"God looks after fools and drunks" or "Not my time to die"

If you've been reading my blogs, you know this first picture is the way we store the Rag-A-Muffin in Dad's hanger. We took about a month and a half of trying to figure out how to hang it from the ceiling. It was trial and error and even a little damage to the airplane, but in the end we figured it out. The winch is mounted on the beams in the ceiling and hooks to an "eye" bolt mounted on the hanging frame that attaches to the airplane wing bolts by carbines and fabricated metal slats. Just in case the winch fails, we have 500lb rope that is secured from the hanging frame to the hanger wall and from the tail section to the far side of the hanger. It all works pretty well.

Today, Dad and I decided to meet at the hanger to try and finish up the radio push-to-talk switch I started installing last week. I got to the hanger before Dad and opened it up. After I pulled the Tomahawk out, I lowered the Rag-A-Muffin. I undid all the safety lines and then I noticed it was a bit cockeyed with the Port side wing touching the wall. So, I got directly under the airplane and pushed on one of the tires to move the wing away from the wall. As I did that, I started to lower the airplane with the wench. Now, the cable on the wench wraps over itself when it winding up, so to see and hear the airplane bang and bounce on the way down doesn't bother us anymore. It did it three times today as I was lowering it. As soon as the plane was low enough to stay away from the wall, I moved out from under it and lowered it to the ground. Easy enough a one person job.

Dad got there not long after I got the rag down and I showed what I had done on the radio last week. Once he was up to speed and we figured out the next step, we started getting everything together to solder some wires together. I didn't bring my reading glasses (getting old is a bitch) so Dad was going to do the soldering. While he was doing that, I started looking at the hanging frame and wondering why the airplane was closer to the wall than it had been originally. I decided the hanging frame had been turned around 180 degrees and it was just enough to move it a few inches closer to the wall. I proceeded to unhook the frame from the airplane and turn it around. Just as I started to spin the frame, I saw it...

The "eye" bolt was just barely a "J-hook." The complete circle that was the eye bolt had been stretched out and it was hanging on to the winch hook by less than a quarter of an inch. I told Dad, "When you get to a stopping point, you have GOT to see this." He came over and saw the eye bolt. I was just amazed at how far it had stretched. Then dad looked at me and it dawned on both of us. I was standing directly under that thing while it bounced and banged its way down just 15 minutes earlier and that quarter inch was all that was between me and a 250 lb airplane falling directly on my head. Holy shit. That's when Dad said, "God takes care of fools and drunks." That's when I said, "See. Like I've always said, when it's your time, it's your time. Whether you are standing under a 250 airplane that is hanging by a thread or sitting on your couch eating potato chips. When your time is up, your time is up." I guess my time wasn't up this afternoon. Even so, you can bet your bippy I'll be checking that stuff each time before I walk up under it again. Oh, and we changed out what was left of the eye bolt for two sections of chain that are both bolted to the hanging frame by aircraft grade bolts.

Medical Update

For the last three weeks, I've been feeling better each day. The first week, I wore the neck brace 24/7 and took my pain meds on time every day. The second week, I didn't take any pain meds (unless I over-did it; which I did twice) and I only wore my neck brace in the car, when I was sleeping, in public and if my neck really started to hurt. (Which, again, it did on a couple of occasions) The third week, I only wore my neck brace when I was in the car and going to sleep and took zero pain meds. The range of motion in my neck felt really good, but I didn't know how much I was supposed to move it, so I never went to the extremes when moving my neck.

Finally, the day had arrived for me to have my first post-op appointment with my Dr. Since I still wasn't supposed to drive, my sister took me to the appointment. Once we got back in the room, we started looking at the pictures on the wall and tried to figure out where the cadaver bones went in my neck. BP seems to be very interested in my "Dead Guy Bones" so I wanted to try and find out for him. My sister is a Registered Nurse and has never dealt with this type of treatment before, so her curiosity was piqued also. As we were looking at the picture on the back of the door, the X-Ray tech opened the door and scared us both. She took me back into the x-ray room and I was explaining what we were doing behind the door. She asked what the Dr. had done to me and I told her he fused 4 layers of my neck. She looked through her little window and said, "Four layers??? Can you even move your neck?" I showed her what I could do and she was amazed at the range of motion. That made me feel good. After we got back to the room, the Doc showed up less than 5 minutes later. He started answering my questions and explaining a bit more on what he did.

OK BP, here it is.. The discs between my vertebrae also have bone on them. When they do surgery like they did on me, they actually remove the old disc and put in a "fake" one with wire mesh type stuff around it and the cadaver bones. So, the dead-guy bones are between my vertebrae where the new fake disc is located.

The Doc was pleasantly surprised at how well I was moving and said I was doing very good. He released me for minor activities. I can drive again (whoo-hoo!!) I no longer need to wear the brace, at all!! I can only pick up things that weigh 25 lbs or less. I have to do some exercises to work my neck and shoulders. I can go back to work, but I can't do all the manual labor stuff that can be involved. I can only do computer work right now. I have Physical Therapy twice a week for an unknown amount of time. But, all in all, I'm doing great!! I still have no use of my left hand, but it should come in time. I feel good and I'm determined to get my left hand back.

