Less

Much less went on today.  The plane was down for maintenance, so no students.  I didn't get nearly as much done.  But it still felt like a good day.  I got my exercise in, and I dropped a little more weight, so both those things made me feel better.  My legs and feet aren't hurting as much as they used to when I'd first get up, which also makes me feel better.  Haven't heard from the doctor yet on the kidney function thing.  Not overly worried about it, but I'd like to know the answer.  I did get a call from the OBGYN to set up my appointment for the fibroids but I haven't called her back yet.  I'll do that tomorrow I guess.

Kaylee took off of school today.  She was up half the night coughing, so she texted me at 2 am that she was going to stay home, and she did, and she took some of the codeine cough syrup I had left, and she slept until 1:30 pm, and hasn't been coughing as much this evening since she's been quiet, resting, not talking.  She gets up and moves around and talks, she coughs.  She's really worried because musical tech week is coming up, she's the 3rd main lead lady, she will be mic'd up, and she cannot be hacking and coughing like this, but no matter what she takes, she can't get the coughing to stop.  Mom and I both know how that feels and goes.  Been there, done that.  :/  So tomorrow she wants me to call the doctor's office and see about an appointment to see what else they'll do for her.  I think it's pointless, but I'll try anything for her.

This Saturday is her choir ISSMA down south of Indy.  She didn't tell us when it was, so I had a student scheduled and Steve had stuff scheduled too.  But my student canceled because he's still coughing.  Ironic.  He had the flu, which turned into pneumonia, which turned into still coughing, weeks later.  So he canceled flying, which is wise, and I can now go to Kaylee's choir ISSMA.  I'll probably go by myself, as she has to go with her group at 7 am, and Steve will probably stay here and help Nathan with some stuff.  I'm okay with that.  A person should have someone in the audience just for them.

Tonight Steve and I drove down to Indy Exec to meet with two CAF guys and Sean, the airport manager down there, about putting on a joint event with their Down Syndrome Day and the CAF's Wings over Indy.  The meeting went well, and I ran into Justin B and Nolan W down there too, and then Steve and I drove over to Kirkland and ate at Bookers, a nice bar and grill where Steve and AE had a 4-piece chicken dinner for $11.  They're known for that special on Thursday nights.

Tomorrow's busy if I do everything I should do.  Hopefully I'll do everything I should do.  :)

Expressions

I'm still feeling pretty good about what all is getting done around here while the flying is slower.  I try not to list it all each day because nobody really wants to know, but it feels great to knock one thing after another off a list of things to do.  Today it was several more phone calls, too.  I've never had to make so many calls as I have recently.  Good for me, I suppose.

I took Dulcie to the vet today, to get her nails trimmed and her anal gland expressed.  She didn't meowl like Chewbacca on the way there this time.  When the lady brought her back, she said "Best cat ever for getting that done.  Most of the time the cats get really cranky when we do that, but she was just sweet!"  I think she was glad to have it done though.  They said it was really full, and that she's got to be feeling better now.  She's going back in in a couple weeks, and they said they'd do it again then just to make sure they got everything.  Poor girl, I hope she does feel better now.  

I got my bloodwork back today.  Nice low cholesterol, sugar levels good (yay!), all over levels low and normal.  Of the few things that were flagged, none of them were anything bad or interesting, except for a question I had about one of them.  My kidney function levels were at 48, and it says anything under 60 is a sign of low kidney function and possible kidney damage.  The doctor's office had said all my bloodwork looked normal.  So I shot a quick question back to the doctor's office to confirm that it was actually okay, because nothing I could find online made it sound like that was a normal number.  We shall see.  Meanwhile, I'm going to go look up which pain meds were the ones bad for the liver, of which mine is in excellent shape, and which ones were hard on the kidney, which health status I'm not as confident of.  ;)

Kaylee applied for her carry permit.  The only thing left is to get fingerprinted down at the police station.  She hasn't set that appointment yet because she's not sure when she has time yet, but she was the one motivated to apply and do it.  Indiana still offers lifetime permits, for now, and she wants to get one before they change that rule.  Smart.

Kaylee also asked about getting her motorcycle license.  She asked if we could just teach her and then she takes the test, and I said I cannot teach her that, and that I want her to take the safety course.  It's a really good course, and if you pass, you get your motorcycle endorsement out of it anyway, and if not, you can keep practicing on your own and go take the test in your own later if need be.  That course did an excellent job in my opinion, and motorcycle riding is not something to take lightly.  So that's not settled in yet, but she wants to get that done too.  

Today we got a fun text, too, where Kaylee said "You're looking at the Principal Chair for the Howard Music Festival!"  That means that she is the First Chair, or Principal Chair of all the saxophone players, alto, tenor, bass sax, from every high school band in Howard County.  That's a really cool honor.  That music festival has been going on annually for the last 60 years.  It's a big tradition in this area.  All the kids dress up, in floor length evening gowns and suits/tuxedos.  Different high schools host it each year, and the seats are Filled Up.  It's a big production, with all the music departments, both vocal and band, of all the county's high schools, participating.  It was a main goal of hers for this year, the reason she insisted on going to ISSMA State with her sax for a solo, as a way to be considered for that chair.  She got it.  You go girl.  :)

One more Kaylee thing.  She gets to be on the radio next Thursday at 7 am to promote Eastern's Musical.  That's a Main Cast thing, she's never gotten to do that before, and even though she has to get up way too early to do it, she's excited about it.

Other than being sick and fighting off this dumb cold, especially the cough, it's a pretty good time for Miss Kaylee JoAnn right now.  :)

Today's Updates

It's only been a couple of days but I have more catching up to do!

Let's start with Kaylee, since that's what most of you care about anyway.  ;) 

She is still sick, going on almost 2 weeks now.  It has now moved into the lung/coughing phase.  She's not so bad she can't get around, she just doesn't feel good, and has started coughing, and still has to medicate for the congestion.  I can NOT believe that neither Steve nor I have caught this, as we gave up on trying to Lysol the house, and she comes and hugs on us and such.  A lot of yuck is going around, and I've been in stores, and multiple doctor's offices, and have a sick kid at home, and I am somehow not sick.  It's crazy.

