Spring greetings!

I'm trying to get some photos in here, but it's not working! So I'll just write and try the pix later. Last weekend was the annual birthday spaghetti extravaganza. Things didn't go quite as I had planned..... I goofed of on Saturday and thought I would do all my cooking and cleaning on Sunday morning. Steve called on Saturday evening and suggested that maybe we should try to get in a few hours on Sunday morning, so I got to Merrill mid-morning, we flew for two hours and I got home at 1:00 P.M., just as Bryn arrived. We headed for Phillips immediately to do the shopping for dinner and I dived into the sauce (figuratively) as soon as we got home. Bryn consented to do some cleaning around the house so it would look nice for her birthday. Hmmm..... Peg got here just after Bryn and I got home, and Rose and Id arrived about 3:15 and we all kind of worked on 'my' famous dinner. Turned out quite nicely and everyone was over-served on the spaghetti, not to mention cake and ice cream. They all left for home around 10:00, just after the start of the big snow storm. I think we ended up with around 8-9 inches by the end of Monday.

I missed one day of work last week due to 24 hour bug syndrome, and so I worked 9 hour days and 4 hours on Saturday to get my 40 hours in. I was going to dive into house cleaning yesterday afternoon, but I somehow ended up snoozing in the recliner for a few hours in the afternoon, and then Russ called to see if there was any way I could make it to their house to play music. Oh, yeah, the Heartbreakers are going back on tour!! Next weekend we are going to play for a benefit for a local family whose son has MS. We'll see about filling the schedule for the summer.... So I went to rehearse and got home Saturday night about 11:00 P.M. Slept late this morning and spent the day doing laundry, washing rugs, doing dishes, ironing shirts for work, sweeping, dust mopping, etc., etc.......

I wish I could say that I'm done with driving to Merrill for flight stuff, but it seems to get worse. Tuesday I start with ground school for sport pilot. It runs from 5:30-9:30 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, four weeks worth..... I still have to get registered with Wiconsin DOT (everyone wants a cut of the action!!!), await the return of my FAA N-numbering process and then an airworthiness inspection can be made. Then all that remains is the FAA written test and a flight test. Somewhere in that mix we'll need to do some weight and balance caluculations, including weighing the plane with three scales to set the wheels on. Also have to finish getting the plane's controls placarded in accordance with FAA regs, install the Emergency Locator Transmitter, and a few other things. Sheesh....

Another project that needs attention is the continuation of this year's taxidermy work. I have the two capes fleshed and tanned and in the freezer. Need to get the antlers mounted to the forms and then put the skin on the form and do the detailing. My hunting buddies are nearly done with their mounts, I'm lagging quite a ways behind. At least the capes will keep O.K. in the freezer.

Other than that, I'm not really very busy this winter. My biggest chore is trying to find something to fill my spare time with ;-)

Still can't get the photo upload to work, I'll try to get them in early in the week, so check back here as I'll just edit this post and insert the photos.

Enjoy the equinox on Monday, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Carlo