Down weekend! 159 days to go.

Dropped off the balloons early Friday to get that done as I can't get to the shop during the regular week unless I take leave to do so. So no flying this weekend, though I had not planned to. I am hoping they will have them done quickly during the week and I can pick them up on Friday as I get off early enough that day to get to the shop before they close for the day.

 I have been doing daily Facebook banner count downs until the next Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. its a small rally in a distant corner of the country.. you probably never heard of it.

But I digress.

So I've been going on since the start of registration. I hide the number of days left in the picture somewhere. Depending on how I feel.. Or I dont.. depending on how I feel. So far a lot of friends and family get a kick out of the hunt.

Then I added the days until Registration closes. It closes on the 30th of April through the 30th on my count down would be one day before.. just in case... and I screwed up the count somewhere.. so there will be two day 00.

Some people wait till the last minute to Register as I used to try to be the first. Such a game.

So I try to use shots from past fiestas in it but I will also go off the rails at times... here are some of them...

A perfect sun glow shot of the Fiesta balloon.

River run and wording... because I thought it was funny at the time.

When I miss a day you get creative.. or not...

An excellent shot of the POW MIA balloon slipping upwards beside me.

Not too many places to hide numbers so throw a lot of them in there.

Overflight of the cereal factory and there were a bunch of people on the roof and catwalks.. why not tag it as I go by.

An "over the edge" shot. Always impressive to cruise across the field at altitude.. that would be 500 feet up.

And I "borrowed" the AIBF shot to add Highperactive directly in front of the camera.. well she should have been there anyways!!!

Always a lot of fun messing around with found pictures.

Its been a very quiet weekend and I have sat back almost the whole time relaxing. After the last two weekends, it was needed. Unfortunately, that didn't mean I got to sleep in or drink barrels of coffee and sleep was bad and the coffee was giving my stomach fits.

Go figure.

I did, while surfing through the last five years of Fiesta shots see that I have not posted many of the groups at all. So many I have not even touched. Mostly because after fiesta I am about done and tired of doing things.. then its the holidays and other things get in the way.... so I NEED to go back through them all.

Lots of good things.

A select few that have not really seen the light of day much except perhaps on facebook.

Flying off the field during a competition day means get up and get out fast. They need to set the targets down and they won't wait.. I had just taken off!!!

Congested flying over the Rio Grande is a norm. Rule is the lower balloon has the right of way. No, you should not push your way down unless you don't force the lower balloon down or to have to maneuver to save itself. It's not that important. A slight brush of fabric to fabric happens all the time.. even bumps fabric to fabric .. that's normal.

Overflying the field you have to be 500 feet up and moving off. This was my box run North high after going South low. The normal size of this shot is pretty cool.

Off to the East and watching the remaining balloons launch... a great ring side seat.

Before I can launch I usually go take pictures of other balloons.. This was my favorite of the day.. Rabbits overhead.

A very ( not normally ) special shape. If you go up or down very fast in a standard shape balloon it will get funny on you. This is very funny.... not.

Splash and dash into the Rio Grande.. or a local pond.. or jacuzzi... just kidding.. If you hit hard enough you can sink your basket a good foot and pick up lots of water. We only went in a bit but boy did the water rush in and we slipped in too. It all depends on where on the river and what the winds are doing.

Hopefully, you are wearing waterproof shoes or boots. If you are lucky enough to get a ride on a river run day then count your blessings. It's a tough thing and the weather has to be just right. Enjoy the soggy socks.

Kayakers landing after we lifted off the river. loads of fun to stop and chat on a sand bar in the middle of the river. Maybe this year.

Lots of fun.. and hopefully this year will be as much fun.

I am looking forward to it with only 159 days to go..

I need to get a step kit for the truck.
Probably new front tires.
New windshield.
lots of ice,
Lots of soda.
Lots of food.


What else...

Only 159 days!!!

Weeks worth of flying in two days.

Another weekend is close to the end and it was full of balloons. Is there anything better than that?

I am going to make a tri pic out of this or just one big picture for my wall.

