I forgot to post my fascinating day yesterday--the weather was lovely, I had a flight in the 172 at sunset, I slept in that morning and stayed up until 2 a.m. again that night. There, now you're all caught up. ;)
Steve's head is still stuffy now and then, but he's otherwise doing fine. Poor Ernie got sick the day he left here and has been down with a bug now. So far, somehow or other, neither Kaylee nor I have gotten sick. Yet. That reminds me, I need to go take a vitamin. :o
Kaylee went to see "The Hobbit" in the theater today with a group of 12 kids (and two very brave mothers, of which I was not one). And she cleaned her room. That's an accomplishment right there!
I had a flight in the RG this evening. The clouds were kind of low, but they were broken, so I found a hole and took us up on top to do steep turns, slow flight, stalls, and enjoy the view of the sun getting low on top of a deck of clouds with blue sky above, before coming back down and doing some pattern work. The last two landings of the day, the runway lights were lit, the skies were getting dark, and it was really, REALLY cold out there, but smooth. It made for a nice evening flight. Afterwards Steve and I went to Applebees, where I had a dinner with Quinoa and chicken that had green apples on it, and it was actually pretty tasty, and of course low-ish calorie.
This morning I finally worked up the courage to step on the scale, something I hadn't done since before the Christmas holiday began. I was glad to see that I was at least right where I left off two weeks ago, and not up any. The final tally is that I have lost about 3 pounds since Thanksgiving, which isn't very much, but since statistics say the average American gains 5 pounds from Thanksgiving to New Year, and it's really, really easy to do just that with all the food around, I'll take my slow 3 lb loss as a win, and I have another day and some to see if it'll go to four. ;) Another statistic I just happened to see on TV the other day stated that if an overweight person loses just 7% of their body weight, it reduces their risk of diabetes by 58%. Well, I have well surpassed 7%, and since diabetes is the only major thing in my family health history that has ever caused me any real medical concern, I feel pretty good about that. I celebrated by watching Netflix while walking on the treadmill for almost an hour this afternoon. ;)
I'm not sure that I'll make much of a New Year's Eve post, so here's a 2014 recap tonight, instead, because I'm here, and awake, and there's absolutely nothing on TV at all!
It's a common practice to take the upcoming new year and reflect, evaluate, and maybe make yourself or others some promises. I'm not a huge fan of "New Year resolutions", but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing to take that time to evaluate and think. It's also never a bad thing to decide to work on bettering something in your life that you know needs to be improved. Because I'm about 40 degrees away from normal (optimistically), I did a lot of that last June, instead. There were a few things I needed to change, some of which I'm still working on. You know about the physical one, because I've probably talked too much about that one. I'm more talking to myself than anybody out "there", because it's a lot of effort to change lifelong habits, and if it's not on my mind, it would be easy to backslide, or it would have been. Now that it's been six months, I think I'm fairly well settled in better. What started with eating habits moved into a little better exercise habit, and the combination of eating better, moving more, and losing weight has had other benefits. More stamina, more alert throughout the day (most of the time), more...outgoing. I actually feel more frequently like doing something besides sitting on my couch. I'm happier, feel more alive. I also finally let go of a few things that I needed to let go of for awhile now, have come to an understanding on a few things that I used to know via lip service, but now I actually do understand and believe. Of course, on the other end, I'm less patient with some things than I used to be, and that's probably not actually that great. But hey. ;) Basically I am looking forward to 2015. I have some plans. I will try not to get too frustrated when I have no choice but to rely on other people to accomplish those plans, and it's out of my control. I'm not fond of that kind of situation, and I seem to have a few of them, but welcome to life, huh?
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Snap
Our family spent much of today sleeping. I slept in, Steve slept in, Kaylee slept way in, I took a nap, Steve took a nap, Kaylee barely got up in the first place. We may regret all this sleeping tomorrow, but boy it was nice for today.
In fact, I have done nothing productive today. Kaylee's youth group was canceled for today, and so was my flight, so that was all she wrote. Tomorrow I'll have some things to do, but for today I've decided to watch movies, read a book, nap, light a candle, eat cheesy crackers, and occasionally bug Kaylee.
In fact, I have done nothing productive today. Kaylee's youth group was canceled for today, and so was my flight, so that was all she wrote. Tomorrow I'll have some things to do, but for today I've decided to watch movies, read a book, nap, light a candle, eat cheesy crackers, and occasionally bug Kaylee.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Passing By
Mom and Ernie headed out this morning, so the house is all quiet. We've slowly started putting things back, I've been doing sheets and towels and various laundry things, and dishes, and putting the living room back to order, but we're leaving the Christmas stuff up for a little while longer since we didn't get it up until so late in the first place. Might as well enjoy it for awhile, right?
Ann cooked a crock pot roast with big chunks of potatoes and carrots in broth, and shared it with us tonight, and it was wonderful. Sometimes you don't know how much you needed some real food until you eat it and feel your body saying "Ahhhhh". :)
I took a two hour nap today, guess I had some rest to catch up on. Tomorrow I have a flight, but at least it's not until afternoon.
Kaylee hasn't been doing a lot, and Steve, who is finally recovering from his cold pretty well, did a few "put things back" stuff too. The weather wasn't really good enough to actually do anything, so we decided to hang here for a family day.
See you tomorrow...
Ann cooked a crock pot roast with big chunks of potatoes and carrots in broth, and shared it with us tonight, and it was wonderful. Sometimes you don't know how much you needed some real food until you eat it and feel your body saying "Ahhhhh". :)
I took a two hour nap today, guess I had some rest to catch up on. Tomorrow I have a flight, but at least it's not until afternoon.
Kaylee hasn't been doing a lot, and Steve, who is finally recovering from his cold pretty well, did a few "put things back" stuff too. The weather wasn't really good enough to actually do anything, so we decided to hang here for a family day.
See you tomorrow...
Friday, December 26, 2014
The Day After
The Cherry family has left the building--they left close to noon and headed up to Ft. Wayne for more family Christmas fun. :)
The rest of us took some of our leftovers out to Glenndale for lunch, and AE brought some homemade French vanilla and also mocha chocolate chip ice cream (yum). This week had smaller attendance than the Thanksgiving one did last time, but we still had enough, and plenty of desserts. Too many desserts in fact!
After lunch, Mom and I went to see "Unbroken". I've wanted to see that since I saw the previews in the theater a long time ago, maybe last year. It's my kind of movie--WWII and underdog story both. It opened with a huge number of B-29s flying formation at sunset. I could have left happy right then. ;) The movie was really good. It would surprise you that Angelina Jolie directed and produced it, but she did a great job with it. The story was well told, and the fact that it is a true story makes it even more amazing. That guy was one tough dude. The things he went through, the things he overcame...including making it home after huge odds and repeated trials, only to face addiction and severe PTSD, and he is one dude who had a very good reason to have PTSD by the way, and he came through the other side of it forgiving his enemies, dedicating his life to God, and stronger than ever, living until this year. *That* was a story. There won't be another generation of men and women like that one.
Alan from Pizza Hut had given Steve a couple of coupons for a free large pizza, so we all went to Pizza Hut for dinner tonight before coming home, eating more sugar Christmas cookies, and reading books or watching a boring Discovery Channel show. ;)
We're all a little tired, I think, just been busy, but it was a beautiful day to be out and about--I wish it would stay like today all winter long!
The rest of us took some of our leftovers out to Glenndale for lunch, and AE brought some homemade French vanilla and also mocha chocolate chip ice cream (yum). This week had smaller attendance than the Thanksgiving one did last time, but we still had enough, and plenty of desserts. Too many desserts in fact!
After lunch, Mom and I went to see "Unbroken". I've wanted to see that since I saw the previews in the theater a long time ago, maybe last year. It's my kind of movie--WWII and underdog story both. It opened with a huge number of B-29s flying formation at sunset. I could have left happy right then. ;) The movie was really good. It would surprise you that Angelina Jolie directed and produced it, but she did a great job with it. The story was well told, and the fact that it is a true story makes it even more amazing. That guy was one tough dude. The things he went through, the things he overcame...including making it home after huge odds and repeated trials, only to face addiction and severe PTSD, and he is one dude who had a very good reason to have PTSD by the way, and he came through the other side of it forgiving his enemies, dedicating his life to God, and stronger than ever, living until this year. *That* was a story. There won't be another generation of men and women like that one.
