Still no word on the formation thing possibly coming up in about a week in Florida...
My hopes for having fewer food cravings were answered today, but not in the way you'd prefer. I woke up with a headache that took me all morning to kick, and for the rest of the day my stomach was off kilter, ergo I wasn't hungry, nothing sounded good, etc. Not quite what I had in mind, but at least I didn't have to fight food today.
Flew with an instrument student today, starting off on basic, non-precision, non-GPS-using VOR approaches. I wore him out, too. It's always good when they call Uncle before you do, because then you know they got their time and money's worth for the day. :)
A local acquaintance/friend of ours had surgery today to remove a tumor, and got some sobering and difficult news, so their family would certainly appreciate a few extra prayers.
A student pilot in Virginia crashed on his second solo flight, and was killed coming in for his last landing of the day. His instructor was on a golf cart right there when it happened. The NTSB and FAA interviewed the CFI shortly afterwards, and he was in shock, rambling on, brain going 1000 mph and mouth going with it. In the end, the report blames the CFI for not supervising the solo better, and also says he should have forced the student to not have his cell phone on in the airplane. Cause of the crash was that the student got a phone call on short final and apparently twisted around to grab it from the back seat and kicked a rudder and turned left and ran into a glideslope antenna, and crashed. But the CFI went up that day with the student and did three full stop takeoffs and landings to make sure he was in the groove. He watched the first couple, then went inside to go to the bathroom and check on another student, then came back outside and watched the rest of the landings. If that's not supervised well enough, then NONE of us are supervising students appropriately, apparently. And the student...he was a heart surgeon. He was an excellent student. Hard working, precise (shocking for a surgeon, right?!), picked up things very quickly. The instructor told the inspectors that the only thing he'd ever seen the student get distracted by was his cell phone. Ergo the inspectors said he should have taken the phone away or made the guy turn it off, and that's why it's partly his fault that his student crashed. Stuff like that makes you not want to be an instructor any more. It's a terrible story, a sad story. That accident could happen to ANY of us as instructors. Any student could get distracted, could make a mistake. Any PILOT can make a mistake. But that CFI has to live with having watched his student crash in front of him, and now the NTSB/FAA are blaming him to a degree too. Awful. That memory will suck the fun out of the next student I sent up alone. It should also serve as a reminder, after reading the transcript of the CFI talking to the FAA, on how to Shut Up. Get a lawyer to bring in. Answer yes or no. But Shut Up. He hung himself, and it wasn't necessary, and they talked to him all understanding and kind, and then hung him up by his...neck. Awful awful.
Anyway. Kaylee just had a voice lesson tonight, and she's free now until tomorrow afternoon when she's going to go see a movie with friends. Steve's on the deck with some friends, and I think I'm going to watch an episode on Netflix and have some hot tea and relax...
Friday, February 27, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Standing
Kaylee's school has made the news, and has gotten the attention of a couple of groups it didn't need to get attention from. A local newspaper reporter, the same one that Kaylee did her journalism "shadowing" with, wrote an article about her school, commenting on the fact that it has a Bible class (which it already won a legal fight about), has a teacher with a Bible verse on his "chalkboard", has another teacher who allows a prayer before events (not required, just allowed), and the Nativity Scene at the Christmas program. Once that article hit, a group from Michigan called "Freedom from Religion" picked up on it, and have contacted the school about possibly filing litigation against them for violating the separation between church and state. The school has forwarded all the info to their own legal counsel, but they may indeed have a problem in a couple of the areas. I know I've said it here before...that the school gets away with what it does until someone complains, and now someone has complained. The school is saying they teach values, character, and morals, not religion, and that won't stop no matter what. Some of the parents are not helping, because they are defending religion in school, and you can't fight that battle and win. The school can teach values, the school cannot teach Christianity. So the parents need to stop saying "I want my kid there because God's in the school" and start saying "I want my kid there because it's a leader academically, the teachers and admins are top notch, and they focus heavily on good character and values". The school has a defensible position, as nothing they do is forced upon the kids. But they're probably in for a fight now that the outside world has taken a peek into what little ole Greentown, Indiana, a town without so much as a McDonalds in it, is doing. Honestly, I'm kind of bummed, and I hope this doesn't end as badly as it could. Not one complaint has EVER come from ANY current or past family at that school. The only complaint? From a group in Michigan who tries to keep the country safe from places like this and people like us. *sigh*
Worst of all? I think the reporter in Kokomo used Kaylee against the school. Back when Kaylee was doing that job shadowing thing she won, the reporter asked Kaylee questions about Eastern, specifically about this, and Kaylee was excited to tell her what a great school it is and why, and how wonderful it is that they're allowed to have a verse on a blackboard and a prayer before a choir performance and a Nativity scene at a program. Kaylee told her those three things, and those three things were in the article. Kaylee said she thought that the reporter acted happy about the school allowing it too, and that other people have caused the twisting, and that may be. I'm not going to suggest to her that it's possible the reporter knowingly used her to get details for this story that has lit a match. The reporter gets her 15 minutes of fame for writing this story, and the school is going to face scrutiny, legal expenses, and possibly some changes that not one of its teachers, administrators, students, or parents wants. I've thought about telling the reporter that I know what she did and what I think about her using my daughter, but have so far not. She's probably pretty pleased with herself right now, which I should stop thinking about now.
The school administration has posted on Facebook about this, and one of their first posts was "We will not apologize for teaching our students the values..." etc. That made me smile. The next thing they said was they were having their legal counsel go over things, and if they violated anything Constitutionally they would fix it. And then they said "No matter what, we will continue to teach the values we have always taught, that will never change, so don't worry about it." They're trying to get people to chill a little bit.
I made a tactical error today. Kaylee said to me, "Mom, we need to get some actual food in the house. I can't even make a sandwich." I asked what she'd like to eat, and she had a nice variety of things like turkey, cheese, bananas, blackberries, yogurt, etc., and Cheez-its and Goldfish for the junk. That's good, we do need food in the house. Now, I have been having massive, raging food cravings lately. I don't know what the deal is, but I'm having a really hard time eating properly. I'm tired of paying attention to food, tired of not eating the tasty junk food, tired of dealing with it, and thus have just been holding steady on the scale vs going down. I've at least held steady, I haven't let it get away from me, keep expecting it to pass, but I've definitely struggled. Over Valentine's Day I ate big delicious meals, then got back on track. Went to New Orleans and ate big delicious meals, and am now getting back on track. But today I'm hungry. But I had my oatmeal for breakfast, which I still like, my salad for lunch, and was headed to Steak n Shake after I dropped Kaylee off at play practice, or so I thought. I didn't snack so that I could have fries with my burger and still be in "budget". Did I mention that I was really hungry? So I had some hot tea, no milk or honey or anything, just tea, and it filled me up long enough to drive Kaylee to play practice. I thought "Hey, I'm not hungry now, I'll go to the store instead of Steak-n-Shake, and I'll get the food and eat better." And all that to tell you that, ladies and gentlemen, THAT was my tactical error. Once I got in the store, I wanted everything in there. Vanilla deli cupcakes, lemon cake, fried chicken, seafood, fresh baked bread, cheeses, everywhere I looked there was something I wanted to stuff in my face right then and there, and my mouth literally started watering as I was walking up and down the aisles. This is bad. I got Kaylee's foods, I got more yogurts and such for me, more low cal ice cream desserts for me (I love these "Skinny Cow Salted Caramel Pretzel" ice cream bars. They're delicious and only 150 calories), and I got out of there somehow managing to not get any of the things I was really eyeballing. As soon as I got home, I made a turkey dinner, had a half a serving of Cheez-its, which I swear they sprinkle crack on, and yes, that means counting out 14 little Cheez-it squares, ate a yogurt, and drank some water. I made myself walk yesterday and today, and mostly I'm giving myself the pep talk about how I'm doing what I said I was going to do, which is monitor, mostly do well and then when I really need or want to, go off the reservation for a meal or a day or a couple days if need be, then get back on the horse. Making the right choices most of the time gives you the latitude to be able to not make great choices and have it still be okay. Making the wrong choices most of the time just means the occasional right choice doesn't do you much good. Today I sort of had to will power through it, which isn't so great, because you can't do that forever, but hopefully tomorrow will go back to having this all be more natural/easier again. Anyway, just talking to myself mostly, as this is the first time since I started in June that I've actually even struggled with it at all. In a way it's good that it happened, because it lets me know that I'm not immune to going backwards if I'm not careful, and I've spent too much time and energy on this to just let it go. :)
And that's more than enough out of me for one night!
Worst of all? I think the reporter in Kokomo used Kaylee against the school. Back when Kaylee was doing that job shadowing thing she won, the reporter asked Kaylee questions about Eastern, specifically about this, and Kaylee was excited to tell her what a great school it is and why, and how wonderful it is that they're allowed to have a verse on a blackboard and a prayer before a choir performance and a Nativity scene at a program. Kaylee told her those three things, and those three things were in the article. Kaylee said she thought that the reporter acted happy about the school allowing it too, and that other people have caused the twisting, and that may be. I'm not going to suggest to her that it's possible the reporter knowingly used her to get details for this story that has lit a match. The reporter gets her 15 minutes of fame for writing this story, and the school is going to face scrutiny, legal expenses, and possibly some changes that not one of its teachers, administrators, students, or parents wants. I've thought about telling the reporter that I know what she did and what I think about her using my daughter, but have so far not. She's probably pretty pleased with herself right now, which I should stop thinking about now.
The school administration has posted on Facebook about this, and one of their first posts was "We will not apologize for teaching our students the values..." etc. That made me smile. The next thing they said was they were having their legal counsel go over things, and if they violated anything Constitutionally they would fix it. And then they said "No matter what, we will continue to teach the values we have always taught, that will never change, so don't worry about it." They're trying to get people to chill a little bit.
I made a tactical error today. Kaylee said to me, "Mom, we need to get some actual food in the house. I can't even make a sandwich." I asked what she'd like to eat, and she had a nice variety of things like turkey, cheese, bananas, blackberries, yogurt, etc., and Cheez-its and Goldfish for the junk. That's good, we do need food in the house. Now, I have been having massive, raging food cravings lately. I don't know what the deal is, but I'm having a really hard time eating properly. I'm tired of paying attention to food, tired of not eating the tasty junk food, tired of dealing with it, and thus have just been holding steady on the scale vs going down. I've at least held steady, I haven't let it get away from me, keep expecting it to pass, but I've definitely struggled. Over Valentine's Day I ate big delicious meals, then got back on track. Went to New Orleans and ate big delicious meals, and am now getting back on track. But today I'm hungry. But I had my oatmeal for breakfast, which I still like, my salad for lunch, and was headed to Steak n Shake after I dropped Kaylee off at play practice, or so I thought. I didn't snack so that I could have fries with my burger and still be in "budget". Did I mention that I was really hungry? So I had some hot tea, no milk or honey or anything, just tea, and it filled me up long enough to drive Kaylee to play practice. I thought "Hey, I'm not hungry now, I'll go to the store instead of Steak-n-Shake, and I'll get the food and eat better." And all that to tell you that, ladies and gentlemen, THAT was my tactical error. Once I got in the store, I wanted everything in there. Vanilla deli cupcakes, lemon cake, fried chicken, seafood, fresh baked bread, cheeses, everywhere I looked there was something I wanted to stuff in my face right then and there, and my mouth literally started watering as I was walking up and down the aisles. This is bad. I got Kaylee's foods, I got more yogurts and such for me, more low cal ice cream desserts for me (I love these "Skinny Cow Salted Caramel Pretzel" ice cream bars. They're delicious and only 150 calories), and I got out of there somehow managing to not get any of the things I was really eyeballing. As soon as I got home, I made a turkey dinner, had a half a serving of Cheez-its, which I swear they sprinkle crack on, and yes, that means counting out 14 little Cheez-it squares, ate a yogurt, and drank some water. I made myself walk yesterday and today, and mostly I'm giving myself the pep talk about how I'm doing what I said I was going to do, which is monitor, mostly do well and then when I really need or want to, go off the reservation for a meal or a day or a couple days if need be, then get back on the horse. Making the right choices most of the time gives you the latitude to be able to not make great choices and have it still be okay. Making the wrong choices most of the time just means the occasional right choice doesn't do you much good. Today I sort of had to will power through it, which isn't so great, because you can't do that forever, but hopefully tomorrow will go back to having this all be more natural/easier again. Anyway, just talking to myself mostly, as this is the first time since I started in June that I've actually even struggled with it at all. In a way it's good that it happened, because it lets me know that I'm not immune to going backwards if I'm not careful, and I've spent too much time and energy on this to just let it go. :)
And that's more than enough out of me for one night!
