Turtle Saved

I was looking forward today as I was taking up a friend for a flight this morning.  I headed out to the airport just after 8:00.  I was almost there when I had to stop, turn around, stop my car in the middle of the road with my hazards on.  There was a fairly large snapping turtle in the middle of the road. Anyone who knows me knows that I can’t even hurt a fly, so it was just a natural reflex to stop my car in the middle of the road to block traffic.  Here’s a shot of Lloyd the Turtle as I bent down to pick him up:

He was a rather big dude with a whole lot of pond slime hanging off him.  As I bent down to pick him up (to save his life) the large cube van behind me passed my car on the left and came within a couple feet of my head.  Gee, how impressive!  Another jerk laid on his horn and gave me the finger while he passed my car.  At this point, I had the large snapping turtle in my hands.  I was totally shocked.  I’ve know for quite some time that humanity is pretty messed up, but seriously!?!  You would have had to wait less than a minute for me to cross the street, put the turtle down, get back in my car and drive away.  No, you’re way too big and important for that!  He’s the type that probably would have swerved to hit the turtle if he saw him crossing the road.  Jerk.

Despite the losers that have to get to where they’re going to do nothing as quickly as possible, I was still able to save little Lloyd.  Here he is after I set him down in a field across the road:

I told him that it was a pleasure doing business with him and that I’m glad I was there to save his life.  His response:

Dude was either ticked off beyond belief or screaming words of gratitude!  I shall never know.

So, I get to the airport, do the walk-around of my adorable plane, and my passenger arrives.  She has taken flying lessons in the past but has not been up for quite some time.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the most clear day for a sight-seeing flight.  We headed over Niagara Falls, a slow flight back toward downtown St. Catharines, then we did a few aerobatic maneuvers.  She seemed to have a great time!  She took this shot of my wonderful plane (and his goofy owner):

Going for a flight is such a great way to start the day!  Mind you, for the second day in a row, I was woken up before 6:00am from dozens of screaming seagulls.  Why, you ask?  I live next to Community Care, which I have nothing but the upmost respect for.  I have made a couple donations of noms over the last two years.  Anyway, they must have received a donation of bread, which went stale.  Since they are into giving, they decided to give the stale bread to the birds.  There were tons of rolls and loaves of bread, thrown about their parking lot, which is right next to my apartment building.  Here’s what it looked like:

Yea, that’s a lot of bread.  Who likes bread? Seagulls!  For the last two mornings, the seagulls have been dining on said bread.  Why do you have to scream when you eat?  Whatever.  I decided to let Community Care know, in a very nice way, what our apartment building has been listening to for the last couple of days.  Last night, once it was dark, I wandered over to their office and stuck this note to their door:

The next morning when I went outside, the note was still on the door.  After my flight, I drove to my apartment to drop off my car before walking to work.  I was shocked when I looked out into their parking lot and noticed all of the bread was gone.  When I walked by the office, my letter was also gone.  Success!  If you see any grossly obese seagulls in St. Catharines, you now know why.

Just after noon today, I met up with my friend and we went out to lunch at a nearby sushi place.  It was so nice to see her and get caught up.  Good company, good natter, and good noms!  Even Donkey enjoyed the crab rolls:

What a great day!

Today’s symptoms:  I’m happy to say there’s not too much to report!  My skin is still slightly over-sensitive, but it’s getting better each day.  I’m pooped out, but it’s been a long but fun day – somewhat draining for a little MS personage like myself.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/28/2012 6:14 PM

Breakfast in London

I got up bright and early this morning so I could head to the airport and fly to London.  The clouds were high and the wind calm – perfect for a leisurely flight.  I flew directly over the Hamilton Airport, which was quite busy today:

Once I was just beyond Hamilton, I noticed that I was going to arrive in London much sooner than our scheduled 10:00 time.  I slowed down quite a bit, which helped a little.  I texted my friend when I was about fifteen minutes away.  I came into London so slow, the tower probably thought I was a glider:

Flying into London is so scenic:

After landing, I visited the little pilot’s room, then took a seat in the restaurant.  My friend arrive a couple minutes after I sat down.  We had a really nice visit, with yum-o food:

I wasn’t able to eat my toast and I considered bringing my tomato to Mike at the Flying Club, since he really enjoy the two tomatoes I gave him last week.  As you can see, Donkey was reunited with my friend, as he was with me in Ottawa for the training.

