What day is it boys and girls? That's right! It's the last day of the month! You know what that means? Yes...billing! You know, that time when you get to hunt down who put fuel in their plane forgetting to write it down so that we're missing a few hundred bucks worth of fuel, or when you get to hunt down who forgot to write their info down in the time sheets at all, or figuring up why you are an hour off on total times on the sheet meaning people added wrong again, who gets charged what for fuel and rental. All that fun stuff. :) We'll be doing that for a few days here-after I get stuff entered, Steve has the hard end of it. Once he's done, he'll print them and I'll get them prepped and in the mail all over again.
The problem is, of course, that we have an event coming up in two days with an air show in three days, and we have run into several obstacles with the show. Sound system, Young Eagle pilots, air show participants, Steve spending an hour on the phone tonight at 9 p.m. with the FAA...though at least he was laughing and things were friendly. So finishing up the billing in a timely manner may prove to be a challenge.
Fifteen years ago or so, when I first came to this area, we'd do a fly-in event, and it was simple. You get the hog and the side dishes, you'd get a nice day, set up a tent or get a building ready, maybe set up a raffle, and people would fly in. You might give rides, you might have some locals come by, and that was it. Then we started doing them at Glenndale, and they got bigger. Then they got big enough that we suddenly had people doing spur-of-the-moment aerobatics low to the ground and people doing buzz jobs that shouldn't be. So we had to cut off people's ability to do that stuff, and had enough traffic we initiated an "Air Boss". Now days you can't give rides without meeting 14 FAA regulations and a ton of red tape. You can't have an air show without waivers and permission and meeting more criteria than you would possibly believe. The planning is huge, involved, and tiring. Traffic and the crowd has to be a certain distance. There's a safety plan, a ground plan, an airshow plan, a parking plan, an egress plan, an emergency plan, a rides plan, a food plan. That road can't be open if you're going to use that runway. So how do you shut down a road for 2 hours, anyway? Oh, right, more agencies and red tape and stonewalls. Let's talk about insurance. For the rides. For the crowd. For the air show itself. For the airport grounds and the city. Do you know how many separate policies are necessary and what EACH of them has set up as mandatory requirements? Me either, but Steve is becoming an expert on it. How about setting up the waiver itself. Or getting the people organized to take care of trash, parking, and safety. Or the radio ads, advertising and promo. Getting sponsors to help cover the costs so we can keep it a free show for the community. It honestly gives me a headache to even contemplate, and if Steve didn't do it, I would never have the patience or probably the ability to pull it off.
So if anyone out there has a good sound system to project an air show announcer and music to a crowd, and if all you dozens of pilots out there around the country who read this (insert sarcasm here) can donate your time and airplane to give Young Eagles rides for a few hundred children, just for starters, just come on over...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Indianapolis Air Show Photos
Trey Carroll sent me a cd of photos he took at the Indianapolis Air Show, and I just put up two pages of them on my site. It made me smile to look at them. It was a good learning experience, but I won't get into all that again. :) Instead, you can just go look at the pictures if you wish-and Mom, there are a few pictures of Kaylee in there too. ;)
Page One and Page Two!
Page One and Page Two!
Epic
"Dress a goat in silk and it's still a goat."
~Celtic Proverb
You know, I had someone pop into my mind right off the bat when I read that...
Speaking of ugly things dressed up to look nice that are still ugly, there are new flying regulations for airlines that says that a person who needs machinery such as oxygen, bipaps, ventilators, etc. to breathe can not fly on the airplane unless that person's machine has a sticker from the machine's manufacturer that states that the machine meets FAA "electromagnet emission safety standards". Two problems with that. One, that's simply another measure that an overblown government agency is implementing so they can say they "Did Something" to make people feel safer. Note I said FEEL safer. It won't actually MAKE anyone safer, any more than those TFRs over football stadiums do anything but get innocent pilots in trouble while not stopping any actual terrorist who might want to dive into one sometime. Problem Number Two is that this has taken the machine manufacturers completely by surprise, they have nothing to do with it, and don't have any guidelines or process or anything available to comply with this new rule. So somebody gets to create a new branch of some form of red tape to create and distribute these silly little stickers. In the meantime, people on vents or oxygen trying to get on airplanes for things as small as vacations and as large as mandatory medical evaluations are being told they can not fly because their machine doesn't have a sticker which did I mention doesn't exist yet and won't affect anyone's safety anyway once it does.
(Here's the article explaining the problem...if you read it from the 3rd paragraph on, you'll see the irony and disgust I feel over it.)
A May 13 ruling from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is proving a headache for manufacturers of respiratory equipment and a frustration for commercial air travelers who rely on ventilators, respirators, positive airway pressure devices such as CPAP and BiPAP, or personal oxygen concentrators.
The DOT ruling says that in order to use any respiratory equipment aboard a commercial airline, the equipment must bear a manufacturer’s label stating that it meets Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety requirements pertaining to electromagnetic emissions. If the label isn’t displayed on the equipment, airlines can deny boarding or refuse to allow use of the equipment during flight.
Unfortunately, the labeling requirement seems to have caught the respiratory equipment industry by surprise. Neither the industry nor individual manufacturers have issued clear guidelines for respiratory equipment users to follow to obtain the necessary label.
A marketing representative at Pulmonetic Systems of Minneapolis told MDA that she was aware of the May 13 ruling, but the company, which manufactures ventilators, has not yet developed a plan of action for dealing with the situation. She said Pulmonetic Systems, in dealing with the FAA, cannot get information to determine what specific language should be on the required labels.
ResMed, of Poway, Calif., which makes CPAPs and other respiratory devices, is in a similar quandary. “I wish I could say we had a 1-800 number that people could call to get instructions, but we don’t,” said ResMed marketing rep Drew Terry. ResMed tech teams are working on a solution, he said.
FAA spokeswoman Nancy Claussen affirmed that the required equipment labels are not widely available.
Claussen said DOT went ahead with launching its May 13 ruling because there were other beneficial aspects of the rule, such as addressing the use of service animals on flights. She said the current confusion will have to be resolved by the airlines and manufacturers.
Right now there's a family in Illinois trying to get to California. Their 5 year old has SMA, and needs a bipap (breathing machine) to help her breathe and a suction machine since she can't swallow well on her own. (You try not swallowing for just five minutes straight and then imagine being told you can't use the machine that helps get that out of your mouth/throat the entire time you're on a flight). She goes out to California almost every month because she is in a special drug trial for a compound they are using to try to slow down and eventually maybe stop SMA. She can't miss the evaluations in California or she's out of the trial and off the medication, which IS helping her. Now they can't fly out there thanks to these new rules. Would you like to drive from Illinois to California regularly? Now would you like to take a medically fragile child on a drive from Illinois to California regularly? There is nowhere else, that is where the drug trial is being held. So what do you do? If you're this family, who has to be there in just a few weeks, you hope your very old van holds itself together, you hope your child doesn't have a medical emergency while out on the road for days at a time, and you drive. And me, I stew over pointless, overblown, nanny regulations that negatively impact real people's lives in a drastic way while doing no actual good whatsoever.
Actually I'm spending today trying to find some way, any way, that I can get them a flight over to CA for this month in the hopes that by the next time they need to go out the manufacturers will have a plan for getting their equipment allowed through airline security again. It bothers me more than you know that here I am a pilot, with access to a small plane that could do it, and I can't just fly them there myself. But I simply can't afford that kind of gas and neither can they.
So I ask the Corporate Jet medical mercy flights, and they only deal with cancer and bone marrow patients, no exceptions. Oh, and their rules state that the kids must have no equipment and be able to walk on board unassisted. Well, that would be a handy trick for paralyzed kiddos. So I talk to the Angel Flight guys, who are all volunteer, small airplane folks just like us. But the logistics of a trip of this size, being passed off every 200-300 miles to another small airplane and pilot in the next state over, and hoping it all comes together fine with weather, airplanes and pilots, one after the other...it's a logistical nightmare and the risks of problems with timing and schedules and everything else are very high of leaving this family halfway in Wyoming waiting in a hotel room for weather or airplane issues to resolve. We need a bigger turbine single engine plane, twin, or one of those supposedly evil corporate jets for a trip of this size. So many organizations helping people get places they need to go when they can't afford it, and not one of them I can find that fits this bill. So far. I am still working on it.
Our "Kokomo Wings and Wheels" Air Show/Breakfast/Fly-in/Drive-in event is careening towards us faster and faster, and Oshkosh is less than a month away now. :O One thing at a time. Our summer has been a huge amount of work for Steve, planning and executing several fly-ins and shows, and he still has our BBQ Bash to go after Oshkosh this year. These things are partly about community relations, pilot camaraderie, promotion, advertising for those interested in flying, but not about bringing in big bucks. This Friday we are starting the festivities with an invitation-only evening cookout, where we've invited out the local government, politicians and persons of interest for food, entertainment, beverages, and if they are interested, a T-6 ride. Then Saturday bright and early begins our Pancake breakfast fly-in at the airport, followed after lunch by the small air show. Sooo much to do, and the devil is in the details. Again, I have to say, I don't know how Steve juggles all that he does.
Kaylee started swim up again today, has new instructors, did well and had a fun time.
And that's more than enough typing out of me for one day.
~Celtic Proverb
You know, I had someone pop into my mind right off the bat when I read that...
Speaking of ugly things dressed up to look nice that are still ugly, there are new flying regulations for airlines that says that a person who needs machinery such as oxygen, bipaps, ventilators, etc. to breathe can not fly on the airplane unless that person's machine has a sticker from the machine's manufacturer that states that the machine meets FAA "electromagnet emission safety standards". Two problems with that. One, that's simply another measure that an overblown government agency is implementing so they can say they "Did Something" to make people feel safer. Note I said FEEL safer. It won't actually MAKE anyone safer, any more than those TFRs over football stadiums do anything but get innocent pilots in trouble while not stopping any actual terrorist who might want to dive into one sometime. Problem Number Two is that this has taken the machine manufacturers completely by surprise, they have nothing to do with it, and don't have any guidelines or process or anything available to comply with this new rule. So somebody gets to create a new branch of some form of red tape to create and distribute these silly little stickers. In the meantime, people on vents or oxygen trying to get on airplanes for things as small as vacations and as large as mandatory medical evaluations are being told they can not fly because their machine doesn't have a sticker which did I mention doesn't exist yet and won't affect anyone's safety anyway once it does.
(Here's the article explaining the problem...if you read it from the 3rd paragraph on, you'll see the irony and disgust I feel over it.)
A May 13 ruling from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is proving a headache for manufacturers of respiratory equipment and a frustration for commercial air travelers who rely on ventilators, respirators, positive airway pressure devices such as CPAP and BiPAP, or personal oxygen concentrators.
The DOT ruling says that in order to use any respiratory equipment aboard a commercial airline, the equipment must bear a manufacturer’s label stating that it meets Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety requirements pertaining to electromagnetic emissions. If the label isn’t displayed on the equipment, airlines can deny boarding or refuse to allow use of the equipment during flight.
Unfortunately, the labeling requirement seems to have caught the respiratory equipment industry by surprise. Neither the industry nor individual manufacturers have issued clear guidelines for respiratory equipment users to follow to obtain the necessary label.
A marketing representative at Pulmonetic Systems of Minneapolis told MDA that she was aware of the May 13 ruling, but the company, which manufactures ventilators, has not yet developed a plan of action for dealing with the situation. She said Pulmonetic Systems, in dealing with the FAA, cannot get information to determine what specific language should be on the required labels.
ResMed, of Poway, Calif., which makes CPAPs and other respiratory devices, is in a similar quandary. “I wish I could say we had a 1-800 number that people could call to get instructions, but we don’t,” said ResMed marketing rep Drew Terry. ResMed tech teams are working on a solution, he said.
FAA spokeswoman Nancy Claussen affirmed that the required equipment labels are not widely available.
Claussen said DOT went ahead with launching its May 13 ruling because there were other beneficial aspects of the rule, such as addressing the use of service animals on flights. She said the current confusion will have to be resolved by the airlines and manufacturers.
Right now there's a family in Illinois trying to get to California. Their 5 year old has SMA, and needs a bipap (breathing machine) to help her breathe and a suction machine since she can't swallow well on her own. (You try not swallowing for just five minutes straight and then imagine being told you can't use the machine that helps get that out of your mouth/throat the entire time you're on a flight). She goes out to California almost every month because she is in a special drug trial for a compound they are using to try to slow down and eventually maybe stop SMA. She can't miss the evaluations in California or she's out of the trial and off the medication, which IS helping her. Now they can't fly out there thanks to these new rules. Would you like to drive from Illinois to California regularly? Now would you like to take a medically fragile child on a drive from Illinois to California regularly? There is nowhere else, that is where the drug trial is being held. So what do you do? If you're this family, who has to be there in just a few weeks, you hope your very old van holds itself together, you hope your child doesn't have a medical emergency while out on the road for days at a time, and you drive. And me, I stew over pointless, overblown, nanny regulations that negatively impact real people's lives in a drastic way while doing no actual good whatsoever.
Actually I'm spending today trying to find some way, any way, that I can get them a flight over to CA for this month in the hopes that by the next time they need to go out the manufacturers will have a plan for getting their equipment allowed through airline security again. It bothers me more than you know that here I am a pilot, with access to a small plane that could do it, and I can't just fly them there myself. But I simply can't afford that kind of gas and neither can they.
So I ask the Corporate Jet medical mercy flights, and they only deal with cancer and bone marrow patients, no exceptions. Oh, and their rules state that the kids must have no equipment and be able to walk on board unassisted. Well, that would be a handy trick for paralyzed kiddos. So I talk to the Angel Flight guys, who are all volunteer, small airplane folks just like us. But the logistics of a trip of this size, being passed off every 200-300 miles to another small airplane and pilot in the next state over, and hoping it all comes together fine with weather, airplanes and pilots, one after the other...it's a logistical nightmare and the risks of problems with timing and schedules and everything else are very high of leaving this family halfway in Wyoming waiting in a hotel room for weather or airplane issues to resolve. We need a bigger turbine single engine plane, twin, or one of those supposedly evil corporate jets for a trip of this size. So many organizations helping people get places they need to go when they can't afford it, and not one of them I can find that fits this bill. So far. I am still working on it.
Our "Kokomo Wings and Wheels" Air Show/Breakfast/Fly-in/Drive-in event is careening towards us faster and faster, and Oshkosh is less than a month away now. :O One thing at a time. Our summer has been a huge amount of work for Steve, planning and executing several fly-ins and shows, and he still has our BBQ Bash to go after Oshkosh this year. These things are partly about community relations, pilot camaraderie, promotion, advertising for those interested in flying, but not about bringing in big bucks. This Friday we are starting the festivities with an invitation-only evening cookout, where we've invited out the local government, politicians and persons of interest for food, entertainment, beverages, and if they are interested, a T-6 ride. Then Saturday bright and early begins our Pancake breakfast fly-in at the airport, followed after lunch by the small air show. Sooo much to do, and the devil is in the details. Again, I have to say, I don't know how Steve juggles all that he does.
Kaylee started swim up again today, has new instructors, did well and had a fun time.
And that's more than enough typing out of me for one day.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Virtually
I'm trying to figure out why my shoulders and arms are so sore, but I guess it doesn't matter. It's not like I performed any heavy manual labor in the last few days that I can recall. Oh well...
I read a Deaver book today which had as part of its subplot the "synth" world, online gaming communities, MMORPGs, etc. and people who substitute the real world for this world where they can be, and do, anything. Well, simulated anything you want anyway. The authorities went hunting down someone who was cyberbullied on a popular blog and snapped, merging his real and virtual worlds. The stuff that's out there these days is amazing.
Speaking of, Kaylee spent a good portion of her day off playing "V" the fairy with her friend "Silverwing" (not the real names), going to each other's "houses", watching virtual shows together, shopping, trying on clothes, decorating their homes, playing games, etc. in their virtual fairy world...
