Cornhusker

This morning when I woke up at 6:15, the weather was hard to get a handle on. I had a flight to Hastings, Nebraska, which is sort of ironic. I hadn't been in that area in a very long time. But at 6:15, everything out there was below IFR minimums, and here there was a large line of storms and rain blocking the way. I stared at that for awhile, trying to get a feel for it, and it just wasn't talkin' to me. I wasn't getting any good ideas on how to work around it. So I went back to bed for half an hour. ;) When I woke up, it was still below minimums out there, but was supposed to be better before I got there. I'm not real fond of that, because how often do things not get better when they are supposed to--but it was going to take me over three hours to get there. And the rain/storms started helping--they were dissipating in an area that I was going to be able to shoot right through. The next issue was the winds. Nice headwinds on a trip that was already long. So I filled up the locker tank on the 340 as well, went in and made sure all five tanks were filled to the brim, came up with a stopping point just in case things stayed below minimums there and I'd need to divert, loaded up the fellows including one who took like 3 Dramamine before we left the ground, and away we went. We were supposed to have 25 knot winds where I was. We had 50 knot winds for awhile. The lowest headwinds we saw were about 36 knots. And we stayed low. I had to slow it down a little more to be able to make it without a fuel stop, and that wing locker tank was the difference between making it and not making it. It took us three hours and forty-seven minutes to get there. I flew right past Offutt AFB, over Lincoln, right by a lot of places I used to live at or visit back many moons ago.

The Hastings airport was nice, and they only had a self-serve fuel pump. While my guys left, I went to top off the plane. A big sign on it said that their system put a $1000 hold on your credit card for up to several days for every time you swiped the card. I thought that was a little cheesy for poor Joe Blow who just needed 20 gallons of gas and would have to lose $1000 of credit on his card for a few days for it. But I was going to be getting close to that anyway, so it didn't matter much to me. I get the ladder and the grounding wire and swipe the card and get out the hose and start pumping away, and it shuts off on me. Climb down the ladder, put down the fuel hose, I walked over to the thing, and it was stopped at $150.00, which was 26 gallons. I went back over to the pump--there was no "fill" option, no "request gallons or dollars" option, just "swipe your card", choose your pump, and go. So I did it again. And it shut off again after 26 gallons. Long story longer? I have FIVE tanks in that airplane, all but one over 26 gallons, and I had to climb down, put down the stuff, shut off the pump, swipe the card, type in all the info, turn back on the pump, climb back up on the ladder, etc. five times to fill up the plane. By the time I was done, I was hot, sweaty, tired, and very angry. There was nobody around the place, no truck for normal fueling, and no choice. But what that really means is that the credit card company will place a hold for $5000.00 on that card for days for $750.00 worth of gas. And THAT should be criminal. They will be hearing from me. Can you imagine some poor pilot landing there for "24 hour fuel" and needing 50 gallons and having his personal card locked up for days? Not cool, people. At all.

Ironically, I was looking forward to the flight home. I was going to go up to 23,000' and hit 50-60 knot forecast tailwinds. Except up at 23,000', I got a 25 knot tailwind. The winds died down all the way. So we got double the headwind we were supposed to get on the way out, and half the tailwind we were supposed to get on the way home. Figures. ;) It still only took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to get home--almost an hour savings.

There was another line of storms between us and home. I got back to Kokomo just after the line moved through, which worked out just great. :)

Unfortunately, tonight Kaylee's next turtle died. Stretchy. It was sluggish and not very responsive. Steve went out and bought a heat thingy and a water filter, and the last turtle is doing fine, but this one...we'd move it and it wouldn't respond, and I pulled it out of the water once where it was just floating, but it started moving again after that. But at 10 pm while Kaylee's trying to finish up her homework, the turtle finally bit the dust here. There's one left, Suspicious, who is very active so far. Stupid turtles.

I was supposed to go to New York tomorrow, but that's been pushed to Wednesday now. Which is fine by me--I was really tired to start with today, and 6.5 hours of flight time with a fair amount of planning and monitoring both directions made me even more tired. In fact, I think I'm ready for bed now, even if I would be going to sleep before Kaylee...

Break

Today's weather was decent here, fine, in fact, but it was questionable everywhere else, so one by one they fell. The Terre Haute fellow and his Six, Ohio and his Six, Indy and his Six, so me and Nathan's Six stayed grounded too, Duane went back to Arkansas, and I stayed home and caught up on piles of laundry and dishes that had accumulated over the last several days. Not as glamorous or exciting as formation flying, but clean shirts are important too. ;)

So the weekend rained out, stopping me from being able to finish up the card, which is a pain because it takes a lot to coordinate all that, because the next time I get to do that I'll probably be all rusty again and I do better when I can just hit something, which I can't do at the other clinics, and because I'd like that part to be concluded so I can get back to just flying, learning, and enjoying it. :) I did have fun this Thursday and Friday though, and got some good flying in, and got to practice things that I can't really do with dissimilar aircraft. It wasn't the "perfect" conclusion, but it was definitely productive and enjoyable, and a lot of people put a lot of time and work and some put some good money into it too, and I appreciate it and consider it a pretty successful weekend. There was a ton of food, a lot of flying, a bunch of friends and family hanging out, and good enough weather to get some good experience in. I can also add "doing a formation takeoff in 27 knot winds" to my list of new things. ;)

Jon took and sent me a few photos that I put up on my site. If you don't know anything about formation, enjoy. And if you do, don't pick on me too hard, most of them were the second flight on the first day and I'm workin' on it. :)

Also on the T-6, the guy who runs the Marion fly-in each fall sent me a link to a video he did, and he said "We were talking about you." If you skip to the 4 minute mark, you'll see Kaylee and me taxiing up in the Six, and then taking off. Kind of nice. :)

Another of the turtles gets sluggish now and then. I keep being afraid that I'm going to walk in there and find it dead too. Once I moved it around and it didn't even twitch. But then later it was fine. I don't know what on earth to do with these dumb things and how to not kill the poor little buggers off. I put a lamp in there on top of the UV light, so that there was a bulb that would produce more heat, as if they were sunbathing. I think they liked that one. I'm doing worse at this than I do at house plants. Ugh.

Steve was pretty beat up and worn down after this weekend, so he needed today to recharge. I sort of did too. I'd have been happy to fly, but it wasn't too bad staying home and unwinding, either...

Saturday

Good Grief, I'm tired, but I'm too wired up to get to sleep!

