STILL SNOWBOUND!

Just a note first, that I've posted a wonderful photo of Margaret Wade, wife of one of my readers Walter Wade, in my Cap'n Meryl & Friends Album. I have a special fondness for figure skating myself and you can tell by her smile and her very stance what she thinks of it: Margaret Wade

I've lived in Colorado for 18 years now (how could it possibly have been this long?) and there has never been this much snow. Al The Web Guy was born in Golden, Colorado, has lived here all his life and even he can't remember a snowier winter. We keep getting snowed in over and over and over, and when the snow stops, the wind picks up and renders us snowbound once again due to the newly-formed drifts, many of which are taller than I am.

With the white sky and the white snowscape, and with even the small amount of vegetation poking through now encased in ice, it looks quite like a different planet at the moment with no visible horizon at all.

Temperatures here are now sub-zero and forecast to stay that way for the next several days. I lived in Alaska for ten years and I don't remember weather any more wintry than we're having right here, and in fact it's colder right now here in Colorado than it is in Fairbanks, Alaska, known for it's sub-zero temperatures.

Except for the fact that this extreme cold and snow creates a true hardship for people without the means to house themselves and keep warm, and the fact that livestock and other animals are stranded without enough food, it actually has little effect on us. We have a warm house and everything we need right here, and there is scarcely a minute of the day I don't look around and truly appreciate how fortunate we are.

Last week I published the first half of Chapter One of the sequel to "The World At My Feet." You'll find a live link now to the second half of that chapter here: Table of Contents .

Please note Al The Web Guy has created a free photo gallery site where you'll be able to post your own photos in your own private gallery. Your family and friends will be able to view all your photos. You can register and upload your photos at Your Photo gallery

"The World At My Feet" and "Flights of Whimsy" is now a
permanent offer in our Gift Ideas area at
fromthecockpit.com. Just $25 for both books,
shipped anywhere in the world for free for a
savings of $12.85.
Click here: Gift Ideas

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,

Cap'n Meryl

SNOWY, SNOWY CHRISTMAS

First, a reminder that you may send your aviation questions to me at support@fromthecockpit.com with "Aviation Question" in the subject. Be sure to check out this week's Ask Cap'n Meryl question & answer about about winglets & sails

Unless you're completely out of touch with humanity, you probably heard that Colorado got absolutely clobbered by a blizzard just before Christmas, wreaking havoc at our "all weather" airport and across the state in general. Al The Web Guy and I were snowed in for five days, then got hit with Round 2 and were snowed in a second time for another three days.

Al and I reside about an hour and a half south of Denver International Airport and of course had plenty of warning for the blizzards on the way. However, Al developed a bad toothache the day before the expected arrival of Blizzard #1 and our dentist was so swamped he had to put Al off until the day of the storm.

The dentist showed up even though the blizzard had begun full force just before dawn. Al was in such pain he kept his appointment as well and headed out into howling 50 mph winds and blizzard conditions. He had not a minute to spare getting home and was unable to stop and get a prescription for pain killers and antibiotics for fear he wouldn't make it home at all. It turned out to be a good decision in spite of the pain.

Our driveway is a quarter mile long. Al got stuck or nearly stuck in snowdrifts several times on the way home on rural country roads and in fact didn't quite make it all the way, but had to abandon the car near the house and tromp through the drifts and the storm with high winds the rest of the way. Serious business, but he made it safe and sound and although he was really uncomfortable for a couple of days, gradually the pain subsided on its own and there didn't seem to be an infection.

This was on December 20th and we weren't able to make it out at all until Christmas Day. However, even then the snow kept drifting back over our driveway and we were once again snowbound. The day after Christmas was the first day we could get out with any certainty of getting back.

As harrowing as it was, after the storm subsided we had sapphire-blue skies and a true winter wonderland to gaze at in awe before the second storm arrived. I've added quite a few photos to our At Home album of our photo gallery including one of our car almost buried in snow where Al left it. The following link will take you to the latest uploads. They take up an entire page plus two photos on the next page of the album. Be sure to click the Back arrow when you've finished viewing: Latest Uploads

My good friend Kelli King, a regional jet pilot (and former music teacher) sent me a beautiful photo of a snowy night at O'Hare, taken from the cockpit of her jet. Click here to see it in my Guest Aviation Photos album and don't forget to click the Back arrow after you've looked.

She also sent me a long and detailed letter of a truly harrowing winter trip rife with delays, lost baggage and a multitude of other difficulties, but I want to share with you what she wrote when I asked her if she was still enjoying her job as a pilot, even though she had just written about the most horrific conditions on a trip lasting several days.

Kelli wrote: "In spite of it all, I LOVE my job! I figured out a long time ago that whatever you do in life, you should love it enough to put up with all that comes with it. I didn't have that love for teaching school music, but I do have that love for flying. No matter what happens on the ground, or what sort of politics are going on within the company, I absolutely have no regrets when I put those thrust levers forward. I'm willing to deal with quite a bit in order to have the privilege of sitting in one of the "good seats." I can't really see myself wanting to change fields, even within aviation. Airline life is strangely addictive and exciting, as you well know. Even though much of the "glamour" is gone, there is still a "mystique" to being an airline pilot. I used to think I wouldn't care what sort of pilot I was, as long as I was flying, but it turns out I do care, and as long as I can, I want to stay with the airlines! I am also blessed to have a husband who supports me in doing this crazy job.

Is that a wonderful response or what? And she's right when she says airline life is addictive. I'm still in withdrawal although adjusting well enough. In March I will have to decide whether to take up flying again with a potential job offer, but there are several factors to consider and my mind is not yet made up. More about that in the next few months.

And now, here is the next installment of the Sequel to The World At My Feet. The full title of the sequel, at least for now, will be "The World At My Feet, Part 2 - The Other End of The Rainbow." This link will take you to the Table of Contents, where you can click through to the entire Prologue, if you missed all or part of it, as well as the first part of Chapter One - The Rocking Chair: Table of Contents

From Al The Web Guy & me, Cap'n Meryl, along with our critters (you can meet them all at the link above for our At Home album), Miss Bunny Bunnée, The Ferret Brothers Petey & Charlie Chopper, Coco-Puff the Pomeranian and Houdini, our Chattering Lorrie, we wish you a very Happy & Prosperous 2007.

Please note Al The Web Guy has created a free photo gallery site where you'll be able to post your own photos in your own private gallery. Your family and friends will be able to view all your photos. You can register and upload your photos at Your Photo gallery

"The World At My Feet" and "Flights of Whimsy" is now a
permanent offer in our Gift Ideas area at
fromthecockpit.com. Just $25 for both books,
shipped anywhere in the world for free for a
savings of $12.85.
Click here:
Gift Ideas

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,

Cap'n Meryl