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Good and Bad
Steve has been working all day on one problem after another. He didn't even make it to lunch, and as of almost 10 pm here he hasn't made it home yet either. He's probably not having the greatest time, so Kaylee took care of the cat pee pad and litter boxes and I took care of the cats' food and water, and the trash, and other things in the house, so at least he won't have a bunch of normal chores to do whenever he does make it home. At least most of it is billable, I think. That never hurts.
Kaylee had a "DI" meeting after school until 5, I picked her up from there, grabbed some chicken, and took her to play practice, which she had until 9 pm. She's now doing her homework, and she's perfectly cheerful and happy with her schedule like that. That still amazes me. I would be SO cranky going non-stop like that. She's great. We got her 4 year school plan in, on time. She said she thinks she got something wrong on it, maybe not enough foreign language credits, but at least 9th grade is right, and we can adjust from there. My baby's starting high school soon, is talking college credit courses. Whew.
I find myself kind of excited here. There is a potential for something coming up here that may or may not come off, but I hope it works out the right way. If it does, I will be really pleased. So here's the deal. In a couple of weeks, I may be able to fly down to Florida in a Twin Beech, get in quite a few hours of Twin Beech training time towards the 25 hours I need, and not have to buy the gas. Once we do get to Florida, two of us would be taking up a couple of T-6s, and doing a weekend formation course for a FAST card. The guy down there said with our previous experience he was confident he'd get us done quickly. So here are the potential hang-ups: right now it's the same week Steve is supposed to be gone. We have to make sure the FAST card examiner is available down there. This is very weather dependent. And last but not least, this may just be a two-ship card, and if it is, that may still limit me from doing more than 2-ship formations in waivered airspace. So I have some clarifying I need to do, and there are several things that need to fall in place, but if it works out, how great would this be?
Kaylee had a "DI" meeting after school until 5, I picked her up from there, grabbed some chicken, and took her to play practice, which she had until 9 pm. She's now doing her homework, and she's perfectly cheerful and happy with her schedule like that. That still amazes me. I would be SO cranky going non-stop like that. She's great. We got her 4 year school plan in, on time. She said she thinks she got something wrong on it, maybe not enough foreign language credits, but at least 9th grade is right, and we can adjust from there. My baby's starting high school soon, is talking college credit courses. Whew.
I find myself kind of excited here. There is a potential for something coming up here that may or may not come off, but I hope it works out the right way. If it does, I will be really pleased. So here's the deal. In a couple of weeks, I may be able to fly down to Florida in a Twin Beech, get in quite a few hours of Twin Beech training time towards the 25 hours I need, and not have to buy the gas. Once we do get to Florida, two of us would be taking up a couple of T-6s, and doing a weekend formation course for a FAST card. The guy down there said with our previous experience he was confident he'd get us done quickly. So here are the potential hang-ups: right now it's the same week Steve is supposed to be gone. We have to make sure the FAST card examiner is available down there. This is very weather dependent. And last but not least, this may just be a two-ship card, and if it is, that may still limit me from doing more than 2-ship formations in waivered airspace. So I have some clarifying I need to do, and there are several things that need to fall in place, but if it works out, how great would this be?
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
No More NOLA
I write this sitting back home in Kokomo. It's good to be home, already. :)
I spent the morning going to a few local places in New Orleans. I stopped by the WWII Museum again, though I didn't do the full tour. I ate at a little diner nearby, and drove around the city a bit. I was headed to another place when I got a text that they were going to be done early. So instead I went back to the airport, got the plane preflighted and untied and all that good stuff, checked weather, filed, and got ready to head home. I was only there an hour when Dustin arrived and it was time to go.
New Orleans International is a pretty busy one. The controllers are very professional and easy to work with, clear instructions, you have to be on your game, because it doesn't move slowly, but they were very nice and concise. They aren't used to people needing run-ups, so right when we got to the line they told us to line up on the runway and wait. I'd expected that, so I had done a rolling run-up and got everything ready just in case. As soon as we were off the ground, they told us to turn, so they could get the next Southwest Jet off the ground behind us. We were in a line up of big jets, looking very cute and small.
Speaking of cute and small, the whole time we were there, the 340 was the only piston prop airplane I ever saw anywhere on the field. ;) There were a couple of turboprops, but everything else was jet, and usually pretty good-sized jets too. There were five rows of aircraft parking, and they tugged the 340 to the back corner by the grass, far away from the entrance. Even so, the FBO desk workers and line guys were completely professional the entire time. I've been places where the desk lady and the line guys were downright sneering at you, I've had them make comments at Chicago and Atlanta about what a tiny little airplane, etc., and at this place they treated us exactly like they treated the jet jockey in line behind us. They offered us newspapers and catering to take back to the plane and everything. They made it easy to get a car, and to get the plane taken care of, they were fast and efficient and professional and it was an enjoyable transaction at a place where it could have been a headache. I appreciated that.
It was an uneventful flight home. We were on top of the clouds and in the sunshine the whole way until we got to Indy. They told us to descend to 6000', and that put us right in the clouds, where we picked up ice. It was a thin layer, clear above, clear below, and D hadn't seen icing before, so we stayed in there on purpose for a little while so he could see it build up, pop the boots, etc. At home base the winds were anywhere from 25 to 30 knots at a slight crosswind, and I'd gotten a text from the line guy at Kokomo telling me they had ice on the runway now and to be careful. You have to love texting and flying, you just do. How HANDY is that to know? He said they were issuing the NOTAM now, but it wasn't out yet before I took off. Now I was warned. I appreciated that. Anyway, it was windy and gusty and c-c-c-c-old, but it was fine, and it was good to be home.
I spent the morning going to a few local places in New Orleans. I stopped by the WWII Museum again, though I didn't do the full tour. I ate at a little diner nearby, and drove around the city a bit. I was headed to another place when I got a text that they were going to be done early. So instead I went back to the airport, got the plane preflighted and untied and all that good stuff, checked weather, filed, and got ready to head home. I was only there an hour when Dustin arrived and it was time to go.
New Orleans International is a pretty busy one. The controllers are very professional and easy to work with, clear instructions, you have to be on your game, because it doesn't move slowly, but they were very nice and concise. They aren't used to people needing run-ups, so right when we got to the line they told us to line up on the runway and wait. I'd expected that, so I had done a rolling run-up and got everything ready just in case. As soon as we were off the ground, they told us to turn, so they could get the next Southwest Jet off the ground behind us. We were in a line up of big jets, looking very cute and small.
Speaking of cute and small, the whole time we were there, the 340 was the only piston prop airplane I ever saw anywhere on the field. ;) There were a couple of turboprops, but everything else was jet, and usually pretty good-sized jets too. There were five rows of aircraft parking, and they tugged the 340 to the back corner by the grass, far away from the entrance. Even so, the FBO desk workers and line guys were completely professional the entire time. I've been places where the desk lady and the line guys were downright sneering at you, I've had them make comments at Chicago and Atlanta about what a tiny little airplane, etc., and at this place they treated us exactly like they treated the jet jockey in line behind us. They offered us newspapers and catering to take back to the plane and everything. They made it easy to get a car, and to get the plane taken care of, they were fast and efficient and professional and it was an enjoyable transaction at a place where it could have been a headache. I appreciated that.
It was an uneventful flight home. We were on top of the clouds and in the sunshine the whole way until we got to Indy. They told us to descend to 6000', and that put us right in the clouds, where we picked up ice. It was a thin layer, clear above, clear below, and D hadn't seen icing before, so we stayed in there on purpose for a little while so he could see it build up, pop the boots, etc. At home base the winds were anywhere from 25 to 30 knots at a slight crosswind, and I'd gotten a text from the line guy at Kokomo telling me they had ice on the runway now and to be careful. You have to love texting and flying, you just do. How HANDY is that to know? He said they were issuing the NOTAM now, but it wasn't out yet before I took off. Now I was warned. I appreciated that. Anyway, it was windy and gusty and c-c-c-c-old, but it was fine, and it was good to be home.
Fresh raw oysters and white wine. Thank you.
New Orleans International's ramp, VOR, and a couple of jets.
Heading into town.
Really neat museum in the city
Inside the museum, hanging from the ceiling
The 340...the sole piston prop on the ramp.
Jet, jet, jet, jet, turboprop, jet, jet, jet, oh look back by the grass. :)
Two behind us, one turning off the runway, one on short final.
Departing from New Orleans, into the blue.
Sun going down on top of the cloud deck
Descending...
Down into the gray and ice and murk
Monday, February 23, 2015
Southern State of Affairs
The TV down here in the hotel room in New Orleans says "Arctic Blast" on it. It's 44 degrees right now, in the evening. Yesterday it was 30 degrees warmer. Of COURSE it was. ;) But still, people around here are all complaining about the terrible cold, the line guy at the airport was wearing a full face ski mask, thick gloves and a big winter coat, and I'm walking around in a T-shirt with my arms spread wide like Kate on the bow of the Titanic. It's still a whole lot warmer than where I come from, so they can complain if they want, but I'll take it.
It is overcast down here. The trip down was fine, the airplane behaved itself, and the winds were just friendly enough to not make us stop for fuel. We had to lean it back and monitor it a lot since we were going to have to shoot an instrument approach into Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi first, and you need enough fuel to do that, go missed, etc. But the visibility was 10 miles, all day, so even though it was 500' overcast, I wasn't too worried about having to go somewhere else or not being able to find it. I still had the extra fuel just in case, but I wasn't too concerned. We ended up shooting two ILS approaches today. One to 500', and the other to 900'. Both good visibilities, neither too exciting, other than they were both into pretty busy airports. Going into New Orleans, we were #2 on the ILS behind a Southwest jet, with another Southwest jet behind us, and all three of us were cleared to land while we were all three on various points of the localizer. Tower told the guy behind us to slow down to approach speed, and he said "We're almost down there". Tower said "You've got a twin Cessna in front of you." "Oh." Yep. When we landed, tower came on and said "Hey, twin cessna, no delay taxi to Uniform and turn left, you have a 757 on less than a two mile final right behind you." Noooo problem. Then they sent us all over creation on the ground. Dustin and I started laughing because they doubled us back,had us cross the same runway twice, going different directions, and they were smart enough to just give us a progressive without us asking for it. It worked.
We went to Biloxi first. I asked for the crew car, and the lady said "Oh, we only have one car, it's gone, and there is someone ahead of you on the waiting list. But I can make you a turkey sandwich and chips for $3." It was already 1 pm and I only had another hour and a half on the ground, so I took the turkey sandwich. It actually wasn't bad, grilled on panini bread. Wasn't quite the place I intended on visiting there, but if a big ole place like that only has one car, and you're only there 2.5 hours, what are you to do? :) We took on 138 gallons of gas, too, so I made sure to eat a "free" cookie and two cups of "free" coffee while I was there. ;)
When we left Biloxi, New Orleans isn't far away from there by air. So I planned on what approach we'd be using and filed right to an "initial approach fix" there. By the time we left the winds swapped 180 degrees and they were using the opposite approach. And so it goes. :D But we just got vectors for that ILS, and that controller knew his business, too. He was all over it. The terminal is smaller at New Orleans than at Biloxi, by a lot, but they have a lot more cars. ;) The two guys got a rental car and headed to Thibadeaux (sp), while I took a rental car and headed in to New Orleans to get a room. They've got business to attend to down there, then will come back to N.O. so that one can airline it somewhere else and the other and I can head home to Kokomo late afternoon. I could have saved money by not having a car, but man, how depressing to sit in N.O. for 24 hours stuck in the hotel room.
I drove around the city a bit, looking at the lights, stopping here and there when there was decent parking. I started to eat at one place, but with an hour wait (standing outside) I decided to try something else, and was directed to a quiet place on a nearby corner that mostly locals eat at. It was one of those places that looks like a dive but has good quality food anyway--and the rest is just ambiance. ;)
When I was good and full, I went to a nearby theater and watched a movie, then drove around a bit at midnight or so, mostly because I was too restless to just go back to the hotel. When I did finally get back to the hotel, you had to use your key card to get in, and guess what wasn't working? A security guard is monitoring the place and he finally let me in. I thought I'd walk on the treadmill in the workout room, but you know what I forgot to pack? Comfy/walking/sleeping/yoga pants. So...I didn't need to walk off that meal anyway, right? ;)
It's late, my time anyway, and I'm tired, so will head off here. Tomorrow I have a few more things to go look at and a place to eat at before it's time to head home, back to the frozen tundra.
