Walking on the Moon

If you’ve been trying to call us and not getting an answer or answering machine, try again.  Our phones were down for a few days.

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #8, Palmiotti, Gray, Arlem. This ends the mini-series, and I can’t say I’m sorry to have it done. The best issues of this were very good, but overall the series suffered from a lack of focus. It’s like there were a bunch of storylines they wanted to tell and couldn’t pick one. And even that could have worked if they’d gotten the 8 issue pacing right. They clearly missed; this issue features several attempts at characterization gasped between moments of the climactic struggle on the deck of an invading alien armada. Now, if those attempts are a single sentence that sums up characters relationships that have been building, it can work. These were exposition-heavy soul-baring discussions, and they weren’t so believable.

Black Summer #6, Ellis & Ryp. This has paced itself out nicely. I suspect it will read even better collected, but for now all the pieces have fought their way to their positions for the climax, and though the threats are all clear, the outcome is in doubt. Even the colors seem less dim this issue. Very fun stuff.

A few weeks ago I got a nice note from a fellow named Jeff Barlow who’s still making Twin Tier Tier in Elmira run. I’d posted some pictures from there when I was in Elmira for my 20th high school reunion and it had seemed like the place was closed. Jeff pointed out that the location had closed, but the business was still going strong.

That’s good news. Twin Tier Tire was my first real job, and the first time someone who didn’t know me from school paid me to make a computer work for them. I also changed tires, and stacked tires, and did other stuff that;s good for one’s soul. It was a good place to work, and I’m glad they’re still around.

For those of you keeping score at home: a  Federal Judge has restrained SMO from enforcing its category C & D jet ban, and Avweb has a short article on the ongoing flap.

Will Eisner’s The Spirit #16, Aragones, Evanier, Smith. This was a pretty good issue, a light-hearted procedural in a colorful setting. Now, a movie set as a site for actual satire has been done to death, but things are kept light and fun rather than any attempt at social commentary. The Spirit goes undercover and works out the details of a Hitchcockian murder. Nice action, good dialog, even the Spirit himself seems dead on. Nice issue. I guess I’m mostly down on this team for not getting the characterization of the supporting cast pitch-perfect, but this issue shows that they can make the main character and his world work well.

Badger Saves The World #5, Baron and Dose. The Badger’s return stumbles dazed across the finish line. Honestly there are more glimmers of Badger goodness in this issue than it deserves, including a two-panel exchange between Daisy and Ham that makes them live. I think Baron had begun to slip back into the characters’ skins. If this were an ongoing series, I’d be seeing signs of life, even after the unfortunate derailing of the artist last issue. Sigh.

Apparently the Santa Monica city council is continuing to try to block category C&D jets from using the airport. The FAA remains unamused.

I was at SMO today and saw some sizable jets depart. They didn’t have labels indicating their approach speeds, so I can’t be sure that they were illegal in the estimate of the Santa Monica city council.

BoingBoing calls my attention to this self-contained airport generator.  This would be a fine thing to have at one’s beck and call.

I had breakfast at the Buckhorn today. For me this requires a flight to New Cuyama airport (L88), and that’s really why I go. New Cuyama isn’t near anything. It’s a small oil and ranching town that’s a place to gather if you’re working in the area or passing through. There’s a gas station, a motel (the Buckhorn) and a recently re-opened café. It’s a tiny, friendly town – the smallest nearby that’s easily airplane accessible.

Of course, a town of 800 people doesn’t have a big airport. I suspect that I have friends who wouldn’t consider L88 an airport at all. It looks like this:

That picture on the right is from my “lonely windsock” series. All these images link to larger versions.

To me this is a perfectly wonderful airport. Look – amenities:

Inside is a visitors log in which some wag had given his reason for visiting/destination as “hopelessly lost.” I always sign.

Boy did I make a crappy landing here today. I went around once and then landed fast in some turbulence (and a nice hot layer of ground effect). It wasn’t very pretty at all. I could tell you a story about how the narrow runway created an optical illusion and all that, but I should probably spend my time hitting a few more small fields.

Anyway, I tied down, watched an enormous rabbit saunter across the runway before I could get my camera working, and signed in. (Seriously, it wasn’t so much a rabbit as a jackalope.)

The Buckhorn was pretty busy. It’s a motel as well as a restaurant, and a couple families were checking in as well as a pretty full house of eating customers. I had a tri-tip sandwich at the counter and soaked up the considerable ambiance. Sadly the advertised “karaoke cook” didn’t seem to be in.

I finished up, had another short look around and saddled up to leave. Another pilot was inbound and I gave him a wind report and he let me leave first. The trip home was gorgeous, but uneventful.

Yow. (Via Warren Ellis, obviously).

Last weekend Brenda and I packed up and flew out to see the poppy bloom in Lancaster (WJF). There’s lots of other things to do there, so we rented a car and hit some of our favorite spots in the area. The flight was through clear skies, but with some turbulence coming over the ridges. Brenda got to hit her head on the ceiling for the first time and I made a pilot report of the turbulence.

First stop was Crazy Otto’s diner, a joint that makes great breakfasts and sandwiches.

After that, up to the Exotic Feline Breeding Center’s Feline Conservation Center – the cat house in Rosamond, CA. This is a fine set of large cats on display and we enjoy seeing them.

After that it was off to the to see the fireworks, but first Brenda spotted a flock of sheep we needed to check out.

The poppies were fantastic, and I’m sure Brenda will show off more of her photography of them. Here’s a quick shot to give you a feel for the range of colors.

And here I am looking at them, surrounded by some vibrant orange.

After we’d seen and photographed a bunch of poppy vistas, we sort of wandered about deciding when to go home. That was put off when Brenda spotted baseball! Lancaster has a minor league team (a Class A Red Sox farm club), the Jethawks, who had a game starting essentially right as we passed the stadium. We stopped by and watched a few innings and ate some ballpark food.

We left before the game was quite over in order to get up in the air and try to make it to back to SMO before the tower closed at nine. The turbulance had mostly passed, and we did just that. We landed with the controller who issued us taxi instructions and literally closed down the Class D behind us.

This was an awesome day.