I think tomorrow is going to be a books and sunshine day for her. Games have their place, but...real health, real life, and real people friendships come first. We'll start with swimming first thing in the morning and go from there. :)
I read a Deaver book today which had as part of its subplot the "synth" world, online gaming communities, MMORPGs, etc. and people who substitute the real world for this world where they can be, and do, anything. Well, simulated anything you want anyway. The authorities went hunting down someone who was cyberbullied on a popular blog and snapped, merging his real and virtual worlds. The stuff that's out there these days is amazing.
Speaking of, Kaylee spent a good portion of her day off playing "V" the fairy with her friend "Silverwing" (not the real names), going to each other's "houses", watching virtual shows together, shopping, trying on clothes, decorating their homes, playing games, etc. in their virtual fairy world...
I think tomorrow is going to be a books and sunshine day for her. Games have their place, but...real health, real life, and real people friendships come first. We'll start with swimming first thing in the morning and go from there. :)
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Oh, Baby!
Today was spent out at the airport for the baby shower, and we just got home around 11 pm. I only had one job this morning-get and bring balloons. Pink, purple and green with a few yellow: how hard could that be? Apparently local places were wiped out of green and yellow thanks to graduations. I went to a couple of different places to end up with all the right balloons, but it worked in the end. :)
The baby shower went well; there were something like 60 people there, a TON of food and drinks, lots of gifts and cake too, oh, and a Pinata for the kiddos. It took a grown man to crack that thing open in the end though--they made that thing tough!
The kids played outside all day and had a great time, and the grown-ups stayed in the hangar
and tried to stay cool. After the sun went down, the temperatures dropped (of course) and it made for a lovely evening. Nathan took the T-6 up for awhile, and some of us went out to the runway. In the twilight you could really see the blue flame shooting out of the exhaust stack, and it was quite pretty. My pics are blurry thanks to the low light and no tripod, but you can see the flame on the right side anyway here.
I took a lot of photos for the family, but I don't think I have the energy to go through them tonight. Kaylee caught fireflies at the end of the day, and then on the drive home we watched the Haynes fireworks display in town. We got home in time to watch the grand finale out in our yard, and Kaylee loved it. She kept saying "oh!" and sucking in her breath when one would go off.
It was a fun day with friends and family and friends/family to be. :)
The baby shower went well; there were something like 60 people there, a TON of food and drinks, lots of gifts and cake too, oh, and a Pinata for the kiddos. It took a grown man to crack that thing open in the end though--they made that thing tough!
The kids played outside all day and had a great time, and the grown-ups stayed in the hangar
and tried to stay cool. After the sun went down, the temperatures dropped (of course) and it made for a lovely evening. Nathan took the T-6 up for awhile, and some of us went out to the runway. In the twilight you could really see the blue flame shooting out of the exhaust stack, and it was quite pretty. My pics are blurry thanks to the low light and no tripod, but you can see the flame on the right side anyway here.I took a lot of photos for the family, but I don't think I have the energy to go through them tonight. Kaylee caught fireflies at the end of the day, and then on the drive home we watched the Haynes fireworks display in town. We got home in time to watch the grand finale out in our yard, and Kaylee loved it. She kept saying "oh!" and sucking in her breath when one would go off.
It was a fun day with friends and family and friends/family to be. :)
Friday, June 26, 2009
Culmination
Tonight I went to the hangar to help set it up for a baby shower for tomorrow. No, not for me. ;) As we were cleaning the floors and setting up the tables and such, I looked out and saw a beautiful sunset. It was a nice punctuation to the end of the day...
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Quintessence
This evening as the temperatures cooled off, I went back out to Kokomo to fly the T-6 for awhile. The airport was deserted, even though it was a beautiful evening. The FBO was closed and there just was not a soul or another airplane anywhere around. I didn't wear my helmet today, not being worried about hearing passengers or the radio, so I just grabbed my Bose, opened up the canopy, and went out alone, and I have to say, it was wonderful.
Tonight I just went up and did some yanking, banking and cranking. Much of the time I've flown has been either with students, flying with the family on trips, or carrying passengers for hire, and when you fly those particular missions, you fly gently, smoothly, and easily. Going up tonight and just cutting loose in a decidedly not gentle manner in an airplane like this was liberating. I did some other practice too. I did some wheel landings since it had been awhile since I'd done one on purpose. ;) I did a few normal landings and a couple of short field landings, did some flying down the runway on the mains, did some strafing runs.
I realized something in all this tonight that is so simple, but I'd lost it. I really just needed to relax and not try to be anything or anyone but myself. It was the most fun and the least amount of pressure I'd felt flying the 6 in awhile, and it was also the smoothest takeoffs, landings, roll-outs, and flying I'd done in it for awhile too. It reminded me of the days Nathan and I would just go out all the time and have fun while I learned as we went. It was...worthwhile.
I flew until past 9 p.m., and I watched the sun go down from the air as a thunderstorm moved in. When I climbed out of the plane, I realized I was drenched in sweat. While normally I detest that, I was strangely satisfied with it this time-though I did make a mental note not to wear these khaki pants if I'm going to be flying in public in the heat. ;) I got the plane put away and drove home hot, tired, sweaty, hair all snarled up, satisfied, and watching the lightning flash in the distance as the storm headed my way.
I took a few photos from the airplane with just the little Canon.
I needed that.
Tonight I just went up and did some yanking, banking and cranking. Much of the time I've flown has been either with students, flying with the family on trips, or carrying passengers for hire, and when you fly those particular missions, you fly gently, smoothly, and easily. Going up tonight and just cutting loose in a decidedly not gentle manner in an airplane like this was liberating. I did some other practice too. I did some wheel landings since it had been awhile since I'd done one on purpose. ;) I did a few normal landings and a couple of short field landings, did some flying down the runway on the mains, did some strafing runs.
I realized something in all this tonight that is so simple, but I'd lost it. I really just needed to relax and not try to be anything or anyone but myself. It was the most fun and the least amount of pressure I'd felt flying the 6 in awhile, and it was also the smoothest takeoffs, landings, roll-outs, and flying I'd done in it for awhile too. It reminded me of the days Nathan and I would just go out all the time and have fun while I learned as we went. It was...worthwhile.
I flew until past 9 p.m., and I watched the sun go down from the air as a thunderstorm moved in. When I climbed out of the plane, I realized I was drenched in sweat. While normally I detest that, I was strangely satisfied with it this time-though I did make a mental note not to wear these khaki pants if I'm going to be flying in public in the heat. ;) I got the plane put away and drove home hot, tired, sweaty, hair all snarled up, satisfied, and watching the lightning flash in the distance as the storm headed my way.
I took a few photos from the airplane with just the little Canon.
I needed that.
Crackle
Spring was nice for that oh-too-brief time that it lasted. It's 93 today at the moment. I went out to Kokomo to fuel up the T-6 and get it ready for later, and just the act of pulling it out, fueling it up and putting it away left me all hot and sweaty. It would have been an okay time to go ahead and strap in and let the big fan and the open canopy dry me off for awhile, but a stack of factors against me made it not workable at that moment...so I let my Chrysler's excellent air conditioning do the job instead.
This morning Kaylee got to go with her Grandma & Grandpa to a library event with a Circus Boy, and then on to Cracker Barrel for lunch.
Kaylee had fun and picked out five books to bring home and read. She informed me that you could pick out 50 books if you wanted, so she still had 45 more she could have brought, but decided to stick with five for now. When I was a kid, I'd bring home a stack of 8-12 books in one shot, read them all in a day or two, and bring them back for another stack. I ran out of books to read in the kid section somewhere around 5th grade and moved into the adult section. I thought about becoming a librarian for awhile there because of how much I loved books and being in a place where I could pick up any book to read I wanted. There's a funny thought: Laura/Laurie the Librarian. Anyway, back to Kaylee. She said she got so cold at the library that when they went to "Crackle Barrel" as she still calls it, she got hot chocolate to drink, which is crazy considering did I mention it's 93 degrees outside? :) She enjoyed her morning.
I enjoyed her morning too. :)
This morning Kaylee got to go with her Grandma & Grandpa to a library event with a Circus Boy, and then on to Cracker Barrel for lunch.
Kaylee had fun and picked out five books to bring home and read. She informed me that you could pick out 50 books if you wanted, so she still had 45 more she could have brought, but decided to stick with five for now. When I was a kid, I'd bring home a stack of 8-12 books in one shot, read them all in a day or two, and bring them back for another stack. I ran out of books to read in the kid section somewhere around 5th grade and moved into the adult section. I thought about becoming a librarian for awhile there because of how much I loved books and being in a place where I could pick up any book to read I wanted. There's a funny thought: Laura/Laurie the Librarian. Anyway, back to Kaylee. She said she got so cold at the library that when they went to "Crackle Barrel" as she still calls it, she got hot chocolate to drink, which is crazy considering did I mention it's 93 degrees outside? :) She enjoyed her morning. I enjoyed her morning too. :)
Huh. I did not know that.
Whaddya know-Learn something new every day.
(Mental note to self about flushing while seated...)
Flight Instructing
It's that time again-I've been working on my CFI renewal. Every two years a flight instructor has to undergo additional training, and pass it of course, in order to be able to continue legally instructing. You can go to a weekend seminar and take a test at the end, you can go up for another checkride with a designated examiner, or you can do what I do, which is take an online course. You have to spend at least 16 hours going over the material, and they do time you on it. I have to pass six quizzes and a TSA security thingie (and don't get me started on that dumb thing). At the end of it, you have to print out a bunch of info, make copies of your stuff, send off your flight instructor certificate to the FAA, and they send you a new one in the mail. If by some chance you are one day late on doing this, you lose your entire flight instructor "license", and to get it back you no longer can take a seminar or course, but rather you have to go through the entire CFI checkride all over again. I would rather eat dirt. Once was plenty. So this is one thing I have never forgotten to do on time. It helps that I am an active instructor, and every time I sign someone's logbook I have to put my CFI number and expiration date of 7/07. So every time I see that, I see 7/07 creeping up on me. (And at least once it becomes 7/09 I'll be able to turn that 07 that I will write automatically as I have every time for the last two years into an 09 without too much damage to their logbook.) The renewal really isn't hard in and of itself, since you really should know most of that stuff already; it's just time consuming and a little irritating. Why can't I just take the quizzes, and if I pass, my CFI is renewed? Who says I have to stare at the material I've taught and known and gone over for almost 20 years now for 16 hours first? I really dislike dumb red tape requirements like that. If you know the material, that is all that matters, not how long it took you to study to get there. But "study" I am, or at least I am logging time on their study pages as I am required to do, and I just passed my first quiz for Stage 1, with 13 different sub-sections all about "the role and responsibilities of a flight instructor", with a "shocking" score of 100%. I see Aerodynamics is next. Stalls, spins, drag, coefficient of lift, left-turning tendencies, Vspeeds, gross weight effects...and yet I can't take the quiz until another 90 minutes has passed. *sigh*
Speaking of instructing, starting next week I'll be doing what is called a "Pinch Hitter" course with a couple of ladies. A Pinch Hitter course is exactly what it sounds like: the spouses (typically) of pilots want to come learn enough about flying so that should their husband (politically incorrect but usually accurate) become incapacitated, they would be able to get on the radio, talk to someone for help, navigate to the nearest airport, and get the plane down in a survivable manner. In other words, be a pinch hitter for the pilot. I give them enough ground instruction to understand what keeps the plane in the air and why and get the basics of each of those important crisis items, and just enough flight time to be able to keep the plane in the air, pointed where they want it to go, and get it to earth. It wouldn't be perfect, probably wouldn't be pretty without a lot more time, but as I said, survivable. This gives the ladies a little more sense of control, an understanding of what's happening and why, and the security of knowing they could do something about it if they needed to. Sometimes they get interested in flying too and go farther, but usually not--typically just that little bit is enough. Personally, I think it's a good idea, and even if I happened to not be a pilot myself, if I were married to one and spent much time riding along in the airplane, I'd want to do something like that as well...
Speaking of instructing, starting next week I'll be doing what is called a "Pinch Hitter" course with a couple of ladies. A Pinch Hitter course is exactly what it sounds like: the spouses (typically) of pilots want to come learn enough about flying so that should their husband (politically incorrect but usually accurate) become incapacitated, they would be able to get on the radio, talk to someone for help, navigate to the nearest airport, and get the plane down in a survivable manner. In other words, be a pinch hitter for the pilot. I give them enough ground instruction to understand what keeps the plane in the air and why and get the basics of each of those important crisis items, and just enough flight time to be able to keep the plane in the air, pointed where they want it to go, and get it to earth. It wouldn't be perfect, probably wouldn't be pretty without a lot more time, but as I said, survivable. This gives the ladies a little more sense of control, an understanding of what's happening and why, and the security of knowing they could do something about it if they needed to. Sometimes they get interested in flying too and go farther, but usually not--typically just that little bit is enough. Personally, I think it's a good idea, and even if I happened to not be a pilot myself, if I were married to one and spent much time riding along in the airplane, I'd want to do something like that as well...
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Heated Up
Or "all het up" as Grandma would say. :)
Oh Lordie it's hot here again. Glenndale's temperature probe was reading 112 at one point, which is of course inaccurate. It was 95 though. NINETY FIVE. Gimme a break. It wasn't too bad for me though, since I went from my air conditioned house to my air conditioned car to an (overly) air conditioned restaurant to an air conditioned store and back to my air conditioned house. The only time my brow beaded was carrying in a carload full of groceries and supplies through my un-air-conditioned yard. :) But tomorrow doesn't look much better, plus we can add storms, meaning a ton of humidity. Greeeat.
Kaylee has taken over my laptop a lot this week. She has a little friend she talks to on a (kid friendly and safe) play site for little kids. They have a "job" together, play games together, and sit and talk. They aren't allowed to give away any personal information, so it won't even LET them type things like people's names, city names, any "naughty" words, etc. It just blanks them out. Last night I got an email from the site saying Kaylee needed to not break the rules...she had said "get out of there!" and "go to your room!"...but it was in play. As in they were pretending to be chased by a fellow playmate. But the point being, the site sent me a transcript of everything she'd typed out that they wanted to be sure was "okay". Kaylee knows it's monitored and she just has a good time on this, her first real "interaction" on the computer. Her typing skills are improving a lot too, but I'm afraid she won't be able to type "properly" if she does too much of this hunt and peck method. Maybe I'll have to try to teach her real typing. Hmmm. That doesn't sound fun though...
It IS funny having her ask me what "TY" and "TTYL" and "srry" and "BFF" and so forth means. One of these days I will be having to ask HER what all that is, but for now, I still rule, which isn't much of an accomplishment I admit. ;)
I am a pretty laid-back person in general, truly. I may get irritable at drivers on the road, but in general it takes a lot to get me really riled up, it takes more for me to stay riled up, and it takes more than that for me to get angry enough to do something about it. Most things in life are not worth arguing about, not worth getting all bent out of shape over, and if I can let something go, I do, and most of the time I can. That is fine right up to the point where you run into people who take that as weakness, who write you off, blow you off, or even figure you as a target. Even then, most of the time, who cares if someone else underestimates or feels condescending towards you. But I'll tell you what, there is always the percentage of people who force you to back them off of you...vigorously. People who will keep pushing you until either you cave to their "superiority" (which I can not do) at which point they will push every time from then on out anyway, or until you push them back. Man that gets under my skin. I don't enjoy getting that wound up over much of anything, and frankly, I don't tend to back off very well myself once I get pushed that far. Funny how some people won't believe that about someone generally more laid-back, even if they are told it by people who have seen it. I guess if they weren't so obtuse, they wouldn't be the chest-bumping, I'm-the-Alpha-you-Beta (or Jane) type folks in the first place. The ones that make it secretly somewhat satisfying to...disappoint or surprise...
