Skymonkey13

I remember the first year the conv was held at Rantoul, this year i could'nt find any pull up cords that had the WFFC logo on them at the booths so i had to pass out just the ordinary colored ones. I made one landing and had all these kids running up to me as i went thru the gate, and i passed out all the cords i had. Then just as i was leaving, this man came up with a very little girl in a wheelchair. She had seen me pass the cords out and asked if she could have one. I have a brother who was born handicapped, so i have a special place in my heart for them, i even got it fixed up so that my brother could do a tandem at a boogie in Dave's King Air 200 and Dave was nice enough to give us a second pass after everyone got out at 14,000 feet so we could get my brothers legs situated in the door. He wound up getting 16,500 feet of altitude which also earned Dave a case of his favorite brew. Anyway, when this little girl asked for a cord, and i had already passed out my last one, i did'nt know what to do, but knew i had to do something. So i unzipped my jumpsuit and took off my new conv T-Shirt and signed it with my screen name and my license number and gave her my goggles. The look on her face was well worth the entire price it cost me to attend that year, and her father was very polite about it.

My mother is soooooo old school and also grew up so poor, (her mother died when she was 6 and as a young girl she even picked cotton to help out) As a matter of fact she lived in what was called a tent house because it was a solid foundation with a tent erected on top of it , for about the first 14 years of her life. I still have memories of her knuckles being so red from doing the wash on one of those old scrub boards, before she ever had a washer or dryer. I get my mom every gadjet that comes out now even if neither one of us can figure out how it works, just so she'll have it. Mom is the bomb as far as i'm concerned. And i'm not putting the young girls down, but they could all learn a few tricks from the old country girls. I remember even when my mom always made her homemade pie's, Cocanut Cream, Banana Cream, and her specialty, Grahm Cracker Cream Pie, she never wasted even the extra dough from the crust. She would take it and put sugar and cinnanmon on it, roll it up like pinwheels and bake them. They were even better than the pies, except the Grahm Cracker Cream pies.

Thanks, she's really exited about it. She got the $100.00 and my brother-n-law gets the stupid looking cowboy hat with all the names of the previous winners on it for one year. Her chilli is kind of hard to explain because it also is kinda sweet and spicy at the same time, if ya know what i mean. I still have a ton of her recipe's i have to get written down before she passes on because ya just can't beat a old country girl's cooking....and i definetly have to get down her Chicken and Homemade Dumplings. Their to die for.

My mother makes the best chilli i have ever eaten and not just because she's my mother. But getting her recipe is very hard because she's a old country girl and when you ask here what she does you always here that, "well i just use a pinch of this and a dab of that" and when you ask how much a pinch or a dab is, she tells you she just does it to taste......her taste i guess. I feel sorry for my sister because her husband will always ask my mom to make his chilli for him for his Chiefs Tailgate parties, and my sister always says, hell, i make it the same way mom does, i can make it for you.....to which he always reply's No Thanks. Now my sister really does make it the same way, but she has to work all day and then take the kids to ball practice so when she makes chilli she has to do it in a hurry and let them eat it right afterwards. And everybody knows ya got to let chilli simmer for a few hours. But to make things even worse for my sister, last week the Catholic church her family attends had their annual chilli cook-off championship and my brother-n-law talked my mom into entering her chilli. Guess what.....she won first prize

Although i don't think any of the contestants and i'm talking about from the beginng can even come close to holding a candle to any of the contestants on the Nashville Star program. Everyone of those contestants can sing circles around any of the American Idiots. But this week it saddens my heart to announce that i believe that Taylor {the rooster on crack) will not be voted off. I thought the first guy who i also think is always been so bad that i can't ever remember his name......well maybe it is the years of drugs. But i thought he started off really good, even though i thought he was sucking ass by singing a Journey song, which by the way for those of you who don't know, Randy, "The Judge" is the former bass player for Journey. After his first song he went down hill. Now the girl who i also think looks really hot, i thought she started off slow, but then hit it out of the park with "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". But i agree with Simon that, that should have been her 3rd song and not 2nd. A lot of people hate Simon and think he's rude, but i think he's right on the mark. He tells it like it is....whether you like it or not. And you have to remember that it is HIS record company that is giving the record deal to whoever wins, so he has his money where his mouth is and has a different perspective on things than Randy or Paula. When Taylor started and i seen it was a Bruce Springstein song, i thought NO WAY, but actually he did pretty good, just as he did with the Joe Cocker tune and the Otis Redding song, but i still think they need to put a net on his ass when he sings. I'm 53 and i just don't see a guy who's hair is grayer than mine being the American Idiot. My bet is that the skinny guy gets voted off this week. (i'll remember his name later)

You are correct snowwhite and you girls do a hell of a job.

>>>>>>>>Get Well Vibes

Also you might consider landing in the spectator landing area. In my opinion it is very underused (because of the walk back) and the local kids just love it when you land there. Just take some extra pull up cords and stash them in your jumpsuit to pass out to the kids, they love that. The old spectator area at Quincy was a little small and tight and i even heard rumors that they wanted to to have at least 500 jumps to land there unless there was no choice, but at Rantoul it's huge.

Well Dog, you left out Sky God - (UntamedDOG) off your list.

I oppoligize Chris, i'll quit teasing you. I never meant any harm....was just having a good time.

