We checked into our hotel, a Best Western, just a tad depressed after a fun but unsuccessful shopping day.  Our spirits picked up a bit when we were told that we could have a free dinner over at the Holiday Inn next door.  I knew breakfast was included but was unaware of the free dinner AND one free drink each.  So, after bringing our stuff up to the room and having a small sip of the vodka we purchased, we walked over to the Holiday in.  The dinner was actually quite nice:

Ironically, I just mentioned on the car drive up that I haven’t had stew in years.  That was what was on the menu, along with mac and cheese, fish and soup.  The pumpkin pie for dessert was great too:

We both had a free rye and coke as well.  After noms, we decided to walk across the street to the Christmas Tree Shop, which is basically a discount store.  Rather than walk around the parking lot and use the sidewalk like normal people, we chose to make our way up the grass and gravel, very steep hill at the end of the lot.  It didn’t go too well.  I made it up the hill, grabbed the guardrail then reached behind me to help Jan up.  That was the time she started sliding back down.  I went down behind her to make sure she didn’t fall over.  We did the same process three more times until she finally made it up.  Perhaps we would have done a little better if it weren’t for the alcohol….  Anyway, we scampered across the street and into the store.  It was then that I realized that I dropped my iPhone.  Holy cow!  We headed back over to the hill, thinking that must have been where it fell out of my pocket.  Yeah, I’m going to find a cell phone in the dark.  I did think of calling it from inside the hotel.  First, I went in to check the bathroom and the table where we were sitting.  No phone.  I headed back out to Jan to search around the hill a bit more.  We only looked for a matter of seconds when we both spotted it at the same time.  It was almost impossible to see and we have no clue how we both saw it.  Needless to say, we decided to go around the parking lot and get to the sidewalk the easy way.

In the store, Jan noticed this charming little number and posed with it:

I don’t think we ended up buying anything that night.  Instead, we headed back to the hotel.  Once again, at the exact same time, we noticed something on the ground:

This night was getting a tad creepy!  Back at the room, we had a few more sips of vodka then went to bed.

The next morning, we enjoyed our free breakfast downstairs, then headed out to the Eastview Mall, which was about 20 minutes away.  This mall is huge, with a lot of really nice stores.  We ended up spending the whole day there.  Fortunately, we came back to the hotel with a few more purchases than the previous day.  I don’t think I’ve ever been in the Buckle store without buying something.

Back at the hotel, we asked if the free meal thing was still in effect and were told it was.  A few swigs of vodka (gee, what a pair of lushes!) and we walked back over to the other hotel.  Tonight was ravioli, grilled BBQ chicken and green beans.  Another really yummy meal.

I think the alcohol made me a tad artistic (or something):

After our meal, we headed back over to the stores across the street.  We came out with about six bottles of B12 vitamins, as they were much cheaper there than back home.  We also went to the pet store and I bought a huge bag of cat food.  We kinda took the long way back to the hotel, at which time Jan wiped out on the grass.  We were able to get most of the mud off of her jeans back in the room.

The next day, we just hit some of the big box stores around the area.  We were both quite pooped after our previous two days of shopping, so we headed home just after noon.  It was a great trip – we both had a blast!

Needless to say, I was totally exhausted when I woke up on Saturday.  I had to find a way to perk up as I had our Recreational Aircraft Association Christmas dinner that night.  I went with another member, which was a good thing since I was a little tired to drive.  The dinner was at the Fireside Restaurant in Welland.  About twenty members attended.  It was really nice.  I had their turkey dinner:

I was only able to finish about half of it, so had the rest put in a container to go.  On the drive home, we were chit-chatting and then came up on a red light a little fast.  I pointed and said “red light” and he quickly applied the breaks.  Unfortunately, my to-go container slipped out of my hand and landed on the floor, spilling out half my meal.  Oops!  About ten minutes later, I started laughing about something and the container fell yet again, emptying the rest of the contents.  This is what his car mat looked like:

I felt so bad, but we both found it rather amusing.  I dumped the food out at the edge of the parking lot and then headed upstairs for the night.  I was given some lovely flowers, so I placed them in a glass (couldn’t find my vase).  Boo didn’t take long to scope them out:

Her and Pinky are the reasons I had to get rid of my plants – little monkeys.  I had to keep the flowers in my closet over night, since she would seek them out no matter where I hid them.  I’ve had them out next to my TV while in the living room, so I can keep an eye on them.

