Endings and Beginnings

It's the end of August already?  I mean, it's SEPTEMBER already?  This whole month just blew by.  I haven't had time to blink, hardly. 

Kaylee left to go back to college today.  Her room set-up is really cool. I sure never had a dorm room like that!  She's a lucky kid!  If I could save off the video she sent, I'll try to post that later.  Steve and AE drove over to deliver a table for them. The girls couldn't get the big round table through the door, and neither could a dad who was there to help. Steve showed them how to get it in, and they were impressed, and he said "Just so you know, that's a better life lesson than anything you'll get in class this year".  Practical stuff 101, how to think outside the box and get stuff done.  ;)

We have a helper coming over to do stuff with Ann now. Her name is Kelly, and tonight was the 3rd time she's come over.  The first time Ann sort of politely kicked her out. The second time went well. Tonight was great and Ann wanted her to sleep on the couch and stay with her permanently.  She gets her dinner, and does her meds for the evening, keeps her company, does puzzles, projects, talks, helped take care of the marks on her face, even took care of the facial hair.  So...it's good to have the help.  She's coming three days a week. So far so good.

I was up early again this morning, this time to go to Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio. It's a pretty cool airport, a lot like Meigs, right on the Lake shore, although Lake Erie vs Lake Michigan, but still. The city skyscrapers right there. I couldn't get a good photo for two reasons. One they kept me too busy, and two, I had a front seat passenger up there with me that I didn't feel quite right pulling out my phone and taking photos while he was watching me.  So I figured I'd get one on takeoff, and then...he sat up front again and they had me take off on the opposite runway without a view of the skyscrapers, and then they turned me right out over the lake and away from everything, so my picture was bleh.  Bums.  

While I was there, I learned they don't have a courtesy car. What?!  So they dropped me off in town to eat breakfast at a place called Karl's. I wasn't sure I was in the right place when I walked in. It's a small bar and deli, one guy behind the bar doing it all.  It was the right place. That man was a hard working miracle worker, the food was fast, home made and good, and soon the place was standing room only, and waiting out the door.  At 11 am on a Tuesday.  That'll tell you something right there. I got bacon, eggs, toast, home fries. All very good.  Then I had to call the FBO to come get me again, and tip the driver, because that's what you do.  For as much as they charge, they ought to have a courtesy car. The worst of it was there is a lot of cool stuff to look at there.  A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a science center, a submarine, a little battle ship, all sorts of cool stuff, but you can't walk there, and I didn't have a car to drive there.  So I had to hang out at the FBO, but I sat in a chair and watched sailboats go by on the lake right out the window, and read a book, so...I can't complain too much.  ;)

The flight out and back was uneventful and fine, good weather, and smooth. I did have a guy up front with me who was brand new to all this, who asked me questions non-stop from start up to shut down and everything in between. I had to tell him to pipe down while I was going in and out of the Class B airspace at Cleveland, as it's a little busy.  He grilled me the entire time.  I was okay for awhile, but then I was done, but he wasn't.  lol  I do think he had a good time though, which is important, and Ted got to and from his meeting in a timely manner, which was what mattered most.  The other guy going drove over because his wife is pregnant and she's afraid I'll kill him in a plane crash.  So he had to drive for 4-5 hours instead.  His loss.  ;)

I've been getting stressed out about my to-do list again lately, so I tackled it tonight and I feel a little better. It's the not knowing of what's going to happen when that is most stressful, and it all started piling up.  So I moved the T-6 checkout lady in Wisconsin to after our airshow on the 18th to give me some breathing room on getting current in the back seat of the T-6 again. That made me feel better right away. Thursday I may be going back to Pennsylvania to pick up the Cheyenne. Friday we'll be going over to Marion to set up for the fly-in, and I will probably take the C-45 over then to park it and have it ready for Saturday.  Saturday is the fly-in, and I'll be flying the T-6 over and giving rides until 2-4 p.m. depending on demand.  Afterwards I'll be transporting the T-6 and then the C-45 back home and putting it away, and then dinner out with the crew.  Sunday morning I'm headed to Terre Haute, where I'll do my BT-13 checkout, from the front and then the back seat, as I said, the first time I'll have flown the thing, so I hope it goes well.  Sunday evening we'll stop over at Jordan Brown's place, where he's doing a camp out with his family and friends for the holiday.  Monday I'm going to do a Champ checkout with  Morgan in Wabash for Herb's airplane.  I've got a guy coming to do his last few hours of T-6 checkout time in our T-6 that I still need to set up, but everything else I got organized today.  I emailed CAF HQ and asked them to extend my C-45 currency so I could take it this weekend to our fly-in event and for the 18th airshow, because Doug R. has been swamped and hasn't made it over here yet to do my checkride.  He's saying he'll get here as soon as he can.  I sent in a form to the FAA to get a LODA (Letter of Deviance Allowed) or something like that to be able to instruct in an Experimental aircraft--the Legend Cub.  I got the rest of the above set up today.  I think things are falling into place, with a plan. Which is good.