This morning we had an "Academic Breakfast" at her school. Parents were invited to attend what sounded like a formal event, for kids who were invited to this academic breakfast, and we didn't know what this meant.  Bottom line, you have to be on the A Honor Roll for at least 4 semesters, and then you get an "Academic E", a letter to put on your jacket should you have one.  It was instead a very laid-back event, with "Extreme Donuts", milk or OJ, and each kid got to shake the hand of the Principal, Vice-Principal, Superintendent and I don't know the last person.  The Vice-Principal was joking with Kaylee.  He follows her on Twitter and I've seen some interactions there, which is pretty cool.  It's not a tiny school, so it's neat that the higher ups in the school know and seem to legitimately like your daughter.  :)

We were to do prom dress alterations today, but she ended up needing to learn her Polka dance for the musical today, so I rescheduled it for a couple of Saturdays from now.

Last night was "Critique Night" for Encore.  That's where a parent or former student or whomever comes in and watches the Starlets and Encore perform, and then provides detailed feedback or critiques on the performances.  It's a big night, a big tradition. Kaylee wanted Steve to go because she knows he knows more about music stuff, and she thought he'd be able to provide good feedback, and Mrs. E hates it when people come and just watch and don't provide any feedback.  That's why Kaylee didn't invite me--I think it looks good and I don't say much.  lol  So Steve went, and he said there were a bunch of former performers there, and they all had such good and detailed feedback that he didn't have anything to add to it.  He felt a little out of place, too, but he went, for her, so I told him he won the Dad Award for the day.  :) 

After our Academic Breakfast, I had a doctor's appointment.  It was an ultrasound, where they found that I have fibroids.  Which I kinda knew.  The test was this morning, and right after lunch they'd already called me back, said they'd found multiple fibroids, and want to hook me up with an OBGYN to dig further into it.  What have I said about one doctor appointment turning into a litter of them?  ;)  These usually aren't too much of a big deal, not cancerous or anything.  Just cause some symptoms if they get big enough.  Usually they monitor them and leave them alone, sometimes there are meds to shrink them, surgery is the 2nd biggest step, and a full hysterectomy is the biggest thing they do, but that would be for someone who has waaay bigger problems than I do, I'm quite sure.

Speaking of my belly, I've slowly lost another pound.  I'm up to a whopping 7 or so now.  Slow but sure, eh?  I didn't even eat that well for a few days there. We ate out late at night, I had turtles, I mean...yum.  Anyway, more days of doing well than of not doing well help, and I've gotten my exercise in each day.  Except today.  Hmm.  I'm so tired today, didn't sleep right, woke up early for this breakfast.  Those are the days it's hard to motivate to move around much when you just want to nap!

Yesterday we had a guy fly that old Cherokee 180 to Ankeny, Iowa.  He left while I was still in bed. I wandered out of bed, piddled around, got oatmeal in a bag to go with me, took off, and landed in Ankeny 10 minutes behind the Cherokee.  It took me 2.5 hours with the strong headwinds.  It took him over 4 hours plus a fuel stop.  He had to hand fly and use an iPad to navigate, with only one partial radio.  I got on an IFR flight plan, on a clear blue day, read a book, ate my oatmeal, with the heater warming me up, listened to music, and thoroughly enjoyed the view.  I've said it before, will say it again, I was just cruising along up there, monitoring the gauges, feeling the hum of the engines running smoothly, and I could feel a knot loosen in my chest.  You just get better...air...up there.  A little sunshine on the face, a view of wide open space.

Indiana and Illinois were blue skies and brown fields.  Not too far into Iowa, the ground got a dusting of white, then soon was completely covered in white.  The sky also turned white, and the wing of the plane is white, with a black tip, and by the time I landed in Ankeny, I was flying in a monochrome world.

Mom and I used to live in Ankeny when I was very small.  I don't even remember what ages exactly.  She was there to go to college, and I remember snapshots of life in Ankeny.  I remember going to a sign language class with her.  I remember babysitters, one of whom had to spank me for something.  I remember the swing set with the hornets nest, where I got stung multiple times after I woke them up by squeaking the metal swingset, and they swarmed me, and I was screaming and frozen in place, and I'm pretty sure my mom ran into the swarm and pulled me off the swing set.  They got me a few times but not as bad as it could've been. I remember my poor uncle shutting my foot in the door, and the girl with Down's Syndrome who taught me how to ride a bike in just a few minutes. I remember the church basement floor being checkers and me spinning round and round and round and getting dizzy, and Clinton Carter kissing me and grossing me out.  A few other things too.  Another thing I have snapshot memories of is my first airplane ride.  I know it was a high wing, and I know it only had two seats, so my best guess is C-150/152, which is super ironic now that I think about it.    Neither Mom nor I have any idea who the pilot is, she doesn't remember how it came about or why we were there or what his name was, but whoever he was, he took a little girl on a plane ride, I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and it was out of the airport that I flew back in to myself, some 42 years later, in a much bigger Cessna.  I think that's kind of wild.  I do wish I knew who he was, if he was still alive, and I'd like to tell him that a little kid he probably has no memory of giving a ride to turned into a pilot herself, and thank him for that day.

I enjoy pilots' sense of humor.  "Turbulence Moderate to Severe, Getting Dragged Down the Stairs".  Now that's turbulence.  lol

The view of the air and ground in Iowa.  White.

We ended up eating at a restaurant in a hotel. And it was good, too. 

Glenn got a Goober Burger.  It is a large cheeseburger with an egg on it, and, PEANUT BUTTER.  Never heard of that. Sounds part disgusting and part interesting.  Glenn said it was really tasty.

The FBO, Exec 1 Aviation, at Ankeny. I doubt it was there 42 years ago.

Ankeny airport hangars on takeoff.

Blue skies over Indiana

On the way home at FL190

Kaylee getting her Academic E this morning.

All the kids who got their E's today.  The first is Jared in Encore. Then Becca, who went to Scotland/England with us.  Kaylee, I don't know the next two kids, and then Mallorie who went to Children's Christian Academy with Kaylee when they were little bitty. She made fun of Kaylee's brand new boots that she was so excited to wear to school, then wouldn't wear them again after that, and it hurt her feelings, and I haven't forgotten, even though they became sort of friends later.  :D

Lengthy Pause

This is a long catch-up post.  Be prepared.  ;)

Friday was another running day.  I dropped off stuff at Goodwill, picked up and cleaned up SMA equipment from the airport, shipped off stuff at UPS, picked up checks at the PO Box, tried on and bought a sweater at Meijer, picked up a bouquet of flowers at Kroger, and flew with a brand new student for an hour.  That was all after lunch.

