Truly, the end of an era

So I made my last trip to Bobby Nelson's Cheese shop in Kenosha Wisconsin on Saturday. (no link to a website....because they don't have one!)

An hour and half each way.

They are closing after 70 years of selling Cheese, meats, and Sausages. 

You could get aged cheddar, fresh curds, and beef summer sausage...the latter, as the sign out front promised...either Mitt, or Mittout......Mitt Garlic, that is (lots of garlic). I have to keep the "Mitt" outside in the garage 'cause it stinks up the house. But that is some good food.  I (used to) go up in that direction every few months, and bring delicacies back for friends

Good old fashioned-needs no refrigeration-hang it up by the string, summer sausage.

Sadly, the kids have their own lives, the proprietors are in their 70's, and no one wants to work enough to buy the business, so after 70 years in business, 40 years with the present owners, they are closing.  I bought from, and knew Phyllis and Richard since I went to college in Wisconsin 30+ years ago, and remember my grandfather stopping there with me even before that from when I was about 10....

I have friends who swear by their smoked liver sausage (I can't stand the stuff), others who would kill for their aged (2, 5 10, 15 and 25 year) cheddar,....I like the 5 year and the 10 year, the older stuff is a bit strong for me. I also love the 2 year old swiss.

Sadly, most "Wisconsin" cheese shops are not Wisconsin cheese but imported from all over.
Bobby Nelson's was the real thing.

His property sidelined by the expansion of US41/I-94, and beset by age, Robert and Phyllis are retiring.

I'm so glad that cheese freezes well..... I have 20 lbs of it. Plus sausage. I will be distributing the liver sausage among friends who like it. I bought a whole bunch of all of it, meat, sausage, and cheese.

I bought a bunch 'cause there ain't gonna be no more after this.

I wish Phyllis and Richard well in their retirements.

This dude right there

Should have chosen a better accomplice:

CHICAGO —A 26-year-old man has died after he was accidentally shot by a passenger in his own vehicle on the city’s South Side.

I mean, really, if one cannot trust one's "Homies" then who can one trust?

Bad life choice, there.
Permanent disability too.
At least he won't be making trouble for anyone else.

Darwin, as always, rules. 

The flight home (Texas flight part two)

So Saturday, I had been watching the progress of Tropical storm/Hurricane/Tropical depression "Barry"....

After we finished our business in Texas on Saturday, we had time to fly home......or at least part of the distance...

So I called 1-800-WxBrief for a briefing.....explained that I wanted to go back to NW Indiana, and had planned for Sunday, but could leave Saturday night if that was a better idea for VFR flight.....as the weather at Tyler was clear to at least 10,000 ft and not windy. Perfect VFR flying weather.

The Meteorologist briefer told me that the storm would track east and north....that my proposed route of flight (Tyler/Ft Smith/Joplin/Springfield Mo/Springfield Il/Home) would be clear, possibly a bit of headwind....maybe a small deviation west and north to clear the expected 3500 ft ceilings and a bit of turbulence out of Tyler....

So we stayed the night, planning to leave in the morning after a good nights rest......

Yeah, not so much.

Morning came, and the ceiling was lower than forecast.....lots lower. Like 1500 ft AGL.

I called again, and was assured it would clear shortly...expected to be 3500 ft in 90 minutes. Clearing to the north and west.

So we went to the airport, pulled the plane out of the hangar, preflighted, paid the bill, loaded the luggage, and waited.

and waited.

Finally, some clearing. the ceiling was 2200 (just above minimums,) and the tower told me it was clearing to the north and west (notice a pattern here?) and cleared me for taxi. We taxiied to the assigned runway and took off.

So much for forecasts.

