Woody Woodpecker

Look how cool this guy is...and of course the Blue Jay is waiting for his turn at the feeder. I love living in the country!

The Buck stops here....

Just driving down the road yesterday....about 30 of them, 5 big bucks....awesome!

Mike and Ann (Crehan)

I have been a client at Merrill Lynch for a few years now and my account guru has been a very cool gal who is also named Ann. We have talked a lot on the phone over the years so imagine how cool it was for us to finally meet in person this psat week. Ann and her boyfriend, Mike are on a cross country adventure from Baltimore, MD to Vancouver, BC where they are working at the Winter Olypmics-awesome, right? Anyway, they popped through Colorado this week and we were fortunate enough to have a pretty decent flying day, so after a lunch at the Perfect Landing, we pulled out 373WD, aka the Whiskey Girl and went up for a spin around the valley.


After a pretty nice landing, even with the crosswind, we drove south to Castlewood Canyon. We had flown over it in the plane, but it is a pretty place to go and hike or walk around. The unfortunate part was that the wind we experienced up high in the plane, started to pick up a little bit after we touched down, so it was a little brisk, but still crystal clear and beautiful. We capped it off with hot chocolates and some great story telling. It was really fun to spend the day and I hope we get to do it again on their way back through.

Following footsteps

This one I've been mulling over for awhile, I used to like the quote about going on a path that separated in the woods and taking the least traveled fork, but today I'm wondering about following footsteps that are trodden into the other side. There just seem to be times in our lives when burdens are heavy, the air is foggy and the finish line is no where in sight. You know... it's like the dreams where you're running in slow motion or falling forever. What if those times were the exact times that there were footsteps there to follow, guiding us through the woods on a safe and proven course.


The quote I like on this subject is, "You only have to get half way through the darkness (or woods) before you are headed out the other side." It's kind of like seeing the glass half full. I think that sometimes in our little worlds we feel totally alone, like there couldn't possibly be one single person who knows how we feel or who has experienced what we are going through and maybe that's true, but enough people have gone before us and left footsteps on the path allowing us to put our feet one foot in front of the other in what I would call, small embraces. Another human being does not have to have had exactly the same experience to understand a heart that is hurting, a soul that is lost or a spirit that is in need of comfort.

I guess what I'm trying to say is there are all kinds of foot prints in the sand, on the path in the woods, all through life and sometimes we need to give in and allow the wisdom from those foot prints to guide us when it is hard to navigate fully for ourselves. Being loving is easier for most people than allowing themselves to be loved or allowing others to walk awhile in front of us creating the small embraces for us to follow. It is not a sign of weakness to need others and to say that you need love and support, in fact it is usually an honor to the person or people you request that from, at least that's the way I look at it. I have a hard time practicing what I preach, but trying.....

Simple choices

Decisions, decisions.... I go by the theory or fact that if you are indecisive or procrastinate making decisions, the decision eventually makes itself, leaving you no choice or a less desirable choice. I also subscribe to the belief that if you make a choice and feel confused or conflicted, it is probably the wrong choice. The right choice should make you feel calm and at peace. That works pretty good most of the time. But does it always? I have a couple of fairly big decisions that need to be made where it feels like the easiest decision or most peaceful is just to go about life as it is.

Launching into a change feels pretty stressful to me, but necessary. I think if I sold most everything that I have that I don't need, I could live pretty comfortably for a long time, but then some of the things that seem to make me happy I wouldn't have so what would be the point? I subconsciously worry a lot about taking care of myself, mostly I think because there most likely will come a time when I am alone in this world and will have to do that. So I think about having enough in the end. The other decision (which largely is probably making itself right now) is going back to work, I had hoped that my career/corporate days were over, but I have one little flaw that dad would refer to as having somewhat of a champange appetite that I can't support on a root beer budget. So, until I do get a few things sold, I am a working gal again - besides, I need a new washer and dryer and a few other things and my plan to work at Home Depot went up in flames when the salary wouldn't cover gas money for me.

I did re-learn something this week though and that is that there are 4 quadrants that correlate to energy levels and emotions and they are as follows:

High Positive - which is energy without tension (this is the place I would like to be....
Low Positive - which is having neither energy or tension
High Negative - Tension with energy
Low Negative - Tension without energy (total stress!)


