Razorback Homecoming

We went to the Razorback Homecoming game today. The poor piggies lost to the Gamecocks 14-10. We just couldn't complete the drive. It was sad.

Joe

Joe, Pat & Ann

Cute isn't he

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Chipmonks in the house again

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Then he decided he wanted in the next drawer

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He wanted all the way in the drawer

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Hopper really wanted in this drawer

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Ricki Tiki read the ad on the cup

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Medical Breakthrough

Take
a minute
to
take
this
health
test




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Click for reunion photos

Photos from the 115th

Photos from the 115th Composite Squadron may be viewed here:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cap_nighthawk/my_photos  

Checking on Friends

I have been trying to contact friends that were impacted by Rita.

I found out that Keith from Lufkin is without power. They think it will be a week before he gets power restored. He has a generator and is trying to support 25 homes by taking it around to let them have power for their freezers for a few hours each day. He was in Baton Rouge from Sept 9th through the 20th working to help New Orleans after Katrina.

David & Beth - Got hold of David this morning at Incident Command in LA. He and Beth are fine. He doesn't know about his home or businesses in Abbeville. He arrived in Baton Rouge to help with Katrina on Tues. Sept 6th and was still there on Sept 17th. Beth said they planned to go home for 2 days to check on their daughter and then return to Baton Rouge on the 20th to work at the Incident Command Center. They are still at IC helping out. He said AR is sending several pilots but they are in need of some WMIRS input help. Our aircraft left this morning at 6 a.m. with 2 pilots headed to BTR or I would go back to help.

Faye in Lonoke said the tornado missed them. They got over 5 inches of rain and a few limbs down but no other damage.

Still trying to get Henry.

Rita

Catherine weathered the storm fine. College Station was in the projected path so classes were called off Friday and A & M played their ballgame Thursday night instead of Saturday. Catherine & Gretchen got their bicycles off campus, cleared the patio furniture off the deck, got a battery operated radio, and prepared for no water or electricity on Thursday & Friday. Then Rita veered off to Port Arthur so they were spared in College Station. Nicole was planning to leave Houston with her family at 4 in the morning on Friday morning to avoid the big traffic jam.

Rita

Rita is hitting a whole bunch of the wonderful people I worked with in Baton Rouge. All the Civil Air Patrol members from Louisiana : Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Shreveport, Gonzoles, Abbeville, etc. & Keith from Lufkin, TX. are all getting tornadoes and flooding in their homes now.

choppers at the Baton Rouge Airport

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Joel & Henry - My pilots this trip

Chuck fixed breakfast -

- Faye managed finances
David Simon from Abbeville- Comm officer & his wife Beth. Beth managed lunches and generally helped with anything that needed to be done. She is not even a CAP member.




Charles from OKC - managed photo uploads

Breakfast at Capital City Composite Squadron.

Coffee at 5:00 - breakfast by 6:00....
We slept in offices and meeting rooms on cots & sleeping bags. Chuck cooked breakfast each morning and we used the briefing room for a mess hall. The population of Baton Rouge doubled with the evacuees from New Orleans.... No hotel rooms to be had.

Helicopter below our Aircraft

Helo delivering supplies

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Slidell LTC

Louisiana Technical College

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UNO East Campus

1600 Canal Street

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Brother Martin High School

Note the goal post and bleachers on the football field showing how deep the water is.

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Dillard University

More Pictures From New Orleans

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Baptist University

Superdome


Loyola University

Xavier University

Back From Baton Rouge

I finally got called for SDIS (Satellite Digital Imaging System) mission assignment to Baton Rouge late last Sunday night the 4th. Flew out of Rogers on Labor Day. We flew our Rogers CAP cessna 182R to Little Rock, pick up another pilot there and flew to Baton Rouge. The crew we were relieving returned in our aircraft and we used N8336CP which is equipped with the SDIS system and has a photo window.


My crew, Max & Robert, preflighting the aircraft before liftoff Thursday moring. Baton Rouge airport has been the busiest airport in the US all this week while we have been there - with a whole lot of the rescue helicopters being based there- with TFR's in place while Bush was there Monday shortly before our arrival. We were out on a sortie when Cheney came in Thursday. I just barely got to see Tim McGraw when he came by the CAP building on Thursday to thank us for all our efforts.


