I just really haven't felt like "talking" lately.
We had a nice Thanksgiving. Ann went down to Tennessee with Lon, Cathy and grandkids, and Steve and I stayed in town with my Mom and Ernie and Kaylee. It was good, and we had too much food, watched a lot of football and shows, got out once on Saturday, the boys to the airport and the girls to Starbucks. Last night I couldn't sleep, and my nose has been running all day. I'm hoping it's an allergy from something.
We have much for which to be thankful. I may not feel overly communicative, but I do feel thankful.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Images
Kaylee's school had a 2-hour delay due to fog this morning, which was fine with all of us. It was her last day of school before Thanksgiving Break here, so tomorrow morning none of us has to get up very early. We all like this development.
I won't bore you with what I did today, as it was productive but uninspiring. Life is like that sometimes. I did have a student, and it was cold, and there is snow on the ground, and I don't feel like going out there when it's cold and there is snow on the ground. Have I ever expressed my opinion on winter before? ;)
My health and fitness took a back seat to laziness and other things on the mind. My fitbit broke, and I quit logging my food, and I don't like drinking a lot of cold water when it gets colder outside, and I always felt too tired to exercise, and I enjoyed not having to track everything I was eating, and as such I held where I was until the last couple weeks, and then I started going the wrong way. So I'm writing it out, started logging on myfitnesspal again, sitting here with a bottle of water, and planning on finding my way back where I belong. Why does it take two months to lose 5 pounds when you're close to where you want to be, but two weeks to put on 5 pounds? Huh?? *sigh*
Here are some photos from recent times...
I won't bore you with what I did today, as it was productive but uninspiring. Life is like that sometimes. I did have a student, and it was cold, and there is snow on the ground, and I don't feel like going out there when it's cold and there is snow on the ground. Have I ever expressed my opinion on winter before? ;)
My health and fitness took a back seat to laziness and other things on the mind. My fitbit broke, and I quit logging my food, and I don't like drinking a lot of cold water when it gets colder outside, and I always felt too tired to exercise, and I enjoyed not having to track everything I was eating, and as such I held where I was until the last couple weeks, and then I started going the wrong way. So I'm writing it out, started logging on myfitnesspal again, sitting here with a bottle of water, and planning on finding my way back where I belong. Why does it take two months to lose 5 pounds when you're close to where you want to be, but two weeks to put on 5 pounds? Huh?? *sigh*
Here are some photos from recent times...
This is not an attractive photo of everyone, but it's the only one I snagged, taken while they were practicing, not actually performing for real. :)
Alonna and Kaylee walking back from the burial services, in all the snow.
The cousins bundled up and went sledding.
Sledding Cousins
Sledding II
So they built a snowman...
Nice one, too!
Everyone was next door in that room with the light on, sitting around talking, as the first snow of the season was still falling.
The snow covered fields, blue skies, winter flying.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Back to It
I went shopping for a turkey today. I get to a display of turkeys, and the price tag says $60 for a 12 pound turkey. I looked at the packaging and it said things like "organic" and "all natural" and "chemical free" and "pre-thawed" (which I don't think is a real word--wouldn't it just be "not frozen" or "thawed"?) For that price I was looking for where it said it also had gold coin prizes shoved up there with the giblets, but no luck. I thought that was the only option I had until I came to a freezer of not-pre-thawed birds (aka 'frozen') and a similar size turkey for $13.50. I presume it didn't roam around freely, get hand-petted and individually fed organic corn, but I'm pretty sure it'll do just fine for us, and I bet I can even thaw it out all by myself for no extra charge. Sheeewt.
I got both credits and debits put on my card today. I returned a belt I didn't use and a pair of boots I don't need, at two different stores, all packed out like crazy. I also bought some Thanksgiving non-perishables and finally a pair of snow boots. For years I've not had actual snow boots, and every year I get snow down my ankles when it drifts up. Not this year, by George. I got tall enough boots that if the snow is above these things, I'm probably not going to be out in it anyway.
When I bought the dress to wear to the funeral, I also bought a pair of dress boots to wear with it. The low boots I had didn't look right with a dress and the only other shoes I had were summer sandals with open toes, which looked nicer but, well, it's winter now. So I go to Kohl's, where I find this nice pair of dress boots that were $50 off of their original price! The only problem is that they don't have them in my size. I can either go big, with size 9, or small, with size 6 1/2. I try on the 6 1/2, and it fits really well, actually. My feet have apparently gotten smaller too. I only tried on the left boot. I get it to the counter, she checks, and says "The right boot is actually a six, and the left is a six and a half." We put them together, and they looked exactly the same size. They had no other boots back there and I needed them. So I took them as is. When I got home, sure enough the right boot was Super tight, but I could get my foot in there. Fortunately it didn't start hurting until the end of the day, so I was okay, though I did have a toe that felt lightly fractured for awhile. I decided it was just like me to buy a pair of boots with two different sizes. But make it work anyway. ;) I did return them today, they didn't have my size in both feet, so even though they were greatly on sale, I just got my money back...
Kaylee had Starlets practice tonight, for an hour. An hour is too long for me to sit in a parking lot and not long enough for me to drive home. So I topped off my car at $1.67/gallon, which is wonderful, and then went to a Japanese buffet place. It's the first time I've been there, and it took me awhile to find the Japanese part of it. It was a room full of typical buffet foods, and then at the back there was one small table of fresh sushi. It wasn't as good as Taku in town, but was serve yourself, cheaper, and way too much food for your $10. Not bad. I sat at a table and read a book on my iPad and ate sushi for half an hour before heading back to pick up Kaylee. It worked. I can see that happening again in the future if I have another hour time slot like that to kill again.
I got both credits and debits put on my card today. I returned a belt I didn't use and a pair of boots I don't need, at two different stores, all packed out like crazy. I also bought some Thanksgiving non-perishables and finally a pair of snow boots. For years I've not had actual snow boots, and every year I get snow down my ankles when it drifts up. Not this year, by George. I got tall enough boots that if the snow is above these things, I'm probably not going to be out in it anyway.
When I bought the dress to wear to the funeral, I also bought a pair of dress boots to wear with it. The low boots I had didn't look right with a dress and the only other shoes I had were summer sandals with open toes, which looked nicer but, well, it's winter now. So I go to Kohl's, where I find this nice pair of dress boots that were $50 off of their original price! The only problem is that they don't have them in my size. I can either go big, with size 9, or small, with size 6 1/2. I try on the 6 1/2, and it fits really well, actually. My feet have apparently gotten smaller too. I only tried on the left boot. I get it to the counter, she checks, and says "The right boot is actually a six, and the left is a six and a half." We put them together, and they looked exactly the same size. They had no other boots back there and I needed them. So I took them as is. When I got home, sure enough the right boot was Super tight, but I could get my foot in there. Fortunately it didn't start hurting until the end of the day, so I was okay, though I did have a toe that felt lightly fractured for awhile. I decided it was just like me to buy a pair of boots with two different sizes. But make it work anyway. ;) I did return them today, they didn't have my size in both feet, so even though they were greatly on sale, I just got my money back...
Kaylee had Starlets practice tonight, for an hour. An hour is too long for me to sit in a parking lot and not long enough for me to drive home. So I topped off my car at $1.67/gallon, which is wonderful, and then went to a Japanese buffet place. It's the first time I've been there, and it took me awhile to find the Japanese part of it. It was a room full of typical buffet foods, and then at the back there was one small table of fresh sushi. It wasn't as good as Taku in town, but was serve yourself, cheaper, and way too much food for your $10. Not bad. I sat at a table and read a book on my iPad and ate sushi for half an hour before heading back to pick up Kaylee. It worked. I can see that happening again in the future if I have another hour time slot like that to kill again.
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Richard
It's been a busy several days. I've waited to write about it because I was a little unsure of how in depth to get, or not, and I'm still not sure, so...I guess we'll find out.
The rest of the immediate family is all next door, sitting around on the floor and in chairs, looking at photos, laughing, goofing off, talking. My stomach was in a disagreement with me so I came back to my own living room for a little while here.
Friday we had visitation at the same funeral home we used with Devon. The owner is a real professional who has been doing this for a long time, and he really knows what he is doing and how to make the family as comfortable as possible. The visitation surprised us a little bit. There were a lot of people there from the airport, and some of them surprised us a little bit, that not only would they come, but they'd sit and talk with Ann for awhile too. It was special. Jeff (funeral director) did a great job with Richard. He was wearing his jaunty cap, and he did look good. Visitation was to go from 5-7, and some people showed up as early as 4:30, and there were still some folks around past 7, too. Afterwards a group of us went out to eat at Half Moon.
On a side note, it actually was a day that struggled quite a bit from the get-go, on a lot of different factors. Steve had a headache, a pretty bad one. I had a headache. Kaylee had a headache. Kaylee found out that she just got a generic background dancing role in the musical, will be in two songs out of the whole play, which disappointed her on that level. And then as she was leaving school with me, she realized she'd left her sax behind, and she had to turn in a quiz on it via video clip by 11:30 or get a zero, but I didn't have time to turn around and have her get her sax, as we were already running too close on time to get to the funeral home. So a flurry of texts later, she got a friend to grab it for her, and after we ate at Half Moon that night, I drove back out to the school at 8 pm so she could get home, practice, then record and submit her quiz. While she was at it, she practiced and recorded an attempt to be selected for a solo on the sax for the Christmas band concert too. But she learned it in one night and it wasn't perfect, so she kind of doubts she'll get that. She worked on the sax stuff until 11:45 or so, and then went next door, and all the cousins practiced singing "It Is Well" for today. Kaylee didn't know the song before last night, so she was a little nervous about it. I don't know what time they went to bed, but I gave up at 1 a.m. and they were still out. :)
This morning dawned grey, with a forecast of some flurries, maybe even an inch or two, they said. We were at the church when it started snowing, and those weren't flurries, they were globs. Big globs. The service was, I would think, about perfect for Richard, and Ann. A trio got up and sang, the pastor gave a small sermon, and then all Richard's grandkids got up there, and Tanner played the guitar while he and the four girls all sang "It Is Well". That song Rania had played on the piano and sang to and sent to Richard while he was home and not feeling well, and he played it over and over, and loved it, so they decided to do it all together, for his funeral. The video is from my iPhone, so the video quality is a lot lower than I would like, but the sound quality isn't bad.