It is overcast down here. The trip down was fine, the airplane behaved itself, and the winds were just friendly enough to not make us stop for fuel. We had to lean it back and monitor it a lot since we were going to have to shoot an instrument approach into Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi first, and you need enough fuel to do that, go missed, etc. But the visibility was 10 miles, all day, so even though it was 500' overcast, I wasn't too worried about having to go somewhere else or not being able to find it. I still had the extra fuel just in case, but I wasn't too concerned. We ended up shooting two ILS approaches today. One to 500', and the other to 900'. Both good visibilities, neither too exciting, other than they were both into pretty busy airports. Going into New Orleans, we were #2 on the ILS behind a Southwest jet, with another Southwest jet behind us, and all three of us were cleared to land while we were all three on various points of the localizer. Tower told the guy behind us to slow down to approach speed, and he said "We're almost down there". Tower said "You've got a twin Cessna in front of you." "Oh." Yep. When we landed, tower came on and said "Hey, twin cessna, no delay taxi to Uniform and turn left, you have a 757 on less than a two mile final right behind you." Noooo problem. Then they sent us all over creation on the ground. Dustin and I started laughing because they doubled us back,had us cross the same runway twice, going different directions, and they were smart enough to just give us a progressive without us asking for it. It worked.
We went to Biloxi first. I asked for the crew car, and the lady said "Oh, we only have one car, it's gone, and there is someone ahead of you on the waiting list. But I can make you a turkey sandwich and chips for $3." It was already 1 pm and I only had another hour and a half on the ground, so I took the turkey sandwich. It actually wasn't bad, grilled on panini bread. Wasn't quite the place I intended on visiting there, but if a big ole place like that only has one car, and you're only there 2.5 hours, what are you to do? :) We took on 138 gallons of gas, too, so I made sure to eat a "free" cookie and two cups of "free" coffee while I was there. ;)
When we left Biloxi, New Orleans isn't far away from there by air. So I planned on what approach we'd be using and filed right to an "initial approach fix" there. By the time we left the winds swapped 180 degrees and they were using the opposite approach. And so it goes. :D But we just got vectors for that ILS, and that controller knew his business, too. He was all over it. The terminal is smaller at New Orleans than at Biloxi, by a lot, but they have a lot more cars. ;) The two guys got a rental car and headed to Thibadeaux (sp), while I took a rental car and headed in to New Orleans to get a room. They've got business to attend to down there, then will come back to N.O. so that one can airline it somewhere else and the other and I can head home to Kokomo late afternoon. I could have saved money by not having a car, but man, how depressing to sit in N.O. for 24 hours stuck in the hotel room.
I drove around the city a bit, looking at the lights, stopping here and there when there was decent parking. I started to eat at one place, but with an hour wait (standing outside) I decided to try something else, and was directed to a quiet place on a nearby corner that mostly locals eat at. It was one of those places that looks like a dive but has good quality food anyway--and the rest is just ambiance. ;)
When I was good and full, I went to a nearby theater and watched a movie, then drove around a bit at midnight or so, mostly because I was too restless to just go back to the hotel. When I did finally get back to the hotel, you had to use your key card to get in, and guess what wasn't working? A security guard is monitoring the place and he finally let me in. I thought I'd walk on the treadmill in the workout room, but you know what I forgot to pack? Comfy/walking/sleeping/yoga pants. So...I didn't need to walk off that meal anyway, right? ;)
It's late, my time anyway, and I'm tired, so will head off here. Tomorrow I have a few more things to go look at and a place to eat at before it's time to head home, back to the frozen tundra.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Home
So far so good. We got the 340 home from Illinois today. There were no real problems with it, it ran well, the squawks have mostly been fixed, and it looks like she's in good shape for our trip tomorrow. That made it 16 days since I'd been up flying in anything, which is likely a record of some kind. Even during Oshkosh it's usually no more than 12 days or so. I'll make up for it the next two days with some pretty long trips, down to the Louisiana/Mississippi coastline.
It's really nice to see some things actually moving. The paint booth for the Citabria and such is basically up and running, I got some texts from another guy who wants to knock off his formation card quickly this Spring and I'm attached with him, because if anybody can get it pushed through to be done, he can, so maybe I'll actually have that after all this year. I also got a text about flying the Twin Beech and getting checked out in that, and may start flying that this coming weekend or so, which would be great. I also got an email from one of the Red Star guys about a formation fly-over in May, several sorties and an overnight party (it's his birthday too), which would be fun and more formation practice in early Spring. The Cheyenne is in Ed's hangar for now, the 340 fits in the maintenance hangar, and it seems like there are just finally things starting to actually happen for the first time in awhile. It's encouraging. :)
It's really nice to see some things actually moving. The paint booth for the Citabria and such is basically up and running, I got some texts from another guy who wants to knock off his formation card quickly this Spring and I'm attached with him, because if anybody can get it pushed through to be done, he can, so maybe I'll actually have that after all this year. I also got a text about flying the Twin Beech and getting checked out in that, and may start flying that this coming weekend or so, which would be great. I also got an email from one of the Red Star guys about a formation fly-over in May, several sorties and an overnight party (it's his birthday too), which would be fun and more formation practice in early Spring. The Cheyenne is in Ed's hangar for now, the 340 fits in the maintenance hangar, and it seems like there are just finally things starting to actually happen for the first time in awhile. It's encouraging. :)
Not a bad park job, if I may say so myself.
She's tucked into the hangar. I moved one tool box and the L-2 just a little bit farther back, and then the 340 fit in there like a glove. She looks good in there.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Hangar Day
For the first time in several weeks, Kaylee didn't have anything going on, and I wasn't wiped out or busy, so both Steve and I went out to the airport for the day. There are quite a few projects going on at once over there. The L-2 is in the midst of its annual, the T-6 is also in the middle of its annual, but I don't think anybody did any work on those today. Chuck worked on hanging lights in the paint booth in the big hangar, the paint booth that will be used for painting the Citabria, parts of the Cherokee 180, and parts of the Saratoga, maybe even a few other things while it's there.
Nathan and Steve worked on drilling out rivets, taking off hail-beaten skins from the top fuselage of the Saratoga, cutting out new skins, rolling them, drilling holes, trimming, clipping, fitting, and all manner of work. They got some good progress in today. I was a poor but present assistant and observer. :) We ran over to the other hangar and messed some with the Cheyenne (in the hangar), and I found that I fit in that gap in between the two seats a LOT easier than I did the last time I was in that plane, which has now been well over a year ago. Heh.
I enjoyed the day, and here are some photos from today. :)
Nathan and Steve worked on drilling out rivets, taking off hail-beaten skins from the top fuselage of the Saratoga, cutting out new skins, rolling them, drilling holes, trimming, clipping, fitting, and all manner of work. They got some good progress in today. I was a poor but present assistant and observer. :) We ran over to the other hangar and messed some with the Cheyenne (in the hangar), and I found that I fit in that gap in between the two seats a LOT easier than I did the last time I was in that plane, which has now been well over a year ago. Heh.
I enjoyed the day, and here are some photos from today. :)
The Toga with "Klingons" (also known as Clecos, or so I hear).
The new top skin being held in place with clecos while the guys work on the piece behind it.
The paint booth in the back, the T-6 in the middle of its annual in the corner.
Chuck supervising Nathan and Steve trying to fit a new skin in place.
The inside of the paint booth with its newly hung lights.
Nathan putting in some Klingons
Chuck "hanging" the lights
Chuck inside the paint booth. You could put a really cool show on in there.
A disturbing close-up of Chuck in the paint booth. ;)
The damaged skin on top of new skin, with clecos holding it in place so Nathan could cut the new skin out in the proper shape, to go on top of the Saratoga.
Friday, February 20, 2015
End of the Week
Happy Friday! It's hard to believe February is only 8 days away from being over already. Thank goodness. It is four weeks until the first official day of Spring. Who knows what the weather will actually be like, but at least we'll know it has to be on the way. :)
No flying today, well, not in this family anyway, but we were out at both airports. Fried Chicken Friday at Glenndale, and after I hit a few things I needed to do, I went out to Kokomo where Nathan was going to fire up the Cheyenne and move it over to a hangar now that there was space in it. They're going on a trip in it next week, so getting it started and warmed up and de-iced if need be, etc., is important. A couple of the chocks were frozen to the ground. It was *really* cold out there and the wind didn't help. The Cheyenne needed a little TLC to get going but finally it was up and running again, flying around the pattern, then tucked away in a hangar to warm up and be ready for its trip on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, my trip has expanded, and Sunday I'll be picking up the 340 (hopefully), and Monday morning three of us depart for Gulfport/Biloxi International, spend a few hours there, and on down to New Orleans International, where I'll spend the night and the next day. I may bring shorts, even if it is only going to be 55 that day. I'm missing the 70s by two days. Doggone it. ;)
No flying today, well, not in this family anyway, but we were out at both airports. Fried Chicken Friday at Glenndale, and after I hit a few things I needed to do, I went out to Kokomo where Nathan was going to fire up the Cheyenne and move it over to a hangar now that there was space in it. They're going on a trip in it next week, so getting it started and warmed up and de-iced if need be, etc., is important. A couple of the chocks were frozen to the ground. It was *really* cold out there and the wind didn't help. The Cheyenne needed a little TLC to get going but finally it was up and running again, flying around the pattern, then tucked away in a hangar to warm up and be ready for its trip on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, my trip has expanded, and Sunday I'll be picking up the 340 (hopefully), and Monday morning three of us depart for Gulfport/Biloxi International, spend a few hours there, and on down to New Orleans International, where I'll spend the night and the next day. I may bring shorts, even if it is only going to be 55 that day. I'm missing the 70s by two days. Doggone it. ;)
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Posts
I should write these in the middle of the day before I get sleepy and don't feel like talking any more. Then they might end up less like a laundry list of Things I Did Today. :)
Tomorrow is another 2 hour delay due to the cold temps. They said it gives the busses time to warm up and stuff too. They also warned the kids to dress warmly, because the school's heating system is "overtaxed" in these cold temps. Today when Kaylee's bus arrived at the parking lot, the driver told all the kids that if they did not see their car, they were not to get off his bus. He didn't want anybody wandering around out there. It is pretty bitter out there, with no relief in sight over the next 10 days or so.
I had to run around a fair amount today, and I left my car running for most of it. Each errand was only 15-20 minutes or so, and I'd much rather come out to a warm car. My car locks and I have a number code to enter to get back in, by the way, I didn't leave it running and unlocked. I may have burned more gas today, but I think my car might have appreciated it too, because when I started it up cold this morning, it groaned and had to think about it for a second or two before it would start. I started it and let it run before I headed out after lunch, I started it up and let it run before I left the EAA meeting tonight. I didn't think firing it up and driving right out would be too kind on either me or it. I'm glad gas isn't $4/gallon right now, too. ;)
Steve's Mom made beef stew tonight and gave it to us, and it was a perfect food for this kind of day. Warm and filling and homemade and delicious. It made all three of us happy. And then at the EAA meeting tonight, AE brought homemade red velvet with cream cheese frosting cupcakes and homemade chocolate chip cookies and homemade vanilla ice cream, and, well, that was quite a topper to the day. I brought Kaylee home a cupcake and she was thrilled too.
In the middle of the meeting, Kaylee texts me "Buy radish". I say "whaaaaaaat?" She said "Need Radish." So I text back "Random." and she says "Yes". Later I found out that her character in the play is a poor old woman who is left with nothing but a radish. She wants me to buy a radish so she could take it to play practice on Monday and whip it out as a prop and a joke. But she wasn't supposed to be texting right then, so she was just doing one/two word texts to try to get the idea to me. Goober!
Steve flew twice today, on the coldest day possible. :D He was in the RG which has a good heater for the engine and a good heater in the cockpit too. He said it still got cold in there and he threatened the guy that he'd make him cuddle up and keep him warm soon. My "I haven't flown" streak has not ended yet. However, I do have an overnight trip to New Orleans coming up Monday, overnighting into Tuesday. I will just have missed Mardi Gras. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. :) However, I DO know it will be at least 50 degrees down there, and around 0 degrees here, so...I'll take it! Because this is what it looked like here yesterday. Today the sun was shining, but it made up for it by making it the coldest day we've had since 1885. As in 130 years ago, yes. Thank you February.
Tomorrow is another 2 hour delay due to the cold temps. They said it gives the busses time to warm up and stuff too. They also warned the kids to dress warmly, because the school's heating system is "overtaxed" in these cold temps. Today when Kaylee's bus arrived at the parking lot, the driver told all the kids that if they did not see their car, they were not to get off his bus. He didn't want anybody wandering around out there. It is pretty bitter out there, with no relief in sight over the next 10 days or so.
