What a bugger of a week

Starting off with the Radar crashing twice last Sunday and then again on Monday to Tuesday... two over midnight tower climbing pains in the butt... That caused my whole pathetic sleep schedule to crash and burn and I am now living with the partial sinus freak-outs and sleep deprivation. Yay Team!

But that left the next weekend to look forward to though. A note to fly was put out before I was reminded I had offered my balloon system to Bob for a tribute flight for a friend CQ who passed suddenly... and so I passed on flying and supported Bob to get that flight done.

Saturday morning was pretty iffy on the winds after the reports said it was going to be next to nothing in the wind area. Normal. We stood around for quite a while while feeling the winds go from fast to nothing to fast to nothing over and over again... Not a feeling to put confidence in getting up in the air. But waiting helped and after Mo rocketed out of field next to us going West... ( His balloon was penduluming left to right and he released as it was right adding to the momentum to go that way which he did ) .. not pretty but he got it in the air...

We set up quickly and after correcting a few cable and rope issues got In Czech standing up and ready to go.

Off they went with nary a bother.. easy and slow... They flew off and up and CQ got his last ride and we chased.... They came in to land in a nice green grass park but it was so water logged and it was only a short flight that we told Bob he should fly on.... which he did to the fun of a new passenger and CQs brother Micky... Landing again just past the Volcano Vista High School with no problem there either as the Pro crew were out as well as the new strong guys to grab him out of the air and get them settled.

Packed up and back to the field for a larger than normal tailgate, toast to CQ and a good bit of chatting. Home after and rest.

Sunday the damned radar died again.... lucky for me the guys were already there and on it before the called me to let me know. Chatted with them a bunch and now later its back up on another new motor. Taking bets on how long this one lasts... Something is going on but there are no indications other than it goes boom to the motors after a few days. We will be looking into it this week.

Shots of the week.

Inside of the radome that sits some 40 ish feet in the air. Sharp open stairway and at night with a wind.. treacherous. See that little greenish circle. that's big enough for one person to stand up ( kinda ) in and the motor hangs down by that white thing ( slip rings ). A mother sister to get out and reinstall.

Display from camera in radome to watch the dish spin. Good troubleshooting tool.

Saturday pack up of Patturns In Czech / Terpsnickery ( AKA as Terps ) Lots of crews for one light basket. NOT COMPLAINING AT ALL.

It was packed up so quickly that the snake of the envelope never happened.. just popped in the bag.

Look at that master process!

Back in the launch area. Tents up, fan going, people chatting.. even a new born baby to cuddle...

Flight instruments run time is off by a bit. Seems they only turned the time on when the balloon hit a specific speed and altitude. I had set it to auto start but it has flipped that switch. Time to reset it.

Izzy after a hard evening snoring the house down is working on her fifth nap of the day. Dog is old but probably will never die because she sleeps all the time.

The balloon card mock-ups for the 2017 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta are out. Slight error on the naming conventions Patturns In Czech is the balloon in the background that I snuck in for myself and Mo. Both of our cards I photo-shopped ( GIMP really ) our secondary balloon into . No worries as its an awesome card regardless.

Then I told myself that instead of just shooting and filing away shots I needed to get to business and start frame processing my favorite shots... so a shot a day out of different portfolios and get them printable and frame-able. Both will print at least 20 by 30 inches.

ASPECT

PITAS KISS

Ill work on another for today but its time to prep for another busy week and hopefully some flying for me Saturday or Sunday... Weather willing.. body function hoping...

Can I stop and sit a moment yet?

Its been a bang on 7 days since the last blog post. Much has been done and much has to be finished. Many items on the list have been taken care of.... Let me think a moment.. Wrote list down.. checks writing list down off the list. Right! Made second list.. lost that.. started again... Trailer mods done... Checked off the list... Pond insanity started.. check... moved new metal pond to patio.. check.... filled pond with standard water from purified Albuquerque external household flow device..check... attacked said voracious mint death weed with assistance of son removed main bucket of lily pad and the FOUR small buckets it had attached to. We are talking seriously deadly and heavy work.... Check.... Got burners out and did the thing....

It was a seriously hard job.

Why?

Yeah.. you had to ask... cause I cannot disassemble the whole burner myself.. not allowed.. and so to get all the build up gunk and gack from inside .. from around the coils.. from under the burner main ring and around the bolts and things.... boy oh boy.. spraying.. wiping.. gouging hands on sharp bits... working soft cloth into places not seen since they were built and trying to get as much of said caked crap off... then wipe it all down inside and out... knowing that its impossible to remove a lot due to location and cleaner.... you go for the best that can be done short of high pressure spray with solvents...

and I am happy with it.

I would have been happier if I had remembered to buy heavy duty electronics swabs from the electronics store ( like cue-tips but bigger ).... When I do this again in seven years I will have the cue-tips.

Here are some shots from my Samsung Note 4 camera. Not the best but couldn't use the DSLR with gloves covered with black stuff... next best thing..

 First I used Mo's strap to hang the burners from. A 3 inch tow type strap carabinered to the frame. Sat about chest height from just off the patio. Great position. The tennis balls are on to protect the burner bag from any gouges from the burner pole posts.

