Yesterday morning I felt like garbage when I woke up so I slacked a bit on getting out the door. it was 7am when I got to the parking lot for Saltese and the winds were blowing pretty good. I got my wing and harness setup to carry and began my hike up.
It took me about 20 minutes to make the climb which felt like a lot longer in my slowly awakening body.
The wind was coming largely from the south from behind Mica peak there in the middle.
The clouds were all rather interesting the while time I was at the hill.
I setup my wing and then proceeded to spend the next half an hour trying to get my wing and me into the air. I ended up having 4 short flights across the top of the hill that all involved touch an go running, low level kiting and hopping, and a couple of rather rough landings. This is the 3rd of the attempts and the one that hurt the most. I was trying to steer to the west but I got pushed to the east and as I did the wing got into a small rotor and I dropped from the air.
When my wing lost lift I was about 8 feet off the ground and coming into the hill that was rising in front of me. I looked at my Garmin data and I was going 15 mph when I hit.
Thankfully I only got scratches on my legs and only minimal blood this time.
I finally was standing on the top of the hill before my actual flight launch and this really cool lenticular wave cloud formed over the mountains. It was seeming to come my way and I was a bit leery about being in the air with it around. I managed to get myself launched and landed before it got too close.
This 7 minute flight puts me at 2 hours of flight time now.
I had to work so hard to get this flight and I was right about to pack it up and hike down but I gave it the one last try and made it work.
The launch felt good and I was able to keep myself in the air long enough to catch the lift and move away from the hillside.
My doofy ass forgot to start my vario before launch so had to do so in mid air.
Then I had to shift the speed line so I could test it out and I have to say I am rather pleased with it. I was able to push on the bar and the wing reacted nicely and penetrated forward faster.
I was on a nice glide across the base of the hill as I was flying into the wind.
When I turned to head north some back towards the ridge I picked up a good bit of speed as I was flying more with the wind.
I caught some nice buoyant air by the road which carried me out over the plowed field which I tried to stay to the edge of as I wasn't sure what kind of air would be over it.
I really like having my windsock on my truck so I can see the direction on my final.
I got one of my best and softest landings yet with a nice light touch down within 100 feet of the truck.
I got packed up and then drove over to the co-op and dropped off 5 boxes of beans and a box of marketplace orders. I then headed for home and had to deal with construction in a few areas.
It took me a bit to wind down from my flight(s) but the temps were mellow all day so I was not in a hurry to get things picked before heat hit. The cucumbers had a nice amount of 30 for the day. Wonky ones are ours and the straighter ones are saleable.
The squash are doing really well now and I got a solid 19 pound haul for the day. The green are growing amazingly and look superb.
It was in the low to mid 70s F for the high so greenhouse work was not horrible in the afternoon. The cucumbers needed to be tied up again and I also had to trim more suckers that I found.
I have tomatoes that are nearing the top purlin and I have cucumbers that are nearly there. I think with the cucumbers I am going to tie lines down to the other purlin and train them down the lines. At least for the ones that get that long. Many of the tomatoes aren't getting super tall so there is room around them for the cucumbers to keep growing.
I was barely able to get the berries all in my hand. I was too lazy to get a tub so made it work. The plants are still putting off a nice amount every day or two and there are still more coming.
My skin was AWFUL after the day. Being in the weeds so much had really wreaked havoc on my histamine response and my skin succumbed to the rash. The scratches didn't feel good either. The shower then soaking both hurt a lot but I knew I needed the soaking for my muscles. Thankfully I made up more of my medicated skin cream which helps to blunt the pain and heal the rash.
I was to have a dentist appointment this morning but it got canceled so I have to reschedule, not that I mind that much as it is crown work. Today I get my new risers for my wing so I will be changing them out, I get my new umbrella for the bean harvesting cart so I can pick beans all afternoon after the other harvests,
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