Sunday's weather for the Waukesha Christmas Parade was chilly but not unbearable, if you were dressed for it. A very large, appreciative crowd turned out for it and tossed candy was flowing.

The guy with the whistle who rides inside and outside that huge wheel is always a crowd-pleaser. But the entry that got the most and loudest cheers was none other than my friend, Ken Walter, with WindDancer Balloon Promotions. Ken rode in the wicker basket at the back of his chase vehicle and warmed up the air with 20 foot bursts of propane-fueled flame. The crowd went wild.

The downtown street lights aren't the best for parade watching on a late November afternoon, but with Rudolf  Ken lighting the way for Santa there's sure to be enjoyment for all the boys and girls.

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.more pictures from my fantastic balloon flight last Saturday.

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The Wisconsin Balloon Group's annual picnic was Saturday afternoon, and I was invited.

I crewed for one of five balloons launching from a driving range in Richfield that morning. I enjoyed it a lot because the weather was great, if cool, and colors are spectacular this time of year, even for crew members. I was very pleasantly surprised to see a familiar couple there for a ride.

Last week we got our balloon set up in Monches with passengers in basket ready to launch when we discovered an issue with the equipment. I felt sorry for the passengers because we scrubbed a flight they probably had been looking forward to for quite a while. Everything was perfect about the morning; fall colors, weather, good crew. Unfortunately, I knew, they probably wouldn't be going up until next year - long after these fall colors had faded from memory.

That's why I was so thrilled to see the couple again so soon. Not only did they get to still see the colors, the weather still great, but launching with four other balloons made it even more interesting. They also were closer to home in Richfield and saw many more familiar sights than they would have in Monches.

Many pilots brought their balloons to the picnic for a possible evening launch. Jim from Janesville was there with Yellow Fever, and we talked about my very first flight two years ago with him. He mentioned his difficulty finding good crew after a couple of them shipped off to Iraq. He also bemoaned losing his GM job at the end of this year.

After filling up on roast pork I was invited to take a ride on Free Spirit, Rod's balloon. It would be my first ride this year and third over all. I jumped at the chance. The colors would look great with my new camera.

The pre-launch was rather breezy and we bounced around even with several additional people holding the basket down. We took a bucket of golf balls with us for a ball drop contest and hoped no one on the ground would get hit with either the balls or the empty bucket. The ball drop was a Team Challenge to help raise funds to find a cure for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The winner of the contest would get a balloon ride. A fellow crew member has Crohn's disease and was terribly ill before a treatment was found for her. Doing much better now, she is now training to be a pilot herself and shared this ride with Rod and myself. 

It's a smaller world from a balloon. I didn't want to go to the picnic in Jackson if I had to drive, yet one of the first things I saw from the air was the Milwaukee skyline. A different perspective. Crossing Big Cedar Lake as if a pond. Hearing people yell but almost too small to see. We were the envy of the birds.

Of the five balloons to launch we were probably the last to land, in an alfalfa field. Still a little breezy, we had a good hit and rode the basket like a wild fair ride as it skipped across the field. Today our chase crew, and my camera, had a decent work out.

The 2008 Olympic flame has run out of gas. The games have been like a broken record ... world and olympic records broken over and over. There was much to see and enjoy these last 16 days, but I could fill this spot with all I would've liked to see but didn't. Didn't because of my own schedule, but also because coverage of the less popular sports was, again, often hard to find. Five channels with at least some Olympic coverage and often there was either nothing or some lengthy event like a two hour marathon or nine inning baseball game. My attention span isn't that long.   

Even so, I enjoyed these games more than others. I enjoyed the selection NBC chose for me to watch and the Chinese did a fantastic job in hosting the Olympics. It's been said that possibly close to a million volunteers helped with the games and I believe it. Everywhere I looked I saw volunteers doing something or guarding something.

The air pollution didn't seem to be as big a factor in the outdoor events. Maybe some of the Beijing factories were closed for two weeks? Maybe everyone with cars were told to park them? I've heard stories about trouble makers being kept out of Beijing during the games, but what about the others? Over a billion people in China and you'd think there would have been more spectators lining the streets and canals for the races. I couldn't help but feel we were presented with a certain image, and after learning some of the fireworks from the opening ceremony were digitally inserted I couldn't watch the closing ceremony the same way. 

