God’s Unexpected Graces

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Faith1 Comment

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This morning I had the distinct displeasure of having my heart stress tested.  It would have been fine if it was just walking on a treadmill. I have no problem with that.  What I was not expecting was the IV needle they put in my arm and left there for the duration.  I didn’t know how many injections were involved in a stress test!  So they stuck the IV needle in so they could just stick me one time for all the injections that are involved.  I don’t get along with needles.

The bright spot in the morning came after the treadmill test.  I was talking to the nurse about my job situation and just off-handedly remarked that “Someone” had always taken care of my family and I and “He” always would.  Even in the next life.  Then she quoted a verse from the Psalms to me.  To which I replied “Oh, you’re a Christian too!”  She finished taking all the leads off me and as I was about to walk out she asked, “Do you mind if I pray for you?”

She held both my hands and prayed a beautiful prayer asking God to continue to care for my family and I through my job loss and search and for wisdom and for patience and… etc.  Afterwards I squeezed her hands and told her what a wonderful witness for Christ she had been this day.  I only regret that I didn’t pray for her too.  You can bet I will pray for her tonight.

Thank you Tammy.  You were a blessing to me today.

Unsettled Air

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I wanted to start the week off right so I got up bright and early and tried to get a flight in before work.  There was no wind at home and wind was forcast to be nil all morning.  Sure enough I got out to New Jerusalem and the wind sock wasn’t moving.  It seemed like the series of storms that blew through northern California over the weekend were finally gone but they left a gift for me… unsettled air.  If you watch the video you’ll catch some swinging.  The camera doesn’t catch it all but trust me, the air was sporty.

Red Hills Work Party Rescheduled

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Yesterday a small group of us were supposed to drive up to the Red Hills Strip to help theIMG_20160326_102107506 owner, Jack, remove a tree that is leaning dangerously close to the runway.  If you look just left of the airplane in this photo you will see the tree.

The plan was to cut this tree down and one other dead tree on the property also located next to the runway.  However, weather did not cooperate.  Two of the folks in our work party, who also had the chainsaw, were going to fly in.  Since there are no IFR approaches to this runway (unless you count the railroad tracks that run next to it) it was decided that we would postpone the work party.  Even if they drove up the rain would make for slick footing which is not optimal for working with chainsaws.

IMG_20160326_113513757The the bright side of the rain this past weekend is that it ought to make the Red Hills stay absolutely beautiful for our Memorial Day Fly-In!

 

Surveying the PPG Field at Oakdale

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IMG_20160501_181823289I wanted to get in an evening flight today and after consulting my favorite wind forecasting website Windyty it seemed like winds might be favorable.  I packed up my PPG gear, hitched up the trailer, and drove out to Oakdale.  However, when I got there there the
air was pretty unsettled.  There were thunderstorms nearby that were falling appart so it was actually pretty windy out at the airport.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to fly so I decided to take another look at the area on the airport that I would like to have developed as a PPG area.

A friend with earth moving equipment said he can level the area for us but I’m going to approach the city about reimbursing him for expenses.  My buddy seems to think it would be a relatively minor thing to flatten it out.  I hope so.  I’d love to keep flying from Oakdale.  Here are some shots of the affected area.

Drive Through Gold Country

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Travel2 Comments

It’s been a stressful couple of weeks so I decided to take a day trip with my wife up Highway 49 from Mokelumne Hill to Nevada City.

It was a pretty windy day down in the valley so it was refreshing to be up in the foothills where the wind wasn’t as strong.

We decided to stop off at Auburn Airport for a surprisingly delicious lunch.  Usually airport food isn’t all that great but the cafe at the airport is really good.

We finally made it up to Nevada City.  We spent some time walking the streets and checking out the shops.  It’s my job to carry shopping bags.  Luckily there were only two and they were very small.  Cristy bought some super-duper special herbal tea of some kind and some Cacoco Drinking Chocolate.

