Breaking in some cylinders
We had plans to fly to Waterloo, Iowa last Saturday for our niece Ella’s birthday party. On Friday, Steven called and said “Skill called me” (Skill is the school we rent the planes from). It sounded like he had bad news!
I immediately thought they canceled our reservation. We had the Cessna 172 we usually fly (N378MA, aka MA, pronounced “Mike Alpha”) reserved, but when we’d been there the previous weekend, we saw the other Cessna 172 Steven is checked out on (N408ES, aka ES, pronounced “Echo Sierra”) was sitting in the hangar with the cowling removed. It looked like it was undergoing some serious maintenance so I figured it was still out of commission and they wanted to use MA for the students who needed training, not for the folks renting it to visit family. Bummer, but made sense to me.
I was wrong.
“They want us to fly ES,” Steven said.
“Um, ES, the plane we saw torn apart last weekend?!”
Steven went on to explain that ES needed two of the engine cylinders replaced, and that was all done and they’d taken it on some test runs, but what would really be great for it was a long cross country trip to break it in, which is exactly what we had planned — a two hour one way flight, twice!
“You sound like you are calling me with bad news,” I said. “What’s the bad news?”
“The bad news is ES is slower and doesn’t have as high of a useful load, but we did the weight and balance, and it will be fine with less fuel.”
Okay, this is true. MA had an engine rebuilt in 2024 and has been our preferred plane since. But ES is just a few knots slower and we weren’t carrying passengers so whatever.
This whole new cylinders thing though… that did change our planning and flying a bit. We made sure to review engine out procedures the night before, we flew at a higher altitude so we could glide farther if we had an engine out, and I practiced finding the nearest airport on the GPS a few times while we were flying and made sure to locate the airports along the route and have them in sight. It’s good to practice these things!
We obviously made it there and back.
And that was a lot of words about why we flew ES. Ha.
We had beautiful weather by us Saturday morning. The wind was barely moving at 3 knots when we took off at 7:55!
We had scattered clouds at 9,000′ — well above our cruising altitude of 6,500′.
Steven kept an even closer eye on the oil pressure and engine temperature because of the new cylinders. And there were reminders EVERYWHERE to put mineral oil into the plane instead of regular oil (which we made sure we had when we left, but didn’t need to use).
The clouds lowered and become broken with an overcast layer as we got into Iowa, so it looked a bit gloomy out.
But I was all smiles because Steven let me fly! He said I am getting good at keeping the plane straight and level. It’s starting to feel more intuitive.
I felt like I had to touch the yoke a bit more than with MA and Steven told me he was noticing some differences in the controls and throttle too. I flew for about 15-20 minutes then Steven took controls back and we did our typical discussion to prepare for landing (runway approaches, how many minutes we need to descend to pattern altitude, etc.).
We landed at Waterloo Airport at 9:56.
My snis picked us up (with a chai and coffee! Thanks snis!) and we hung out at her place for a bit,
then went to the 4th Street Car Cruise around noon and hung out with my parents and older brother and his family. It’s fun to chill and watch the cars drive by over and over and over (they’re on a loop course). We all kept noticing ones we hadn’t seen before then we’d say “is that one new?” and someone else would have noticed it earlier, lol.
We left there around 3:00? Gosh, the days feel so freaking long when you have an early sunrise, get up early, and don’t spend your whole damn day working or doing chores or errands or other bullshit. It’s amazing. We had more adventures later in the day that I’ll share in another post!
Random Thoughts Thursday 499
- I added this to the bottom of my latest flying post but I know no one makes it that far, so I will share it again here — we flew with Eric this Sunday May 18th, and it turns out that it was 12 years to the day to the only other time we flew with him, on a helicopter ride, also by Chicago. Funny coincidence.
- Another funny coincidence — the owner of the fixed-based operator we went to in Gary found my post and commented on it! I’m always surprised when someone finds and comments on my blog.
- I am embarrassed I’ve been using hyphens when I should have been using em-dashes, for like, my entire life. As you can see above, I’ve started using them!
- I was telling a coworker about hyphen vs en-dash vs em-dash and we got into a discussion about grammar. She was telling me she struggles with it, giving effect vs affect as an example, so I asked her if she knew when to use fewer vs less and blew her mid when I explained it. I know. I’m so fun.