Alan from Pizza Hut had given Steve a couple of coupons for a free large pizza, so we all went to Pizza Hut for dinner tonight before coming home, eating more sugar Christmas cookies, and reading books or watching a boring Discovery Channel show. ;)
We're all a little tired, I think, just been busy, but it was a beautiful day to be out and about--I wish it would stay like today all winter long!
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Christmas Day
I've really enjoyed having everyone here for Christmas. Kaylee's so relaxed and genuinely happy, which always does a heart good. We were supposed to have a big breakfast at 10 a.m. We were barely up and at 'em by 9:30. Everybody slept in and was dragging a bit this morning, so instead, big breakfast became brunch closing in on lunch sometime after 11 a.m. I made the bacon--extra crispy like God intended bacon to be--and biscuits, Steve made pancakes, which he struggled with a bit because he wasn't firing on all cylinders this morning with his cold, and sausage gravy to go with the biscuits. We both sort of made scrambled eggs. I didn't think I'd be hungry the rest of the day, but this time it worked in the opposite direction, and I have been ravenous all day long! I've had like 4 sugar cookies, chocolate chip bar, I managed to avoid the ice cream and chocolate shakes, but I've sure made up for it elsewhere today. ;)
After we stuffed ourselves, we figured we'd better get to the presents before everybody went into a food coma. That took awhile, but it was fun. I have some neat gifts, and am looking forward to being able to use them. I think everybody came away with something special that they enjoy.
When we were done with presents, before everybody got comfy pants on and took naps, we went next door to take a family photo, at a time when all of us would be here all at once. The last professional family photo we had done like that, Kaylee was like 3 years old or something. This one isn't professional and won't quite look like a studio took it, but I think it will turn out, and we shall see!
After school one day, Kaylee handed me a rolled up paper, like a scroll, with a green ribbon around it. She said "I didn't know this was for a Christmas present when I wrote it. It's not very good, I don't like it, I can't write poetry, I stink at it, and I don't want you to open or read it in front of everybody or share it around." So I put it back, and today, after the presents were opened, I went in the other room and opened and read it. I admit, I expected it to be a somewhat bad poem, but of course I didn't care if it was from her. Well, she doesn't know what she has there. It's more prose than poetry, as it's not all perfectly rhymed, but it's GOOD. It's long, and it's about her story, her life, what she comes from, who she is, what we are as a family, a city, a state, a country, how she sees these things through her own eyes, and what she sees for the future. And it's actually pretty deep. I immediately wanted to show it to people. She let me show it to Aunt Cathy and Grandma Chiles while they were here, and I'm going to make her let me show her Grandma and Grandpa Stants tomorrow. ;) It was a school assignment, but that doesn't make the work any less good. Seriously, I'm surprisingly impressed by that. I told her it was good, but she doesn't believe me. In this day and age of everybody telling kids how great they are or how great they do, at everything, it's not surprising when they don't believe you when they really do something good. I don't tell her she's great at everything, but she's usually not too bad. lol I want her to believe me on this one though.
Because a big brunch isn't quite enough food, we had a big dinner too, with rolls and ham and mashed potatoes and gravy and sweet potato casserole and cheesy broccoli casserole and just all manner of yummy things. And because we still hadn't had enough, we had more Christmas cookies, chocolate chip bars, ice cream, home made chocolate ice cream shakes, Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, and a few other things too. My dishwasher has run pretty much non-stop all day. It's 12:35 a.m. and the last load of the day is still going. Thats-alotta-food as I might say if I were Italian. :) It was all wonderful though, we really enjoyed every bit of it. Even if I'd better hit the treadmill extra hard next week. ;)
We ended the evening in the living room with a couple of Christmas shows on, just chatting, and a round of Christmas carols with Tanner playing the guitar and the rest of us singing. We're not too bad. :) Right now the girls are up front watching a movie, everybody else is headed to bed, including me now, and a good day was had by all.
I have lots of photos, but I'm too tired to put any up tonight. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night, I'm over and out. :)
After we stuffed ourselves, we figured we'd better get to the presents before everybody went into a food coma. That took awhile, but it was fun. I have some neat gifts, and am looking forward to being able to use them. I think everybody came away with something special that they enjoy.
When we were done with presents, before everybody got comfy pants on and took naps, we went next door to take a family photo, at a time when all of us would be here all at once. The last professional family photo we had done like that, Kaylee was like 3 years old or something. This one isn't professional and won't quite look like a studio took it, but I think it will turn out, and we shall see!
After school one day, Kaylee handed me a rolled up paper, like a scroll, with a green ribbon around it. She said "I didn't know this was for a Christmas present when I wrote it. It's not very good, I don't like it, I can't write poetry, I stink at it, and I don't want you to open or read it in front of everybody or share it around." So I put it back, and today, after the presents were opened, I went in the other room and opened and read it. I admit, I expected it to be a somewhat bad poem, but of course I didn't care if it was from her. Well, she doesn't know what she has there. It's more prose than poetry, as it's not all perfectly rhymed, but it's GOOD. It's long, and it's about her story, her life, what she comes from, who she is, what we are as a family, a city, a state, a country, how she sees these things through her own eyes, and what she sees for the future. And it's actually pretty deep. I immediately wanted to show it to people. She let me show it to Aunt Cathy and Grandma Chiles while they were here, and I'm going to make her let me show her Grandma and Grandpa Stants tomorrow. ;) It was a school assignment, but that doesn't make the work any less good. Seriously, I'm surprisingly impressed by that. I told her it was good, but she doesn't believe me. In this day and age of everybody telling kids how great they are or how great they do, at everything, it's not surprising when they don't believe you when they really do something good. I don't tell her she's great at everything, but she's usually not too bad. lol I want her to believe me on this one though.
Because a big brunch isn't quite enough food, we had a big dinner too, with rolls and ham and mashed potatoes and gravy and sweet potato casserole and cheesy broccoli casserole and just all manner of yummy things. And because we still hadn't had enough, we had more Christmas cookies, chocolate chip bars, ice cream, home made chocolate ice cream shakes, Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, and a few other things too. My dishwasher has run pretty much non-stop all day. It's 12:35 a.m. and the last load of the day is still going. Thats-alotta-food as I might say if I were Italian. :) It was all wonderful though, we really enjoyed every bit of it. Even if I'd better hit the treadmill extra hard next week. ;)
We ended the evening in the living room with a couple of Christmas shows on, just chatting, and a round of Christmas carols with Tanner playing the guitar and the rest of us singing. We're not too bad. :) Right now the girls are up front watching a movie, everybody else is headed to bed, including me now, and a good day was had by all.
I have lots of photos, but I'm too tired to put any up tonight. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night, I'm over and out. :)
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
The Eve
It doesn't really feel like Christmas Eve, but so it is already!
I had a few things to do today, but it ended up being slightly unproductive. The post office was open, but the banks were closed. I needed water and ice cream at the store, and it was quite an adventure getting in and out. :) A last package we wanted didn't come in today, but it wasn't a big thing. We did deliver one present to Kaylee's friend, and I picked up a gift card holder for something, and then it was time to be home and chilling.
Mom & Ernie made it in first, around 4:30, and then the Cherry family arrived 30-40 minutes after that. We had a delicious dinner next door of homemade broccoli and cheese soup, salad with "the fixings", and the green jello dish that is always a favorite around here. Then we do what you do on a holiday, we sat around in groups and chatted and caught up and enjoyed the company. The girls all made "Ugly Sweater Christmas Cookies", which turned out not very ugly at all and I kind of hate to eat them! There is one on the deck waiting for Santa, who fortunately did get stocking stuffers for the youngest in the bunch, but not for all 13 people, because Santa isn't really magic, he can be lame when it comes to gifts, especially timely ones, let alone finding gifts PLUS stocking stuffers for 13 people. Fortunately nobody else cares about getting stocking stuffers. That I know of, anyway. :)
Later in the evening we watched a marathon of an Alaska TV show, while the cousins went up front to watch a movie and half the folks hit the hay early to try to catch up on some sleep.
