Bia the Page of Hercules

Tonight was Opening Night for "The 12 Daughters of Hercules", Kaylee's play. It was a full house, the seats were filled, and the current mayor of Kokomo was there too.  :)  As season ticket holders, we got front row reserved seats, which is Right There.  The kids did well with the play, of course.  There are four Pages, and they narrate the whole play, have funny one-liners, do a little music playing and dancing, and make it a light-hearted, fun play.  Kaylee did great, remembered all her lines, and had fun with it.  I'm getting the routine down now, so I had a small bouquet of flowers to give her for opening night, and afterwards we had punch and cookies while she worked the room, talked to all her friends and to the various people who produce plays for this group.  I got a photo or two, and then dragged her home around 10 pm, tired but pumped.  One show down successfully, three more to go, two on Saturday, one on Sunday.  As we pulled into the driveway, the radio had a segment on about the list of Academy Award Nominees.  Kaylee offhandedly said "I'm gonna be on that list some day."

Getting the make-up on for one of the practice nights.

 

Opening night, two of the Pages sit on the stage.  (Irony? The other page is a girl that Kaylee went to playgroup with as a toddler, whom she hadn't seen in ten years, and the mom recognized me from back then and introduced herself.  Wild, small world!)

 

Her friend A, who was the "Smart" daughter of Hercules, and Kaylee the Page with her pretty bouquet of flowers.  :)

Walker

Yes, it's still cold.

I started watching a series called "The Walking Dead", and yes, I know.  A lot of my friends watch it, and finally I decided to watch the first show to see what it was, and I was interested in what happened, so I kept watching.  I'm up to the end of Season Two now.  In this series, people who bit are infected with something that causes a fever, then death, and they have a scan of a brain losing its electric signals to darkness, and then at some point later, part of the brain stem fires back up, just enough to get the body moving, but not the frontal lobe or the part that makes you you.  These things will keep moving and functioning until the brain is destroyed, even if they don't have a lower half of the body, and are trapped somewhere unable to move or eat, for example.  They don't ever die until the brain is destroyed.  So, here's my point for telling you this.  Why do they spend time eating?  They don't need food to sustain a body.  They aren't hungry.  Some of them don't even have stomachs at all.  So what's the point of the whole eating thing?  That's all they do, eat woodchucks or deer or...whatever they can get their hands on.  Why? Just wondering.

The other thing it brings up a fair amount is people "opting out" of living in the world as it is...choosing to off themselves quickly rather than live in fear and hunger and uncertainty and danger and the eventual likelihood of being gnawed on by and becoming a monster themselves.  It brought to mind movies like "I Am Legend" where Will Smith is alone in a post apocalyptical world of monsters.  If I had my family, friends, I would fight, for them.  If I was alone in the world, like Will Smith there, I don't know that I would see the point.

Well, time to rest.  Plenty to do tomorrow.

Frozen

That's the name of a new Disney movie, and is also the descriptor of my Tuesday.

First up was a trip to Illinois in the 340 this morning at 9.  D went with me, and I messed with a few things on the way over.  The heater wasn't working great, and the temp thing said it was -22C outside, and on the ground at Aurora it was saying it was -17F.  It was freaky cold.  The trip home was in the RG, and D flew us home, with Steve C in the back.  Again, it didn't get real warm in there.  Putting the planes away, my hands were burning, even wearing gloves.  After a lunch break, next up was a student on his fifth lesson or so, and we went up and did emergencies and then started in on pattern work.  It was bumpy, and the winds were 17 gusting to 22 at a 30 degree crosswind, so that was interesting for his first day in the pattern.  But it was a good learning experience anyway.  I got home around 5:30 pm or so, and the cold had just soaked through.  My hands still hurt a little right now, and my legs and feet radiated cold for hours.  One more time: I hate winter.

Tonight was Kaylee's taped version of her play.  They recorded it to see later on dvd.  She said there were a couple of goof-ups, but one of them she and her partner improvised until the prop folks caught up, and the director gave them "props" for a job well done.  Just a few days to go till opening night!  Shoot, that reminds me, I need to go buy 3 dozen cookies.  I'm on the after party committee.  Yeah.  Laugh it up.

The Kiddo

Kaylee's play practice is supposed to be over by 8:30 pm.  It's not.  I've been sitting in the parking lot until 9 pm, and then last night until 9:10 pm.  So tonight I told her I wasn't even going to show up until 9 pm.  They didn't get out until 9:40 and I still sat in the blasted parking lot for over 30 minutes.  That stuff drives me nuts.  Tell me a time and I'll be there.  Tell me a time and end it over an hour later, repeatedly?  Now I'm honked.  Plus that means Kaylee gets home at almost 10 pm and has to take a shower to get all the hairspray and mousse and goop out of her hair and then START her homework.  I'm not very happy about this.  She, however, had a blast spending over 5 hours with the drama crew.  I'm glad she had fun.  Tonight was "Scout Night", where boy and girl scout troops came in and watched a run of the show.  Kaylee said they had a few mess-ups.  Tomorrow night it's being taped for release, so she's hoping to minimize mistakes tomorrow.  I'm hoping she passes her Social Studies test, which is over every single country and capital in Africa, all of which have to be spelled correctly.  For one thing, look up African capitals and countries and see how many of them you can spell.  For another, I never had to learn that, and I see no reason to have to waste brain space on that, either. I'd rather she know the states and capitals better in her own country, personally, since I can see absolutely no purpose to knowing what the capital is of a country in Africa.  But hey, I'm just in a bad mood from sitting in a car-again-so maybe it's just me.  She asked me what country was next to Uganda.  Heck if I know.  Or care.  (I did not express that opinion to her.  Like it or not, she needs to know it.)

We heard at lunch that another winter storm system may be moving in to Kokomo.  See, our temps have dropped again to sub-freezing, and when I got home, sure enough, I see another round of "heavy snow and ice", perhaps up to a foot or more depending on who you ask, coming this weekend.  After the single-digit temps and the sub-zero wind chills.  Again.  I freaking hate winter.

Back At It

When I woke up this fine Monday morning at 6:15 a.m., I went to the fridge to get milk for Kaylee's cereal, only to find we were out of milk.  So I set out a chocolate donut with colored sprinkles and a little left-over Culver's sweet tea for breakfast.  To Kaylee's teachers and fellow classmates, I apologize.  Go ahead and pass on that Good Parent Award.  Now Kaylee herself thought it wasn't a bad breakfast at all.  ;)

Kaylee's play is in "Tech Week" all week.  She gets home from school at 3:45 or so.  She has to leave the house at 4 pm to go to play practice, where she remains until 9 p.m.  After that, because it's a full dress rehearsal, she has to take a shower and get all the hairspray and makeup off.  And then she gets to start her homework.  And she gets to do this every day, for the entire week, culminating in the play Friday night, two plays on Saturday, and one on Sunday.  I am guessing Sunday will be an early bedtime.

After we dropped her off at play practice, Steve and I went out to Kokomo and pulled out the 340 to do a little testing and observation.  He brought a pen and a pad of paper, and I took us up.  We shot several approaches at Marion and Kokomo, including holds and missed approaches, making sure all the autopilot functions work (except the one we know doesn't).  I don't think we have any new performance squawks on the airplane, which is good news.  With the tracking, the holds, and three instrument approaches, I got almost fully instrument current in one afternoon...if I wasn't already current.  Heck, so did Steve if he wants to have been my CFII.  :)

By the way.  It's cold again.  Really cold, and slick and snowy for the morning again, temps down to the double digits in the next couple days.  The Winter that Won't Die.

Wiped

I wonder why my arms/back feel like I dropped from over 5 feet in the air onto a push-up position with a few extra Gs on it, as if in order to avoid having my face hit the ice and concrete.  Oh, yeah.  You know, I may have to take off a few pounds if for no other reason than so that the next time I wipe out in my own personal accelerated stall I'll have less weight landing on my knees/arms/wrists.  I can't complain though--I'm fine.  An SMA mom who just had knee surgery just wiped out on the ice and it split her leg back open, like big bad wound, which makes me hurt just sitting here on my chair.  I need to think about something else now.  Not because it's "gross" but because I can picture how much that hurt.  Moving on.

Flew for two hours today, takeoffs and landings, that didn't quite go as well as yesterday's batch.  The airport was more deserted at least, and we went over to Marion to do a bunch too, to give him something else to look at for awhile.  Steve had two students today, and hasn't made it back from that yet.  I had thought about doing a little test flying on the 340 today after my lesson, but it was cold, and it was 2 pm, and I hadn't had any food since dinner last night, and I ran flat out of motivation.

