However shall I address the topic of self-aggrandizement tae the general viewing public. Having finally been coaxed intae leaving more o meself behind than is my custom, I suppose I shall let this do as most o my days on #scotland are done.....I shall let my thoughts run their course.

The fondness for #scotland, the sea, the pusser's, and life in general is bred in (dinna confuse this wi being inbred!!). I was born in London in '43 to an American mother and a Scot father who, at the tyme, was flying Seafires for the Royal Navy. Looking for better, as many were following the end, oor bags were packed and off we came tae America. Bangor, Maine, in specifics, where my father made quite a comfortable living flying seaplanes up and doon the coast tae Greenland loaded up wi things like.......ohhh......lopped off caribou heads and the like. Well, 'adventurists' were the business mainstay.

One thing lead tae anutther, and soon we (yes, ma dad & me) were tryin tae figure oot ways tae hook up canoes, supplies, sleds, dogs AND people (still along wi lopped off caribou heads) tae any part o an airplane that wid still let it get airborne. So began my career in mechanical engineering.

Tie all o that tae my summers being spent constantly in the water in some kind of aquatic conveyance, finding myself in '65 becoming a naval aviator following uni graduation was not a surprise at all. All I can say aboot the two and a half years that followed is that I finally came tae understand why my father never slept much for all the tyme I knew him.

For those that ave partaken in my peg leg jokes......it was in that tyme that a dying F-4 Phantom somewhere over the vacation dreamland of southeast asia gave rise tae my future educational pursuits. Had a lot o tyme on me hands after that, as it were, after a rather nasty malfunction wi an ejection seat.

Following a stint at Georgia Tech (where I really fit in as a literal Rambling Wreck), and at McDonnell Douglas working on those pesky ejection seat problems, I went back tae work for my Uncle in '75 (yu noo, Sam, the big, tall, skinny guy wi no taste in clothes) at the Navy Test Pilot school teaching aerodynamics and a few other assorted odd classes.

After finally spending enough tyme around the trials and tribulations of speed hungry ego-maniacs (fast toys untempered by reality), {or perhaps it was too lang tae be looking in a mirror of sorts}, I decided that I wanted a much slower pace. So at the earliest opportunity I took me government dole and now reside in a little harbor town in the Chesapeake Bay aboard my 42' Morgan sloop, Trilogy, along wi me best pals Kaiser and Khan.

Kaiser is a 8 year old german shorthair pointer . Khan is a siamese, mongrel mix of unknown age and origin. She showed up on board one day, sunning erself on the foredeck and daring me tae do anything aboot it. It was love at first sight. While Khan is still her own lady and will come and go as she pleases (though she mostly stays these days), Kaiser has his own demands and schedules as most o the regulars on #scotland know.

I have taken tae part tyme teaching again, but I'm beginning tae recall why I left it in the first place. Kaiser and Khan dinna talk bak and they seem tae appreciate the slightest o acknowledgments. Neither o which I find in the classroom tiday.

My likes tend tae fine wines and food, both in copious amounts when consumed in the proper context (that means wi goode friends and more than idle banter). Literature and british military history are of keen interest as weel. Beyond that I have a very eclectic mind, and will stray often in different intellectual directions, often at the appearance of being somewhat addled. At least I refer tae my mind as intellectually eclectic.....my friends refer tae it as a cluttered attic of an absent minded dolt. Yur ain judgment is welcome as long as yur up tae the rebuttal. :)

I've immensely enjoyed coming tae know the folks on #scotland as I am sure yu will as weel. Join in......and be sure and bring sense o humour, yu'll more than likely need it.