I woke up at 5 a.m. with a headache and a bad feeling. I took some Tylenol, then went into Kaylee's room where I found another turtle floating in the water unmoving. I pulled out all the turtles, and they were all sluggish. Well, two sluggish, one non-responsive. I changed their water again, and two of them revived and started moving around, waking up apparently, while the third was definitely gone. It didn't drown, it died, and I'm guessing Lumpy did the same. I went back to bed and tried to kick my headache, and it wouldn't work, even though I took more headache medicine than I should. Eventually I had to just give up and get up and get Kaylee up. I sat next to her on the bed, and she looked at me and said "Did one of my turtles die?" I asked how she knew that, and she said it as just the way I was looking at her. She was upset, of course. This time it was Shiny that didn't make it. Not a great way to start the day.

We spent the day at the airport with various folks. It was actually good enough to fly much of today, though windy and gray and dreary, and none of us did. Duane and Trey did some family things in Indy, and I tried to recover from the dumb headache that would not die. I felt pretty puny to be formating anyway.

At the end of the evening, Steve was feeling sick, so he came on home, while Kaylee and I drove down to Indianapolis for Trey's 21st birthday dinner at Harry & Izzy's. I ate this shrimp cocktail that blew the top of my head off. The horseradish hit my sinuses like a bomb, and I am not kidding. They took pictures of me holding my nose, covering my mouth, trying not to breathe, eyes watering. That was fierce. Good, but fierce. I had a blue cheese stuffed fillet, and Kaylee got a regular fillet, medium, and we shared a brownie dessert that was pretty wicked too. We got there around 8, we weren't seated until about 9 pm, and we weren't out of there until past 11 p.m. It was a long evening in that regard, but it was a nice place to eat and we enjoyed the company. Kaylee and I did not have time to run home and change clothes, so we had to go as we were, which was under dressed for that establishment. The other persons in our party were dressed in dress slacks and dress shirts and a few ties and so forth, except Duane who had on jeans and another pilot who had on jeans and a sweatshirt. Kaylee was feeling and acting a little funny, so I took her to the restroom and asked what was up. She said she felt out of place, so I told her that while it would have been ideal to be able to change, we couldn't, so the next thing is to be confident enough to not worry about it. I told her it's all about her attitude, and she should hold her head high and her back straight and walk out there and act as though she belonged there as she was just as much as the ladies in evening dresses around us did--because she did. And that's exactly what she did. She sat in that chair with her back straight, using proper utensils, holding conversations with the adults around her, looking the waitress in the eye and using great manners, relaxed, smiled, and acted like she ate at a nice restaurant in torn jeans every day. When we left, we got in the Suburban, and she said "NOW I can slouch!" She did so well, sitting there for so long, like a young lady, even after a long day, not much sleep the last couple nights, and being so tired she has dark circles under her eyes. It made for a fun evening. And I got to try a shrimp cocktail that burned out my nasal passages for the next six months solid...

Flying tomorrow? I don't know. It mostly depends on one guy. We shall see...

Formate

Well, I'm wiped out. This morning around 6:15 I started texting and checking and so forth. It wasn't a good sign when Steve said Kaylee's school was on a 2-hour fog delay. So I tried to go back to sleep, but that didn't actually happen. I went out to Kokomo, had a little ground time, and then we flew formation for about an hour and a half, Duane in my back seat and Trey as "Lead". Landed, debriefed while we ate lunch, fueled up, briefed the next flight, flew for another hour and a half. This time we had family at the airport, so we ended up doing a couple of passes by the field before going out. Landed, debriefed, fueled up, briefed the next flight, and went up for a third time. By the time we were done, it was about 6 p.m. and I was wiped out. In a good way, but that's a lot of work, and I was tard. (That's Indiana speak for "ti-red!") We had winds gusting up to 27 knots, fortunately not too far off the runway until the last flight with a 40 degree crosswind, so it was a little lumpy and gusty, but smoother up higher. We did "element takeoffs" in those winds, which surprised me, considering I'd done two of those ever and one was in the Baron. (An element take off means you roll down the runway together, take off together, next to each other, basically start off in formation, instead of joining up once you get in the air.)

Duane says I earned a call sign of "Dip" because I wouldn't stop dipping my wing on finishing up a cross under (switching from one side of the airplane you're "on" to the other.) I tried to stop doing it, but my hand wouldn't listen to my brain. So he started calling me Dip. I'm not sure if he means "Ditz" by that too or not, but if so, at least he's too much a gentleman to say so. ;)

I ate my first meal in public wearing a flight suit today, felt like a tool, got stared at pretty hard, and I'm betting my pants legs hanging out of the bottom didn't help. ;)

Well, tomorrow starts another busy day. I've got two T-6 rides to give, and whatever formation flying works out depending on who makes it and when. Big dinner tomorrow night, and then we wait and see what Saturday is going to do, which right now is not forecasting for anything good at all. Wait and see...

Well, Jon took several photos today, and here's one, anyway. I'm in the airplane with the red cowling, by the way...

Lady of Loreto

Twas a busy day, and I'm pretty wiped out, as is Steve.

I was out at Kokomo by 9:30 a.m., and instead of taking a student on a checkride prep flight to practice emergencies, power on stalls and various take offs and landings, she went with Nathan and me in the RG to go over to Ohio, and on the way home she was going to get some practice in. I don't know how far out we were, not very, and Nathan noted that the plane wasn't feeling quite right and said "Do a mag check". That didn't go so well, with the engine cutting out. I made the turn back to the airport and we woundedly limped our way back for an uneventful landing. Afterwards, the student said she enjoyed having been there for that, believe it or not, as a good experience and being able to see the 'calm and methodical' way we worked together. I thought it was ironic that she and I were going to go practice emergencies, and instead ended up doing a halfway real one. The guys went to work on the plane, and while they found and fixed the problem, we three took off in the 340 instead, and headed back east.

And...Gumby's home! Nathan picked up his airplane, we stopped in at the Sporty's shop and ate "lunch", then flew home together close enough to make my traffic system squawk now and then. The plane looked good up there flying along. I'm glad it's back in the hangar, ready to go, with a spiffy new panel and some fancy new gizmos. She looks good! :)

As soon as I landed, my next student was waiting, so we took off in the 172 and did a cross-country with a couple crosswind take offs and landings. By the time we got done, it was about 4:30, and Steve's cousin and his wife and their two friends had all arrived in a Bonanza, so we spent the rest of the evening with them. Putting the plane into a hangar, showing them around, going out to eat dinner, etc. Kaylee had a friend along from school, so after dinner I ran the friend home, and then it was homework time, etc.

