I guess a one game streak is all they got.

The Red Sox lost last night and it wasn't because of the pitching. Pomeranz gave the 124 pitches over 5+ innings which ain't bad. It would have been nice if he could have held the pitch down a bit but the Angels have some pretty damned good hitters like Albert Pujols and Mike Trout

The hitting is what killed them last night. They got six hits with only two runs and those two runs came in the first inning. After that, they couldn't score a run to save their collective lives.

Today's game was on at 3:30 our time which is a much more civilized time and I was able to watch the entire game.

I was thoroughly convinced they were going to lose today's game until the ninth inning. They went into the ninth down 3-0 and that was when their bats suddenly came to life and they scored 5 runs.

The game ended 5-3 and now they are off to Seattle where starting tomorrow night, they will play the Mariners at some ungodly hour like 10:00 at night.

•

You might want to click on these:

• I've been to Lake Tahoe. It's nice there.



• Apparently President Nixon is back.



• Only in Florida.



• Oh Canada.

They have a one game winning streak

The Red Sox managed to beat the Angels last night moving them to within 1.5 games of the Orioles. Unfortunately the Blue Jays won yesterday as well which means the Red Sox are still 1 game behind them in third place.

Oh, and in case you wanted to know, yes, I managed to stay awake until 11:15 last which means I got to watch 5 innings of the game.

Tonight's game is on at 9:00 but since I stayed up late last night and still woke up at 5:00 this morning, I doubt I'll be able to watch much more than 4 or 5 innings.

•

I've been studying for my flight exam and man, do they require a lot of math.

I need to be able to calculate a magnetic heading based on the true course from A to B, the magnetic deviation (14° for us folks here in Western Mass, 15° for you people out in Boston), wind direction and wind velocity. Oh yea, toss in the airspeed and let me tell you, it's a bunch of interesting formulas.

I also need to calculate aircraft weight and center of gravity based on a whole 'nother bunch of formulas about who is sitting where, how much the passengers weigh, how much fuel is in which tank and how much the cargo weighs.

Along with all the math, there is a huge amount of simple memorization about things like pattern altitudes, flap settings and rules regarding when, how and where I can fly, I feel like I'm getting a brain cramp.

As I'm studying and taking practice exams, I sometimes ask myself why, at my age, am I doing this.

Then I get into a plane and I remember why I'm doing this.

I love it.

•

Try these links out:

• If anyone out there is looking for a job, look no further.



• Key line in this story: "...she admitted to doing 'a little meth'."



• Key line in this story: "In addition, deputies determined that both Elkins and Simpson were under the influence of several drugs."



• Jerry Iannelli has obviously never been to Boston.

It finally rained.

For the first time in over a month, we got a nice steady rain. I'm not sure if the lawns will be saved but the gardens seem to be making a comeback.

We'll see what happens with the lawn over the next week or so. If I start to see green poking through the brown, I'll run the thatcher over it and see if I can't help those shoots along.

•

The Red Sox lost last night. Hell, they lost the last four nights and they are now in third place in the ALEast.

Don't get me wrong, being in third place ain't terrible. They are only one game behind the second place Blue Jays and two & a half games behind the first place Orioles but this is the home stretch of the season. They've played 100 games and have 62 left to play but you can't help but wonder how much gas they have left in the tank.

Pedroia is still healthy but history tells us that could change in an instant, Ortiz seems to have trouble walking, never mind running and Ramirez ends up with a minor injury that sidelines him for one or two games at least once a month.

I'm still holding on to the hope that they will turn it around and become the team they should be, end the regular season in first place in the ALEast and go into the playoffs with the belief that they will win it all.

•

Tonight's baseball game is at 10:00. This, as I'm sure you all know, is past my bedtime.

I missed last nights game in it's entirety because I fell asleep at 9:30 but I'm going to strive to stay awake until at least 11:00 tonight so I can provide them with 3 or 4 innings of my sage advice.

While I do that, you should visit these fine webthingies:

• Joerg Sprave is my kinda crazy. If you don't follow him on YouTube, you should.



• There are so many 'cop - donut' jokes that can be made from the line, "I recognized through my eleven years of training and experience as a law enforcement officer the substance to be some sort of narcotic."



• Someone should call Butler and have him come pick up his snakes.



• Things we never get to see in America.



• Stephen Varvaro is the AssHole Of The Year award winner.

Things in my head

Every so often, my brain goes on a thought binge and I end up with all sorts of thoughts floating around in my head.

Allow me to share them with you:

If your dog likes someone, then you should like them too. Dogs are excellent judges of character. Cats, however, aren't good judges of character. They are only interested in getting fed.

