Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

Here is a video about my first solo. Click pic for video

I solo'd! Finally. All three landings were pretty decent. After I shut the plane down my instructor said I had to do one more because he couldn't find anything wrong with the first three landings. What a great experience! It makes you feel so alive. This is the stuff life is made of.

Well there has been some significant progress on DJs store. She still doesn't have a grand opening date. So far lots of vacuuming and many trips to the dump and the scrap yard. I am amazed at how much stuff I have laying around here that can be used for this project. My goal is to have less stuff around here as part of this project not more. I put a toilet in. Of course the new toilet is at the other end of the building from the sewer line. The basement is a scary thing. I remember doing this kind of work before in my rental property years ago crawling around oil tanks and up in the joists. It is downright unpleasant. If you don't like dampness and spiders it would make it that much worse. I can't say I like it. I like it best when it is over. I have a bit more drain work to do once we move a couple of walls. The outside is being painted local historic colors per the local historical society.

A lot is going on as normal. My FAA medical was approved. I am now good to solo and finish my license. I am really looking forward to flying between Sidney and Greene by myself. It took six months to get that mess straightened out. I could write a nice article on how to approach an FAA medical renew. I was starting to think I was sick based on the reluctance and run around. What a waste of federal tax paper money and general bureaucracy. One of the conditions they provided me is that if I feel a kidney stone coming on I am not supposed to fly. Jeepers! I wish they could tell me what to do on everything else in my life and what I am supposed to do and not do. Duh!! Well anyway, I am now legal to fly for the next two years. G. Mills and family were down. We went hunting. We did not get anything. We both need to get our first deer ever. Douglas on the other hand got his first deer ever on opening day. This picture reminds me that I need to paint the silo. DJ Signed the lease on t...

Yahoo has/had this piece that Irondequoit NY is one of the best places to raise kids in the whole country. That is where I grew up. Hummpt. http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-best-place-to-raise-your-kids.html

I remember when the Mandelbrot Set first hit the scene years ago. Check out the "Mandelbulb", a 3D version. http://www.skytopia.com/project/fractal/mandelbulb.html

Went for a hike on the Fingerlakes Trail in Hoxie Gorge this weekend. It was great. I really must make more time for that activity. The weather has been so nice. I skidded up some trees and brought firewood forward. You never know when the snow is going to come and getting the wood down to the house becomes and issue. Once it is down by the house I can cut and split. I stopped at a bench to rest a minute during the hike and I looked up and there was a coyote just about 10 feet from me! I remember levitating up and away; it startled me so much. It was clear the coyote was not in good shape (I suspect few are). He/she was limping and sort of meandered away. It was a large one , at least as big as a German Shepard. I got the pic after I calmed down a little bit as he/she walked away. I am not sure what the fungus was.