Priorities Rearranged

     Well, the blog has ground to a temporary halt this summer. Summer is usually the time that we get out and do things, and try to find stuff that is worthy of writing about. Unfortunately, lately that quest became seemingly very unimportant in the scheme of life. When something like this happens in your life, it really throws your perception of what really is a biggee, and what isn't.

     My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in the spring. It seemed like bad news after bad news followed. I'll never forget the look on her face when she received the call that there was nothing that the doctors could do and that treatments would be ended. It felt like all of the air was sucked out of the room. Mom's spirit was totally deflated after the call, and she stared off into space. She had recently been having the time of her life, playing music and travelling with Lloyd, and they had so many future fun adventures planned. It all seemed overwhelmingly unfair. Fortunately we live close by and were able to spend lots of time with her those last months. Mom grew weaker and weaker, and near the end of July, with Lloyd faithfully at her side, her battle was over. Words will never adequately describe the hole that is left in our lives. We were left totally numb. It felt like the months after breaking my neck, a low point is reached beyond which more bad news means nothing, you've reached your limit. Needless to say, things that used to be a big deal no longer are. All of the normal fun things seem unimportant, and therefore unappealing. Hence I have very little cool and fun stuff to write about. We have done very little camping, no flying since June, not even any fishing yet. I know from past experience that this will pass, and my friends and family have been so great at helping us to get back to (the new) normal. Mom will be sorely missed, but we must remember that there was a lot more to her life than the last few months of sickness. She had many years of health and happiness, a lot of exciting adventures, and was loved by so many people. We must say goodbye for now, but we know that it is only for now.

Goodbye Mom.

     Mom's passing reminded me of a story I wrote after my father passed away six years ago, I hope he built his cabin in paradise.

Global News: Still Soaring

We had the coolest experience this week. Last Thursday I received a call from Su-Ling Goh of Global News in Edmonton, explaining that the people in the office had been watching my YouTube videos, and could she come down and interview me on Monday morning!

Great Soaring Day!

May 26, 2012 was a great day for soaring!

We arrived at the field at about lunchtime and I got my name on the list quickly, and proceeded to go shoot the crap with anybody that would. It is a lot of fun hanging around an airport, and anybody that is infected with the flying bug loves to BS with others that have the same affliction.

The sun was out, the breeze was not too strong, and the puffy clouds starting to build. A perfect day was brewing!

About 2:30 in the afternoon it was my turn to go, there were several volunteers including my wife to help me get into the glider, and within minutes they had my butt in and organized. We took off shortly thereafter, Bob Hagen in the back and me in the front. The turbulence was quite bad on tow so there were a few times that Bob saved the day as my arm strength was not quite up to the task of levelling the glider after some of the bumps. At 5200 feet we released from the tow.

“Which way should we go Bob?” I asked.

“You're doing the flying, pick a cloud,” came the reply.

Spring Thermalling

What a weekend!

The weather was warm, the thermals were strong, and the gliders were available for flight!

Sunday we took off at about two o'clock in the afternoon and got towed to 3000 feet in the Puchacz, a Polish-built high-performance glider. Immediately after release from the tow plane we banked towards some dark cloud, and underneath the lift was incredible! We went from 5000 feet to 8000 feet and what seemed like no time! And we spent the next hour touring around and sightseeing, and every time we needed some lift we just circled underneath one of those clouds! Up we went like an elevator, what an incredible flight! Some of the other club members did cross-country flights that lasted between five and six hours, it was a perfect soaring day. After a little over an hour we decided that we had better not hog the aircraft anymore, so we had to hit the spoilers and descend down to our airport.

Disability Horizons: Adaptive Fishing In The Great Outdoors

Click to view article Adaptive Fishing In The Great Outdoors

Here is an article that I had published in Disability Horizons. It is a story about a day fishing with Dale Baden last fall. What a great day that was! Springtime is here, it is time to get out and enjoy the great outdoors once more!

Muskrat Calling

A week or so ago we had some warm weather days and decided to go camping. We camped near a local river and did some hiking ( or four-wheel-drive wheelchairing) and photography. It was great to get back to doing outdoors things after a long winter. We made it down to the river, and although fishing season is not open for a few weeks here we did get to observe the wildlife.

One of the things that is kind of fun to do when you are near most water with bulrushes, is to call for muskrats. Believe it or not, I read about how to call muskrats when I was in about grade 9, and I paid enough attention that class to remember how to do it. This is basically a piece of that goofy, useless knowledge that takes up the empty spaces in your head, of which I apparently have an ample supply of. To make the call, all you do is hold your lips tightly together and clench them with your teeth, and then suck air through the corner of your mouth. The high-pitched squeal is much like blowing on a piece of grass, and this is the sound that muskrats make. Using this technique you can call a muskrat that is several hundred yards away and it will come right up to you. I have been using this technique for years for entertainment, and unfortunately I used to use it when I hunted them for fur as a teenager with great success.

The following is a video that we took of me calling a muskrat while we were out camping the other day.

Barnett Ghost 400 Fired From a Wheelchair

So there I was, sitting (what else, I'm a quad ... remember?) in my computer room with papers piled to the ceiling, up to my seat-cushion in alligators with no drain plug in sight, the weather outside summer like ... yay. I look over to the bench to the left, and there is the lonely-neglected crossbow sitting there, minding its own business, just like it has done for the last three months. The only sign that it has received any attention at all is the missing paint on the floor where a wheelchair has repeatedly pulled up to the bench, paused, and pulled away again.

I say to myself, "Self, you moron, what the heck are you doing inside on a day like this when spring has just arrived? Get your butt outside!"

I check my horoscope, it says something like this, "You moron, what the heck are you doing inside on a day like this when spring has just arrived? Get your butt outside."

About this time I hear the 'bloooodley-doot' of a Facebook message, it reads "You got arrows for that crossbow? ''

 I immediately reply, "Got arrows, you got time?"

"See you at one," comes the reply.

You need to really appreciate it when you're day is saved like that. Dave arrived around one, we loaded the crossbow and accessories into the van and took off to see  how it would shoot.

What a great day! The alligators can wait!