After the kids sang...you know, I shouldn't call them kids since the only one who is technically still a minor is Kaylee, but I guess that's what we old people do is call anyone under 30 a kid. Anyway, after they sang they had a time of sharing memories. So people from the audience got up and had a mic and talked about their memories of Richard. Morgan got up and read something she'd written for her grandpa, and she was losing it, which made everybody else lose it. Alonna got up and read something too, then Lon spoke, and he said he wished he could have gone before his kids because he was okay until they wrecked him. :) But that was sweet.
Originally we were supposed to do military honors outside in the garden area. However, by the time the services were done, our flurries had turned into a winter storm, and it was white, wet and soggy out there, and still coming down hard. So Jeff, again the ultimate professional in all this, set up an area by which we could all observe the military honors while seated inside, looking outside. Meanwhile, outside were men standing at attention in the downpouring snow. The officer inside with us read, then said "Prepare for gun fire." They opened the door to the outside, and the 7 men outside fired off three shots each for the 21 gun salute, after which they played Taps. They collected the spent shells and put them in a bag. The two officers inside with us then folded the American flag draped on Richard's casket, and folded it with complete precision, with the crisp movements and total tradition, after which one got down on one knee and presented it to Ann, in honor of her husband's honorable service. They then presented her with the shells and with a copy of what they had read for his service. It was very touching, and that extra military honors, that meant a lot. Ann hadn't known about that part, so it was a surprise. :)
Most of us then moved into the church dining hall where we had a chicken and noodle and oven steak, mashed potatoes and green beans luncheon. The church does it for their long-time members, and won't accept money for it. It's a mission for them, and it's a lot of work, but they do a fantastic job of it. The food was wonderful, and everyone being able to sit around and talk and eat and walk around and visit was also really very nice.
The time came for the burial, and this was going to be about 30 minutes away in Logansport. By now the roads were not in great shape. We'd said "family only" for the burial, but even that, it was just really not pleasant out there. Some of the family members were in open toed shoes or skirts with no leggings, and we passed at least one car in a ditch. We drove to the cemetery in a snow storm! They had gone ahead and put up a tent even though we hadn't asked for one (professionals still), and we huddled under there while the pastor did a quick service. Richard is buried right next to Devon and Sidney. Cathy had brought two little decorations to put on their gravesites too, but they were under the carpeting, so she gave them to one of the cemetery workers and he promised to put them up when they got the burial completed. The decorations she brought? Lit up, glowing...snow flakes. :) We thought that was appropriate!
Richard's casket flowers had ribbons with "Dad" and "Husband" and "Grandpa", etc. written on it, and also included three small white roses, one for each of his grandchildren who had preceded him in death. That was also a surprise, and I'm pretty sure he would have loved that.
I ordered pizza for dinner, and everyone hung out next door. I think we're all tired, but in a good way, and it's good to be with everyone again...
The rest of the immediate family is all next door, sitting around on the floor and in chairs, looking at photos, laughing, goofing off, talking. My stomach was in a disagreement with me so I came back to my own living room for a little while here.
Friday we had visitation at the same funeral home we used with Devon. The owner is a real professional who has been doing this for a long time, and he really knows what he is doing and how to make the family as comfortable as possible. The visitation surprised us a little bit. There were a lot of people there from the airport, and some of them surprised us a little bit, that not only would they come, but they'd sit and talk with Ann for awhile too. It was special. Jeff (funeral director) did a great job with Richard. He was wearing his jaunty cap, and he did look good. Visitation was to go from 5-7, and some people showed up as early as 4:30, and there were still some folks around past 7, too. Afterwards a group of us went out to eat at Half Moon.
On a side note, it actually was a day that struggled quite a bit from the get-go, on a lot of different factors. Steve had a headache, a pretty bad one. I had a headache. Kaylee had a headache. Kaylee found out that she just got a generic background dancing role in the musical, will be in two songs out of the whole play, which disappointed her on that level. And then as she was leaving school with me, she realized she'd left her sax behind, and she had to turn in a quiz on it via video clip by 11:30 or get a zero, but I didn't have time to turn around and have her get her sax, as we were already running too close on time to get to the funeral home. So a flurry of texts later, she got a friend to grab it for her, and after we ate at Half Moon that night, I drove back out to the school at 8 pm so she could get home, practice, then record and submit her quiz. While she was at it, she practiced and recorded an attempt to be selected for a solo on the sax for the Christmas band concert too. But she learned it in one night and it wasn't perfect, so she kind of doubts she'll get that. She worked on the sax stuff until 11:45 or so, and then went next door, and all the cousins practiced singing "It Is Well" for today. Kaylee didn't know the song before last night, so she was a little nervous about it. I don't know what time they went to bed, but I gave up at 1 a.m. and they were still out. :)
This morning dawned grey, with a forecast of some flurries, maybe even an inch or two, they said. We were at the church when it started snowing, and those weren't flurries, they were globs. Big globs. The service was, I would think, about perfect for Richard, and Ann. A trio got up and sang, the pastor gave a small sermon, and then all Richard's grandkids got up there, and Tanner played the guitar while he and the four girls all sang "It Is Well". That song Rania had played on the piano and sang to and sent to Richard while he was home and not feeling well, and he played it over and over, and loved it, so they decided to do it all together, for his funeral. The video is from my iPhone, so the video quality is a lot lower than I would like, but the sound quality isn't bad.
After the kids sang...you know, I shouldn't call them kids since the only one who is technically still a minor is Kaylee, but I guess that's what we old people do is call anyone under 30 a kid. Anyway, after they sang they had a time of sharing memories. So people from the audience got up and had a mic and talked about their memories of Richard. Morgan got up and read something she'd written for her grandpa, and she was losing it, which made everybody else lose it. Alonna got up and read something too, then Lon spoke, and he said he wished he could have gone before his kids because he was okay until they wrecked him. :) But that was sweet.
Originally we were supposed to do military honors outside in the garden area. However, by the time the services were done, our flurries had turned into a winter storm, and it was white, wet and soggy out there, and still coming down hard. So Jeff, again the ultimate professional in all this, set up an area by which we could all observe the military honors while seated inside, looking outside. Meanwhile, outside were men standing at attention in the downpouring snow. The officer inside with us read, then said "Prepare for gun fire." They opened the door to the outside, and the 7 men outside fired off three shots each for the 21 gun salute, after which they played Taps. They collected the spent shells and put them in a bag. The two officers inside with us then folded the American flag draped on Richard's casket, and folded it with complete precision, with the crisp movements and total tradition, after which one got down on one knee and presented it to Ann, in honor of her husband's honorable service. They then presented her with the shells and with a copy of what they had read for his service. It was very touching, and that extra military honors, that meant a lot. Ann hadn't known about that part, so it was a surprise. :)
Most of us then moved into the church dining hall where we had a chicken and noodle and oven steak, mashed potatoes and green beans luncheon. The church does it for their long-time members, and won't accept money for it. It's a mission for them, and it's a lot of work, but they do a fantastic job of it. The food was wonderful, and everyone being able to sit around and talk and eat and walk around and visit was also really very nice.
The time came for the burial, and this was going to be about 30 minutes away in Logansport. By now the roads were not in great shape. We'd said "family only" for the burial, but even that, it was just really not pleasant out there. Some of the family members were in open toed shoes or skirts with no leggings, and we passed at least one car in a ditch. We drove to the cemetery in a snow storm! They had gone ahead and put up a tent even though we hadn't asked for one (professionals still), and we huddled under there while the pastor did a quick service. Richard is buried right next to Devon and Sidney. Cathy had brought two little decorations to put on their gravesites too, but they were under the carpeting, so she gave them to one of the cemetery workers and he promised to put them up when they got the burial completed. The decorations she brought? Lit up, glowing...snow flakes. :) We thought that was appropriate!
Richard's casket flowers had ribbons with "Dad" and "Husband" and "Grandpa", etc. written on it, and also included three small white roses, one for each of his grandchildren who had preceded him in death. That was also a surprise, and I'm pretty sure he would have loved that.
I ordered pizza for dinner, and everyone hung out next door. I think we're all tired, but in a good way, and it's good to be with everyone again...
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Thursday
More high winds today canceled my two students, which was fine as I still had plenty to do.
Kaylee stayed after school working on a project with a classmate. Steve continued working on MBros stuff and says he's caught up pretty well for once.
I had to go back to the mall. I went to every store in there that could have what I needed, and found nothing. So I had to leave and go get Kaylee at school at 5 pm, and on the way home we stopped at Kohl's, and THERE I found what I needed, what Steve needed, and what Kaylee needed. Most stuff was on sale, too. Win/Win.
