Gah!

I am growing tired of having to share the road with people who are less intelligent than week old lettuce, less situationally aware than an overripe tomato, and have the nervous response time of wilted broccoli. This makes for bad drivers…

And that is, of course BEFORE they start driving while using a cell phone to distract them and block fully 50 percent of their peripheral vision.

‘Tis a good thing I am not subject to Road Rage….Just Sayin’. 

And I thought the Gun Fora were bad

I mean, anyone can buy a gun, all you need is money.

But I was trying to do some research on airplanes for a possible purchase and ended up on several airplane forums ….

Damn.

I mean one might expect some level of disagreement, but the thing is, there is a minimum level of intelligence required to be a pilot, right?
Right?

The same infighting, the same unreasonable defense of one brand over another, the same unreasoning hatred of the “other” brand… the same illogic, the same defense of what that person had purchased…

I mean, you can substitute 1911 for Cessna and Piper for GLOCK and see nearly identical arguments (and then sub Mooney for FN to get the REAL argument started)

And the rumors and untruths repeated by people that have never experienced that product,  But they know it is true because they heard it from a friend of a friend of a cousin of the brother of the guy who shares the next hangar over….

I guess, no matter what the forum topic, people are people.
And topic discussion fora are really not reliable sources of data. The same level of noise to signal exist there as well.

McCain dead

He were a senator, and was a prisoner of war after being shot down in Vietnam….

As for the Eulogy:
(My Momma taught me that if I can’t say something nice, to say nothing at all):

.
I do hope his passing was painless and quick. 

Public service announcement

Just in case you ever think of it….

DO NOT step on the carpet tack strips in stocking feet.

I was pulling them up  to putting down new flooring the phone rang…so I stopped what I was doing and answered the phone.

Upon returning to the job at hand……I stumbled and recovered with one foot upon said tack strip.

Yikes, that hurts.

No major damage, but holy shit those things are sharp. 

Point of view:

So was talking, along with a few others,  with two gunsmiths today….one professional, one a gifted amateur.

The amateur and I were discussing gun oils and CLP type products.

Most were acceptable to him for the purpose to which most people use ’em. Cleaning and preventing rust, and lubrication.

Then one other person brought up WD-40….

The amateur gunsmith stated that that was the worst product he had ever seen. The pro stated that loved it….Most of us turned and stared at him:

Then he smiled and said fully 20% of his work would go away if folks stopped using WD-40 as a cleaner and lube….”It “gunks” up more guns than even 3-In-One oil.”…..the first thing he does with most malfunctioning firearms ts strip ’em and clean ’em with a solvent bath and a brush…. Fixes about half the issues.

Best to choose a product intended for the use to which it is intended, I guess….

The police are the problem

In Chicago, according the the folks on the South Side. Especially those folks who listen to the activists…..

“They are killing all those people”

Of course, “those people” shot 48 folks this weekend…and the police shot no-one in that time frame.

And of those shootings? ’twasn’t whites, or asians, nor native Americans, nor even mexican immigrants doing the shooting either…. .

But it isn’t the fault of the black people. They tell us so, so it must be true.

It’s all Whitey’s fault. And the white police especially.

Gheah

So, after flying to meet Aaron for lunch yesterday, I met some other members at the Range and pulled some video cables yesterday…through conduit. 10 video cables through 250 ft of 2″ plastic conduit.

I had engineered things such that I would be able to pull straight up….using my legs more than my arms. (I was the youngest and in best shape so they guided the cable from the other end as it went and I did the pulling)

And we used plenty of wire pulling lube.

100 (more or less) squats later, the wire was pulled through the conduit. the last 30 feet was a lot of resistance (a long sweep bend that we simply could not get any lube into, so lots of friction)

All was well last night and this morning. I was actually surprised at how well I felt (I don’t normally do TEN squats in a day, much less a hundred(ish) with resistance. Pretty much no stiffness when I arose from my slumber…. No pain other than normal aches and pains. Old friends, as it were…..My legs were fine, my calves and ankles were good….I had expected my forearms to hurt, as gripping the rope was something I no longer do on a regular basis…But no

Then, around noon, it began to hurt. Calves, thighs, glutes.  I can barely hold a covefffe cup in my hands

I normally walk about 12,000 steps a day. I might make 8K today. Maybe.

Where did I put the ‘Vitamin I” ?

This gettin’ old is a bitch. I may have to have to crack open the bottle and have some liquid muscle relaxer later, over ice.

Low clouds and haze

But that did not stop either of us, just delayed us a bit.

I met Aaron of the Shekel about halfway for lunch on Sunday. He’s out of the greater Detroit area and I am out of NW Indiana….so we each flew about 90 miles.

I had to delay departure for about a half hour due to visibility issues at KOEB (our destination). But other than the last 20 miles or so, it was awesome. Vis was +5 Miles all the way… I flew east-northeast at 5500 feet, 500′ (more or less) below the clouds with flight following from South Bend (and then Kalamazoo) approach. At Sturgis, MI I had to descend because the wall of clouds went up to about 10K and the bottom was a little below 4000. So I flew my last 20 miles at 2500 feet MSL. Approach was standard downwind entry.

Oddly, moments after  I called my base to final turn for Rwy 25 at OEB, Aaron transmitted his “10 miles out” call. Couldn’t have worked it out much better. I got to watch him do a very smooth touchdown. I don’t even think he chirped the tires.

Other than parking at the wrong parking area, it was perfect…but we both needed that half mile walk after flying for most of an hour anyway…..

The restaurant wasn’t the best, but it was good enough. The food was decent (Bacon, Mushrooms, and Swiss burgers) (Plus Tater Tots!!) and the service was attentive. Sadly, until now, Aaron and I had only met in meatspace once. It was cool to talk to him in person. We had a great time chatting, and then, because he was looking at less-than-ideal weather moving into his area sooner than planned, he did a preflight and taxiied to the runway and took off. (I wondered why he did rwy 22 until I too left shortly thereafter).

After he did his departure and turned for home, I preflighted and fired up the rental 172 and taxiied out and also was confused by the signage, and I too found myself taxiing to the end of 22…..Which wasn’t a big deal ’cause the winds we 16 at 4, so it was an acceptable departure runway.

‘Twas bumpy on the way back, and a bit of a headwind (which, in a 172 is not a minor consideration!) so I used a bit more RPM’s than I normally do. Not quite “Full Rental Power”, but more than the recommended 70% throttle…

I arrived at home just in time to change clothes and go to the range to meet some other members where we cut and pulled (manually) 10 pieces of 250 feet of video cable. Which pretty much wiped me out.

But again, I am reminded that I need a faster airplane….and not a rental, either. Maybe an R182? I dunno.

I will let Aaron post the pics, he has the better software to clean ’em up, but here are 2 so you can see what a dashing airman he is….

Plus, of course, a pic of the proverbial (but more expensive than that) “$100 hamburger”.

As always, click to embiggenify