The Thunderbirds were flying Saturday , and I decided to take a trip to my new river retreat , and take a cruise up the river and watch the airshow from the river .
The show drew more than 100,000 people and getting on the base would have proved to been a slow process.
Recently I bought some land on the river and built an eco friendly house upon it .
My accountant said over the long run it looks like it will be a great investment.
The combination of the decades low interest rate , the tax incentives and rebates to build a " green " structure , and the close proximity of celebrities, all make the total cost of ownership very reasonable .
An official from the Energy Dept contacted me and it looks like I may receive an
" eco grant " to make a video so others can understand how to harness the incredible
" Ocean-Atmosphere coupling " concept to cool their waterfront homes
The idea came to me one weekend while watching the Nascar race from the balcony at the beach .( I discovered if you turn the ceiling fan on REVERSE , and read the book "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", written by Richard Bach, into the KAROKE machine , then at the end of each chapter a caution flag or pit stop will happen )
Here is the photo of my new retreat , it is built entirely from
" reclaimed lumber", instead of nails we used recycled plastic plungers from an ice cream novelty ( "push ups" ) , and it takes full advantage of the natural process of the fact that land cools faster than adjacent bodies of water , and the water creates a natural cooling breeze .
As we made our way up the river I took photos of some of the natural beauty and the people who enjoy the river lifestyle .
Here is a photo of one of my celebrity neighbors' property .
Bubba Gump is Forrest's younger brother .
Bubba has a phobia of seagulls, so he chose to run a "trot line " operation rather than be a shrimper like his brother .
Here is a photo of the ship he uses daily to run his trot line ,and if you look closely you can see his luxury pre manufactured home ( it's the envy of everyone on the river ) in the background
A quick stop to let Bubba aboard and we were on our way .
Bubba thanked me again for telling him about Air America, and told me even though AA filed for bankruptcy and is off the air , he had learned much from them and he is looking at health care reform as a GOOD THING .
Bubba said although he has made the decision to lay off all of the hard working illegal aliens on his crew, utilizing new technology would increase his efficiency and this would make for higher productivity at a drastically lower cost .
Bubba said he is going to give a portion of his catch to the poor, to help offset the jobs he destroyed from the outcomes of Health Care reform and Carbon Taxes .
Bubba is moving to the SAMUS system, and is going to abandon the traditional trotline method for harvesting River Cats .
Below are a couple of examples of other people who use this method to harvest fish
Big fish are easy to catch
We drove past two guys who were using their vantage point at work to see the airshow.
This photo shows the " water line " from the recent flooding on the young trees growing on the " sand bar "
This is a photo showing trees that have been caught on the power line pedestal as the flood waters receded from the flooding two weeks ago .
Next we went under the " old bridge "
Watching the old bridge disappear aft , we came to the " new bridge "
The new bridge has a new way to monitor and report the river level via the internet
Check river level here
www.al.water.usgs.gov
I manage to capture 2 rare photo's of the seldom seen River Bovine .
The River Bovine is classified as an endangered species and are protected under federal law.
Opinions varied on the boat , some thought they were present to watch the airshow , while others thought perhaps they were grazing on Crawfish ( their favorite food ) as the flood waters were receding and made the mud bugs easier to catch .
This is a photo of the " Red Albino River Bovine " this rare genetic variation is estimated to occur only in 1 in 500,000 births and it is thought only 7 Red Albino's exist in the world today .
Notice the " RED " is in very cautious and uses the rest of the herd to shield him .
A few more folks had the same idea to watch the air show from the river .
All kinds of boats were present and here is a brightly colored one .
This is one of my friend's boat, it is called the " CAT BOAT " , it has an all carbon fibre hull , two huge 540 CI supercharged engines ,and polished chromed everything .It is built to go racing the day it arrived, he races it in Lake Pontchartrain and has exceeded 160 M.P.H. in it .
Water patrol was present and accounted for to ensure everyone's safety
Bringing the right gear is essential to make sure a day at the river is fun rather than frustrating .
The boat anchored next to us was an experienced " river rat ", and had the correct gear to make sure he had a fun outing .
Make sure you have the right shoes !
A sturdy chair with beverage holder and a " lil red rib cooker " make the trip very comfortable .
Bubba bought his newest invention with him .
Bubba was present when I constructed the " River Retreat " , and we have become pretty good friends .
Bubba was gracious enough to allow me to purchase a 40% share of his new invention ,and when my check clears the bank next week,we are going to visit his
brother-in-law ( he is a lawyer ) and file for the patent .
The new invention is called the :
" SKI N PEE "
The " SKI N PEE " has all the functionality a world class river skier demands in a ski rope, and the added benefit of allowing the female passengers to quickly and safely climb the river bank to " answer the call of nature "
( Proper Ladies would never descend the ladder on the back of the boat and use the river as a bathroom )
I drew on my experiences and contacts in Vegas to provide the proper packaging of the tissue .
WW II vintage aircraft were the first to take to the air
Another one
This group of 4 flew in formation and the sound of their rotary engines was awesome.
This is a C-130 about to drop cargo
The cargo drop
Once the vintage propeller aircraft were back on the runway , the Air Force flew it's latest aircraft over for every one to see .
This aircraft uses the "NEGATIVE REFRACTION " technology to make it invisible !
It is also emits virtually no greenhouse gasses
The F-18 belongs to one of the local guard units.
The B-52 was huge.
The boat was anchored in a direct path of the " 18 " runway .
The
Thunder Birds flew directly over us at treetop level ( less than 50 feet high ) and it was difficult to get crisp photos, but I managed to get a few
Solo TBird
Solo bird banking to join the others
A pair
These 3 had the landing gear down, I think they were going to demonstrate a " touch and go "
4Tbirds in tight formation
4 Tbirds deploying smoke
I am glad I had the chance to see the airshow .
Bubba says we may never have the chance to see another one .
He told me that in the future Cap N Trade would make the show go from a free family oriented event, to a a mega expensive event that only a few super rich Billionaires and Large Corporations could afford to pay the " Carbon Tax " and attend .
Bubba also told me that because so many " Teabaggers " live here and own firearms they might consider this a " terrorist zone " once the November 2010 elections are held under the watchful eye of Martial Law .
