Does it look like Bonnie and Clyde? It is, they are headed for the safe house after picking Huckleberies!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Day 30?
Does it look like Bonnie and Clyde? It is, they are headed for the safe house after picking Huckleberies!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Day 26
Ok, here are a few pics from our trip to Moab to watch the Becca run a half marathon. She did great of course, and we had a wonderful time.
So here is the question:
Jessica is on her porch watching the boys ride the 4 wheeler. they come by the house going 10 mph, waving and yelling hello to her. She suddenly realizes that directly 10 feet in front of their path is Alyssa's pet tarantula, Cupcake. She yells at them to stop and because they always immediately obey her, they hit the brakes and in 3 seconds they stop in 4 feet!! Wow, tragedy avoided. Ok, so the boys continue their riding and after a while they make another pass by the house, this time they are travelling at 20 mph ( a little fast for all of our comfort levels) they again yell and flash the peace sign to Jessica ( or maybe it is the Victory sign!) Suddenly Jessica remembers Cupcake and as the boys are exactly 10 ft from the cute little guy, she screams, they brake. The question is; how long does it take them to stop and how far does it take them to stop? Will Alyssa get to snuggle her little Cupcake ever again???
So here is the question:
Jessica is on her porch watching the boys ride the 4 wheeler. they come by the house going 10 mph, waving and yelling hello to her. She suddenly realizes that directly 10 feet in front of their path is Alyssa's pet tarantula, Cupcake. She yells at them to stop and because they always immediately obey her, they hit the brakes and in 3 seconds they stop in 4 feet!! Wow, tragedy avoided. Ok, so the boys continue their riding and after a while they make another pass by the house, this time they are travelling at 20 mph ( a little fast for all of our comfort levels) they again yell and flash the peace sign to Jessica ( or maybe it is the Victory sign!) Suddenly Jessica remembers Cupcake and as the boys are exactly 10 ft from the cute little guy, she screams, they brake. The question is; how long does it take them to stop and how far does it take them to stop? Will Alyssa get to snuggle her little Cupcake ever again???
Monday, March 14, 2011
Day 25
OK, an avition question for all of you to figure out, send me your answers on my email or text.
At an altitude of 10,000' above the ground, if your engine quits in the PC-12 you have 1256 square miles of earth available for you to land on. How much of this lovelly earth would be available to land on in the event of an engine failure if you were at 20,000' ??????? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
At an altitude of 10,000' above the ground, if your engine quits in the PC-12 you have 1256 square miles of earth available for you to land on. How much of this lovelly earth would be available to land on in the event of an engine failure if you were at 20,000' ??????? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Day 24
........So Nichols and I get to his apartment in about 30 minutes. It is almost dark when we get there. It is the classic eastern Russian apartment building. The exterior is gray crumbling concrete, slowly sinking into the tundra, the stairways are dark and dank, but when you get to the individuals apartment it changes. This is their space, their little world in all that biggest country of the world that they have control over. Nichols apartment is rather spacious, neat and clean, and he quickly gets busy making dinner. I relax on a couch and watch the standard Russian news channel. They still are using a plain gray backdrop behind the older male reporter. No good looking female along with some sort of visuals pertaining to the story. The reporters drone wears me down, and I drift off, but Nichols soon wakes me and we eat a pretty good meal. Nichols is adapting to the life without his sweet wife Natalia, and I think she had done the cooking when she was there.
After dinner there isn't much to do so I doze off again on the couch and stay somewhat warm through the night on the couch. The next morning we are up, eating, sending his little son to kindergarten, and walking back out to the airport. It is chilly but not terrible, in fact some of the snow in the road has given way to mud. We arrive and head up to the tower. It is not quite 9 AM so we check some weather and I go look at my airplane, which faired pretty good through the night. It will require some sweeping off but that's about all. I am back in the tower when the clock strikes 9 AM and almost instantly the phone rings, it is the controllers in Anadyr, and Nichols has a short but positive conversation with them. I ask him " Well. what did they say?" He responds " They say - "With much pleasure, you are cleared to depart". Ha! I chuckle supposing that there has been some rather heated conversations through the night, and the controllers in Anadyr were probably at the bottom of the food chain and got the brunt of the blame. They are anxious to get me out of there!
i get the airplane clean, wait a little longer for the runway to be cleared and then it is back to the good old USA. I enjoyed my stay, it wasn't much of an inconvenience for me, but still it is nice to be headed east, and across the border in about 20 minutes.
