Morning Cup Of Coffee And Weather

Looks great! I don't think I've seen a storage building designed quite like that before.
Having had the use of several different hangars over the years before buying my own, I've noticed that if they had any type of opening that afforded a bird access, they soon would have many nests built in the rafters. It always seemed like one of the favorite pass-times of the nesting birds was to use any stationary items below for target practice. The one I eventually bought has a corrugated steel ceiling, & sheet rocked walls, with no easy access, or place to nest. You can see a glimpse of it in the attached picture which was more focused on the plane.

 

One reason I chose this building was the lack of rafters. There is basically no place for a bird to perch.

 

A fake owl hanging from the rafters may help keep the birds away.

 

Beautiful bird! You built it or buy it? Lets see the naught bits! The panel!

 

8 1/2 yrs of building 15 1/2 yrs of flying so far. A little over 1019hrs on the Hobbs when I landed on Sunday after going to my hometown airports fly-in.
When I started building it in '99, there were no glass panels in GA aircraft, and had just started being available for Experimental's. Now that's about all you can see in both.
When I was finished building it, I went to the local FISDO with my build manuals, and selfie pics doing building process functions, answered their building/maintaining questions and was able to get my aircraft specific Repairman's Certificate from the FAA, so I'm able to do my own repairs, and annual condition inspections in my hangar. Not that I don't employ an A&P when their expertise is needed for issues I'm not sure of, and it makes for a great learning experience too. Never stop learning.

 

Keep the blue side up.

 

I mean this sincerely. That looks better than just about every plane I've flown in. Magnificent work, I'd fly with you any day...I can't say that about some kits I've seen.

 

....always the goal, but few things in life are guaranteed, so I have tried to live by the motto "Have fun when & while you can, but do it as responsibly as possible from a, moral, safety, and financial perspective" It has served me well so far, but sometimes a fine balancing act to be sure!

 

Thanks!

 

Oh <censored>...here we go again. Ol' Sweeney is on a rant.

Your note reminds me of a good friend. He's suffering through what is likely his last days right now with a variant cancer that probably resulted from decades of work near, in, and around military equipment and installations throughout the world. In his military career, he served in the capacity of an ATC (Air Traffic Controller) and some other on-the-ground work, though I do not know any details. He doesn't speak a lot of those days.

It is impossible to spend more than 30 minutes with him, it is impossible not to hear stories. Or, photos of exotic places and people. His favorite is a much younger version of himself...urinating (not how he says it) on a 500lb bomb that was dropped near, but not on, a base in Saudi base where he was doing work. A gift from one of our "mutual friends".

One story relevant here, is while he was working as an ATC, he was working Approach and Tower/taxi on a holiday weekend. No one was there, and it was a quiet night. The weather was high overcast with a new moon. So the sky was very dark. The base was next to the ocean (I'll redact it, though I know where it was) and a fighter was inbound for landing, both brining the plane in for repair as well as for leave.

He says that the pilot sounded slightly out of sorts, and had some mechanical problems (which is why it was coming back) and the pilot requested vectors.

For nonpilots, spacial disorientation is a strange thing. It is best described as when you inner ear (which gives you balance) gets out of sync with your other senses. You can feel like you are in a turn and still fly perfectly straight and level. Or worse, feel like you're straight and level but are in a descending spiral, this is what happened to JFK Jr all those years ago. You've probably experienced this --- when sitting a stop and the car next to you creeps --- you slam hard on your break because it feels like you are moving. Pretty much exactly the same thing.

He instructed the pilot to turn left 15 degrees, and the scope showed a right turn. He instructed the pilot to make a 15-degree right turn, and the pilot returned to his previous course. The pilot was doing exactly the opposite of what he was asked to do. My buddy realized the pilot was suffering from spatial disorientation.

Well, the pilot, flying over an open ocean without land reference nor sky, had gotten disoriented and was flying inverted but didn't realize -- He was flying hands-on because the autopilot was impacted by whatever was happening on the plane. My friend had to politely and gently ask the pilot to relax and ask "What color is on top of your attitude indicator" where there was a long silence. When a response came back, the voice said "The dark is on the bottom." from that time through the end of the flight was professional but just a little 'shakey'

An hour later his shift ended, and there was a fill bird colonel waiting at the door still shaking at what happened previously that evening.

This is his cautionary tale not to assume experience is enough... sometimes everyone need the help of others, and sometimes it may be from another discipline and of a lower rank.