Today’s symptoms: I slept in until almost 10:00 today.  My bod totally need the extra sleep.  My fatigue level wasn’t bad at all today, just a headache and the usual aches and pains.

Fortunately, my family now is just as cute.  The four kitties, fish, my little mother and I are going to spend Christmas as my place this year.

The weekend was quite good, after a not so pleasant week.  My fatigue and pain levels were much worse than normal.  If I wasn’t so cheap, I would have driven to work each day ($8 to park) because during the walk home, my calfs were going into really painful spasms.  Not fun but I know this week will be better!!!  Anyway, the weather wasn’t good enough for flying, but at least I was able to go up once during the week.  I took up another pilot for aerobatics and actually let him try a loop and a roll!  He loved it!  On Saturday, my friend and I went to the States to get some gas and a few things at TOPS.  I also picked up my packages from online orders I had sent to a US post office.  Here is one of the items that I ordered online as a gift from Jan to moi:

Tee hee!

Another odd item is the Christmas tree I put up every year at work:

Classy, don’t ya think?

Today, Jan came over and we went for our Sunday Timmies and grocery shopping.  When I got home, I gave all the kitties a bath.  It’s surprising that they love being up on the bathroom counter, but they despise the kitchen sink (where they get bathed):

Little dorks.  Here’s another pic of three of them together – a typical scene on my bed:

Today’s symptoms: A little tired but I had a busy day yesterday.  For some reason, I’ve had a killer headache for the last three days.  Hopefully I wake up without it tomorrow, because it really isn’t fun anymore.

My friend didn’t seem to mind Mya and Pinky up on her lap while she was trying to eat.  Such goobers.

Another friend from work dropped off my old cat tent I gave her, as her little fur ball doesn’t seem to care for it too much.  I figured I would donate it to the cat donation centre at the Seaway Mall.  I may have to remove a few kitties from it first:

After a long evening of frolicking, Boo was relieved to crawl into bed.  Rather than just resting, she decided to make a few goofy faces first:

I was invited over to my friend’s house on Saturday, to visit his family, which consists of four and a half corgis.  I honestly tried to remain vertical for my visit, but was quickly thrown to the ground and mobbed by a slew of cuties:

As you can see, their “half” corgi is an adorable little puppy, sitting on my head.

And here I am getting nommed:

Part way through my visit, it was meal time:

Two of the dogs eat in their crates.  They all had specific areas where they inhaled their food:

Everyone was quite pooped after being so active and slurping back their noms.  Even little puppy-head could no longer stay conscious:

It was such a great visit – what a wonderful family!

After I got home, I finished getting my fudge ready for the pot luck at the Flying Club that night.  My mother was also kind enough to make some brownies.  Every time I make fudge and use the airplane cookie cutter, I promise myself that I’ll never do it again.  It’s such a total pain to get the fudge out in one piece.  Fortunately, they turned out ok, along with the little gingies I made:

There was a great turn out at the dinner, with some really yum-o food.  I had a great time.  I was glad that I didn’t have too much fudge to bring home – just a few airplanes.

I made sure I played with the Club kitty before heading home at night:

I told Abby about the dogs and cat I visited that day.  She wasn’t impressed:

Notice how her right leg is extended – I managed to take this picture just before she gave me a back-hander.

So, another great weekend.  The only bad part was this tragic scene my mother and I noticed in the Tim Hortons parking lot.  Yup, that’s a decapitated gingerbread Santa:

Poor fella.

Today’s symptoms: A tad low on energy today.  Like yesterday lots of MS pain, mostly in my arms and hands.  I’ll sleep well tonight so I’m raring to go tomorrow!

This was the first time I had to use a ladder to get up there, since I used to climb up the TV aerial.  She just had it removed this summer.

Hello, Jan!