The phone call you received from the FBI or the IRS telling you that you are under indictment and you need to contact them right away to resolve the issue or you will be arrested is bullshit. Ignore them, hang up the phone and move on with your day. Trust me, if the FBI wants to arrest you, they certainly aren't going to warn you by calling you before hand.

The federal government is not trying to take away your rights nor is it going to give you everything for free. Stop believing everything that the hyper-conservative right wing or the ultra-liberal left wing is telling you. Believing what fanatics tell you, whether they are religious fanatics or political fanatics, usually ends badly for all concerned.

Global warming is real. The problem is that no one is really sure if it's man-made, if it's just the natural cycle of the planet or a combination of the two. Cutting down on carbon emissions may not stop the planet from warming up but it's not a bad idea anyways. If it's gonna be hot, we might as well have clean air to breathe while we sweat.

If you can't afford a college education, don't fret over it. The world needs skilled tradesmen. We have more than enough unemployed college grads and too few plumbers. Besides, I've never met an english major that earns a six figure income but I know some plumbers, electricians and carpenters that do.

Your friends may be richer than you or they may be poorer than you. If they are richer than you, don't try to keep up with them. If they are poorer than you, don't ask them to do things they can't afford to do. Find the middle ground and you will remain friends for a lifetime.

To us old folk, Pokemon-Go may look like the dumbest thing ever invented but I'm pretty sure we looked like complete idiots running around playing tag or hide-an-seek and I know for damned sure that the game of Jarts killed several people over the years. Give the kids a break, they aren't hurting anyone and as long as they don't do any damage to your property, what do you care if they're in front of your house flicking away at their phone screens like demented ant-eaters.

There are many, many other thoughts floating around up there but it's probably best if I keep those particular ideas to myself.

•

You can click on these:

• Good for Julian Edelman.



• He hosed them good.



• You need a license to get a dog, a license to drive a car and a license to get married but they'll let any idiot become a parent.



• It's gonna be the best Olympics ever!



• Key phrase in this story: "It peed on me, basically."



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "10:28 a.m. A Martin City woman complained that her family has been 'snooping' around."

Beautiful morning for flying.

I left Northampton at 10:00 this morning and headed to Orange Airport. Other than the few drafts created by the cloud shadows, the flight up was smooth as silk. I settled into the pattern, did one touch & go and then headed back.

As I climbed out of Orange, I decided to detour a bit and head out over the Quabbin. At 2,300 feet, I was just over the northern tip of the west arm when I had a very large bald eagle come straight at me. I thought I was going to hit it but it swerved away at the last second.

I took this picture just after the encounter:

It was a little disconcerting but very, very cool to see that bird up close like that.

So anyways, I made it back to Northampton, landed and called it a day. Total flight time for me today was 1 hour and that included a little "bombing around" the northern end of the pioneer valley.

Here's a shot I took of Turners Falls in Montague:

Have I mentioned that I love this.

•

You should click on these:

• Beer - Is there anything it can't do? (I have no idea what any of that story means)



• Only in Florida.



• Key phrase in this story: "...they have been trying to conceive a baby."

Another shortened flight

I scheduled myself for two hours of flight time this morning but the wind decided that was not gonna happen. I managed to get a half hour in before it started gusting to 20kts with most of that as a cross-wind.

I did manage to get out over Amherst and practice an entry into the pattern with a full stop landing. I even managed a second takeoff into the pattern and a second full stop landing.

Oh, and despite the winds, my landings were pretty damned good if I do say so myself.

After that second landing though, I called it a day. I have no intention of bending either myself or one of my cousins planes. I always remind myself that I'm still learning how to do this and I should err on the side of sanity. As my cousin said to me, there is no ego in the cockpit.

I'm hoping to get another hour or so in before the end of the week but watching the weather this evening tells me not to get my hopes up too much.

•

I'm going to watch as much of the Red Sox game as I can stomach. If they blow another game like they did last night, I'm gonna bust a hemorrhoid.

While I do that, you can click on these links:

• I guess no one was available to walk after him in hot pursuit...



• Only in Florida.



• No thanks. I'll stick to beer.



• Only in Florida.



• And I thought Dunkin Donuts were expensive.



• Kevin Kennedy of Middleboro, MA is an asshole.

Another line of thunderstorms splits around us.

At 3:00 this afternoon, a nice long line of storms came barreling out of the Berkshires straight for the Pioneer Valley. The doppler showed them as a nice mix of green (light rain), yellow (steady rain) and a splash of red (heavy rain and wind). I honestly thought that maybe, just maybe, we were going to see some of that rain.

I was wrong.

The line of storms split around us just as it reach Springfield and we were left, once again, with no rain.

On the upside, I haven't had to mow my lawn for the last month.

•

While I watch the Red Sox and scream at John Farrell over my special coaching TV, you can click on these:

• Only in Florida.



