This morning we were to have "Young Eagle Rides", which are free flights for kids ages 8-17 who have never been in an airplane before. We'd handed out certificates for that at the Kokomo Airshow, like we did the year before. Last year we had so many kids come out that we had a 30-45 minute wait time to get them on an airplane. So we had pilots and planes lined up and ready to go from 8 a.m. on, ready for the onslaught. Well, there was no onslaught. :) It was a really quiet year, maybe because of the horrid heat, maybe because of the Haynes Apperson festival, maybe all the above, but the first two hours were really slow, then there was a bit of a rush at the end. Our guys ended up giving about 22 rides total, which was really light from previous years, but the kids that went had a great time, and 22 or 200, the purpose was served.
I also had a dual flight scheduled in a Bonanza equipped with the new touch screen Garmin 750 first thing this morning. I wasn't real excited to get out of bed. After a busy day yesterday and getting to bed late, when the alarm went off and it was supposed to be another 97 degree day, I sort of thought uncharitably about Young Eagles and Bonanzas, I admit. But Steve and I got out there, while letting Kaylee stay home and sleep in and recover. I'd never flown off of the 750 before, but having flown with just about every other Garmin since they started coming out, I figured, how bad can it be? :) I got most of it figured out, but I'm going to have to hit the manual on one last thing before we go back up next week. It's not quite as intuitive as its 430/530/496/596/etc. series on a couple things.
After the rides were all done, Nathan took the Cheyenne and we loaded it up with ten people and flew over to Muncie for lunch at Kacy J's to end the day. :)
I think we were beat after that. We got the Jeep from maintenance then went home. Kaylee is not feeling well, sneezing and runny nose and headache and sore throat. Allergies? Or a bug? I don't know. Steve got a headache. And me, I was just tired!
We're working on finally getting our waterbed back together tonight, and maybe I'll get to sleep in my own room for the first time in a week!
Well, I've got some pictures to work on, and some laundry, and a bag to pack for the next two days. But first I think I need to watch Flying Wild Alaska with something peach flavored to drink. :)
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Interesting Day II
Sometimes it's a good interesting, like yesterday, and sometimes it's a not-as-good interesting.
The day started with a Cub flight out at Glenndale, which went fine. We were working on the pattern, and as the morning progressed, in the period of about an hour we could feel the humidity and heat start weighing in. Even with the Cub doors wide open it was hot! The student called it quits, and we had lunch out at Glenndale. That was a big ole meal of homemade deliciousness, with not a lot of turnout, so folks don't know what they missed, but I had a big plate. Which turns out to be a good thing, as it was the last thing I ate for 9 hours. :)
The weather had been looking fine for our trip to pick up Kaylee from camp, and for my business guys to get picked up over in St. Louis. So I'm sitting at home, and I pull up the radar on a whim, and there is a large mass of thunderstorms heading right for us, and it's not far off. I yell "Steve, we need to go...NOW!" We booked it out to the airport, and as we're getting close, it's obvious we're in a race against the storm. The plane was already ready to go, so we just needed to get in it, get off the ground, and head south, and we'd be in front of the weather, and make it to Kaylee's end of camp program, etc. at 5:30. But as we parked the car at the hangar and got ready to get out, we felt a wind blast so hard that it started rocking the Explorer--and I looked over and saw a bunch of dust and trees bent over across the street. The rain/storm wasn't there yet, but the winds had arrived, and they were nasty. We were hosed.
The storms had blown up out of nowhere, weren't forecasted in 4 TAFs, weren't on radar last time I looked, and caught a whole bunch of us who needed to do things by surprise. Now we were going to have to wait for the storm to move through before we could get out, but the problem was, the storm was huge, went all the way back to Illinois, and all the way up to Michigan. I couldn't go around it to the north, couldn't sneak around it to the south, and it was too solid to pick your way in between cells. And it was moving the same direction we needed to go. By this point if we started driving to get to Kaylee's camp, we would be 3 hours late.
Next, as the storm picked up speed, it took out the power at the airport and quite a few surrounding areas as well. Now the hangar door was locked down, so even after the storm passed through, we wouldn't be able to get our airplanes out. I was really frustrated. If we'd have seen it blow up 20 minutes earlier, we could have gotten out. Shoulda woulda coulda. But I hated leaving Kaylee kind of stuck out there, without her parents there for their end-of-camp program thing, to be the last kid left there waiting on a parent, for hours. Steve called the camp so they could let her know what was going on, which is much better than being surprised by it, and then we just had to sit there and watch it rain. We weren't real confident on the power company's guess of having power up by 6 p.m., so at some point Steve got in the Explorer and start the 4.5 hour drive over, while I stayed behind in case I could get the plane out in time for me to beat him over there (it was like a 45 minute flight).
The airport guy came up with a really large generator and the guys had a plan. It was a huge thing, and the thought was to be able to fire it up and raise the big hangar door with it. Of course nothing goes that easily. Couldn't find the right cord to attach to the hangar, so Jon & Nathan cut apart another cord and rigged it up to work. Then the battery on the generator was dead as a doornail, so they had to hook up the jumper cables to a car and charge it up enough to start it. Finally, eventually it all came together, the door was opened, and the weather was good enough for the Cheyenne to take off and head west. I had called Steve back, so he was on his way back to fly over with me, and we just had to wait for the weather to move through Ohio. Another call to the camp, we'd be there 3.5 hours late, but we'd be there...
When we arrived, Kaylee was hanging out with a counselor. She was a little quiet at first, but pretty soon the camp stories started up. At this point, I had been starving for a few hours, so we found this restaurant in the middle of nowhere, Ohio, on the backroads, no real town even close by, and it was called something "Cabin". We figured it would just be a burgers and fries kind of place, there had been no real fast food places close by out there, so we stopped. When we walked in, we were met with cloth napkins, extra forks, two sets of glasses, you know, fancy. ;) Their meals featured seafood, lobster, scallops, fillet, I mean, good stuff. I had "ginger scallops with such and such rice and wasabi sauce drizzled on the whatever", and let me tell you what, they were delicious. Just not what you'd expect in the middle of nowhere. Kaylee just had a drink and blackberry sorbet, as she wasn't as starving as we were. :)
After the unexpected dinner delight, we made our way back to the airplane, where Kaylee and Steve rode in the back of the 340 together, talking a little, listening to music, and hanging out, while I flew us home. At one point there was a fireworks display going on in a town we were coming up on, which I watched for several miles. Kaylee came up and watched a few of the fireworks too before going back and halfway going to sleep, but she did not feel well. Her nose was like a faucet, her head hurt, her throat hurt, and she was just not herself.
We made it back home at midnight. That was a long, tiring day. Unfortunately we'd also had a surprise for Kaylee, and this was not the time nor way we wanted to spring it on her. She was crying at the door waiting to get inside, she felt lousy, didn't even want to say hi to her cats, it's midnight, and now we were going to try to do a fun surprise for her. *sigh* We walked her to her room, Steve walked in first, having told her we'd cleaned her fishtank out and it was our surprise for her; she walked in next, and then didn't even really stop, just walked right over to Steve and started bawling, hard. At first I wasn't sure whether or not this was a good thing. We'd rearranged and repainted her room, and I wasn't sure if she was upset at not picking out the colors herself as planned, if she liked it at all, or what. Turns out she was so surprised and happy (and probably tired) that it overwhelmed her. She loves it. Whew. :)
And that was one lonnnng day!
The day started with a Cub flight out at Glenndale, which went fine. We were working on the pattern, and as the morning progressed, in the period of about an hour we could feel the humidity and heat start weighing in. Even with the Cub doors wide open it was hot! The student called it quits, and we had lunch out at Glenndale. That was a big ole meal of homemade deliciousness, with not a lot of turnout, so folks don't know what they missed, but I had a big plate. Which turns out to be a good thing, as it was the last thing I ate for 9 hours. :)
The weather had been looking fine for our trip to pick up Kaylee from camp, and for my business guys to get picked up over in St. Louis. So I'm sitting at home, and I pull up the radar on a whim, and there is a large mass of thunderstorms heading right for us, and it's not far off. I yell "Steve, we need to go...NOW!" We booked it out to the airport, and as we're getting close, it's obvious we're in a race against the storm. The plane was already ready to go, so we just needed to get in it, get off the ground, and head south, and we'd be in front of the weather, and make it to Kaylee's end of camp program, etc. at 5:30. But as we parked the car at the hangar and got ready to get out, we felt a wind blast so hard that it started rocking the Explorer--and I looked over and saw a bunch of dust and trees bent over across the street. The rain/storm wasn't there yet, but the winds had arrived, and they were nasty. We were hosed.
The storms had blown up out of nowhere, weren't forecasted in 4 TAFs, weren't on radar last time I looked, and caught a whole bunch of us who needed to do things by surprise. Now we were going to have to wait for the storm to move through before we could get out, but the problem was, the storm was huge, went all the way back to Illinois, and all the way up to Michigan. I couldn't go around it to the north, couldn't sneak around it to the south, and it was too solid to pick your way in between cells. And it was moving the same direction we needed to go. By this point if we started driving to get to Kaylee's camp, we would be 3 hours late.
Next, as the storm picked up speed, it took out the power at the airport and quite a few surrounding areas as well. Now the hangar door was locked down, so even after the storm passed through, we wouldn't be able to get our airplanes out. I was really frustrated. If we'd have seen it blow up 20 minutes earlier, we could have gotten out. Shoulda woulda coulda. But I hated leaving Kaylee kind of stuck out there, without her parents there for their end-of-camp program thing, to be the last kid left there waiting on a parent, for hours. Steve called the camp so they could let her know what was going on, which is much better than being surprised by it, and then we just had to sit there and watch it rain. We weren't real confident on the power company's guess of having power up by 6 p.m., so at some point Steve got in the Explorer and start the 4.5 hour drive over, while I stayed behind in case I could get the plane out in time for me to beat him over there (it was like a 45 minute flight).
The airport guy came up with a really large generator and the guys had a plan. It was a huge thing, and the thought was to be able to fire it up and raise the big hangar door with it. Of course nothing goes that easily. Couldn't find the right cord to attach to the hangar, so Jon & Nathan cut apart another cord and rigged it up to work. Then the battery on the generator was dead as a doornail, so they had to hook up the jumper cables to a car and charge it up enough to start it. Finally, eventually it all came together, the door was opened, and the weather was good enough for the Cheyenne to take off and head west. I had called Steve back, so he was on his way back to fly over with me, and we just had to wait for the weather to move through Ohio. Another call to the camp, we'd be there 3.5 hours late, but we'd be there...
When we arrived, Kaylee was hanging out with a counselor. She was a little quiet at first, but pretty soon the camp stories started up. At this point, I had been starving for a few hours, so we found this restaurant in the middle of nowhere, Ohio, on the backroads, no real town even close by, and it was called something "Cabin". We figured it would just be a burgers and fries kind of place, there had been no real fast food places close by out there, so we stopped. When we walked in, we were met with cloth napkins, extra forks, two sets of glasses, you know, fancy. ;) Their meals featured seafood, lobster, scallops, fillet, I mean, good stuff. I had "ginger scallops with such and such rice and wasabi sauce drizzled on the whatever", and let me tell you what, they were delicious. Just not what you'd expect in the middle of nowhere. Kaylee just had a drink and blackberry sorbet, as she wasn't as starving as we were. :)
After the unexpected dinner delight, we made our way back to the airplane, where Kaylee and Steve rode in the back of the 340 together, talking a little, listening to music, and hanging out, while I flew us home. At one point there was a fireworks display going on in a town we were coming up on, which I watched for several miles. Kaylee came up and watched a few of the fireworks too before going back and halfway going to sleep, but she did not feel well. Her nose was like a faucet, her head hurt, her throat hurt, and she was just not herself.
We made it back home at midnight. That was a long, tiring day. Unfortunately we'd also had a surprise for Kaylee, and this was not the time nor way we wanted to spring it on her. She was crying at the door waiting to get inside, she felt lousy, didn't even want to say hi to her cats, it's midnight, and now we were going to try to do a fun surprise for her. *sigh* We walked her to her room, Steve walked in first, having told her we'd cleaned her fishtank out and it was our surprise for her; she walked in next, and then didn't even really stop, just walked right over to Steve and started bawling, hard. At first I wasn't sure whether or not this was a good thing. We'd rearranged and repainted her room, and I wasn't sure if she was upset at not picking out the colors herself as planned, if she liked it at all, or what. Turns out she was so surprised and happy (and probably tired) that it overwhelmed her. She loves it. Whew. :)
And that was one lonnnng day!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Interesting Day
I wish I wasn't so tired, it makes it hard to write up the day properly. *yawn*
Well, the day started at 6 a.m., with a flight to St. Louis. We were supposed to be wheels-up by 7:30, but when I went to check, the plane didn't have enough gas, something I'd thought was taken care of the day before. We called the line guy, with four of us sitting in the plane waiting, and 20 minutes later he still wasn't out there, so I called again, and this time I was less happy than I was 20 minutes prior. It makes you look bad, sitting on the ramp unprepared for the flight. I think that's the first time that's happened to me that I can recall, and hopefully the last. The trip was fine, we didn't have helpful winds, but it's not that far. When we arrived there, the long runway was shut down due to a "disabled aircraft on the runway", and all traffic was being diverted to the short runway. I was happy to see that the disabled aircraft was not a seriously disabled aircraft, and nobody was hurt. I just dropped them off and came right back home.
By the way, it got up somewhere between 102 and 104 degrees F today. That's just nuts. We spent time hanging out in front of the hangar, under the door in the shade, with a cooler blowing air at us, watching Rob Holland practice his moves again. It's funny, a bunch of pilots who see aerobatics all the time at airshows and are kind of not that interested in it any more have all, at different times, when they first see him, said "Wow, that guy's really good."
We also had some visitors out at the hangar. A senior FAA official brought in a couple of guys from a band; they hung out for a little while, and Nathan gave them T-6 rides. The FAA gent brought his family, gave me a hug, and was really excited about the whole thing, and the two band members, one of them is a private pilot who has thus far flown a 172, so he got two new experiences in today--he got to fly a Saratoga and a T-6. The guys had a great time and I guess talked about it the rest of the afternoon. :) They had wanted to stay incognito out there, so we didn't tell folks they were there or who they were until they left. Part of their act is that they dress like mummies, which sounds silly, but they're really very good musicians...none of this synthesizer voice equalizer fake instrument stuff. These guys are from Nashville, and they can PLAY.
After the mummies-without-their-costumes were gone, Steve drove me over to meet Dale E. to ride in his 1921 Haynes Model 55 sport touring car with a whole line-up of
antique cars through the city of Kokomo for the Haynes/Apperson festival, ending up in the square downtown. We had a motorcycle police escort and everything. It was fun. That car is in excellent shape, and I enjoyed the ride. Cars stopped along the side of the road would honk at us, folks waved, and not too many seemed irritated at us slowing up traffic for awhile. This may be the only time I have flashing police lights and sirens around me while we're running red lights left and right where it was a GOOD thing. ;)
Steve and I went to the downtown Haynes/Apperson festival, walked around, had some fair food that was set up down there, watched the carnival rides going that Kaylee would have loved, and then enjoyed a concert from the Here Come the Mummies guys. They are an R&B/Funk band, like I said, actually talented musicians even if their style isn't your cup of tea. We enjoyed them. We also enjoyed watching the people in the streets dancing and having a good time with it. While we were standing there, we kept smelling this acrid smoke. Eventually we found out that it was an electric source, where a bunch of folks were plugged in, had gotten so hot it melted a hole in the thick plastic cover over the main source. Smoke everywhere. Not too much longer, the one right next to us started smoking too. Not good! We walked around some more, and ended up seeing a guy inspecting another power source nearby. I think they were glad when the concert was over and they could reduce the load. We ran into several people we knew, so that was kind of fun. We were out there until after 10 p.m., had a good, relaxing evening out.