Tomorrow I've got a 10 am flight, a possible demo flight in the Legend Cub, and then a night flight with Isabel.  Kaylee's off to college, Ann has company now and then, Steve is doing all right, Roadie is gaining weight and mewing a lot, and I think I'm fairly organized for the next few weeks.  So...all in all, not bad.

This is the little bar/deli I had breakfast at. Doesn't look like much. It ended up being more than expected.

My one halfway shot of the airport and the skyline. But it wasn't nearly as cool as landing from the other direction with the skyscrapers right there.

My one in-air flying photo from today. Eh.

OH. And this came in the mail today.

Quickly

Saturday was a fly-in at Westfield Airport, an Italian Sausage lunch.  I took the T-6.

Sunday I came down with a bad headache, about 1 month exactly since the last one, so I went to bed early, waking up at 5 am feeling better, for a trip to drop the Cheyenne off in Pennsylvania.  My chase pilot, Spencer, hadn't taken an actual IFR trip before like this, so we got up early to talk about weather, options, trip planning.  

It was beautiful in the morning, and then when I got there, the clouds moved in and I had to shoot an RNAV approach in.  I broke out 200' above minimums. That was a surprise since it was supposed to be VFR.  Fortunately for Spencer, it broke up in the 45 minutes before he got there.  lol

It was a slog getting home in the 172RG with a headwind. We were doing 105 knots groundspeed, and it took over 3 hours to get home.  It was 50 minutes there doing 375 knots. Bleh.

My headache came back tonight, as Steve and I were up flying the Legend Cub.  He did four takeoffs and landings and I did the last one, but I couldn't enjoy it as much because of my head.  By the time I got home, it was all gnarly.  I could barely go over to Ann's and do her dinner before coming back home, medicating and lying on the couch.  It took over an hour to go away because it got so far along.  *sigh*  

So now I'm going to update my logbook, post these photos, and go to bed, because I have another early morning, with a MBros trip to Cleveland, possibly in poor-ish weather (thanks Ida).

Waving hi on the way to Westfield. Steve's in the back seat but his shadow got cut off.

I didn't take photos of all the planes or people, just of the T-6 and the country scenery.

Our trailer with some folks hanging around.

Me saying goodbye at the end of the day

Spencer is way up there in "24B", top of the pic, 20,000' below me

Cheyenne at 7:30 am.

Take-off out of Kokomo

My #1 Com failed. Good thing I had a #2.

Just some sun through the clouds

Poof, Pretty

376 knots TAS, straight and level. Not shabby.

The FBO at KAFJ with the RG in the background

Me and the Legend Cub.  It's up for sale so I probably won't be able to fly it for much longer. 

Because I Can

Yesterday, I don't even know what I did. I don't think I flew. I think I was hot, sweaty and grumpy, and I completely don't remember what I was doing.  Which is a little disturbing.  Wait. I got up early to have a Super Decathlon flight but the weather moved in and kept that from happening.  I was out at the airport for awhile to...oh yeah, update the avionics on the 340 before today's flight.  Which I did successfully, and did not goof up this time.  Yay me!  Of course they expire again on the 9th of Sept. so I get a whole like 10 days out of this cycle.  Brother.  What a pain in the butt.  And...I don't think I felt very well.  

We had someone named Kelly come over for the second time yesterday, to spend time with Ann. The first time, after Kaylee left after introducing them, Ann asked Kelly to leave, so that was a bit of a fail.  Last night was attempt #2, and Steve went over too, and then when he left those two did well, and hung out until about 9 pm.  So that was the first successful run. Kelly will get her dinner and meds and do whatever she wants from 6-9 pm on Mon, Wed & Fri now, we think.  Companionship, medical care like for her skin issues, do puzzles, take her for a walk, whatever they want to do for a few hours.  They seemed to hit it off finally yesterday, so hopefully that continues to be a good thing for her.