• I guess Debbie took care of Hillary so now Hillary is taking care of Debbie.



• Chalk one up for the good nerds, er.. guys.



• Meet David Lee Hicks -  Nice guy of the year.



• He'll be known forever as "Dickface Johnson".



• Attention Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey: You should ban these things.



• Whoa.

Well, that kinda sucked.

The Red Sox played a four game series against the worst team in the American League and they managed to lose two of the four.

They need pitching and they need it soon.

Their great hope, David Price, has turned into a bust, they recognize that Buchholz is a mediocre pitcher t best, they have turned Kelly into a reliever and they are holding onto some hope that Rodriguez is going to turn it around.

That leaves Procello and Wright, two guys that are throwing the ball as well as anyone in the majors but they are only two guys. They can't pitch every day.

•

I just finished watching DeadPool and now I'm going to find something else of interest.

While I do that, you can visit these links:

• Key entry from our favorite police log: "7:45 p.m. A man driving down Highway 83 near Bigfork complained that the teenaged driver in front of him was taking a picture of a rainbow and, as a result, was swerving and driving too slow."



• Looks like there is at least one politician in Massachusetts who thinks not all gun owners are bad.

First my lawn died

Now my trees are dying. This drought is one of the worst I've seen. Every time I look at the Doppler radar, I see the storms coming at us and then they split in two with half going north and the other half going south.

We haven't had any perceptible rain in a month and even that was just one storm that lasted about a half hour.

We have several Rose of Sharon trees / bushes in our yard and they all have wilted, yellow leaves that are starting to fall off. Normally at this time of the year, they are all covered in purple and white flowers. Not this year.

If we don't get some rain soon, we are going to be in trouble. It'll be like the desert southwest out here: wildfires when it's windy because everything is dry or floods when it does rains because the ground is so hard that the water doesn't soak in, it just runs off.

•

You can click on these while I watch the second place Red Sox play baseball:

• Key entry from our favorite police log: "9:42 a.m. Someone reported that a truck parked in Bigfork was full of firearms and making a 'beeping' noise. Nothing bad happened."



• Oh Canada.



• Oozing Toxic Algae would be a great name for a 1980's German techno band.



• You know whats wrong with politicians today? This is what is wrong with politicians today.

I'm tired.

I went to bed at 9:00 last night, woke up at 1:00am and went downstairs to make coffee. At 1:30, I woke my youngest and got him moving. At 2:00, we headed down the road to my sisters where we picked up my nephew and it was off to Boston and Logan Airport.

We made it to Logan at 4:15 where I pushed them out of the car in front of their departure terminal and started my trip back home before the infamous I-90/I-93 rush hour hit.

I made it home by 5:45 and watched a little news. I said good morning to my wife when she came downstairs at 6:15 and then I went to bed.

I woke up around 9:30, made some more coffee, turned the AC on and got my act together.

So I'm more than a little tired and I'm pretty sure I won't make it through an inning or two of tonight's ball game.

I hope they can win without my sage advice.

•

Here are links:

• Only in Amherst, the land of the 60 year old hippie.



• Rockie Mountain High!



• Maybe I should move to Colorado...



• I've always said, you can never have enough cheese balls.



• Looks like Washington is trying to overthrow Florida for Weirdest State In The Union.

Tied for first.

Last night, the Red Sox beat the Giants in a wild game. That put them half a game ahead of the Orioles in the ALEast.

As for the new guy, Pomeranz, he threw a pretty good game right up until the 4th inning when he suddenly fell apart. They went into the forth inning with a eight run lead when the Giants scored five runs. They scored two more in the fifth and the score was suddenly 8-7.

The Red Sox ran three more pitchers out to the mound during a crazy fifth inning and for the sixth inning, John Farrell stepped into a steaming pile of 'holy crap!' when Matt Barnes, who hasn't been all that good lately, came out and pitched three scoreless innings like he was the team ace.

The Red Sox managed to score three more runs and the game ended after almost four hours with the score 11-7.

The most amazing part in all of this is that I actually stayed awake long enough to watch the entire game.

This afternoon, the Orioles beat the Yankees, which put them into a first place tie with the Red Sox in the ALEast.

Let's see what happens over the next few days.

Tonight the Red Sox start of a four game series against the worst team in the American League, the Twins and the Orioles start a three game series against the best team in the American League, the Indians.

I'm hoping the Red Sox take all four games against the Twins and the Orioles lose all three games against the Indians. That would give the Red Sox a nice solid three+ game lead in the ALEast.

•

No more flying for the me this week because I promised my youngest and my nephew I would drive them out to Logan airport so they could go visit another one of my nephews down in North Carolina. Unfortunately, they made flight arrangements without any help from me.

