Private pilot!
Steven is officially a private pilot! He took his oral exam and did his checkride this Saturday, and passed! Ahh! I’m so proud of him! Congratulations, Steven!!!
He didn’t have much warning his test was coming up. He’d been hearing it wouldn’t be until the end of September! But then his instructor said they were going to try to schedule it for this week, then they actually booked time with the airplane, then he got his scenario on Thursday, and knew it would be happening, if the weather was decent.
So to be repetitive, after all that waiting, it happened really fast.
Here’s what happens at your final exam and flight, at least where he went to school – you get grilled with an oral exam for 1-3 hours (his was about 3, starting at 9:30 am). If you’re doing well in a topic, they move on. If you’re struggling, they dig in. After you’re exhausted from that, you do preflight and start out flying the “scenario.” The scenario Steven received was taking two friends to La Crosse to see a dying family member. Morbid much?
You leave on that heading, then once they see you know what the f*ck you’re doing with following a straight heading, they start throwing emergency scenarios at you to see how you react. Steven’s flight looked like this on radar:
I had sent a few friends his tracking and both Bobbi and Courtney commented on this maneuver:
I could actually tell what most of the maneuvers were from what he’s been sharing with me about his lessons.
Oh! The most exciting part (for me!) is that he flew right over the house when he left! I filmed him going by. I won’t subject you to that, but here’s a cropped screengrab:
Penny was excited to join me.
His flight was from 1:34 pm – 3:02 pm. All I had heard from him so far since he left for the day was two emoji face reactions after his oral, but he texted me at 3:21 “Passed.”
Then I immediately told like 10 people and posted it on Instagram stories. A lot of people were checking in with me to see how it was going. He had so much support!
He got home at 4:00 and gave me the complete debrief on it all. What an intense, long day. But he’s a private pilot now! I’m so proud of him!
No, I haven’t flown with him yet, just the two of us. Hopefully, this week!
Where’d that come from?
Last weekend my mom and snis both asked me how I got a bruise on my tricep. No clue. I’m running into stuff all the time, and I don’t keep track of where these bruises come from.
A few days later, as I was getting frustrated for tripping over and bumping into things* around the house, I thought “I should keep track of this stuff so I know where all my battle wounds are from.”
I didn’t do a great job, but I can tell you:
- I ran into something Thursday right before we left for the movies, and it cut the back of my right leg
- I jammed my right elbow into my tumbler straw in the car Friday, and it cut it up
- I grabbed my deodorant to put it on Friday night not realizing I grabbed the one with the cap still on it, and scratched up my armpit
- I kicked my painting supplies toolbox so hard with my right baby toe last night that it immediately started bleeding and throbbing
Put me in a bubble, please.
No related photo, but since I mentioned her, it’s my snister’s birthday! Happy birthday, snis!
*Not random things sitting out, things like walls, bathtubs, counters, the dishwasher, etc. Things that are always in the same place.
Reading Update (2024 #49-51)
[49] Natural Selection: A Short Story by Elin Hilderbrand
Free on Amazon First Reads, Kindle
Synopsis: Sophia and her boyfriend are going on a trip to the Galapagos Islands when he gets an urgent call right as they’re boarding the plane and has to leave, telling Sophia to go on the trip on her own.
Review: This book was SO obvious, and therefore, mostly boring. Sophia was pretty unlikeable too, so that didn’t help.
Recommend: No
[50] One-Star Romance by Laura Hankin
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, saw in MKE airport, Audio
Synopsis: Natalie and Rob’s best friends marry each other, and at first the two of them kinda get along, until Natalie writes a book and realizes Rob wrote a one-star review of it. They connect with each other throughout the years through events circling around their friends.
Review: Natalie’s selfish, possessive, immature character ruins most of this book. I actually agree with Rob and why he was upset about the book Natalie wrote. The premise of this book is interesting, checking in on them at significant life events for their friends, and there were some interesting plot points and diversions, but Natalie just freaking ruined it. Ugh.
