I didn’t snap any pix today, so while waiting for Anne to bring me her camera I’ve been looking at more memories from our flight – now out of Boise toward Canada. We got to the airport at sunrise for an early start, and it was spectacular!
5326 Boise Airport Sunrise
Unfortunately there was a very light coat of frost on Tripp. It was most noticeable on her tail.
5328 Frosty Tail
Now in case you don’t know about such things, ice can be Very Bad for flying. See, even a thin coat of ice or frost can dramatically change the way air flows over an airplane and that flow is what makes them airplanes rather than cars with really big fins. In short, enough disturbance of the airflow and they don’t fly. So needless to say, Mr. Cautious (me) wanted all the frost off before starting the engine.
5329 Subtle Killer
I don’t know if you can make it out, but there’s a very thin coating of beautiful fluffy frost on Tripp’s wing. It actually got thicker until the sun was up, so getting her all spiffy for flight actually took over an hour of work with the special soft-bristle push broom the airport guy lent me. Then I wondered whether she’d start in the below freezing air, but she fired right up. As warned by another pilot though, the gyro-equipped instruments didn’t like the cold and they complained loudly for perhaps 15 seconds.
OK, looking at today’s pix by Anne I’m going to share my two favs. First is the expression you get from a two month old girl forced to wear a monkey hat and endure being strapped into a somewhat challenging car seat mechanism.
1505 Fashion or Furniture?
I think it was the car seat process rather than the headwear style that had her upset, but she has a reputation for disliking hats of all kinds. Once she has more motor control, it’s probably going to be interesting trying to keep hats on her. In this climate (-25C at the moment) she’s certainly not going out with bare head if her Mom has anything to say about it. Maybe we’ll be gone by then. 🙂
Anne was so taken with a row of shiny lights in the bare trees of a parking lot she tempted fate by standing outside framing this shot. Hope that context adds to your enjoyment rather than simply raising questions about why I went ahead into the store to watch her creative moment. Please keep in mind that at this temperature a couple of minutes produces a feeling not unlike having your face chewed by small animals with very sharp teeth.
1509 Cool Art
I guess it’s partly that I’m old and soft, partly that the thick beard and long hair have faded to dim memory, and maybe partly that my memory itself is starting to dim. Whatever the reasons, -40 when I lived in this climate didn’t seem cold all those years ago.
John & Anne Wiley 
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