While getting ready to clean I adjusted the set screws for the burners so they are stiffer in their up/down left/right movement. They were loose last flight and I like then to stay where I point them.

Left side sprayed once.. still coated with gunk in the bottom... Right side sprayed and wiped down a few times.

Closer view of the build up from 7 years of flying. The fuel rings cant be cleaned much and I didn't want to be harsh with them.. but they cleaned up too somewhat.

Right side almost done. I forgot the Cue-tips so I couldn't get into spots on the rings and besides those supports. Sigh.

Another wipe down and it is as good as possible without full breakdown. Nice and clean by the way really.

Exterior has to be done carefully so it was wipe and shine and try to remove the burned water spots that show up all the time. I even made sure all the reachable air circle vents were cleaned up too.

Frame, center handle and blocks done next with a good wipe on the gauges and peizeos.

Check for any more little places.. and yes.. there are a few I need those cue-tips for... sheesh!

Interior whisper nozzle nice and clean and red... main burner ring and nozzles shiny shiny.... outside cans looking good.

Squeezers and handle re-polished and then gently packed away in their bag .. then secured in the basket ready for the next flight.

That was a very lot of work for what will last one flight before the build up starts again. It would be nice to have a burner I could take apart and clean and reassemble myself but these are so beautiful and powerful I'll just be happy with what I can do myself.

After all that it was pond time and dealing with that on a minor scale. New smaller pump on order as I cant use the pump in the old pond in the new pond at the same time... well I could modify a bunch of stuff but this was easier and cheaper.. Oh.. and I wanted to buy a pump locally.... yeah... twice the price or more than from online.. TWICE... wow.... really??? Little bit of overhead there? So yeah.. I had to buy off the nets instead.

Once that is in I will build another filter box and submerge it then get the new pond treated and running .. then go into the old pond and catch fish... if I cant catch them I will have to drain it to almost nothing and get them out of the muck.. It would be nicer if they cooperated.. but that's never gonna happen. Might have Mo herd them into my catch net..... How do you say .. her fishy fishy fishy?

While I was doing that I took a few shots with the DSLR.. now that my hands were cleaner....

The lone surviving lily pad plant in my old pond. Its there till Wednesday when it will be moved as it has not been assimilated by the mint death. The fish still need some shade so it stays for now.

This is my waterfall and it was cleared as of two months ago.. and every time the mint attacks and overtakes everything. They guy who owned our house had no clue about it.. silly man. Now it is everywhere. It dies Thursday.

Aprox 20ish fish still having fun in there and are much happier that they can get about and not get stuck in some mint root or runner. They look happier and were having a good time darting about and chasing each other.. and the water is much cleaner.

Then this bigish red dragonfly came to visit.. So I took pics from a distance.

Cropped in..

Cropped closer..... Super lens this Nikon 18 200 mm. If the reed had not been shifting in the breeze it would be crisp.

 Another angle and he is now staring at me.. I can see his eye just watching.. no closer...

So we crop in on this 24 meg pixel shot.

Hi! I see you too! See the little spikes on his arms... woah!

Then I got called from work because our radar had died.... and that is max emergency with weather coming in.

So out of the pond and in and cleaned and on the road to the radar.. It sits on the mesa behind me or to the West. Got there to find it locked up and not wanting to behave.. some reboots later and a call to our hot line for a few answers .. and get some excellent assistance from them by the bye... saved me probably an hour or two of digging in the manuals....

We couldn't lock down the problem but after tests came back okay we started her up and let her run...

she is still running and the office is able to see the storms racing in and that means they can see the bad things that might be coming to people in New Mexico and West Texas.. whew! Fingers crossed she stays the course and keeps us safe.

I even got home in time to race off to see the new movie Valiran with my Son in law and Son in Son...

ROCKING MOVIE!!!

Damn but it was bright, loud, constantly moving, constantly rotating all around you. Well worth the time, money, some blood and will def go see it again if I get the chance... As good as The Fifth Element with some sparkles added. Wooo boy....

Back home.. edit some shots for the blog.. think about it... create a new banner for the Facebook page for day 75 and get this blog written...

In between there we got to see the Granddaughter create havoc in Cali.... Seriously funny kid. Off to see her very soon..... Maybe a trip to the Winchester house and other sights if that does not take away from Emmy time... Cause that is why we are going.. so everything else is secondary or tertiary.

So.. this week.. Work at things at work... get pump.. process new pump in..... throw out bad plants... pear back good plants.. refresh new pond and get ready to fly Saturday maybe.

Oh... also have a photo shoot Monday evening. That will be fun.

Off I go.. how was your week?

Two days of ballooning. Like the old days.

There was a time when we flew every weekend and and almost every day of every weekend...

We have gotten old....

Now if we can get two flights in a month we are doing good. A lot of it is that most everyone now has other hobby's and diversions and getting up early on your only days off is very very hard.

So we try and get out but in the end it always gets dropped on the list of things to do.

Last weekend and this weekend we changed it up a bit because there were younger crew available and we had the need and the weather to get up in it. So we did.

