Aircraft Identification 101

Open letter to Mr. I Am Not A Pilot:

747s are low and heavy and slow and LOUD with 4 engines. Same thing with only 2 engines and you have an Airbus of some sort.

737s are fast, nose high, quiet

RJs and Embraers are super fast, super high, and quieter

757/767s are a mix between 747s and 737s.

MD80s have a drone.

So yes, I do know what the *&^% I'm talking about. Even at night when it's dark.

Definitions: Addiction vs Craving.

ad·dic·tion
–noun the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.

crav·ing.
–verb (used with object) 1. to long for; want greatly; desire eagerly: to crave sweets; to crave affection.
2. to require; need: a problem craving prompt attention.
3. to ask earnestly for (something); beg for.
4. to ask (a person) earnestly for something or to do something.
–verb (used without object) 5. to beg or plead (usually fol. by for).


You decide.

Opening Day!

Emily had her first t-ball game this past Saturday. Angels vs A's. Talk about a comedy of errors. But what can you expect when you have 12 kindergarteners who have never heard of a baseball diamond, much less set foot near one. But they had fun, the parents had fun, not sure if the coaches had fun, but if they loosen up, they'll have fun, too. No scoring, either, so once you got on base, which occured after you finally hit the ball, no strikes/balls allowed, you stayed on base until you made it home. Simple as that.



Emily's first bat:


Emily's First "Home Run":


Katie At Bat:


Katie's "Home Run".


Catcher Emily...

What do you call an old pilot?

It's not "Old Salt", that's an old sailor. Old Bird just sounds bad. Laura, do you know?

Yesterday I went to Emily's ball practice and was wearing my AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Asso) hat, and an elderly man asked if *I* flew. Emphasis with incredulity on the "I" part. "Do YOU fly? I told him that yes, I flew, and he grinned, shook his head, and pulled a decades old flight ticket from his wallet. He told me he used to be a WWII aviator in the Navy. How awesome is THAT?!?!?!!!?!?!? He was excited to talk flying, so he told me about all the planes he'd flown. He trained in a T6 (how cool is that, most people spend alot of $$ just to get a chance to ride in a T6)
He also flew an F6F Hellcat, and F9F, and a T28.
F6F:


F9F:


I can't find a picture of the T28, except for commercial aircraft jets, so maybe I got that info wrong. As for the above pictures, I didn't check the dates of the planes, so they might not be the right era, but whatever, you get the point.

He told that several years ago he met a guy who flies out of the same airport that I use, and this guy talked him into taking a ride with a CFI. While flying, he said things came back pretty quickly, which is awesome, except he made a super tight approach, with a continuous steep turn from downwind to final. The CFI knew just from his approach that he was Navy. The guy said that it was from all of those years of landing on aircraft carriers!

Now, most of you might take this guy with a grain of salt, but he seemed pretty sincere and honest and didn't embellish his stories. Well, if he did, he didn't do a very good job of it.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Bike Riding!

I tried so hard to teach Emily how to ride a bike. She just would not do it without me holding on to the back of her seat constantly. I finally gave up. I was discouraged, she was discouraged, it was a mess. Then, while we were at Lisa's the other day, Emily picked up Ella's little bike, jumped on, and rode. She was as surprised as we were! Yesterday after school she decided to jump on her little bike. Here's her first attempt:



Jeff came home and insisted we take the wheels off of her big bike. Here's the results of that. "It's much easier!" she says.



Don't for get Monkey See Monkey Do Maicy:



And finally, a frustratingly sideways video of Maicy that I can't rotate! Any suggestions out there?

This Weekend

Emily really got a chance to spread her wings this weekend. I'm getting better at accepting that she's a bigger kid now, not a pre-schooler that always needs her Mommy.

Friday night was early to bed because we all had to get up early and head to Joliet (90 mins away) for a church talent competition. I woke Emily at 6:35 and she bellyached and moaned for 5 mins straight about having to get up sooooooo early. I reminded her that she NORMALLY wakes up at 6:47 (on the dot!) and this wasn't so early. NO convincing her. I got her loaded up and to the church at 7am, where she caravaned down with the older girls in another parent's van. She thought it was cool to be going without Mommy, but it was tough on me to let her go all that way by herself! But it had to happen..