My friend Stephanie and her husband Todd and son Gabe are hopefully coming this way to visit here in July, and I'm excited about that. I haven't gotten to meet Gabe in person yet, and I haven't seen Steph for about 4 years or so, which is waaaay too long. We are an unlikely pair on paper, but we work...and I just have to hope she keeps her knowledge of some things to herself and that the folks around here behave themselves too. ;)
Oh Lordie it's hot here again. Glenndale's temperature probe was reading 112 at one point, which is of course inaccurate. It was 95 though. NINETY FIVE. Gimme a break. It wasn't too bad for me though, since I went from my air conditioned house to my air conditioned car to an (overly) air conditioned restaurant to an air conditioned store and back to my air conditioned house. The only time my brow beaded was carrying in a carload full of groceries and supplies through my un-air-conditioned yard. :) But tomorrow doesn't look much better, plus we can add storms, meaning a ton of humidity. Greeeat.
Kaylee has taken over my laptop a lot this week. She has a little friend she talks to on a (kid friendly and safe) play site for little kids. They have a "job" together, play games together, and sit and talk. They aren't allowed to give away any personal information, so it won't even LET them type things like people's names, city names, any "naughty" words, etc. It just blanks them out. Last night I got an email from the site saying Kaylee needed to not break the rules...she had said "get out of there!" and "go to your room!"...but it was in play. As in they were pretending to be chased by a fellow playmate. But the point being, the site sent me a transcript of everything she'd typed out that they wanted to be sure was "okay". Kaylee knows it's monitored and she just has a good time on this, her first real "interaction" on the computer. Her typing skills are improving a lot too, but I'm afraid she won't be able to type "properly" if she does too much of this hunt and peck method. Maybe I'll have to try to teach her real typing. Hmmm. That doesn't sound fun though...
It IS funny having her ask me what "TY" and "TTYL" and "srry" and "BFF" and so forth means. One of these days I will be having to ask HER what all that is, but for now, I still rule, which isn't much of an accomplishment I admit. ;)
I am a pretty laid-back person in general, truly. I may get irritable at drivers on the road, but in general it takes a lot to get me really riled up, it takes more for me to stay riled up, and it takes more than that for me to get angry enough to do something about it. Most things in life are not worth arguing about, not worth getting all bent out of shape over, and if I can let something go, I do, and most of the time I can. That is fine right up to the point where you run into people who take that as weakness, who write you off, blow you off, or even figure you as a target. Even then, most of the time, who cares if someone else underestimates or feels condescending towards you. But I'll tell you what, there is always the percentage of people who force you to back them off of you...vigorously. People who will keep pushing you until either you cave to their "superiority" (which I can not do) at which point they will push every time from then on out anyway, or until you push them back. Man that gets under my skin. I don't enjoy getting that wound up over much of anything, and frankly, I don't tend to back off very well myself once I get pushed that far. Funny how some people won't believe that about someone generally more laid-back, even if they are told it by people who have seen it. I guess if they weren't so obtuse, they wouldn't be the chest-bumping, I'm-the-Alpha-you-Beta (or Jane) type folks in the first place. The ones that make it secretly somewhat satisfying to...disappoint or surprise...
My friend Stephanie and her husband Todd and son Gabe are hopefully coming this way to visit here in July, and I'm excited about that. I haven't gotten to meet Gabe in person yet, and I haven't seen Steph for about 4 years or so, which is waaaay too long. We are an unlikely pair on paper, but we work...and I just have to hope she keeps her knowledge of some things to herself and that the folks around here behave themselves too. ;)
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Little Worn
When I was a kid, I read this little paperback book-which I am not recommending for others due to various content issues-which stuck in my head. (If you want the book review I just deleted, let me know.) ;) It wasn't the best writing in the world, but the plot and some of the characters and their metamorphosis just made quite an impression on me as a kid. One of the quotes from that book which I still remember to this day is something that popped back into my head last night and today:
"There were times that he'd felt like Snoopy in those Peanuts cartoons, where all he's doing is dancing and dancing and dancing, while Lucy's raving all around him, shouting stuff at him like "Famine! Pestilence!" and so forth, and all Snoopy does is just dance a little harder."
You ever feel like that? I don't know about anyone else, but my legs get tired easier than they used to.
Steve and I appreciated an email we got from his sister Cathy with pictures of what she and our nieces did in honor of Devon yesterday. Devon loved bubbles, was fascinated by them, so they went out and blew bubbles for him in honor of his "angel" day, and sent on several lovely photos. Thank you, ladies, for the smile, even while I know you had plenty going on in your own world. :)
"There were times that he'd felt like Snoopy in those Peanuts cartoons, where all he's doing is dancing and dancing and dancing, while Lucy's raving all around him, shouting stuff at him like "Famine! Pestilence!" and so forth, and all Snoopy does is just dance a little harder."
You ever feel like that? I don't know about anyone else, but my legs get tired easier than they used to.
Steve and I appreciated an email we got from his sister Cathy with pictures of what she and our nieces did in honor of Devon yesterday. Devon loved bubbles, was fascinated by them, so they went out and blew bubbles for him in honor of his "angel" day, and sent on several lovely photos. Thank you, ladies, for the smile, even while I know you had plenty going on in your own world. :)
Kaylee was excited to be able to have Maggie come over and play for awhile today too. It's always fun to spend time with a friend, right? I'm glad we have the opportunity to take more advantage of that this year than we have in the past. I would take them to the park to play outside, but in case you haven't noticed, it's hot, in the 90s in fact, and even the kids don't want to play outside today. Wusses. Kids these days. ;) (What we need is a pool out there, but don't tell Kaylee I said that.)
We've got a couple of visitors dropping in on the airport tonight on their way up to Oshkosh. An autogyro and a Swift. That autogyro sounds like kind of a pain to me. It can't handle hardly any wind and isn't exactly stable or sturdy. I don't like to be limited in my flying to perfectly calm VFR days, I don't like to be limited to short little legs prior to needing to stop and "check things out", and I don't like to be limited in my flying to "I hope this thing doesn't break apart", either. On a side note, this is why I'm not all that impressed with flying lawn chairs, either. I'm not picky. I'd probably take a glider, I'll take a low and slow taildragger, I'll take a trainer, I'll take the heavier more stable single engine family planes, I'll take the cruisable and fun light twins, I'll take the more powerful mid-sized twins, I'll definitely take the loud and proud radials and Merlins...and I'll pass on rubber band-wound engines and flying eggbeaters. I'd rather fly a C-150, sort of. At least I'd know IT would most likely stay in the air, as long as proper maintenance was done on it that is.
Listing out airplanes made me want to go do some flying, until I stepped outside and felt the 90 degree heat and the good ole Indiana muggy factor. Maybe on a nice evening coming up here. Go do a bit more instrument currency in the Baron? Lower the fuel bill and take the Citabria around with the window wide open? Go work on aerobatics in the Decathlon? Take the T-6 up for some work and some fun, or take it and have Steve go back up in the RG so we can do more formation practice off it? Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, or rocky road...it's all good.
Signing off, a little tired, but still dancing.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Briefly
My flying (instructing that is) this week has been cancelled due to an unfortunate and untimely maintenance issue, and Kaylee's swim lessons don't begin for another week, so most mornings this week went from booked up again to...not.
Congratulations are in order to Mr. Trey Carroll, who soloed a T-6 today for the first time! At 18, he's got to be one of the youngest around to do so, and it's quite an opportunity and accomplishment. It couldn't happen for a finer guy, and I'm very pleased for him. :)
Tonight Steve has a board meeting at one place, I have a school board meeting at another, and Ann's sister and brother-in-law are up here visiting from Florida too. Tonight is also the 10-year-anniversary of Devon's death. As I have said before, it seems hard to believe that ten years have passed, and yet in another way it seems like a whole other lifetime ago...
Congratulations are in order to Mr. Trey Carroll, who soloed a T-6 today for the first time! At 18, he's got to be one of the youngest around to do so, and it's quite an opportunity and accomplishment. It couldn't happen for a finer guy, and I'm very pleased for him. :)
Tonight Steve has a board meeting at one place, I have a school board meeting at another, and Ann's sister and brother-in-law are up here visiting from Florida too. Tonight is also the 10-year-anniversary of Devon's death. As I have said before, it seems hard to believe that ten years have passed, and yet in another way it seems like a whole other lifetime ago...
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Celebration and Relentless
As she always does with special days, Kaylee enjoyed making the most of Father's Day. She made up a list of things she wanted to do, and we proceeded to do most of them throughout the day. She started with a warm foot bath with scented things and moved on to home made cards, presents, a party, a relaxation spa, unlimited back and foot rubs, and all manner of things. She sure loves to celebrate!
Kaylee, Steve and Richard walked down to the car show that is held at the park every year which usually falls on Father's Day weekend. She took my camera and took a bunch of photos, which I will go through another time.
I was reading a book today, and I had to smile when I read this paragraph praising a quiet little restaurant by describing the 'others':
"Most restaurants these days are as noisy as a drum-and-cymbal factory invaded by two hundred chimpanzees intent on committing percussion. Those establishments eschew sound-suppressing designs and materials under the pretense that cacophony gives the patrons a sense of being in a hip, happening place. In truth, such restaurants seek and attract a type of customer whose very existence, in such numbers, proves our civilization is dying: boisterous and free-spending egotists taught since infancy that self-esteem matters more than knowledge, that manners and etiquette are merely tools of oppression. They like the sound of their own braying, and they seem to be convinced that the louder they are, the more desperately every onlooker wants to be in their clique."
From a restaurant and societal description to the baser sides of humanity easily:
"Each of us is the sum of his experiences, not in the Freudian sense that we are victims of them, but in the sense that we rely on our experiences as the primary source of our wisdom, unless we are delusional and live by an ideology that refutes reality. At decision points in life, a sane person is guided by the lessons of his past. My past had taught me that the very fact of my existence is a cause for amazement and wonder, that we must seize life because we never know how much of it remains for us, that faith is the antidote to despair and that laughter is the music of faith. But every lesson we learn from past experiences is not always the one we should have learned. I had learned that anger should always be watered down if not extinguished with humor, and I made no distinction between unworthy anger and the righteous kind. Anger is the father of violence, but I had not allowed myself to consider that wrath, when it is the product of pure indignation and untainted by ideology, is the father of justice and a necessary answer to evil. ... By shooting at (my six year old son), he helped me to learn as a man what I already knew as a novelist: that wrath can lead to principled action and even to principled violence."
And from the darker side to the hopeful:
"Evil itself may be relentless, I will grant you that, but love is relentless too. Friendship is a relentless force. Family is a relentless force. Faith is a relentless force. The human spirit is relentless, and the human heart outlasts--and can defeat--even the most relentless force of all, which is time."
I always have loved Koontz.
As you can tell, it was a quiet family day around here. It won't be a quiet week ahead, so it's good to take those days where you can. Unfortunately our busy trainer that we just got back online ran into another issue, so to speak, and we had to take it off line during this lovely weekend and early part of the week here. It would be great to catch a break there...
Kaylee, Steve and Richard walked down to the car show that is held at the park every year which usually falls on Father's Day weekend. She took my camera and took a bunch of photos, which I will go through another time.
I was reading a book today, and I had to smile when I read this paragraph praising a quiet little restaurant by describing the 'others':
"Most restaurants these days are as noisy as a drum-and-cymbal factory invaded by two hundred chimpanzees intent on committing percussion. Those establishments eschew sound-suppressing designs and materials under the pretense that cacophony gives the patrons a sense of being in a hip, happening place. In truth, such restaurants seek and attract a type of customer whose very existence, in such numbers, proves our civilization is dying: boisterous and free-spending egotists taught since infancy that self-esteem matters more than knowledge, that manners and etiquette are merely tools of oppression. They like the sound of their own braying, and they seem to be convinced that the louder they are, the more desperately every onlooker wants to be in their clique."
From a restaurant and societal description to the baser sides of humanity easily:
"Each of us is the sum of his experiences, not in the Freudian sense that we are victims of them, but in the sense that we rely on our experiences as the primary source of our wisdom, unless we are delusional and live by an ideology that refutes reality. At decision points in life, a sane person is guided by the lessons of his past. My past had taught me that the very fact of my existence is a cause for amazement and wonder, that we must seize life because we never know how much of it remains for us, that faith is the antidote to despair and that laughter is the music of faith. But every lesson we learn from past experiences is not always the one we should have learned. I had learned that anger should always be watered down if not extinguished with humor, and I made no distinction between unworthy anger and the righteous kind. Anger is the father of violence, but I had not allowed myself to consider that wrath, when it is the product of pure indignation and untainted by ideology, is the father of justice and a necessary answer to evil. ... By shooting at (my six year old son), he helped me to learn as a man what I already knew as a novelist: that wrath can lead to principled action and even to principled violence."
And from the darker side to the hopeful:
"Evil itself may be relentless, I will grant you that, but love is relentless too. Friendship is a relentless force. Family is a relentless force. Faith is a relentless force. The human spirit is relentless, and the human heart outlasts--and can defeat--even the most relentless force of all, which is time."
I always have loved Koontz.
As you can tell, it was a quiet family day around here. It won't be a quiet week ahead, so it's good to take those days where you can. Unfortunately our busy trainer that we just got back online ran into another issue, so to speak, and we had to take it off line during this lovely weekend and early part of the week here. It would be great to catch a break there...
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Flipping
I woke up early on a Saturday morning to try to go to a fly-in pancake breakfast in the T-6, only to find 700' overcast ceilings. So I went back to bed for an hour, and woke back up to 800' ceilings and forecasts for low ceilings for the morning and gusty winds up here too. The event ended at noon and as of 10 a.m. I still wasn't even able to leave from here even though it wasn't that bad there, so I didn't make it, unfortunately. I hate that-I wanted to support their events as they support ours. But I can't control Mother Nature yet...
This afternoon was Kaylee's gymnastics recital. Basically her cheerleading/gymnastics place put on an event where the "showcased" all the kids doing their various routines. None of the kids knew what they were supposed to be doing, and those who
had routines hadn't been able to practice them ahead of time, but of course since we were all parents and grandparents and such there to watch our own kids, it didn't matter much to us. This will sound a little negative, but the truth is that this recital was really pointless. We can sit outside their class and watch our kids do their gymnastics routines every week. On top of that now, we had to each pay $25 to "enroll" our kids in this recital, and then we had to pay $5 each for admission to go see them...where they did exactly what they do while I watch for free at gymnastics class. Well, not free, I pay good money every 8 weeks for that. BUT...Kaylee (all the kids) got a trophy and got to show her parents and grandparents some of the stuff she does, got some extra attention and had something different to do on a Saturday. She enjoyed being able to do that.
I brought my camera to take photos, but the very first photo I attempted to take, of Grace, my camera wouldn't turn on. I flipped it over only to find that I didn't have my battery in the
camera. *slaps forehead* Michaele was there and was kind enough to take photos for me. (Thank you!) :) I did have my little Canon with me, but it can't handle the long distance low light no flash arena, and the few I took with it were nothing but blurs. I was able to take photos of Kaylee with her trophy at the end though, and with her grandparents. You can see the photos Michaele and I took on Kaylee's Site.
I hadn't been hungry at all today, but I made the mistake of not having had a single bite of food prior to going to this recital. We had to be there at 3:30, and we didn't get home until 5:30, by which time I was ready to chew on my shoe. We stopped at a new little mom & pop place that has Italian ice and vanilla cokes and hot dogs and such, got ice cream to tide us over, then came home where Steve made steak sandwiches and we ate with his Mom and Dad. :)
Our day ends with such exciting things as household chores, cleaning up cat vomit stains, fixing the desktop (I hope), and relaxing in front of the TV while doing a little computer work...