In other words, they picked the cheapest flights they could find, not the most convenient flights they could find.

What does that mean? It means that I will be waking those two gentlemen up at 2:15  Friday morning, jamming them into a car, getting them to Logan for 4:30 so they can catch a 6:00am flight.

It also means I will have a highly messed up sleep schedule and the last thing I want to do when I am sleep deprived is fly a plane.

That, my friends, is a recipe for disaster.

•

I'm going to watch one or two innings and then fall asleep as early as possible because my alarm is going to go off at 1:30 this morning.

You can visit these if you would like:

• Bacon: Is there anything it can't do?



• Someone should go to jail over this.



• Only in New Jersey... and every where else in the United States.



• Speaking of Pokemon: This can't be good...



• Some people are offended by it, I'm entertained by it.

Half a game.

Only half a game separates the Red Sox from the Orioles and the Orioles haven't been playing too well lately.

The Red Sox beat the Giants last night and they are playing them again tonight. They got a new kid on the mound named Pomeranz. I'm hoping he's at least better than Buchholz and I'd like him to be better than Price because let's face it, Price is in a bad stretch and they can't rely solely on Wright and Porcello.

•

No flying today which is a shame because the winds were calm and the sky was clear. I probably would have spent two hours just floating around western Mass, enjoying the view.

•

I'm gonna watch some baseball.

You might like these links:

• If you had told me 47 years ago that Americans would be catching a ride to a space station from the Russians, I would have said you were crazy.



• Remember the first time Rodham ran for president?



• England has a law that says, "criminals forfeit their compensation rights if they are injured in the course of illegal acts". We need that law over here.

I guess we dodged that bullet.

Amazingly enough, this did not happen in my town.

For a while there, it seemed like maybe my town was ground zero for every high-wind event in the area. This time, however, someone else got to deal with all the downed power lines and trees.

•

Do you know who Cindy Sheehan is?

Of course you do. You may not remember her name but unless you lived under a rock during the George W. Bush presidency, you know who she is.

Back in 2005, Cindy Sheehan spent several months protesting by camping in a tent outside of Bush's Texas ranch in order to draw attention to the death of her son, Army Specialist Casey Sheehan. Casey was killed in action during the Iraq war in 2004.

The media spent much of the time covering Cindy's protest and campsite. Every night, the evening news would give her a few minutes of time so she could say how her son had died because of George Bush.

Do you know who Pat Smith is?

Probably not. Very few people know who she is.

Pat Smith's son, Sean Smith, was an IT consultant who worked at the US Embassy in Libya. He was killed when President Barack Obama fired up all the people of the middle-east with his famous "Arab Spring" speech.

The citizens of Libya first killed their government and then started killing each other. After a while, they decided to attack the US embassy and kill the IT guy, along with our Ambassador and an understaffed Marine detail assigned to protect the Ambassador.

What amazes me is that when a mom protests a republican administration who had a soldier die during their watch, the media covers her like she was the second coming but when a mom protests a democratic administration who stood by and watched an embassy get wiped out, the media doesn't even mention it.

•

Here's a terrible picture I took of the Quabbin reservoir while flying over the Amherst/Pelham area this afternoon.

I was at 3,300 feet and heading roughly south/south/west when I took it.

The foreground is the west arm of the reservoir.

In the background, almost at the horizon, is the east arm and just at the wingtip is Mount Zion Island. That is where they want to reintroduce the timber rattler.

I only flew for about 45 minutes today. When I took off, the winds were right about at the limit of my solo restrictions and I got tossed around pretty good. When I got to 2,000 feet, things got really interesting and I almost decided to head back. Once I climbed to 3,300 feet, things smoothed out and I did a circuit over Whatley, Sunderland and Leverett.

Just as I started towards Quabbin, the winds picked up again and I figured that maybe they were exceeding my restrictions. Since I'm a smart guy, I figured it would be a good idea to head back to the airport.

Once I settled into the pattern at Northampton, I did one touch & go just because I could, re-entered the pattern and saw my cousin in a golf art heading out towards the runway.

Now I gotta tell you, that touch & go landing was interesting because I was flying directly into a gusting headwind and the airplane seemed to have a mind of it's own. But hey, I managed to get it down without bending anything and took off to re-enter the pattern.

The second landing, with an audience sitting near the touch down point, was only slightly better than the first. The headwind still made the plane difficult to handle but I managed to slide in nicely, exit the runway at midfield and taxi the plane back to the parking area without looking like a complete ass.

Have I mentioned that I love doing this.

•

The Red Sox are playing the Giants this evening and I need to watch the game so I can provide them with my sage coaching wisdom via my special coaching TV.

While I do that, here are some links that you might want to visit:

• Only in Pennsylvania.



