Tenn-Tom Waterway

I'm not quite sure why, but the major river here in Lowndes County, MS is named the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. It meets up eventually with the Mississippi River and is the muddy color they sing about in country songs. One of the guys in Chris's class is renting a house on the river about 10 minutes off-base. Last weekend, the class rented a pontoon boat and floated on the river all afternoon and into the sunset.

We could not believe the number of White Heron on the river. We are used to seeing a Blue Heron back home from time to time. I am sure we saw over 10 White Heron on the Tenn-Tom within only an hours time. Someone said that there is a sanctuary nearby? Despite the abundance of majestic White Heron, this little guy got the most attention from us boaters...




If you cant tell from the photo, this is a little goat waiting at the marina to welcome us. There was also a larger brown goat right behind him which you can't see in the picture.

While we are on the topic of Mississippi wildlife...this is a picture of Caitlin and I trying to spot an alligator on the, "waterway." Don't let the river barge fool you, it is actually very peaceful out on the waterway.

Caitlin and her husband Jeff are from California. Caitlin has promised to take Chris and I to the wildlife refuge in the early morning so that we can really see alligators in the wild.

GOOFY!

Another one for the collection of photos of Chris and Mae's behinds... :-)

And here are a few of our fellow boaters/classmates.

T-1 City

I took this picture about a week ago, just down the road from our house. Chris and I love to go sit at the end of the runway and watch the planes go by. I especially love watching the formation flying. This is the plane that Chris will fly in 7 months after T-6 training is over. As you can see, there are about 50 T-1's on base. We rarely see these flying around the base as most of their sorties are long distance/cross-country.

Ode to the, "Red Sled"

Ode to the, "Red Sled"

Dear Dear Dear sweet Red Sled...

for a long time now, you have been dead.

For years and years you were so very good to me,

but I sold you to the Brewer garbage man,

Nearly for free!

I loved you dearly, and drove you into the ground,

You were a great friend....but a new RED SLED I HAVE FOUND.

Oh my gosh-wow is that an '09 Corolla?!!?

The head-gasket shouldnt blow in brand new Toyota!!!

But although I cruise in style,

(and rhyme like a nerd.)

I will never forget my '94 Sunbird.

(RIP -Red Sled I)

Old News

Old news ----but I have to post this picture. It's Chris coming home on his first day of school wearing his flight suit. After all of his hard work, this was a very exciting day. No more ironing and starching the BDU's. Comfort Central! Next milestone, Phase II...when he hits the flightline!

Boston Bound

Thank you for your patience as I develop my, "blogging skills." Thank you Megan, Jason and Jax for the inspiration to start this blog to help keep everyone updated. Going through my pictures this afternoon, I stumbled upon some older photos from our trip to Boston right before we left for Mississippi. There are some really great pictures!

I love this shot of us on the escalator. See that Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee in my mom's hands? I almost can't look at it. NO DUNKIN DONUTS in MISSISSIPPI...also...NO Dairy Queen!

This is Mom and I eating lunch in the courtyard of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We had a really great day with Mom and John, one of our last times together before moving! Does she still look mad that they moved the Georgia O'Keefe collection?

Love this picture!
This is one of the first shots that I took with our new camera. Great day to be in Boston!

Greetings from Mississippi

Hello everyone!

Here we are...settled in Columbus. Please meet our new friend, the T-6A Texan II. There are aproximatly 90 of these planes on base. Sometimes it sounds like all are flying over our house at the same time! Our house on base is directly below the flight pattern, so every day is an airshow for us! Chris is very much looking forward to flying this plane starting mid-October. Before Christopher can start flying, he must complete six weeks of classroom training.

The first two weeks included physiology training which involves:

Parachute Training

(On this day, Chris was taught how to land with a parachute incase of an emergency bailout. This involved jumping and hanging from various platforms.)

Altitude Chamber

(Chris is second from the left. I was able to watch this portion of his training. Inside the chamber, Chris is experiencing the equivalent of 25,000 feet, where the air is very thin. They made him remove his mask so that he can experience and identify the signs of Hypoxia. HE says that he felt euphoric and light headed before he put his mask back on. From where I was sitting, he just had a REALLY goofy look on his face!

Signaling Training
(0530 - Chris is a grumpy fellah, until he gets to play with fire. Gyro-jets are used to signal aircraft to your location during search and rescue. Chris set off a dud flare and almost started a forest fire. In this photo, Chris is demonstrating the use of a ground flare.