March Madness

Sunday before last it snowed nine inches here at my place. The last gasps of winter. We had no snow up to that point, except a few dustings that didn't stick. So it snowed for a day. And there was a deep freeze. Three days in a row below 15 deg. The day I want to tell you about was Thursday March 5. This is the day that it went from a real Winter to a real Spring in about nine hours. I had been watching the forecast so I knew what was coming. I got up at 4:30 AM. I was too excited to sleep. It was going to go from a dark 12 degrees to a sunny over 60 thru the course of the day. I made some coffee. I tuned in the weather channel on the little kitchen TV. I checked the faucets and the pipes were not frozen. I had left the water on and a radiator below the sink. The downstairs was pretty cold and I fired up more portable heat. As I had a bite to eat I searched out the window for a glow of dawn. There was a kind of false glow. I got my boots on and wandered out to the deck, then out to the back yard. The snow was squeaky. It was a cold winter morning. Yes there was now a sort of light in the east. I went back in the house. I got on gloves and hat and parka. Jake, my dog had appeared. He and I went out to play in the snow. We walked out to the hangar. The wind sock. The picnic table. I started up the Jeep. Jake jumped in the back of the Jeep. He thought we were going for a ride. We were, but only a few hundred feet. I pointed the Jeep east and parked with the heat on and my coffee still hot. We watched a beautiful sunrise. According to my thermometer outside the hangar it was 9 degrees. A few cars were starting to appear on the county road out front. So I guessed it was OK for me to drive around without waking anyone up. So Jake and I started driving up and down the airstrip. We were beating down the snow and checking the runway. The radio in the Jeep doesn't work, but the old cassette does. But there is only one tape. The Beau Brummels. I love the song "Laugh Laugh". Remember? We go back to the hangar and park. The dogs are all out now running around barking. So wife is up. Is it getting warmer already? We wander back to the house. The professor is up too and he's making breakfast. He's always making a meal. He has been living here about two weeks or so. His plane is snowed in here and he's been commuting with the Jeep and a rental car when he can't fly to work. Yes he flies to work. And lives in our man-cave in the back of the hangar. Q. What do you call a Profesor who has broken up with his girlfriend? A. Homeless. (and car-less). But it's been nice having him here because he's the cook and does the shopping and buys the food. And he's entertaining. And I call him "Dupree" and he hates that. I tell him that now is the time to fly the plane out. It's gonna get sloppy after 60 degrees today. But he has the rental car and things to do in Bmore and DC and he will drive the ninety miles one way. After a fine breakfast he dons his corduroy sport jacket. He packs up his book bag with his manuscripts and notes. His tobacco. His brown bag lunch is raw vegetables. His laptop. His wool muffler. He will forget his phone charger, as usual. He'll be back tonight with groceries. And if we're not too tired we'll have a campfire. I'm already tired. While wife hangs out in the barn with her horse, I fall asleep in front of the computer. At noon I'm out shoveling the wet snow away from the hangar doors. It's bright and sunny and 45 degrees! I'm thinking I'll get the Cher OH Kee out and try to taxi out on the snow and go flying in this bright snow-sunshine. I call up Eric. He is my neighbor who has llamas. And sheep. And cows. I owe him a flight or two in return for labor. He rebuilt my garage roof. But the real reason I call him is I want him to take video with my camera of me. So he says he'll be over soon. So I get the hangar doors open and get the airplane rolled out. I do a few little chores for wife in the barn and house. I want to get in good with her because I need a favor. Eric shows. And we give him two fresh bales of hay in return for the video I want him to shoot. Then we get the airplane all pre-flighted and it starts up nice. It ought to. It's 50 degrees! We taxi out. It's getting sloppy. Stretches of bare grass. Slush. Packed snow. Turn around at the end and take it rolling. I try every trick in the book, and a few that aint in the book, to unstick her. But halfway down she still isn't flying. So I abort and take her back in and put her away. Then we start on the video. It's a music video. So we just shoot tape of me walking around in a cowboy hat, trying to look cool. But I'm 59 years old, so how cool can I look? Now it's 60 degrees! Eric goes home with his hay to his llamas. The sun is starting to set and its now getting cooler again. I go in and see wife in her office. I give her my audio CD. And I give her the nine minutes of raw footage of me in the snow with the cowboy hat. I tell her what I want. I expect her to edit it. Create it. Capture it. Encode it. Upload it. Download it. Etc. And I want it ASAP of course. She says, "A few days". Now the sun is setting. Jake and I are back in the Jeep. This time facing west. I'm having a nice bottle of Sam Adams. It's the most beautiful sunset ever. I can see the professor's rental car a half mil e down the road approaching. We walk to the house to meet him. He has groceries. He has wine. Jake and I go back to the sunset. I have another beer. Then a new plan arises and I am to follow Dupree to drop off the rental car, and drive him back. So wife does another favor. She's a saint. She drives because I'm exhausted from watching the season change. It's like jet-lag thru time zones. We have a great meal at the Cambridge Diner. I have eggs which makes no sense. When we get home Jake and I go straight to bed. Thursday March 5, 2009 is over. When I awoke at dawn on Friday, I was in the same position as when I fell asleep. Next: the Holy Holidays. The Ides, St. Pat's, and the Most Holy.....The Equinox. Gen. Aviation Informal. PS......... if you want to see the video...... it's easy......go to YouTube.....then search n98009..... then click on "as tears go by"