Missed it but ... thaaaaat much!

If you wanted to come crew for me or fly with me... well we missed the good winds by thaaaat much..... seriously. You could estimate when I want to fly and go opposite and fly while I get winded out!

Yeesh!!!

 Yep. I sat and watched the crummy winds blow on the mid mesa while those in the valley had great flights.. but I am positive if I had gone into the valley they winds would have been nice on the mesa.

I have to go back to saying I'm not not flying... fool whomever is checking on my ability to fly.


Today's banner shot was from day 1 of the AAAA Friends & Lovers rally when all the Pilots that were grounded threw their baggies from the wall. Very novel.

This week we had lots of crazy things to do at work... In fact we installed some software that broke more than it seemed to fix. On Tuesday I will get to see how much time was put in correcting the issues and the small fiddly bits. I am not a programmer but I can figure out if a program is pointing the wrong way or if the file has moved. Unfortunately there is no info on where they moved files to.

So much fun!

For a minor soap box ... yep.. lets get it over with.... so many people are so very uninformed that it is scary! Sadly I have to stick myself in that group. I thought I had info on some things and was advised by august personages ( thanks Rory and Bob ) that I had things skewed. I appreciate getting more information and or being able to see where I had been going with the info I had. Just thinking of this makes me now believe that news agencies are manipulating the masses every microsecond of the day. Its pretty worry-some. Done.

Since I am still nursing my foot I have been playing some Fallout 4. If your not interested in this skip to where it says.. WOAH! below.

I have beat the game on Xbox and then played with minor mods there but it broke the game. I then got it for the PC and have been playing it there with mods to the building segment of the game... except for one item. I missed my flaming Shotgun ( it was awesome but had a tendency to kill the good along with the bad ( NOT GOOD )) from the Xbox so I fiddled to get the Blade Runner pistol into this game. Its been silly fun with that thing. Its terribly accurate and no side dead.

I am going about rebuilding my settlements... I wished the mod to expand the settlements on Xbox worked with the PC version but its isn't. Sucks... but what settlements I am remaking I am adjusting as I have that ability now. Some fun...some insight... some silliness.

I had a massive amount of power armor stored on display at the Red Rocket station in the Xbox version but it was limited in space and had the station right in the middle of it. Didn't like that so this time I put a huge facility on Spectacle Island that had clear sight-lines in it.

I've started collecting the armor that is about the wasteland and putting it there as well as buying frames to upgrade later. Its a whole lot of fun but also a whole lot of work.

I took some snapshots of the game-play below. Not too many.

So this is Nordhagen Beach in Mass. before building up the settlement. You have to protect your settlements and settlers, get them food, water, electricity and security. Options....

Build a fortress!!! You can build whatever you want within reason. The game will spawn attackers inside if you build over a spawn point. But if you have enough weapon emplacements.. Its noooo problem.

A radio station up North that spawns attackers right at the base of that mast. But you still have to make a settlement here....

Big walls.. and lots of turrets inside and out. Again. takes care of the riff raff.

The creators of this game are some crazy crazy people. You never know what you are going to run into and its worth the time to look everywhere in this world.

Spectacle island with walls around the main settlement and also the base for my Armor facility. I moved the walls towards the front and made a space between the settlement and the facility... It looked better.

 Inside.... The armor in these displays are the base sets that are hidden around the area. Some are easy to find, some are very hard. I used this link to find them this time... Lots more to fill but that's for the future.

https://fallout.gamepedia.com/File:Fo4_Neponset_Map.png

Above and in the center ( if you look at the above pic there is a big pillar in the center.. ) this space is on top of that. Living quarters.. place to show off your best or favorite finds. Nice that you can snap these to show off like I am here.

 The full view from a corner elevator of the clear floor and living space above.

The exterior with wall moved and other items added. Note that when you announce the settlement is open for people to populate they get into everything.

It takes a lot of fiddling to get pieces of wall and foundation and light switches and water processing plants and cables and doors to set right. The game has controls that make it so you just cant slap things anywhere. Yes there are cheats for that but I don't use those.

This is what I do when I cant do anything else or am processing on the computer with other things. More fun to come.

WOAH!

And that was quick.

Here are a few more shots from last weekends rally. There is a rally coming up in Belen. St Pats Rally.. two days... I will be helping with the shirt design this year. Hope we can get something fun done.