Of the many controversies with these games, one of the biggest has to be the supposed ages of the Chinese girl's gymnastics team members. Basically, they were supposed to be 16 by this year and several looked a couple years shy of that. A bigger controversy should have been the Chinese gymnastic training itself, where, often, three year old girls are removed from their families to begin training and, we are told, aren't allowed to quit and go back home if they don't like it.

Ran low on gas this morning. Was up to hot air balloon crew at 4:45 and met the others by 5:45. Two balloons launched from Monches, on the northern border of Waukesha County, and floated south at a rather swift 20 or so mph. Even though we had four crew members, the breeze dictated a large landing spot next to a road - not that easy between TT and DT south of Hwy. 18. Finally had to bring it down south of Sunset on Wren Way, in chest high soaking wet grass, before the propane totally ran out - approximately 25 miles from where we began.

Driving all the way back to Monches for a champaign toast - the woman had given this balloon ride to her husband for a first wedding anniversary gift. Didn't get back home until about 9:45, five hours after I woke up. 

After a parish picnic at Minooka Park at noon I was the one running out of gas. I did finally get my first glimpse of the dog area in the park though and I was very impressed. I saw very many happy people on benches in the shade, throwing things for their pets and generally having a good time. I also saw very many happy dogs. I left with a very positive feeling of the place. 

Was glad to hear I might be crewing this weekend. Weather's been less than ideal lately. Summer's half over and I've only helped a few times. First possibility was Saturday morning, but was too windy. Saturday night was better, but still iffy.

While waiting for the breeze to calm, I asked the other crew members if they knew which balloon landed and stopped traffic on Hwy. 16 in Hartland Wednesday night. I read an In Brief article in the Freeman regarding it and had cut it out. Talking with someone who went out Wednesday, and talking with other crew on the field, came to find out it was one of the three balloons waiting, like me, for the wind to die down. They told of the police coming, a nurse offering help. While it's fairly common to take down the envelope on or near quiet residential streets it's an FAA violation to land on Hwy. 16. The pilot in question actually landed a distance from 16 on a frontage road... and no one was hurt.  

All hot air balloons have names. It just makes it easier to communicate by radio. Names are usually descriptive of the color or shape, have something to do with freedom, floating... things like that. I have no idea where the name came from for the balloon I was crewing for, but I crewed for Gilbert... twice. Early this morning and last night.

We waited for the last possible minute to fly last night and still get a decent flight in. Flights last about an hour, and they have to be down by sunset. The wind just wouldn't die down. The three balloons finally took off and the passengers in Gilbert had a good flight. Father and daughter were both born on the same date and were given the flight for their birthday.

Gilbert landed at the driving range of a golf course northwest of here after 8:00 p.m. A nice slow decent after a rather fast-moving flight. A few people around thinking it was pretty cool we were there. The envelope was down and the air squeezed out when all Caddyshack broke loose. The sprinklers turned on! You've never seen us move so fast or get so wet. It's not nice to ride Gilbert hard and put him away wet.

So the passengers had a good flight, crew got a funny story to tell, and because Gilbert was taken out again this morning, he's all dry now.

Now that the County Fair is here I'm looking forward to some hot air balloon competition at the annual Skyfest rally. Maybe crew with someone new. Maybe run into friends from out of town. Or so I thought.

Pay no attention to the cover page of today's edition of WaukeshaNOW paper. It was wrong. "THURSDAY  The sky will be adorned with color during the SKY FEST HOT AIR BALLOON COMPETITION at the Waukesha County Expo Center." I wish! Fourteen years of ballooning at the fair was put on hold this year as no corporate sponsors were located.

Before learning of it's fate, I wondered how the weather would affect Skyfest this year. The weather's been pretty poor for ballooning lately, and this week's forecast looked like it had a lot of possible thunderstorms. Indeed, the first day of the fair saw a severe storm. Might not have had a lot of flight time anyway.

So we made the best of opening day at the fair by watching the tractor pulls - the lawn tractor pulls - for a few hours. The rain cooled things off but it also made a mess of the track. The competition got a late start because the mud had to be scraped off and the track smoothed out. I've never seen the competition before and was pretty amazed at some of the machines. Was surprised to see 8 year olds steer modified 10 hp, 900 lb machines 130 or more feet while dragging a weighted sled.

