The Birth of an Aviator

Many years ago, on the island of Puerto Rico, lived a young boy that dreamed of many things. His Dad would take him to an old abandoned airstrip, not far from their house; whenever they heard the jets come overhead. It was during one of those magical afternoons, puffy clouds blowing in off the ocean, the roar of a jet engine as they did “touch and goes” that the seed was planted.

The year was 1956, the jets were F-86E’s from the 156 ANG Air Wing. What a wonderful roar they made, swooping down for a landing, the little puffs of smoke the tires left as the touched down and then the roar of the engine as they added power to go around for another landing. The breeze off the ocean, the rustle of palm trees and the smell of jet fuel were mesmerizing, magical and wonderful to the boy.

Soon he was taking every cent he had to buy “FLYING” magazine and other aviation magazines. Their pages became dog eared and worn as he read and re-read the articles, looked longingly at the pictures and dreamed of flying.

The Lord blessed that young man, guided him to Army flight training, protected him during his tour of Viet Nam and gifted him with a fantastic corporate job flying to all parts of the world and in many magnificent airplanes and helicopters.

Forty three years of “soaring with the eagles” passed and now he is retired.

His walls are hung with memories, his eyes wrinkled from years of bright sunlight...all reflect the joy that he had, and the joy that he still feels when he hears an airplane or helicopter fly over. The seed was planted, carefully nurtured and now the harvest is “oh so sweet”!

That boy was me.

When it rains...

Saturday and Sunday it rained like a jungle monsoon...dark bellied clouds streamed across the horizon, dumping heavy showers with thunderous claps laced with brilliant bolts of lightening. In two days we measured over 5" of rain...a real "frog strangler" as they call it down here. Then, as all good stories end...the sun came out, brilliant blue skies replaced the battle ship gray clouds and everything seemed to explode into color. The grass turned a verdant green, the flowers burst into their rainbow of colors and God's glory could be seen everywhere!

Yesterday and today my wife and I had lunch on the back deck, binoculars in hand, watching all the birds enjoy this weather...blue birds, cardinals, finches, and the ducks flying up and down the cove. Soon the ducks will show up with their young, we had two families last year. It was a great pleasure to watch them grow. We spent many an evening down on the dock tossing little morsel to the babies and watching them scurry around...mama always keeping a watchful eye on her babies, and I suspect us.

An old treasure...

While remodeling the lake house we found, hidden behind a trellis and over grown potato vines, an old, hand operated, water pump. Its possibilities were endless. We decided to make a small pond water feature using the pump as a center piece. We dug the hole, placed the liner, lined the edges with rocks and plumbed the pump to have water coming out the spicket...add underwater lights and it looks great!