After chatting and eating, we headed outside so I could introduce her to Vyctor.  He’s so cute:

Back in the saddle to head back to St. Catharines.

Here we are after doing a loop:

Moo:

Landing (with the help of Donkey) in St. Catharines:

While I was in the air, I called Rapid City Cycle here in St. Catharines and asked them if I could bring my folding bike in, as the tire is flat.  I had a friend come over yesterday and apply a patch, but it was flat again when I got home.  So, I loaded up my bike in Lola Corolla and drove a few blocks away to the bike shop.  Poor bike with his rear tire amputated:

They replaced the tube – very quickly and for a pretty good price!  The guy who did the work took it for a test drive around the store.  I laughed at him, since everyone always laughs at me when I ride it.

Today’s symptoms: Feeling great!  I’m a tad pooped after my flight today, but I’m always tired after I fly.  Still having the super-sensitive skin.  When this symptom flares up, it usually lasts for at least a few days, and sometime a couple weeks.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/26/2012 5:48 PM

Kitty Flop

I haven’t been enjoying this heat we’ve been having.  Like most people with MS, I have a heat intolerance.  On a bright note, the kitties sure have been enjoying it!  I only let them out on the balcony after 5:00, once the sun isn’t as intense.  Pinky strikes this pose within about 30 seconds of walking outside:

What a goober.

I got my friend this snail for her garden.  I always tell her about when I stop to pick the snails up off the sidewalk and put them in the grass, while I’m walking to work.  Thought she could be inspired by my good deeds when she looks at her new ornament:

I think rather than be inspired, she’s more convinced what a complete nut-job I am.  Oh well, she picked me as a friend!

Had a nice day at work.  I got a lot done in the morning, then headed down to Fort Erie to pick up a computer from a teleworker in the afternoon.  It was nice to see him as he isn’t able to come int0 the office too often.  I will be going back there on Tuesday with his new computer and to train him on Windows 7 and Office 2010.  The traffic down that way was much more heavy than normal – must be due to the US long weekend coming up.

I should have some nice pics for tomorrow’s blog.  I’m flying down to London, Ontario to meet up with a friend from the training I just took in Ottawa.  I haven’t flown into London for a few years.  Should take about an hour.  I’m planning on landing just before 10:00 to meet up with her.  We’re going to have breakkies at the restaurant at the airport – the Katana Cafe and Grill.  Of course, Donkey will be joining me, since he was with me during the training in Ottawa.  Boo won’t be joining us though – I don’t have a headset big enough for her massive ears:

Today’s symptoms: My energy level was actually decent!  It’s been pretty bad all week due to a bladder infection.  The only symptom I had today was the skin on my right upper arm and left thigh was super sensitive.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/25/2012 6:44 PM

I Can’t Stop Flying!

The weather has been amazing and I’ve flown each of the last three days.  Yesterday, I took up a woman my friend from work donated her flight to.  She won it when I drew her name from the MS pledges.  When I saw it was her name, I was quite certain she would not want to go up.  So, she gave the flight to the mother of her neighbour.  We met at the airport just before 9:00.  She loved the flight!  We headed over Niagara Falls, then over her house on the East border of Welland.  She said she would love to go again sometime.  I’ll have to tell my friend at work who gave up the flight that she missed a great time!

After my flight, I drove over to Lil’ Jan’s for our weekly visit.  After I got back home, I did my daily exercises (about an hour on my exercise bike) then chilled out for the rest of the evening.  I was hoping to go flying again, just around Niagara to check out the Victoria Day fireworks.  Unfortunately, I was too pooped.  I instead made myself this gourmet grilled cheese sandwich and watched the fireworks from my apartment:

I don’t have  a toaster oven and didn’t feel like dirtying a frying pan, so turning my toaster on its side seemed to do the trick!

I’m almost glad I didn’t fly over the festivities last night, as there were no big firework shows, just small ones:

Yet another perfect day today so just after lunch, I headed back to the airport for the third day in a row.  My mother and I realized that she didn’t get her two tomatoes she bought yesterday, as they rolled out of the bag in my trunk.  I don’t eat tomatoes so decided I would either have to drive them out to her house or donate to someone.  I chose option two.  Mike at the Flying Club was unbelievably ecstatic when I gave him this wonderful gift:

Yup, his life is now complete.