I think I bounce a lot between Low Positive, High Positive and a little bit of High Negative, which is not where I want to be or should be. So my goal is to move it more to the High Positive quadrant. The quote for this week is "it's not the situation, it is your response to it" and a big reminder to be in control of my emotional state...looking at the situation from a different angel to find the positive spin. All this stuff comes from a book called Mentally Tough by James E. Loehr. He also has a book called The Power of Full Engagement that is excellent.


The other thing that weighs heavy on me but is a novel in itself is the topic of where to live and how to make it happen. That is a constant conflict inside me and not one that I can resolve easily. I will save it for another post, but just in case anyone thinks I don't think about it, all the time, I do, I do, I do.....

****W*A*R*N*I*N*G****

I need to bounce some stuff out here, the next couple of blogs are really just for me. I need to work through a couple of things and the best way I know how is to write it down. No need to worry, by the time anyone reads this, it will already be worked out.

FEAR-
STRESS-
DECISIONS-
MEDITATION-

What is it that cause fear-fight-flight reactions...what is the the quickest way to work through the fear and get to the other side.

What about stress, how does it sneak up on you without you realizing it is there? How do you get away from the daily stressors, like the economic situation of the world, emotions, choices that need answers, family, health, etc.

I found this quote and I really like it...True courage is like flying a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher. So true for where I am right now.

One thing that has been bothering me, is that I have been afraid to fly in the mountains. Flying over them is ok, but still makes my butt pucker. Last Friday I went with Rich, my flight instructor (CFI) to start trying to conquer my demons. I took off, flew west towards the foothills, started a nice climb up to 9,500 feet. Rich said to just follow the highway and relax. I'm doing good, we get up into the pines, skimming over the small towns, looking at the huge cabins (houses), then he says, "hang a right and fly north up the canyon." No problem, I hang a right and within seconds I'm flying up a narrow canyon, mountains and trees on both sides, my training tells me to fly one side of the canyon in case I need an escape, I then have plenty of room to turn and head back out. So I need to figure out what the winds are doing, no problem with my super-duper G1000, the winds are blowing 45 degrees off my right nose. "What does that mean," Rich asks me? It means that the updraft are going to be on the opposite side of the canyon. Wind flows around mountains like water flows around rocks in a stream. To figure out what the wind is going to do you have to look at it like water. All of a sudden the winds are shifting around as 1 canyon converges with 3 more and we are getting rocked! This is what I dread and what I fear the most. I know I will not fall out of the sky but I hate it! I hold on for what seems like an eternity, but it's getting worse, not better. I ask Rich for help and he takes the controls so I can catch my breath. It doesn't let up so he starts a climb up to 11,500 looking for smoother air, which after a few minutes we find.

But...I already feel defeated. I let it get to me and I gave in and I hate that feeling worse than the bumps. We make a big loop over a big open area called South Park and then start heading back to the airport. I finally get my nerve back and take the controls, flying us over the Hayman burn area over the last hump of mountains, down the canyon and into the Denver area. I am feeling better, but disappointed. Coming in I make a pretty good landing, still need a little work to keep the nose off the ground a little longer, but after being rattled, I'm pretty happy to find some success.

Back at the hangar, we go over the flight, I walk through it over and over. I map it, I chair fly it and I beat the heck out of myself for being a wimpy woosy. I make the commitment to Rich to fly back into the foothills every week and to fly the next few weeks with him back into the mountains, until I conquer the fear and master the art of mountain flying. I am spent....but for the past couple of days I have thought of the flight over and over again. I just wonder if there are some fears that you can't get over. I doubt it, just takes time, courage, experience and practice.

Next blog, getting over the fear of feeling like I don't have enough. You'd think I lived through the freaking depression or something, the way I worry about things.

Crossroads

Driving down the road the other day the sky was really blue and all the airplane contrails caught my eye. I had to stop and take a picture because it was a clear illustration of 2 things. The first is very simple, applies to airplanes and goes like this. People always ask me how I know where I'm going when I'm flying. There aren't any roads or street signs in the air to follow, but there is a gridlike system made up of "fixes" or "way-points" that a planes follows by GPS or radar. Where you see the plane trails in the sky intercect, that is what is happening.