Jeff and I (and May) arrived in Joliet at 10:15, just in time to watch Emily race her Pinewood Derby car. It was initially disqualified for being overweight, but a nice man had his tools and performed some emergency surgery on her car. It was 3x elimination, and she took 4th place. She was pretty happy about that. Her drawing and her story did well, too. Her big highlight was the medal she recieved for participating.

We made it home around 2p and Colleen called, inviting us for dinner. We hit baseball practice and then walked over to Colleen's. Emily had left a few minutes before, with a crowd of kids who'd stopped by our place looking for Em and wanting to jump. At Colleen's, Lisa and her family were there, plus us, plus some other, older kids. After dinner, the kids took off outside and disappeared. We knew they were at one of 3 houses that were right next to each other, or running around the cul-de-sac, so it was nice to let them run free and not be tied down by parents. They flitted in and out of open houses, playing here, running there, doing all sorts of spontaneous stuff.

Half the adults sat on Colleen's back porch and watched the race, the other half, plus some more neighbors, sat in Lisa's driveway around a fire pit. The kids ran between the 3 houses and had fun doing their own thing. Emily really enjoyed being able to be with the crowd and not have to ask permission to go everywhere. They played tag, Ghost in the Graveyard, had tree climbing contests, treasure hunts, you name it.

We made it home around 10p, the kids barely stayed awake for the 600 steps it took us to walk back to the house. Church early the next morning, and then we were planning on going to lunch. Emily did NOT like our choice of food and didn't want to go. Before we left the house, Lisa called telling us to take some of the truckload of mulch she'd bought. So we went over there, her son found out where we were going for lunch, and wanted to go. So Emily stayed there, he came with us, and off we went. Maicy had a MEGA tantrum and we had to eat in shifts while the other parent sat with her in the van. MEGA tantrum!

Back at home, we dropped of the kids, Maicy took a nap, I cleaned house, Jeff shoveled mulch, and who knows where Emily was. She was with Colleen and Lisa's kids, out spreading her wings. Good thing they all live next door to each other, plus a few other families who have kids and an open door policy. I went to get her around 3p, and when I got there, she and a crowd of kids were headed over to my house to jump. Even better ! I sat on Colleen's back porch and had a couple of drinks. Very nice and relaxing. Emily and the crowd showed back up, and I found out she's been in sprinklers and at the neighbor's hot tub. Busy girl! Lots of independence going on. I had to head out for work, but she didn't want to leave so I left empty handed and she stayed to play some more. Jeff went and got her later and ended up having dinner there with Colleen, Lisa, spouses, and kids.

Such a busy weekend!! But so much fun and it's nice to see Emily get practice being a "big girl".

HA!

Emily received her t-ball uniform today, and guess who is her local sponsor? STAPLES!!! LOL!!! Jeff says it's a bad omen. I said the new store manager, who HATES Jeff, is going to have a cow when he finds out he sponsored his daughter's team. The employees aren't even allowed to say Jeff's name in the store, that's how much he hates them.

Flying

I took a friend flying today for the first time. She'd flown commercially before, plus she'd been in a glider, but never in a little plane and never with me. It was a beautiful day. Calm winds, but a little hazy. I felt we'd never get off the ground. We got to the airport late because she'd forgotten her sunglasses. Checked the Archer...no fuel. Towed it to the pumps, fueled to tabs, and got back to my checklist. Get ready to start the plane....no keys. Get back out, find the guy with the keys, get back in, and FINALLY get up in the air.

We flew over our house, flew over Em's school, and went back over her house and Lisa's house, where Maicy, Ella, and Lisa were having a picnic in the front yard. I waved my wings at them, which freaked Colleen out. Ix-nay on the Ings-way she yelled!

