Nice

I woke up this morning when one cat climbed up on my hip, another climbed onto my legs, and an icy cold 8 year old who had already had breakfast and now needed warmed up climbed in and huddled up on my back, pinning my hair down. They always get on top of me when it's cool out because I radiate heat, and cats and little kids both seem to get into that. ;)

A look at the weather basically showed that it was doing what it was supposed to be, which was a VFR day with rain coming eventually and a bit of wind that was supposed to get worse as the day progressed. I thought if I got out there in time, I could practice in the T-6 before the high-ish winds and rain hit, so that's what I did. Of course it took longer than normal because I couldn't be pampered today since I was on my own. ;) The Cub was in the way in the front of the hangar, so I pulled it out and chocked it off to the side. There was a battery charger hooked up to the tug, so I took it off and drove the tug out of the way, hooked up the T-6 and s-l-o-w-l-y pulled it out of the hangar so as to not scrape the Cheyenne or the door, unhooked the tug and put it back into the hangar, added the two cases of oil to the baggage compartment for weight and balance, closed up the back, took out Nathan's helmet and got mine, did the preflight, pulled through the prop, and finally I was ready to go.

I took off, and just to get into the swing of things I flew over my house (at several thousand feet above, nothing 'funny' here!), where I knew Steve and Kaylee would hear me. I saw them come out, and Kaylee jumping up and down and some waving, so I did some wing "waving" back, went out to the country and did a few maneuvers, then decided to practice some TOLS (take offs and landings). The winds had picked up by then, gusting around 20 knots, were forecasted to go up to 25, but it was never more than 30 degrees off the runway, so it was a good stepping-stone practice day for me. Putting everything away is harder than taking it out, but fortunately that went really smoothly as well and I got the T-6 backed into its' parking spot safely on the first try, everything else moved back in place, got a late lunch and came on home feeling like I'd accomplished something at least.

I read this on an aviation board and it made me laugh out loud. See, C-152s are one of my least favorite airplanes. They are tiny, you can only fit 1.5 people in there unless they are tiny, it's underpowered and slow and not in a good way like the Citabria. ;) So this guy wrote the below, and it cracked me up. It just goes to show you, everything is a matter of perspective. "As to turbulence issues, here's the deal: the 152 is NOT for wimps who can't handle a bit of buffeting in return for great sensitivity on the controls, roll rate and overall responsiveness. If I want to ride in a slug I'll take a 767. 152s are for real men, and real women. One other thing: they better replicate WW1 combat experience than, say, Warriors or Bo's." Great sensitivity on the controls? C-152s are airplanes for "real men and women"? Replicating WW1 combat experience? Whoa. That still makes me grin. Hey, whatever makes a person happy is fine by me! :)

Kaylee talked on the phone to her grandma for I don't even know how long. I kept asking if Grandma might be done talking yet, but Kaylee would frown at me and run away. She was just in chatty mood apparently. Grandma told her directions on how to make one of those paper thingies where you fold it and ask it questions and pick a color and number and it "answers" you; I have no idea what to call it. So we made one of those tonight, and Kaylee is in heaven. Thanks for the directions Mom, I didn't even know what to call the thing to google directions on how to make it. It worked perfectly and Kaylee is Quite Pleased. :)

Steve and Kaylee played outside for awhile, started up the motorcycle and Corvette to warm them up a bit, played Frisbee, let the cats out to play for awhile, and will be doing the camp-out-under-her-tent-in-the-front-room gig tonight as well. We had homemade steaks, fried potatoes and corn for dinner, and it's been a nice Saturday for all, I'd say!