There are a lot of great things that money can buy. There's a joke online that says "Money can't buy happiness. But it can by flying lessons, which is the same thing." In my case it would be "100LL", not flying lessons, but close enough. ;) But...money can't buy trust, or love, or real companionship, or family, or peace. We're not in a fancy home, not driving an expensive vehicle, not wearing top dollar clothing or providing top of the line gifts. There is nothing wrong with any of those things either, of course, but not having them doesn't equate to unhappiness. There are 13 people in our two homes who all love and enjoy each other's company. There are four girls, cousins, sitting in a circle on a futon pulled into a bed playing a game, laughing and talking, and while only three of them are biological sisters, you wouldn't know it. Four loving marriages, five happy, intelligent, polite, strong, sweet "kids", good home made food, everybody's health is doing well, and listening to them laughing up there, I definitely feel blessed. May you be as well. :)
I had a few things to do today, but it ended up being slightly unproductive. The post office was open, but the banks were closed. I needed water and ice cream at the store, and it was quite an adventure getting in and out. :) A last package we wanted didn't come in today, but it wasn't a big thing. We did deliver one present to Kaylee's friend, and I picked up a gift card holder for something, and then it was time to be home and chilling.
Mom & Ernie made it in first, around 4:30, and then the Cherry family arrived 30-40 minutes after that. We had a delicious dinner next door of homemade broccoli and cheese soup, salad with "the fixings", and the green jello dish that is always a favorite around here. Then we do what you do on a holiday, we sat around in groups and chatted and caught up and enjoyed the company. The girls all made "Ugly Sweater Christmas Cookies", which turned out not very ugly at all and I kind of hate to eat them! There is one on the deck waiting for Santa, who fortunately did get stocking stuffers for the youngest in the bunch, but not for all 13 people, because Santa isn't really magic, he can be lame when it comes to gifts, especially timely ones, let alone finding gifts PLUS stocking stuffers for 13 people. Fortunately nobody else cares about getting stocking stuffers. That I know of, anyway. :)
Later in the evening we watched a marathon of an Alaska TV show, while the cousins went up front to watch a movie and half the folks hit the hay early to try to catch up on some sleep.
There are a lot of great things that money can buy. There's a joke online that says "Money can't buy happiness. But it can by flying lessons, which is the same thing." In my case it would be "100LL", not flying lessons, but close enough. ;) But...money can't buy trust, or love, or real companionship, or family, or peace. We're not in a fancy home, not driving an expensive vehicle, not wearing top dollar clothing or providing top of the line gifts. There is nothing wrong with any of those things either, of course, but not having them doesn't equate to unhappiness. There are 13 people in our two homes who all love and enjoy each other's company. There are four girls, cousins, sitting in a circle on a futon pulled into a bed playing a game, laughing and talking, and while only three of them are biological sisters, you wouldn't know it. Four loving marriages, five happy, intelligent, polite, strong, sweet "kids", good home made food, everybody's health is doing well, and listening to them laughing up there, I definitely feel blessed. May you be as well. :)
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Is It Two or One?
It's two days until Christmas, but one day until everyone arrives, so we'll call it both. :)
This was a day of non-stop. Kaylee and I started our morning by getting up fairly early and going to the dentist. The dentist is not my favorite place to be. Okay, I can't stand dentists and usually avoid them for long periods of time. But Steve set up the appointment so we both went. It took almost an hour and a half to get both of us done, and then after a set of ex-rays and some poking around, he told us that we both had a cavity. I haven't had a cavity in...gosh, ages. So we had to set up appointments to get them filled, and the closest time slot available was 5 weeks from now. Sheesh. He is Booked Up. You can't get in, and when you do, two or three other people are at the same time slot as you, so you sit in the chair and wait while he makes the rounds. Last time I waited over an hour past my scheduled appointment time and didn't even make it to the chair, and just left, and made them reschedule me for another time when I could get in. He's a former college-mate friend of Steve's, and he's a good guy and a good dentist, and if it wasn't for that, I'd be looking into these other places around. I don't like being there in the first place--I sure don't want to sit there for hours, or be unable to get a cavity filled for over a month. That's silly. But anyway.
Next up Kaylee and I went to mourn our cavities by stopping at Starbucks and getting a sugar coffee. Okay, hers had sugar, mine was a "skinny", or sugar free. I am, however, not gloating over this, as it's still not exactly a health food. ;)
We then ran to a store in order to pick up a couple last minute things Kaylee needed, and we were successful there, so we left there and went to the post office, ran our stuff home, picked up a check in her name, ran it past her bank and cashed it, and went to eat with Steve and Chuck. Left there and went to the airport bank, came home and started wrapping presents. Next it was time for me to take a flight with a student in the 172 at Kokomo. She's gotten about one flight in over the last month, thanks to the weather. She wanted to bring her sister, I said sure. Then she texted and said her brother found out and felt left out and wants to know if he can come too. I said sure. Why not. But now our plan of doing the pattern is probably not the best. ;) So we flew around their house, and then they all asked if we could do "roller coaster" stuff. They did all want to, so I started with a 60 degree bank to see what they thought. They were laughing and filming it. So I did a few Cessna wingovers and floated stuff up a little bit, and they decided that was too cool. We came back and did three takeoffs and landings anyway, because what better time to practice gross weight operations than when you're actually at gross weight. ;) The last landing, it as getting dark, so I turned on the runway lights and gave them a nice view for the evening.
While I was at Kokomo, I grabbed something for Nathan, and dropped off water and a couple things of drinks for the hangar, and then ran out of there and over to the Dollar General store, where I picked up some stocking stuffers for Kaylee and some little bows and tissue for present bags. From there it was over to Glenndale to pick up the last of our Christmas presents that came in today, a run past Arby's to pick up a sandwich for everyone for dinner, and then home, home on the range. Kaylee finished wrapping her stuff, and did a great job with it, and I decided I needed to walk on the treadmill for awhile, because while I'd been non-stop busy all day, it was all sitting. In the car, in the airplane, in the car four more times, at the restaurant, in the dentist office, on my way to somewhere all day. So I walked for an hour to give myself the ability to have some of this giant Reece's Peanut Butter Cup that someone gave Kaylee that she doesn't want to eat, so twist my arm here. ;) Now finally it's 9 pm and I'm sitting down, watching Steve lie there with a stuffy head, with nothing but re-runs on TV, and decided it's time to relax a little bit before everyone makes it in tomorrow.
I've been seeing the commercials for "Unbroken", that shows for the first time on Christmas Day. I want to see that movie. A lot. Enough that I might go to the theater for it...
Well, the weather tomorrow is questionable, so everybody, drive safely!!
This was a day of non-stop. Kaylee and I started our morning by getting up fairly early and going to the dentist. The dentist is not my favorite place to be. Okay, I can't stand dentists and usually avoid them for long periods of time. But Steve set up the appointment so we both went. It took almost an hour and a half to get both of us done, and then after a set of ex-rays and some poking around, he told us that we both had a cavity. I haven't had a cavity in...gosh, ages. So we had to set up appointments to get them filled, and the closest time slot available was 5 weeks from now. Sheesh. He is Booked Up. You can't get in, and when you do, two or three other people are at the same time slot as you, so you sit in the chair and wait while he makes the rounds. Last time I waited over an hour past my scheduled appointment time and didn't even make it to the chair, and just left, and made them reschedule me for another time when I could get in. He's a former college-mate friend of Steve's, and he's a good guy and a good dentist, and if it wasn't for that, I'd be looking into these other places around. I don't like being there in the first place--I sure don't want to sit there for hours, or be unable to get a cavity filled for over a month. That's silly. But anyway.
