So we did:

Went out and saw Aaron yesterday. Flew to PTK then dropped off the 340 and got into his Piper Archer for another leg..

The flight out to PTK was sorta in and out of IMC., even the approach to PTK was really hazy until about 1500ft. From Indiana to Pontiac, it was just kinda-sorta almost but not quite Instrument Meteorological Conditions. Smooth though.

So once in the Archer (slower, but still fun to fly) we headed to Mount Pleasant Michigan to hit the Casino. The weather was Severe Clear with a touch of Smooth most of the way…once close, Aaron put on the Foggles and did an approach for his instrument currency with me a safety pilot….Now, like shooting, instrument currency and proficiency is a perishable skill. Aaron did OK but was, as all of us are, heavy handed at first, but them got it together and did a really nice approach and a smooth as butter landing under the foggles. and without an autopilot. All hand flown.

Currency is one of the hardest things for us non-professional pilots to maintain, But the  skills are there, we just need to polish them. And that was part of the reason we flew the Archer instead of the 340 (plus the Archer is fun to fly)

We then chocked the plane and called for the ride to the casino…Outside was a really nicely done crew car:

After giving our money to the casino, via Craps and Blackjack and a meal, we caught the bus back to the airport, preflighted the airplane, and took off for Pontiac. Aaron flew much better this time,….it shows when we haven’t flown for a few weeks and then get back behind the yoke,…..Just a tiny bit of flying polishes our skills .He flew a perfect approach into 09R at PTK. I’d consider the skillset polished.

We then put his plane away, drove around the airport to where my plane was parked, did a flight plan, and I preflighted the plane, filed the flight plan, and started the engines.  Got my IFR clearance and was told to taxi to 09R….but then Ground called and told me to do a 180 on the taxiway and proceed to 27L….they changed the runway.!? I asked if I had misheard the first time? He said no, they just changed the active runway after I got my taxi instructions.

Got to the runway, did a runup (mag check, cycle the props, all that) then got takeoff clearance and proceeded west(ish) into rising clouds.

After that is was pretty decent flying. Got just above the clouds and cruised for a while. I did ask for some course deviations for some rapidly building rising clouds, but they we easily avoided.

While I like flying at 100 knots, for making miles, there is nothing like burring fuel and cruising high and fast…190 knots makes for a faster trip.

After that it was a nice decent from ATC and a setup for the RNAV approach to my runway.. It was all thick haze (Not IMC but certainly not VMC either) on the descent until about 1600 feet, then clear to the runway…where I did an adequate (but only barely) landing. Glad no one else was in the plane to see (and feel) that. Some landings are better than others….

Taxi and hangar the plane and then home.

It was a good day:. flying, friends, a different plane, gambling, more flying….

Probably more like that today too.

To find a whole boatload of Cicadas clinging to most vertical surfaces, some molting already, some not yet. There appear to be two distinctly different kinds, based on coloration and size.

But they apparently have reached the correct conditions for emergence.

There’s a LOT of them though. I expect it to get noisy very soon.

I never knew that an upside down US flag was a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement:

But, apparently, it can be:(at least to some people) An upside-down American flag, a symbol associated with former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud, was displayed outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021, The New York Times reported.

I was taught that an upside down US flag was a sign of distress.

Funny all these things that the Left comes up with about the Right, innit?

Is this true or is this yet another thing the Left has made up that is now something “Everyone Knows”? (There are so many “Dog Whistles” that I can’t keep up anymore)

Trust the goddamned science already! How many times do you have to be told, fer chrissakes?

the origins of the coronavirus remain up for debate, the lab-leak theory is not a conspiracy, and that there was no scientific evidence to support the government’s social-distancing guidance.

So they’ve been lying to us. Not that anyone with more than 2 working neurons to rub together didn’t already know that….

Plus this: We now know the likely truth about COVID, and how scientists lied

Even the Daily Mail folks are laughing at, and see the truth of, the Trump/Stormy Daniels “trial”.

It is scathing.

If it wasn’t for the political prosecution part of it, it’d be a joke, really.

So the cops in Louisville have covered themselves in Glory….No matter how you look at this, it’s gonna give them a black eye in the minds of the public. There is no way to “spin” out of this

Seems that they were investigating a traffic incident at the PGA Golf tournament….And a major player, Scotty Scheffler, was arrested for failing to comply with their commands to stop….

The best part is that a cop “Attached himself to the car” and was somehow injured,,, and they are blaming his injuries on Mr. Sheffler….IN fact they are charging him with assaulting the cop who somehow “Attached Himself”.

Their heavy handed practices are only coming to light because of the celebrity of the person they used them on….if it had been you or me or most anyone else, they’d get away with it.

Look: I am all for our police. We, as a society, need them. But it is about time that they realize that they are not our masters, they don’t have special privileges, we are not subservient to them, and they have to play nice with us. If they can’t, then they don’t need to be cops.

I find it interesting that Mr. Scheffler was processed and released in record time….. Someone in the department has some intelligence and some sense….But the cop didn’t. All he  knew was the Mr Scheffler didn’t obey…..and that made him angry.

So you may have heard about the “Controversial” commencement speech made by Harrison Butker, a staunch catholic (and the kicker for the KC Chiefs)

The calls for him to be fired from the chiefs because he believes in (and espoused) traditional values in his commencement speech are loud….and there is a petition with approximately 190,000 signatures calling for his firing.

The NFL took a somewhat weasely stance and said “”His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”.

At the end of it though, what stood out to me the most is that the folks who always want “Inclusiveness” really don’t…..they want their views to be heard, but never opposing ideas…..they want acceptance of their lifestyles and morals, but others that may disagree with theirs Must Be Silenced.  Funny how that works….There is no real Free Speech, there is only the speech and beliefs that THEY deem acceptable.

This man has his core beliefs. He had the courage to state them. Publicly. (and ,mostly, he represents the values of MOST of America, more or less.) You are free to disagree with his views. But the one thing you are NOT free to do is silence him.

To do so is t undermine YOUR ability to have alternative views, and espouse an alternative lifestyle…one that many may not agree with. But if your views are Free Speech, then so are his.

Someone need to tell these Fagots and Transgenders and lesbians to shut the hell up about this.

Why do less than 1% of the population get such a loud voice, anyway. Why does the Media eve bother to report what they want? Why does anyone listen to them at all?

So Scott Peterson, the “Coward of Broward”…the School Resource Officer (Sheriffs Deputy) who hid and cowered outside instead of confronting the Parkland shooter (I won’t mention his name) back in 2018 thinks that the Broward Sherriff’s Office should pay his legal bills from his trial. 

Dude should have been handed a pistol with one cartridge and left alone to Do the Right Thing….(Not that the other Broward County officers were much better, mind you you….when the Coral Gables officers arrived about 10 minutes after the first call, they  found several other Broward officers hiding behind their cars…)

But Peterson thinks he shouldn’t have to pay for his defense. Weasel.

Apparently Biden called for a debate on June 27th.

43 days from today.

I fully expect that Slow Joe will have an “issue” just before the debate, as we all know he would not be able to hold his own. Even in a scripted format such as has been proposed, there is no way Joe can hang….

Something will have to give….a stroke, heart attack, a terrorist attack, trip-and-fall, something will happen to give Joe an out.

Bet on it.

Man is stung in testicles by a SCORPION at the Venetian hotel as Las Vegas suffers mass infestation of venomous creatures

Remind me to say away from Vegas until they get this infestation under control…..