By the end of the day, I was worn out just as much from not having a moment to myself all day as I was from being non-stop busy. Even in the restroom Kaylee came up and started talking to me through the door. I couldn't get a minute to just chill out, it seemed. I'd been very busy, had eaten a chicken salad sandwich all day, hadn't had a moment to myself, on the phone and texting a bunch, and for awhile there until I got dinner, I was on the edge of not-pretty. The food saved the evening, I think, as I could feel the werewolf fangs fading after those first two breadsticks. :)

If nothing else I was too busy to think about this weekend today. Tomorrow was supposed to be a big practice day for me, and a clear and nice day. The forecast is now marginal for that, too. We'll have to take it as we go, and see what we can do. Duane asked me if I'd angered the formation gods somehow. If I believed in formation gods, I might wonder the same thing. :)

Ennui

Any time I've read this word before, in my head it was pronounced "en-nwa" I learned today it's pronounced "ahn-wee". I can either say the word and see it in my head as ahn-wee, or I can look at the word ennui and it pops into my head as 'en-nwa'. I can't put the right sound with the right word. But I like that word anyway. It's a very descriptive word, meaning "a feeling of utter weariness", discontent, empty, listless, lassitude, languor. I'm not feeling that way, don't worry, I'm just a word geek and I like that one. While trying to reprogram my brain with the correct pronunciation, I kept having dictionary.com say it out loud. Finally Kaylee comes over and says "REALLY??" I bugged her with a repetitive noise on the computer, nyah nyah nyah; we're not even close to even. ;) When she fell asleep on the couch after getting her homework done, as she was waking up I played that a few more times just to hear her mutter "really??" under the blanket. Heh.

Got to fly for 1.1 this morning. The winds picked up while we were out until we had a nice 26 knot headwind coming in to land. It was bumpy up there, but they did a great job with it. A checkride won't be too far off the path here. Awesome!

Most things were falling nicely into place for this weekend--we had enough people, even after the check pilot couldn't make it after all at the right time, another check pilot suddenly was free to come who wasn't before, the planes, the pilots, it was all lining up nicely. And now the weather forecast is going (has gone) downhill. I won't give up until Thursday night/Friday morning though. You never know...

Informingly

Winds and maintenance precluded any flying, so instead it was a "work on the weekend" day. What that entails is a long and boring set of facts that nobody wants to read. Unfortunately that leaves me with nothing to talk about. ;)

Well, one thing, I guess. Aviation events like this are a back-and-forth proposition. You don't just coordinate your own event with your own people and the weather and you're done, as much work as that is for everyone (mostly Steve) too. Stuff like airshows and this formation clinic are a notch up because you have to get a bunch of other people coming from many different places around the area to coordinate their lives and schedules and maintenance and airplanes along with your schedule and event, and then the weather. So I've had people say they'd try to come who now said they probably can't, I've had people who never answered me suddenly call in and say maybe, others who haven't said anything at all yet so you don't know if they're coming or not, you have to have enough qualified pilots to fly with the trainees, the weather was fine for the whole weekend and is now forecasting 60% chance of rain on Saturday, and in another two days hopefully that'll change to something else nicer again. You don't know what or who you've got, but you're planning food and space and hotels and transportation and people and coordinating airspace as best you can without really much if any concrete information. It's an adventure, eh? :)

Goodness

I mean that more in the "Good Grief" function than an actual state of affairs. :)

I worked yesterday on composing and mailing out to about 50 people an invitation and details to the formation thing we're doing this next weekend. I'd sort of doubt that people getting emailed by a stranger about something happening in six days where they can burn a lot of their own gas will come, but you never know if you don't ask. A guy I like, who shall remain anonymous on the open internet, is a real curmudgeonly kind of guy. When I first met him, he was the 2nd guy I'd ever flown off of officially at a clinic, and when we landed he just walked off, didn't have anything to say, then later told me he was peeved at this clinic and that I should go to a real NATA clinic where they fly sun-up to sun-down. He's blunt and not politically correct in the least. I like that kind of person because there are no games and you know where you stand. So I emailed him about this weekend, and he was his typical blunt self, couldn't make it because his plane was in Florida, but he gave me a little advice about making sure I was only flying with good people who would help me gain good habits. Another guy that had said he was going to try to come isn't going to make it because his plane is in the middle of annual. I know for absolute positive at this point me, Duane, Trey, Matt and whoever comes with him, which is only 3 airplanes. There are three more distinct possibles--Dan, Tim and Brian. Two of those three will make all the difference in what we can do. Past that, I don't know, and probably won't until closer to if not at the weekend itself. As I've gotten older it's gotten a little harder to "roll with" some of this stuff. Now Steve, who was always the "plan it to and stress about the most minute detail" guy, is telling me, who was always the "whatever, it will work out" girl, that it will work out fine one way or the other. I think I'm getting this "properly aging" stuff wrong, or backwards, somehow.

We spent Saturday at Kokomo airport, and the kids played all day outside while the guys worked on airplane maintenance stuff. I was supposed to go practice some T-6 formation stuff with Trey, but he didn't get a chance to do that until after 5 pm, and I waited all day then decided around 5 to give it up. Come to find out his battery was dead anyway, so it's a good thing I didn't drag every airplane in the hangar out of the way only to get down there and not be able to fly anyway AND burn gas for no reason AND miss dinner. I'd have been unhappy. ;) So instead, when it came time for dinner, we loaded up and went to Indian Hills, where John Dale had spent all day long cooking up a ton of foods. The whole table was buried in foods, and it was good stuff, man. The kids played outside in the grass all evening, through dark, while we sat out by a big ole fire, and some of the wimpier folks stayed inside the hangar to chat. The kids roasted marshmallows for awhile, did somersaults down the runway, and did whatever they do. It was a nice evening...great food, good company, and pretty decent ambiance to boot. :)

The End

Happy Friday!

Today is Jamie's 13th birthday, which officially makes him a teenager, which officially sort of freaks me out as my kid is right behind him and I'm not ready for that. On the other hand, it seems like we've been all dealing with teen type stuff for a little while already anyway. So far she's doing fine, but I'm still not ready for my girl to get all grown up on me. At least I don't have to worry too much yet. She insisted we cuddle on the couch for awhile this evening. She's still my girl. :)

We went to Hacienda tonight to celebrate his birthday, and even saw another fellow pilot family out and about while we were there. Seafood Chimichanga was quite tasty, by the way. Turtle cheesecake was even better. ;)

Kaylee and I cleaned out her turtle tank and per the directions, added more water to the tank than before. Apparently this type of turtle likes deep water and to swim. Even babies. Great. We then both spent about an hour staring at the turtles in there to make sure they didn't drown. Meanwhile, I'm really grateful to Steve for researching turtles more, because he found one place that talked about how baby turtles that get trapped and "drown" can be resuscitated even after a long period of time by stretching out their necks and front legs, tipping their head so water can come out, then taking them to a vet who will provide them pure oxygen and a tiny tube to get water out of their lungs, and then they'll be fine, even if it's been a long time that they were "down". I really, really did not need to know that. Even though I waited all day and tried several things with Lumpy, now to know that there was something I could have done and it could have been okay, but instead buried it possibly not fully dead, that does not make me happy. Thanks, Steve, I wasn't bummed enough about the poor dumb thing drowning in the first place. This helped. *sigh* I am so not telling Kaylee this.

