The kitty you see (Hangar Brat's profile photo) is no longer with us and we're very sad. His name was Squeaky and he adopted us 3 years ago when he showed up in our hangar as a half-starved, feral kitten. He usually slept on (or in) the airplanes and loved to help Hubby (from now on referred to as "Mr D") tinker with the airplanes. Unfortunately, we have a pack of coyotes nearby and discovered they got our poor Squeaky. If I post again, I will change the photo. For now I'm leaving it up as a tribute to Squeaky!
Mr D changed jobs again and is much happier at Willbros. He is treated like a real asset to the Company and feels appreciated. Who changes jobs at 74? Who works at 74? He keeps saying, "two more years and I'll cut back to 2 days/wk"! He sure is a young 74 and I hope he stays that way forever! Speaking of Mr D, he's the best thing that ever happened to me and I thank my lucky stars for bringing him into my life-- there ARE still good men out there!
The Navion is coming along and Mr D was able to fly it recently. (This is a Navion L-17, a liason aircraft in WWII.) It was hangared in an old barn for 20 years and needed a lot of TLC (3 yrs worth) to get it flying again. Once Mr D puts some hours on the engine rebuild, we will go to the expense of having it painted and reupholstered. It's nice and roomy and will be a good cross-country airplane. The Tripacer has been sold and the Culver Cadet is for sale. The J3 Cub is painted and ready to be put back together. Our goal is to have only 2 airplanes and have both of them flying by the end of the year!Airport life is really fun! We have a good group of friends and everyone is very neighborly. We do a lot of dinners together and enjoy one another's company. We have a group of 4 couples who are especially close. One couple is traveling the country in their Cessna 195 for the summer (lucky devils)-- they get to escape the awful heat of Houston for a couple of months! We miss them, but are happy they're able to travel and enjoy retirement.
Speaking of retirement, I hope it lasts! The financial crisis has reduced my investments (like everyone else's) and it's quite nerve-wracking. Hopefully it will improve with time. I'm certainly enjoying the freedom it affords!
Last summer was wonderful-- I rented an awesome cottage for a month at Pt Nipigon, on Lake Huron, and enjoyed looking at Mackinac Island and the Mackinac Bridge from the front deck. Mr D was with me for 2 wks and we also had fun watching the Great Lakes freighters steam by and could sometimes make out the names of the ships. Our friends with the Cessna 195 came to visit and we had a great time showing them around. We flew to Mackinac Island for a nice change and it was so cool to see the island and bridge from the air. After all these years, the bridge is still an awesome sight. The weather was fantastic and it was a real treat to get away from air conditioning for 6 wks. I was able to spend a lot of time with my dad and stepmother and enjoyed being their "driver" and dining on M's wonderful meals! I happened to be there over Labor Day, so I did the Mackinac Bridge Walk for the first time and hope to do it again this year.Mr D and I are going to Oregon and so looking forward to escaping the Houston heat. We can hardly wait! We'll fly to Portland, rent a car and head for Astoria. We are staying at a really neat hotel http://www.cannerypierhotel.com/ our first night. It's built on a pier 600 ft into the Columbia River! We'll have 10 days in Oregon and will drive the entire coast as well as inland to Crater Lake and up to Redmond and back to Portland. We are looking forward to visiting friends in Lincoln City (on the coast) and Redmond (near Bend). Right now it's a cool 57 degrees in Astoria, OR! We're also visiting friends in Las Cruces NM for a couple of days on the way back-- extending our trip to 12 days. Although it will be hot there, it will be a dry heat! It has been extremely hot in Houston these past couple of weeks with temps in the high 90's and the heat index over 100. Must be global warming-- ha!
A trip to Michigan is in the works too-- but not until September. I'll go spend a couple of weeks with my dad and stepmother. They always have plenty to do and it's fun to visit with them and work outside; it's actually enjoyable to be out when it's not 100 degrees and you can see what you're doing without being blinded by sweat running in your eyes! My dad has many health issues and I'm thankful to have the time to go hang out awhile with them.
That's all the news for this time! Hope everyone has a great summer. Did I mention it's 101.5 degrees today??
.JPG)