• I'm pretty sure that's not the right way to start your marriage but then again, I'm not Chinese.



• Where was she during the whole "nipping to the loo" incident?

No flying today

I was originally going to fly around the practice area today and maybe take a little side trip down the Quabbin. Unfortunately for me, the winds decided that I shouldn't do that and I cancelled my flight.

Maybe things will improve during the week and I'll be able to fly at least once.

•

And just because I didn't fly doesn't mean I didn't do something that involves flying.

I spent two hours hours in a FAA safety seminar up at the airport listening to the air traffic controllers from Bradley explain flying around in Bradley's class 'C' airspace. THese guys are genuinely nice guys who do a difficult job and they kept saying, "We're here for you. Talk to us and we'll help you."

I gotta tell you, hearing that makes a student pilot feel a lot better about things.

•

Since I was gone most of the evening, I didn't have a lot of time for links.

Here's one you might like:

• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.

It's a dry heat.

And that, my friends, is about the dumbest thing someone can say when it's hot out.

•

There was another attack on police today. This time it was down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Early reports indicate three officers were murdered and three were wounded. We are all hoping that the wounded recover completely and return to their normal lives.

As for the scumbag, douche-nozzle murderer, he was - and don't be shocked by this - a black male under the age of 30.

I don't want to leave you with the idea that this was a terrorist event brought on by a terrorist organization that is being rallied by a charismatic political leader. No sir, I don't want to plant that idea in your head.

I'm just gonna say that if this had happened in the middle-east, that particular organization would be declared a terrorist group and the political leader would be targeted by Air Force drones.

Now I'm not saying we should declare black lives matter a terrorist organization and I'm definitely not saying that the Air Force should target President Obama with a drone. I'm just saying that if this was happening on in the middle east, it's what Obama would do.

Think about it.

•

Here are some links:

• Attention drug runners: If you are going to pack the trunk of your car full of cocaine you should probably obey the traffic laws.



• It's only a matter of tie before someone gets killed playing that game.



• Speaking of Pokemon....

Not a bad evening.

It's still kind of warm but the humidity is gone for now and that means my electric meter is going to slow down a bit.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I like air conditioning and all but I prefer the windows open and some nice cool night air.

•

The Red Sox seem to have turn the corner and are once again on a winning track. They beat the Yankees last night and again this afternoon and since the Blue Jays lost both of their games, the Red Sox are now alone in second place, two games over the Jays. They have one more game against the Yankees tomorrow night at 8:00.

I'm hoping they win that game as well but I probably won't know because that particular game is one of those annoying ESPN Sunday Night Baseball games with three people in the broadcast both who love the sounds of their own voices.

One of those people will be a woman and the other two will be men who apparently aren't used to being around women. They will giggle like schoolgirls at every attempt she makes at humor and they will both be making subtle jokes with sexual metaphors and innuendo.

It makes for a crappy night of baseball but I find if I mute the TV and watch the game while surfing the internets, I can entertain myself and still know what the score is.

•

Try these links:

• Only in Florida.



• Key phrase in this story: "...a purple replica penis."



• How to Pokemon Stop.



• It's probably the closest those two nerds have ever gotten to a naked woman.



• It's the old, "we were skinny dipping and someone stole our clothes" defense.

Coup in Turkey.

And the most amazing part of all is that our government was caught completely off guard by this. No warnings to travelers about unrest, no restrictions about incoming flights. No nothing.

I will not be surprised to learn that this coup is backed by ISIS.

And in case you were wondering, I have a connection. My cousins daughter, Wende, is married to a great guy from Turkey named Demir. She has a lot of family over there and fortunately, some of them are here visiting. I'm betting they won't be going back too quickly.

•

Enjoy these links while I watch the start of the second half of the baseball season:

• That Viagra stuff must be one hell of a drug.



• Key phrase in this story: "Police said the customer was not arrested."



• Freddy the Brain.

Tomorrow there will be baseball!

The "dew point" (whatever the hell that is) was 75 today.

What happened to the relative humidity that they used to use? You know, the one that told you how much water vapor was in the air. The one where they would say, "Humidity is 99%" and you would know, "Man, that's muggy."

•

President Obama is holding another summit. He likes summits. Remember the famous "Beer Summit"? He accomplished nothing with that and he'll accomplish nothing with this one.

Why?

Because he doesn't get it.

That's why.

I would like to hear President Obama say just one time: "If those gang-bangin' thugs want to hide their hands when they are told to show them, if they want to continue walking aggressively towards the cops while reaching into their waste band, then yea, they should expect to get shot."

•

Try these links:

• Attention drug dealers: If you are going to drive around with a sh!t-ton of dope in your truck you probably shouldn't go the wrong way on a one way street.



