Iceland Approach in the Snow

I still remember this flight like it was last week. My crew and I were headed to England for a 60 day TDY and I was excited and ready to spend some time in England. I was also rather excited because even though it was early march we were scheduled to stay in Iceland for a few days on our way to England. We were escorting F-16s across the pond and would top them off with fuel as we entered Scottish airspace and then we would turn towards Keflavik.

Well the day was beautiful as we departed from Plattsburgh AFB, NY and Sue my aircraft commander let me fly the first hop into Keflavik Naval Air Station (NAS), Iceland. We met up with our flight of 2 F-16s and headed out across the Atlantic Ocean. The F-16s stayed pretty close and Sue handled the HF radio as we established contact with control for our position reporting. The flight was uneventful and we conducted a final refueling to top off the fighters before turning North towards KEF. We checked weather and local conditions at KEF included ceilings at 2000 feet with occasional snow showers and visibility 10 miles plus. We started our approach and decided to shoot an instrument landing system (ILS) precision approach to make sure we were stable and secure as we arrived on station. Sue had been there one time as a co-pilot and I hadn't been to KEF ever. Anyway, as we continued on the field came into view and we were right on center line and on altitude the whole way down the approach. There was occasional snow showers that would slightly obscure our visibility but nothing substantial until we rounded out right above the runway for touchdown. As the wheels hit the tarmac we had complete whiteout conditions and neither Sue nor I could see 20 feet straight in front of us. I continued to fly the aircraft through landing and used the side markers on the runway to stay aligned. It felt like forever but lasted only about 5 seconds and the runway came back into view. We completed our roll-out and turned off of the runway. I had flown out of Plattsburgh for about 3 years and even with the massive amounts of snow that upstate NY gets I had never had a whiteout during landing before and it was slightly frightening. Anyway, all was well thankfully. Here is a picture of the runway environment.

Gold and Silver

Wow, Gold is at an all time high of $972.00 an ounce and silver is headed towards $20.00 an ounce. Silver hit almost $40 an ounce back in the early 1980s when gold was selling for right at $850 an ounce. Man, I wish I had bought 2 or 3 hundred more ounces of Gold back 3 years ago when it was right at 300 an ounce. That would have returned over 300% in 3 years. Not a bad return on an investment. I guess as they say hindsight is 20/20.

The "experts" claim that gold will hit $2500 in the next couple of years and silver will head towards $50 an ounce. I guess we'll see but I am skeptical enough to not want to buy tons of silver or gold right now hoping that it will continue its upwards climb. Of course with how weak the US dollar is right now it might not be a bad hedge/bet. The Euro went to more than $1.50 today and there is no end in sight to the downward spiral the US dollar has taken recently. I guess as long as we stay home and don't travel to foreign countries it won't be immediately obvious but since so many of the goods we buy come from overseas the lack of buying power by the greenback will show itself to all of us sooner than later.

Anyway, just thought I would point out the crazy price of gold and silver to my readers in case you want to do some speculative investing. As my friends keep pointing out to me, silver and gold have never been worth nothing.

Oh yeah, I just bought some new Chinese designed dinnerware. It is the Longevity pattern made by Tar Hong out of Taiwan or China. It is pretty cool and will be my regular dinnerware for the next few years. I'm also looking at a pattern called Peacock as well as Blue Bamboo. I might buy a few bowls and plates in each of those designs as well. I'll try to talk Rachel into cooking me a good Chinese dinner so we can use the dishes in their natural setting.

Sparta and the gang

Today was the first official day with the Kings living in NC and Ryan at his new job. Cam is feeling slightly under the weather and Tara is nursing him back to health. With all of that going on it was just David and I at the ole Sunshine diner today. KC treated us right and I had an excellent Philly cheese steak sandwich absent the bun. If you read Rhino's blog you know that I am starting to eat correctly again. So, if you see me eating sugar or bread yell at me.

The meal was excellent as always and it was good to just sit and chat about what is happening in our lives. David will be doing more with the youth at church as well as teaching one of the Sunday evening Bible study classes at work (along with driving the bus and all of the other stuff he does each week already) and will probably be teaching a class or two at a local college. Boy am I glad I work full time and "don't have time" to get as busy as he does. He does more volunteer work than I do paid work (I guess he is still living the Army ad- "We do more before 8am than most people do all day".

