Raefordite

Don't forget to try the consumer reports before you buy. For a minimal membership fee, you can save yourself a whole lot of headache on a very expensive purchase. I just purchased a 2004 Subaru Forester. I had never even heard of the vehicle until I was looking at similar style cars and with my search it popped up on the consumer reports web site. Now 6,000 miles into the car, I am very pleased I went with the Forester.

They were jumping one of our brand new Sigma tandem systems. It was due in December, we received it in March with manufacturer dates of Jan., etc. If you can get it out of them (they are also behind on two more Sigma systems for us), they are great tandem systems.

Blast! Now how am I going to use those photos for our next DZ school tandem brochure? Posted them all over dropzone.com........... Well you two monkeys are just going to have to do it again. Ha!

Is the tear in the medial or lateral meniscus? And find out what type of tear, a bucket handle tear, anterior tear, posterior tear, etc. Some tears heal, some do not. An ACL tear may take 6 - 9 months. If it is a POSSIBLE TEAR in the ACL - that is good news. It usually means it is only a Grade I (Grade IV being the worst). So quite possibly a lot less time to heal. But that can have a number of variables to change that. Does your physician want to have a brace made for your knee?

Thanks DaGimp! Raeford also has a Coach Course scheduled before the AFF course. Contact me! COACH COURSE: April 23 - 25th at Raeford Parachute Center. Lead by LTC Keith Walter. Cost is $150 (includes two evaluation jumps). Re-jumps are $50. http://www.uspa.org/shop/coursemat/packet.htm Purchase the IRM & SIMS manuals BEFORE attending the course. Also, the proficiency card must be completed before the course. http://www.uspa.org/publications/form.pdf/Coach_Prof_Card_04.pdf Please contact RPC at 910-904-0000 or e-mail us for details and to let us know you will be attending.

I hadn't seen that before. Last Sunday we experienced a forest fire that took 15 acres of our land and damage to the house. It took friends & neighbors to save the house with hoses & shovels until the forestry and additional fire support arrived to contain it. A very scarey evening. Now each day I see blackened ground and toasted trees. I can't wait for the new growth to come back. The words and photos of this presentation are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Sunshine - I agree that the surgery isn't the tough part, it's those damn crutches. I also have a rough time with that anesthesia they give you. Makes me throw up all over the place! I hope you heal quickly. Remember, I have two perfectly good ankle screws sitting in a drawer here at home. I can easily express them to your surgeon.

Still no photo JRock. What's it look like?

Wow - don't know what happened, but ouch! The BBB really has a file on them. As a BBB member, a report like this would send my business out of business!

If you are going to break your ankle and get only one of the two bones - good job Sunshine! You want to get the fibula. The fibula is the outside bone leading to the outside ankle bone. It is a non-weight bearing bone. Which means once the swelling goes down a bit, I bet your physician will let you put weight on it while you are wearing a Cam Walker, or something similar. That will make it nice to remove for a shower. DO NOT let them put a cast on it if at all possible!!! It's also good news that you do not need surgery. Must mean your break has good alignment and doesn't need to be corrected. BUT ask, "What is the degree of alignment?" The radiologist that interprets the x-ray would have documented that on the x-ray report if the alignment was not perfect.

Chester Municipal Airport www.skydivecarolina.com 1903 King Air Drive Chester, SC 29706 35 miles south of Charlotte, N. Car. Contact Information: (803) 581-5867 (weekdays) (803) 581-2549 (fax) Contact Danny before your drive there. See if he is open on Fridays. Perhaps by Friday PM, or just a Cessna until the weekend. I haven't been there in over a year. I know they get their fair share of tandems from Charlotte, so I'm sure they have video available. I think JB Siefields son jumps there and is a good video shot. If they don't work out, Raeford is flying on Fridays. We have video and folks to jump with. PM me if you change plans and need information.

Congrats! Welcome to the sport. Hope to meet you at Couch Freaks Boogie over Labor Day weekend. By then you will have all sorts of skydives!

You spent a lot of time and $$$ toward this bill. It would have greatly helped many DZ's and jumpers in the sport. So sorry to hear the results.

Nope, no lightning. The electricity was flickering on and off. The best guess was a neighbors private security outdoor light blew with a power surge. It caused a spark. The wind took care of the rest. MattM - Thank you for your concern about us. I do appreciate it. And Yep, you needed to be called out earlier in the day. Your comment on the DZ was self serving, inconsiderate of others and most of all your attitude was a safety threat to the other jumpers on the same load as you. But that is the past and behind us. However if it is still a problem or you don't understand why the S&TA of the DZ had a problem with your comment, then PM me or talk to me directly. Perhaps we can resolve it better than here on the forums.

