February Recap

I know...it's been a while. It's been a busy couple of months! I'm going to try to post a bit more often going forward, especially since I've been doing some fun things.   :)

A new set of days off means new people to work the overnight shifts with. One of the controllers in another area had this sweet setup in one of the break rooms so he could 'mitigate fatigue' on his break.

I wound up getting sick AGAIN. I swear, it's like I just can't build up my sick leave beyond a certain point. At least I had some company while I hung out on the couch and burned through my sick leave.

Since the Eagles were in the Superbowl, Mark and I figured we'd actually watch it this year. Mark made us a pizza from scratch...

...and we had some tasty drinks, too.

I finally wasn't sick and the weather finally cooperated, so I was able to sneak out and fly for a bit. This flight put me up over 1500 hours of total flight time, which was a cool milestone to reach. Now, on to the next 1500!

Mark and I have been watching a LOT of the Great British Baking Show, and we decided to start trying some of the recipes. We started with a Victoria Sponge, which was delicious...

...and moved on to creme caramel, which was a bit more work but also delicious. We had to make caramel from scratch, which was neat.

I think they turned out really well, especially considering we'd never made anything like them before!

Giz was starting to slow down quite a bit, and started having problems with stiffness in his legs. The heating pad seemed to help a little.

We got a few nice breaks in the weather; this was the sunset at work one night.

We made sure to take advantage of the stretch of nice weather by spending some time hanging out on the porch. Wembles liked to feel the wind in her fuzz...

...and Bacon and Giz hung out on one of our comfy outside chairs.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend much more time with Giz. He woke up one morning in a lot of pain and we knew it was time to say goodbye. It really sucked. There are just no other words for it. I still have a hard time thinking about it, and honestly, that's a big part of why it's taken me so long to update this.

From happier times a few years ago, hiking up in Shenandoah.

Part of what made it suck even worse is that a couple hours after it all, I had to leave to spend a weekend in southern Virginia for a workshop. I had been really excited about going, but it couldn't have worked out to worse timing and I had a tough time being excited about it by the time I left.

The EAA Sportair Sheet Metal Basics workshop started bright and early the next morning, and I threw myself into I so I wouldn't have to think about how sad I felt. We spent the first couple hours learning some basics in the classroom, then moved into the shop to try out some skills.

We had two projects to complete; the first one involved riveting some pieces of metal to a piece of angle...

...and the second one involved building a mini wing section. It took me right up to the end of the second day, but I finished it!

After I got back, Mark made us another Victoria Sponge. Zach had come with me to the workshop and hung out for a bit after we got back, so the cake didn't last very long with the three of us there.

Toward the end of the month, I finally wound up with a stretch of good weather and was able to do some flying. First up was a cross country flight through the SFRA with some friends.

We stopped at Easton, MD (ESN) for lunch; I had one of the best cheeseburgers I've had in a while.

After flying to lunch with my buddies, I wound up going up for another short flight with another buddy in his C210...

...then got to do a sunset flight with yet another buddy in an RV-8. That was definitely one of the best flying days I've had in a while!

Even better, some of the hyacinths were started to poke their noses out in our front yard. I was looking forward to seeing them all bloom.

I rounded out the month with a short solo flight in the local area. I figured I should take what I could get with the weather!