The kids wanted some time at home, so last night Mary and I cooked out
alone at the hangar. Chicken and shrimp kebabs on the grill, crab
salad and a baked potato rounded out an excellent repast, followed by
flopping down in the sling chairs to watch the clouds drift by
overhead...

No wind...three more hours of daylight...Atlas fully fueled...no
kids...you know the rest...

Soon we were airborne, destination: North. The sky was an absolutely
calm puddle of warm, still air, and the earth unrolled beneath us like
a tapestry, with little sense of motion. On evenings like this,
training a chimpanzee to fly would be easy, and we were able to simply
stare out the window, senses alive in the moment, yet utterly relaxed.

Our eyes gazed in wide wonder as we saw that the last few days had
utterly changed the landscape below, even from our last flight. Rain
and sun had gradually transformed the brown, bare fields into lush
acres of impenetrable forest and lime greens -- green so green that it
hurt your eyes. The kind of green that your eyes long to see in
January. The sort of green that screams life itself, covering the
bare, dead earth entirely in its bouquet.

This velvet of green now stretched to the horizon in every direction,
its long, soft leaves of new corn swaying gently in the wind as we
turned base-to-final, carving a perfect arc toward that slash of
asphalt -- an abomination in the middle of all that green, but a
welcome sight, nonetheless.

Wheels chirping, gently rolling to a stop, we watched as a powered
parachute swung lazily overhead. Inside for a cold pop, the FBO full
of happy, t-shirt-clad pilots, the contented buzz of summer filled the
room to bursting, and it simply couldn't get any better.

Ladies and gents, our midwestern summer is unbelievably beautiful this
year -- I sincerely hope it holds together for all you folks who will
soon be enroute to OSH.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Thanks. That was a nice relaxing retreat from what we're experiencing here
in central WI, which is... brown.... with only circles of green.

Our green is coming at a huge financial cost. We haven't had any rain
appreciable rain since May 28th. I just got an electric bill for irrigating
one 330 acre field, it was over $5200. For one month. But I'm just happy
that we could do it. I can't imagine having the kind of summer that they
are having out west.

Evenings here have been absolutely beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky, nary
a breeze... perfect for flying. In fact the only thing that could make
these evenings better would be more frequent sounds of pilots and their
craft out enjoying the sky.

Jim

("Jim Burns" wrote)
> Our green is coming at a huge financial cost. We haven't had any rain
> appreciable rain since May 28th. I just got an electric bill for
> irrigating one 330 acre field, it was over $5200. For one month. But I'm
> just happy that we could do it. I can't imagine having the kind of summer
> that they are having out west.


Does calling it $0.50/acre/day help? :-(

You need a giant wind turbine!
http://www.windustry.com/sites/region_mw.htm

http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.html


Montblack

In article >,
"Jim Burns" > wrote:

> Thanks. That was a nice relaxing retreat from what we're experiencing here
> in central WI, which is... brown.... with only circles of green.
> Our green is coming at a huge financial cost. We haven't had any rain
> appreciable rain since May 28th.

IIRC, those are the same conditions as last year. The rain arrived about
the same time AirVenture started!

You are dead on... same conditions as last year.
Jim

"john smith" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Jim Burns" > wrote:
>
> > Thanks. That was a nice relaxing retreat from what we're experiencing
here
> > in central WI, which is... brown.... with only circles of green.
> > Our green is coming at a huge financial cost. We haven't had any rain
> > appreciable rain since May 28th.
>
> IIRC, those are the same conditions as last year. The rain arrived about
> the same time AirVenture started!

> Our green is coming at a huge financial cost. We haven't had any rain
> appreciable rain since May 28th. I just got an electric bill for irrigating
> one 330 acre field, it was over $5200. For one month. But I'm just happy
> that we could do it. I can't imagine having the kind of summer that they
> are having out west.

Ouch! Sorry to hear that.

Our drought is finally over, thankfully, and our farmers are
strangely...quiet. But I guess that's the best they ever get, isn't
it? :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jim Burns wrote:
> You are dead on... same conditions as last year.

Which means don't ask Jay to call up the nexrad image on his cell phone
just before you want to leave the restaurant and head back to camp.

Montblack...I sure hope your tent is water proof! :-)

No tornado watches please.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"To become a Jedi knight, you must master a single force. To become
a private pilot you must strive to master four of them"
- Rod Machado

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in news:1152303945.799266.248110
@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> The kids wanted some time at home, so last night Mary and I cooked out
> alone at the hangar.

Jay, How can you enjoy a scenic relaxing flight, with two unsupervised
teenagers (pre-teens?) left home alone? Your powers of concentration (and
trust!) are much stronger than mine! :-)

Mike

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> The kids wanted some time at home, so last night Mary
> and I cooked out alone at the hangar. Chicken and shrimp
> kebabs on the grill, crab salad and a baked potato rounded
> out an excellent repast, followed by flopping down in the
> sling chairs to watch the clouds drift by overhead...
>
> No wind...three more hours of daylight...Atlas fully fueled...no
> kids...you know the rest...
>
> Soon we were airborne, destination: North.