I went to bed around 10:45 pm, and I woke up at 3 am, and never got back to sleep.  Yay.  I finally gave up and got up at 5 am, even though I didn't have to be up until 5:45 am.  (Yay again).  I had a MBros trip to Louisville, KY, wheels up at 7 am.  It's only an hour flight down there and the weather was decent, so it wasn't even a challenge. When I got there, the courtesy car had been loaned out overnight and wasn't back. It's a tower controlled field, relatively busy, and their only courtesy car was gone all night and not back. I found that irritating. So I used Uber Eats and had breakfast delivered to me.  Bacon, scrambled eggs with chives, and a "carrot cake pancake" which was amazing except it had golden raisons in it (blech).  Everything else was truly delicious though.  I read a book, caught up on some emails, and had a nice morning, and then the flight home was another basic simple hour flight, and done, and money earned easily for the day. I don't mind easily earned money. ;)

Because I was back by 2 pm, and the flights had been so short, I wasn't "done" yet. It was fiercely hot and muggy still, so I took the Legend Cub up with the door open, for quite awhile, did four takeoffs and landings after flying around.  I still wasn't done so I asked Spencer if he wanted to fly it, which he did, so he got current and did his three full stop takeoffs and landings in it and added a new airplane to his logbook.  Then Steve said 'no thanks' when I asked him, so I asked Isabel, and she wanted to go too, so we went up and messed around a little, and I let her do a takeoff and landing too.  Then it started raining, so I finally put it away, fairly well satisfied.  Tim put it up for sale, so he told me to go fly it if I wanted to before it's gone, so I am.  He also has a Cub with tundra tires on it back in the corner of his hangar, and I'm going to take that one for a spin too.  I've never landed with big fat tires on, so I have to see how this goes.  :D  I can't decide whether to let everybody watch and have some potential entertainment of me bouncing down the runway like a basketball, or to do it on my own and see how it goes first.  People would get a kick out of watching me bounce around, I'm sure. I'm trying to decide if my manhood can take it.  ;)  Maybe I won't bounce it, who knows.  I'm going to try to just put it down on one wheel and then fly it the rest of the way down, but...we'll see.  I bet it bounces.  lol

Ann isn't feeling well tonight, says her stomach hurts, and she has gas.  Not sure what got to her, but hopefully she's better by morning.  It's tough when she doesn't feel well and wants you to just sit over there and watch her not feel well, whether there's something you can do about it or not.  And it's no fun to be almost 89, not feel good, not understand why or be able to communicate well. 

My ear piercing is doing well!  Doesn't really hurt at all, and the only time I run into trouble is the few times I've forgotten about it and accidentally pulled it doing something.  That doesn't feel so good.  I can wear a headset okay though.  We'll see about the helmet tomorrow at the Westfield fly-in.  It pushes in on my head and ears, so I'm a little more worried about it.  I may bring my regular Bose along just in case, because I know I can at least use that if need be.  

I enjoyed today, I think I kind of needed that.  I've been feeling unable to get any time to myself for awhile. I'm with a student, or with Kaylee even if Steve's at work, someone needs me, Ann needs me, Roadie needs me, Kaylee needs me, I haven't had time to just...be.  As an introvert I need that time.  Today when I went flying by myself with the door open, it felt like that little bit of air and space I needed.  

It was darker than this looks, but the sun was coming up.

Sunrise at 19,000'

Sweaty self-portrait

Legend Cub Flying

Kokomo Reservoir from above

Panel work

Model# and N# 

Me & Isabel

She doesn't look like she's having fun at all.  ;)

Hot Stuff

I was up at 5:45 am for an 8 am flight, all ready to go, and then weather popped up between us and him, and he couldn't get here, so we canceled.  I have to do it again tomorrow morning, early.  Then I have a night flight, if I keep it, and then I have a 7 am flight to Kentucky in the 340 on Friday morning.  Lots of early mornings in a row.  I'm going to get too tired for that soon.  I need sleep in mornings too.  :p

