I made it!

Well with many delays and more snow and ice I finally made it home! We got in to Cheyenne after dark on the 23rd and it was a wonderful to be home.

Xmas was spent opening presents and playing with all new toys :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Xmas and I can't wait to see some of you very soon in Hawaii, Aloha!

I almost forgot

Here is a pic of my flamingo, as you can see he is very sad as he likes sunshine more then he likes snow.

No more curtain!

So for a long I have wanted to redo my bathroom, well I have now started. I wanted to expand the shower, tile the floor, add a jetted tub, move the potty, ect ect ect. Well I realize that I will most likely be moving with in a year so I need to concentrate on the plane and not the bathroom.

So for a little money and one night of work I did make and improvement, I put in a shower door! Lowes said I would need a $750 custom door, but Sutherlands had the same door from the same "custom" company in stock for just under $200! So 5 hours and a few bad words later I now don't have to worry about that yucky shower curtain touching me :)

Now I just need to pick out some paint and tile and be finished with the bathroom for a lot less then my first grand plans, and I am sure it will look great! More to come...

Who's ready for some BBQing

I just wanted to show you all the new pad, yep I got a patio!Hope everyone is well and enjoying life to the fullest.

Aloha!

Time for more fun

Ok so I have been a slacker on updating this as I did not tell you about my Atlanta trip and the cool things that happened there. Well here is the quick story.

A buddy Kevin was my nav and he invited Gail (the other pilot that went to the sim with me) and I over to his house. He has a beautiful house and a wonderful family that cook us steaks and was wonderful company for an evening. We ate out at a indian place the second night and that was cool too, but the coolest part came the last day after our simulator.

Kevin works for Lockheed and got us into the plant were they make the F-22 and C-130J. We walked "the line" of both of these aircraft and got to see how they are made. It was neat seeing an F-22 being made and how big they really are. The guys building it got a kick out of knowing that my little sis E flys them.

I got to see how the C-130s are made and it was really neat that I am building my plane the same way as the big boys build them. In fact I was a little surprised that I thought I was a little more picky about the riveting, oh well I will still be picky because its my plane and my bottom, oh wait I fly the C-130s too and its still my bottom =o It was just nice to meet a few of the workers that put these planes together and shake their hands, they do amazing things and because of them I get to fly these great planes.

Hard to see but the above rivets have a very shallow shop head (for those that know what I am talking about)

Aloha!

Blizzard?

Well it's lunch time and we have had some snow but nothing blizzard like yet. Amy said Casper has got over 6" so I hope it's on it's way. They have announced that all the schools are being released 2 hours early...

OK back to work, where is the snow when you need it?

Snow???

OK this is what the weather channel is saying for today =)

A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM MDT TUESDAY.

SNOW WILL SPREAD OVER ALL OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING BY 8 AM AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT. THE SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES TODAY AND EARLY TONIGHT. ACCUMULATIONS OF 12 TO 18 INCHES IN EAST CENTRAL WYOMING WITH UP TO 20 INCHES IN THE NORTHERN LARAMIE RANGE. FIVE TO 10 INCHES OF SNOW WILL ACCUMULATE OVER THE REST OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING BY SUNRISE TUESDAY.

ALSO...NORTH WINDS WILL BE GUSTING 45 TO 55 MPH WHICH WHEN COMBINED WITH THE HEAVY SNOW WILL CREATE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AREA.

A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT CONDITIONS...MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF YOU MUST...HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET STRANDED...STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE. FOR SPECIFIC ROAD AND TRAVEL CONDITIONS IN WYOMING AND NEBRASKA...PLEASE DIAL 5 1 1.

So far it's starting to get windy but now blizzard, keep your fingers crossed as I would love to have a snow day. The only problem is that this is the one time when I really need to fly at work =( Oh well just like Dad says "Whether you are aware of it or not the universe is unfolding as it should."

I'll keep you updated, Aloha!