After making Mike’s dreams come true with the tomatoes, I cranked up my plane and headed over my mother’s house.  I gave her a call and she wandered out to her driveway for a photo op:

After a tour of Fonthill, I headed out to the Lake Erie shoreline, to see how many folks were out, enjoying the nice weather:

I’m really relieved I didn’t inadvertently fly over a nudest beach…

Hi, dudes:

Almost out to Fort Erie, the beaches were still pretty packed:

Again everyone, I would just like to thank you for not being naked!

Today’s symptoms: Feeling great!  I’m sure if I went for a flight last night, I would be very fatigued today.  Glad I listened to my bod when it said “Ok, you’re done for the day!”  I should really do that more often…

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/21/2012 4:00 PM

Dead Stick

What an awesome day!  When I went up with my flight instructor a few days ago, I introduced him to his first full-out aerobatic flight.  Well, as full-out as you can get in an Aerobat!  He loved it!  He couldn’t believe that shy little me turned out to be a fan of aerobatics.  He was able to return the favour by showing me what it’s like to shut off the engine during flight.  It was amazing.  The plane descended only about 600 feet per minute.  It was a very gentle glide for less than 1500 feet.  It was a great experience and an amazing lesson.  We did this twice while overhead the airport, and the plane started with no problems both times. 

This morning, I decided to take advantage of the great weather and headed out to the airport again. I headed over Jan’s house and tried to get a picture of her washing her car.  I had a hard time getting her in the picture, but I think you can see her waving at me in this one, just behind the trees:

Isn’t she cute?  So smiley.

After snapping this joyous pic, I headed over to Port Colborne, then East along the Lake Erie shoreline.  There were plenty of folks out boating today.

A couple of boaters waved their paddles at me while I flew over so I rocked my wings back at them.

When I came back to land, I decided to do a couple touch and goes.  Then I decided to put my newly learned “skill” of shutting off the engine and turning it back on to use.  After a couple of normal touch and goes, I did four or five dead stick landings.  I shut the engine down on the downwind leg of the circuit.  The propeller looked a little something like this:

And here’s the runway:

If you go to my videos page, the first video on the list is the engine shutting down and the dead stick landing.  They all went very well and it was a great experience!

I think after I got back home today, I could have really used a drink of this wonderful new vodka I found.  There aren’t too many things I love more than cake.  Look, now I can have my cake and drink it too!

Notice little Pinky sitting outside in the upper left hand corner of the shot.  Goober.

Today’s symptoms: Feeling so much better today than I did yesterday.  At work on Friday, I could hardly stay awake!  I couldn’t believe I made it through till then end of my work day.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/19/2012 1:42 PM

Sky High

I love the people I work with.  I made oatmeal the other day and a guy who sits a few pods down from me came over and said it smelled like a chocolate bar.  He said it was the one with the spongy stuff in the centre.  I said “Crunchie?”   He said he didn’t think so.  I Googled it on my iPhone and showed it to him.  To make up for his wrongness, he picked me up a Crunchie while on his break:

That’s his Donkey, by the way.  As I mentioned in earlier blogs, I took him away due to Donkey neglect.

Needless to say, he’s much happier now:

On the same day as the Crunchie event, I had to take little Abby to the vet for her second B12 injection.  While waiting for the vet, one of the assistants helped to clean her ears, which she wasn’t too happy about.  I was though, as it’s never fun to do it myself:

Poor little dirty earred goober!

I took the day off yesterday and in the morning, met up with a pilot friend for a coffee.  We fed this little fella some donut crumbs, when he hopped onto the table:

So cute!

After our visit, I went over to Fitness Niagara to check out their exercise bikes.  I have a recumbent bike I bought a few years ago and also picked up an upright at an auction last year.  The upright no longer has any tension and the console rarely works.  I figured since I exercise for about an hour almost every day (alternate from the recumbent to upright) that I might as well purchase a good one as a replacement.  Actually, the price wasn’t too bad and I paid a little extra for them to assemble and deliver it to my apartment.  Looking forward to trying it out on Thursday.

Despite taking vacation yesterday, I took a couple hours this morning too (such a rebel!)  I took up one of the musicians who performed at the Marcel Dionne MS fundraiser last month.  He was gung ho to try aerobatics, so we did a few manoeuvers before heading over Niagara Falls.  We did some more aerobatics once back at the airport, then in for a landing.  He really loved the flight – or at least he said he did!

Some dude wandering by was nice enough to take our picture together.