After the roofage, we went to the Seaway Mall, then to Zehrs for groceries.  We dropped the noms off at home then went to the Lazy Loon at the Log Cabin in Fonthill for dinner.  As usual, the food was awesome.  Thanks again to my cute, little mother for a great day!

I needed to get a good night’s sleep on Saturday as I had a big day planned for Sunday.  My friend and I were flying to Reading, Pennsylvania to visit the Mid Atlantic Air Museum.  We took off around 8:30 and flew about 20 minutes to stop at Buffalo Airport to clear customs.  The customs officer met us at the plane as soon as we landed.  We were then cleared to pay ramp fees and depart for Reading.  It was a little more than two hours to get there.  It was quite hazy on the way down, so I decided to refrain from taking any scenic pics until the weather cleared on the way back.  I did snap these of the nuclear cooling towers though:

While taking the pics, I asked my co-pilot to fly the plane (not a prob since he’s a pilot).  He kept trying to discretely veer away from the stacks, but I noticed and quickly slammed down on the opposite rudder peddle to whip us right back over the towering stacks of heat and filth.  Tee hee!

Eventually, we arrived at the Reading Airport:

Our first stop was the museum:

My friend checked us in at the museum office while I flew over to the little pilot’s room (shouldn’t have drank that coffee before the flight!).  We had a tour guide take us around the hangar, which was totally packed.  He gave us info about every plane – it was really interesting!

We then headed out to the ramp to check out the outside aircraft:

The best looking plane can be seen in the distance:

I mentioned that to our tour guide but he didn’t seem too impressed.  Oh well.

Back inside, we befriended the museum cat:

Errrrr…perhaps “befriended” wasn’t the right word:

Om, nom, nom!

Speaking of noms, after fueling up Vyctor, we taxied across the airport to the restaurant, Malibooz:

I got a rather yummy turkey club salad:

Before leaving, we contacted customs to let them know we would be arriving in St. Catharines in about two and a half hours (land around 6:00pm), then filed our flight plan.  Little Vyc was eagerly awaiting us:

Back in the air, the smog was still too heavy for any decent pics:

Half way through the flight, it didn’t really matter any more as the sun set.

We heard that there was a bit of an incident at the St. Catharines Airport in the afternoon.  My friend called and made sure all of the runways were open.  We were informed they were.  Unfortunately, when we got close to Buffalo and listened to the ATIS report (gives hourly updates on the runways and weather), we heard the runway with the lights was closed.  This meant we could not land there.  I let Buffalo know that I was diverting to Welland.  We called someone at the Flying Club and asked them to pick us up in Welland.  Poor Vyctor would be left outside in a foreign airport, overnight in the cold.  I felt so bad for him.

I didn’t arrive home until around 7:45 that night.  Needless to say, I was very pooped, but it was worth every second of my amazing day!

Today, I actually managed to get into work for my 7:15 start time.  Barely though.  I had to take vacation leave at around 1:30 and drive over to the St. Catharines Airport.  I was kindly given a lift out to Welland where I was reunited with my plane.  I tweaked his little spinner and he seemed to forgive me for his abandonment.  Before flying home, I headed over Port Colborne to take a picture of the submarine that was being transported from Hamilton out to Port Burwell (west of Dunnville on Lake Erie):

Kinda cool to see!

I’m hoping for a good sleep tonight.  I have another great day to look forward to tomorrow.  A bunch of us from work are meeting at the Mandarin for my birthday.  Yum!

Today’s symptoms: Really tired, but who wouldn’t be after that amazing day yesterday.  Had a bit more MS-related pain today than normal, but that was really my only complaint.

On Monday, Jan picked me up at work and we drove down to the Niagara Falls Hospital for my annual MRI (this was my eleventh).  As I’m on Tysabri to treat my MS, there is a chance of getting PML, which is a fatal brain infection.  My neurologist want me to have a yearly MRI to check if there are any signs of PML.  The technician at the hospital remembered me from last year, which was rather nice!  Everything went smoothly, including the IV that I had to get part way through the test.  Since I was having my Tysabri infusion the next day, I decided to leave the IV line in my arm, thinking she could use it tomorrow and I wouldn’t have to be poked twice.

