With the regular and sometimes violent clashes that occur between cold and warm weather fronts (that always dominate Tennessee weather at this time of year), the air temperature since the time of the hail storm the other day has dropped 25 degrees.
It is damp and cloudy and cold right now and for the first time in many months I layered clothing before heading out to the base to run this morning.
This is my kind of weather and it feels very good.
I felt the difference almost immediately while running.
Summer of 2011 - that unexpectedly began in Cody Wyoming and unexpectedly ended in Tullahoma Tennessee - is finally history.
Last Saturday, before heading to Murfreesboro to celebrate my daughter-in-law's 28th birthday (and at a time when the weather was still very warm and very sunny) my Mountain Boy and I headed out to the back of the regional airport and to the Beechcraft Heritage Museum.
They have changed the name over the past couple of years because it used to be known as the Staggerwing Museum.
We did not have a lot of time (and in fact ended up arriving at the party a little later than planned) and so did not enter the museum.
Rather, we had seen a number of small and sometimes older planes flying overhead and stopped only briefly on the way out of town to explore to grounds and to try and catch a few pictures of any of the planes that might be around.
With the Air Force base just a few miles down the road, and with the space institute also close, this area has strong ties with flying.
My youngest son, while he was still in high school, one day asked a girl what her father did for a living.
She told Chris that her father was a rocket scientist.
When he responded "No.....really.....what does he do?" she apparently laughed and said "No......really......he's a rocket scientist".
The day after we moved back into the house I heard a very loud sound outside which shook the windows ever so slightly and sent my terrified puppy scurrying for cover underneath the desk.
I looked at LC and smiled "I forgot about those".
Sonic booms.
First one and then always a second one less than 10 seconds later.
A couple of times a week.
I had forgotten about those.
Many retired engineers and retired AF personnel live here.
And Beechcraft is a wonderfully interesting and engaging museum and I also now remember how lucky such a small town is to have this located here.
Some more information about the museum including lots of pictures, a video, and plane stats and statistics for those interested in that sort of thing:
The grounds are very beautiful.
The main entrance (in the picture above) has landing strip lights leading the way to the front doors.
And there is room after room of historical plane memorabilia, and a couple of hangars filled with old planes.
Even though we did not have time the other day, LC and I resolved to visit the museum proper again very soon.
I find it interesting, but LC finds it VERY interesting................
We were late for the birthday party because we spent more time than planned waiting for this plane to take off.................
I know nothing about these things but LC surprisingly knows much and spent a lot of time enthusiastically sharing information with me and calling out stats for each one.
This is the inside of the blue and yellow plane...............
I don't know any more about these things than I did about the old mining equipment that I photographed so often while living in Juneau.
But like the old mining equipment I found myself so drawn to up there, I am also drawn to these planes because of their lines.
There is something beautiful and artistic and incredibly pleasing about the space that they take up...........
A fun, interesting, quiet but hurried adventure before rushing to a birthday party.
And now looking forward to exploring inside the museum again................
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