Mowing So there I am mowing away

[Short Game]

A smooth field to mow? Now there's one crazy concept.

When I have a story that starts out, "So there I am mowing away...," it's usually about a coil of used barbed wire or an early Ford bumper mount. My mowing stories don't seem to get the good endings. It might be cool to find that the pointy square rock that I'm cussin' for what it's done to my blade turns out to be another Great Pyramid by the time I get it all dug out.

 

[deere755]

The company my wife works for bought us a balloon ride as a wedding gift. It was one of the neatest things to ride in. It is so quiet up there when the burner is off. Last fall I was working in the field real late one evening. I looked up and saw a helicopter coming my way. That is nothing new around here, the National Guard practices around the lake all the time. I was minding my own business watching the chisel plow work and all the sudden it became daylight. I looked up and the helicopter was hovering above me with his search light on. I about wet myself until I figured out what it was. I figure they got a good laugh out of it.

 

[Bird]

It was one of the neatest things to ride in. It is so quiet up there when the burner is off.

That's kind of the way I felt the only time I was on a sailboat; a tiny one at that, slicing silently through the water. And I've been up once in a glider; that, too, is a neat plane to fly around silently. But I've never been up in one of those balloons, nor do I wish to do so.:laughing:

 

[kebo]

I almost had an interesting story like those mentioned above.... Years ago at my hunt club, one of our leases (169 acres) got clearcut. I mean they leveled it good too. So, I put up a tripod in the middle of one area, and my cousin put up a ladderstand at the edge of the property on a high point, facing my tripod. These two stands were about 600 yds apart, but you could see one from the other. My tripod was about 14ft high with a roof and sides on it.

One morning I was hunting by myself and debated which stand to get in, and finally chose the ladder stand. Well, couple hours after daylight a chopper comes in and started flying around that lease, I couldn't tell for sure what he was doing as he kept making circles around it. He finally got almost right on top of my tripod while I was watching from 600yds away. Then, he eased the chopper down and actually landed about 40 ft from it. He didn't stay long, and got back up and took off and eventually left the area.

Can you image the pilots surprise had I been sitting in the tripod with a rifle in hand? He probably would have crapped his pants even though I would never have pointed it at him. I did have a small plot of wheat that I had recently planted next to my tripod, so maybe he thought it might be some maryj and wanted to check it out? Don't know, but even here in SC that stuff doesn't get planted in October. After I got down, I walked over there and could see where the skids touched down just a few yards from the tripod. Had I been in that stand, I think the dirt, dust, and wind whipping around would have been too much for me anyway. I guess it was good I wasn't in it!

 

[123rday]

Reminds me of a joke. I don't think it will be lost on this tech savvy audience:

A man flying in a hot air balloon suddenly realizes he痴 lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts to get directions, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

The man below says: "Yes. You're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."

"You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist.

"I do" replies the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but It's of no use to anyone."

The man below replies, "You must work in management."

"I do," replies the balloonist, "But how'd you know?"

"Well", says the man, "you don稚 know where you are, or where you*e going, you expect me to be able to help. You*e in the same position you were before we met, but now it痴 my fault."

Very funny.

 

[RoyJackson]

Got a ride in a Goodyear Blimp back in 1975 or '76.
At the time, Goodyear had three blimps. Two were in the US, one in Rome.
I was stationed at the Naval Air Facility in Naples.

Since the Navy was such a good customer for Goodyear (tires and brakes), they offered rides to a few Navy personnel...I was one of them (selection was by a lottery).

Interesting ride...definitely an airship rather then an airplane. Steering was more like a sailboat then an aircraft. Took quite a few turns of the wheel to turn the ship.
We made an orbit of the Bay of Naples. One of the neatest parts was watching a C-5A Galaxy (aka "Fat Albert") taking off from the NAF. You'd never think it would get in the air since it appeared to be moving so slowly. Appearances are deceptive and it did launch.
After that, the blimp touched down and we passengers disembarked.

Just one of those memories one treasures...

 

[kebo]

One of the Goodyear blimps crashed about 2 weeks ago, in Germany I believe it was. The pilot died in the crash, but managed to get the craft low enough for some passengers to jump out, and he took it back up and it caught fire, crashed, and then burned.

 

[aczlan]

One of the Goodyear blimps crashed about 2 weeks ago, in Germany I believe it was. The pilot died in the crash, but managed to get the craft low enough for some passengers to jump out, and he took it back up and it caught fire, crashed, and then burned.

As I recall, he got it down, everyone else (or everyone but one other person) got out, but when they got out it became enough lighter that the blimp jumped back up in the air 100+ feet, it then the fire burned through the lift bags and down the blimp came.

Aaron Z

 

[Bird]

Pilot of Goodyear Blimp Saves Passengers Before Dying in Fiery Crash

Read more: Pilot of Goodyear Blimp Saves Passengers Before Dying in Fiery Crash - FoxNews.com

 

[jinman]

I knew a farmer who was really upset when a balloon landed in the middle of his grain field. He was even angrier when he saw the chase vehicle opening his gate to go driving out to the balloon. He quickly informed them that they could drive through his field, but that they would do it on four flat tires since he would shoot them all out with his shotgun that he was carrying.:shocked::laughing:

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I knew a farmer who was really upset when a balloon landed in the middle of his grain field. He was even angrier when he saw the chase vehicle opening his gate to go driving out to the balloon. He quickly informed them that they could drive through his field, but that they would do it on four flat tires since he would shoot them all out with his shotgun that he was carrying.:shocked::laughing:

My wife, who's an otherwise rational woman, is ADDICTED to watching Judge Judy...

A few days ago, I walked in just as she was sitting down to watch an episode. There was a case where an ultralight landed in some guys field of peas just a day before harvest. The pilot was claiming he has a right to his own safety that required him to land. The farmer said he wanted the value of estimated crop value of what was destroyed. The ultralight pilot tried to fly out of the field after making a repair. The farmer held him on the ground (by parking his truck in the path of the ultralight)

You would have thought this was most serious claim ever brought before a court.

Ended up a judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $700+ and a VERY unhappy ultralight pilot. (And me promising to disconnect the Dish service if we don't get to watch the news instead of Judge Judy)

 

[Short Game]

The first flight manual I ever read (and I remember only this one part) said, "In the event that you must make a forced landing, hit the softest, cheapest, thing in sight, as slowly as possible."

 

[JRobyn]

My balloon experience is about half Bird and half Kebo. I was hunting one Saturday morning in a large tract (1100 acres) about 60 miles north of Atlanta. One of the main attractions of hunting there is that it was PLENTY far enough away from the big city and isolated enough that is was very private and quiet. So I keep thinking that I am hearing voices. Very faintly. Coming from behind my treestand where I know there is hundreds of acres of nothing but forest. After a few minutes they seemed to get a little louder. And then WHOOOSH!! from the balloon burners about 50ft directly over my head. Like Bird said - I thought a jet engine had just somehow fired up in mid-air and was about to crash on top of me. During the few seconds it took me to put it together that it was a balloon, I nearly soiled myself.

 

[GGB]

In the rural subdivision we used to live in south of the Kansas City Metropolitan area, we had several balloons land on the vacant lots across from our home. As I recall, they usually opened a bottle of champane upon landing for the guests onboard.

We frequently had advance warning from one of our dogs who would go nuts over seeing the balloons coming near. Pretty funny to watch!

We even had a father who was teaching his son how to fly their ultralight aircraft, land on the street in front of the house after concern over a possible engine problem. After checking it out and determining that all was okay, he left his son off to ride back to the airfield where they kept the ultralight with his wife in their car, and he then took off from the street to get back. It definetely made for an interesting Saturday morning....Wish I'd had a camera handy.

I've never been in an utralight or ballon, but did get to take a flight in a glider a few years ago in Florida while on vacation. Great experience-I loved it!

GGB

 

[Perplexed]

My cousin used to live in Albuquerque, not far from the fields where they hold the annual balloon festival. She told me that during one festival, a balloon came down in her backyard with technical problems. The descending basket broke her TV antenna (yes, this was a long time ago!), so when the chase vehicle arrived, the crew captain gave my cousin his business card to call for compensation. They were all very nice about it, and she served them coffee while they packed up the balloon.