A "jet stream" (which is normally at 30,000 ft at an average of 100mph) dipped down and came to the ground. Typically when this rare event happens it is for a very short period of time. Not hours like last night. Very high winds, sharp temp. change, rain, hail, tornados are all part of it. We were skydiving at 6pm, it was light and variable winds at 7:40pm when I got home, winds of over 40 mph (on our windmeter on the roof at the house) by 8:40pm. It got worse from there. I may not have all that exactly right, but that is close.

Tornado -not sure, but we had a wild time last night and it's not over yet. We lost about 15 acres of property burned. The acre around the house, shrubs, etc. are gone. The house has electrical, phone, propane tank, heat pump, siding damage. About 1/4 mile north of us a fire started. The "train" sound of a wild fire is true. Tony was at the DZ and called to get me while I was in the shower to check. They could see a fire in the distance and it looked like it might be near out house. I screamed for him to dial 911. The entire 4' x 4' bathroom window was an orange glow. We were burning. 5 more minutes and the dogs and I would not have made it anywhere. The time it took me to grab clothes, dogs, and pull the car out of the garage the fire was 100 ft from the house and moving in fast. The dirt easement (only way out) was starting to burn. The volunteer fire department went to the wrong house (mind you we several acres apart). Then their truck didn't pump water. They couldn't get their "new" truck here because the electric power was out and no one had a key. Once the word got out, we finally had several fire departments and the Forestry guys here with big bad fire trucks, lots of shovels and a really, really big trench digger that made a 2 foot deep, 10 foot wide path. The digger made about a 15 acre circle around our house, that is to contain the fire to the house area and not to travel to my other neighbors house. I can't wait to see that from the air. Long story short - we made it. Thank you to all the neighbors and friends that saved our house last night with shovels and garden hoses. Thank you for the fire and forestry that saved the rest of my property and neighbors. Thank you to my family who called and pulled together a nationwide prayer team. It worked. We're all ok. Here are a few photos I took early this morning outside. Oh, ya - get Allstate. They I called them at 8:15am this morning. My phone lines are repaired, heat pump to be fixed this afternoon, construction company already at the house, the indoor cleaning crew (due to smoke damage) will be here all day tomorrow, electric company (melted outside wiring) will be here today or tomorrow (but we are ok to use the electric now). And PAY for the premium, replacement value insurance. I have a full acre of sprinklers, sod grass and loads of plants and trees that are all covered. And it's not even 1pm yet. Go Allstate!

Noooooooo! Sunny! I'm so sorry to hear it girl! Hey - the docs just removed two of my ankle screws last December from my break in July 2003. If you need them, let me know and I'll express mail it your way.

The only thing worse than a guy that misses and doesn't clean it up, or repeatedly leaves the seat up is this: A woman in a public bathroom that decides it is too nasty to sit. I call it "hover control". You hold yourself over the commode to pee. No problem. However if you think guys have occasional multi-directional pee, a woman can beat it every time. What gets me is you would be AMAZED at how many females don't lift the seat when they do this. Then leave their pee all over the seat!! So even if I decide to use the hover control method of surviving a nasty public bathroom, I have to touch the pee loaded seat to lift it out of the way.

Boo

Way cool! Glad you are mended. I had an ankle injury last year. Two surgeries. It's fine if I don't do anything. Walked about 2 miles Monday, rode the stationary bike for 30 minutes yesterday and that was too much. Swelling today. Blast I'm tired of it!

Yep last year was wet stuff, year before not much better. But you never know...... We hope to be there for a few days!

You shouldn't have a problem. That is one of very cool things about the USPA Intergrated Student Program. If you change DZ's for whatever reason, you should be able to pick up where you left off. Of course I'm sure the new DZ will ask a few questions to make sure your First Jump Course stuck in your head. But that will only show that the new DZ is looking out for you and safety. Good luck!

Cool! Congrats! The best part is the learning never stops.

Congrats! Keep as posted as to your progress

We also have a beautiful day in paradise here, Paradise just happens to be covered with 9 inches (this morning) of very wet melting snow. Even with a clear runway, no one wants to jump and land in a wet, wet mess. Now down to about 2 inches of very wet snow, tomorrow will hopefully look better! We're supposed to be up to the mid-60 degrees F by tomorrow.