Ponderings and Musings

I am looking outside and marveling at the fact that it is the 30th of April. It is currently 42ºF. Rain is falling in buckets. The wind is blowing at 24 MPH. During the month of April I believe we have had maybe 5 days that have been April-like. To celebrate the arrival of May tomorrow, I moved my autumn wardrobe back into my closet. I am wearing a dark green shirt with orange and brown stripes. If there were any leaves on the trees they’d probably be ready to fall.

To say that I am frustrated by this streak of underwhelming weather would be an understatement. By this time last year I had a couple of hundred miles on my bicycle. This year I have clocked in a whopping 10.62 miles. I am not amused.

As a private pilot I logged more flight time during the winter months than I have thus far this spring. Something is amiss with that equation and I find it disheartening. I am so very close to making my next aviation goal, but I can rarely find weather conditions that are conducive to practicing landings and the like. I desperately try to not get depressed about it, but it feels like my winter blahs are lingering a bit longer this year.

This morning I asked Earl if he had any job opportunities in San Diego. He does not. I’m starting to wonder if they need ditch diggers on the Panama Canal.

One of the special treats about this weather is that our cat is still trying to go in and out of the back patio door as if he hadn’t a care in the world. He spends approximately 46 seconds on either side of the door at any given time, before wanting to move to the opposite side of the door. This could be adding to the frustration I am feeling with this weather.

During my chiropractor visit yesterday, the doc mentioned that the forecast showed this weather continuing for the next 10 days. He then marveled that my back seemed tighter than usual. Of course it is, this crap makes me tense.

I started my “winter vitamins” again this morning with the hope of boosting up my Vitamin D levels. I don’t know if they’re low or not but extra Vitamin D can sometimes feel like sunshine in a friendly capsule.

Plus, they’re less calories than beer.

I was doing some random reading on the web earlier this week and a conspiracy site suggested that President Obama had the Jet Stream relocated. They had a brief discussion about how fighter jets were used to latch onto the Jet Stream and pull it further south to combat the effects of Global Warming. Aside from trying to figure out how one would actually latch onto the Jet Stream, I briefly bemused the thought of anyone in the U.S. Government doing anything that would require any sort of imagination. And then I was amused by the fact that someone suggested that the U.S. Government did anything at all. That’s a funny one, right there. If the Jet Stream can’t pay taxes, why would they drag it farther down south?

The furnace just kicked on to combat the opening and closing of the patio door so Sir Indecisive can go out and make sure that the plants are still accommodating to his litter box habits. I’m going to go put on a sweater.

A certain someone of the feline persuasion just ventured outside (with supervision) for the first time since moving into our happy little home a couple of months ago. Scooter is still getting his routine around here down; he hasn’t figured out the differences between “meal time” and “sleep” and he’s an early riser (breakfast at 3:00 a.m. anyone?), but he’s starting to get his bearings.

Since today is the first time it has been above 60ºF this year, I thought I’d spend a little time out on the front porch during my lunch hour. I motioned for Scooter to come out with me, but he didn’t want any part of the shenanigans I was engaging in, so he scooted around the house at a high rate of speed. He then realized that I was still on the front porch.

There’s a saying about cats and curiosity…

Anyway, it only took two rattles of the front porch door to get the human to get up from his comfortable position in the sun and let Mr. Scooter outside, but when I went to open the door, Scooter ran back. I decided to leave the front door open and let him come out on his own. It took a bit and the steps were filled with trepidation, but he finally came out to where I was sitting on the steps. He made a few cursory checks of the area through his very active nose and then decided he had had enough and starting ripping around the house again.

Apparently all of this activity has deemed him worthy of a nap. He is now relaxing and undoubtedly pondering his exploratory mission of the day.

I have had a life-changing experience this week. It’s a small thing, but sometimes a very small thing can have a very large impact on one’s life. This change, this modification, has significantly improved my comfort and added a most pronounced spring to my step.

For the first time in 45 years, I have altered the way I lace up my shoes.

If you look closely, you’ll notice that my laces go straight across, instead of the criss-cross method I’ve used since mastering the art of tying my shoes during my first months of kindergarten.

When I learned to tie my shoes, there was something about the bunny going around the tree and jumping through a hoop to make his own hoop. I never understood the logistics of all this imagery, and quite frankly, I was labeled as “possibly development disabled” because I entered kindergarten without being able to tie my shoes. I didn’t color within the lines, either and I also committed the cardinal sin of “jamming” my homework into my book bag. I just think Mrs. Mosher (“no child is any different from any other child”) didn’t know what to do with me since I obviously didn’t fit into her stereotypical expectations. Clearly, I was too fabulous.

I’m digressing.