Well, we've been in the mode of worrying about one thing at a time, and next up on the list is the upcoming weekend's formation clinics. The Bonanza guys are coming back next weekend, and for the first time, we're trying to host our own T-6 formation clinic as well, at the same time. There's a lot to do before next Friday. Now all we need is the cooperation of maintenance, weather, and a lot of people's schedules and whim. No sweat, right??

Right.

New York, New York

'Watchin' the sun rising at 21,000' with a 45 knot tailwind' sounds like the beginnings of a happy pilot country-western song. Not a terrible way to start a day, particularly since it was an uneventful, nice weather, and easy flight. I'll take that. I took this climbing out above 15,000'. So, Seneca Falls, New York, by Syracuse, has a lovely little airport called Finger Lakes. When we got here, we pulled up to the self-serve-only fuel pump, D got his rental car and took off, and I went out to fuel up the 340. I got the right aux tank filled and was working on the right main when I glanced over and saw three guys standing in a line watching. I don't know if their chivalry was bothering them or if they were just curious to see how I'd do with the task or what, but the last time I turned around they were gone. ;) I went back inside, and the whole airport was a ghost town. Doors locked, lights off, nobody home. I went to the computer--no internet access. Went to the TV--must require something special to get the channels in. No courtesy car. My quote for the day is "True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment." ~William Penn. It's a good thing, because right here today, I have hours of true silence. ;)

So after awhile I fired up my hot spot on my cellphone and pulled out my iPad. At one point a guy came in who was picking up his airplane from its annual inspection, and he saw me typing on my keyboard and iPad and started asking me questions. Twenty minutes later he said "I am SO getting one of those." That's happened more than once. I remember the biz jet guys at Quad Cities saying the same thing after they played with ForeFlight and the iPad for a little while. :) It's hard to beat for efficiency, ease of use, and handy features.

A bit later in the afternoon, a representative from the airport board stopped in and talked my ear off for an hour. Friendly fellow, local doctor, used to fly a C-172, asked me what they as a board could do to improve the place. I said a beat up car to go get something to eat would be helpful, and he agreed and then said that it was county run and nobody wanted to pay for a car for rich pilots out playing around. That was good for another 20 minute conversation on public impressions of general aviation. Well, this rich pilot has had crackers, M&Ms and water to eat all day, after driving to the airport in her 1995 Jeep with 220,000 miles on it. :D Ah well, wouldn't want to ruin an impression of wealth perpetuated by a nice airplane on the ramp. :)

I was sitting here, looked over and saw a "Fly-Low" news magazine, something I've never heard of, and looking at the cover I suddenly realized that not only did I recognize that plane on it, I recognized that exact photo. It was the T-28 I did the photo shoot with Greg in the T-6, over the lake, by Lost Nation, OH. And there was the backseater with his bright orange shirt, all of it. I said to the air around me, "Hey! That was me!" Well, not me, but I flew around and burned gas so somebody else could take a pretty picture of another somebody else that could have a pretty picture. Not very logical of me, is it? But I still enjoy it, what can I say? And I think it's neat to walk into an airport in nowhere, Mississippi and see a picture of Nathan's airplanes, or walk into an airport in nowhere, New York and see a photo I was a part of taking on the cover of a magazine. I'm easily amused, I guess. :)

I worked on my formation quiz again for awhile today. A lot of the ones that are left, I'm just not sure what specific answer they want. I think most of the rest of the ones I can do, I have done. See, that's how quiet it was out here. ;)

The flight out and home was one of those nice ones. At one point ATC told me there was an area of moderate precip at our 11 o'clock, etc. D and I looked around at the severe clear and blue skies, and laughed-the rain was below us. That doesn't happen in the RG or the Saratoga. ;)

Long day, good, uneventful trip where everything worked the way it was supposed to. I like those.

Briefly

Let's see, a flight review for 1.1 this morning in 32L followed by bringing the Citabria back to Glenndale, followed by another 1.2 in 19R out of Kokomo. One little sentence that takes all day. :) It was glass smooth this morning, making for a really nice flight day.

Kaylee's three turtles are slowly settling in. They didn't drown under the big rock; so far so good. They're a lot more freaked out by people than Lumpy was. They run and hide if you come in and look at them. Their flight here in a little box might have something to do with that, I don't know, but hopefully they'll settle in soon. She still can't figure out what to name them, other than one she calls "Suspicious". :)

Well, I've got a lot of stuff to do, so I suppose I ought to get to it, since I have to get up extra early tomorrow...

Tight

I'm sitting here on the couch and all my muscles are tight. This morning I flew for 2.1 in the Citabria, and we worked on forward slips, ground reference maneuvers, and take offs and landings. Teaching someone from zero in a tailwheel makes for more exciting takeoffs and landings than in a C-172. It's sort of adventurous. :)

While I was up flying, I got a text--our turtles had arrived. They came in a little box, within which was a circular container with a bunch of fluffy stuff, air holes and three turtles all kicking around in there. I don't know how they felt about that journey, but it had to be scary. They all made it though. Richard came out and picked them up, brought them home and introduced them to their new tank. They are still getting acclimated, and currently right now are all hiding under the water, under a big rock. Yes, UNDER the water. Perhaps Lumpy did not drown? These things are spending large amounts of time under water and I don't get it. Either Lumpy spent all night trying to get out of the water the wrong way and drowned, like we thought, or...not. Now we'll never know I guess, but we're not risking it this time. There isn't deep water in there, and if those things drown under that rock, it's their own darned fault!