I've been working on a writing project.  Not my "How Not To Do It" book I joke about, per say, but a few things about flying.  I had gotten about 20 pages into it when I hit a bit of a wall on it.  From here it's hard to decide where to go on it, I guess.  So many things happen all during the same time frame, and connect in various ways, and make it hard to organize it in a fashion that makes sense, without a bunch of back tracking.  I took a week off of working on it, game called for lack of direction, but I suppose I'd better get back to it if I'm going to.

We didn't get a weekend, didn't get a day off, but that's how it goes...

Plethura of Planes

This was a workin' Saturday.  I had someone steady from 11 a.m. through to 5:30 p.m.  I ate a cheeseburger Steve had put in the fridge for me while my 3:30-5:30 guy was preflighting the airplane.  :)  Steve had somebody from 10 a.m. through to I don't remember, but he worked all day too.

My day started off a little rocky.  I overslept a little bit, had trouble waking up, but I was making it right on time.  I got there and  he was chopping ice from out front of his hangar.  I very carefully stepped around it, but my right foot came down on a sloped piece of sheer ice, and before I even knew what happened, I was flat on my face, legs out, just flat out.  I've only met with this guy once before, I'm his instructor, and I'm now sprawled flat on my face.  First of all, that's very embarrassing.  Secondly, that Hurt.  I'm definitely getting too old for face planting like that. Getting up was just awkward.  It's getting harder to act like it didn't hurt, too.  I scraped up my hands and apparently hit on both my knees before my legs finished splaying out behind me.  *sigh*  I really hate winter.  And ice.  And icy winters.  In a car, on my feet, or in an airplane.  All of it.  Bah Humbug.

So with fellow number one, for whom I wiped out, we went around and did slow flight, forward and side slips, and then worked the pattern.  Second guy stayed in the pattern again and had a breakthrough, and finally got that last 10 seconds of the flare to kick in, and nailed four landings in a row, with a light crosswind.  He will be on his way to solo soon--I just need to get him to bounce and recover (ironically enough), and see some consistency for a flight or two in a row, and he's got it.  Third guy was working on checkride prep, and he's struggled with several things, and today he came out and brought his A- game.  Still has some things to remember and execute without input from me, but did much, much better.  So, final score, actual flying today went really well for everyone.  You have to like days like that.

It was also Grand Central Station out there.  Our 172 flew all day, the RG flew all day, the guy's Cherokee 180 flew most of the day, the Wilds were out with multiple aerobatic airplanes most of the day doing formation passes and going all over, there was a twin shooting approaches at every runway out there, the Zodiak, a couple of Mooneys, some transients, an RV, it was a zoo for awhile there.  We had one nice day and the whole world came out to play in it.

Over at Marion they had a tailwheel RV land, then flip over onto its nose.  The guy was temporarily trapped in the plane, but eventually got out, they got the plane flipped back over and taken off the runway pretty quickly, and he wasn't hurt, at least. 

After the flying was done, it was time to come home and take Kaylee to her performance tonight for her "advanced acting" class.  One of the kids in the class was sick tonight, but the other five made it.  They did several skits, then each kid had their own individual skit or monologue.  Now don't tell anyone I said so, but Kaylee's was the best.  I'm serious.  She was given the best of the scripts to do, first of all.  It's a funny skit where she is a nasty flight attendant, sarcastic and pushy, going through the pre-flight safety briefing.  So it's a good script, and then she ends up doing a great job with it.  You could hear everybody chuckling throughout it.  Smooth, no forgotten lines, good timing, pauses for laughter.  Success.  Now that's over, she can relax for a whole day, until next week when it's school, plus "tech week" for her play, and then opening night for that is Friday.  And it's ON.  ;)

Kaylee's performance ended around 7:30, so we decided to go to a place in town called "The Foxes Trail" which NEEDS to be "The Fox's Trail", or "The Foxes' Trail".  Anyway.  We arrived at like 7:40, and then had a 30 minute wait or so.  That part you expect, we were okay with it.  But once we were seated, the rest of the service dragged on forEVER.  We didn't leave until 2 hours later!  We ordered appetizers, Steve had soup and shrimp, I had salad, these things do not take long to slap on a plate and bring out, but it was a good 30 minutes before we had anything.  After the appetizers, it took forever to get the actual meal.  We didn't get refills on our drinks except one time, when we sort of waved her down for it.  Have you seen those Snicker's commercials where Betty White is playing football and somebody comes up to her and says "Hey, have a Snickers" and she takes a bite and then turns into a football dude and it's all "You're not yourself when you're hungry"?  Well, Steve was Betty White tonight, and I was getting there myself.  We were tired, we were hungry, and we were sitting at an empty table, waiting an eternity for every bit of food and drink we got.  It was annoying, seriously annoying.  But the food itself was very good.  My steak, which came before my salad and after everyone else's entrées, by the way, was excellent.  Everyone liked the food, but it would have been better if it had either been not so expensive, or come in a prompt manner.

We work tomorrow too.  One guy drives from Illinois and the other from Michigan to learn to fly with us, and when we had a promising weekend, they wanted to fly as much of it as possible.  They're both really Steve's guys, one Private and one Commercial, but they both want to fly all day both days at the same time, so one of them gets to have me instead...

Brief

I'm sleepy.

Kaylee is definitely fighting something off.  She was supposed to go to the airport and interview Nathan with 25 questions, but instead I'm having her stay home and sleep as much as possible and drink water and hopefully kick whatever this bug is before her upcoming week, which is going to be SUPER busy with her play opening and late night practices every night (and a performance tomorrow for her advanced acting class).  She's been plowing through so far, but she does not feel well.  At all.

I see the ground.  Grass.  Dead grass, but still, grass.  My driveway again.  The snow has melted off to a large degree, and you can see something besides white.  This is nice.  However, we do have a new Olympic sport in our town, particularly on the back residential roads.  It's called "Pot Hole Dodging".  Seriously, there are some big, deep, ugly pot holes out there, and sometimes they sneak up on you, or cover so much of your lane that if you can't go into the other lane, you're in trouble.  Driving home requires speed, agility, a helmet, and a little luck.  One road on my way home is so bad you have to ride in the middle of the road to not take out your tires, and if someone else is coming and won't scoot over, you have to stop in the middle of the road and wait until they pass so you can go over into the other lane, because you can't hit those holes and expect to keep driving.  Even I've had to slow down.

Tomorrow I fly all day and so does Steve, and I'm sleepy, so I think I'd better go do something about that.  I hate to on a Friday night when I want to relax a little, but mostly I just want to go to sleep...

Too Long Too Much Too Bad

Kaylee is still fighting off something.  She feels slightly warm all the time, she's getting circles under her eyes, and her poor nose.  I keep her on a dose of allergy meds even though I think it's a bug that's going around, because the allergy meds help dry her out and help her breathe a little too.  There are enough kids sick that they canceled her play practice for tomorrow, one week before opening night, when they are already behind schedule thanks to all the weather cancelation days.  She has to have another whole piece memorized for tomorrow, with a performance on Saturday, and she hasn't had time to get it all yet and is mentally struggling a little with memorizing because she doesn't feel that well.  She got out of school and had homework to do until 15 minutes before it was time to go to play practice, and got home from play practice at 9 pm so she could try to memorize her thing for tomorrow for an hour or so before going to bed and starting over tomorrow.  Tomorrow she had school, then the class with the piece until 6:00, then play practice until 9 pm again, and then homework until bedtime.  Fortunately, like I said, at least the one play practice has been canceled.  I don't think too many adults would do well with a schedule like that.  I SURE know I wouldn't.  I'd be cranky and mean after just a couple days of that, let alone weeks, or months.  I hear being old isn't for sissies, but being a kid isn't always such a picnic either.

