Leaving...On a Jet Plane...Maybe...Change 1...Probably

 So...There We were*...Looking forward to a nice little vacay drifting down the Danube River for a week with our Wine Maker Friends and 26 others.  Enjoying various wines and wineries along the way with a couple of follow up talks and tastes on board.  

Ahh...Retired Life!  Woke up Saturday morning a tad early, still working on changing the body clock to sync with the alarm clock.  Mrs. J is still asleep, she's been working hard to get all her guests on board their flights and enroute to Munich.  All are enroute or in-country already.

All except she and I.

Insert ominous music score here.

So. I'm sitting in the kitchen, being as quiet as I can to let her sleep.  My cell phone dings, I glance at it.  The sender is British Airways.  NBD, I think to myself, they've been sending me updates on our flight for a few days now.  2000 TO from Austin Bergstrom to London. Clear British Customs, then board another BA flight to Munich to meet the bus to take us to Vilshofen to board the boat.  Been getting this info regularly.  At that point, I believe it was my Sainted Mother, now Guardian Angel, that tapped me on the shoulder and said "Hey, Dummy! Read the frickin' message." 

She's gotten a bit more direct (and tetchy) since she took over the Guardian Angel duties.

Anyhow, who am I to question her?  I open it and read that our London to Munich flight has been cancelled and we are now scheduled on a London to Salzburg connecting flight.  Should be no problem, right?

Right?

Google Maps

Apparently, there isn't an easy way to get from Salzburg to the River. Nice!

So, Mrs. J is working with the River Tour company to figure this problem out.  I'm being very quiet and doing what I'm told without asking or commenting.  

Self-preservation, doncha-know?  Waiting to see how this turns out.

Given the traveling, I think a little space/time physics update regarding this and this week's post is appropriate.  It's 6 hours ahead there.  Given the circumstances mentioned above, it may be a while before I can get to the internet and respond to comments.  Similar circumstances will occur a week from  now.  The boat docks next Monday early and we're herded to the airport.  A million hours later we arrive back home.  Responding to comments will be nigh on to impossible.  So...Discuss amongst yourselves, please.

On the Grand Daughter front, a bit of good news.  She had a visit with her pulmonologist this past week.  The appointment went well and the Doc gave LJW the OK to try weaning her off her supplemental O2.  She had been using it with a 50% supplemental oxygen level since birth.  The Doc said to lower it to 25% for 2 days and see if she handled it ok.  Friday (I'm writing this on Saturday VS usual Sunday, see reason above.) the experiment started.  Checking with LJW that evening, Miss B was doing fine.  So, finger's crossed and prayers up, please.  Success here will be a VERY BIG THING!

Pen making has slipped to the back burner of late.  Mrs. J commented that there was a lot of dirt being tracked into the house lately, what with the drought, and that we needed to have "Outside Shoes" and "Inside Shoes".  Recognizing that I was in the middle of a very large mine field, I responded "Yes, Dear" and the laundry room became my shoe transfer facility.

Unfortunately, the days of my being able  to reach down from an upright position and touch my toes without shortly thereafter touching my face to the floor are way in the past.  Which is problematic as the laundry room has no seating.

So..A project being presented, regardless of the source,  is a gift from above.  In the picture above, I'd just applied my first coat of polyurethane to the Shoe Rack/Bench.  I'm on coat #3 #6 now and it's beginning to look pretty darn nice.  Unfortunately, drying time will finish right about the time we need to leave for our flight.

Assuming, of course, that British Airways figures their contractual obligations out properly. (See update below.)

We'll see.

Given that good news, I decided this picture pretty much sums things up.

Mrs J.  Captioned it with "But they told me to pull this to Eject."  Girl's got Fighter Pilot blood in her!

Hang in there, y'all and Peace out.  Whatever will be, will be.

Late Breaking news.  Apparently, the moons of Jupiter are in alignment.  Mrs. J was able to talk to the right person who could talk to the right person who could...

The River Tour company's agents got us on a Lufthansa flight that arrives in Munich from London within about an hour of our original arrival time.  BA couldn't seem to make that connection (in all meanings of that word).  So, we've got to get to the airport a little earlier than we were in order to get new tickets printed, but with a little luck we should be good to go.  We will see what we will see.

