Early Springtime Fun
Jenny and I took a drive today. After Mass, we packed our stuff and went out to Twin Lakes Park, one of the many parks in the Westmoreland County Parks System. We ate lunch there. It was windy and a little chilly there, and I was hoping to get a chance to get a kite into the air. We decided to leave there after lunch and take a look at the other picnic pavilions at the park to see if we could find a suitable kite-flying area. Finding none, I proposed that we drive to Mammoth Park, which is on the opposite (Southern) side of Route 30. Jenny agreed, so I grabbed our map to confirm the route, and we took off through the countryside.
Arriving at the park, I got out the FlowForm 16 and related gear. Jenny got herself situated at a picnic table, and I walked over to the field. While I was assembling things, a guy showed up with his kids, who appeared to be one girl in her early teens, another girl who was probably five or six, and a boy who was probably eight or nine. They were starting to play a game of whiffle ball–you know, the one with the really big red bat. This guy turned out to be a real a**, yelling at the little boy every time he didn’t do something right. He kept yelling at him, telling him he must be a wimp, taunting him, etc. It was really pretty ridiculous. Unfortunately for the little kid, his team (which consisted of the boy and dad) lost to the girls by two points. There was a tirade of things like, “I can’t believe you let them beat us, you little wimp,” and “You’d better play better, or else I’ll never play with you again,” etc. It was really silly. Fortunately, they left shortly thereafter. At about the time they were leaving, I got the kite airborne in a good wind, and got about 400 feet of line up in the air. It was cool. I haven’t flown in a while.
I pulled in about 200 feet of line, and tried to hang a spinsock. Unfortunately, the cheap little carabiner that I used for attaching that spinsock to the line had its clip snap off while I was securing it to the line. I didn’t want to let it go up without its clip, even though it probably wouldn’t fall off–I just didn’t feel like chasing an errant windsock around the park if it got loose. Lesson learned: I have extra cheap carabiners for hanging line laundry, and I should have had one in my pocket. Oh well. So I let the line back out to about 400 feet again, and just enjoyed having the kite flying again.
The wind was starting to get a little strong, and it was getting a little late in the day, so I tied-off the kite to a nearby post (I had it secured to a sling that I had around me), put a big ‘biner over the line, and walked the kite down in two stages. It was a lot of fun to fly again, and I’m glad that I had the chance today to do it. There are a couple of kite things I’m looking at for this summer. One of the things I want to do is get my KAP rig flying again. I have all of the parts to do it–I just need to actually put it all together. I might build a new Picavet and yoke out of wood, too–I’m still thinking about that one.
After I had everything packed-up, I went back to talk to Jenny for a few minutes, then we packed up our stuff and headed home for dinner. It’s been a good day. Now it’s late and time to get ready for tomorrow.
jonathan
