Beautiful Disaster

Spring is showing up here in Texas.  Yard work has begun.  I already did a little mowing around the house and planted a few new rose bushes.  Another Spring project that is receiving some attention is my garage.  This garage has been on the family property since we bought the place back in the mid-1980's and has stored boats, VW Bugs, and construction materials (for two houses!).  Back in 1991 I fixed up this garage to be my office and workshop while I built my new house.  When I moved in to the finished house in 1999 the garage became my sorting room for my aviation book and magazine collection.  Several good friends have passed on their beloved aviation magazine collections to me.  Did they get the better end of the deal or did I?  This beautiful disaster has been quite the project.  Some days I am excited to go sort and organize in the garage... other days I just want to stick my head in and then go back into the house.  This past year I have worked in short bursts and am finally on the down hill stretch (even though it might not look like it in the picture above!).  The shelves are ready for my collection.  Boxes have been packed up with magazines that will go to happy collectors.  The rarest of the collection will be archived or offered up for sale.  A good number of modern day issues will be sent out for recycle.  I hate to send them away but.... I have to prioritize.  Vintage issues will take the top spots on the shelf.  Tonight I found the airshow program from my first Warbird arishow (Denton, Texas CAF Airshow!) and also found a 1912 Popular Mechanics with some wild looking aircraft inside.  My issues of American Airmen (the AAA/APM publication) has already been sorted and given a spot of the shelf!  As I sort I will post here some of my prized issues.  Well... time to go wash the dust off my hands and set a stack of magazines on the nightstand for viewing later.

Fine Day for Photos

Here in Texas we talk about the weather and how fast it can change.  Snowing one day and a few days later sunny and warm.  A little over a week ago we were blessed with one of those sunny days on a Saturday.  Light winds and clear skies are what most pilots hope for.  When shooting pictures, especially air to air pictures, you REALLY hope for those conditions.  A quick email and a phone call and my friend Rex and I were set up to do a photo mission.  I enlisted my friend Lynn to ride and fly right seat for me while Rex had his son, Russell, ride along to handle the cameras.  We briefed our flight, formation and locations before taking off.  Off into the blue skies we went  Rex was first in his Cherokee.  Then we switched lead and is was 170s turn.  As can be seen in the above shot, Russell did a fantastic job shooting the 170.  An added bonus was a few short video clips.  Looking forward to making a short film of the 170 soon.  Thanks again to Rex and Lynn for flying and Russell (of Seed Studios) for taking the fine shots.  Check out more of the 170 pics here.