- We watched Fly Away Home this week. It’s a movie about a young New Zealander girl whose mother dies, and she goes to live with her father in Canada. She finds some goose eggs and imprints on the geese. The geese need to fly south for the winter and don’t know how so she flies in a light aircraft and they follow her. I hadn’t seen it since I was a kid and Steven had never seen it. It holds up well for a PG movie from the 90s (when you let it slide how dangerous and illegal their flight is). And of course, watching it as an adult I picked up on the serious topics (death of a parent, an estranged parent, uprooting your life, depression) that didn’t register as a kid. As a kid, I also never researched the source material, and apparently a dude did do this with some geese in real life, but for experimental purposes — like they stole geese eggs. What the F.
- I’ve been trying out Google Gemini for note taking at work and it’s pretty good! It takes notes differently than me — it summarizes major topics, where I give more of a play by play with action items — but that makes more sense than what I was doing.
- Have you heard of “hands on the door syndrome” or “doorknob syndrome” or “doorknob phenomenon”? I heard about it in fictional book, in the context of therapy or healthcare, and it’s when someone doesn’t reveal important information until the end of an appointment, when they are leaving. (This phrase is also used in the context of abuse FYI.) I immediately wrote the phrase down because it made me think of someone I know. Then I thought about how I’m sometimes asking my doctor questions as they try to leave but it’s because they’re rushing through their spiel then trying to exit and that’s the first time I get a chance to ask anything! I wonder if they think I have this, ha ha.
Low audio book standards
I just finished this ridiculous audiobook (Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson) that I would have DNF’d so hard if I was reading it on my Kindle and now I’m laughing at how low my audiobook standards are. As long as I can stand the narrator’s voice and the story is somewhat interesting, it seems I’ll continue to listen, even if I’m not that into it. Even if I’m making a list in my mind of everything I can’t stand about the book.
Why?!
I’m always doing something else when I’m listening to an audiobook. Always. Running, driving, getting ready to go to work, painting, chores, shopping, etc. I never just sit and listen.
Audiobooks still feel like a bonus reading time life hack. If I wasn’t listening to an audiobook during those times I’d be listening to music, a podcast, or nothing at all.
So my brain is like, “you didn’t set aside time to listen to this, it’s background while you do other things.” Therefore, if it’s not my favorite, I’m more likely to continue, because it’s just keeping me company while I do some other task.
Whereas with my Kindle, all I’m doing is reading. It’s dedicated time before bed or on the train. Time I don’t want to waste with a book I don’t like that much because that’s where most of my focus is.
Is anyone else like this?
I wonder if this will change for me or if I’ll be continuing to add notes to my book reviews of “I never would have finished this on my Kindle but here we are.” 😂
A bad week for earrings
My gosh. What is going on with me and earrings this week. I’m a mess.
Yesterday I was getting ready for work and went to switch out my diamond studs to a different pair of earrings and one of the studs was not in my ear. Er… I always wear them. I just take them out to wear something else.
I didn’t see the stud anywhere in the bathroom (where I was) and spent 1 minute using the flashlight on my phone (it was 4:25 am) to look for it on my side of the bed. I didn’t find it and had to stop looking and continue getting ready for work so I wouldn’t miss my train.
I texted Steven to tell him about it and he looked a bit when he got up and didn’t see it. Then I forgot about it all day. (Which, go me – things like this used to occupy my brain all day.)
Then when I got into my car at the end of the day one of the earrings I had on fell out, into that devil’s crack between the seat and center console. GAH!!!!
I decided to just get it out then, which of course took forever, and I hurt my shoulder (how?!) in the meantime. I mean, really, Kim. Really.
I remembered about the lost stud when I got home and couldn’t find it in the daylight.
I decided to give the bathroom a more thorough look before I took my shower and saw something shiny stuck in the bathroom drain – yep! My stud earring! We were both shocked I found it!
I thought I was in the clear. I carefully took them off this morning and put in a different pair. But then when I went to put that pair away after work, one fell on the floor behind the dresser.
Grr.
I just cannot. Major case of the dropsies this week.
The good news is, while I was looking for a photo for this post, I found this old post of mine from August 2019 where I talked about meeting up with someone at work to learn how to be positive like them… and that is somehow the reputation I have now. I forgot that was even a goal of mine hahahahhaahahahahaha.
Flying to… Gary, Indiana lol
We live so close to Indiana and had never flown there! We decided it was time to remedy that.
We picked Michigan City due to the type and location of the airport, and we saw some interesting restaurants and roasteries we could Uber to. Our friend Eric asked to fly with us so he came along too! Yay! We love taking guests.