However, one advantage kids do have is that they get to make us adults do all sorts of things we wouldn't otherwise be forced to do, just because we love them.  Tonight it was my turn to be on "ticket sales" at her play practice, from 6-8:30 pm (usually it's going until almost 9).  So I get there, and sit at the little table, and there are two other women already there.  The other two took the comfy chairs, so I got a child's school blue plastic seat, and the three of us sat there for almost three hours to sell tickets during "family week".  Now.  Selling tickets at this venue is a no-brainer.  You have tickets for every show, people give you money, you hand them the ticket, you mark down how many you sold.  That's it.  That does not take three people even on a hard day.  But not one person bought tickets today, because these aren't reserved seats, so getting your ticket early doesn't matter.  It'll be first come first serve on play day.  So there are three of us sitting in a silence so complete that you could hear yourself swallow and breathe. Literally.  We weren't around the kids and their noise, we were alone in a dead silent area.  I didn't know either of those ladies, they knew each other but not me, so we made conversation for a little while, but 1) I hate small talk and 2) you can only chit chat for so long in a 3-hour time frame.  It was friendly, and fine, but three hours is a very long chunk of my time to waste, sitting there to sell tickets to nobody when one of the other two ladies could have handled it just fine by herself.  Then, right at 8:30, someone from the school switched on SUPER loud music over all the speakers, one just over our heads, designed to tell us it was time to get out of the school.  So you go from 2.5 hours of silent surroundings to blaring music for the remaining 20 minutes that we were there.  Yowza.  I made a suggestion to the lady in charge of ticket sales that perhaps next time one person could handle it.  She said "Well, sometimes we get people who can't add or give proper change back, so it's nice to have backup just in case."  For one thing, YHGTBSM as Nathan would say.  For another, give them a calculator.  Or make "Must be able to math" (yes I said it that way on purpose) part of the requirement to do ticket sales.   For a third, that's still two people, not three, and I can't see any reason why it takes three people to sell tickets, even if it was busier.  It's like they wanted to make sure the parents had to do something even if it wasn't necessary.  I don't like that.  I really dislike spending, counting drive time, three and a half hours of my life sitting in a plastic child chair with two strangers for...nothing.  I want to waste my time the way I want to waste my time, not have my time wasted for me.  ;)

Although, when the music started, it was like "Cotton-eyed Joe" kind of music, and at one point when the kids started coming out, I started doing the hillbilly stomp dance to that music for just a few seconds.  Kaylee didn't see that, which is good.  I just needed to shake my legs out after sitting for so long.  That's all.  ;)

Skip this paragraph if you don't want to hear about accidents.  I was watching a video that somebody sent me of a student in some kind of Rotax-powered "airplane" (the title of the video said Cessna but if that was a Cessna so am I), who lost power, came down, pulled too hard, ballooned up, stalled out and crashed, and it was all caught on video that was running inside the airplane.  Fortunately he was okay, but watching it hit the ground face first from the inside, well, yeah.  Anyway.  So after that was over, a suggested video started running that said "Cessna 150 fatal, video from the cockpit" or something like that, and I looked down at the info, and it had the NTSB report listed.  It was from an old film videotape from the 90s.  Two "kids" went up in a rental 150 and were having a good time.  They were looking around at stuff, laughing, talking, and then they saw a smoking fire, so they came on down to look at that.  While they were down there, they decided to race along the fields about 10' over the ground.  A set of powerlines comes up, and you hear the pilot say, all cheerful and excited, "Over or under??"  The pax said "Over!" also very excited and happy.  The pilot pulls the plane up abruptly, and the pax starts laughing a bunch and yelling "Woo hoo!"  And then the stall horn goes off, the left wing drops, and you hear, well, you hear what you'd expect to hear.  The video tape was apparently damaged at that point as far as the visual, or so they said, I don't know, but the audio was still working.  I decided after that one that it was time to move on to something a little more cheerful!  Part of me wants to send that video to a couple of low time pilots I've seen on Facebook discussing buzz jobs and pull ups.  A few years ago, someone I know online lost a 25,000 hour pilot friend in a Cessna, acting as a CFI, doing a "fighter" take off, keeping it down low then pulling it up abruptly for a fun little zoom climb.  Stalled out and pancaked on the centerline of the runway, killing himself and his student.  Highly experienced in a lot more than Cessnas, did it all the time, just...misjudged that time.  And I see a 150 hour pilot talking on Facebook about how he loves to do zero g and zoom climbing takeoffs and buzz jobs, and I'm torn.  It's not like I can say much.  But I changed.  I remember many years ago now when I buzzed Glenndale in the first Seneca we had, and I was definitely down in the dirt, stayed down until the last possible second, zoomed up over the wires at the end, right on top of them, quite abruptly, and then cranked it over in an aerobatic bank angle, and came in and landed.  Dale came up to me later and said he and a couple others thought I was rolling it after I pulled up, I went so far over so quickly, and he'd been looking up at the top of the airplane.  I laughed and said 'nah' or something like that, and didn't really think about it again.  Now I know that people who know better were more concerned and less impressed, and people who didn't know better just got a really bad influence passed on.  And that the risk/reward ratio just isn't there. 

Enough of that stuff!

I was wondering why my arms were so sore today, and then suddenly I remembered pushing and pulling airplanes in and out of the hangar over icy areas and having a little trouble, multiple attempts, etc.  Whew.  Well, on the bad news front, pulling and pushing airplanes in for one day gave me sore biceps.  On the good news front, um...er...at least it's not just random soreness for no known reason?  Yeah, I just need to get back to working on my pushups again!

We got thunderstorms today.  I enjoyed listening to the rain fall, the thunder roll, watching lightning flash.  I love a good thunderstorm from the ground or a respectful distance from the air.  I guess Glenndale is flooded badly now, all the snow melting off on top of the heavy rain.  Hopefully everybody out there is doing okay.  Steve had an EAA meeting out there tonight while I was (not) selling tickets, and he said it was pretty bad.  Tomorrow we will be getting big winds, and then it's supposed to freeze and snow again.  I think Mother Nature needs to take some hormone pills or something...

Rise

Kaylee's Spelling Bee was today.  She won her class spelling bee without studying the words.  She's in her last week of practice before her play starts, so she's got to have all her lines memorized for that, and she has another drama thing she has to have something memorized for by this Friday with a public performance on Saturday. She hadn't really wanted to do well in the bee because she didn't have time to study several pages of words along with all her regular school work and these drama things.  Well, she came in first anyway in her class, and today was the bigger bee, with 20 participants from the school.  She hadn't been able to study these words either, and they were harder.  I went over a few of them with her this morning and told her to relax and do her best.   She did not win this bee, but she placed in the top third.  She got out on a simple mistake--she misunderstood what word they were saying, but had known how to spell it.  But if she'd studied the words more, she'd have been more familiar and probably wouldn't have made that error.  When they give you the words ahead of time, someone who wants it will learn them all and win, as they should! She did really well for just coming into it mostly cold, she's a top speller and has a great vocabulary just on her own.  She did good...I mean well.  :)

Unfortunately I don't know if it's a bug going around school (there is one right now) or if it's allergies from the changing temps (they're hitting me), but she can't hardly breathe these last few days.  She's not sleeping well, her nose is almost totally plugged, she's super busy with all her stuff, and she just flat out does not feel well.  Tonight I went hunting for her after we got home late from play practice and had a late dinner, because she disappeared on me.  I go up front and find her passed out in the massage chair up there, on her stomach, trying to breathe in her sleep.  She woke up around 11:30, took a drink, and crawled into her own bed.  Poor kid.

I got to bring the 340 home today on a temporary basis.  It got two new RAM VII engines and a bunch of other work done too.  Steve C ran me over to Aurora in the RG.  While I waited, they made a few last tweaks on it, and then I was able to take it home.  The plane was outside, and two of them came out and watched me the whole time, which I didn't find necessary, because I was going to take my time and look everything over very carefully.  I don't like being watched while they wait for me to leave so they can go back inside.  I found and fixed two loose fasteners on the left engine, everything else looked good, I did an extensive run-up, checked everything more than once, used a checklist and everything.  ;)  There are a few squawks which will have to be addressed quickly, but the engines sounded, felt and performed well, and that's the part that keeps you in the air, so the rest is gravy.  ;)  It's in the hangar now, and soon it'll go back to tweak a few more things, and then will be back for good and hopefully running smoothly for many years to come.

Once I got that put away, I flew with a new guy for his fifth ever lesson, in his own newly purchased Cherokee 180, until dark, which was 1.1.  I kind of felt off my game for that flight, but hopefully it wasn't noticeable...