Next up Kaylee and I went to mourn our cavities by stopping at Starbucks and getting a sugar coffee. Okay, hers had sugar, mine was a "skinny", or sugar free. I am, however, not gloating over this, as it's still not exactly a health food. ;)
We then ran to a store in order to pick up a couple last minute things Kaylee needed, and we were successful there, so we left there and went to the post office, ran our stuff home, picked up a check in her name, ran it past her bank and cashed it, and went to eat with Steve and Chuck. Left there and went to the airport bank, came home and started wrapping presents. Next it was time for me to take a flight with a student in the 172 at Kokomo. She's gotten about one flight in over the last month, thanks to the weather. She wanted to bring her sister, I said sure. Then she texted and said her brother found out and felt left out and wants to know if he can come too. I said sure. Why not. But now our plan of doing the pattern is probably not the best. ;) So we flew around their house, and then they all asked if we could do "roller coaster" stuff. They did all want to, so I started with a 60 degree bank to see what they thought. They were laughing and filming it. So I did a few Cessna wingovers and floated stuff up a little bit, and they decided that was too cool. We came back and did three takeoffs and landings anyway, because what better time to practice gross weight operations than when you're actually at gross weight. ;) The last landing, it as getting dark, so I turned on the runway lights and gave them a nice view for the evening.
While I was at Kokomo, I grabbed something for Nathan, and dropped off water and a couple things of drinks for the hangar, and then ran out of there and over to the Dollar General store, where I picked up some stocking stuffers for Kaylee and some little bows and tissue for present bags. From there it was over to Glenndale to pick up the last of our Christmas presents that came in today, a run past Arby's to pick up a sandwich for everyone for dinner, and then home, home on the range. Kaylee finished wrapping her stuff, and did a great job with it, and I decided I needed to walk on the treadmill for awhile, because while I'd been non-stop busy all day, it was all sitting. In the car, in the airplane, in the car four more times, at the restaurant, in the dentist office, on my way to somewhere all day. So I walked for an hour to give myself the ability to have some of this giant Reece's Peanut Butter Cup that someone gave Kaylee that she doesn't want to eat, so twist my arm here. ;) Now finally it's 9 pm and I'm sitting down, watching Steve lie there with a stuffy head, with nothing but re-runs on TV, and decided it's time to relax a little bit before everyone makes it in tomorrow.
I've been seeing the commercials for "Unbroken", that shows for the first time on Christmas Day. I want to see that movie. A lot. Enough that I might go to the theater for it...
Well, the weather tomorrow is questionable, so everybody, drive safely!!
Monday, December 22, 2014
T-Minus 3 Days
Christmas, that is. We still don't have everything bought or wrapped, but we finally got the tree decorated and the lights up, we're farther on the gifts than we usually are by 3 days ahead of time, the house is clean, and other than one present that was delayed and won't make it in time, we have plans for the last couple that we'll take of tomorrow, so...no sweat! ;)
It was a day of running around, mostly. We were up relatively early, and out at Kokomo until lunch time, then had to hit a few different places before making it home in time to do a few things. You know, interesting stuff like that. ;) Kaylee had Taekwondo for the first time since she earned her Green Belt, but they had the wrong size belt for her, so she'll have to get it after the holidays when they get the correct size in.
Steve still has a runny nose but no other major symptoms, and we're still not sure if it's allergies, which aren't great for Kaylee right now either, or a cold, or what. Hoping for the best!
It was a day of running around, mostly. We were up relatively early, and out at Kokomo until lunch time, then had to hit a few different places before making it home in time to do a few things. You know, interesting stuff like that. ;) Kaylee had Taekwondo for the first time since she earned her Green Belt, but they had the wrong size belt for her, so she'll have to get it after the holidays when they get the correct size in.
Steve still has a runny nose but no other major symptoms, and we're still not sure if it's allergies, which aren't great for Kaylee right now either, or a cold, or what. Hoping for the best!
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Catch-Up
You know, sometimes you just don't feel like chatting, and I guess the last few days were like that. I didn't realize it had been since Thursday that I had written, though. Sorry. :)
Friday Kaylee went caroling with her acting group. They went to two local nursing homes and sang carols in several areas of each place. She also had a Christmas Party with her friends that same night, at the same time. She had already said she would go caroling, so even though she really enjoys the parties with her friends, she decided on her own to follow through on the caroling anyway. I thought that was neat. I had to pull her out a little early for her singing lesson, which is kind of ironic, but I ran her to Greentown for her singing lesson, and then ran her back to the Pizza Hut in Kokomo for the after-caroling party they were having there. We made it in time that there were four pieces of Supreme pizza and no breadsticks left, but I still paid $12 for the two of us to eat one piece of pizza and have a Diet Pepsi. She doesn't even like supreme and I don't like Diet Pepsi. But that wasn't the point, apparently. :D We stayed there for an hour and a half or so, her with the caroling folks and me with the adult chauffeurs of the evening.
Saturday I was supposed to fly at 9 a.m. When I left the house at 8:40, it was cloudy but fine. By the time I got to the airport, it was IFR, and it stayed that way until at least after lunch. So...no flying. Instead I took him through the airplane for about an hour of ground time on complex procedures, the airplane's systems, and so forth. The rest of the day, we spent at Kokomo Airport doing various things. I ended up getting caught up in a book, too, and was up until 2 a.m. finishing it. Just like the good old days. ;)
Today was Kaylee's recital. Like I said, two years ago she wouldn't even sing in the car in front of her parents. Then she joined choir, which surprised us both. Then she wanted to take singing lessons. Like most things, when she decides she's going to do something, she just goes for it. So today she sang a solo, on stage and in public, for the first time. Her song was "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". She was a little mad because she missed a note at the end, and I've heard her sing it enough now to know that she usually didn't hit wrong notes. She asked if I heard her hit the wrong note, and I said yes, but I also heard her hit a bunch of them the right way too, not to stress. It was her first time, she was a little nervous, but she didn't let it get to her as much as many did. There was one little girl, she looked like she was going to cry up there. I wanted to go up and hug her and tell her we were on her side and it would be okay! She did fine, but man she was scared to death. It does take courage to get up there and sing. I never sang a solo, I always made sure I had at least somebody else up there with me. :) But Kaylee got up there, and smiled, and looked pretty confident. She did great, and we were proud of her!
Steve seems to have come down with something. He was fine Friday, on Saturday he woke up with a headache/stuffed up head and a scratchy throat, and today his nose is running like crazy. He otherwise feels okay at least, no fever, not down for the count, he's not sick sick, not even sure if it's allergies or a cold, but he's definitely got something going on. That's not nice right before the holidays. He finished putting up our lights outside today anyway, and Kaylee decorated our tree, so we are finally almost festive around here. ;)
Today is also the first official day of winter. Because we haven't been in winter for the last month already anyway, with our 20 degree days and dark mornings and afternoons. Bleh!
Friday Kaylee went caroling with her acting group. They went to two local nursing homes and sang carols in several areas of each place. She also had a Christmas Party with her friends that same night, at the same time. She had already said she would go caroling, so even though she really enjoys the parties with her friends, she decided on her own to follow through on the caroling anyway. I thought that was neat. I had to pull her out a little early for her singing lesson, which is kind of ironic, but I ran her to Greentown for her singing lesson, and then ran her back to the Pizza Hut in Kokomo for the after-caroling party they were having there. We made it in time that there were four pieces of Supreme pizza and no breadsticks left, but I still paid $12 for the two of us to eat one piece of pizza and have a Diet Pepsi. She doesn't even like supreme and I don't like Diet Pepsi. But that wasn't the point, apparently. :D We stayed there for an hour and a half or so, her with the caroling folks and me with the adult chauffeurs of the evening.
Saturday I was supposed to fly at 9 a.m. When I left the house at 8:40, it was cloudy but fine. By the time I got to the airport, it was IFR, and it stayed that way until at least after lunch. So...no flying. Instead I took him through the airplane for about an hour of ground time on complex procedures, the airplane's systems, and so forth. The rest of the day, we spent at Kokomo Airport doing various things. I ended up getting caught up in a book, too, and was up until 2 a.m. finishing it. Just like the good old days. ;)
Today was Kaylee's recital. Like I said, two years ago she wouldn't even sing in the car in front of her parents. Then she joined choir, which surprised us both. Then she wanted to take singing lessons. Like most things, when she decides she's going to do something, she just goes for it. So today she sang a solo, on stage and in public, for the first time. Her song was "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". She was a little mad because she missed a note at the end, and I've heard her sing it enough now to know that she usually didn't hit wrong notes. She asked if I heard her hit the wrong note, and I said yes, but I also heard her hit a bunch of them the right way too, not to stress. It was her first time, she was a little nervous, but she didn't let it get to her as much as many did. There was one little girl, she looked like she was going to cry up there. I wanted to go up and hug her and tell her we were on her side and it would be okay! She did fine, but man she was scared to death. It does take courage to get up there and sing. I never sang a solo, I always made sure I had at least somebody else up there with me. :) But Kaylee got up there, and smiled, and looked pretty confident. She did great, and we were proud of her!
