of weeks ago, in Lakeland, Florida was the annual Sun 'n Fun air show.  I took quite a few pictures, but these are certainly favorites.  The B-17 "Texas Raiders" is part of the CAF (Confederate Air Force) and shows tonnage of bombs dropped as well as the pin-up gal in western attire.  Often, nose art featured scantily clad women.  A lot of aircrews during WW II would name their planes, and would indicate tons of bombs dropped, or in the case of fighters, might put small enemy flags beneath the cockpit canopy to show the prowess of the pilot assigned to that aircraft.

B-17 "Texas Raiders"

The B-25 (below)  is painted to reelect a Russian motif, and many of these Mitchell light bombers were shipped to Russia by convoy.  We sent over a number of aircraft to the Russians during the second World War,  including P39's, P-40's, B-17's and B-25's.  The heaviest and  most coveted was the B-29.  They requested same, but we never voluntarily provided.  Three B-29's were forced to land there during the later stages o the war, and were simply not returned,  Russian engineers took over, reverse engineered them, and soon there was a look-alike Tupelov copy.



Not all nose art will be found on warplanes, as "Downwind" out of Port Orange, Florida, is on a T-34 "Mentor" trainer, a post Korea war trainer, of which many were decommissioned and sold to individual owners by the Air Force.

Seen on a T-34 Trojan, Daytona Beach

Apache Princess - B-25 at Fantasy of Flight

         This painting is not exactly historical, as there was a B-25 known as Apache Princess, but the owner of this restored bomber took the liberty of painting his wife's face onto the sexy squaws body.  Nice join, Kermit Weeks.



Regarding the redheaded vixen portrayed on The Downwind; its a clever play on aviation words - the downwind leg of one's landing occurs just before you enter into your cross wind and follow through on your final approach to the field.  Downwinds run parallel to the length of the runway, and it's typically a very long leg.

The  wording reads "Russian to get you"

I found this blond Cossack to be a very nice  piece of art work.

Of coarse not all the pretty girls were inanimate drawings on the noses of older aircraft.  There were also several working the crowds and one actually working to fuel several thirsty jets.   And not all of the are was on  the nose, as evidenced by the T-shirt on the backside of this very busy young women.   She was heard to say "so many jets, so little time".



those are both L-39's, a Czech jet trainer which also can be fitted with ordinance.