I am about to make the plunge and sign a contract with a garage/hanger builder. I am still debating between a full steel structure and a pole barn building with metal sheeting. Obviously the all steel building will be stronger and last longer but when I think about it there are several important considerations:

1) I plan to stay here until I die (but there are no guarantees)
2) a pole building is significantly cheaper ($20K or so)
3) the pole building is not as strong but will still outlast me (~50 years at least)
4) it is easier and less expensive to insulate a pole barn building
5) it is easier (less expensive) to build in an office and bathroom in a pole barn
6) both will serve the purpose for which I want a building

So right now I am leaning towards a pole barn but will get the final bids in this week and make a final decision. Either way it will end up being 104 feet long by 48 feet wide. Both will have a 20 foot apron on one end of the building and both will have a 15 foot wide pavement along one complete side. The pole barn will have a 12 foot over hang along one side but the all steel building will not.

Let me know which way I should go. Take the poll to the right.

Latest Cat-scapades

As most of you know I recently added a new member to my household and then almost accidentally killed him his first week in my care. His name is General Robin Olds and he is a Russian Blue cat. Well, I came in from church Wednesday evening and he didn't rush to meet me at the door (like he usually does). I knew something was amiss and I immediately began a comprehensive sweep of the house to find him and determine what was wrong. I looked everywhere I could reach and finally called my neighbor Brian to come look in spots I couldn't reach to see if he was stuck somewhere and hurt or what was going on. Anyway, Brian looked all over and finally noticed a movement under the cover (I thought I had been thorough when I searched there previously) and sure enough there he was hiding under the covers. When we uncovered him he got up and limped to the side of the bed. He was definitely hurt and couldn't put any weight on his left rear leg. It was just hanging there limply. I held him and gently probed with my fingers to see if I could feel a break or see any blood or damage he might have done to himself. He whined and winced when I touched his leg but seemed OK enough that I didn't call the Vet for an emergency visit.

I got up this morning and went to work knowing that right after my last class at 1:30 I would come home and take him to the Vet to get checked out. We drove over to see Dr. Mark Burke in Smithville and the x-ray showed that he had indeed cracked a bone in his lower leg/foot area. It was broken but hadn't moved or caused any internal damage other than the bone crack. Dr. Burke gave him some anti-inflammatory medicine and some pain medicine and sent us home to recover. He told me it might be a day or two before General Olds started to eat again but not to worry about him unless he persisted in not eating through Sunday. Well, we got home and I could tell he was already feeling a little better as he wanted to nuzzle and hang out with me. Anyway its been a few hours and he is eating and drinking and is trying to run around. I'm keeping him confined for a few days to prevent him hurting it again before it starts to heal. I'm hoping he won't feel too good too soon and keep aggravating the injury. He is definitely a hand full and I hope he makes it through this first year of living here in Casa-de-Jones with me. He sure is a great cat. Here he is right after the visit with Dr. Burke looking kind of sad. Look at those sad green eyes!

Changes in Sparta

As most of you that either read my post regularly or live in Sparta are aware, Tim and Wendy are leaving the state. Tim is headed back to school and will be attending seminary on campus at South Eastern (Wake Forest) in Chapel Hill, NC. Tim and Wendy hav e been here at 1st Baptist for the past 6.5 years leading the youth as well as filling the pulpit and leading the church when we were without a senior pastor (Tim is the associate pastor as well as youth pastor). Anyway the past few days events have taken place that cause the reality of their departure to be unavoidable. They have had their last official Sunday at church, their house is under contract, the moving vans are loaded and ready to drive East, the church had a farewell party (even if the rest of the staff was AWOL), and as mentioned on Friday we had our final official Pizza Hut Friday lunch. As Ryan blogged yesterday we are saddened to see them leave we are excited and happy for them as they start this new chapter in their ministry. The selfish part of me wants them to stay so that I still have all of my lunch, prayer and accountability friends near me but I know Tim was ready to move on from here.