Yesterday morning I took a 24 hour Claritan D.  I haven't been sleepy since.  I had weird daydreams all night, watched the clock on the ceiling go by most of the hours, and when the alarm went off at 6:15, I just hopped out of bed and started the day.  It wasn't until now, almost 1 a.m. the next day that I'm finally getting sleepy.  Dang.  The 12 hour Claritans wear off after 12 hours, so even if I take it at noon, then by midnight I'm all stuffy again and I can get headaches in the morning.  But if I take a night time one then, Zyrtec, I have weird nightmares and funky dreams and wake up feeling doped up a little bit.  So I thought, hey, 24 hour Claritan should eliminate both problems.  Well, boy did it ever.  This stuff did not wear off, and it sure didn't promote sleepiness either.  I could practically see noise.

But now it's bed time, and hopefully I don't pay too much for this tomorrow.

Apocolypse

Today we've got some kind of computer apocalypse going down.  Just about every major client is having some kind of problem that 1) it shouldn't have 2) shouldn't be that hard to fix but really is 3) is sucking hours and hours of time without solving anything and 4) starting to get folks uptight.  Then our email went down.  Then it went back up.  Then another company's email went down.  Steve's been spinning his wheels all day on this stuff and I think his brain is leaking a little.

I got the letter from the CAF today informing me that my drug test was back and negative.  What's funny is that for a second I had to remember whether negative was bad or good.  ;)  Anyway, the letter went on to say I fulfilled the requirements and am heretofore allowed to participate in the Ride Share program, or take folks up in the PT.  At least that was mostly easy enough.  Now I have to actually get someone back from Virginia to fly with me in the back seat and get signed off to teach, and that part will actually be on its way.

School was fully canceled for today, which worked out just fine for me and Kaylee both, although it's one more day she has to make up later.

I had two flights this afternoon.  One was scheduled, one was added on at the last minute, both were in the 172.  The winds at pattern altitude and below were a little gusty and bumpy, but on the ground and up over 2500' it was perfectly smooth.  Up at altitude though you could see how strong the winds were up there.  I had one guy do MCA (minimum controllable airspeed with the stall horn going) and had him turn left 10 more, 10 more, okay, right there.  Now look out your window.  The DME said we were doing 10 knots groundspeed, but I had him sit there for a good minute, and we didn't see any ground travel at all.  We were hovering up there, or darned close to it.  Gave him a thrill, anyway.  ;) I flew with the second guy until the sun was down, the runway and panel lights were up, and we'd gotten enough crosswind practice in for one day. 2.5 total in the plane.

My next stop was to Steak n Shake because I'd eaten only one bowl of cereal all day.  I was in line at that place for 36 minutes, no kidding.  I do not know what their problem was, but holy moly.  They ran me late, and now I had to stop by a store to grab some supplies, run home, eat my food, then turn around and pick up Kaylee at play practice. Ironically, they were running late too, and I sat outside there for 15 more minutes.  Everything I did today from the time I left the house was late.  But at least it all went well and didn't fall apart unlike everything Steve was trying to do today...

It felt good to be back in the air, even if I was just sitting in the right seat watching the sun set while someone else did all the work.  It mostly felt  nice that I didn't have to wear a coat in the airplane.  That the snow is melting in rivers, that the sun shining in when it's over 40 degrees feels almost like spring, that the fields are still white and slick looking from the ice and then the melting.  Like I said, a little bumpy for the students, but...worked for me.  I'm getting really restless to be doing some tailwheel flying, some Six flying, some formation flying, some grass strip flying, some open air flying.  Something.  Everything...

Rex

I was supposed to fly to Atlanta this morning, a 3.5 hour flight in the RG, be down there for 2-3 hours, then fly home.  Winter Storm Rex decided it was going to hit today too.  I spent quite a few hours looking over the weather to see if there was any way I could get it done anyway.  I could definitely get him out and get him to Atlanta and spend the 3 hours on the ground, but getting back home was just not looking good until pretty late in the evening, maybe the next day.  It wasn't just blowing snow and IFR, that can be doable, but it included sleet, freezing rain, and ice.  That was not only a no-go in the RG, that's a no-go for me in anything else, either.  The guy I was supposed to be taking down kept trying to find a way for it to work.  Take a different plane.  Like freezing rain would be better in anything we've got.  Leave earlier, even though with a 7 hour round trip flight there was no way. Bottom line was it wasn't going to happen, period. I was watching the weather from the earliest time I could have made it back until it would have finally been able to get in, and it just wasn't good.  Found out later he (a member) had called me after the first of our instructors he tried to go with canceled several days in advance because the weather looked too bad.  It wasn't worth the money I could have made that time. So I was glad to be home and warm today.

Kaylee's school let out two hours early because of the incoming storm.  They didn't really give us a lot of notice about that, and I kind of wondered how some of the other families managed it.  I picked her up at the bus stop two hours early, and then we came home and fell asleep on the couch together for like two hours.  I'd slept in that morning, and I slept for almost 2 hours on the couch this afternoon.  It's 9:30 and I'm already yawning again too.  Apparently I'm in need of a little catch-up rest or something.

Kaylee's play practice did not cancel.  Even though school was out early and is delayed for tomorrow, even though it was sleeting and snowing hard, the roads were cruddy because the snow plows hadn't started coming out yet, and the winds were blowing over 35 mph, even though all other functions around town were canceled, play practice was not.  They're desperate, have missed several days due to weather and the show opens in 11 days, and they're trying to get every bit of practice in that they can.  They held it and then said "If you feel you can't make it for safety, that's fine, but we're doing it anyway."  So I took her.  We were about the only ones out on the roads when I went back to pick her up, but that's okay.  Fewer people to run into that way.  Kaylee said she really wanted a Shamrock Shake.  So I went to McDonald's, which is not on the way from the school.  "I'm sorry, our shake machine is broken right now."  So she says she'll do a McFlurry.  "I'm sorry, that's part of the same machine".  So we went clear across town to another McDonalds, whose shake machine WAS working.  They forgot the cherry, or ran out of them, but we decided not to go to a third one after that.  It was late, and time to get home.  Kaylee had some homework to finish up even if she does have a delay tomorrow, and the roads weren't getting any better.  God bless 4-wheel-drive vehicles!

Weekend

Friday evening Steve and I and three friends hung out on the deck.  Two of the three friends are single, but the third is married so I asked how he was not in the dog house right now, hanging out on the Deck of Debauchery instead of being with his wife on Valentine's Day.  He said he took care of that earlier in the day, for lunch, and that everyone was happy.  I hope so for his sake, but it does fall into the "not my problem category".  :D

Kaylee left right after school and went to a program down in Indy at the Convention Center called "Acquire the Fire".  It's a 27-hour immersive Christian program that is part rock concert, part pep rally and part Church service.  I half-jokingly called it "indoctrination" (to Steve only), but there's nothing wrong with a little immersion in something wholesome now and then, and it's better than spending the weekend playing "Minecraft".  They had the whole adventure.  She went down in the van with a whole group of folks Friday after school, had some pizza, got to the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Indy, had several concerts and events Friday night through Saturday night, drove home late last night, spent the night at a friend's house, and then she made it home somewhere around noon today, Sunday.  She bought a necklace that says "Truth Will Set You Free", and enjoyed her time there with her friends.  She did come back in need of a shower and a nap, but she did not come back with feverish eyes and a sudden urge to go to Uruguay or anything.  She enjoyed herself, and had a new experience, and learned a few things too.

Saturday I watched a few movies.  I've been watching a few that I know Steve would hate, like "Zombieland" which is actually a comedy more than anything else, it was not really scary at all, but he still wouldn't have liked it.  :)  Later in the evening we dressed up a bit, heels and earrings and all, well, not Steve thankfully, but we went out to a new restaurant in town and enjoyed a few hours' worth of too much tasty food and beverages.  We were glad we hadn't tried to go yesterday, on Valentine's Day.  See, we weren't going out because it was V-Day, we were going out because Kaylee was gone and it's a good time to go out to a nice restaurant alone and only have to buy two expensive meals.  :D  But when we got there Sat. night, the waitress said she hoped we weren't run-off from last night; that basically they had been so over-run with diners that they couldn't fit them all in all night long and had to push some of them off until today.  Nope, that wasn't us, nor would I care to be in a restaurant that crowded.  Heck, when we did eat on V-Day, at Half Moon with a friend, we did it at 4:30 p.m. to hit the old folks' schedule, before the big Valentine's crush hit.  By the time we left the restaurant at 6 pm or so, the crush had hit, it was standing room only, and giant waits.  NO thank you!  I enjoyed it just how we did it.  Of course I kind of need to do a little exercise or something to get rid of some of this, but it was worth it.