Cathy made a ham, baked potatoes, peas dinner, which was a great dinner. I need to eat less, but that hasn't been happening lately. I'm just going to have to be patient with myself and work on it when I can. I'm up too many pounds though, past my red line, so I need to get back to it fast before I lose directional control altogether. :)
I mostly worked on organizing and adjusting photos today, aside from the errands I ran...
Kaylee stayed after school working on a project with a classmate. Steve continued working on MBros stuff and says he's caught up pretty well for once.
I had to go back to the mall. I went to every store in there that could have what I needed, and found nothing. So I had to leave and go get Kaylee at school at 5 pm, and on the way home we stopped at Kohl's, and THERE I found what I needed, what Steve needed, and what Kaylee needed. Most stuff was on sale, too. Win/Win.
Cathy made a ham, baked potatoes, peas dinner, which was a great dinner. I need to eat less, but that hasn't been happening lately. I'm just going to have to be patient with myself and work on it when I can. I'm up too many pounds though, past my red line, so I need to get back to it fast before I lose directional control altogether. :)
I mostly worked on organizing and adjusting photos today, aside from the errands I ran...
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Sunset
The day started off with a few annoyances. First, Kaylee texted us and let us know that she did not make it, didn't get a call-back. This bothered me most of the day, because she'd said how many people said she did a super audition, she felt it went well, she'd been asked to read multiple times for the same character, and she was sure she had a good chance at something. To not get ANY part just threw her for a loop. Come to find out, none of the freshmen girls got a call-back. By the time I picked her up from school, she was still disappointed, but felt a lot better about it. But that text was first. "I didn't make it in". Next up, our cleaning lady came and had a full-on emotional break-down, and quit. Over nothing. She was the caricature of a typical female menopausal woman on the warpath, where no matter what you said it didn't matter, she was just off and running. She came in, started a fight, which nobody engaged her in, got even more upset, and left, leaving us on a busy week without that help. It was weird. I was in the shower, so I missed most of it other than her opening line of "I may be overly sensitive, but..." Yeah, I'd say. Right after she left, Steve got a call and there was a problem with the cemetery, and he had to drive up to Logansport to take care of that. So before lunch, Kaylee had taken a blow, the cleaning lady had pitched a fit and quit, and they were sending the wrong casket. Nice way to start the morning. So I did all the laundry, folded it up and put it away, cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed all the floors, and started in on that before lunch.
After lunch I went to a bunch of stores and tried on a bunch of things. I never could find what I was looking for, but eventually I found something that at least works. Afterwards I was really wiped out. I went to Staples and returned a couple of things, went to Glenndale and picked up three packages there, picked up the kid, ran a couple more errands, came home and fell asleep on my chair for a little while, before getting up and going to Sheridan. Made it back home around 9:20 pm, the kid was already in bed, and I'm about ready to go myself. I'm just...tired. I don't even know what everybody else has been up to today. I know Steve has been working on MBros stuff among lots of other things, but I haven't seen Cathy and Ann today, and Kaylee just briefly...
The winds were fierce today. I was supposed to have a MBros trip, but yesterday I let them know that I was not confident that we could get in when we needed to get in today. We had ice, we had thunderstorms, we had heavy rain the entire route of flight, and we had head winds so strong I'd have likely had to make a fuel stop. He HAD to be there by 9 a.m. So he took an airline flight down last night instead. When I woke up this morning, I was glad to see the 40 knot surface winds, the huge line of ugly stuff and rain all the way down there, etc. It just really was not a day to take a trip and I was glad to be on the ground today.
After lunch I went to a bunch of stores and tried on a bunch of things. I never could find what I was looking for, but eventually I found something that at least works. Afterwards I was really wiped out. I went to Staples and returned a couple of things, went to Glenndale and picked up three packages there, picked up the kid, ran a couple more errands, came home and fell asleep on my chair for a little while, before getting up and going to Sheridan. Made it back home around 9:20 pm, the kid was already in bed, and I'm about ready to go myself. I'm just...tired. I don't even know what everybody else has been up to today. I know Steve has been working on MBros stuff among lots of other things, but I haven't seen Cathy and Ann today, and Kaylee just briefly...
The winds were fierce today. I was supposed to have a MBros trip, but yesterday I let them know that I was not confident that we could get in when we needed to get in today. We had ice, we had thunderstorms, we had heavy rain the entire route of flight, and we had head winds so strong I'd have likely had to make a fuel stop. He HAD to be there by 9 a.m. So he took an airline flight down last night instead. When I woke up this morning, I was glad to see the 40 knot surface winds, the huge line of ugly stuff and rain all the way down there, etc. It just really was not a day to take a trip and I was glad to be on the ground today.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Continuing
Dreary day. I had two lessons, one of which I canceled and one who canceled me. The wind and the rain were unpleasant enough, but not bad enough to stop you if you REALLY wanted to go. These two didn't, which worked just fine for me.
Steve has been working on various things like paperwork, going through Richard's things next door with Cathy and Ann, communicating with family members, as is Cathy. I edited the paper's obituary, so if you see any typos, they are mine. I also went through all of his various medications, kept a few that we can all use and disposed of the rest.
I also started picking up the house, so that we can get it nice and clean before this weekend and company arrives. We're getting there. Steve actually has a bigger mess going on right now than Kaylee, which is unusual, but he's been working a lot more too.
Kaylee stayed after school today, and has more tryouts tonight. Drama club or musical tryouts, I think. I'm getting confused on which day is what, but I do know there are tryouts. I hope she doesn't have much homework, because she probably won't get home much before 11 pm. I wanted her to pick up her room tonight, but that won't happen now. She also asked me to get her cupcakes so she could bring them to school to celebrate "Bobunk". The cat holiday. We did it last year and apparently she wishes to continue the tradition. Goofball.
In lieu of flying students in the rain and wind, I went shopping, looking for a dress. I don't have a dress that fits me right now. I went to a strip mall with places like "The Dress Shoppe" and "TJ Maxx" and "Kohls" , and at all places there were just a few dresses, and none of them would work. Either you looked like you were going to a party, or you looked like you were trying too hard to look like you were younger or older than you were. I found one dress I liked a great deal except for one problem--it was too short. Too short is not appropriate for this. Form fitting dresses are too lumpy without something like Spanx under them, and non-form-fitting dresses make you look wide and fluffy. I think I've found the fastest way to make a person who felt relatively fine about themselves suddenly feel rather cruddy about themselves. Go dress shopping. It worked for me. :p
I'm still without apparel. I guess I'll try a few more places tomorrow if I have time. Help. Me.
Something that has been really nice these last few days is the food that people bring over. Casseroles, salads, rolls, these things have made life a lot easier these last couple of days. Bringing food over to a grieving family is kind of a cliche, but like a lot of cliches, it exists because it's a real thing. It really does help! Figuring out what to eat, going to the store, all that, is just one more thing you don't want to deal with 2-3 times a day. I know we've all appreciated the food.
Today we all started walking again. Ann does laps around her house, and Cathy and I both hit the treadmill. My weight is up, my energy is down, my mood is down, my body feels sluggish...time to get moving again. My FitBit broke, so I don't know how many steps I did today, but it was about 3 times as many as I've done in probably the last month. A bit at a time on getting back on track.
I had an MBros flight tomorrow. Normally it's less than a 3 hour flight where I was going. The forecast for tomorrow included headwinds upwards of 85 knots, slowing me down so much a fuel stop was going to be required, pushing my start time back by another hour. There was 100% chance of rain along the entire route, and down there it was a chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms. Meanwhile, there was wind shear forecast, moderate turbulence, and hey, let's not forget icing. This was going to be a miserable flight, and it might not be doable at the end. So I let them know that there was a potential problem with the flight. After looking things over for awhile, he decided to airline flight down tonight because he had to be there in the morning. So, no flight tomorrow. I could have used it, but that's not one I was overly eager to play with anyway...so it goes.
P.S. I just picked Kaylee up from her auditions tonight at 10 pm. They lasted for hours. She read for three different parts, and one part she read for multiple times. She is hoping to get a singing or speaking part and not just in the choir in the back. She said that she thought it went well, and others said she did well, but as always there is a lot of competition, mostly from kids in the higher grades than she is. So...tomorrow morning before first period she will find out if she gets a call back or not. If she does not get a call back, she's just in the choir and that's over. If she does get a call back, she will be staying after school on Thursday from 3:30-10 p.m. for final auditions for a part. Then Friday after school they will post the cast list and she'll find out if she's in or not. She's nervous already, said she wasn't sure she was going to sleep...
Steve has been working on various things like paperwork, going through Richard's things next door with Cathy and Ann, communicating with family members, as is Cathy. I edited the paper's obituary, so if you see any typos, they are mine. I also went through all of his various medications, kept a few that we can all use and disposed of the rest.
I also started picking up the house, so that we can get it nice and clean before this weekend and company arrives. We're getting there. Steve actually has a bigger mess going on right now than Kaylee, which is unusual, but he's been working a lot more too.
Kaylee stayed after school today, and has more tryouts tonight. Drama club or musical tryouts, I think. I'm getting confused on which day is what, but I do know there are tryouts. I hope she doesn't have much homework, because she probably won't get home much before 11 pm. I wanted her to pick up her room tonight, but that won't happen now. She also asked me to get her cupcakes so she could bring them to school to celebrate "Bobunk". The cat holiday. We did it last year and apparently she wishes to continue the tradition. Goofball.