They I punched Galt into the GPS and tried to find it, which I was successful. By that time it was SO hot in the plane, I wanted to go back and land. Colleen balked, so we flew back over Mundelein. As we were flying over the school again, I noticed something red and shiny zip right underneath the plane. My first thought was that it was an orange ball on a high voltage line, but I knew that there wasn't anything like that in the area. Still it made my heart pound. I knew it couldn't be an aircraft, too small too fast, even for a remote controlled plane. I stared a bit more, and realized it was a balloon. A small mylar red shiny party balloon!!

We flew back towards the airport and I looked down, and maybe 200 feet underneath us, going 90deg away from us, zipped another GA plane. So close I could read the tail number! Yikes. Stuff like that makes flying NO FUN.

ON the radio at about the same time, another plane down south of us called in an emergency. He said the engine was surging and he wanted to get it down ASAP. He said there was a field right beneath him and he was putting it down there. Yikes! Another plane was right beneath him, and a 3rd plane pointed that out to him. Right as he was coming down, the engine recovered so instead of landing, he called and said "I'm fine, and am continuing with my flight as planned"! I'm yelling out loud LAND, DUDE!!!! He said he was going to his planned destination, but I hope he found an airport and landed it right then and there.

I decided to come in to land because is was just too hot up there for me. I called for the winds and active...good thing because the winds and switched directions 180deg! Had I taken the runway that from which I'd departed, I would have come in with a tail wind. Glad I called and checked! My passenger said "make this a smooth landing"....crap, to me any landing that you can walk away from is a good landing to me! But I brought it in smooth as silk. Ate up most of the runway trying to do it, but that's ok, my passenger was happy.

Landed, post-flighted the plane, realized the HEAT had been on. No wonder it was so hot!!

Oh when I arrived at the airport, there was a beautiful 414 sitting on the ramp. I walked in and told the guy I was here to fly the twin. Go right ahead he says, the keys are in it! Ahhhh I wish.

Regrets

Everybody has regrets, it's a part of life. It's a part of growing up, of maturing. Everybody's done something they regret, lots of people regret somethings they didn't do.

I've been reading Tony Hillerman books because they are centered around the area where I grew up. I grew up in Flagstaff, AZ, high in the mountains at 7500 feet. Head north about 15 miles and you drop straight down into the Navajo Reservation. Hundreds upon hundreds of miles of nothingness. A population of .2 people per square mile, and 20 goats. Nothing for miles. Some might call it beautiful, some might call it wasteland. I think it's probably a bit of both.

Flagstaff was the nearest big city for the Navajos. Many of them were sent to live in the BIA Boarding Houses and attended Flagstaff High School. Some came just for shopping or for other needs. And I can't think of a single person I knew my age that treated the Navajos with respect. We called them Yahtahee. Trogs. Horrible, horrible names. Awful things to people who did not deserve such things. No, not to their face, but someone doesn't have to make fun of you to your face for you to know you're being teased. We made fun of the way they switched their singular and plural tenses. "I want one strawberry sundaes and 3 blizzard." We made fun of their commercials on the radio that went on and on in Navajo and then ended with Cake Chevrolet. We made fun of their Chevrolet trucks they always drove. We teased mercilessly. WHY???

Regrets.

So now I'm reading Hillerman, and I'm learning all about the Navajo way of life. How they believe in respect for nature and for others. How they never interrupt. How they always respect and care for their elders. How they can have $3.00 to their name but be happy and rich in life. How they respected and lived off the land. How everything had a purpose. Such a rich, ancient culture that I ignored. Such history and knowledge and tradition was right there at the tips of my fingertips, and I shamed it with my vain words and actions. Just learning about how the Navajos chose to live brings shame to my indulgent, shallow world. I interrupt. I barely recycle. I'd kill a bug and not think twice about it.

So...regrets. Everyone has them. I have mine, that's for damn sure, and shaming the Navajo culture that was so strongly part of my life is one of them. I want to go back to Flagstaff and just listen and observe. Not make fun of the drunk Indians. Not turn my head in disgust when Old Lady Tso comes into pay for her merchandise and smells of sheep. Regrets.