Recommend: No
[51] Flawless (Chestnut Springs #1) by Elsie Silver
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, saw on Kindle Unlimited, Kindle
Synopsis: Summer works for her dad’s talent agency, and has been assigned with babysitting bull rider Rhett to keep him out of trouble while the agency tries to fix his public image. Summer had a poster of Rhett on her wall growing up, but pushes that crush aside and tries to keep it professional, especially since Rhett seems to think she is uptight and no fun.
Review: This was a fun (of course, unrealistic) story that checked a lot of romance tropes, sort of enemies to lovers, forced proximity, shared bed, etc. etc. And there was some serious drama going on with Summer and her family. Whoa. I enjoyed it and will read more of the series. It helped that Summer and Rhett were actually likeable after the last two books I read. (Random: I was cautious about reading this book because of the bull riding stuff and me being an animal rights vegan and all that. Thankfully, it didn’t get too into it, and I skimmed a few sections.)
Recommend? Yes
I was made for this
What is your relationship with acronyms?
I work for the federal government. Therefore, acronyms are my life. We love to make acronyms for as many things as possible, and bonus points if the acronym spells out something somewhat related to what it is.
I’m very conscious of this when I’m writing or speaking, and always write out or say the acronym if the person/audience may not know what it is. I’ve been on the receiving end of emails full of so many acronyms I have no idea what I’m reading and waste ten minutes researching what things stand for. Annoying.
All that to say, yesterday I said to Steven “Josh was impressed I knew what ADS-B* stands for.” And Steven said “I’m impressed! I don’t know if I’d remember that one.”
*Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast – this broadcasts information about the aircraft to other aircraft and ATC (Air Traffic Control). It’s how you track planes.
To which I said the whole spiel above. I was made for this. Just this week Steven introduced VASI and PAPI (Visual Approach Slope Indicator and Precision Approach Path Indicator – visual lights on the runway that let you know if you’re above, below, or at the 3% glide path) to me and I watched a short video and was able to repeat it all back to him that night, along with a general idea of what it is.
Photo from last October. Those four red lights on the left are VASI.
I love learning this stuff. Are you all ready for when it’s my turn to learn to fly and I spew even more random plane sh*t here?
We won’t talk about what I struggle with, which is the mechanics of the plane. Embarrassing, since my dad is an auto mechanic.
Random Thoughts Thursday 462
- Blog Problems – if you’re trying to comment and getting a 500 server error, I’m sorry, and thank you for trying to comment. I contact my host almost daily to try to fix this with no success and don’t see myself making the bandwidth anytime soon (or ever) to figure out what the problem is. So please copy your comment before you hit submit so if it disappears you still have it. I’ve actually been doing that for years when I leave comments. (And that is what I do now with any content I make her since half of the time I hit “save draft” I get an error.)
- Since I am already pissy, WHY do I have to call the pharmacist and beg for them to fill my blood thinners every time I am about to run out? Each time I can’t use the auto refill on the app because it’s “too soon.” Then I go through the painful process of trying to call them (now they won’t even let you do that – they make you leave a message). Then it’s always some user error. Yesterday it was “we wrote 90 day supply but only gave you 30.” Yeah, no shit. When I pick it up I am going to open it and see what the f*ck they gave me this time.
- Last week I had another situation at work where someone was telling me how I feel. As in “Kim, you LOVE doing that.” Nope, I am telling you I don’t. I may be good at it, but I don’t love it. “But you always volunteer to do it!” Nope, I am voluntold, and you cannot use that as a reason for me to do most of the work. Yeah, those were basically my responses. It’s a huge trigger for me when I tell someone “I don’t like that/I feel this way” and they say “You do like that/you don’t feel that way.” GAWD.
- You know the saying “I can’t, I have to wash my hair”? I always thought it was a joke then I signed up for Prose and they gave me a shampoo mask I need to put on and wear for 15-30 minutes before I wash my hair. So it does take about 40-45 minutes now.
