9/26/24

Ethan had another monarch hatch out. He released it and we watched it flutter away into a tree and land on a leaf. 

We have 2 more left that need to hatch out and then our monarch days will be done until next year. It has been fun! 

This hurricane has really caused a lot of extra planning. I was supposed to fly out tomorrow morning to get to Charlotte to see my nephew, Jason. 

As I was looking at the weather, it looked like there would be rain today, with 10 mile an hour winds OR 12 hours later…..tomorrow, rain with lightening with 25 mile an hour winds. I made a call to Jason.

I was able to quick change my flight to 12 hours sooner. I got my things together, finished up work and headed to the airport.

The airport was a ghost town. There was hardly anyone there. I think they had two gates operating out of the 24 there.

We were supposed to leave the airport at 8:38 pm, but the crew boogied and we were in the air by 8:25 pm. They had shortened our flight arrival by 32 minutes as well.

The flight looked about 25% full. I had a row to myself and there were many rows with no one at all.

It was a relatively smooth flight.

I was traveling with my rigid back roller which looks like a large, hard pool noodle. It is supposed to help take the pressure of my herniated disk(s) by allowing my back to flex backward. I was thankful that the flight was shortened.

I had a flight attendant lift my bag for me into the overhead compartment. I was also the last person on the plane to avoid sitting as much as possible.

I am at the age where looking like an idiot doesn’t matter as much to me as being comfortable. So I sat, doing my rocking exercises to gain some comfort. 

The airplane was FRIGID. I had jeans and a sweatshirt and was freezing. My nose was cold.

When we were landing, the lights were off and looking out the window all I could see was clouds.

There was a slight amount of turbulence. We kept descending with no view of lights from the ground below. You could see the clouds light up each time the wing light flickered.

We could hear the landing gear come out. But still couldn’t see anything but darkness. Finally, I saw ground lights. The clouds were so close to the ground.

Left NY and it was sunny and calm. Landed in Charlotte rainy and in a tornado watch. I find it exciting.