At 5:45 pm, Steve and I drove to the high school and sat with Kaylee and her friends in the bleachers during a basketball game.  Just before the varsity game started, they had "Senior Night", where the Senior band members, cheerleaders, and basketball players were walked out onto the gym floor in front of everyone by their parents or loved ones.  So Steve was on one side, me on the other, and Kaylee was holding the flowers I got her, and we walked across the gym floor while they read the paper she filled out about her plans, etc.  They called her "Kaylee Starts" though, twice, which made us laugh, but also made me a smidge unhappy.  Guy should get her name right on Senior night.  "Stants" is not that hard.  :p

Afterwards, she stayed with her friends for a little bit while Steve and I went out to dinner at Marble Steakhouse.  It is supposed to be the nice steakhouse in town, and in general it is.  But last night we had a less than stellar experience.  Steve ordered a bone-in ribeye, which was over $40, and he ordered it medium rare.  It came out medium to medium well.  Okay, it was still good, but it was overcooked and if you're spending that kind of money on something, you should get it the way you want it.  And then there was our waiter.  He tended bar and tables, but there weren't that many of us.  Bottom line is that we'd go huge chunks of time in between him checking on us.  We had to flag down another waitress to get plates for our appetizer as it sat and got cold.  I didn't have anything to drink for 20 minutes, from before we got our food to after someone else brought out our food.  No water, no wine, no drink at all, until I was halfway through my food.  And finally, we were done with our meals, waiting for to go boxes and our check, for so long, with only a few other people in the restaurant, while he chatted with some folks he knew, that we flagged down another waitress who may also have been a manager.  Steve said "I don't think we actually have a waiter, but we need to-go boxes and our bill so we can leave."  She took our drinks off the bill, came back with our boxes, and we left, but good grief.  Ridiculous. The food I had was delicious, but the aggravation wasn't worth the even discounted bill.  

I dropped Steve off at home after that, with our leftovers, and I went out to Kroger to pick up cookie baking supplies, a card, and a gift card.  These are for Kaylee's pianist for ISSMA.  He didn't want to come down, but he agreed to do it for Kaylee.  That meant he had to get up early, drive to Indy, park in a huge parking lot, play the piano for one 6 or 9 minute (can't remember) piece, and then go home, for free.  So I baked him chocolate chip cookies while Kaylee practiced her sax until she hurt her lip, and I got him a gift card for Outback, and a thank you card that she wrote out a note in.  She could have done it without him, but it sounds SO much better with accompaniment.  We all went to bed around 11 to try to get some sleep. 

Saturday morning came too early for all of us.  Kaylee woke up at 5:30 am to try to get moving and get ready.  Normally it takes her about 20 minutes to get ready, but today she was barely ready to go by 7 am, when we left.  She felt miserable, her head was stuffed up, she couldn't breathe, and she basically felt like death.  We tried to tell her she could back out of this, that maybe it would be best to not go.  She said no way, she's going.  It's her Senior year, her last chance to do it, she didn't get to take her vocals to State because of Disney, and if she gets a Gold, she has a chance at being Principal Chair at the Music Festival, a goal she's had for this year.  So she was determined to go.  I'll be honest, I was concerned that she wouldn't be able to play well enough.  She hadn't had enough time to practice, she couldn't breathe well, her head was muddled, and she was going first thing in the morning, which is the worst time to do ISSMA.  The judges start off stricter and loosen up as the day goes on, historically pretty consistently.  Even if they're not supposed to.  So all I could think was, getting a Gold at State isn't as easy as a Gold at District, and District had given her several pieces of advice on what to do at State to make it better, and she hadn't been able to practice most of it enough.  She was going to be pretty upset if she got a Silver, and didn't get to be Principal Chair at the Festival, and would feel like she failed.  I swear all of this is harder on parents than on the kids. 

We got there, and found the warm-up room, and it was CHAOS.  The room is small, and packed out with kids, there was no room left at any table, and most were standing around shoulder to shoulder, all practicing different loud instruments playing different songs all at the same time.  The room was hot, close, full, and painfully, painfully loud.  Kaylee said with her blocked head, it was really bad.  I walked back out at a sprint walk, I couldn't handle it. At all.  She stayed in there and ran through her piece a time and some, and then came out to join me waiting.  I have nothing but respect for the kids who can do that. I don't know how you can play your song listening to 30 other songs at top volume right next to your ear.  How do you tune that out and only hear your own rhythm and notes?  

We went down to the performance room, and found that nobody had gone yet.  Then one person went and they got a Silver.  Meanwhile, Steve had heard a kid playing sax in the warm-up room with Kaylee, who was amazing. He was playing the same song Steve had played on the sax for State, a song that he got a perfect score on, no errors, and he said that the kid was playing it better than he did back then.  The problem is, if the kid goes, whomever goes after him suffers in comparison.  They're not supposed to judge like that, but how could you not?  And he was there, warming up, which means he was probably going soon, and there was really one room for performances.  So Steve pushed to have Kaylee go early, without telling her why.  You can do that sometimes.  Going before Mr. Perfect with the professional saxophone, and after someone who got a Silver, so if you do well...  So her pianist got there (THANK YOU Mr. B!), and we went, second to go for the whole day.  The judge was friendly and engaging (whew), and she performed well.  She stopped in between movements, coughed, drank water, and did the next movement, which is what her band director told her to do (minus the coughing thing), to take breaths in between, and that that was okay.  It really helped her to get some air in between.  She made some minor mistakes in the 2nd movement, killed it on the 3rd, fast-paced movement, and walked away with the Gold, well deserved.

The grading sheet came back with good feedback on things to improve or work on, and included that she'd done a good job, particularly with a cold, which we hadn't told him but he could obviously see for himself, and said "Way to Persevere!"  I was once again impressed by my own daughter's ability to face potential failure at something difficult and go for it anyway.  Her desire to achieve the goal was stronger than her fear of failure.  That doesn't come as easily for me as it does for her, and it impresses and amazes me when I see her step up and do something like that, and succeed at it to boot. 

