Sun, April 5 — In at 8:10 and had a VERY BUSY, productive day. Phot’d a Cessna Caravan, Citation Encore and V Bonanza. BUSY BUSY with visitors. Departed for dinner at home at 8:30. Very happy with this Easter!
Mon, April 6 — In at 9:05. Anxious morning, up later than hoped, took eye drops between visits to computer that was ultra slow getting to email and Facebook, waiting at least a minute between each of the four medicines to go to the right eye. I’m done treating the left eye. Then three prescription pills. Half way to airport, realized I’d forgotten the two eye drops I have to take this afternoon. I’ll take them twice tonight and go to bed later than usual to space them out. Phot’d two Air Tractors on the ramp, including one that is not yellow and has seen some flying. Decided I WILL NOT come to airport in mornings of good weather when I can work in my yards from say 8:30 to 10:30 and then go to work at employer at 11:00 thanks to too much to do with the rest of my life. I will reserve all evenings after employer when I don’t have meetings and all Saturdays and Sundays when I’m not out of town for the airport. Before leaving for employer, decided to come to AKM early and leave for home while there’s still some daylight for outdoor activities. Morning is when the action is at the airport and I REALLY need to be here for that. Felt HORRIBLE at work all day, depressed, disappointed. Almost nothing in my checking account. Back to AKM. Logged recent checks. Added a quart of oil to the truck, and went home at 6:30 to spend half an hour at least raking leaves in the front yard rain threatens and darkness comes.
Tue, April 7 — In at 8 after voting in city election. Very foggy everywhere. Feeling slightly more positive today after chatting with election judge friends. Worked on JTW log; transcribed two more pages by 9:15. Worked on pic transfers to CD. Work was fine. I’m stapling or taping copied pages to the articles they belong to, a tedious task; also setting those to be dated and cut into smaller scraps and clips for future action. Back at AKM, worked on digital photo moving. MAJOR TEDIOUS. Went home via grocer at 7, okay with the day but tired.
Wed, April 8 — In at 7:30. Overcast and calm, rain in the vicinity. Processed digital pics that have been accumulating for the last two years onto DVDs, slow, precise work , and adding registration numbers and picture by type counts to a separate Word file. It involves renaming pictures from early file IDs to the permanent IDs. Takes a while, but it needs to be done.
Thu, April 9 — Up since 3 a and into AKM at 7:50 after major rain all night. Relatively calm on arrival, but more is fore cast later today. Updated finances info. More tedium. Work was okay, more taping and stapling culled articles together. The bill for all the copying I paid was $87. That’s a LOT of copies. Back to AKM and processed digital pics to DVDs until 6:30 and left for grocer and home.
Fri, April 10 — In at 8:45, calm, chilly and sunny. Worked on digital photos and had a long visit with a Citation pilot who flies for HiVee Supermarkets; showed him my HyVee Savers Card. Work was okay, FINISHED taping and stapling culled articles together. Paid for the last of the copies I made. Arranged interview with key person for next Business Journal article.
Sat, April 11 — Rode with John S and Brian S to IPA state meeting and took a bunch of pics there and at Parkland College’s (formerly UofI’s) flight school aircraft. To AKM after that, took pics of two visiting Beech T-1A Jayhawks . Processed a few pics and went hoe at 7:07. GREAT DAY!
Sun, April 12 — In at 8:15, cool, calm, overcast. Phot’d a Conquest and homebuilt on the ramp, put things away from Friday’s model club meeting, processed pics from Saturday. Phot’d a UC-35, CH-47 and a Zenith Zodiak 650. Processed pictures all day. Hands chilly, but I lived. Went home at 7, satisfied with the day.
Mon, April 13 — In at 8:50 after visiting the downtown bank to see about two checks the bank paid for $30 each. Threatening rain and calm. Just the Conquest II on the ramp. Worked on JT Walker pilot’s log until going to employer. Leaving, went back to office to take a few pics of a visiting Global Express. Proofread American Aviation Historical Society Journal articles and worked on aviation scraps at work. Back at AKM phot’d a PC-12 and later met pilot who showed me the airplane and toured the whole upstairs. It’s really a mess up there! I need to MAKE time to straighten it up but I have so much to do everywhere else! And my yards really need to be raked and lawns cut for first time this year! Went home tired at 8:10. Salad for dinner. Slept fine.
Tue, April 14 — In at 7:50, calm but threatening rain. Worked on JT Walker log for an hour and a half. Phot’d an Extra 300L departing the ramp. Dated and removed significant scraps from pages at employer. Interviewed Steve Y for SBJ article after work and arrived at Horizon about 6 and phot’d a Falcon 2000. Posted a few at Fb before departing at 8 for home via grocer.
Wed, April 15 — In at 8:55 and phot’d the Falcon 2000S in morning light. Tried to reach airport director for brief interview. Worked on SBJ story. Worked on article scraps at work and left at 2:30 for eye doctor. Waited in waiting room from 2;45 to 4:40 before he was ready to see me. Mine was the last vehicle in the patient parking lot when I left at 5:05, STILL with no glasses, dang it! Totally bummed out by the long waiting! Had planned to rake leaves in front yard but didn’t. Just ate dinner, napped and went to bed after an hour on Facebook.
Thu, April 16 — In at 7:45, calm and overcast. Phot’d a 1958 Cessna 172 on ramp. Worked on SBJ story. Sent it in at 11:50. Dated and snipped scraps at work. Back at 5:20 and phot’d a CH-47 with spray rig attached and posted on Fb. Departed for grocer and home at 6:40.
Fri, April 17 — In at 7 am, calm and sunny. Phot’d the CH-47, a Malibu Mirage and PC-12 in new morning sun rising light. It took FOUR HOURS last night (after I finished raking all last year’s leaves out of the front yard) to order new cell phone service e-chatting with a sales rep who talked me through the process of setting it up.) Departed at 7:20 to phot the Division of Aeronautics Chicago shuttle departure through the fence. Good start to the day. Work was fine: more scraps processing. Back at SPI, phot’d a visiting Eclipse 550 and went home to mow my front yard at 7:25.
Sat, April 18 — In at 7:05 calm and clear. Picked up and put away in the Welcome Room. Most of the day until I departed for a book signing event at Vachel Lindsay’s house was spent processing CH-47 pictures taken the day before. I had taken more than 60 pictures of that bird, and I almost fell asleep processing them. Discovered — to my profound dismay — that my trip to Creve Coeur Camera on the south side of town did not result in a cleaner camera and lens! Damn! I tried my camera with a smaller lens, and found the SAME DIRT. Must revisit Creve Coeur Camera and have them try again. The book signing went great. I did not return to AKM. Went home, took a nap, awoke, had dinner and didn’t go back to bed until 3:00 am.
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Abe Lincoln's Air Force 