Once I mastered tying my shoes during those first shaky weeks of kindergarten, I celebrated by watching a girl named Tanya cut off her bangs with the construction paper scissors whilst I ate paste.

Calm down, I’m joking and still digressing. I’m joking about the paste. Tanya did cut her hair and I have no idea why she did that.

Actually, once I mastered tying my shoes I chalked that up to a philosophy that I still obey to this day: “set it and forget it.” The thing is, I like my shoes tied really tight and with that whole criss-cross method that I learned back in 1973, I ended up with pain in the top of my feet that has gotten worse over the years. I’m not cutting off my circulation or anything, because my doctor was overly enthusiastic about the fact that you can take and SEE my pulse in my feet (it’s not gross or anything), but at the end of the day in my dress shoes or my pilot shoes (pictured above), I’ll feel the pain associated with the dent in the top of my foot from my tightly tied shoes.

Enter the Internet. Now, I’m not much of a foot guy (though years ago I did know a guy who loved my boots to the point of really loving my boots) but as I grow older I try to find a sophisticated sense of style and apparently there’s a better way to tie one’s shoes.

In fact, this site features 41 ways to lace up shoes, and after careful analysis, I have settled in on “straight bar” lacing.

My shoes are still tight but I no longer have the high amount of pressure pressing down on the top of my foot. This morning I was able to walk six miles before work and my feet never complained once about my shoes being too tight. They felt very comfortable and very solid.

This makes me a happy man.

So last night I dreamed of several fellow bloggers that I have met over the years. The folks frolicking in my dream are all nice folks and live in various parts of the country, though in my dream we were all partying together in a nondescript, warm locale having a grand old time.

I think this dream was my subconscious telling me that I should continue writing in this blog, because I have met some mighty fine people via this blog over the years.

And to those that were in the dream last night, hello!

Once in a while I’ll take the long way home after a day at the office. This helps me separate the work day from home life and honestly, it’s a pretty drive when I take the long way, even during a long winter such as this one.

The long way home involves driving through a small hamlet called Stone Arabia. This little hamlet is situated along NY Route 10 and is primarily flat farmland to the north of the Mohawk Valley. Many Amish live in the area. The wide open spaces feel very comfortable to me, even with the winter winds whipping across the farmland.

If Earl ever told me that he wanted to live in an old farmhouse again, we’d definitely look for something around this tiny little hamlet. I could find it quite peaceful there.

There are plenty of old, stately farmhouses in the area. I thought this photo captured a great moment at the end of a great day.

I just read the Old Farmer’s Almanac to see what they’re saying about the weather for this year. They’re right on target for this week, back to cold and snow but things look better starting next week. The summer will be hotter than normal and dry. Let’s hope they know what they’re talking about.

One thing that was not in the Almanac was a prediction for the bout of sniffles that I currently have. I met with an FAA Medical Examiner (doctor) last week for my required exam. He was sniffly but said he wasn’t contagious. But now I have the sniffles. There must have been Kryptonite in his equipment.

For a Monday with loads of meetings and a bout of the sniffles, today is still a pretty good day. I don’t know if it was yesterday’s backseat flying, mulling over Trade-A-Plane to see what airplane I would like to buy or the fact that I went to a luau over the weekend that has me in good spirits. But I’m not going to complain.

I even feel inspired to start writing in my blog again. Let’s see if I can get back into the groove.

So yesterday was Monday and it was a crappy mood. After writing yesterday’s blog entry I decided I needed to do something about my crappy mood and I went upstairs and got cleaned up for the day. When I woke up yesterday morning I waited until the last minute to get out of bed, showered quick and then threw some “whatever” clothes on so I could work from home. I think feeling scruffy contributed to my mood yesterday, so at lunch time I cleaned myself up a little more and tried to feel more presentable. This helped my mood a little bit.

What really helped my mood was a message from my flight instructor indicating that a slot was open late yesterday afternoon and that we could so some flight training.

Now that’s more like it!

So what started out as a “meh” day segued into an awesome afternoon, where I enjoyed flying in the calm, clear skies, practiced emergency maneuvers and I did my first practice emergency landing on the runway. It was awesome. The procedures I have been learning are starting to come naturally to me and I’m “feeling” the airplane more as I fly. It is a wonderful feeling.

Today my good mood continues. I’m all cleaned up and though a little sleepy, I’m feeling good. Work is hectic but I’m trying to remain laid back about the whole thing. There’s no sense in getting all worked up about work, especially when it’s a means for funding my passion of aviation.

I am trying really, really, really hard to not let the winter weather get me down. Today is a beautifully sunny day but it’s still cold out. We have a lot of snow. I want to feel warm. I want to enjoy the outdoors. I’m tired of shivering.

It feels like it has been a long winter, though the calendar says we are still a month away from the “official” start of spring. It can’t get here soon enough.