On the way home, I texted her pianist, to let him know she got a Gold, and to thank him.  As part of the conversation, I mentioned that the judge had mentioned liking the "piano dynamics".  I thought that meant he liked the piano.  Kaylee says "MOM.  NO!  That means he liked the soft dynamics of the saxophone, it has nothing to do with a piano!"  Steve starts laughing.  I'm embarrassed because I look like an idiot to the accompanist, who was too kind to laugh at me via text and point out the error.  Kaylee promptly texted her musical friends, who laughed at me for it.  She said "Don't you know music, mom??"  I do, but I've not heard of "piano".  If he'd have written out Pianissimo, I'd have gotten it.  Oh well, I got to be amusement for a lot of people today at least.  ;)

We came home, and she went up to the couch, passed out, and slept for hours.  And hours.  I know she was asleep for 4 hours minimum.  I left the house to go test fly a Cherokee for an hour, was gone for hours, and when I got home she was still lying in bed.  Hopefully it helps her feel better, because when I saw her this afternoon, she looked really bad.  She has started coughing some, she was flushed, her head's a mess, and she feels just awful.  So after I flew the Cherokee, I stopped at CVS and picked her up some Puffs with Lotion tissues, because her nose is just raw now, and some medicine she can drink instead of pills, because she hates taking pills, and I got some throat lozenges too.  So she was happy with the medical assist.

Tonight Kaylee is writing a speech about Doris Day.  She keeps yelling out facts to us about why she loves Doris Day.  "Did you guys know that she turned down the part for Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate" because she felt it was immoral and inappropriate and she wouldn't do it even though her popularity was waning by then, it could have been a big career boost, and the film ended up huge?  She stuck to her principles.  I love her."  Or "Did you know Doris set a record in acting that has never since been broken?"  Etc.  

She'd probably be really annoyed at me for writing this part but I'm going to do it anyway.  Friday she told me about some Prom Drama going on.  A long time ago, a young man (Sam) asked if he asked her to prom when the time came, if she'd be amenable to that.  She told him yes.  Fast forward several months.  For the shortened version, another young man (Joe) wanted to ask her to Prom.  She is really good friends with Joe, and hangs out with him a lot as is, moreso than Sam.   But her friends told Joe that she'd already told Sam she'd say 'yes' when he asked, which was coming up soon.  Joe called her up anyway, and asked her to Prom.  She told him she'd like to, but she'd already agreed to go with someone else--who hasn't officially asked yet, but kind of.  She would have enjoyed going with Joe more.  It would be less awkward for her, and they'd have a good time.  She really wished he'd asked her first.  But she was true to her word, and did the right thing.  Now Joe is upset and is causing some issues.  And I couldn't be more proud, because while what she did SHOULD be common courtesy and common sense, it's not, not in this day and age. It shows character, especially the fact that she didn't even talk to us about it ahead of time, or spend time stressing over what to do.  She knew what to do, she knew what was right, and she did it without hesitation, even though she wishes it would have been a little different.   I also think it's sweet that two young fellows really want to go to Prom with her, to the point where they're kinda fighting about it, even though it's a done deal.  I certainly didn't have anyone fighting over me in high school.  :D

During Kaylee's Disney trip, at some point her clear coat nail polish leaked and glued a t-shirt to a pair of underwear.  She really likes both these items, so we have spent time trying to save them.  Acetone got them apart and flattened out, globs gone.  Now they're in the wash in some kind of hope that the rest of it will come out. Steve nor I are holding our breath. She is.  We shall see.  Hopefully the lesson learned for the day is "put stuff like that in ziploc bags so if it leaks nothing else gets ruined."  

So, that's a weekend update for the young lady.

One last thing I have to throw out is about this Cherokee flight today.  I was going to do it tomorrow, but the winds for tomorrow are forecasting 45 knots.  While that's not impossible, it's sure not something I feel the need to do for fun.  I need to test fly the plane because in the past it had started having engine surges after about 45 minutes of flight time, and we needed to see if that was fixed, or if we could figure out what's causing it, before we take it on a very long trip to Iowa to deliver it home.  Today's weather was marginal, which was why tomorrow was going to be the day, but I'd rather do marginal ceilings than 45 knot winds and moderate turbulence.  So when I looked at the weather, everything was around 1200' overcast.  I can stay around 2000' MSL then, which is fine for what I'm doing.  I get out there, the plane is full of fuel, I get in, and there's no navigation radio in there, so I can't check AWOS, but that's fine, I can read a wind sock.  ;)  I take off on Runway 14, and about 600' above the ground, it gets very white.  Huh.  At the same time, my door didn't get sealed all the way, so it's hissing and blowing cold air on me, and it's too cold for that.  So I landed, pulled off the runway, closed the door properly, and called AWOS on the phone.  It said 900' overcast.  It was wrong, I didn't have 900'.  But my options for tomorrow were no good, and we need to fly it to Ohio early Monday morning, so, I decided to use Class G airspace rules.  I took off  again, listened to Grissom's frequency to hear any jets coming into Kokomo, and I flew about 500' above the ground in a big circle.  Runway to the Kokomo Resevoir up north, then circling around back towards the runway, without ever getting in the flight path of the ILS 23 or the RNAV 14 approaches, which would be what is in use.  Waves of clouds would come through, sometimes scuddy ones coming in under me, but I mostly stayed clear of clouds.  I had about 3 miles of visibility.  So 1 mile and clear of clouds is legal for Class G, and I had a little better than that on vis at least.  I circled for an hour, checking on the engine.  All ran smoothly, all ran well.  After about an hour, I noticed the clouds moving in, and even my little radius circle was getting sketchy, so I called it good, landed, and put it away.  Later in the day it got down to about 200' and 1/8 mile and fog for awhile there.  Wasn't the prettiest day, but I got the job done, legally and not in a thoughtless or unsafe manner.  500' above any person, property, etc., and 1 mile and clear of clouds.  I had every light on the plane blasting too, just in case anyone else was up there with me in Class G.  lol  It would have felt nice to fly again, but I had to spend the whole time looking very carefully and paying very much attention to everything I was doing for that hour.  No relaxing on this one.  Couldn't even listen to music loudly because I was listening for the engine to surge.  Which it didn't do.  Thankfully!  So not a super relaxing flight.  Did leave the ground though, with me in the left seat, so, that's something.  ;)

So that was our busy, packed out weekend.  Tomorrow, we take a pause, and everyone rests up and recuperates before Monday hits.

I tried to take a photo of Kaylee before she started playing, but I never did get a good one.  She looks pretty angry in that second one.  lol

Doing a test run with the pianist to get tuned.

Focusing, I assume.  Water bottle on the floor for in between movements.

Her last solo performance Gold Medal.

The score sheet.

This is the panel of the oldest Cherokee I've ever flown in my life.  No VOR head, no real DG, no back-up or monitoring capable radio, no Nav radio, that LORAN is a brick, and the VSI doesn't work right.  Oh, and no brakes on either side.  You have to use the hand brake.  Which is fine if you know that ahead of time and are used to those.  lol  This is one seriously VFR only airplane!  Good thing it's going back to a farmer's field, and he only flies it around in lovely weather, locally.