Stayed long enough, and when the expensive-looking dragster style tractors still hadn't run by 10:30 we knew it was time to leave. We got our dollar's worth.

Yesterday was almost perfect; the weather sunny and calm, many things are in bloom, not too hot or cold and no bugs. This is a great time to welcome the birds that were away for so long. There's cute baby bunnies hopping around the yard lately, and there's just a couple huge bees busily polinating around the house.

Once again I was able to avoid yard work so Sir Fido had time to take me for a walk. Of the three rummage sales we encountered, two were closing for the day, and we fortunately didn't come home with any more junk. He loves the walks as much as I do; while he's eagerly checking out every scent like a curious child, I'm enjoying the people I meet and nature I encounter. 

The Waukesha Farmer's Market opened for the season yesterday with live music, give-aways, police and fire departments and lots of delicious food. Because I put so much thought into some hanging baskets attracting more bees, all I left with was a sturdy cloth shopping bag full of fliers, however. The market has come a long way. When I had produce myself to sell 25 or so years ago, we just went down to the river on Saturday and set up a table. There was little advertisement and few customers. Take a look now and you'll see all kinds of food, plants, handmade things... and lots of community support and advertising. Many downtown businesses have taken an interest in the market now because, thanks to the BID and stall charges, word is getting out, there is variety and freshness, and people are coming.

The Pewaukee River Run was finally held yesterday - the water too high in April when it was originally scheduled. It was fun seeing canoes and kayaks full of people wildly paddling toward Frame Park on the Fox. Hopefully no one piled their boat into a river obstruction, of which there are quite a few.

North picked a great day for it's prom. At the grand march we saw hundreds of teens in their finest, my son and his girlfriend among them. The gym was packed with enthusiastic parents, relatives and friends for the introductions and prom court selection. After the march a dozen or more limos were among vehicles used to transport the juniors and seniors to the PAC  Milw. for a night of music, food and fun.

The best part of the day for me was waking up at 4:50 in the morning because that meant HOT AIR BALLOON SEASON HAS STARTED! Two balloons launched from a field next to Boomer's Pub in Pewaukee and headed south-west with me driving one of the chase vehicles. They both landed in the area of Wern Valley Sportsmens Club, a beautiful area with lots of birds and farmland. The couple in our balloon were a pleasure to meet - very friendly and funny - and it was their wedding anniversary. The light wind was so perfect for their flight, taking them over Retzer Nature Center and much wildlife. What a great way to celebrate 22 years of marriage.

One of my favorite stores is one that everyone in Waukesha should be aware of. Plowshare Gifts, at the corner of Grand Ave. and Main in Downtown Waukesha, is a fair trade gift shop. Everything in the store is made by craftsmen in developing countries. People normally paid pennies for their labor are guaranteed a living wage and access to health care and education through the fair trade program.

The store, with a wide range of gifts, clothes, jewelry, coffee, musical instruments, etc. is the only one like it in Waukesha County. It's a neat educational experience to see and feel the crafts made around the world. It's truly amazing what some people can do with soapstone, or recycled plastic, steel and aluminum, or clay, brass, native woods... This week I bought two small, hinged, inlayed wooden boxes from India. Just to UPS a box across town would be a minimum of $4.00. I only paid three dollars for each box (there's two more left). For the price of one beer at Miller Park, I left with two beautiful, handcrafted items made by someone in India who I know was paid a living wage. I don't know how it's possible, it just is. 

The store is non-profit and volunteers help staff it, keeping prices low. There's so much to see and bargains to be had, but my favorite are the Tibetan singing bowls, something you won't find at Walmart.

A couple years ago my son's class sold fair trade chocolate from the store to raise money to spend at the store for an item to donate to an auction for the school. The price of the candy bar was a bit more than a Hersheys, but the kids learned so much more about the world from selling it. It was the best fundraiser, one that helped everyone down the line -- from the cacao producers, to the craftspeople, Plowshare Gifts, all the way back to the school in profit from the auction.

If you can't find an inexpensive, useful or beautiful gift for the "hard to buy for" at Plowshare, let me know. My friend, Ken with Wind Dancer, is running ads for balloon flight gift certificates. The more often they go up the better my chance of helping out, and I love crewing! You can e-mail Ken if interested at wiwinddancer@cs.com.

 

 

 

Within the last week and a half I walked, drove, rode a bike and chased a hot air balloon to the University of Wisconsin Waukesha.