Nevada City starts rolling up the sidewalks at about 5 pm so we headed back down to the valley to head back home.  Sorry I don’t have many pictures of Nevada City.  I have to remember that folks like to see pictures and not just read words.  Something I need to work on.

Is This As Good As It Gets?

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In the movie As Good As It Gets, a man who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder leaves his psychiatrist’s office angry and worried. As he walks into the waiting area where other patients are seated and stops and asks…

“What if this is as good as it gets?” he asks and then he leaves. The patients remain frozen, pondering the possibility.

It’s a funny moment but it also gives me pause to think seriously about the future.  Such as, where will you go after you die?

I attend Bible Study Fellowship at a local church.  We meet in small groups and discuss the Bible study lessons we were given the week before.  Afterwards there is a lecture on the Scripture we just studied.  During the discussion group we had a visitor from another BSF group across the country.  He related something remarkable from his prior week’s lecture at his home group.  What he said was…

“If you have not accepted Christ as your Savior, then this life is as good as it gets.  If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, then this life is the worse it will ever be for you.”

So what’s your perspective?

If you claim Christ as your Savior then you have a destiny that is wonderfuly beyond your imagination.  Forget the cartoons portraying Bugs Bunny with wings and a halo sitting on a cloud playing a harp.  Never get your Bible doctrin from cartoons.  It is a marvelous glorious destiny we have that has defied explaination from those whom have witnessed it and returned to write about it.

If you don’t need Christ or God or you think all the fun people will be in hell, then whatever you have in this life will be your reward.  That’s it.  It’s all you get.  Hell will not be a forever party.  That will be happening in the new Heaven and the new Earth.

It’s the best offer in all of history.  Believe in Christ, ask Him to forgive you, and you will go to Heaven.  Simple as that.

A Few Good Pictures

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Just wanted to add a few stills from Saturday’s flight video.  I just like these because I love that view of the runway.  Landing is always my favorite part of a flight.  I also like how my shadow shows up in these captures.

New Jerusalem and Blackhawk Fly-In

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Had an enjoyable day chock full of aviation.  I started out doing some touch and goes at New Jerusalem and then drove up to Blackhawk Ranch to check out the fly-in.  Rather than type it all in I’ll just leave you with this extravaganza of audio-visual amazery.

Update:  Google munged the video when they tried to stabilize the video.  So I’m going to re-edit and re-upload.

Update 2:  Here is the re-edited video of New Jerusalem.  I’ll add the Blackhawk fly-in later today.

Final update:  Here is the video I took at the Blackhawk Fly-In

Building A GoPro Chase Cam Mount

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I think I need to build one of these.  I’ve been looking for some good camera perspectives to capture my flying and haven’t really found one I like yet.  This looks like it could be just the ticket!

“You Don’t Have TV??”

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Growing up 200206548-001 Television ScreensI was very much a TV-holic. My wife much less so but she also enjoyed TV. We let our kids watch TV while they were young. Disney and Animal Planet mostly. Then one day a commercial came on about a reality show staring New Yorkers and their pets. One scene was of a very well-built woman wearing a bikini that barely held all her parts under control. She was bending over washing her dog and they showed her body parts grinding together from all angles, barely focused on the dog. There I was with my eyes bulging and fixated on the screen when I remember my son. When I looked at him his eyes were fixated too. I grabbed the remote and turned the TV off and then proceed to call the cable company and cancel cable right then and there.

I was at a point in my life where I didn’t need to be looking at women, especially women built like the actress from the commercial. I sure didn’t want my son growing up and developing the same lust problems I did. Later that week as I was reading a magazine I looked up to see my wife reading her Bible (which she always did anyway) and to see my kids on the floor, one drawing, the other coloring in a coloring book. They never seemed to miss TV at all.

Many years later I eventually relented and we signed up wit Netflix and began watching Emergency, Mission Impossible (the 60s/70s series), Columbo, and so forth. Mostly the shows I remember watching that even when they were controversial, they never approached what we have in commercials today. And it was a great way to ease them into what they would be seeing as they went out into “the world” and have a dialog about such things. We still don’t have TV and we really don’t miss it.