Birthday Celebrations

Esteemed Editor of This Journal

Marks 37th Solar Orbit

Yes, good friends and readers, today marks the 37th complete (Earthly) orbit of the Sun for your humble correspondent. Days such as this make you think back at what you ahve accomplished to date in your life.

I've married a beautiful woman, who has provided me with two fine sons. I own a comfortable though small estate in the Republic of Texas, and a second abode here in Victoria Landing. I have a job I enjoy, and a hobby or two that interest me and occupy my mind in continuous learning.

All in all, not bad.

Tonight, we dine at Chabucca's, the finest Argentine churrascaria on Mars. Which is not necessarily a great compliment, it being the only restaurant of its sort on the Red Planet. However, I enjoy it, as does the rest of the family.

Tomorrow I'll mention a bit about some progress on a few small projects. Until then, good friends and readers.

New Stuff Arriving! [ooc]

Okay, I am excited about the new toys I am getting in these days.

My birthday is coming up, and my wife told me to just buy myself some stuff. So I did. I probably went a little bit overboard, but not too badly.

From Scale Creep Miniatures (http://www.scalecreep.com/) I bought some more Black Hat Martians, some Vallejo paints, some Wargames Accessories metal bases, and some GW round slottabases. The Martian packs were the 'Martian Personalities,' (with John Carter, Dejah Thoris, a Martian King on foot, a big game hunter, a martian priest/scientist, and a Martian butler/assassin with revolver) and 'Martian Cavalry with Lances' (which finishes off the purchases need to finalize the deathrays at long last - better cast more saddles!). I needed the bases to re-base some older figures and for my Mordians/Imperial German Secret Weapons Troops of Aetherbattalion Regiment 2 (AR.2). These have arrived and there is already paint on some of them - just not quite finished yet.

From Eureka Miniatures, USA (http://www.eurekaminusa.com/), I bought some 25 mm stuff. I got Her Majesty, Queen Victoria I (God Bless Her!), the Harry Flashman wanna-be, the small British dog, two of the helicopter Germans (the leader and one trooper), two Nordenfelts and a 3-pdr QF gun for my 25mm aerial gunboat. These arrived today - nice and quick. I like them all, and plan on buying another 8 of the whirlybird troopers for primitive jump troops. Be a few months before I get the $$ for that though...

I also have some magnets from K&J (http://www.kjmagnetics.com/) on order. I bought some of the surplus magnets - a big chunk of magnets for only $10! Like, 250 of them! Yes, they are rather small, but its all I need!

I won an ebay auction for a piece of interesting terrain that I am going to pay for on Thursday - ran out of funds until payday.

I also bought a computer game from eBay for less than $10 including shipping: Crimson Skies. Alternate history Earth with zeppelins and air pirates and all kinds of good stuff. Very pulp-y.

Man, it has been a great birthday this year. Lots and lots of toys for me! Wheee! Though it messes up my Pledge for 2009 even more. Oh well. Just trying to do my little part to combat the recession.

I'll try and post some real content in the next day or two. Off to finish up the Incomparable Dejah Thoris and the rest of the 15mm fellows.

First Time Ever!

Primitive Dwelling of Highest Venusian Civilization

For the first time in any Human journal, we find a photostat of the primitive huts built by the elusive Parrotmen of Venus. While the Parrotmen themselves are not in the photograph, be assured they were nearby. This photostat was purchased from a German scientist's former assistant. Apparently he was wrongly accused of theft by his former employer, and so was dismissed. When packing his things, the former assistant accidentally carried off the photostatic data for the Herr Professor's monograph on the culture and architecutre of the Parrotfolk.

News of a New Aerial Gunboat, HMAS Raptor

As some of our readers may know, work has begun at the Womack Shipyard of Victoria Landing to construct a new aerial gunboat, HMAS Raptor. So far, all we know is that her shape is similar to the old Aphid-class ships, at approximately 90-feet in length and 22 feet of beam. She is rumored to be powered by handwavium reactor, the first such ship built here on Mars. Her armament is undecided at this time, but provision has been made aboard her for a small Marine contingent, to guard against boarding actions.

[Editor's Note: I will provide a step-by-step of how I built the Raptor in a future post or two. Construction of foamcore and sheet styrene, primarily. So far, I am pretty happy with how its turning out, though I screwed up the deck a bit. Next one will come out better. I also have an idea for a really cool small Martian kite. I even think I can put grapnel launchers on the kite - boarders away!]

Photo of the Parrotman Hut

Photo of the Parrotman Hut

This small birdhouse made a great hut. All I did to it was to stain the raw wood, cut off the original perch and add a wooden step. Finally, I cut a conical piece of the material from underside of a pot-topper and glued it to the roof of the birdhouse.

Presto! Instant primitive hut.