Stick a fork in it...

cause it's done!

That's right, gliding is done for yet another season.  The weather didn't cooperate at ALL this season, however hopefully our luck will change in the new year with the possible move to a new airfield.

The weekend started off with rain, and ended with... a little bit of excitement...to say the least.
The public forecast for Saturday said rain in the morning and sun in the afternoon.  The majority of my 2 hour drive to Vulcan, I could see the stars.  The last 30 mins or so, it socked in and before I knew it, I was driving into rain.  Not very good luck....  Well, the squadron came with 45 first years, and while they were there, it began to snow. Needless to say we didn't bother inspecting the equipment... So we sat in the terminal and briefed them on everything and anything.  I kept referencing the public and its barbecue predicting abilities...but for whichever reason, no one wanted to listen to me! Haha I think they thought that I was joking... so the squadron returned home, and we went for lunch, and when we walked out, there was not a cloud nor a raindrop in the sky!...Okay, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but we definitely could have gotten some productive flying done.

So we made plans to move equipment the next day, and that meant that I was going to Calgary for the night. So I hung out with Matt, had a GREAT pizza at some local pub while watching the hockey game and then returned to his place, only to fall asleep imidiately.  Too bad the sleep I received was HARDLY enough to prepare me for the following day....

The plan was to drive to Vulcan, someone would drive the winch to Netook, Greg would get in a tow plane and come back for the glider.  Sounds easy eh? Not so much.  Why? Well, Greg is the only one with a trailer endorsement on his 404.  So while he drove 2 hours to Netook, we were going to wait in Vulcan.  Wrench #2 was that Greg's xcountry rating was waved in September, until the next available opportunity....Yep, you guessed it, that was magically made to happen on Sunday.  Wrench #3, APPARENTLY it's a rule in this region that for transits greater than 1 hour in duration, there has to be two glider pilots.....And, last but not least, wrench #4 was that cadets, although possessing a provincial drivers licences, cannot drive a league vehicle on the highway, only on the airfield.  (This didn't come to light until we all met at the airport at 8am Sunday morning.....)  So, I got on the phone and woke Matt up!  SO- Chris: Chase, Greg:winch and tow, Matt: the burb, Me: glider, Cadet: glider. Other cadet that showed up to drive the burb- we sent her back to Netook.

So we drove to Vulcan, waited until Greg drove to Netook, did his xcountry check out, then flew to back.  Well, what happens when he shut down to brief us? He pulled the mixture right out of the firewall!!  This is BY FAR an " Oh my dear Lord" moment.  It's like that country song says " Did I shave my legs for this?"...I just spent alllllllll day waiting for this ONE MOMENT, and the mixture decides it wants to detach itself?!  MY GOD!  Thank God Greg is an AME, that's all I can say!  So we got that sorted out and FINALLY got in the air at 3:20pm. Got a few cool pictures- 3 thousand feet over the prairies is a pretty cool sight!  When we got to Netook, Greg gave us another 2 grand- only to have the Netook crew telling us to expedite our landing!  WELL NOW, Why on earth would I waste FIVE GRAND and a perfectly good training opportunity with a cadet that needs it, just because a few guys want to go home?  So we spun and spiralled that thing until we had no more altitude left to do them and then we moved on to something else.  'Aint nobody going to rain on this girl's parade!

So that was that, and then it was time to drive 4 hours back to Medicine Hat. It wasn't so bad at first, I just sat a little straighter, turned up the music a little louder, the the ac a little colder...but then that all started to have no effect, and my eyes got soooo heavy all of a sudden .... before I knew it I was driving into the other lane or crossing over the rumble strips...it was scary.  So I pulled over at a gas station and turned the heater on with the intention of turning my car off when it got warm enough. Yeah, that didnt happen....I fell asleep almost as soon as I came to a stop. I woke up about 20 mins later TERRIFIED! It was one of those " where am I" moments....I didn't remember pulling into the gas station, and because I had parked pretty close to a guard rail, when I woke up and saw that, I thought I had come to a stop near it, or hit it and thats why I woke up!  Car, still running, heat, still cranked.  TERRIFIED.  So after that little bit of adrenaline in my system, I put the window down and tunes up again and made for Medicine Hat again.  I made it home at 11:45pm....exhausted.  