Steve seems to have come down with something. He was fine Friday, on Saturday he woke up with a headache/stuffed up head and a scratchy throat, and today his nose is running like crazy. He otherwise feels okay at least, no fever, not down for the count, he's not sick sick, not even sure if it's allergies or a cold, but he's definitely got something going on. That's not nice right before the holidays. He finished putting up our lights outside today anyway, and Kaylee decorated our tree, so we are finally almost festive around here. ;)
Today is also the first official day of winter. Because we haven't been in winter for the last month already anyway, with our 20 degree days and dark mornings and afternoons. Bleh!
Kaylee with her friends Grace and Sariya, who also performed tonight.
Kaylee with her singing teacher playing piano
Singing Kaylee with a smile. :)
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Aviating and Death Defying
It was a busy aviating day, and it was enjoyable. Steve and I went out to the airport at 8:30, after Kaylee made it off to school, and met up with Nathan and Chuck, and we flew to Pennsylvania. It was Chuck's first time in Gumby, and it was the first time the four of us have flown anywhere in ages. Maybe years even. It was the first time I'd been in Gumby since I took it to Idaho, what, last year? Nathan was flying home the Cheyenne, and it had been a long time since it flew, either. Once we got to Pennsylvania, Steve went with Nathan in the Cheyenne, and Chuck went with me in the Aerostar, and we went to Muncie.
In Indiana and Pennsylvania, the ceilings were low enough to need to shoot approaches in, but high enough to break out at a perfectly reasonable altitude. There was a little bit of ice going both up and down through the cloud deck, but once on top it was clear and smooth. The clouds looked like cotton candy, and they were dead smooth as far as the eye could see, as if you were skimming on top of a desert of white sand, or an endless beach.
I hand flew the Aerostar for my ILS into Muncie, because it had been a long time since I flew the Aerostar, and a long time since I'd flown an instrument approach on "steam" gauges. I wasn't super smooth when I first disconnected the autopilot and had a heading change and a descent at the same time, right then, but quickly settled in, no problem. Even though we broke out high, I didn't look up until about 100' above minimums since I had Chuck there to look outside for me and be safety pilot. So that was good practice, and I enjoyed that.
We were only about 10 minutes behind the Cheyenne; they were just getting out of the airplane when I landed, so that worked out really well! We went in to Merk's Restaurant there and ate. Chuck got a huge breakfast (served all day you know), I got a huge turkey and mashed potatoes and dressing lunch, and Steve and Nathan had these triple decker club sandwiches, so none of us went away hungry. In fact, I needed a nap. ;) It was good, and inexpensive too.
The Cheyenne landed at Kokomo just a few minutes before we did too. It's now on the ramp tied down and locked up and waiting for a kind hangar to house it until its real home is available. But it's home!! And Gumby is home and flying too. It's like old home week! :) We really enjoyed ourselves today, just the four of us together again doing something like that. It's been too long...
Steve and I ran back to town to grab Kaylee from the bus stop, drop us off at home where I could grab my car and run back out to the airport to give a flight lesson. The ceilings were at pattern altitude now, so that's what we did, was pattern work. But it was their first time being able to fly in a month thanks to the weather and schedule, but mostly weather. So thankfully we did get a flight in, ending up with our last landing with the runway lights lit up and the panel lights on. So I was pretty much flying or getting ready to fly or getting done from flying from just after 8:30 a.m. until dark. That's not a bad way to spend the day.
So what was the "death defying" part? Nothing to do with aviation. ;) Kaylee had forgotten a math assignment at school, and this is the end of the semester, and she HAD to turn it in tomorrow, and if she didn't have it she'd drop her grade. So while I was flying, Steve drove her back to the school, where she found an open back door and was able to get in and get her assignment. That's almost a miracle in this day and age. Nobody was around and that school is supposed to be locked up tight. Anyway, she got back home and worked on that, but she also needed to go to the store to pick up small gifts for her teachers and bus driver. So instead I did that when I got done flying. I went to Walgreens where I thought they had what I wanted. There were cars waiting to find parking spots in the lot. I've never seen that before. Inside it was a zoo. People were bumping into each other, aisles were tight and crowded. There weren't any free shopping carts. I've never seen the place like that before. Well, I have, come to think of it. I used to work at Walgreens and I remember the holiday season as being pretty chaotic. But still, that was nuts. I did get what I needed, and I survived, but it took me an HOUR to get in, get what I need, and get out...of Walgreens. That's just nuts...
From today:
In Indiana and Pennsylvania, the ceilings were low enough to need to shoot approaches in, but high enough to break out at a perfectly reasonable altitude. There was a little bit of ice going both up and down through the cloud deck, but once on top it was clear and smooth. The clouds looked like cotton candy, and they were dead smooth as far as the eye could see, as if you were skimming on top of a desert of white sand, or an endless beach.
I hand flew the Aerostar for my ILS into Muncie, because it had been a long time since I flew the Aerostar, and a long time since I'd flown an instrument approach on "steam" gauges. I wasn't super smooth when I first disconnected the autopilot and had a heading change and a descent at the same time, right then, but quickly settled in, no problem. Even though we broke out high, I didn't look up until about 100' above minimums since I had Chuck there to look outside for me and be safety pilot. So that was good practice, and I enjoyed that.
We were only about 10 minutes behind the Cheyenne; they were just getting out of the airplane when I landed, so that worked out really well! We went in to Merk's Restaurant there and ate. Chuck got a huge breakfast (served all day you know), I got a huge turkey and mashed potatoes and dressing lunch, and Steve and Nathan had these triple decker club sandwiches, so none of us went away hungry. In fact, I needed a nap. ;) It was good, and inexpensive too.
The Cheyenne landed at Kokomo just a few minutes before we did too. It's now on the ramp tied down and locked up and waiting for a kind hangar to house it until its real home is available. But it's home!! And Gumby is home and flying too. It's like old home week! :) We really enjoyed ourselves today, just the four of us together again doing something like that. It's been too long...
Steve and I ran back to town to grab Kaylee from the bus stop, drop us off at home where I could grab my car and run back out to the airport to give a flight lesson. The ceilings were at pattern altitude now, so that's what we did, was pattern work. But it was their first time being able to fly in a month thanks to the weather and schedule, but mostly weather. So thankfully we did get a flight in, ending up with our last landing with the runway lights lit up and the panel lights on. So I was pretty much flying or getting ready to fly or getting done from flying from just after 8:30 a.m. until dark. That's not a bad way to spend the day.
So what was the "death defying" part? Nothing to do with aviation. ;) Kaylee had forgotten a math assignment at school, and this is the end of the semester, and she HAD to turn it in tomorrow, and if she didn't have it she'd drop her grade. So while I was flying, Steve drove her back to the school, where she found an open back door and was able to get in and get her assignment. That's almost a miracle in this day and age. Nobody was around and that school is supposed to be locked up tight. Anyway, she got back home and worked on that, but she also needed to go to the store to pick up small gifts for her teachers and bus driver. So instead I did that when I got done flying. I went to Walgreens where I thought they had what I wanted. There were cars waiting to find parking spots in the lot. I've never seen that before. Inside it was a zoo. People were bumping into each other, aisles were tight and crowded. There weren't any free shopping carts. I've never seen the place like that before. Well, I have, come to think of it. I used to work at Walgreens and I remember the holiday season as being pretty chaotic. But still, that was nuts. I did get what I needed, and I survived, but it took me an HOUR to get in, get what I need, and get out...of Walgreens. That's just nuts...