Today I watched "We Bought a Zoo", I think is the name of it.  Based on a true story, and a sweet movie.  A theme throughout it is "You only need 20 seconds of courage.  Twenty seconds of courage and something great can come of it."  I agree with that, sometimes that's exactly what you need.  Other times, it's easy to make a snap decision, or jump into the deep end without thinking about it.  What takes a little more courage is the time after that when the decision isn't panning out like you thought, or you're running out of energy out there in the deep end.  But I don't know if there's a quick little saying that covers that as poetically.  Maybe "Never Give Up"?  :)  (Unless it's "know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em" and it's time to fold 'em.  Hmm, this stuff never does just have a right answer, does it.  ;))

V Day

We ended up with a dose of surprise snow. It wasn't supposed to be much, and it wasn't supposed to hit Kokomo anyway, but the weather forecasters were wrong again.  First, it hit Indy with 5.5" in one day, which broke the former record for amount of snow in one day by almost double.  Kokomo didn't get a lot, but it got enough to be a mess on the roads again.  It caused gridlock on the interstate, and just a general mess.

I got Kaylee's bag to her friend's mom today, and then decided to get the CAF drug test out of the way.  I was supposed to go to the Med One Clinic in Kokomo, which was on the south end of town, on 31.  I called up Med One on my cellphone, and the address matched the address on my paper, so off I went.  First, the directions were off, and it was not where it said it was.  But I remembered seeing it over there, in fact going to it before, so I kept driving until I found it.  I pulled into the lot, and it was obvious that nothing was there.  Closed down.  I remembered seeing another Med One clinic on Dixon Road by the Soupley's.  So I drove clear across town, opposite corner, pull in, and it says the right name on the door.  I walk in and the lady says "We don't do that here, you have to go to our other clinic on Southway over by Marsh, it's new".  I snapped at her, I'm afraid.  Nothing says that's where the clinic is.  Not the internet, not the paperwork, and I spent an hour driving around in cruddy weather with bad drivers having to go to the bathroom to take a pee test.  Finally I get to the right clinic, and I'm #7 in line.  That's nice.  ;)  Anyway, I'll skip to the chase--mission accomplished, and the results should go right to Texas and I should be good to go on giving rides in the PT for Spring if needed as a backup.

As you know I've never been real big on Valentine's Day.  Let's say it started with a few childhood traumas and continued with the part where I'm not a very sentimental person for Hallmark Holidays.  But Steve and Kaylee both have softened me up a lot over the years.  Today I appreciated a few "social media" things. They were about REAL love, not "It's a specific day so I'd better be affectionate and give the right things or else I'll get in trouble with my girlfriend" love. 

First, this video.  It's called "Danny and Annie", and while it is animated, it is the true story of two people from their first date through to the week after his diagnosis of terminal cancer, and their 27 years together.  It's only a six minute clip, but it's sweet, and it's funny, and it's touching, and it's real.  And, spoiler alert, when they are discussing who will walk down the aisle with her at his funeral to support her, and she says "Nobody.  I walked in with you alone, I will walk out with you alone", I think I got just a little something in my eye.  Read through all the way to the end of the video.  :)



Secondly, an SMA mom on Facebook made the following comment:
"I have a valentine who didn't send me flowers. No gifts. We agreed on that. What I do have is a loyal devoted valentine who was and is the best father to my boys! One thing I will never forget is when he gave Nathan a bath right after he passed away. So calm and so peaceful as I wept in the corner. He has been my rock and will ALWAYS be my valentine forever through good times and bad."

Her son Nathan died several years ago, but for her love isn't defined by roses or dinner, it's defined by her husband gently taking care of their son's body while she cried in the corner.  I have several stories of my own of what love is to me in that particular arena.  A lot of dads can't do it, can't handle the medical issues, the emotional aspect of things; a lot of dads tune out or even run. Steve, who when I met him would almost pass out at the thought or talk of blood, let alone the sight of anything gory, never tuned out, and never ran.  He was right in it, all the way.  I originally wrote out one story that exemplifies that in him but then suddenly this whole post was all downer and heavy, and that's not what I intended.  Anyway, flowers and cards and chocolate and jewelry are always lovely ways to show affection when heart-felt, but those things mean a lot more when there's something real to back them up.  :)  In celebrating Valentine's Day, I hope everyone remembers the substance, not the trimming...

Thursday

No school delay!  Waking up at 6:15 a.m. again isn't so fun though.  Even though I went back to bed, I never did get fully back to sleep.  Oh well.

The other day, gas was $2.99 a gallon.  Steve decided to fill up later in the day, and by the time he got back to it, it had jumped to $3.45 a gallon.  I was just waiting for a warm day to fill up, and I made it to today, where we actually got all the way up to freezing!  So I went to fill up, and saw one station at $3.45/gallon and on the way to something else, I saw one at $3.35/gallon.  So I stopped right there and filled up.  I turned two streets away and found another station at $3.20/gallon.  Indiana is so stupid with this.  I usually don't even look.  When I need gas, I get gas.  When I'm next to a gas station when I need gas, I stop and get gas.  I will not spend an hour and however many gallons of gas driving around trying to find the cheapest spot whether it's handy to where I need to be or not.  It's a good thing I don't try, because if I did, it would be nothing but an exercise in frustration, having $.46 per gallon changes in the matter of an hour or two.  Just...nuts.

I got fifteen pages written on a project I'm working on.  We'll see how it goes, but that part feels somewhat accomplished, anyway.

The upcoming week may at least propose something more interesting than the weather, errands, and running the kid around to everything.  I may have a trip to Atlanta on Monday, I may get to visit the 340 on Tuesday, Kaylee has something she's going to with a friend tomorrow and Saturday, and it's supposed to get up into maybe the 40s and 50s next week.  We may be in the middle of a lake when all this snow starts melting, but by George it's better than this sleet/ice/snow crap.  Viva la Difference, and let's have something interesting to do coming up soon.

Onward

I really don't mind setting my alarm for 8:15 instead of 6:15 a.m.  I think today was the last day I get to do that for awhile though, as the temps are finally heading in the right direction for the next few days, so I'm guessing our school delays are over...

We were sitting at lunch when Ty got a phone call.  Shortly thereafter both Steve and my phones started getting some messages and calls too.  The initial report was that an airplane was down by Kokomo Airport.  Until you get some details there's always some concern, of course.  None of ours should have been up flying, at least.  Quickly found out it was no big deal.  Engine quit after he took off out of Kokomo and had reached 4500'.  He turned back towards Kokomo and got within 2 miles of the runway, then put it down in a field.  He was fine.  The airplane was fine.  In fact it looks perfect sitting there.  No damage to anything visible, anyway.  The next text I got was all in caps.  "SINGLE ENGINE PLANE CRASH AT OKK!!!!"  My response was "It's not a crash. Successful off-field landing, everybody's just fine." I'll be a little curious to learn why the engine quit, but obviously we're glad he wasn't hurt.

Right after lunch I had two instruction flights. The hard part was the patch of ice that covers the "driveway" where you pull the plane onto the taxiway.  It's uphill and on ice, and it was a little tricky, especially when we got the plane topped back off and it was full and heavy.  I pushed/pulled an airplane out four times total today, with minimal help, and I walked back and forth from Nathan's hangar to the airplane hangar twice, (the last time I drove down there--it's cold!) so I got a little exercise in, and while I did a toe tap dance move a time or two on the ice, I did not fall.  I win over the ice today!

Speaking of ice, the south-facing hangars had a monster row of icicles.  I couldn't get a decent picture, but these things were huge, feet long, some of them almost to the ground from the roof, and beautiful in the sun.  You wouldn't want to be hit with one of those things either.  I used to have a little private daydream about taking an icicle and using it to...dispatch...somebody.  No murder weapon to help convict me because it would melt.  These would have been too long for that, but the thought crossed my mind.  Yes, be afraid.  ;)

 

1.1 and 1.5 today in the 172 doing private pilot stuff.  Went well, was nice.

Kaylee had to be at play practice at 4:30, but both Steve and I had flights at that time, so the play director picked her up at the bus stop for us at 3:30.  It took an hour and a half of planning to get that accomplished, but finally everyone was good to go.  Today is Picture Day for the play.  So they all get in their make-up for the first time, full dress, and get play photos taken as their character.  The play is ramping up to happen fast here.