Glad I don't have to do that drive again for a few weeks!  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the weekend.

Quals? Everything- I'm amazing.

Yep, that's right. I'm amazing. On the weekend I completed my winch conversion!  Would have gotten checked out as winch operator on Sunday if the weather hadn't of been crappy- but thems the breaks. 

Its just like doing autotow actually.  The profile looks and feels the same, but everything happens a lot quicker, AND, you're not restricted in altitude by the lenth of your rope. We were stretching out 5000ft but only getting 1500ft off the lauch with a 10kt wind.

This weekend unfortunately will be our last weekend to fly too.  I'm already looking forward to the spring though! Not for ACGP stuff, but for gliding at a civilian club by the mountains. There are two: Cowley and Black Diamond.  I think it would be awesome to check out one of those spots! 

Greg's got 404 training in the works too. I guess moving equipment is really difficult because of the lack of people with the ability to drive military vehicles.  So a 404 course is going to take place in November for the site staff, and so for me, that means a trailer endorsment!!  Woot woot! 

Speaking of moving equipment- I don't think that it will happen after this weekend's fam flights, so that may mean next week?  And if that's the case then I may not get to participate if it's on Sunday, BECAUSE, Leah asked me if I wanted to go on a 10mile cattle drive!! And of course, I said yes!

Last weekend, one of the guys suggested that I go to Calgary for Remembrance day service. I guess they do what Summerside staff did last year- hit up a service before checking out a bunch of legions. So if that ends in being under the influence, then I figure I should take the Thursday off work. AND, a good East coast band in playing in Calgary Friday night, so instead of heading back to Medicine Hat Thursday just for an 8 hour work day on Friday and then turn around and head back to Calgary, I may just take Thursday AND Friday off. That way I'll be Tuesday night, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun in Calgary!

Monday night at cadets went good too. The change of command was quick, and the cadets did GREAT!  I did some hardcore drill with them for about an hour before hand, and they looked fantastic! All the officers and the ACO and Major from winnipeg went out to a pub afterwards.  Chatted up the ACO about getting loaded on CQ- for the 3rd time. And The CO wants me to do the UHRA course, and I'll need to update my SupplyO skillz....you know, because if Im going to be supply officer, it could be nice.

As for work, it's been a super slow week thus far.  Tomorrow I may be heading out with Bob-ert to go preg checking....but we'll see. 

Ok, now it's time to put head to pillow....Im 'zausted! Uggg. 

Ps. The picture was for Greg- he told me that I was going to be flying all by myself Thanksgiving weekend, (trying to be smart), so Matt and I drove out to Netook and he got a picture of me by a glider- looking like the Michelin man huddled up in my toque, winter jacket and gloves and then we went into the briefing classroom, where I saw this qualifications board.  I couldn't help myself....

A good one

I bought an ipod touch today...... (I’m not a “Mac” person, let alone an iPod person. Heck! I’m not a materialistic person! But I was pretty intrigued by my little brother’s new toy, so I thought I should get with the times and get myself an ipod. Now I just need to figure out how to use it…..)
I am at a pub in Calgary right now, here for some turkey eating! Currently drinking beer and not eating turkey...of course. I came up to Calgary to be “thankful” with my friend Matt. He and I used to live 7 houses apart! (He was our paper boy!) We were in 4-H and Cadets together; he too is a pilot and glider instructor. He moved to BC in high school for a school exchange, and then to Ottawa for his undergrad, and is now finishing his Law degree here in Calgary. So I’m here for turkey and I think tomorrow the plan is that we’re going to drive out the mountains, just because we can!