In lieu of flying students in the rain and wind, I went shopping, looking for a dress. I don't have a dress that fits me right now. I went to a strip mall with places like "The Dress Shoppe" and "TJ Maxx" and "Kohls" , and at all places there were just a few dresses, and none of them would work. Either you looked like you were going to a party, or you looked like you were trying too hard to look like you were younger or older than you were. I found one dress I liked a great deal except for one problem--it was too short. Too short is not appropriate for this. Form fitting dresses are too lumpy without something like Spanx under them, and non-form-fitting dresses make you look wide and fluffy. I think I've found the fastest way to make a person who felt relatively fine about themselves suddenly feel rather cruddy about themselves. Go dress shopping. It worked for me. :p
I'm still without apparel. I guess I'll try a few more places tomorrow if I have time. Help. Me.
Something that has been really nice these last few days is the food that people bring over. Casseroles, salads, rolls, these things have made life a lot easier these last couple of days. Bringing food over to a grieving family is kind of a cliche, but like a lot of cliches, it exists because it's a real thing. It really does help! Figuring out what to eat, going to the store, all that, is just one more thing you don't want to deal with 2-3 times a day. I know we've all appreciated the food.
Today we all started walking again. Ann does laps around her house, and Cathy and I both hit the treadmill. My weight is up, my energy is down, my mood is down, my body feels sluggish...time to get moving again. My FitBit broke, so I don't know how many steps I did today, but it was about 3 times as many as I've done in probably the last month. A bit at a time on getting back on track.
I had an MBros flight tomorrow. Normally it's less than a 3 hour flight where I was going. The forecast for tomorrow included headwinds upwards of 85 knots, slowing me down so much a fuel stop was going to be required, pushing my start time back by another hour. There was 100% chance of rain along the entire route, and down there it was a chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms. Meanwhile, there was wind shear forecast, moderate turbulence, and hey, let's not forget icing. This was going to be a miserable flight, and it might not be doable at the end. So I let them know that there was a potential problem with the flight. After looking things over for awhile, he decided to airline flight down tonight because he had to be there in the morning. So, no flight tomorrow. I could have used it, but that's not one I was overly eager to play with anyway...so it goes.
P.S. I just picked Kaylee up from her auditions tonight at 10 pm. They lasted for hours. She read for three different parts, and one part she read for multiple times. She is hoping to get a singing or speaking part and not just in the choir in the back. She said that she thought it went well, and others said she did well, but as always there is a lot of competition, mostly from kids in the higher grades than she is. So...tomorrow morning before first period she will find out if she gets a call back or not. If she does not get a call back, she's just in the choir and that's over. If she does get a call back, she will be staying after school on Thursday from 3:30-10 p.m. for final auditions for a part. Then Friday after school they will post the cast list and she'll find out if she's in or not. She's nervous already, said she wasn't sure she was going to sleep...
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Going Home
Steve and I were both a little wound up and unable to go to sleep last night, so we stayed awake until past 1 a.m., after we re-positioned Richard and got his medicine. The ladies next door had a devotional with him, and Alonna spent several hours just holding his hand and talking to him. This is what I posted on Facebook, and I think it explains most everything:
Our family would like to thank all of you for your prayers for Richard and Ann over these last few weeks. Early this morning, while he was comfortably sleeping, Richard peacefully passed from this life to the next. His last days he was surrounded by three of his four kids, his wife, and some of his grandkids, and he was never alone. We were all in the main room with him, and would talk, laugh, and share, and we know he could hear us, and know that we were there. I believe he knew it was okay to let go, that there were loved ones here for his Annie, his Doll, and that it was time. He was a truly good, Godly man, a wonderful father to not just his birth kids, but also to the kids he adopted when they married his son and daughter. We are all blessed, and better people, for having had him in our lives. We will all miss him here, but we know his journey on this earth is complete, and that he is in Heaven right now, strong and whole, rejoicing in reuniting with those who have gone before him, including our boys. We know that in the blink of an eye, we will see him again. I can almost hear the Lord saying “Richard, well done thou good and faithful servant. Welcome home.
We are of course sad that he is gone from us, but it had to be, and if it had to be, we are grateful for a few things. We are grateful that Alonna and Cathy were still here. Alonna was going to be leaving early this morning, and Cathy shortly after her, but instead they were able to be here to say goodbye, and to be with Ann. We are grateful that it was a beautiful, bright, sunny day, and a Sunday, which was his favorite day to rest and be with family. We are grateful that he went to sleep surrounded by people who love him and woke up in Heaven. We are grateful for the funeral director, Jeff. He is the same man who took care of Devon and Sidney for us, and his handling of our littlest boys was the reason Richard and Ann wanted to use him for them, as well. Ann was telling me today that she remembered seeing him carry Sidney's tiny casket in his arms as if it was the most precious thing in the world. I don't remember that. In fact, I remember very little about Sidney's funeral, because I was at the end of me by then, and just hanging on. But I do remember Jeff coming in the middle of the night to take care of both boys. And he came himself today, dressed in a suit, and so very respectful. He stopped by the bed and showed his respect to Richard for a moment, and was gentle and loving with everything he did. We are fortunate to know we have someone who cares. We are grateful that the equipment company came out right away today and took away the hospice bed and most of the supplies/equipment, so that we could put the room back into an order with photos and memories as we want to remember. We are grateful for the people who stopped by today, and for those who did not. It was good, having just a couple friends/family be there and show their love. We have spent today carefully, remembering and happy and sad too, just together, and it is right.
Our family would like to thank all of you for your prayers for Richard and Ann over these last few weeks. Early this morning, while he was comfortably sleeping, Richard peacefully passed from this life to the next. His last days he was surrounded by three of his four kids, his wife, and some of his grandkids, and he was never alone. We were all in the main room with him, and would talk, laugh, and share, and we know he could hear us, and know that we were there. I believe he knew it was okay to let go, that there were loved ones here for his Annie, his Doll, and that it was time. He was a truly good, Godly man, a wonderful father to not just his birth kids, but also to the kids he adopted when they married his son and daughter. We are all blessed, and better people, for having had him in our lives. We will all miss him here, but we know his journey on this earth is complete, and that he is in Heaven right now, strong and whole, rejoicing in reuniting with those who have gone before him, including our boys. We know that in the blink of an eye, we will see him again. I can almost hear the Lord saying “Richard, well done thou good and faithful servant. Welcome home.
We are of course sad that he is gone from us, but it had to be, and if it had to be, we are grateful for a few things. We are grateful that Alonna and Cathy were still here. Alonna was going to be leaving early this morning, and Cathy shortly after her, but instead they were able to be here to say goodbye, and to be with Ann. We are grateful that it was a beautiful, bright, sunny day, and a Sunday, which was his favorite day to rest and be with family. We are grateful that he went to sleep surrounded by people who love him and woke up in Heaven. We are grateful for the funeral director, Jeff. He is the same man who took care of Devon and Sidney for us, and his handling of our littlest boys was the reason Richard and Ann wanted to use him for them, as well. Ann was telling me today that she remembered seeing him carry Sidney's tiny casket in his arms as if it was the most precious thing in the world. I don't remember that. In fact, I remember very little about Sidney's funeral, because I was at the end of me by then, and just hanging on. But I do remember Jeff coming in the middle of the night to take care of both boys. And he came himself today, dressed in a suit, and so very respectful. He stopped by the bed and showed his respect to Richard for a moment, and was gentle and loving with everything he did. We are fortunate to know we have someone who cares. We are grateful that the equipment company came out right away today and took away the hospice bed and most of the supplies/equipment, so that we could put the room back into an order with photos and memories as we want to remember. We are grateful for the people who stopped by today, and for those who did not. It was good, having just a couple friends/family be there and show their love. We have spent today carefully, remembering and happy and sad too, just together, and it is right.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
The Real Friday the 13th
Today was more like a "real" Friday the 13th, but at least it was pretty out.
We were up several times last night, I ended up getting a few hours sleep total, and I got more than Steve, who got more than Cathy. It was a long night for Richard. Today a nurse stopped in, and she was able to dress his wound on his back side, and give us some better ideas on how to adjust his position and such. We're not quite sure how it's going to work coming up when Cathy has to leave tomorrow. For now she's been staying with him all night, and then calling us when something comes up that requires more than one person. Sometimes it has taken all three of us, but hopefully we learned a few things from the nurse today that will make it easier for two to deal with. Something yet to work out is how we'll be able to continue to fly for work during the day, like the two trips I have coming up this next week.
I was supposed to fly most of today, starting at 9:30 a.m. I had trouble waking up, but I got out there on time, we got the plane out, we talked about what we were going to do, got in, and...it wouldn't start. It was his plane, and we were going to go up and shoot some approaches, hit some buttons, get used to flying his new-to-him airplane. But unfortunately there was an issue with the starter, so we shut back down and pushed it away. He was interested in seeing how the HSI worked with his Aspen 1000 Pro in his plane, and I needed to top off the 340 for an upcoming trip anyway. So I pulled it out, we took off, I shot one ILS all the way down to landing, and pointed out how we did it, what buttons we hit, how the GPS worked, how the HSI looked, how it interacted with the Aspen on his side and the G500 on my side, etc., and that was it. A quick trip around, but sort of worthwhile anyway. If you have to pull the plane out anyway, you know the rule... then I topped it off with gas for my trip to Tuscaloosa, We didn't get to do what we wanted, but we did something.
I ran past McDonald's for a quick brunch for everybody back here. Or so I thought. I went inside for some reason, but when I got in there they were backed up busy. I was inside for over 35 minutes waiting for my food, and the line was out the door, and the line for the drive-thru was back out into the street. It was crazy.
