Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

The migrating birds are just starting to come back. Yes, we are seeing some first signs of spring. It takes a while living here to see Winter in Atlanta. There is definately a winter. The leaves fall. It gets cold. and we are heating not cooling. Heating is about half the cost compared to cooling for a benchmark. I am splitting my "free time" between remodeling and doing the winter pruning. The Crepe Mytles grew over 8 feet this past year. It gets trimmed off every year and it starts all over again. I used three of my chain saws. I got stuck in traffic behind a road rager--cut off the car ahead of me, stopped, got out and started screaming. All in heavy rush hour traffic. They both had masks on, not sure about vaccines.

When I moved to Georgia 12 years ago my motorcycle endorsment did not transfer to my Georgia license. Its ok, I didn't have a motorcycle. I didn't miss having a MC license except when we traveled. I like to rent motorcycles. Sometimes they let me rent without a motorcycle license, sometimes not. So, the right thing to do was to get my mototcycle endorsement in Georgia. It requires a 2 day class that can also serve as your road test. The DDS (DMV) supplies the bikes, instructor and everything else for the $250 fee. I never took a motorcycle class in my life. I was self-taught in NY and I passed the very difficult road test in Lyons NY in 1980. I now have what I need for my GA motorcycle endoresement. I also learned some stuff. I am glad it is over. Fun and somewhat stressful. The class was a bit like a martial arts class or Tai-chi. Practicing un-natual actions until they become familiar. The class was at my airport off runway 25. I found it to be a considerable distraction ...

I flew up to the North Georgia mountains today. The first pic shows the observation station on top of Brasstown Bald , the tallest mountain in Georgia. Here is a pic of me in the S2000 in the Brasstown Bald visitor parking lot which you can see in the first pic. From blog in 2016 It is interesting to see the perspective change from Sports Car to Airplane.

In working on the church Thriftshop we decided to move a small building. After a couple of attempts I got it done. We had to take the building out onto Holcomb Bridge Road. Don't tell any one and I aplologize for the extra traffic congestion it caused. We used some interesting equipment made by Cardinal manufacturing to move small buildings.

It is snowing in Atlanta. It is pretty close to the forecasts. Best not to drive for sure, not because of my driving skills, but other's lack of skills. It is almost funny. Living in Upstate NY, especially in the rural hilly area I can appreciate what we did on a normal basis in NY, other folks not so much.

The following is personal advice I received from a trusted colleague (MD). I think it is so well written it belongs here. "Bottom line - this virus isn't going away, but it seems to be getting milder with the newest variant, though more transmissible / contagious. GET VACCINATED and BOOSTED! Even if you still catch the disease you can survive it with mild to moderate symptoms. Continue taking REASONABLE precautions but don't live in fear." New cases--- Have you noticed a lot more testing going on? We have. Angie works next to a drive up testing location. The surge in testing caused our recent vacation fail. More tests means more positives. New deaths--- I am not seeing the need for panic. Why is there a push for panic and making things worse than they are? I have two theories, ask me and I will answer. Certainly, I would like to see more ratios in the stats.

The weather has been nice in Georgia being in the 70s the last week of December. However, the air has been unsettled. Not much flying going on this week. I am working on my annual personal goals. I did good with last year's goals. Better in some areas than others, but the progress is clear. It is becoming harder to decide what is next-- what do I want? Health should always be a priority although it hasn't always been in the past. I took on a project at my church. We are moving the thriftshop to a new building about 1000 feet away. It is a great new space. It is satisfying seeing the project come to completion.