19 July, 2008 Day with the kids

Sleepyheads, Sam & Cam & Ralph snoozed this Saturday morning. Samantha dreams in colors, Cameron dreams in numbers, Ralph dreams in... autos? girls? Kelly dreams in... snow cones? autos? money? Kelly stayed in Jeff City, to work. I toiled at the airport, had to dig down to the buried anchor to replace a tie-down rope. Briggs helped.

They brought me lunch, we ate in the pilot lounge. Samantha did a food dance, and Cameron did a fly dance. Funny kids. The terrapin and the ant had lunch, too.

Ralph helped me move a trailer, he practiced driving on his learner's permit. No, we didn't knock down a tree, the thing was already full of bonfire material. Then Ralph got to practice driving again, this time with standard transmission.

Fonda and Lad arrived from Iowa via Boonville. Lad had to show Jared how to hop.

I am SO worn out...

Grant and Dev went to his 20th class reunion, then Grant fudged on his birthday and opened some gifts. Is that all there is?

Yes, that's all there is. G'nite.

18 July, 2008 Aw, they're pretty, but...

Well, new wheels, and the hubs melted down within an hour. Either they're the wrong ones, or they've cheapened them up so they won't last long. Back to square one.

Fueled up a pretty yellow ag plane... heading for Iowa.

Ok, get ready for Grant's bunch, his 20th class reunion! Man, he's getting old. So, clean off the bunks for the kids, move a few things in the closet, and shrumphghelhhmpljmpgh... the shelf unloaded and all the paper cardboard mailers packing stuff hit the floor. Oh, well, ... Oh, blast... I stepped on the glue board (mouse trap) just inside the closet door. ...

So, the bunch arrives, we settle in for the night. Rain to the west, but for us a full moon. Grant & I watched Jupiter through the telescope. Samantha was making a movie on the computer with some new software, Cam was working math puzzles, Ralph was dozing, Dev was booking, (Kelly was in Jeff City, has a job).

17 July, 2008 Tribute

Today, the Missouri Pilot's Association Chapter 50 held its regular
monthly meeting at Mtn. Grove Airport.

The best we can muster today is a patriotic salute to our good friend
Jim Evertsen. We are brokenhearted.

16 July, 2008 -- Big sonic boom!

Boom! Sonic boom today, can barely see the contrail of the offender. He came out of the northeast (St. Louis?), crossed to the southwest, made a big u-turn, then went back to the northeast. They aren't supposed to do that!

Spotted these cat-tails. They look like the hot dogs that we're serving tomorrow night at the Missouri Pilot's Assn. meeting here. That's why I'm posting early tonight, got things to do.

Well, blow me down again! Army helicopter, this time.

15 July, 2008 .. Happy Birthday, Fonda!

Fonda, I hear you got black balloons at work this morning! You're 2 and a half, same age as LAD. This was way back in the 70's.

Look out, obstruction on runway!! Abort!! Oh, it's only a potato. What, another potato picture??? Well, I didn't want to run short on photos like I did yesterday.

So, many bees are working the butterfly weed, still no butterfiles.

I found these tiny scrapes where the mud-daubers have harvested the wet clay for their mud nests. No, it isn't snow, but sevin dust. It will reduce the population of those pesky, messy nuisance wasps, eventually.

I dismantled and boxed up Lloyd's gps unit to send to the manufacturer for testing, then Randy will have it installed in his Ag Husky. That is, if Briggs will let it go.

No animals were injured in the making of this movie. Really. Lazy Briggs just put out his paw and laid it on top of the toadie, and I rescued it for relocation.

The box turtle found a lizard (already immobile) and I couldn't keep up with it to get a picture! It was trying to get away from me, kept circling, and I started laughing. What, can't keep up with a turtle?

I semi-repaired the lawn tractor wheel, shimmed it up with a bunch of washers. It worked long enough to get some mowed at home just before sundown.

There's Luke's deflated soccer ball, still out there since the July 4th fireworks. Notice the duct tape. First time on the planet that duct tape didn't work!

Well, blow me down!

G'ma Airplane

14 July, 2008 .. Blue skies

Intense blue skies today, absolutely no clouds. Are you sure this is Missouri...

A POTATO? you shot a picture of a POTATO? Yeah, but it was out of focus. It came out of my garden, which is a big flower pot. I ate it. (The potato, not the pot.)

Have you ever seen anything so silly as Sugar? She's the oddest little mutt, can't keep her ears under control. I intended to take a pic of a box turtle all covered with mud, but it rambled off before I got back to it.

Now, that's low flying, even for a cropduster! The boys are still in Marshall, still dusting, should have accomplished a lot today. And no, that's not yesterday's sunset.

G'ma Airplane, really short on pictures today