We checked the prog chart the days leading up to the flight and did a briefing right before, and were expecting clear skies or a high cloud ceiling, but the clouds were low, low, low. It wasn’t a big deal – it was still MVFR (marginal visual flight rules) and we had to fly low to stay under ORD airspace anyway. But that will shortly explain the title of this blog!
It was an interesting day for radio comms. And no mistakes by us, actually! When we were holding short to depart on runway 5, the plane right behind us called tower and asked to take off on runway 32. But they were already right behind us… and lined up to take off on 5. They went back and forth a bit and tower actually cleared them to go back to 32?! So we called tower to ask if we were clear to takeoff on 5 then tower realized we were #1 in line and not that plane, and then that plane was like “nevermind we’ll take off on 5 afterall”?! Interesting experience.
Anyway!
We followed the lakefront down to Michigan City, staying 3 miles from the shore (optimal glide ratio for engine out).
It’s always neat to fly by the city!
And we flew by the Indiana Dunes!
As we got closer to Michigan City the clouds seemed to be getting lower. We were going to begin our descent into town to land and noticed the clouds were even lower over the city (in photo below) than on the lake and that we would have been flying right into them.
Since Steven doesn’t have an instrument rating to fly through clouds we turned around (seen in map below) and headed back to our planned diversion airport, Gary.
And that’s how we ended up in Gary, Indiana!
Gary/Chicago International Airport has a hella fancy fixed-base operator (FBO), like, whoa. One of the coolest I’ve ever been to! And the lady working there was so nice and helpful.
We borrowed the courtesy car, got coffees at IXXA in Hammond, and went to Bairstow Trailhead to walk. Anytime I’ve driven on I-90 through Indiana I’ve noticed this cool lake with a trail on it and realized we were RIGHT by that lake! I was so excited to see it in person. But we only had 10 minutes before we needed to head back (someone had the plane rented after us at 12:30), so it was a short walk, ha. Glad I know where it is now!
We got back and did flight planning in the FBO, did preflight, etc. etc. then called ground to request departure and it was one of the weirdest air traffic control (ATC) communications I’ve ever been part of. I had a long description of it written out, but I already made you read through one of those, so let’s keep this short. It seemed to be a new ATC who said our tail number wrong a few times (so we weren’t sure who he was talking to) and gave unclear directions. It wasn’t busy – we were the only other plane there – so it wasn’t a big deal at all. We took our time and asked for clarification to ensure we did what they wanted us to. Everyone has to start learning somewhere (says the girl who has never done radio comms!)!
We took off and followed a similar route to the way we came in, making sure to stay under the clouds, under the ORD Bravo Shelf, away from the MDW Charlie Shelf, and away from the temporary flight restriction (TFR) around Wrigley for the White Sox/Cubs game. Phew. There is a lot going on around Chicago airspace, even over the lake.
But it was a nice chill flight back! We had fun chatting and looking at all the boats.
Eric really enjoyed it and we’d love to take him up again! We just love sharing these adventures with our family and friends!
Edited to add – this flight is 12 years to the day we did a helicopter flight with Eric (and my dad)! What are the odds?!
Reading Update (2025 #37-39)
[37] The Roommate (The Shameless Series #1) by Rosie Danan
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, heard about from Stephany, Kindle
Synopsis: Clara Wheaton has been raised to be the picture-perfect socialite, but defies her family and moves across the country to California, to live with her childhood crush and finally have a chance with him. Only on the day she arrives, he tells her he’s going on tour with his band she’ll actually be sharing the apartment with Josh, a handsome and unexpectedly insightful stranger. When Clara discovers Josh’s unconventional career (he’s a porn star!), their summer living arrangement takes an unexpected turn, leading them to launch a bold venture to challenge the stigma around female desire.
Review: I appreciate the creative concept here but Clara’s character was so flat that her relationship with Josh did nothing for me. She’s set up as this socialite that comes from a family with a scandalous past and that affects so many of her choices… yet we get hardly any of those stories and she doesn’t interact with her mother at all. It was boring and I didn’t buy their insta love connection. Meh.
Recommend? No
[38] Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
Young Adult Fiction / Family / Parents, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, Audio
Synopsis: Izumi Tanaka has always felt out of place in her small California town, but she has a great relationship with her mom, a group of ride or die friends, a dog who tolerates her, and plans to attend community college in the fall. Then she accidentally discovers her long-lost father is the Crown Prince of Japan, making her an actual princess. She’s swept off to Tokyo, and must navigate royal life, intense public scrutiny, and unfamiliar traditions, all while dealing with scheming relatives and a grumpy bodyguard who might just steal her heart.