I had to run around a fair amount today, and I left my car running for most of it. Each errand was only 15-20 minutes or so, and I'd much rather come out to a warm car. My car locks and I have a number code to enter to get back in, by the way, I didn't leave it running and unlocked. I may have burned more gas today, but I think my car might have appreciated it too, because when I started it up cold this morning, it groaned and had to think about it for a second or two before it would start. I started it and let it run before I headed out after lunch, I started it up and let it run before I left the EAA meeting tonight. I didn't think firing it up and driving right out would be too kind on either me or it. I'm glad gas isn't $4/gallon right now, too. ;)
Steve's Mom made beef stew tonight and gave it to us, and it was a perfect food for this kind of day. Warm and filling and homemade and delicious. It made all three of us happy. And then at the EAA meeting tonight, AE brought homemade red velvet with cream cheese frosting cupcakes and homemade chocolate chip cookies and homemade vanilla ice cream, and, well, that was quite a topper to the day. I brought Kaylee home a cupcake and she was thrilled too.
In the middle of the meeting, Kaylee texts me "Buy radish". I say "whaaaaaaat?" She said "Need Radish." So I text back "Random." and she says "Yes". Later I found out that her character in the play is a poor old woman who is left with nothing but a radish. She wants me to buy a radish so she could take it to play practice on Monday and whip it out as a prop and a joke. But she wasn't supposed to be texting right then, so she was just doing one/two word texts to try to get the idea to me. Goober!
Steve flew twice today, on the coldest day possible. :D He was in the RG which has a good heater for the engine and a good heater in the cockpit too. He said it still got cold in there and he threatened the guy that he'd make him cuddle up and keep him warm soon. My "I haven't flown" streak has not ended yet. However, I do have an overnight trip to New Orleans coming up Monday, overnighting into Tuesday. I will just have missed Mardi Gras. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. :) However, I DO know it will be at least 50 degrees down there, and around 0 degrees here, so...I'll take it! Because this is what it looked like here yesterday. Today the sun was shining, but it made up for it by making it the coldest day we've had since 1885. As in 130 years ago, yes. Thank you February.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Green
I won't say it's cold, I won't say it's cold, I...can't help it. It's COLD. Man this is nasty.
It's been almost 2 weeks since I flew anything. That sounds like the start of a confession. Maybe it is. Forgive me world, for...
Kaylee had a meeting after school until 5 p.m., which gave me just enough time to swing past Culvers and grab some chicken strips, run her home to drop off her school stuff, then take her to her play practice. Tonight I had to stay with her because I had "Greenroom Duty", which meant I was in a room with two tables and about 30 kids in a very small space until 8:45 p.m. Actually it wasn't too bad. Two boys were hyper, but I survived them. Kaylee and I sat on a couch together and played a Word with Friends (Scrabble) game with each other. She had given up a long time ago because I always cream her and I won't let her win. So I told her we'd play a game together where I'd show her how to look, what various strategies are, what to avoid doing, etc. It won't help her come up with words she doesn't know, but it will definitely help. She's a quick study once she learns strategy, which is why she's good at "Clue". She is currently beating me by 30 points. :D
On the way home, the temps had dropped and the car was so SO cold. We sang all the way home at the top of our lungs to keep ourselves warm. I am guessing cars next to us at stoplights could hear both us and the radio. It was kind of fun. Except for the cold, in case I hadn't mentioned that. :)
Two hour delay for school tomorrow because of the bitter cold temps in the morning. Sleep in for two hours on the coldest day so far? Sure!
It's been almost 2 weeks since I flew anything. That sounds like the start of a confession. Maybe it is. Forgive me world, for...
Kaylee had a meeting after school until 5 p.m., which gave me just enough time to swing past Culvers and grab some chicken strips, run her home to drop off her school stuff, then take her to her play practice. Tonight I had to stay with her because I had "Greenroom Duty", which meant I was in a room with two tables and about 30 kids in a very small space until 8:45 p.m. Actually it wasn't too bad. Two boys were hyper, but I survived them. Kaylee and I sat on a couch together and played a Word with Friends (Scrabble) game with each other. She had given up a long time ago because I always cream her and I won't let her win. So I told her we'd play a game together where I'd show her how to look, what various strategies are, what to avoid doing, etc. It won't help her come up with words she doesn't know, but it will definitely help. She's a quick study once she learns strategy, which is why she's good at "Clue". She is currently beating me by 30 points. :D
On the way home, the temps had dropped and the car was so SO cold. We sang all the way home at the top of our lungs to keep ourselves warm. I am guessing cars next to us at stoplights could hear both us and the radio. It was kind of fun. Except for the cold, in case I hadn't mentioned that. :)
Two hour delay for school tomorrow because of the bitter cold temps in the morning. Sleep in for two hours on the coldest day so far? Sure!
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Kid Stories
I didn't really sleep last night, ergo I was too out of it to do much of note today. But I have a few Kaylee stories, which I know most of you prefer anyway! :D
Kaylee just told me this story, so I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but it wasn't too long ago. She was sitting in the lunch room with her legs stretched out, and a boy who was walking by tripped over her foot, and stumbled. He immediately got pretty angry, and spun around and got in her face. Kaylee stood up in front of him, and asked him what he thought he was doing. He snapped back with something about how he was so much bigger, taller and stronger than she was, and that he wouldn't have any trouble dealing with her. So she looks him in the eye and says "Tell that to 3 years of Taekwondo. Let's see what you've got." He glared at her for a few seconds before spinning around and stomping off.
I admit I laughed, but I also tried to be a responsible and appropriate mother, and I mentioned that an important part of martial arts is being able to avoid a fight, not try to provoke one, and I mentioned that she probably could have deflected the whole thing if she'd have just apologized for accidentally tripping him, you know "Hey, didn't mean to have my foot out that far, sorry you tripped" or something. She said "I would have, except he was such an angry jerk right from the get-go, and I'm not going to apologize to him when he's all mad and in my face like that and I didn't do anything but sit there." She has a point there. Her Grandpa and Dad said that there's no real way to lose this one, really, unless you back down. If he confronts her and she cowers back in front of the whole room, then that sets up a not great...social situation. If he confronts her and she stands up and argues back, he has two choices: back off, in which case she wins, or go after her. If he goes after her, there are two outcomes. She either beats him or just holds her own long enough for it to be broken up, in which case she wins and the big bully gets held off or beaten by a girl, or he wins, and everybody is pretty upset at him for going after a smaller, younger girl, and she still gains respect for standing up for herself. (This sounds like we want her to have an altercation in school, which is not true. But I do find her ability to stand up for herself pleasing.)
The other morning I got up at 6:15, went up front to get Kaylee, and she was already in the bathroom. I knocked on the door and said "Are you okay?" She said "I'm fine, I just went to bed last night before I got a shower in, so I set my alarm this morning for 5:50 a.m. so I could take a shower." So my teenage daughter who has to practically be carried out of bed in the morning, in fact WAS carried out of bed every morning until she got too big and heavy for me to be able to carry her any more, got herself up early to take a shower. I wasn't sure what planet I'd fallen into for a minute there.
Next up is the Dental Story. First, to not drag it out, she's okay. Not thrilled, but okay.
The dentist had called in a Vicodin prescription for her, a one-time dose to take an hour before the appointment if necessary. Once she knew she had that option, she stopped panicking quite so hard over it, and instead went into research mode. She looked up the possible side effects, she looked up info on the medicine, and she slept on it. She didn't want to take the medicine, because she's not big on taking any kind of medicine, but she didn't think she could do it without it. She knew it was in her head and she shouldn't feel much, but the thought, she wanted to get out of her own head. Finally this afternoon she sent me a text that said "No Vicodin". I brought it with me anyway when I picked her up from school in case she changed her mind, but she didn't. We talked about it, joked about things, kept it light, and I went back with her when it was time. When he numbed her mouth the first time, with the needle, he left to let it start numbing up, and told her he'd be back and what a great job she'd done, but when I looked at her, her face was frozen blank and I could tell she was trying really hard not to cry. So I gave her a Kleen-x and told her we were alone, it was okay to feel crappy for a minute, and she did, and then we started joking about stuff again and he was back for round two of needle work, a few rounds of drilling, etc. He would ask questions, she'd answer calmly, she did as she was told, she held still and looked perfectly calm, and he kept telling her how she was doing better than a lot of his adult patients, etc. What he couldn't know was that she was just gutting it out, she didn't want him to know that she was feeling as traumatized as she was. Afterwards he kept saying "See, you did great, that wasn't so bad, was it?" She didn't answer, and finally I said "She's just too polite to say 'yes'." :)
She said that she could feel a little bit but mostly it was the thought of what was going on that got to her, and she was a little shaky for awhile. The bad news is that the tooth was in bad enough shape that he had to drill down to almost the nerve. (She had no pain or symptoms of having a cavity at all, either.) He's going to have to reconstruct the tooth, and until then he put a temporary dermis layer and then fill in there, and we have to wait a few weeks to see how it does. If the stuff he put in there integrates well with the tooth, then he'll just reconstruct it and be done. If it doesn't, if the nerve is too closely exposed, and she feels pain, temperature sensitivity, pressure, etc., then we have to call him asap and he said that it's possible that she could need a root canal. Yes, seriously. Unfortunately he said that in front of her, and she's not dumb enough to forget it or be unable to look it up, so now she's worrying about that. I'm really, really hoping the nerve/tooth hangs in there.
One of the things that made us laugh while there...they gave her a cup of water and told her to swish and spit into the spit thingy (technical term). She put water in her mouth, and it immediately came pouring out of her mouth, because she couldn't feel that her lips weren't actually closed. We all started laughing. The next time she did it, she held her lips squeezed shut with one hand while drinking water with the other and we laughed again. I wish that she wouldn't have to go back or have any more work, but unfortunately that's not the case. So, for those of you who understand needle or drill phobias, keep her in your kind thoughts in the weeks to come. If all goes well her next appointment is in about 3 weeks...
Last kid stories. Every night Kaylee does her homework without being told to. Every night she comes in when she's tired and gives us a hug and kiss, and goes to bed on her own, and it's almost always a very reasonable time, from 9:30-10:30. Every day she tracks what meetings or practices she's supposed to go to, and lets us know where she needs picked up and when, sending texts or emails when needed, and verbally reminding us in the mornings of that day's activities. Every morning after she gets ready for school, she comes in and snuggles with me, and we either sleep a little, or talk about stuff, and many nights before she goes to bed she comes in and sits next to me on the chair and talks or relaxes. She helped me get set up on Instagram and wants me to be part of her online world. She knows how most of the popular apps work, and isn't remotely tempted to misuse them. A song came on the radio and she immediately switched it over. I'd never heard it before and asked what it was, and she said "Mom, that song is about rape, it's terrible, I listened to some of the words once and I never want to hear another note of that song again. I can't believe what they can get away with on the radio. It's sad." She's just a really good kid. The only things that let us know she's still a teenager are that she lets piles of clothes grow on her floor or her bathroom floor, she's bad about correspondence sometimes, her sarcasm can slip out to the wrong person sometimes, and she doesn't consistently take care of her cats' food and water like she's supposed to. Of all the things that parents of 14 year old girls are dealing with out there...I am grateful for things like messy floors. :)
Kaylee just told me this story, so I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but it wasn't too long ago. She was sitting in the lunch room with her legs stretched out, and a boy who was walking by tripped over her foot, and stumbled. He immediately got pretty angry, and spun around and got in her face. Kaylee stood up in front of him, and asked him what he thought he was doing. He snapped back with something about how he was so much bigger, taller and stronger than she was, and that he wouldn't have any trouble dealing with her. So she looks him in the eye and says "Tell that to 3 years of Taekwondo. Let's see what you've got." He glared at her for a few seconds before spinning around and stomping off.
I admit I laughed, but I also tried to be a responsible and appropriate mother, and I mentioned that an important part of martial arts is being able to avoid a fight, not try to provoke one, and I mentioned that she probably could have deflected the whole thing if she'd have just apologized for accidentally tripping him, you know "Hey, didn't mean to have my foot out that far, sorry you tripped" or something. She said "I would have, except he was such an angry jerk right from the get-go, and I'm not going to apologize to him when he's all mad and in my face like that and I didn't do anything but sit there." She has a point there. Her Grandpa and Dad said that there's no real way to lose this one, really, unless you back down. If he confronts her and she cowers back in front of the whole room, then that sets up a not great...social situation. If he confronts her and she stands up and argues back, he has two choices: back off, in which case she wins, or go after her. If he goes after her, there are two outcomes. She either beats him or just holds her own long enough for it to be broken up, in which case she wins and the big bully gets held off or beaten by a girl, or he wins, and everybody is pretty upset at him for going after a smaller, younger girl, and she still gains respect for standing up for herself. (This sounds like we want her to have an altercation in school, which is not true. But I do find her ability to stand up for herself pleasing.)