This afternoon was Kaylee's gymnastics recital. Basically her cheerleading/gymnastics place put on an event where the "showcased" all the kids doing their various routines. None of the kids knew what they were supposed to be doing, and those who
had routines hadn't been able to practice them ahead of time, but of course since we were all parents and grandparents and such there to watch our own kids, it didn't matter much to us. This will sound a little negative, but the truth is that this recital was really pointless. We can sit outside their class and watch our kids do their gymnastics routines every week. On top of that now, we had to each pay $25 to "enroll" our kids in this recital, and then we had to pay $5 each for admission to go see them...where they did exactly what they do while I watch for free at gymnastics class. Well, not free, I pay good money every 8 weeks for that. BUT...Kaylee (all the kids) got a trophy and got to show her parents and grandparents some of the stuff she does, got some extra attention and had something different to do on a Saturday. She enjoyed being able to do that.I brought my camera to take photos, but the very first photo I attempted to take, of Grace, my camera wouldn't turn on. I flipped it over only to find that I didn't have my battery in the
camera. *slaps forehead* Michaele was there and was kind enough to take photos for me. (Thank you!) :) I did have my little Canon with me, but it can't handle the long distance low light no flash arena, and the few I took with it were nothing but blurs. I was able to take photos of Kaylee with her trophy at the end though, and with her grandparents. You can see the photos Michaele and I took on Kaylee's Site.I hadn't been hungry at all today, but I made the mistake of not having had a single bite of food prior to going to this recital. We had to be there at 3:30, and we didn't get home until 5:30, by which time I was ready to chew on my shoe. We stopped at a new little mom & pop place that has Italian ice and vanilla cokes and hot dogs and such, got ice cream to tide us over, then came home where Steve made steak sandwiches and we ate with his Mom and Dad. :)
Our day ends with such exciting things as household chores, cleaning up cat vomit stains, fixing the desktop (I hope), and relaxing in front of the TV while doing a little computer work...
Friday, June 19, 2009
Friday's Fragments
Kaylee's final swim class was today, and it was a "free swim" day. She went down the big slide into the 7' water area. Last year she went down and stayed afloat for about 2 seconds before going down and being rescued and brought to the side by a lifeguard (whom I had asked ahead of time to take care of her s
ince she couldn't swim and they don't allow vests on the slides). So today she went down, popped up, and swam over to the side. Unfortunately she did so while panicking the entire time-crying out, yelling, thrashing around, sloppy dog paddling, etc. But she did it, and afterwards her coach and I both told her that she'd gotten to the side herself even if she was yelling for help the whole time. That if she had slowed down, taken a breath and just relaxed, she would have been fine. She still wouldn't go back down the slide today, but she did have fun the rest of the time wandering around in everything from the shallow kiddie end with streams of water shooting up everywhere to the deep end where she paddled around and played "Mermaid". She had a nice time. She is indeed staying in Level Two a little longer, a decision that irritated her, but one that her dad and I are both perfectly content with. I told her, you can't go into the next level if you still think there's a difference between swimming in 4' water and 7' water. It's all the same, it knows no difference, and you can not panic in the water! The water and the air have a few things in common, and one of them is that panic is a killer. Sounds melodramatic, but it's true. You panic in the water, you will drown. You panic in the sky, you will crash. She has to work on that...
A quick flight in some bumpier crosswinds with a student went well for him today, even though the temps were climbing past the 90s today. I can't stand being hot and sweaty in small enclosed airplanes, but unfortunately it is the nature of the small trainer beast, and since you can't fly a good portion of the winter, well, you make hay while the sun shines, so to speak, even if the sun doest shine a bit too harshly for some of us. :)
Tonight a bunch of us went to Hacienda for a birthday party for Nathan's daughter Kristi, and ate too much, which I am still trying to recover from... Kaylee took a bunch of pictures from my little camera, like this one. I'm wearing the sombrero, which thankfully you can't really see right now. ;)
I just want to say that I am really irritated that Obama swatting a fly has been in the news for three days. The man swatted a fly. And it's been national news for Three Days. Seriously?? Really, PETA is getting going on a fly-swatting incidence? Comedians all over the country are jumping on the "Obama hit a fly" bandwagon? This is news?? This is what we need to hear about on the news? Give Me A Break!!
I found out yesterday that a news story about a local airplane landing in a field after the engine failed was none other than Jeff A., one of our own. He landed safely, nobody was hurt, but unfortunately for him a news helicopter just happened to be there and see the whole thing, so it stayed and hovered over his spot the entire time, making it impossible for him to get the engine started and just take off again and go home. Instead, with all the scrutiny he had to pull the wings off and trailer the plane home, which highly irritated him since he'd figured out what had happened already and felt fine flying it home if he could have been a little more incognito. ;)
Speaking of airplane things, a pilot died on a 777 en-route, and the national news media made it seem like it was going to be a modern miracle if the plane could land with all several-hundred-passengers-on-board just fine. You know, there was not only a copilot on board, but another crew as well. They had like three pilots for that plane on board that plane at the time. While I am certainly sorry for his family, it was not exactly a big deal from the perspective of passenger safety. That's one reason we have copilots. They know how to fly the plane too, and so does the reliever captain who wasn't on duty yet. I just love how the media super-sensationalizes everything.
To answer a couple questions I got about flying from the back of the T-6 last weekend...yes, it went fine, and no I didn't keep my beginner back seat average of bouncing about 1 out of every 3. In fact, I didn't even bounce any of 'em. ;) I did have trouble on the first day with staying in the center of the runway-I couldn't see the edge of the runway peripherally to stay lined up, and if I turned my head, of course I drifted in the direction I turned my head. So the next day one of three things fixed that, maybe a combination of it all. I put a cushion under my seat so I was a few inches higher up, I put in my contacts, and we went to a skinnier 100' wide runway, where I could actually see the edges of the runway just fine from back there while 3-point landing. My first landing of that day was dead on the centerline and just fine, so something there fixed that. Going back into the wider 150' wide runway afterwards I was fine too. So...that'll work. I did find, however, that landing on the 50' runway from the back is going to require... I actually don't know what it's going to require. No matter how tight and circular or steep you keep your pattern, at some point you have to straighten out on final, and when I do, I've got no runway-nothing but grass. I saw absolutely no runway reference until we were almost in the flare, at which point you'd by george better be lined up properly already. You know, I could see the runway from the back seat of the Wood's T-6 going into Huntington, and it's a 50' runway too. Huh. This seat must not go as high? I don't know. Anyway, you may not have a ton of visual cues from back there anyway, but you've got enough. But when the runway is that small and it disappears, I'm not quite sure how you're supposed to compensate for that yet. Have the person up front tell you to go left or right or up or down? Eek. Maybe pick a reference off to the side in the grass and just keep it in the same relative spot? Hmm...not a bad idea to at least try out. For now, I compensate by not flying into a 50' runway from the back seat. I'm not stupid. ;) The take off out of there was easy enough from the back though-I did that one, could see the runway edges well to take off, just fine...
I ended up with an Orientation Flight in the T-6 from the time at the Indianapolis Air Show. Apparently a man was just given a Father's Day present from his two boys which was a flight in the T-6. They'd gotten a card and the info from us at the air show, and I guess he asked if he would be going up with the lady who flew it at the show. Hey, every bit of advertising helps, right? Tomorrow is a fly-in at another local airport, and I plan on taking the T-6 down there (if Nathan isn't). I don't much care for breakfast, and I don't know why so many of these places insist on an early pancake type thing, ;) but the showing-up-and-being-counted as well as supporting our local airports in their endeavors as they support ours is a worthwhile thing to do on a Saturday morning...if the storms will hold off, that is...
ince she couldn't swim and they don't allow vests on the slides). So today she went down, popped up, and swam over to the side. Unfortunately she did so while panicking the entire time-crying out, yelling, thrashing around, sloppy dog paddling, etc. But she did it, and afterwards her coach and I both told her that she'd gotten to the side herself even if she was yelling for help the whole time. That if she had slowed down, taken a breath and just relaxed, she would have been fine. She still wouldn't go back down the slide today, but she did have fun the rest of the time wandering around in everything from the shallow kiddie end with streams of water shooting up everywhere to the deep end where she paddled around and played "Mermaid". She had a nice time. She is indeed staying in Level Two a little longer, a decision that irritated her, but one that her dad and I are both perfectly content with. I told her, you can't go into the next level if you still think there's a difference between swimming in 4' water and 7' water. It's all the same, it knows no difference, and you can not panic in the water! The water and the air have a few things in common, and one of them is that panic is a killer. Sounds melodramatic, but it's true. You panic in the water, you will drown. You panic in the sky, you will crash. She has to work on that...A quick flight in some bumpier crosswinds with a student went well for him today, even though the temps were climbing past the 90s today. I can't stand being hot and sweaty in small enclosed airplanes, but unfortunately it is the nature of the small trainer beast, and since you can't fly a good portion of the winter, well, you make hay while the sun shines, so to speak, even if the sun doest shine a bit too harshly for some of us. :)
Tonight a bunch of us went to Hacienda for a birthday party for Nathan's daughter Kristi, and ate too much, which I am still trying to recover from... Kaylee took a bunch of pictures from my little camera, like this one. I'm wearing the sombrero, which thankfully you can't really see right now. ;)I just want to say that I am really irritated that Obama swatting a fly has been in the news for three days. The man swatted a fly. And it's been national news for Three Days. Seriously?? Really, PETA is getting going on a fly-swatting incidence? Comedians all over the country are jumping on the "Obama hit a fly" bandwagon? This is news?? This is what we need to hear about on the news? Give Me A Break!!
I found out yesterday that a news story about a local airplane landing in a field after the engine failed was none other than Jeff A., one of our own. He landed safely, nobody was hurt, but unfortunately for him a news helicopter just happened to be there and see the whole thing, so it stayed and hovered over his spot the entire time, making it impossible for him to get the engine started and just take off again and go home. Instead, with all the scrutiny he had to pull the wings off and trailer the plane home, which highly irritated him since he'd figured out what had happened already and felt fine flying it home if he could have been a little more incognito. ;)
Speaking of airplane things, a pilot died on a 777 en-route, and the national news media made it seem like it was going to be a modern miracle if the plane could land with all several-hundred-passengers-on-board just fine. You know, there was not only a copilot on board, but another crew as well. They had like three pilots for that plane on board that plane at the time. While I am certainly sorry for his family, it was not exactly a big deal from the perspective of passenger safety. That's one reason we have copilots. They know how to fly the plane too, and so does the reliever captain who wasn't on duty yet. I just love how the media super-sensationalizes everything.
To answer a couple questions I got about flying from the back of the T-6 last weekend...yes, it went fine, and no I didn't keep my beginner back seat average of bouncing about 1 out of every 3. In fact, I didn't even bounce any of 'em. ;) I did have trouble on the first day with staying in the center of the runway-I couldn't see the edge of the runway peripherally to stay lined up, and if I turned my head, of course I drifted in the direction I turned my head. So the next day one of three things fixed that, maybe a combination of it all. I put a cushion under my seat so I was a few inches higher up, I put in my contacts, and we went to a skinnier 100' wide runway, where I could actually see the edges of the runway just fine from back there while 3-point landing. My first landing of that day was dead on the centerline and just fine, so something there fixed that. Going back into the wider 150' wide runway afterwards I was fine too. So...that'll work. I did find, however, that landing on the 50' runway from the back is going to require... I actually don't know what it's going to require. No matter how tight and circular or steep you keep your pattern, at some point you have to straighten out on final, and when I do, I've got no runway-nothing but grass. I saw absolutely no runway reference until we were almost in the flare, at which point you'd by george better be lined up properly already. You know, I could see the runway from the back seat of the Wood's T-6 going into Huntington, and it's a 50' runway too. Huh. This seat must not go as high? I don't know. Anyway, you may not have a ton of visual cues from back there anyway, but you've got enough. But when the runway is that small and it disappears, I'm not quite sure how you're supposed to compensate for that yet. Have the person up front tell you to go left or right or up or down? Eek. Maybe pick a reference off to the side in the grass and just keep it in the same relative spot? Hmm...not a bad idea to at least try out. For now, I compensate by not flying into a 50' runway from the back seat. I'm not stupid. ;) The take off out of there was easy enough from the back though-I did that one, could see the runway edges well to take off, just fine...
I ended up with an Orientation Flight in the T-6 from the time at the Indianapolis Air Show. Apparently a man was just given a Father's Day present from his two boys which was a flight in the T-6. They'd gotten a card and the info from us at the air show, and I guess he asked if he would be going up with the lady who flew it at the show. Hey, every bit of advertising helps, right? Tomorrow is a fly-in at another local airport, and I plan on taking the T-6 down there (if Nathan isn't). I don't much care for breakfast, and I don't know why so many of these places insist on an early pancake type thing, ;) but the showing-up-and-being-counted as well as supporting our local airports in their endeavors as they support ours is a worthwhile thing to do on a Saturday morning...if the storms will hold off, that is...
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thursday
Much to her irritation and consternation, Kaylee's "free-style" swim day was cancelled this morning when we had big bursts of lightning and rumbles of thunder. So, we'll go tomorrow and hope tomorrow works out instead. If it doesn't, I don't know what exactly they'll do about it.
After lunch and a few errands, I ran out to Kokomo to fly the Baron for the first time since it went down for maintenance in I think March. Ah, old friend, how I missed thee. There's a 5500 lb 600 hp airplane that fits like a comfortable pair of very nice-looking (and well-equipped) shoes. ;) I even had XM tunes going thanks to the 696 that was still wired up in there. I went up and did a little air work then came in and did my three takeoffs and landings to a full stop. Did I say "Ahhhhh" yet? That was nice on multiple levels.
Steve and Nathan were taxiing back in the Saratoga from its maiden flight as I was leaving in the Baron. I took a photo of his empty hangar as a symbol of our Happy Dance to have the Toga back up and running. Alas, I photographed too soon, as the vacuum pump and alternator both failed during the flight. So when I came back in, it was to the view of the Toga in its corner of the hangar with the cowling off again. But hey, the engine ran great, it flew, and it is on its way. Progress!
Kaylee spent a lot of time making up a tea party for the two of us. She made up a hand-written menu, set up drinks and food and snacks and her little plates, cups, silverware, etc. She even set up two pillows on the floor for us to sit on. She did it all on the sneak-I didn't know she was doing it. She does some very elaborate setups sometimes, and she's very good at getting all the details. She would make an excellent event organizer. She got that from her father. When he came home, they wrestled for awhile, and she's getting harder to conquer. She's strong, and stubborn, and resorted to playing dirty rather than saying "uncle". I'm not sure where she got that... ;)
After lunch and a few errands, I ran out to Kokomo to fly the Baron for the first time since it went down for maintenance in I think March. Ah, old friend, how I missed thee. There's a 5500 lb 600 hp airplane that fits like a comfortable pair of very nice-looking (and well-equipped) shoes. ;) I even had XM tunes going thanks to the 696 that was still wired up in there. I went up and did a little air work then came in and did my three takeoffs and landings to a full stop. Did I say "Ahhhhh" yet? That was nice on multiple levels.
Steve and Nathan were taxiing back in the Saratoga from its maiden flight as I was leaving in the Baron. I took a photo of his empty hangar as a symbol of our Happy Dance to have the Toga back up and running. Alas, I photographed too soon, as the vacuum pump and alternator both failed during the flight. So when I came back in, it was to the view of the Toga in its corner of the hangar with the cowling off again. But hey, the engine ran great, it flew, and it is on its way. Progress!
Kaylee spent a lot of time making up a tea party for the two of us. She made up a hand-written menu, set up drinks and food and snacks and her little plates, cups, silverware, etc. She even set up two pillows on the floor for us to sit on. She did it all on the sneak-I didn't know she was doing it. She does some very elaborate setups sometimes, and she's very good at getting all the details. She would make an excellent event organizer. She got that from her father. When he came home, they wrestled for awhile, and she's getting harder to conquer. She's strong, and stubborn, and resorted to playing dirty rather than saying "uncle". I'm not sure where she got that... ;)
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Another Day in Review
One of the few reasons I can't stand summer? Two words: Reality TV. Right now there is nothing on but "Wipeout" where people humiliate themselves in public with mud, water and slow motion cameras, "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here", and a "So You Think You Can Dance" thing followed by "I Survived a Japanese Game Show". Ooh, and don't forget coming up is "More Love", where a bachelor gets his pick of a pack of desperate women, only different from the usual bachelor show because this round the women are all plus-sized. *sigh*
While I'm in the midst of an "Oh, brother", today on the news there is repeated footage of President Obama killing a fly during an interview, along with the reports that PETA issued a statement about it. Come on, PETA. A fly? You're going to take the President to task for killing a fly?