The second, is a bit more personal. We all have crossroads in our lives where we have to decide which direction to go. Some people take the familiar road, drive the same route everyday and never venture down an unknown path. We always wonder why things never change when we keep doing everything the same way. It's the same as following the same route home every night, without fail it gets you to the same place.

My quest for this year is to take more unknown roads in my life, venture out a little farther, dare a little more. So far it has been very rewarding. On New Years we were invited to celebrate with a group of folks most of whom we had never met. They all live on a private airpark here in Colorado like Sky Ranch in Hurricane. At the last minute, I was thinking about how to get us out of going, but I eventually gave in and we ended up going...I'm glad we went. The people were awesome, the night was really fun and what came of that for me is that I got to know more people who not only share a love of flying with me, but many other traits and hobbies as well. The place I was going when I took the picture was to meet the UFO group. Not what you're thinking.... It is a group of the gals from the party who get together once in awhile to work on Un-Finished Objects, like knitting or needle point, or crafts or whatever you have you want to bring. The gal that hosted has a beautiful home, we sat in her sun room, overlooking the runway, watching the planes and gliders take off and land. She is also a jewelry maker, seed beads to be exact and she had some incredible pieces she had made. Her collection of beads looks a lot like mine, out of control! We'll be spending some time together learning from each other! Here is the piece I finished at the UFO gathering.

Memories of growing up

I'm not really sure who the 2 little boys are in the picture, but my hunch is that they both are Gublers. If you look down on the farm, that is the house where Ovando and Edna Gubler lived, much later than this picture, my mom and dad bought the property east of the barns from the Gublers and built a home where I would grow up with my 6 brothers and sisters. The story of my dad buying the property is pretty cool, he agreed on some ridiculously low price by today's standards and signed a note with I believe the Gubler brothers Ovando and Horatio (I could have the story a little wrong, but bear with me). The note was to be paid off over a period of a few years, but as luck would have it back then, dad was working heavy construction and making darn good money for the times. He was able to pay the note off in under 6 months, which didn't return very much interest on the note to the Gublers, which didn't make them very happy. But it made for good neighbors over the years, except for those times that our cows got out and were in with the Gubler cows and other farming catastophes like that.

But the best thing about being neighbors, was I had one of the best friends and partners in crime PGB. I can't tell you how many times we crawled over the fences between the 2 houses or how many hours we spent gabbing, spying, playing trolls, telling fortunes, playing tag and football in the street, baseball at the square or getting in trouble for playing angels and devils....the Gubler house was the gathering place for almost everyone. Gubler's front lawn was the place to be on Sunday afternoons, Saturdays, weeknights and before the bus came in the mornings. Hard to forget the little purple violets growing in the lawn or that big yellow rose bush that hung over the fence onto the sidewalk. Jamie's forts and huts, the old shed out back, the big kitchen sink, scary Aunt Mae, hot melt in your mouth doughnuts, and the blue oldsmobiles. So many times we got in trouble for playing in the hay, not getting home on time, spying on people (remember watching Tom's TV from the tree out back?) and chasing boys...talking about boys, spying on boys.....

PGB's mom Edna passed away last night, it's like a part of me is gone. So many memories of growing up and seeing her everywhere-at primary leading the music, teaching classes, setting the example, singing in the choir-at all the town functions usually in the kitchen whipping up something yummy like the sloppy joes for the 4th and 24th of July-just always there, always part of whatever was going on. She even served up the wedding cake at my first wedding reception. She is someone like Irene Allen, Anna Mae Halterman, Helen Howard that was just part of all of our growing up. She was like another mom to me, and I loved her like a mom. I will miss her, but will always be grateful for the positive influence she has been on my life. I'm sure they were rejoicing in heaven today, go with all our love Sister Gubler, you are one in a million!

Jake is the new Bachelor, Jake is a Pilot....

He would have been my pick from last season, she (the bachelorette) said he was too perfect, duh! Who doesn't love a man in uniform, (or vest and chaps), geeze louise! And of course, his plane isn't bad either. Yep I'm a closet watcher of the Bachelor and the new series starts tonight, YIPEE Ki Yi Yo!

A few weeks of pure escaping into a world of perfect dates with the perfect guy, by the way his name is Jake, now that's perfect!