The other morning I got up at 6:15, went up front to get Kaylee, and she was already in the bathroom. I knocked on the door and said "Are you okay?" She said "I'm fine, I just went to bed last night before I got a shower in, so I set my alarm this morning for 5:50 a.m. so I could take a shower." So my teenage daughter who has to practically be carried out of bed in the morning, in fact WAS carried out of bed every morning until she got too big and heavy for me to be able to carry her any more, got herself up early to take a shower. I wasn't sure what planet I'd fallen into for a minute there.
Next up is the Dental Story. First, to not drag it out, she's okay. Not thrilled, but okay.
The dentist had called in a Vicodin prescription for her, a one-time dose to take an hour before the appointment if necessary. Once she knew she had that option, she stopped panicking quite so hard over it, and instead went into research mode. She looked up the possible side effects, she looked up info on the medicine, and she slept on it. She didn't want to take the medicine, because she's not big on taking any kind of medicine, but she didn't think she could do it without it. She knew it was in her head and she shouldn't feel much, but the thought, she wanted to get out of her own head. Finally this afternoon she sent me a text that said "No Vicodin". I brought it with me anyway when I picked her up from school in case she changed her mind, but she didn't. We talked about it, joked about things, kept it light, and I went back with her when it was time. When he numbed her mouth the first time, with the needle, he left to let it start numbing up, and told her he'd be back and what a great job she'd done, but when I looked at her, her face was frozen blank and I could tell she was trying really hard not to cry. So I gave her a Kleen-x and told her we were alone, it was okay to feel crappy for a minute, and she did, and then we started joking about stuff again and he was back for round two of needle work, a few rounds of drilling, etc. He would ask questions, she'd answer calmly, she did as she was told, she held still and looked perfectly calm, and he kept telling her how she was doing better than a lot of his adult patients, etc. What he couldn't know was that she was just gutting it out, she didn't want him to know that she was feeling as traumatized as she was. Afterwards he kept saying "See, you did great, that wasn't so bad, was it?" She didn't answer, and finally I said "She's just too polite to say 'yes'." :)
She said that she could feel a little bit but mostly it was the thought of what was going on that got to her, and she was a little shaky for awhile. The bad news is that the tooth was in bad enough shape that he had to drill down to almost the nerve. (She had no pain or symptoms of having a cavity at all, either.) He's going to have to reconstruct the tooth, and until then he put a temporary dermis layer and then fill in there, and we have to wait a few weeks to see how it does. If the stuff he put in there integrates well with the tooth, then he'll just reconstruct it and be done. If it doesn't, if the nerve is too closely exposed, and she feels pain, temperature sensitivity, pressure, etc., then we have to call him asap and he said that it's possible that she could need a root canal. Yes, seriously. Unfortunately he said that in front of her, and she's not dumb enough to forget it or be unable to look it up, so now she's worrying about that. I'm really, really hoping the nerve/tooth hangs in there.
One of the things that made us laugh while there...they gave her a cup of water and told her to swish and spit into the spit thingy (technical term). She put water in her mouth, and it immediately came pouring out of her mouth, because she couldn't feel that her lips weren't actually closed. We all started laughing. The next time she did it, she held her lips squeezed shut with one hand while drinking water with the other and we laughed again. I wish that she wouldn't have to go back or have any more work, but unfortunately that's not the case. So, for those of you who understand needle or drill phobias, keep her in your kind thoughts in the weeks to come. If all goes well her next appointment is in about 3 weeks...
Last kid stories. Every night Kaylee does her homework without being told to. Every night she comes in when she's tired and gives us a hug and kiss, and goes to bed on her own, and it's almost always a very reasonable time, from 9:30-10:30. Every day she tracks what meetings or practices she's supposed to go to, and lets us know where she needs picked up and when, sending texts or emails when needed, and verbally reminding us in the mornings of that day's activities. Every morning after she gets ready for school, she comes in and snuggles with me, and we either sleep a little, or talk about stuff, and many nights before she goes to bed she comes in and sits next to me on the chair and talks or relaxes. She helped me get set up on Instagram and wants me to be part of her online world. She knows how most of the popular apps work, and isn't remotely tempted to misuse them. A song came on the radio and she immediately switched it over. I'd never heard it before and asked what it was, and she said "Mom, that song is about rape, it's terrible, I listened to some of the words once and I never want to hear another note of that song again. I can't believe what they can get away with on the radio. It's sad." She's just a really good kid. The only things that let us know she's still a teenager are that she lets piles of clothes grow on her floor or her bathroom floor, she's bad about correspondence sometimes, her sarcasm can slip out to the wrong person sometimes, and she doesn't consistently take care of her cats' food and water like she's supposed to. Of all the things that parents of 14 year old girls are dealing with out there...I am grateful for things like messy floors. :)
Monday, February 16, 2015
Starting Anew
Hmm, another icy cold, gray overcast day. Yay February, the longest month of the year! :P
I took several days "off" of paying attention to what I was eating or walking, which was nice because we ate out at a nice restaurant, I had caramel cheesecake which I split up into two days anyway, Steve cooked us steak dinners for Valentine's Day, and it just wasn't the time to count calories. Even so, I had grilled fish and vegetables for dinner and shrimp cocktail for an appetizer instead of worse things, balancing it out a bit. But today was the day to get back to the routine, 'cause you don't want to let it slide for too long. Momentum, you know. You want to keep it going in the right direction.
Kaylee had play practice after school for the Wizard of Oz, and then Taekwondo, homework, and relaxing a little. Tomorrow she has a dental appointment that includes needles in the gum. She's freaked out about it. She's never been good with needles, was in tears after her last round of shots and made me look up that she'd be 21 before she had to have any more shots and swore she'd skip it then because she'd be a grown-up who could skip it if she wanted to. Our dentist doesn't do "Laughing Gas" because, the nurse said "We've never had anybody who needed that." Seriously?! But no, they don't even have it in their office. We do have an option of giving her something stronger, but we're not sure about that. So...we're going to see how this goes. If you want to shoot up a prayer or two for her, she could use it. If not her, then me, because I'll be the one taking her there which has the potential to be as traumatizing for me as it is her. Hopefully tomorrow I can write back that it went like clockwork, no problems.
During a show I was watching today while I was on the treadmill, the leader of a group of folks trying to survive in a post-apocalyptical world told a story about his Grandfather who fought in WWII. He said he'd wake up each day, assume he was going to die that day, and just go fight as best he could. He said that after two years of assuming he was going to die each morning, he walked out of there and survived after all. The leader said maybe that was their key to survival, to just assume they were walking dead, just to get through it, and then maybe they'd all come out it the other side after all. Some of his people agreed, others felt like that was giving up. It made me think about hope, because I think that you can handle a lot in life: hard times, no money, work difficulties, health difficulties, all sorts of difficulties, and even when it gets bad you can put your head down and keep walking. But when hope gets crushed, to me that's the hardest thing to come back from. It's one part of what they are saying, that if you don't hold out hope you'll survive the situation, then you won't be as timid or afraid to do what you need to do; no matter how bad it is, you'll be bold and fearless physically, which you need; and also, if you don't hold out hope, you won't be crushed by it or anything else, mentally. It is bleak, but it has merit in some situations.
Getting ready for the day, the "Today Show" was on in the background and I heard them mention exercises to help with upper arm flappy thing. Well, that spoke to the girl in me as an area that's been bugging me, so I sat down and watched that segment, where they provided about four simple things you could do to help with toning up that area. I figure I can add that one target area in now for awhile and see how it goes, even if I'm probably not going to be going sleeveless anytime soon regardless. I'll let you know if it does anything after a month or so...
These are a couple of images I saw online. The first one isn't really a quote from Tom Hanks as much as a quote from Tom Hanks' character on "League of Their Own." Dottie said she had to quit because "It's too hard!" He responded with "Of course it's hard! It's supposed to be hard!" and then the below. I have always liked this/that quote...
This next quote is from a woman who is in her 50s, out of shape, large, and has a niece with SMA. She trained for a year to be able to jog in a 5K, and when she posted this, knowing that, it got me. This has to be modified for me, because I don't run, and I doubt I will ever run unless I am attempting to get to someone in an emergency. However, I love this anyway. Make it say "Walk Firmly" and I could join in on that, with gusto.
I took several days "off" of paying attention to what I was eating or walking, which was nice because we ate out at a nice restaurant, I had caramel cheesecake which I split up into two days anyway, Steve cooked us steak dinners for Valentine's Day, and it just wasn't the time to count calories. Even so, I had grilled fish and vegetables for dinner and shrimp cocktail for an appetizer instead of worse things, balancing it out a bit. But today was the day to get back to the routine, 'cause you don't want to let it slide for too long. Momentum, you know. You want to keep it going in the right direction.
Kaylee had play practice after school for the Wizard of Oz, and then Taekwondo, homework, and relaxing a little. Tomorrow she has a dental appointment that includes needles in the gum. She's freaked out about it. She's never been good with needles, was in tears after her last round of shots and made me look up that she'd be 21 before she had to have any more shots and swore she'd skip it then because she'd be a grown-up who could skip it if she wanted to. Our dentist doesn't do "Laughing Gas" because, the nurse said "We've never had anybody who needed that." Seriously?! But no, they don't even have it in their office. We do have an option of giving her something stronger, but we're not sure about that. So...we're going to see how this goes. If you want to shoot up a prayer or two for her, she could use it. If not her, then me, because I'll be the one taking her there which has the potential to be as traumatizing for me as it is her. Hopefully tomorrow I can write back that it went like clockwork, no problems.
During a show I was watching today while I was on the treadmill, the leader of a group of folks trying to survive in a post-apocalyptical world told a story about his Grandfather who fought in WWII. He said he'd wake up each day, assume he was going to die that day, and just go fight as best he could. He said that after two years of assuming he was going to die each morning, he walked out of there and survived after all. The leader said maybe that was their key to survival, to just assume they were walking dead, just to get through it, and then maybe they'd all come out it the other side after all. Some of his people agreed, others felt like that was giving up. It made me think about hope, because I think that you can handle a lot in life: hard times, no money, work difficulties, health difficulties, all sorts of difficulties, and even when it gets bad you can put your head down and keep walking. But when hope gets crushed, to me that's the hardest thing to come back from. It's one part of what they are saying, that if you don't hold out hope you'll survive the situation, then you won't be as timid or afraid to do what you need to do; no matter how bad it is, you'll be bold and fearless physically, which you need; and also, if you don't hold out hope, you won't be crushed by it or anything else, mentally. It is bleak, but it has merit in some situations.
Getting ready for the day, the "Today Show" was on in the background and I heard them mention exercises to help with upper arm flappy thing. Well, that spoke to the girl in me as an area that's been bugging me, so I sat down and watched that segment, where they provided about four simple things you could do to help with toning up that area. I figure I can add that one target area in now for awhile and see how it goes, even if I'm probably not going to be going sleeveless anytime soon regardless. I'll let you know if it does anything after a month or so...
These are a couple of images I saw online. The first one isn't really a quote from Tom Hanks as much as a quote from Tom Hanks' character on "League of Their Own." Dottie said she had to quit because "It's too hard!" He responded with "Of course it's hard! It's supposed to be hard!" and then the below. I have always liked this/that quote...
This next quote is from a woman who is in her 50s, out of shape, large, and has a niece with SMA. She trained for a year to be able to jog in a 5K, and when she posted this, knowing that, it got me. This has to be modified for me, because I don't run, and I doubt I will ever run unless I am attempting to get to someone in an emergency. However, I love this anyway. Make it say "Walk Firmly" and I could join in on that, with gusto.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Snippets
Kaylee had macaroni and cheese for the first time since the "Great Mac Evacuate" a few weeks ago. She didn't mention it, I didn't mention it, she ate it, and all was well. So I think that potential "crisis" is averted. ;)
Steve fixed the fan in our bathroom today, which was a bigger job than he hoped but not necessarily bigger than he expected, which is why it took him several months to attempt the job. But once he started, we didn't have a light in the bathroom either, which would have meant no reading in the bathroom, so...he had to finish it up, which he did, successfully. I knew he could do it! ;)
Twas a quiet day inside, out of the bitter cold and the wind.