As for my happenings in the past week, both with work and with “things” it’s been fairly eventful:
Last Saturday, Leah and I went to the clinic with her horses. The clinic itself went really well, except that it was freezing cold and it was my 3rd time in probably 2 years that I’ve been on a horse, so I basically got the crap kicked right out of me. No, not literally, but my entire body ached for a few days after. It was as if I had got hit by a Semi!
Sunday, Gliding was cancelled because it rained (it was cancelled on Saturday too actually). So I just laid motionless on the couch all day (because I was in pain….)
Monday, in my rush to get ready for Cadets, the 2 year old decided that she would go downstairs (while I was upstairs) and go in my room (while I was upstairs) and emptied a half of a bottle of febreeze all over EVERYTHING (while I was upstairs), including the wall, the floor, papers, purses, my cadet shoes, AND MY NEW COWBOY BOOTS THAT I AM GOING TO TAKE BACK FOR A DIFFERENT SIZE!!!! (While I was upstairs)……Her mother dried off my boots, and as for my cadet shoes….well, I was running late, so I had no choice but to put them on wet. At least my feet smelled good…..
On Tuesday, while driving home, I passed a semi, and a rock jumped up at me and I thought I got a chip- but I didn’t. THEN, I passed another semi, and this time, a larger rock most certainly put a chip in my window. I WAS FURIOUS! I’m from the Maritimes! We pretty much never get chips! FURIOUS!
Wednesday, nothing that I can remember happened.
Thursday I went preg checking with Bob. It was cold. There were 200 cows. It was cold. They were NOT organized, so we stood there for an hour before the preg checking actually started. It was cold……
On Friday, Leah and I went to a local stable and floated 4 horses teeth. Nothing like the smell of pulverized teeth to get your day going! It wasn’t until 3:30 that we were done, so neither of us had lunches with us, so we stopped at Tim’s and each had a bowl of chili and one of those new pumpkin donuts. (Really good by the way).
When we got back, I found another bag of jerky from the Hutterites! Bob brought it back with him after his day of preg checking!

Gliding is cancelled this weekend by the way. No Squadrons want to fly?!?!? I said "what is this? If I were in the Maritimes right now I’d be flying all 3 days!" Josh, jokingly of course, said “Go back to the Maritimes then!” He just didn’t want to miss his turkey. I on the other hand was ready to sacrifice turkey (or at least eat it late) for gliding. Weirdo Westerners….

HOLY...

COW!

Dye job #2 in 7 days.  And I'm FAIRLY certain- and by fairly, I mean 100% certain, that when I chose the box of dye, auburn WAS NOT the color that best resembled my natural hair color.

CRAP.

Maybe next week Ill try again- and then Ill have no hair afterwards because it will have all fallen out. 

Went to a Hutterite colony today.  Bob was pimping me out again.....At least this hutterite boy was mildly good looking.  "Hey Whatshisname! Have you met Ashley yet? She's single and looking for a man".....subtle Bob....very subtle....

Then, the hutterite guys gave me a squash- and Ive never had one before, so he had to explain to me what to do with it, and how to prepare and eat it. 

THEN one of them fed me pork jerky that they made. IT WAS AWESOME. The best Jerky Ive ever had! 
THEN one of the ladies gave me a bag of plums from their plum trees.  I ate 2 before we got back to the ranch. AWESOME PLUMS!!
THEN, Richard, the Dairy barn boss says " So Prince Edward Island, that's like, an island?"....."Yes" I say. "And is it connected to the mainland at all?"..."No, it's an island...."....hahaha Too funny. 

Spent a few hundred dollars after work too- had to buy some groceries, had to fill up on gas, had to buy a new pair of jeans and a new PAIR OF COWBOY BOOTSSSSS!!!!!!! 

Ill have to take some pictures.......fast forward....

This is a picture of the first dye job.

This is of dye job #2....much redder....

NEW BOOTSSSSSS!!!!

SAG Equipment: The glider and its tail, and the winch.

Aftermath of the wind storm that hit us on Monday night.

And now, after having watched Grey's Anatomy only partly Im now going to go to bed.