Today’s symptoms: Felt great until about 2:00 this afternoon, then I crashed.  I think it was just because of the RAA meeting last night, plus the exciting flight today.  Well worth it though!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/15/2012 6:28 PM

Breakfast In Tillsonburg

I phoned up my mother just after 8:00 this morning and asked if she wanted to join me on a flight to Tillsonburg for breakfast.  After reassuring her about 17,000 times that it wasn’t very windy out, she said she would go and met me at my apartment.

Since the weather was nice, the Air Cadets were out in their gliders.  We also had the pleasure of seeing a Canadian-Forces De-Havilland:

They picked up some more folks and took off just before we did:

We tried to catch up to it, but were slightly out-powered.

This was Jan’s first flight to Tillsonburg.  We tried to go during our last flight but I radioed the terminal and was told the restaurant wasn’t open yet.  As we descended, it started to get a little bumpy, which Jan has no tolerance for.  I think I entered the circuit at about 120 mph.  I was glad to be down, knowing my wussy mother was getting stressed.  You can see a couple yellow Harvards in the distance:

While we were eating, astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason was just landing in his Pitts after doing some aerobatics.  He recognized me when he walked into the restaurant.  You know you’ve made it in life when you’re recognized by an astronaut!  Tee hee!  I introduced him to Lil’ Jan and we chatted for a bit.  He was a guest speaker at one of our Recreational Aircraft Association meetings, back when I just joined about four years ago.  It was one of the best meetings ever.

Here’s a shot of one of the Harvards coming back to the ramp:

After Jan and I finished our yummy breakfast of French toast and home fries, we headed back to St. Catharines.  She loves the water so on the way back, I headed south and then east along the Lake Erie shoreline.  Jan snapped a few pics on the way.  I think this one is either a covered tobacco or ginseng farm:

This is Port Dover.  I hardly recognized it without the thousands of bikers normally there when I fly over on Friday the 13th:

It was a really nice flight and Jan was impressed with the airport and restaurant.  Just like at St. Catharines, they have an aviation fuel loyalty discount program – kinda nice to get a little break with the rising costs!

Today’s symptoms:  Felt great all morning and into the early afternoon!  Lots o’ energy and no real symptoms.  Mind you, I think I did too much today.  After the flight, I came home and spent almost four hours cleaning my carpets.  A wee bit pooped and achy now. 

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/12/2012 7:25 PM

Creepy Kitty

So far it’s been a very productive work week.  I’m getting tons done at my job and am back to being as caught up as I was before heading to Ottawa. 

They had an Emergency Awareness thing going on at the Market, which is right next to my office.  My friend and I wandered through and I snapped a few pics:

Tons of people were there, which was great to see.

As per Z101′s website:  Z101’s Chris Barnatt will be surviving at Market Square in downtown St. Catharines as if a REAL disaster has happened from May 6^th– May 9^th. On May 9^th join the Emergency Preparedness Awareness Event from 10am-2pm at Market Square.

Guess he’ll be camping out there for a few days.

After work today, I headed over to the PEN Centre for some Mother’s Day shopping.  On the way there, I passed a “hoarder” car that I’ve seen around town quite a few times:

The front passenger seat looks the same plus you can see in the pic the HUGE break in the windshield.  Ugh!

After getting all of my mother’s well-deserved pressies, I went over to a mental health fair and seminar at a nearby high school.  Now that I’m a referral agent for people at work when they need to speak to someone for support outside of work, I decided to go and pick up a slew of handouts and make connections.  Good thing I brought a bag with me because there is no way I could have carried everything I grabbed.

Once I got home, I decided to de-stink.  Have you ever been in the shower and had the eerie feeling that you were being watched?  Well, it happened to me yet again tonight – it was more than just a feeling:

Yup, that’s what Boo typically does while I’m showering – pervert.

Today’s symptoms:  Felt great today!  Got a little fatigued in the afternoon, but nothing major.  Hope I feel well for my Tysabri infusion tomorrow – yuck!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/9/2012 7:26 PM

Elizabatics x 2

Had a rather busy night on Friday.  Little Abby had a vet appointment for 7:10pm, to get her first B12 injections.  They were a little behind schedule and didn’t get in to see us until almost 7:45.  Abby was quite patient though:

She actually started to fall asleep in my arms at one point.  Before leaving for the vet, I started making a couple batches of fudge for the Air Force Association craft sale on Saturday morning.  Once I returned from the vet, I started packaging the fudge until it struck me that I didn’t make enough.  So, I made a third batch.  I think I finally packaged up all of the ELIZAFUDGE around 10:30pm.