Oh! And I may have learned why baby turtles can't be sold. Apparently they are harbingers of salmonella! Supposedly you can get pretty sick from baby turtles. The other Florida person did say to wash your hands after handling so you didn't get sick, so we already were doing that. Steve found that online, that it's salmonella that they can carry. Interesting! But I don't know that means that they need to be illegal. Raw cookie dough can give you salmonella too, but try outlawing that!! I'd ignore that law just like I'm ignoring this one and like I'd ignore the seatbelt law if it wasn't actually better, safer and smarter for me to wear one anyway. ;)

Lunch was followed by a few errands and then a trip to Aurora to pick up the C-340. Trey and I flew home in formation, him in the 172RG and me in the 340. That was a different formation line-up. But tower didn't even blink when we called up as a flight of two and even when we taxiied out to the runway together. I'd be interested in hearing what they had to say to each other up there though. ;) It was a different challenge for me, but it worked. We did some turns, crossunders, descending turns, etc., with me as #2 most of the time, then swapping off at the end so he could run off of me. It was a nice wake-up to formation flight, first time since last year sometime. So far I've had a total of two formation flights with an instructor in my back seat, and the rest of the time it's just been me and whoever I was flying off of. Next week I'll have someone backseating me for a couple days, and that'll be good, I think. I have found that I do worse when someone's back there because I tend to be unable to fly, listen, think, talk, react to radio or hand signals from the other plane and react to what the instructor is saying to me in a timely manner all at the same time, but hopefully with some practice I'll catch up. I'll just try not to chew gum at the same time. ;)
The ants. We were swarmed with the buggars last night, and by this morning there were just a few. I left out the bait a little longer here, because as long as I see one, that's one too many. But we sure put a big ole dent in them if nothing else. We had a lot of ants in the kitchen. Now, not so much. Just a few. Keep on dying off and make Laura Happy, fellas...

So, Thursday I'm supposed to go to Seneca Falls, NY, by Syracuse. I wonder if there's anything interesting to look at up there.

I've been seeing pictures and video of the B-25s at Urbana, and I really wish I could have been there. I'm still a little bummed out by that, I can't help it. You just don't see 20 B-25s take off en-masse, and I'd have loved to see that, even if it did happen at 7 a.m. sunrise. But...that's the way it goes! At least I had a nice weekend at home and didn't have to try to explain why someone else's very nice airplane got soaked or blown off the runway, for example. ;)

Kaylee's reading the second "Hunger Games" book on my iPad, which I've lost control over again, she had lots of homework tonight but stayed focused a little better and got it done in a reasonable hour. She's registered for a second week of camp at a different camp this summer, and she's going and bunking with her friend Maggie, which is pretty cool. She's really looking forward to it! Me too--glad she has some fun things to do this summer. :)

Now, off to check on ant traps, turtles, a kid, and tomorrow's schedule...

Chains

So, today is "Emancipation Day", a legal Federal holiday. Did you know that? Me neither. Kaylee had today off of school. Basically they built in several snow days, and didn't need a one of them (so far), so the kids have gotten those extra days off of school, mostly done on holidays or the day after a holiday. Emancipation Day is an appropriate day to have off of school, I'd say. :)

The winds kept blowing up today, kept us on the ground, but we need the grounding days to get other stuff done too. One of the things I accomplished was a trip to Lowe's, where, among other things, I picked up a specific kind of ant killer that a bunch of people recommended. Right now it is in our kitchen, attracting ants like candy. Come and get it, you nasty little buggars, take it home to mama, and DIE...

Blown

I was sitting here halfway bummed that I wasn't over in Ohio, because I was going to get to do a photo shoot with what would be my 6th different Mustang, and a first B-25or two, and it's warm and sunny, and several people I know are over there that I was looking forward to saying hi to (including an SMA friend); then this huge gust of wind rattled the windows in the house, literally making a howling noise as it whipped by, peppering the side of the house with tree debris. I called in and got the winds at 20 gusting to 33 (that one gust was more than that, I know). I looked at Urbana and it was gusting as high as 38 knots, and I felt better that I wasn't wrestling a T-6 down to land in that---particularly multiple times like I'd have had to do. But I won't lie, I was tempted this morning--the winds were right down the runway both here and there, and that's just...mean. And the nosedraggers and a couple Mustangs came out, which did not make me feel better about me not going. But staying home and listening to the wind howl was the smarter option, even if poor Steve has to listen to me grumble about it. ;)

Kaylee has off of school tomorrow, and I don't have anything in the morning, so that works out, since I spent the last two mornings waking up bright and early to see about getting over to Ohio. I don't plan on waking up at 6-7 a.m. tomorrow...

Difference of a Day

There's a saying that "money doesn't solve your problems", and this is very true. There's another saying that finishes that sentence with "but it sure can help." Also, true. Money can buy you private lessons to get you or your child good enough at what you/they want to make a difference in your/their lives, it could purchase things to give you or your child an advantage on looks, health, popularity, education, comfort. It could buy necessary treatment or care for illness or disorder that insurance won't cover. It could buy you enough gas you could get plenty of flying and say chase people around the country from formation clinic to formation clinic if needed. ;) You know what else it can do? It can buy three tiny baby turtles each the size of a quarter online from a place in Florida that will ship them to you when you can't buy them in the entire state of Indiana for some stupid reason. Steve went online and found this place that sends you these babies in groups of three. Not sure we wanted three, but at least if we kill off one or two she'd still have a left-over, eh? ;) Anyway, she said she'd like to try that, so Google and some dollars later, we're about to have another pet. IF this place in Florida doesn't suddenly realize it is shipping to Indiana, a state which doesn't actually allow baby turtles to be sold or brought in from out of state. Yes, I think that is a stupid rule and I never have followed stupid rules very well. I'm sorry. Sort of.

It's good that I didn't head to Ohio last night or this morning when the weather was decent, because the rest of the day was a soaker. Steady light to moderate rain, haze, mist, low visibility, and low scuddy clouds. A good time and place to not be. Tomorrow is up for grabs still. I don't think the rain should be an issue, the clouds should be gone, and there are plans for a lot of flying, but it will be really windy. Have to wait and see...

Steve and I stopped at the meat market and picked up some good steak and bacon, and Steve fixed steak and potatoes while I fixed corn and tea. We had his parents over for dinner, and had good food and a good time. We always do a "welcome back from Florida" steak dinner, and enjoy it!

The Mustang took a chunk out of my hand the other day. Okay, fine, I took a chunk out of my own hand on the Mustang the other day. I put the rudder pedals back where they belong, but I left behind some of my hide on the metal seat back tube frame thingy (that's a technical term, folks) while reaching for the seat belt. I must have gotten dirt or oil or something in it, because it's all sore and puffy and hot. That part of my finger, not the Mustang. I figure if something gets to bite me that hard, I won't begrudge the Mustang... ;)

Friday the 13th

When I went into Kaylee's room this morning to wake her up, I did what I've been doing, and turned on the UV light on her turtle tank. I glanced in to find the turtle, and couldn't see it on the rock. Scanning the tank, I found Lumpy the turtle floating in the water, not moving. I picked her up, tried a few things, but Lumpy was dead. I placed it on the rock, left the light on, got Kaylee up and didn't say a word, as she didn't need to head to school with that new knowledge. When I brought her home from school, Steve told her we needed to talk to her about something, she asked if it was good or bad, and when Steve said it wasn't good, the first thing out of her mouth was "Is my turtle dead??" I don't know how she figured that out, but she did. Lumpy is buried in our back yard under the tree, where Kaylee wanted it done, because the roots of the tree provide strength and security, and she felt Lumpy would be 'safe' there.

