Typhoon

The guy flying the 3 kites is in his 80s, and he's from Canada. He comes to the Washington State International Kite Festival every year. His skin is like leather as he normally flies with his shirt off. He is deaf, so when he flies we hold our hands up and wave them for applause. He flies 2 with his hands and the 3rd one is attached to his waist. You must watch to the end to see the amazing landing of that last kite! I would have those kits so tangled up, you could never get them separated again! http://www.youtube.c...p?v=nr9KrqN_lIg

This has been a forgettable year. In March my Father-in-law passed away June, I had a triple by-pass September, SWMBO was thrown from a horse. Yesterday a sudden gust of wind caused my truck to enter a ditch. I do have a broken bone below my left eye, have to see a facial surgeon next Fri Other than that I am OK. Just a lot of bruising and swelling. About the only thing that didn't happen was the Mayans end of world prophecy. These are pictures of my truck, and me:

Here is an update: The facial surgeon is not going to operate as he thinks that it will heal OK. He did say to try and not sneeze or blow my nose too hard for the next few weeks. I ache, and am sore in places that I didn't know existed. On the plus side the swelling and bruising on my face is just about gone. Just a little bit under my left eye where the broken bone is. I wish to thank everyone's for their concern and best wishes. Before and after pics.

Hang in there BirdDog, I understand WOFF will be ready in 2 weeks. Tony

I bet it was stolen and ended up in a private collection somewhere!

I haven't been around much in the last few days. On Monday my wife was thrown from a horse and severely injured. Her head hit a large boulder and it caused bleeding on her brain and she was placed in intesive care. According to the neurosurgeon the next three days were critical and if there was any swelling he would have to operate. Luckily her skull was not fractured and there were no problems with her neck or spine. I have been at the hospital pretty well non-stop since the accident. She has progressed well in the last couple of days although she is still really confused. She is scheduled for another cat scan this morning , if the scan is clear she will be moved to the neurological ward and assessed for a few days before being allowed to come home. The Dr says it looks as if she will be OK. but that things can still go south at any time. So here's hoping. It just goes to show you that life can change in an instant. Tony

Update overdue as it is. She is at home, her short term memory is not as it should be, and she is in quite a bit of pain in her back and legs from the fall itself. X-rays don't show any damage to bones. The doc says they are soft tissue injuries and will heal with time. For the next little while she cannot be left alone and it goes without saying that her drivers license has been suspended for now. Her sister and our next door neighbour have been great about giving me time to recharge my batteries. It seems that recovery from these types of injuries is a long process taking up to a year or more. Again thankyou for all yor prayers and encouragement, I read them all to her and she really appreciates it. Tony

Oddly enough the RCAF T-33 a 50's era jet trainer had simple slip indicator on the nose of the aircraft. It consisted of a white stripe painted on the anti-glare section of the nose with a red cord attached to the forward end. Of course the instrument panel also had a turn and bank indicator. I have a picture but have no Idea how to post it. Tony

Well after reading Tranquillo's post it seems my surgery was a walk in the park. It has been 7 weeks and after the initial blood pressure problems my convalescence is proceeding pretty well as scheduled. The biggest problem is lack of stamina and a general feeling of lethargy. Only other problem is that the incision on my wrist where they removed an artery for my by-pass has become infected. It is red, swollen and sore to the point of not letting me use a joystick. Other than that I should be fit for full duty within a week or so. Save some Huns for me. Tony

Well I'm back home again, but feel as if I have been hit by a bus. I too had my share of problems, low & high BP spikes and some breathing issues. It seems as if they have it sorted out as they let me go home. They only did a triple by-pass instaed of a quadruple. They told me it will take about another 7-8 weeks to get my strenghth back. Thanks for all the kind words from everyone. Tony

Congratulations Creaghorn: I was just signing off when I caught site of this, Looks like you have hit a Grand Slam there. Tony

Well it has been determined that I have to have quadruple bypass surgery sometime within the next two weeks. It seems I had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago and didn't know it. I will be out of action for a couple of weeks following the surgery. I went to see the anesthesiologist yesterday and he scared the crap out of me talking about strokes, uncontrolled bleeding, and a myriad of other complications that can occur. Just my luck WOFF will probably be released in the meantime. Just keep things going and I'll be back asap. Tony

Tranquillo: I'm sure that you will come through with flying colours. With Nurse Gladys taking care of you, better watch that old ticker.