Dinner

I bought a new cookbook at Colleen's Southern Living At Home Party. I'm not big on mass produced cook books because the food usually involves taking things I'd love to eat and combining them in a way that produces something I would NEVER eat. But this one was a good buy, more like a church cookbook with alot more class. Tonight I made a yummy dinner. Now, you all know me by now and know that I don't measure and forget alot of recipe steps. So I'll post my version first, followed by the cookbooks version.

Chicken and Cornbread Casserole - Sarah Style (meaning the easy way)

2 celery ribs, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped (who knows what I used, I just put in some extra onion that I had leftover. Maybe it was a 1/4 onion.
1T vegetable oil (I didn't measure, I just poured into the pan)
1 jiffy sized box of cornbread, cooked according to package and crumbled.
1T poutry seasoning
3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (If you cook frozen breasts in crockpot without adding water, it creates its own juice, maybe 1/2 cup worth. If you used something else, like deli chicken, then add 1/2 c chicken broth to recipe. )
1 c sour cream
1/4 t red pepper
1/4 t salt
1 large egg, beaten
Handful of frozen peas
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Crumble or dice cornbread, layer 1/2 in bottom of greased 8x8 pan. Sprinkle with poultry seasoning. Saute celery and onion in oil, set aside. Combine chicken, juices or broth, egg, sour cream, and seasonings, add celery and onion. Layer on top of cornbread, throw on a handful of frozen peas, (that way you don't have to make a separate veggie) top with remaining cornbread and bake covered for 30 mins at 350. Uncover, add cheese, and bake another 10 mins. YUM.

** The recipe suggested that instead of using cubed chicken, to buy a deli chicken and pull all the meat off the bone. That was my original plan, until I realized that the deli chicken at Dominicks was $8.00!!! Are you insane? NO WAY. Instead I threw 3 breasts in the crockpot, sticky chicken style. Meaning I shook in a bunch of various seasonings, like seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder, stuff like that. Crock until done and shred.

Chicken and Cornbread Casserole - So. Living at Home style...

2 celery ribs, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1T vegetable oil
3 cups crombled cornbread
1T poutry seasoning
3-1/2 cups cooked cubed chicken
1-1/4 can chicken broth
1 c sour cream
1 large egg, beaten
1 jar mushrooms
1/4 t crushed red pepper
1/4 t salt
2 T melted butter
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Saute celery and onion in hot oil in med skillet over medium high heat for 7 mins or until tender, set aside. Combine cornbread and poultry seasoning in large bowl. Layer 1/2 of cornbread mixture on bottom of lightly greased 11x7 inch baking dish. Combine onion mixture, chicken, and next 6 ingredients in a bowl. Spoon mixture over cornbread mixture, top evenly with remaining half of cornbread mixture, and drizzle with butter. Bake, covered, for 30 mins at 350. Uncover, add cheese, and bake another 10 mins.

**Notice I 1/2 the chicken and reduced liquids to 1/2 cup, but kept remaining ingredients the same, and used a 8x8 bowl.

The End of Tuesday...

Another crazy day come and gone. Maicy is still sick, and just wanted to be held. I got out the sling and toted her around all day. Thankfully she slept for several hours, so I was able to exercise AND work. Woooohooo! I crossed nothing off of my Top 10 List though.

This morning it was beautiful so I asked May if she wanted to go for a walk. Well, the dog thought I was talking to him, and he rocketed out the front door, sending things flying in his wake. Suddenly he's a puppy now? We make in 3 doors down and he stops to take the biggest crap of his life. Yuck. I clean it up and take the mess back home for our trashcan. I wash my hands and head back out. This time we got about 4 houses in the opposite direction before he started panting and wanting to lay down and kicking out his bum leg. So we rested, and then headed back home. Which I could probably have hit with a rock from our stopping point, that's all the more further we got. We stopped to watch the trash man do his job, and he talked to me about Bubs. He could tell he was an old dog at the end of his trail. The ChemLawn man said the same thing to me today. Now Bubba is resting happily after his long, tiresome walk.