So all in all, it was sort of an unusual day. Hugging FAA, anonymous band members, competition aerobatic rising star, police escorts riding through town in a classic car, sweating to death, and oh, starting the day flying to Missouri and back. No wonder I'm tired!
Well, the day started at 6 a.m., with a flight to St. Louis. We were supposed to be wheels-up by 7:30, but when I went to check, the plane didn't have enough gas, something I'd thought was taken care of the day before. We called the line guy, with four of us sitting in the plane waiting, and 20 minutes later he still wasn't out there, so I called again, and this time I was less happy than I was 20 minutes prior. It makes you look bad, sitting on the ramp unprepared for the flight. I think that's the first time that's happened to me that I can recall, and hopefully the last. The trip was fine, we didn't have helpful winds, but it's not that far. When we arrived there, the long runway was shut down due to a "disabled aircraft on the runway", and all traffic was being diverted to the short runway. I was happy to see that the disabled aircraft was not a seriously disabled aircraft, and nobody was hurt. I just dropped them off and came right back home.
By the way, it got up somewhere between 102 and 104 degrees F today. That's just nuts. We spent time hanging out in front of the hangar, under the door in the shade, with a cooler blowing air at us, watching Rob Holland practice his moves again. It's funny, a bunch of pilots who see aerobatics all the time at airshows and are kind of not that interested in it any more have all, at different times, when they first see him, said "Wow, that guy's really good."
We also had some visitors out at the hangar. A senior FAA official brought in a couple of guys from a band; they hung out for a little while, and Nathan gave them T-6 rides. The FAA gent brought his family, gave me a hug, and was really excited about the whole thing, and the two band members, one of them is a private pilot who has thus far flown a 172, so he got two new experiences in today--he got to fly a Saratoga and a T-6. The guys had a great time and I guess talked about it the rest of the afternoon. :) They had wanted to stay incognito out there, so we didn't tell folks they were there or who they were until they left. Part of their act is that they dress like mummies, which sounds silly, but they're really very good musicians...none of this synthesizer voice equalizer fake instrument stuff. These guys are from Nashville, and they can PLAY.
After the mummies-without-their-costumes were gone, Steve drove me over to meet Dale E. to ride in his 1921 Haynes Model 55 sport touring car with a whole line-up of
antique cars through the city of Kokomo for the Haynes/Apperson festival, ending up in the square downtown. We had a motorcycle police escort and everything. It was fun. That car is in excellent shape, and I enjoyed the ride. Cars stopped along the side of the road would honk at us, folks waved, and not too many seemed irritated at us slowing up traffic for awhile. This may be the only time I have flashing police lights and sirens around me while we're running red lights left and right where it was a GOOD thing. ;)Steve and I went to the downtown Haynes/Apperson festival, walked around, had some fair food that was set up down there, watched the carnival rides going that Kaylee would have loved, and then enjoyed a concert from the Here Come the Mummies guys. They are an R&B/Funk band, like I said, actually talented musicians even if their style isn't your cup of tea. We enjoyed them. We also enjoyed watching the people in the streets dancing and having a good time with it. While we were standing there, we kept smelling this acrid smoke. Eventually we found out that it was an electric source, where a bunch of folks were plugged in, had gotten so hot it melted a hole in the thick plastic cover over the main source. Smoke everywhere. Not too much longer, the one right next to us started smoking too. Not good! We walked around some more, and ended up seeing a guy inspecting another power source nearby. I think they were glad when the concert was over and they could reduce the load. We ran into several people we knew, so that was kind of fun. We were out there until after 10 p.m., had a good, relaxing evening out.
So all in all, it was sort of an unusual day. Hugging FAA, anonymous band members, competition aerobatic rising star, police escorts riding through town in a classic car, sweating to death, and oh, starting the day flying to Missouri and back. No wonder I'm tired!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Hump Day
It got hot today, but nothing like tomorrow, which is forecasting to be 102 here, and 108 in St. Louis where I'm supposed to go. Fortunately for me, my all-day trip to St. Louis turned into a "go out, drop off and come right back" at 7:30 a.m., meaning I will not die of heat stroke after all. Lordy.
I was also supposed to have a student tomorrow, doing pattern work in a 172. I'm not doing that in 100+ degree temps either, as the heat index in the airplane is downright dangerous at that point, and you don't even get high enough to cool off at all, the entire time. So we went today instead, going over to Muncie to do the tower controlled field work for 1.9.
The aerobatic box is still hot for today as the "big boys" practice for the national competition. They're a lot of fun to watch, more fun even than the usual crew, though don't tell them I said so. ;) We're having our own mini airshow at the airport each day. One of them has decided he'd like a full-blown checkout in the T-6. He used to be a pilot for the Red Baron Squadron. That's really cool. If I end up being the one to go with him, I'd give him the particulars on flying this airplane, and then I'll likely get the chance to learn a few things from him, too. Usually we make sure the passengers have barf bags--in this case *I* would be the weak link!
Unfortunately the weather is a little touchy right now all over. The fires in Colorado, Florida is flooding, including where Richard & Ann live, unfortunately. Meanwhile, here in Kokomo we are under a fireworks ban even with the 4th coming up here, and a burning ban as we are bone dry and in high danger of fire. The local resevouirs' beaches are closed due to low water levels. We're about in a drought here...tomorrow is to be 102 with winds up to 30 mph. Yikes...
I'm kind of excited--Kaylee has wanted to redecorate her room for awhile, and Steve started in on taking off the wallpaper we put up when we were expecting her 12 years ago, but we did a really good job putting it on and it did not want to come off. So the project floundered, like many house projects (like my bathroom floor) do. ;) But Steve found a lady who would come into our house and do it for us, and she had the whole room stripped and prepped in ONE day. And she did a fantastic job, too. So Steve said "You don't by any chance paint, do you?" Not only does she paint, but she'll pick the colors out. We told her what Kaylee had been saying she wanted, and she went out this morning, got the paint, and they (she brought in a helper) just finished painting Kaylee's room by 4 p.m. this afternoon. The whole thing. And it looks great. In two days we went from a half torn-up room to a fully stripped, fixed, prepped, painted, and finished room. And she cleaned up after herself, too. She vacuumed up, took out a bag full of trash. I'm slightly amazed. So if anyone needs interior decorating assistance in those areas, this lady is good, fast, thorough, and nice, to boot. Well worth the money. I'm reeeeeally just hoping that Kaylee is pleasantly surprised vs having changed her mind on what colors she wants or something. She was going to go pick out paint colors with her grandma-but now she can pick out accessories for her room. I'm just hoping she'll love it. I think it's lovely. She said she wanted purples. So one wall is a lighter lavendar, and the other three walls are a darker, perfectly matching purple that I think she'll love. She can decorate it however she wants to make it more teenagish too. She's coming home from camp on Friday evening, and it'll be a surprise. I'm looking forward to her seeing it. :)
Steve and I decided we had tough fish. Their tank was dirty, so we chased them all down, even the tiny babies, fished them out with the net, which was fairly traumatizing for them, and plopped them into a pitcher of water. Cleaned their tank, then fished them back out to put them in a plastic baggie (yes, we will go there directly next time) to let them sit in the new water for awhile to equalize temps. Then we dumped them back into their tank. All of this freaked them out, and one baby wouldn't move, just sank to the bottom and floated with the currents, and the next day I couldn't even find it. So I figured we toasted at least one of the buggers with shocking new water and a lot of chasing and moving. This morning Steve saw all three swimming around happily. So, I think this batch of living creatures in the tank might actually stay living for awhile.
I ought to go work on my pictures before I'm forced to go back to work on end of month billing. ;)
I was also supposed to have a student tomorrow, doing pattern work in a 172. I'm not doing that in 100+ degree temps either, as the heat index in the airplane is downright dangerous at that point, and you don't even get high enough to cool off at all, the entire time. So we went today instead, going over to Muncie to do the tower controlled field work for 1.9.
The aerobatic box is still hot for today as the "big boys" practice for the national competition. They're a lot of fun to watch, more fun even than the usual crew, though don't tell them I said so. ;) We're having our own mini airshow at the airport each day. One of them has decided he'd like a full-blown checkout in the T-6. He used to be a pilot for the Red Baron Squadron. That's really cool. If I end up being the one to go with him, I'd give him the particulars on flying this airplane, and then I'll likely get the chance to learn a few things from him, too. Usually we make sure the passengers have barf bags--in this case *I* would be the weak link!
Unfortunately the weather is a little touchy right now all over. The fires in Colorado, Florida is flooding, including where Richard & Ann live, unfortunately. Meanwhile, here in Kokomo we are under a fireworks ban even with the 4th coming up here, and a burning ban as we are bone dry and in high danger of fire. The local resevouirs' beaches are closed due to low water levels. We're about in a drought here...tomorrow is to be 102 with winds up to 30 mph. Yikes...
I'm kind of excited--Kaylee has wanted to redecorate her room for awhile, and Steve started in on taking off the wallpaper we put up when we were expecting her 12 years ago, but we did a really good job putting it on and it did not want to come off. So the project floundered, like many house projects (like my bathroom floor) do. ;) But Steve found a lady who would come into our house and do it for us, and she had the whole room stripped and prepped in ONE day. And she did a fantastic job, too. So Steve said "You don't by any chance paint, do you?" Not only does she paint, but she'll pick the colors out. We told her what Kaylee had been saying she wanted, and she went out this morning, got the paint, and they (she brought in a helper) just finished painting Kaylee's room by 4 p.m. this afternoon. The whole thing. And it looks great. In two days we went from a half torn-up room to a fully stripped, fixed, prepped, painted, and finished room. And she cleaned up after herself, too. She vacuumed up, took out a bag full of trash. I'm slightly amazed. So if anyone needs interior decorating assistance in those areas, this lady is good, fast, thorough, and nice, to boot. Well worth the money. I'm reeeeeally just hoping that Kaylee is pleasantly surprised vs having changed her mind on what colors she wants or something. She was going to go pick out paint colors with her grandma-but now she can pick out accessories for her room. I'm just hoping she'll love it. I think it's lovely. She said she wanted purples. So one wall is a lighter lavendar, and the other three walls are a darker, perfectly matching purple that I think she'll love. She can decorate it however she wants to make it more teenagish too. She's coming home from camp on Friday evening, and it'll be a surprise. I'm looking forward to her seeing it. :)
Steve and I decided we had tough fish. Their tank was dirty, so we chased them all down, even the tiny babies, fished them out with the net, which was fairly traumatizing for them, and plopped them into a pitcher of water. Cleaned their tank, then fished them back out to put them in a plastic baggie (yes, we will go there directly next time) to let them sit in the new water for awhile to equalize temps. Then we dumped them back into their tank. All of this freaked them out, and one baby wouldn't move, just sank to the bottom and floated with the currents, and the next day I couldn't even find it. So I figured we toasted at least one of the buggers with shocking new water and a lot of chasing and moving. This morning Steve saw all three swimming around happily. So, I think this batch of living creatures in the tank might actually stay living for awhile.
I ought to go work on my pictures before I'm forced to go back to work on end of month billing. ;)
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Winging It
The winds and weather cooperated today, so I was able to get a good flight in with a student in the Cub this morning. It was so beautiful out, only 70 some degrees, and I had the door and window pinned open, visibilities were great, and it was just a really pretty morning to fly.
In the afternoon, I had a flight in the T-6 with a gentleman from Germany. He had set up to do a 40-minute flight, and when he got there he asked if we could make it an hour, instead. You betcha. We went up, and he was very quiet. When people are quiet, and you're in the front seat and can't see them, it can be good or not good. Quiet sometimes can be a little awe, or it can be boredom, or it can be somebody's about to get sick. I need a video screen up in the front cockpit that will feed the footage from the camera in the back seat up to where I can see it so I can tell how somebody's doing. ;) Anyway, he wasn't a pilot, but he wanted to do some flying, and he didn't really speak much, just flew around. The thing that threw me was that he wasn't supposedly a pilot, but when I handed the plane over to him, he did increasingly steep banked turns, and he applied the proper back pressure to not put us into a dive, which nobody does, and I'll be doggoned if he wasn't halfway coordinated too, rolling in and out of turns, holding altitude, etc. I got suspicious and said "Are you sure you've never done this before?" I had this random thought that somebody had set me up and was "punking" me, and this guy was one of those aerobatic pilots down here for practice, and was going to unload on me in the Six on somebody's idea of a joke. Finishing off the random thought, I decided that I wouldn't find that funny. But he was just a guy who flew RC airplanes and took directions/instruction really well, apparently. :) But after awhile of him flying around, I was wondering if he was getting bored back there, was wanting me to do something or have him do something else, so I asked him if he was doing all right. He basically said yes, that he just couldn't speak much right now. Good 'nough. :) I looked at the videos from the flight, and he had a smile on his face pretty much the entire time. He laughed when we went upside down. He had a great time. When we landed, Rob Holland, who is a really impressive aerobatic pilot, was out practicing, or "rehearsing" as Ralph Royce (Air Boss for Indy Airshow) calls it, and this gent and his son were fans of Rob. So Jon drove him up to the terminal to get a photo with Rob to send to his son, too. By the time he left, this fellow was one happy camper!
One other thing he'd said was how he would like to learn to fly, but in Germany the cost of flying, the fees, the price of gas, the rules, all made it not something most people can do. He said we were pretty fortunate here. That where he comes from, you can find ultralights and gliders, but 'real' airplanes are tough, and nothing like "this". And I am not in the mood to get into a political rant about where our country is headed in general aviation...
So anyway, it was a good day, productive, donated some time to a Squirrel (flying squirrel, of course), and had a happy customer for an hour flight. Steve, Justin and I ended up eating dinner, way too much dinner, but man it was good. Medium rare fillet, calamari, a delicious portobello mushroom thingy, and I'm still full, and it's past midnight. ;) But food like that was a nice way to end a nice day!