Jim and Therese described the phone calls to the state department, the Russian Aviation people, Ted Stevens office and who knows who else. They handled it as well as I imagined they would. Its nice having such good people on your side.
The rest of the story plays out. We must remember that relations between the two countries are still improving. People don't want incidents like this happening during these times when agreements and working relationships are still forming. So, how do they handle it? Well, they handled it as well as it could be, I must admit. I get a letter from the Feds saying I am being investigated about it and that there may be serious certificate action taken against my license. I reply explaining what happened, but shortlly after I get a warning letter from the feds. Now, this isn't terrible, but it does go on my record, so I call the leader of the feds in Fairbanks and ask " hey, whats the deal?" He gives a non committal answer that basically says without saying; We had to do something and this is what was best for everyone. I understand. Blaming the pilot takes the heat off the two countries and the bad press that could affect the relationship. It is really the best solution. So I take it, and 2 years to the day later, I am on the phone to the Feds making sure the record of the warning is expunged as it is supposed to for all warning letters after 2 years. It is, I am happy.
After dinner there isn't much to do so I doze off again on the couch and stay somewhat warm through the night on the couch. The next morning we are up, eating, sending his little son to kindergarten, and walking back out to the airport. It is chilly but not terrible, in fact some of the snow in the road has given way to mud. We arrive and head up to the tower. It is not quite 9 AM so we check some weather and I go look at my airplane, which faired pretty good through the night. It will require some sweeping off but that's about all. I am back in the tower when the clock strikes 9 AM and almost instantly the phone rings, it is the controllers in Anadyr, and Nichols has a short but positive conversation with them. I ask him " Well. what did they say?" He responds " They say - "With much pleasure, you are cleared to depart". Ha! I chuckle supposing that there has been some rather heated conversations through the night, and the controllers in Anadyr were probably at the bottom of the food chain and got the brunt of the blame. They are anxious to get me out of there!
i get the airplane clean, wait a little longer for the runway to be cleared and then it is back to the good old USA. I enjoyed my stay, it wasn't much of an inconvenience for me, but still it is nice to be headed east, and across the border in about 20 minutes.
Jim and Therese described the phone calls to the state department, the Russian Aviation people, Ted Stevens office and who knows who else. They handled it as well as I imagined they would. Its nice having such good people on your side.
The rest of the story plays out. We must remember that relations between the two countries are still improving. People don't want incidents like this happening during these times when agreements and working relationships are still forming. So, how do they handle it? Well, they handled it as well as it could be, I must admit. I get a letter from the Feds saying I am being investigated about it and that there may be serious certificate action taken against my license. I reply explaining what happened, but shortlly after I get a warning letter from the feds. Now, this isn't terrible, but it does go on my record, so I call the leader of the feds in Fairbanks and ask " hey, whats the deal?" He gives a non committal answer that basically says without saying; We had to do something and this is what was best for everyone. I understand. Blaming the pilot takes the heat off the two countries and the bad press that could affect the relationship. It is really the best solution. So I take it, and 2 years to the day later, I am on the phone to the Feds making sure the record of the warning is expunged as it is supposed to for all warning letters after 2 years. It is, I am happy.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Day 23
Hey, I got a call from Vern Yates this morning! You remember the Candy Man! He had seen the obituary in the paper about Don and was calling to tell us. He wanted me to send a big hello to all our children. He and his wife recently sold their home and moved into a apartment in Anchorage. Their home was sold to Jason Evans and Kiana Peacock! I am sure you remember those names, Jason lived in Nome and Kiana in Kotzebue, she was on the basketball and cross country teams. A few things about Vern, he flew in the Navy, he flew Corsairs ( way cool airplane) and then other planes like Beech 18's and some jets later. He then went to work for Japan Airlines and I think he was with them for some time. After he retired from flying is when he started travelling to the Bush and working for Bowman distribution. He is currently writing a book about his life.