My next flight we were supposed to go to Muncie to do tower controlled field takeoffs and landings, and then he would drop me off and go do his three required full stop take offs and landings solo. We get there, and Muncie is hopping busy. That's okay, good practice, but not great for a first timer. But then he let me know he wasn't hearing half the transmissions. It was cutting out, full of static, and he couldn't hear me or the tower or any other traffic half the time. Well, that's not going to work. We tried a few things to trouble-shoot, and no joy, so we turned around and flew back home. 1.2 hours worth of flying to accomplish nothing. Well, I had him wear the hood for the trip home so at least that counted towards what he needed, but we didn't get the tower stuff done, and he couldn't even hear what was going on well enough to get much of an idea, either. So we'll have to do it again, in a different airplane, another day, and hopefully we will have another nice November day with light winds left in which to get it done. He can't do his long cross-country done until we get this done either, as one of his legs is to a tower. *sigh*
After I left the airport, since I was home much sooner than I was supposed to be, I stopped in at Books-A-Million to return the books I bought for Kaylee's project. The Mall was Packed OUT. There were no parking spaces. The sea of humanity inside was...well, I call it a sea because you felt like you were drowning in it. Everybody herded along the narrow passageways, because they have tree displays down the whole center of the mall, so there are two small paths, one going each direction, with a flow of constant traffic. It's awful. Anyway, the good news there was that I got my $50 back when I returned those books. ;)
Kaylee has needed some help with her saxophone stuff coming up. She is trying out for what chair she will be out of four saxophones, but now she's the freshman, there's a senior who will be first chair, and another freshman has been taking lessons quite awhile now, while she hasn't, and she thinks he'll probably get second chair. She just doesn't want to come in last, but she was struggling with the music and the rhythm. So Steve sat in there with her, got his sax out, and helped her figure out the songs so she can practice them more on her own. She has this audition for what chair she'll be placed in band on Friday, she also has an audition for a possible solo on the sax in band at their concert on Friday, and on this Monday she has a singing and dancing audition for choir, for the Christmas program. She's kind of nervous about all this. Right now she's in her room practicing the singing and dancing...
I guess tomorrow I have to fly too, then Monday morning is a trip to Ohio, and Tuesday really early is a trip to Tuscaloosa. And onward it goes.
We were up several times last night, I ended up getting a few hours sleep total, and I got more than Steve, who got more than Cathy. It was a long night for Richard. Today a nurse stopped in, and she was able to dress his wound on his back side, and give us some better ideas on how to adjust his position and such. We're not quite sure how it's going to work coming up when Cathy has to leave tomorrow. For now she's been staying with him all night, and then calling us when something comes up that requires more than one person. Sometimes it has taken all three of us, but hopefully we learned a few things from the nurse today that will make it easier for two to deal with. Something yet to work out is how we'll be able to continue to fly for work during the day, like the two trips I have coming up this next week.
I was supposed to fly most of today, starting at 9:30 a.m. I had trouble waking up, but I got out there on time, we got the plane out, we talked about what we were going to do, got in, and...it wouldn't start. It was his plane, and we were going to go up and shoot some approaches, hit some buttons, get used to flying his new-to-him airplane. But unfortunately there was an issue with the starter, so we shut back down and pushed it away. He was interested in seeing how the HSI worked with his Aspen 1000 Pro in his plane, and I needed to top off the 340 for an upcoming trip anyway. So I pulled it out, we took off, I shot one ILS all the way down to landing, and pointed out how we did it, what buttons we hit, how the GPS worked, how the HSI looked, how it interacted with the Aspen on his side and the G500 on my side, etc., and that was it. A quick trip around, but sort of worthwhile anyway. If you have to pull the plane out anyway, you know the rule... then I topped it off with gas for my trip to Tuscaloosa, We didn't get to do what we wanted, but we did something.
I ran past McDonald's for a quick brunch for everybody back here. Or so I thought. I went inside for some reason, but when I got in there they were backed up busy. I was inside for over 35 minutes waiting for my food, and the line was out the door, and the line for the drive-thru was back out into the street. It was crazy.
My next flight we were supposed to go to Muncie to do tower controlled field takeoffs and landings, and then he would drop me off and go do his three required full stop take offs and landings solo. We get there, and Muncie is hopping busy. That's okay, good practice, but not great for a first timer. But then he let me know he wasn't hearing half the transmissions. It was cutting out, full of static, and he couldn't hear me or the tower or any other traffic half the time. Well, that's not going to work. We tried a few things to trouble-shoot, and no joy, so we turned around and flew back home. 1.2 hours worth of flying to accomplish nothing. Well, I had him wear the hood for the trip home so at least that counted towards what he needed, but we didn't get the tower stuff done, and he couldn't even hear what was going on well enough to get much of an idea, either. So we'll have to do it again, in a different airplane, another day, and hopefully we will have another nice November day with light winds left in which to get it done. He can't do his long cross-country done until we get this done either, as one of his legs is to a tower. *sigh*
After I left the airport, since I was home much sooner than I was supposed to be, I stopped in at Books-A-Million to return the books I bought for Kaylee's project. The Mall was Packed OUT. There were no parking spaces. The sea of humanity inside was...well, I call it a sea because you felt like you were drowning in it. Everybody herded along the narrow passageways, because they have tree displays down the whole center of the mall, so there are two small paths, one going each direction, with a flow of constant traffic. It's awful. Anyway, the good news there was that I got my $50 back when I returned those books. ;)
Kaylee has needed some help with her saxophone stuff coming up. She is trying out for what chair she will be out of four saxophones, but now she's the freshman, there's a senior who will be first chair, and another freshman has been taking lessons quite awhile now, while she hasn't, and she thinks he'll probably get second chair. She just doesn't want to come in last, but she was struggling with the music and the rhythm. So Steve sat in there with her, got his sax out, and helped her figure out the songs so she can practice them more on her own. She has this audition for what chair she'll be placed in band on Friday, she also has an audition for a possible solo on the sax in band at their concert on Friday, and on this Monday she has a singing and dancing audition for choir, for the Christmas program. She's kind of nervous about all this. Right now she's in her room practicing the singing and dancing...
I guess tomorrow I have to fly too, then Monday morning is a trip to Ohio, and Tuesday really early is a trip to Tuscaloosa. And onward it goes.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Friday the 13th
I woke up at 4:30 or so this morning, wide awake, and I couldn't go back to sleep. I was thinking about the books I needed to get or Kaylee, about what time I needed to start the pot roast, about whether or not Richard was comfortable and okay over there or if I should be checking if he needed any medication, about all sorts of stuff. So when it was time to get Kaylee up for school, I just got up too. Browned the pot roast and stuck it in the crock pot on low, decided to wait to add the potatoes and carrots until later in the day so they wouldn't get too soggy. I sat at the computer and did library research as to which library had which books for Kaylee's project, books she had to have as early as possible, and I found four of them at the main library which should work. After getting ready and having breakfast, I had time to kill since nothing opened until 9 a.m. Steve decided we should go pick up my Explorer, so we drove to Greentown, picked that up, dropped the 'Burban off at the airport, then came home, and by now I was running about an hour later than I wanted, but it should work out.
I park at the library, get out, try the door, and it's locked. I'd just seen two people come out of it. The hours posted on the door stated it should be open. And then I saw the sign that stated that the library would be closed November 13th for staff training. I couldn't believe it. They are open 7 days a week, most of the year around, and they chose Nov. 13th to shut down for the day. So I drove to the south branch of the library, even though they didn't have the selection of books I'd researched, written out, and needed. When I saw a parking lot full of cars, I was relieved. Until I got closer and saw the same sign on their door. This time I read the whole thing, and saw where it let us know that the libraries in the entire state were closed down for staff training today. The one day I needed, really needed a public library, in decades, and they were closed for training. I had one option left: the book store. I did not have high hopes, but fortunately I was wrong. One of the four books I wanted at the library was there, and then I found another book with one line in it that she could use for her second book. I bought them, $50.00 worth of books, and ran them back out to Greentown and dropped them off at the school for her. She finished her project during down times in class, and turned it in, pleased with it. This is good considering I spent the morning, a lot of gas, and a bit of frustration in helping her with that last detail. I will be attempting to return the books tomorrow and hopefully get my $50 back. If not I ought to take it out of her allowance. ;)
I was out of gas in Greentown, so even though it was $2.05 there and $1.98 in Kokomo, I had to fill up there. Later this evening when I drove past, it was now $1.97 in Greentown. The buggers. ;)
My next stop was the Post Office, which was backed way out the door already. Once the holidays start approaching, stores and the post office offer long lines of people, and this was no exception. I stood in line for 15 minutes or more, to ask two questions: 1) What do I do about my original birth certificate, which I mailed in for my passport, which has not shown up yet even though my passport has, and 2) When is the new key for our PO Box coming in, as it's been a month and we're down a key? She responded to my first question with "Oh, my birth certificate was lost too, I still don't have it back. You have to contact the passport people and they'll let you know when they mailed it out, but that's all you can do." Mmmm. But then she went to check on my key, and low and behold it was in! So I won that one! Nine dollars later we both had a key to the PO Box again. When I went to check the mail for today, what did I find? My birth certificate! It was delayed, but it made it. Two wins at the post office for Laura. :)
Lunch at Glenndale followed, and the ladies brought forth a ton of delicious casseroles, and I ate too much today again, and it was all home made and just tasted really good, and I really appreciated it.
