Six months ago...

On December 28 at 11:30 in the a.m. my life changed forever. There I was, 3500 feet above Murrietta in my homebuilt airplane. All was well with the world. Then the engine suddenly stopped and there was no turning back. I still don't know whether the change is for good or ill. But a lot has change din the past six months.
The morning walk gets me out of the house for sure. I've met some nice neighbors. And I'm probably in better shape than I was before the incident as a result of the daily walk.
Thursday and Friday I got to work on the Pietenpol ribs after this weather cooled off a little. Cut and fit one day and glue the next. A day on the gussets on each side and awaaaay it goes! I enjoy the careful hand work trying to make each piece better than the one before. A joy with the iPod spurring me on.
The glue will assure that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

To the moon!

This comes form niece Carole.

Go to this site: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html and on the right you click on "Add your Name." Another window will come up and you insert your name; then press add name. The next window will say print your certificate; click on it. Go to the bottom of the certificate where it says "Download to PDF" and press on it. From there you can save the certificate to your PC and also it will print a full page certificate for framing.

You have until June 27th to do this.

Get your name, along with mine on the lunar lander!
I've started walking twice daily to accelerate my recovery. It seems to be working.
The temperature is down a little so I started working on the Pietenpol ribs again.
Idle hands are the devils playground.

Let's all go to the moon flight together!

Dick

Musings

George Carlin is dead. Long live the king. He'll be sorely missed, a voice for the forgotten and downtrodden. And was hilarius doing it.
Yesterday was the first walk to use the metronome. Set at 92 beats per minute, it was a fast pace. The only variable left is the length of the stride which clearly gets shorter towards the end of the walk. But yesterday and today both clocked in at 40 minutes although today the rate was 93 steps per minute. Yesterday I also walked about 1/2 the distance in the evening. When it's cool enough I plan to do two rounds per day to accelerate the recovery rate.
It occurred to me this morning that 6/28 will be the 6 month anniversary of the big incident.
It shouldn't take six months to realize that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

My new toy

Yesterday I picked up an electronic metronome. This morning was the first chance I had to test it. I forgot to check the exact time of departure but it was within a minute or so of 7am. I started out at a fairly rapid pace which turned out to be 92 steps per minute. I got back 38 minutes later. Now I have a quantitative way to measure my progress.
It was already getting warm at the time. It will hit 100 deg today. I'm staying inside most of the day and drinking orangeade and iced coffee (separately).

Dick

A Zen wandering

After setting a timing record yesterday, I decided to take it slow this morning. I even changed the route. It was warm already. Today is forecast to be nearly 100 deg.
The Indiana Jones movie was so-so. It had the feel of having been written around a video game.
I was the only one at the movie but we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Another Record!

Feeling strong I decided right at the outset of the walk to maintain a fast pace and not get distracted by the music. Striding along, using the cane to a minimum, I did the course in 37 minutes! The next step is to find my metronome so I can adjust the pace to something more objective. Where oh where could that metronome be? That sounds like another country song in the making.
The forecast for today is hot to hotter so this afternoon I'll go see a movie. the Harrison Ford movie about the crystal skull sounds good. There was an excellently crafted crystal skull found in Central America in the 30's as I recall. The skull was found in an area whose people didn't have the tools to craft a skull of this excellence. One of lifes real archeological mysteries.
Incidentally, Harrison and I belong to the same club. We are both members of the Experimental Aircraft Association. The two of us and 100,000 others.
I may be on the ground but we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Hooray!

Well I meditated and meditated and took off on my morning walk feeling strong. I kept up a rapid pace and concentrated on moving fast. I finished in 39 minutes, a new record. Then still feeling strong I drove the bike to Venice Beach and rode another 2 miles. That wore me out because I can't lift my head far up enough to see in front of me. It could be dangerous so I guess bike riding is out until I can tilt my head back far enough. But I can walk! The next goal should be to walk the route without a cane.
It's too hot to work in the garage (hangar) so I'll stay inside for the rest of the day.
This heat just goes to show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Fathers Day and Tiger Woods.