This photo showing the superdome was taken with my little sony cybershot through the window of the aircraft from about 3500 ft. because we were moving too fast for me to open the photo window. It turned out pretty good.
Our assigned sorties were all photography. Each morning bettween 7 & 8 we would get an assigned sortie with a list of GPS coordinates and a short description of our targets and sometimes we would get a satellite photo to help us locate the target. We would lift off as soon as we plotted our course and were brieffed. I was terrified after the 1st day's morning initial briefing when they told us there was no separation (radar calls to warn about other traffic in one's vacinity) available in the area over New Orleans. New Orleans approach was not working and the communications aircraft (an AWACS above)monitoring the TFR (traffic flight restrictions)did not provide that service. We were on our own watching out for traffic. There were hundreds of helicopters in the area at or below 500 feet, C-130's at our altitude of 3000 to 3500 ft. and various other eagle flights, etc. I had of course never seen a presence like this in any of my training and was thinking how will I ever make it through this 4 day deployment????. It turned out just fine though because after about 10 minutes in the target area I was too busy to be scared and the other aircraft in the area were being just as careful as we were so we really were not in danger.

The first sortie was frought with on the job training opportunities. Of course this particular SDIS setup I had not trained on so I had to wing it setting up the system in the aircraft. The Globalstar Satallite System that our systems hits on was totally choked up. Band widths were flooded with all the satelite phones that had been handed out in New Orleans so nobody was getting through. So much for the instantaneous access to our photos.

We flew right into the heart of the devestation but really had no time to look at anything because we were constantly watching for air traffic. We would locate our target using the GPS coordinates- process too involved to put here- from 3500 ft. - then decend to 1000 ft go into slow flight, open the photo window, stick the camer out the aircraft, focus in and out, get bumped off of focus, refocus.....etc, take photos - then return to 3500 to locate next target. Between targets, I was uploading target pics to the tablet computer onboard, looking for traffic, and generally bouncing around left to right in the two back seats. We flew a 5 to 6 hour sortie each day, returned to base, then spent several hours sorting photos and uploading them to the internet, showers, to bed, and up at 5 the next morning to start over again.

Our team targets included numerous nursing homes, universities, LTC's Louisiana Technical schools, bridges, an airport, and levee damage. We had to request another hour of flight time several times and got tasked to do an equipment transport from anothe airport once. Other CAP aircrafts like the G8 airvan that could hold more passengers got tasked to transport evacuees and others. More later..........

I returned from Baton Rouge Friday around 4.

On Stand-by For Damage Assesment

I have been on stand-by for 2 days to head to Louisiana for damage assesment/disaster relief. We were to launch at first light Tuesday, told to stand down, then Jonesboro was to come get me Wednesday morning, then told to stand down. Told to prepare self-sufficient pack for 72 hours but am still standing by. Meanwhile, this morning I went out to call Hopper and found him on the roof. Joe had to get a ladder to get him down.

Sir Hops-A-Lot keeping watch on the roof

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Caricature of Cath done at 2005 Grape Festival

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Me & Catherine on the Tilt-a-whirl

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Me & Catherine on the sizzler

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Joe & Catherine playing that quarter game

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73.45%

John aand I finally had over a 70% game today. We still got several black marks in the post mortem but it was fun.

The Kitchen

I finally got busy and selected my Christmas presents - new refrigerator and stove. I also selected a corian top for my cabinets. Boy was that a joke. They gave me a quote of $1700 installed price and I said lets do it as that was the quote I had gotten 2 years ago for redoing the formica. Oh, and that was with a free $480 sink. Ha! Ha! When I went in to actually order and pay for it they came up with just a few extra charges that had not been mentioned before. After all the added charges were included like $109 for re-hooking up the dish washer, and $8 per square foot for tearing out the old cabinet tops, oh and $200 for corian where the "free" sink would be, the final real bill was $3340. What a rip. I told them to forget it.

I selected a gas stove that I just loved. Oops - I didn't yet have gas there in the kitchen. I called one plumber and he couldn't make it till Thursday. Thursday came and went. I called again and he said he couldn't make it till Monday. Monday came and went and he still didn't make it. He gave me a name for another plumber. The new plumber said he couldn't make it till Friday late but he would definitely be here Monday morning. Monday came and went with no plumber. I called and delayed delivery till Wed. Tues here comes a plumber finally. Boy he wanted this job. I told him after five minutes if it was upwards of $600 I would not be doing it. He continued to look and speculate where the pipes might be. Said it would run about $1000 and he would have to make a whole in my ceiling and poke his head up there to see if it could really be done. Finally he said that some contractors routinely put both gas and electric behind the stove when they build the house.