Terpsnickery or now know as Patturns In Czech above.

A storied balloon envelope that has flown in so many places and then dropped into my hands to care for her in her later years only to find she has no want to stop getting in the air. She is a tight little 90,000 cubic foot envelope of white and yellow soarcoat fabric. A lightbulb in the sky.

So do you want it back to front or as it happened?

As it happened it is....

Saturday was the final local Top Gun event before the Big Event at the end of May...

The Rio Grande Classic!

The target for this day was placed out in Rio Rancho at a field the AAAA use to fly from but that was only one of four tasks. They used trackers to work their magic so there was no need to drop baggies but that didn't mean Pilots did do just that. Out of 17 flying 14 came to the target.

I was impressed.

Here are some of the shots of that....

This is a situation almost all competition Pilots have encountered. While throwing a baggie it gets caught in the lines connecting the basket to the envelope. So you can either try and unwrap that baggie and miss the target or you can grab another baggie ( the color didn't matter on this target ) and try and throw again and this time one caught the other but he still got a good score on the target. The reason is, he didn't lose his head and was in control even when the baggie was out of control. A very good job.

The scoring team with its head official looking over the listing sheet. It's very important to verify the baggie dropped from the balloons, where they land, when and if its part of the target, and what color. They have the option of measuring at once or waiting depending on how many balloons are incoming to that target. It's better to wait usually.

 Sometimes you can get right over the target. Sometimes you are about 500 feet above the target and then you have to throw or fling the baggie out where you think it will go. Mostly when you do that the winds as it descends play with it and send it off course or more on course. It's a crap shoot. This drop was very nice.

The baggie is measured with a tape that is attached to the center spike of the target and always measured to the nearest point of the bird seed filled portion ( weighted packet ) of the baggie to the center spike. A baggie MUST be fully unfurled when it hits the ground. If it's wrapped up in a ball then it's likely going to be disqualified.

A hard throw almost straight down. He was very high up but got a good score too. It takes a lot of practice to get his kind of targeting down. Its always better to be just above the ground going over the target but also next to impossible to get in that position as they have to launch from quite a way away...depending on the conditions of that target.

The team will score anything within 100 meters I believe.. and that is also dependent on what the task is called. There are so many different ways a target or set of targets can be set up. There are even invisible ones in the sky that you have to try and get into and stay in for the longest time. 

A very good swing toss. Great positioning near the ground but the winds shifted and he was off track slightly which threw him off by just enough to make it hard. Still a good throw.

The center spike in the target. See that blue baggie I think was scored at ten centimeters or so. Pretty cool. The target can stay open forever or for a set amount of time. There are targets that you cannot allow your baggie to rest on the target itself... and there are tasks that a quadrant of the target is open for fifteen minutes at a time. 

If you have a good arm you can get a lot of distance on a baggie throw. A lot of people say you need a special type of balloon envelope to compete and win and I know that that isn't true. It can help but you can win in anything that will hold air nicely. The big choices are launching location... if the winds stay as you expect them to, and if you have enough fuel to make multiple passes on the target. Practice makes perfect. Luck is in there too.

A good lot of fun in the middle of nowhere listening to the coyote yowl in the near distance. It was also cold. We did bring chairs. I got free run of the target.

My rule is not to get into anyone's way but if I get hit by a low flying basket I will take those lumps. Keeping aware of the balloons coming in helps a lot to not be run down. Its been close at times. The pictures were worth it.

The sky was stunning and that made it all worth getting up at 4am.

I think I had over a thousand shots and around a hundred were nice. I had to take a lot because when the baggie is going to be thrown you don't know exactly when so I just hold the shutter button down and let the camera burn through as many frames as it needs. I know I took over fifty on one throw alone.

I had the lens ball out but it was pretty useless for the speed things were happening.

*******

Sunday was my chance to fly... and opening up the garage door and stepping out into the fast wind didn't make me real happy... but until the sun comes up you can never tell. Funky clouds looked like an alien invasion.