• Key phrase in this story: "...my patience was rewarded"



• Yes, alcohol was involved.



• This is what is known as "thinning the herd".



• Australia: It's not like where we live.

Kinda sticky

Today was more than a little breezy so I'm glad I wasn't flying. The weather report showed 14 knots out of the south west which means a direct 14 knot crosswind on the runway at Northampton.

For the record, 14 knots is 16 miles per hour. At that speed, the cross wind would push the aircraft like a weather-vane and I'd be landing sideways. It's something I have learned to do but I'm not a big fan of doing it and I'd rather not do it without an instructor next to me unless I have to.

•

For the last year, Bernie Sanders has been ranting about corrupt politicians feed by corporate greed. He has whipped his supporters into a frenzy with catch phrases like wealth inequality and the top 0.1% have all the money. He talks about political insiders like they were the devil incarnate even though he's been in the senate for about 10 years and is one of those "insiders".

And after all of that, what does he do?

He proudly endorses one of the very people he labeled as a corrupt political insider mired deeply in corporate greed.

Typical politician - he says one thing and then does the opposite.

•

You might like these:

• Oh Canada.



• Only in Florida.



• Also only in Florida.



• Only in the Bible Belt.



• Pffftttt.... Hillbillies....

Great day for flying

Today was a great day to fly to Block Island off the cost of Rhode Island and I gotta admit, it was a pretty cool flight.

I left Northampton and started my climb to 5,500 by doing a single, wide circle over the airport.

I managed to make it to 3,000 as I turned south and passed through the Connecticut River notch in the Holyoke Range and passed over Westover field at about 4,000

By the time I reached my cruising altitude of 5,500, I was over Ludlow and I was looking directly at my house.

I passed over my house and into Connecticut with Bradley airport keeping an eye on us until we were over Storres. They then passed us off to Providence airport.

Providence (very nice people, by the way) kept an eye on us through to our destination of Block Island.

I landed, taxied to the ramp, set my radios and GPS up for the trip back and off we went.

Read everything I just wrote in reverse and you have the trip back.

It took less than an hour to make the 90 mile trip down there.The trip back was just about an hour because of the winds. All toll, I spent about two hours on the trip and I would do it again in an instant.

•

The All Star game is on tonight so I think I'll try to watch a little bit of it.

While I do that, you can click on these:

• Key phrase in this arrest report: "...SCHMUCK WAS HIGHLY INTOXICATED AND WAS ATTEMPTING TO PROVIDE GUN SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS TO TWO TEENAGERS."



• Only in Florida.



• Hah!



• I didn't understand this game back when my kids were collecting the cards and I still don't understand it.



• I don't understand this. I like it but I don't understand it.



• Australia: It's not like where we live.

We're going to hell in a handbasket

I'm not entirely sure what a handbasket is but I think it might look something like this.

I have only one question: "Why is the President of the United States fomenting a race war at the same time he is trying to disarm me?" Does anyone know why he is doing that?

Oh, and by the way Mr.President, yes, the country is as divided as it seems. You started the division back in 2009 when you said, "...the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody..."

That statement spoke volumes. You made it clear what you thought about the police back then and you continue to make it clear every chance you get.

And while you were quick to tell us that the shooting of Michael Brown "...stained the heart of black children.", never once have you said, "You know, that 18 year old gang banging thug probably should have listened to the cop when he was told to stop."

I am not going to go quietly into the night Mr. President. I will defend my family, my friends and that which I have worked for.

And I'm not alone in my position...

•

That was a good rant. I haven't had one of those in a while.

You can click on these if you would like:

• Only in China.



• People are offended too easily.



• Only in Walmart.



• Sometimes, even computer nerds can be idiots.

No more baseball until Friday.

The Red Sox won today and go into the All Star break tied for second place in the ALEast. That's not a bad place to be considering they were in last place at this time last year.

I'd like to see them come back from the break and go on a nice winning streak.

They start the second half of the season with three games in New York against the Yankees who are, to say the least, struggling to stay out of the basement.

After the Yankees, they return home to play two games against the Giants from the National League. Traditionally, the American League team will win when playing a National League team in their home park.

Once that's over, they have four games against the Twins. Now I don't want to say anything bad about the Twins but based on this seasons performance, I once coached a group of 10-11 year old kids who could beat the Twins.

Then it's three against the Tigers who are having a pretty damned good season and are going to be tough but the Red Sox should be able to take at least 2 of the 3 games.

I'm hoping that they kick ass and go on a 10 or 12 game winning streak. Unfortunately, the Orioles have a fairly easy 12 game stretch ahead of them as well so jumping into the lead will be tough.

But none of that is important.

What is important is that now I need to find something to watch on TV in the evenings.