When I got home I dropped in the potatoes and carrots, worked on several SMA Support and personal billing things, and then went through and grabbed a family photo we had taken at Christmas of Richard, Ann, Steve, Cathy, their spouses and all their children. I sent it off for printing, and had an 8x10, two 5x7s, and several 4x6s printed up. The printing isn't professional, but neither was the photographer (me), but I think they turned out pretty nicely. After I picked up the pictures, I grabbed Kaylee from the bus stop, then went to Hobby Lobby to pick up a couple of frames to put the bigger photos in, and gave them to Ann and Richard and Cathy when we got back.
We also stopped at Starbucks to take advantage of their buy one get one free drinks. Today's wasn't as good as yesterday's, but it had one thing in favor for it--when I pulled up to the window, the guy there said "The guy in the truck ahead of you already paid for your drinks." Kaylee and I were RAOK'd! (Random Acts of Kindness). I thought that was sweet. Glad it was only $5. I blurted out "Well, Merry Christmas to us, huh?!" and then kind of cringed, because of the whole Starbucks Christmas hoopla going on right now. He just let it go though. ;)
We also stopped at Starbucks to take advantage of their buy one get one free drinks. Today's wasn't as good as yesterday's, but it had one thing in favor for it--when I pulled up to the window, the guy there said "The guy in the truck ahead of you already paid for your drinks." Kaylee and I were RAOK'd! (Random Acts of Kindness). I thought that was sweet. Glad it was only $5. I blurted out "Well, Merry Christmas to us, huh?!" and then kind of cringed, because of the whole Starbucks Christmas hoopla going on right now. He just let it go though. ;)
I spent a little time next door, then came back over to finish up dinner. I made real mashed potatoes to go with the pot roast, carrots, rolls, etc., and I think it was pretty good. It was nice having real food, anyway. :) I had to leave quickly with Kaylee to get her to voice lessons, and I left a mess behind. When I got home, someone or someones had cleaned up the kitchen for me, which was kind.
Alonna made it in, and she's here now too, next door, with her Mom, Steve and Richard. Richard spent most of today sleeping, and they had trouble waking him up most of the day. He did wake up a bit later this evening. We do have another new medication to try to help keep him comfortable while he sleeps. Unfortunately it's in pill form, which is going to be tricky now. But hopefully we can get it in for him. He is much loved, has his family here with him, and he must know and feel that.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Mid-Week
I don't really know what to say.
For the mundane, it was nasty and windy and grey and cold out here today. It was depressing as all get-out. I wanted to climb in a hole with a sun lamp and pretend it was June. Or fly to Florida, California or Arizona. There was no flying today. With winds 30-40 mph, it was no good for students, and while doable for a business trip, luckily I didn't have one of those.
Kaylee stayed after school to work on a major project she has due. When she got home, she had me proof-read a 6 page paper she'd written. It's a historical creative writing assignment, and she wrote it on the Salem Witch Trials, creating a story-line based off of a girl who lived through it. It was really very good, and within the first two paragraphs you were disturbed and caught up. I found several errors for her in grammar or syntax, punctuation, etc., and on one of them she said "I don't even think my teacher would have caught that". I bet she would have. It was one where she said something like "a witch (something or other) for themselves". I said it would be him or herself, not themselves on a singular witch. It was a good story though. Unfortunately, she also has to have two actual book references, and she hasn't had time to go to the library, so I have to go to the library for her and try to find two books she found online, and get them to her school tomorrow morning, or she'll lose a big chunk of her grade. Ah, school.
I ended up going to several stores, getting some much needed supplies and food for all of us. I even got some meat and veggies to cook a real meal tomorrow. It occurred to me the other day that none of us had eaten real food in a long time. I was so sick of drive-thru fast food, and Ann and Cathy have been eating Cheerios most of the day, I just found out, and that's just not right. So for tonight I went easy and got some pizzas, which is still fast food, but tomorrow I got a roast I'm going to put in the crock pot early and have ready for tomorrow night. I hope I got a big enough roast, as I just found out Cathy is staying an extra day and Alonna is coming out tomorrow too. Hopefully it'll be enough for at least some for everybody.
Richard weakened very quickly over the last couple of days. The nurses came today and recommended we begin a regular regiment of meds to keep him comfortable. It's been very difficult to know what to do when. He can't communicate hardly at all any more, and it's hard to know. It was a bit of a relief to have a nurse today be very clear in what they felt was right. But you still have to do what YOU think is right too. I wasn't sure at first that keeping him medicated was right, because it's then so hard for him to be awake and alert, too, but then he gets very restless and anxious, and you know it's right. Everything accelerated quickly. We don't want to leave him unattended, and no one person can position him and such on their own, so it does take a bit of a team. We're hoping that hospice or nursing or VA will come through and provide some additional help. We really do need it. Right now a nurse comes for like half an hour on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Meanwhile, Ann can't get any sleep all night, can't position Richard on her own, etc., and he is very restless all night. Steve will probably start staying over there to let her get some sleep, but if we can get some additional help, that would be really important. Hopefully people in Cscape and Airport worlds will be a little patient with us.
For the mundane, it was nasty and windy and grey and cold out here today. It was depressing as all get-out. I wanted to climb in a hole with a sun lamp and pretend it was June. Or fly to Florida, California or Arizona. There was no flying today. With winds 30-40 mph, it was no good for students, and while doable for a business trip, luckily I didn't have one of those.
Kaylee stayed after school to work on a major project she has due. When she got home, she had me proof-read a 6 page paper she'd written. It's a historical creative writing assignment, and she wrote it on the Salem Witch Trials, creating a story-line based off of a girl who lived through it. It was really very good, and within the first two paragraphs you were disturbed and caught up. I found several errors for her in grammar or syntax, punctuation, etc., and on one of them she said "I don't even think my teacher would have caught that". I bet she would have. It was one where she said something like "a witch (something or other) for themselves". I said it would be him or herself, not themselves on a singular witch. It was a good story though. Unfortunately, she also has to have two actual book references, and she hasn't had time to go to the library, so I have to go to the library for her and try to find two books she found online, and get them to her school tomorrow morning, or she'll lose a big chunk of her grade. Ah, school.
I ended up going to several stores, getting some much needed supplies and food for all of us. I even got some meat and veggies to cook a real meal tomorrow. It occurred to me the other day that none of us had eaten real food in a long time. I was so sick of drive-thru fast food, and Ann and Cathy have been eating Cheerios most of the day, I just found out, and that's just not right. So for tonight I went easy and got some pizzas, which is still fast food, but tomorrow I got a roast I'm going to put in the crock pot early and have ready for tomorrow night. I hope I got a big enough roast, as I just found out Cathy is staying an extra day and Alonna is coming out tomorrow too. Hopefully it'll be enough for at least some for everybody.
Richard weakened very quickly over the last couple of days. The nurses came today and recommended we begin a regular regiment of meds to keep him comfortable. It's been very difficult to know what to do when. He can't communicate hardly at all any more, and it's hard to know. It was a bit of a relief to have a nurse today be very clear in what they felt was right. But you still have to do what YOU think is right too. I wasn't sure at first that keeping him medicated was right, because it's then so hard for him to be awake and alert, too, but then he gets very restless and anxious, and you know it's right. Everything accelerated quickly. We don't want to leave him unattended, and no one person can position him and such on their own, so it does take a bit of a team. We're hoping that hospice or nursing or VA will come through and provide some additional help. We really do need it. Right now a nurse comes for like half an hour on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Meanwhile, Ann can't get any sleep all night, can't position Richard on her own, etc., and he is very restless all night. Steve will probably start staying over there to let her get some sleep, but if we can get some additional help, that would be really important. Hopefully people in Cscape and Airport worlds will be a little patient with us.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
So Far
We are just working along. I flew pretty much all day yesterday. Today I just had one guy, and we ended up doing ground work in the morning instead of flying. Steve has been trying to catch up on all the computer work he's got going on now with some bigger projects. Kaylee is working on school projects and going to after school Starlets practices and has a lot of A+s on her report card so far.
Yesterday on the way home I had a huge rainbow off to my left and a sky full of gold from the sunset to my right. It was a beautiful sight, and I tried to get photos, without a lot of success. It's hard when you're driving to get a good non-blurry photo without cars or other obstacles in the way.
Cathy is here for the day, visiting with her Mom and Dad, who were both happy to have her here today I know. :)
Tonight Steve and I went to Kaylee's Marching Band's fundraiser Fish Fry at the school. I had donated quite a bit of food to it, and we went to it, and it never feels like enough because they want you there working in person too. But you can only do what you can do. The food was pretty good, Dan's Fish Fry, with baked potatoes, baked beans, bread, applesauce, tea, etc. The only thing I hated, and when I commented on it, Steve said he was with me, was that they served it on food trays from the school, where they just plop the food down on the tray with the individual compartments? I don't eat on trays. When I get a tray with plates on it, I take the plates off the tray. This time the food was just plopped on the tray, like the military or something. Gross. No. I just tried to not think about it, because otherwise when you look at the old, scratched, stained plastic tray...
Right before we ate fish, we went to a meeting about Kaylee's Europe trip. We got a little packet of information on it, asked and answered some questions, and it all sounds pretty good. I'm sure she'll have an interesting experience, a good one.
My passport came in. We rushed hers and didn't rush mine, we sent them in the same day, and I got mine like a week or two later than she did, not much longer. However, her birth certificate came back the same day in another envelope, and mine hasn't shown up yet. Mmm hmm. But I like having the passport, and it's good for 10 years. Now I just need to use it. Some day. I hope. If I have one thing on a bucket list that doesn't have anything to do with airplanes, it's to get to go some place outside the continental US. As many of them as I can get to, actually. But at least one. I've never been to Hawaii or Alaska or the Bahamas either. Nowhere not on this specific land mass. This will have to change some day.