At the field and only Bob was there with me. For a while, it was like a ghost town... no ... ghost field... then more and more showed up to play... Really stand around and wait. Bob put up two pibals that went East but as they rose went North.. which was good for us so we got our gear put together and launched.

It was dicy as we stood up the winds started getting stronger but still okay.. past what I usually want to fly in but the direction meant that we could do a two hundred yard drag landing and there would be no problems with that as there isn't anything out there. What happened is, Bob got off and headed North East and I decided what the hell and launched after him, Though I went up quickly to try and not got too far East.. that didn't help at all as I was in a line right behind Bob. ( This is the full version of the banner shot run through a single shot HDR process).

We cruised off at 15 mph ( fast for ballooning ) and looked for some nice open areas we could drop down into for a drag landing but it was all houses until after Northern Blvd. As Bob was in front of us we could see he slowed down over an arroyo and that though he was to our West at that moment, the spot in front of us was nicely graded arroyo sand so I steadily and not too quickly dropped down. Probably 70 feet per minute until I was over that house in the background then I came down that hill and dropped over the fence back there just above the wire behind the trailer and touched lightly then hopped then touched then hopped and stopped. Wow.. A landing at 4mph instead of 15. Nice!

We were just standing there as the chase crew came up not a moment after. We walked her back a bit so as to not disturb any marker stakes and laid her down nicely. Above, Paitt stands up from sealing the throat. Below Alan holds the crown ring and milks the remaining hot air out of the envelope. One thing this envelope does not do is let the air out.

Soarcoat is silicone sealed fabric. If you don't get all the air out it will not fit in her storage bag. Very embarrassing.

Almost all out. Then we got to squeeze the rest of the air out and velcro straps every ten feet or so to stop it from sucking back in and getting full again.

Nicely laid out and waiting to get dropped in her bag.

My Son and his group found us... I think he has LoJack on my basket cause he found us within ten minutes of laying down. They took over breaking down the basket and putting the burners away while I took care of cameras, radios, instruments and such. This Lindstrand basket is so very nice.

We headed back to the launch field by way of Einstines bagels where we got two dozen and a bunch of cream cheese for the crew to munch on. There was also Easter egg hunt for the kids that were out of the group. A tradition they have is that there are also real hard boiled eggs hidden and one raw egg.. so if you find the raw egg.. it gets smashed on your head at the end... And that's why I don't hunt Easter eggs any more..

Mimosas and Champaign are staples and though you can get juice, soda or water it is Champaign that is the choice of Balloonists everywhere.

If I couldn't spend this Easter with my Granddaughter this year ..and I couldn't... I will always take spending it with my ballooning friends out in the middle of a dirt field in the middle of nowhere (ish) and enjoy their company.

A great weekend...

Here is my full track via the HOT AIR app on my Ipad.

Never follow Bob... Never follow Bob... never follow Bob... how did I not remember this today.

Here are some clips from the Kodak 360 cameras.

Pre hot inflation Sun Glow.

Passing over Southern and Golf Course.

Passing over a very green pond with no reflection.

A second before touching down like a feather  ( heavy feather ).

If you want to know more about Hot Air Ballooning, Top Gun Competition or just want to come crew and see a Balloon up close just drop me a line.

Wash and repeat. Another weekend of ballooning

One day bad... the other good.

Saturday was supposed to be a AAAA rally at the Rio Rancho field... Yeah.... so far we are batting 0 for 0 on that.

We got up there early, the first balloon there, to get a good launch spot... finding that everyone else was on our heels. The road in was quite interesting and pretty much good for goats only. No better road was possible though.

Didnt matter at all because by the time the winds dropped a bit the rain started sprinkling down. Not a lot but not something I would put my envelopes in. Some went to Unser and Westside and did some sprinkle flying and had fun but we went to breakfast at Vic's. Coffee by the bucket full!!

Day two or Sunday was a different matter altogether.

My Son and some friends decided they wanted to do some training for the big Top Gun event coming up and set a target out then tried to fly to it. That didn't work as the winds were frisky and not quite Westerly enough for them to get to it. They did get South to North and past nicely and threw baggies on other targets but the one I was near had only one or two only visit it.

