Soon....

I have heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.

I am insane.

I am still thinking that any day now we will shake off the last vestiges of Al Gore's nightmare, or, The Winter That Would Not Quit.

This completely unwarranted optimism reared its head during a recent Sunday morning trip to Walmart, where we replenish our foodstuffs for the coming week in a nearly empty mega store. Up before the masses - that's the way to deal with a stiff aversion to crowded, noisy stores.

One of the habits I have formed during our weekly excursions to The Land of All is a trip through the Clearance aisles, which in most stores are stocked with items that, to my surprise, were previously located on shelves other than the Clearance aisles. Justin Bieber 'Someday' perfume for pre-adolescent girls comes to mind. Like that wasn't intended for the "Ick!!" aisle from day one??

In any event, pretty much as a lark we varied our routine and went to a different pod in the vast Walmart retailosphere (new word there, or so I thought - "never been uttered by a human mouth" was to be my claim, until I Googled it) and found, to my utter and total surprise, useful stuff in the Clearance aisles!

Fishing stuff!  I could finally finishing the provisioning of the Adventeroe (definitely a new one there - it's a mash-up of Adventure Canoe) for sea service. All of the lures we marked down by 70%.  I doubt if the fish will care; they will ignore a $.45 lure just as readily and consistently as they will ignore a $1.50 lure. I went full price ($1.48) for the little compartmentalized box to keep them in.  The mesh bag ($1.97) was found (after an extended search) in the laundry supplies. Based on its name, it is intended for segregating delicates (aka women's underwear) from the rest of the laundry load.  Walmart calls it a lingerie bag, I call it a catch-all bag. It's waterproof by the very nature of its design and will hold little easy-to-lose things like cell phones, car keys, and wallets. 

There's the Adventeroe, all loaded up and ready to go; all it needs is a trailer.  The Adventerak is parked right behind it, also in need of a trailer.

About that trailer:

That is the Harbor Freight 14' boat trailer re-purposed as a Andenturoe hauler. It still needs some sort of additional structure to support the kayak Adventurak, but this is a good start.

On the flying front, I applied the free version 10 update to the Skyview. This was a great update in that it had something in it that I didn't even know I wanted until they did it.  They have added a mode for old school guys like me that prefer the at-a-glance nature of the old still analog/mechanical flight instruments.  While these are by no means mechanical, they share the same look & feel of the instruments I was weaned on.

You may have noticed that the engine gauges are missing in that configuration. Not to worry, they come back at the push of a button.

I was on my way to Breakfast at Urbana, a film that usually boasts a cast of dozens. Perhaps the low clouds and gusty 12G17 crosswind kept more trepid flyers at home. Whatever the reason, I had a solo role to play.

Until a few others showed up, anyway.

I don't know what it is about my airplanes, but they do tend to draw a crowd.

Other people have to work much harder to get attention. The Jackson Two, for example, have equipped their airplane with an airshow-style smoke system. It looks great, but through recent personal experience I can tell you that you don't want to be downwind of them when they light it up.  Remember that crosswind I alluded to?  Guess which way it was blowing...