(Hang in there, y'all and Peace out.  Whatever will be, will be.)²
 

 

Crew Solo (45 years Later)

 As most of you readers are well aware, a little bit more than half of my Air Force career was as a pilot flying F-4's, AT-38's and, that wonderful airplane, the F-15 Eagle.  

 

Gratuitous Airplane Picture

Source

Then I had to pay my dues and fly a desk.  However, that career also had one additional, wonderful advantage.  I met and married my wife.  That was a little over 40 years ago.  During that 40 years, as did most folks, we had a few ups and downs.  On our first try, we had Little Juvat, our son.  We then went through a few miscarriages trying to bring him a sibling.  Finally, we managed to have MBD, our daughter.

Both have done well at their missions in life, not the least of which is marrying wonderful spouses.  MBD was the first to bring a grandchild into the world.  Now about 15 months old, she's a lot of fun and can run an old Fighter Pilot out of airspeed quite quickly.

Little Juvat and LJW also have a wonderful daughter.  Unfortunately, Miss B was born early and required hospitalization for a few months.  She's doing well, but requires some special care and attention.  With Little Juvat in HK, LJW has her hands full with Miss B.  Mrs. J and I have been helping as best we can, Mrs. J more so with the child care.  Me?  Well, more brawn than brains means I get to schlep and carry a lot.

But...LJW asked if we could take over for a weekend as a couple of her friends from College wanted to get together in Houston.  Miss B's personal logistics made it unfeasible for her to go along. So we said OK.

 It's now Friday and we load up the stuff we need to keep Miss B breathing.  (IIRC from High School Health Class, that's somewhat important.) LJW brings her up to our house and drops her off.  

Mrs. J and I are now flying solo.  

Get It?

Takes us a bit of time to pick up "the Routine".  There's feeding time, nap time, play time, and, of course, changing time.  Rinse and repeat several times each day.  But, Miss B's a lot of fun to have around.

Most of the time.

Feeding time is complicated by difficulty in trying to get her to take a bottle.  So she's got a nasal-gastric (NG) tube that feeds her.  This would be a tube inserted into her stomach through her nose. 

Replacing that tube when Miss B accidentally pulls it out?  That would be the cause of  the aforementioned "most of the time". Holy Crap! That was officially "Not Fun" for all concerned.

During feeding time, the NG tube is  attached to this device which controls the amount of formula and its flow rate.  The switchology of the device is about the same complexity as the switches needed to launch an air to air missile in the Phantom.  In other words, easy to screw up.  Which when the baby is fussing and hungry adds a bit of tension to the crew.  

And, to make it perfectly clear, while I was the Aircraft Commander in the Phantom, I most certainly am NOT in this particular situation.  

That would be Mrs. J. (as if there was any doubt).  My role?  Stepin' Fetchit.

 It takes about 45 minutes for each feeding to complete.  And because of Air intake, Meds and a whole slew of other reasons, an attendant has to be in very close range to provide assistance in the case of a "Spit Up".

Miss B can be very prolific at that.

Yes, Beans, our washer and dryer got a lot of work in this past weekend, both for big kid and little kid clothing.

All that having been said, Miss B is a lot of fun to be with.  

She got a bit fascinated with my finger.  Don't know why and didn't mind.  It occupied her for a few minutes.  She also liked her ball.

But, the 4 feedings, especially the 2359 and 0400 ones, and the need to otherwise be constantly close, took a lot out of the Staff.

Fortunately, my easy chair, not only pulled duty as a dinner table, but as a bed also.

Which allowed me to do a quicky wood working project for Mrs. J.

Got the idea here

It's an acoustic cell phone speaker.  Based on Bean's commentary the other day about "computerphonecamera", I thought including this picture today a completely appropriate way to remind him that a cell phone also is a "stereo".  

Surprisingly, especially surprising me, it works quite well.

For some reason or another, Sunday Evening was quite short and Monday Morning Reveille was sounded quite a bit later than usual.  The Crew Solo mission for Mrs. J and I was completed with a few bumps and bruises, but, all in all, successfully.

Peace out, y'all!

Crew Solo

Pretty sure that's a student in the Front Seat.  Helmets didn't get camouflaged until you went to your operational squadron.