I kept my hopes up and Wed. morning when the carpenter arrived I waited with baited breath while he tore out the floor cabinet under the old stove. Alas, no gas. I quickly ran to Lowes to change to an electric stove. Of course they could not deliver it until Friday so I got a delivery company to go get it for me since the carpenter was taking out the door jambs to get this stuff in the house. The guys from Lowes took the old stove and refrigerator away just as they said they would but refused to take the carton that the stove came in b/c they said that was the responsibility of the guys that delivered it. I said it had Lowes name on it and I bought it there but they wouldn't budge. Oh well, I have new appliances. Now I will work on the formica.

I can't imagine doing a whole house remodel or even building a new one. People just don't show up when they say they will.

More Flying

Went flying again!!! Got to control the a/c about 2 hours. There were several storm systems in the area and that was a bit nerve racking. Flew a total of 6.6 hours in 2 sorties. Dennis showed me a lot about the stability of the Cessna 172. We did several pendulums series letting the a/c get back to where it was trimmed. It was a great learning experience for me.

I was a little jittery on takeoff because I had such a screwy morning getting ready. Sir Hops-a-lot, our cat, had been in my bathroom looking for hair ties as he loves to do if I forget and leave the bathroom door open. Since Rogers is on stage 2 water conservation as in flush only when necessary I had failed to flush as well as failed to close the lid. I returned to the bathroom when he showed up in the kitchen with a hair tie and found that he had knocked several items of make-up into the open toilet. I had to reach in and retrieve them because unfortunately I know how much it costs to get a plumber to come retrieve things that have been flushed. After much hand washing I ran out the garage door and found that Joe's garage door was trying to close on a scarecrow. He had left the house about 30 minutes earlier. I had to open his door to rescue the scarecrow and then close his door before I could leave. I am now running about 15 minutes behind schedule so I decided I had to take the "fast" way on 102. As I sat at the light at the 13th most dangerous intersection in Arkansas a stupid lady talking on a cell phone while making a left turn off of 8th street turned right into my lane. I was sitting right there at the red light with my headlights on and that stupid jerk turned right into me. She corrected without hitting me bumping over the island and still talking on the phone. In that fraction of a second I thought Oh! no I'm not going to get to fly today. Do I have Dennis's cell phone number to tell him I can't come? Do I have the number of the hanger. I won't get my sorties that I need to complete my ribbon. It's absolutely amazing how much runs throughout ones mind in that split second when you think your about to get hit.

Anyway, flight following kept trying to get us to tell him what we were doing manuvering around that area for 6.6 hours. I think he was worried we were up to no good there. it was pretty comfortable at altitude but we kept having to dip down lower because of the clouds. Of course when you descend to land it gets really hot so the 96 degree air temperature when we got out of the a/c after taxiing was a big relief . While we refueled and cleaned the leading edges and windscreen I think I lost about a gallon of sweat. My car was in the sun all day so it was also a steam bath coming home. Out goes anothe gallon of sweat. I got home around five 15 and had just enough time to replenish fluid, get out of my sweaty clothes, and get to bridge.

I was bushed the next day.

Flying

I went flying today -We were up 5.7 hours. Dave, the pilot, let me take the controls a lot of the time. He tested me a bunch by having me continually changing the trim, flaps, and throttle and then getting back to stable flight. We had flight following and were maintaining altitude at 4000 in order to provide highbird communications. Clouds started building up around 11 and it was hard to maintain 4000 and stay away from the clouds. Every now and then we would suddenly encounter a cloud bank and Dave would say "Aim for that whole in the clouds over there". I was a little jittery at those points. We covered several nav techniques in the event the GPS doesn't work. My head is spinning, but it was sure exhilarating.

We barely had time to refuel and get back on station at the lunch break so we traded controlling the a/c while the other ate lunch. We were monitoring several comm's and there was continual radio chatter. I can't imagine how pilots in real busy areas keep all the communications straight.
The new tower in Rogers had us come in on runway one and expedite both times we landed there because there was so much local traffic. There was so much haze it was hard to see the horizon and the bright sun shining off the haze tired my eyes. All told, we were out a little over 9 hours. I was sure tired when I got home, of course you can tell by how disjointed this post is.