Did you know it's illegal to sell, buy or have baby turtles in the state of Indiana? We can't get a replacement turtle even if we wanted to. Unless we go back to Florida and smuggle it in again.

Does anybody know why it's illegal to sell or buy baby turtles in the state of Indiana but it's not illegal to sell or buy adult turtles? What is the difference and why do they care?? It's a turtle for heaven's sake!

Even losing a turtle stinks. Poor Lumpy, Kaylee cared for her well, cared about her well, and it's not Kaylee's fault Lumpy is gone. I feel bad for the little turtle, worse for Kaylee. But...I know it's a fact of life, and as Steve said, it's better to start with learning about loss with a turtle rather than one of the cats, or worse, a family member/friend. It still stinks though. Don't laugh at us, even though it's a turtle. It was sad. Stupid turtle, not smart enough to climb up the ramp...

In related news, we have $100 worth of brand new turtle equipment we're wondering what to do with now. (Okay, that's sort of funny.)

Kaylee started reading "The Hunger Games" last night, and she'll finish the whole first book in less than 24 hours, after spending 7 hours sleeping and 8 hours at least with school. She's completely engrossed. The only problem is, I bought the books so they're on my iPad, not her kindle, and I've lost control of my iPad until she's done reading all three books in the series. Tonight I won't quibble with her if she wants a reading distraction. But in a few days we may have a battle. ;)

Well, I was supposed to go to Ohio today to spend two nights and do some photo shoots with B-25s. My little bag was packed and everything. Unfortunately I had to cancel for Saturday because the weather just wasn't good enough. Then he canceled with me for tonight, because the clouds rolled in and it wouldn't have been the nicest photo lighting. We're still "on" for Sunday, but frankly, I doubt it. The forecast is calling for winds gusting to 35 knots, and if I was flying the 340, or heck, a C-172 as the photo ship, I'd be fine with that, but the Six....I've landed it in 28 gusting to 32 knot winds, but it was only about 20 degrees off the runway. It's sort of like...while it's good to know something is in your toolbox, that doesn't mean you need to pull it out without good reason. ;) I didn't actually mind tonight canceling; I wanted to be here with Kaylee when she learned about Lumpy. Steve could have handled it, but I'd have been thinking about it anyway. Not much would keep me from wanting to fly off in a T-6 and go play with B-25s, I admit. :)

I went to get my eyebrows waxed today, and as I was sitting on the reclining chair covered in doctor office paper, the woman called another woman over, pointed at my shoes, and started speaking in rapid-fire Vietnamese with the other lady. I looked at them, looked at my feet, looked at them. What?? These weren't even my clowny shoes! I have no idea what they said or what they thought was so note-worthy about my shoes, but something sure got their attention. Weird...

Well, Friday the 13th is almost over. I'm tired, it was kind of a long day, but at least I don't have to get up early. I don't think. Unless I wake up and it's magically nice from here to Ohio. But I won't hold my breath.

Rise

Last night Kaylee had homework that took her until midnight to finish. Almost 60 math problems, two English papers, a social studies paper, and two other things. At one point she couldn't concentrate any more so she locked herself into her bathroom and sat on the floor in there where there was nothing to look at, nothing to listen to, and she was in there until midnight. I felt so bad for her I wanted to do her work FOR her. Not a good precident to set, but I was tempted. I did help her with one of her English papers that she had questions on, but the rest she did on her own. She finally crawled into bed after midnight and fell fast asleep, having had nothing at all fun or kid-like or relaxing to do all evening. Boo, homework. So when she got into the car today and yelled "I ONLY HAVE ONE PAGE OF HOMEWORK AND IT'S EASY!" today, I think I was as relieved as she was. She was done with it, and picking up some of her room, early enough that she's now been buried into the first book of "Hunger Games" for several hours. That's more like it. :)

It was a picture perfect aviation day; cool weather, blue skies, light winds, bright sun, and a bunch of folks took advantage of it. I flew for about two hours this morning in the Citabria, and we hit all the 'tougher' stuff. Steep turns, power off stalls, power on stalls, turning stalls, falling leaf stalls, etc. It was a good workout, and I swear, everybody should learn in a taildragger. Kaylee is going to learn in a taildragger if I can help it. Somebody on their fourth lesson does better with their feet than most private pilots, even in the air on wing-dropping stalls...

Lunch at the hangar was followed by the rise of the Checkertail Clan. Mostly. The T-6 was finished with its annual, so I took it up for a quick test flight, threw Jon in the back, and after a nice long preflight and run up and normal flight over the airport, all was well. :)
Next up was the Mustang, and she fired right up too, the sound of music.
After shutting down, I just had time to help put away all the airplanes, wipe down the T-6 and parts of the P-51, and smile with my flat, snarly, knotted hair.
I ran over to pick up Kaylee from the bus, and we got shakes to celebrate her lack of homework and my aviation fun. We cuddled on the couch and drank our mocha shakes and giggled and hopped around happily for awhile...

Steve needed a ride from Kokomo back to his car at Glenndale, so I went to get him, we picked up dinner, I dropped him off, and needing gas, I stopped at a gas station. As I was leaving, there were two mini vans in front of me. One took a long time to go, and the second one was getting impatient. Finally #1 left, and #2 pulled tightly to the right and gunned it, to go, promptly running into/over a large rock/small boulder, causing a fair amount of damage to the door on that side. I backed up, went around her to the left, and went to leave, when she started pointing her finger angrily at me and saying "Wait!" I rolled down my window and said "Do you need a phone, or help with something?" She says "You can't hit me and just leave like that!" I stared at her for a second and then said "Ma'am. I didn't hit you. You ran into a boulder." She runs over to look at her vehicle, starts cursing, comes back over and says "I hit a rock. I thought for sure you hit me." I said "Sorry, but no, you...hit a rock." She was still pretty irate when I left. I felt sorry for the three kids sitting in there. :O Her own temper got her there in the first place...something to remember when one is having a hard day and feeling impatient in a car...