In the afternoon, I had a flight in the T-6 with a gentleman from Germany. He had set up to do a 40-minute flight, and when he got there he asked if we could make it an hour, instead. You betcha. We went up, and he was very quiet. When people are quiet, and you're in the front seat and can't see them, it can be good or not good. Quiet sometimes can be a little awe, or it can be boredom, or it can be somebody's about to get sick. I need a video screen up in the front cockpit that will feed the footage from the camera in the back seat up to where I can see it so I can tell how somebody's doing. ;) Anyway, he wasn't a pilot, but he wanted to do some flying, and he didn't really speak much, just flew around. The thing that threw me was that he wasn't supposedly a pilot, but when I handed the plane over to him, he did increasingly steep banked turns, and he applied the proper back pressure to not put us into a dive, which nobody does, and I'll be doggoned if he wasn't halfway coordinated too, rolling in and out of turns, holding altitude, etc. I got suspicious and said "Are you sure you've never done this before?" I had this random thought that somebody had set me up and was "punking" me, and this guy was one of those aerobatic pilots down here for practice, and was going to unload on me in the Six on somebody's idea of a joke. Finishing off the random thought, I decided that I wouldn't find that funny. But he was just a guy who flew RC airplanes and took directions/instruction really well, apparently. :) But after awhile of him flying around, I was wondering if he was getting bored back there, was wanting me to do something or have him do something else, so I asked him if he was doing all right. He basically said yes, that he just couldn't speak much right now. Good 'nough. :) I looked at the videos from the flight, and he had a smile on his face pretty much the entire time. He laughed when we went upside down. He had a great time. When we landed, Rob Holland, who is a really impressive aerobatic pilot, was out practicing, or "rehearsing" as Ralph Royce (Air Boss for Indy Airshow) calls it, and this gent and his son were fans of Rob. So Jon drove him up to the terminal to get a photo with Rob to send to his son, too. By the time he left, this fellow was one happy camper!
One other thing he'd said was how he would like to learn to fly, but in Germany the cost of flying, the fees, the price of gas, the rules, all made it not something most people can do. He said we were pretty fortunate here. That where he comes from, you can find ultralights and gliders, but 'real' airplanes are tough, and nothing like "this". And I am not in the mood to get into a political rant about where our country is headed in general aviation...
So anyway, it was a good day, productive, donated some time to a Squirrel (flying squirrel, of course), and had a happy customer for an hour flight. Steve, Justin and I ended up eating dinner, way too much dinner, but man it was good. Medium rare fillet, calamari, a delicious portobello mushroom thingy, and I'm still full, and it's past midnight. ;) But food like that was a nice way to end a nice day!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Back to Life
Steve and Richard flew Kaylee to camp on Sunday, and she is on her way to a week of horse riding mayhem. One day out there it's supposed to get up past 100 degrees, but the rest of the week is supposed to be beautiful. She is in "Maple" cabin, and I'm hoping she's having a great time and making friends, and hopefully surviving having to get up early and take fast showers again. ;) Her camp puts up photos every few days, and I just found one photo of her on there, but she's sucking out of a water bottle with a funny look on her face, so you can't tell much.
As I said on Facebook, my Moron Moment of the Day yesterday--I was flying home from Indy with my iPod in and the canopy open on the T-6. I had a loose chunch of snarled-up hair, and rather than drop it onto the floorboard of the airplane, I was going to toss it outside. So, I reach my hand up there and stick it out the side of the canopy wtihout thinking. Next thing I know, my upper arm has slammed into the window brace. I'm doing, what, 150-160 mph up there? You could break a bone doing that, which would pose a problem for a couple of reasons, but fortunately I just got a pretty purple bruise out of it. Brilliant. :eyeroll:
Our water bed is still not back together, as we wait on a new tube to put in and the padding that got soaked to get dry-cleaned. So we spent the night on the couch last night, me on one end, Steve on the other. The guest bedroom wasn't made up, and we were tired--but after that night's sleep, I went in and made up the bed for tonight. I need to be able to roll over, man, and we won't have a bed until at least Friday. ;)
I really didn't want to get up this morning, either, but I had a lesson in the Cub. It was a little windy and gusty for someone trying to learn to land, so we got bounced around a lot, but we got it done. I'm not getting any better at getting in and out of that airplane, and I'm not getting any more fond of sitting in its front seat. I'm not even getting paid for these morning Cub flights, because they are volunteer for the kid program. I'm reminding myself that I'm paying it forward, or back, or something. ;) I do enjoy seeing the kids excited about learning to fly and starting to pick it up.
I spent more time catching up from being gone, doing the things that never stay done. Dishes, laundry, bank, post office, store, picking up stuff for Steve, taking some bins out to the airport, making a few phone calls, catching up on emails, and all that stuff. Steve also decided that tomorrow morning someone was coming in to take care of Kaylee's old wallpaper, so we have to clean out her entire room tonight, moving stuff out of the way, taking everything off the walls, moving the furniture out, vacuuming, just clearing everying out of there.
So, I'm back up early tomorrow to fly in the Cub, and then in the afternoon I have a T-6 ride to give to a guy who who saw us at the Indy air show and is up here temporarily and wants to give it a go. He wanted to fly that day of the show, and we had to tell him he couldn't then...he followed up really fast, that's for sure! So, the show also got us a 40 minute T-6 ride purchase, so hey. :)
Well, time to get back to cleaning out Kaylee's room and getting ready for this lady tomorrow...
As I said on Facebook, my Moron Moment of the Day yesterday--I was flying home from Indy with my iPod in and the canopy open on the T-6. I had a loose chunch of snarled-up hair, and rather than drop it onto the floorboard of the airplane, I was going to toss it outside. So, I reach my hand up there and stick it out the side of the canopy wtihout thinking. Next thing I know, my upper arm has slammed into the window brace. I'm doing, what, 150-160 mph up there? You could break a bone doing that, which would pose a problem for a couple of reasons, but fortunately I just got a pretty purple bruise out of it. Brilliant. :eyeroll:
Our water bed is still not back together, as we wait on a new tube to put in and the padding that got soaked to get dry-cleaned. So we spent the night on the couch last night, me on one end, Steve on the other. The guest bedroom wasn't made up, and we were tired--but after that night's sleep, I went in and made up the bed for tonight. I need to be able to roll over, man, and we won't have a bed until at least Friday. ;)
I really didn't want to get up this morning, either, but I had a lesson in the Cub. It was a little windy and gusty for someone trying to learn to land, so we got bounced around a lot, but we got it done. I'm not getting any better at getting in and out of that airplane, and I'm not getting any more fond of sitting in its front seat. I'm not even getting paid for these morning Cub flights, because they are volunteer for the kid program. I'm reminding myself that I'm paying it forward, or back, or something. ;) I do enjoy seeing the kids excited about learning to fly and starting to pick it up.
I spent more time catching up from being gone, doing the things that never stay done. Dishes, laundry, bank, post office, store, picking up stuff for Steve, taking some bins out to the airport, making a few phone calls, catching up on emails, and all that stuff. Steve also decided that tomorrow morning someone was coming in to take care of Kaylee's old wallpaper, so we have to clean out her entire room tonight, moving stuff out of the way, taking everything off the walls, moving the furniture out, vacuuming, just clearing everying out of there.
So, I'm back up early tomorrow to fly in the Cub, and then in the afternoon I have a T-6 ride to give to a guy who who saw us at the Indy air show and is up here temporarily and wants to give it a go. He wanted to fly that day of the show, and we had to tell him he couldn't then...he followed up really fast, that's for sure! So, the show also got us a 40 minute T-6 ride purchase, so hey. :)
Well, time to get back to cleaning out Kaylee's room and getting ready for this lady tomorrow...
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Indy Airshow
Saturday morning my alarm went off at 6 a.m. and it was time to get up, get ready, and drive another T-6 pilot to the airport with me for a morning formation flight. It ended up just being three of us, because the fourth didn't want to get up that early (not that I blame him). Duane was in my back seat, and Tim G. was lead, and we took off together out of MQJ and did some two-ship stuff until Trey caught up and joined up, at which time they moved me to #3 to make it a little harder. It was a good morning for it, so smooth compared to the last time I flew in Terre Haute that it was almost easy for awhile there. :) We got about an hour in, which was good, and I felt pretty good about it. There are always things to do better on, there were a few things, but...not bad...much smoother from the get-go. I'll take it, anyway.
Unfortunately, that ended up being the only formation flight I got to get in the whole weekend. The T-6 guys didn't want to get up that early for the morning stuff, and after the hot day in the sun all day, flying in the show, etc., they didn't want to go fly again afterwards either. I didn't know that until after the Yaks already flew on Saturday, so I asked if I could fly with them on Sunday afternoon if they went, and they said sure. But a couple of them headed off for home right after the show like all the other T-6 guys did, and the rest were also done for the day, having done a formation photo shoot in the morning, a show in the afternoon, then a ride or two after the show. So, I ran out of people to play with, which was a bit of a bummer considering that's why I was down there instead of up here with Steve and the guys and the Bonanza clinic, where I'd have been able to see Kaylee off to camp for a week, etc. I went down for the formation practice, not the show itself. The show got what they wanted and Duane got what he wanted, so two out of three, I guess. ;) That's the way it works out sometimes. My last time flying formation was a month ago, just two flights, and I had actually retained/improved since then, so that was good to know, and it helps that the rental car, meals, drinks, hotel room and every drop of airplane gas was on the air show's dime. ;)
The show itself went really well for the most part. The Air Boss for that show, Ralph, he's a hoot, and he's very good at what he does. He's the one who was Air Boss last time I flew in the show, and I had a radio failure where I could hear but I couldn't talk, and didn't know it because he was so good at just communicating to me that it wasn't until I went to leave and couldn't reach ground that I realized the radio was not transmitting at all. Anyway, this year there were a lot of warbirds going up. Our group alone was four different groups of airplanes into one very large formation. We had five T-34 Mentors in the first group, followed by five/six Yaks, followed by six T-6s, followed by two Navions. We lined up all those airplanes on the runway at once and did a mass formation takeoff sequence, and the plan was to rejoin in the air. On Sunday, this was accomplished fine. On Saturday, it was a cluster. Airplanes ended up on top of each other, and the group of T-6s behind us ended up blowing right under us. The whole rejoin thing was a true mess, but they got it all together before the first pass in front of the crowd. I played GIB, with Duane flying in the front and me observing and taking photos from the back seat. Saturday I couldn't see a whole lot past my own Vic (three of us). But Sunday we ended up changing around the formation, and for awhile we were in the middle of a very large wedge of 15 airplanes, smoke on many of them, flying around, and that was an awesome view. When you can just sit there and look around instead of having to concentrate and be a good wingman, the view is vastly improved. ;) Seriously though, that was a heck of a sight. It was unusual and rare for me to be able to do that, as they don't allow passengers on these airshow flights. But because Steve called the FAA guy we know, and because the warbird director/guy who put the whole airshow waiver in knows me, they let me do it, and the air boss didn't balk if they didn't. It was a learning flight, not a photo shoot as far as they were concerned, so I tried to keep my camera out of sight whenever we flew past air show center where they were. ;)
Man, it was hot, too. The sun was fierce. I wore a hat, dosed up with sunscreen twice a day, and pracitally never went without a water bottle in my hand. I was STILL dehydrated, badly, headache and all. Unreal! I was so exhausted the first night that I just could not keep my eyes open to even read email or a book, and I fell asleep around 9 pm. The only problem was, I then woke up at 2:23 a.m., about five hours later, feeling like that was as much sleep as I was supposed to get. Oops. ;) The second day I stayed more in the shade, too, didn't stand out in the sun talking to as many people. I still couldn't drink fast enough to keep hydrated properly, but I felt better anyway. Everybody who was down there felt pretty beat up afterwards. It can be brutal out on the ramp in the sun all day.
I really appreciated Jon, Steve C., Zak and his dad Steve T coming out/down with me. For one thing, it would have been kind of lonely and boring down there by myself. But for another, they helped make things easier, setting up the cockpit, the cameras, handing out business cards, answering questions, keeping an eye on the airplane, chasing off children who wanted to hang on the pitot tube, and letting me go eat and schmooze and stuff while knowing the airplane was in good hands. Good ground crew makes all the difference on something. Not that you can't do it by yourself, but it just makes it a lot easier and more fun to have backkup and help.
I ran into several of my students and/or former students down there. One of my current Cub students stopped by to say hi, I ran into another former student who doesn't really actively fly any more, another who does, and then Erin C stopped by to hang out for awhile too. She was a former student who became a former instructor who went on to bigger, better and cooler things, flying King Airs as a civilian contracting to the military. She was sent over to Iraq and all sorts of stuff, has to wear a uniform, but she's still a civvy. She flew jets for awhile, didn't like it and went back to King Airs, currently for the Marines. She's flown for all the branches of military now. Pretty cool! It was great to catch up with her, see how she's doing. I was starting to feel old after the 4th flight student of mine I saw down there, though. :)
One good thing about this weekend, I did get to do some schmoozing. Now, I'm not the best schmoozer, I'll admit, but I did okay this weekend. Talked to two CAF guys about some bidness, talked to one fly-in organizer and one air show organizer who wanted me/us to come to their events, (the airshow just wanted the Mustang but was sucking up to the lowly T-6 to try to get there ;)), talked to a couple of the warbird guys that it doesn't hurt to know, flew with one new Lead who was fairly complimentary, and all in all it was a nice weekend...
I have video and photos both, but it's going to take me awhile to get through them all, and we have stuff we have to do tonight and a busy day tomorrow too. I need time after a weekend in order to process photos, man. :)
Unfortunately, that ended up being the only formation flight I got to get in the whole weekend. The T-6 guys didn't want to get up that early for the morning stuff, and after the hot day in the sun all day, flying in the show, etc., they didn't want to go fly again afterwards either. I didn't know that until after the Yaks already flew on Saturday, so I asked if I could fly with them on Sunday afternoon if they went, and they said sure. But a couple of them headed off for home right after the show like all the other T-6 guys did, and the rest were also done for the day, having done a formation photo shoot in the morning, a show in the afternoon, then a ride or two after the show. So, I ran out of people to play with, which was a bit of a bummer considering that's why I was down there instead of up here with Steve and the guys and the Bonanza clinic, where I'd have been able to see Kaylee off to camp for a week, etc. I went down for the formation practice, not the show itself. The show got what they wanted and Duane got what he wanted, so two out of three, I guess. ;) That's the way it works out sometimes. My last time flying formation was a month ago, just two flights, and I had actually retained/improved since then, so that was good to know, and it helps that the rental car, meals, drinks, hotel room and every drop of airplane gas was on the air show's dime. ;)
The show itself went really well for the most part. The Air Boss for that show, Ralph, he's a hoot, and he's very good at what he does. He's the one who was Air Boss last time I flew in the show, and I had a radio failure where I could hear but I couldn't talk, and didn't know it because he was so good at just communicating to me that it wasn't until I went to leave and couldn't reach ground that I realized the radio was not transmitting at all. Anyway, this year there were a lot of warbirds going up. Our group alone was four different groups of airplanes into one very large formation. We had five T-34 Mentors in the first group, followed by five/six Yaks, followed by six T-6s, followed by two Navions. We lined up all those airplanes on the runway at once and did a mass formation takeoff sequence, and the plan was to rejoin in the air. On Sunday, this was accomplished fine. On Saturday, it was a cluster. Airplanes ended up on top of each other, and the group of T-6s behind us ended up blowing right under us. The whole rejoin thing was a true mess, but they got it all together before the first pass in front of the crowd. I played GIB, with Duane flying in the front and me observing and taking photos from the back seat. Saturday I couldn't see a whole lot past my own Vic (three of us). But Sunday we ended up changing around the formation, and for awhile we were in the middle of a very large wedge of 15 airplanes, smoke on many of them, flying around, and that was an awesome view. When you can just sit there and look around instead of having to concentrate and be a good wingman, the view is vastly improved. ;) Seriously though, that was a heck of a sight. It was unusual and rare for me to be able to do that, as they don't allow passengers on these airshow flights. But because Steve called the FAA guy we know, and because the warbird director/guy who put the whole airshow waiver in knows me, they let me do it, and the air boss didn't balk if they didn't. It was a learning flight, not a photo shoot as far as they were concerned, so I tried to keep my camera out of sight whenever we flew past air show center where they were. ;)
Man, it was hot, too. The sun was fierce. I wore a hat, dosed up with sunscreen twice a day, and pracitally never went without a water bottle in my hand. I was STILL dehydrated, badly, headache and all. Unreal! I was so exhausted the first night that I just could not keep my eyes open to even read email or a book, and I fell asleep around 9 pm. The only problem was, I then woke up at 2:23 a.m., about five hours later, feeling like that was as much sleep as I was supposed to get. Oops. ;) The second day I stayed more in the shade, too, didn't stand out in the sun talking to as many people. I still couldn't drink fast enough to keep hydrated properly, but I felt better anyway. Everybody who was down there felt pretty beat up afterwards. It can be brutal out on the ramp in the sun all day.