Grandma the Detective

Sometimes Grandma gets things a little confused. Well today was one of those days she got a lot confused. Joe inadvertently answered Grandma's question about Catherine's plans with a statement that she heard only part of. Somehow Grandma got it in her head that she was supposed to meet Catherine at the Crumpet Tea Room for lunch. (Catherine's lunchbreak at work is just 30 minutes and she takes her lunch with her.) Grandma had called Catherine the previous evening - after Joe had gone to bed - to inquire about meeting at the Crumpet. Catherine told her she could not go there because she had to work. Joe left the house in the morning before Catherine got up so he had not talked with Catherine. When Grandma asked Joe if Catherine was going to meet her at the Crumpet he said something to the effect that he had not seen Catherine since last night and therefore did not have a clue about her plans.

Well....... What Grandma heard was that we had not seen Catherine since the previous evening as in she hadn't ever come home from fencing. Joe didn't realize what a n impact his statement had and went on to work. Around eleven thirty Martha takes a couple of sandwiches over to Grandma's house for their lunch. Grandma is in a panic because Catherine has not been seen since last night and insists that Martha take her around town looking for Catherine's car. Martha says that can't be true and refuses. Grandma says if Martha won't take her she will call someone else to drive her around. So.... martha takes her out driving around town looking for Catherine's car and the place that she works. Now neither of them can remember the name of the place that Catherine works but Grandma thinks it is somewhere around 1st street. Around 1:30 I get a call from Martha asking where it is that Catherine works. I tell her where it is and they are there in about 30 seconds and See Cat's car in the parking lot. Grandma wants to go in and make sure Catherine is alright so Martha hands the cell phone to Grandma so I can convince her not to go up to the door. I explain that I fed Catherine breakfast and packed her lunch for her this morning and she was perfectly alright but Grandma insists that that is not what Joe said. Can't she just go in for a few minutes and make sure Catherine is OK. I told her no - do not go in. I talk with her as Martha drives Grandma back home. Martha finally got to eat her sandwich about 1:45.

Later that afternoon I get a call from Grandma saying they won't let Catherine even come to the phone at her work. Grandma has looked up the number in the phone book and called out there. Thank heavens they have one of the awful answering systems where you get a recording about extensions. I suppose Grandma asked the recording if she could speak to Catherine and they hung up after awhile. What a day!!!!

Sister Jolita and Me at Friday night reunion Party

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Bachelorette Business

Catherine is the maid of honor for Abby's wedding scheduled for July 2nd. This week, Catherine had the idea of having a bachelorette party for her after the rehearsal dinner since Bobby was to have a bachelor party. Catherine spent quite a lot of time researching ideas on the internet and making up games for it. Then she talked to Abby and Abby wanted something a little more risque for the party. Not being a very risque person, Catherine asked "her parents???" to help come up with some ideas.

So off we all (Joe, Catherine and I) went Sunday shopping for supplies and trying to find some "dirty" stuff. We of course headed for Fayetteville and the "Science???" store in the Fayetteville mall. Boy do they have a lot of disgusting stuff. We got some dirty joke cards, big hunk cards and some chocolate body-butter. Catherine kept saying she couldn't believe she was shopping for that kind of trash with her parents. When it came time to check out, we sent Joe to the register to pay - it was simply tooo embarrassing for either of us to check out with that stuff.

Then we went to a couple of other places to get more party supplies and a nice microwave for the wedding present. We figured we had gotten a lot done so we done so we treated ourselves to Red Lobster. Catherine checked her phone and noticed that she had a call from Abby and since they had arranged to talk that day she figured she would wait till she got home to return the call since she was the one driving.

When we got back to Rogers, Cath called Abby back and found out the wedding was called off at least for the time being. Now we have a microwave and some dirty party stuff sitting in our living room!!!!

St. Annes Reunion

I went to my St. Annes All-school reunion this past weekend. It was a blast seeing people from all the various graduation years. Only a few from my year showed for the whole event but I'm sure a lot more will come when we have our real class reunion in two years. Will post pictures when I get to it.

Catching up

I certainly have a lot of catching up to do -3 weeks without a post. These 3 weeks have been really busy.