Isn't that lovely out front?  See why I was busy paying attention?  ;)  At about 2 o'clock you can see the beginning of Runway 5 in the photo.  I'm right by the airport, coming back in to land as the visibility was dropping.

Activities

This feels like one of those "This is what I did today" posts.

I started off with one plan, and then Steve had a list of stuff he wanted me to do, so I incorporated that in, and got it all done.  Like a boss.  ;)

So after lunch I went out to Glenndale to pick up a box for Steve, and check to see if we had condiments out there for the EAA meeting tonight.  Then home to deliver soup and pick up some supplies for SMA Support, on to Meijer to pick up some food for tonight's EAA meeting, then on out to Kokomo Airport to pick up a cough assist to ship out.  While I was there I cleaned up the machine and took some photos of "my" sad T-6 with the panels off, before heading off to UPS to ship off four different packages to four states around the US, from Vermont to Oklahoma and a few places in between.  I made it back home long enough to greet Kaylee when she got home, and talk to her for a few minutes, before she went back for Musical practice.  I got my exercise in, and then it was time to go out and fly with a student.  It was my first time up in a week, only my 4th flight in the entire month, and I haven't actually touched an airplane myself since the 8th, and the time I flew myself before that was a month ago today.  That does not feel good for me.

After leaving the airport, I got to Glenndale just in time for the EAA meeting to start, hot dogs and all.  It was a really good turn-out, and we even had several visitors including two women student pilots, which is pretty cool, actually, since also at the meeting were two other existing women pilots.  Unusually high numbers of estrogen in there.  :)

Kaylee is still sick, and her nose is starting to bleed from all the blowing she is doing.  Her nasal passages are swollen to the point she can't get nasal spray up there, and as she put it, "If I didn't have a mouth, I would die."  That sounds obvious, but she of course means because breathing through her nose is hit and miss.  She's still plugging along at school and musical practice.  Poor kid.

The beautiful flower on Ann's deck

My parachute sitting next to my helmet sitting on a shelf.  *sniff*

Panels off, T-6 on its way to almost starting the annual.

Days

We had a sad little "Winter Weather Advisory", and we ended up with a little snow and a little ice.  Not even noteworthy.  I'd seriously just call it "February", not some special storm.  Kaylee had a two-hour delay from it, and she was struggling to wake up.  She's still sick, still on DayQuil meds to get through school.  She should be staying home, but musical is coming up fast, they've lost a bunch of days for weather, her sax state ISSMA is coming up fast and she's not ready, and she's just feeling too behind to sit at home and feel sick, she'd rather go to school.  I understand, but...

Steve and I were driving to lunch on Monday, and I saw a guy jogging on the side of the road, wearing a big black cape.  As we pulled up I said "Is that BATMAN?"  It was, indeed.  I was dying to get a picture, but I missed him and Steve wouldn't do it.  Today I see a friend in Kokomo who posted this picture, after seeing a jogger today.  I laughed out loud and in glee that somebody got a photo of him.

"I'm BATman".

I had a dental appointment scheduled for today, but I couldn't for the life of me think of what.  I'd had a cleaning already, and my teeth were already fixed in the previous three total appointments.  So I called this morning and asked why I was coming in today.  They said it was to fix my tooth. I said "That's already been done".  They said it wasn't in the records, but she'd ask the doc, and if he didn't think so, she'd call me back in.  I didn't end up needing to come back in.  So that was one dental appointment I didn't have to go to.  :D  Yay!

Got quite a bit more done today.  Caught up on a lot of correspondence, completed a few projects Steve had given me, and got three more packages ready to send for SMA Support, for starters.  It's always good to be productive...

Case of the Mondays

It was a bit of an uphill day, but like every other day, it ends, and you get to move on to the next day.  :)

My morning started at the doctor's office at 8:30 am.  I left a little early because the roads were slick, especially in the country, but it wasn't too bad.  I was there to do the blood draw for my labs.  That was actually the smoothest part of my day.  I didn't even feel her stick me, and it was just the easiest thing that happened all day!

While I was there in person, I wanted to straighten out an issue with Ann's meds.  We went into CVS on Friday to pick up her other meds, and they said this one med didn't have a script for it so they couldn't fill it, even though all meds were supposed to be on automatic refill there.  CVS said they faxed the doc's office, and the docs hadn't gotten back to them yet.  So Monday morning I ask the doc's office, and they say "We don't have any fax from CVS."  Then they go on to say "We don't have any changes in her medicines in the computer, we don't show her on anything different."  Steve had driven out there with a paper in hand and given them the updated meds list, In Person, it was in the doctor's hand, and in the nurse's hand.  The office won't write the script for it without more "legwork" on it, and we're down to one pill.  I got upset at them.  I don't yell, but it was obvious I was...upset.  Long story short, the doctor's office got straightened out, then called it in to CVS, who got it ready by this afternoon.   Come to find out, some system in the back had the records, but the system at the front desk didn't.  Because THAT'S efficient and safe, to have not updated records at the front desk where reception is dealing with patients too.  It's no wonder that mess-ups on medications are one of the highest causes of medical problems in the country.

After lunch, I ran home, and Kaylee walked in.  She's got a sunburnt forehead and feet, swollen feet, and some kind of disease.  She feels yucky, her head hurts and is blocked up.  She slept most of the afternoon, and I picked up some more DayQuil and NyQuil for her, and hopefully she can start healing up.  She has an orthodontal appointment in Indy tomorrow at noon.  I had an ultrasound appointment at the same time, so I moved mine, and hopefully she won't have to move hers.

Next up I took Dulcie to the vet.  She wouldn't get in the cat carrier, and I think that someone should video those attempts for a little comedic entertainment.  I swear cats have 8 legs and arms and can move them in all directions at once.  I had to wrap her up and drop her in vertical feet first to get her in there.  All the way there she "Meowled", like Chewbacca.  She was so sad and unhappy.  The vet said that she's a pound lighter than she used to be, and that she shows signs of dehydration. Then she said that she detected a significant heart murmur, and a couple of bad teeth, like Roadie had.  Tartar build-up in a couple of her back teeth.  But in this case, they don't want to do her teeth without knowing what causes the heart murmur, because it may cause her to have problems with the anesthesia.  Sound familiar?  So they want to run tests on her, but whatever is causing the heart murmur, she told me that they probably won't be able to fix.  So I had them do the blood work today, which didn't tell them anything that could cause the heart murmur.  Next up they want to do a heart work-up.  Not to fix it, because they said it won't, but just to know.  I'm sure that'll be cheap.  I need to schedule something soon, either the tests, or just "go for it" on the teeth and hope for the best.  Neither great options.

