Fantasy of Flight

I mentioned in my previous post that one of the places we went with my dad was Fantasy of Flight in Auburndale (about 70 miles from us). Dad thoroughly enjoys planes and we'll be heading to Wright Patterson AFB (the Air Force Museum) in June. One of the reasons we'll be going is to see the B-36 on display there. While he was here we were talking and he mentioned that when he worked at Curtis Wright (from the mid 1940's to the early 1950's), he was the final inspector for propeller blades. He never knew what plane he was making the props for - all he knew was they were huge - each propeller blade was 108 inches in length (so the total diameter of the prop was 216 inches). He said that they (the company) were pushing the guys to turn out as many as they safely could as fast as they could. The company never "volunteered" any information and the guys never asked. He asked me if I could research it on the internet to see if we could find what plane it was that he was making the props for. The only plane that used that large a prop was the B-36 which would make perfect sense since at that time in history, WWII had just ended and the Cold War was starting with Korea also on the horizon. The diameter of the prop was 228 inches - each propeller blade was 108 inches and the hub was 12 inches across - translated to feet the entire unit was 19 feet in diameter - WOW!! The B-36 had 6 engines and was a "pusher" (the props were mounted on the backside of the engine) which meant that each plane needed 18 propeller blades (each engine had 3 propeller blades X 6 engines). Dad loved finally finding out what plane he had worked on!!

Once an inspector, always an inspector!!














At Fantasy of Flight, one of the displays included a 1932 Chevy. Dad just loved looking at it as it reminded him of his very first car, which was a 1931 Chevy. He just grinned ear to ear looking at it.



I will also be adding more pics and commentary of our trips while he was here.

A Long Overdue Post

It's been so long since I've posted, I don't really know where to start. The biggest occurence since I last posted is my mom died Christmas Day. We got a call from my dad December 22nd that they had put my mom on a BIPAP the previous night(she had been in the hospital for 4 weeks). We immediately left for Tennessee and when we got there, we went straight to the hospital. Mom didn't know who I was at all. She was conscious but then lapsed into a coma that night and didn't regain consciousness at all. We stayed with my dad until the 30th and then headed home. Dad came down for an extended visit with us January 18th. He left for home February 14th. While he was here, we went to Disney 2X, Sea World, and Fantasy of Flight. There were only 2 days the month he was here that something wasn't scheduled.

I am leading Beth Moore's "A Heart Like His - Seeking the Heart of God" at church on Thursdays. There are 2 sessions - one in the morning and an identical session in the evening. An average of 10 ladies attend each session.

Yesterday, we went over to Disney's Magic Kingdom to ride Space Mountain and the WEDway People Mover. Both are being taken down for refurbishment April 19th and we wanted to ride them once more.

In my spare time, I am working on my scrapbooking. The project I am working on right now is our Disney trip with our son, daughter-in-law and grandsons last May. I've gotten 45+ pages done, but still have many more to go.

This week is shaping up to be busy. Monday, we have tickets for the Harlem Globetrotters. We've never seen them in person, so it should be fun! Tuesday night is band practice (more on that in another post) and Wednesday we're taking my aunt to the doctor's and then shopping. Thursday is Bible study and Friday we're driving over to Orlando to meet our nephew and his family for dinner.

About Time to Update!!!

We have been staying busy over the last several months. My 98 year old aunt has had some physical issues which have meant weekly or twice weekly visits to the doctor. None of the issues have been serious, but she wants to go to the doctor for anything, no matter how minor.

We have also been riding our bikes on a regular basis. We have put over 500 miles on them since we got them the beginning of June. This past week, we've been putting the bikes up on the car and driving south to Venice to bike a "Rails to Trails" trail. It's an abandoned CSX railroad line and is now a wonderful bike trail. There is also a trail along the Venice Waterway which is beautiful. It is so nice to bike along the trail and not have to worry about traffic! We've been riding quite a bit around home also. We have a new nature preserve about 1-1/2 miles from our home that is wonderful to bike through. In the preserve is a 56 foot tall tower that overlooks the preserve and adjacent waterways. It is wonderful to climb up to the top (81 stairs which I'm now able to climb thanks to my new knees) and watch fish jumping and birds feeding.

We were out on our patio the other day and a bird flew over us. It was large and I was pretty sure it was a bald eagle. It landed on the bank of the pond immediately behind the house and we looked and sure enough it was a bald eagle! We wanted to get a picture but of course it flew away before we could. It was majestic! We've also had many ospreys fly over and several times have seen them with fish in their talons. One of the things we love about living where we do is the wildlife we see.