A pilot I know only online flew into an airport a few days ago with passengers, just to visit. When he went to leave, the security people told him he couldn't get out to the ramp without the access code to open the door. He said he was a visitor here and he didn't know the code. They told him it was written on the button he pushed to get in. He informed them his passenger hit the button, he didn't, and he didn't know the code. They then told him that he couldn't leave anyway, because there was a carrier flight getting ready to leave at 12:20 and that nobody could leave for 20 minutes prior to that flight. The clock said 12:01. He asked if the TSA agents that were standing by the desk could just escort him out to his airplane, and they said no. Eventually he called someone who knew the airport manager who came out and let him out to his own airplane and let him leave, while the "security" guys stood by the desk. Your tax dollars at work, protecting you.
Kaylee's last formal swim lesson for this session was today, and it was "testing" day. She's in the Red Cross Level Two of swim, and today they tested to see if the kids could move to Level Three or not. We won't know until tomorrow if she passed into Level Three, but frankly, she's only been in a total of seven swim lessons at 30 minutes each, and she went from being freaked out in the water, refusing to put her head under water and unable to float or get any forward momentum, to diving to the bottom, jumping in from the side, dunking, front and back floating, and a weak but doable free-style swim and dog paddle. She's made huge progress in such a short period of time. Her grandma & grandpa came to watch her today, and she loved having them there to watch. She really enjoys showing off, I mean performing, for people. :)
I was watching a show today, and it had a scene where a couple are in a lake, and they went under the water and kissed. Um, have you ever actually kissed under water? It makes for a nice movie clip or artistic scene, but an inability to breathe along with lake (or pool or any other) water up your nose and in your mouth does not always make for the most romantic of kisses.
In Kaylee's ballet recital, there was a little act with four tiny little girls dressed in yellow tu-tus dancing to a folksy version of "You Are My Sunshine". It's been a long time, but that song still evokes feelings and memories that ran through my head as I was sitting in the dark watching the 3-year-old ballerinas. It was the song I always sang for Devon that calmed him right down, the song I tried to sing for him when he was dying, but I couldn't sing any more because my throat was closed off, so I hummed it instead, for how long I don't know. I guess with the tenth anniversary of his death coming up on Monday, it wasn't far from my mind anyway. They sure were adorable little ballerinas and I loved whatever version of the song they used. It reminds me of the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" version by...Buffett? The folksy one...
The Baron is back up and running, the Saratoga ran today successfully, and more airplanes are finally coming out of maintenance purgatory. Yay!
When Steve came home today, Kaylee gave him the Spa Treatment. Lotion for his hands and face, a massage, a hair styling, and whatever else they did over there. I think it worked, considering he fell asleep not too long after that. :)
Well, I kind of crashed today. I fell asleep for over two hours. Which is why I'm not waking Steve up from the nap he's taking either. :) Kaylee didn't wake me up, the phone didn't ring, nothing disturbed me, and I was out hard. When I woke up, I decided I needed that. My house wasn't in disarray, I don't have a trip anywhere this weekend, and I've been productive. Kaylee's rehearsals and recitals are all past minus the gymnastics one this Sunday, and the overbooked schedule has been settling down into...okay, no it isn't just yet. But I'll tell you what, a good night's sleep and a two-hour nap sure makes everything more manageable anyway. :)
While I'm in the midst of an "Oh, brother", today on the news there is repeated footage of President Obama killing a fly during an interview, along with the reports that PETA issued a statement about it. Come on, PETA. A fly? You're going to take the President to task for killing a fly?
A pilot I know only online flew into an airport a few days ago with passengers, just to visit. When he went to leave, the security people told him he couldn't get out to the ramp without the access code to open the door. He said he was a visitor here and he didn't know the code. They told him it was written on the button he pushed to get in. He informed them his passenger hit the button, he didn't, and he didn't know the code. They then told him that he couldn't leave anyway, because there was a carrier flight getting ready to leave at 12:20 and that nobody could leave for 20 minutes prior to that flight. The clock said 12:01. He asked if the TSA agents that were standing by the desk could just escort him out to his airplane, and they said no. Eventually he called someone who knew the airport manager who came out and let him out to his own airplane and let him leave, while the "security" guys stood by the desk. Your tax dollars at work, protecting you.
Kaylee's last formal swim lesson for this session was today, and it was "testing" day. She's in the Red Cross Level Two of swim, and today they tested to see if the kids could move to Level Three or not. We won't know until tomorrow if she passed into Level Three, but frankly, she's only been in a total of seven swim lessons at 30 minutes each, and she went from being freaked out in the water, refusing to put her head under water and unable to float or get any forward momentum, to diving to the bottom, jumping in from the side, dunking, front and back floating, and a weak but doable free-style swim and dog paddle. She's made huge progress in such a short period of time. Her grandma & grandpa came to watch her today, and she loved having them there to watch. She really enjoys showing off, I mean performing, for people. :)
I was watching a show today, and it had a scene where a couple are in a lake, and they went under the water and kissed. Um, have you ever actually kissed under water? It makes for a nice movie clip or artistic scene, but an inability to breathe along with lake (or pool or any other) water up your nose and in your mouth does not always make for the most romantic of kisses.
In Kaylee's ballet recital, there was a little act with four tiny little girls dressed in yellow tu-tus dancing to a folksy version of "You Are My Sunshine". It's been a long time, but that song still evokes feelings and memories that ran through my head as I was sitting in the dark watching the 3-year-old ballerinas. It was the song I always sang for Devon that calmed him right down, the song I tried to sing for him when he was dying, but I couldn't sing any more because my throat was closed off, so I hummed it instead, for how long I don't know. I guess with the tenth anniversary of his death coming up on Monday, it wasn't far from my mind anyway. They sure were adorable little ballerinas and I loved whatever version of the song they used. It reminds me of the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" version by...Buffett? The folksy one...
The Baron is back up and running, the Saratoga ran today successfully, and more airplanes are finally coming out of maintenance purgatory. Yay!
When Steve came home today, Kaylee gave him the Spa Treatment. Lotion for his hands and face, a massage, a hair styling, and whatever else they did over there. I think it worked, considering he fell asleep not too long after that. :)
Well, I kind of crashed today. I fell asleep for over two hours. Which is why I'm not waking Steve up from the nap he's taking either. :) Kaylee didn't wake me up, the phone didn't ring, nothing disturbed me, and I was out hard. When I woke up, I decided I needed that. My house wasn't in disarray, I don't have a trip anywhere this weekend, and I've been productive. Kaylee's rehearsals and recitals are all past minus the gymnastics one this Sunday, and the overbooked schedule has been settling down into...okay, no it isn't just yet. But I'll tell you what, a good night's sleep and a two-hour nap sure makes everything more manageable anyway. :)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Stuff of the Day
Steve came to Kaylee's swim lesson today, and she just ate it up. She was so excited to show him what she could do in the water now, and he was impressed with her progress too. At one point she was really kind of showing off in the deeper end, and she started going down and struggling a little, or so it appeared. As she got closer to our end finally, she yelled over "I'm trying the Chuck Method!" This cracked us both up, because the "Chuck Method" is simple...if you find yourself in water and can't swim, just sink to the bottom then run to shore. So she was trying to run across the bottom. Silly girl.
I took her out to Glenndale while I had a flight lesson, but today she got lucky, and Maggie was able to come out and play too. Kaylee was mad that their play time was so short today, but I only could fly for an hour thanks to a wave of rain that moved in on us. At least the weather gave us a nice crosswind to play with...
Kaylee and I had to wait in the car for awhile before something opened, so she climbed up in the front seat and we just sat and talked and played songs on the iPod and danced in our seats and made faces in the mirrors and laughed. When it was time to go in, she paused and said "I don't want to go. I liked being here, just like this, with you."
(I heard those "awwwwww"s.) ;)
She also set up a "Spa" for me today. And let me tell you, that was a serious spa. She set out every bottle of lotion, spray, perfume, fingernail stuff, foot stuff, potions, hair stuff, makeup, everything you can think of, and she organized it all on my counter in the changing room, and it was really quite impressive. She did a nice job...scarily nice. At one point, she was putting makeup on herself, and she came out and asked me how it looked. I inspected her and told her she had done a nice job on the lipstick this time. Sometimes she gets it all over and past her lip lines, but I told her she nailed it today. She said in this reflective voice, "You're the only one who ever tells me I do a nice job on it. Everybody else tells me to let an adult put my make up on, tells me I don't do it right. But you tell me when I do a nice job." Apparently at her ballet recital, the room moms helping out told her not to do it herself but to let an adult because they didn't think she'd do or did a good job. She actually does now that she's getting the lipstick thing under control and not letting it smear around her mouth. :) Kid play that will translate into her surpassing my girlie skills...oh, in another year or so. ;)
She also got out the perfume that she and Steve had hand-made for me for my birthday, and she put it on, then held it up to my nose and said "Tell me the truth-100% the truth-do you like this?" Oh my. I told her I liked it and it was special because she and daddy had hand-made it, spent a lot of time on it, it was in a beautiful bottle, was a pretty golden color. She said "But I want to know if you like how it smells. The truth." I said "WHY are you asking?" She comes back with "Because it really stinks. But how do you tell someone who made you something special that it stinks?"
Here's an article that I enjoyed reading. I like this lady. An electrician and now retired and a 55-year-old aerobatic competition pilot. I smiled at several lines in there, including her smirking at beating someone at tennis 23 years her junior. You go. ;)
I've had a ton of these come in lately, so might as well post a few for posterity:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forget conventionalisms; forget what the world thinks of you stepping out of your place; think your best thoughts, speak your best words, work your best works, looking to your own conscience for approval. ~Susan B. Anthony
We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success. ~Henry David Thoreau
We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it. ~Abraham Lincoln
Live each day as if was your last, not in the future, not in the past. You may not get what you want, but, in the long run, you will get what you expect. ~Denis Waitley
Don’t join an easy crowd; you won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high. ~Jim Rohn
Your success in life will be in direct proportion to what you do after you do what you are expected to do. ~Brian Tracy
I took her out to Glenndale while I had a flight lesson, but today she got lucky, and Maggie was able to come out and play too. Kaylee was mad that their play time was so short today, but I only could fly for an hour thanks to a wave of rain that moved in on us. At least the weather gave us a nice crosswind to play with...
Kaylee and I had to wait in the car for awhile before something opened, so she climbed up in the front seat and we just sat and talked and played songs on the iPod and danced in our seats and made faces in the mirrors and laughed. When it was time to go in, she paused and said "I don't want to go. I liked being here, just like this, with you."
(I heard those "awwwwww"s.) ;)
She also set up a "Spa" for me today. And let me tell you, that was a serious spa. She set out every bottle of lotion, spray, perfume, fingernail stuff, foot stuff, potions, hair stuff, makeup, everything you can think of, and she organized it all on my counter in the changing room, and it was really quite impressive. She did a nice job...scarily nice. At one point, she was putting makeup on herself, and she came out and asked me how it looked. I inspected her and told her she had done a nice job on the lipstick this time. Sometimes she gets it all over and past her lip lines, but I told her she nailed it today. She said in this reflective voice, "You're the only one who ever tells me I do a nice job on it. Everybody else tells me to let an adult put my make up on, tells me I don't do it right. But you tell me when I do a nice job." Apparently at her ballet recital, the room moms helping out told her not to do it herself but to let an adult because they didn't think she'd do or did a good job. She actually does now that she's getting the lipstick thing under control and not letting it smear around her mouth. :) Kid play that will translate into her surpassing my girlie skills...oh, in another year or so. ;)
She also got out the perfume that she and Steve had hand-made for me for my birthday, and she put it on, then held it up to my nose and said "Tell me the truth-100% the truth-do you like this?" Oh my. I told her I liked it and it was special because she and daddy had hand-made it, spent a lot of time on it, it was in a beautiful bottle, was a pretty golden color. She said "But I want to know if you like how it smells. The truth." I said "WHY are you asking?" She comes back with "Because it really stinks. But how do you tell someone who made you something special that it stinks?"
Here's an article that I enjoyed reading. I like this lady. An electrician and now retired and a 55-year-old aerobatic competition pilot. I smiled at several lines in there, including her smirking at beating someone at tennis 23 years her junior. You go. ;)
I've had a ton of these come in lately, so might as well post a few for posterity:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forget conventionalisms; forget what the world thinks of you stepping out of your place; think your best thoughts, speak your best words, work your best works, looking to your own conscience for approval. ~Susan B. Anthony
We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success. ~Henry David Thoreau
We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it. ~Abraham Lincoln
Live each day as if was your last, not in the future, not in the past. You may not get what you want, but, in the long run, you will get what you expect. ~Denis Waitley
Don’t join an easy crowd; you won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high. ~Jim Rohn
Your success in life will be in direct proportion to what you do after you do what you are expected to do. ~Brian Tracy
Monday, June 15, 2009
I'm...Tired.
I went to sleep early last night, tired, and woke up later this morning, still tired. I've been tired for awhile, but now I'm officially tired.
This was my view this morning, which one would think would be relaxing. Kaylee's swim lessons resumed this
morning, and she's progressing very well still. Last year it was a battle to get her to put her head under water. This year she is looking around under water, getting forward momentum, splashing, working on the back stroke, and having fun in the water like most typical kiddos. Oh, and the little girl in a battle with her mom over not getting in the water was there again today, and it started out like every other day. Mom patiently standing in the water, trying to woo the screaming child in, unsuccessfully. Each day last week she spent the entire 30 minutes doing just that, patiently. Today Mom cracked. After the first ten minutes of screaming, Mom departed the area with screaming child gripped firmly. Another 3 minutes later, they both came back in, Mom plopped child in the middle of the water, child stood there mouth shut and eyes big, and proceeded to obey all water directions from that point on, and actually had fun in the water the rest of the class. Score one for that mom's patience. I wouldn't have made it to week two. Most of the moms waiting at the swim lessons were sitting out in the sun chairs perfecting their tans. Myself, a few dads and a couple less hardy (aka pale freckly redheads who don't want melanoma) kicked back under these colorful large umbrellas and watched our little swimmers at work.
As we will do every day this week, Kaylee and I got into the car from the pool and drove right to Glenndale (with a change of clothes for her), where I flew with a student in the 172. She plays on the computer while I fly (technically, while I sit there as somebody else flies and I point out what they need to do) ;) for just over an hour.
The rest of the day was just as busy running around through about 3 p.m., after which I spent the next several hours taking care of the house problems. You know, that pesky problem where you have no clean pants, shirts or socks? And that other problem where you have no clean plates, bowls or spoons either? Something tells me I'm not the only one who has run into those problems before.
So, not too long ago, a pilot and his wife and children were in their airplane on the ground at an airport here in America, when their airplane was surrounded by two groups of men who pointed guns at the entire family, ordered them out of the airplane at gunpoint, took them inside and questioned them, and then released them because there was nothing wrong in the first place. It was a "security check", courtesy of the TSA and our government. They let the rest of us know that most of us don't have to worry about that kind of security check, but that they will be increasing in frequency some and they are just doing their job to keep our country safe. How wonderful that they are keeping our country safe...from US...by traumatizing an entire family at gunpoint. I feel safer already.