I took pictures of anything and everything about me. Using the glass ball I have (3-inch version ) I had some fun with that. As you can see by the banner picture it was a lot of fun. It looks like I have captured a balloon in the globe.

Below are some shots... not all... of  Saturday and Sunday. With some explanations.

Saturday... One helium balloon attached to line can't go anywhere..so three at least showed us the drainage winds.

The group huddles together in the cold to hear the brief. No one was running to go set up quickly after. I counted at least four teams at Vic's with us.

Larry's dog... He calls him.. Cashew..with his nifty hoody and storage pouch. Balloon Doggie.

The outflw..downflow... wooo...lookit!

Sunday... Phobic blows some flames!

Also Phobic. Great tether here. Winds were fast enough that a good slow release was the best and this was a good setup for a nice easy release as the ascent went. He did not pull the little white cord.

A viva envelope. Very bubbly.

A cranking great flame to get her standing up.

Another very good active release of the tether. I saw a lot of very good work in tethers and management in the slightly quick winds.

It's resting! How you lay a triangle basket on its side for hook up of the envelope.

The correct way to lift the envelope to draw out fabric on the bottom.. by the load tapes gently.

Another capture of the envelope. It fit so nicely. I wished I had gotten them all like this.

My Racer, Patturns Highperactive. My Son was doing well in it.

Turn that frown upside down...Smiles!

More training going on today.

Such a harvest color blast here.

And we are going up. Just a bit of rocking on this launch. nothing as aggressive as the past launches.

That cat is going bass ackwards!!! Mike... rotate..rotate!!!

It was a lot of fun out. Loads of fun with the glass ball but you can overdo that easily. Since I didn't get to fly this weekend we are going to try again next weekend... Yes.. we are going to try and fly on Easter Sunday.

You should come out... we will put you to work! You might even get to fly!!!

Other than that I am trying to load my vast music library to my new Ipad.

It's taking forever. Sadly because of Apples silly controls on how you have to add things to the pad. You cant just move files.. you have to use iTunes..which is the most useless app I have ever seen.
Forever... and it drops out and has to figure out again where it left off and that all takes time.

There is a device that will allow transfers of files over wifi but I don't have one right now so we do it the hard SlApple way ( silly apple ).

The new iPad 11 is nice though. the much larger screen and edge to edge ( almost ) screen and the loss of the home button make is very nice indeed. I bought an otter box right away for it as it's so fragile people have been accidentally bending them. Not going to happen on mine.

Only 18,000 songs to go.

This iPad is only slightly larger than my old 9.7 pad so it fits my ram mount in my balloon basket nicely.

One of the great things that happened with this change was the transfer. The new system swept everything I had over to the new unit and all the links too. Wonderful. No reloading and only some fixing of some passwords and I was off. Very fast.

One drawback to this ipad.. no headphone port. This is a problem because my Bluetooth headphones love to disconnect all the time. I have to figure something out.

I have looked at the apple headphones but I already know they hurt my ear canals if I wear them for any amount of time. I have looked at the Samsung earbuds and they seem to everyone as very comfortable and secure with good sound. Right now trying to buy a set is problematic as there aren't any anywhere to be had.

I will keep looking but I need something soon.

All the Stations has just finished up their run of every train station in Ireland. Looked like a lot of fun but I think I would have to stop in ever place for at least a half hour to say I had been there. Jumping out at the stop to take a pic or two seems to be like cheating a little... but their plan was to visit..not stay in any one place so it was cool. They had fun. I had fun. Loved the music. loved the outtakes,. loved the bloopers and asides. Both of them are very easy to look at and speak clearly and are funny so it made it all stick together. I wonder what the next thing they will get up to will be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aee1PsJC34

For me its another week of work... I wonder what is going to happen next there. I am hoping our lease gets tied up so I can get that item that has been hanging over my head for two years it seems... done..or started to be done! I want so much to get that going. I hope it goes the way we want it to and nothing trips any of our plans up.

I hope you all have a great week as well.

See you next Sunday.