2 May, another windy day

Another windy day, and the ag planes were quiet again. The storm that
roared through the area early this morning did no damage in this
area, although Ava, 30 miles west, had lots of damage from 70
mile-per-hour winds or greater.

The mailman brought another goodie, the gps antenna that collects
latitude and longitude information and sends it to the Nikon camera.
I hooked it up to the D2x, powered it from my VW, and sure enough, it
found satellites and recorded the info. There is no software or
readout with this unit, it's just an antenna that plugs into the
camera. It was plugged in to the car dc socket, so I couldn't get a
clear shot of the Lance with its shiny red and white paint job.

There was no spectacular sunset, as the sky was clear today, finally.
Spotted some bunnies playing in the grass, keeping the old tractor
company. And the neighbor's calves were munching on the lush new
grass. Spotted a stray kitty hunting, and when I moved closer a
meadow lark escaped from just a few feet away from him. Late
afternoon light is very rich and warm.

That's all for today... maybe the wind won't be blowing in the morning!

1 May 2008, it's SPRING

Robins built a nest behind the hangar, right at (Lloyd's) eye level.
Rather dangerous position, considering all the cats around!







Annual time for the 180, run-up and wash-down.
It's going to need a good bath soon, as
the pollen is getting serious this week. Aaaaachooo.

30 April 2008, Ma's airport today

Got a package from G & D today, for Mother's Day. Now, that's a
bribe, if you ask me. They want something!
But, ok, maybe not, just getting ahead because they have two business
trips, one in Boston and one in San Francisco. Thanks, guys!

Got another package today, an ebay treasure! Another pot of gold!
Now I have a matched pair. The rest of today's images were shot with
this Nikon goodie.

Windy again, and the guys were grounded, no fertilizer spreading today. So, here comes Don to visit on his Gold Wing, and an Army Blackhawk shows up for fuel.

Hungry, and they chose McDonald's.
They each wore a different patch, and gave me one for driving them to
town in the old station wagon. O I F, Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Stationed in Maryland, next stop Arkansas for the night. Mission is
to deliver the heli to Arizona. Long way to go. Really nice guys!

Another sunset! Five days in a row. I'm not complaining!

29 April 2008, Ma's going to bed

Adding photos for 29 April, as I was too tired to do them all.

I got to fly today! That's my camera ship in the hangar.
Had a paying job! This photo isn't from that job, though. Top secret.
Yeah. All the way to Mansfield, 25 miles.

Busy day at the airport, Randy is worn out.
The wind wouldn't quit, so he did.





Air Evac arrived and Randy had to work a little.
















Didn't think I'd miss a sunset, didja?

28 April, 2008 from Ma

After a couple of flights this morning, the guys called it quits;
check out the Alaskan windsock, up & down all day.
The planes just sat there all day waiting, but it kept blowing until
nearly dark.

After fueling up an Air-Evac helicopter, the guys checked out the
contents of a delivery, made minor repairs to the planes, and tackled
that dreaded paperwork.

Briggs and Bitty, the guard cats, set up a lookout, and the wildlife
got our attention. The killdeer tried to lead me away from their
newly hatched chicks that were hidden somewhere in the grass, but
they wouldn't do their usual broken-wing dance, just flew around and
squawked a lot. That squirrel was eating fresh new oak leaves, and
the wind rocked the spindly branches and nearly dumped him out.

Sunsets three days in a row! Got lucky when a great blue
heron flew across. The upper winds were tearing the jet
trails apart, and the temperature dropped, with frost in the forecast
tonight. And we thought spring was here. Ha.

Fwd: 365 project, 27 April, 2008

>
>Subject: 365 project, 27 April, 2008
>
>Today started out great... I slept in, the boys went to the airport
>and started their spraying runs, and by the time I got there, Lloyd
>had made three trips already. Randy got in a couple of trips, and
>they finished almost all of the jobs. The wind came up, and the
>temperature came down, and by sunset it was cool, about 40 degrees.
>Sprinkled off & on all day, and was just borderline miserable.
>Winter jackets again.
>
>Jerry flew in with a student in the Super Decathlon, and the boys
>worked on his wheel. Funny to see Lloyd as the "go-fer" and Randy
>doing the work. "Hey, get me a beer while you're getting me that
>wrench... " Yeah, right.
>
>While Jerry taxied out for takeoff, Smudge led me down the ramp to
>the runway lights, and sure enough, he led me right to a mouse nest.
>Quick as a flash, he had that mouse, and her babies, and had himself
>a candy treat. I didn't want to get too graphic in the photo, but
>you can see little pink legs. Aren't you sorry that you invited me
>to participate in this photo-a-day project?
>
>We gathered up all four cats and put them in the hangar for the
>night, the daily procedure. We can't let them run outside at night,
>because that would draw in the coyotes, or even a bobcat. I headed
>for the house to fry up steak for supper, and got distracted by the
>sunset. Still have a few ants, but the cold weather has sent most of
>them back to the nest. I'm guessing they'll be back tomorrow for
>another dose. And the cold weather drove in another mouse who
>perished in the trap I keep set in the corner by the oven door. It's
>out of the way, so it poses no threat to bare toes unless you move
>the trash can and magazine basket. When LAD comes to visit, it will
>be removed, of course. I stepped over the magazine mess that
>decorates my office floor and used that photo to close today's
>story. Well, no housekeeping got done today (big surprise, huh?).
>
>Love ya,
>Ma