A week ago Saturday was the last time I crewed, possibly for the season. All three balloons that took off together from a park on County K in Pewaukee landed together on the north parking lot of the university. Distance of travel; about five miles. It was fun landing in my own neighborhood for once.

This last Friday I attended the free Fall Instrumental Concert featuring the UW-Waukesha Handbell Choir and the Symphonic Band. Really impressed by the music and little stories behind the music. This was the first year of playing for five of the six handbell choristers and they did a fantastic job. The Symphonic Band took on more than one challenging piece and played extremely well also.

Sunday the university offered free hot chocolate and fireworks after the parade. Friendly volunteers had tables set up to do craft activities with the many children there. It was the second day of the second annual Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for the UW-Waukesha Foundation, a group that supports and promotes students and programs at the university.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the current photo exhibit in the Fine Arts Center on the south end of the campus. The gallery, open just 10:30 to 1:30 M-F, is currently showing 20 or so large, beautifully mounted and arranged photos by Janica Yoder.

Today I enjoyed even more meeting photo artist Janica Yoder during a Visions and Expressions lecture at the university. We saw many slides of her work and she commented on every one. She told us what camera she used, where her models were from, what she was feeling, where she took the photos, how she created certain effects... I found several of the things she said very interesting. First, she loves to photograph at Paradise Springs, the same place I was taking pictures at Thursday. Also, she always uses film, not digital cameras and she exclusively uses natural light for all her photos. We all enjoyed learning how her photos were created as much as seeing the slides themselves. But one of the nicest things of the afternoon was viewing the exhibit once again after learning how the photos were done. Janica's talk gave a lot of substance to the exhibit and I appreciated even more.

A bit frosty this morning. Thirty-five degrees. The hot air inside the balloon I crewed for this morning reached at least 200 degrees. The white-covered ground set off the colors of the envelope spectacularly. Skies cloudless, the waning almost-full moon shining in the west and the winds calm.

I've been concerned about the hot air season coming to a close before we're through having fun. Now that the beautiful fall colors are here the weather seems to be going through a change, bringing with it too much wind, sometimes rain. Even though you can balloon year round in Wisconsin, I'd bet most people would prefer not to go in winter.

So I appreciate every opportunity to crew this fall and I'll be going again in an hour. The days left to do this are numbered and for all I know this could be the last for a while. It's too bad really, because more fields are harvested now - more landing spots - and the fall colors are so vibrant though short-lived.

Oddly enough, the shrill beep of the smoke alarm this morning coincided with the start of fire prevention week. All the fire-related events this weekend made me think about the two out of three alarms we have without batteries. I put a used 9 volt in one of them after it tested OK, but it must not have been strong enough and set the alarm off.

Yesterday I was invited to help out at the Town of Waukesha Fire Department's pancake breakfast by Rod, a hot air balloon pilot. I gladly accepted and helped set up his balloon for a demonstration. We soon began giving free tethered rides to fire fighters, EMTs and families, only stopping when it got too windy. I was glad to be there, lots to see and do, and happy to give back to the community - Rod donated his time and fuel for this fun event.

From one fire station to another. The official dedication and open house of Fire Station #1 in the City of Waukesha soon followed the festivities of the pancake breakfast. I enjoyed the tour a lot. The kitchen is beautiful as are so many other areas; the outdoor grill, den, workout room, conference room... I enjoyed meeting the alderpeople, mayors past and present, county exec., and firemen. I also enjoyed receiving a free Bradbury book, Fahrenheit 451, from David the librarian, who was in attendance to promote the month-long Big Read Waukesha.     

Today was the Fourth Annual Worldwide Day of Play, as if I needed a legitimate excuse to go hot air ballooning. Really, any excuse will do when it comes to crewing.

Crewing was a bit different this morning. The dark sky was calm and clear at six this morning so I knew the flight would be good. Two balloons launched with passengers at sunrise in the northwest corner of Waukesha County and headed northwest through Washington County. The balloon we were chasing had pretty good speed, (we clocked it at 40 mph when it was overhead,) and it wasn't long before it entered Dodge County.