So I sent in four pages of paperwork for the CAF's drug testing program to give rides in the PT.  Today I got back a letter of acceptance and another form, and this time I am to take the form to the local med one clinic, where I am to pee in a cup and have the drug test results sent directly to the CAF in Texas. I'll do that early next week.  Once they get the results, they will send me another letter of authorization, this time a final one that gives me permission to give rides.  Now if I could legally give instruction too, we'd be all set in this airplane.  At least I can give the guy a ride (assuming I pass the drug test of course), and teach him on the ground, even if I can't legally teach him in the airplane...

I had a student complaining awhile ago about how hard it was to get your license and how the weather these last two months has been so bad, so we can't finish yet, etc., and it's true, it's not easy and the weather has been yuck. Somebody else told him that it's not supposed to be super easy and that it'll weed out people who don't really want it.  This made me think about the things I did to become (and stay) a pilot.  And then I thought "Aww, your life is covered right now by others, providing a home, a car, food, flying lessons, and an education all for you, but the weather hasn't been friendly for a couple of months and there's a lot to study?  Well BOO HOO."  So I decided I'd better keep that sentiment to myself and remember my empathy.  Try to remember my empathy.  Life's hard, and this is the easy part! Suck it up, Buttercup!

Yawn

Two hour delay today...two hour delay already called for tomorrow.  They have come up with a plan to start making up these days.  They're going to have the kids go to school on two holidays including Good Friday for two of the days.  They are going to go for one hour extra every Wednesday for 12 weeks in a row to make up two more days.  Last but not least they are seeking approval to do four E-learning days, which is to have the kids do a full day of school at home via their school iPads, for four Saturdays in a row.   Kids are going to hate that.  Parents probably will too. But it's better than being in school until July making up all these days.  The winter's not even over yet, the delays and closings aren't over yet, and we already have a lot of time to make up.  I know, I said that already.  Sorry.

We did break double-digits on temperature today, I think up to 12 degrees or so.  The sun being out helps, but still, when you go outside your face and nose and lungs hurt very quickly.  It's sad when 12 feels warm and it's still 20 degrees below freezing.  I hate winter.

Steve has a student tomorrow and I have two, the first instructional flying we've been able to accomplish in, well, a long time.  Of course then Kaylee needed to go to her play practice at 4:30, which totally goofed us up.  Finally by 11:30 p.m. I have the play director picking Kaylee up at her school bus stop for us an hour early from her call time just so she can get there for Make-Up for their big Picture Day.  The one day we have flights during the week in weeks!  Figures, doesn't it?

I've been sitting here for an hour trying to think of something else to say.  We'll call this one a failure and move on to tomorrow, when I'll supposedly get in the air, in the mighty 172, twice, and it will be 23 degrees, which is even closer to getting up to freezing than we had today!  Darn, I already shot through tomorrow's post too, unless somebody does something scary or funny in the airplane.  ;)

Monday Makin' It

Two hour delay this morning, two hour delay already scheduled for tomorrow morning, both for the cold temps.  We had the house cleaned this morning while we went to Glenndale to do a few things.  It's still nice to come back to a clean place. 

I filled out four short pages of paperwork to be able to get on (another) drug and alcohol testing program so that I can give rides for the CAF in the PT-26.  I had to write out my social security number four different times.  I suppose that's necessary, but I frowned while I did it.  Everything feels like such an invasion of privacy there to me, but nothing is really inappropriate.  It's just me.  I'm weird and I don't like filling out my life history and personal info to a permanent file for an organization.

I was out doing a few things when late in the afternoon I got a call from Kaylee's play director people, who wanted to know if I could come to tonight's practice and sort and hand out all the shirts.  Fortunately I didn't have anything to do but fix dinner, which was supposed to be a full meal of salmon, mashed potatoes, and veggies.  So I go to her practice at 6 pm, and the person who is supposed to get me the shirts doesn't show up for half an hour, so I stand there by the door for half and hour.  I don't like standing around.  She finally comes, and wants me to bring the shirts in so she can do something else, so I go back out to her van and grab this pretty big box filled with tshirts, sweatshirts and hoodies, and as I'm walking back in, I slide on the ice-covered parking lot.  But THIS time I caught myself, and after dancing around like Charlie Brown for a second, I was victoriously still on my feet.  ;)  I took the next hour to sort through all the shirts and match up shirts with the order forms and separate them all.  I had a few glitches, until a lady walked in and let me know that some people had already gotten theirs out of the box, four of the people whose paper said "Needed to pay" didn't actually need to pay, and that a Youth XL is the same as an Adult S, and that's why I had extras of one and not enough of another.  *sigh*  After I got everything ready, I sat for the next hour with nothing to do but stare at my phone, and then they forgot to announce that I was there with their shirts, so as people went running by, I was yelling "SHIRTS ARE IN!  Come pick up your shirts!"  Right about then, the janitor of the school turned music on the overhead speakers Really loud, so you couldn't hear yourself talk, so that he could jam while he cleaned up.  :)  About a dozen people didn't pick theirs up, and around 8:45 p.m. I was finally able to pack it up and go home to start dinner, since neither Steve nor I had eaten since we had a half of a salad at lunch.

At the school, while I was bored, I was reading the walls.  One wall had a whole deal on the Underground Railroad.  Facts, figures, posters, and one I hadn't known, they had passed on messages using quilting blocks.  Pretty neat, really. Well, I got to the last block and couldn't believe my eyes.  And yes, I became "that" person.

Unfortunately it was too high up on the wall for me to reach the first usage of the incorrect word, but I could barely reach the bottom one.  I tried using a pen, but it wouldn't write on the plastic-covered sign, so I went hunting in rooms for a marker until I found one.  There were over 50 people there, and one adult who was sitting very close to this.  So I waited for my moment, and then I made my move.  I can let a lot of bad grammar go, but this is in a SCHOOL.  If the teachers don't know English, how are the kids supposed to learn it?  Hopefully somebody sees this and fixes the whole thing.  I know, it's snobby of me, but I couldn't help it.

The dinner I was supposed to make was going to take awhile.  I didn't get home until after 9 pm.  We were hungry and tired.  So I went on the internet and looked for a different way to fix the salmon.  Found a quick one that sounded good, decided to make some rice to go with it instead of doing a bunch of potatoes and stuff, and after Steve took the skin/scales off of the back of the salmon, which was slimy, smelly and gross, I cooked it up in a third of the time of the other recipe, and it was actually pretty good.  I even got Kaylee to eat a bite of it.  She said "It's okay, not my favorite", but she ATE it.  The last time we made her eat salmon it was an all-out war between her and us and we  barely won by the skin of our teeth.  ;)  This time she said it wasn't bad at all.  I call that a success.  :D

Hanging On

It snowed some more.  Steve shoveled more.   He's getting some good exercise in with all this shoveling, and he (and everyone else) is running out of places to put any additional snow.  The piles are higher than vehicles and in some places on ramps or parking lots, higher than roofs of some buildings.  We've had no days warm enough to melt any of it off in awhile.

It's no secret that winter isn't my favorite season.  But while time in the moment seems to be dragging, time in the big picture seems to be going by fast enough as it is, so I figured I should quit staring at the snow like a caged animal and start accomplishing something I'm too busy to do in better weather.

Trying to care about the Olympics, and failing. The men's downslope was interesting for a few minutes.  Kaylee likes ice skating, having seen for herself how hard it is just to stay on your feet, let alone flip around like that.  I don't like ice skating because even though it's better than it used to be, if you're not going to get scored fairly and impartially, then it's not legit.

Kaylee's play is ramping up for the end, as it will go "live" at the end of this month.  She says the cast members aren't ready, don't have their lines memorized or anything.  She and the other 3 girls in her parts do have their lines memorized at least.  The time when I "get" to start "volunteering" (as in if you don't your kid doesn't get in the play) is here.  I'll get Greenroom duty (babysitting) plus ticket sales and two other committees I'm on that I don't remember right now.  I'm getting emails about these things now, so I suppose I'd better read up on what I'm supposed to be doing lest I miss something. 