About 20 minutes into the flight, the ceiling dropped....to about 1500 ft AGL. I tuned in the ATIS at Tyler, and it was...600 ft.....Can't turn around (shit).... Turbulent too, so we were flying at 90 knots to not beat up the airplane...It was clearer at Majors, but only marginally. Hmmm... Set a course for East Texas Regional (staying out of the Dallas class Bravo airspace), and looked at obstructions in my path (Don't wanna hit any towers or anything) in ForeFlight.... Clear below 1000 ft AGL, so we kept going....staying just VFR. Vis was 4+ miles, so we were barely legal, I'd have landed at East Texas Regional if it hadn't cleared up by the time we got closer...2500 ft and 8 miles visibility.  The AWOS for Durant OK (to the north of us) said 3500 ceiling, so we turned that way.....turned right (east) at Durant and flew to Joplin. Found a hole in the clouds just after Durant and climbed to find the tops at 6300. Flew at 7500 for most of an hour at 127 knots indicated...146 true. And we had a tailwind of (at one point) 45 knots...so we made some real time to Joplin. Stopped there for fuel and a bit of walkaround.

Very pretty up above the clouds

From there, it was gravy. Clearing skies, higher ceilings, mostly perfect.....We did cross the Mighty (muddy) Mississippi River again going north-east (ish) after Joplin, somewhat north of St Louis.

Mightier and Muddier than the trip down. Lots more out of the banks too. 

We dodged a couple of small thunderstorm cells around Decatur Illinois, and, while we COULD have made it home, decided to stop at Champaign, Il for some 100 LL....(expensive fuel, but it was a good idea, as there was a squall line between us and home). We flew north to nearly Joliet,Il and then turned east to get home.

All told, 8 hours of flying to get back.

Twas an interesting flight back. Challenging flying...not dangerous, but at or below my minimums for the first part.

I doubt I ever trust a weather forecaster ever again though.

Having said that, it was a wash as far as travel time, and (slightly) cheaper for the two of ys vs commercial.

Plus it was friggin' cool flying myself to where I wanted.

Lessons: Never trust Meteorologists.  Don't trust forecasts, or even conditions that are "clearing".... wait for real, reported conditions to be above your minimums.

I can't wait for an excuse for another trip.

Double standards?

Nah, if there were, then we'd have stuff like THIS....

Never happen with an unbiased press like we have in the US though....

So..... was Muellers testimony

An actual Fact Finding mission, or simply a chance for all (and yes, I mean BOTH sides) of those Congresscritters to get a chance to bloviate and do their best to put some kind of a spin on what few questions they got Mueller to answer?

Jesus, what a colossal waste of time, money and effort. 

Texas flight (part one)

So we traveled to Texas....Tyler, Texas, to be precise....I looked at Southwest flights from Midway to Dallas. $849 round trip plus surcharge. More at peak hours.  Each. (times two 'cause, while I COULD leave MC behind, then I could never return home).
Plus Parking at MDW

Then I looked at the cost of flying my 182. (yes, I wanted to fly my OWN plane there, but I DID try to look at the economics)

6:30 total time  each way more or less (including routing around Saint Louis and either Little Rock or Memphis). My cost per hour including maintenance? $110.

Time is a wash, as the travel time To MDW, then parking, then TSA, then being there a half hour before boarding puts us at least 2 hours, (better plan for 2 and a half) plus 2 :30 travel time, plus 2 hours from DAL to Tyler....

And besides, I wanted to fly the damned plane.

So we flew private. As in Private Plane private style.

The weather on the trip down was AWESOME. Clear skies and a 4 knot headwind on our first leg....2 hours to Mt Vernon Illinois. Flight Following all the way, great controllers. Pleasant and professional. 8500 ft at 128 knots indicated....142 true.

Mount Vernon is a VERY nice, well kept airport. Cheap fuel and a decent FBO...Pleasant people too.
Took a short walk, did the necessary, and we were again airborne.


Second leg was to Stuttgart Arkansas, just south and east of Little Rock. 8500 and (since it was hotter) 124 indicated (about 146 true according to the GPS calculator)

We did cross the Mighty (muddy) Mississippi River...It was out of it's banks.

Not much there. Self serve fuel and, while the Runways were well kept (Markings were fresh and such), the rest of the airport is....well-broken in, shall we say. Lots of cropdusters in the area....and none of them use the radios! Stuttgart was, once, a VERY nice aerodrome...now, sadly, neglected.

