Two Pilots & an LSW: Back To It

First thing to do this morning was take Dulcie to the vet. She was very unhappy about this turn of events, and I had a harder time than normal getting her into the carrier. I thought we'd be in an out, but I was there from 10:40 am until 12:15 pm. One of my favorite things is going to doctor appointments, and I've certainly been to a lot of them lately, and now I'm even going to the cat's. We're going back in two weeks, too, so more good times to come. ;) They said her anal gland is still in bad shape and they want to do it again in two weeks, and again mentioned how sweet and calm she was about something that most cats do not handle well. They also did a radiograph of her heart to see if it was enlarged (it was not), if there was fluid around her heart or lungs) there is not, or if anything looked off. It didn't--he said in picture form anyway, her heart looked good. She does not have congestive heart failure. That's very good news, meaning she didn't need any daily meds or anything (it was a possibility). It also was a couple fewer things that could be a problem for anesthesia. Not a full picture, because she still has a pretty severe heart murmur, and they aren't sure why and can't fix that, but at least something. He says he doesn't think her teeth are stopping her from eating, that she's holding her weight, and seems to be eating and drinking okay. So we have to decide. Do we risk doing the dental surgery to fix her teeth before they get too bad, knowing that she may have trouble recuperating or even waking up at all from the anesthesia? Or do we wait, monitor her weight and try to catch it in a timely manner this time if her teeth do start bothering her, and not do the surgery, with the risks that she may get weaker and not be able to handle it later? *sigh*

The vet ran so late, I missed lunch, and had to just drive through fast food and head right out to the airport for my students. I had a guy at 1:30, and he's brand new, and the winds were gusting to about 25 knots. He did really well with it though, and fortunately didn't mind getting tossed around the sky, didn't get sick or scared, so he'll probably stick it out and be fine. :)

After him, I took up the Champ for its post annual test flight. The other day the winds were gusting to 28 or so, around a 30-40 degree crosswind, and I'd smelled smoke, and figured it was just old oil burning off, but I just didn't feel right about it even though I'd pulled out the plane and was all ready to go. Today, the winds weren't much lighter, but they were really close to down the runway, and they were a LITTLE lighter. Just lighter enough that it didn't seem like such a workout or a potential problem in the works. So I went up and did the test flight, checked out the few systems, and then got tailwheel current with four or five takeoffs and landings. I'd have done more, but the 172 was taxiing out to do TOLS, and I didn't have a working radio, and I didn't want to interfere with the student, so I just stayed down. And might I add, I greased every one of those landings on, too, like rolled them on, a couple of them so smoothly I felt the wheel rolling before any weight was on it. I probably won't make a landing like that again anytime soon, they don't happen that often, so I have to enjoy them while I got them. I also had to enjoy that Steve and his student got to see that last one. I made it a wheel landing and taxiied down the runway with my tail up until I got to the intersection, to keep my speed up and get out of their way faster. When they came in after their lesson, the student said something like "There's the show-off". You're welcome. :D That felt really good, actually, to get up in the tailwheel and get current again.

Next up I had a checkride prep student who hadn't flown in over 2 months. The winds calmed down while we flew, but they started off pretty stiff. It was a good workout for him, and he got the workout all right. He told me at the end he was wiped out and I'd beaten him up. He's not wrong, and yet he had a good time anyway. ;)

We didn't finish until 8 pm, and by then both Steve and I were starved, so we ran out to Hacienda for some Mexican for a late dinner. I try to do the "don't eat after 7-8 pm" thing, but man that's tough with our schedules sometimes, especially at it stays lighter later. It's still slightly light at 8 pm now. If I tried to do the intermittent fasting thing, and had to push the times back, that would mean if I ate dinner at 9-10 pm, which we do sometimes, I wouldn't be "able" to eat until 3 pm for the first time that next day. That's not going to work. It's always something complicating trying to change habits or do better, eh?

Ann is I think doing better as far as the head and sinus stuff, but the antibiotics are giving her stomach problems. Gotta have them and finish them, but pray that her system gets more used to them, or she finds the right food to eat with them to help combat that some.

Kaylee, on Spring Break, left the house at 10 am today to spend the day doing a "Spiritual Boot Camp" with Meredith through their youth group. I'm not sure what all they did, but I'll ask Kaylee to tell me about it tomorrow. Tonight she was filling out scholarship applications to help with her DTS coming up. Oh, and she said "Now that I have some time off, I'm going to clean up my room. It's way too cluttered and it's getting to me." Steve staggered around like he was having a heart attack and I told him to quit making a thing out of it, or she might change her mind. I asked her, "Don't you feel trapped in there with all that STUFF?" She said she does. She hasn't cleaned it up yet but I'm hopeful for the future hearing her say that. We were starting to worry she was going to grow into a little Hoarders person with a disaster house when she no longer lived here. Maybe there's hope after all!