Once home, I decided to scroll through my MRI images, which I picked up (on a DVD) before leaving the hospital.  Most people see the first few snowflakes as the first sign of winter.  I had something much more exciting – I noticed a cute little pair of mittens at the back of my brain:

How cute are they?  Not too sure what to say about my Spock ears though….

Anyway, I started to have some regrets about leaving the IV line in, as it looked yucky and made me a little queasy:

Anyway, I showed up for my Tysabri IV the next day, only to find the nurse could not use the line in my arm.  It makes sense – if anything went wrong with the infusion, she would be to blame even though it wasn’t her line.  Oh well, we ripped that bad boy out and attempted a new IV in the other arm.  Unfortunately, the vein she put it into didn’t co-operate and that one had to be removed as well.  We ended up putting it in just above where the MRI IV was placed.  Three IV’s in two days – blah!  Oh well, the infusion went well.  After it was done, I drove over to Jack Astor’s and met up with some friends from work for dinner.  I was seriously craving a steak and so glad I ordered one:

Honestly, it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had.  Needless to say, that plate went back into the kitchen totally clean.  So did this little dish of fries my friend split with us:

Great noms and company.

Back home that night, my sore arms and I climbed into bed.  Needless to say, I wasn’t alone as I had four little naked goobers join me:

It’s a king size bed but feels like a single….I wonder why?

Had another cute experience today.  A co-worker brought her new little chihuahua puppy in to work for a visit:

Here he is nomming my thumb:

Speaking of coworkers, one of mine saw these adorable plane earrings while she was out shopping the other week, and was kind enough to pick them up for me.  How sweet is that?

Since I’m having a bit of a rough time physically, all of the above mentioned things have really helped keep my spirits up.  As things don’t seem to be improving much, and have continued to get worse over the last year, it’s hard to keep positive sometimes.  I always feel worse physically when I get down emotionally, so I know how important it is to focus on the good things and keep smiling.  Easier said than done, but the effort is worth it.

Today’s symptoms:  My fatigue level wasn’t as bad as it was over the last week.  Still experiencing fluid retention issues, which are getting worse.  Hoping the test in a couple weeks will provide some answers.  Lots of aches and pains today in my arms (MS related, not from the IVs), plus a pretty bad headache.

No matter how poopy I feel in the morning, I always have a reason to wake up with a smile on my face.  Look at the little goobers I get to wake up to:

And of course, little Abby who just turned four on Halloween:

I actually got a picture of Mya while singing happy birthday to her:

A little off key, but she meant well.

I noticed a big honkin’ plane flying out to the west this morning.  I tried to get a shot but I was at full zoomage and could still hardly see him:

I thought it was the Lancaster, but then realized what it was when I arrived at the airport for a flight:

Not the Lancaster, but the Herc.  Duh!

I had a really brief flight today.  I was feeling pretty down emotionally because of how bad my symptoms have been lately.  Thought a flight would pick me up a bit, but it just wasn’t happening.  The poopola weather didn’t help either:

At least it didn’t stop the troops at the Fort.  Not too sure what they were doing today:

I only flew for about twenty minutes.  Then went out for a coffee with a good friend, which brightened my day more than my flight.  I know I’m going to feel better tomorrow, physically and emotionally.

Paws crossed for good weather tomorrow, although the morning isn’t looking too good.  I have an aerobatic flight booked at 9:00 and one at 11:00.  It looks like it’s supposed to be mostly cloudy in the morning, then clear up in the afternoon.  Fortunately, my 9:00 folks will be available later in the day as well, so we’ll more than likely get the flight in.

Today’s symptoms:  Less fatigue and pain today than over the last few days.  Not sure why things have turned around and I seem to be having more bad days than good.  Let’s hope they turn back around soon – enough of this silliness!

I took up someone who purchased (auction) one of the fights I donated to charity.  We of course flew over Niagara Falls.  There were a couple planes in the circuit that didn’t know the strict rules, such as having to be at an altitude of at least 3500 feet.  The one plane called and said he was at 3000 feet, and another one flew directly over us at 3700 feet.  he was high enough, but not flying in the right direction of the circuit:

Dorks.