And neither of you didn't have a beer, or two, with that dinner?

("Jack Allison" wrote)
> Which means don't ask Jay to call up the nexrad image on his cell phone
> just before you want to leave the restaurant and head back to camp.
>
> Montblack...I sure hope your tent is water proof! :-)


Define tent.


Montblack :-)

Montblack wrote:
> Define tent.
>

The...um...thingy just like the Honeck's used to own before theirs blew
away three years ago.

Better yet:
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A+tent&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane
Arrow N2104T

"To become a Jedi knight, you must master a single force. To become
a private pilot you must strive to master four of them"
- Rod Machado

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

("Jack Allison" wrote)
>> Define tent.

> The...um...thingy just like the Honeck's used to own before theirs blew
> away three years ago.


Not brown. Sure, I see.

We'll flip it over and use the green side.


Montblack
This is too fun... :-)

>>Our green is coming at a huge financial cost. We haven't had any rain
>>appreciable rain since May 28th. I just got an electric bill for irrigating
>>one 330 acre field, it was over $5200. For one month. But I'm just happy
>>that we could do it. I can't imagine having the kind of summer that they
>>are having out west.


Saw the phone bill for the tower the other day. $35K per month. Ouch.
That includes all the lines that a tower uses such as the hot lines
between us and Salt Lake, etc.

> Saw the phone bill for the tower the other day. $35K per month. Ouch.
> That includes all the lines that a tower uses such as the hot lines
> between us and Salt Lake, etc.

Holy crap! Sounds like you guys need to check out internet phone
service...

I hear it's cheap!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article . com>,
"Jay Honeck" > wrote:

> > Saw the phone bill for the tower the other day. $35K per month. Ouch.
> > That includes all the lines that a tower uses such as the hot lines
> > between us and Salt Lake, etc.
>
> Holy crap! Sounds like you guys need to check out internet phone
> service...
>
> I hear it's cheap!

when the internet phone service can provide quality of service, availability,
and "security" of dedicated lines, then maybe they should... until then let's
use what works.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
> Holy crap! Sounds like you guys need to check out internet phone
> service...
>
> I hear it's cheap!


Vonage has $49.95 Small Business "unlimited" plan. Dedicated fax line, local
extensions (Salt Lake City area codes available) lots of features.

....only it doesn't show Montana as an option, yet.

Our friends have Vonage and have an extra Mexico City phone #. When his
wife's friends and family call, from Mexico city, it's a local call for
them, but rings in Minnesota at our friend's house.

So... maybe Salt Lake City could sign up with Vonage, then you would call
their local Billings, MT Vonage number. Much of your SLC phone traffic would
then be only a local call for you - if it works out that way through Vonage.
Not all, but a chunk of calls could go through Vonage.

$35K x 12 months = over $420,000. Wow!

Ham radio an option? "Calling Salt Lake City..."


Montblack

I just got rid of my Vonage account now that we all have cell phones. I
got a 651 area code for the Twin Cities so all of our relatives could
call us for free. The service worked great.



Montblack wrote:

> ("Jay Honeck" wrote)
>
>> Holy crap! Sounds like you guys need to check out internet phone
>> service...
>>
>> I hear it's cheap!
>
>
>
> Vonage has $49.95 Small Business "unlimited" plan. Dedicated fax line,
> local extensions (Salt Lake City area codes available) lots of features.
>
> ...only it doesn't show Montana as an option, yet.
>
> Our friends have Vonage and have an extra Mexico City phone #. When his
> wife's friends and family call, from Mexico city, it's a local call for
> them, but rings in Minnesota at our friend's house.
>
> So... maybe Salt Lake City could sign up with Vonage, then you would
> call their local Billings, MT Vonage number. Much of your SLC phone
> traffic would then be only a local call for you - if it works out that
> way through Vonage. Not all, but a chunk of calls could go through Vonage.
>
> $35K x 12 months = over $420,000. Wow!
>
> Ham radio an option? "Calling Salt Lake City..."
>
>
> Montblack

"Bob Noel" > wrote in message
...
> when the internet phone service can provide quality of service,
> availability,
> and "security" of dedicated lines [...]

Quality of service and availability, I can see those being arguable points
(even though I haven't heard any complaints from the friends of mine using
VoIP). But security? Strong encryption is pretty much standard on Internet
phone calls, while your POTS phone calls are all transmitted in the clear.
In the case of cordless phones, they are *broadcast* in the clear (unless
you have an encrypting phone...while most cordless phones have some simple
"security" features, they don't generally include truly secure encryption).

What is it about a dedicated line that you feel is MORE secure than VoIP?

Pete