Without a Dodge County map, we relied on the pilot for directions over the two-way. The terrain is hilly, wooded or planted with few roads criss-crossing so, over an hour into the flight, we were all looking for a place to land. The later it got the windier it became, and they're almost to Horicon! Geese are surrounding the balloon! I'm starting to imagine what it would be like to take it down in the marsh when, luckily, the pilot found an accessible cut field by the road to land in.

Worldwide Day of Play is designed to get kids motivated. I had all the motivation I could stand when that basket came down about 10 mph, bouncing along the field with three people inside, me chasing behind trying to slow it down. Pretty exciting for me and everyone else.

We had plenty of time to get to know the passengers on the long trip home in the van, made even longer by a trailer tire blowout. Very nice, friendly couple were celebrating his 60th birthday. He just arrived home from a 22 hour car trip from NC the night before and must have been exhausted at 5:00 a.m. when the phone rang to go ballooning. I'm sure he'll remember this birthday for years to come. 

I couldn't imagine better weather than we had here for the last day of summer Saturday. Golden delicious! The delicious weather brought out thousands of people to Retzer Nature Center's 21st Annual Apple Harvest Festival. I was real glad to see the people too, even though it made for more work for me in the food tent, because some things are just too good to not share.

I must've poured a hundred cups of cider, constantly moving to restock all beverages, and never got stung by a yellow jacket, (wish some of the young kids in attendance could say the same.) Besides a game of tag with the yellow jackets, the children's craft area, scarecrow display and musicians were very popular. The wagon ride had a long line as did the apple pie area.

I guess one could judge the success of the fest by how much was left at the end. I really don't know what all was left at the end because I wasn't there and didn't ask, but in my brief survey of the situation I noticed the apple pie slices were gone, the cider sold out and the 62 varieties of apples down to about 12. And I was thinking about purchasing 4 gallons of cider!

I would've loved to help clean up after the festival ended at 5:00, but I put in my three hours and hot air balloons were calling. Since this is my first year regularly hot air crewing, I'm not sure how long the season lasts, or if there even is a season. I was just happy to have the opportunity to help on the last day of summer.

Crewing went just as great as Apple Fest. A total of four balloons launched together in Monches and floated an hour toward north east to touch down in Hubertus. An ultralight fly-in was going on in the area and they seemed to have the time of their lives flitting around the four huge colorful balloons. The hilly wooded area around Holy Hill, where we were chasing, is starting to get really pretty with the new color in the trees. It was a joy to be there and it was nice to be needed. It was nice to be needed there. My family understands.

It turns out the couple who went up in our balloon were celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary that very day. A huge surprise. Scheduling around the weather and availability usually means flights don't necessarily go up when you'd like. Sometimes a year or two can go by if there's many weather cancellations. So we see a lot of first-time fliers but not a lot of birthdays or anniversaries unless by chance. This one was their anniversary. I don't know how they planned it that way.

It's 3:00 a.m. and I'm too anxious to sleep. Too many things going on. Maybe if I blogged about it...

In two hours my phone will probably ring to go hot air balloon crewing. The grass is really wet in the morning and the mosquitos swarm around us when we're readying for a flight, but the days are getting shorter and I welcome any opportunity to go. Regularly crewing is one of the best things I've done with my swiftly-coming-to-a-close summer.

Yesterday morning we took an excited retired teacher up. She was simply following her dream, had already rode a motorcycle. Another thing to check off on her list of things she must do before she dies. Many of her fellow teachers, including the principal, chipped in for the flight and were there to see her go up. By the time they calmly landed on a residential street there were about seven cars following. One of them opened a tailgate and had a little breakfast party ready for everyone.

After ballooning this morning, my mom-in-law and I will drive east for the last ethnic festival of the year at the lakefront, Indian Summer. The non-denominational prayer ceremony will get us into the fest for free but the real incentive is to participate as a Native American. To learn more about Earth Mother, honoring ancestors, sacrifice and cleansing of the soul. There'll be much dancing, drumming, music, speeches and stories. Attending religious services at the many ethnic festivals is another of the best things I've done with my summer and I'm sad that the year is coming to a close.

I'm anxious to get going with this new blog tool we've heard about, and BrookfieldNOW's been using, for a month. It will allow readers' comments and dialog directly on my blog, and if it works right I should be able to add my own photos. It should have begun by now so I'm just waiting.

Still trying to get a new furnace and A/C. I signed a contract and scheduled the install with a highly recommended Rheem dealer then cancelled it after talking again with the Carrier dealer. Hopefully there will be resolution soon.

