Rain, finally Rain!!

I know, it's just a photo of the back yard.....but what's terrific about it is that there is water flowing!! It's been 6 weeks since we've had any appreciable rainfall - the grass was all crispy brown until Sunday. I'm about tired of the rain now, though!!

Reading list for the next few months

Friday was the local library book sale.....I'm pretty happy with my purchases - all for one crisp $20 bill....

Several light reading paperbacks....but the ones I'm looking forward to are:

The Five People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
For one more day by Mitch albom
Sanctuary by William Fualkner
The Sea Wolf by Jack London
In the Company of Eagles by Ernest Gann
Waiting to Exhale by terry McMillan
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The No. 1 Ladies Detctive Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
A lesson before Dying bye Ernest Gaines
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
A map of the world by Jane Hamilton
Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
Treasure Island by Robert L. Stevenson
and
The Adventures of Sherlock Holms by Arthur Conan Doyle


Oh, and one more -

called "Before and After" subtitled -

A novel about Exploding Sheep, Nostradamus and the End of the World.

How's that for judging a book by it's cover? I'll let you know.....

NC's newest EMT-P

I just can't help myself...


I was going to wait until the certificate came in the mail and show you a photo of it....


But it's not here yet. So, I'll just share the secret.....Richard is one of NC's newest licensed Paramedics! Yay!!! Congratulations Richard!!!

Bringing new airplane home

Saturday, we went back to Brunswick, Georgia to pick up the new airplane. It all checked out good with the mechanic doing the inspection.

The insurance required that we get some instruction in this airplane because it's different than our Cessna. We brought along John Estes - he frequents the Siler City airport and is a great instructor.


Duane and John flew the Mooney back - doing some practice along the way. I flew the Cessna back by myself.....


Amazingly, it's the longest time that I've been in the Cessna solo! It was about 2 1/2 hours - and here is the picture out the windshield pretty much the entire flight. In and out of these bumpy clouds. I do NOT like that kind of flying, and being alone made it that much worse! But, I survived and I guess I'm a little more confident now because of it!


I flew directly back to Eagles Landing - but Duane and John flew over to Siler City to do some more practice (otherwise, they would have beaten me home since the Mooney is about 25 mph faster).

Here's Duane's first landing at home on a very bumpy/windy day!


Too many airplanes now!!


After the winds calmed down in the evening, we flew together down to Sanford to do some more landings. Very nice - Duane did a good job. I'll get with John later in the week and do my training.


Now, the sunsets will look a bit different with the wing below us instead of above!!


And there we are - all cozy in the hangar!

New (to us) Airplane!

We've been toying with the idea of changing airplanes for a while now - "down-sizing" you might say. Our current "Station-aire" "station-wagon" is really just too big for us now that the kids seldom fly with us. Plus, it's a relatively slow airplane that uses alot of fuel....anyway, we've made the plunge and bought another airplane. (Anyone want to buy a really nice Cessna 206???)

Monday night, Duane saw a really good deal on Trade-a-Plane (the aircraft online supermarket) and we needed to jump on it fast or it would be gone!

The next morning, we were in the plane going south to St. Simmons Island. It's pretty down there!



Complicated story - we are not qualified to fly the new plane because it has retractable gear - so we'll have to fly a certain number of hours in the new plane to satisfy our insurance that we are capable! So, we needed Dick to go with us - he's qualified and he knows alot about these planes. BUT, coincidentally, he was already heading south with Lindy's cousins for a little reunion in Savannah. So, since our plane is bigger, we just popped them in the plane with us and all headed a little farther south to Brunswick.

The folks at St. Simmons Island airport are great - loaned us the usual courtesy car - headliner falling down, no air-conditioning - for a quick trip into town for lunch. Always fun to pack 6 adults into one car with no air-conditioning!! (Really, I'm not complaining - it was fun!)