Keith and his Zing racer. A little wild on this day.

Mo lifts with a new to him basket below. A little longer on the long side but looks perfect.

Someone lost their head! I love this type of shot. Looking in the turning vent to check the lines.

The crown line crew member is very important. You need some weight to control a balloon when it is rising.

When your chase vehicle arrives it makes you oh so happy.

Crown crew... hmmmm...... Christian has other things on his mind.

Installing the crown is always a bit of a fight with face attacking and foot tripping fabric and lines. 

I was trying something here... It kinda worked.

And a different application.. don't like it as much.

 I did get a few other things done that are less than thrilling to read about so I am not writing them down. There was a cool cloud layer half way up the mountain today. You will get to see that one next weekend maybe. I really really really need to put my tripod in the truck! It would have helped a lot.

That and some plastic bags to kneel on the wet grass for better angles..

Here is hoping your week is calm, quiet, fulfilling and enjoyable...

I'm gonna go hunt me some stuff.

When in the course of flying....

What a weekend!  I usual to work and get there around 6ish.. This gives me time in case something goes boom to get to work before 7am. Most of the times it is quiet and I can get work done before anyone else shows up. This weekend was the Friends and Lovers rally and I was up around 330am...WHAT!! Yes.. 330am and out of bed by 4am... seriously bad to do on a Saturday and Sunday. I am exhausted and I did only part of what the AAAA Special Events Team did... Ok... .01%.

Bill Dimmit making super cool shapes with his Adams Pop A Top Balloon. Love this! Bill is awesome!

SO yes.. This weekend was the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascention Association's Valentines day Rally called Friends & Lovers. Its a two day event, taking place on Fiesta Park ( Field ) and the public are welcome to come join in the fun.

Normally there can be as many as 50 balloons. That is more than most regular rally's in the world. We have so many good people in our association that we can do this and usually do every month. It is a sight to see. Plus, for the public, just like at Fiesta.. you can walk right up to the balloons.

There are a lot of selfies being taken or balloon backdrop shots or engagements and even a wedding or two taking place... this time there were two engagements. I caught one by luck. It is below.

I edited a few shots tonight but I am running on probably two very tired brain cells so its a short set. They will post below.

Okay.. Heck with it.. Ill post them right now and talk about each shot as we go... Its my favorite thing....

Saturday was a bust for flying. It was cancelled right off. Target would be on the field and Pilots had to throw a baggie from the wall of the Sid Cutter Pav. There was also a target just for fun so you could try your hand at making the center of the X. Its pretty difficult. There was also a crew target ( A Heart ) where cheating was allowed within reason.

Sunday it was squirrely as all get out but people flew for fun. Off and heading due.. well East but then South then North.. and yeah.

Tie Dye envelope. Bold statement there Hopper.

SunDagger gets aloft for a training flight.

Mo in The Reverse Gravity Machine ( Ytivarg ) stands up next the the Civil Air Patrol balloon. he was taking two new to ballooning people up for their first right.

I believe they loved every minute of it.

The crown is pulled and no.. they were not going to take off after all.

Trying to get that picture with the balloon in the background but the balloon is moving left and right and left and right... They had to get very close but by the time they did the balloon took off....

Mo cruises beyond the Balloon Museum and off to find a nice bit of grass.

Crew target.. throw from the moving truck and hit the center of the heart...

Charity's balloon Blew's crown. Lindstrand!

Family and friends in the far distance with placards.... Got it right and he was on a knee before she saw the cards and pulled it off nicely.

And I had the camera right there and caught it... Nice to be in the right spot. ( about 20 feet behind him really ).

What the heck are they doing there crouched low like that....

Ahh.. remote controlled dump truck driven the the center of the X then baggie dumped out. They WON!

Mark Lofts his baggie at the target...

Geese!!! And one of the reasons I would rather not lay my envelope out on the field at this time of year... GOOSE POOP EVERYWHERE!!!  I did kneel down on it to take pictures.. but no laying down.. ugh!

Matt got a new balloon and after taking shots of it from a lot of angles I saw this line!!! WOW!! Where can I get some of that white and soft yellow line!! It would go beautifully in Patturns In Czech.

Stacked up by Sid's place and lots of people around watching and taking pictures and video... Some tethering was going on before they took off.

A basket with a door. I love this shot for its content. Also the characters in it.