Review: This story of discovering who you are and where you belong was so cute and pure. I picked it up randomly, not realizing it was YA, but it turns out YA was a nice little break for my brain. Who knew? Sure, it’s a little far-fetched and leans into the rose-colored-glasses view of the world, but I was completely here for it.
Recommend? Yes
[39] Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood
Fiction / Romance / Workplace, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, Audio
Synopsis: Viola Bowen’s company lands her dream job – designing a video game based on her favorite book series – but there’s a catch: she has to work with her longtime crush turned nemesis from another company, Jesse Andrews. Forced into a snowy team-building retreat, the two are stuck in close quarters, and as tensions thaw, Viola realizes Jesse may not hate her like she thought.
Review: Ha. For a bit, I thought I was going to like – and even recommend – an Ali Hazelwood book (well, novella), but nope. This one completely unraveled for me. It had that classic “I thought you hated me but you actually don’t!” miscommunication trope, and the explanation was super weak. Then they decide to take it slow (spoiler alert ahead)… and suddenly she’s standing in front of him naked? I genuinely thought I’d skipped ahead by accident in the audio. I hadn’t. It just felt jarring and oddly paced – like that section needed a better edit. There wasn’t much of a story overall. I get that it’s a short novella, so I’ll give it that, but still… meh. But it kept me entertained on my drive to and from my blood appointment, on my run yesterday, and on my drive to get groceries and gas today, so there ya go!
Recommend? No
Random Thoughts Thursday 498
- Do you recall how a local airport we flew to in March found my blog post about it and emailed me about some events (we have the plane booked to go to the Flour Drop!)? Probably not, lol. But it turns out the airport included my blog post in their May newsletter. I found out because a super nice pilot emailed it to me. I totally forget this blog is public.
- I mentioned our garden is all planted! Here’s the before (top) and after (bottom). We planted green beans, cilantro, tomatoes, and cucumber. We ended up buying tomato plants because the ones Steven brought in last year ended up dying in the spring.
- Riding the train daily to work is killing my knees. I think it’s the sitting position for so long? I try to stretch frequently but it’s not helping much. I need to figure something out.
- Are you able to listen to music or TV and read at the same time? I’m not, but am trying to become someone who can have music going to drown out other people, and still read.
- Last week’s mani!
NOT a riding lawn mower
This Sunday Steven and I were talking about what we like to share with our coworkers about our weekend. I told him I like to find the most interesting thing from our weekend so I can tell a story about it. (Steven’s approach was a bit different 😂)
I love telling a good story. When you have the delivery just right, and can tell your audience is engaged and hanging on to every word… muah, chef’s kiss.
Not saying that happens often, but when it does, I love the feeling when I get to what I think is the funny part of the story and they laugh or the wtf part and they gasp.
It’s the Leo in me. Okay, and probably a part of me subconsciously seeking validation for the life I live by others showing interest in it. Gosh, isn’t it a huge desire of most of us to share our lives and interests and have people act like they care?! Come on! I know the bloggers get this.
But moving on…
We didn’t actually do anything I immediately pegged as cool or interesting last weekend. Our weekend was mostly yard work – getting soil, cleaning out last year’s garden, setting up this year’s, Steven mowing, setting up the automatic hoses, and other shit I’m forgetting.
I thought I was story-less!
But then on Sunday Steven asked me if I wanted him to upload his mowing pics to Google Photos for me. Being the whiny little baby I am I complained about Google Photos for a bit (WHY DOES IT REQUIRE ACCESS TO ALL MY PHOTOS FOR ME TO SEE AND DOWNLOAD SOMETHING HE SHARED? (Phone only – it’s not this way on my computer.)) but then told him yes.
And in a surprising turn of events, this was the photo I showed people throughout the week that got an audible gasp out of them:
I was NOT expecting to show this to people. I overheard two people talking about how horrible their lawns are and was like, “WOW KIM, do NOT be an asshole and show them yours!” (I do have some self awareness.)
But then later in the day that conversation came up with a different group and I was like “yeah, I was self talking to myself not to be an asshole and show you this photo” then showed the photo (because jk about the self awareness) so then for the rest of the week those people were like “Kim! Show Craig your lawn photo!” “Ron, you have to see Kim’s lawn.” (Ha, what do you think of the made-up names I chose?)