We filled up, walked to the airport building to use the facilities, listened to the phone ring at the airport office while we did our business (there was no one there for the 15 minutes we were in the building...good thing we are honest) and left. Lining up for departure, AFTER I had listened to the radio and called "Departing RWY 18" we had the fun of watching another cropduster land at that moment on 36...No radio calls, nothing. Just heading right at us as we began out takeoff roll....Disconcerting, I must say, even at the far end of a 6000 foot runway.
Interesting, that. Them boys are crazy.,,,,but all cropduster pilots are. We stopped our takeoff, he turned off at the first taxiway, and we again began our takeoff roll, this time without any other traffic scaring me.

Departure was without incident.  Again, Flight Following and great controllers. 6500 (per the controllers request (for traffic) and 133 indicated. I didn't bother to calculate the true airspeed. (it's still on the far side of 150 MPH)

We went past Texarkana, and were deviated a bit by Longview approach for a small pop-up thunderstorm that was just sitting in our path....

Passed off to Tyler tower and, once I figured out the right runway ...their runway numbers are SMALL... we got on the ground and parked (with a bit of taxi assistance by the ground controller) and found our FBO.

Johnson Air in Tyler is a nice facility. They were pleasant and professional....But they forgot to order our rental car.....and there were none to be had at that late time in the day...So they gave us a crew car for the first evening and most of the next day until they could get a rental for us. Screwed up, but made it right, which is all one can ask.

Dinner was Stanley's Barbecue...not fancy, just plain damned good food. Exactly what I needed after a long day of flying...that trip down was (until then) the longest I had flown in a day.

And off to our hotel.

More later as I have time to put another post together.

Indeed:

Here

Do I have this right???

The Democrats (and the Media)...(But, again, I repeat myself) are all up in arms about the (claimed, but somehow not proven) "Foreign interference in our election"...(Despite the fact that over half of Barry O's  campaign funds came from overseas credit cards) and they want to pass laws to prevent this "Foreign Interference" from affecting our next election....(even though there is no evidence that there was any, but let us table that fact for now)

But they want to allow Illegal Immigrants (forgive me, "undocumented future citizens who don't pay taxes") the right to vote, and they want those Illegal Immigrants (sorry..."Future DNC voters") presence to affect how congressional districts are allocated (by not counting of the people in those districts are citizens or not)

How is the above not "Foreign Interference?? It may not be funding an election campaign (like Barry's) but it is still interference, nonetheless.

Yeah, once again

The Meteorologists blew their forecast for my area.

Never did get the rain they promised...it went 40 miles north of the predicted path.

Temps were lower than forecast by nearly 10 degrees.

But they can, of course, tell us the climate in 50 and 100 years, even if they can't get close to tomorrow.

And at this time, 50 years ago

Those brave men were on their way back, From the Moon.

Did they carry lunar diseases?

Would they survive reentry?

A thought:

Your smartphone has more computing ability than all the computers used in the entire Apollo 11 rocket, from tip to fins.

But without the technology developed by that effort, you wouldn't have that smartphone. 

50 years ago..the world held its breath

The first steps of a human being from Earth on another celestial body.

Apollo 11 landed on the earth's moon 50 years ago today. the time was 2017 UTC (3:17 pm Central here in the US)

Those men were Giants. 

Also 50 years ago:

Ted Kennedy gave Mary Jo Kopechene some lessons in how to drive while intoxicated which resulted in her attempting to learn about breathing water.

The results were not as planned.

He then gave the rest of the world lessons in how to cover up a crime and how to run away from a drowning woman.

Sadly for the Democrats, this derailed his chances to become president.
But he never spent a minute in jail, despite failing to report his crime for over 10 hours.
Odd, innit, how well that worked out for him.

Mary Jo was, sadly, unable to comment. 

Trooth:

HERE

The media like the Liberals and the Liberals hate our Society and what our Country is and what it stands for....

Think about this:

50 years ago....Right about now, those three astronauts are pretty much halfway to the moon.

Analysis: True

HERE

How to get more Trump

She wants this to "Go Viral"?

