October 2007 Blog Posts (18)

The Wind Dragon take no personal credit for this, it is 'classic'.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager…

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The dragon roars and I am airborne.

The earth falls away below.

I am one with the wind and sky for I am the wind.

Over the tree tops I rise, neat rowed fields of amber waves of grain below, I fly on.

Sheep graze safely below they fear me not.

The ox in his yoke hauls the plough, turns his head and is…

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It is said dragons are the left over pieces of creation. The wind dragon is white and has feathers not scales.…

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Wow... we just hit 400 members and look who is the 400th... my dad. I have to watch out now, because if anyone will have embarrassing photos of me, he will.



Since I love my numbers, here are a few Aunty Monkey statistics to digest:



Members: 400

Photos: 4400

Videos: 125



Most popular countries:

1. USA - 65%
2. Australia - 20%
3. UK - 3%
4. Germany…

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Hi you balloon freaks out there,
I just started my new englsih speaking balloon blog:

http://www.ballonservice.de/ballooning/

Get the latest stories from my balloon rides in Germany!

CU,
Nils

The 9th Annual Holiday Balloon Fest will take place on November 30th ~ December 2, 2007

Located at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, MI

www.holidayballoonfest.com

October 12, 13 &14 was the 2nd Annual Shawnee Mt. Timber and Tether Festival. Yes, it it held on the side of a ski slope between the ski lifts and A LOT of trees...It sure is interesting watching balloons lay out up and down the bunny slopes!

This event used to be held at Shawnee Inn where the launch area was much more level...the downside is the inn sat right on the Delaware River so often we were fogged in for morning flights. At least…

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Here is a picture taking by the landowner with a description of the tight spot I landed in during Fiesta. She posted it on a local TV stations webpage, and said some very nice things. As she said, we always here about the negative, its nice to hear some positive.…

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This was my 3rd Fiesta as a pilot, 5th Fiesta overall. I must say that this was the best Fiesta so far. I managed to keep my energy up through the entire week. We flew more than we did the last 2 years. I had 3 flights where I got to play in the river. I had one flight that scared the living hell out of me and I never want to repeat, but everybody walked away intact (I'm still not sure how I got that lucky). I only had 1 day where I was in an unsocial mood and wanted to get rid of almost…

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We invite all pilots to our 25th anniversary from August 9th to the 17th, 2008. Registration form will be available in January on our website www.ballooncanada.com in the balloon section. If you would like to receive an invitation, please send me your email address at mc@ballooncanada.com

Thank you and hope to welcome you next year in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu

Marie

A while back I heard an interview with (I think) Kevin Rose (founder of DIGG) and he was discussing the fact that every now and then he has to declare email bankruptcy. This is because he gets so much mail and so far behind in responding that, if he does respond, his responses become (in most cases) irrelevant.



I know a lot of people have asked me questions over the last few weeks and I have been really slack responding to you. I am truly sorry I haven't responded.



So what I… Continue

It's been forever since I got to fly, but the weather was good (a little cloudy, but flying's flying) and I was free to fly. Also, crew was available! I had a nice 45 minute jaunt, made two crash and dashes, then made a very steep approach to my final landing. Bounced a bit, but not too bad for being a bit rusty!

Maybe I can get a flight in next week, too!

I am enjoying living vicariously through all the folks sharing their Fiesta experiences. Keep it up!

Link to duck special shape balloon hitting a house and then ejecting a six month pregnant woman here. (you can't see her going out)



http://hotairballoonnews.blogspot.com/



Is it just me, or is this probably the most dangerous balloon meet in the world??



I know its big and all that but has anybody done a comparitve study of accident rates at meets???



Bristol is not huge but the venue is very small, I can't… Continue

Reports are that ABQ Fiesta had a fatal accident this morning. Apparently a balloon struck a powerline and someone fell from the basket. There is little info out right now but the local new station has a live feed... www.kob.com

You see it was the week before the Greenville Event and I had set up one of Tom Bergeon’s Re-Max Cold Air Balloon’s outside the Re-Max Office in Greenville. As the week went by that cold air ended up with a few stories to go with it; as well as myself.

The…

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Just thought I would share this with everyone. It is an essay I wrote for my World Religions class last semester. We each had to invent a religion. Enjoy!

The religion of Aerostatism has been around for two hundred and twenty five…

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It took 11 months and 14 days but we are back in the house. It looks really nice. Almost exactly as it was before with a few minor door placement changes and a bigger master closet. We could not figure out a way to move the master bedroom from over the garage to the other side of the houe, so that stayed the same. Now we are working on landscaping and trying to get new grass to grow during a drought.

I am developing a hints and tips list of things people need to be aware of when…

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Fly Antelope. . . .

….island of course!

By Colin M. Graham

September 21 2007

Late last…

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