Saturday, November 07, 2015
Life
Last night I took Kaylee to her school's talent contest. This was the contest in which she had worked on, memorized, practiced, and planned on doing a duet with a girl who then dropped her without telling her until the day of try-outs, leaving her no chance to learn something else or audition as a soloist, meaning she was out of the show totally. Meanwhile, the other girl had gotten together with a young man and was doing a duet with him instead. I wondered why Kaylee wanted to go to the show at all, but she did, and wanted to go with her friends, so I took her. Every other year I've stayed with her, and she wants me to, but this year we had other things going on, so I just dropped her off. When I picked her back up, she told me in a quiet voice that the girl and boy who did the duet ended up flubbing it and didn't perform very well. She had to admit to a small amount of satisfaction in that. But then she said that the girl's solo did go very well. I was glad for both things--that the other girl didn't win the competition after behaving unethically and displaying rather low personal character, and that Kaylee was still trying to be the right person and not get too smug. You know what happens when you get smug? You're the one who gets taken down a peg, that's what. At least that's how it's always worked for me! :o
While Kaylee was at the school show, Steve was bringing Richard home from the hospital. He is now home and set up with hospice care. He has very good doctors who have done everything they can for him, and while he has a very strong heart in spirit, in the flesh it is wearing out, and there is nothing more they can do. When you go from home health care to hospice care, it requires a bunch of very specific paperwork, and they have very specific rules. One of them was that they changed out his bed, from the hospital bed he had, to another hospital bed that was the same model. Whatever works for them, I suppose. When they left, they left us with a "Care Kit", which was a box that is currently sitting on top of my baked spaghetti in the fridge, consisting of whatever medication he may need in the future to keep him comfortable, from pain killers to helping with secretions or constipation or anxiety or respirations, for example. I am a little surprised they leave a box like that behind; you'd sort of think a nurse would be required to administer something like morphine, but apparently not. They gave us a best guess on time, but that's all it is, is a guess, and we know he'll be with us for as long as he's supposed to be with us, and when it's time for him to go home, he will be taken care of and loved both here and there. Right now he is optimistic and leaving it in God's hands.
I talked about it with Kaylee when I picked her up from the variety show. She said "I knew something was wrong when you drove me out here. I'm not stupid you know, I can tell when you're hiding something from me." My wise girl.
Meanwhile, things continue. Kaylee went to a birthday party today for a friend, and I ended up going to the mall for a few things we needed at home, only to find the mall Packed Out. You'd think it was Black Friday. The lots were all full, the aisles were all full, it was crazy in there. I didn't expect that. I then took a young man out on his night cross country, and we watched the sky lose its color as we headed past Indianapolis. It was a beautiful night to see the stars, and the city lights.
Kaylee had requested egg nog, so on my way home from the airport I stopped off there and got that, along with some food for everybody else, and I was done and home around 9 pm. Kaylee cleaned her room and hung up her clothes, and Steve did what he could here. It was more like a Tuesday than a Saturday, but tomorrow we are scheduled off of work, off of activities, and we plan to make a day at home, maybe not fully of 'rest', but at least home.
Kaylee had requested egg nog, so on my way home from the airport I stopped off there and got that, along with some food for everybody else, and I was done and home around 9 pm. Kaylee cleaned her room and hung up her clothes, and Steve did what he could here. It was more like a Tuesday than a Saturday, but tomorrow we are scheduled off of work, off of activities, and we plan to make a day at home, maybe not fully of 'rest', but at least home.
Fired up and ready to taxi out as the sun glows.
The city of Kokomo under the wing, at sunset.
Coming up on Indy, dead ahead.
Indianapolis
Poor J under the hood when I get such a nice view of Indy. ;)
Kokomo at home, all lit up...
Thursday, November 05, 2015
Today
Steve took Richard to the ER after lunch today, and he was in the ER for about 8 hours before they finally got a room ready for him and admitted him into the hospital, past 10 pm. He'll probably be there a couple days, and we'll see. He's stable now, but he has some low levels on some things, had a lot of confusion and disorientation. Hoping they can get everything straightened out.
Kaylee's passport came in today! It arrived in the mail, along with her real birth certificate. I still hate that they mail these things through the mail, or insist on having them in the first place vs. a copy. But at least hers isn't lost. Now here's hoping mine comes in too. I expedited hers because of her trip, and didn't expedite mine, so we'll see.
I had four flights scheduled today. One canceled because of clouds and winds. One I canceled so I could take care of Kaylee while Steve was at the hospital. The other two I took. One of them was kind of off his game today, and I was talking to him about it, and he said "Actually, I kinda feel like I'm going to throw up." Well, GAH. How about we land, then!? The other one was a night flight. It was lightly raining, with more rain coming, but it was still VFR. So we did our night takeoffs and landings. I did the usual emergencies, and he had a friend come along and ride in the back seat, and we had a good time. Afterwards he wanted to show his friend Grissom at night, so we flew over there and I requested a low pass of their runway, which they let me do. The last landing I let him have all his flaps and lights and runway lights, and he thought that was way easier than he first thought. :D
We finished up as it started raining harder. Good timing. I then went to the hospital for a little while to check in and bring Ann home for the night. Hopefully they can both get some sleep tonight.
Wednesday, November 04, 2015
Hump Day
I was supposed to fly from 8-10, 10-12, 12-2, and 2-4. Instead, fog took out the 8-10, and Steve took his own 12-2, so my day went from very full to very reasonable. Steve spent the whole day working on computer issues, and didn't get home until close to 8 pm. Kaylee has practically been on vacation here without band practice in the mornings and evenings. :)
I didn't feel well most of the day, and come to find out, neither has Steve. His dad just had a procedure to help with his eating, and hopefully that has and will continue to help him feel better and be able to eat like enjoys eating.
Even though I didn't feel the best, I felt good enough. This week may be one of the last nice weeks we get for the rest of the year. As depressing as that thought is, and it really, really is, it made me more depressed to consider not doing anything with it. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, Friday's busy, Saturday's busy, and it starts getting colder again, so I thought this was it.
After I got Kaylee home, I went back out to Kokomo, moved a torn-apart C-150 out of the way, tugged out the T-6, put in my ear buds and music, and flew for about an hour, right at sunset. I flew by Glenndale, I climbed up and did a few aileron rolls, flew over Nathan's house, and just watched the sun go down. While it was still light enough for me to see the pins in the gear, I did a couple takeoffs and landings, hitting wheel and three-points, rather satisfactorily, turned on all the exterior lights and lit it up like a Christmas tree, snapped a bunch of pictures, and landed feeling much better than when I took off. If it's the last time I fly this season, I'm glad to have hit most of the finer points. I felt peaceful for the first time in awhile...
I didn't feel well most of the day, and come to find out, neither has Steve. His dad just had a procedure to help with his eating, and hopefully that has and will continue to help him feel better and be able to eat like enjoys eating.
Even though I didn't feel the best, I felt good enough. This week may be one of the last nice weeks we get for the rest of the year. As depressing as that thought is, and it really, really is, it made me more depressed to consider not doing anything with it. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, Friday's busy, Saturday's busy, and it starts getting colder again, so I thought this was it.
After I got Kaylee home, I went back out to Kokomo, moved a torn-apart C-150 out of the way, tugged out the T-6, put in my ear buds and music, and flew for about an hour, right at sunset. I flew by Glenndale, I climbed up and did a few aileron rolls, flew over Nathan's house, and just watched the sun go down. While it was still light enough for me to see the pins in the gear, I did a couple takeoffs and landings, hitting wheel and three-points, rather satisfactorily, turned on all the exterior lights and lit it up like a Christmas tree, snapped a bunch of pictures, and landed feeling much better than when I took off. If it's the last time I fly this season, I'm glad to have hit most of the finer points. I felt peaceful for the first time in awhile...
Runway lights at dusk
Home stretch
Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Indian Summer
What a beautiful day. If I could get weather like this for the next two months, I'd be in heaven. Cool in the morning, warm during the day, light winds, clear skies, no sweating, no freezing, it's just perfect. This is Laura Weather.
Right after lunch I went and rocked the vote, as the local mayoral election was today. Afterwards I went out to Kokomo where I caught a ride to Muncie to pick the 340 back up. It had gotten some work done on the avionics, so I tested that out on the way home, shot an ILS into Kokomo, let the autopilot and GPS do all the work, and found it all worked like a charm. On a calm, sunny day with a GPS, autopilot and synthetic vision, ILS approaches seem quite easy. ;)
I had a student shortly after I got back from Muncie, and we flew until almost dark. That sounds impressive, and would be, if it didn't get dark at 5:30 now. *sigh*
Kaylee and I finally finished carving our Halloween Pumpkin. It's only Nov. 3rd and it only took us three or four days from start to finish, but personally I think it turned out pretty well. :)
Today would be my Grandma Johnson's 100th birthday. What's a little strange is, I was just thinking of her this morning, before I knew it was her birthday...
Right after lunch I went and rocked the vote, as the local mayoral election was today. Afterwards I went out to Kokomo where I caught a ride to Muncie to pick the 340 back up. It had gotten some work done on the avionics, so I tested that out on the way home, shot an ILS into Kokomo, let the autopilot and GPS do all the work, and found it all worked like a charm. On a calm, sunny day with a GPS, autopilot and synthetic vision, ILS approaches seem quite easy. ;)
I had a student shortly after I got back from Muncie, and we flew until almost dark. That sounds impressive, and would be, if it didn't get dark at 5:30 now. *sigh*
Kaylee and I finally finished carving our Halloween Pumpkin. It's only Nov. 3rd and it only took us three or four days from start to finish, but personally I think it turned out pretty well. :)
Today would be my Grandma Johnson's 100th birthday. What's a little strange is, I was just thinking of her this morning, before I knew it was her birthday...