The farewell gathering last night at church was good. David ended up holding the microphone which resulted in myself, Ryan and Cam being forced to say something on the record. I guess it was good but man I really wasn't ready to speak. What can you really say in a public setting like that to convey what Tim, Wendy, Daniel, and Emma mean to you? Tim and Wendy, if you read this know that I love you and you will be missed more than you know. Thankfully, you guys are only 5 hours away driving, and 2 hours away flying. We might have to make a monthly fly-in meeting at the local airport for David, Cam, Ryan and I to fly over. We could do it on Saturdays for lunch. I'd have to pre-position a wheelchair in NC if I still have the same airplane.

Pizza Hut Finale

Today was the last official Pizza Hut Friday with Tim and Ryan. We have slowly been losing players with the loss of Nathan Johnson when he moved to serve in the US Air Force and now we are losing Tim and Ryan. Tim is moving back home to NC and Ryan is taking a new job out of town that will require him to miss most Fridays.

Ryan decided to make sure this was a memorable lunch. He went to the bakery and had them make and decorate a cake that looked like a giant Pizza Hut coupon. He even had the store unit number written in icing on the cake. The ladies at the Hut were so impressed that they are going to send a picture of the cake in to the Pizza Hut employee paper to see if it can be included in the next edition.

After lunch Ryan and Tim came to my house and took the seats out of the Sprinter van so that Tim can use it to haul furniture and household goods to NC for their move. They then got David to help them load up a trailer that David will pull behind his truck for the move. Tim said I need to get the Trans Am out and run interference for their moving convoy. I called Sally Fields to see if she felt like another road trip.

I'm hoping with all of the available vehicles full that Tim and Wendy will have enough room at their new place to hold it all. All in all it was a great day but brought home the fact that Tim will soon be in a new town and not just down the street.
Here is the infamous cake.

Valentines

First off, happy valentines day. I just got home from dinner with some friends (and Rachel and Josh) at the Outback Steakhouse. We usually go every Thursday and even with it being V-day we decided to keep the tradition alive. We went at 5pm like old folks and we still had to wait. There was already an hour long wait for seating. Thankfully since we go there all of the time they took care of us and we only had to wait about 15 minutes.

The main reason for this post is to show some pictures of why the Sprinter van is not the best off-road mud vehicle. I went to my property yesterday to meet a guy and talk about where I want all of my trees planted. I'm having about 150 trees planted on the property to provide more privacy as well as to make the place look better. Many of them will be Leyland Cyprus but about 25 of them will be hardwood trees (mostly Maples). The Cyprus trees are great sound and sight breaks and will be planted strategically to provide good coverage towards any buildings or roadways visible from my home site. Of course now I can also know that my trees are helping the environment as well. This way Al Gore can't get too mad at me for driving cars that aren't hybrid or electric. I'm also still planning on doing some solar panels or wind mills to generate electricity.

Anyway, here is a picture of my van after Ryan and Tim pulled me back to the road. My new driveway/roadway looked firmer than it proved to be.

T-37: ACE Trip with Frank

Frank and I were friends and fellow co-pilots at Plattsburgh from 1988 through 1990 when he left and transferred to another SAC base. Anyway we had gone through transition training at Castle AFB, CA and then were both assigned to Plattsburgh to fly KC-135 aircraft. Since we arrived on station at about the same time, we entered the accelerated co-pilot enrichment (ACE) program at about the same time as well. Well as we were sitting around on alert one day in March we planned a trip for me to fly down to Nashville to see the love of my life (at the time anyway). We planned a trip so that I could stay 2 days in Smyrna and get to maximize my time with the woman of my dreams. We left Plattsburgh on March 9th heading South towards TN. We flew the first hop into Harrisburgh, PA and did a quick turn and headed on into Charleston, WV. From there we flew into Smyrna, TN for an overnight stay. My girlfriend drove up to the airport and picked us up. I dropped Frank off at a local hotel for the night and headed towards Woodbury (my parents home is there). We had dinner and a great date before I had to go home and get some sleep for the next days flights.