I went out to Kokomo for awhile, got the Aerostar ready to go on a trip, got some fast food for lunch, and watched a movie or two.  It's a beautiful looking day, if you don't look at the thermometer.  ;) We're picking up the house some, Kaylee's doing homework, Steve shoveled more snow and hung out with a buddy for a few hours, and we had a quiet weekend day. 
Meanwhile, the lows tonight are -8F, and by tomorrow morning we're looking back at "bitter cold" with wind chills of -35F.  Nice.  That may mean another 2 hour delay for Kaylee's school.  I don't think she went back for a full day all last week, but at least they got some days in that counted.  They talked about going on Saturdays to make up these days, and then they talked about extending school hours to make it up.  I'm not sure what the final decision would be, but this winter isn't over by a long shot yet, and there are a LOT of days to make up already.  Homeschooling gets the win on this one.  Kaylee still doesn't have snow boots.  She outgrew her others, and every time I've gone to the store, the shelves have been BARE of snow boots.  I can't order them online without knowing what size to get her, and it varies widely enough I don't want to guess.  By the time I get boots it will quit snowing and she'll have outgrown them for next year.  *huff*

Well, as fascinating as life is right now, I think curling is coming on tv next and I shouldn't miss that.  (eyeroll).

ISSMA

We were all up way too late last night.  Kaylee got into a good book and couldn't put it down until I threatened her because she had to get up and perform in the morning.  I have just had trouble getting to sleep lately at a reasonable hour.  Steve was out at a mini pre-birthday celebration with some friends until very late.  I figured Kaylee would be dragging this morning, as she can sleep in past noon if you'd let her.  No, I'M the one who comes dragging out after 10 a.m., and she is dressed, groomed, and all ready to go.

Today was the Indiana State School Music Association contest at the Kokomo High School, which was the former Hayworth High School, which is where Steve went to highschool in the 70s.  He hadn't been inside there in decades, so he spent a lot of time looking around and commenting on how little it had all changed. The ISSMA is something he also participated in from Junior High on through, and he amassed a jar full of mostly gold medals for saxophone in solo, dual, ensemble, etc.  He has two silvers and he says he still remembers getting the silver and being almost traumatized by it, that they were in group efforts where one of the other people didn't put in the amount of work that the others did and brought the whole group down.

Kaylee had to be there by 11, and I walked her up to the warm-up room and left her there where the ensemble groups were, well, warming up.  They were running behind, so we had to wait a little longer than her originally assigned room time of 11:34, but soon enough it was our turn.  Kaylee was the only saxophone player of the four, the other three were clarinets.  When the former group playing in the room left, we filed in, the parents of the girls, and the girls sat in chairs in front of the two judges.  Steve and I hadn't heard them practicing, so we weren't real sure what to expect, but they were right on beat and didn't hit any wrong notes, and Kaylee didn't out-blast them with the sax which is a potential.  They sounded good!  When they finished their piece, we had to leave the room for the next group and wait for the results.  They would come out and hand the guy guarding the door a card with what medal to put by the name on the list at the door.  He came over and wrote a "G" next to the girls' names...G for Gold metal!  The girls were all given a card to take to the medals table, and they all received their golds.

So, an interesting day, and congrats to Kaylee and her friends on the good job.  :)

The ensemble waiting to go for their turn.

 

With the delay, resting a little bit first.  ;)

 

Walking into the room to go play...

 

Four girls with Gold Medals.  :)

Wander

Kaylee's been busy again lately, which keeps us busy.  Today after I picked her up from school, she had about an hour to get ready and then I dropped her off at her "advanced acting class".  She packed a Greek goddess dress and high heels with her, and when I picked her up from there at 6:30, she changed clothes and went to a Valentine's Day Toga Party thing for her play club at a little café downtown, where they sang and did skits and basically advertised for their "12 Daughters of Hercules" play coming up.    After a second's hesitation, she was out of the car and gone, walking into a place she'd never been, wearing a Greek goddess gown with gold leaves in her hair.  I'd told her I'd wait outside for a few minutes to make sure everything was okay, if she needed anything, and she just waved.  My few minutes later, no text, she was fine and happy, so off I left her.  A couple of hours later I pick her up in her Greek dress, all wound up and excited.  It's funny, as a kid, she's confident to try things or be on her own.  For awhile at the bus stop I'd see parents walk their older children from the bus back to their car.  It never occurred to me to do that.  She knows what the car looks like.  She walks off the bus, finds the car, and we go home.  She doesn't need me to walk her to it.  She doesn't need me to walk her into the café tonight either.  She did need me to go into the doctor's office with her last time for a checkup.  She did need us to wait outside the door of her school for a few minutes at the Christmas Dance, just in case, as a safety net that she never needs.  We can do that, we make a good safety net.  It's kind of a fun job, really, watching somebody spread their wings.  Besides, it's good that she is independent, because around this house you have to be able to take care of yourself to some degree if you plan on surviving.  Even the cats and the houseplants.  ;)

I had someone ask me today about how I felt about her flying by herself some day.  I told him the same thing I always say--no, I'm not worried about it.  When the time comes, she'll have two instructor parents who have done this a few times who won't send her out there until or unless we feel she can handle it. That doesn't mean something can't happen, but I can't live life worrying about all the things that could go wrong, or I'd never get out of bed, and you can't not do anything in hopes that nothing bad will happen.  That's not living either.  Besides, the bad things that do happen to you in life are usually the ones you never saw coming.  That's what I tell myself when I DO worry a little about her DRIVING.  Not actually *her* driving, but being on the road as an inexperienced driver with a lot of other people out there too.  Driving bothers me a lot more than flying.  Motor vehicle crashes are still the leading cause of death for teens in the US, almost 18 drivers under age 20 dying every day.  Now THAT'S a realistic concern.  Anyway, we still have a whopping 2-3 years before we have to deal with that.  Oh boy.  ;)

I watched a movie today called "About Time", a sweet story about a guy who could travel back in time, as could his father.  It was a nice version of that theme, a little different, because it didn't do the whole "butterfly effect" scare tactic, but it did still show him that sometimes no matter how many times you tried, you couldn't change the past, you couldn't make someone love you, you couldn't always stop something bad from happening to someone you love, and you couldn't stop time from moving on.  It wasn't super deep, my synopsis is probably deeper than the movie, ;), but it was, like I said...sweet.

I took this IQ test and got a, well, and got a score such that I wish this thing was real.  :D  I can say I've gotten that score on an actual IQ test in the past too, but I've also gotten a score a lot lower than this on one too.  Don't worry, I don't think a test actually tells you how smart you are. I have felt my brain eroding out of my ears over the last few years, so I was curious about current performance more than anything.  As long as you take easy tests, it's all good, makes you feel better.  It's like renumbering women's jeans sizes!  They aren't the same as they used to be 15-20 years ago.  Trust me.  So take the test and feel better about your brainage.  ;)

Well, it's late, 2:30 a.m., and we have Kaylee's quartet thingy tomorrow morning, so I guess I'll get some sleep...

Groundhog Day

You've seen the movie.  I don't see how anyone can watch that movie more than once, by the way.  Watching the same scenes repeat over and over (and over and over) drove me batty the first time I watched it.  Anyway, that kind of feels like what we're in, to a lesser degree.  The same temperatures, the same snowfall amounts, the same school delays and closings, the same shoveling for Steve, the same...everything.  The one way you can tell it's a new day and not a repeat of the old day is that the piles of snow are getting impressively big.  The snow at the end of our driveway is higher than our SUV doors.  :)  Speaking of SUVs, I'm really glad to have one.  We'd never, ever have made it out of our driveway and down our road for awhile there in a regular car.  I saw several cars stuck in entrance ways of businesses and driveways, several roads that were impassible.  The Explorer and Jeep have been great.

Kaylee had a 2-hour delay today, but Steve ended up having to drive her instead of taking her to the bus, because at some point over night the plow had finally come down our street and put several feet of snow at the end of our driveway, and even the SUVs couldn't safely drive over that and get out, so he got to shovel a clear path at 8 a.m.  She has a 2-hour delay tomorrow too, but looking at the street I think we're okay if they plow again.  It's covered, but it's hard packed ice/snow at least, not the loose snow and ice they piled up on us last night.