Steve fixed the fan in our bathroom today, which was a bigger job than he hoped but not necessarily bigger than he expected, which is why it took him several months to attempt the job. But once he started, we didn't have a light in the bathroom either, which would have meant no reading in the bathroom, so...he had to finish it up, which he did, successfully. I knew he could do it! ;)
Twas a quiet day inside, out of the bitter cold and the wind.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
V-Day
It was a quiet Valentine's Day, and there's nothing wrong with that. Steve got me, Kaylee and his mom different colored baby roses and me and Kaylee little chocolates. He went out to Kokomo to help Nathan work on a few things, and then came home and cooked us all a nice steak dinner.
The rest of the day was spent doing a few things around the house, and not much else. I worked on editing one of the little stories I wrote, as it's kind of long, but it's hard to cut it off any sooner. I read an entire book that I enjoyed, and the TV didn't come on in the house until after 10 pm, which was fine as there was still nothing to watch on by then anyway!
The winds were howling today, the snow was blowing around in a big white-out, it was well below freezing as we are still looking at a "Wind Chill Advisory", and all in all I didn't mind not having anywhere I had to be today. However, it is starting to get to me. The 340 has been down for awhile now, Gumby is gone, it's been since September that I flew the T-6, I haven't even had instructional flights hardly in February, I think I've been up twice since January something. The weather and the schedule and the airplanes all need to cooperate. I'm getting cranky. Fair warning.
So I'll end on pretty flowers. Because...pretty flowers! :) Happy Valentine's Day. May you have someone you love to share the day with, even if you don't spend it actively celebrating the holiday itself.
The rest of the day was spent doing a few things around the house, and not much else. I worked on editing one of the little stories I wrote, as it's kind of long, but it's hard to cut it off any sooner. I read an entire book that I enjoyed, and the TV didn't come on in the house until after 10 pm, which was fine as there was still nothing to watch on by then anyway!
The winds were howling today, the snow was blowing around in a big white-out, it was well below freezing as we are still looking at a "Wind Chill Advisory", and all in all I didn't mind not having anywhere I had to be today. However, it is starting to get to me. The 340 has been down for awhile now, Gumby is gone, it's been since September that I flew the T-6, I haven't even had instructional flights hardly in February, I think I've been up twice since January something. The weather and the schedule and the airplanes all need to cooperate. I'm getting cranky. Fair warning.
So I'll end on pretty flowers. Because...pretty flowers! :) Happy Valentine's Day. May you have someone you love to share the day with, even if you don't spend it actively celebrating the holiday itself.
White, orange and pink on the counter...
Close-up of my orange...
Friday, February 13, 2015
Friday the 13th
Theoretically today should be full of difficulties and disasters, but since that's a bunch of hooey, it's actually been a pretty good one. :)
It's Friday, Kaylee doesn't have a singing lesson, or play practice, or any other after-school meetings, so she feels as free as a bird today. She is going to her friends' Anti-Valentine's Day Party at 7:30, and we bought a single orange and yellow rose as a joke for one of her friends. So that's her big evening off. She's happy and contented and looking forward to the weekend, as also for the last two weeks she's had ISSMA on Saturday, had things to prepare, etc., and this weekend is pretty much all hers to do with as she pleases.
I got rid of another bag of clothes, and picked up a couple more things at the store. One was another pair of yoga pants for the evenings. I might have said this already, but those things are amazing. Not only are they comfortable, but the pair I have been wearing is the same pair I had last June. And they seem to fit comfortably and tight now. They fit comfortably and tight back then too. 47 pounds ago. That's...freaky. What are those things MADE of?? Don't answer that, it's rhetorical. Anyway, I got a pair two sizes smaller today, tried them on, and they fit comfortably and tight. Is there a point to even having sizes on those?? Hmm.
I started writing up something I jokingly called "A Day in the Life Of". I basically wrote up a couple of short stories of various flying things. One was "A morning in the life of a small town corporate pilot". Another is "A day in the life of a tailwheel instructor". And "A day in the life of a warbird rides operator." Etc. I only have a few of them. I'll collect them, write them as I feel like it. Probably do nothing with them. ;)
Steve and I dropped Kaylee off at her party, and a friend's mom is going to be bringing her home, so we went out to dinner at "The Fox's Trail", a local nice restaurant. We had lovely cocktail shrimp, I had grilled and blackened fish, Steve had prime rib, and I got a caramel cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory to go, and we just had a couple of hours just to ourselves to enjoy, basically our own Valentine's Day celebration. We ran into two business people we or Steve knows. The first one we talked to, the second one I didn't know and Steve pretended like he didn't see, and we had a lovely evening. ;)
Friday the 13th ends on a nice note, and we are looking forward to the weekend!
It's Friday, Kaylee doesn't have a singing lesson, or play practice, or any other after-school meetings, so she feels as free as a bird today. She is going to her friends' Anti-Valentine's Day Party at 7:30, and we bought a single orange and yellow rose as a joke for one of her friends. So that's her big evening off. She's happy and contented and looking forward to the weekend, as also for the last two weeks she's had ISSMA on Saturday, had things to prepare, etc., and this weekend is pretty much all hers to do with as she pleases.
I got rid of another bag of clothes, and picked up a couple more things at the store. One was another pair of yoga pants for the evenings. I might have said this already, but those things are amazing. Not only are they comfortable, but the pair I have been wearing is the same pair I had last June. And they seem to fit comfortably and tight now. They fit comfortably and tight back then too. 47 pounds ago. That's...freaky. What are those things MADE of?? Don't answer that, it's rhetorical. Anyway, I got a pair two sizes smaller today, tried them on, and they fit comfortably and tight. Is there a point to even having sizes on those?? Hmm.
I started writing up something I jokingly called "A Day in the Life Of". I basically wrote up a couple of short stories of various flying things. One was "A morning in the life of a small town corporate pilot". Another is "A day in the life of a tailwheel instructor". And "A day in the life of a warbird rides operator." Etc. I only have a few of them. I'll collect them, write them as I feel like it. Probably do nothing with them. ;)
Steve and I dropped Kaylee off at her party, and a friend's mom is going to be bringing her home, so we went out to dinner at "The Fox's Trail", a local nice restaurant. We had lovely cocktail shrimp, I had grilled and blackened fish, Steve had prime rib, and I got a caramel cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory to go, and we just had a couple of hours just to ourselves to enjoy, basically our own Valentine's Day celebration. We ran into two business people we or Steve knows. The first one we talked to, the second one I didn't know and Steve pretended like he didn't see, and we had a lovely evening. ;)
Friday the 13th ends on a nice note, and we are looking forward to the weekend!
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Full Circle
Richard is home! He's feeling pretty well, and is glad to be back in his own domicile. :) We don't have all the answers we need yet, have a bit farther to go there, so continued prayers are appreciated.
Steve was at the hospital most of the day, waiting for the doctor to come around, as was Richard of course. Waiting for red tape, bureaucracy, nobody knowing what anybody else was doing. First they didn't let him have breakfast, which everyone assumes means a test is coming, but nobody knew what the test was or when. Then later they decided he could have breakfast after all. Steve walked out the door to be gone for 45 minutes to an hour for lunch, and five minutes later the doctor they'd been waiting for all morning decided to come in. You have to love that stuff! The doctors and nurses did a great job there from what I hear; it's the system that's a little broken, but it always has been, that's nothing new, and it won't change any time soon, I'm sure.
I ate too much today, just had a raving case of the munchies after lunch, and have spent the next few hours with a bleh feeling stomach. In a way it's sort of nice, because it wasn't really that enjoyable eating those things and it sure wasn't enjoyable feeling that way afterwards. I wonder if it's actually possible that the junk food addiction might be on its way to being under control. No, I still like junk food, I just don't think I need it in as big of quantities. That's nice.
Kaylee had her professional photos taken today for her "Canterbury Tales" play. They are in initial dress rehearsals now, with the play itself opening March 6, going through March 8th. She's going to start getting busy again real soon, with her school play of "Wizard of Oz" not too far behind it!
Kaylee asked me today if she could go to a party at one of her friend's houses tomorrow. I asked what time, who was going, hadn't said yes yet because it was last minute and Friday night at 10:30 pm gets us home late and it'll be me driving her around that night...and then I said "Hey, is this a Valentine's Day party?" She said "Well, sort of, but not really. See, neither my friends nor I want to go to the school's V-Day party dance, because we aren't dating, and going together as a group of girls is weird for a romantic dance thing like that. They have couples dances and stuff, and that's just...weird to go to as a group of girls. So we thought we'd get together and have our own anti-Valentine's Day Party." I said "Yep, you can go." Steve said "Hey, there better not be any boys there!" For a split second she might have not been sure if he was serious, which makes the joke completely worthwhile, right there. ;)
Steve was at the hospital most of the day, waiting for the doctor to come around, as was Richard of course. Waiting for red tape, bureaucracy, nobody knowing what anybody else was doing. First they didn't let him have breakfast, which everyone assumes means a test is coming, but nobody knew what the test was or when. Then later they decided he could have breakfast after all. Steve walked out the door to be gone for 45 minutes to an hour for lunch, and five minutes later the doctor they'd been waiting for all morning decided to come in. You have to love that stuff! The doctors and nurses did a great job there from what I hear; it's the system that's a little broken, but it always has been, that's nothing new, and it won't change any time soon, I'm sure.
I ate too much today, just had a raving case of the munchies after lunch, and have spent the next few hours with a bleh feeling stomach. In a way it's sort of nice, because it wasn't really that enjoyable eating those things and it sure wasn't enjoyable feeling that way afterwards. I wonder if it's actually possible that the junk food addiction might be on its way to being under control. No, I still like junk food, I just don't think I need it in as big of quantities. That's nice.
Kaylee had her professional photos taken today for her "Canterbury Tales" play. They are in initial dress rehearsals now, with the play itself opening March 6, going through March 8th. She's going to start getting busy again real soon, with her school play of "Wizard of Oz" not too far behind it!
Kaylee asked me today if she could go to a party at one of her friend's houses tomorrow. I asked what time, who was going, hadn't said yes yet because it was last minute and Friday night at 10:30 pm gets us home late and it'll be me driving her around that night...and then I said "Hey, is this a Valentine's Day party?" She said "Well, sort of, but not really. See, neither my friends nor I want to go to the school's V-Day party dance, because we aren't dating, and going together as a group of girls is weird for a romantic dance thing like that. They have couples dances and stuff, and that's just...weird to go to as a group of girls. So we thought we'd get together and have our own anti-Valentine's Day Party." I said "Yep, you can go." Steve said "Hey, there better not be any boys there!" For a split second she might have not been sure if he was serious, which makes the joke completely worthwhile, right there. ;)
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Post Script
Last night Steve was working on something on the computer, when an old photo popped up of him with Kaylee when she was little, standing in front of the Baron. She was so little, and so cute, and it's almost hard to remember her like that. I think it's another reason I really appreciate photos. I said once that your photos become your memories, and for me at least I think there's more truth to that than you'd expect. I can't remember details of a lot of things in the past, even things not that long ago. It's as if it's been written over. I can picture snapshots of time, snippits of info, but I can't remember clearly...life I guess. All my thoughts and actions and day to day things. Hard to explain. But I'm not even old yet, so I can't blame that. :) Looking back through photos gives you some of those moments, jogs some of those memories. Photos are important, to me at least. Sometimes it's why I take "selfies" in airplanes even. Proof to myself that once I was 30 or 40 or hopefully 50 and 60 and 70 and 80 and sitting in a particular airplane at a particular time and enjoying myself. I don't have any pictures of when I learned to fly, or pictures of me in or by an airplane when I soloed, or any photos of when I got any of my 7 certificates or ratings, or anytime flying in my 20s for that matter. But I can take pictures myself now, and have friends around now who take pictures too, and I enjoy them, and anyone who thinks it's silly can bite me.
Richard is spending the night in the hospital tonight again, in order to be able to be there and meet with another doctor tomorrow and discuss options and what's going on, etc. Continued prayers for him, and Ann, and the doctors, would be greatly appreciated.
Kaylee had a Destination Imagination meeting after school today, after which I brought her dinner and then ran her to her play practice, which was a dress rehearsal tonight. She came home from that at 8 pm and finished up her homework, including a project she is working on titled "The KKK in Black and White" (c'mon, that's clever). We haven't completely figured out her schedule yet, but I'm working on it. Slowly.