There are little stories in the news here and there about the TSA doing this, trying to do that, wanting this law, not being willing to share any information about what they want to do or why for "national security", and even causing damage. Did you know that our fine security folks can tear your airplane apart, piece by piece, in a search of a problem, and even if they don't find anything, and even if they ruin or damage your airplane, there's nothing you can do about it? They won't pay for it because they were just 'doing their job'. You can't sue them because you can't sue the government. It's happening. Power-hungry minimally-educated people who should be spraying down returned shoes at a bowling alley are destroying property, holding up people, and wreaking havoc, all in the name of "for our own good". And it's not just airplanes. It's boats, too, and trucking companies--the stories are all over those places as well. What if you had to show paperwork to drive your car to another location? What if someone surrounded your car with your family in it at gunpoint as you were on vacation? What if they tore apart your mini-van and left you with thousands of dollars of damage when you went to another state and said "it was for national security and there's nothing you can do about it"? These are personal vehicles too. I am so disgusted. A little worried. And...tired.
"When the people fear their government, there is Tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is Liberty." ~Thomas Jefferson
Just saying...
I am out of patience. Until I get some more stored up here, I would not want to be the next person to push my buttons. I let most things go, I'm not even bothered by a whole lot, and when I am, I still usually pick my hills to die on pretty carefully; but right now I'm practically
looking around for the next hill I can find. That's not good, so I am hoping that a couple of good nights' sleep will hit my reset button and return me to my usual laid-back self. To lighten that up, what popped into my head as I was thinking it was something I'll bet nobody younger than myself has ever even heard of. "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." says mild-mannered Bill Bixby. ;)
I did finally get a chance, while my laundry was spinning in our dying dryer, to upload the pictures I've taken in the last week or so. I haven't had a chance to do anything since coming back from Mt. Comfort. Not house work, not supplies, not photos, not emails, nothing. I just was not in a photographing mood for once, so I didn't even take a single photo at Sheridan, but Kaylee did, so that worked out. :)
Photos of Kaylee's ballet/tap recital:
Photos Kaylee took at Sheridan's fly-in:
This was my view this morning, which one would think would be relaxing. Kaylee's swim lessons resumed this
morning, and she's progressing very well still. Last year it was a battle to get her to put her head under water. This year she is looking around under water, getting forward momentum, splashing, working on the back stroke, and having fun in the water like most typical kiddos. Oh, and the little girl in a battle with her mom over not getting in the water was there again today, and it started out like every other day. Mom patiently standing in the water, trying to woo the screaming child in, unsuccessfully. Each day last week she spent the entire 30 minutes doing just that, patiently. Today Mom cracked. After the first ten minutes of screaming, Mom departed the area with screaming child gripped firmly. Another 3 minutes later, they both came back in, Mom plopped child in the middle of the water, child stood there mouth shut and eyes big, and proceeded to obey all water directions from that point on, and actually had fun in the water the rest of the class. Score one for that mom's patience. I wouldn't have made it to week two. Most of the moms waiting at the swim lessons were sitting out in the sun chairs perfecting their tans. Myself, a few dads and a couple less hardy (aka pale freckly redheads who don't want melanoma) kicked back under these colorful large umbrellas and watched our little swimmers at work.As we will do every day this week, Kaylee and I got into the car from the pool and drove right to Glenndale (with a change of clothes for her), where I flew with a student in the 172. She plays on the computer while I fly (technically, while I sit there as somebody else flies and I point out what they need to do) ;) for just over an hour.
The rest of the day was just as busy running around through about 3 p.m., after which I spent the next several hours taking care of the house problems. You know, that pesky problem where you have no clean pants, shirts or socks? And that other problem where you have no clean plates, bowls or spoons either? Something tells me I'm not the only one who has run into those problems before.
So, not too long ago, a pilot and his wife and children were in their airplane on the ground at an airport here in America, when their airplane was surrounded by two groups of men who pointed guns at the entire family, ordered them out of the airplane at gunpoint, took them inside and questioned them, and then released them because there was nothing wrong in the first place. It was a "security check", courtesy of the TSA and our government. They let the rest of us know that most of us don't have to worry about that kind of security check, but that they will be increasing in frequency some and they are just doing their job to keep our country safe. How wonderful that they are keeping our country safe...from US...by traumatizing an entire family at gunpoint. I feel safer already.
There are little stories in the news here and there about the TSA doing this, trying to do that, wanting this law, not being willing to share any information about what they want to do or why for "national security", and even causing damage. Did you know that our fine security folks can tear your airplane apart, piece by piece, in a search of a problem, and even if they don't find anything, and even if they ruin or damage your airplane, there's nothing you can do about it? They won't pay for it because they were just 'doing their job'. You can't sue them because you can't sue the government. It's happening. Power-hungry minimally-educated people who should be spraying down returned shoes at a bowling alley are destroying property, holding up people, and wreaking havoc, all in the name of "for our own good". And it's not just airplanes. It's boats, too, and trucking companies--the stories are all over those places as well. What if you had to show paperwork to drive your car to another location? What if someone surrounded your car with your family in it at gunpoint as you were on vacation? What if they tore apart your mini-van and left you with thousands of dollars of damage when you went to another state and said "it was for national security and there's nothing you can do about it"? These are personal vehicles too. I am so disgusted. A little worried. And...tired.
"When the people fear their government, there is Tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is Liberty." ~Thomas Jefferson
Just saying...
I am out of patience. Until I get some more stored up here, I would not want to be the next person to push my buttons. I let most things go, I'm not even bothered by a whole lot, and when I am, I still usually pick my hills to die on pretty carefully; but right now I'm practically
looking around for the next hill I can find. That's not good, so I am hoping that a couple of good nights' sleep will hit my reset button and return me to my usual laid-back self. To lighten that up, what popped into my head as I was thinking it was something I'll bet nobody younger than myself has ever even heard of. "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." says mild-mannered Bill Bixby. ;)I did finally get a chance, while my laundry was spinning in our dying dryer, to upload the pictures I've taken in the last week or so. I haven't had a chance to do anything since coming back from Mt. Comfort. Not house work, not supplies, not photos, not emails, nothing. I just was not in a photographing mood for once, so I didn't even take a single photo at Sheridan, but Kaylee did, so that worked out. :)
Photos of Kaylee's ballet/tap recital:
Photos Kaylee took at Sheridan's fly-in:
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The T-6 Travels
This morning I went back up with Jim in the T-6 to get a little more back seat flying in. The aerobatic box at Kokomo was active and Mike was doing some work with a guy in the Pitts there, so we went over to Marion to stay out of their way, since I just wanted to stay in the pattern and build up some 3-point take offs and landings from the back. We flew for over an hour, then went on to Sheridan, which was hosting a fly-in lunch. I just kicked back while Jim took that leg of the flight.
The fly-in at Sheridan went well. They gave out over 40 Young Eagle rides (free airplane rides for kids under age 17 who are going up for the first time ever in a small plane), and there were quite a few airplanes that came out too. We even got a formation of four Yaks that flew over and in for awhile, and Jim took up the T-6 and did some aerobatics for a few minutes too. Sheridan's only issue was that they planned food for 75 people, which I laughed at when I heard. They ran out of plates, forks, food, etc. very early into it and had to make an emergency run into town.
The day passed with good weather and a pretty good turn-out. Jim and I got back into the T-6, and I flew us out of Sheridan and back into Kokomo for the last of the back seat 6 flying for the day. A tasty dinner later, kid in bed, and I started yawning around 9:30 p.m. I have a lot of things that need done, including laundry, but I don't think any of it is going to get done tonight either. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm headed for bed so I can wake up on Monday and start again with swim lessons, flight students and life in general...
The fly-in at Sheridan went well. They gave out over 40 Young Eagle rides (free airplane rides for kids under age 17 who are going up for the first time ever in a small plane), and there were quite a few airplanes that came out too. We even got a formation of four Yaks that flew over and in for awhile, and Jim took up the T-6 and did some aerobatics for a few minutes too. Sheridan's only issue was that they planned food for 75 people, which I laughed at when I heard. They ran out of plates, forks, food, etc. very early into it and had to make an emergency run into town.
The day passed with good weather and a pretty good turn-out. Jim and I got back into the T-6, and I flew us out of Sheridan and back into Kokomo for the last of the back seat 6 flying for the day. A tasty dinner later, kid in bed, and I started yawning around 9:30 p.m. I have a lot of things that need done, including laundry, but I don't think any of it is going to get done tonight either. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm headed for bed so I can wake up on Monday and start again with swim lessons, flight students and life in general...
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Whirlwind
The whirlwind continues. It's 11 p.m. and I just now got home, sat down and started to relax.
This morning I woke up at 5 a.m., was too tired to be up but couldn't sleep, so I got up around 6 to find Steve already up working too. I did finally get sleepy again and laid down for awhile, but I wasn't in bed for long before my cellphone started going off with various phone calls, messages, texts, etc and the day was "on", ready or not.
I spent the morning making and returning a lot of business phone calls, and then at 11 I got Kaylee ready for her second and final ballet recital of the year. I did her hair up in the bun this time, to her consternation. "But Mommy, we can get a mom there to do it for us." "No, I can do this." I did, too, thank you very much. Why do I find that a bigger accomplishment than almost anything else I did today?? ;) She used to dance with a look of intense concentration on her face--this year she did her routines with a big smile and a good amount of showmanship. She did great, looked good, and I was proud of her.
The schedule was crazy today as well, and immediately after Kaylee's routine, I left her recital (left Steve there to get her of course) and ran out to the airport where I had a Discovery Flight that just needed to be done today, and done by me or Steve or Ty (who couldn't). It was a nice couple, she sat up front and did the flying, we went over her house and they were smitten with the whole flying thing. I talked to them for awhile, showed them some of the airplanes in the hangar, I took pictures of them by the airplanes, and all in all it was a good time.
Next it was my turn, and I crawled into the back seat of the T-6 to do some take off and landing practice from back there. Oh, Jim was up front of course-I wasn't alone and back there. ;) I have about ten hours from the back (well, where I was flying anyway, not just riding) from the very beginning, but hadn't done any flying from the back since then, so this was good. I just did a bunch of 3-point landings, staying in the pattern along with a Pitts.
When we finished up for the day, Mike and his guy in the Pitts also finished up, and they were going to fly the Cub back to Glenndale. Jim took the Cub instead and I drove Mike to Glenndale, and we hung out at that airport until we got hungry, at which time Jim, the Pitts gentleman and myself all went to a new place in town called "The Quarry". I hadn't intended on going there in airport clothes with helmet hair, and yet I ended up doing just that. However, I was put right at ease when I was seated outside and looked around at the other patrons as well as the band up front who was performing, one of whom looked like Larry the Cable Guy--but sounded great. :) They have way too good of food and high prices to stay afloat in a sinking Kokomo, I'm afraid, but I hope I'm wrong. It was really quite good.
When we walked in the front door of the restaurant, Jim mentioned our appearance, and said we'd been out flying all day. She paused and said "Flying? Airplanes?" Jim said yes, and she said to another lady "Do you believe that, we have more people flying airplanes today!" I said "MORE people? Someone else is here that mentioned airplanes?" She said yes, they did, and I said "They? Is it a couple? A man and woman?" She said yes. I said "I'll bet that is the couple I just took flying this afternoon!" She looked at me and said "Is your name Laura Stants"? I blinked and said yes, and she opened her book and showed me my own business card, which she had gotten from that couple when she mentioned her interest in learning to fly to them. How's that for a small world?? Sure enough, I went back and found them at the table dining, stopped and chatted for a minute, and we went on outside to eat. At the end of the evening, a waitress handed me a $20 bill and said she had a tip for me but couldn't tell me from whom. I turned around and the couple had come on outside to enjoy the music as well. The lady thanked me for a wonderful afternoon, said I had made it a truly enjoyable and memorable day, that they would be back, would love to learn to fly, etc. So it was quite a set of coincidences there all in all, but it was neat. I enjoyed myself too.
Another round of running around after dinner ensued, to get everyone back to their cars, and finally I got home, late. I snuggled with Kaylee for awhile and chatted and caught up with her day, wrote this, and now I'm ready for bed. Tomorrow will be busy as well, so bedtime sounds like an excellent plan...
This morning I woke up at 5 a.m., was too tired to be up but couldn't sleep, so I got up around 6 to find Steve already up working too. I did finally get sleepy again and laid down for awhile, but I wasn't in bed for long before my cellphone started going off with various phone calls, messages, texts, etc and the day was "on", ready or not.
I spent the morning making and returning a lot of business phone calls, and then at 11 I got Kaylee ready for her second and final ballet recital of the year. I did her hair up in the bun this time, to her consternation. "But Mommy, we can get a mom there to do it for us." "No, I can do this." I did, too, thank you very much. Why do I find that a bigger accomplishment than almost anything else I did today?? ;) She used to dance with a look of intense concentration on her face--this year she did her routines with a big smile and a good amount of showmanship. She did great, looked good, and I was proud of her.
The schedule was crazy today as well, and immediately after Kaylee's routine, I left her recital (left Steve there to get her of course) and ran out to the airport where I had a Discovery Flight that just needed to be done today, and done by me or Steve or Ty (who couldn't). It was a nice couple, she sat up front and did the flying, we went over her house and they were smitten with the whole flying thing. I talked to them for awhile, showed them some of the airplanes in the hangar, I took pictures of them by the airplanes, and all in all it was a good time.
Next it was my turn, and I crawled into the back seat of the T-6 to do some take off and landing practice from back there. Oh, Jim was up front of course-I wasn't alone and back there. ;) I have about ten hours from the back (well, where I was flying anyway, not just riding) from the very beginning, but hadn't done any flying from the back since then, so this was good. I just did a bunch of 3-point landings, staying in the pattern along with a Pitts.
When we finished up for the day, Mike and his guy in the Pitts also finished up, and they were going to fly the Cub back to Glenndale. Jim took the Cub instead and I drove Mike to Glenndale, and we hung out at that airport until we got hungry, at which time Jim, the Pitts gentleman and myself all went to a new place in town called "The Quarry". I hadn't intended on going there in airport clothes with helmet hair, and yet I ended up doing just that. However, I was put right at ease when I was seated outside and looked around at the other patrons as well as the band up front who was performing, one of whom looked like Larry the Cable Guy--but sounded great. :) They have way too good of food and high prices to stay afloat in a sinking Kokomo, I'm afraid, but I hope I'm wrong. It was really quite good.
When we walked in the front door of the restaurant, Jim mentioned our appearance, and said we'd been out flying all day. She paused and said "Flying? Airplanes?" Jim said yes, and she said to another lady "Do you believe that, we have more people flying airplanes today!" I said "MORE people? Someone else is here that mentioned airplanes?" She said yes, they did, and I said "They? Is it a couple? A man and woman?" She said yes. I said "I'll bet that is the couple I just took flying this afternoon!" She looked at me and said "Is your name Laura Stants"? I blinked and said yes, and she opened her book and showed me my own business card, which she had gotten from that couple when she mentioned her interest in learning to fly to them. How's that for a small world?? Sure enough, I went back and found them at the table dining, stopped and chatted for a minute, and we went on outside to eat. At the end of the evening, a waitress handed me a $20 bill and said she had a tip for me but couldn't tell me from whom. I turned around and the couple had come on outside to enjoy the music as well. The lady thanked me for a wonderful afternoon, said I had made it a truly enjoyable and memorable day, that they would be back, would love to learn to fly, etc. So it was quite a set of coincidences there all in all, but it was neat. I enjoyed myself too.
Another round of running around after dinner ensued, to get everyone back to their cars, and finally I got home, late. I snuggled with Kaylee for awhile and chatted and caught up with her day, wrote this, and now I'm ready for bed. Tomorrow will be busy as well, so bedtime sounds like an excellent plan...
Friday, June 12, 2009
Flying By
It was another long, busy, productive day. It's 10:40 p.m. and we're all three just now home and settling down for the night.
This morning I had a flight with a student who brought along her niece and nephew for the ride. We flew over their homes down by Indianapolis and just had a nice little flight. We got down jjust in time for chicken and noodles lunch at Glenndale for our Friday airport lunch.