Looking forward to a tour tomorrow of the near half million sq. ft. Journal Sentinel printing plant in West Milwaukee. It'll be interesting to see how they produce 85,000 copies of the paper an hour, and it'll be nice to meet the publisher, editor and Journal Interactive V.P. Like the downtown facility, the new plant is something I've wanted to tour when I worked as a weekend Journal Sentinel distributor but never had the chance until I left that job and started doing this. Another blog-efit I enjoy.

Have been tired lately but don't know why. I got a good night's sleep Saturday after a late tether of the Re/Max balloon in Richfield and woke up at 4:30 a.m. Sunday to crew again. We set up alongside another balloon at a dairy farm on Hwy. G in Delafield and this time, instead of chasing the balloon, I rode in it. My second flight ever.

Yes, I heard about the two hot air balloon deaths in Canada the day before. I don't know what the cause of that fire was, and may not know for quite a while, but with the safety precautions we take here, I knew I'd be safe. Pilots have to be licensed, winds have to be calm, have to have enough daylight and weather prediction has to be good. We're in radio contact with competent crew, and redundant controls virtually eliminate accidents. (the balloon I flew in had two burners, two tanks, two vent ropes, three people in the chase vehicle...)

Winds were dead calm for my flight so we travelled just a mile or two in an hour, from north of Hwy. 18 on G to just south of 18 on G. There was a little wind at 100 feet so we used that to find a spot to land and took the envelope down on a driveway between a row of trees. It was neat to see Lake Michigan, Pewaukee Lake, Lapham Peak...

After a quick breakfast, and more coffee, I headed to Maier Festival Park for my fifth ethnic mass and festival of the year, Mexican Fiesta. Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiga lead the two hour Spanish Mass, along with Archbishop Dolan and Bishop Sklba. When the cardinal remained seated for the homily, that should have clued me in. The half hour sermon must have been great because he gestured, raised his voice, got a few chuckles and a large applause, but I only knew about twelve out of the thousands of words he spoke.

I was still in the dog house for spending nine hours at Irish Fest the previous weekend, so I didn't stay at Fiesta very long. I did enjoy what I saw very much though. I got a good look at the Ballet Folklorico and Milw. Ballet II in the Cultural Village, along with many handcrafted items and demonstrations. There was a lot of music, food and activity, as you'd expect, with approx. 70,000 attendees anticipated for it's three day run.

To make a long story not as long; Soon as I got home gave son ride to party. On way home from party stopped at an acquaintance to visit. They're disabled and needed to mow the lawn that day because landlord coming. Mower not working -- grass real long. Went home, got my mower and finished what they had started. When done, rushed home to get ready for evening balloon crewing. Was pretty windy but we waited until after 6:00 and pilot, Rod, was able to lift off with two passengers. We chased the swift-moving balloon all the way to just this side of Holy Hill and walked it out to a gravel road through 6 foot tall weeds. It was dark by the time we got back but still only 8:30 so I went home, ate something, read the paper, and contemplated this blog entry.

It was something we were looking forward to for a long time. We wanted to pick up where we left off with the last balloon rally of last year. We wanted to hook up with the great couple we hung with last year and share more good times. We were going to help them get their bright yellow balloon up, chase it until it landed, then pack it back up. We were going to talk about the past year over pizza and check out the fair together. It was going to be so great.

Well, we didn't crew for "Yellow Fever" and we didn't even crew for the Re/Max balloon as I mentioned in my last blog. A nice thing about being involved in hot air ballooning is that having a good time doesn't depend on who you're crewing for. The only disappointment can be the weather and the weather was great last weekend. No rain and not too windy meant every time they were scheduled to launch they launched.

Crewing with someone new exposed us to a whole new set of fun. "La Ristra," the 800 pound, 128 foot tall, world's largest chili pepper balloon never took off, just inflated, but that was enough. The pilot, Mike Shrum, from my favorite state that I've never been to, New Mexico, was a lot of fun. Because it takes four times the normal about of crew members to fasten and unfasten velcro on 56 chilis, get trapped air out, lift it, etc., it seemed like a big party. By the time he took off in his regular balloon from Butler Middle School on Sunday morning he had more than a dozen people either in the cab or bed of the pickup truck or following behind in a car. In the two years I attended Butler I never imagined I'd be helping launch a hot air balloon from it's athletic field.

