 It is SPRING! |
April 30, 2000
We spent our anniversary sailing, then spent the evening with friends in a huge hot tub! Today we went out for breakfast, I fixed up Denise’s car and Denise is collecting and organizing her paints and painting tools. Still waiting for word from Nate and Christine and Carol!
April 25, 2000
April 24, 2000
Denise’s BIRTHDAY!
She had a wonderful trip to New Orleans! She feels like she is family again she says.
I guess Dad is having a great weekend, I have not found him home!
I just spoke to Al. It is 31º and snowing there in Vermont! There has been so much snow and rain that all the creeks are flooding and they have rivers in their driveways!
Hope all had a great Easter, we had a quiet day yesterday, Denise drove all night on the way back and needed to recover!
April 20, 2000
Denise is going to New Orleans tomorrow for the weekend!
The evening with relatives went fine, but Diane “spilled the beans” (figuratively, not literally). She told me Denise has taken a job…… as a deck hand on a sailboat! She is going to be sailing two hours at a time – dolphin watching! I asked her how much they paid captains so we could do it together! But they only pay minimum wage, oh well.
April 17, 2000
is coming! We are having 10 or more over tomorrow night for an early Easter dinner with relatives who are down.
Yesterday we went to Longboat Key. Dad L. took the six of us out in his boat for a ride to the Seafood Shack where Uncle George and Priscila bought us dinner!
April 15, 2000
Last night we went to Largo to the “Florida Association of Fiddlers”. Denise was able to join in and fiddle with them! She was excited!
Today we went to the Saint Petersburg “Mainsail” Art show. It was very nice,we listened to the music and then walked the whole show.
Tomorrow we will be going to Longboat Key so Denise and her mom can “jam”.
April 13, 2000
Check out the French version – click on the word FRENCH (left). Feedback anyone?
April 11, 2000
From Jim:
Axioms-of-the-day * *
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will
begin to itch.
— Lorenz’s Law of Mechanical Repair
Any tool, when dropped, will roll into the least accessible
corner.
— Anthony’s Law of the Workshop
If it jams, force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.
— Lowery’s Law
There is no mechanical problem so difficult that it cannot be solved by
brute strength and ignorance.
— William’s Law
April 8, 2000
Another killer week at work. Lots of fun though, got all the computers downstairs for
set up. Dave Chitester thinks this site will be the next internet startup phenomenon. It sure has possibilities!
Denise is having fun playing her violin. She has joined a band! It is called the “Perfectly at Home” band. Ken, the leader, says he named it thus because it is made up of his students and they always say, “But I played it perfectly at home!”.
We are taking a day off. We went over to Gulfport this noon but are at home this PM. Denise is playing her violin and I am just playing!
Denise will not be going up to Chicago tomorrow after all. The airline sold all the tickets and did not leave room for her! We are going to go up May 5,6 and 7 though. Wait for us please, Christine, OK?
April 6, 2000
Check out the BABY PAGE (left)
April 3, 2000
Donald writes:
Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2000 10:08 PM Subject: Happy Spring (forward) Hi Everybody, I hope you are enjoying a beautiful spring. It is really nice here in northern CA, in the low 80s but a little windy. Great kite weather! Stephanie and Stephen are fine. Stephanie graduates high school on June 14 and plans to go to college in downtown Seattle next year. Stephen wants to go snowboarding some more this season and we may. We weren’t able to on my last trip up to WA. I was able to pass another personal goal in my hang-gliding last weekend. As you know, last July I had an accident on my first glide at Dunlap Flight Park in the Sierras near Yosemite during a Flying Safari weekend. Over the last nine months I worked my way back and had flown three times locally from the top of Monument Peak (1750′)(5.5 to 8 minute flights). Finally I decided I was ready to fly Dunlap again and I went on another Flying Safari last weekend. Many of the people who had come to my aid in July were there and they were all supportive and glad to see me back. The conditions were excellent, but I had a good deal of low level anxiety as I approached my first launch Saturday morning. It is a ramp launch at 4580′ (about 700′ lower than the peak of Mount Katahdin) with a landing zone about 2 miles away at 2300′. It is actually tough to see the landing zone (LZ) in the distance and easy to get confused between the various ponds, fields and roads below, but I was prepared. The launch and flight went well as before, and again my landing approach was poor. However, I was beginning to understand how to set up an approach to this LZ and made an OK landing. It was a short flight, but actually I was tremendously relieved that everything went OK. We had one additional flight that afternoon and I was feeling calmer and more competent, with a perfect approach and landing. By the next morning, I was having fun flying again. The Sunday afternoon flight was absolutely the best. The neatest thing about mountain soaring is the 3-dimensionality of it. As I mentioned, the LZ is 2 miles from launch, and (as a beginner) you are able to go above and between ridges and spines on a 3-4 mile distance along the mountain you launch from. In addition, you can go up to cloud base, which was about 5500′ that afternoon. As I launched westward on that last flight of the weekend, I could look around and see 4 or 5 of my buddies flying around in this space, usually spiraling in thermals to gain altitude. I recognize my friends by the color and model of their gliders as well as their harness color. I navigated south along the ridge toward Pam (my instructor) about 1000′ above Highway 180. At that moment, a black news helicopter buzzed through the valley below me and between/among us. Visibility was excellent so there was no problem, but it was a good example of traffic I have to watch for. I spiraled with Pam for a while in ‘her’ thermal, then lost it and found a rock face with a thermal that I spiraled above for a while. When I lost that I went to join Mark where he had good success. After a few minutes we parted company and I went in for my landing. The whole thing is really like a 3-dimensional dream where you are able to navigate your little Dacron and aluminum craft here and there and wherever you want, visiting friends, exploring or what have you. It feels like tremendous freedom. My best flight was 20 minutes, but another beginner had a 45 minute flight and two experts had 2-hour flights. Thanks for sticking with my little story. As you can tell, I’m having fun now and like telling about my adventures. This weekend, the professional gliders are in town for a speed-gliding contest, but the wind hasn’t allowed gliding yet. It’s nice weather though and we had a fun picnic. Next weekend I’ll be driving back down to Marshall (hang-gliding site) near L.A. with the buddies and if things go well I’ll be flying there. That will make four sites I will have flown at. Some links:
Speed-gliding – http://www.wingsofrogallo.org/speed2000.html
Dunlap Flight Park – http://www.geocities.com/sdkoski/ (look at his photos link)
Marshall/Crestline – http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/ (excellent Glossary)
All for now, Don
April 2, 2000
Note from Sue and Al:
We would like all of you to know that our daughter, Tracey, will be united in marriage to Mr. Blaine Paxton on April 7, 2000. The ceremony will take place somewhere in California. Susan and I give them our blessings and hope they enjoy as many years of marital bliss as we have. It is quite interesting that Blane is still going to marry into this family after having met me. Must be love, of course California is a long ways away.
And on another note; my daughter Amy is going to make me a grandfather!