There is an airfield eleven miles from here used jointly by the military and several air-freight companies and we have got used to it somewhat. In fact, until 15 years ago, we enjoyed a building moratorium on one of its flight-paths --our property being grandfathered into the area early in another century. Still, we get the occasional low-flying behemoth for which we have to open our front and back gates.
It's at least inconvenient to wait for a Boeing C-17 or Lockheed C-5 to find its way through our yard, so we installed some side-gates to avoid them by ducking and scampering. We are very good at ducking and scampering. Here I am using a side-gate now:
I am coming in after affixing a new registration sticker on our '71VW bus. It's still good, even though I had to remove its roof rack in 1983 to accommodate air traffic. On this blustery day, Norma took candids of things in the yard. I am such a thing. Candid means truthful. Just because I once told a kid about an inventor who discovered anti-gravity by attaching a rope-ladder to his hat doesn't mean I'm untruthful. Another photo:
Haven't seen Norma and her camera yet --seem to be turning toward the woody path. I was going there to see if any valuable air-cargo had fallen into the forest. This is routine vigilance attendant to property management. Sometimes they forget to shut doors and freight falls out of airplanes and UFOs.
Now don't tell me some guy told you there are no such things as UFOs for freight to fall out of. I know that guy and he never looks up. While I'm out there I will think about important inventions that are real, like the fermata. Your anti-UFO guy won't know about fermata, a musical symbol suggesting we hold a note beyond normal duration. It looks like the top half of the CBS Eye.
There is some part of me trying to prolong attenuated time --to keep my candid photos from showing such an old man. Not that I mind the privilege of age so much, nor do I reject compliments or dithyrambic praise on my blood pressure and state of preservation. But arguably, much of adulthood is spent trying to complete childhood, so who can fault a fellow in the forest fossicking for fermatae fallen from freight-planes and UFOs? I don't know, do you?
Ducking and scampering are two of the very best forms of exercise. That you can do it in a green and pleasant land with a helpmeet who is also a skilled photographic is a bonus.
ReplyDeleteFermata, flotsam, jetsam? Treasure to be sought, and sometimes found.
Good exercise indeed. Sometimes I add cringing and cowering to the routine. Keeps me in shape!
DeleteI take my hat off (before it gets blown off!) to the pilots who weave their C5's and C17's - any other C's lately? - through your little forest without crashing.
ReplyDeleteYes, and they're improving. I hated it when they used to get stuck in the attic and thrash around all night.
DeleteWe were trained to duck and cover in school and it's kind of nice to know that the procedure is still useful. Your delightful post reminded me of all the reckless crop dusters that I encountered when I lived near Lubbock, TX. They weren't only LOW, they were most likely drunk and unlicensed.
ReplyDeleteYour candid photos are fine. Mine are usually scary - - which is why I so often post photos that were taken 30 years ago.
You're right. I used to drive truck in the hop yards back in the '60s and crop dusters flew lower than the mosquitoes. That's where I calculated the jeeter-content of a bejeebee.
DeleteHunter Army Air base is to our west and we often get low flying planes and helicopters--some of those huge cargo planes look like they barely can get off the ground and I'm not sure how they stay up in the air, but they probably keep the UFOs at bay
ReplyDeleteViable theory, Sage. Lately the Blue Angels have been practicing their aerobatic convolutions here, which adds some exciting variety. Ufos back off and learn new tricks from them.
DeleteYour ducking and scampering brought a vital question to my mind: were the Americans also taught to duck under a desk - in case that an atomic bomb comes down - und put a briefcase over their head? My parents showed me that cautious German advice-leaflet from an administration...
ReplyDeleteOh, planes can be so noisy! In Hamburg we lived near the Elbchaussee, one of the finest parts of the city - yet there they flew in a very democratic Hanseatic way above all our heads - you could see the white in the eyes of the pilots :-)
As to the photos: great - as long as you wear blue jeans, and fit into them, you are not old. I loved especially "much of adulthood is spent trying to complete childhood," - so true!
Dear Brigitta, thank you! And yes, we did have atomic bomb drills in elementary school --but by and by they consisted only of closing the classroom curtains. Happily, it turned out our world leaders were not complete fools.
DeleteWe did duck and cover. I found it to be a marvelous game.
DeleteGeo
ReplyDelete(It's Mike, approaching from another side gate)
I'm reminded of the story about the blind men and the elephant, having taken your post as a analogy or even metaphor for the value of seeing life from different viewpoints.
In this time when it seems the airwaves are burdened by one-viewpoint demagogues, it's of benefit to look at many sides, eh?
Cheers,
Mike
Glad to share the garden with you, Mike. True, it's only by pooling our impressions in discussion that we get a complete picture.
DeleteWhat goodies have you found so far? Your foraging sounds like such fun. And by the way UFO simply means Unidentified Flying Object. That could mean a flying saucer, a frisbee, or a rock launched from a catapult. I know that you understand the difference... it is just one of my pet peeves. But think how interesting it would be to find that rock from the catapult.
ReplyDeleteMostly I find fermatae out there because their flat bottoms keep them from rolling away. The pheasants and hawks like to use them to build nests, so I leave a lots just lying around. I don't mind ufos and frisbees but draw the line at rocks from a catapult (which I had to speak to a neighbor about).
DeleteI had no idea you and Norma were giants! You look so regular sized! But then, nothing is the size you think it is in California.
ReplyDeletex
Giants?! Now that explains why we thunder around so much. Nobody mentioned it before.
DeleteDucking and scampering - good thing to do to avoid getting your hair parted in a new place. It must be a tad loud when one of those things goes overhead, yes?
ReplyDeleteAnd that's some good alliteration you had going in your last paragraph!
O Jenny, one gets used to aircraft --and perhaps I exaggerated just a little.
DeleteI hope you have not nor ever will be a recipient of some frozen ice from a UFO or C17.
ReplyDeleteHelicopters go over my house a few times a day after picking up victims of car crashes and transporting them to a trauma hospital near me. I pray they never lose their cargo.
No frozen ice yet, Arleen, and don't worry about life-flight helicopters. Angels don't drop their injured charges, not ever.
Delete