Where did the time go?

This morning's snowfall brought me up sharp with the thought that its WINTERY...not the summer of the SO recent thoughts and the Oh SO too busy life.

On the slippery commute, interupted by those who cannot seem to drive with a slip of snow and slickness (its NOT dry pavement folks), punctuated by red and blue flashing lights, I had some time to reflect on the whirlwind that the last 8 months have been.

Off time, firewood permits and woodcutting, stacking the little blue S-10 to its capacity with firewood, cut off the slash piles, unloaded and stacked for splitting down to stove size later.

Turkey hunting on a friend's ground and very successfully to boot! Some time in the hills with a rifle, around trips to the Land of the Rising Sun, but no deer to fill the freezer with.

 The occasional peek into the woods that soothe my soul and refresh my mind.  Even ONE trip out on the water...very short trip...mostly spent playing tug boat captain with my old boat for another boaters broken boat.

All of those things rammed into and around an incredibly heavy, every expanding workload...hiring 5 folks wasn't enough, 15 more followed and STILL the workload climbs past capacity.  As it turns out...various minor models are NOT Red, Blue and Green Legos...and do NOT fit together that way.  Integration is the watchword, the curse and the muttered password, said with rolling eyes.

My boys and I spent the last few evenings checking out the trucks and preparing them for the forecast foul weather...shovels, tire chains, flashlights, gloves (axes, chainsaws, ropes, logging chains, peavy and safety gear in mine) sandbags and raingear.  Its seldom that we cannot get where we need to go, in spite of the conditions of the roads and other drivers.

Ah well... such is life, today will pass, safely one hopes and tomorrow will come.

Sometimes

Sitting at my desk on Sunday grinding on mandatory training, not neglected, just not made high enough priority to shoehorn into incredibly BUSY days. Thinking of all the places I would RATHER be today...Woods, Lakes, Rivers, Mountains....just about ANYWHERE but a desk.

Yesterday I was here as well, listening to the growl of radials and the snarl of big V-12s powering the warbirds up and out of the pattern to come around and then thundering down over the crowds. Saturday was General Aviation Day at the local airport, leavened with a large dose of the wonders from a bygone era. One of the local successful folks has a flying collection of the wonders of those days, mostly in flying condition unless the parts to return them to the skies are made of Unobtainium or are just too difficult to handle and too dangerous for Modern Sensibilities. Fah.

After work I went over to the source of the beautiful sounds, just as the doors were closing, shutting away the sleek lines and unbridled power. I'll have to get over there next weekend when some of the others will be flying, along with some visitors.

Thinking back to the travels of late, I was AT the site of the birth of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries A6M Zero, an unassuming concrete clock tower, now the site of the MRJ and the MHI portion of the Boeing 787. This shot was one sunny evening, just before the sun fled below the hills across the bay. The light was surreal and crisp enough to stop and take a minute to appreciate it.

Now where factories stood making the nimble aircraft, while the B-29s tried to remove that capacity, a new generation of aircraft takes shape. Maybe its irony that the same Boeing that designed the B-29 to reach the Empire of Japan, now works with the same companies it built bombers to destroy in order to further the reaches of aviation.

That minute nearly cost me the walk to the main station instead of the spur train, but with a steady jog I made it just as the bell for the doors rang. In Japan, when the doors close, the train GOES. The walk is not a bad one and until recently it was leavened by the glow of a beer machine on the corner near the station. The demise of the beer machine is all the more reason to jog to the spur train.

Back to my training so I can get OUT of here and go see the marvels of a by-gone era...

Evening's sights

After spending the afternoon doing stuff and things, visiting with a friend and partaking of a slice of fresh pumpkin pie...I headed out of most of "civilization" and into the woods. I took off into the back of a section I have the forester's permission to hunt. It backs onto a small cornfield on one edge and some 3rd forest reprod on the other... with one state park closing the back and a highway on the other edge. For all that its almost medieval once inside, ~50 year old forest that has been maintained, thinned and pruned, almost like a European one in some ways. I walked in a ways on the road, the plot is about 2.5 miles deep and a mile wide from the state highway, after parking out of sight of the highway. There was a small opening on the side near the cornfield with signs of a great deal of traffic into and out of the small bit of standing corn where it was too muddy to harvest. Finding a comfortable tree that was still within muzzleloader range of the trail and the standing corn I sat down for a wait until evening.

Not to be, the first deer appeared about 5 minutes AFTER shooting light, I had set tight through the end of light after hearing something moving in the woods off to the left of the opening. A doe and a yearling entered the gap first followed by a 3x3 buck and another doe, nice to watch even if I couldnt shoot. After watching them into REAL darkness, I roused myself, switched on the headlamp and headed back to the truck.

Even though I didnt fire a shot, it was nice to rest in the peace and quiet of the woods. It is something that recharges me and is calming.

Home again to make some breakfast for dinner, sausage, eggs and toast.
A good end to a great evening.