Yesterday Rick-in-law and Deb drove down from Studio City to take me out to dinner. I left the cane home. I hope you all had a fine Fathers Day. After a great dinner and conversation I sat down to watch the end of the US Golf Open. Talk about tension. Tiger, playing with a sore left knee, started out the last day 3 strokes behind Rocco Mediate (Rocco who??) . They ended the day tied after an exciting finish to set up an 18 hole playoff between the two. This morning the 18 holes ended again with a tie between the two. On the next hole, for sudden death, both players made unbelievable shots to take the lead and then lose it to another even more spectacular shot by his opponent! In the end Tiger won it when Rocco missed a putt. Great suspense.
The suspense just goes to show the golfers that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

Progress on the walk

After two days of feeling very week, I'm back to 'normal'. Thursday was about 2/3 the regular route and Friday I could do only once around the block. Between a sore back and the arthritic knees, it was pretty tough so today I decided to walk the regular route and then add two long blocks. No sweat. I think I had a cold coming on for two days.
Wednesday I drove to Flabob airport to visit with Jim Pyle and to get ready to start building ribs for the Pietenpol being built. Now I have everything I need. Watch my smoke next week. (Always next week)
Tomorrow Deb and Rick are coming down to take me to dinner for Fathers Day. It will be good to see them again.
Next week I'll try the bike again.
Dick

I've been distracted

It's been nearly a week since I last updated the blog. Saturday was a gloomy overcast day so I watched a lot of TV and meditated after going to the Gun Show to see the wackos. While I was at the show I bought a replica badge from the Arizona Rangers. It's a symbol of my rebellion against authority. Meditation surely increases my energy.
Sunday was the EAA Chapter One monthly meeting at Flabob. The meeting was about hypoxia. Not a subject I'll have much to do with in the future but it was interesting and good to be around real airplanes again.
Monday I drove out to Flabob to talk with Jim Pyle and the Pietenpol Project. We glued a rib and today (Weds.) I'll go there again today to finish the rib and to bring some materials back to Fullerton so I can assemble more ribs at home. It's a perfect job to keep me busy... Work when I want and take as long as I want. The plane needs 34 ribs to make the interior of the wings. Today the Pietenpol Rib Czar.... tomorrow the world!
I broke my rule of never walking less today than I did yesterday. I walked about 30% of the regular walk. I don't feel bad about it because I'll walk some at Flabob to make up for it.
I may be working toward being the Pietenpol Rib Czar but were all on this flight together...

Dick

Are there magic numbers?

I completed the route this am in 42 minutes. I'll come back to that later. Along the way I met a young mother and her disabled boy boarding the bus for school and spoke with his mother for a few moments. It brought back instant memories of All Saints pediatric ward and tears right in the middle of Amerige St. I still believe my time has not yet arrived but wonder just what my 'reason to be' is. And reminded me again how lucky I've been. Fred Astaire I'm not but I can get along quite well with my cane while I ponder the cosmos and its music. Or is it a reward for being good in a prior life (universe)?
According to Douglas Adams, using Earth as a giant computer determined that the answer to the question, "What is the meaning of life?" is 42! Coincidence? I think not! With the short stop to visit included, it's too close to be a coincidence.
Tomorrow... the gun show to see what the right wing nuts are up to and Sunday is EAA Chapter One.
Which only goes to show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

It Seems Slow

I was feeling strong on Monday and Tuesday so I tried to walk standing upright rather than bent over like I've been doing. The pace was set by Los Lobos singing "One Day One Time". Off I went and getting up o n the balls of my feet was like getting up on the step of a boat. A quantum change which knocked nearly 10 minutes off the walk. I felt so good yesterday that I walked briskly around the block in the afternoon. It's been over 5 months since the incidence and I think I should have been recovered by now so I'll up the ante to twice a day. This morning the pace was set by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman singing an extended "Freight Train". I ended up one minute off my record pace.
The home stretch was accompanied by the Master, Johnny Cash Singing his anti-war anti-discrimination song about Ira Hayes. With the veterans returning from the Middle East, does anyone remember the story of Marine Ira Hayes (and thousands of other honored vets)? And one of the candidates for President refused to vote for a GI Bill for them. Shame!
I'll be out to Flabob this weekend for the monthly meeting of EAA Chapter One.
June Gloom has settled in making it hard to get motivated to do anything.
It all just goes to show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

It's been since Wednesday that I updated this blog. Not much has changed. I'm focussed on walking upright rather than bent over.
Saturday I drove over to Cable Airport to visit with Russ Clifford and his Sonex. It's been a while since I've seen one right side up. He is progressing nicely.
This morning I planned to do a speed run. I started out listening to Wildwood Flower by Emmy, Dolly and Linda. A great pace. My time for this route has been about 50 minutes. Today I did it in 41 minutes! Since it is Sunday I changed the music to Gospel for the last few blocks of the 'run'. But I maintained the pace to set a new record.
I received an email from old friend Tom Conklin today. He is planning a trip here with other old friend Mike Story. Both are from my days at Finnigan. I haven't seen Mike since I left Finnigan in the 70's. That should be a good reunion.
Further proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick