Back. Will put up more later.

Getting going

Well, this will be a quick post. I need to go pack for a couple days in Pennsylvania, where we're attending a cousin's wedding. I won't be on IM or the blog until Saturday.

Also, I decided to change the music, since it's only one week until the Fourth of July! :) I always liked fireworks, but this doesn't have too many. It's long but it's good.

Good night.

Flying Lessons!

Well, as you probably saw on the last post, I finally "took the plunge", even though it wasn't a plunge. :) Also, one quick thing--I have a link now to the airport's managing company website on the links area. Check it out if you want!

The lesson was supposed to start at around 1000. We didn't actually get going on it until 1010, when Dustin (my instructor) and I talked for a little while and got to know each other. After that, we went out to the aircraft and did an in-depth preflight. We started out in the cockpit, where he showed me the basic controls and instruments. After that, we did a preflight in the cockpit, and then outside the airplane.

We finished the preflight, got the keys and a couple other things, then got in the plane. We did the startup, checked out a few things, then Dustin said he'd taxi (steer on the ground) the plane for the first little bit, then let me take over. By the way, this is a two-seater plane. I was in the left seat--the pilot's seat! :)

Well, we got out to the runway and held short while we did what's called the run-up, which is just basically revving the engine for about 15 seconds to make sure everything's working. Then, Dustin said, "Now, Isaac, you're going to say over the radio, 'Bellefo-'". At this point I interrupted with, "I do it?!" and he said yes indeed. He coached me on what to say, I said it a couple times, and then, after saying it and forgetting to hit the button to actually send over the radio (!), I really said over the radio, "Bellefontaine Regional Airport, Diamond Eclipse two zero three delta charlie taking off runway two-five, Bellefontaine." Boy, it was great! I taxiied onto the runway, he gave me a quick briefing on what to do, and said, "Your go, whenever you're ready." I quickly prayed and then moved the throttle forward. Boy, it sure accelerated! We got down the runway quickly, and as the airspeed indicator moved past 55 knots, I pulled back on the stick. Suddenly, the low wheel rumble was no more, and I was flying. WOW! I've never felt like that before. It was great.

We established a good climb and used the GPS to head towards Belle Center. When we got there, Dustin took control and circled a couple times so I could get some pictures. After I was done snapping photos, I took control back and we flew over to Indian Lake, then back to the airport. I flew into what's called the traffic pattern, with Dustin handling the radio by now, and headed towards the runway. I controlled the plane, but Dustin controlled the throttle, which is like the gas pedal.

We landed and taxiied back. After a short debrief, I went out to take some pictures, then Mom picked me up. I'll show the pictures now.

Belle Center from the air. The red arrow shows my house.

More of Belle Center. This red arrow shows our current meeting place for church.

My house area. Yet again, red arrow.

Me in the plane. This was the only picture I didn't take.

This is the left side of the instrument panel. The gauge with the brown and blue, the artificial horizon, is that way because the engine's not running. Don't worry-the plane isn't flying like that! :)

Right side of the panel.

Rudder pedal area.

Cargo area behind the seats.

This is the entire seating area. Small, isn't it? :)

The plane.

View from the starboard (right) wing.

Tail assembly.

Looking from the tail. I thought the lighting was kinda cool, but you might not. :P

Here's the entire plane.

Well, that's that for the flight. Today, I picked up a training packet, with a lot of books and study guides. I also got registered for the airport's website, so I can see the airport schedule and put in for a lesson online from my computer. Really nice! :) My next lesson is supposed to be next Monday at 1300.

We mowed a bit and I read and watched a movie. That was pretty much, other than the flying, Monday and Tuesday for me. Also, we had the troop meeting tonight. We had another troop meet with us, since they're going to summer camp with us. Other than a couple routine problems, the meeting was nicely uneventful.

Well, I need to get to bed. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the pictures. I can't wait to get up again. Good night!

Went Well

The flight went really well. That's about all for now except one picture. I'll do more later.

Last Couple Days

Boy, I'm real inventive with the post titles, ain't I? :)

Anyway. Saturday was actually boring some of the day. I didn't have a ton to do, and a couple friends who I was thinking about visiting weren't able to, so I ended up sitting around and playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 much of the day. I discovered a "trainer" that, among other things, can change the chain speed of a roller coaster. I made a kiddie coaster with a chain speed of 255 MPH, complete with around 6 lateral G's. :) Nobody wanted to ride it, though.

Yesterday was very good. We had just short of 50 people at church, which made up for last week. Since it was the last Sabbath of the month, we had worship at 1 as usual, then Sabbath school, then the second worship service, and finally a congregational dinner. Great food, great conversations. It was, as nearly always, edifying and enjoyable.

The "early" sermon was based on Acts 16, and was the completion of Dad's series on Christian Basics. It went over what we, as Christians, need to know about our state, about our Lord, and about His way for our salvation. Then, it summarized what we are to do with that knowledge.

The "late" sermon was on John 13:18-30, entitled "The Traitor." We see here that Christ has chosen Judas from the beginning, not for the same reason as the other disciples, but so that he will betray Him. When Christ reveals that one of the disciples will betray Him, they are all horrified, and each begins to think, "Is it I?" Surely, they had cause to be afraid, for any one of us could have done it. Peter, who thought himself strong and devoted to his Master, betrayed Him three times! However, even when Christ reveals who the traitor is, the disciples don't totally realize it, which is good, because they probably would have torn him in pieces! However, as always, God's Plan was for the best, and they didn't figure it out until later.

Well, today's going to be great. I'll probably be mowing for the first time in nearly three weeks, since we had a bit of rain recently, also for about the first time in three weeks. Thankfully, this will also resume my income a bit. I'll be needing that, since, today, I'm starting flight lessons! :) I'm scheduled to arrive at the airport for the intro flight at 1000, but a bunch of that time will be groundwork and such. However, since I'll be at the airport until 1200, I'm sure there'll be plenty of time for the flight. Also, tonight there's a baseball/birthday party here in town, and most of the people from church are coming. I'm looking forward to that too, so you can see my day will be busy.

Well, I need to go get breakfast. If it was here, I'd go with a fighter pilot's breakfast. What's that, you ask? Kool-aid (not much taste, but sugar nonetheless), a pop-tart (quick, easy, tasty), and a banana. Why the banana? It's the only food that tastes the same going down or coming up! :)

Bye!


Video is kinda funny. :)

:)

Oopsies

I just realized it's been a week since I last posted. That wasn't supposed to happen. Sorry. :(

Happy birthday, Mom!!! :)

I'm just going to do a quick summary of the past week or so. I've been done with school, and we've been doing almost no mowing, since the rain hasn't cooperated much lately. However, that's all in God's control, which is good, because no man could ever control the weather properly! :)

Sabbath was a little bit different than expected. We'd been planning on having the Mortons over for lunch, but they weren't able to make it, so we ended up having Sean, his aunt, his grandma, and another woman and her granddaughter from church over instead. As well, another family wasn't able to make it to church, so we had much lower attendance than usual. However, on the other extreme, there's to be a baptism this next Lord's Day, and there'll be plenty of family in from out of town, so probably the attendance this week will make up for last week! :)

I've been working a bit here and there on finishing up my Eagle Scout. Everything is pretty much ready to go, which is a good thing, because my Board of Review is in (from the time that I'm writing this part here) a little over 4 3/4 hours. It's been rescheduled for 1700. If you see this before then, please pray that I'll be comfortable with it! I've not really been nervous much up to this point, but I've noticed that this morning and afternoon, I've been thinking a lot about a few questions that they'll probably ask. Oh well. I'm (generally) confidant that it'll go well. I'll put up a post later today with the results.

Also, the other big thing coming up is on Monday of next week, the 25th. I've got an introductory flight scheduled out at the airport. Yet again, please pray that it will go well! I don't anticipate any big problems, but then it won't be a piece of cake, either, since I've only once really flown a plane, and several years ago to boot.

The last couple days have had four big parts to them. I've helped weed the garden, which was indeed a big part of the day :), ridden around with a friend in his new go-kart, taken my across-the-street neighbors down to the park in the evening, which they really enjoyed, and finally played Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. Real productive use of time, right? :) Seriously, I've been enjoying having no Eagle (much) to work on, no school, and no mowing.

However, this post has gone on for a little longer than I had budgeted time for, so I need to get going and deliver a thank-you note. Bye!

Last several days and COPE!

I'm tired. Even though I actually got everything done for COPE on Thursday, and I haven't done a whole lot today, I'm still tired. Oh well. I'll start with Wednesday.

Wednesday was abnormal. I did schoolwork (finishing the last chapter's actual work in the last subject) but no mowing. Mom was a little under the weather, so there wasn't a ton going on, including prayer meeting, which was canceled. I got all (well, almost all) of my packing for COPE done. I was expecting to stay overnight, but I would have been in a cabin with the summer camp youth staff, so I didn't need to pack a tent or most camping supplies. However, since I wasn't sure what the cabin would be like, I got my cot ready. After that, I headed off to bed.

Thursday morning I was up at 0630, not too horribly early. We got down there, I found out where I was supposed to be, and Mom and Dad drove off, leaving a bunch of my stuff in the car, including the camera! We're not really sure whose fault it was, but oh well. After getting to the high COPE course, they pulled up, so I ended up having the pics done. Here they are!

The main platform. You climb up here and start from here.

A few elements. You don't need to do all of these, by the way. :)

The man in the green shirt is Rich Dieslin, the COPE instructor.

The most insane element--the Pirate's Bridge. Basically, you run across these planks, with no hand support, trying not to fall.

Looking down the zipline path.

Group getting ready.

The rest of the group.

The first guy going up gets to climb the staples. Don't worry--he's belayed.

Up to the top (nearly.)

More group shots.
Ditto.
Instructor at the top. He insisted we all called him Rich, so I'll call him that on here.
Climbing the caving ladder, which is, in my opinion, the hardest part.
Belaying.
Jeff doing this. Two ropes low, one high, and they switch places. Look at the next picture, too.
As I said...
The easiest segment.
Swings seemed hard. I haven't tried yet. Jeff makes everything look easy.
Quite nonchalant.

Someone's about to come down the zipline.

Me.

Ditto. I'm not too comfortable up here, but I got the job done. I fell, so I just hung for a minute.
Instead of getting back up, I pulled myself along and got up at the end. :)

I'm at the end, getting ready to go on the zipline.

Dining hall at Birch.Something in the dining hall.
Self-portrait.
Me climbing up for the practice rescues.

Alrighty. That's it for the pictures. After I got home, we had a district scout meeting that wasn't too terribly interesting.

Yesterday was finishing school. I got done with Literature finally, so I'm done! That was about the limit of the interesting stuff yesterday.

Today was much more active. Three guys in our troop advanced from Tenderfoot to First Class today, holding the rank of Second Class for under an hour each! :) After the Boards of Review, our family all went into town for lunch and other stuff. We ended up buying a dining fly for our troop, since it was on sale, and a generous donor had given a bunch of money to our troop to help out.

After that, I started plotting. It ended up that a friend from scouts and I put about 16-17 miles on our bikes, mostly on-road, but somewhat off-road. We went down the railroad bed behind my house to the old stream, eventually having a splash contest to see who could get the other wetter. I won. :)

That's been pretty much it. I'm needing to get off, since I have a lesson for tomorrow that I have to finish, and, since we're having Mortons tomorrow, I'll be needing to help out in the morning. Good night, but check out the video!

COPE

I'm off to Camp Birch until Friday evening for High COPE training. WAHOO!!! I'll get a post up when I get back, complete with plenty of pictures. Seeya!

It's been busy!

I've been doing a lot. I probably could have gotten a new post up, but I didn't. Really astute observation there... :)

OK. Wednesday last week was alright. School was done, and it was literature. Poetry. Really, can any of you see me actually enjoying poetry? If you can't, you're wrong. Some poetry is actually enjoyable and profitable. The Psalms are poetry. However, other than those, and a few other poems, I really don't like poetry. As well, I'm normally not the best at analyzing it. As a result, it gave me some trouble, but I got through it. Later on Wednesday, Prayer Meeting was well-attended and profitable.

Thursday was different. I took a literature test in the morning. I ended up doing alright on it, but I should have done a little better. After that, I packed for a campout that we had in the next county south!

This campout went remarkably well. There was almost no rain (nearly a first), no problems with even minor insubordination, and, other than a scrapeup on a pebble beach and a couple routine knife cuts, no injuries. Also, I have pictures! :)

A deer that really liked wading out into the shallow water by the lilies. It was really interesting.

Knot work.
Ditto.
Nathaniel and I took out a two-person kayak.
This doesn't need any explanation, does it? :D
A great sunset over the lake.
We aren't sure why the picnic table is in the water. We were wondering if maybe it was to keep boats out of the stream, but we never really found out.
A group picture. The guys with the log are about to throw it and splash everyone on the table, so that's why the mischievous grins. :D
They're just about to throw it, but I took the center stage. :P
The flags at the entrance to our campsite.
The group coming back from the table.
Me again, by our food tables. Normally, everything was cleaner.
Another great sunset.
Ditto.

Breakfast on Saturday.

Milkdud standing around looking bored. I'm not quite sure why...

Alright. That's it for the campout pictures. The main two goals of the campout were to be having fun and to be getting requirements done for a bunch of the guys. We got both of those goals done with outstanding results. We older guys got to do a bunch of boating, and the rest (us included at times) got to go swimming about a half-dozen times. Overall, it was a great campout.

After we got home, Milkdud and I lazed around for a little while (yes, Milkdud stayed with us until yesterday evening) before we started on a movie. He'd never seen Saving Private Ryan, so we watched that. It's not really a movie that you can say you enjoy. As he summed it up at the end, "I've seen it."

Sabbath was good. We had good attendance, although one family had to leave a little early, and another had to leave before evening worship because the mom was starting to feel sick. However, other than that, the day was profitable.

The early afternoon sermon was on Romans 1:18-23, "The God Who Is." In it, Dad showed that all mankind knows who God is, and that they have offended Him. However, there is no general revelation of saving grace. For that, you need His Word. However, man, without the working of the Holy Spirit, tends to try to get rid of God. He can do this by immersing himself in things of this world, by trying to convince himself that God does not exist, or by lowering God to human standards. However, God will judge all those who do so and do not repent. To avoid that, we need Christ's atoning work.

The evening sermon was on John 12:44-50, the title being "Final Public Word." In this passage, Jesus gives His final public word (hence, the title) before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion. We see a promise of blessing to those in Him, a promise of judgment to those not in Him, and lastly a statement of authority from which He has been talking all these past three years. The blessing He talks of is blessed indeed, as we in Christ will find out to our great pleasure. To those not in Him, the promise of judgment will be horrifically clear someday. The authority makes sense, as He is the Son of God and the Second Person of the Trinity.

After evening worship, Milkdud and I talked for a while, then stayed up until nearly 1 AM on Monday playing a game.

Monday was busy as well. I had some schoolwork that I got done, but not a ton. It was Dad's birthday, but we didn't have a lot of time to celebrate. :( A committee from the Southside Indianapolis RPC was here to be seeing what condition our church building is in and to give recommendations for our current situation. Even though I haven't heard the full report, everything went quite well, and they were useful.

We did have mowing to do, so Milkdud helped out with that. He normally is used to a ZTR (Zero Turn Radius) riding mower, so walk-behind self-propelled was quite a change for him. Oh well. He enjoyed it.

After work was done, we had a festive occasion. The Blue and Gold (NOT maize and blue) Dinner was held. This is a Cub Scout pack's awards dinner. Over the course of the evening, we had some pretty tasty food, I got a $10 Dunham's gift card (yay!) and a couple guys, including "Lilbump" got their Arrow of Light, which moved them from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.

Soon after that, Milkdud had to leave. Bummer. It was fun having him here.

Today was a bunch of schoolwork in the morning, then no mowing. Why? We've had very little rain here lately and we need more, especially as the grass is dieing and our income is suffering. Ah well. It's the Lord's Will. After that, Mom and I worked on getting my Eagle Scout Project Book ready to go. My Board of Review is Friday of next week, the 22nd, at 6:00 PM. If you think of it, please pray that I'll do well!

The troop meeting tonight was well-attended and plenty of fun. We have three guys just needing boards of review for First Class rank, so that's quite good. I think that's about it with the meeting.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be getting ready to leave. I'm going to Camp Birch early on Thursday and I won't be back until Friday evening. I'll be going through High COPE certification, which basically means having fun with high ropes courses. Yeeeeeehaw! :D

Well, I need to get to bed. Good night! Oh yeah, a video. Lemme find one.

OK. This is takeoff in an F-15. Boy, this looks fun. Good night!