So, I saw Flying Wild Alaska last night. Saw a few people I knew, but mostly it just reminded me of the great flying and people there are in western AK. I think I better start recording more flying related memories:
Once upon a time I was scheduled for a trip that was to go from Nome to Pt. Barrow and pick up 9 Russians to take directly from Barrow to Provideniya (PVS). That trip has a few extra conditions that are there to deal with; one is that we never know the PVS weather until later in the morning, but to do this long trip and get in and out of PVS during the short window that the airport is open, you really need to leave Nome for Barrow before you have received the PVS weather. OK, so as I am getting the airplane ready, Therese gets a message from Moscow that the clearance we had for that day was expired. We both thought this was wrong because clearances are usually good for 3 days and we are in the second day. So we decide to delay the departure until we can talk with the PVS airport and ask about the clearance and the weather. In the meantime we ask the US controllers what they think about the clearance and they all agree that it is good. So, when PVS opens she calls them and they report fairly good weather and also they say the clearance is good.
OK, that's what we wanted to hear, I am out the door for the 2 hr trip to Barrow. When I get to Barrow, I check with Therese and confirm weather and clearance still good and get the green light. So, I begin the process of loading the baggage for the 9 Russians. Now, you may remember that when you live in Provideniya, or an outlying village, and you get to go to America, you are going to take a LOT of stuff back with you. And this group was especially loaded up because the nice people from the Barrow area gave them lots of good gifts also.
So after spending a lot of time loading all I could, and putting on some more fuel, I head out. The trip goes pretty well, As I approach the border I am very interested in how the transfer will go, normally the US controller just hands you aver to the Russian frequency, you tell him Who, What and Where you are, and he will clear you on into their airspace. But this time I wonder if they will, Actually, if they don't allow me in it wont be any emergency for me, I will deliver the people to Nome ( I have plenty of fuel) and the good people of Nome will open their homes to let them stay until we can try again. But, I call them and it is no problem, they give me a clearance to a fix close to PVS and, as I approach, they give me a clearance for an approach and then after having the airport in sight , a clearance to land. We land carefully on that rocky strip being careful so as not to damage the propellers with the rocks. We taxi in and deliver all the passengers to the border guards and Customs and then wait to get them processed. After they are through I go upstairs to the tower to sign out and say goodbye to Nichols ( Ilyas' Dad) and the other controllers. As I sign out they call Anadyr to get my clearance and...... you guessed it, Anadyr says that I have no valid clearance. The other aspect in this is that I only have about 10 more minutes until the Provideniya airport closes. This doesn't give us much time to fix this especially since it is the middle of the night in Moscow and all offices are closed, So, before long I am putting the airplane to bed, the best I can on the ramp in PVS, and heading out with Nichols on a good brisk evening walk ( it is winter) to his apartment.
Before I left the airport I talked with Jim and Therese in Nome and know that they will be all over this issue and know that the people in Russia are going to get a real earful from them.
To Be Continued........................
So, I saw Flying Wild Alaska last night. Saw a few people I knew, but mostly it just reminded me of the great flying and people there are in western AK. I think I better start recording more flying related memories:
Once upon a time I was scheduled for a trip that was to go from Nome to Pt. Barrow and pick up 9 Russians to take directly from Barrow to Provideniya (PVS). That trip has a few extra conditions that are there to deal with; one is that we never know the PVS weather until later in the morning, but to do this long trip and get in and out of PVS during the short window that the airport is open, you really need to leave Nome for Barrow before you have received the PVS weather. OK, so as I am getting the airplane ready, Therese gets a message from Moscow that the clearance we had for that day was expired. We both thought this was wrong because clearances are usually good for 3 days and we are in the second day. So we decide to delay the departure until we can talk with the PVS airport and ask about the clearance and the weather. In the meantime we ask the US controllers what they think about the clearance and they all agree that it is good. So, when PVS opens she calls them and they report fairly good weather and also they say the clearance is good.
OK, that's what we wanted to hear, I am out the door for the 2 hr trip to Barrow. When I get to Barrow, I check with Therese and confirm weather and clearance still good and get the green light. So, I begin the process of loading the baggage for the 9 Russians. Now, you may remember that when you live in Provideniya, or an outlying village, and you get to go to America, you are going to take a LOT of stuff back with you. And this group was especially loaded up because the nice people from the Barrow area gave them lots of good gifts also.
