November 25, 2002
Thanks to Darrell for this:
GOD BLESS AMERICA as we head into a conflict made necessary by evil extremists in our world God Bless America!
November 22, 2002
Sexy Turkey Recipe
Nice way to make your guests smile –
(see picture below)…..
#1) Cut out aluminum foil in the shape of a swimsuit…..
#2) “Dress” the turkey and roast like you normally would….. 
November 15, 2002
I am back from Pensacola and trying to catch up. Here is a cute link:
http://www.bigfatbaby.com/newfun2/flash/saddam.swf
November 12, 2002
Been in Pensacola, going back tomorrow. Christmas in Vermont again!
!
November 4, 2002
Thanks for the dinner, and the ivory ship:
and candy Betty and Dad!!
Thanks for the card Donald and the calls Darrell and Amy! I got to go sailing with Carl Saturday.
Note from Donald:
[NOTE the files landing and taking off are very large)
John,
———-
Happy November, everybody. Hope it’s not freezing where you are.
First, a bit of the family goings-on…
Stephen and Stephanie are fine. Stephen and I had a good weekend a few weeks ago when he came down for a visit. We rented a canoe and went to San Luis Reservoir for a couple of days of camping and fishing. We were going for striped bass, an impressive fish (the keeper size is 18″), but let’s just say we were more successful camping than fishing. Here are a couple of pics.
We ended the trip with a stop at Jeanne’s sister’s ranch near Hollister. The ranch is huge (68,000 acres) and we had a good time ATVing out over the hills and through streams and canyons. This Thanksgiving Stephen will be back for a 4 day visit and we are invited to the ranch for a big Thanksgiving shindig.
Stephanie is working full-time near Seattle and planning to resume college in Los Angeles starting in January. She and two friends will share an apartment. She has registered with a community college and plans on going to UCLA in the fall. I’m planning on helping them relocate around Christmas, probably driving up to Seattle and caravanning with them to LA, pulling a trailer. Should be interesting.
A few weeks ago I spiffed up my MG Midget (Midge) and showed her at the Palo Alto British Car Meet. We had a great time seeing the hundreds of beautifully restored and sometimes very unusual British cars. I was fortunate enough to bring home third place in my class (Midgets). Here are a couple of pics,
<c
and a link to a few more pics of cars at the meet:
http://home.attbi.com/~mvheim/pa-bcm/
and a pic of my award plaque:
I’m still flying as much as I can, but this time of year is a little
slow for soaring opportunities. This last weekend we went to see one of my
flying buddies Daryl (as well as several other teams) at Flugtag San
Francisco, an event that is a little hard to describe. Flugtag means
Flight Day in German. The type of event has happened all over the world
but this is the first time in the US. Teams construct unpowered ‘flying’
machines which they then launch from a pier in San Francisco. Needless to
say, they don’t go very far and the results are quite comical (and wet).
For a better explanation and pictures, go to http://www.flugtagsf.com.
Especially see the videos there. Daryl’s craft/team was called
Fliegenplastik (Flying Plastic) and was made entirely of plastic (plumbing)
but didn’t win. The team descriptions on the web site are great reading.
Finally, for some real flying. Here are a few pictures of me launching
from the top of Monument Peak, a mountain only a few minutes east of where
I live, on a couple of different days. I like these pictures in the large
format, so click on the thumbnails to get a better image.
I am flying my ATOS, a German design/Italian manufacture rigid wing
model which holds all current distance and speed world flight records. I
plan on adding a tail to the glider soon to improve stability and
spin-resistance. I like this glider very much and have been flying it for
over a year now.
Here are some videos that Stephen took of me flying at Hat Creek this summer. Hat Creek is a marvelous ridge site in northern California near the Oregon border near Lassen Volcanic National Park.
This is a launch with good lift:
Here is the view up to a bunch of us flying around.
Most of my flights there have been between 2 and 3 hours. I love exploring the area from the air.
Here is my landing, which would have been good had I not stumbled after I got my feet down.
I wiggle my legs before touching down to loosen them and make sure no straps are caught up in my clothing.
And finally, here is a picture of something called a glory.
http://www.kevincosley.com/GloryWeb.jpg
A glory is a marvelous thing that I hadn’t seen until I started flying a
hangglider and I’ve only seen a couple of times. It appears as a golden
globe in the haze or on a cloud opposite you from the sun. The glory shown
at the link shows the shadow of the glider/photographer. (See
http://www.kevincosley.com/Alone.html for the rest of this series. The
flying site is Ramparts up near Seattle, a site I had the pleasure of
flying last year.)
The glories I have seen have been quite far away so I didn’t see my
shadow, only a golden ball following alongside me. It is really quite
remarkable. You other pilot guys may have seen one.
All for now,
Don
Below is a picture from my balcony using my new camera this morning:
Dad and Betty and the “picture frame” I made for them:
November 1, 2002
Thanks for the card Dave and the candy Sue! My tooth has almost healed and things are getting back to normal. Carl has invited me to go sailing with him on Saturday.
Below is the zither I made for Sarah:
October 30, 2002
The above Mother Goose and Grimm matches my new cat Smokie.
The train.
| 2002 | Dad’s | February 2 |
| 2003 | John’s | 1st week in May |
| 2004 | Donald | |
| 2005 | David and Jean’s Housewarming party, Pocomoonshine Lake, Princeton, Maine | |
| 2006 | Darrell & Marilyn | |
| 2007 | Dan | |
| 2008 | Sue and Al |