Takeoff out of Kokomo in the 172.
That sun is blinding as it's going down.
Kaylee on the finishing touches on the pumpkin.
Close-up of our finished pumpkin. :)
Monday, November 02, 2015
Diversity
The day started in the 340, running over to Muncie, went to the RG for the trip home, on to the PT-26 for a quick post-maintenance flight, and ended in the Cub as the sun was going down. I know there are fancier airplanes and fancier places, but part of what I love about what I do is the pure diversity. I like going from a pressurized twin with a glass panel, xm tunes and ADS-B wx, flying on top of it all, to a Cub with no electrical system, a wide open door, and the seat of your pants. And everything in between. I am grateful.
Kaylee has a school project she is working on, a group project for Spanish class. Her group is supposed to cook a Mexican dish, but nobody can do it tomorrow (including her, as she has two different school meetings for two different things, band and Europe trip, at the same time), so they needed to do it tonight. Unfortunately, two of the other girls couldn't do it tonight either, which left Kaylee and her friend C. C's parents went out and got all the stuff, and was just going to have her do it herself once she got home from the Spell Bowl at 8:45 pm, but Kaylee and I didn't think it was right for her to do it by herself, so I ran Kaylee out there at 9 pm, and they cooked for an hour and a half. Meanwhile, we thought it would be 30-45 minutes, and it's a 30 minute drive to her house, so I went to a deserted church parking lot, sat with the car shut down, and read a book, for an hour and a half. When she was done she sent me a text, and I headed back to pick her up. When she got in the car she told me her friend hadn't even had a chance to do her homework yet...and it was 11 p.m. She'd gone from school to an academic Spelling Bee activity to this Spanish project to homework. Kids these days, the schedules are crazy. Kaylee went from school to homework to a Spanish project but at least she was done by 11 pm. She threw in a load of laundry she needed for tomorrow and headed to bed. It was the right thing to do to go help with the project.
When I was driving back from the church parking lot to pick her up, a deer ran out in front of me. I hit the brakes, hard, but didn't lock them up, and the deer stopped in the road. I bumped it, but didn't hurt it or my car. It jumped sideways and then went running off. Deer in the headlights, for real. Scared the hoo haw out of me though.
Kaylee has a school project she is working on, a group project for Spanish class. Her group is supposed to cook a Mexican dish, but nobody can do it tomorrow (including her, as she has two different school meetings for two different things, band and Europe trip, at the same time), so they needed to do it tonight. Unfortunately, two of the other girls couldn't do it tonight either, which left Kaylee and her friend C. C's parents went out and got all the stuff, and was just going to have her do it herself once she got home from the Spell Bowl at 8:45 pm, but Kaylee and I didn't think it was right for her to do it by herself, so I ran Kaylee out there at 9 pm, and they cooked for an hour and a half. Meanwhile, we thought it would be 30-45 minutes, and it's a 30 minute drive to her house, so I went to a deserted church parking lot, sat with the car shut down, and read a book, for an hour and a half. When she was done she sent me a text, and I headed back to pick her up. When she got in the car she told me her friend hadn't even had a chance to do her homework yet...and it was 11 p.m. She'd gone from school to an academic Spelling Bee activity to this Spanish project to homework. Kids these days, the schedules are crazy. Kaylee went from school to homework to a Spanish project but at least she was done by 11 pm. She threw in a load of laundry she needed for tomorrow and headed to bed. It was the right thing to do to go help with the project.
When I was driving back from the church parking lot to pick her up, a deer ran out in front of me. I hit the brakes, hard, but didn't lock them up, and the deer stopped in the road. I bumped it, but didn't hurt it or my car. It jumped sideways and then went running off. Deer in the headlights, for real. Scared the hoo haw out of me though.
PT-you can see the shadow of my hair sticking out of the canopy cracked open.
Cub action, sun going down.
---------------------------------------------
Justin took these, which I thought turned out pretty neat. The colors haven't been edited by the way...
I have a rubber band in my hair because I didn't have a hair tie
I like the sun reflection off the wing, too. I did mess with that a bit in a crop:
Sunday, November 01, 2015
November Arrives
It arrives with much nicer weather than most of October held. I was taking Kaylee to church tonight, and the sun was going down, and it was warm, and clear, and beautiful, and I said "Boy, that makes me feel like flying". She pipes up with "When do you ever not feel like flying?" I said "I had no desire to go flying all day today--until I got out here." Gorgeous, gorgeous sunset.
Kaylee's band went to semi-state finals Saturday. We had to have her at the school by 6:50 a.m., and then she was originally not going to be back at the school until 10 p.m. Instead, she left after the performance with several other girls and they did a Sweet 16 birthday party for the girl, went shopping, etc., and spent the night at the friend's house. It was good that they were together and there and having a good time, because the news came back later that evening that they didn't make it into the top ten, so they will not be going on to state. There were 20 bands in their class. They'd beaten 13 of them before at ISSMA, but not this time... They felt they had done well but it just wasn't enough this time. We're all disappointed from the perspective that you always want to do well, you want to win. But I'm not disappointed that this means marching band is over for her. No more early morning and late after school practices. THAT I'm feeling pretty glad about, for all of us.
We've been so busy we hadn't had time to do our pumpkin. So today we started in on the pumpkin after she got all her homework done, which took her all day. We had just cut the top off and were digging out the goop when she remembered church. So I finished up cooking up the pumpkin seeds (which are really good by the way), and am leaving the design drawing and part of the carving up to her when she gets back.
Yesterday I was driving down a road when a flower shop sign said "If your name is LAURA, stop in today for a free rose." I figured why not, went around the block and pulled into the flower shop--which was closed. Foiled again. ;)
Last night while Kaylee was gone, Steve and I went out to eat dinner. That was interesting because it was Halloween, but what was even more funny was that the band "The Time Travelers" was playing there, live music, and that's the same band that was playing at a different restaurant we went to last time we were on our own for the evening. We enjoyed the food and the music, and even enjoyed all the waiters and waitresses and their Halloween get-ups.
Someone approached me about a pilot position opening up locally...in a CJ1, which is a Citation jet. What's funny is the CJ1 has the same service ceiling and fewer seats than the Cheyenne, and no better range, though it is a bit faster. Doubt anything will come of it, but I may see what the details are anyway, see if it's even anything that would be worthwhile, or just another entry level starvation wage pilot job.
This morning Steve was gone to pick up Kaylee when I heard a loud pop/bzzzt noise, and the power went down in the house. I waited, but it didn't come back on. When Steve got back with Kaylee, he said that there was a big swath of town that was out of power. It was down all morning, came back on at our house sometime just before lunch. It is very quiet in the house with no power. I didn't mind though. :)
Well, my laptop is about to die since my cord won't charge it right now, so I'll shut down and get back to work on other stuff. Or reading a book, whichever calls loudest. ;)
Kaylee's band went to semi-state finals Saturday. We had to have her at the school by 6:50 a.m., and then she was originally not going to be back at the school until 10 p.m. Instead, she left after the performance with several other girls and they did a Sweet 16 birthday party for the girl, went shopping, etc., and spent the night at the friend's house. It was good that they were together and there and having a good time, because the news came back later that evening that they didn't make it into the top ten, so they will not be going on to state. There were 20 bands in their class. They'd beaten 13 of them before at ISSMA, but not this time... They felt they had done well but it just wasn't enough this time. We're all disappointed from the perspective that you always want to do well, you want to win. But I'm not disappointed that this means marching band is over for her. No more early morning and late after school practices. THAT I'm feeling pretty glad about, for all of us.
We've been so busy we hadn't had time to do our pumpkin. So today we started in on the pumpkin after she got all her homework done, which took her all day. We had just cut the top off and were digging out the goop when she remembered church. So I finished up cooking up the pumpkin seeds (which are really good by the way), and am leaving the design drawing and part of the carving up to her when she gets back.
Yesterday I was driving down a road when a flower shop sign said "If your name is LAURA, stop in today for a free rose." I figured why not, went around the block and pulled into the flower shop--which was closed. Foiled again. ;)
Last night while Kaylee was gone, Steve and I went out to eat dinner. That was interesting because it was Halloween, but what was even more funny was that the band "The Time Travelers" was playing there, live music, and that's the same band that was playing at a different restaurant we went to last time we were on our own for the evening. We enjoyed the food and the music, and even enjoyed all the waiters and waitresses and their Halloween get-ups.
Someone approached me about a pilot position opening up locally...in a CJ1, which is a Citation jet. What's funny is the CJ1 has the same service ceiling and fewer seats than the Cheyenne, and no better range, though it is a bit faster. Doubt anything will come of it, but I may see what the details are anyway, see if it's even anything that would be worthwhile, or just another entry level starvation wage pilot job.
This morning Steve was gone to pick up Kaylee when I heard a loud pop/bzzzt noise, and the power went down in the house. I waited, but it didn't come back on. When Steve got back with Kaylee, he said that there was a big swath of town that was out of power. It was down all morning, came back on at our house sometime just before lunch. It is very quiet in the house with no power. I didn't mind though. :)
Well, my laptop is about to die since my cord won't charge it right now, so I'll shut down and get back to work on other stuff. Or reading a book, whichever calls loudest. ;)
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