Source

So...There I was* ...A 2Lt, winged pilot about half way through F-4 Training at Luke AFB AZ.  One of the nice things about Luke (and Arizona at the time) was there was a lot of airspace and not many people.  Most of the Airspace was cleared for supersonic flight which while it sounds cool is really not that big a deal at least at altitude.  The altimeter gives a little fluctuation as the shock wave transits its probe and that other than the instruments is about all there is.  That having been said, it is very easy to GO supersonic in a modern (or even late 70's modern) fighter, and that IS a big deal if, say, you're over downtown Phoenix.  The shock wave when it hits the ground, in addition to a big boom, tends to have an adverse effect on plate glass.  Which can get expensive to replace, therefore...good to have wide open spaces with little to no people around.

But...I digress.

The F-4 being a two seat airplane that really can't be flown (employed as a fighter anyway) without both occupants.  So...The training program flights starts out with an Instructor pilot in the back seat for the first ride and then you fly with an Instructor Weapons System Operator for the next several flights.  

Technically, the guy in front, the 2LT, IS the aircraft commander.  However, during the first day's "how ya doin'? " briefing by the training squadron commander, he made it perfectly clear that the IWSO in the back seat was in charge and if you didn't do what you were told by him, in virtually all cases, your time in the F-4 would be extremely short.

To be honest, I learned more from the Back Seater about flying and fighting in the Phantom than I did from the IP's flying in the other Phantom's in the flight.  He's 6' behind you seeing/hearing/feeling every stupid thing that's going on instigated by you.

So for the first half of the program, there's a very competent aviator in the back seat doing his best to make sure you don't end up as a grease spot on some mountain peak.  But there comes a point, when you need to grow a bit.  That comes on the Crew Solo ride.  On this ride, the IP is in the other jet as usual, but the guy in your pit (the unofficial name for the back seat) is a student much like you.  The big difference is as the pilot, in pilot training, I've flown by myself several times.  It's a bit tense at times, but generally, if you're not prone to trying stupid things, a lot of fun and pretty confidence building.  

The student WSO, however, has never had this experience.  So...pretty sure the tension level is a bit higher in the back seat than in the front.

ANYHOW, Lead briefs the mission, and it's usually an offensive BFM mission for the solo crew.  Beans, that means it's the Students against the instructors in a 1 V 1 dogfight with the student's starting about 6000' behind and 30^o off the instructor's tail.  If it were "For Realsies", and the first time the instructors saw a bad guy was he was in that position, their probability of pumpkin soup on the menu that evening was likely the best outcome they could hope for.

This is a little closer than 6000' but this is what the attack looks like.

Source

One of the objectives of the mission is for the students to work on crew coordination.  Most of the weapons on the F-4 require actions by both occupants in order to have a successful launch (simulated of course in this case).  That is the training objective for the mission.

In any case, we get all set up in position, and call fight's on.  I turn towards Lead's tail as I'd like to employ a missile.  Back seater is trying to get a lock, I'm trying to get the switches positioned and lead is pulling 6+ g's in his turn.  As I glance up at the target, I notice he's no longer in my windscreen rather he's well above me and about 30 degrees off my nose and rolling his aircraft over me. 

I would be the guy in the foreground, the Instructors are transitioning my 3/9 line and getting behind me.

Source

He's flying a longer flight path than I.  Meaning, very shortly, I will be out front of him.

So...it is written so it shall be.  Now, the roles in my aircraft start to change, the WSO in my pit must gain sight, and direct my defensive actions to a large degree, as pilot visibility out the back is extremely limited.  I should be pulling maximum g at this point, but we're trying to establish roles and plan. 

Suffice it to say, during the debrief, the gun camera film made us movie stars.

This was pretty much the view in the video

Source

The second engagement went a little bit better in that we survived for about a minute longer.  And the third was about a minute longer than that.  

Ego's well holstered and thankful that we were low on gas and had to return to base, we rejoined with lead and did so.  Debrief was long and humbling, but extraordinarily educational.  We left the debrief to go to our afternoon academics with the others in our class all of whom had been scheduled for Offensive BFM 1, the ride we were on.

All of them had similar results. A little bit of humbling reality helps with the learning curve.

And this will set the stage for my next post.

* This is how ALL Fighter Pilot stories start...

C’est fini et... autres mises à jour*

 So...juvat, what's with the Frogese in the title?

Well, y'all know Sarge, he's always trying to add a little Haute culture to the Blog.  Besides, it gets Beans familiar with Google Translate in case he ever leaves the South and needs the  directions translated for him.  

But in any case, it's been an event filled week or so.  So...Let's get the weekly report started.

In the "Took 'ya long enough" Category, Mrs. J's Birthday, Christmas, Valentines Present is finally finished.  