Let me add in here the week between first weekend and this weekend...It sucked. Hard to hire people when the panel is all messed up. Really frustrating to offer a job after a lot of vetting to have it turned down... a good reason but it was a lot of work to get to that point only to have it flung to the curb. Now... Starting over.

So.. back to the ballooning parts...

I want to kick up my hours a bit and also feel more comfortable in my systems so I made plans to fly Sat or Sunday. I watched the weather shift and change but it never got outside optimal range. I decided on Saturday and there were crew available so we went out. Winds were calm then after sunrise they came up a tiny bit and shifted 45 degrees. Direction was an unfortunate South and a bit of East... That meant a short flight and a tough landing to hit before the protected area of the escarpment.

We went for it anyway and noticed someone had gone way up and found a bit of a Southwest so to make for a longer flight we scampered up to around 6550 feet and found the slow wind going that way. 4 mph... yeesh! I would rather a nice brisk wind up there and the slow bit down by the ground. Makes for a better flight.. but you take what you get... We stayed up until I was so bored ( and also past Paradise Blvd. This would give me a good run at ground level for landing and not fall off the escarpment.

We descended at 600 fpm then dropped that to 400 fpm then down to 200 fpm just to get the feel for those speeds and the ability to hold the speed and that brought us to the ground quickly over a school... been there done that many many times.

We ground tracked ( staying 2 to 15 ( ish ) ft above the ground ) over Unser ( 15 feet to clear any tall trucks ) as we ran for our landing. Once across the road we dropped it to about 2 to 4 feet and headed Southeast. Avoided all the big bushes and one nasty dead envelope eating bush to land on the other ( South ) side of Paseo Del Norte. Mo caught us out of the air but didn't have the body mass to slow us down much so we bopped the ground twice and then stood up the balloon. Not bad at all and once it was down and packed up it felt much better. Better because the temps and humidity have been horrible lately.

Sunday was supposed to be a down day but Mo decided he wanted to show off his new envelope bag as well as try out flying for targets along with the Top Gun Pilots. I was supposed to get up .. work on the new pond tubing then put a new rail in the trailer, install support rings for the spare tire and arrange things correctly so they were in their place and not in the way....but.. went out to help him instead.

Turns out he only had me as his crew as his crew and pax all couldn't make it. That happens all the time. So he grabbed Jeff and we went off and launched from a open field East of the hospital. Not that that was going to make getting to any target easy. They went up ... went in any direction that was not toward a target and after a lot of ups and downs landed in a street Southwest of the launch area.

Fun but no luck with the targets.

After we got everything packed up and back to the field I raced home, got right out and worked on the tubing for the pond ( couldn't glue anything as I am missing one correct T fitting or two screw on pipe fittings.. soo.... decided I needed to work on the trailer since I was out there and soaked already. Got the basket out, got the new support bar ( rail ) in ( this stops the basket from being tweaked at the top towards the wall ) installed four ring braces so the spare tire could be secured up and out of the way and then got everything sorted and back together where its supposed to be. Whew!

It was so wet and hot and sloggy. Nice and cool now inside.

Here are shots from the above....

Saturday...

Large bush avoidance training.

Finding that exact comfortable spot to take a nap.

360 before leveling. Balloon above, Crew below. Dead Cat "not" licking my envelope.

Crew taxi and loft around the balloons on the ground.

Passing The Cat nicely and moving forward.

Faster and higher and into the air-stream heading Southish... more Southeast but.....

Sunday flight of Mojo.... taken from a friends balloon... Squeeze me!

Mojo's Reverse Gravity Machine down low.

Mojo just before launching. Everyone kinda stacked up above to you had to lift slowly.

Jeff and Mo move off.

Farther up and first view of the target area directly North... not that that helped at all.

Wrong way completely but if you gots no winds you gots no way... but a cool shot of the motor-cross area in the lower left.

Landing in a quiet little neighborhood... a few people either came out or opened windows to say hit. Dropped in.. packed up...and away!

Mojo poking along ....

It was a load of fun but man am I tired now.. and Monday does not look like its going to be a happy day too... so..I think I need a vat of coffee just to get through it. UGH.

This is an edit of a shot from Angel Fire and Debs balloon just riding there.. For once I processed it with border and titling.... Even color coded it to Debs balloon..Purple! She liked it so much she printed it. Sweet!

Fully functional revamped trailer.

Tire strapped to wall with covering so ratchets dont damage the rubber. Highperactive envelope just below. In Czech to the right of her with enough space between to swing a leg. Hot Aero ( Aerco ) Trapeze camera mount ready to go to the right of the tire. Helmet bag, Tether line bag, Chairs, and plate, bowl and utensil container next. Fan has had its tie down strap cut short so no more getting that all over the place and cooler still locked in place. New 2x4 on wall on left to give more support to the basket. I will be covering it in carpet as soon as I find carpet to cover it with. Done and done!

Im sooo tired now...

Oh.. here is the flight from Saturday... Video!

http://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/e904b376d

Fun with some speed in there.

Alright.. now that that is out there I hope you all have a bunch of fun this week and I will be sitting here deciding if I can fly three weekends in a row and not fall apart.