And everyone would gasp and then the first thing they’d say is “does your husband have a riding lawn mower?” And I’d tell them no, it’s a gas-powered walk behind or whatever then there would be more gasps and compliments and it was a lot of fun because 1. people were complimenting my husband who works very hard to take care of our home and yard and I’m extremely grateful for him and proud of him, 2. it took the focus away from how long my commute is, which I am truly sick of talking to them all about, and on to the reason it’s so long which is we chose a beautiful, peaceful property with land, which yes, happens to be quite far from the office. I have free will and am aware of the consequences of the decisions I make.
So that was this week’s tale! I wonder what next week’s will be!
(And I have to add, I may be an asshole but I always ask my coworkers about their weekends and interests – I don’t just go in and bombard them. I wait for the right timing 😂)
Reading Update (2025 #34-36)
[34] Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense, heard about from Carolyn, audio
Synopsis: On the morning she’s set to return to work after maternity leave, Camilla wakes to find her husband missing and a mysterious note in his place. As news breaks of a hostage situation in London, police arrive at her door with a shocking revelation: her husband isn’t a victim – he’s the gunman.
Review: This is such an interesting premise and well-written, but it was painfully slow. It didn’t really pick up until the last 10%, and even then, the climax of the story was rushed and not explained well. It felt like it wanted to be a character story, but still felt very surface level. And I was annoyed with the parts that were predictable and the with the part of the story that wasn’t predictable and I felt like parts of it should be laid out for me. So… this is obviously not the book for me or the reading mood I am in.
Recommend? No
[35] Wyatt (Lucky River Ranch, #2) by Jessica Peterson
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, second in series, Kindle
Synopsis: While waiting for her dream job to start in New York, Sally returns to her small Texas hometown hoping for a no-strings fling – and her best friend Wyatt, a charming cowboy Casanova, seems like the perfect teacher. Their fake flirting quickly turns real, but with Sally’s move to New York looming and her dad pushing her to chase the dream he never could, their growing feelings might not be enough to change what’s coming.
Review: This was good, and I enjoyed it… but it was not as good as the first one, and some of it was hella cheesy. And the best friends to lovers trope where they just can’t imagine the other person possibly having feelings? Meh, not typically for me, depending on how long that charade goes on. Granted, it didn’t for too long in this book, which I appreciated!
Recommend? Nah
[36] The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Fiction / Humorous / Dark Humor, second in series, audio
Synopsis: When Phoebe Stone checks into the elegant Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, she’s mistaken for a wedding guest – though she’s the only one not there for the festivities. She came alone, to kill herself. As the carefully planned wedding weekend unfolds, Phoebe unexpectedly bonds with the bride and members of the wedding party, and these connections brings surprises no one saw coming.
Review: What a brilliant, beautiful book. I was hooked from the start. It’s a thoughtful character study filled with sharp insights on human behavior that will stay with me for months. And beyond the introspection, there’s a compelling plot. The story unfolds over the course of a wedding week, as Phoebe slowly becomes part of the celebration and, in the process, rediscovers herself and what she truly wants. At its heart, this book is about choosing the life you want to live.
Recommend? Absolutely yes
Random Thoughts Thursday 497
- My friend Courtney made me some cute bowl holders so my oatmeal bowl doesn’t burn my hands. Aww.
- When we were out flying this weekend I thought it was still April. I almost wrote 3 for March on some notes this morning. This brain, I tell ya. IT’S MAY.
- I went to a visitation on Sunday. It’s the third one I’ve been to in the last 6 months. It feels like a lot? Part of me is like “I am too young to know so many people dying!” and part of me is like “Be real, Kim, you are entering that era of your life.” (These folks were in their 60s/70s)
- I had therapy Tuesday and didn’t make notes on what to talk about and I was like… I feel like I forgot some trauma I wanted to share? Then I later remembered – this death and Penny’s disappearance. I will make talking points next time. Although it did feel good to do a stream of consciousness offload. Then be like “okay byeeeeeeeee!”
- I feel like I’m always giving Marybel, my trainer, a heads up about something being “wrong” with me and affecting my performance. This week it was doing shoulder presses. I normally can go pretty heavy but wasn’t and told her it’s because I fell down the two stairs into our living room and landed on my shoulder and forearms. I did not share that the reason I fell that way is because I was carrying two oreos and was trying not to drop them (one still got destroyed, ha ha).
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! 🙂