From today:
Cotton Candy Clouds, Gumby in the spinner, and check out that prop. ;)
Clear and smooth above, and lots of bright sun.
I just loved the prop artifact in this one too. It's so very bendy. ;)
The Four Stooges. :)
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Hump Day
The world has gotten away from saying "Hump Day" ever since the camel went viral and then got old. But it is still Hump Day regardless.
After school today, I took Kaylee to the Kokomo Tribune to collect her "winnings" from the Amateur Journalist contest. In her envelope was a $50 gift card to Meijer, a $10 gift card to the local movie theater, and a $5 gift card to Blondie's Cookies. She also will shadow a journalist for a day, which she is interested in doing, and is the reason she entered the contest in the first place. I think that's pretty cool!
Next up we went shopping for some small gifts for her friends and teachers--except she forgot some, so we'll have to go back. She enjoys shopping for people, enjoys giving gifts, as long as she can figure out what to do. :)
For one of the first times, Kaylee has Final Exams coming up, so she had some actual studying she had to do. She also had some homework, and she had some extra credit problems she wanted to work on for math. The teacher gave them four math problems, and they had to do the work themselves of course, but they are extra hard. Kaylee is 21 points away from an A+, and each of those problems is worth 10 points, but she was having trouble figuring them out. Steve was going to look over them, see if he could figure out how to do it so he could show her how to do it herself. He had a student down in Sheridan tonight and didn't get back until 10 pm, so she worked on them herself. She's pretty sure she got two of them right. The other two she did but has no confidence in them. I think that's pretty neat too, that she got that far. They were deliberately serious problems, for an honors math class. We'll see how they go, I guess. She is coming up on the end of her second quarter here. She got all A's the first time, and she's really close this time, and she's been working extra hard to pull all her A's into A+s even. I know, lately it seems like I've been a bit braggy over the kid, but darn it, we ARE proud of her and she has done some neat things, and on top of that she's just a good kid, you know? Not perfect, but good. :)
After school today, I took Kaylee to the Kokomo Tribune to collect her "winnings" from the Amateur Journalist contest. In her envelope was a $50 gift card to Meijer, a $10 gift card to the local movie theater, and a $5 gift card to Blondie's Cookies. She also will shadow a journalist for a day, which she is interested in doing, and is the reason she entered the contest in the first place. I think that's pretty cool!
Next up we went shopping for some small gifts for her friends and teachers--except she forgot some, so we'll have to go back. She enjoys shopping for people, enjoys giving gifts, as long as she can figure out what to do. :)
For one of the first times, Kaylee has Final Exams coming up, so she had some actual studying she had to do. She also had some homework, and she had some extra credit problems she wanted to work on for math. The teacher gave them four math problems, and they had to do the work themselves of course, but they are extra hard. Kaylee is 21 points away from an A+, and each of those problems is worth 10 points, but she was having trouble figuring them out. Steve was going to look over them, see if he could figure out how to do it so he could show her how to do it herself. He had a student down in Sheridan tonight and didn't get back until 10 pm, so she worked on them herself. She's pretty sure she got two of them right. The other two she did but has no confidence in them. I think that's pretty neat too, that she got that far. They were deliberately serious problems, for an honors math class. We'll see how they go, I guess. She is coming up on the end of her second quarter here. She got all A's the first time, and she's really close this time, and she's been working extra hard to pull all her A's into A+s even. I know, lately it seems like I've been a bit braggy over the kid, but darn it, we ARE proud of her and she has done some neat things, and on top of that she's just a good kid, you know? Not perfect, but good. :)
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Brief
I'm too sleepy to talk much, besides, not much happened today. It was cold, gray. misty, dreary, and when I was down in Indy, it was snowing. Bleh!
The only thing I did outside of the normal errands was go to a CAF meeting down in Indy at one of the member's houses. It was a good meeting, we authorized another pilot in the PT that I need to check out. We really need some decent weather and some time at the same time. We also had big juicy jumbo shrimp with St. Elmo's cocktail sauce, which is the same stuff that blew the top of my head off. This time I was prepared, and it still got to me. That fresh horseradish...whew that's good stuff.
I did get to the store today, and a woman was talking to herself. She kept stopping and staring around. Then she said something to me, but I had my ear buds in, so I pulled them out and said "Excuse me?" She said, looking around, "I keep hearing someone saying my name. Caroline. Caroline. There. Caroline. Do you hear anyone saying Caroline?" Um. No. I'm going to walk away slowly now.
Otherwise a quiet day. Tomorrow looks fairly quiet too, with one flight if the weather holds off. We shall see.
The only thing I did outside of the normal errands was go to a CAF meeting down in Indy at one of the member's houses. It was a good meeting, we authorized another pilot in the PT that I need to check out. We really need some decent weather and some time at the same time. We also had big juicy jumbo shrimp with St. Elmo's cocktail sauce, which is the same stuff that blew the top of my head off. This time I was prepared, and it still got to me. That fresh horseradish...whew that's good stuff.
I did get to the store today, and a woman was talking to herself. She kept stopping and staring around. Then she said something to me, but I had my ear buds in, so I pulled them out and said "Excuse me?" She said, looking around, "I keep hearing someone saying my name. Caroline. Caroline. There. Caroline. Do you hear anyone saying Caroline?" Um. No. I'm going to walk away slowly now.
Otherwise a quiet day. Tomorrow looks fairly quiet too, with one flight if the weather holds off. We shall see.
Monday, December 15, 2014
Flying and Music
I was happy to wake up at 5:30 this morning, because when I did, I 1) woke up exactly two minutes before my alarm went off like the old days when I had a good internal alarm, and 2) woke up without the blinding headache I'd gone to bed with. This was an extra good thing because I had a trip back to Alabama today and did not need to (could not) have the headache or a headache leftover...yuck. So when I opened my eyes this morning and felt great, I double-celebrated!
The trip was just gorgeous. It was IFR here at Kokomo, so I took off into the dark, into the clouds, and when I broke out on top, the light of the sun was just starting to crack the horizon. The sun itself was a good 45 minutes away from showing itself, but in the meantime I had a whole sky full of color to watch. Best of all, there was a deck of clouds below me, with an almost clear sky above, leaving just enough cloud patterns to change colors with the reflective light. I ended up taking something like 50 photos, and the sky was changing so much, and so beautiful each time, that I'm having an awful time figuring out which ones to post. Seriously, it was a smooth, gorgeous, perfect morning.
Below me, Nashville was 1/8 mile and freezing fog, and they were only allowing Cat II and III airplanes in because of the weather. Meanwhile I was cruising along up above in the severe clear and warm. By the time I got to Birmingham, the weather opened up, and it was VFR. I was kept high and cleared to land #2 behind a Lear Jet, and they pretty much dumped me on top of it. I had to put the spoilers on, pull my power back, get my drag out, and drop it like a manhole cover to get down.
The trip home I was by myself, and it was the middle of the day, so the view wasn't nearly as pretty. That was okay, because I already had too many photos, I didn't need another 2.5 hours of things to take pictures of. ;) The line guys hadn't filled up my airplane properly--they were about 25 gallons short. I found it before I took off, of course, but some quick mental calculations along with a nice pretty tailwind told me I'd be fine, even having to shoot an approach into Kokomo. (I did have to do that. I asked for the RNAV for 14, but Grissom was "hot" so I could either hold, or shoot the RNAV 23 with a nice 15 knot direct crosswind. Noooo problem. I'll take a crosswind over a hold. ;)) Anyway, Birmingham's gas is $7 a gallon at Birmingham right now, so they pretty much saved me (well, not ME), let's see, mathing...$37.75 in extra gas costs.
Tonight was Kaylee's Winter Band Concert. I do enjoy the band concerts, like I enjoy the Choir concerts, because they do such a nice job with them. You could see everybody's foot tapping during the songs. Last year Kaylee had been on the right side of the stage, so we parked ourselves in that direction. This year she was in the back, and I could barely see her face if I turned my head the right way, and I sure couldn't get a good photo. That was completely unacceptable, of course, so I got out of my seat and wandered around in the back until I found a better angle. I was out of everybody else's way, and had my big girl zoom lens with me, so I did get a few photos. She was surrounded by so many people that I had difficulty getting my camera to focus on the appropriate area, so I have several out of focus ones too, but I did a lot better than just getting a snapshot of part of her face at least!