Eric shows everyone how easy it is and slips down the Western edge of the field.

Bill just has to make it interesting.. A second bounce and a lean while the envelope ( the banner envelope ) pops its top and lays down quickly.

Bill packing things up... and waiting for the chase crew to get down this end of the field.

Lots more shots out there. I will be posting more later and also to Facebook. Perhaps next week as well.

I was shooting specific things again today. I shot for crew action, balloon movement and then just shots of balloons. Since there were no clouds in the sky I didn't take many "balloon in blue sky" shots as they are boring.

This shot below I took from across the room and I just love the colors...

Lots of wine given away at the brunch on Sunday.

Well I have to post some shots to FB and get other things ready for the week.

Last thought is the Sony camera is kicking butt. I had a treatment I wanted to shoot for this weekend but the opportunity didn't show up.... I might be able to use some of the shots I took to test it but its still in the works. Ill post here when I get it sorted out.

Have a great week everyone!

Lunar things

Really only one semi good shot of the Lunar event. I was not ready for it and the area where the moon was had particulate in the air and then the reflection of the city also caused for a bummer of a shot. I got it though... just nothing near good enough.

Other than that one event most of the week was a blur of pain and illness. If it wasn't a sore throat it was my left foot. Yeah! I got up from my chair, took a step with my right foot, put my left foot down and it was non-existent and turned, so when I stepped down I stepped onto my two left most toes and rolled over it as my weight came on it. Only feel and hear the crackling of bones I was sure broke. Laying on the floor ( amazingly I didn't bash my head into the television stand ) and held my foot that now was wide awake and screaming. But... I could get up and nothing was out of line though by the time I sat back down the left side of my foot was swollen a bit. So... that was Thursday evening, today its less swollen and less painful but I cant still put any weight on the left side of my foot. If its like this tomorrow when I go to work I will go to urgent care after. I just think I may have cracked the bones but not broken them. I don't think the Docs will say anything but .. wear a funny shoe and keep it elevated as much as possible..... Hate paying money for that kind of advice.

Since I have been under the weather taking any pictures was out. I have a few from my phone and here and there I might share...   well its something.

Some from the internets and some from my own stuff....


I never knew there was such a thing.... though I want to believe there are some missing now.

And those items you really need to do.....

Not sure who took this but I thank you... Patturns Highperactive over  the Anderson Abruzzo Balloon Museum.

My Patturns In Czech balloon coat. No hood and black. It looks stunning.

Next will be a jacket like this for cool days with all four balloons on it on a square with other embroidery.

I saw this and thought of my Granddaughter and her ability to wear anyone out.

And my brother who turn me on to Monty Pythins Flying Circusses and the antics. ( sp is intentional )

View of the new GOES visible light view. Super cool to watch the sun hit everything.

A wonderful picture of In Czech over Fiesta field by Holly M. Hoping to get some air here soon as I am healthy enough.

Since I have been laid up and stuck in a chair I have been playing more Fallout 4. I now have it on the computer since the Xbox couldn't handle the mods I wanted to play. Sadly the main mod I liked and that made the Xbox crater isn't available on the PC.. but there is one that's close.. so...

Not the mod build out I am using now.

 My poor chairs.... They were great for the first 6 or so years then started to shed leather... No luck so far finding a replacement.

Yes this is a bit shotgunny all over the place but I'm still tired and not at all comfortable with my mentation level.

When you start over with Fallout 4 and you are used to being level 233 it really hurts. Lots of deaths, lots of rads, little fun... so I am modding the heck.. ok.. not too much but just enough.

The visual look of the game is intense... This is one settlement. If you are not aware of what the game is.. its mostly quests... major and minor or side.. but F4 has building as well.. so if you dont want to go kill things you can build up your settlements and protect and secure the survivors on the wasteland... I like this part the most.... So you pick up stuff to sell for supplies to build...

Not the same settlement but you get the idea. With the mods that the game makers added you can build cement walls and footings.. which makes it much easier to build walls... Not that the walls will stop all the damned raiders from attacking or attacking at all... part of the game....

You can lose yourself in building things for people that dont exist outside the game.. hahahahaha

Too bad reality isn't as easily adjusted....

So onto creating this short blog on things that wont matter in in the future but give a bit of pleasure.

The best of the moon...

I should leave my tripod in my truck.

Salute!