So after spending a lot of time loading all I could, and putting on some more fuel, I head out. The trip goes pretty well, As I approach the border I am very interested in how the transfer will go, normally the US controller just hands you aver to the Russian frequency, you tell him Who, What and Where you are, and he will clear you on into their airspace. But this time I wonder if they will, Actually, if they don't allow me in it wont be any emergency for me, I will deliver the people to Nome ( I have plenty of fuel) and the good people of Nome will open their homes to let them stay until we can try again. But, I call them and it is no problem, they give me a clearance to a fix close to PVS and, as I approach, they give me a clearance for an approach and then after having the airport in sight , a clearance to land. We land carefully on that rocky strip being careful so as not to damage the propellers with the rocks. We taxi in and deliver all the passengers to the border guards and Customs and then wait to get them processed. After they are through I go upstairs to the tower to sign out and say goodbye to Nichols ( Ilyas' Dad) and the other controllers. As I sign out they call Anadyr to get my clearance and...... you guessed it, Anadyr says that I have no valid clearance. The other aspect in this is that I only have about 10 more minutes until the Provideniya airport closes. This doesn't give us much time to fix this especially since it is the middle of the night in Moscow and all offices are closed, So, before long I am putting the airplane to bed, the best I can on the ramp in PVS, and heading out with Nichols on a good brisk evening walk ( it is winter) to his apartment.
Before I left the airport I talked with Jim and Therese in Nome and know that they will be all over this issue and know that the people in Russia are going to get a real earful from them.
To Be Continued........................
Friday, March 4, 2011
Day22
Hay, I tried out my heart rate monitor! I went swimming with it and I couldnt get it to work for a while and then I tried moving the transmitter over to my left side, and it started working! I guess my hearts not in the right place! :) Its pretty cool, I was averaging about 135 bpm during the short duration before I had to get out. I am trying to go swimming today and I will take it and then download the info into the fitness program that is available! Really Cool! I am impressed that Luke surprised Becca with a monitor! What a guy! Who else is coming to Missouri for a triathlon this late summer or fall? Maria, are you competing?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Day 21 ?
Well I took a week off, it was my birthday week you know! We had a great time with Jessica and kids, and then we had a great time with the Jensen family!! Thanks to all who came, we love having our children with their families come to visit!
It is interesting that recently I wrote about Don Outwater, I think I was prompted because a while ago I stumbled across a short letter from him written in 2003. He was in a hospital in Seattle at the time. 2 days ago I got a message he wasn't expected to live long and then yesterday I found out that he passed away Monday night. A lot of mixed feelings there. I think the thing about Don the most is how he and I could of been such good friends. I guess most people would look at us and think - what do they have in common? Well we were brought together because of the gospel, and I think that we were given a gift of being able to love each other as much as we did. And so, although I wish I could have spent some more time with him the last couple years, I am grateful that he is over the physical suffering that he endured so long.
I remember that we did some good service for Don now and then, I remember a few anonymous Christmas gifts we gave, and some time spent helping fix his cabin and area a little. He was always interested in what our family was doing and asked about all you kids individually. So you had a positive influence on him. The last few years he was living in Anchorage, with his daughter and her family and then was in a rest home. My memories of Don will be of his excitement when we would take him to his cabin and listening to him whistle while he was there.
It is interesting that recently I wrote about Don Outwater, I think I was prompted because a while ago I stumbled across a short letter from him written in 2003. He was in a hospital in Seattle at the time. 2 days ago I got a message he wasn't expected to live long and then yesterday I found out that he passed away Monday night. A lot of mixed feelings there. I think the thing about Don the most is how he and I could of been such good friends. I guess most people would look at us and think - what do they have in common? Well we were brought together because of the gospel, and I think that we were given a gift of being able to love each other as much as we did. And so, although I wish I could have spent some more time with him the last couple years, I am grateful that he is over the physical suffering that he endured so long.
I remember that we did some good service for Don now and then, I remember a few anonymous Christmas gifts we gave, and some time spent helping fix his cabin and area a little. He was always interested in what our family was doing and asked about all you kids individually. So you had a positive influence on him. The last few years he was living in Anchorage, with his daughter and her family and then was in a rest home. My memories of Don will be of his excitement when we would take him to his cabin and listening to him whistle while he was there.
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