What started off looking like this.

At a midway point, looked like this.

The "Donut" at the bottom is actually a rock with an indenture in the middle.  Wanted to use it for visual value.  But it was too thick to fit.  Bummer Dude!

Went through a couple of  "What if" points.

I thought the back lighting looked cool, but that was me holding a flashlight underneath.  Couldn't find string lighting that looked any where near as good.

So it ended up like this.

Yes, Beans, those are stir sticks epoxied to the floor when I spilled some while pouring.  I didn't want to accidentally step in it.

Now, just got to find some strong backed young folks to move it into Mrs. J's office.  That desk is heavy, just ask my back.  Cautiously moving it around the shop without banging it into something, was difficult to say the least.  The aforementioned young folks will also be needed to move an even heavier desk from Mrs. J's office over to my Sister's place.  Then C'est Fini!

But...Mrs. J loves it.  And that's good enough for me!

On the next higher level of importance in this stage of my life, Miss B is continuing to make progress.  Mrs. J and LJW are doing the Baton Pass on feeding and "other necessities" required by infants.  Miss B is progressing with food quantity consumed and thus weight gain.  The latter being a key indicator of preemie progress.

A Nap....What I would give for a Nap! An older picture, but...

 

Unfortunately, during a recent checkup with the Pulmonary Team at the Hospital in San Antonio, they happened to mention (for the first time and after several meetings...Thanks!) that Preemies on O2 typically do not get weened from it until they turn two.  That caused quite a bit of anguish with the non-medical people in the room.  See...Little J is in Honk Honk and will be there for another couple of years.  The US Consulate there will not allow anyone on O2 to live there as a child of a staff member unless approved by a medical review board. That approval doesn't generally happen since a medevac back to the States, if needed, would be very expensive.     Miss B is 7 months actual age (4 months adjusted age, it's a preemie thing and I'm not sure I understand what the difference in significance is) and therefore, if still on O2, won't be able to rejoin with her Dad for another year and a half.

Suffice it to say, the family is looking into a second medical opinion and "other" State Dept options.  

Other than that bit of bureaucratic set back, Miss B is smiling and goo-gooing and pretty much everything else a pre-crawling baby does for a living.  She even managed to roll over onto her tummy last week.  I'm not a pediatrician, nor have I played one on TV, but I've been told that's a very big progress check point.  

You GO, Girl!

She has an amazing capability to spit the Nook a considerable distance.  Hence, my finger is resting gently on it to prevent bending at the waist and picking it up for the umpteenth time.

 

And, finally to end on a high note!

Wednesday, Mrs J and I are sitting in the living room watching something on the Boob Tube, wholly uninterested, but occupied.

Mrs J's phone rings and it's a video call from MBD and SIL.  The usual greetings and "howya doin's"  are exchanged and there's a brief pause. Then MBD drops a bombshell. (No, you eavesdropping Fed jerks, not THAT Kind! MYOB!)

MBD is pregnant with Grandchild #3, due first week in November!  No gender determination yet, but we're thrilled.

So...That's how my week has been.  Hopefully your high's have been at least that level and your low's...well, maybe not quite so bad.  The Big Guy has a plan, I just haven't figured it out yet.

That's the way it is, straight from the Horse's Mouth!

 

Merlot sends her best wishes!

Peace out, y'all!

*It's finished and... more updates

News and Weather, juvat style.

 Well, Campers, it's been a comparatively busy week here at Rancho Juvat.  Not that anything new is going on, more of the usual routine, albeit with a deadline approaching.

First, on the first order of importance.  LJD continues to show improvement.  Last weigh-in had her at 6 lbs 12.6 ozs.  Virtually all her other measurements are now within expected ranges.  I'm not a Doctor, nor have I played one on TV, but I've been told that with Preemies, the most important and last area of development is Lung Capacity.  Specifically, a couple of measures of Oxygen usage.  

One is FI-O2, this is a measure of the ratio of oxygen supplement to regular air provided in her breathing apparatus.  Since the amount of Oxygen in the air you and I are breathing right now is ~21%, that's the goal they're shooting for her.  While no measure of human being activities is ever a straight line, and her's certainly complies with that theory, she's been trending down for quite a while.  Last measure was 30%.   She's been below 35% for a week or so.  So, good news/progress.