I really appreciated Jon, Steve C., Zak and his dad Steve T coming out/down with me. For one thing, it would have been kind of lonely and boring down there by myself. But for another, they helped make things easier, setting up the cockpit, the cameras, handing out business cards, answering questions, keeping an eye on the airplane, chasing off children who wanted to hang on the pitot tube, and letting me go eat and schmooze and stuff while knowing the airplane was in good hands. Good ground crew makes all the difference on something. Not that you can't do it by yourself, but it just makes it a lot easier and more fun to have backkup and help.
I ran into several of my students and/or former students down there. One of my current Cub students stopped by to say hi, I ran into another former student who doesn't really actively fly any more, another who does, and then Erin C stopped by to hang out for awhile too. She was a former student who became a former instructor who went on to bigger, better and cooler things, flying King Airs as a civilian contracting to the military. She was sent over to Iraq and all sorts of stuff, has to wear a uniform, but she's still a civvy. She flew jets for awhile, didn't like it and went back to King Airs, currently for the Marines. She's flown for all the branches of military now. Pretty cool! It was great to catch up with her, see how she's doing. I was starting to feel old after the 4th flight student of mine I saw down there, though. :)
One good thing about this weekend, I did get to do some schmoozing. Now, I'm not the best schmoozer, I'll admit, but I did okay this weekend. Talked to two CAF guys about some bidness, talked to one fly-in organizer and one air show organizer who wanted me/us to come to their events, (the airshow just wanted the Mustang but was sucking up to the lowly T-6 to try to get there ;)), talked to a couple of the warbird guys that it doesn't hurt to know, flew with one new Lead who was fairly complimentary, and all in all it was a nice weekend...
I have video and photos both, but it's going to take me awhile to get through them all, and we have stuff we have to do tonight and a busy day tomorrow too. I need time after a weekend in order to process photos, man. :)
Tomorrow...
I'm home from a weekend at the Indy airshow. You almost couldn't ask for nicer weather--no rain, light winds, blue skies. It was a little toasty, but...being hot is better than having to fly home at night because it was going to storm, or sitting on the ground all day watching the clouds hover below 1000', like last year. Nope, it was a beautiful weekend.
Lots to tell, but it's 11:30 p.m., I'm really tired, and I have a Cub flight in the morning. So I'll just have to get to it later, along with going through the 290 photos I took. ;)
Lots to tell, but it's 11:30 p.m., I'm really tired, and I have a Cub flight in the morning. So I'll just have to get to it later, along with going through the 290 photos I took. ;)
Friday, June 22, 2012
Friday
The day dawned pretty foggy, but it was good enough for me to do a little instruction in the Cub. I was getting ready to leave the house, thinking about that, when my leg got wet sitting on the bed. Our waterbed sprung a leak in one of the tubes, and the water had gotten all over parts of the bed, but at least did not get into the drawers or carpeting underneath. I ended up about 30 minutes late for the lesson, only to be up for 30 minutes before the student called it off for not feeling well. At this point it was too late for me to get to Indy before the airspace closed for the airshow, so I had a wait, which at least I could enjoy having Fried Chicken Friday at the airport, where we had a bunch of taildraggers come in. Six to eight of them or something like that.
When the airspace finally opened, I took the T-6 and headed down to Mt. Comfort for the airshow, taking off as the Bonanza guys were landing for their formation clinic this weekend. It was a beautiful evening down in Indy, and there are 8 T-6s here. I was suppposed to do a formation four-ship, but I had to get my credentials, car, hotel, etc. before they closed, and one guy had to leave, so the others left to go fly w/o me and get one in. Instead, I'll be flying a four-ship in the morning, early, butt crack of dawn early, before the mandatory briefing for the air show starts at 9:30. Not my best performance time, but you gets what you can takes. :) Then we'll probably fly after the show as well, if folks aren't exhausted.
I got to sit and chat with some of the main warbird guys, which was nice, and the free dinner at the warbird tent was...fried chicken and mashed potatoes, etc. lol
We ended the night going to Outback Steakhouse, where I finally got to do what I always want to do, and just got a drink and a dessert. Yum. ;) I found the hotel with only a little hassle. It's not the finest hotel in the world, but I mostly just need a clean bed. They don't have conditioner provided though, which is going to turn my hair into one big fuzzball. Oh well. Like I'm out here to look good anyway.
Off and on throughout the day, little things came in or up to remind me of Devon. Today was the 13th anniversary of his death. I appreciated the emails, the texts, the posts. And I was flying down to Mt. Comfort with my iPod in, the song "I Can Only Imagine" came on, which was a bit of a punch, but out of about 800 songs, it decided to come up today. The time of day, something would pop into my head. At lunch, it was "I was eating lunch and got sick to my stomach and then the paging system called me back up to Devon's room stat", in the evening it was "at this time I was holding him..." and right about as I write this, he was leaving us. Thirteen years, before a Kaylee existed, before a lot of things...he's been whole and healed for 13 years now, leaving a hole behind here. But I believe we will see him again...and for today, as busy as I was, as much as was going on, he was still on my mind and in my heart.
When the airspace finally opened, I took the T-6 and headed down to Mt. Comfort for the airshow, taking off as the Bonanza guys were landing for their formation clinic this weekend. It was a beautiful evening down in Indy, and there are 8 T-6s here. I was suppposed to do a formation four-ship, but I had to get my credentials, car, hotel, etc. before they closed, and one guy had to leave, so the others left to go fly w/o me and get one in. Instead, I'll be flying a four-ship in the morning, early, butt crack of dawn early, before the mandatory briefing for the air show starts at 9:30. Not my best performance time, but you gets what you can takes. :) Then we'll probably fly after the show as well, if folks aren't exhausted.
I got to sit and chat with some of the main warbird guys, which was nice, and the free dinner at the warbird tent was...fried chicken and mashed potatoes, etc. lol
We ended the night going to Outback Steakhouse, where I finally got to do what I always want to do, and just got a drink and a dessert. Yum. ;) I found the hotel with only a little hassle. It's not the finest hotel in the world, but I mostly just need a clean bed. They don't have conditioner provided though, which is going to turn my hair into one big fuzzball. Oh well. Like I'm out here to look good anyway.
Off and on throughout the day, little things came in or up to remind me of Devon. Today was the 13th anniversary of his death. I appreciated the emails, the texts, the posts. And I was flying down to Mt. Comfort with my iPod in, the song "I Can Only Imagine" came on, which was a bit of a punch, but out of about 800 songs, it decided to come up today. The time of day, something would pop into my head. At lunch, it was "I was eating lunch and got sick to my stomach and then the paging system called me back up to Devon's room stat", in the evening it was "at this time I was holding him..." and right about as I write this, he was leaving us. Thirteen years, before a Kaylee existed, before a lot of things...he's been whole and healed for 13 years now, leaving a hole behind here. But I believe we will see him again...and for today, as busy as I was, as much as was going on, he was still on my mind and in my heart.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Prep
"The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest."
Uh-oh. ;)
I've been working on getting ready for this weekend. Again, a bunch of things all going on at once, a bunch of uncertainty, and a bunch of plans changing around, even moreso than is usual for around here. I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow morning, and won't know until a couple people get back to me. I also don't know what I'm doing or when on Saturday. But hey, that's okay!
There was an article on a blog I read, talking about underlying tension of gender roles in pursuit of an egalitarian marriage. Women who work but feel guilty having their husbands help out around the house and with the kids, husbands who try to keep things equal but feel restless and unhappy about it, and basically she was asking about how many women came home from work and felt guilty seeing their husbands cleaning the floor or feeding the kids. All 59 of the comments I saw after that said "Me too!" or some version of that. Proving once again that I (and Steve, for that matter) are the weird ones. I don't feel guilty or weird in the least if I come home from a trip and Steve has taken care of Kaylee or cleaned the bathroom. Nor does he feel unhappy doing it. You divide and conquer, and whomever is home does whatever is needed, with some exceptions where I usually do some tasks and he usually does others, not because they are gender specific, but because I hate scrubbing the bathtub and he doesn't like having to mess with washing the laundry. :)It really bugs me when I hear of ladies whose husbands won't "babysit" the kids so the mom can go do something. Babysit?? They're YOUR kids too! That happens more often than you might think, too. *huff*
Kaylee is packed for camp--she did it all herself tonight while we were at an EAA Chapter meeting. Went down the list and got it all into two bags. I was impressed! I got all her paperwork filled out, signed, and mailed off, got her account set up online for the camp store and such, and she is ready to go.
I'm almost packed for my weekend in Indy, just waiting on the washing machine for the last couple things. I didn't even forget my sunscreen. It's probably going to be a hot weekend, with a lot of walking since I don't have a golf cart this year, a lot of hot sitting under the wing, and a fair amount of hot flying, too. Lots of sweating involved in this one. I'm planning on having a good time anyway. ;)
Uh-oh. ;)
I've been working on getting ready for this weekend. Again, a bunch of things all going on at once, a bunch of uncertainty, and a bunch of plans changing around, even moreso than is usual for around here. I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow morning, and won't know until a couple people get back to me. I also don't know what I'm doing or when on Saturday. But hey, that's okay!
There was an article on a blog I read, talking about underlying tension of gender roles in pursuit of an egalitarian marriage. Women who work but feel guilty having their husbands help out around the house and with the kids, husbands who try to keep things equal but feel restless and unhappy about it, and basically she was asking about how many women came home from work and felt guilty seeing their husbands cleaning the floor or feeding the kids. All 59 of the comments I saw after that said "Me too!" or some version of that. Proving once again that I (and Steve, for that matter) are the weird ones. I don't feel guilty or weird in the least if I come home from a trip and Steve has taken care of Kaylee or cleaned the bathroom. Nor does he feel unhappy doing it. You divide and conquer, and whomever is home does whatever is needed, with some exceptions where I usually do some tasks and he usually does others, not because they are gender specific, but because I hate scrubbing the bathtub and he doesn't like having to mess with washing the laundry. :)It really bugs me when I hear of ladies whose husbands won't "babysit" the kids so the mom can go do something. Babysit?? They're YOUR kids too! That happens more often than you might think, too. *huff*
Kaylee is packed for camp--she did it all herself tonight while we were at an EAA Chapter meeting. Went down the list and got it all into two bags. I was impressed! I got all her paperwork filled out, signed, and mailed off, got her account set up online for the camp store and such, and she is ready to go.
I'm almost packed for my weekend in Indy, just waiting on the washing machine for the last couple things. I didn't even forget my sunscreen. It's probably going to be a hot weekend, with a lot of walking since I don't have a golf cart this year, a lot of hot sitting under the wing, and a fair amount of hot flying, too. Lots of sweating involved in this one. I'm planning on having a good time anyway. ;)
Snippits
In my Aviation eBrief the other day:
"Human Error is a Factor in Private-pilot accidents, NTSB says"
The accident rate among private pilots can often be traced to human error, the NTSB has found. "I don't think you can crash an airplane unless you have broken one and possibly two regulations", said Bruce of AOPA. "If everyone flew to the private-pilot practical test standards, we would have a pretty good system."
Wow. That's...deep. So people making a mistake is what causes accidents. Reeeeeally! Huh. Who'd a thunk it. On the other hand, you can't crash an airplane unless you are breaking a reg or two? Since when is getting slow and uncoordinated on final a reg violation? Or goofing up a bounce recovery or go-around and ending up off the runway with bent things? Or even flying too close to a thunderstorm, which, while admittedly not smart, is not violating any regs either. He was thinking of buzz jobs, fuel exhaustion, and pilots flying into IFR when they aren't rated to do so, but there are a lot of ways that accidents happen and that wasn't a very accurate or intelligent-sounding thing to say.
Amazon is a little scary. If I were paranoid, and I can be on some things, I'd feel like buying my books anonymously from a store would be preferable to having Amazon track everything I get. They just sent me an email that says "Laura: Grisly Reads for Summer! Customers who have purchased mysteries and thrillers might be interested in this selection of titles in three grisly categories: gritty, scary, and horrid." Hey, I just get mysteries, guys. And yet I looked anyway, just to see if their idea of gritty and scary included things like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, whom I do enjoy, for the imagination and great psychological insight they put into their story lines. And there were some things in there that aren't "horrid" at all that I would enjoy. They were right. And that's what is worst of all!
It's been a busy day. Even though I only flew once, for .8 in a 172, where it was hot, in the mid-90s, bumpy, and windy as all get-out, with gusts up to 29 knots that I heard once, the whole day was spent working on this, that and the other. Steve was in worse shape than I was on that stuff, as usual. But I was doing some important last-minute SMA stuff, arranging some things and making phone calls, and working on some important airplane things, doing some stuff for Steve with accounting and banking, and just running around a lot. I'm also trying to get Kaylee's stuff in order for her first round of camp this Summer, which she starts on Sunday. While I'm gone to the Indy AirShow. So, I can't take her, and won't see her the day before, either. :( I need to get paperwork sent in, an online account set up, pre-registration done, all that good stuff, and I need to do it, well, last week. Friday I'm supposed to have a student on a time crunch to finish her license who hasn't been able to fly all week due to weather, but I'm also supposed to do a trip to Michigan in the morning, and I'm supposed to be available and arranging some formation flights too. All other instructors are marked off for Friday, so there's nobody to take the trip, and nobody to take my student, either. The formation stuff, the guy is coming from several states away and would like to fly if possible. Then Friday afternoon/evening I should either be at Nathan's hangar with the Bonanza formation guys, or up at Huntington with the Yak formation guys, or down at Indy with the T-6 formation guys, all three of which I'd like to do, only one of which I can. How's THAT for ironic? ;)
So, welcome to the Funny Farm known as Summer. Today is the first official day of Summer, and I'd have to say...yes, it is!!
"Human Error is a Factor in Private-pilot accidents, NTSB says"
The accident rate among private pilots can often be traced to human error, the NTSB has found. "I don't think you can crash an airplane unless you have broken one and possibly two regulations", said Bruce of AOPA. "If everyone flew to the private-pilot practical test standards, we would have a pretty good system."