On my way home back from CVS, I chomped on my lower lip on the inside, and it's swollen and sore.  Don't you hate it when that happens?

I have someone I am trying to help with SMA Support.  They are unable or unwilling to provide me basic paperwork that says how much money they need and where it should be sent.  It's been weeks, and they claim they can't get a statement from this company, their lawyer isn't answering me, now they want me to call their lawyer.  They exaggerated the initial need, claiming they'd be put out of their home, which isn't true.  I want to help, but I'm not a sucker either.  I need to be a good steward of the money I have been trusted with, and I need at minimum a legit amount and person to send it to.  I don't want to call their lawyer.  I have told them what I need.  I want them to call their own lawyer and get what I need, a simple document.  You can only do so much for someone else before they need to step up and help themselves.  This is one of those times.

However, I do have three boxes of supplies going out for SMA Support, so that's a good thing!  Mail was shut down for today because of the holiday, but tomorrow I'll try to get those out after Kaylee's ortho appointment down in Indy and before our CAF meeting back down in Indy...

Lobster tails at Outback did make for a nice end to the day though.  :)

Here's one last one from Kaylee in the Magic Kingdom...

Infectious

There are several things that I'd consider infectious. 

For one, once Steve and I started doing a clean-out/organizing bent, it became rampant.  He's doing stuff out at the hangars, we're doing stuff in the house, he's doing our garage, we're doing SMA supplies.  It's out of control.  ;)

The twitchy feeling of not getting anything done on flying is contagious.  It's really making me grumpy.  I haven't heard from James on the B-17, I haven't heard back from Kim on the T-6 ground in Minnesota, I haven't heard from Jordan about the C-45 flying, or the C-47 for that matter.  I gave up on Tim and the TBM Avenger. I have asked about each of these things and not gotten responses, which is so much more frustrating than even a "changed our mind" or "not gonna happen".  Students aren't flying, trips aren't going, airplanes are down for annuals, T-6 hasn't even been started on, other T-6 isn't ready to be test flown for who knows how long yet.  Ugh.  That's why I'm cleaning so much stuff in the house.  I have nervous energies to expend one way or another.

People around me are also infectious.  One of my students had official Influenza A, followed by pneumonia.  He gave it to his wife. He canceled last Saturday, thank Heavens, but flew with Steve the week before that.  Thankfully Steve seems to have avoided it.  And Kaylee is sick, at Disney.  Yesterday she texted me that her throat hurt her really bad, and she got light headed and had to sit down.  She went out and had a good time anyway at Epcott, and out to eat at Rainforest Cafe, after getting some throat things.  Today she texted me that she was really sick and needed cold medicine but they don't have any of that at Disney, and they don't leave Disney until 11 pm, after which the hotel store is closed.  After trying a few things, I basically told her to hang on and enjoy what she can as best she can, and she'll be home tomorrow and I'll take care of her when she gets here.  Poor girl.  I think she's still having a good time, but feeling yucky isn't very "fair".  She'll be up super late tonight too, as they go to the airport at 2 a.m. for their early Monday morning flight, after which they have to go to the school and do something.  Yikes.  :(  Pray that she makes it through that all okay and can get home and rest.  And she's going to want to cuddle and she's probably majorly infectious.  Yikes to me.  ;)

Another thing that's infectious?  Doctor's offices.  Tomorrow morning I go back to the GP to get my blood work done, and that afternoon I have to take Dulcie for her "well cat visit".  She's going to hate me.  I'm going to try to not touch my face, wash thoroughly, and hold my breath the whole time I'm at the doctor's office.  This is not a good time of year for someone who isn't sick yet to visit the doctor.  Meanwhile, they said I have to "fast" from 8 pm on.  That made me smile, since I've been doing that anyway, and won't find it nearly as hard as usual.  So now it's 8 pm and I'm hitting the water bottle.  In a few days hopefully I'll get the "all normal" again, since it's been a few years.  If it helps, my blood pressure was nice and normal still, like 115/80.  And I cut a couple inches off my hair, too.  That has nothing to do with my health (I think), but I was feeling pretty straggly with it.  Maybe it'll thicken it up a little bit too, right, Mom?  :)

Friends at Epcott

Kaylee probably infecting Meredith. ;)

Group photo of all the Seniors there.  Kaylee is in the 2nd row, right side, dark blue shirt.

Kaylee and Morgan

Sully!

 

Kay, Meredith & Olaf

Kaylee texted me "I'm big excited about this".  Mary Poppins it is!

Kaylee at the Rainforest Cafe, her favorite restaurant ever.

Air Break

As of yesterday, I was flying to Iowa to pick up Jerry who was flying an ancient Cherokee 180, VFR only, home.  Then yesterday afternoon, Dustin texted me and asked if I could fly the C-340 to Kansas City, MO.  I said sure.  Money is good.  But that evening he texted back and said that trip was off.  So I was back to Iowa.  Then this morning, Jerry had to cancel his flight because he had to be home sooner.  Meanwhile, Steve was going to go to Tennessee with Nathan in the Cheyenne, but he had a computer problem pop up.  I was suddenly open, so I went to TN instead.  We didn't get to see a lot out the window, as weather was moving in, but it felt really good to sit in an airplane again.   I need to do more of that, and soon.  My itch is not scratched yet.  In fact, it may be worse.  I have things I need to do.  I need Walt to hurry up and be ready to have his T-6 flown, for one.  I need to actually fly, not just straight and level or autopilot it.

Kaylee got to her hotel late, and their luggage hadn't made it there yet.  So everyone went to bed and had to sleep in their jeans, which Kaylee said was super uncomfortable, and then their bags arrived at 2 am to their room.  This morning they were up early, and tired, and started their day.  She's texted a few times so far, she's having a good time, rubbing in the warm temps, and the good food.   So that's good.  Here are the few pictures she's sent so far.  I think you can figure out which one is Kaylee.  ;)

V-Day

Happy Hallmark Love Day!  :)

The scale moved more today, so that was a bonus.  Of course I ended up eating a big Valentine's Day dinner, so probably not the best, but boy it was delicious, and I didn't eat after 8 pm still, so hey.  ;)

The day started with a doctor's appointment.  Steve had harassed me about doing a general physical, because I hadn't gone in years.  I just wanted the blood work, but they insisted on a visit first.  So fine.  I went in, and they set down a paper gown and said "Take off all your clothes and put this on."  I'm like "what??"  She said "It's been since 2015 since you had any of this done, so we'll do that today."  UMMMM.  Great.  I ended up leaving still feeling perfectly healthy, but having gotten a very physical physical done, plus appointments to get that mammogram I put off from 6 months ago, plus an ultrasound, plus a dermatology appointment, plus an appointment for Monday for that blood work I wanted in the first place.  This is why you don't go to the doctor.  You go to one and you end up with four more appointments, and NOTHING IS WRONG in the first place.  You just get to spend a fortune and let people you don't know see and do things they don't need to see or do.  Bah Humbug.

