Ian takes to the skies

As part of Ian's extended sabbatical, he has decided he wants to use the time (and cheaper options!) to learn to fly. It helps that Rolls-Royce provides a partner education allowance that will contribute towards his lessons. So this week, after finally getting his clearance to fly (being an alien and all that) he finally took to the skies.

The photo shows Ian and "his" plane, a Cessna 172. The plane that he's using is a bit older than the one that Cessna is depicting on the website, but it achieves the same objective - that is getting him into the sky and back down to earth again - safely!

Ian's instructor is the same guy that took him for his taster flight last year, although now he's with a different flight school, so at least they already know each other. On Ian's first lesson, Terry was very impressed with his progression and even had him doing lesson 2 maneouvres on his first time out. The visibility was pretty poor as it was a very hazy day, so Ian lacked a horizon to pinpoint his movements, but he did very well all the same. The skies were much clearer for Ian's second lesson, giving him more visibility. However this lesson's challenge was the strong winds that buffetted the little plane. Still, he held his own and is advancing well. It's hard to wipe the smile off his face at the moment.

The week held a surprise in store for us when, on Monday, one of Annalie's friends from UTC offered her a free ticket to see the Yankees vs Red Sox at the new Yankee Stadium. As we'd been looking for an excuse to go to the new stadium, this seemed to be the perfect opportunity. Ian promptly found himself a ticket on Stub Hub and we made preparations for our Thursday night out.

As we were planning to come back to CT the same night (the others were staying downtown) we had the choice of train part of the way or driving to NY. A quick look at our usual parking service on Manhattan showed that we were better off driving into NY to park for the princely sum of $22! The train would cost us $60 plus station parking and would take a lot longer too. So the decision was easy.

So off we trotted to NY in the hope that we could see the Yankees beat the Sox for the first time this season (going in the score was (0-8). Our first visit to the new stadium proved to be extremely successful as the Bronx Bombers trounced their nemesis 13-6! It was a great game with an exceptional 4th innings that saw the Yanks score 8 runs.

Our observations on the new stadium are that it is a very nice ball park but the cost of anything inside is excessive. Annalie bought a hot dog, packet of crisps and a beer and paid $23! Maybe we'll take a picnic next time! Or definitely eat elsewhere. And stick to soda - although that's still $5 a pop! Worse than Old Trafford or the Emirates ;o)

With such a high-scoring game, it went on quite late. We left after the 8th innings but that was still going up for 11pm. We had to catch the subway back into Manhatten and then pick the car up and drive home. It was gone 11.30 by the time we left the car park and just over two hours later we arrived back home. Not great for a school night! But Annalie had a lie in until 7pm before getting up to walk Maddy.

Speaking of the pup, she is coming on well and still an absolute sweetheart. But we did hear her bark for the first (and currently the only) time on Friday night when we visited the local Wethersfield Dog Park. In CT dogs should remain leashed so in some towns they have specific dog parks that allow you to unleash your dogs for play and exercise.

We knew that Maddy wasn't too fussed about other dogs and seemed to be more interested in people but this just went to prove it. While all the other dogs were getting to know each other and playing together, Maddy just wandered around introducing herself to all the other owners and getting lots of loving! On two occasions there were friendly dogs introducing themselves to her and she started to growl, which has been known. But then she barked as well, which came as a total shock to us as we weren't sure that she actually knew how to! Still, it was good to know that she can when she wants to, although it might not always be necessary!

Having Maddy is doing us the world of good because it makes us get out and walk and also to explore some of our local area. On Saturday we headed up to Castle Craig in Meriden. We'd seen the castle from the road on a few occasions and thought it might be worth the walk. So looking it up in our hike book, it said the trail was "moderate, with a few challenging sections" - well, that was an understatement! As the castle is about 1,000 feet above sea level, it was a bit of a climb. Maddy had to do her best impression of a mountain goat on a number of occasions, but managed it with enthusiasm.

The views from the top of the castle, and from the route along the way, can be seen in the new album (for those that don't realise, the photos in the top right of the blog that says "View Gallery" will take you to our new photo website where we will be storing all our photos from now on). When we arrived up there we found an almost double for Maddy, just a younger version. A 2 or 3 year old male beagle mix called Chase. The resemblance was fairly uncanny but it made for a good introduction! He was a lot more hyperactive than Maddy though, but maybe it's something that comes with age!

For the route down we decided to take the slightly easier passage down the road instead! It was probably a lot quicker because it was a steady downhill, rather than the up and down of the original route we took, and it was a lot more stable under foot! Still a good 3-hour yomp though in total.

Unfortunately we've had one of the down sides to dog ownership as well. Maddy has been ever so good in the toilet department since we got her, so we knew something was wrong immediately when she had an accident in the house. When she had her second within a couple of hours, and with the appearance of what looked like blood, we thought a trip to the doggie doctor was in order. We'd already planned to take her on Monday for a normal check up, but we managed to get seen on Saturday morning to try and rectify her little issue.

The vet had been recommended to us by one of the other Rolls-Royce dog parents, and she was on the money with her recommendation. A great guy who is straight talking but with a sense of humour (which is remarkable for an American ;o). Bladder infections are common in female dogs so it doesn't appear to be much to worry about. He also did a quick MOT on her and found an ear infection that will also be easy to clear up with the ointment he provided - and probably nothing unusual considering she spent 7 months living in a shelter. Other than that she's a healthy pup. He was very complimentary about her behaviour though, claiming beagles aren't usually so easy-going. And he also thinks that she may be a true beagle because they come in so many different shapes and sizes, she just doesn't fit the breed standard for showing. Finally he confirmed her age as around 5, and also that she's lost a little bit of weight since being with us, so that's all good.

After a quick overhaul, nails cut and a good inspection, we left as relatively happy pet parents, although $150 poorer! ;o) Still, all worth it to know she's going to be just fine. We were quite nervous about taking her in as you never know what health problems a rescue dog will come to you with, so it was a relief to hear that she's not got anything major to worry about. So another lucky strike for Maddy.