Anyway, it was a nice flight before the weather started to turn poopy.  The Bridgestone tire thingie didn’t fair too well in the wind:

I was able to head back to the airport while the runways were closed.  I made a batch of fudge for the St. Catharines Flying Club and the tower folks.  They also requested Mya come back for another visit:

She was so cute and chatty the whole time.  Every time someone stood up, she would steal their chair.

Kinda neat to watch the cars racing around the runways.  At least it gave the tower folks something to look at for the week, since there were no planes a’flying:

While dropping off the fudge at the Flying Club, I was shown this adorable, recently caught mouse:

I really wanted to take him home….

Mind you, there is enough cuteness at my home.  I woke up to ninja Pinky this morning:

Then there was little Boo with her mouth slightly open:

Had an amusing incident happen at work on Friday.  I was sitting at my desk with my headphones on, listening to the tunes through my iPhone.  I normally have the ringer turned off at work, but figured it would be ok to have it on since the sound would go through the headphones.  My phone started ringing, so I just let it go through to voicemail, after about 7 rings.  A guy a couple seats down from my asked someone walking by if I was in my pod.  I asked what was up and he said he heard my phone ringing.  I said “You can hear it vibrating on the table from there?”  A couple people laughed and said it was ringing very loud.  One girl started imitating the ring.  Obviously, the ringer doesn’t go through the headphones!  Someone else came up to me an hour later and said he was dancing in his pod, thinking no one was around to see him.  He then noticed his Team Leader watching him from across the aisle.  He felt a tad silly.  Mind you, not as silly as I did.

Hoping the weather forecasters are wrong and the week turns out better than this:

At least Saturday looks decent, for now.

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty good today.  Last week was really bad fatigue-wise.  Things started to improve by Friday.  Still experiencing quite a bit of bone-crushing pain in my limbs.  It can feel free to stop any time now!

Today was quite a bit better.  I was even able to go for a flight in the early afternoon.  The weather wasn’t the best though.  I was supposed to take someone up this afternoon but we had to cancel.  It kinda looked like this:

Not a good day for a scenic flight.  I did have a passenger though.  A little ladybug was wedged down by the windshield on my dash – I figured she was dead.  She was all bleached from the sun.  However, a few minutes into my flight, she started walking toward me:

Kinda creepy.  Hope she enjoyed the flight!

On a very bright note, I put enough time on my two new cylinders and was given the all-clear by my mechanic to do aerobatics today.  What a blast!  I couldn’t stay up quite as long as I wanted to as the weather got too yucky.  I checked Vyctor’s belly after I landed – how many people get raindrops on the bottom of their plane?

The rain today caused a pretty nice rainbow.  I snapped a pic as it just started:

Back home, the kitties were in their favourite spots.  For Boo and Mya, that’s snuggled up together on the couch:

It still amazes me that they were the worst of enemies when they first met.  It was so bad, I thought there was no way they would ever get along.

I have a couple flights booked for tomorrow.  Not sure if I’ll have the energy for both – we’ll see.

Today’s symptoms: Felt much better than I did the previous week, but still crashed pretty bad after my flight.  Still dealing with more MS pain than usual….or maybe this is my new usual…

I felt better today than I’ve felt in a while.  I picked up my plane from my aviation mechanic’s property a couple days ago.  Had two new cylinders installed, plus my annual inspection.  It was so good to go flying again.  I went for an hour long flight today.  It was the Niagara Grape and Wine Parade, so I flew over and snapped some pics:

I flew back over before noon, and there was a Cessna 172 flying over downtown pulling a banner:

Headed over my mechanic’s property and did a low and over.  I have to fly 10 hours without doing aerobatics and at a fairly high power, in order to break in my two new cylinders.  It was hard to find his property doing 746 MPH, but I managed to find it:

Within seconds, I was over my mother’s house in the next town over.  Thought I would check out her freshly painted siding and the empty space where the rusted ol’ TV antenna used to be:

A few seconds later, while doing mach 4, I was cruising over Howell’s Pumpkin farm:  Here is the cheater for their corn maze:

Don’t forget to grab a few pumpkins once you find your way out:

Flew over Bissell’s Hideaway, which has an acre-sized pool.  Clearly drained for the winter:

I have another flight planned for tomorrow.  I’m supposed to take up a friend of a co-worker at my office.  We have the time planned for 10:30, but it looks like it may be raining in the morning.  Hopefully it will clear up by the afternoon.  If not, I guess I’ll be stuck at home with my four little freaks.  Little Mya has been quite the bully lately.  Boo decided to use the cat bed to sleep in during the day.  No one has used it for over a year.  Well, Mya would have none of another cat using something that she could potentially use:

As you can see, she was accommodating at first, allowing Boo to stay curled up and sleeping, while Mya hovered over the heat register above.  Then she decided that she deserved to be in the bed too:

It was then that Mya decided that she was deserving to be in the bed by herself.  One bite on Boo’s bum lead to a quick evacuation:

What a bully.  Similar thing happened the next day too:

I was at Jan’s last weekend.  We went into Zellers and couldn’t believe they had their Christmas stuff out on display.  Hello, it’s only September!

We also went to Tim Horton’s and split another Smiley cookie.  I think the charity here is toward something to do with a children’s medical thing.  Not a bad deal – eat a yumola cookie and make a donation toward charity:

A tad deformed, but totally delicious.

Once back at Jan’s house, we noticed this horrible, massive spider crawling on the outside of her house:

Talk about going from yumalo to yuckola.  Ugh!

Today’s symptoms: The best I’ve felt in over a week.  Finally some energy.  Started getting a symptom I haven’t had since I was in university back from 1996 – 2000.  While walking home from work over the last week, I’ve been getting horrific spasms in my legs which cause me to stop dead in my tracks.  Hopefully it’s just a fluke thing that will pass very soon.

I rarely get in the clothes shopping mood, but fortunately, was today.  One of the first stores we went into was Zumiez.  Not surprising, since I’m addicted to them, I did end up buying a really cute hoodie.  It was buy one, get one half off, so I was able to find a spring/fall jacket too.  The guys working in the store were super nice and fun to chat with.  People like that make shopping even more fun than it usually is.

I ended up buying a couple skirts and tops.  Everything was on sale and I ended up with five or six things for about $150.  I wish Jan was able to find something for herself though.

After the mall, we went over to TOPS to buy noms.  I had to sign up for another savings card, as I lost mine about a month ago.  I think we only spent about $55 – still, got some things we can’t get here.

It was a very fun and productive day.  I came back to the apartment to see three of my kitties were studying my Commercial Pilot text book:

I rarely get a pic of all four of them together, but was able to snap this shot of them in bed a couple nights ago:

It was a nice short work week for me.  Kinda nice to have a four day weekend.  The non-filer team had a nom day yesterday.  They offered me some penne leftovers, after everyone was full.  I didn’t want to waste one of the disposable plates, so I used my mug:

Good thing everyone knows I’m weird so no one thought anything of my cup o’ pasta.

Today’s symptoms: Feeling so much better today than how I felt last week.  My fatigue level was more than tolerable.  I’m surprised how long I lasted today.  Actually, I have to head down to Fonthill in about an hour and a half to go to the Air Force Association meeting at the Legion.  Next, month I will be the guest speaker for the group.  I will be doing the same presentation I just did up at the airport in Sexsmith last month.

Talk about the best greeting ever!  Anyway, Jan came to pick me up to drive me back to St. Catharines.  A little tear trickled down my cheek as we drove away:

He’s so cute.  No worries from me though – I know he’s in the best hands I could ask for.

The other night, I was in bed, working on a pilot training app for my iPhone.  One of the questions had a picture of an airplane.  I almost died – it was the picture I took of my first plane!  They Photoshopped the registration on the side of the plane, but I’m 100% positive it’s the picture I took.  In fact, it’s the pic I used on my old contact cards:

Here’s my card….hello!!!

I think it’s really neat that they used my pic.  I’m going to email the company and tell them about this crazy coincidence.

