Not the Kind of Record We Like to Set

NOAA chart from Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog.

Dickens

      A small town populated by three or so hundred people lies sixty miles east of Lubbock, Texas. The town began as a stopping point for the cowboys and other people working in the area. It seems an intriguing little place that has served the people since the late 1880s. Find a good history about it at the Texas State Historical Association's site. I drive by there upon occasion, and this time I could not help myself but to stop long enough to take images of some of the buildings along Highway 82. The buildings reflect the charm and perseverance of the people who live in Dickens. Indeed, a story tells of several prisoners who escaped the Dickens jail, found a ride to the nearest bootlegger, then returned to the jail to consume their wine. Better yet, though, its people preserve their history and heritage in the Dickens Historical Museum, a place I hope to visit soon.

Dickens Historical Museum on Montgomery Street.

Dickens County Courthouse. Fascinating account of its history at their site.

Across the street from the courthouse, to the south, a lawyer's office still stands. 

H. A. C. Brummett died in 1980. 

The county jail. 

An abandoned but still loved building. 

Dickens Grocery.

Outside this building we can still tie our horses to the hitching rail.

Painted and decorated.

For Rent. Sleeps two. 

 

Rain Over Electra

Felucca Sailor on the Nile

Busy Volunteers

    Lila, the new head mama bird at Wild Bird Rescue, may see no end in sight for the injured, abandoned, or sick number of birds finding their way, thanks to concerned citizens, into her hands. Stalwart volunteers such as Chris, Pete, and Marjorie, among several others, make saving the lives of wild birds possible. Spring and summer provide steady tasks for volunteers!

  

Texas Parks and Wildlife brought a fledgling Barn Owl found far from its nest.

A heron asks for more food. Birds are fed every twenty minutes.

Lila feeds a Mississippi Kite.

Twenty minutes are up! Purple Martins beg for more food.

Please consider donating to Wild Bird Rescue, Inc.

Jet and Thundercloud

       A thundercloud serves as striking background to the entrance of the Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama.

Old Mobile, Alabama

Tower at Iowa City Airport

     While putting in for a fuel topping and a case of engine oil, I caught a glimpse of the light tower outside the windows of the terminal at Iowa City Airport. 

Into the Sky

Mary and I entered the 2011 Air Race Classic. Link at right. 

Early during most mornings, David H. flies his Piper Cub around the pattern at Kickapoo Airport.

Armadillo's Rump

      Armadillos seem fascinating creatures. They are an omnivorous mammal that sleeps most of the day, has poor eyesight, a great sense of smell, and long claws for digging for food or for burrows. Fascinating facts at the National Geographic site.

Dallas Mavericks

Sculpture by Professor Charles Umlauf, "Spirit of Flight," standing before the old terminal at Dallas Love Field. in the background, we see images of the players on this year's Dallas Mavericks basketball team.

Eagles Growing More

Top two images show the young eagles. Above, one of the parent eagles.

Gary Flying My Friend Ellen

      Gary took my friend Ellen for a ride in the helicopter. She was tickled. And I felt tickled watching her. At times, non-aviation folks will walk tentatively toward an aircraft, a bit hesitant to board. Not my friend Ellen! She frisked right up to it and hopped into it, nimbly maneuvering her leg over the cyclic. (The cyclic is the helicopter's steering mechanism.) Here she is taking pictures of us as she and Gary returned to the ramp.

Lazy Eights

     I had the opportunity to fly as a safety pilot while H.-P. practiced "under the hood." In order to fly an airplane by its instruments only, as pilots do when they fly through the clouds, unable to see the ground, they must practice doing so in nice weather, but with their eyes covered just enough to omit everything above the cockpit. A pilot places "foggles" over his eyes to cover everything except his instruments. This mandates having another pilot flying with them to make sure they do not fly into someone else, or to prevent other mistakes.

     First we flew to Olney where they enjoy having beautifully maintained runways and a GPS approach:

      The chart above reminds me of an expression I hear often said by the volunteers and rehabbers at Wild Bird Rescue in reference to some nestling birds, such as the baby grackles: ". . . a face only a mother could love." Only pilots love the kind of charts the aviation navigation engineers developed to aide them in finding air fields while flying inside clouds.

        After H.-P. practiced his approaches, the final ones subsequently at Wichita Valley Airport, he practiced lazy eights, a maneuver practiced by pilots to develop perfect control of the aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration provides a good diagram to show what a lazy eight should look like:

        What fun to sit in the right seat while experiencing the undulations of the lazy eight! (Yes, more fun to fly them!) While climbing and descending during a lazy eight, the pilot tests his skill in maintaining constant speed while the airplane loses or gains with each turn. I took photos as H.-P. performed the maneuver. H.-P. pitched to a forty-five degree angle, bringing the nose of his aircraft up, and watched his altitude and airspeed as he flew the lazy eight. The horizon shows the North Central Texas countryside looking green in spite of the severe drought conditions.

Early Mornings at Ramp

       My flights with Gary and H.-P. take me to the airport as the sun rises. I post processed the images of the sunrise in the digital darkroom using Lightroom's vast options to make the otherwise drab images look surreal.

       

Chaps with Chaps and Boots

And one angry bull . . .

Cowboy Hat

More Bunnies this Year

Poetry: Revised History of Retractable Gear on Aircraft

On the spring Amelia covered her blond hair with a leather helmet
then donned her clear as air glass goggles over her blue eyes --
was the same spring Antoine set his headings 270 degrees

Skimming the sunny top of the clouds they came upon each other
in the sky, over the world, one heading east, one heading west
Antoine looked out his cockpit and saw Amelia’s bi-plane

her wings gliding along the top, a ship gliding smoothly in the air
He exclaimed, C’est une jolie image, Amelia et l'avion!
was what she thought of his plane, too, over the top of the clouds

Then a fantastic idea conceptualized in both brilliant minds
of wheels that would tuck up under the plane upon take-off
to glide through the air like a ship gliding across the surface

Amelia waved to Antoine and said, Nice day for flying, non? 

The WWI Curtiss "Jenny" piloted by Tom Danaher, Wichita Falls, Texas, 2008.

Yes, Clouds, Actually

Finally clouds have begun to form in my neck of the woods. We hope for rain.