Hunter

Ok so to be honest I have never been a huge pet guy. I mean dog, cat, fish it really didn't matter. I often wondered why people went through all this trouble, time and money for their pets, well I am starting to see why.

I have been watching Hunter the last few days and it's pretty amazing how smart animals are. I mean he waits for me to come home, does his business then wants to play a bit, and never complains, I mean wow what more could someone want. I guess the one that gets me the most is how smart he is, I now know why they say a dogs a mans best friend.

OK I got to run, but I just wanted to share with the world how much hunter rocks!

Wonderful Day

So today was another great day! I went to work thinking that I was not going to fly but then I was on the schedule to fly so I got to come home and change back into my flight suit, much better then wearing Blues for Monday!

Before I heading home I decided that I would work till about lunch and then hit the gym. Unfortunately I had a quick gym session and had to bolt out after about 55 minutes, didn’t get to biceps or abs but it was still a good workout. When I came home I made a super quick lunch and headed back out the door so I could go and fly =)

I flew over to Laramie and just had a blast! It was a great flight and everything was awesome.

OK well time to study for my check ride that I need to do this month, I know homework comes first (but it can be so hard sometimes). I’ll chat later, Aloha!

What was I Thinking?

So today I left the house and it was about 46 degrees but sunny so I figured that it would warm up so I left my jacket at home. Well as I left to go to lunch at Jared’s house his truck said it was 39! This was at noon and plenty of sun. So help me understand this, sun comes up and the temperature DROPS??? Well that’s what happened today.

When I went home it was about 1700 and I needed to run, so I put on a long sleeve shirt and walked outside. Well I don’t know if it was the temp or the wind (about 28 mph) but I was COLD! So I walked back inside and put on a thermal undershirt and then the long sleeve tee-shirt and tried again. It was still cold and my shorts were not helping but I thought if I just start running I would warm up… WRONG

I was running into the COLD wind and it sucked. I never broke a sweat in the 3.5-4 miles that I ran. My ear phones kept falling out as I think the cord was freezing and moving with my body as I ran, causing them to fall out of my frozen ears. I might have tried to stop them but I couldn’t feel them fall out, only noticed that the music stopped.

When I finally stopped I was going to walk it off by checking the mail but I couldn’t get my fingers to grip the key required for my mail box. This is when I realized that it may not have been the best idea to go running in the cold. So how cold was it you ask… Well when I got back inside Yahoo said that it was 36 outside with the wind blowing at 28 mph, it said the “feels like” temp was 36, I don’t believe it because I think the wind makes it colder but in either case is was a little cold to be running outside without gloves and maybe something other than shorts, or and maybe a parka would have helped.

In short I am READY to head to Florida where it should be 73 this weekend and I plan on spending a lot of quality beach time without a shirt enjoying the warm sun.

Ok bed time but I wanted to share another one of KC’s finest moments.

Green Eggs

So yesterday I spend an hour driving around to find a remote light switch for my room. Remote light switch you say… Yea I can’t stand having to get out of bed to turn off/on the light. I guess some would say to get a light for my night stand but you know I don’t want one so… I found this cool thing that you put in the ceiling fan / light combo and now I have a remote =) It even allows the switch on the wall to work!



So now I can sit back in the comfort of my bed and when I feel like it’s time to turn the lights off, presto lights are out and I am fast asleep =) I know I am sure some of you are going to tease me about the clapper or something but hey I guess I am getting lazy in my old age.

So this morning I woke up and had the lights come on nice and dim at first (yes my new switch is a dimmer too) and then I decided to make some eggs for breakfast.

I will admit that I have been getting a little creative with my cooking lately and decided to put the rest of the baby spinach and cilantro in the magic bullet with some turkey and cheese. Well it tasted great but I had to take a picture as it was literally green eggs! Yea I guess it was like having a salad with my eggs, but it tasted great!


Can you see the green???


Very yummy

OK well I am on my lunch break enjoying a smoothie and some chicken from last night. Have a great rest of your day and I am back to the grinding stone.

My Saturday

OK so I started the day off with some breakfast (duh) and then hit the gym, it’s amazing how empty that place is on a Sat morning. After that I headed to the Jeep dealer to see if I could get the switch for my headlights that I broke last night, well they are closed on Saturdays here in the capital city, so I called Autozone and they said that the one in Greeley had the part I needed.
So after a nice lunch at the house I got in the Jeep and headed south. An hour later I had the part in hand and well it kinda worked. I had all the lights working except the headlights. So I thought that the headlights may have blown when I saw big sparks last night. After a LONG and PAINFUL process I determent that the headlights were good, so it must be a bad switch. Oh and yes I checked all the fuses that I could find.

So back in the Jeep and headed another 45 minutes in the wrong direction to try another switch. The dude was nice and just swapped them out and I tried it in the parking lot and it was the same, no headlights. Now I was way tired of messing with this and I was pretty sure that the switch must be working and there is something wrong with the Jeep so I headed home before it got too dark.

I did have to use my Off Road lights on the way home but at least this time I had my running lights on so everyone could see me. I had a wonderful leftover dinner and now planning on crashing early as I am pooped from all the driving and working on the Jeep.

My Leftovers

I hope to post some better news about the lights tomorrow, wish me luck.

Steamboat

So what have I been doing with my free time… Well I put on some fancy fog/Off Road lights on my jeep, you will find out why this is important later. Here is what she looks like now:

Then today I went to Steamboat with Jared and Liz, it was a blast as the snow was perfect and the weather was bearable. I say bearable because the morning started off at 11 degrees and the wind was howling but the wind calmed down some and the temps were manageable even though we thought that the weather was supposed to be much nicer. On the plus side there was a nice few inches of powder and being a weekday the mountain was all ours. We never waited for a lift and never felt crowded as is normally the case at these fancy resorts during the weekend.

So yes the boarding was great and I had a blast playing in the trees and catching some air, yes I have witnesses but of course most of them will say that I landed on my head, but that was only once =) All in all I can’t complain one bit about the boarding and I would love to do it again and again.

Now I said I would talk about the new lights on the Jeep, well after our dinner (yes that bear tried to eat with us but I scared him off) I wanted to show off my new lights. So I had on the regular head lights, then the high beams, then my KC lights. Boy they were bright, so much so that I thought I could turn off my regular lights, I did and they were plenty bright. As any curious driver I decided that I should just drive with my normal lights when others were on the road. Well in the Jeep the lights are not on the staring wheel but rather a knob that you “pull out” from the dash… Well when I went to turn them back on I literally PULLED the knob OUT of the dash! Yep what are the odds but it just so happen that tonight all that gym time decided to show it’s presence and rip out the headlight switch in the Jeep. So now I have no way of turning on my normal headlights.

After taking apart the dash and freezing as I worked on the Jeep with the door open I realized that there was nothing that I could do until I got home. So I adjusted the KC lights down low and decided I would turn on my flashers when someone approached from behind as I had no running lights.

This all worked and I got us home with only one truck driver flashing his high beams at me. Now at least I have a project for tomorrow. And on that note I do believe it is bed time. Hope you enjoy the video and I will chat later, Aloha!

My New Toy

Ok I should be in bed and I should be writing about my trip home but I wanted to try out my new toy (Black Berry 8900) Amy got one and said it was the bomb so I had to try it.

Almost Out of Here

Well I have been bad and need to catch up on this site a little. First off I tried to head out back to my wonderful summer, oh wait now it’s my winter home… But the plane was broke so I got to hang out here another day =) I will try again tomorrow so I’ll keep you posted.

I had a good night last night, I thought it was my last night in Cheyenne so we pushed it up a little bit. The coolest thing was our waitress at the Olive Garden, she was AWESOME! She had a wittiness about her that was quite appealing, and of course she was beyond cute, but also she took care of use. I mean really took care of us. She let Katrina and Liz sample some wine so I asked her if I could sample some wine, she said “sure what kid would you like to sample?” I said all of them =) She then brought the bar over to us and after about 15 glasses of wine I was getting quite happy off of the samples. Needless to say I think I am in love.

After the Olive Garden we went to the Outlaw and well the night continued till I was driven home and passed out shortly thereafter. Waking up at 0400 was tough but having a broken plane and getting to go back to bed made it all bearable

First real snow

We got a lot of snow, so I got to shovel the driveway for the first/second/third time. I decided that I am not going to shovel it anymore as I think it will be just fine without my help. Any way just wanted to share some of the winter pictures.

This is after 2 times shoveling the whole driveway, I am getting lazy!

Snow

More Snow

Aloha

Cheyenne Xmas Parade 08

Ok well I made it to the Xmas Parade yesterday. I am trying something new, it’s a video enjoy…

Turkey Days

Turkey day came and went and now I guess we are on the final stretch for the holiday season. I get to skip out on the rest of the holiday season as I will be heading back to my winter home (same as my summer home it’s just that the seasons have now changed). But first what I have been up to.


I ended up having a little pre turkey day party at the house, it was nothing too crazy but it was unplanned and caused a little headache in the morning… It was nice having people over, I do like that.

I cooked brats and tator tots for Turkey Day lunch and had Katrina over for hamburgers and Mac and Cheese for dinner. I had lots of invites to go to different people’s houses but I really just felt like hanging out at home and working on the plane as I will not be able to do that for much longer as I will be heading out soon.

Yesterday (day after thanksgiving) I went with Chris to the mall by accident but it was ok, very busy for Cheyenne but that is not saying much. We had lunch at the country buffet and well that’s all I am going to say about that.

I spent most of the day working on the plane so check that blog out if you care about that stuff.


Today I woke to see a little snow outside. Kinda nice but I don’t know when it’s going to warm up to melt so I think I will dust off the driveway.

Well the plane is calling my name so time to get them holes dimpled =)

If there is time I think I will be going to the town parade, if I go I’ll see if I can’t get some pictures for you all, Aloha!

Great Day =)

So today was fun, I got to fly as an instructor for the first time! Yea I was the dude that was experienced and I got to be the teacher. Kinda crazy when you think about it but I guess I am getting older and what not.

It’s just funny when I sit back and think of all the things that I have gone though to get to this point. I mean I remember the first time I started liking airplane, my first solo, all the stuff in college to try and get into the USAF and then somehow watching the stars align as my sister E was there to see me get selected for a pilot slot, to going to Germany to wait for my UPT class to start, to all the BS I had to put up with for almost 2 years of pilot training, to the literally thousands of hours of flying around the world (over 50 countries at last count), the months of upgrade training back in Little Rock, AR to just everything and now I am the one people go to for answers… Wow I am getting old hahaha Oh well.

This was from my Xmas 2005 deployment but I though it captures what I am trying to say very well... Yes that is a rainbow around the shadow of my C-130, it was an early morning flight and as we were climbing up the sun was at our backs and it gave us this incredible photo opportunity. Don't worry we also took the opportunity to do a little cloud surfing as well... Have I mentioned that I love flying???

It was a great flight and all went well, one of those days were you just love to have your job!

I got to worked on the plane a little tonight but I just had a great day and wanted to share that with you all, oh and yes now that I am an instructor they need me to fly lots so I get to do it all over again tomorrow, ahh life is good =)

Getting Cold

This is my drive to work on Friday, the pictures just don't do it justice as it was truly beautiful!

Tonight Kat cooked dinner and then Kat, Liz, Jared and I went to the Cheyenne tree lighting festivities. It was pretty short, lights come on and people went home. We hung out for a little bit and checked out the ginger bread house contest that they had going on, there were some pretty neat houses but I forgot my camera =(

We then went and saw the movie Bolt. It was in 3D and it was AWESOME, both the 3D and the movie, I was laughing the whole time! I would recommend it if you want a funny light hearted movie with some really cool graphics.

Ok off to bed so I can spend some more time on the plane. Aloha!