Wow. That's...deep. So people making a mistake is what causes accidents. Reeeeeally! Huh. Who'd a thunk it. On the other hand, you can't crash an airplane unless you are breaking a reg or two? Since when is getting slow and uncoordinated on final a reg violation? Or goofing up a bounce recovery or go-around and ending up off the runway with bent things? Or even flying too close to a thunderstorm, which, while admittedly not smart, is not violating any regs either. He was thinking of buzz jobs, fuel exhaustion, and pilots flying into IFR when they aren't rated to do so, but there are a lot of ways that accidents happen and that wasn't a very accurate or intelligent-sounding thing to say.
Amazon is a little scary. If I were paranoid, and I can be on some things, I'd feel like buying my books anonymously from a store would be preferable to having Amazon track everything I get. They just sent me an email that says "Laura: Grisly Reads for Summer! Customers who have purchased mysteries and thrillers might be interested in this selection of titles in three grisly categories: gritty, scary, and horrid." Hey, I just get mysteries, guys. And yet I looked anyway, just to see if their idea of gritty and scary included things like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, whom I do enjoy, for the imagination and great psychological insight they put into their story lines. And there were some things in there that aren't "horrid" at all that I would enjoy. They were right. And that's what is worst of all!
It's been a busy day. Even though I only flew once, for .8 in a 172, where it was hot, in the mid-90s, bumpy, and windy as all get-out, with gusts up to 29 knots that I heard once, the whole day was spent working on this, that and the other. Steve was in worse shape than I was on that stuff, as usual. But I was doing some important last-minute SMA stuff, arranging some things and making phone calls, and working on some important airplane things, doing some stuff for Steve with accounting and banking, and just running around a lot. I'm also trying to get Kaylee's stuff in order for her first round of camp this Summer, which she starts on Sunday. While I'm gone to the Indy AirShow. So, I can't take her, and won't see her the day before, either. :( I need to get paperwork sent in, an online account set up, pre-registration done, all that good stuff, and I need to do it, well, last week. Friday I'm supposed to have a student on a time crunch to finish her license who hasn't been able to fly all week due to weather, but I'm also supposed to do a trip to Michigan in the morning, and I'm supposed to be available and arranging some formation flights too. All other instructors are marked off for Friday, so there's nobody to take the trip, and nobody to take my student, either. The formation stuff, the guy is coming from several states away and would like to fly if possible. Then Friday afternoon/evening I should either be at Nathan's hangar with the Bonanza formation guys, or up at Huntington with the Yak formation guys, or down at Indy with the T-6 formation guys, all three of which I'd like to do, only one of which I can. How's THAT for ironic? ;)
So, welcome to the Funny Farm known as Summer. Today is the first official day of Summer, and I'd have to say...yes, it is!!
Spitfires
I'm sorry--turn up the speakers, loud, close the eyes for about 3 minutes, and I have goosebumps. Magic. ;)
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Grass
I thought this was kind of a neat image that a local photographer put together from the Kokomo Air Show.
Steve and I finally got our time and act together and started moving out my SMA supplies from the barn where we used to store them, and are relocating them now that the house has been sold and the barn belongs to somebody else. :) We took out one Suburban load today, and will have the rest of it out by Friday for sure, maybe tomorrow.
Winds are still messing up my two primaries in taildraggers at the stage where they are. Two days in a row of crosswinds in the 20 knot range with another day forcasting the same for tomorrow, which stinks for them both. I can't even take them to another runway because it's a crosswind no matter what grass strip we go to...and they need it down the runway, or at least close, for a few lessons here. *sigh*
Lots to do tomorrow, best get to bed.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Mondays Aren't All Bad
Not completely true, but still true enough of most folks for it to be funny. :)I put up some photos today. One page was from this weekend on the boat, and the other is from the Kokomo Wings & Wheels airshow. There should be more photos coming from the air show from a few folks, but if some come in, I'll just add them to the page later.
When I fed Kaylee's fish this morning, I saw two babies swimming around in there. She hadn't seen any babies for awhile, so assumed they were eaten by mama fish. Nope--and hopefully they'll get too big for mama fish to want to chomp pretty soon. They're cute little buggers when they're that small.
My flight this afternoon in the Champ was canceled due to crosswinds gusting up over 25 knots, for someone trying to master just getting it down on the ground at all. So far today, I have been just working on various things in silence. I haven't made one phone call, haven't had the TV on once, haven't listened to any music, I've just been soaking up a little quiet while working on a few things around the house, and the dryer tumbling around in the other room doesn't count as anything but pleasant background noise. :)
Steve and Kaylee should be pulling up any time here from their Grand Driving Adventure (which I hear had a nasty pit stop in Effingham with apparently grungy toilets), so I'll turn on the lights, the TV, and get some noise going on in here!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Back
We slept in, hung out on the boat, sometimes in the air conditioning and sometimes on the deck, depending, watched it rain a few times as showers moved through, ate too much, and had a nice day. Kaylee played with her cousin Jasmine a lot and did a great job being for Jasmine what Kaylee's cousins were for her when she was that age. :) Later in the afternoon, Kaylee's friend Kaylee from down the dock arrived, and the two girls even included Jasmine in their playing, which was great. They went out on Other Kaylee's Dad's speedboat, until it started raining, then came back in and waited for it to clear before everyone went out again to go tubing behind the speed boat. (My) Kaylee's great. She asked me several questions about tubing. About procedures, about how it would feel to fall off, if she'd go way under water, if they'd leave her out there, how they'd know if she fell off, etc. I told her that she'd have a spotter, that she'd lift her arms and wave to let them know she had fallen off and that they'd circle back around and come get her, that her life jacket wouldn't let her go under very far or stay under, etc., and she said she was a little nervous but excited. Sure enough, as I knew she would, she went out there, gave it a try, never did fall off, and loved it. She said "I didn't fall off--of course when you're terrorized, it's amazing how tightly you can hold on to something!" but she was kidding. She had the adrenaline thrill action going on, and got to mark off a new experience. I love it when she can do that. :)
Originally I had a flight Monday morning, so I headed home in the RG Sunday night, only to find out that my Monday morning flight was probably off after all. But things are kind of in flux over there right now, so I won't write it off one way or the other just yet. I flew home at night, VFR, with the radio off and the music on, watching the lightning off in the distance. It was a nice evening for a flight. I didn't get back to the airport until 11 pm, home around 11:40 after I put everything away. Tomorrow Steve and Kaylee are driving back in our new-to-us Ford Explorer. We've never driven down to the lake before, so he's not sure how long it will even take (looks like 6 hours or a little less), but hopefully they'll enjoy their road trip. :)
I got some photos, but it's late already, so I'd better get to bed for tonight and work on other stuff tomorrow...
Originally I had a flight Monday morning, so I headed home in the RG Sunday night, only to find out that my Monday morning flight was probably off after all. But things are kind of in flux over there right now, so I won't write it off one way or the other just yet. I flew home at night, VFR, with the radio off and the music on, watching the lightning off in the distance. It was a nice evening for a flight. I didn't get back to the airport until 11 pm, home around 11:40 after I put everything away. Tomorrow Steve and Kaylee are driving back in our new-to-us Ford Explorer. We've never driven down to the lake before, so he's not sure how long it will even take (looks like 6 hours or a little less), but hopefully they'll enjoy their road trip. :)
I got some photos, but it's late already, so I'd better get to bed for tonight and work on other stuff tomorrow...
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Boatin'
I woke up early this morning to dogs barking, but I didn't get up until 8:30 or so. We ate lunch at the Marina, then took the houseboat out onto the lake for awhile. It was oober hot out there today, and muggy, so I stayed in the air conditioning until the boat was under way, then went up on the top deck and enjoyed the shade and the breeze there, reading a new Deaver book, while Steve, Kaylee, her uncle and her cousin Jasmine all went swimming in the lake. Where we went swimming, the water was about 15' deep. Right before we put down anchor, the water was 56' feet deep. The lake is down about 6' at the dock thanks to the drought most of this area of the country, including Indiana, is facing. The kids had a great time, adn I enjoyed a little quiet time with a book, myself. ;)
Dinner in town, way too much to eat and drink, and hanging out with a couple aunts and uncles. Kaylee fell asleep in the car on the way to the restaurant, and I'm about to fall aseep here and now on the computer. Fresh air and sunshine will do that for you. ;)
Dinner in town, way too much to eat and drink, and hanging out with a couple aunts and uncles. Kaylee fell asleep in the car on the way to the restaurant, and I'm about to fall aseep here and now on the computer. Fresh air and sunshine will do that for you. ;)
Friday, June 15, 2012
Lake Effect
My morning started off with Cub flying with a student. Ground reference maneuvers, pattern and take offs and landings took about 1.3 before the student got tired and called Uncle. :) I ran home and finished packing my bags, got Kaylee, and we made it back to the airport in time for burgers for lunch. I was supposed to fly back to St. Louis today to pick up a guy, but he canceled on me, so instead we got our stuff, went out to Kokomo where I met with a couple new students, and then our whole family hopped in the RG and flew a fairly quick hop to Kentucky. There's a little family gathering here, and we purchased a used Ford Explorer from my dad, and Steve will be driving that back home while I fly home, because first thing Monday I've got a trip and then a student, lasting all day.
Right now it's only 11:36 p.m. but I'm wiped out. Lake water can do that to you, I guess. ;)
Right now it's only 11:36 p.m. but I'm wiped out. Lake water can do that to you, I guess. ;)
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Back?
Well, before I left the airport last night after being here for 12 hours, I went out and chained down the airplane, made sure the pitot covers were on, locked up the door, and did my best to secure the plane for the night. I hated putting the chains through, because they scrape the paint off of the tie down rings, but...that's sort of what they're for, and I tried to ease them through carefully. Since I got to utilize my "emergency" bag for the first time, I realized I was only missing two things: Tylenol, just in case, which I took care of at the gift shop, and a hair pick, since I can't use a comb or brush right now. Fortunately, since I have no way to comb my hair, I did remember to bring a ponytail holder for that girl cure-all of bad hair. ;) Everything else fit and worked out great. Good to know--now I need to remember to restock it.
This morning I ate breakfast at the hotel, and I didn't understand why the waiter laughed when I said "Bacon, extra crispy--just burn it." I guess the chef back there had just burnt a batch of bacon and was despairing that it was all wasted, and then I order it that way. I aim to make life easier for as many people as I can, right? ;)
One thing I don't enjoy, and I know it's more me than the rest of humanity, but when I'm on a cab ride, or an elevator ride, why do people feel the need to fill the silence with chatter? I just want to go to my hotel/room, not have a social experience with a stranger, too. Comfortable silence works for me, particularly if the other person isn't a real talker either and is just trying to fill the silence. You can tell, and if I get someone who is really friendly, outgoing and chatty, that's easy enough, and they do most of the work anyway. But when they ask a question and expect you to fill in all the blanks all the way there and neither one of you actually feel like talking...just let it be companionable silence. :)
I do have to say, the FBO we went to has been incredibly helpful. We went to the Jet Center even though we aren't in a jet, which generally we do not do. But the other FBO just doesn't have hardly anything. So we paid a higher ramp fee for the better amenities, and in this case it pretty much saved the day. The lady behind the counter found a hotel room for me on a booked-out day, had it set up through her own email address, hooked me up with a cab, and this morning sent an FBO guy out to pick me up at the hotel no charge. The other FBO doesn't even have a car. I tipped like a jet jockey, because 1) they earned it and 2) I'm at a jet jockey place. A smallish jet, not a jumbo jet, though. ;)
The guys came dragging back, exhausted after working pretty much through the whole night, and permeated with sewage smell even after having showered and washed their clothes twice before coming out. Poor guys...
I did a quickie maintenance test flight in 32L, picked up Subway for dinner, and finally made it home about 24 hours after I was supposed to, in time to pack a real bag for a weekend reunion-and-pick-up-a-vehicle-we're-buying thing in Kentucky. We were leaving tomorrow/Friday and not coming back until Monday. Then I got an email here at 11 pm asking if I could do a flight tomorrow evening and Monday morning both. This was after rearranging Friday's busy schedule three times, and Monday once, already. I guess things can't go too smoothly all the time, huh? ;)
Here's the view from my hotel room last night. I was in much better shape than the poor guys working in a sludge disaster until 2:30 a.m. and back at it by 5, that's for sure.
This morning I ate breakfast at the hotel, and I didn't understand why the waiter laughed when I said "Bacon, extra crispy--just burn it." I guess the chef back there had just burnt a batch of bacon and was despairing that it was all wasted, and then I order it that way. I aim to make life easier for as many people as I can, right? ;)
One thing I don't enjoy, and I know it's more me than the rest of humanity, but when I'm on a cab ride, or an elevator ride, why do people feel the need to fill the silence with chatter? I just want to go to my hotel/room, not have a social experience with a stranger, too. Comfortable silence works for me, particularly if the other person isn't a real talker either and is just trying to fill the silence. You can tell, and if I get someone who is really friendly, outgoing and chatty, that's easy enough, and they do most of the work anyway. But when they ask a question and expect you to fill in all the blanks all the way there and neither one of you actually feel like talking...just let it be companionable silence. :)
I do have to say, the FBO we went to has been incredibly helpful. We went to the Jet Center even though we aren't in a jet, which generally we do not do. But the other FBO just doesn't have hardly anything. So we paid a higher ramp fee for the better amenities, and in this case it pretty much saved the day. The lady behind the counter found a hotel room for me on a booked-out day, had it set up through her own email address, hooked me up with a cab, and this morning sent an FBO guy out to pick me up at the hotel no charge. The other FBO doesn't even have a car. I tipped like a jet jockey, because 1) they earned it and 2) I'm at a jet jockey place. A smallish jet, not a jumbo jet, though. ;)
The guys came dragging back, exhausted after working pretty much through the whole night, and permeated with sewage smell even after having showered and washed their clothes twice before coming out. Poor guys...
I did a quickie maintenance test flight in 32L, picked up Subway for dinner, and finally made it home about 24 hours after I was supposed to, in time to pack a real bag for a weekend reunion-and-pick-up-a-vehicle-we're-buying thing in Kentucky. We were leaving tomorrow/Friday and not coming back until Monday. Then I got an email here at 11 pm asking if I could do a flight tomorrow evening and Monday morning both. This was after rearranging Friday's busy schedule three times, and Monday once, already. I guess things can't go too smoothly all the time, huh? ;)
Here's the view from my hotel room last night. I was in much better shape than the poor guys working in a sludge disaster until 2:30 a.m. and back at it by 5, that's for sure.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Best Laid Plans
This was the first morning I've had to get up at 6 a.m. for awhile, and it wasn't as bad as I expected, although the mid-afternoon-slump is certainly kicking in. I think part of the ease of waking up was that I was in the middle of a really weird and not all that pleasant dream, so when my alarm went off, my brain was happy to get out of where it was. ;)
We ran into a bit of delay taking off today, needing to climb tall ladders and inspect doors and make sure we weren't going to hurt anyone or anything or damage a door worse than it was. But finally we were on our way to St. Louis, on a severe clear, nice and smooth morning.