One thing I have decided is good about winter: every airplane we have except a couple trainers and the Viking are all down for annuals/maintenance of some kind. It's the time of year that isn't busy, the time of year you can't do a lot anyway, so everything going in and getting worked on is kind of nice, because you know at the end of it they are in good shape, inspected, fixed up, some of them painted up, and ready to go, ready to fly the wheels off of them again...soon...when the weather is good again, finally, and that you'll likely be able to fly them for quite awhile without interruption. That's nice. It's only February, the longest shortest month of the year, and the daylight is lasting longer, and I'm starting to get that longing feeling again. I hope the 340 is done soon, and I can't wait until Gumby is back, and I really miss the T-6 too, and I look forward to the Toga being back, and the Citabria being done for Chuck, and I look forward to flying the Twin Beach, and I look forward to flying the Cheyenne, and there's lots to look forward to. It seems like there has been a lot of "looking forward to" for several years now on several different things. Maybe this year some of them will stop being "looking forward to maybe" and will become "am enjoying". :)
Richard is spending the night in the hospital tonight again, in order to be able to be there and meet with another doctor tomorrow and discuss options and what's going on, etc. Continued prayers for him, and Ann, and the doctors, would be greatly appreciated.
Kaylee had a Destination Imagination meeting after school today, after which I brought her dinner and then ran her to her play practice, which was a dress rehearsal tonight. She came home from that at 8 pm and finished up her homework, including a project she is working on titled "The KKK in Black and White" (c'mon, that's clever). We haven't completely figured out her schedule yet, but I'm working on it. Slowly.
One thing I have decided is good about winter: every airplane we have except a couple trainers and the Viking are all down for annuals/maintenance of some kind. It's the time of year that isn't busy, the time of year you can't do a lot anyway, so everything going in and getting worked on is kind of nice, because you know at the end of it they are in good shape, inspected, fixed up, some of them painted up, and ready to go, ready to fly the wheels off of them again...soon...when the weather is good again, finally, and that you'll likely be able to fly them for quite awhile without interruption. That's nice. It's only February, the longest shortest month of the year, and the daylight is lasting longer, and I'm starting to get that longing feeling again. I hope the 340 is done soon, and I can't wait until Gumby is back, and I really miss the T-6 too, and I look forward to the Toga being back, and the Citabria being done for Chuck, and I look forward to flying the Twin Beach, and I look forward to flying the Cheyenne, and there's lots to look forward to. It seems like there has been a lot of "looking forward to" for several years now on several different things. Maybe this year some of them will stop being "looking forward to maybe" and will become "am enjoying". :)
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
C'est ce que c'est
After I got Kaylee up this morning, I got up to prepare for my trip to Kansas City. The weather looked good, I was in the Viking, the flight plan was filed, and I hopped in the shower to get ready to head out. When I got out of the shower, we were an hour from leaving, and I had a text waiting for me that something had come up and the trip was canceled. That's life in aviation, no problem. I stayed up, walked on the treadmill, had breakfast, all that good stuff instead. In the end, it went the way it needed to go.
I was watching a show the other night where a guy was feeling guilty about something, the what-ifs and might-have-beens, and the "ghosts" for lack of a better word of loved ones lost before him kept saying "It went the way it needed to go. The way it was always going to go. It just is. Life goes the way it needs to go." You can keep spirituality out of it or not, it works both ways, but from the spiritual aspect it just is a reminder that we don't have the big picture, don't know the why and how and what will be the consequences down the road good and bad of every choice we make or every situation. But all things work for good, there's usually a point or purpose even from the bad, even if we don't see it at the time.
Anyway, that doesn't have much of anything to do with my trip not happening other than it was handy today, because Steve's dad was admitted to the hospital today for a few tests. It was unexpected, but Steve was with his parents and I was here so I was able to get Kaylee from school and take her to the High School Orientation meeting tonight, which meant Steve didn't have to deal with that part after all. So that worked out. We'd appreciate some prayers for Richard, for strength and patience and healing, for his doctors for wisdom and discernment, and for Ann for peace and strength of her own. They're doing all right, just resting up for the night, there will be a couple tests tomorrow and then we'll know more what we're looking at.
So, High school Orientation. Good grief. They kept it to one hour, and in that hour they gave us a firehose amount of information, with a packet of paperwork to take home. We have to not only figure out her Freshman class schedule, no, we have to figure out her entire 4 year high school plan including which diploma she wants to graduate with, what college courses to take, what to double up on and which electives to aim for depending on what path you're taking, which college degree to apply them to, college scholarships that you can only apply for by the end of 8th grade or you are disqualified for applying for them in the future (yes, COLLEGE scholarships which you must apply for by 8th grade), which order to do what and...we have 12 days before we have to turn it all in to the guidance counselor. This is nuts. Neat, the possibilities that exist these days, but nuts. This is how people's kids get in trouble their Senior year when they missed out on getting that one prerequisite class Sophomore year, or are two foreign language credits short, or missed the deadline to apply for the college course program Jr/Sr year, or... I'm not nearly organized enough for this level of pre-decision, pre-organization, etc. Gah. There are 4 types of diplomas you can graduate with. One is the lowest standard, not even accepted by the big colleges, just by places like Ivy Tech. Then there is the "Core 40" Diploma, which is the minimum credit hours required to graduate with an "acceptable everywhere" diploma. Next is the "Core 40 with Academic Honors", and last is "Core 40 with Technical Honors". You can also graduate with "Core 40 with both Academic and Technical Honors". They said most people aim for the regular one or the academic honors one. Kaylee says she wants to get both academic and technical honors, even though she's not sure what all that will require. She also wants to take some of the college courses her Jr/Sr years, which means she'll have to double up on some of her other courses so she can take a Study Hall instead of a credit hour course her last two years, then she can use that Study Hall hour time to do the college courses in school. If she can fit that in with the courses required to get both Academic and Technical honors, which requires not only a specific GPA, but additional courses above and beyond the required ones.
I think my head hurts.
I also think it will work out just fine in the end, probably even the way it is meant to be.
I was watching a show the other night where a guy was feeling guilty about something, the what-ifs and might-have-beens, and the "ghosts" for lack of a better word of loved ones lost before him kept saying "It went the way it needed to go. The way it was always going to go. It just is. Life goes the way it needs to go." You can keep spirituality out of it or not, it works both ways, but from the spiritual aspect it just is a reminder that we don't have the big picture, don't know the why and how and what will be the consequences down the road good and bad of every choice we make or every situation. But all things work for good, there's usually a point or purpose even from the bad, even if we don't see it at the time.
Anyway, that doesn't have much of anything to do with my trip not happening other than it was handy today, because Steve's dad was admitted to the hospital today for a few tests. It was unexpected, but Steve was with his parents and I was here so I was able to get Kaylee from school and take her to the High School Orientation meeting tonight, which meant Steve didn't have to deal with that part after all. So that worked out. We'd appreciate some prayers for Richard, for strength and patience and healing, for his doctors for wisdom and discernment, and for Ann for peace and strength of her own. They're doing all right, just resting up for the night, there will be a couple tests tomorrow and then we'll know more what we're looking at.
So, High school Orientation. Good grief. They kept it to one hour, and in that hour they gave us a firehose amount of information, with a packet of paperwork to take home. We have to not only figure out her Freshman class schedule, no, we have to figure out her entire 4 year high school plan including which diploma she wants to graduate with, what college courses to take, what to double up on and which electives to aim for depending on what path you're taking, which college degree to apply them to, college scholarships that you can only apply for by the end of 8th grade or you are disqualified for applying for them in the future (yes, COLLEGE scholarships which you must apply for by 8th grade), which order to do what and...we have 12 days before we have to turn it all in to the guidance counselor. This is nuts. Neat, the possibilities that exist these days, but nuts. This is how people's kids get in trouble their Senior year when they missed out on getting that one prerequisite class Sophomore year, or are two foreign language credits short, or missed the deadline to apply for the college course program Jr/Sr year, or... I'm not nearly organized enough for this level of pre-decision, pre-organization, etc. Gah. There are 4 types of diplomas you can graduate with. One is the lowest standard, not even accepted by the big colleges, just by places like Ivy Tech. Then there is the "Core 40" Diploma, which is the minimum credit hours required to graduate with an "acceptable everywhere" diploma. Next is the "Core 40 with Academic Honors", and last is "Core 40 with Technical Honors". You can also graduate with "Core 40 with both Academic and Technical Honors". They said most people aim for the regular one or the academic honors one. Kaylee says she wants to get both academic and technical honors, even though she's not sure what all that will require. She also wants to take some of the college courses her Jr/Sr years, which means she'll have to double up on some of her other courses so she can take a Study Hall instead of a credit hour course her last two years, then she can use that Study Hall hour time to do the college courses in school. If she can fit that in with the courses required to get both Academic and Technical honors, which requires not only a specific GPA, but additional courses above and beyond the required ones.
I think my head hurts.
I also think it will work out just fine in the end, probably even the way it is meant to be.
Monday, February 09, 2015
Navel Gazing
I went to Goodwill today, to buy a few shirts that I could wear as I work into whatever size I'll end up, inexpensively. The prices are, of course, unreal, about anywhere from $2 to $6 per shirt, some name brand shirts that would cost $25-$45 each. I came away with 5 shirts for $20. There is only one difficulty...well, two. You can't try them on, so you don't really know how it's going to work out, and some of us need to try on things, can't just buy them off the internet or rack and have them work out well on our figures. Secondly, I have no idea what size I actually am. I'm walking around in my XL tshirts under my XL sweatshirts and I know they're much too baggy. The dress shirt I bought for the Christmas party was a M and fit well. But just by eyeballing it, some of the mediums there looked too small, some looked right, some of the larges looked too big, some looked right...different brands have different sizing, and without being able to try it on...ugh. I ended up guessing pretty well with a mix of the two, but one of the shirts is just tight enough that it looks just fine if you're standing up with your arms down by your sides, but if you raise your arms you see your belly, which I am much too old to pull off, and if you sit you'd better sit up straight. It was only $2.15, so I'm going to hang onto it in case I get down there, rather than spend the gas money and time to go back to Goodwill and return it for a whopping $2.15. If I don't end up fitting into it properly, fine, I don't, and Kaylee can wear it, or I'll donate it back to Goodwill some day.
Speaking of, I've been hanging onto some of the clothes I've outgrown, dress shirts, sweaters, a couple pair of nicer jeans that are now 4 sizes too big even. The last time I lost a lot of weight I got rid of everything and then had to buy bigger clothes again. Then I got rid of all my small clothes after several years of being bigger, and now I have to buy smaller clothes again. Part of me doesn't want to get rid of the big clothes this time just in case. The other part of me says that's like...subconscious mental permission to go back up to that size or something. I don't feel that way. I feel as though I'm about to be 43 years old, and I can't go up like that any more, I'm not young enough to get away with it as far as my health is concerned, and it gets too hard as you get older to get it back off. So...I don't plan on letting that happen again. I think I'm talking myself into getting rid of them. Don't mind me.
For a status report, I have a program on my phone that tracks weight loss, inches, percentages, etc. It's kind of interesting, keeps me more motivated in part looking at a graph that is starting to flat line, for example. ;) That happened this last month, I started eating more and just maintaining rather than losing, so this last week I kicked it back in gear a little bit and was pleased to see more results. I think every once in awhile the body needs to hold steady and recuperate too. So anyway, looking up my statistics, I've lost almost 1/4 of my original body weight, and 8" off my waist for one. That amazes me. My waist was 2/3rds of a FOOT wider than it is now?! Yowza...
I was going to grab a pair of inexpensive jeans at Goodwill too; jeans are darned expensive these days, even at inexpensive places. But when I looked through the jeans there, most of them had elastic waistbands. Now I'm not in big girl sizes any more, and in this size there should be no big wide elastic waistbands. It's like maternity pants. The few that weren't elastic were still very, very old style, like button fly and granny jeans and stuff. I may be looking for a deal, and I may not be overly concerned about exact current fashion, but neither am I that desperate for pants. I can wait.
Tomorrow I have a trip to Kansas City. I was going to meet up with a couple of people that live out there, but they ended up having to work while I was there, so I'll have the place to myself. We'll be going out in the Viking. Tomorrow is also a mandatory meeting for parents, in the evening, for...ready?...Kaylee's High School Orientation information. Yep, you heard me, high school. And I'll be gone to KC, so poor Steve has to go by himself. Wish us both luck tomorrow. ;)
Speaking of, I've been hanging onto some of the clothes I've outgrown, dress shirts, sweaters, a couple pair of nicer jeans that are now 4 sizes too big even. The last time I lost a lot of weight I got rid of everything and then had to buy bigger clothes again. Then I got rid of all my small clothes after several years of being bigger, and now I have to buy smaller clothes again. Part of me doesn't want to get rid of the big clothes this time just in case. The other part of me says that's like...subconscious mental permission to go back up to that size or something. I don't feel that way. I feel as though I'm about to be 43 years old, and I can't go up like that any more, I'm not young enough to get away with it as far as my health is concerned, and it gets too hard as you get older to get it back off. So...I don't plan on letting that happen again. I think I'm talking myself into getting rid of them. Don't mind me.
