100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...

A lot is happening. It is Summer and I guess a lot always happens with the longer days and warm temperatures. The barn and fence are looking better and better. We have the gates made, painted and hung. We also got the front of the barn painted. That made a big difference. I will be working on the loft door and it will be pretty much done. I am using a remote low voltage switching arrangement for the light on the barn. That will properly control the light from inside the house over a 25-pair phone cable that I ran underground when I had a ditch dug for the main power service entrance. I buried every king of wire I had in a separate 2 in conduit when I had the ditch dug. It will feel good to actually start to use that function that we planned on a couple of years ago.

I had a flight lesson tonight. I seem to be retaining information and my lessons well. There is a lot to a landing. Greene (4N7) is a great place to learn since it is difficult. You lose sight of the runway right away since it is in a valley. Finding it again can be difficult when you are learning. I feel better and better about my flares on landing. I felt great about one of my takeoffs. It was perfect by my toughest critic, me. I wish I could take pictures when I am learning but I am kind of busy. The sight of the runway lining-up turning on final is really quite a view, knowing everything is aligned and seeing the future unfold.

We finally had out night-blooming Sirius bloom. After years of waiting it when between these two photos in about an hour. That was kind of neat. We have at least two more blossoms ready to go now. It is fun to watch.

On my way home tonight I thought I was coming up on some wild turkeys (as I did about 5 miles before) but when I got closer they didn't scamper. They stood there. As I got close I could see they were free-ranging peafowl. Free range birds of all types in my neighborhood can be found.

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