The rest of the day was busy with errands and shipping and shopping and so forth, until Steve and I went down to Cicero to a place called "10 West" for dinner.  Amazing food, amazing(ly high) prices, but boy, it was good.  I'm still full.  Seared tuna appetizer, medium rare small steak, crab stuffed lobster tail, a sample of creamed corn, and whipped potatoes.  Steve got an 18 oz bone in steak, and has some left-over for tomorrow. 

Kaylee's school loaded up a bus at 11 am to take them to Indy Airport.  As of 8 pm, they hadn't taken off yet.  They sat there from noon on.  I told her I could have gotten her to Florida, and gotten home, too, by then.  She said basically "Yeah, yeah."  lol  But she should be there now, checking into a hotel, and having fun with her friends.  :)

Insomnia

I ended up awake sometime past 4 am.  No real reason why, nothing's wrong, I was just A-Wake.  Eyes wide open, not even yawning, awake.  Even so, whenever I finally fell asleep, I was still back up at 8:30.  I wasn't tired all day, not until 8 pm here.  But now the good shows are on TV so tired will have to hold off for a little while.  ;)

It was another good, productive day over here.  Kaylee had school, then musical, and she's still not home by 8:40 pm, and she has to finish packing for her trip tomorrow.  She leaves from school at noon, so she has to get all ready before bed tonight.  She's excited about the trip.  I'm excited for her.  Going to Disney with her friends should be a good time, I hope!

I played the piano and did some singing today, just to make sure I still could.  Yep, still could.  Still not great at the high notes though.  ;)

Steve got a bunch done at the airport today, including working on hanging the engine on the Saratoga.  Pretty exciting stuff!  The T-6 needs to get going on its annual, so hopefully the Toga gets moved out of the way soon.  Walt's T-6 is getting a brand new engine on it, and he would like me to fly off the break-in hours on it when it's done.  The T-6 is one airplane I'd really rather not have to land dead stick, so when I do fly off those hours, it's going to at least start off for the first couple hours right over the top of that airport.  There are no good landing spots around Metro Airport.  There are houses and the city buildings on one end, and trees and houses on the other end.  No fields until you get pretty far away from the airport.  So I'm sticking over the top of the runways until I'm good and comfortable that the new engine is going to stay purring along like it's supposed to.  But I'm still really looking forward to getting in the airplane.  My tailwheel currency expires in 8 days, meaning it will have been 3 months since I flew one.  Not cool.  Not cool at all.

I've been not eating after 7-8 pm, and after about 3 days of that I did notice a difference.  Hopefully that continues.  I like eating at night the best, but I can work around that if it actually helps...

Weather Monster

I was up at 5 am for a trip to Alabama today.  I got up, and the weather was not good.  Strong headwinds, pushing us to the edge of our fuel limits.  A line of thunderstorms down there that would be hitting right when we got there.  A line of precip along the entire route of flight that caused icing issues the whole route.  And coming home, dropping temps, mixed precip, and complete uncertainty.  I could have gotten down there.  If we'd have delayed by 30 minutes, we'd have just dealt with moderate rain instead of storms.  We could have shot approaches in both directions; it was at to slightly above minimums most of the day.  I could have flown down at 7000' or below, and stayed out of most of the ice on the way down.  But Dustin said this wasn't that important of a meeting, he had a guy down there, and he could video conference in.  So we decided to call it off.   All day, looking around at the weather, I was glad.  By this afternoon, it started sleeting, and by this evening the roads were a sheet of ice.  A jet ran off the end of a runway, across a road and into a field in Portland, IN, sliding on the icy runway.  Another jet based out of Indy messaged that he was stuck down in FL because of the weather this evening.  It was a good day to not be flying, and so we didn't.

Tomorrow I was supposed to fly with someone else down to Kentucky then Alabama.  That was just called off tonight, too.  So I went from making a decent amount of money this week, to making no money this week.  And such is life in aviation.  ;)

At lunch, Steve asked me if I'd run the dishwasher or washing machine while he was in the shower right before I left.  I said no, why?  He said in the middle of his shower, he suddenly lost a bunch of water pressure, it went down to like half, then after a minute or two it came back up and he was done.  We get back from lunch, and Ann texts that she has no water.  I check ours, and ditto.  I look up our bill just to be sure a mistake wasn't made, and nope, it's not me.  So next I call the water company, and they inform me that a water main has broken, and we should get water back sometime around 5 pm.  Yikes.  We actually got it back around 3:30, so they hedged their bets, which is fine by me.  I was just glad to have water back.  Things made weird noises the first time you used them, especially the toilet and washing machine, but they worked.  Yay!

I had a little conversation today. I think I told you that to fly the WASP T-6, I had to do their 6 hours of groundschool.  I was told it would be the end of Feb. in Dallas.  I asked very specific questions and needed more info, none of which I got.  I poked them again, asked for an update.  Today, Richard-head got back to me that I'd have to join another Wing (the B-29 wing, for another $75/year), and go to their groundschool for T-6, in April, and if I wanted to go to a different Wing's T-6 groundschool instead, it would have to be for a G model, and he would have to review and approve of their groundschool ahead of time to make sure it was good enough.  There is so much wrong with this.  He is such a richard-head.  I could teach these ground schools, and I have way more T-6 time than he does.  Luckily I had cc'd another lady on this, who emailed me off-conversation and said that he was playing hardball (she doesn't know this, but it's because he doesn't like me), and that she was going to email someone else and get a better picture.  She came back that he was wrong, it could be any T-6 ground, and she told me that he was a bit of a mess and that he was off the Air Power Tour, which made me feel better, that at least maybe some other people have seen through his baloney.  She then invited me to join them in the Minnesota Wing's T-6 ground, if they're doing T-6 there as well (she was going to double check), in March.  So some good things came from it.  Mostly that I don't have to listen to Richard-head 'teach' a ground school on T-6, when he knows less about them than I do, and is puffing out and trying to assert authority to make my life more difficult just because I see through him and he knows it.  I hope the Minnesota thing does work out.  At least I'll be with someone I know and like.  That would be a nice change for CAF stuff.  ;)

I got a doctor's appointment made for myself today, I just wanted to do labs, but they insist on seeing you first, so fine.  They can see me, and then do labs.  Check that box off.   I got my four boxes of books off to Goodwill today, and caught up on a lot of correspondence that I was behind on.  I'm feeling pretty darned productive these days!  It's one nice thing about having a slow flying time frame--you get other stuff done.  Steve has been doing the same thing at the hangars.  Organizing, cleaning, getting stuff done.  Still would have been nice to have two trips this week, but hey...

