Flying High on My Birthday

When I made the decision to go along with Bonnie to New Mexico it was with the stipulation that I would be back by the weekend of my birthday which was on Sunday October 27. You see Jennifer was planning on spending quality time with me because the last few years we haven’t been together on my birthday. So, I made plans to fly home on Friday, October 25 so that we could do things together on Saturday and Sunday. She even ended up taking off Monday and Tuesday so we had a long weekend together (Which was very nice of her). With my delay we ended up canceling our Saturday plans. But she picked me up at the airport and we were able to spend Saturday evening together enjoying each other’s company. We awoke Sunday morning to a sunny but cool day looking forward to our ride to Watertown, to go flying with Paul. When I was much younger before I got married and had kids. I had acquired my private pilot’s license. In the first few years of our marriage Sonia and I truly enjoy flying whenever we could. But it’s been many years since I was behind controls of the plane, and I was looking forward to the ride along. Paul’s parents had given Jennifer and him an introduction to flying lessons as a Christmas present last year. They had been waiting for the right time to use them. They thought now was the ideal time to use them, I was glad they invited me along. Here Jennifer is in the pilot seat getting pointers from the instructor.

Here we are starting down the runway.

And soon we were airborne, getting all the views of the city of Watertown, Wisconsin.

Even though the instructor did the actual taking off and landing, Jennifer took the controls most of the trip. Here he is guiding her into another turn. She did very well and it was fun sharing this experience with her. It brought back lots of memories, of when me and her mother used to go out for afternoon flights. Even though Sonia never got her pilots license, there were many times she took the controls and did a wonderful job, just like her daughter Jennifer. After our flight I got to meet Paul’s parents (who live in Watertown) for the first time. Even though Paul and Jennifer have been significant others for several years. I had never connected up with his parents. We went out for lunch and had a fun time, sharing memories with the kids and getting to know each other (sorry no photos of us together). After spending a pleasant afternoon together, we said our goodbyes to everyone and Jennifer and I headed back to Green Lake to spend the evening with our friends Patty and Steve. It was a fun birthday and I truly enjoyed the quality time with Jennifer and our friends and the chance to meet Paul’s family. Even though it was not a lot of excitement or anything, the little things are the ones that seem the most important. Jennifer had requested that I teach her how to make my chicken dumpling soup. On like her sister Crystal, Jennifer has never really showed much interest in cooking and was actually quite a picky eater as a young child. But over the last few years she’s been doing a lot more cooking and has becoming quite good at it. It makes me proud that she’s willing to learn and is wanting to learn to become a better cook. So, Monday we set the day aside to do some cooking and share memories, which was a lot of fun. One other thing that happened while I was gone the week to New Mexico, was towards the end of the week Maxine had got an attitude. And one day decided to destroy part of the RV. My friend Steve had called me and was very concerned and upset when he found the damage she had done, but I told him not to worry it certainly wasn’t his fault. Over the last year, there were several times that when Maxine was left in the trailer by yourself, and I was outside nearby doing something that she would wreck the screen on the screen door and would come out to join me. This was always an easy and inexpensive fixed, just putting in a new piece of screen. I think with her older age she is starting to get separation anxiety, especially with me leaving her with friends, as much as I have over the last year. It’s hard to explain to a pet that you love them and you will come back for them, (they just miss you a lot). So as soon as I got home, I started working on doing the repairs. Steve and Jennifer help me as they could. It took several days to accomplish the repairs because you had to wait for things to dry and cure before you could move on to the next step. Here’s a series of the photos of the damage she did and the repairs that I made. She scratched and chewed on the doorframe of the screen door.

She even chewed on the plastic on the outer door taking out a chunk, this was the most time-consuming part the repair.

She chewed on a little part of the trim by the bathroom door. I was able to just glue this back down and touch it up.

In the back bedroom the trim that goes around the Windows she tore up the upholstery and ripped the foam all up. Here’s a photo of the other window the way this one look before she did her number.

Here is what she managed to accomplish in just a very short period of time, pretty darn destructive.

Steve help me make some new Oak trim pieces that I think look better than the upholstered strips. He did a wonderful job as always, he’s quite the cabinetmaker. After several coats of varnish, I installing them. Replacing both sets on the bedroom windows, they look wonderful. I think they’re better than the original.

On the front door I put in a new screen, and also put a decorative grill on the door to hopefully keep her from wrecking the screen again. This is been working great so far.

Plus, I was able to use a fiberglass repairs kit and fixed up the plastic. Painted the whole door, it looks better than it has in years.

So now she can look out but she won’t be able to get through the screen, hopefully this’ll keep her from wrecking it again. Here she is looking out at me with a sad face.

Who could stay mad very long with this sweet face? After all she is just like having a significant other or children, they don’t always please you but you always love them. The other thing that happened is Tuesday morning we woke up to our first snowfall. I knew I was hanging around Wisconsin a little too long “LOL”. It was quite beautiful as you can see from these photos. But I really don’t want to deal with it, especially driving in it anymore, if I don’t have to. The snow did not stick to the roads at all because they were still too warm and we knew it would melt fairly fast. Jennifer had to head back home on Tuesday afternoon. Most of the snow melted by late afternoon and I started making plans to pack up and head south. We said our goodbyes and Jennifer went home with a pot full of soup to share with Paul. It was a wonderful weekend and I’m glad I stayed and got to see a little snow, before I headed south. That’s it for this time more about my journey to Georgia in my next post, till next time “Safe Travels”, Rick

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