Of the two guys I was flying today, I'd never met one of them before. As we got into the plane, I said "When we close the door and you get a whiff of strong chemical smell, that's my hair. I think it's only fair for you to take that without complaining after all the times I've dealt with the odor of poop in here." ;)
I was sitting in the FBO here, when a voice said "Laura??" It was a pilot who recognized me from an air show briefing at Indy a couple years ago. How wild is that? (I look quite lovely today, with that newly permed hair thing going on, but nothing I can do about it but try to stay downwind of the overhead fans and smile.) He introduced me to some companions, and said "Laura's a real Mustang pilot--not a wannabe like the rest of us." What?! No! Groan. Not bloody likely. Where did that come from? I said "No, I'm more a T-6 pilot." One gent said "What's that?" :) We talked for awhile-they were on their way on a trip too, and it was just kind of weird to run into someone like that at a random airport. Particularly when I wouldn't have known him from Adam, but he recognized me. I find myself at a disadvantage, here. ;)
Well, after spending the day at the St. Louis airport, I found myself getting a text that this was going to be an unexpected overnighter. Fortunately I have kept my "Go-to" tiny little bag packed ever since the Mississippi Debacle, so I had contact solution, a clean change of clothes, reading glasses, the whole ball of wax in the little bag in the plane, making it sort of a non-event, other than the students I had scheduled from 9 a.m. through to 6 p.m. tomorrow. Apparently there is a series of Cardinal games going on in St. Louis right now, and all the hotels were booked up. And then one opened up with a room from someone who didn't show up, which I snagged fast. I got a cab ride over to the hotel, and the credit card reader didn't work in the cab. We sat there for 15 minutes before it halfway got resolved, but hey, I wasn't in a hurry. I went down to the restaurant to have some dessert and drinks. Sometime around 10 p.m. a large group of folks came in who were in Party mode from some convention or other. Guys in suits, all the women in short evening gowns, all looking. The noise level went up past what Rainman Laura can handle, so after shopping at the Gift Shop and wandering around to the various stores in the hotel, I headed up to my room on the 13th floor, which they renamed as the 14th floor in hopes that people wouldn't notice that the elevator goes from 12 to 14. ;) You know, I need to stick a swim suit in my "go to bag", if I can cram in it the little area. The hot tub looked inviting, and was deserted. There's a nice way to relax at the end of a day.... :)
We ran into a bit of delay taking off today, needing to climb tall ladders and inspect doors and make sure we weren't going to hurt anyone or anything or damage a door worse than it was. But finally we were on our way to St. Louis, on a severe clear, nice and smooth morning.
Of the two guys I was flying today, I'd never met one of them before. As we got into the plane, I said "When we close the door and you get a whiff of strong chemical smell, that's my hair. I think it's only fair for you to take that without complaining after all the times I've dealt with the odor of poop in here." ;)
I was sitting in the FBO here, when a voice said "Laura??" It was a pilot who recognized me from an air show briefing at Indy a couple years ago. How wild is that? (I look quite lovely today, with that newly permed hair thing going on, but nothing I can do about it but try to stay downwind of the overhead fans and smile.) He introduced me to some companions, and said "Laura's a real Mustang pilot--not a wannabe like the rest of us." What?! No! Groan. Not bloody likely. Where did that come from? I said "No, I'm more a T-6 pilot." One gent said "What's that?" :) We talked for awhile-they were on their way on a trip too, and it was just kind of weird to run into someone like that at a random airport. Particularly when I wouldn't have known him from Adam, but he recognized me. I find myself at a disadvantage, here. ;)
Well, after spending the day at the St. Louis airport, I found myself getting a text that this was going to be an unexpected overnighter. Fortunately I have kept my "Go-to" tiny little bag packed ever since the Mississippi Debacle, so I had contact solution, a clean change of clothes, reading glasses, the whole ball of wax in the little bag in the plane, making it sort of a non-event, other than the students I had scheduled from 9 a.m. through to 6 p.m. tomorrow. Apparently there is a series of Cardinal games going on in St. Louis right now, and all the hotels were booked up. And then one opened up with a room from someone who didn't show up, which I snagged fast. I got a cab ride over to the hotel, and the credit card reader didn't work in the cab. We sat there for 15 minutes before it halfway got resolved, but hey, I wasn't in a hurry. I went down to the restaurant to have some dessert and drinks. Sometime around 10 p.m. a large group of folks came in who were in Party mode from some convention or other. Guys in suits, all the women in short evening gowns, all looking. The noise level went up past what Rainman Laura can handle, so after shopping at the Gift Shop and wandering around to the various stores in the hotel, I headed up to my room on the 13th floor, which they renamed as the 14th floor in hopes that people wouldn't notice that the elevator goes from 12 to 14. ;) You know, I need to stick a swim suit in my "go to bag", if I can cram in it the little area. The hot tub looked inviting, and was deserted. There's a nice way to relax at the end of a day.... :)
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Spiraling
Happy Birthday to Ernie, yesterday, that young fellow. :)
I went to a different hairdresser today, who brought the curly back. Of course it's too curly to start with, but will loosen up. She did ask me if I had stimulated my scalp much this morning. Did I what? No. Not that I know of, but I guess you could ask it. Ba da Bum.
Apparently if you stimulate your scalp a lot before a perm, the chemicals can burn it a little. See, this is an informative blog in which you can learn something new now and then. ;)
Today was the last day I had to get a few things done (like that) for awhile, so I ran around and did them throughout the afternoon, before taking Kaylee out for some ice cream. The rest of this week through the weekend gets so busy with lessons and trips that I didn't have a good time to fit in a 1-hour-flight with someone until next week.
Giddy-up!
I went to a different hairdresser today, who brought the curly back. Of course it's too curly to start with, but will loosen up. She did ask me if I had stimulated my scalp much this morning. Did I what? No. Not that I know of, but I guess you could ask it. Ba da Bum.
Apparently if you stimulate your scalp a lot before a perm, the chemicals can burn it a little. See, this is an informative blog in which you can learn something new now and then. ;)
Today was the last day I had to get a few things done (like that) for awhile, so I ran around and did them throughout the afternoon, before taking Kaylee out for some ice cream. The rest of this week through the weekend gets so busy with lessons and trips that I didn't have a good time to fit in a 1-hour-flight with someone until next week.
Giddy-up!
Monday, June 11, 2012
Awesomeness
I did a little girl maintenance today, and I had a really hard time not grinning at my assigned hairdresser.
Me: "I just want all the dead ends, split ends, and damaged parts cut off, because I am going to go get a perm tomorrow."
Her: "You ARE??" in this terribly disappointed voice.
This from the young lady with dark purple, lime green and orange frizzed out hair, two facial piercings, and a series of vivid tattooes that ran from her shoulder up to her chin.
"But perms are not the best way to go. And you have such nice hair, a nice wave in it already."
Me: "That's not natural, that's the perm I got last year, from you guys, which is pretty much gone now."
Then she asked me about coloring my hair, and I said I don't, that's just layers of various times of year...it grows in dark in the winter, bleaches out in the summer. She did like my multi-colored hair, even if it wasn't quite as vivid as hers. ;)
The day had no flights, so I spent it doing typical house maintenance, restocking runs, and the usual errands and activities. Kaylee read, created fake mustaches out of paper for us all to wear, designed me a "Seal of Approval" certificate, read another book, and generally caused Kaylee mayhem.
I think most of us have recuperated from the weekend. One down, many, many to go. :)
Greg Morehead took these out of the back seat of the Mustang Friday night. Pure Awesomeness.
Me: "I just want all the dead ends, split ends, and damaged parts cut off, because I am going to go get a perm tomorrow."
Her: "You ARE??" in this terribly disappointed voice.
This from the young lady with dark purple, lime green and orange frizzed out hair, two facial piercings, and a series of vivid tattooes that ran from her shoulder up to her chin.
"But perms are not the best way to go. And you have such nice hair, a nice wave in it already."
Me: "That's not natural, that's the perm I got last year, from you guys, which is pretty much gone now."
Then she asked me about coloring my hair, and I said I don't, that's just layers of various times of year...it grows in dark in the winter, bleaches out in the summer. She did like my multi-colored hair, even if it wasn't quite as vivid as hers. ;)
The day had no flights, so I spent it doing typical house maintenance, restocking runs, and the usual errands and activities. Kaylee read, created fake mustaches out of paper for us all to wear, designed me a "Seal of Approval" certificate, read another book, and generally caused Kaylee mayhem.
I think most of us have recuperated from the weekend. One down, many, many to go. :)
Greg Morehead took these out of the back seat of the Mustang Friday night. Pure Awesomeness.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Dragging Tail
This time I am not referring to airplanes, either. :)
It is 6:30 p.m., and Kaylee is lying in her bed, under a blanket, staring at her fish. She slept for 2 hours prior to that, and when I made her wake up, she's been there ever since. I took a two-hour nap this afternoon too, and woke up still feeling like somebody beat me. Steve did the same. Kaylee played hard all day, so okay, I see why she's tired. Steve worked most of the day, so I see why he's tired. Why am *I* tired? I flew a couple of times, walked around a little, schmoozed just a bit, I was busy now and then, sure, but then I sat in the chairs and hung out. Apparently that was more tiring than you would expect!
This family is officially whupped.
Let's see. One of Kaylee's fish died, Marshmallow I believe. He got stuck in the plant, or she thought he did, and she tried to scoop him out of there, and then she called me in, and I pulled apart the plant without touching him, but he swam crooked from then on, and was dead by morning. Steve flushed him before Kaylee woke up, so I just had to tell her he was dead when she woke up, and then we were gone at the airport all day where she had a great time, so she didn't have much time to dwell on it. She's been okay, even with the fact that she thinks there's only one surviving baby left too. Though I haven't seen that baby in a day or two either, come to think of it.
I went ahead and committed to go down to the Indy Air Show in a couple weeks. I did not commit to fly in the show, but I said I'd go down. The group of Yaks asked me to do a four-ship fly-over of a parade with them that morning, then go down to Indy together, and do some formation practice stuff that weekend before and after the show. At the same time, there should be a four-ship of T-6 guys there that I'm supposed to be able to fly with too, before and after the show. A girl can't get a dance and then she's got two partners asking at the same time. ;) Hopefully weather cooperates and I can get some flights in. That also means I'll probably end up spending the night in a hotel down there (they pay for that usually), which will work out because Kaylee is going off to camp anyway, and Steve will be up here with Nathan at the Bonanza formation clinic; I am sort of bummed I won't be around to say hi to those guys, but I'll be busy enough.
Justin took the picture of Kaylee in the back seat of the Six that I posted yesterday, and he's got more pictures of the Kokomo Airshow, as do a couple other folks, so when I get up the energy I'll put them up on my website. I did not take one solitary photo. Unless you count the picture my GoPro camera took of the palm of my hand when I went to turn it on prior to flying in the show. ;) But soon I'll get some pictures up...
It is 6:30 p.m., and Kaylee is lying in her bed, under a blanket, staring at her fish. She slept for 2 hours prior to that, and when I made her wake up, she's been there ever since. I took a two-hour nap this afternoon too, and woke up still feeling like somebody beat me. Steve did the same. Kaylee played hard all day, so okay, I see why she's tired. Steve worked most of the day, so I see why he's tired. Why am *I* tired? I flew a couple of times, walked around a little, schmoozed just a bit, I was busy now and then, sure, but then I sat in the chairs and hung out. Apparently that was more tiring than you would expect!
This family is officially whupped.
Let's see. One of Kaylee's fish died, Marshmallow I believe. He got stuck in the plant, or she thought he did, and she tried to scoop him out of there, and then she called me in, and I pulled apart the plant without touching him, but he swam crooked from then on, and was dead by morning. Steve flushed him before Kaylee woke up, so I just had to tell her he was dead when she woke up, and then we were gone at the airport all day where she had a great time, so she didn't have much time to dwell on it. She's been okay, even with the fact that she thinks there's only one surviving baby left too. Though I haven't seen that baby in a day or two either, come to think of it.
I went ahead and committed to go down to the Indy Air Show in a couple weeks. I did not commit to fly in the show, but I said I'd go down. The group of Yaks asked me to do a four-ship fly-over of a parade with them that morning, then go down to Indy together, and do some formation practice stuff that weekend before and after the show. At the same time, there should be a four-ship of T-6 guys there that I'm supposed to be able to fly with too, before and after the show. A girl can't get a dance and then she's got two partners asking at the same time. ;) Hopefully weather cooperates and I can get some flights in. That also means I'll probably end up spending the night in a hotel down there (they pay for that usually), which will work out because Kaylee is going off to camp anyway, and Steve will be up here with Nathan at the Bonanza formation clinic; I am sort of bummed I won't be around to say hi to those guys, but I'll be busy enough.
Justin took the picture of Kaylee in the back seat of the Six that I posted yesterday, and he's got more pictures of the Kokomo Airshow, as do a couple other folks, so when I get up the energy I'll put them up on my website. I did not take one solitary photo. Unless you count the picture my GoPro camera took of the palm of my hand when I went to turn it on prior to flying in the show. ;) But soon I'll get some pictures up...
Saturday, June 09, 2012
A Wing and a Prayer
The Kokomo Air Show is starting to remind me a little bit of the BBQ Bash. We used to just do the BBQ Bash on Saturday. Then Friday, which was the set-up day, became kind of the "our crew" day, and we'd do something on it for fun too, and then Friday grew into sort of part of the Bash, with a dinner, and sometimes a movie, and flying, and hanging out. And then it expanded to Sunday to finish up rides, etc. This is the third year for the Kokomo show, on Saturday. Now Friday is a set-up day, kind of becoming a crew day, where we're starting to do some things, have kind of a fun day too. No Sundays though. We need Sunday to recuperate!
Friday morning I had a fly-over at Delphi in the Six, and Kaylee came with me. We turned on a new camera to test it out, and other than realizing I was going to have to get and keep a ponytail holder in there and get my hair out of the way, the
camera worked pretty well. Kaylee said she liked the fly-over, although I bored her at first because I was up a little early and circling out of the way with my atomic clock just to make sure I wasn't late. Where I was to fly over, part of my path was close to a series of three towers, so I had kind of a weird-looking turnaround, and I pulled up over/around one of them, then did a sorta-tight diving turn back in to get lined back up. Kaylee did a little squeal from the back seat, laughed and said "Ooh! My legs just went numb!" She liked it though. :) I landed at Glenndale so we could have some baked spaghetti with the lunch gang, and we had a couple of visitors that joined us too, including a couple of FAA guys that Steve took around with him all day, who were there for our Friday waivered airspace practice run for the show. The presence of the FAA guys meant that on takeoff out of Kokomo I exited the pattern on a 45 to the left downwind and that I did not check the runway for any obstacles prior to landing at Glenndale...