Kaylee is doing laundry and packing for Disney. She leaves in two days!

Sleepy

I didn't sleep well last night, so I've spent most of today fending off a nap so I can sleep tonight.  Life as a middle-aged person, eh?  ;)

Steve is working on our fridge hookups, Kaylee is off to some after-church event, and she leaves for Disney on Thursday for her Senior trip.  I've done a few basic household chores but nothing heavy-hitting.  We have some boxes now to pack up our books, so I'll work on that tomorrow, along with at least three phone calls and appointments I have to make.  Love phone calls and appointments.  ;)

Yesterday I drove Kaylee, Meredith and Caitlin down to RaeLynn's Dress Shop, a popular place to get a lovely prom dress.  From her Sophomore year on, she's either borrowed a friend's dress, or bought one at the thrift shop in town.  So this was her first expensive fancy dress.  Caitlin already got her dress there, and Meredith is getting a dress later, so they were there to help Kaylee and have a fun day.

When we got there, the dress shop was Packed Out.  It was a Saturday morning, with prom less than two months away, so it was just super busy.  They had the dresses lined up by size, so Kaylee's size was off to the left, and away they went, looking.  You were supposed to have three dresses picked out before you could get a room.  Once she did, the first dress she tried on was an emerald green mermaid style dress.  It fit her almost like a glove, it was just a little too long for her.  They make all the dresses to fit an average height, and she's short, so they were all too long on her, but the fit was otherwise perfect.  She looked so grown-up and amazing.  She tried on a yellow one, which didn't look like her, and about 5 other dresses, and in the end she came back to the first one she tried.  So we bought it, shoes, and earrings to match, and got the name of who they recommend to alter the length.  We had a good time, and then went to Red Robin for lunch.  I had a salmon sandwich. Even their salads were 900 calories there, and so was their salmon sandwich, but at least it tasted good.  Coldstone Creamery was their next stop, and then I drove everyone home and dropped them off.   It was a fun day, tiring, but fun.  Check out the dress...

Looking at a picture with Caitlin

Caitlin helping her put shoes on.

One of the stages let you check out the dress from all angles.

Coldstone Creamery afterwards

All three girls were mostly passed out, but Caitlin busted me sneaking a photo.  :)

More dress photos.  It's hard to tell that it's emerald green vs black or olive green in these photos, but it is. 

The back of the dress. 

The required sign.  :)

Altitude Adjustment

For a Friday, it was busy, another one of those days you plan one way that ends up changing direction three different times.  We had Fried Chicken Friday at Glenndale today, and it was good and juicy, and someone made a Boston Cream cake that I had to have a piece of.  I picked the fried skin off the chicken to make it lower calorie, but I had to have a piece of that cake.  Never had it before, and it was deeeelicious.  I could have eaten the whole pan of it, so I left the airport running so I wouldn't take any more with me.

I went right out to the airport.  I'd planned on going home first, so I wasn't really dressed for it.  I didn't have a warm coat, a hat, or gloves, and it was super freezing cold.  The high was in the teens, and the winds were blowing gusting up to around 30 knots, making the wind chill sub zero.  The winds were right out of the west too, so when I walked to the other end of the hangars, I had to walk backwards the whole way, because the wind funnels in between those hangars and just blows like crazy, and it was just cutting through me and hurting my face within about 5 steps.  I get all the way down there, and the lock on the hangar is frozen shut.  Jerry L comes down with a blowtorch, and has to torch the lock to get us in, while we stand out there and freeze for awhile.  He ran me over to Muncie to pick up the 340.  I have a trip to AL on Tuesday, but the weather is going downhill again, so we needed to pick it up today in case we couldn't get it Monday.  SO cold and windy today.   I checked everything out on the way home, to make sure it still worked, for our trip.  The autopilot was working fine, which it wasn't before, so that's good.  But I shot an RNAV 5 approach into Kokomo, and never got a glideslope. So I tried the ILS 23, and THAT got a glideslope.  So I tried the RNAV 23, and no glideslope.  That's a problem, because the airport we're going into on Tuesday is in the middle of nowhere, and the only approaches they have are RNAV, and if we don't have a glideslope, our minimums are much higher to get in, so we have to hope the weather is good enough, or we have to go somewhere else, which poses a problem for rental cars, time to do the project, etc.  So I'll be looking at the weather, and we'll be trying to see if we can take care of the issue before then.

Landed with a nice stiff crosswind, put the plane away (freeeeezing), and then went to the terminal to meet with Steve and a new student I have.  He's a young man, a friend of Dustin's, and he's super eager to get going.  I was with him until almost 6 pm.  Had a lovely sunset on the way home to enjoy on the drive. 

Had a Wendy's chili and unsweet tea for dinner, which is low cal.  I think it's funny that I asked for unsweet tea and she came on and said "I'm sorry, we don't have any sweet tea right now."  About 50% of the time, I get sweet tea when I order unsweet tea, even if I enunciate the UN in the UNsweet.  It's like they can't believe someone would order tea not sweet.  I've started tasting it before I drive away, so I can get another one made when they goof up.  Kaylee doesn't mind the goof-ups though, because then she gets double the drink.  Tonight I said "Okay, but do you still have UNsweet tea?  That's what I'd like."  They did.  I didn't even have to taste it, because I knew they were out of the sweet.  ;)

It felt nice to get in the air again.  Too long, too long.

Jerry (who is appropriately dressed at least) thawing the lock with a blow torch.
Nobody let me have a blow torch.  ;)

Me.  Why?  I dunno.  I'm still alive I guess!

Flying home from Muncie. Sunshine glowing and a heater rolling.