By the way, the restaurant I went to in Alabama?  It was called "The Cajun Corner", and it was really good.  Really, really good.  I had crawfish for the first time--I haven't eaten them before because they look like bugs and the meat is too much effort to get out.  So I had a dish where they took the meat out for me.  Much better.  ;)  I had something French that I can't spell nor do I know what all was in it, but it too was quite tasty.  A little spicy but not so much as to light me up and make it uncomfortable.  And I had some shrimp, grilled, but with Cajun stuffing with crawfish meat and melted mozzarella cheese over the top.  Mmm.  Seriously mmmm.   I wanted a piece of crème brule cheesecake, but I was stuffed and it wasn't on my dime and it wasn't a cheap restaurant to start with.  So I let that one go.  This time.  ;)

As part of the current Groundhog Day scenario, I spent much of today catching up on laundry and dishes from when I was gone, then running around with Kaylee.  Picking her up, picking up dinner, taking her to play practice, picking her up from play practice, going to the store for lined 3x5 cards that she needs Right Now because she has a project with them due Tomorrow, making sure we don't run out of milk.  You know, Mom stuff.  I was going to fix salmon for dinner, but decided to do that tomorrow instead.  Of course now I just found out I have to take her to acting lessons after school, then on to a Toga Party until pretty late, so I doubt it'll happen then either.  This is why cooking isn't as easy as some people think.  ;)

Home

It was really nice in Alabama today.  The sun was out, the sky was blue, and it was so tasty warm.  I was wandering around in a t-shirt enjoying a Spring breeze, the high down there was almost 70.  I think I was a little disappointed that the weather was good enough back here for me to get home after all.  ;)  Not really, I missed the family.  But I didn't miss the snow and 19 degrees.

It was a 3-hour flight home, above the clouds and ice, picked up a trace on the way down, did the GPS 5 into Kokomo, not low, landed on the snowy and slightly icy runway at Kokomo with a nice crosswind, got in the snowy hangars, and made my way home in time to fall asleep on the couch for awhile.

When I pulled into the driveway, Kaylee pelted me with snowballs.  Steve was out shoveling (again), and she had built a snow fort and pre-made some snowballs.  They weren't done by the time I got there, but they were close enough to be able to pelt me with a few.  lol  Kaylee then took an icicle and stuck it in the top of her fort like a crown.  I told her it reminded me of the ice castle on "Frozen", and she said "Yea, Mom, it's just like a giant ice castle, except it's only one icicle sticking out of the top".  Smart aleck.

Outrunning

Well, the good news is, I'm sitting in a t-shirt in Alabama where it's supposed to get up to 70 degrees today.  The bad news is, I can't get home for a day or so because of the next winter storm that's moving into Indiana as I type this.  The good news is, I knew it was a possibility ahead of time, so I'm well packed and prepared to stay here several days if need be.  The bad news is, this town is extremely small and quiet and my options are slim.  The good news is, I have decent wifi and some things I can catch up on.  I'm tired of the good news bad news game even though I have lots more that fit the categories.  ;)

We were supposed to come to Alabama this morning, landing here no later than 8 a.m. (It's a 3 hour flight.  Do the math as to what time that meant I would have had to get up, get ready, drive to the airport, get  the plane ready/out, and be in the air to land by 8 a.m.)  The forecasts were fine for both home and AL for Tuesday morning.  By late Tuesday, we were supposed to start getting another 9-12" of snow, wind, drifting snow, etc., so we were going to have to bug out of Alabama by noon or so to beat it home, and he was going to try to do just that.  The problem was, this was a Must Do flight, and we HAD to be on the ground by 8 a.m., so I was watching the forecast really closely all day.  And I had a feeling about Alabama.  The forecast kept calling for marginal VFR, but the more I looked into it, some places had the temp and dewpoint the same with 100% humidity, and I kept thinking...it's going to fog over, and I'm not going to be able to get him in there.  Then the forecast went down to IFR, but it was high IFR.  That's when I told D that I had a bad feeling about Alabama and that we might need to be prepared to go tonight instead.  Then the forecast went down to 500', which is 100' above minimums here, and it was supposed to clear back up after 10 a.m.  Still no forecast for fog, but I knew it, and the mental image of waking up and seeing fog down there was making me twitchy.  He was flexible, so since we HAD to be there, we planned on heading down  Monday when he got out of a meeting instead of waiting for morning.  Ironically enough, when we left Kokomo, IT was fogged out.  The sky was clear above, and I could see part of the runway, but the rest of it was fog.  On the way down, I mentioned that now that I said I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get in in the morning, it would be just fine, stay at its forecast of 500', and laugh at us.  Well, we made it down in weather that was just fine, at a reasonable hour of the night in which I am still perfectly awake and functioning, got a car and rooms, and I woke up this morning to weather below minimums, that has stayed below minimums all day, against the forecasts they had.  Thank you very much.

D checked out of the hotel at 8, and went to do his thing, hoping to be done by noon to 1 at the latest so we could bug out and have a 3 hour flight home to try to beat the snow.  He didn't make it, so I rearranged the rooms, and car, got the airplane topped off and ready to go in case we need to leave when the FBO is closed, and now we'll stay here in Alabama until it's done being nasty in Kokomo and they get our runway, taxiway, and hangar plowed back out.  I'm hoping all that can be done by tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath, either.  

When I left my room this morning for breakfast, I went to get back in my room and my card wouldn't work. When I took it to the front desk, the lady asked what room, I said "206", and she said "I don't have anyone in 206."  I said, "Well, I'M in 206 and so is most of my stuff still, at least I hope it is."  They didn't even have me in there in the first place somehow.  So we got that taken care of.  The hotel is the nicest one in town and it's...okay.  Relatively clean, decent wifi, nice TV with decent stations, but certainly nothing fancy.  Old, no place to eat or get anything and the kind of carpeting that is having me leave my socks on.  There isn't a blanket either.  I guess they figure you don't get cold in Alabama?  The wifi helps though-I'm going to see if it's good enough for me to watch an Amazon movie on my iPad later.  It was good enough for me to update an operating system, 27 apps, and 116 Garmin Pilot charts on a mini iPad, so hey, that feels promising.  ;)

There aren't a lot of options in Eufala, Alabama.  I drove around to see what was what, ran into a Rite Aid to get some stuff I could have used at home or here, and some snacks.  What's kind of odd is that a lot of what IS in Eufala isn't showing up on Google Maps or Siri or...anything.  The hotel we're staying in?  Doesn't show up at all, and it's not new here.  We had to google the address, and had a hard time finding that, as it wasn't showing up on Google either!  Eventually we stopped for directions at a gas station and they pointed it out to us.  Weird.  I asked about restaurants around here and it came up with a few, but when I was driving around I saw a couple more, and they too didn't show up.  I don't know.  Maybe it's all an illusion, and I've been lost in...the Twilight Zone.  :o  

I do like the south though.  I feel more at home here than a lot of places.  It's quiet, it's serene, it's old-fashioned.  The only tea option is sweet (with extra diabetes kapow on the side), people call each other "Miss Mary" or "Miss Patty" in that southern drawl, the pace is slow, the weather is warm in the winter, and the stores that I saw just threw me back in time a little.  I even watched "Dukes of Hazard" on tv, (the original characters are 50 times better than that stupid, vapid movie.)  Then I went out for some Sweet tea and breakfast, and passed by a Piggly Wiggly and a Rite Aid, and people are friendly towards strangers, and I do think the South has the right idea on a lot of things.  There is a LOT of poverty down here, big-time, but the cost of living's not so bad either...

Well, Steve just texted me that it just started snowing back home.  It's 64 here, which isn't bad at all...but it IS awful quiet!  My big adventure for the night will be to go to this little Cajun restaurant I found on an out of the way corner, for dinner.  It looks unique, a hole-in-the-wall place, and sometimes you get food poisoning at those, and sometimes you get the best local food you've ever had.  I'm betting on the second.  ;)

Super?

There's really just been nothing to discuss here.  I've been staying up too late watching movies and reading books, sleeping in too late, doing a minimal amount of work during the day, no flying, nothing but a little paperwork, a little communications, and a very little house upkeep.  I caught up my logbook and filled out an insurance form with my totals and got that ready to mail in, as I'll likely be doing a few photo shoots in another T6 this year.  The Bonanza guys sent an email about their Spring formation clinic, and Steve joked that it might not be done snowing by then, but honestly, it might not...  Anyway, it'll probably be on the schedule for the end of April.  At least with stuff going on the spring/summer calendar, spring/summer isn't a total eternity away in theory, but in reality we have a lot more snow to plow through before it gets here.  Just this coming week we have several more rounds.  I'm supposed to get to Alabama, and home, neither of which is a "given" right now.

We watched the "Super"bowl, and it was horrible, the worst rout I've seen in a long time.  I didn't enjoy myself at all, and I'm not happy for Peyton either.  That wasn't just a loss, that was a humiliating loss of epic proportion.  Seattle showed up to play, Denver started off in a low gear and never really caught up.  That was just depressing.

On that note, I have a few things to do before Monday hits.