I went flying a couple of times and was on stand-by a couple of more days. We got called out around 19:00 on Monday the 2oth for an ELT signal in what turned out to be a no-notice exercise. The senario was an ELT signal around the Lost Bridge area at the lake. We had a full a/c crew with Col Cherry as PIC, me as observer, and Craig Heinze as scanner. We realized it was a practice when we were given the practice channel to set the DF to. It was a beautiful evening for flying but we had no joy finding the signal. We finally resorted to looking for Max's red truck in the heavy foilage - no luck there either. The ground team turned out about 7 people and they also had a rough time of it. Max set off a couple of road flares to help them find him but the GT thought they were seeing someone setting off fireworks.

We finally found that the problem was loose wires in the practice ELT. The antenna on the van was also loose. Max got those fixed before they took off for the SAREX in Texarkana. We did several take offs and landings, Dennis saw 3 coyotes on the taxiway turn-off on our first touch and go so I got the camera and had Craig try to get pictures the next couple of times we landed. No luck.

I'm tired - am going to bed. More later.

Flying - Earthquake Drill

Another beautiful day of flying for the CAP earthquake drill. Flew a canadian grid that we programmed into the GPS. It's amazing how it plots your course. You can just watch the screen count down to zero or the little a/c reach the end of a leg to indicate the time to turn. If you get off the heading the little a/c is shown off the track. Did several touch & goes at the Rogers airport. We had a pretty good crosswind for the landings. Just after our last landing the Goodyear blip took off cross wise to 19. Wouldn't you know, I had left my camera at home and so had Dave.

Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, & Will Smith

Went to the concert in Fayetteville on Wednesday night in Walton arena. Since it was free we didn't have assigned seats. It was grab as grab can. We ended up in the nosebleed section, but we really had a good view of the stage. They each preformed for about 40 minutes. I generally play my music way too loud but this was soooo loud that I had trouble understanding the words. Brad Paisley was a good entertainer with lots of viewgraph action that he brought along. Will Smith made a grand entrance carried on a lounge like Cleopatra. His act was Rap so Catherine and I left a little after it started. The place was really rocking so we managed to ge out without the traffic stampede.

RazorbackDBC

RazorbackDBC

Continuing Saga of the Chipmunk

Well -It was 8:15 Tuesday morning and I heard noises in the house. I checked a couple of times and could find nothing. Joe & Catherine are both gone to work and the cats are both out. Maybe I have been hearing a wasp hitting against the windows.

On the 3rd trip around the house, I notice a chipmunk hanging on the screen by the front door. Poor thing - he has been in the house for five days now.

See Chipmunks Are Cute---Outside

I wonder where he has been hiding and how he has escaped the cats. I have propped open the front door but he ran back into the house. I guess I'll leave it open a while.

Sir Hops-A-Lot enjoying the shade in the shallow end of the pool.

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Catherine and Joe getting the yuk out of the bottom of the pool

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Chipmunks Are Cute - Outside

We are cleaning the pool once again just before Memorial weekend. And of course I always worry about the cats when the water gets low in the deep end because it's hard to get out if one of them slips in. Thursday, I looked out the kitchen window and saw Sir Hops-A-Lot (Hopper for short) hanging over the edge in the deep end, backing up and running back to the edge. I rushed out and found a wet chipmunk huddled on the narrow ledge (4 feet below the deck) that circles the deep end just before it plunges down. The water level was about an inch below this slim ledge.

The little guy was scared and Hopper was ecstatic. I got the net to fish the little guy out but every time I got him on the net he would leap off back into the water. Hopper was having a delightful time running around trying to trip me and get to the chipmunk. I decided I would have better luck if I got Hopper in the house so I opened the slider to chase him in but he ran back to the pool and Riki Tiki Tavi came out. I ran back to the net and pushed the chipmunk toward the shallow end. Finally he got the hint, ran to the shallow end, up the stairs and into the grass.

But it was not to be, Ricky was there ready to play. He grabbed that little chipmunk in his mouth and took off running. Now I am chasing my cat with the pool net trying to get him to drop the chipmunk. He ran behind the fountain and I succeeded in getting him to drop the chipmunk who ran under the large rock at the foot of the fountain. Ricky & Hopper circled the rock pawing under it to get the little one out. He came out and Ricky immediately grabbed him again in his mouth. I whacked Ricky and the little guy was once again free again and ran back under the rock.