So today was about music. The music that is flying and the music that is my daughter on a saxophone. It's all beautiful art in its own way. :)
Well, one thing wasn't beautiful, but it was terribly funny in a terrible way. The poor band director, he is a very funny man, sweet, a large man, who really enjoys what he does, and does a good job with the kids. Anyway, he was talking in between songs, explaining what was coming up, when all of a sudden his pants fell to his knees. I mean, BOOM, down. No pants. On stage. In front of the entire audience. He got them up and exited the stage to fix the problem, then came back red as a beet, cracked (haha) a few jokes about how people got their $2 worth, how he bet they were glad they stayed until the end (ha), etc. But oh man, isn't that just a nightmare?? Your PANTS fall down on stage in front of all the teachers, parents, and students?? And they're filming this for a DVD they're selling. I hope they cut that part out. How awful for him, I can only imagine how he feels. However, if that were me, as horrified and embarrassed as I would be, I can't imagine I wouldn't be laughing at myself too, because that is like a typical worst nightmare scenario, and it actually HAPPENED. I really hope he's okay and is able to take it okay with humor.
Kaylee looks so grown-up when she dresses up. She carries herself very maturely when she wants to. It's sort of scary...
Exiting stage left...
The trip was just gorgeous. It was IFR here at Kokomo, so I took off into the dark, into the clouds, and when I broke out on top, the light of the sun was just starting to crack the horizon. The sun itself was a good 45 minutes away from showing itself, but in the meantime I had a whole sky full of color to watch. Best of all, there was a deck of clouds below me, with an almost clear sky above, leaving just enough cloud patterns to change colors with the reflective light. I ended up taking something like 50 photos, and the sky was changing so much, and so beautiful each time, that I'm having an awful time figuring out which ones to post. Seriously, it was a smooth, gorgeous, perfect morning.
Below me, Nashville was 1/8 mile and freezing fog, and they were only allowing Cat II and III airplanes in because of the weather. Meanwhile I was cruising along up above in the severe clear and warm. By the time I got to Birmingham, the weather opened up, and it was VFR. I was kept high and cleared to land #2 behind a Lear Jet, and they pretty much dumped me on top of it. I had to put the spoilers on, pull my power back, get my drag out, and drop it like a manhole cover to get down.
The trip home I was by myself, and it was the middle of the day, so the view wasn't nearly as pretty. That was okay, because I already had too many photos, I didn't need another 2.5 hours of things to take pictures of. ;) The line guys hadn't filled up my airplane properly--they were about 25 gallons short. I found it before I took off, of course, but some quick mental calculations along with a nice pretty tailwind told me I'd be fine, even having to shoot an approach into Kokomo. (I did have to do that. I asked for the RNAV for 14, but Grissom was "hot" so I could either hold, or shoot the RNAV 23 with a nice 15 knot direct crosswind. Noooo problem. I'll take a crosswind over a hold. ;)) Anyway, Birmingham's gas is $7 a gallon at Birmingham right now, so they pretty much saved me (well, not ME), let's see, mathing...$37.75 in extra gas costs.
Tonight was Kaylee's Winter Band Concert. I do enjoy the band concerts, like I enjoy the Choir concerts, because they do such a nice job with them. You could see everybody's foot tapping during the songs. Last year Kaylee had been on the right side of the stage, so we parked ourselves in that direction. This year she was in the back, and I could barely see her face if I turned my head the right way, and I sure couldn't get a good photo. That was completely unacceptable, of course, so I got out of my seat and wandered around in the back until I found a better angle. I was out of everybody else's way, and had my big girl zoom lens with me, so I did get a few photos. She was surrounded by so many people that I had difficulty getting my camera to focus on the appropriate area, so I have several out of focus ones too, but I did a lot better than just getting a snapshot of part of her face at least!
So today was about music. The music that is flying and the music that is my daughter on a saxophone. It's all beautiful art in its own way. :)
Well, one thing wasn't beautiful, but it was terribly funny in a terrible way. The poor band director, he is a very funny man, sweet, a large man, who really enjoys what he does, and does a good job with the kids. Anyway, he was talking in between songs, explaining what was coming up, when all of a sudden his pants fell to his knees. I mean, BOOM, down. No pants. On stage. In front of the entire audience. He got them up and exited the stage to fix the problem, then came back red as a beet, cracked (haha) a few jokes about how people got their $2 worth, how he bet they were glad they stayed until the end (ha), etc. But oh man, isn't that just a nightmare?? Your PANTS fall down on stage in front of all the teachers, parents, and students?? And they're filming this for a DVD they're selling. I hope they cut that part out. How awful for him, I can only imagine how he feels. However, if that were me, as horrified and embarrassed as I would be, I can't imagine I wouldn't be laughing at myself too, because that is like a typical worst nightmare scenario, and it actually HAPPENED. I really hope he's okay and is able to take it okay with humor.
Kaylee looks so grown-up when she dresses up. She carries herself very maturely when she wants to. It's sort of scary...
It looks like cotton candy, or a sandy beach, or...heaven. :)
So here are way too many pictures of Kaylee. I cropped in on her because you didn't care about the other kids in her band anyway. ;)
The wimpy view I had of Kaylee before I got up and moved. ;)
Kaylee is on the left side of the stage, back row.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Christmas
Last night was our annual airport Christmas party at the Wild's house. We appreciate them hosting that for us each year, and they always provide amazing atmosphere and great food and beverages, and your friends being there provide the rest of the enjoyment of the event. :)
We had a good time. When we left at 10:30 there were still people hanging out and enjoying the evening. One thing that took me by surprise in a good way...I usually wear heels to the party, because they're really the only dress shoes I have. The problem is, any more, after about two hours, my feet are killing me, and by the end of the night sometimes they're actually burning to numb, or I can't hardly walk by the time I get back into my own house. Not last night. I sat at the end of the evening, but I was on my feet or walking around for several hours last night, and my feet didn't even hurt. At all. Score an unexpected bonus for weight loss.
Speaking of, yesterday was the six month anniversary of the day I started ye ole health changes. Somebody had one of those motivational quotes online awhile ago that said "Don't hesitate to do something just because it will take a long time...the time will pass anyway." Tis true, six months has passed anyway, but I'm better off now than I was then. The total thus far is 39 pounds. Forty would have sounded better, but...close enough. ;) Not quite at my goal, but getting there. In the meantime, I certainly feel better.
Right now we have the Christmas music going while Steve works on getting all the Christmas stuff set up outside and Kaylee works on getting Christmas stuff set up inside. The cats got Christmas necklaces but they were vastly unhappy about that, so they only lasted about 15 minutes. I made Kaylee hot chocolate to put her in the mood to work on Christmas stuff, and then shortly here we're going to put up our tree. We won't have time to get to the live tree place, pick out a tree, etc., so we will be putting together our fake tree that we used for a good 15 years. We also don't have anywhere in the house to put a tree any more now that we have a big TV up front, so we'll be putting it on the deck. That's not ideal in one regard, but in another we'll see the festivities every time we enter and leave our home, so that's kind of nice.
I'm not feeling super festive here, didn't get any good sleep the last two nights, have a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call for tomorrow's trip, and would like to relax today, take a nap to catch up, but neither is an option. But...Kaylee and I had a nice time putting up the tree together, the outside is looking great, and I'm sure festivity will be felt when it's all up and done and ready to go...we still have to decorate the tree and a few things, and put away the empty boxes, and the enjoy it for the next 10 days until Christmas, and presumably the month after until we get it all back down again. ;)
We had a good time. When we left at 10:30 there were still people hanging out and enjoying the evening. One thing that took me by surprise in a good way...I usually wear heels to the party, because they're really the only dress shoes I have. The problem is, any more, after about two hours, my feet are killing me, and by the end of the night sometimes they're actually burning to numb, or I can't hardly walk by the time I get back into my own house. Not last night. I sat at the end of the evening, but I was on my feet or walking around for several hours last night, and my feet didn't even hurt. At all. Score an unexpected bonus for weight loss.