- On a positive note, The Popcast added a Patreon tier where I can pay to get main feed content commercial free. Yes, please. I can’t stand hearing them. (The complaint here is that Apple Podcasts doesn’t always hold my listening spot and starts me at the top of the show. WHHHHY.)
- Steven told me he added up his flying log book, and has 102.8 hours, with 19.4 as pilot in command. Wow! We may have some news on his test but I’ll wait and share when it’s confirmed. (Or likely, after it happens.)
- New mani from last week!
2024 Abel Island Fly-In: Fly-Out
Sunday was fly-in day! I woke up too early, ugh. I thought I would be able to fall back asleep, but no. So I watched the sunrise,
read, then went on a run with Dad.
I’ve had a lot of crap runs lately, but this one felt good, except for a slight headache, which was mostly cured when my snister picked me up and took me to the coffee shop in town (and I got a chai). Thanks, snis!
When I got back I had breakfast with Steven, Josh, Mom, and Dad, then we had a bit of time before the fly-in started, so we went on a boat ride… and got the boat stuck in the shallow water. Ha, what an adventure. I didn’t have my swimsuit on, but I got out, rolled my shorts up, and pushed (along with Dad and Josh) for maybe 10 minutes? I told my trainer about this leg workout on Monday and that I could probably skip leg day this week and she didn’t seem amused. Ha ha ha, me so funny.
When we got back we headed over to the fly-in, even though it was before the slotted time of 12-3pm. The organizer had told Steven that most folks arrive before the noon start time. We got there around 11:30 and that is absolutely true! We saw several planes land, some strange glider things (photo below), and even a helicopter.
Glider thing. These people said they didn’t even know the fly-in was going on! They were wearing full body suits and helmets.
We walked around looking at planes and talking to pilots. I’ve always enjoyed this event in the past, but even more now that I kind of (very loosely kind of) know what I am looking at and what I am asking about. Everyone there was so nice. I loved asking people about their planes and how they got started flying. One pilot told me he was really impressed with me knowing the lingo and some of my knowledge (Josh said that to me later too (when I knew what ADS-B stands for), which made me feel good. I’m trying to learn!!!!).
Me & Mom. I should have taken more photos of the rows of planes to show the scale of the event. You can see a couple rows behind us and old fly-in photos here.
A really nice pilot named Keith invited William to sit in his plane and explained how it all worked to him.
After a bit we went back to our cabin to eat lunch (originally we were going to do the potluck with the other pilots, but decided not to). I had my snister open her birthday presents then too (happy early birthday, snis!). Then we went back to the fly-in. Steven and Josh took the plane we flew out of the hanger and taxied it over to park with the rest of the planes.
Taxiing Mike Alpha over (the call # is N378MA, and we call him Mike Alpha or MA).
I counted 38 planes there, those two glider things, and one helicopter. That seems like a good turnout! The organizer told us if it had been on Saturday he’d expected 70-80 aircraft and he thought it would be half that amount on a Sunday, so that tracks.
While Steven and Josh were moving our plane around, Mom and I heard something taking off from the water and it was this HUGE seaplane that then came around and landed. Here is a really crappy photo of it:
Then the show was more of walking around, checking things out, and chatting.
At some point we went to see if we won any door prizes (pilots get entered for them) and we hadn’t, BUT, the girls handing out door prizes had befriended my snis and offered her and all of us to pick something out, so we got some really nice swag:
Then planes started to take off right after 2:00! I was very confused by the 12-3pm schedule. In my mind it was arrive after 12:00, leave after 3:00, but it was more like be there by 12:00, be gone by 3:00? Good to know for when we actually fly-in, since we did more of a fly-out.
We watched planes leave (including the helicopter – I don’t think I will ever have a chance to stand that close to a helicopter taking off again!) then Steven and Josh left with everyone but me and Dad to do preflight and pack back at the house. Dad and I watched more planes leave, including two biplanes that went by and did contrails (smoke trails).
I eventually went back and showered and packed, then we all rode back down to the field to leave (all the back and forth between the house and runway is in golf carts).
We took some more photos,
finished preflight, and took off at 3:53. The density altitude was high, so it took the plane longer to get up to speed. It was fun to watch the island get smaller and smaller, and see the beach we always visit from above.
Raven Glen Forest Preserve
Then it was smooth riding back. It was super hazy, and we stayed below the clouds, and flew straight home, arriving at 5:14. Steven practiced a short field landing and he said it didn’t go very well but it felt fine from the backseat!
If you look through the window you can see he is about to land at the start of the runway (short field landing).
Then we headed home. And were both so completely exhausted, and still felt that way Monday. I think from the packed weekend, less sleep (me) Saturday night, all the flying (Steven), and being out in the intense sun for so much on Sunday. I mean, look at this tan from my sandals!
But. What a fun weekend. Saturday was kind of silly with all that rain at the beach but Sunday definitely made up for it with the awesome fly-in. I’m so grateful we got to do this and hope we do again next year! What do you think, Steven?
Oh! One more thing! My snis text me after we left saying “William thinks its very cool that uncle Steven is a pilot.” Aww, me too, snis! Me too.
2024 Abel Island Fly-In: Flying There
So when I last left off, we knew we were going to the fly-in, yay! But, there was a new problem to solve with the weight and balance of the plane.
When Steven did the weight and balance calculations for the trip, he determined we could leave with 25 gallons of fuel, which is plenty for the trip and under the maximum gross weight for the Cessna 172 we had reserved (N408ES). When he talked to the school that morning though, they said the plane had 53 gallons of fuel in it and there was no way to “defuel” it, because their fuel truck is stranded at their other location and the ramp is all torn up (they are currently in a temporary location at the airport while improvements are being made).
The other 172 (N378MA) also had 53 gallons of fuel in it, but can carry 100 lbs more weight. So we switched to that plane and they defueled a little bit using a little hand-held pump to get it down to its max gross weight. (We now know to request the tanks NOT be full when we make a reservation.)
So after that problem was solved, we did preflight, run-up, and took off at 11:22 am! Side note: from the outside perspective, it seems like pilots need to be able to solve problems on the fly (ba dum ching) like that, and that is something Steven completely excels at.
Another “problem” (sorta) – it was pretty cloudy. Steven is working on VFR (visual flying rules), not IFR (instrument flying rules, that comes later if he wants), which meant we needed to be able to see where we were flying, and not fly through any clouds. So that made things interesting.
Pine Dunes Forest Preserve from above
He didn’t want to fly below the cloud ceiling because it was pretty low (2500 ft?), darker, and had a lower fuel economy. So we started a climb not too long after takeoff, when the first layer of clouds were still scattered and a little easier to get above. Once up there, he had to stray a bit from the straight course to go around some big clouds. I could still see the ground through the broken clouds, until we were close to halfway through the trip and went completely above the clouds.
Flying through the clouds
We stayed up there until we got close to the Mississippi River (Wisconsin/Iowa border), then we looked for a cloud opening to get down through. We found one, and it wasn’t big enough to do a straight descent through, so we did spiral turn to go down through it, which was a lot of fun. My dad was watching us on Glympse and said he saw that and wondered what we were doing (okay, he joked around that “isn’t that what planes normally do before they crash?” and I told him “at least you’d know where to find us!”).
Back down through the clouds/view of the Mississippi River
After that we were below the lowest level of clouds again, and followed the Mississippi River up to the island. All that diverting around the clouds added quite a bit of time on to the trip. It was already estimated to be longer because of a headwind, but it ended up taking us almost 2 hours (driving there takes 4 hours).
I love to fly and am not upset about being in the plane longer, just thinking about how it costs a bit more. But it was a lot of fun – flying over places I visit around the house, climbing above the clouds, admiring the view of the Mississippi River, seeing some eagles flying right by the plane, seeing Guttenberg from above, all the chatting and catching up we did… it was great!