The rest of Friday was spent at Kokomo. I got to start up the Mustang, and she ran so smooooooth. Later, Greg (photographer) went in the back of the Mustang with Nathan, and he was so excited--Trey got some great shots. The time of day, sunset, the lighting, it was just a beautiful, beautiful evening. Steve went on his first L-29 ride with Greg that same evening, and they tore up the skies for awhile there, had a good time doing some, er, practice passes for the show. Yeah, that was it! I sat on the ground on a golf cart and watched everybody else go fly instead of getting something out myself, which is sort of wrong. But I greatly enjoyed the view. :)
We stayed out at the hangar, sitting around a fire, until about midnight. We probably kept the FAA guy awake in his trailer where he was camping out for the weekend, but that's the risk you take. ;)
Saturday morning as usual seemed to come a little early. I had to drag Kaylee with me because Steve had already left, and she did Not want to get up and get moving. I was supposed to be at Kokomo by 8 a.m. so I could be there and ready to go on a photo shoot flight. As we were driving to the airport, juuuust on time, Kaylee said "I forgot to feed my fish!" That was a very bad thing, and I wasn't going to turn around, so she texted Grandpa and asked if he would mind feeding her fish for her, which of course he happily went over and did. Tragedy averted. ;)
The photo shoot, they were supposed to call around 8 and let us know they were coming. They still hadn't called by 9:30, and now I'm thinking "We're going to run tight on the mandatory briefing for the airshow soon." But finally they did call, and they were on their way. Right when I was trying to take off to meet up with them, a bunch of people arrived at once and I had to wait quite awhile to launch. The photoshoot itself was a cluster, starting with no radio communications and moving into them having no and I mean zero comprehension of what we needed or asked them to do. It finally got cut short, after the photographer got about one good picture, and we went back to Kokomo, where it ended with a go-around on final after a no-radio taildragger appeared in front of me. Pretty little plane, too, red and cream. So, 10:30 a.m. and we're already hot and sweaty. ;)
We started the show with the warbirds so Dave R. could come, be warbird boss, fly in the show, etc. We are always really glad to have him come, and he always has a good time at our little shindig, which is a great, positive statement about it. Next up came the aerobatic guys, the novelty acts, the jets, then a couple more novelty acts. One act had to change from a two-person act to a one-person act, and Steve had to call his first "Knock it Off" as Air Boss, but all ended well. The crowd thinned out at some point there, but it was a nice turn-out, and you couldn't ask for a better weather day for an air show.
To end the festivities, Steve T. cooked up these big, delicious burgers and we had a last meal out at the hangar before packing it up and getting home around 11 p.m. We all went to bed dirty and tired, but satisfied with a day well-accomplished.
Friday morning I had a fly-over at Delphi in the Six, and Kaylee came with me. We turned on a new camera to test it out, and other than realizing I was going to have to get and keep a ponytail holder in there and get my hair out of the way, the
camera worked pretty well. Kaylee said she liked the fly-over, although I bored her at first because I was up a little early and circling out of the way with my atomic clock just to make sure I wasn't late. Where I was to fly over, part of my path was close to a series of three towers, so I had kind of a weird-looking turnaround, and I pulled up over/around one of them, then did a sorta-tight diving turn back in to get lined back up. Kaylee did a little squeal from the back seat, laughed and said "Ooh! My legs just went numb!" She liked it though. :) I landed at Glenndale so we could have some baked spaghetti with the lunch gang, and we had a couple of visitors that joined us too, including a couple of FAA guys that Steve took around with him all day, who were there for our Friday waivered airspace practice run for the show. The presence of the FAA guys meant that on takeoff out of Kokomo I exited the pattern on a 45 to the left downwind and that I did not check the runway for any obstacles prior to landing at Glenndale...The rest of Friday was spent at Kokomo. I got to start up the Mustang, and she ran so smooooooth. Later, Greg (photographer) went in the back of the Mustang with Nathan, and he was so excited--Trey got some great shots. The time of day, sunset, the lighting, it was just a beautiful, beautiful evening. Steve went on his first L-29 ride with Greg that same evening, and they tore up the skies for awhile there, had a good time doing some, er, practice passes for the show. Yeah, that was it! I sat on the ground on a golf cart and watched everybody else go fly instead of getting something out myself, which is sort of wrong. But I greatly enjoyed the view. :)
We stayed out at the hangar, sitting around a fire, until about midnight. We probably kept the FAA guy awake in his trailer where he was camping out for the weekend, but that's the risk you take. ;)
Saturday morning as usual seemed to come a little early. I had to drag Kaylee with me because Steve had already left, and she did Not want to get up and get moving. I was supposed to be at Kokomo by 8 a.m. so I could be there and ready to go on a photo shoot flight. As we were driving to the airport, juuuust on time, Kaylee said "I forgot to feed my fish!" That was a very bad thing, and I wasn't going to turn around, so she texted Grandpa and asked if he would mind feeding her fish for her, which of course he happily went over and did. Tragedy averted. ;)
The photo shoot, they were supposed to call around 8 and let us know they were coming. They still hadn't called by 9:30, and now I'm thinking "We're going to run tight on the mandatory briefing for the airshow soon." But finally they did call, and they were on their way. Right when I was trying to take off to meet up with them, a bunch of people arrived at once and I had to wait quite awhile to launch. The photoshoot itself was a cluster, starting with no radio communications and moving into them having no and I mean zero comprehension of what we needed or asked them to do. It finally got cut short, after the photographer got about one good picture, and we went back to Kokomo, where it ended with a go-around on final after a no-radio taildragger appeared in front of me. Pretty little plane, too, red and cream. So, 10:30 a.m. and we're already hot and sweaty. ;)
We started the show with the warbirds so Dave R. could come, be warbird boss, fly in the show, etc. We are always really glad to have him come, and he always has a good time at our little shindig, which is a great, positive statement about it. Next up came the aerobatic guys, the novelty acts, the jets, then a couple more novelty acts. One act had to change from a two-person act to a one-person act, and Steve had to call his first "Knock it Off" as Air Boss, but all ended well. The crowd thinned out at some point there, but it was a nice turn-out, and you couldn't ask for a better weather day for an air show.
To end the festivities, Steve T. cooked up these big, delicious burgers and we had a last meal out at the hangar before packing it up and getting home around 11 p.m. We all went to bed dirty and tired, but satisfied with a day well-accomplished.
Kokomo Air Show
Well, Steve is asleep, Kaylee's asleep, and I'm ready to be asleep, but the Third Annual Kokomo Air Show is in the history books successfully. The mayor of Kokomo was there most of the afternoon and was really happy with how everything turned out, and said that next year, if we give him a 2 month notice, the city itself will promote the airshow. So that's kind of neat. :)
Lots to talk about, but I didn't get enough sleep last night and I'm too fuzzy to get anywhere tonight. One fellow sent on some pictures he took today, and this was taken this morning on the way to do a photo shoot, which was the weirdest photo shoot I've done yet, which I was just amused by until I found out they said they circled the water out there for 35 minutes and would have probably kept going forever if they didn't call it off, and they had no idea, no idea at all, that they were the ones goofing up the whole shoot. Now, I've done an embarrassingly bad job a time or two too, but holy macaroni they took 'bad' to a whole new and impressive level...anyway, Mr. H took this picture as we were taxiing out to go on this epic photo shoot.
I didn't used to use the pull down visor, but sunglasses push into the sides of my head under that helmet, and the visor actually covers more area. So I may look like a bug, but it's more comfortable and I can see better, so...
Boy is it time to go to bed. *Yawn*
Lots to talk about, but I didn't get enough sleep last night and I'm too fuzzy to get anywhere tonight. One fellow sent on some pictures he took today, and this was taken this morning on the way to do a photo shoot, which was the weirdest photo shoot I've done yet, which I was just amused by until I found out they said they circled the water out there for 35 minutes and would have probably kept going forever if they didn't call it off, and they had no idea, no idea at all, that they were the ones goofing up the whole shoot. Now, I've done an embarrassingly bad job a time or two too, but holy macaroni they took 'bad' to a whole new and impressive level...anyway, Mr. H took this picture as we were taxiing out to go on this epic photo shoot.
I didn't used to use the pull down visor, but sunglasses push into the sides of my head under that helmet, and the visor actually covers more area. So I may look like a bug, but it's more comfortable and I can see better, so...Boy is it time to go to bed. *Yawn*
Thursday, June 07, 2012
When Pigs Fly
From the time I woke up until about 5:30 p.m., it was a pretty non-stop day. I caught a ride over to Muncie to pick up the 340. On my way home, I shot two practice ILS approaches using the autopilot. I hand fly most of the approaches in there because 1) it's so easy and 2) it keeps me current, but then the one time recently I went to shoot an approach and use the autopilot, I messed it up. So today I did two of them, set up the autopilot properly on the first one, and it was fine, and on the second one I let the glideslope and localizer both get off pretty far on purpose, then engaged the autopilot and let it "fix" it. It made some wild gyrations, on pitch in particular, but it got it under control. It's not any better to get rusty on the technology than it is to get rusty on the actual skill. So, problem fixed. :)
At lunch I had to get my food early and bug out to be on time for my lesson, a checkout flight in the Cub. Power off and on stalls, steep turns, slow flight, 3-point landings and wheel landings with a 40 degree crosswind at only 9 knots or so. Later in the evening, Dale gave me a wink and a comment about one of the landings I rescued, said he was glad to see I was in there after he watched the landing. A person has to learn somehow, and you don't learn by always doing it right or by having someone else do it for you. So sometimes they get interesting...
Right when I finished with him I had to drive to Kokomo, pick up the RG and fly over to Muncie. The gent there decided for a change of pace that he was going to sit right seat and have me do all the flying while he observed and took notes. He said he wanted to see how it looked when a professional did it. I wanted to joke and say "Let me see if I can find you one", but I didn't. I also had trouble not laughing, because, well, do you watch NCIS? If so, you know Gibbs has rules. CFIs have rules too, and one of them is "NEVER say to a student 'Here, I'll show you one.'" because you WILL botch it and embarrass yourself. ;) Many CFIs get rusty flying skills because they sit and critique more than they have their hands on a yoke/stick themselves. Fortunately I'm pretty current, so I figured why not break the rule. ;) So he observed and made notes while I did a takeoff, set up for cruise, flew around, did some maneuvers, then shot a full ILS 32 back in, followed by a landing. Afterwards we sat in the plane and went over his notes on how I did things, and why, and he said he learned a lot that way and that he enjoyed it. I will be paid for flying the airplane myself the entire time, and I will admit it's a little different to be observed and noted, but if you think about it, it's a good way to learn something now and then too. Going on a trip and seeing how to do it outside the training environment, weather and radios, for example.
Kaylee went to a friend's house this afternoon, until almost 9 p.m., and I'm not sure what exactly it was (Steve set up the "play date" so he'll probably tell me after he reads this), but they ended up at a hog BBQ party thing. You walk in and there's a whole dead pig there all roasted up, and people eating BBQ. I guess Kaylee walked in, saw the pig, stuck her hands over her face for awhile and decided she wasn't hungry. Except for the hands in front of my face, that is EXACTLY the reaction I had when Steve took me to my first ever Hog Roast in Kokomo with a big dead pig with an apple in its mouth all cut open and flies all over it. N A S T Y (if that's not the way you normally have to eat to survive). The difference is, Kaylee later decided to eat the meat, once somebody served it out of a crock pot. I didn't. The flies did me in. ;) I remember when we were going to do a BBQ Bash, originally Steve was going to do the whole pig like that, because that's how Hoosiers do (did) it apparently, and I'm the one who was all "Aw, no, heck no, I am not looking at that poor disgusting thing all day, c'mon..." so he just went with the way we still do it today; they kill a pig I don't have to look at and put the meat in little bins, thank you very much.
Apparently there was also some kind of sale going on too, because she was telling me about how they were herding pigs up ramps with electric prods and "shocking" and jolting the pigs to get them to move, and how one pig was stuck between other pigs and they just held the "shocker" on it and it was shaking but it couldn't go anywhere, and how the one they were eating died when it was shocked and ran and broke a leg and they killed it and were eating it tonight, and all this stuff. The other day we were talking about how I felt sort of bad for steaming alive lobsters, not that it stopped me from highly enjoying them, and Trey said "So there IS a heart in Laura S., and I think we might be actually seeing it? It's real??" Ironic that I'm bothered more by the plight of innocent dumb animals than I am not-so-innocent and still sometimes dumb humans, huh? ;) But yeah, that does sort of bother me, so call me Nancy if you want, but...kill them, eat them, yes. But unnecessarily mean just seems...unnecessarily mean. And hacking up the carcass and leaving it out crawling in flies in America 2012 just seems unnecessarily macabre for my tastes, but hey, each to his own.
After hearing all this, Kaylee did make me laugh when she came home she said "Don't worry Mom, I still like bacon." Yeah, me too. ;)
I also got a text from Kaylee that said "MOMMY! MY FISH JUST HAD BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" So apparently there are 3-4 little babies in there too, and also apparently the parents will eat the babies if they get hungry, and the babies have to hide until they are too big to eat. Or you have to get another tank for them. We're not doing that. Kaylee is disturbed by this. So I hope they are good hiders. Or...Bon Appetit, Marshmallow & Taffy, extra dinner for you if you can catch it. ;)
At lunch I had to get my food early and bug out to be on time for my lesson, a checkout flight in the Cub. Power off and on stalls, steep turns, slow flight, 3-point landings and wheel landings with a 40 degree crosswind at only 9 knots or so. Later in the evening, Dale gave me a wink and a comment about one of the landings I rescued, said he was glad to see I was in there after he watched the landing. A person has to learn somehow, and you don't learn by always doing it right or by having someone else do it for you. So sometimes they get interesting...
Right when I finished with him I had to drive to Kokomo, pick up the RG and fly over to Muncie. The gent there decided for a change of pace that he was going to sit right seat and have me do all the flying while he observed and took notes. He said he wanted to see how it looked when a professional did it. I wanted to joke and say "Let me see if I can find you one", but I didn't. I also had trouble not laughing, because, well, do you watch NCIS? If so, you know Gibbs has rules. CFIs have rules too, and one of them is "NEVER say to a student 'Here, I'll show you one.'" because you WILL botch it and embarrass yourself. ;) Many CFIs get rusty flying skills because they sit and critique more than they have their hands on a yoke/stick themselves. Fortunately I'm pretty current, so I figured why not break the rule. ;) So he observed and made notes while I did a takeoff, set up for cruise, flew around, did some maneuvers, then shot a full ILS 32 back in, followed by a landing. Afterwards we sat in the plane and went over his notes on how I did things, and why, and he said he learned a lot that way and that he enjoyed it. I will be paid for flying the airplane myself the entire time, and I will admit it's a little different to be observed and noted, but if you think about it, it's a good way to learn something now and then too. Going on a trip and seeing how to do it outside the training environment, weather and radios, for example.
Kaylee went to a friend's house this afternoon, until almost 9 p.m., and I'm not sure what exactly it was (Steve set up the "play date" so he'll probably tell me after he reads this), but they ended up at a hog BBQ party thing. You walk in and there's a whole dead pig there all roasted up, and people eating BBQ. I guess Kaylee walked in, saw the pig, stuck her hands over her face for awhile and decided she wasn't hungry. Except for the hands in front of my face, that is EXACTLY the reaction I had when Steve took me to my first ever Hog Roast in Kokomo with a big dead pig with an apple in its mouth all cut open and flies all over it. N A S T Y (if that's not the way you normally have to eat to survive). The difference is, Kaylee later decided to eat the meat, once somebody served it out of a crock pot. I didn't. The flies did me in. ;) I remember when we were going to do a BBQ Bash, originally Steve was going to do the whole pig like that, because that's how Hoosiers do (did) it apparently, and I'm the one who was all "Aw, no, heck no, I am not looking at that poor disgusting thing all day, c'mon..." so he just went with the way we still do it today; they kill a pig I don't have to look at and put the meat in little bins, thank you very much.
