Another Day

Another beautiful day. Kaylee's class sang for the church service this morning, and she was so excited about it. She stood up there like a big girl, singing the songs nice and loudly, doing all the hand motions, and watching me watching her. At one point, she even scooted a little to her right so that I could see her better-she could tell the man in front of me was blocking my view and I was leaning way out into the aisle. So she moved over and smiled at me while she was singing. She had a great time, was thrilled to be doing it, and I was amazed that she wasn't nervous in the least. She just marched up there like she owned the place.

Afterwards I went down with her and the kids were watching a Veggie Tales Video called "Fellowship of the Bean". Now I thought it was funny, because it was an adaptation of "Fellowship of the Ring" from the "Lord of the Ring" JRR Tolkein series. I grew up reading that trilogy, and LOVED it, and it was a tad odd to see a version of it in Veggie Tales. The character's name was Billy Boy and Toto Baggypants instead of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. The wizard was Randolf instead of Gandolf. It was a magic bean instead of a magic ring. You get the idea. But the whole storyline was the same, with humor added. And the thing I thought was the funniest about it, was that I bet I was one of the only people there who actually knew that. It's not like kindergartners have ever read or seen the movie of the Lord of the Rings. It's a bit heavy for 5 year olds. And I'm not real sure how many of the teachers would have either, as that's not typical church fare, though you never know. :) But I actually enjoyed it, myself. That was cute.

Anyway, after church Kaylee and I ran out to Kokomo airport, and I changed clothes and hopped in the Seneca, and we flew to a BBQ that they were having at Noblesville airport. I'd never been in there before-it's a nice strip! Grass strip, nice and long and smooth. The place was packed out-I had no idea it would be that busy. There were probably six planes trying to land at the same time I was, everything from a C-172 to an ultralight to a "bulldog" to me in the Seneca. I circled out of the way for awhile until some of the slower stuff got in, then came on in. Steve and Chuck flew over in the Citabria. We were coming in to land, and Kaylee said "Mommy, my tummy hurts." I said "Okay honey, we're here, we'll land in a minute." I get on final (where concentration would be good for a few reasons) and Kaylee says "Mommy! My stomach really hurts! I'm going to be SICK!" Ooooh, lordy. I said "Hang on honey, I'm landing Right Now!" I get down, and immediately pop her door open to get some air on her, and taxi over to our parking spot (all the way down the runway---I should have floated it and landed closer to parking!) She gets out and just crouches on the ground for a few minutes. The poor girl has been getting motion sick quite a few times when flying lately. But she'd been lying down and closing her eyes in the plane, so I'm going to try having her sit up on a seat where she can see OUT and not just sitting there with her eyes closed, and hope that helps. We travel too much by air, I sure want to help her not have it be a miserable time for her! Anyway, we get there, and after she recuperates we get in the lunch line, meet up with Steve & Chuck. They have some excellent food! BBQ Chicken quarters so juicy and thick, hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ pork, mac & cheese, potato salad, a dessert table, drinks. Yum. We ate up, hung out, watched people and planes, and decided to head back to Glenndale.

So I head over to the Seneca, and there is a crowd of people by it and sitting under the wing. As I walk towards the plane, some of the people get up and leave in a hurry. A couple stare at me and Kaylee walking towards the plane, and one guy asks "Are YOU with Pizza Hut?" I said "It's Pizza Hut's airplane, and yes, I brought it in." So I get in the plane and get Kaylee all set, I turn on the mags and the beacon, I yell "Clear" out the window, and these two guys just keep walking towards me. One is a boy, and the other is his dad. They just walk right up to my right engine, and I Seriously considered firing up the left one right then and there to scare some sense into them. But of course I retained my maturity and didn't. I did however yell "Clear Left!" again, loudly. They slowly wandered off to my right wing. I raised my eyebrows at them, started the left engine, and then they decided to move a little farther away from my right engine, thankfully. I thought for sure by then Chuck & Steve would have beaten me out of there, but they were taking forever to start up, and later I learned why! Anyway, I took off out of Noblesville, and saw the Citabria in line to leave, so was going to hang back and maybe buzz under them or something, but didn't want to mess around too much with Kaylee maybe not feeling well. I go back to Glenndale and land there and wait for Chuck & Steve.

Come to find out, while they were at Noblesville, Somebody took off two inspection plates from Chuck's Citabria. STOLE them off of his airplane while it sat there parked next to dozens of other planes. Leaving two gaping holes in his wings. Unbelievable. You do NOT DO THAT to a fellow pilot. That is almost unheard of. It violates a code above and beyond "thou shalt not steal". And it was very gutsy. We were never that far from the plane, and they had no idea that we wouldn't see them. And if someone had challenged them, and they'd been caught, an airport full of pilots would NOT be a good place to be caught stealing parts off of another man's airplane. So Chuck had to stop off at Sheridan and get replacement inspection plates for his wings. Talk about making you wonder what ELSE was messed with...

Back at Glenndale, Greg took me up in his PJ. Pretty red biplane, open cockpit. I really enjoyed it! It's nice to be in the open air (at least when the weather is nice and when you're not going to be doing it for 4 hours straight on a trip!) It was a perfect PJ day. Calm winds, clear skies, fall colors, cool air. I flew it around for a few minutes, then he took it back and did a loop then a roll. It's a different feeling going upside down in a plane that doesn't have a canopy. As in, if your seat belt fails, you'd best find your kitty claws and hang onto whatever you can. But not only did you have a harness and belt, you have a "backup belt", which I'd never heard of, but makes a great deal of sense. A separate lap belt that comes from a different point in the cockpit, in case something fails in the first. Anyway, it was a fun ride and a nice airplane and I enjoyed it. Flying in different things just brings about more enjoyable experiences.

After that I flew the Seneca back to Kokomo, hopped in the car and got home, and crashed on the couch. When Kaylee & Steve arrived home, I popped in a Barbie video for Kaylee and napped until it was over! Steak for dinner (prepared by my lovely husband while I was fast asleep) and baked potato and corn for side items (prepared by my lovely in-laws while I was fast asleep) made for a nice top off to the day!

Let's see. Kaylee comment: We were talking about which power lines could "hurt" you and which ones probably wouldn't. We were talking about how electricity is conducted and how the powerlines could only hurt you if you were touching the ground or holding onto something that was touching the ground when you touched the wire at the same time. Kaylee said she'd not go near power lines (thank you), and then said in a teenager's voice "Hell-O! Hunormous Electricity. Tiny little body. I'm SO OUTTA here!" I think I actually snorted.

Laura's Dusting Technique: Look up. Notice dust balls so big on some objects on a knick-knack shelf that they actually have interesting patterns to them. Get out the vacuum cleaner, attach the big wand thing, turn it on, stand back, and let the dust balls get sucked up from a few inches away, without damaging said objects. Note that things look MUCH better, shut it off, put away vacuum. Wonder if you can call it "Vacuuming" AND "Dusting" for the record, or not.

Night!