Guttenberg, Iowa
After we landed (1:24pm) we chatted with the guy who runs the fly-in, the headed over to the house on Esmann Island, had lunch, then got the water toys out.
Mother Nature (and bad luck?) were working against us that day. Steven and Josh went down with Dad to put the jet skis in, then they showed up going really slow at the house, and we noticed Steven was towing Josh with a rope. We went down to see what was going on and it started pouring rain. We all got soaked (we were in our swimsuits so whatever), then went back down and pulled a little bit of seaweed out and the jet ski worked fine.
Then we waited for Dad to show up with the boat and he never did, so I left on a golf cart and found him – he had been putting the boat in then took it out because of the rain. I looked at my weather app and it said the rain was done for a bit so we put it in, then it rained on him while he drove it to the house, then we went to the beach and it rained on and off most of the time we were there. Kind of horrible beach weather! Ugh! I felt bad that the weather was not nicer, for Josh. And it was already after the time of day the fly-in had been scheduled for (it was moved to Sunday) but I can see why they moved it. Anyway.
We hung out there a bit, then went back, got clean and warm, made dinner and hung out chatting way too late. It was a fun night, but we could have done with a little less death talk from my mom ha ha ha. But really.
2024 Abel Island Fly-In: Are We Even Going?
We were able to participate in the Abel Island Fly-In this weekend. With an actual plane! It was so much fun!
Since I’m long-winded, this is going to be THREE posts (figuring out if we could go, flying there, the fly-in and flying back). You’re welcome!
First, where is Abel Island? It’s in Guttenberg, Iowa, on the Mississippi River. You can get there by car, plane, or boat. We’ve been visiting Guttenberg since I was a little kid, and my family has cabins on Esmann Island, the island next to Abel. Steven and I have both always wanted to learn to fly, and a part of that is so we could fly here (1.2-1.5 hour flight instead of a 4 hour drive) to see family.
What is the Abel Island Fly-In? It’s an event where people fly their planes/helicopters/whatever in, park on the island, eat, hang out, then fly out!
Why did we participate? Because we could actually fly ourselves there, and that’s hella cool! Well, we sorta could. That’s a long story that I’ll try to make brief…
So. We’ve had the fly-in on our calendar forever. Steven figured he’d have his private pilot license by the fly-in, and booked a plane for all day Saturday/Sunday a month+ in advance. He invited Josh, his previous instructor (who left the school in January) to come with us. Josh had fun when he visited the river (twice!) last year, and we thought he would enjoy going back, and he’s super cool and we like hanging out with him.
But as the date loomed closer and closer, it became clear Steven was NOT going to have his license, despite his best efforts to get his final oral and checkride scheduled. There is a LOT of demand and not a lot of DPEs (designated pilot examiners) around. Womp womp. Cross your fingers he gets on the schedule soon.
So we’re like “No big deal! Josh flies freaking JETS. He can be the PIC (pilot in command) instead of Steven!”
Not so fast though – Josh does fly jets, and is no longer current (day currency requirements require that within the preceding 90 days, a pilot must have conducted at least three takeoffs and landings in the same category, class, and type of aircraft they intend to operate as the sole manipulator of the flight) on the wittle baby single-engine aircraft we were taking (Cessna 172). He could be the PIC, but he needed to get current. Which required scheduling a flight for him. Which took a bunch of coordination.
Long story long, his currency flight got scheduled for right before we were going to leave on Saturday. So we wouldn’t know if we were leaving, for sure, until he passed his currency flight (which we were 99.9% positive he would, and that .01% doubt was not on him). Then, there was the weather to consider.
So for 2+ weeks I’ve been hoping we could go, but trying not to get too excited, since so many things had to align for it to happen and we (Steven) had done the most we (Steven) could. YOU GUYS. I really struggle with the unknown. It was hard not to be able to plan since things were so up in the air (<—- ha ha ha, flying joke). But, this is good for me. To learn to go with the flow. And be flexible. And manage my emotions. And all that.