Kay Stuff

Richard and Ann safely made it back from Florida today! Welcome back to the land of, well, brrrrr. I guess it was 90 down in Florida. We got down to like 28 degrees around here last night. Not a very nice transition! Right now Kaylee is helping them unpack their car while probably chattering a mile a minute. :)

Last night I checked on Kaylee around 10:15 pm and she was still working on her homework. Around 11 pm she was found lying face down, sprawled in the middle of her bedroom floor, homework papers scattered all around her, pencil clutched in her hand, fast asleep. Poor kid. I got her up enough to get her in bed. She said "But I'm not done!" I said "Yes, you are..." So this morning when I got her up, she had to start right in on her homework at 6:15 a.m. while she's eating shredded wheat. She got everything done but math, which she now gets to do tonight on top of the rest of her homework from today, too. She has a lot to do, but her grandparents are home for the first time in six months or so, so the judge has granted a little leniency for a little while...

Kaylee had to write a quickie paper on "Spring", type it up on the computer, etc. I hadn't seen it until it was graded and sent home. In it she said that Spring was her favorite season, she loves the cool breezes, she loves the feel of Spring because it feels like everything is happy, and I grinned when I saw she used the words "lush grass". She mentioned living colors, butterflies, blooming flowers, the usual, etc. And then she said "When Spring comes, I like to play games or sports outside, swim, read books, hang out with my friends, and fly in the T-6. The T-6 Texan is a warbird airplane that my mom flies." I couldn't help but smile when I read that. The teacher commented on the grading paper how it would be interesting to read more detail about the airplane if it related to Spring. Which, of course she thinks doesn't, and sort of doesn't, but generally only comes out in the Spring after being quiet all winter, so it kind of does. ;) I also smile to think that for me it used to feel like official Spring after the first run of the Mustang, the official kick-off of flying season in a way, and here Kaylee is identifying the T-6 with Spring. Well, I got a smile out of it anyway. :)

On the other hand, if she didn't look so much like me, I wouldn't be quite sure Kaylee was mine after all, after she told me today that she didn't like chocolate any more...I don't know how this could happen...

Lumpy the Turtle got a new appropriate larger living space, rock and UV light. Kaylee and Steve went shopping at the pet store, Steve expecting to spend $15 on a tank, and now not wanting to talk about the end result of his excursion. Apparently turtles have different and more expensive UV light requirements than lizards. And I guess setting the tank by a window wouldn't be good enough either. Now you know. But Kaylee is happy, and I would assume Lumpy is pleased with her new digs, so I guess those two outweigh Steve's slight discontent. Now Lumpy better live for awhile though. ;)

*Yawn*

The winds made it another rough day out there, canceling one person who is trying to work on takeoffs and basic flying, and making my trip to Illinois and back today long and bumpy. Tower called my winds on final at 19 gusting 34. Nice gust factor, there. 2.7 hours later both me and the guy who was my chase pilot felt half beat up and fully worn out.

In fact, I'm still worn out. Kaylee has a ton of homework, and she's still working on it at 10 pm. She's tired too. Steve's been asleep for about an hour. Even the cats and turtle are sleeping. We're a zapped household today, I guess...

Success

Kaylee got to do an easter egg hunt with her friend, got even more candy, stayed up until 4 a.m. goofing off on her sleepover, then went to Indianapolis shopping with them, making it home around 6 p.m. On the drive home, the girls both passed out in the back seat. The mom's mission was accomplished, I'd say!

On a less successful end of things, we tried to pull everything out of the hangars to run up the Mustang, and the Cheyenne tug broke again. That's twice that it happened after we already hauled the 340 out, so I think next time we'll start with the Cheyenne and give it a chance to be a problem first. ;)

Kaylee's not ready for school to start--who blames her, with the whole last two weeks she's had. Lucky girl! We wanted her to be able to do something different than what we did last year, which was work and let her hang out at home for 10 days, sleep in, and do not much of anything. She had a great, fun, active break with lots of new experiences. Whew. :)

Rebirth, Renewal, Hope and Faith...

Well, we had her for 24 hours, anyway. ;)

Kaylee and I watched a version of the Moses/Passover story, and it was one of the first years she's had a lot of questions and actually paid a lot of attention to details in the story. She was taken aback by God killing the firstborn, including babies, of all those who didn't put lamb's blood over their door, and asked questions like "but what if they hated God and didn't believe but put blood on their door anyway?" She paid attention to the slavery, to Moses being a flake and then being molded into being a man God could use, to the sacrifice of being a prince of a country and choosing to fight for slaves, etc. She knows the crucifixion story by heart, but the passover story was always sort of behind the scenes until this year...

When I woke Kaylee up this morning, she got sad that we hadn't dyed eggs and had a hunt. I'm going "Man, you just got back here yesterday afternoon and we didn't home until like 7 pm!" but that's no excuse when you're 11. So I went out on a blase errand to pick up Diet Coke (which we needed) and while I was out I picked up a little basket and filled it with a few things and hid the basket along with egg-dyeing stuff, and awhile later I nonchalantly told her she forgot to hunt for something. So we did our eggs, and we did our basket, and we did our actual meaning behind Easter, and all was well with the world again.

Kaylee also put on the new dress she bought with her own money down in Florida, and I took several photos of her outside. She then had another bag all packed up, and she drove off with another friend to spend the night at her house for one last fun day before school starts back up on Tuesday. So the house is quiet again--sort of. Steve is out there working like crazy, mopping the deck and working in the garage and getting the Corvette and motorcycle in good shape and doing all that noisy outside guy stuff. But inside the house is a lot more quiet. ;)

I took pictures of Lumpy the Turtle today. You know, I kept saying I thought it was cute, but further reflection of the photos shows that Lumpy is in fact only cute becasue he (she, supposedly) is tiny. Close up inspection with a lot of detail in a photo show reptilian face and claws and kind of ugly and scary. Just goes to show you, nothing is cute zoomed in and close up and personal.
I put some pictures up on Kaylee's site, of her Spring Break (most of them I posted on here already) and of her today, doing eggs, her little baby turtle, and her in her new dress. Here are a couple. May you all have a blessed and peaceful Easter. :)

Jiggedy Jig

Kaylee's home! They drove through all night, and she made it back around 11:15 a.m. The only problem was, both Steve and I had flights, so when he picked her up, she didn't make it home home until almost 8 pm. Instead we were out at the airports. And what a nice day for it, too. But she didn't mind-she ran around and played with the kids, went for a Citabria flight with Nathan, and had a great time anyway.