The next day, I had my first Physical Therapy appointment. I showed up and had gotten my Physical Therapist I had been assigned back February again. (I actually requester her) We spoke for awhile getting caught up and once she knew what all was going on, she started my routine. Heating pad, TENS machine, neck stretches, squeeze balls, wrist curls, bike you pedal with your hands and the neck massage. The end of the session neck massage is worth my co-pay alone!! Last time I was doing physical therapy, it was trying to help a problem that couldn't be helped. Now, I feel like it will actually do something. MK (my physical therapist) was very impressed by my neck motion also. However, she is still very worried about my hand and arm. So, instead of just doing the neck stuff like the Doc has ordered, she is also working my hand and arm at the same time. She even had another PT specialist come over and look at my hand so she could get another opinion on how to work it. She said we'll step it up each time I come to work it out. I've got all the faith in the world in her (which is why I requested her again) so I feel she'll get me back my hand in time. So, that is where we are. I have PT appointment # 2 tomorrow morning.

On a family note, the baby is doing awesome!! She is still a dream child. Ansley has come around and has really warmed up to "Baby Sister." So, everything is good with the kids at the Hall Household.

I also have some great news about the Rag-A-Muffin. It flew on April 18th. I'll write about that day tomorrow, probably.

PS: The picture up top is not my x-ray. I don't have a copy of my own, so I just grabbed one from the web that had a 4 layer fusion done. They are missing one set of screws in their neck. but it's close to what mine looks like.

The New Playtoy

My Dad and I recently started talking about wanting a project to work on together. A couple years ago, we worked on rebuilding a Falcon XP experimental airplane. We worked for a couple years on it and were coming into the final stages when a guy from Kentucky wanted to come by and see it. Before he left, he ended up making Dad and offer for the plane that he couldn’t refuse. So, he sold the Falcon and bought his Piper Tomahawk just a couple months later. Dad always said he would rather fly than build anyway. Although he likes to fly, we had such a good time working on the Falcon, we started discussing another project just for something to do. We started surfing the internet and found a few places that sold plans to build your own airplane for not a lot of money. Building that way, you buy the parts you need and build. Once you get more money, then you buy more parts and continue. If you don’t have the disposable cash, then you let it sit for a little while and pick it back up when you can. Sounded like a good deal for us. Plus, we were looking at building an ultralight airplane so I could fly it without having my pilot’s license.

We found one that we thought suited our needs and I ordered the plans. They came in and I started pouring over them. I was getting up a parts list and doing what I could to get ready for it. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you look at it, after doing more research on the airplane in the plans, I couldn’t find one flying example of this airplane. Even though, the plans had been selling for almost 10 years. That, to me, wasn’t a good sign. Not to mention, the guy that sells the plans gives you no way to contact him on his website, nor does he visit the websites or Yahoo groups that have been made for builders of this airplane. To not let your customers contact you is very fishy in my book, so we decided we didn’t want to build an airplane that, from what we could see, even the designer wouldn’t support or stand behind. So, I started looking at other airplanes and plans. All of a sudden, I started getting emails from Dad showing me finished ultralights for sale that would suit our needs and the budget we had set. Ok, maybe we are moving on from a project to a flying ultralight. After looking at few and making some phone calls, I went on my favorite airplane classified site: Barnstomers.com. It’s a great site to find anything from ultralights to experimental to warbirds. I jumped on there and on the first page of ultralights and saw one that really caught my eye and, it was fairly close to us, Jacksonville, FL. I read the info and sent the ad to Dad for him to look at. After discussing it, he told me to call the guy and talk to him about it. After a couple of phone calls, Dad and I decided to take his airplane down to Jacksonville to look at the airplane. On our flight down there, we made it about half way and the “Scattered at 5000” clouds became a wall that reached as far down as 1500 feet. Since neither Dad nor his Tomahawk are IFR certified, we turned around and came back home. After we landed and put the plane in the hanger, I said, “Road Trip.” We jumped in Dad’s car and 3 ½ hours later we were in the Mike’s (the guy selling) driveway. (Yes, I hauled a bit of ass) After about an hour and half of looking over it, and talking to Mike, we decided to get the airplane. Dad gave him a deposit to take the airplane off the market and told him he would send the rest of the money within two weeks. We would wait two weeks for the check to clear and then come pick it up on the 8th of November. So, that’s where we are at now. Just over 2 weeks before we go pick it up and bring it back to GA. There are minor things we need to do to it. One of the wings got a tear in it by the propeller when Mike was pulling it out of the “garage” it was in. We also want to strengthen the floor a bit. But, other than that, the airplane is airworthy and ready to fly. I’ll update with new pictures and stories when we get it back here to GA.

Oh.. What is it called? It’s a Roger Mann design called the RagWing # 6 also called the RW6, RagWing6, Ragwing Parasol, or the “Rag-A-Muffin.” Personally, I like the name "Rag-A-Muffin." If you are interested in learning more about this or any of Roger's other designs, you can see them all at http://www.ragwing.net/. The picture with the wings attached was one Mike took and used on Barnstomrers to advertise it. The one with the wings off (to make it easy to transport) is one I took while we were down there that day.