For a status report, I have a program on my phone that tracks weight loss, inches, percentages, etc. It's kind of interesting, keeps me more motivated in part looking at a graph that is starting to flat line, for example. ;) That happened this last month, I started eating more and just maintaining rather than losing, so this last week I kicked it back in gear a little bit and was pleased to see more results. I think every once in awhile the body needs to hold steady and recuperate too. So anyway, looking up my statistics, I've lost almost 1/4 of my original body weight, and 8" off my waist for one. That amazes me. My waist was 2/3rds of a FOOT wider than it is now?! Yowza...
I was going to grab a pair of inexpensive jeans at Goodwill too; jeans are darned expensive these days, even at inexpensive places. But when I looked through the jeans there, most of them had elastic waistbands. Now I'm not in big girl sizes any more, and in this size there should be no big wide elastic waistbands. It's like maternity pants. The few that weren't elastic were still very, very old style, like button fly and granny jeans and stuff. I may be looking for a deal, and I may not be overly concerned about exact current fashion, but neither am I that desperate for pants. I can wait.
Tomorrow I have a trip to Kansas City. I was going to meet up with a couple of people that live out there, but they ended up having to work while I was there, so I'll have the place to myself. We'll be going out in the Viking. Tomorrow is also a mandatory meeting for parents, in the evening, for...ready?...Kaylee's High School Orientation information. Yep, you heard me, high school. And I'll be gone to KC, so poor Steve has to go by himself. Wish us both luck tomorrow. ;)
Sunday, February 08, 2015
Weeks's End
Everyone slept in pretty late this morning, and I think that was needed all-around. For the previous three nights I had not slept all that well, and I kept having Disaster Dreams. Like, end of the world, everybody is dying around you kind of Disaster Movie dreams. They weren't nightmares somehow, they weren't scary per say, not horror, but they were full of adrenaline, and I'd wake up repeatedly with my heart racing. Last night I don't remember a thing and I slept until 10 a.m., so apparently I got all caught up. ;)
Kaylee wanted pancakes today, so Steve broke out the pancake mix. The first batch were rubbery bricks, I believe, so he tried again and got slightly rubbery crepes. So we decided maybe the mix is bad or something, because Steve hasn't really had trouble making pancakes before. Me, I had eggs. Good protein, no sugar, decent calories, and tastes good.
Kaylee had youth group tonight, we did some stuff around the house, I walked on the treadmill, ran to the store to pick up some healthy-ish snacks and food for the upcoming week, just a typical Sunday.
I was going to try to come up with something more interesting to talk about today, but I'm not feeling creative nor interesting. So, back to "The Transporter" and some nice hot tea and a mid-evening snack before bed, and the week begins again.
Kaylee wanted pancakes today, so Steve broke out the pancake mix. The first batch were rubbery bricks, I believe, so he tried again and got slightly rubbery crepes. So we decided maybe the mix is bad or something, because Steve hasn't really had trouble making pancakes before. Me, I had eggs. Good protein, no sugar, decent calories, and tastes good.
Kaylee had youth group tonight, we did some stuff around the house, I walked on the treadmill, ran to the store to pick up some healthy-ish snacks and food for the upcoming week, just a typical Sunday.
I was going to try to come up with something more interesting to talk about today, but I'm not feeling creative nor interesting. So, back to "The Transporter" and some nice hot tea and a mid-evening snack before bed, and the week begins again.
Saturday, February 07, 2015
ISSMA Round Two
Today was Kaylee's last ISSMA performance for the year. It was the singing quartet that became a singing trio that almost wasn't at all, but ended up happening after all. Despite the dramatics and manipulations of one adult, who also made sure to post publicly today about the painful sacrifices the one young lady was making and how much they missed her up there skiing, the girls had a good time, looked and sounded quite lovely, and won a Gold medal for their performance. I recorded it, but sideways, so I'm going to see if I can upload it and turn it sideways before sharing it. Afterwards we went to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt with the girls and the dad of one of the girls, and had a celebratory post-performance dessert and some down time, before dropping the third girl back off at the school and coming home to mostly crash. Kaylee tried to nap but couldn't so is working on math homework, Steve tried to nap and is having excellent success, and I'm tired enough to nap but have been working on photos.
So without further ado, here are the three girls today:
So without further ado, here are the three girls today:
I'm including this one so you can see Kaylee's heels. Her feet were hurting by the end, as you may guess, but they are lovely silver shoes. The price of beauty? :)
S, Kay and K waiting for their turn to sing.
Performing for the judge and a room full of people.
They were dinged on hand placement during the performance. We'll know more when we get the score sheet Monday.
They were dinged on hand placement during the performance. We'll know more when we get the score sheet Monday.
Three gold medals
Conquering Teens heading for sugar, naturally!
Celebration of hard work completed and a successful event. :)
Friday, February 06, 2015
Good Day
It was a good day!
One of my students made it around the pattern 4 times in a row without me having to say a thing, and that was a big leap. I'm hoping things will progress quickly towards solo from here, and that's fun. :)
Somebody came up to me and said "Hey, Laura...you know what, you're getting downright skinny." That's a nice thing to happen today. I can't say the word "skinny" is right--when I got up to this weight in the first place I was horrified. But I'm glad to be back here now! lol
Kaylee didn't go to school today. Nope, today she had a job-shadowing to do with a journalist for the Kokomo Tribune. She went to a talk somebody gave at Ivy Tech, and she was allowed to take notes, and edit the video that was put up on the Kokomo Trib website about his talk. Nothing huge, but she did the editing on it, which is neat! She went to another interview with the lady, spent some time with her at the office, and was there until I picked her up to take her to her voice lesson. She said it was an interesting job, and she enjoyed it. She also said that they worked in cubicles at little desks and she didn't want to work in a cubicle or at a desk. I said a lot of journalists go places all the time and can do their reports from their own computer sometimes. She said "I just don't want to work in a cubicle."
Later tonight Kaylee told me that cities were neat, and interesting, but they left her feeling claustrophobic. That she likes to visit for a little while but then she's ready to leave to somewhere that the buildings aren't tall and the streets narrow and busy and the air tight. She said she doesn't like to be in one place for too long, and that it bothers her to even sleep in the same room every night. I know this is true because she used to insist on sleeping on the futon in the living room and in the guest bedroom and in our room and the living room, and...she still feels that way. She said sometimes she has trouble falling asleep at night in her own room again. She wants to wander, go places, see things. She got my gypsy blood. Mine is still there, just tamped down a bit, but if I wasn't a pilot traveling to different places now and then I'd probably be a lot more twitchy a lot more often. It kind of makes me smile and kind of makes me cringe that she's that way. She's not going to be with us a whole lot longer, and then she will be off on her own adventures. :)
Kaylee came out tonight dressed as she was going to be dressed for her singing thing tomorrow. Black dress, silver high heels. She looked like a woman. I mean, an actual woman, not a 14-year-old dressing up. I sent her out on the deck to show her dad to freak him out. Mission accomplished. She was beautiful, but scary. I'm going to have to try to get a picture tomorrow.
The President was in Indy today, so we had a big TFR for a 30 nm ring around that. I had one student today, and we were up flying, and they wanted to go fly around for awhile, and we did that until we got to Tipton, at which point I suggested we turn around so as to not bust a Presidential TFR, which would be very bad for me. Shortly thereafter a giant airplane took off out of Grissom. Ty called me up on the radio and said "Do you see what took off from GUS?" I saw it, and promptly turned to Grissom's approach frequency, and heard them working the airplane. I called Ty back and said "Well, they didn't call it Air Force One, so I'm guessing we're not dead meat up here after all." For a split second I had a horrible thought that he'd come up to GUS and the TFR had changed and even though I'd checked NOTAMS earlier that afternoon, what if it changed right before I went flying, and I'm up here in the air with the President illegally. That would be...awful. I'd have to say I USED to be a pilot. But thankfully, no. We figure it must be his backup plane over there or something. ;)
In what may be the proper use of the word "irony", I am probably going to be instructing somebody in a C-150. A 6' 4" 250lb guy and me in a C-150, because he can't find anybody else anywhere nearby who can fit in his 150 with him and still have enough empty weight left over to put fuel in it too. Thanks to the weight I lost, I now can fly in there with him and still have room for 15 gallons of gas. If we can both get in there and shut the doors still. Tell me that's not only humorously coincidental, but ironic in some way.
There was another reason today was a good day but I can't think of it right now. It wasn't the 150 thing. ;) Hmm. I may be back...
One of my students made it around the pattern 4 times in a row without me having to say a thing, and that was a big leap. I'm hoping things will progress quickly towards solo from here, and that's fun. :)
Somebody came up to me and said "Hey, Laura...you know what, you're getting downright skinny." That's a nice thing to happen today. I can't say the word "skinny" is right--when I got up to this weight in the first place I was horrified. But I'm glad to be back here now! lol
Kaylee didn't go to school today. Nope, today she had a job-shadowing to do with a journalist for the Kokomo Tribune. She went to a talk somebody gave at Ivy Tech, and she was allowed to take notes, and edit the video that was put up on the Kokomo Trib website about his talk. Nothing huge, but she did the editing on it, which is neat! She went to another interview with the lady, spent some time with her at the office, and was there until I picked her up to take her to her voice lesson. She said it was an interesting job, and she enjoyed it. She also said that they worked in cubicles at little desks and she didn't want to work in a cubicle or at a desk. I said a lot of journalists go places all the time and can do their reports from their own computer sometimes. She said "I just don't want to work in a cubicle."
Later tonight Kaylee told me that cities were neat, and interesting, but they left her feeling claustrophobic. That she likes to visit for a little while but then she's ready to leave to somewhere that the buildings aren't tall and the streets narrow and busy and the air tight. She said she doesn't like to be in one place for too long, and that it bothers her to even sleep in the same room every night. I know this is true because she used to insist on sleeping on the futon in the living room and in the guest bedroom and in our room and the living room, and...she still feels that way. She said sometimes she has trouble falling asleep at night in her own room again. She wants to wander, go places, see things. She got my gypsy blood. Mine is still there, just tamped down a bit, but if I wasn't a pilot traveling to different places now and then I'd probably be a lot more twitchy a lot more often. It kind of makes me smile and kind of makes me cringe that she's that way. She's not going to be with us a whole lot longer, and then she will be off on her own adventures. :)
Kaylee came out tonight dressed as she was going to be dressed for her singing thing tomorrow. Black dress, silver high heels. She looked like a woman. I mean, an actual woman, not a 14-year-old dressing up. I sent her out on the deck to show her dad to freak him out. Mission accomplished. She was beautiful, but scary. I'm going to have to try to get a picture tomorrow.
The President was in Indy today, so we had a big TFR for a 30 nm ring around that. I had one student today, and we were up flying, and they wanted to go fly around for awhile, and we did that until we got to Tipton, at which point I suggested we turn around so as to not bust a Presidential TFR, which would be very bad for me. Shortly thereafter a giant airplane took off out of Grissom. Ty called me up on the radio and said "Do you see what took off from GUS?" I saw it, and promptly turned to Grissom's approach frequency, and heard them working the airplane. I called Ty back and said "Well, they didn't call it Air Force One, so I'm guessing we're not dead meat up here after all." For a split second I had a horrible thought that he'd come up to GUS and the TFR had changed and even though I'd checked NOTAMS earlier that afternoon, what if it changed right before I went flying, and I'm up here in the air with the President illegally. That would be...awful. I'd have to say I USED to be a pilot. But thankfully, no. We figure it must be his backup plane over there or something. ;)
In what may be the proper use of the word "irony", I am probably going to be instructing somebody in a C-150. A 6' 4" 250lb guy and me in a C-150, because he can't find anybody else anywhere nearby who can fit in his 150 with him and still have enough empty weight left over to put fuel in it too. Thanks to the weight I lost, I now can fly in there with him and still have room for 15 gallons of gas. If we can both get in there and shut the doors still. Tell me that's not only humorously coincidental, but ironic in some way.
There was another reason today was a good day but I can't think of it right now. It wasn't the 150 thing. ;) Hmm. I may be back...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)