The other measure of Oxygen is the supplemental Oxygen Flow rate.  The goal here is a sustained rate below 3.0 Liters/Minute which will allow her to begin breast/bottle feeding and no longer need a feeding tube.  Again, she's making pretty steady progress.  Visit before last, she was at 4.3, this last one was 3.5 and she's been down to 3.0 a couple of times, so, again, good news/progress.

From my non-medical observation perspective, she's beginning to show a little personality.  E.G. beginning to fuss a bit when she doesn't want to do something.  The Physical Therapist is a prime recipient.  Having been at the kind hands of a few of those in my days, I understand that.  But...things are going well.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  If there are Saints walking on the Earth today, I firmly believe they're wearing NICU Garb.  Thank You Lord!

On a lighter note.

Get it?

Summer appears to be officially over down here in the Lone Star State.  Woke up this morning, got ready for Church, walked out of the house at the usual time and...spent the next 10 minutes or so, scrapping frost off the windows.  

Yes, Sarge, I know you Rhodies go sunbathing and skinny dipping at this temperature.  Down here, we refer to this as  "COLD!".  Fortunately, however, another weather event that occurred this week had dissipated.

I believe the technical term for this WX phenomenon is "Rain".  It's been so long since I've used the term without a negative in front of it, I've forgotten.  It is interesting how fast the brown grass started showing some shades of green. 

I decided that, given the circumstances, even the Wicked Witch would go out in it, so I wandered out to look at the rain gauge.  Just under 1.5" at that point, got a total of 2 for the day.  So...we got that going for us.

On a lighter note, one must enjoy humor where it presents itself.  Even if that happens in the parking garage for a major hospital.

I've seen it a few times there, so either it's someone visiting a long term patient, or a health care professional.  If the latter, I think that person and I could get along quite well.  

If I weren't his patient.

Since it was so cold today, Mrs. J decided to give me an early Thanksgiving (No, Beans, not early, early, early Christmas) present.  I got a chuckle out of it.  Course, it's also completely true.

Gift construction is progressing at an acceptable pace.  A couple of them are in the final finishing coats process, so apply then dry, is taking time.  Once those are done, and all the flippin' sanding dust is cleaned up, the big one will commence.  Might be up all night Christmas Eve, but hey, if Santa can pull it off, so can I.

Headed over to College Station this afternoon, to visit MBD, SIL and MG.  No real reason, just haven't seen them face to face in a while.  Video phones are better than what we had when we were stationed overseas, but they still haven't figured out a way to give your grandkids a hug via one.   So...comment responses might be a bit brief/late.

Peace Out, y'All!  Don't let the Bastiges get you down!  

Bellisima Bambina! *

 Well, it's been a pretty roller coastery week.  The good news is I'm a Grandfather again as of 2 PM on the 21st. The even better news is that Mom and Daughter are doing well.  The downside is she was born early and is VERY tiny.  

 However, the Doctors are very happy with LJD's** progress.   In fact, I just got a text from Mom and Dad, who are at the hospital visiting saying that they actually got to touch her knee.  She curled her hand in response.  Stimulus and Response is good!

 The NICU***, was an interesting place to visit.  They only allowed two people at a time to visit a given baby.  So, I waited my turn.  The first picture was taken when Little Juvat and I got in there.  The plastic bags in the picture were to 1) keep her warm and 2) minimize contact with anything bad that might be in the air.  The Blue Light is a preventative action to protect her from Jaundice.  That was started later that evening.  As a further preventative measure,  I had to scrub down pretty hard and wear a sterilized surgery frock in order to be allowed to enter.  I was good with all that.

Given her progress over the last three days, they've decided to take her off of "small baby protocol". Not knowing what that meant, I googled it and read this article. Talk about dodging a bullet.  Dad and Mom were told that the staff will check on her every 3 hours instead of every 6, and touch her to stimulate her, and they're putting her on breast milk.  Which I take it is a good sign.

She'll be in the NICU for an, as yet, undetermined amount of time and no, they won't give me a "guess".  I'm assuming it will be based on catching up to the capabilities of a full term baby.  She's not there yet, but she responded to a touch from her Mom.  I'm good with that.

Still a long way to go, but Thank You Lord!  And thank all y'all for your thoughts and prayers.  

 

*Beautiful Baby Girl  

** Little Juvat's Daughter, Beans.  I know you and acronyms!😉 GD2 just didn't ring my bell.

***Beans told me last week that NICU stands for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.