Well I got a call from the hospital today. I will be having my bypass surgery June 15 ay 8:00 am. Unfortunately it wasnt Nurse Gladys that called, it was a Nurse Ratched.

HPW I didn't want you to think I had forgotten about you but as I said, in the past couple of weeks RL issues have played havoc with us. Besides the death of my Father-in-law I had to have tests for chest pains, (results next week) and injections for a fractured vertabrate,and my wife has come down with a rare skin disorder that has no cure except time. (3 years) The guys at work did manage to rummage around in our basement and there wasn't one 939 MB to be found. We scrap most of our trade-ins. To top things off we had to have our 15 year old cat euthanized this morning. The only good thing that has come about in the last little while is that the accountant called and we don't owe near as much income tax as we thought yipppeeee. Hey! and you got a new system so life is good. Tony

AAAh, So it'll be out in two weeks then!!!

WM I know exactly what you mean. I've done it a few times, last time I was picking up a garden hose in my front yard when it happened. It took me 1/2 hour to crawl to the porch. There was no way to releive the pain. I couldn't get comfortable. Finally at 5:00 am the next morning I had SWMBO drive me to the hospital which was agony in itself. The ER Dr was a guy I had played hockey and he gave me a shot, and pretty soon I forgot about my back. It was still pretty tender for a few days though. I know what you are going through and you have my sympathy. Tony

My wife's father passed away a couple of weeks ago and it was our task to go through his belongings and remove them from his house in preparation of selling it. This man's hobby was restoring old tractors and I don't think he ever threw anything away. As he said you never know when you might need that widget. There were boxes of screws, nuts and bolts and tractor parts everywhere. I was tasked with going down into the cellar to lug stuff up from there, noone else wanted to go down there because of the cobwebs that were all over. I saw a picture frame on the wall but due to the darkness I couldn't tell what was in it. The frame was old and falling apart so I gently took it down and brought it upstairs. To my surprise this is what it was. I took the above picture of it, the writing on it says: 401322 Private Sidney Drew 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles Served with honour and was disabled in the Great War Honourably discharged on February 19th 1917 George R.T. This was my wife's grandfather and the odd thing is nobody had ever mentioned that he was a veteran of WW1. I don't think many of them even knew about it. I plan on taking it to the local museum at Fort Malden and see if they want to display it. Barring that I will take to the local branch of The Royal Canadian Legion. Tony

Herr Prop-Wache: We have a lot of old computers in our store, and we scrap most of them. When I get back to work (I've been off due to a death in the family) I will check and see what we have lying around. If I find something that is half decent it's yours. Tony

During WW1 So the story goes it was my Grandfather's job to take ammunition to the front with a horse. Unfortunately they took a shell and his horse was killed and he was severely wounded and repatriated home. He would never talk of his experiences.

Eric: While waiting fo P4 to be released you might want to go here: http://combatace.com/forum/211-off-phase-1-and-2/ and request a copy of phase 2 to use in the meantime, I'm sure that someone will send you a copy. Tony

In the early 1960's I was in a military hospital for some ailment or other and I remember some veterans of WW1 who had been gassed and had been there since 1918. I may have missed the point, but it did not seem terribly funny to me. Tony

The same thing happens to me. I have no idea what causes it. However all that I do to correct it is tilt my head down sharply so that my chin touches my chest an then bring it back up again and it rights itself. I have checked different forums specifically Natural Point and not found anything. I thought that I was the only one who experienced this Maybe someone else has the answer. Tony

In Canada we commemorate Rememberance Day on Nov. 11. In our town (Amherstburg) we have a parade from the local Legion to the Cenotaph. At 11:00 O'clock we have 2 minutes of silence, followed by the reading of the names of all the servicemen who did not return from WW1, WW2, and Korea. Wreaths are then laid, and then it is back to the Legion for lunch. Oddly enough the crowds seem to be increasing each year. Tony

I was at that race on the Detroit River. I, along with most people there honestly thought he was a goner. They said later that it was only his great piloting skills that saved him. He was disqualified after that, there is some rule that says you are not allowed to wash your plane during the race. Tony