The Real Life of Ellen & Mason: Only 3 hours!?!?

So far, my shortest flight on the B-52 has been 3.3 hours. The longest was 6 hours. Now that might sound like a lot of time to be sitting in that cave-like flight deck, but really it's not much. "Back in the good ol' days", the training sorties were closer to 10 hours. But since the FTU has moved in with the Reserve squadron, union bologna and old habits have forced us into smaller more canned flight profiles. And even though five hours isn't too bad, it can still end up being pretty crammed when you have air refueling, activity in a training area on the West side of Texas, and a fair amount of pattern work. So when they add in other instructors and random guests who need currencies rehacked, it really cuts into our training time. Throw in some weather and a broken piece or two that create delayed takeoffs and you can end up getting pretty screwed. Fortunately, the leadership seems to be aware of our screwage and we might be getting an extra flight somewhere down the road. The thing that concerns me most is air refueling since it's hard enough to learn without having weeks in between tries. But this next flight will be fun since it's our first night flight and it will be my first time landing this thing in over a month! On the plus side, we're taking off before sunset. So unlike jumping into the T-38 at night, dropping all your crap on the floor or losing a pencil in the crack, and trying to find where all the switches are in the dark while having the IP yell at you to hurry up from the back seat, this time I'll be able to get a little more situated and build my cockpit "nest" before the light drops off. Should be good stuff. I would post more kick butt pics of us flying but I've been either too busy during the flights or we've had so many people crammed into the plane that I didn't really feel comfortable bringing out the camera.

On the lower altitude side of life, our sweets supply had to declare bankruptcy yesterday for Halloween. Thinking that this neighborhood would be like it was at Sheppard, we weren't expecting too many trick-or-treaters so we just pooled together random candy and stuff for Ellen's school fundraisers to give out. But come 5 o'clock, the streets were flooded with lions, and witches, and spidermen (oh my). Not only did all the base kids come out of their hiding spots (since we never see many over the age of 6 months when we're out around the block), but it was also clear that cars of boogeymen were being imported from off base to get in on the goods. So after at least 200 knocks at the door, we had to turn off our porch light in shame. Ellen thought about putting apples in the pumpkin bowl, but I said "nay, Ellen, nay." At least we can say that we gave out some pretty substantial pieces to the kids since Ellen had to break open her big boxes for school candy sales (full bags of m&ms, bags of mini-oreos, the works).

Once the whippersnappers cleared the streets and the moon came up, we went over to a party hosted by a couple of the EWOs in our class (also known as the "she-dubbs"). There was much music, shananigans, and boo's (get it?) to be had by all. People had some pretty good costumes, highlighted by a stripping cowboy midget. But few could compare to our classic discount idea for a costume. I'll let you take a look at the picture and figure it out. We've come far from our original couple costume as "The Night Sky" so the bar is very high for next year.

Ellen is still rocking out the Halloween feel since her school is doing their spirit week this week. And then Homecoming on Friday, so it's "Go Panthers" for her. Another semester and it'll be time for prom. Just like being back in high school again...glad she's the teacher and not me! I came up with a swell idea for her "flashback" theme tomorrow where she has to choose a different decade to dress up as. I'll wait until pictures arrive before I spill the beans. And no, it's not a hippy or a 80's costume, those are too popular.

In other news, Shreveport / Bossier City has gone Atlantis. We got dumped on all last week and even had a tornado or two pass through. Base did a good job of keeping things under control, even though a lot of the streets were under water for a day or two. But West of base, where a lot of the military people have houses, things were a lot worse. A few neighborhoods were evacuated and I think they're working on sandbagging the levy right now. We're thankful to be dry and safe in our base house, especially since our house is on a little bit of a hill. And since all the big ditches and ravines around base are filled with water now, my chances for seeing an alligator are increased. But so far, all I have to report is very very large turtles and bullfrogs. From far away though, these big turtles sticking their shell out of the water can definitely get your hopes up... And now, we've got a perfect week of 70 degree highs and clear skies. So launch the fleet!