Apparently there was also some kind of sale going on too, because she was telling me about how they were herding pigs up ramps with electric prods and "shocking" and jolting the pigs to get them to move, and how one pig was stuck between other pigs and they just held the "shocker" on it and it was shaking but it couldn't go anywhere, and how the one they were eating died when it was shocked and ran and broke a leg and they killed it and were eating it tonight, and all this stuff. The other day we were talking about how I felt sort of bad for steaming alive lobsters, not that it stopped me from highly enjoying them, and Trey said "So there IS a heart in Laura S., and I think we might be actually seeing it? It's real??" Ironic that I'm bothered more by the plight of innocent dumb animals than I am not-so-innocent and still sometimes dumb humans, huh? ;) But yeah, that does sort of bother me, so call me Nancy if you want, but...kill them, eat them, yes. But unnecessarily mean just seems...unnecessarily mean. And hacking up the carcass and leaving it out crawling in flies in America 2012 just seems unnecessarily macabre for my tastes, but hey, each to his own.
After hearing all this, Kaylee did make me laugh when she came home she said "Don't worry Mom, I still like bacon." Yeah, me too. ;)
I also got a text from Kaylee that said "MOMMY! MY FISH JUST HAD BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" So apparently there are 3-4 little babies in there too, and also apparently the parents will eat the babies if they get hungry, and the babies have to hide until they are too big to eat. Or you have to get another tank for them. We're not doing that. Kaylee is disturbed by this. So I hope they are good hiders. Or...Bon Appetit, Marshmallow & Taffy, extra dinner for you if you can catch it. ;)
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Instructing
About 3-4 of my mornings each week will be starting out like this one, in the Cub. We kept the door/window pinned open, and as you can see it was a beautiful morning. You can also see Ty and a student rotating in the Champ off the grass strip just under the wing of the Cub in the above photo. My student is very excited to be learning to fly, so that always makes it more enjoyable.
Next up was a quick-ish flight in the "Happy Champ". This Champ belonged to a lady who put a sticker on the tail that said "Ladies Love Taildraggers", and it's still there even though it now belongs to a man. :) Chuck, me, Nathan, Kevin and his daughter will be flying that while the Citabria is getting torn apart and put back together, so this was my first flight in it to get acquainted. I sent a message to the former owner that I flew her plane today, and that made her smile. :)
After lunch I took a student in a 172 over to Muncie to do tower controlled field takeoffs and landings for the first time. It was a little busy and a little overwhelming, and the winds over there were weird, variable and going from calm to 18 knots, switching directions, and a little problematic. By the time we left there, I think his words were "Good grief, I need a nap." :D That was about the opposite of taildragging out of a grass strip, and not as much fun, but they have to do all of it, so hey. One more trip to Muncie for this fellow and I'm hoping to hit night (you know, at the time of year when we can't even start the night flights until about 11 p.m.) and then checkride prep.
When I got back to Kokomo, we waited to hear from a student on a checkride, and finally got the good news that we have a new CFI in the fold. Whew, that one was a work out just getting it done! But thankfully it's over, and he passed. We hung out and chatted with him for awhile when he got back, before getting home and working on airshow-is-this-weekend stuff.
So what did Kaylee do? Today she read a book. Two books, actually. In her pajamas. All day long. But don't worry, tomorrow she's going over to a friend's house, and this weekend she'll be at the airport running around all day for two days straight getting plenty of sunshine and exercise. A day of reading never hurt anybody, anyway. I seem to have turned out okay, right?? ;)
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Low & Slow
I've got a new student that I flew with for the first time this morning, in the Cub. We're scheduled at least 3-4 times per week, and they want to finish their license by the time school starts in the Fall. I'm hoping to move them out of the Cub, or find them a different, smaller instructor; either one will work. The Cub's a great airplane to learn to fly in--it's just not a great airplane for me personally to teach in. However, it was a nice morning to fly with the door and window hanging open. Hair pulled back out of the way, open door, cool morning, bright sun, and somebody excited about their very first flight lesson ever, the start of a dream come true. I remember my first lesson, how excited I was too, and how shocked I was that he was going to let me do the takeoff when I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I was so ramped up I couldn't sleep that night. Of course back then I could actually still function just fine the next day. ;)
Monday, June 04, 2012
Next...
Summer is mostly about going from one thing to the next. So what is next up here is the Kokomo Wings & Wheels Airshow, third annual. Steve's been fielding phone calls, texts and emails from before his feet hit the floor this morning and he's still going now. He was having trouble finding a time to eat. I have a small part, but I've been working on it this afternoon too. Found out I also have an air-to-air photo shoot to do with a P-51 sometime this week/weekend. The last time I was a photo ship with this P-51, it was with 2 other airplanes too and Vlado was flying it, but I don't know who would be flying it this time yet.
I've got students every day this week and a surprise-to-be-announced trip to Alabama at some point too, which will bump whatever students are on for that day. As long as the Alabama trip doesn't happen on Friday or Saturday, I'll be okay.
Speaking of okay, one thing that is not okay. I had a spider in my shower this morning. Yes, it was little, but that's not the point. I'd almost rather have seen Norman Bates in my shower-at least I could pretend to be his overbearing mother and stun him for a second. But how am I supposed to distract an 8-legged, 8-eyed denizen of evil? Yuckyuckyuck...
I've got students every day this week and a surprise-to-be-announced trip to Alabama at some point too, which will bump whatever students are on for that day. As long as the Alabama trip doesn't happen on Friday or Saturday, I'll be okay.
Speaking of okay, one thing that is not okay. I had a spider in my shower this morning. Yes, it was little, but that's not the point. I'd almost rather have seen Norman Bates in my shower-at least I could pretend to be his overbearing mother and stun him for a second. But how am I supposed to distract an 8-legged, 8-eyed denizen of evil? Yuckyuckyuck...
Sunday, June 03, 2012
The Three Rs
Reading, Righting and Resting. That's the plan for the day. I have a new series of books that I just started which I am enjoying. It's always a good thing when you find a new author to like. This one was an Amazon suggestion, of all things, and I'll be darned if they weren't right--I do like it. The authors who can really get into the heads of the characters and of basic and not so basic human psychology always interest me. I finished my end of the billing on Friday, so I'm good there. I'll be setting the house to right, as they say in Kansas anyway, (that means picking up a few things for the rest of you), and, well, resting seems pretty self-explanatory.
After I wrote the above, I ended up going out to Kokomo for a couple hours anyway to meet with a new student. There was an aerobatic shin-dig going on out there, lots of airplanes out throwing themselves around the sky and having fun, and it was a beautiful day for it...
I've had the below quote for awhile and it makes me smile mostly because it's so descriptive, and I am nothing if not a fan of descriptive. ;)
"It's been like diarrhea... the unpleasantness comes in waves, but so do the pay-offs."
Now, I'm not sure that this simile works, considering I don't think there are 'pay-offs' to diarrhea. But the quote is still funny-and true-enough for me to keep it anyway. ;)
Best of all, tomorrow is Monday, and it's the first Monday Kaylee does not have to get up at 6:15 for school. Me neither. Whew...
After I wrote the above, I ended up going out to Kokomo for a couple hours anyway to meet with a new student. There was an aerobatic shin-dig going on out there, lots of airplanes out throwing themselves around the sky and having fun, and it was a beautiful day for it...
I've had the below quote for awhile and it makes me smile mostly because it's so descriptive, and I am nothing if not a fan of descriptive. ;)
"It's been like diarrhea... the unpleasantness comes in waves, but so do the pay-offs."
Now, I'm not sure that this simile works, considering I don't think there are 'pay-offs' to diarrhea. But the quote is still funny-and true-enough for me to keep it anyway. ;)
Best of all, tomorrow is Monday, and it's the first Monday Kaylee does not have to get up at 6:15 for school. Me neither. Whew...
Saturday, June 02, 2012
Lobstah and Chowdah!
I updated my photos; nothing too exciting, but the first five listed on the photos page are new. A few from Terre Haute, a few from the trips to Florida, the photo shoot for the warbird calendar, and new ones from our Lobster Feast tonight. :)
Yesterday after lunch Kaylee went out to Russiaville and joined the majority of the Rider Ladies' Clan for "Western Days". There was a festival going on, and the kids walked around a bunch, bought a few things, and Kaylee had a great time. Isn't it awesome to be a kid on summer break? They should have this time for adults too. You get to sleep in, read books, go to festivals, go to camp, go swimming all day, hang out with friends, get suntanned even with sunscreen, and enjoy just being. Taking a week off of work for 'vacation' is just never the same as being 10, 11, 12, and feeling totally free. Too young to have too many responsibilities or cares, but old enough to be able to often be left to your own devices. Perfect. :)
For her summer fun today, Kaylee was able to invite a friend out to the airport to join us for a celebratory dinner. One of my students was so happy to pass her Private Pilot checkride that she had a dozen 1.5 lb. live lobsters flown in from Boston (they left Boston at midnight and were here by like 2 pm) to say thank you to me and the others who had helped her out in her journey, from Jon fixing flat tires and Cusick warming up the plane in the winter and so forth. Since we were already having lobster, we had to make an event out of it. Tre made this delicious homemade clam chowder, a fresh salad, brought rolls and baked potatoes and the fixings to go with it. I went out and bought a bunch of ribeyes, shrimp and shrimp cocktail sauce, lemons, key lime pies, and that sort of stuff. And we had ourselves a riotous feast. Steve even cooked up a few hot dogs and burgers for some of the kids. Kaylee tried the lobster, ate some, then went with a steak after that. Steve had three plates and a bowl going all at once, so he wasn't doing too shabby over there.
That's the first time I've ever participated in cooking live lobsters or eating whole ones, for that matter. I have to say...I can't help but feel sort of bad for the things, being alive when placed in a steaming pot of boiling water. Seems kind of mean. They're also sort of gross when you open them up and they ooze things and I'm looking at their antennae and legs and stuff. And they're ugly. But boy howdy do they taste good. I'm happy to be a carnivore even if I don't usually care to see them moving right before I eat them. ;) That was good stuff, man. Best. Student. Thankyou. Ever.
Yesterday after lunch Kaylee went out to Russiaville and joined the majority of the Rider Ladies' Clan for "Western Days". There was a festival going on, and the kids walked around a bunch, bought a few things, and Kaylee had a great time. Isn't it awesome to be a kid on summer break? They should have this time for adults too. You get to sleep in, read books, go to festivals, go to camp, go swimming all day, hang out with friends, get suntanned even with sunscreen, and enjoy just being. Taking a week off of work for 'vacation' is just never the same as being 10, 11, 12, and feeling totally free. Too young to have too many responsibilities or cares, but old enough to be able to often be left to your own devices. Perfect. :)
For her summer fun today, Kaylee was able to invite a friend out to the airport to join us for a celebratory dinner. One of my students was so happy to pass her Private Pilot checkride that she had a dozen 1.5 lb. live lobsters flown in from Boston (they left Boston at midnight and were here by like 2 pm) to say thank you to me and the others who had helped her out in her journey, from Jon fixing flat tires and Cusick warming up the plane in the winter and so forth. Since we were already having lobster, we had to make an event out of it. Tre made this delicious homemade clam chowder, a fresh salad, brought rolls and baked potatoes and the fixings to go with it. I went out and bought a bunch of ribeyes, shrimp and shrimp cocktail sauce, lemons, key lime pies, and that sort of stuff. And we had ourselves a riotous feast. Steve even cooked up a few hot dogs and burgers for some of the kids. Kaylee tried the lobster, ate some, then went with a steak after that. Steve had three plates and a bowl going all at once, so he wasn't doing too shabby over there.
That's the first time I've ever participated in cooking live lobsters or eating whole ones, for that matter. I have to say...I can't help but feel sort of bad for the things, being alive when placed in a steaming pot of boiling water. Seems kind of mean. They're also sort of gross when you open them up and they ooze things and I'm looking at their antennae and legs and stuff. And they're ugly. But boy howdy do they taste good. I'm happy to be a carnivore even if I don't usually care to see them moving right before I eat them. ;) That was good stuff, man. Best. Student. Thankyou. Ever.
Friday, June 01, 2012
Friday
I find myself in an 'off' mood, kind of irritable and generally impatient and slightly morose, and I can probably blame it on the gray day and the temperatures so cold I saw my breath this morning and had to wear a sweatshirt. That's not right when it's June 1st. I even had to turn the pitot heat on in the airplane this morning. Also not right for 5000' in June. It was 400' and a mile and a half over at Muncie, and something like 800' and 10 miles back home, and I dropped off the 340 for some work while Nathan picked up his airplane, so the timing worked out well for both ends of that.
The last six months I have had an above-average number of "interesting aviation events", and I'd like to call an end to that kind of interesting for awhile. It started with the gear collapse on the Viking, moved into a time where a new airplane that sat too long before we got it had several issues, there were a couple of interesting weather issues, and a couple of my own mistakes. Now that I've run the gamut on all the ways things can get interesting, I'm looking for a period of time where things get a little dull in that realm. If beatings continue until morale improves, well, consider it improved. Or well beaten. Or something. ;)
One thing that made me smile today was a poster that somebody posted that said: "The time to worry is not when I yell and scream. The time to worry is when I get really quiet and don't say anything. That would be a good time to make yourself scarce." That's me. I don't yell and scream anyway, but the more quiet I get the less good it usually is. ;)
Kaylee's iStep results came in, and she did really well for 5th grade. She was ranking 98, 99 percent on a lot of areas. I think her worst topic, if I remember correctly, was Math, and she still was well above average on that topic too. Always nice to see. I'm not ready for 6th grade yet. Let's just enjoy summer, shall we!
I'm glad it's Friday, not that it matters much in this line of work, but I'll take it!
The last six months I have had an above-average number of "interesting aviation events", and I'd like to call an end to that kind of interesting for awhile. It started with the gear collapse on the Viking, moved into a time where a new airplane that sat too long before we got it had several issues, there were a couple of interesting weather issues, and a couple of my own mistakes. Now that I've run the gamut on all the ways things can get interesting, I'm looking for a period of time where things get a little dull in that realm. If beatings continue until morale improves, well, consider it improved. Or well beaten. Or something. ;)
One thing that made me smile today was a poster that somebody posted that said: "The time to worry is not when I yell and scream. The time to worry is when I get really quiet and don't say anything. That would be a good time to make yourself scarce." That's me. I don't yell and scream anyway, but the more quiet I get the less good it usually is. ;)
Kaylee's iStep results came in, and she did really well for 5th grade. She was ranking 98, 99 percent on a lot of areas. I think her worst topic, if I remember correctly, was Math, and she still was well above average on that topic too. Always nice to see. I'm not ready for 6th grade yet. Let's just enjoy summer, shall we!
I'm glad it's Friday, not that it matters much in this line of work, but I'll take it!
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