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.
