July 29, 2010
The old Mission looked great -some nice improvements - while retaining the wonderful old Mission charm that attracted us in the first place.
We visited with Norma Rianda - the Rianda Family befriended us 40 years ago when, all alone, we got married in 'their' Mission.
I created a webpage with a lot of Wedding pictures and "Then and Now" photos - found here.
Museum of Flight
A lot of manhours into Museum activities this year. We finally put the Connie on public display (see below.) I wound up giving seven talks, including sessions on the Connie, Boeing Clipper, history of Boeing Plant II, and finally on Lockheed aircraft designer Kelly Johnson - to audiences at the Museum and elsewhere. They went very well, and I have requests already for three or four next year.
My webpage describing the removal of the last three airplanes from Plant II after a 75 year history went "viral", with about 15 million readers. You can see it here.
Connie
The Connie, which entered Boeing's Plant
II in September 2009 for an indeterminate storage period, came out
exactly one year later and was moved, in two all-night sessions, to the
Museum's Air Park. It finally went on public display 63 months after I
started this project. You can see the details here.
Was it worth it? It was worth it!
Dot
Dot
had excellent news on at least one health front - after her CAT scan a
week ago, which was CLEAR, she was stretched out to having the next
scan in a year vs every six months. Three years since her diagnosis.
She
continues with her dancing and community activities, and this year
began her third major quilt project - a quilt being made for a wounded
soldier returned from the war. Here it is laid out prior to quilting.
Dot's cousin Rachel Gallant from Moncton, NB, visited for several days in March. We had a fine time, having last visited with her at her place in Moncton in 2003.
Our friends Anne and Percy Cullen from Grande Prairie, Alberta, also returned for several days. We always have a great time with them - Anne says she'd like to make their visit a regular occasion - which is definitely OK by us.
Bob's Turn in the Barrel
As for myself, I've been in the unusual position of no longer being Dr. Mom, but instead becoming Patient Bob. The role switch has seriously impacted my frenetic lifestyle advsersely - not a change I am at all used to, suited for, or happy about.
It began in the Spring of 2009 when I started having mobility issues - I had increasing difficulty sitting down or standing up, and car travel became very painful. My right knee became very painful - I injured it about 1997 when I fell off a ladder, and thought that was the problem. Pains up and down my right leg led to another Internet diagnosis - sciatica. I ate all my meals standing, as well as working on my computer - my usual home improvement activities ceased almost completely. By February of this year, stubborn old Bob had become almost completely immobilized and forced to seek medical evaluation.
After several days of tests at Swedish Orthopedic, I got the good and bad news. The good news was - my knee was fine. The bad news was my back was "shot" (no surprise with two parents with bad back problems.) The really bad news was - my right hip was a goner and needed to be replaced. Arthritic loss of cartilage.
In March, I got a "hip shot" - which was an unbelievable miracle - I was cured of any and all pain within literally seconds. I drove home like I was 17 all over, and made a long list of jobs that needed doing before this "cure" inevitably wore off. Which it did. Four months later, I got a second shot - this one to allow us to make our California trip. Not as good as the first shot overall - but longer lasting so far, I'm now going on six months, with reasonable mobility.
My "plan" is to keep going with the shot routine until I'm forced to do the hip job - meanwhile, my other hip has started showing signs of going South on me too. Guess that means a "two-fer."
A cardiac "scare" in
August resulted in lots of tests and a "no problem found"
diagnosis. Hope that turns out to be the case..... If not,
wonder if Dot can get a refund?
My Pal - R.I.P.I put together a Tribute page to him that you can see here. (Lots of photos - long load.)
What a sweet, sweet, sweet pup....
As I noted last year, a dog's love is
unconditional and his loyalty is deep and forever. He makes you a
better human being, and does so effortlessly. I always remind people
that DOG spelled backwards is......
Peace..........
Bob and Dot
Mission San Juan Bautista (L) and Santa Clara (R)
2010 Passings
Way too many of our friends and relatives are leaving us. But they live on, that's for sure, in our memories.
When we got to Soledad, we learned that Father John McSweeney had passed away earlier in the year. Father McSweeney was the priest who had married us, and made all the necessary arrangements when these two strangers arrived on his parish doorstep. He had retired quite a few years earlier, to an elder facility run by the church in Salinas. We maintained contact through the years, and had tried to visit him during our last visit, but he was on his annual pilgimage to the old country. It was there, in Ireland, while visiting, that he took sick, and died in the house he was born in.
Shortly before Christmas, we lost Capt. Red Martindale - a Nordair
pilot I had flown with extensively on the Super Connie and the
737.
Red was one of the best -- a
natural pilot. I spoke with him quite often. He'd always start crying
when I called, which made me feel bad...and, in some ways, good - that
he felt that way. He had a picture on the wall that he cherished - of
him and me somewhere up North - I cherished the fact that he cherished
it. He almost made it down to Rome, NY for the Connie Reunion, but his
trip fell through at the last minute. We were very good friends until
the end......
I rummaged around and found the picture in
question - his family apparently took it down from the wall in his room
- they cropped it and it's the very picture they used in his obit. It
was taken at Nanisivik on northern Baffin Island 21 Oct 1982 -
ambient temp -20 F.
My good friend Dick Schwartz
suffered a heart attack and passed away in August. We worked
together for many years, and called each other "Bro" because we
considered ourselves to be genuine Brothers.
Dick was 78.
Jerry Baer also
died in August (we go to a lot funerals) at 89. After I'd spent more than
10 years in the Field, Jerry met me on a trip to Hawaii, and offered me
a job back at the Plant - which I took. From Wisconsin, Jerry
went to work as an engineer in Boeing's old Plant II in 1942.
Vern Castle was one of the Directors who worked with me in the Materiel Division - he was in charge of BFE - Buyer Furnished Equipment - stuff the airlines were supposed to deliver on-time to be installed in their new airplanes - but often failed to do so! Vern was 79.
Don Delaney was a close friend of Dot and her family; he lived in the Magdallen
Islands, where he ran a lobster and fish processing plant and was
involved in all things nautical. Don was 72. He had just
bought the boat of his dreams in Montreal and was sailing it back with
three friends to the Magdallen Islands - a trip of about a week.
While proceeding up the St. Lawrence River on the first day, they were
making for port in the dark, when the boat ran aground on a reef.
The other men were able to make it ashore, but Don, sadly, was drowned. He was a good friend to me, as well.
Kurt Mason
was an active volunteer at The Museum of Flight's Restoration
Center. A retired Marine aviator, he died suddenly, at age
78. He received an impressive Marine funeral, including a 21 gun
salute.
Mark Holland
was a retired Boeing colleague. He was a salesman while I was a
Tech Rep with Nordair in Montreal, and we became good friends.
Mark was one of the most intelligent and dynamic people I ever knew.
Tom Brosalme - WB0YNX -
was one of my Ham radio pals. He came to visit about 3 years ago,
and in October 2009, I returned the visit to his home, in
Sioux City, Iowa. Tom died suddenly on July 2nd - it was a big
shock to everybody. Since then, I've been trying to fill his
shoes as Net Control for our evening group of about a dozen guys from
Ontario, Florida, Texas, Arizona, to Hawaii and Alaska.
A further tribute to him here.
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