They are testing their systems for when it gets real. I think he is right. Once is happenstance twice is coincidence(maybe). If there is a third time…..

If you don’t have some preparations in place, think hard about getting some. A few weeks of food and some water will go a long way towards giving you more options than most folks. Even a few flats of cans of beans and a few pounds of rice will go very far, and they buy you the most important thing in a crisis: The time to consider your situation and plan for what is next. Most people will not have that luxury because they are stupid. Don’t be them.

And, if you are smart, a plan for, and the tools to, defend your stash from those folks who are unable or unwilling to plan ahead. 

Seems that the Lincoln Navigator has been named the 2019 Truck of the Year.

Have ya seen the thing?

It ain’t a truck, it is a glorified (if nicely outfittted) SUV/Station Wagon. Lots of nice goodies, but not a truck. An expensive and somewhat capable luxury car that rides poorly.

Shows the difference between the city folks and real folks. Folks who think Style is more important that, you know, function.

That the Rev. Martin Luther King would likely be very disappointed in what the Black rights/Civil Rights movement has become, and the general attitudes of black people in general and especially the ends pf the spectrum….powerful and wealthy, and poor and undeducated, have become.

He’d likely be ashamed of the movement and his people today.

And lets not get into what the CULTURE has morphed into.

Yeah, I’m white and yeah, I know the above makes me “Raciss”…but at least I can both pronounce and spell “Racist” correctly.

If this offends you, then you are a part of the problem. 

So, in preparation for the move, I was helping my brother on Thursday….and as happens to people who use their hands, I took a chunk out of the edge of one finger with a chisel that slipped. Not a big deal, a bit of blood and a curse and all good. Except this was right at a joint, so despite the fact that I clot quickly, it kept breaking open.

Being as it was a new house, no one living there yet, no bandaids, so a bit of paper toweling and some of his finest Scotch 33 tape (only the good stuff , not Jap Wrap) and I’m not bleeding all over his new floor anymore. We finish that job and move to another.

Later that day, I leave to go to a Dentist appointment.

The dental assistant, a nice young lady, asks what is up with my stylish tape on my hand?

I explained how I got the tape, and why.

“My boyfriend would not be able to keep working if that happened to him, he can’t take blood, he’d have to go home” She said. “He’d never just tape it up and keep on working…He’s not very tough”

I (probably wisely) refrained from pointing out that she needed to find a more manly boyfriend, (seeing as how she would soon be probing onside my mouth with sharp objects….) Perhaps one with a set of cojones putting some testosterone in his blood…..

But seriously, WTF? Why do women go with, and stay with, such wimpy men? One would think she’d want someone tough enough to deal with a very minor injury, and manly enough to suck it up and keep working.

Perhaps he’s “sensitive to her needs” or something?

Why would women, seemingly intelligent, want such a wimp? I thought they’d want tough manly men, not pussified ones.
Or is this the new Millennial womanhood? “I am Woman, hear me squeek.”  Mates as weak and soft as they are? Raising children to be as weak as they?

MLK day is actually being celebrated on…..MLK day! It is, actually his birthday on the day it is celebrated instead of kinda-sorta close to that day…..

Usually it is just whatever Monday is closest so that Government employees and leeches (but I repeat myself) get a three day weekend……Which always seemed to me to weaken the impact and import of the holiday and doesn’t really honor the person that the holiday is supposed to honor.

Pick the day, and celebrate it when it actually happens. Or not. But the holiday isn’t just another excuse for a three day weekend. 

That’s when I woke up and realized that today was the day that I solo;

First time in a week that I could fly (the eather in NW Indiana isn’t always cooperative in winter)
It was cold (-5 F) and calm. Like perfectly calm.

So at 7 AM they unlocked the doors and I preflighted the plane. The last user had overtightened the oil cap, but other than that, the plane was good. (I loosened it using a pair of pliers from my toolbox …oil level was good).

Then a quick flight check with the Chief Instructor. 2 stalls, some slow flight, an engine out procedure, and a landing…then another landing. First one was flat, second one was a go around (my choice) and then a really smooth landing. Touched down as the stall horn went off, exactly where I wanted.

Taxi back to the barn, turn around, he got out, and I taxied back to the hold short line for 18.

Now it REALLY got real. No one next to me. No safety net.

and I called for departure on 18 on CTAF, and warned everyone:

“Look out above,
Watch out below:
Y’all better be ready,
Here I go. “

and with that, I did my first ever solo takeoff .
Around the pattern….
And landing.

Was OK, the second landing was better than the first, and then a third one which was ok.

Then back to the barn and parked it.

Like most first times, it went too fast…

Maybe video later if I can get it off the camera.

ETA: Can’t seem to get any good clips from the GoPro, so none at this time.

And yes, I did transmit that. Figured I’d better warn everyone.

Everyone showed up to help with the move. Plus some brought their kids or whatever.

If it is possible to have too much help, today was that situation.

Moving an entire household took LESS than 3 hours.

We spent the rest of the time putting beds and such back together and unpacking shit.

Today is moving day for my brother.

Let us hope that all the 14 people that promised to help actually show up.

2 LARGE trailers, 1 medium. 10 miles.

If everyone shows up, maybe 3 hours. If not….

And I got a phase check tomorrow at 7 AM. If the weather holds, I will fly.

Hope I can walk…. 

They are, apparently, also totally STUPID.

Via Wirecutter:

This Sorority Girl Tried To Show Some School Spirit And Accidentally Pissed Off The TSA

Hassled, searched and reprimanded for a hand gesture. 

Help kick him over 14 million.