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You should click on these:

• Australia: It's nothing at all like where we live.



• Key phrase in this story: "...it works like a charm."



• Key phrase in this story: "...and that is when I heard a loud popping noise."



• Attention drug runners: If you're gonna pack your luggage with a bunch of cocaine, you should probably not throw a hissyfit  if your flight is delayed.

So much for the heat and humidity.

My kind of day today - no heat and little or no humidity. And to top it off, we had some much needed rain rain this morning.

And for the record, I'd like to see some more rain today or tomorrow because my lawn is dead, dead, dead...

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The Red Sox managed to win today and both the Orioles and the Blue Jays lost. This put the Red Sox back into a ties for second place with the Blue Jays and only 2 games behind the first place Orioles.

They acquired some new players over the last two days but they lost two to injuries. Craig Kimbrel, their closer, tore a muscle in his knee and then Brock Holt severely strained his ankle sliding into second.

Hopefully they can keep on winning.

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Try these links out:

• There has got to be a better way to get into Switzerland.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "11:20 a.m. A Lost Creek Drive resident called in to report a runaway goat."



• Some celebrities are less pretentious than others.

Keep your head on a swivel, wear your vest and watch each others backs

Less than 24 hours after Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota made unfounded & prejudicial statements regarding the shooting death of Philando Castile and less than 16 hours after President Barack Obama said, "...there’s a big chunk of our citizenry that feels as if, because of the color of their skin, they are not being treated the same, and that hurts, and that should trouble all of us", someone decided to take matters into their own hands and started executing police officers that were working an extra detail at a planned protest.

To the Governor of Minnesota I say, "You sir were wrong to say what you said. What you should have said was, 'There will be a thorough and fair investigation into the death of Mr. Castile' and then shut your mouth, you moron.

To the President of the United States I say, "You sir continue to be wrong when you prejudicially lump every incident of a black man being shot by police into a statement claiming this is all because of a culture of racism within the police community. It's not all because of racism you prejudicial bastard so shut your effin' mouth."

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On Tuesday, I spent $2.00 and bought two quick picks for the MegaMillions drawing. I woke up on Wednesday morning to find didn't get a single number.

Today, I spent zero dollars and bought no quick picks for the MegaMillions. I can tell you even before tonight's drawing that I will not get a single number.

And I saved $2.00

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There is baseball this evening so I gotta go watch it.

You should click on these and then go do something fun:

• This guy is lucky he didn't get shot.



• Only in New York City.
  (Waring, the webpage is created by idiots who think autoplaying video is fun!)



• Key phrase in this story: "There was no way I was going to let my dog burn to death."

We beat the storms

I got to the airport at 1:30 this afternoon and my instructor and I chatted a bit about the weather. I gave him all the details I had and said I thought we could make the trip out to Nashua and back at 3,500.

We agreed to try it at 5,500 with the idea that if we saw clouds at or below our altitude, we would drop down to 3,500.

We departed Northampton, contacted Bradley departure and started our climb to 5,500. We crossed the western arm of Quabbin reservoir at about 4,000 and reached 5,500 by the time we crossed the eastern arm. Bradley passed us off to Boston center and we continued on our merry way.

As we were approaching Gardner, there was a wall of clouds that went below our altitude so we started down to 3,500. Even at 3,500 we still passed through a cloud. That was, to say the least, an interesting experience for me. There is no vision out the windows at all and I had to pay attention to my attitude, my altitude and my air speed using only the instruments.

Once we passed through the cloud wall, we had about 6 miles visibility. Boston center passed us off to Boston Logan and they indicated we had some unidentified traffic about 6 miles to our 1:00 at our altitude. This made us a little nervous because "unidentified" usually means someone that is out of contact with the air traffic controllers and our limited visibility made it difficult at best to see anything.

We eventually spotted him. At first I though it was a bird because it was flipping around but as we got closer, we saw it was someone doing acrobatics. I changed course to steer well clear of him, we thanked Boston and they handed us off to Nashua.

We did one touch & go in Nashua and headed back to Northampton. The trip home was a little slower because of the headwind but it was far less eventful until we got to Northampton. As we crossed Quabbin and spotted UMass, we also spotted a line of thunderstorms heading towards the airport. I told John that I was going to nail the landing because there was no time for a go around. He thought that was a great idea.

As promised, I nailed the landing, we taxied to the parking area, tied down the aircraft and made it inside before the rain hit.

I got to experience several new things today which include flying through a cloud, talking to Boston center, talking to Logan, safely avoiding an aircraft that wasn't communicating and avoiding a thunderstorm.

Next week, we're off to Block Island.

I love this stuff.

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There is no baseball tonight so I'll be watching something else. I'm not sure what but it'll be something else.