The next day we drove back up to Smyrna and I met Frank at the jet in time to check weather and file our flight plan for the day’s flights. From Smyrna we flew slightly South East so that we could do a fly-over of Woodbury in the jet. We flew over at about 1000 feet and I did a few turns and maneuvers for the hometown crowd before climbing out towards Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson airport for a quick turn. From Knoxville we headed back South towards Atlanta for a quick turn at Dobbins AFB. We refueled and then headed back towards Smyrna for another overnight stay. I went back to Woodbury for the night and this time Frank decided to come and stay at my folk’s house in Woodbury. We had a good time hanging out and then turned in so that we could get some rest for the next days flights as we headed back towards Plattsburgh and home. The next day we got back to Smyrna and loaded up a bunch of Jack Daniels bottles to take back to Plattsburgh. The fixed base of operations (FBO) in Smyrna at the time gave a bottle of Jack for every 100 gallons of fuel you purchased. Between the 2 refueling stops we had purchased about 600 gallons of fuel so had 6 bottles to take back with us. Since neither of us drank we decided to take it back and give it to our squadron commanders to give to whomever they saw fit. Frank and I looked like unselfish heroes by giving up the booze and we didn’t even have to sacrifice anything that was meaningful to us.

As we headed out we took a little detour towards Woodbury again and I did another mini-airshow for the hometown crowd (nothing illegal or dangerous and all under ATC control). I had a couple of phone calls during the week asking if that was me in the little jet buzzing the town square. On the trip home we went East again through Richmond, VA, Dover, DE and then on to Islip airport on Long Island. We stayed overnight there and the last day of the trip we flew back into the city for a VFR tour of the Statue of Liberty before heading North to arrive back into Plattsburgh before the sun set. The controller was most helpful and let us cruise around New York bay over Governor's Island, Ellis Island and up the Hudson until we had some good pictures and were ready to fly North towards home.

There was nothing like flying around the country in “your own” jet gaining experience and just having fun. These T-37 ACE trips made the week long alert tours we had to “sit” more tolerable. During my time at Plattsburgh AFB, NY, I spent one week in three sitting in an alert facility waiting for the "Commies" (Soviet Union) to attack … and boy was that boring. I think I saw Dr. Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) at least 100 times while stationed at Plattsburgh.

Property Update

My bulldozer guy has been hard at it on my property. He has cut the driveway and is currently pushing dirt to make the building site flat and large enough to accommodate my garage/hanger and Dome home. I'll drive by on my way to church here in a few minutes and take some pictures to post here. I have pretty much settled on the building size and builder for the garage. I hope we can agree to the final price and sign a contract here in the next few days. I'm hoping he can get started here in March or at least early April and get it finished by early summer.

Once the garage is completed I will then start the dome home with the intention of having it finished on the outside with all windows and doors installed (dried in) by late Fall. I can then take my time having the interior work finished over the Winter. We've had tons of storms come through TN in the past few weeks so I am more than ready to be living inside the incredibly safe and secure Dome home. Another plus will be the energy savings that will also come with that type of residence. For more information on the monolithic dome click here: MONOLITHIC

Stormy Update

Sad news here at the Jones house. Stormy's kidneys had shut down on him and he was not eating and just getting weaker and weaker. I've been force feeding him liquid diet stuff from the Vet for a couple of days but he wasn't really showing any improvement.

We went to the Vet today and got blood work done and she told me he was going to die in a day or two regardless of what we did. His kidneys just weren''t working and other systems were also starting to fail. She said his heart sounded as strong as a 2 year olds though. It was difficult but he was in my lap when he took his last breath.

I've always been more of a dog person but Stormy really made me appreciate felines for the wonderful animals they are. So this is my goodbye to Stormy, a good and faithful friend for 16 years. I got him in 1992 when he was just over a year old. If dogs go to heaven I know cats do as well. Chase a string for me Stormy until I get there.