You know what else is crazy, this:

Seriously, why do people do this with their pants???  Look at his friggen legs – they look like they’re the same length as hers, yet he’s over a foot taller!  Ugh.

Ok, crazy number three – my little pereguine falcon dude came back and was sitting in my bathroom window again.  I sure with I could have seen him with the window open:

Had an interesting experience just before starting this blog.  I decided to snack on some pretzel sticks with honey mustard.  Boo started pawing at the bag, so I threw a pretzel on the floor for her to play with.  I kept nomming away.  Boo jumped up on the couch, then down right away.  I noticed I dropped one on my lap, so I ate it after dipping it in the mustard.  Then Boo jumped back up on my lap and started pawing at me.  It was then that I realized that she was looking for the pretzel she was playing with earlier.  Yup, I ate it!  Yuck.  I said “Boo, that was totally gross!”  She then jumped off and on the couch three more times, bringing me pressies.  She even put one of her favourite toys, a pipe cleaner, into my mustard cup.  How sweet was that:

Today’s symptoms: After a really lousy day yesterday, I felt quite a bit better today.  A few aches and pains but my fatigue level wasn’t too bad.

Jan and I decided to head back to London Airport today for our second attempt this month to have breakfast at the Katana Cafe.  It was closed when we went there a couple of weeks ago.  Also, there was a book in the aviation shop that I wanted to buy, but thought I might be able to get cheaper online.  Bad news – I couldn’t find it online.  Ugh!  I called the restaurant yesterday to ensure they would be open today, plus they put me through to the aviation shop.  They set the book aside for me, since I think it was their only copy.

It was a really nice flight there.  A bit of a head wind, but we still made it there in about an hour and ten minutes.  We hit some wake from a Dash 8 that was ahead of us, while we were coming in on final.  It kinda freaked Jan out a bit, as it felt like rather abrupt and rough turbulence.  After she gave me the evil eye, I was able to get back to focusing on my landing.

We were both very relieved to find that the restaurant was open.  Our breakkies came out fairly quickly and looked delicious:

As you can see, Donkey joined us this time.

Our meals were so good – we both cleared our plates.  After noms, we went over to the shop to purchase my book.  The guy there said he also had a very hard time finding a copy of that book.  It was worth the flight back out there!

Back to Vyctor – notice how Jan pretends to need to duck to fit under the wing.  I think she could stand under, jump and still not hit it:

Once back in the air, I tried to get Jan to allow Donkey to sit on her lap.  She kept telling me to “Get lost” and threw Donkey over my way.  I made about four attempts.  Figured I would have to be a little more creative.  I told her that my seat belt was too loose and when I reached to my right to tighten it, she didn’t notice that I gently placed Donkey on her lap.  I wanted to see how far I could fly before she noticed:

About ten minutes later, we headed through Hamilton airspace.  I had to change my heading a tad to accommodate this incoming jet:

After we landed back in St. Catharines, I started laughing as I taxied over to the Flying Club.  Lil Jan asked what my problem was.  I said she would figure it out soon enough.  She went to take off her seat belt, saw Donkey, whipped him at me along with a few choice words.

We headed out to get groceries, then back to my apartment.  It was a really great day and I felt better than I have all week.  Yea!

Today’s symptoms: Hardly any aches and pains and my fatigue level was very minimal.  Hoping tomorrow is the same, as I have a few flights planned.  I will be flying out to Brantford to meet up with a friend’s grandkids, and taking them both for a flight.  Paws crossed for another good night of sleep.

After, we headed back into the mall and wandered around for a bit.  Then over to Zehrs for noms.

On the way back to my apartment, I stopped off at the PEN Centre to do some Christmas shopping.  Never too early to start!

Back home, the sun was shining and the kittahs took full advantage:

As usual, Boo was giving one of the other kitties a kiss.  I’m sure Abby appreciated it.  I told everyone to just chill out while I went to shower.  I came back to chill on my usual spot, only to find a plethora of naked cats:

Not sure where Pinky was.

