On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 18:35:04 GMT,
(Corky Scott) wrote:

On 8 Mar 2004 10:36:06 -0800, (David B. Cole) wrote:

I don't think I'm alone given what
I know about others on this board, but sometimes we need a sanity
check.

Dave

Heh heh, my wife, who is a teacher, once told me about a woman she met
when she was at a teaching conference upstate. She and a few other
women stepped outside to sit on the steps during lunch because it was
a spectacular day. Brilliant blue sky, balmy breezes, just a day to
remember. It was shortly made more memorable when a woman none no one
knew walked over, sat down with the group and began chattering. She
probably was a custodian for the school, but whatever she was, it was
quickly obvious she was one sandwiche short of a picnic. My wife told
me she just chattered on aimlessly as if they were all good friends...
until an airplane popped over the horizon.

Suddenly she shut up and stared intently at the airplane as it droned
slowly overhead. Her eyes and head tracked it from horizon to horizon
with her head tilted back, mouth agape, like a human radar set. A few
seconds after the airplane disappeared over the far horizon, the woman
burst into chatter again, endlessly mentioning the airplane and going
on and on and on about it, before drifting off to another topic,
eventually.

From that day on, whenever an airplane flew overhead and I looked up
to see what it was, I'd drop my eyes back down to find my wife
contemplating me with a smirk on her face. And if the engine noise is
REALLY unusual, requiring a dash outside to see a B-17 passing by (ok
this only happened once, it was the Collings B-17), or my friend's
Waco which has a 275 hp Jacobs with a constant speed prop, which
sounds positively melodic, she may guffaw outloud asking me if I
managed to spot the "airyplane". :-)

"special sound?" After all these years I still run outside to look at
150s. It might be someone I know. If not, I still run out to watch
airplanes.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com



Corky Scott