Stormy

Well, another sick cat here at the Jones household. My faithful friend of more than 16 years is not feeling well. He has always been a thin cat but recently (last few days) has pretty much stopped eating and is getting weaker and weaker. I noticed the other day he was shivering and seemed kind of cold but I simply turned the heat up a couple of degrees and figured he would be fine. Well then he quit eating so I have been trying to nurse him back to full health. I know he is old but he is so healthy I hate to see a cold get him. Today was the first day I saw some positive progress. I got him some vitamin stuff and nutritional supplement from the Vet and he ate more today and is a little more lively. So hopefully he is on the mend and will hang around for another 5 years at least. Back in 1997 I almost lost him when he got fleas real bad and got anemic on me. He had to have a blood transfusion at that time. I didn't even know they did that. So, he is strong and comes back well from adversity...and hopefully he will recover from this setback too.

Well, I cast my vote today - not sure if it will amount to anything but there you have it. I'm not happy with candidates on either side and am not real excited about our likely next president.

Artist at Work

I wanted to tell of my trip to the Philippines in 1990. My crew flew into the Navy base at Subic Bay for an overnight stay and then on to Clark AB for a week of supporting fighter training missions conducted by the 5th Air Force. We flew every day we were there except for one. On that day I went into town to see the aviation art industry that I had heard so much about. Angeles City was right outside the base gate and was a dusty little town with tons of bars and night clubs as well as at least 4 or 5 shops that had artists carving, painting and final finishing scaled model airplanes. Below is a picture of my favorite Navy aircraft the F-14a Tomcat, made famous to movie goers by the movie Top Gun.

These guys are amazing. They can take pictures of airplanes and using mostly hand tools make scale models of the aircraft that are incredibly detailed and lifelike. While I was there I bought several models to bring back to the US with me and I also established contact with a gentleman named Avelino Dalusung (Billijo Aviation Art Center) who owned and operated one of the model shops. I ended up buying several aircraft from him over the years including 2 giant scale models. I have a 5.5' (five and a half foot wingspan) KC-135a model tanker painted in the Plattsburgh AFB paint scheme. I had them use the tail number that was on my aircraft when I was stationed at Plattsburgh from 1987 to 1992. It even has the nose art that was on my aircraft (-0050). It was thought to be a haunted aircraft (vivid crew chief's imagination I would guess) and had earned the nickname "Spook 50". I'll post a picture when I can find one or take the time to go take one.

I also ordered a 5.5' wingspan model of my favorite Air Force aircraft the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Since I have never had the opportunity to fly the F-16 I simply ordered a standard model with typical paint scheme of Falcons assigned to fighter units around the world. It is a beautiful aircraft and in pictures looks real if you can get the background to not reveal it's small size (compared to the real aircraft). I am amazed that these artists will spend hours making these models and still only charge between 50 and 100 bucks for them. Of course my large scale models cost more than the standard 14 to 18 inch scale models but were still very reasonable at $250 dollars each. I understand they have gone up in price but are still fairly reasonably priced models for the detail that they display. If you are ever in the Philippines make a stop in Angeles City to see Dalusung or any of the other model makers in town. Well worth a visit.

Nashville Trip

Today I made the dreaded trip to Nashville to see if I could get the power door on my van working again. It went out a few weeks ago and I have been manually holding it open while I operate the lift mechanism to deploy the wheelchair lift. On flat ground it isn't too bad but on a hill it can be a real pain to coordinate the process. Anyway, I talked Rhino into riding up with me and we left Sparta right after lunch at the Pizza Hut with the regular gang -- minus Tim (who is under the weather). We made good time and got to the shop around 300PM to see if Randy could get it to work or at least come up with a good plan to get the parts needed to fix it. He wasn't able to get it working but will check on Monday to see if he can get the necessary parts to get it working. He told me that if he can't get what I need then Handicapped Driver Services in Lavergne will be able to hook me up. Hopefully I will have a 100% functional van here in the next week or two. The van has been awesome except for the power sliding door. That door has been broken for about one and a half years (1.5) of the 3 years I have had the van. Not a real good average in my opinion.

On the way home we went by Vanderbilt Children's hospital to see some friends who just had their first baby. She was born a few days early because there were some issues and the doctors felt that it would be best to deliver Langley now rather than wait for the full term. Anyway, momma is doing fine and little Langley seems to be on the mend as well. Hopefully she will start eating better and will be able to go home soon. If you read this thank God for Langley and ask Him to continue to give peace to mom and dad and strength to Langley.