Above I mentioned biking in Venice. One of the parks along the bikeway is Caspersen Beach Park. Yesterday as we were biking across a bridge heading out to the gulf, we saw a bobcat not more than 10 feet away sharing the bridge with us! Unfortunately, neither of us had a camera with us,

Back to Normal

We're finally getting back to normal. Although we didn't take a direct hit from tropical storm Fay, we've had winds all week. Yesterday, we had the first and only rain from the storm - about 2.5", which when you think of what others got, was nothing.

Aunti Vi had cataract surgery 3 weeks ago and Thursday got her new glasses. The doctor was hoping the surgery would correct her eyesight to 20/40 or 20/60. With her new glasses, she is now seeing 20/20!!

Yesterday, Sarah and I went to an all day scrapbook crop party in Tampa. It was fun to sit with 900+ other ladies and crop. We got there about 10AM and left at 6PM. I was able to get 10 pages done and ideas/plans for several others.

Because of the strong winds and possibility of storms, we've only been out twice this week biking for a total of about 15 miles. Tonight we headed out to the beach which is my favorite ride. As we were going over the bridge from the mainland to Perico Key (there are a total of 3 bridges between the mainland and Anna Maria Island), we looked out and there were dolphins feeding in Palma Sola Bay. We aren't sure how many there were, but we saw at least 6. They are so beautiful and graceful! We stayed on the bridge for several minutes just watching them before resuming our ride out to Anna Maria Island.

This week again is relatively quiet which is welcome and gives me a chance to prep for Bible study which starts September 11th. I also hope to get some more scrapbooking pages done.

Fay update

We have had no impact from tropical storm Fay at all - just some wind - not even enough to mention. Dan took the window boards down this morning and we're putting the patio furniture and umbrellas back outside. The storm took very much the same path as hurricane Charlie did in 2004 - came in on the southwest coast and headed straight up the spine of the state. Relatives in Sanford are getting pounded the same as they did with Charlie in 2004.

On another note, this week is relatively quiet - taking Aunti Vi shopping on Wednesday is the only thing on the schedule.

Fay, Fay Go Away

We are under a hurricane warning. However, from the looks of the track and radar, we should get off with just rain and some wind (<40 MPH). Last night it looked like we were going to be on the "bad" side (the northeast quadrant) but the path has changed and now it looks like we'll be on the lighter side (western quadrants). However, we are as ready as we can be - Dan put gas and oil in the generator so we will have backup power if the power goes out. It's not a whole house generator so we'll be without air conditioning if the power goes out. But it will keep the refrigerator and freezer running. It will also support some lights, a TV and fans. Dan also boarded up the windows just in case in gets windier than they're forecasting. We have plenty of nonperishable food, bottled water, paper plates and disposable silverware. We've also brought much of the patio furniture in so it doesn't blow around. Both cars have full tanks of gas in case we need to evacuate (which isn't likely for this storm). Our house is concrete block, so it's solid. Now it's just a waiting game.

A Wonderful Weekend

Last week was a relatively normal week. Monday and Tuesday were quiet. We went bike riding and did some much needed grocery shopping. Wednesday we stopped and picked up groceries for Aunti Vi as she didn't want to go out in the heat. Thursday was the next to last Bible study for this session. We finish Thursday and then will take a break until September 11th. Friday was another relatively quiet day.

As alluded to in the title, the weekend was wonderful. Saturday Eric and Sarah and his sister, her husband and their 5 children came over for a pool party. They are home on furlough from Grenoble, France (they're out under GEM). The children range in age from 13 down to 5 and all are "water rats." When they arrived, their eyes opened wide and they turned to their parents and said "they have a BIG pool. Can we go get our swimsuits on?" It was so cute (the pool isn't all that big but to them it was). They proceeded to play in the pool for about 2 hours. We finally got them in the house about 7:00. Dan grilled steaks and chicken for dinner and we also had corn on the cob and potato salad. The finish for the evening was "do-it-yourself ice cream sundaes." A good time was had by all!

Today we got up and went to the early service (Bethel has 2 services - the 8:15 service is traditional and the 10:45 service is contemporary - we prefer the early service). After the service, we went to Sunday School, then came home and collapsed! After waking up, we headed out on our bikes. We've been wanting to do a long ride, but figured it would have to wait until the fall when the temps cooled down. We left, started biking and 1 hour and 25 minutes later we had put 17.25 miles on our bikes. When we got home, we "fell" into the pool and enjoyed cooling down! Our next goal is 20 miles.

This week is scheduled to be a quiet week - shopping on Wednesday and Bible study on Thursday are the only things on our calendar this week. We're hoping to get in more biking also. We are both enjoying biking again and look forward to getting out and exploring.