Speaking of, yesterday was the six month anniversary of the day I started ye ole health changes. Somebody had one of those motivational quotes online awhile ago that said "Don't hesitate to do something just because it will take a long time...the time will pass anyway." Tis true, six months has passed anyway, but I'm better off now than I was then. The total thus far is 39 pounds. Forty would have sounded better, but...close enough. ;) Not quite at my goal, but getting there. In the meantime, I certainly feel better.
Right now we have the Christmas music going while Steve works on getting all the Christmas stuff set up outside and Kaylee works on getting Christmas stuff set up inside. The cats got Christmas necklaces but they were vastly unhappy about that, so they only lasted about 15 minutes. I made Kaylee hot chocolate to put her in the mood to work on Christmas stuff, and then shortly here we're going to put up our tree. We won't have time to get to the live tree place, pick out a tree, etc., so we will be putting together our fake tree that we used for a good 15 years. We also don't have anywhere in the house to put a tree any more now that we have a big TV up front, so we'll be putting it on the deck. That's not ideal in one regard, but in another we'll see the festivities every time we enter and leave our home, so that's kind of nice.
I'm not feeling super festive here, didn't get any good sleep the last two nights, have a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call for tomorrow's trip, and would like to relax today, take a nap to catch up, but neither is an option. But...Kaylee and I had a nice time putting up the tree together, the outside is looking great, and I'm sure festivity will be felt when it's all up and done and ready to go...we still have to decorate the tree and a few things, and put away the empty boxes, and the enjoy it for the next 10 days until Christmas, and presumably the month after until we get it all back down again. ;)
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Testing Day
This morning arrived earlier than Kaylee or I wanted, but we had to get up early to drive down to Indy so she could test for her next belt in Taekwondo. As we were driving along, we went up over this bridge, and she looked down and said "I never feel safe on these. If you want a view from above, you should be in an airplane." Why not!
We got down there about 15 minutes early, and sat in the car and waited until we saw the rest of the people from her group. The testing center/dojo is a tiny room. We were supposed to go in at 9:50 a.m., but there were so many people already in there that the doors were propped open and people were outside trying to see their kids inside, so we just all stood outside until that batch was done, then went in late and made our own group. That was much nicer.
The testing went quickly. The kids all did their first form, then their second form (other disciplines call it a Kata), and moved right into sparring. Kaylee was partnered with a very small second degree black belt, and did fine. Obviously the goal was just to demonstrate various kicks and punches, not actually fight like in a tournament, and she handled it well. Next up was breaking the board, and the Grand Master told them to bring out the 1" boards. Kaylee was the first one of the group to break her board, did it with the first kick. She said she kind of hurt her foot doing it, but she was determined she was going to get it in one try, and so she did. Last but not least they do an interview process. They asked her about the tenants of TKD, but she was supposed to have learned the Children's Rules, not the Tenants. The guy was fine with that, and asked her what other purposes TKD served in her life. After the interview, they were done, and her instructor was given the proper next belt colors for his students, who all passed. Kaylee is now an official Green Belt, which is starting to get up there in respectable martial arts belts. :) Next up will be Purple.
We got down there about 15 minutes early, and sat in the car and waited until we saw the rest of the people from her group. The testing center/dojo is a tiny room. We were supposed to go in at 9:50 a.m., but there were so many people already in there that the doors were propped open and people were outside trying to see their kids inside, so we just all stood outside until that batch was done, then went in late and made our own group. That was much nicer.
The testing went quickly. The kids all did their first form, then their second form (other disciplines call it a Kata), and moved right into sparring. Kaylee was partnered with a very small second degree black belt, and did fine. Obviously the goal was just to demonstrate various kicks and punches, not actually fight like in a tournament, and she handled it well. Next up was breaking the board, and the Grand Master told them to bring out the 1" boards. Kaylee was the first one of the group to break her board, did it with the first kick. She said she kind of hurt her foot doing it, but she was determined she was going to get it in one try, and so she did. Last but not least they do an interview process. They asked her about the tenants of TKD, but she was supposed to have learned the Children's Rules, not the Tenants. The guy was fine with that, and asked her what other purposes TKD served in her life. After the interview, they were done, and her instructor was given the proper next belt colors for his students, who all passed. Kaylee is now an official Green Belt, which is starting to get up there in respectable martial arts belts. :) Next up will be Purple.
Standing in front of the judges waiting to begin her first form.
One broken 1" board
I just liked the smile. :)
After the adrenaline comes the crash.
Mostly unsuccessfully attempting to stay awake on the drive home.
Mostly unsuccessfully attempting to stay awake on the drive home.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Journalism
The Greentown paper journalist came over today and interviewed Kaylee about winning the Journalism contest. She said it went okay except for one question that, after she answered, she thought to herself "Well, THAT was a stupid answer." Welcome to the reason I don't like live, particularly impromptu interviews. I can think much better with the written word than I can the spoken one. Fortunately she's better than I am. ;) I don't think I specified this, but her winning the contest was actually a pretty big deal. They announced it over the school during announcements, she was published in the Kokomo and Greentown papers, and the contest itself was for every school in the county, not just hers. Her category was 7th & 8th grade, and she won out of every applicant from every school in the county in those two grades. So that really is a pretty great accomplishment. She felt bad because a friend of hers also wrote an essay for it, worked hard on it, started early, got help from a teacher on it, and not only didn't win, but didn't win "Honorable Mention" either. A kid from another school won 2nd place. Kaylee wrote hers in one swoop one afternoon, had me check it for glaring errors, and sent it via email to the teacher to submit it the night before the deadline for getting it in. She kept telling me she felt guilty about her friend. I told her to not tell her friend that she whipped it off the night before, (coming from someone who used to do that myself on papers and such I know how much it annoys other people), but that she didn't need to feel guilty. SHE wrote it, not anybody else, she won it fair and square, and it's a neat accomplishment that she should enjoy.
What I didn't tell her is that there's no way she could be an actual journalist. She actually researches, knows her facts, and uses proper spelling, punctuation and grammar. What I see passing for journalism these days usually doesn't include most of the above any more! ;)
What I didn't tell her is that there's no way she could be an actual journalist. She actually researches, knows her facts, and uses proper spelling, punctuation and grammar. What I see passing for journalism these days usually doesn't include most of the above any more! ;)
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Flight and Photos
It was such a rough one today--okay, truth be told, today's flight was the type I like almost best of all. I didn't have to be out at the airport until 11 a.m. There was a small cloud deck at 1500', and it was clear on top. So you take off, you have plenty of time before you get into the clouds, then you pop right out of the top of them into the brilliant sun and blue sky, with a great view of the clouds under you too. I had a nice tailwind on the way there, and not that bad of a headwind on the way home. It was smooth and clear air, easy all around. Easy is nice sometimes. Down in Alabama I took their courtesy car and went to Subway (there's a little café I'd go to when I have more time), and when I got back the plane was topped off, I paid the fuel bill, filed the flight plan, and right then the gentleman I was picking up walked in the door. Again with the perfect timing thing. We made it home about an hour early, which is even better. I topped off the plane, getting it ready for another trip to Alabama on Monday. This trip I took along a young man to sit right seat, had him do the flying on the way down to Birmingham, while it was just the two of us, and I did the flying on the way home, and had him do the radios too. It was a good day for all of it.
Kaylee's Language Arts teacher hadn't known she had won the Journalism contest. Kaylee said when she told her today, her teacher squealed an "Oh Em Gee!" and was super excited. Kaylee also found out she was going to be interviewed tomorrow about the whole thing too. How cool is that? :)
I do have my photos done. Here are a lot of photos of Kaylee at her Christmas Choir Program...
Kaylee's Language Arts teacher hadn't known she had won the Journalism contest. Kaylee said when she told her today, her teacher squealed an "Oh Em Gee!" and was super excited. Kaylee also found out she was going to be interviewed tomorrow about the whole thing too. How cool is that? :)
I do have my photos done. Here are a lot of photos of Kaylee at her Christmas Choir Program...
The school's teachers as a Living Nativity Scene while the choir sings.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)