True story? I dunno. Probably not. With these old salty ones sometimes it's hard to tell, and, the military has changed a LOT since 'the day.' Also, in other areas he has photos (like the bomb) so there is plausible allowability (?)

My father-in-law (Koren era) was the same way. As an aircraft mechanic, he talks about being trained to fly the planes he worked on, at least enough to land the plane so that if ever doing a taxi test the plane "took off' unexpectedly. How loved telling how he was flying home in the rear seat he was flying rear seat going home on leave when the pilot wanted to 'take a nap' resulting in his landing the airplane at their destination.

I don't know --- I'm heading home this weekend to visit my friend. The cancer he has is nasty - and has metastisized throughout his body. He says he glows in the dark after the PET scans. He also is in great spirits. He insists that at every doctor visit he asks "How long do I have doc?" and the doctor is "required" to look at his witch and say "59...58...57" --- His daughter confirmed this, or "You haven't paid your bill yet, so 6 more months"

-S

 

OK --- its Thursday. That means I can officially start thinking about the weekend right?

The temperatures are starting to come down to 'cool' where campfires are much more enjoyable. Though, next week we'll be in the 90s again at least briefly.

I've been looking for something 'fun' to do --- but with as hectic as life is, I seem to have 'forgotten' how to do that. What I think I'd really like is a trip to a boardwalk along the ocean --- but too far, and "Indiana Beach" is not bad - but we'll try that in September I think.

We considered going to Kings Island near Cinci. I haven't ridden a rollercoaster in a long time, but if I'm going to do that I want to go to Sandusky for Cedar Park --- which is, as far as I am concerned, the best park in the United States for rides. Not so much in theming. Disney is king there. However, I'll never set foot in their parks again until they respect their customers and their historic IP's.

I did a quick state park search --- and was shocked!!! Brown County State Park has well over 100 electric sites still available. Now yes, BCSP is a very large park indeed -- but this is pretty unprecedented in recent years to be able to get a site a month out, let alone a couple days before a nice weekend.

Is $4 gas and $8 hamburger pushing us to a breaking point? Where people can't afford even cheap entertainment? I know I am blessed with a good income -- and keeping food on the table has been painfully expensive.

Trying to be positive...Trying to be positive...Trying to be positive...

Regardless...I'm on track for 100 nights this year --- actually, over 100 nights unless my Florida and CICO trips don't pan out for some reason. That will push me to 110 or so.

Where are YOU going this weekend?

 

Staying close to home!
Maybe get a free fresh water washdown!

 

I’m working around the homestead this weekend. One more year of improving the property and then I’ll be set for tons of traveling.

I do have a week trip planned in October and another week in November.

 

This is going to be a weird one!

 

Prepare and be safe!

 

It sounds like I might be able to brag a little

I had one of the best weekends I've had this summer We went to Brown County State Park (which is probably the "gem" of the Indiana parks)

I got there early on Friday to set up the camp, my bride, pets, and wards joined me later in the evening. This was a very unusual weekend, since I only made reservations on Tuesday of last week. I'm not sure how this happened or why the vacancy rate was so high. There were over 100 sites free, and even on Saturday, there were 3-4 sites near us that remained vacant all weekend.

We really didn't do too much except to take a drive around Bloomington in the national forest. The weather was delightful at around 80 degrees and sunny. It was just marvelous being able to slow down briefly and no the worried about rain. Every trip has been damp this summer.

Next weekend will be 'garage cleaning' making space for 2 tons of wood pellets, deep cleaning the pellet stove, the weekend following will be moving the 2 tons, which really isn't all that bad, its just a lot of effort.

 

How'd the carwash go? I'd imagine this was a blessing in disguise in the dry west...

 

We had a couple storms move through the area over the last week or so. Several large tree limbs were taken down by either wind or lightning, so I've been doing a little cleanup/firewood gathering this past weekend. Still a bit to do, but might wait for the heatwave to pass before continuing.

 

Those are some nice wheels! Love your tow vehicle for the woodland trailer. Rock on Rokon!

 

Thanks!
The Rokon has worked pretty well to get through the densely wooded areas where the trees are too close for a 4x4 to get through, and can pull up to 2000lbs. With the studded tires it will climb over dead-fall trees easily, and climb an upright tree until you can't stay on it any longer. Of course with the stake side trailer behind, it's then about as wide a 4x4 so you have to choose your path accordingly. I haven't tried it, but with the drum wheels and flotation tires you're supposed to be able to float it across water as deep as you can walk through to push it along lying on its left side.