I stopped in at the bank to correct a mobile deposit problem, and CVS to get Ann's drugs, and then after lunch, Kaylee and I went to a local tattoo and piercing shop, and we both got a cartilage piercing.  Steve's not thrilled about it, but I like it. Right now mine's just a little dot, until it heals up, then I'll probably change it out for a small hoop.  I'm hoping it won't be too painful under my helmet or headset, and I'll find out tomorrow, at least on the headset.  Helmet will be this Saturday.  They have changed the rules on care. They say not to twist or turn it or even touch it, and I always thought you were supposed to do that so that it wouldn't grow over there.  They also said when it makes crusties not to pick at them.  I'd have thought you were supposed to keep it clear, but apparently it takes longer to heal up if you keep picking off the crusties.  You're supposed to clean it twice a day, gently.  Which reminds me, it's time to go do that.  It actually sort of hurt.  It burned a fair amount going in.  The last time I got my ears pierced, I did it myself by numbing my earlobe with an ice cube and just shoving the earring all the way through on my own.  I didn't feel that one.  ;)  This way is more sanitary obviously.  Anyway, this is what it looks like.  I melted my face off in the heat today, so pardon that, but here 'tis.  My "stingy" tiny earlobes have stretched out over the years. I used to only barely have room for one earring. Now I have room for two in the lobes.  Such a rebel am I.  ;)

It does say not to sleep on it and I'm not sure how to do that since I can't sleep on my back or stomach and can't stay on one side all night long.  So... I guess we'll see. 

It didn't seem as hot as it was supposed to get today, but it was definitely humid and muggy.  When I went out to the airport afterwards, to top off the 340 for Friday's trip, and update all the avionics in it, even though they expire in like 2 weeks again, I was soaked in the hangar in just minutes.  It's brutal out there. 

Kaylee and I went to McCalister's to pick up her salad, went to Panera to pick up Ann's soup, bunch of other "today I" stuff, and basically I just stayed busy all day even though I wasn't flying.

Reminds me, I need to update my logbook...

Did I Mention Steamy

My first flight of the day at 8:30 am had 94% humidity, wheeeew that's moist.  It was a flight review with someone I hadn't flown with before, had his own airplane, a Cherokee 160.  He is a Private Pilot with 180 hours and wanted to get more comfortable in it, and wanted to do stalls.  So we went up and started with steep turns, then went into power off stalls clean, power off stalls dirty, turning power off stalls, falling leaf stalls, went into power on stalls, and did deliberately uncoordinated falling leaf stalls so a wing would drop and he'd have to recover with his rudder.  By the time we were done, he was a lot more relaxed and comfortable with the plane and what it could do and what he could do with it.  And the whole time we were doing it, there was a big rainbow right out the window. It was a whole 180 degree rainbow for awhile, a double rainbow, and it stayed there the whole time we were up maneuvering. It was really pretty, and of course the photos I took don't do it justice. 

At 1 pm I took Ann to the doctor for a blood draw. We went in at 1 pm, and we were out by 1:09 pm. I forgot the paperwork.  Afterwards I took her through Culver's for a treat, and then ran the paperwork back out to the doctor's.  I went to go to the bank to deposit a check that isn't going through on mobile deposit, and today is the one day the bank is closed for "updates".  Brother. 

Another flight from 6-8 pm, a currency flight.  He wanted to do some aggressive maneuvering too, we did regular Lazy 8's, almost aerobatic Lazy 8's, 70 degree bank turns, wingovers, zero G, just messing around for a little relaxation for him. He'd been having a rough time at work, and wanted a little break, and air therapy does the job.

Rainbows, Rainbows for an hour...

Concord, NC

The ole alarm went off at 4:30 am.  In case you're wondering, that's early.  I woke up to fog.  Well, I woke up to 200' and 1/2 mile, and by the time I got out to the airport, it was down to 1/4 mile and fog. Normally I don't launch if I can't get back in, but there were two airports nearby at above minimums and the fog was localized, so we went ahead and took off.  Just a few feet above the ground it was severe clear, and very pretty. 

The weather was fine, the flight was easy and uneventful.  Down there in Concord, I took the courtesy car and went into town to eat at a quirky local breakfast restaurant where I had walnut raspberry pancakes and bacon and coffee, and it was really good.  The courtesy car was an all electric car, plugged into a unit in the parking lot. My first all-electric car.  :)  I drove around and looked around for awhile, checked out the town.

I made it back home around 4 pm. Uneventful. Hot, muggy, smooth, uneventful.  Good enough.  I didn't photoshop any of these photos. 

Foggy Kokomo Windsock and taxiway lights

Fog fingers on the ramp

The beacon white light rotating around the foggy sky

The red light, the blue and white beacon lights showing

The moon up there

Just off the ground, fog hugging the ground, the moon, not the sun, above.

More little fog fingers

Clear moon over the city

Sunrise from the 340 off to the left

Large moon off the right

Brighter sunrise

My electric car plugged in

More sunrise photos