The girls at the desk at St. Simmons told us to go to Barbara Jean's - what a treat! I didn't embarrass everyone by taking photos of the food, but they had t0-die-for She-Crab soup. A really neat place - great food and really friendly.


Just have to include this photo - never seen a plane quite like this one before....


So here it is! A Mooney 201 - not the most attractive colors, but I think we'll be happy with it.



You can see Dick's similar Mooney in the distance - Dick was a real help looking the plane over.


Looking thru the logbooks in the shade - it was hot! Everyone was a real trouper while we looked at the airplane.


The owner and Dick went up for a test flight - Dick could tell alot more about it than us since he flies his all the time. It all checked out good (I sat in the back and was very comfortable)


After a little paperwork - we have a deposit on the airplane. We'll have to go back to pick it up this weekend after it's inspected by the local mechanic.

Due to some storms that had cropped up in S.C., we decided to head out over the ocean a little on the way home. Crossed over this cargo ship - it was huge!


Got home just in time to enjoy another beautiful sunset!!!

Back to the Future.....

Remember the 1980's "Back to the Future" car - the Delorean?

We walked past one parked at the bistro where we had breakfast Sunday morning in Oriental.....I had to turn around and snap a photo with my cell phone.....funny how they just look like a cheap, old car now! I guess time has a way of doing that.....

Sailing to Ocracoke

New post over at Glory Days Blog

Quick trip home for the McCraw reunion

Amazing that another year has passed! We flew up to Hendersonville Sunday morning for a very quick visit and attended the McCraw family reunion. Most all the usual "suspects" were in attendance.


Lots of good food and good visiting!


Brothers and sisters got a chance to chat.


Had to stop by and see Obie the cat. He is spoiled rotten.....wonder how that happened?


Then it was back to the airport for a even quicker flight home (nice tailwinds, that is!)

Always love seeing those mountains, lakes and valleys below us!

Book club trip to the big city!

Our book club read last month was "To Kill a Mockingbird" in honor of it's recent 50th anniversary. Fortunately for us, The Burning Coal Theatre in Raleigh is preforming the show right now!

First we met at Mo's Diner for an early dinner. Yum, is all I can say. I'd never been there, but had heard great things.





One of the book club members had dined there a good bit and knew that one of the menu items was special - a grilled caesar salad...yes - the lettuce was actually grilled. Sounds weird - but it was wonderful! Added a scrumptious crab cake and I was very satisfied.


Then it was off a few blocks to the Burning Coal Theatre. It is in the old, historic Murphy School building just a few blocks from our first apartment on North Person Street (thirty years ago!!!)


No photos were allowed once the play started - but here we are. Aren't we special??? The play was extremely well-done - grab somebody and go if you're around the next few weeks!

Sept 11

September 11th means lots of things now....

Happy Birthday Daddy!

With silly Richard:



And Robert:

Fall is on the way already!

Not much going on around here.....

I noticed on the driveway there are already signs of fall....the sourwood is turning a lovely color!

Quick Myrtle Beach Visit

Sharon & Buddy and their "co-horts" from Greenville usually spend Labor Day weekend at Ocracoke. We've joined them for the past few years. This year, Hurricane Earl got in the way of that plan. So, Buddy and Sharon headed to North Myrtle Beach instead.

We joined them - had a nice, relaxing day. Not doing too much - just playing at the pool and walking on the beach.


MUCH different than Ocracoke - very busy day on the beach!!


Interesting find on the way back - I hadn't seen this one - a corn/grass? maze - near....Sanford!!

Miranda's new job

First busy day at the airport today for Miranda. She's going to be working some weekends at the airport for us. (and she's going to be a great employee!!)

Coulda' been me

Last night, Dick called and wondered if I would be interested in going for a balloon ride first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, I had to be at Asheboro to work at 8AM, so I had to leave the house before 7AM. Not my usual relaxing morning, but I have a couple of the employees going to a fuel seminar and I am working in their place today.

As punishment, this is what I saw pulling out of the driveway.....