Out and About in Early November

1, 6, 7, and 8 November 2014


1 Nov, Sat - Aaron had completed the modifications on C.J.'s hang glider harness so we went to Dog Mountain to test fly it. I still did not have my paraglider so I drove for all of us when we went up with Aaron and Brian in Rob's big SUV. C.J. got a not-very-long flight and then I drove her back up again. On the way down I stopped to cut up a fallen tree with my folding saw. C.J. was ready to go up for a third flight (it was around 1645) but on the way out of the LZ, we noticed that the wind streamers

Chris removing skin from pumpkin

were blowing from the E. We decided to skip a problematic flight and join the Jorgensens for dinner at their nearby property. Eric and Paige were there along with Jazzy and Justin. Excellent meatloaf and beets!

6 Nov, Thu - My neck has been achy forever, and maybe worse after being dragged after landing at Rampart. C.J. suggested that I get a therapeutic massage from Patricia and we scheduled it for late Thursday so we could get together for dinner afterward. Patricia did a great job on my upper body; it was more relaxing than I had expected. Dinner with panko-crusted rockfish was also very good. C.J. brought an open-crusted pie (gallette?) which used the Kahlua apple pie recipe for the filling - excellent.

7 Nov, Fri - Always looking for something to write about for HG&PG magazine, C.J. thought that a

Danny and Paul with photo album

look back at the early days of hang gliding might be interesting to the readers. Fortunately, there are a few pilots locally who were in on the very inception of hang gliding. After a bit of scheduling hassles, Danny Uchytil, Paul Dees and Aaron Swepston agreed to meet at our house for dinner and discussion. They brought their wives and, in the case of Aaron and Kerie, their son Jaegur, and Brian, their neighbor and a pilot. Ten people for dinner was a bit of a crowd but we managed by bringing in the bistro table from its winter storage in the workshop, and finding additional forks, spoons and knives from C.J.'s heirloom silver. Danny had lots of stories to tell and Paul had an excellent photo album which began with the National Geographic article on the beginning of hang gliding.

8 Nov, Sat - Despite the weather looking sunny and warm for the

Ernie sawing the end off a pumpkin

first day in a while, we joined  Chris and Patricia at Beth and Ernie's home for a pumpkin processing party. By the time we got there around 1600, Ernie had already used a Sawz-all to cut up a second big pumpkin into slabs and was steaming them for an hour. The previous steamed pumpkin had been run through a Cuisinart food processor or a food grinder and converted into pumpkin slurry. We then bagged it into two-cup portions and stuck it in the freezer. We did a couple more pumpkins before breaking for Ernie's homemade pizza with C.J.'s fruit-based salad, and Beth's "yumm* bowl", a mix of wild rice, beans, black olives, shredded cheese and ? with yumm sauce. Just before dinner Chris and Ernie started making two pumpkin pies so they could compare the two recipes and methods. They were still hot (in

Chris getting recipe from his mobile

fact, Chris's was still baking) when we finished dinner. Beth put Ernie's pie in the freezer and in 45 min it was cool enough to be served with the whipped cream we had brought. Just before we left we were able to try Chris's pie. Both were definitely very good; Ernie's had a very custard-y filling while Chris's was more traditional. Ernie's crust was a bit thick while Chris's which had an egg and some vinegar in it was more flaky. Both used a crust protector to keep the rim from burning. The two fillings had different spices but I couldn't have chosen one over the other. We didn't get back home until after 2300.

* http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/2639609-The-Original-Yumm-Bowl