Alaska Cruise

Here's a link to some pictures from our cruise to Alaska:

View Alaska Cruise 2006

Flying

Another joy of mine is aviation. After a hospital visit today, I went flying for about an hour. I took a teenager from church with me - I let him try the controls for awhile. He did well. It was an absolutely beautiful day for flying.

Also, I planted a tree.

Exercise and Fitness

I mentioned that I run/jog almost every day. This is part of my weight loss and fitness program I started on February 8. I'm using the greatest weight loss site on the Internet: calorie-count.com. It is awesome, and its philosophy is simple: a calorie is a calorie, no matter what form it takes. Eat fewer calories than you use, and you will lose weight. There are 3500 calories in a pound. If you eat 500 calories less than you use per day, you will lose 500 x 7 or 3500 calories in a week, which is one pound. It simply works.

With my calorie watching and my running, I eat about 700 calories less than I burn each day, which works out to 4900 calories per week, which is 1.4 pounds. And it turns out that I have lost exactly 1.4 pounds per week since Feb. 8. So far, I have lost 16 pounds. You can see my weight loss chart - it speaks for itself. The blue line is my actual daily weight (the fluctuations are simply water weight), and the green line is my trend line.

It's actually fun to do this, and I'm learning a lot about nutrition and fitness. I have a nifty heart rate monitor that I use every time I exercise.

Joys of nature

I ran for about an hour this evening, and encountered a couple of things that were sources of joy for me. Actually, I have been running almost every night for 4-5 miles. I'm a night person, and I enjoy running at night, even though it's hard to see. I've been running since Feb. 8, and it's been neat to watch spring unfold. Tonight I was able to smell all sorts of tree blossoms along my route.

But the best part of tonight's run was the bird I heard. Keep in mind that this was at 11:30 pm. The bird was the Northern Mockingbird, which sometimes sings at night. It is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world, and I just stopped and listened for a few minutes. It has been a few years since I've heard a night Mockingbird. Go here to find out more about this great bird, and here to listen to a sample song.

The next bird I'm waiting to hear this spring is my all-time favorite: the Wood Thrush (description and song). I should be hearing it in our woods any afternoon now.

Other birds I love hearing in the spring include the Catbird (already heard and seen in our yard) and the Brown Thrasher (not yet).

Two weeks ago in the Smoky Mountains I saw a life bird - the Black-throated Green Warbler.

Summer

We had a great vacation this month. First, the whole clan had a week at Lakeside. Then TAD and I drove about 500 miles north into Ontario and stayed at a great B&B in London, and then at an inn in the Muskoka lakes region. Then we drove back down to Lakeside and stayed 4 more days there, just TAD and I.

Check out our pics here.

One of our sons moved back home - so now we have 2 kids at home. In a few weeks, one will go back to college, and we'll be back to one. Not quite empty nest...

Stuff Lately

I just can't get into the habit of blogging and saying deep, neat, intriguing stuff. So I'll just say what has been happening lately. How prosaic.

Preaching
I finished my series on relationships, which I really enjoyed preaching. I am about to start some messages on the Christian's relationship with Jesus.

Council
I attended the General Council of our denomination (C&MA) in Cincinnati. It was great. My son and I were able to lead worship several times, so after a few days of our pictures being on the big screen, we were famous. I also got to meet a lot of new people and renew friendships. I also played in the council golf scramble, and our team tied for 1st place.

I also discovered some great coffee: Alliance World Coffees, out of Muncie, IN (awcoffees.com). In fact, I just ordered 2 lbs. today. Next council: 2007 in Orlando.

Vacation
We took a few days of vacation this past weekend. TAD and I flew in the Luscombe to PA (Butler County airport) and visited our son and daughter-in-law. We saw their new house, and attended their church Sun. morning and evening. I played golf w/ our son on Saturday. All in all, a great time. Of course, any time I can fly, it is great.

Open Houses
We attended multitudes of open houses over the past few weeks, and we're not done yet. They were loads of fun.

Florida
Right now, 2 of our boys are in Florida. One is in Ft. Myers, and one is at Eglin AFB. Florida in the summer - too hot for me. In fact, Ohio is too hot for me right now.

VBS
Our church's VBS starts next week. It is the 1st summer in 26 years that I haven't been "in charge" of a VBS. It feels a little strange, but I have a lot of confidence in my replacement.

Next place to live
If I would ever move, I wonder what state or area of the country I would like the best? I've lived in Dayton for 45 years - I'd like to try another place someday. Your vote?

High Flight

Well, I just spent 3 hours and $160 taking my flight review. Unfortunately, our Luscombe airplane can't be used for a flight review until the new engine gets broken in. But I can't break in the engine until I get my flight review. Your basic Catch 22. So I had to rent an airplane as well as pay an instructor.

The upside is, I'm now current in a 4-seat airplane, if I ever want to take more than one passenger.

What a great day to fly today was! It was absolutely gorgeous. The instructor I used today is a young guy that I've never met - in fact, I just went to the airport on a whim, not expecting to find anyone at 6:30 pm who could fly with me. Anyway, he is a "by the book" kind of guy, and the first thing he made me do was a weight and balance calculation. So we went up, and after some stalls and turns, he had me fly into Dayton International airport. It's been over 15 years since I've done that - I usually fly by the seat of my pants, not a radio. But it all went smoothly. After landing on runway 6 Right, we took off and did 4 more landings at Moraine.

So anyway, I passed and I'll be taking the Luscombe up and breaking the new engine in. Want to come along? Hop in.



Poem "High Flight"

Back from the Dead

One of the sad things to read in bird books is the description given under the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. It is a magnificent bird, even larger than the Pileated Woodpecker, which I see from time to time in our woods. Here's what Roger Tory Peterson says in his book: "Probably extinct. Formerly in forests of the southeast." The bird has not been seen since 1948.

But now, the majestic Ivory-Billed Woodpecker has been found in Arkansas!


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