Back at Work

Well I have entered the ranks of the employed again. This job may only last for a few months but it is nice to have a positive cash flow again. I am working for a company only 30 miles from Happy Road, but the project I am working on is in Oklahoma City. We are dismantling a can plant and shipping it to China. I am working on tagging all of the equipment and getting it ready for the manifest to be shipped.

This work is interesting, but after being off for so long it is hard to go straight into 10 hour days, 6 days a week. It is just real nice to be doing something again. I hope this turns into more work after this project. The company is family owned and seems to be a good group to work with.

My work is only 5 miles from Nancy's house, and it was nice to go and get a great meal the other night.

Well it is late and I need to get to bed and get my rest for tomorrows day at WORK.

UP, UP, and Away

Last Saturday I was able to work with a group of people from the Dallas area to launch a balloon from the Clarksville Texas airport. Well you may be thinking that is what a little kid does before he gets in the car as they are leaving the fair. This is much more complicated. These balloons are designed to go to very high altitudes, and they carry several pieces of electronic equipment. Some of these packages are radios that allow people to make contacts from all over the country while at the high altitudes.

ARBONET III was the designation for this balloon launch. ARBONET stands for Amateur Radio Balloons over North East Texas. The balloon flew for about 2hrs and 44minutes reaching an altitude of over 80,000 feet. From the report filed online at http://www.arbonet.net/ The descent after the balloon burst was fast and furious. At the high altitudes there is not enough air to open the parachute. Then when it does hit the denser air the parachute opens, and it is like slamming on the brakes when going at a very high rate of speed.

Several pieces of the equipment failed during the descent, but because of a Ham Radio operator in Alabama who had experience with over 300 balloon flights, he was able to use computer programs and calculate the landing area which was SE of Shreveport LA. The landing area where the balloon was found was 20 miles from where the last electronic position report was given. This equipment may have never been found with out the help of this Ham Radio Operator in Alabama.

I learned a lot about Amateur Radio Balloons, and I am looking forward to next year for the launch of ARBONET IV.

"This is not good"

Last Friday we went to Dallas to pick up some new suits I was having altered. We went to to the Church bookstore and picked up a few new books. We had a good lunch at Furr's and everything was going well. We had a good drive down and back to Paris. Then when we turned into the driveway I saw water running down the driveway and coming out of the garage. I told Virgie "This is not good", and wow was I right. When we opened the garage door a large rush of water came out like a dam had just broken. We got in the house and found water about ankle deep in the kitchen and flowing from room to room through the house. I located the leak under the sink in the kitchen and tried to turn off the valve and it did not shut off the water. I then had to go out to the meter box and dig out the valve and get the water turned off.

Well after all of that we got a plumber out and it only took him about 30 minutes to fix the problem. It was a gasket that had blown out of a fitting on the line to the faucet. Then the next contractor showed up and started pulling up carpet and placing fans all over the house to get things dried out before everything started to mold. On Saturday the contractor came back and started tearing out baseboards and cutting holes in the drywall.

Then with all the fans running you can't hear anything in the house and we have to watch out what we turn on or we will blow a breaker because of all the fans running. Virgie came to me this morning and said there was water on the floor in front of the freezer. I told her "That is not good", and what I found next was that the contractor had unplugged the freezer and did not plug it back in.

Well tomorrow I am flying to Florida to interview with Florida Power and Light and I know things are going to get better. We all have trials and we are graded on how we handle them and get through the test we have before us. Tomorrow is another day and "It will be good".

Looking for a lost Senior

Yesterday I spent all day in the rain helping search for a 71 year old lady who has Alzheimer's and wandered away from her home. This was the third day for the search and the only thing they have found so far were her shoes. The bloodhounds picked up a scent and followed it down a road to a bridge where it was lost again. It has been raining for several days and the creeks are out of their banks. This is not a good situation, and we may not find out anything about this lady until the water goes down. Hopefully there will be a positive out come.

We rode our 4 wheelers as much as we could and the areas that were too dense were worked by foot. As I participated in this search I could not help but reflect on my own mother. Mom had Alzheimer's and continued to get worse until her death in 2000. Mom got to where she did not know us kids, but would tell stories about her youth in Alabama.

I hope there is a positive outcome with this lady from Bonham Texas. This search gave time to reflect on how important our family is, and how fragile it can be also.

Back to the Mountain

Every year around the end of August I try to make the trip back to the Mountain. The mountain is located near Mena Arkansas and is the home of Queen Wilhelmina State Park. From the time I was 10 years old, and we moved to Cove Arkansas, which is located about 15 miles south of Mena. I have always been intrigued by the lure of this mountain. Of course the over two hundred hot rods and classic cars that are there at the end of August does not hurt either.

I can remember when I was young my Dad would load us all up in the VW bus we had, and we would take out on trips through all the back roads up and down the mountains. I was always drawn back to Rich Mountain where the State Park is now located. The lodge started back in 1898 as a resort for the Queen of the Netherlands. It has decayed, burnt, and been rebuilt to the current lodge. You can learn more about this State Park by going to http://www.queenwilhelmina.com/history/default.aspx

The trip up the mountain was fun this year as Casey (my niece's son) and I drove up in the 1955 T-Bird. Just to drive around in this old classic will take you back in time.

I look forward to the trips back to Arkansas. It is a time to remember the good times, and sometime the not so good times. We all need a rock to draw us back into our history, and remind us of where we have been, and who was with us when we were there. My rock is a mountain in Arkansas called Rich Mountain.

Fallen Hero

Last week I was able to participate in two PGR missions for a Paris native Fallen Hero. Sgt. Hoskins was only 24 years old when he was killed in Afghanistan by an IED. Sgt. Hoskins was brought back home on Thursday of last week. The Patriot Guard helped with the escort of this hero from the airport to the funeral home. There were 168 motorcycles in this escort and it was a very moving experience. The part that was the most moving was to see how our small town of about 25,000 had an estimated 10,000 people show up along the 6 mile route to the funeral home.

The funeral for Sgt. Hoskins was on Saturday and it was just as moving. At the cemetery there were full military honors and a local flying group performed a fly over with smoke trails from a formation of three military bird dog planes. I am very thankful for these young heroes who maintain our freedoms we enjoy each and every day. I am also thankful to live in a small town that knows how to show the proper respect for this honorable service man.

I have been to several PGR missions and I enjoy having the ability to show my respect to those who have given their all for our freedom. I do believe with out a doubt this escort last week was the most moving, and had the largest community support I have ever seen.

Nancy News

Well how things can change in a couple of weeks. On the 11th of July I blogged about going to Nancy and Ray's house and having a good visit with them. I talked about all of the things she was doing to get ready for Kai who will be here soon from China. After our visit Nancy called me one day and with a very excited voice told me "she is pregnant". That was not supposed to be able to happen. They had been told by the Doctors that there was no way she was going to get pregnant. Now we have number 13 and number 14 grand babies on the way.

This is such a wonderful blessing, and I know that Nancy will be a good mother to Kai and the new little one due in March. Maw and I look forward to having these wonderful small spirits within a 3 hour drive from Happy Road.