We didn't crew with the people we wanted but we saw them often and even launched from Butler together. La Ristra clearly needed our help. We not only helped unpack, inflate and pack up the chili balloon, but because we were from Waukesha we also navigated the chase vehicle when Mike flew.

Almost 20 balloons launched on four occasions during the Skyfest 2007 rally. I hope most people were able to catch a glimpse of them. Maybe you saw the chase vehicle convoy pass your house or maybe a colorful balloon touched down on your street. Till next year . . .

Yesterday I crewed for a balloon that took five people up for their first ever flights -- a couple in the morning and three people in the evening. The reward in crewing is meeting friendly people, discovering and getting to know Waukesha County, the challenge of finding a good spot to land safely ...

I discovered a new reward to crewing when we landed in a friendly Town of Merton subdivision last night. Mae's Walke Subdivision consists of large lots and streets with names like Roosevelt's Quay and Maryann's Way. Two balloons travelling together both descended on Theodores Cove after 8:00 p.m. and, with all the kids and adults soon gathering around, looked like a kid's birthday. As a matter of fact one of the kids was celebrating a tenth birthday and there were dozens of kids around- all ecstatic. Instead of taking the balloons down right away, the kids climbed in for photos. The other balloon with us even lifted up a few feet a couple times and put the kids to work bagging up their envelope.

Last night's landing was great PR and a perfect neighborhood bonding experience. The residents couldn't believe all the activity on their little streets! I truly hope we land there again someday.

SKYFEST 2007 the 13th annual hot air balloon rally at Waukesha County Fair is this week. Watch for a yellow one or the RE/MAX balloon and you may see me helping out. The launch opportunities are Friday and Saturday, July 20th and 21st, 6:00 - 8:00 a.m. and p.m. with a 9:00 p.m. night glow. There is a Sunday launch window between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m. Pay attention to the wind direction this weekend, one or more balloons may be floating over your house!

Also, don't forget, Wednesday is dollar day at the fair. One dollar to get in and one dollar rides.

How was your weekend? Sunday was a day of firsts. First time I went to Polish Fest. Finally tried paczki for the first time. Attended a Polish mass, walked around Wisconsin's newest state park, Lakeshore, stepped inside and checked out Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin.

Mass at the lakefront started at 10:15 but I was already up by 4:30 a.m. to crew for a first time hot air balloon flight for someone who was turning 50 Monday. To get in to Polish Fest for just $4.00 I had to attend mass and, because I was attending mass, was the only one I could talk into going.

Because I was alone Sunday morning I had time to see what interested me. I enjoyed talking with an interesting man who was selling beautiful paintings he had done on large linden leaves. I listened to the Chopin Youth Piano Competition and was amazed by the skill of the 10 through 14 year olds. I played the benches under the Wind Leaves in front of Discovery World. Watched the sailboats, walked the beach...

With Summerfest starting tomorrow there is perfect opportunity to explore all the new things just outside the gates. On July 8th everyone gets in to Summerfest free from noon to 4:00. You can get a wristband any day from noon to 6:30 to leave and re-enter so you can check out the park, play the benches and turn the Wind Leaves, visit the gift shop in Discovery World, pick up brochures for sailing on the Denis Sullivan, walk the breakwater...

I first heard about Ed Yost a week ago today. It was while discussing hot air ballooning films during the crew training day I invited everyone to that we learned about Ed, "The Father of Modern Day Hot Air Ballooning." In the late 50s Ed experimented with propane and kerosene burners, lightweight synthetic fabric and vents, openings and shapes to help make ballooning what it is today. Thanks to Ed, pilots today can unpack and launch a 100,000 sq. ft. balloon, float for miles, hit a target and land and deflate exactly where they planned to, most of the time.

Ed died last Sunday, the day I first learned about him. After years of soaring heavenward on calm breezes, may his spirit forever float with angels. Ed was 87.

I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to invite you to a hot air balloon ground crew training day next Sunday, May 27th, here in Waukesha. If you've been following my blogs then you'll know what an exciting time my son and I had last year crewing. This is your perfect chance to find out what's involved and, because a picnic is involved Sunday, a good time will be had by all.

Please contact Ken at WIWindDancer@cs.com or myself at howlinblog@yahoo.com for more info.