Me, I got up, got ready, went out to Glenndale, and flew in the Citabria with a young lady until 12:30 or so, stopped for an hour for lunch, flew into Kokomo and got gas and then we flew again until 2:30 or so, I flew back to Kokomo and took a bit of a break, then Steve and I went up for a little while in the Citabria too. I was supposed to go do some aerobatics at 2, but a family health issue came up, and I'd thought we weren't going to go, so I ate a bunch. It was pushed back several hours, and then by the time I was going to go, there were a couple other things going on that needed fit in too, and I was just worn out. It's heck being 40, I guess. ;) But I was so tired I didn't feel very focused or motivated. So instead I flew the Citabria back to Glenndale, cleaned the windshield, wiped the bugs off, put her away, talked to a couple of people, drove home, and promptly fell asleep on the couch until Steve and Kaylee got home. She and I got some good snuggling in before she took a shower and I put some stuff on her two burned areas. Her shoulder and hand got a pretty good burn on it, poor thing. But she's a little tanner, a little frecklier, and glad to be home even after a fun week. :)

There were taildraggers all over. The Luscombe, Champ, Citabria, Super Decathlon, Cub, they were all buzzing around today. It was just that kind of day!

I saw this quote somewhere and found it humorous. I also think it's true in some circumstances. I know we are to forgive seventy times seven, but forgiveness doesn't mean you have to forget, or hand people more bullets, so to speak.

"Sometimes giving a person another chance is like giving them another bullet to shoot you with because they missed you the first time."

Of course, everybody needs a second chance...I know I sure have needed more than one. :)

Some Florida Photos

Briefly

What a pretty day! I was supposed to fly today, but he canceled because he didn't like the "high" winds. Ah, well.

I see from pictures that Kaylee is at a Japanese steak house tonight. So many experiences she's getting on this trip--did I mention that I think it's great yet? ;)

Full and tired--see ya tomorrow!

The Best Laid Plans

Life always seems to fill in whatever time you think you have available. :)

This morning Nathan and I had a nice flight over to Ohio and back. Quiet, VFR, easy. I like easy. We made it back just in time to eat, after which I went out to Glenndale with the intent to pick up the last few time sheets. While I was out there, and the sky was blue, and the grass was green, and the temps were in the 80s, and the winds were calm, and little dandelions poked their heads at me, well, the Citabria needed gas from Kokomo, and I needed to go to Sheridan anyway, so...

And while I'm at it, and we don't have to worry about picking Kaylee up from school, why not throw Steve in there and let him get tailwheel current, right?

Open windows + long hair = Cousin It.

Not that I'm complaining...

From Glenndale we went out to Kokomo. Steve had a lesson with a guy, and I was going to run up the Mustang. Unfortunately, for the next couple of hours, nothing went right. The 340 tug broke earlier that day, and the guys got it fixed, but just about every time I start that, it kicks back, hard, once. Sometimes I get lucky and it just rips out of my hand, but other times a part of the handle slams into my hand. Which hurts. Today it got the bone on my middle finger down by the knuckle, and it's bruised again. I try to find a different way to hold the handle so when it kicks it won't get me, but when I do that, I can't hang on to it strongly enough to pull it hard enough to start it in the first place. If I don't get it started within the first few pulls, it kicks me. Doggone thing. Anyway, so Steve gets the 340 pulled out, and goes to move the Cheyenne before his lesson, and now THAT tug is broken. Right when we're deciding what to do, if anything, his guy calls over and has a big problem--fuel is pouring out of his sump, and he can't stop it. We run over with a fuel can, bucket, another bucket and the tubing to syphon out the remaining fuel from the tank before it all ends up all over the ramp, and spent the next bit of time running around working on that. The guy's car has 100LL in it now, as does our tug, and a can, and wherever else we could put the fuel from his tank. I ended up having to hose down and squeegee out part of one of the hangars, too, for something else. It was all just a mess. Then the flight was canceled (obviously), so they were going to move the plane to a hangar because of the storms coming through tonight. Now the battery was dead. The golf cart wasn't a good option to try to jump start it. The Jeep didn't quite cut it. So we all gave up, he just hooked up a charger, and Steve and I decided to forget it, put everything back away, and go out to eat. When something pushes that hard, it's time to give it up and go do something else. ;) So we enjoyed Red Lobster and made it home almost 12 hours after we left the house this morning.

Kaylee called for the first time tonight-said her phone had died and isn't charging properly. She was telling stories about boogie boards and sand bars and diving into waves, how she may get to go parasailing and how her turtle won't eat but he's adorable and cuddles with her, she burnt the tops of her hands and the backs of her legs but is doing okay otherwise keeping up on sunscreen. She's swimming a bunch, eating a lot, looking for shells and starfish and turtles, digging in the sand, getting pranked by one of the older boy jumping out of the shower with a scary mask when she walked into the bathroom, and generally having herself a ball. And she still has three more days to go. :)

Flying--So Easy Your Grandma Can Do It

This story is great (minus the fact that the poor woman's husband passed away.)

An 80-year-old woman was able to successfully land a twin-engine airplane in northeastern Wisconsin after her husband became unconscious at the controls and died.

The pilot, an 81-year-old man from the Sturgeon Bay area, had suffered a medical emergency and was unconscious. His wife, who was just the passenger, was flying the plane.

A certified pilot was able to fly alongside the plane and coach the wife. Just after 6 p.m., her right engine ran out of fuel and lost power.

She was able to land at Door County Cherryland Airport. The wife suffered minor injuries. Her husband was pronounced dead.

So let me get this straight. An 80-year-old non-pilot woman whose husband was unconscious in the pilot's seat stayed calm, followed directions and performed a single-engine landing and walked away. You go, girl.

Sunshine

Kaylee called today for the first time--she was dying to buy a baby turtle and wanted permission. She's having a great time, of course, and definitely getting some sun and exercise.

I stayed busy from after lunch until about 8 pm. I flew out of Glenndale in the Citabria with someone just beginning flight training. It was breezy, but that wasn't as interesting as the weird wind currents we had down low on takeoff and landing. Fortunately up at a higher altitude where we did all the maneuvering it wasn't too bad. Almost two hours there, and then I made it back out to Kokomo so Justin could run me over to Illinois to pick up the 340. By the time I got everything put away, it was like 8:15 pm, past time for dinner already. Days go by fast sometimes...

Rest

I was going to keep going today, do a couple flights, etc., but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I just didn't have the energy, not even to go upside down. Steve is battling either allergies or a cold, and we just stayed in today quietly.

I did put up some photos today though. The bottom of the page is March's photos, and I put up some from my 40th surprise too. :)

Kaylee, on the other hand, thankfully seems to have all the energy needed for an 11 year old on Spring Break. :)