Last night, I had a rather touching Boo moment.  She was sleeping on my lap and woke up briefly to change positions.  I instinctively reached down to scratch her face.  She instantly put her little head in my hand and went back to sleep.  I was so cute:

I think we sat there like that for almost half an hour.  Such a sweetie.

Today’s symptoms:  I’m slowly starting to get my scar tissue removal procedure out of my head.  I no longer curl up into the fetal position when I think of it.  On another bright note, I felt really good today, despite not sleeping too well last night.  I can’t believe how much energy I had.  Very few aches and pains too.  Hopefully I have another good day tomorrow, as I have my RAA meeting to fly out to in the evening.  Hope to take some folks up for aerobatic flights as well.

So, back at work, I told everyone what just happened.  Half of them went into the fetal position and the rest just shook.  Yuck!  Yeah, not fun but as long as it helps in the long run, that’s all that matters.

At work today, my body revolted against the stress it went through yesterday – both physically and emotionally.  I didn’t make it through the whole day at work.  Went home just after 1:00 and crashed on my couch for the evening.  Ugh – can’t wait to feel better tomorrow.

It’s supposed to be yucky weather tomorrow – hopefully I’ll have a couple hours of clear weather so I can go for a flight.

Gee, no pictures today.  Let’s see what I can do about that. Glad I don’t get to sleep alone:

Yup, that’s four hairless goobers I have to contort my body around each night.  I’m lucky to get even a corner of a sheet or blanket.  They’re so worth it though.

Today’s symptoms: Not a good day symptom-wise.  Lots of aches and pains, balance was horrible and very fatigued.  I’m sure I’ll feel better tomorrow after I sleep well tonight.  I think I’ll bring to bed an extra little blanket I can whip out and throw on me once the kittahs take everything else on my bed.

My cheers quickly ceased when the stinky ol’ tower called and asked that I taxi down to the next runway (thick black line) and turn right there instead.  Ugh!  My Queen wave quickly turned into another gesture.  Anyway, we taxied over to the restaurant and were shocked that it was closed.  Ugh again!  I could see it being closed for the holiday tomorrow, but why the heck would they close it Sunday?  Someone came out to ask what we were doing there and said that we could walk over to the terminal building and go to the Timmies instead.  Yeah, I just flew an hour to go to Tim Hortons!  Oh well, we decided to head over.  There was another little grill place next to Timmies and we ordered breakfast from there.  Jan wasn’t too impressed but it was better than nothing:

After our noms, we headed back to my plane.  I was thrilled to see he was still there.  On a bright note, my horizon indicator that has been spinning wildly for the last three flights (due to some pretty intense aerobatics and spins) finally stopped and righted itself.  Here’s what it looked like while spinning:

It’s supposed to look like this:

I’ll see how long it takes to get it spinning again.  I hope to fly tomorrow morning, so that should tell ya!

The flight back was a tad more lumpy due to the cloudage coming in.

We headed directly over the Hamilton International Airport:

We also passed the Stoney Creek Airport, which I didn’t know existed until today:

Once back on land, Jan and I tormented the manager of the Flying Club a little then headed out to buy groceries.  When we got back to my apartment, I mentioned to Jan that Abby has pooped under the bed twice in the last week.  Ugh!  I decided to cut up my padded mats and close in the underneath of the bed.  I was able to tape the mats we cut up to the sides of the bed, but there was no rail around the head or foot.  I needed some short nails, and a hammer would be nice too.  We walked down to the dollar store just across from my apartment – no nails or hammer.  Giant Tiger – nothing.  The Avondale – nope!  Over to the corner store up the road – success!  I bought a little box of nails, but no hammer.  I decided to just pick up a rock on the walk home and use that.  The nails were the perfect size and the rock worked wonders!  I was able to enclose the bed.  I’m just waiting for one of the cats to try to run under it – good thing it’s padded!  Not too attractive, but it’s functional and totally hidden under my bed spread:

The things we do for our pets, eh?

Today’s symptoms: Felt great!  I didn’t have any aches or pains – I can’t even remember the last time I could say that.  I also didn’t start to get pooped to later in the evening.  I would give anything to have every day like this!