Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Warrior Tales

World War II Birds Take Flight In Madras, Oregon

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Spent last week in Sisters and Madras, Oregon shopping, relaxing, digging thundereggs, and soaking in hot tubs. One fabulous exhibit we stumbled upon is the Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras, Oregon.

Nestled in a refurbished World War II aircraft hangar at the Madras airport were more than twenty military aircraft complete with floor diapers for their oil leaks. They are still dripping oil since most of these rare birds are still flown on a regular basis.

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This B-17G is so big I could have backed up to the highway and still not get all of her in my wide angle lens. Notice the ball turret gunner “bubble” underneath. Very tight quarters.

Aircraft on display include a B-17G Bomber, P-51D Mustang, FM-2 Wildcat and even a ME-109 Messerschmitt. While wandering all around with my camera, I could not locate the Vought F4U Corsair, a favorite of my Dad’s. Found out it was in the shop for a tune up. Guess I will have to go back!

This collection started in the 1970’s by Jack Erickson and then his grandson Mike Oliver caught the airplane bug and serves as the General Manager of the Collection today. Pretty sure he might have been the one leading a tour of folks around the collection while we were there; the red Corvette parked out front a give away perhaps?

Since Madras served as a training base for B-17 pilots during World War II, it is the perfect place to host these fabulous machines. The stories of the men who flew these beauties were nicely displayed in the collection, especially since so many were local boys.

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USS Ranger magic strikes again. “Heavenly Body” is at Madras, Oregon. Priceless! 

The women were not left out either with the role they played building these machines on display. Since USS Ranger magic is everywhere, one of the photos featured the time a B-25J Mitchell flew off the USS Ranger in San Diego, CA harbor to commemorate the Doolittle Raid.

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Here she is!

Many of those Doolittle Raid pilots were drawn from the local area. Think USS Ranger was giving me a sign. If you get a chance, venture over and visit this amazing collection in Madras, Oregon.

Check them out at www.ericksoncollection.com

P.S. Did I mention there is an air show too? Must make another trip…..

 

 

Nora Is Here!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                        (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

I may be a day late, but I’m not a polar bear short. Nora the polar bear has arrived at the Oregon Zoo. She’s getting acquainted in her private digs behind the scenes like any big star, before she gets to meet her fans and her new roommate. She’s got thirty days in quarantine and then she might decide to come out and see us in mid-October.

Seems she is specializing in grass stains, sand rolling, swimming, back scratching and mud runs while she adjusts to her temporary digs. She’s one of us already!

A huge polar bear thank you to Ohio for sending us 10-month-old Nora!

Hope you’re having a great weekend and had a Happy Quirky Friday!

 

Harvest Moon Tonight!

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by Kimberly A. Cook              (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Tonight is the full Harvest Moon and I can feel the nip of Fall in the air. Mornings are cooler and some leaves are starting to turn colors, so that means comfy blankets, reading books, Hallmark Holiday movies and tons of FOOD! Fabulous.

To celebrate this big moon, felt an old time song would do the trick. Haven’t seen this movie yet, but Gordon MacRae was a pretty handsome guy back in the day and he could sing too! Not just a pretty face. He starred in “Oklahoma” and “Carousel” too. I might break out in show tunes!

Doris Day is amazing. One of my favorites and a great comic actress as well. Plus animal lover. Love her a lot.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday! Stock up on hot chocolate mix and apple cider now!

 

Rolling Rocks In The Garden?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Back to the rocks! This past weekend I finally got to put rocks in the Fairy Rock Garden. This might seem pretty straightforward, but in the end I needed three different types of rocks. So far.

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Bags all lined up like soldiers. That was as far as I was going to haul them. 

 

First choice was to use white rocks. Researched them at Home Depot and did not like the look. Shopped online and found a landscape company close by with rocks to be used in fish aquariums. Got a five-gallon bucket of those. They are so pretty I want to use them for jewelry.

Decided the aquarium rocks would be used to simulate a pond and then I would go with decorative river pebbles. When I bought the six bags of river pebbles, the pond pebbles looked nice too. Bought two of those bags.

There was not one place on those rock bags that said how much they weighed, but I knew it was more than thirty pounds of kitty litter. Used my Air Force Reserve flight gloves, since the nomex with leather grips really help grab plastic bags. Full of rocks. Wet rocks.

Thursday loaded the rock bags from Home Depot into Subie. Friday unloaded the rocks from Subie to the garden. Saturday I decided it was not rock moving day.

Sunday it was time. The rocks spread pretty well but I almost forgot about the aquarium rocks, but I remembered in time to make the rock pond.

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Get your freshly washed rocks! See the agate aquarium rocks for the rock pond?

 

They were drying out and looking dirty, so then I had to wash my rocks. About this time I figured I was doing play therapy and I could not have been happier. Whatever floats our boats!

Even found the piece of black obsidian Mom brought over from her yard and gave it a good scrubbing and added it to the landscape. Then I started moving things around. HGTV in the rock garden!

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Pretty rocks in my own rock garden. Fabulous.

 

Then I began finding fun rocks in the Fairy Rock Garden. Started pilfering my own pebbles. Once a rock hound, always a rock hound. Still have a bucket of aquarium rocks left too. Priceless!

Then my new Fairy Houses 2017 Calendar by Sally J. Smith arrived. The pictures are what dreams are made of and where fairies truly live. There is a Fairy Garden industry!

But now I have to order the doors for the Fairy Houses, get ready to put a roof on the stump with pine cone pieces and unleash the hot glue gun. Plus move the elves in to guard the perimeter.

It’s not easy being a Fairy Rock Garden developer, but I’m having a blast.

Whatever play therapy works for you, have fun!

 

 

 

 

Oregon Love For Louisiana Kitties!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                     (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

The long weekend messed me up on my Tuesday blog post, but I did get lots of things done that involved furnace guys, cleaning out things and moving rocks. The glamour of it all!

But on this eve of 9/11, it’s nice to know that no matter what the disaster in our nation, we lend a helping hand to our fellow citizens, including the furry ones. A total of 31 cats and kittens arrived from Louisiana yesterday to help make room for felines affected by the flooding there and to bring some furry Southern charm to Oregon.

Remember those we lost on 9/11 and the first responders and construction workers we are still losing to illness fifteen years later.

Honor them by adopting a Southern feline friend in need as an act of kindness.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday.

P.S. No Sound on the video. Just cute kitties.

How About These SEALs?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Heading into the long Labor Day weekend, wanted to send a shout out to all the troops around the world who will be working hard while we play. Then thought it might be super cool to watch these Navy SEALs play at a football game. Jumping into a football game that is.

Have a great, safe weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

https://youtu.be/x_7tsRrgA2Q