I headed to the Legion in Fonthill just after 8:15 this morning.  I stopped off at Jan’s first and we drove our own cars to the Legion.  After dropping off the fudge, we headed over to the nearby Tim Hortons. We actually stuck around for about an hour and a half, before I had to leave for the airport.

The weather was perfect today, which was great news for both of my passengers for flights today.  I took up my Team Leader’s husband again, as he had such a blast during our last flight.  We went up to 3500 feet over the airport and did a slew of loops, rolls, snap rolls and combos.  Then we went over Niagara Falls to check out the amazing sites.  Silly me, didn’t pull out my camera to take some pics.  Perhaps one of today’s passengers can send me some….hint, hint…..  After a couple circuits over the Falls, we went back to the airport and did some more aerobatics.  He said he wasn’t feeling even remotely sick, so I really let loose with the Elizabatics – that’s when I do a bunch of maneuvers together, kinda like freestyling.  After landing, I picked up my second passenger – my Team Leader’s son.  After climbing up overhead the field, I explained each maneuver I was going to do and what to expect.  He seemed to love it!  We headed over to Niagara Falls as well, then over to my aviation mechanic’s grass strip to do a low and over.  Back to the airport and I let loose with the aerobatics again.  What a blast!  There’s nothing I love more than giving people such a fun and memorable experience.

Soon after I got home from the airport, I realized how physically and mentally draining aerobatics are – I was pooped!  I just did some things around the apartment and chilled with the kitties.

Mya and Abby:

Pinky out sunning:

Boo:

Just received my copy of COPA (Canadian Owners and Pilots Association) magazine.  It was quite nice of them to include this:

Before going up for my first flight this morning, one of the FSS folks in the tower came on the radio and mentioned they saw my pic in COPA and congratulated me on the award.  They’re so nice!

Today’s symptoms:  Almost no symptoms today (wow!) except for typical tiredness (not fatigue) after my flights.  I have my fingers crossed I will feel this good tomorrow.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/5/2012 7:21 PM

Retail Therapy

It’s been a crazy week trying to get caught up on my accounts at work, after being away last week.  Getting there though!

It was my day off today.  I had to go to the States to bring my GoPro camera back.  It stopped working during my last flight.  Fortunately, I just had to mail them (California) the little camera, and not the battery, housing and accessories.  Therefore, it was only $12 to mail (with tracking).  Hopefully it won’t take too long to get back.

Jan joined me today, and we decided to hit TOPS for some groceries.  I think we spent less than $50, but got a few items that aren’t available here.  I also stopped and fueled up Lola Corolla.

As I’ve been a bit down lately (too much going on!) I decided that a little retail therapy might help to pick up my mood.  What do most women buy when they’re feeling down?  No, not shoes – a vacuum!  I’ve had the same Bissell vacuum for about five years now and it works great.  One little problem though – for the last couple of weeks, it’s been emitting this high pitched screaming sound.  Rather annoying and I’m sure not too appreciated by my apartment neighbours.  Since I love to vacuum and do it almost every day, I figured I would splurge and get a really good one.  My life is now complete – I have a Dyson vacuum!

I phoned Future Shop to check their prices and was told they had one on clearance, as it’s a discontinued model.  Saved over $100, plus they threw in an accessory pack with a bunch of different attachments (valued at $100).  When I got it home and took it for a test drive, I was rather disappointed in the suction.  Not nearly as good as I thought it would be.  I fiddled around with it for a while then noticed there was a part on the bottom that wasn’t attached properly.  I snapped the part into place and cranked up the machine again.  Holy cow – I put my hand over the hose and was instantly given a massive hickey!  The suction is amazing – perhaps a little too good as I am now missing a kitty.  Since I vacuum almost every day, I didn’t think I would see too much dirt in the canister.  I was shocked to see how much there was.  I would like to formally apologize to everyone who has ever been in my apartment, apparently overwhelmed with filth and squalor.  It’s clean now!

Since the weather is so nice, I have all of the windows open.  Little Pinkster is just chillin’ in the workout room:

Abby found a sunny spot and struck this pose:

I accidentally left the closet door open and somehow Boo managed to climb into a basket I had up on the shelf.  It’s pulled out for this picture – I honestly have no idea how she managed to get into it:

Little Mya is keeping my pillow warm:

Today’s symptoms:  Still feeling a little weak, probably just too much going on over the last little while.  No noticeable MS symptoms today other than just a few sharp pains in my forearms.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/3/2012 5:23 PM