While we complain about the ordeals of travel, and really, isn’t it stupid that we all have to take off our shoes every freaking time we get on a plane just because one inept terrorist tried (and failed!) to put explosives in his sneakers a dozen years ago, but having said that, isn’t it absolutely amazing that ordinary folks can get in a big aluminum tube and five hours later be in the other side of the continent, or on the other side of the planet in twelve or fifteen hours?
Filed under Photography, Travel
I don’t blame Vermont.
This version of a ham & cheese omelette wasn’t designed by any left-wing political movement in Vermont, or a vegan restaurant gone to extremes, or even an embarrassing mix up by our waitress.
No, indeed I give the waitress some serious props for diving with both feet into her role of deception and subterfuge. She made it happen!
I do not blame the perpetrator of this switcheroo. A tiger can not change his stripes.
No, ultimately I blame myself. After a lifetime of experiences that should have left me hyper vigilant, I blissfully went and danced on the Bouncing Betty.
At least I wasn’t surprised when the trap was sprung. It’s all good fun, right?
Then the monster sent me the video that I hadn’t even noticed him taking…
Filed under Uncategorized
What a wonderful day with old friends, some of whom I see every few years, some of whom I haven’t seen since we graduated high school, 45 years ago.
It was lovely. I enjoyed every minute of it.
Filed under Uncategorized
It’s full of mountains. They’re all really green. Say it in French, quickly.
We spent the day driving around a great deal of it with only the barest of plans except to meet dear friends for dinner at 18:00 and to stay off of the interstate as much as possible.
And to see deer, loons, and moose. (Two out of three ain’t bad!)
Filed under Uncategorized
We got to Vermont after an overnight in the big metal tube flying through the troposphere, followed by a drive north from Boston.
In celebration, the great State of Vermont left us with some presents!
See, there’s our rental car parked out in front of the amazing Hartness House!
See, in the rain and wind we got a gift baby maple leaf! A symbol of the state and its wonderful maple syrup!
Wait, what’s this? Also a “gift,” but obviously not from any wonderful Vermont representative! This must be a “gift” from a New Hampshire or Maine bird!!
Filed under Uncategorized
They’re closing the doors – I’ll see you on the other side. That’s it for tonight!
Filed under Uncategorized
In addition to the new (at least, to me) and unusual drought resistant plants that are popping up, some have been around for a few years. These are out in front of our office building.
Filed under Flowers, Photography
One tip – don’t play “Find That Lizard!”
There is no lizard.
Unless, of course, it’s a very, VERY zen, stealthy lizard. (There is no lizard.)
Filed under Photography
I noticed when I got home from the hangar yesterday that The Big Blue Bomber was now on the last stages of the countdown to 200,000 miles.
Since I usually only drive it on the weekends to the hangar in Camarillo and back, it’s still going to take three or four months, but this milestone is getting closer.
Gotta take tiny chunks of joy (or at least interest) where you can these days.
Filed under Castle Willett, Photography
Part of our D-Day 75th anniversary memorial at the CAF SoCal hangar was a presentation today on the P-51 fighter. You might remember that last Monday we had KTLA doing segments from their morning news show from the ramp at our facility. They mentioned today’s presentation and it also got some local press in Ventura County. Between the two we ended up with a much, MUCH bigger crowd than we’ve ever seen before at one of our talks. It was wonderful!
In order to show and not just tell, our mechanics took the cowl panels off the P-51 so that everyone could get a good view of the Rolls Royce engine inside. Later it was parked outside while I was stretching my legs, so I figured I could share the view with everyone else.
Of course, the best view is from inside that bubble canopy with all of those cowl panels in place and that prop doing several thousand RPM to propel you through the sky at about 450 knots. Inverted is optional.
Filed under CAF, Flying, Photography
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