Yeah, lets help it go viral:

HERE

This is the face of the new DNC. It was like that when I was growing up (only about the Vietnam war) and now it is about illegal invaders border crossers.

These people hate everything about the country.

All those folks are racist

I mean, 6 in 10 believe "the migrants have burdened the native population by claiming jobs and benefits that would otherwise accrue to Mexican citizens. A 55 percent majority supports deporting the migrants before they reach the U.S."

Which proves that the majority of the country is racist.

Of course, the catch here is that that country is...Mexico...... and the migrants are the ones that are transiting Mexico to illegally cross the border into the US.

Interesting, innit?
And here I have been told for decades that only white people can be racist.
Huh.

It will probably work better than they might think:

New strategy:

"Trump 2020 Campaign To Simply Air Unedited Footage Of Democrats Talking"

My Dad once told me: Better to be silent and thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt". It took me a while to learn that lesson, but i eventually did.

AOC and her "Squad" (where did that come from?) are indeed removing the veil and showing us what they really think, what they really are all about, and people are beginning to discern their True Colors. ....eventually, even their followers will realize what they are.

Pretty much the way they always do.

First, they fuck it up.

Then they complain about it.


Then they try to blame someone else.....

Like THIS

And the Media promotes their agenda and meme.

And lots of under informed folks who get their opinions from the MSM believe the story.

Innit interesting

How the Left and the Media (but I repeat myself) keeps redefining "racist"  and how they keep applying the label in an attempt to damage anyone with whom they disagree?

I think that TheDonald is playing the Media and the Left (again, I repeat myself)....and is polarizing opinion against the Left.

I believe that a whole bunch of people, both Left and Right, are thinking that Donnie is right....these folks hate the country, and talk trash about the US....and despite the spin placed upon his words by the Media, most of our population dislikes it when people, especially far Leftists and recent immigrants. denigrate the US.

Have you ever noticed that the Left doesn't ever discuss how wonderful the US is...that it is a great enough place that people try nearly anything, brave extreme dangers, to get here?

And have you ever noticed that those same Leftists want "change" ....and that they expect the rest of us to acquiesce to that "Change" even when it will cause hardship or increase our tax burden?

It isn't like they are willing to pony up some money or change their lifestyle in order to get that "Change"...they expect the rest of us to pay for it.....Or to change OUR lifestyle to facilitate their "Change".

"Love it Leave it"...at some point someone is gonna say it, and what then?

I would ask, rather...If you hate this country so much, why don't you move to a place where you like it better? What gives you the right to change THIS country?

Balls:

Big ones.

Today was the day that Apollo 11 lit the torch and began the journey to the moon.

Those three men had HUGE huevos.

It may be that DB cooper has passed on:

So one of the possible "D,B,Cooper" suspects has passed.

And it may be that we will now never know the truth.

Robert Rackstraw, a man suspected of being "D.B. Cooper" passed away on Jun 10 at the age of 75.

Barry screwed me

No, mot the ex president, the Tropical Storm.

And the AWC forecasters, as well as the Weather Briefers, were not terribly accurate in their predictions of ceilings and storm movement. Made for an interesting and exhausting flight home.

But, we were able to leave Tyler,Texas, and if we had to fly lower than I wanted to most of the way (to fly VFR), we made it home after an 8 hour flight.  (6 hours 21 minutes down)

Overall, it was a good trip. Even with the weather issues, it was a wash as far as time travelling, and two people flew as cheaply as one would have cost commercial.

More later, with pics, as soon as I get caught up.

This is what I learned to fly for....(the freedom and convenience, not the weather...)

Riddle me this...

Question for de ladies:
Why is a woman considered 'Naked" in only a bra and underwear, but yet wearing a bikini in public (which often covers less) is fully dressed?

Just a question.
"Asking for a friend" and all that...

I was high

In my estimate of those shot and those killed in Chicago this Independence Day holiday weekend.

5 dead, 68 shot is the current official tally. I would bet that it goes up a bit, but my guess of 12 dead was high. (Which might just mean that Chicago has better doctors?)....I had placed my bet on 18 and 75.