And as you already know, since I started with telling you we got to go, Josh passed his test, and we were able to fly out, on Saturday. However. The fly-in was supposed to be Saturday, but on Friday night, got moved to Sunday due to weather. We had an interesting flight getting there, which I will tell you all about in the next post!
I have to add, we both really appreciate Josh jumping through all these hoops to get current so we could go. He could have just said, “nah, that sounds like a lot of extra work to coordinate and do” and then that would be that. But that’s not the type of guy he is (plus he wanted to go back and have fun on the jet skis and at the fly-in). So, thank you, Josh!
Random Thoughts Thursday 461
- Yesterday was me and Bobbi’s one year anniversary at WWM (the gym where I do strength training)! I’ve taken 180 classes there so far, and I’m so glad I started. It’s such an empowering and fun place to train and it’s really changed my mindset on a lot of things. I wasn’t sure how I’d fit strength training into my schedule when I started, but I made it work – mostly by doing less cardio.
- I had my annual with my gyno this week and she told me now that I’m 40 I get to start doing a mammogram each year. So I scheduled that. I appreciated the heads up she gave me that 1 in 5 first timers get a request to do a follow-up mammogram (because of the quality of the image? now I can’t remember, ha, good job Kim) and the advice to go right after your period ends when your breasts are the smallest (news to me!).
- Our carrots are actually growing! Woo hoo!
- My mom bought some Alanis for our river trip and now I’m hooked. And they’re not cheap! But I love me a super sweet drink. They have 200 mg caffeine but I’m not feeling it when I drink them. (Or maybe I am and would feel it if I didn’t?)
- A few updates from last week’s RTT:
- My toe is better! Woo hoo!
- I found the theatrical cut of The Fall Guy in the blu ray set I got. Phew. We will only watch that one moving forward.
- When I brought Penny in last week and the vet said I’m turning into a crazy cat lady, in a joking way (we go waaaaaay back). Sigh. I told him I’m trying not to, I really am. But she showed up in a bad situation, and I’m not going to ignore that!
Reading Update (2024 #46-48)
[46] Falling by T.J. Newman
Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense, saw on Stephany’s blog, Kindle
Synopsis: A pilot on a commercial flight from LA to NYC is told his entire family will be killed if he doesn’t purposefully crash the plane.
Review: What a high stakes, thrilling story. It starts out intense and never lets down. I struggled with some of the violent parts, especially with the pilot’s family, but mostly enthralled the entire read.
Recommend? Yes, if you can handle it
[47] Their Last Resort by R.S. Grey
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, free Amazon First Reads book?, Kindle
Synopsis: Paige and Cole work at the same resort and can’t stand each other. But when Cole is told he has to fire Paige, he does everything he can not to. Then there is a hurricane that brings them together. Or something.
Review: This felt like such an amateur entry into the romance world. The writing was weak and cheesy at best, and the story was mostly boring and anticlimactic. Not for me.
Recommend? No
[48] Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1) by Elsie Silver
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, rec from snis, Kindle
Synopsis: Billionaire Ford Grant has returned to the tiny picturesque town his family summered in to escape the press and open a recording studio. Then a 12-year-old shows up saying she’s his daughter. Then his best friend’s sister, Rosie, moves back to town. Now Ford is trying to get his new business going, learn how to parent, and try to keep his hands off Rosie, who he’s had a crush on since they were kids.
Review: I am usually NOT a second chance romance fan, but with the enemies to lovers vibe, I was totally here for it. I loved how sassy Rosie was and how fake mean she and Ford were to each other. Their chemistry was great. I was thrown off by the daughter thing in the beginning (because I did not read the synopsis) and thought it might ruin the story, but her character ended up adding a lot. The dark moment in the story was kind of weak and sort of out of the blue and there was definitely some cheesy parts, but I loved the book and am excited for the next one in the series (about Rosie’s brother) to come out in September. Oh! And I almost forgot! Great open door sections (smut) too.
Recommend? Yes
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and work in an account management role. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