Emily got off the bus with her bright sunshiney eyes. She's such a bright spot. She told me today that little calerpitters that couldn't crawl and were all white and tiny were actually called larva. I said "larva?" She said "YES! We got them in the mail today and are going to make butterflies!" LOL "make butterflies". Very cute. We took a walk down to the park, but it was even more windier than before and getting chilly. May was crabby, so we headed home for fish sticks, tater tots, and frozen peas. YUCK all around, except for the tots.

Jeff's finally on his way home.....not from Raleigh, not from Charlotte, but from Greensboro, NC. He's becoming an old hand at getting the airlines to change his flights at no cost to him. I'm tracking him via google earth (from fboweb.com) and via Flighttracker. Both very good sites. To take it one step further, I pull up his flight on google earth and then I pull up ALL inbound traffic to ORD and watch the traffic jam unfold. Right now he's at 24000 ft sandwiched between an American Eagle from ATL and a Skywest from Louisville. Yes, I'm an aviation dork.

The Rest of Monday's Thoughts...

Well, Jeff made it to Raleigh. I reserved a car for him in Charlotte when I saw that was where his plane was headed. I'm glad I did, because when he made it to the rental area, all the dealers had signs out that said "Sold Out". People were bartering and begging to hitch a ride to Raleigh. Evidently Raleigh had been shut down due to wind and all of those people were diverted to Charlotte. Well, CLT couldn't handle all those people, so the flights were opting to fly back to where they came from. Jeff's flight went back to Chicago, with all of the baggage of the passengers who stayed on OR got off the plane. Smart Jeff just took a carry-on.

Maicy woke up screaming at 1am so I brought her in to bed with me. I hope I didn't just open Pandora's Box on that one. She snuggled in my arms, and then rolled over so I thought I would be safe in rolling over and facing the other way. Nope, she woke up, came over to me, and shook my shoulder until I woke up and snuggled her back up in my arms. Silly kiddo. She was roasting, too, with a temperature of 103.

I saw Emily's teacher yesterday and asked her about the "Howdy Pard'ner" incident with Emily and her extra shirt. I wondered if she went home and laughed after that happened. She said no, she turned around and laughed right then and there, and then turned back around and disciplined Emily. She said when she wrote the note home, she was trying very hard not to laugh. I told her that we all laughed about it too, but like Ben G told her...it's funny at home and around friends, but NOT at school. Good advice.

Prayers and thoughts for my friend today at her appointment.....you know who you are.

Tuesday Top 10

Thanks to Cat for starting this Top Ten idea....

Top 10 Things I Keep Putting Off...

1. Calling my work and finding out which paycheck I lost. I know it was sometime in November, and I know their records will clearly show which one hasn't been cashed, yet I keep putting it off.

2. Billing for my other job for February, March, and probably April. Why work if I don't bill? Well, I always bill Larry on time. The other two, it takes me a while.

3. Calling around for different auto insurance quotes. My rates went up $120/month because I received two speeding tickets in 3 years! I've been forbidden to speed again.

4. Calling same insurance company for an adjuster to come out and look at hail damage so we can get new siding.

5. Calling the furniture company to get our couch fixed. We paid for an all-inclusive warranty, why aren't we using it?

6. Calling whoever installed the carpet protector in my van. Again, all inclusive, why aren't we using it?

7. Calling the bank to get my password reset for online banking...so I can bill hours!

8. Getting my instrument rating. Clearly I don't want to fly professionally that badly if I keep putting it off. To be honest, if I get my instrument, I'll probably feel compelled to get my commercial, then CFI, and then to build hours for the airlines (American Eagle is hiring at 800 hours now) and I just don't want to do that. I'm lazy. I just want to fly for fun on pretty days. There, I said it.

9. Right now I should be on the treadmill since the sick littlest one is sound asleep.

10. Reading my Bible. Why is it that I'm too tired at night to read a Bible but not too tired to read a Tony Hillerman book? Hmmmm.....