But alas, he didn't know enough to stay under the rock. Out he came and Ricky once again got him in his mouth and headed straight for the sliding door that I had left open, with Hopper hot on his tail.

So in we all went. Ricky took his prize into the living room and gingerly placed him on the floor right behind the red loveseat and began examining his new friend. Hopper jumped over Ricky and landed on the chipmunk. Under the love seat the chipmunk ran. I frantically went around closing doors and blocking the small openings under the doors with pillows.

Then I went to the front door to open it. Lo and behold the chipmunk somehow escaped the circling cats and met me at the front door. As I was unlocking the deadbolt, he was climbing the screen of the window up to the second floor. But just as I reached for the front storm door to open it, the chipmunk hit the top of the window screen and tried to continue climbing the wall. It was too slick and he fell to the rocks below. No, he didn't go out the door, he was scared by me moving in the direction I needed to go to open it. So back he went to the living room and under the loveseat.

The cats kept running in circles around the loveseat. Finally, I turned the love seat over...no chipmunk. Then I began turning over every piece of furniture in the living room. I really should have gotten a picture of the destruction I caused.

We never saw that chipmunk again, he had completely disappeared. Hopefully he ran out one of the doors I had left open.

Its been four days now. We don't smell anything yet and haven't heard any strange noises, but whenever one of the cats show a particular interest in a closet, I open it and let them check it out. Ah, nature

Revenge of the Sith

We managed to get tickets today for the new Star Wars prequel. What a hoot!
see the trailer http://movies.channel.aol.com/feature/starwars/trailer.adp

Catherine's Great Great Grandparents. Spent Tuesday at the
cemetery looking up family grave stones.

Mom blowing out candles. Alex, Greg, & Bill

Mom's 88th birthday cake.

Rootbeer - Bill's cat.

Rain Rain Go Away

Was scheduled to fly twice last week for Satelite Digital Imaging and "best of all" night flying for infared training. But alas - both got rained out. The Search & rescue exercise didn't fair well either. I didn't go on that one but the aircraft wasn't able to land due to a horrific crosswind.

Anyway, I stayed home Saturday and worked getting trash out for the large item pick-up starting Monday. I worked most of Saturday getting stuff out and was glad they changed the rule from one pickup load to a larger truck this year. I had about half a semi of stuff out there. They also left off the rule that the items must be small enough for two men to lift. So when Joe got home I said I was ready to give up on ever getting to set up the ping pong table again (I love that game). Anyway we rolled that big old table up the drive way and propped it against the fence. We thought there was no way two men were going to be able to pick that thing up and get it into a truck.

Then we went to church Saturday at 4. When we returned about 6 the ping pong table was gone along with a few other things. Wonder how many men it took to lift it into a truck? Or maybe a neighbor came and rolled it away!! We piled the remaining junk back up as neatly as we could - they had really left a mess.

It rained Sunday night saturating the "cardboard boxes" they insist we must use for the large item pickup. By Monday morning when I went to get the paper, the pile had been scattered again,all the old flower baskets were gone, and the boxes were a sodden mess. By 1 o'clock when I went to check the mail, the pile had been scattered again and more stuff was gone. I sure got tired of re-stacking all that stuff. By Tuesday morning when the trash men came to collect the junk, there was very little left. I suppose it's true that one man's trash is another man's treasure. Boy what a boring life - all I have to write about is trash pickup!!!!!

We had our 1st ever scramble team game Wed. I think everyone enjoyed it. John & I had the worst bridge game of our lives Thursday. 40% Yuk.

Going to Ft. Smith this weekend for Mom's 88th birthday. Believe it is supposed to be good weather finally and I will appreciate the 30 degree nights when I am in Ft. Smith.

Friday - What a Gorgeous Day

Not much going on - got razorbackdbc.blogspot up and running - now just have to keep myself from going nuts playing with it or this one.

Got on the computer yesterday around 9 am got off about midnight with one short break to fix Joe some dinner around 6:30. Found some really neat code while I was trying to fix some stuff, then got to playing around trying to do fancier stuff. Finally had to settle if I intended to publish it anytime soon. I remember when we got our first computer I used to do that same thing on weekends when I was working. Now I only stay up all night occasionally working on developing something.

Today I did much better. I forced myself to do a little housework and a few errands and walk the dog, Cookie. It is much healthier than sitting at the computer all day. But the tug is great to get out there and play some more.