After everyone left, a few of us ran to Cone Palace for a quick scoop of ice cream, where Kaylee ate part of her cone off of the floor after I told her not to and thus lost herself a privilege and grossed me out in one swoop. ;)
At this point it was time to get moving. I took Kaylee home and brought over all her dance recital things and instructions to her grandparents so she could get ready for her first recital of the year tonight. When she was all settled in and ready to go, I went out to Kokomo where I had an Orientation Flight with a gentleman in the T-6. They were from Arkansas, and excited to see us up here in Indiana. His wife had purchased the flight as a birthday surprise for him, so he had no idea when he arrived of what was happening. I met him in full flight suit, dark shoes, gloves, etc.; we did a pre-brief, a pre-flight, a nice flight, and a post-brief, took photos, etc. He had a wonderful time and I enjoyed myself as well. He was fairly well stunned at the surprise, and that's always just fun.
In the pre-brief, he mentioned that he would like to do some aerobatics, and he listed a few specifics, and said that he had never done any before. There are some aerobatics that I feel comfortable doing in the T-6, and some that I am just going to get a bit more time doing before I do with passengers. Since he had never done aerobatics before, I knew I'd start out with the ones I felt comfortable doing, and if he made it through that and still wanted more, I would then let him know what was doable for today and not. I didn't get through my currently small repertoire of aerobatics before he decided he was done with the upside down thing-he enjoyed having experienced a couple of things and decided that was good, right there. :) It was a nice flight with a nice family all there watching, video taping, etc., and the entire time he was almost speechless. That's a pretty special thing to be able to do with/for someone. I enjoyed that.
We were just finishing up when JZ, my T-6 instructor, arrived at the airport as well for the first time since last fall. He went up and did a few aerobatics of his own (with Steve in the back), then we all put everything away and had a nice steak dinner.
Meanwhile, Kaylee was at her ballet recital with her grandparents. We arrived home before they did, but when she came home after 10-something p.m., she had her hair in a perfect braided bun, carrying two flowers, worn-off lipstick and a big smile. Tomorrow Steve and I are taking her to the Saturday recital, but for now she came home, put her flowers in water, took out her hair (which is now curly from the tight braid turned into bun), and crashed in bed without hardly a word.
A day well accomplished, I would say.
This morning I had a flight with a student who brought along her niece and nephew for the ride. We flew over their homes down by Indianapolis and just had a nice little flight. We got down jjust in time for chicken and noodles lunch at Glenndale for our Friday airport lunch.
After everyone left, a few of us ran to Cone Palace for a quick scoop of ice cream, where Kaylee ate part of her cone off of the floor after I told her not to and thus lost herself a privilege and grossed me out in one swoop. ;)
At this point it was time to get moving. I took Kaylee home and brought over all her dance recital things and instructions to her grandparents so she could get ready for her first recital of the year tonight. When she was all settled in and ready to go, I went out to Kokomo where I had an Orientation Flight with a gentleman in the T-6. They were from Arkansas, and excited to see us up here in Indiana. His wife had purchased the flight as a birthday surprise for him, so he had no idea when he arrived of what was happening. I met him in full flight suit, dark shoes, gloves, etc.; we did a pre-brief, a pre-flight, a nice flight, and a post-brief, took photos, etc. He had a wonderful time and I enjoyed myself as well. He was fairly well stunned at the surprise, and that's always just fun.
In the pre-brief, he mentioned that he would like to do some aerobatics, and he listed a few specifics, and said that he had never done any before. There are some aerobatics that I feel comfortable doing in the T-6, and some that I am just going to get a bit more time doing before I do with passengers. Since he had never done aerobatics before, I knew I'd start out with the ones I felt comfortable doing, and if he made it through that and still wanted more, I would then let him know what was doable for today and not. I didn't get through my currently small repertoire of aerobatics before he decided he was done with the upside down thing-he enjoyed having experienced a couple of things and decided that was good, right there. :) It was a nice flight with a nice family all there watching, video taping, etc., and the entire time he was almost speechless. That's a pretty special thing to be able to do with/for someone. I enjoyed that.
We were just finishing up when JZ, my T-6 instructor, arrived at the airport as well for the first time since last fall. He went up and did a few aerobatics of his own (with Steve in the back), then we all put everything away and had a nice steak dinner.
Meanwhile, Kaylee was at her ballet recital with her grandparents. We arrived home before they did, but when she came home after 10-something p.m., she had her hair in a perfect braided bun, carrying two flowers, worn-off lipstick and a big smile. Tomorrow Steve and I are taking her to the Saturday recital, but for now she came home, put her flowers in water, took out her hair (which is now curly from the tight braid turned into bun), and crashed in bed without hardly a word.
A day well accomplished, I would say.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Swim and Dance
This morning we woke up to rain. I figured the swim lessons would be cancelled for today, which was going to cause me a problem for tomorrow. But when I called, the lady who answered said "Well, we are doing the early class now, and we will do the next class on time unless we get thunder or lightning." Sure enough, Kaylee went swimming in the pouring rain. What I thought was funny about that was the two kids I heard complaining bitterly about having to swim in the rain. They didn't want to get wet. Irony. ;) I stood for 30 minutes under a giant umbrella and watched everyone swim in the rain. Meanwhile, every day there is one little 3-year-old girl there, cute as a button, but she does NOT want to be there. She screams the entire time. Thirty minutes straight. Stands at the edge of the pool and screams for/at her mom. Mom has tried everything, but this girl is holding out strong, for sure. Every single day Mom brings her back out there, and every single day Girl stands and shrieks the entire time, refusing to set so much as a toe in the water. That Mom is very patient, and spent $15 to stand by the pool every day for two weeks with her screaming child. This mother would not spend every day in that fashion. It will be interesting to see if she is back next week too or if she will attempt Plan B. :)
This evening was Kaylee's Dress Rehearsal for her ballet recital. We got there at 4:45 p.m. and we didn't leave until 8:45 p.m. UGH that was a long evening. By the time we left, Kaylee and I were both starving to death, which meant that Kaylee's head was spinning around on her shoulders as she turned into that Other, Scary Kaylee. Remind me to pack her a snack for her recital tomorrow! That girl's inner monster turns on itself and everyone around it when she goes too long without food, I tell you. I barely got her home in one piece-threw her on a seat and threw food at her and finally the real Kaylee came back. Anyway, they had to organize this and that, assign dressing rooms, test lighting and sound, and then run through the entire recital, slowly. I sat in the front row and center so I could take some pictures of her all dressed up, since typically at the recital itself you have to sit too far back to get good photos. Unfortunately, where she was for the tap number, she was blocked by another girl most of the time from my perspective. But I did get several good ballet shots. I'm way too tired to pull them off the camera and upload them tonight though. Last year Kaylee was a little wooden at her dancing, but this year you can tell she's really getting into the ballet part of it. She was very graceful and just looked really good. The tap she's still concentrating on her feet more than feeling the rhythm/music, but much better than last year. :)
Kaylee was really offended though when another mom came up and was talking to someone near us, and said that the little girls look so cute in their outfits but they aren't very good at dancing. Kaylee was a little outraged and said "she was talking about her own daughter too, Mom! That was not nice! She should be supportive!"
I still have the same problem I had last year though. I really dislike some of the music, outfit and moves that they have some of the kids doing. Having girls dancing to the "Pussycat Dolls" just does not work for me...some of the highschoolers look like they are wearing lingerie on stage, and some of the younger hip hop/modern dance girls are doing moves with a definite sexual overtone. I don't think we need to have a ten year old girl doing pelvic/hip gyrations. It bothers me. Kaylee will be leaving dance or maybe looking into the other place before her routines get that mature. I love this place in every other regard. They are all-inclusive regardless of age, size, ability, etc., and the teacher is patient, fun loving, a hard worker and a great classic dancer...but that one area is just not going to work for me coming up. Or I'll just have to keep saying "no" to the other types of dance and leave her in ballet only, where they definitely do not do hip gyrations or lingerie outfits. :) We'll see...
I have to get up early in the morning so I am going to forgo the rest of the stuff I had, most of which I'm too tired to get into anyway. I've been having trouble sleeping off and on, and it's on again since Monday. Right now it feels like maybe I can get good and sleepy though, so that's what I'm going to do!
This evening was Kaylee's Dress Rehearsal for her ballet recital. We got there at 4:45 p.m. and we didn't leave until 8:45 p.m. UGH that was a long evening. By the time we left, Kaylee and I were both starving to death, which meant that Kaylee's head was spinning around on her shoulders as she turned into that Other, Scary Kaylee. Remind me to pack her a snack for her recital tomorrow! That girl's inner monster turns on itself and everyone around it when she goes too long without food, I tell you. I barely got her home in one piece-threw her on a seat and threw food at her and finally the real Kaylee came back. Anyway, they had to organize this and that, assign dressing rooms, test lighting and sound, and then run through the entire recital, slowly. I sat in the front row and center so I could take some pictures of her all dressed up, since typically at the recital itself you have to sit too far back to get good photos. Unfortunately, where she was for the tap number, she was blocked by another girl most of the time from my perspective. But I did get several good ballet shots. I'm way too tired to pull them off the camera and upload them tonight though. Last year Kaylee was a little wooden at her dancing, but this year you can tell she's really getting into the ballet part of it. She was very graceful and just looked really good. The tap she's still concentrating on her feet more than feeling the rhythm/music, but much better than last year. :)
Kaylee was really offended though when another mom came up and was talking to someone near us, and said that the little girls look so cute in their outfits but they aren't very good at dancing. Kaylee was a little outraged and said "she was talking about her own daughter too, Mom! That was not nice! She should be supportive!"
I still have the same problem I had last year though. I really dislike some of the music, outfit and moves that they have some of the kids doing. Having girls dancing to the "Pussycat Dolls" just does not work for me...some of the highschoolers look like they are wearing lingerie on stage, and some of the younger hip hop/modern dance girls are doing moves with a definite sexual overtone. I don't think we need to have a ten year old girl doing pelvic/hip gyrations. It bothers me. Kaylee will be leaving dance or maybe looking into the other place before her routines get that mature. I love this place in every other regard. They are all-inclusive regardless of age, size, ability, etc., and the teacher is patient, fun loving, a hard worker and a great classic dancer...but that one area is just not going to work for me coming up. Or I'll just have to keep saying "no" to the other types of dance and leave her in ballet only, where they definitely do not do hip gyrations or lingerie outfits. :) We'll see...
I have to get up early in the morning so I am going to forgo the rest of the stuff I had, most of which I'm too tired to get into anyway. I've been having trouble sleeping off and on, and it's on again since Monday. Right now it feels like maybe I can get good and sleepy though, so that's what I'm going to do!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
More Bits and Pieces
Friday night we went into town as a large group and went to a local place we go to each year called "Lord Ashley's". It's got good food, and an amazing waiter who can remember your entire order along with the order of everyone at your table, without writing it down, down to the most minute detail...here's the kicker...even when there were 16 of us and some people moved seats. Really, really impressive. Anyway, not my point. I went into the restroom, and about fell flat on my face at a most inopportune time reaching to re-shut my door, which had been locked, but apparently unlocks when someone else jiggles it enough. Very nice.
Saturday night Nathan took up a photographer in the T-6 and went up as the photo ship for the B-25. When they landed, we saw one pane of glass in the back of the T-6 had fractures/cracks. The chair in the back swivels, but you have to have the canopy open prior to swiveling the metal chair, or it will smash into the glass and break it. Which is...very bad. So the 6 now has a war wound on it, and I'm not sure if they can replace just the one pane of glass or if they'll have to replace the rear canopy in its entirety or what. But that STUNK. Every time I see it I flinch.
Kaylee's swim lessons went well today, and I took a few photos that I put up on the bottom of this page. She always wants to stay past the time and do some real playing in the pool, but I use her learning to swim as the incentive for doing more fun swimming. It's hard to have fun swimming if you can't safely or actually swim, so when she can, I'll take her more frequently, and she'll love that.
After lunch, Kaylee got a surprise when her friend Maggie got to come over to play for the afternoon. They got together and played for almost six hours, didn't fight once, and had a fun time. I enjoy when they get a chance to get together and Kaylee loved having company. I brought Maggie home with me, and I called Kaylee who was home to let her know that I was bringing her a surprise. She tried to get it out of me for awhile, and when I wouldn't budge, she called her Dad and said "I know you're at Half Moon with Mommy. She's bringing me back a surprise. Will you tell me what it is?" He wouldn't tell her, so the next thing she did was call me back and say in a strange voice "Hi Laura, this is Grandma Stants, and I was just wondering what surprise you were bringing back for Kaylee?" I laughed and said "Your voice sounds different, Grandma Stants." She fake coughed and said "I just have something in my throat. So, what are you bringing Kaylee?" She's so funny.
This afternoon was Kaylee's "Technical Rehearsal" for her ballet recital coming up this weekend. I took photos of that today, too, of course. Maggie watched during the rehearsal, and after it was over in a quick 40 minutes, I took the girls to Wendy's for a little dinner and a little treat, then it was time to come back home and play some more.
We pulled into the driveway, and I see Richard petting a little yellow cat. Golden was back! He was hungry, but he was alive. JUST today I had brought his food and water dishes in, having given up hope that he was still out there. And just today Kaylee sat on my lap and cried while I told her that he probably found another place to hang out or live. She wailed "He's DEAD, isn't he??" I told her we don't know that, but frankly, Steve and I thought he was car or bigger cat fodder after this many days of being a no-show. So I was glad to see the little bugger, and so was the rest of the family...
---------------------------------------
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher
Saturday night Nathan took up a photographer in the T-6 and went up as the photo ship for the B-25. When they landed, we saw one pane of glass in the back of the T-6 had fractures/cracks. The chair in the back swivels, but you have to have the canopy open prior to swiveling the metal chair, or it will smash into the glass and break it. Which is...very bad. So the 6 now has a war wound on it, and I'm not sure if they can replace just the one pane of glass or if they'll have to replace the rear canopy in its entirety or what. But that STUNK. Every time I see it I flinch.
Kaylee's swim lessons went well today, and I took a few photos that I put up on the bottom of this page. She always wants to stay past the time and do some real playing in the pool, but I use her learning to swim as the incentive for doing more fun swimming. It's hard to have fun swimming if you can't safely or actually swim, so when she can, I'll take her more frequently, and she'll love that.
After lunch, Kaylee got a surprise when her friend Maggie got to come over to play for the afternoon. They got together and played for almost six hours, didn't fight once, and had a fun time. I enjoy when they get a chance to get together and Kaylee loved having company. I brought Maggie home with me, and I called Kaylee who was home to let her know that I was bringing her a surprise. She tried to get it out of me for awhile, and when I wouldn't budge, she called her Dad and said "I know you're at Half Moon with Mommy. She's bringing me back a surprise. Will you tell me what it is?" He wouldn't tell her, so the next thing she did was call me back and say in a strange voice "Hi Laura, this is Grandma Stants, and I was just wondering what surprise you were bringing back for Kaylee?" I laughed and said "Your voice sounds different, Grandma Stants." She fake coughed and said "I just have something in my throat. So, what are you bringing Kaylee?" She's so funny.
This afternoon was Kaylee's "Technical Rehearsal" for her ballet recital coming up this weekend. I took photos of that today, too, of course. Maggie watched during the rehearsal, and after it was over in a quick 40 minutes, I took the girls to Wendy's for a little dinner and a little treat, then it was time to come back home and play some more.
We pulled into the driveway, and I see Richard petting a little yellow cat. Golden was back! He was hungry, but he was alive. JUST today I had brought his food and water dishes in, having given up hope that he was still out there. And just today Kaylee sat on my lap and cried while I told her that he probably found another place to hang out or live. She wailed "He's DEAD, isn't he??" I told her we don't know that, but frankly, Steve and I thought he was car or bigger cat fodder after this many days of being a no-show. So I was glad to see the little bugger, and so was the rest of the family...
---------------------------------------
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Bits and Pieces
Kaylee had her second swim lesson today, and 
she's doing well. She still has trouble opening her eyes under water because she says it makes her eyes burn, and she hates getting water up her nose. Well, you know what, so do I, so I can't blame the girl for that. But she's working hard this year to "get" everything, because she knows that if she can learn to swim well, she'll be able to do more fun things in the water this summer.
