Mom and Ernie made it up for Christmas, and Kaylee came home, and we had a nice couple of days. Hanging out, talking, napping, halfway watching football, eating. They headed back south today, and fortunately we had nice, warm weather up here. No snow, almost 60 degrees, perfectly traveling weather. It was great to see everyone. :)
I made a couple of gluten free meals. A roasted chicken and some corn on the cob for Christmas Eve, though that was mostly predone. For Christmas we had a typical bacon, eggs, pancakes, OJ breakfast, sandwiches and chips for lunch, and then I tried some new things, a gluten free green bean casserole and a gluten free cheesy potatoes recipe. And a giant ham. And rolls that she couldn't eat but we need rolls. ;) I ran out of cheddar cheese so I used parmesan on the beans, and they actually turned out good. The potatoes weren't bad either, even if everyone but me would have liked it if I added onion chunks to it. But I was making it so no onions. :p Cooking is a fair amount of effort, but its enjoyable to eat real food once in awhile too, I admit.
This morning after Mom & Ernie headed out, I went out to Kokomo and Nathan and I flew the Aerostar up to Waukegan, IL to pick up Tre. I picked up a lot of ice going into there. It wasn't accumulating fast, but they kept me in the tops of the clouds for a long time. I ended up popping the boots 3 times, and watching my airspeed decay by about 20 knots. There was some pretty ice formations on the engine cowl, intake, and Low Thrust Detector probes sticking out. The ice was sticking out of the windshield enough to look like little trees out there. It was cool looking, but it was enough. I didn't need any more. Coming in to land I kept my speed up a bit and debated on the flaps, but eventually a good portion of it came off when I got lower. Once on the ground, I pulled all the ice off the rest of the surfaces so it wouldn't be there on takeoff. It took them an hour to get us the 30 gallons of fuel I needed in order to waive their $120 landing fee, because they were so busy.
While we were waiting, I heard several pilots and families, and learned that Florida was closed today. They got so swamped down there that they had a 5-7 hour EDCT (Expected Departure Clearance Time). In other words, they (at least 4 NetJets airplanes full of families sitting in the FBO and waiting) were grounded in Waukegan because Florida wasn't letting anyone else in or out for awhile. They had a 5-7 hour ground stop. I was really glad to not be headed to Florida today. Florida was a disaster. Glad I missed it.
When I got back to Kokomo, I topped off the Aerostar, put it away, and left to drive home. I passed John on the road, and he texted me "Hey, I thought you were supposed to be my ride back from Shelbyville! Where you going?" I said "Huh?" He was just kidding, but I actually had a couple of hours. So I turned around and said I'd go get him. He took his Bonanza to Shelbyville for its annual, and I flew in and picked him up. Better than his son having a 3 hour round trip drive to pick him up. Got back to Kokomo, put the plane away away, and headed home again.
About an hour or so later, Steve and I drove over to Wabash and met Kaylee for dinner at the Market Street Grill, and then went up to her new apartment where Steve did some caulking in her bathroom and put together a set of shelves for her, and I helped her combine boxes, declutter, throw out some trash, and get a little more organized, took her trash out, just trying to help make it a little more homey. It's looking good! Lights, a warmer glow, more homey and comfortable. She still has quite a few boxes to unpack and things to organize, but we put a decent dent in it!
Steve and I got home around 10:40 pm, and I'm just finishing up a few things before heading to bed tonight. Don't have to get up early tomorrow, don't have anything on the schedule at all for tomorrow, which is odd enough.
I have a few photos to stick on, but it's getting late now, so I'll probably do it tomorrow.
Hope everyone had a good, enjoyable, peaceful Christmas 2023.
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