Can see tandum props in this pix

Another photo of Adam 500. See post below for description

Walking the Dog!!!! or Why I like Cats!

Sunday I took my daughter's dog, Cookie for a walk (usually a pleasant 2 and a half mile stroll.) Now, I have never been a "dog" person and am actually afraid of them but I can usually walk her because she is a pretty calm dog and I use a choke chain.

Alas, at about the first half mile mark we came upon a chocolate Lab in the bed of a pickup parked in the front yard. I asked the guy with the dog if it was tied up. He said yes and so we proceeded past with Cookie prancing and well behaved like a show dog while the Lab was choking itself trying to get to us nearly falling off the tailgate while growling & barking with claws scrapping on the metal bed of the truck.

We made it about four houses past when all of a sudden I heard a loud noise, looked back and saw the Lab coming like the Hound of the Baskervilles. His owner quickly jumped from the back of the truck and followed.

I know you are not supposed to get between fighting dogs but I couldn't let anything happen to my daughter's dog so I yelled, jumped up & down, and yes, got between the dogs. The Lab jumped cookie and started biting at the neck. I had Cookie on the choke chain and pulled back real hard and got between them again. The lab rose in the air to attack again just as a body came flying in from the left at about 3 feet off the ground and landed right on top of the Lab. It was a super tackle.

Cars were stopping and people from the church were coming to look. Cookie was still scared and backed up right out of her choke chain. Thank God she headed away from the street but she was flying & I couldn't catch her. We ran all around the church and I got a severe stitch in my side. Occasionally she would let me get within an arm's length but then she was off again. Finally a couple of kids from the church were able to get her to come to them and we got the leash back on her.

We finished our walk and on the way back I talked with the owner of the Lab. He said the Lab had actually broken his choke chain. That was the noise I heard.

I figure cats do not need walks so nothing of this sort could happen. Well about 10 pm Sunday night with Ricky in and Hopper out, I heard a cat fight right outside the slider. I opened the door and there was a fierce battle in progress with bodies moving so fast as to be unidentifiable. Off they went into the darkness growling and fighting, big bang on the fence, silence. I called for Hopper and after a minute or so, here he came calmly prancing up to the door, sat, turned his head back & forth smelling the air and looking for intruders he could chase away. He did not want to come in, but wanted to stay where the excitement was.

I guess I need to get a pet rock.

Excitement - Even on the Ground

When we landed at TACAir in Ft. Smith on Friday it was in the midst of C130 touch & goes, F-16's taking off for the firing range, helicopter takeoffs, and (pictured) the Adam 500, a composite twin with centerline thrust and a six-seat interior which employs engines forward and aft of the cockpit and a twin boom empennage. The airplane is Rick Adam’s brainchild, one of those back-of-a-napkin ideas that Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites (X-Box winner) carried through to a full-sized proof-of-concept airplane.

Put out my hand and touched the face of God

Low Flight - We went to Oklahoma to photograph at Tenkiller Lake and then just south of Mount Magazine to photograph the Blue Mountain Reservoir. It was a glorious day for flying. Just a little gusty for photography. Sometimes the camera would just whip around as I pressed the shutter. But I got some great photos. To see the ones I uploaded, google WMIRS and select public. Look for the Arkansas mission. Click on images from this mission.

Yea! Going Flying Today

Going flying today. Going to be a beautiful day!!!

Oh! Weather

Was suppposed to fly today. Socked in - will fly both sorties tomorrow - supposed to be beautiful tomorrow. Guess I'll go play bridge instead.

Another Game Day

See if you can unscramble these words............THESAURUS TANGLE is a quick thinking word game in which you're trying to discover the synonyms for the keywords before your time runs out. As the keyword appears you race against the clock to unscramble the synonym by dragging the letters into their proper slots to discover the mystery word. Thesaurus Tangle is a test of your lexical prowess, expertise, ability, mastery, talent and deftness.

On Stand-by

I have been activated to stand-by status for satellite digital imaging missions as of Monday 4 Apr. Our unit is the first up if called. Have to be prepared for possible overnight.

Razorback Bridge Club

Razorback Duplicate Bridge Club - The Wednesday night 6:30 game has moved. We moved all the supplies and tables yesterday. April 6th is the 1st day we will play there.

Game Day

my profile picture Trying to learn how to use this blog system!!!

Cath showing me stuff

This is Catherine showing me how to post :-)