This afternoon I took her to Target to get a new swim suit. She has outgrown every suit she has except for the one she's worn the last two
days, and that one is still too big for her. It's fine when it's dry, but when she gets in the water, the bottom of it fills up and droops way down. That certainly won't do! So we went swim suit shopping. It's a lot more fun for an 8 year old than a 38 year old, you know. :) She picked out one two-piece (that covers everything-I said no bikinis) and a nice one-piece with a skirt, and matching flip flops since her last pair broke. She then wanted to buy a toy with her own money. So we were in the toy aisle for almost an hour while she pored over her choices and debated how badly she wanted various things vs. how much they cost and how much money she would have left over. Whew that girl can shop, and take her time doing so. I ended up practically sitting on the floor kicking my feet and whining "I wanna go home!" in a role reversal of the usual parent/child shopping experience. :)
My laptop is finally home after almost a month! Whew, I really missed that thing. Now maybe I can catch up better in the evenings with the online stuff.
Golden the cat didn't come to eat on Sunday, so Richard went looking for him with no success. We've been home for a couple of days now and there is not hide nor hair (so to speak) of Golden. Kaylee has been so busy she hasn't figured it out yet, but Golden has either found a new haunt when we were gone for just the day or two, even though we had food out, which seems unlikely after he was around all day every day for a month straight, he was taken in by somebody else, which isn't that unlikely because he was a sweet, friendly cat, or...he has made it to Kitty Heaven. We just hope he's alive and well fed somewhere.
A few more things from the air show. I mentioned that the Air Boss did the main briefing, and that he kept things quiet and people paying attention by humor and a little potential public embarrassment. At one point, he was talking about what to do if you found yourself emergency landing in the middle of the pyrotechnic "field". He said "If you end up in the pyrotechnics, and your plane is not on fire, just sit there. Don't move--the guys will be coming to get you out of the field safely. If you end up in the pyrotechnics and your airplane IS on fire, get out and run like crazy, because the guys will be sitting waaaaaaaay over there, just watching." I'd heard them say something similar at the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends briefing, and hearing it this time reminded me and made me laugh.
On the embarrassment end of it, several people got "busted" during Sunday's briefing for talking or not paying attention, and he'd make them come up to the front of the room and sit for awhile. So at one point, my flight lead handed back a folder of paperwork, and I was supposed to fill out my information on it. I did, and I went to hand it back up to him two rows up, but he'd turned around and faced front. I started to try to get his attention, and then I paused, knowing that should I be caught, I'd stop the show and be sitting up front, and that was more attention than I was looking to garner. So I set it down and shut up and waited for after the briefing to give it to him. See? Public embarrassment is an effective deterrent for the usually errant behavior of pilots. ;)
I also ran into my Designated Examiner at the air show. He was the guy who gave me my checkrides and issued me my certificates/ratings for Private, Commercial, Instrument, CFI and CFII, and who taught me aerobatics and did my spin training for CFI in a Super Decathalon initially. I hadn't seen him in a loooong time, so it was kind of nice to catch up, and it was kind of fun that it was like this.
I'd better get to work on my photos...
she's doing well. She still has trouble opening her eyes under water because she says it makes her eyes burn, and she hates getting water up her nose. Well, you know what, so do I, so I can't blame the girl for that. But she's working hard this year to "get" everything, because she knows that if she can learn to swim well, she'll be able to do more fun things in the water this summer.
This afternoon I took her to Target to get a new swim suit. She has outgrown every suit she has except for the one she's worn the last two
days, and that one is still too big for her. It's fine when it's dry, but when she gets in the water, the bottom of it fills up and droops way down. That certainly won't do! So we went swim suit shopping. It's a lot more fun for an 8 year old than a 38 year old, you know. :) She picked out one two-piece (that covers everything-I said no bikinis) and a nice one-piece with a skirt, and matching flip flops since her last pair broke. She then wanted to buy a toy with her own money. So we were in the toy aisle for almost an hour while she pored over her choices and debated how badly she wanted various things vs. how much they cost and how much money she would have left over. Whew that girl can shop, and take her time doing so. I ended up practically sitting on the floor kicking my feet and whining "I wanna go home!" in a role reversal of the usual parent/child shopping experience. :)My laptop is finally home after almost a month! Whew, I really missed that thing. Now maybe I can catch up better in the evenings with the online stuff.
Golden the cat didn't come to eat on Sunday, so Richard went looking for him with no success. We've been home for a couple of days now and there is not hide nor hair (so to speak) of Golden. Kaylee has been so busy she hasn't figured it out yet, but Golden has either found a new haunt when we were gone for just the day or two, even though we had food out, which seems unlikely after he was around all day every day for a month straight, he was taken in by somebody else, which isn't that unlikely because he was a sweet, friendly cat, or...he has made it to Kitty Heaven. We just hope he's alive and well fed somewhere.
A few more things from the air show. I mentioned that the Air Boss did the main briefing, and that he kept things quiet and people paying attention by humor and a little potential public embarrassment. At one point, he was talking about what to do if you found yourself emergency landing in the middle of the pyrotechnic "field". He said "If you end up in the pyrotechnics, and your plane is not on fire, just sit there. Don't move--the guys will be coming to get you out of the field safely. If you end up in the pyrotechnics and your airplane IS on fire, get out and run like crazy, because the guys will be sitting waaaaaaaay over there, just watching." I'd heard them say something similar at the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends briefing, and hearing it this time reminded me and made me laugh.
On the embarrassment end of it, several people got "busted" during Sunday's briefing for talking or not paying attention, and he'd make them come up to the front of the room and sit for awhile. So at one point, my flight lead handed back a folder of paperwork, and I was supposed to fill out my information on it. I did, and I went to hand it back up to him two rows up, but he'd turned around and faced front. I started to try to get his attention, and then I paused, knowing that should I be caught, I'd stop the show and be sitting up front, and that was more attention than I was looking to garner. So I set it down and shut up and waited for after the briefing to give it to him. See? Public embarrassment is an effective deterrent for the usually errant behavior of pilots. ;)
I also ran into my Designated Examiner at the air show. He was the guy who gave me my checkrides and issued me my certificates/ratings for Private, Commercial, Instrument, CFI and CFII, and who taught me aerobatics and did my spin training for CFI in a Super Decathalon initially. I hadn't seen him in a loooong time, so it was kind of nice to catch up, and it was kind of fun that it was like this.
I'd better get to work on my photos...
Monday, June 08, 2009
Aftermath
This morning was Kaylee's first swim lesson of the year, and that excited her a lot. She loves to go play in the water, but she can't really swim yet, so she's in Level Two of the swim classes at a local pool. She came away from today's class successfully getting stuff off the bottom of the pool, doing a back float, and a push-off from the side with her face down in the water. All things she really doesn't like to do because she hates getting her face wet-which is a bit of a roadblock in learning to swim or playing in...water. :)
The rest of the day consisted of her wanting lots of cuddle time, me doing a lot of laundry, which, by the way, is amazing how that works. You do all your laundry before you leave. You're only gone for one full day and two half days. You come home and have five loads of laundry to do. What's up with that? Anyway. Steve's been at the office all day trying to finish up things he's been working on for two weeks, and I still have some things to unpack and take care of.
I do have a few photos from the weekend, but not as many as you would think. For one thing, I left my good camera on, draining the battery down. Chuck left his camera at home. I got a few photos on my good camera, a few photos on my little Canon, a few videos that Steve took, and from there on out I'm relying on the photography kindness of others. :) Justin took some, and Trey said he took some for me, and when I get everything I'll stick some of them up for you...
The rest of the day consisted of her wanting lots of cuddle time, me doing a lot of laundry, which, by the way, is amazing how that works. You do all your laundry before you leave. You're only gone for one full day and two half days. You come home and have five loads of laundry to do. What's up with that? Anyway. Steve's been at the office all day trying to finish up things he's been working on for two weeks, and I still have some things to unpack and take care of.
I do have a few photos from the weekend, but not as many as you would think. For one thing, I left my good camera on, draining the battery down. Chuck left his camera at home. I got a few photos on my good camera, a few photos on my little Canon, a few videos that Steve took, and from there on out I'm relying on the photography kindness of others. :) Justin took some, and Trey said he took some for me, and when I get everything I'll stick some of them up for you...
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Indianapolis Air Show - Sunday
We were so fortunate on weather for this weekend. It wasn't terribly hot, the nights were nice and cool for sleeping, and it never rained. You couldn't ask for better weather, and when I woke up bright and early Sunday morning, it was more of the same.
Nathan finished up the rides for the Ramp Rats, and I went to the pilot briefing for the show today. They still covered all the same material as they did yesterday, but they did it about three times as fast for the first three out of the four briefings since not much had changed. The last briefing, for our specific group, changed in that we had two fewer airplanes today. Duane had to go back to work and the bulldog went to the "liaison" group for today's flight. So I was the only T-6 today. The other six planes each paired up for three formations of two airplanes each, and I was to trail behind them.
We had lunch at the performer's tent again, and it wasn't long after that when the warbird ramp was "sterilized" (all non-critical personnel have to get behind the flags, nobody on the ramp but crew), and it was time to get ready for the show. I was the only one on my ramp today while the rest of my group was on another, so I started up my plane several minutes early just to be ready. I was "Tail End Charlie" of the group, "Trainer Number Seven". I had told the guys that, so I found out later they were worried that I'd gotten in line at the wrong spot because there were other airplanes in the line too that I pulled in front of. But they were with a different group and I was in the right place at the right time. :)
We all got off the ground in short order, and away we went for Day Two. This day was different in a couple of ways. All the warbird groups were up at once, all circling around in different patterns, doing passes at different altitudes and different parts of the field. That's quite a sight from the ground, and it's quite a sight from the air, too. The sky is just full of warbirds, and it's pretty amazing. I really wish you could take back-seaters up during the show. I'd LOVE to have someone back there to take photographs of the planes in the sky and the crowds below. Unfortunately it's against the rules, but I would really love to have some of those shots. I might be a multi-tasker and do things like take a video myself while I'm doing a roll, or put on make-up while I'm flying on a trip, but taking photos while in the midst of flying in the air show would be valid grounds for getting me voted off the island. :) Anyway, as for me, I was...busier...today. I didn't escape without some errors today, but as I said before, there is always something to learn, particularly when it's your second time out, and for Day Two I also made it up, around, down and to parking safely, gained experience and was able to fly the T-6 in the Warbird show at the Indianapolis Air Show, which I know must be old hat to some of my fine friends, but it has certainly been added to my personal list of great memories. :)
We finished up watching the air show from the planes, and then it was time to think about coming home. Kaylee and Jamie were brought out to and strapped into the planes, and Nathan and I departed together. Meanwhile Steve, Chuck and Charlie started the drive home with the trailers. Nathan and I arrived in short order, unpacked the planes, put them away, cleaned up some things and headed home. Chuck's trailer blew a tire on the highway, and I mean blew a big old hole in the tire, and Steve was right behind him, then Charlie came by, and they were all stopped by the side of the road like a giant caravan. They got the tire changed and everyone made it back without further ado.
We are home. I'm a little sunburned on my scalp, and I know it was a long weekend for several people, but for me it was an adventure.
Chuck is always there when you need him for golf cart or setting up or tearing down or Aleve passing out. Jonathan took charge of the airplanes and made sure they were taken care of all day every day, and ready for Nathan or myself, with the right helmet in place, the covers out, fueled up, and ready to go. Steve took on hauling and setting everything up and tearing it down alone, and also mostly was in charge of the kids, and anything else that came up. Nathan took the kids on for awhile too, oh, and let some chick take his airplane and fly it around at an airshow. Twice. ;) Duane and Nathan helped make my first trip out to be a safe and enjoyable flight by answering questions and providing some advice for a first-timer. And since I'm not sure either one will be on here or read through this much text if they do, I'll feel safer in saying that they were also both right when they said that this would be a good one to "cut my teeth" on. ;) I learned a lot, I'm fortunate to have such experienced friends willing to help, I'm fortunate to have so many friends (including a husband in there of course) provide moral support, have confidence in me, and be genuinely excited for me. And as for me, that hurdle of having never done something before is over. Now I need to go back to work on my landings. lol
Nathan finished up the rides for the Ramp Rats, and I went to the pilot briefing for the show today. They still covered all the same material as they did yesterday, but they did it about three times as fast for the first three out of the four briefings since not much had changed. The last briefing, for our specific group, changed in that we had two fewer airplanes today. Duane had to go back to work and the bulldog went to the "liaison" group for today's flight. So I was the only T-6 today. The other six planes each paired up for three formations of two airplanes each, and I was to trail behind them.
We had lunch at the performer's tent again, and it wasn't long after that when the warbird ramp was "sterilized" (all non-critical personnel have to get behind the flags, nobody on the ramp but crew), and it was time to get ready for the show. I was the only one on my ramp today while the rest of my group was on another, so I started up my plane several minutes early just to be ready. I was "Tail End Charlie" of the group, "Trainer Number Seven". I had told the guys that, so I found out later they were worried that I'd gotten in line at the wrong spot because there were other airplanes in the line too that I pulled in front of. But they were with a different group and I was in the right place at the right time. :)
We all got off the ground in short order, and away we went for Day Two. This day was different in a couple of ways. All the warbird groups were up at once, all circling around in different patterns, doing passes at different altitudes and different parts of the field. That's quite a sight from the ground, and it's quite a sight from the air, too. The sky is just full of warbirds, and it's pretty amazing. I really wish you could take back-seaters up during the show. I'd LOVE to have someone back there to take photographs of the planes in the sky and the crowds below. Unfortunately it's against the rules, but I would really love to have some of those shots. I might be a multi-tasker and do things like take a video myself while I'm doing a roll, or put on make-up while I'm flying on a trip, but taking photos while in the midst of flying in the air show would be valid grounds for getting me voted off the island. :) Anyway, as for me, I was...busier...today. I didn't escape without some errors today, but as I said before, there is always something to learn, particularly when it's your second time out, and for Day Two I also made it up, around, down and to parking safely, gained experience and was able to fly the T-6 in the Warbird show at the Indianapolis Air Show, which I know must be old hat to some of my fine friends, but it has certainly been added to my personal list of great memories. :)
We finished up watching the air show from the planes, and then it was time to think about coming home. Kaylee and Jamie were brought out to and strapped into the planes, and Nathan and I departed together. Meanwhile Steve, Chuck and Charlie started the drive home with the trailers. Nathan and I arrived in short order, unpacked the planes, put them away, cleaned up some things and headed home. Chuck's trailer blew a tire on the highway, and I mean blew a big old hole in the tire, and Steve was right behind him, then Charlie came by, and they were all stopped by the side of the road like a giant caravan. They got the tire changed and everyone made it back without further ado.
We are home. I'm a little sunburned on my scalp, and I know it was a long weekend for several people, but for me it was an adventure.
Chuck is always there when you need him for golf cart or setting up or tearing down or Aleve passing out. Jonathan took charge of the airplanes and made sure they were taken care of all day every day, and ready for Nathan or myself, with the right helmet in place, the covers out, fueled up, and ready to go. Steve took on hauling and setting everything up and tearing it down alone, and also mostly was in charge of the kids, and anything else that came up. Nathan took the kids on for awhile too, oh, and let some chick take his airplane and fly it around at an airshow. Twice. ;) Duane and Nathan helped make my first trip out to be a safe and enjoyable flight by answering questions and providing some advice for a first-timer. And since I'm not sure either one will be on here or read through this much text if they do, I'll feel safer in saying that they were also both right when they said that this would be a good one to "cut my teeth" on. ;) I learned a lot, I'm fortunate to have such experienced friends willing to help, I'm fortunate to have so many friends (including a husband in there of course) provide moral support, have confidence in me, and be genuinely excited for me. And as for me, that hurdle of having never done something before is over. Now I need to go back to work on my landings. lol
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