One A Days and flying

It was a dark and stormy night.....

But it got better...

Not right away.

Back in 2010 we foolishly helped crew on Sunny Boy for a glow.  You would have thought we had learned our lesson crewing on Mr Winter.  Special shape balloons are big, ungainly, hard to put up and hard to pack away. It takes a special person to want to do that all the time.

This night were got singed from the over hot burner and over temped by everything involved. I think  every balloonist that had worked on a special shape has a story of woe.

Unless I can have a KRAKEN balloon made I am never going to do another shape ..ever ever....ever.



In reality it was a fresh and bright morning...

This whole week and part of last week I have been dealing with sinus issues.. still am...... but never mind that.

I decided to set a goal of one finished photograph a day processed. Never the same thing two days running but never off anything I didn't set when I stated shooting stuff. So I started the process...

I believe these should print at 30 x 20 inches or more. The last I may print on glass or metal as its so cool to my eye.

Other than this I have been creating the AIBF countdown banners for my facebook page... which led me off tangent... and also ballooning in general.

Ballooning lately has been catch up. Little chance to fly earlier has us flying a lot now. Feeling better with the familiarity of it all and its nice to get out and in the air.

Yesterdays short but fun flight was a lot of patience flying.

Winds were straight up or with an Easterly component at almost every level. Still decided to fly it. Yup.. East... so very slow... which is fine and we played in an arroyo and just bounced along the thin currents. Tried to drop into a street to swap passengers but a street light wanted us to visit so went over three other rows of houses to land and call it a day. It was ridiculously humid so I was sweating to the point it felt like I had a bucket of water being poured over my head.

Once we landed in the street our crew walked us to a side street to lay the balloon down. Spying a mattress some SPECIAL person had left on a corner the crew had to have a pose... So we popped the basket up on the mattress and called it Soft Landings...

Well worth the stop and possible bed bug infestation.  I have been requested to put it in the Cloudbouncer this month so I will do that.. maybe front page.. Great shot Kyle!

So we moved the balloon over to the right a bit and laid her down nicely. Packing up was fun. So many great people to help we decided to snake it in. This is where the envelope bag stays by the basket and the envelope is picked up and walked into the bag .. like a long snake..

Such fun and had to jazz it up by having them do a can can kick ... which also turned out to be an epic shot...

It bodes well for Fiesta to be having this much fun in the heat to having more fun when its colder.

Here are some clips from the Kodak 360 camera. The GOPro again failed to save anything but a few minutes.. for such expensive cameras you would think they would work all the time.. yeah.. NO.


In no specific order...

Going into a small arroyo where some fuzzy bunny baby's were hiding from the bad things.

Onto the mattress for the fun shot.

The corner became crowded with everyone.

On position for the pic.

Laying down on the job as the envelope lays down.

Pre launch checks.

Looking for some North or South Steerage.. none to be had....

Roof inspections complete...

Being walked down the street to a nicer, safer play to lay down.

Over the only light pole in the area.

Landed and saying hello to dog walkers, kids, family's and one lady in her nightgown... so... we can check that off the list for the day.

Packed up and back to the field. Lots of first timers so initiations and handing out some pins... the rush home.. wash up go to the AAAA picnic in the mountains.. then clean up and head home. Long day.

No pictures from the mountains today as I have yet to go through them. Lots of photo shoot pics to get through first.

Today is the rest day.... I believe dishes and fix a video camera are the only things on the list.... Oh.. and the daily photograph... ( items have been vetoed by the boss so I don't fall off the ladder on bonk my head on the floor )

Maybe my sinus thing will just go away..... I'm trying out drinking lots of coffee today to see if that fixes anything...

See you next weekend!

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?