Still, my prediction that it would be mostly on the South Side and South Side folks was correct. No great feat to predict that though....Anyone who pays attention could have correctly predicted that...

Of course, pointing the race and culture of those folks involved with the shootings is anathema to the media....No one wants to face the truth. 

They DO exist:

I saw one yesterday:

That is, I must say, the largest Garden Gnome I have ever seen. And one of the best and simplest costumes too. 

Gonna keep up until WLP leaves the NRA

As you know, I have been, and continue to be, unhappy with the NRA.

I have advocated for Wayne LaPierre to leave the NRA (or be tossed, I really don't care)....

And here we have one of the biggest "gun Guys"...at least one of the most visible, cutting ties (at least for now) with the NRA because of the mismanagement and misuse of OUR funds....

WLP cannot be gone soon enough.

I hope the Board takes note and acts soon.

Private Pilot plus 365

One year ago today, I took my Checkride and earned my Pilots License.

I've learned a lot since then. I didn't realize how much I didn't know...

I bought a plane, and I have flown it over 85 hours since November.

I'm working towards my instrument rating, and should have that in a few months.

I can go places faster, get there more quickly, and so am more inclined to take a trip somewhere when I can get there in 2 hours rather than 5 or more of driving. Flying VFR, I am somewhat too much at the mercy of Mother Nature, but that instrument rating will alleviate some of that issue....

All in all, it's been a great experience. More adventures to come.

Independence day

Yeah, everyone calls it the "Fourth of July>

And they forget it is really "Independence Day"...the day we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence....the birth of our nation.....the day the colonists stuck their finger into the eye of the King and told him he was no longer their Sovereign ...

(Just as an aside, We really should celebrate on the Second, not the Fourth....but that is the day the document is dated....even if it was SIGNED on the Second. ....)


Remember WHAT we celebrate on the "Fourth of July"....

Double standards

Donald Trump is keeping migrants in "Concentration Camps" in terrible conditions and it is causing them to die in unprecedented numbers....

Except...you know....not so much.

DHS is having to deal with nearly THREE times as many people....and the death rate is less than HALF of Barry Obama's. And there was early the exact same amount of overcrowding during Barry's reign......But no one cared to notice or do a story about it.

But oddly, Trump is the Nazi who treats people badly.....

But leftists don't care about those pesky facts...."Because Trump", after all...

I'm thinking he's guessing low

I'm puttin' my money on 18 and 75.

From Tonight 'til Sunday at midnight.

SCC predicts 12 dead and in 55 shot in Chicago this weekend. 

Place yer bets, folks.

I bet 95% on the South side, or folks FROM the South Side.

I'd also bet on a bit of "Wilding" in the more affluent shopping districts in the evening....

All bets are off if it rains though

Whatcha gonna cut?

So the Liberals are all up in arms about overcrowding at the border detention centers...especially the one in McCallan Texas.

I agree. Something Should Be Done.

But where are we gonna find the funding? I mean, we couldn't come up with any money for a border wall to prevent these people from ILLEGALLY entering, so when they are caught, we have to hold them for processing....

We obviously need more (and larger) facilities to hold these folks while they are set up for release (where over 80% won't show up for processing anyway, but that is another topic for another day.....)

So what are you Liberals who are protesting willing to cut to pay for the new facilities???
Welfare? AFDC? SNAP (Food Stamps)?  Midnight library book readings by Transsexuals? "Green boondoggles Initiatives? Other Socialist Programs?

Someone has to pay for these facilities that y'all are demanding.....How are ya gonna pay for it? 

But they all have new cell phones:

nearly one in three US "adults" have no emergency savings....(28%)

One in four have a "rainy day fund" but not enough to cover 3 months of expenses


While there may be some folks for whom saving is impossible, I gotta say that I think that this is simply choices people make....newer cars, newer shoes, the latest IFone, eating out instead of cooking at home, $6 coffees....

Most people could choose to live differently and save $50 per week. $2500 per year. it isn't easy, and it takes discipline, but it can be done.

Choices. Live large until you can't,,,,.Or choose wisely.

I think it's a cultural thing too.