A hiker has found the wreckage of Steve Fossett’s plane. He’s been missing for more than a year after he took off on a routine flight on Sept. 3, 2007. The sheriff’s office has confirmed the plane was Fossett’s. It appears he flew head-on into the mountain side, near Mammoth Lakes, California Most of the plane a small two seat Bellanca was destroyed upon impact. The main portion of the wreckage was found around 9,700 up the side of a 10,000 foot plus peak. The crash was a nonsurvivable.

The Transportation Safety Board will use a team to recover the wreckage as an aid to try to determine the reason for the crash. The investigation could take several weeks or maybe even months.

I will be following the investigation as it progresses and will be very interested in the final report.

Another catch-up post :

On Friday dad had another appointment with his regular neurologist. The doctor was happy with the progress of dads recovery. Dad just started on solid food and is regaining his strength daily. Dr Pitt stated he would like to transfer dad to an aggressive rehab center soon. With his continuing improvements and as the brain swelling reduces this may happen shortly.

Great news.

A visit to dads doctors takes me about eight hours including travel time. So that about filled the day.

On Saturday after the rain ended and things dried out I began the task of cutting and cleaning-up the damage area from the tree in my yard. This was a much bigger job than I expected and I was exhausted by nightfall.

On Sunday we had a special event at my church. NewSpring hosted the Christian musical group DecembeRadio who played all four services in Anderson and were broadcast to our Greenville location. I was part of the production team for that special event and worked all four services. The entire day required about a 15 hour commitment. But I loved it and would not have missed it for anything. I'll post my tells and photos of the day later.

Monday was spent recovering from Friday, Saturday and Sunday, along with catching up on my much neglected job. Thankfully I make a great boss, but I am underpaid. ( I'm self employed ) After Kristie got home I resumed the tree clean-up. Operating a chain saw while home alone is not something I wanted to do so I only had an hour or two of light.

Today I drove to my mothers house to help with a few odd jobs around the house and to help her at the insurance and medicare offices. It is beginning to look like dad will be fully recovered and home before the paperwork mountain is climbed. Forms after forms still to be completed.

Tonight I have another aviation safety class to attend in Greenville. I am using a record amount of gas just at a time when there are supply issues all around me. I passed several stations today that were closed because of the fuel shortage.

BTW I am still working on the tree clean-up. Maybe I'll get it cleaned up before the first snow <>

I have been reading in the news that the government is planning a bailout of the nations lenders.

That is a bailout costing hundreds of billions of dollars. I seem to recall that the United States has not had a spending surplus for many, many years. Our country spends much more than it takes in creating an annual budget deficit. That means we don't have any extra money that isn't already earmarked.

So where are we getting the money we are using for this economic bailout ?

We will have to borrow it.

Yes we borrow the money to save the people who lend us money.

Is this a weird shell game or what ?

Campaign planned against hunger and litter...

I just read this headline in my local paper. We all know how a fast food wrapper or empty cigarette pack tossed out the window of a car can cause children to go hungry.

“Area residents have shown that they care about their neighbors,” a news release stated. “Clean streets and well-fed residents are issues that must be addressed.”

Oh please ... I can rest easy now knowing that not only will I have enough to eat, but that I'll never have to pick-up an empty beer can from the ditch near my house.

Happy Days are here again.

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it.... ?


What about if a tree falls in your yard and you don't see it?


About 4pm this afternoon I heard a cracking sound. Kinda like a string of firecrackers in the distance. I looked out and and our Bradford Pear tree had split and the half facing the house fell.

It missed the house and caused no other damage. But it left a big hole in the side we see. Oh well

Eighteen years it survived hurricane winds and southern thunderstorms. But today it only took a gust of 17 knots out of the northeast. Guess I'll need the chainsaw.





Fire wood for sale...cheap !!

University of Georgia football fan are a little saddened today.


Long time voice of the Dogs Larry Munson is retiring.

Larry is a living legend, and not just in the hearts of Georgia fans. It's the end of an era. Munson with his unique and very partisan play-by-play style has been calling the games for 43 years. It seems longer.

Larry Munson who turns 86 next week is stepping away from the microphone for good.

"What do you say when a legend steps down?" Georgia coach Mark Richt asked .

What indeed? He'll be missed

Here is Rant that I am sure will cause controversy.

First let me start by saying I think all people deserve equal access to public places. Those with disabilities should be able to come and go, work, shop, travel and visit every place others can. I am NOT opposed to the mandated solutions imposed to aid that freedom.

But can't we use common sense?

This morning I visited a small business here in my town. A store. Outside the building there were fourteen parking places. Six were reserved for handicapped persons. That's 43% of the parking spots. None were in use and the remaining eight were filled. I had no where on the site to park. I could use the exercise but honestly, 43% of the places were reserved and unused. I doubt that 43 out of every hundred drivers has a handicapped parking permit.

Where is the common sense?

Later I stopped at the Post Office. Gone was the table everyone used for years to sort their mail and to fill out forms. It had been replaced by a unit more friendly to wheel chairs. That's fine except that the writing surface is now between my knees and my waist. I had to stoop to use it at all. Is it too much to ask for a split level surface?

Where is the common sense?

Finally I drove to the bank. At the remote drive-in teller station the instructions on the left side of the car were in English, Spanish and Braille. How can blind ( sorry ..sight impaired ) persons drive in the first place? Am I crazy ? Seems to me you should be able to see in order to drive.

Where is the common sense?

I am in favor of using all the tools to aid, two members of my family have mobility issues and these type things are a true blessing, but have we gone overboard?

DAD UPDATE: Word came to me that for the first time since his fall dad had a real meal today. He ate some carrots, potatoes and even some small chunks of chicken. This is a major milestone in dad’s recovery.

Note: Due to a technical issue it appears that my previous two posts did not show-up here until this afternoon. It should be back on track now.

It was good to get back to meting with our friends in homegroup.
We all had taken the summer off and I had missed meeting.
Kris and I are leading this new incarnation and Sunday evening was mostly catching up time though we did have a short devotional time.
Part of our new year was spent looking at the options and direction God would have us go.
Our prayer is that we keep an open ear to what God is teaching us and an open heart that is willing to follow his leadership.

For the first time this season Kristie and I were able to enjoy both the Clemson and University of Georgia football games. Clemson was not on a station where we could watch the game but we enjoyed just hearing the radio broadcast. Ashley and her team were making an appearance during the game and she was shown on the big screen on the scoreboard several times. Go Monk.

We taped and watched the UGA game Saturday. Kristie’s grandmother is celebrating her Eighty-fifth birthday and that called for a party. The whole family gathered along with friends in Toccoa to wish her at least 85 more. We got home well after kick-off so Kris and I watched the game via tape.

The Dogs played their most distant road game in recent memory traveling all the way to Tempe, Arizona to face the Sun Devils. If you follow American college football you already know they are a quality team. But the Bull-Dogs were up to the challenge remaining undefeated this year. It was a great game but I think I enjoyed the segment about Uga’s (Bulldog mascot) travels with the team and how he has a near “rock star” celebrity everywhere he goes.