While I struggle to find something, anything, of interest on TV tonight, you can visit these links:

• I can understand why she's the ex-girlfriend.



• The plunger made me laugh out loud.

Moving day

I spent a good chunk of my day helping my wife move from her old office to her new one. My wife is the department chair and as such, has a lot of "stuff". We started this move at 2:00 and got home at 7:00.

When it takes four or five hours to move stuff from one office down the hall to another office, that's a lot of stuff.

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I'm going to struggle to stay awake while watching the Red Sox.

You can click on these links while I do that:

• Turns out there is a town in Australia named "Humpty Doo".



• You gotta love dogs.



• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Month.



• Only in Florida.

Interesting day today

My instructor and I had originally scheduled to fly to Nashua, NH today bit cloud cover prevented that. Instead, I did a few more short field/soft field landings & takes off and then did my third supervised solo.

M first solo takeoff went very well and I was pretty happy with it. I made my downwind turn and then my base turn feeling like this was going to be a cakewalk.

I settled into my final approach and all was well until I suddenly got kicked over to the left just as I expected to land. This is a bad thing because instead of settling onto the runway, I was settling onto the grass and into the trees along side the runway. My brain screamed at me, "This is bad! This is very bad" and I keyed the mike to call for a go around. Thanks to my training, I calmly performed the go around by applying throttle and working the aircraft as needed. I managed to execute a perfect go around and re-entered the pattern along with several other aircraft.

M next three landings were perfect and I am very happy with them.

My instructor and a few of the airport staff were pretty pleased with my uninstructed go around and they kept telling me that a go-around is way better than a bent plane.

Bottom line is that my instructor has now signed off on my solo requirements and I can now fly on my own. On my own includes some restrictions about wind speed, direction and hours but I gotta admit that it's kind of cool that I can now jump in a plane and head off into the wild blue yonder whenever I please.

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Enjoy these meager links:

• Parents of the Year.



• You probably shouldn't read this story.

Happy Independence Day

I hope you have a fun day but whatever you do, do not, under any circumstances, use any fireworks or sparklers. You live in Massachusetts and we people from Massachusetts are too stupid and slow to use fireworks or sparklers. Only the people who live in other states are smart enough to know how to use those things.

And remember kids, under no circumstances should you ever create a sparkler bomb. Those things are so dangerous that they will kill you, your family, everyone in your town and everyone related to everyone in your town.

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I have things to do and won't be spending very much time on the interwebs.

July in New England

Instead of being 100° and humid as hell like it normally is at this time of the year, we are enjoying 80° and low humidity.

If this is caused by global warming, I'm all for it.

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The Large Main Dog is terrified of the fireworks and he wants constant assurance from us that the world is not coming to an end.

The Small Emergency Backup Dog thinks the fireworks are interesting for a few minutes but then she could care less about them.

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Here are today's links:

• This evening, my youngest and his "not really my girlfriend" are enjoying a Keene Swamp Bats baseball game. I love the name of that team.



• Key phrase in this story: "...the family now understands why it may have been a bad idea to play with the gun here."



• "Come wit two, leave wit one."

Graduation parties are fun.

We spent the afternoon at at my sister's place celebrating her youngest son's graduation from high school. It's always a good time hanging out with the family and laughing at our childhood.

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It was thirty years ago today.

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I'm going to watch the Red Sox.

While I do that, you can click on these links:

• He was a hell of a man.



• I have a feeling this may be the last we hear of this.



• They can say "no" all they want but the majority have said "yes". That is what we like to call a democracy. If they don't like the democratic process, they should go live in North Korea.



• Well, I guess that answers that question. Now if they can only figure out what to do with Buchholz.

Tornado watches are always fun.

We are under a tornado watch.

I hate being under a tornado watch.

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As much as I would have liked, there was no flying today so I got a few things done that I've been stalling on.

Basically, I am neither an organized or orderly guy so if I tend to put off putting things away. This means my workbench, my garage and my "junk space" are always a mess.

Personally, I don't mind messes but my wife seems to have an aversion to them.

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I found an interesting document online today. It's only twelve pages long, four of which are the cover, the index, a blank page and the acknowledgments page.

The remaining eight pages each consist of one or two paragraphs that give a summary of the makeup of our current House of Representatives and the Senate.

You should read it because it's interesting and enlightening.

If you don't want to read it, let me summarize it for you: We have elected a lot of old white protestant lawyers who spend their days telling us what to do and how to live.

Sounds like a shitty set of leaders to me.

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Here are some links:

• The lynch mob is gathering at the gates of Fenway.



• Chuck E. Cheese in the news.



• Attention men: This is not a good way to meet women.



• He was dressed as a boner.



• Of course they do. No one wants to mate on the porch.