I also learned on the SL course, of course back when i started the AFF had'nt been invented. But anyway i was free falling on my 5th or 6th jump. I'd have to dig up one of my old log books to know for sure. Back in the day it was quite affordable.

Two words come to mind.Blow Me!!! We all vote with our dollars.We can put an end thinking like that. . You are correct Chris, and this DZ is no longer in business. But tell the truth, your really more surprised that i was welcome there in the first place. Aside from all your posts, you really like me, cause you know i can get under your skin without breaking the rules.....right?

You know you don't mean that That just shows me all the more that you don't remember jumping with me at the conv. Are ya going this year, buddy?

Someone at my home dz tried to give me a hard time once in front of the GM for traveling around. The GM said, "it's ok, she was just slumming it. She always comes back." It's true, and it's ok to see how the other guys live. You bring up a good point, Skymama, i too have been chastized for jumping at another DZ for just one day. Just to check it out and see people that i knew who jumped there and to meet new people. This is not the DZ i am at now as this DZO is really cool with people jumping eslewhere, but this happened when i first started jumping. This DZO informed me that if it wasn't the WFFC or a special boogie and i jumped anywhere else that i was not welcome at his place. Other than this quirk this DZO was a hell of a nice guy and would even take the plane up {C-182) even if there was only 2 jumpers so they did'nt have to go home without jumping. I have heard other stories about other DZO's that think this way but i don't know if it is comman. wants to say, "i know, i'll ask Spence".....but i won't.....just kidding ya Chris

You would'nt do that Chris.....i'm living proof.

Not the smartest move I've seen someone do in a while, but you and I don't know the whole story. There may have been very good reason it went the way it did, when it did. ... Now were starting to become friends, we finally agree on something.....good on ya.

Motel 6 keeps the light on. You made me laugh out loud skymama

Oh Spence, ya know i love ya man. You even liked me in person and i even liked you......just not on the net.

What would your argument have been if something did happen....oops sorry You also never answered my question about OJ....do you really think he was innocent? I mean after all the jury said he was Maybe i was wrong in assuming you had been before a few juries, because you can't tell me (and make me believe it) that 12 men/women can hear a story as played out by a slick prosecutor and or lawyer can be 100% sure if someone is guilty. And don't EVEN give me that reasonable doubt crap cause that bird don't fly either. I have been before a jury, and convicted of something i never did and even served the time for it before the real culprit was arrested for doing the crime the exact same way he had before, and admitted he was guilty for the crime i was convicted of. This was expunged from my record but i never even heard a "I'm Sorry" from the prosecutor or anyone who was on the jury. And my 8 years were wasted.

Did you miss the old pilots joke? I did'nt.

I'm glad you've never been on one of my juries.That statement makes me believe you have been before a few juries He has not been found guilty of breaking the law.YET.....but i would bet that a plea bargain is in the works. We all know that this "innocent until proven guilty" is a farce Do you think that OJ is innocent just because the jury voted that way? or Robert Blake and the list goes on and on. He has been charged with several crimes but that or your opinion do not make him guilty If there is a law for being on the other side of the railing than we have enough evidence to say he broke the law, but I'd bet there is no law against that.. Buying a ticket to the observation floor does not make it legal to climb over the railing, that railing is there for a reason Let's look at reckless endangerment. I would say there is just as much basis to charge the people grabbing him with that charge, but of course they're cops and they can do anything... As for Jeb, I would conclude there was nothing reckless about what he did. It was quite planned and since he never left the edge he endangered no one. But he never left the ledge because he was caught, and i know i have read where people are saying that he even went as far as timing the stop lights, but doesn't that just stop traffic in one direction? Were talking about New York City here.....during rush hour, every person on that sidewalk was put in danger. Being found guilty as opposed to innocent is only the difference between how good of a lawyer you have and how much your willing to spend. It's perceptions like yours and others that have people come up to us at legal objects, where we're packing in the park at the top or bottom and ask us "Is this legal?" As far as I know the only place BASE jumping is illegal is in the NP's and perhaps that new object in France. Everything else is generally trespassing you are correct, but isn't trespassing illegal? or some other trumped up charge. You, nor anyone else can say that nobody was put in danger because we all know that something could happen and that he could have went in on this or any other jump. I'm not blameing him for trying, but i do think he could have picked a better time of day

I agree with what Meux said. There is a lot of things to do at the conv besides jumping. I have been there the last 14 years in a row and one year didn't make even one jump because i was recovering from back surgery. I still had a blast. It's the only time i get to see many people i have met from different countries and old friends from the states. And if your able to stay for the whole 10 days, at the end you can even buy T-Shirts for 2 bucks a piece. The vibe is great and one year i even jumped with Spence, but he doesn't know it because he doesn't know who i am by my screen name. He hates me online, but is very friendly and likeable in person.

Well said buddy, but please use a different term than "Bouncing"

Why does that make a difference? You can put anything you want in your profile and still nobody knows who/how you are. I have never understood why some people put so much into this "Profile Thing" I would even venture to bet (not that it can be proven) that most of the profiles on this board are exagerated in one way or the other. I don't put all of my business in my profile either, and do you know why? It's because it's really nobodys business. It's a god damn message board for christ sakes.....not a college exam. :::I may be wrong, just ask Spence....he knows all. Ya know i love ya Spence.....in a straight way.

Thats not why.....