Up, Up, and almost…

Saturday morning 7am, about 40 or 5 degrees and we are off to the mass ascension, or at least that was the plan. The sun is just peaking over the mountain range to the south east, there was no shuttle in sight so we hiked the mile and a half, as we get to the balloon field there is just one balloon being blown up, but a number of balloons were being laid out to be filled. Once the balloon is stretched out, a large gas powered fan blow air inside the balloon as the a couple of people hold the bottom of the balloon open. After the balloon is is partially inflated from the fan, the first heat from the propane burners is introduced and the warm air starts to help rise the balloon into the upright position which also stands the basket back upright as they have to lay it down to get the burners directed into the balloon opening.

As you can see it was an amazing sight, you can even get a glimpse of a unicorn shaped balloon in the distance between the big balloons, a number of balloon got set to ascend but only one actually lifted off from the field. You never seem to know what is happening or why it is or isn’t happening but as we watched a number of the balloon that looked like they were ready to ascend but now were dumping the hot air and lowered to the ground and then being folded back up. There were a number of balloons in the sky, but they had ascended some where else.

Well look who grew some balls and did the right thing, Iran has finally stepped up and admitted to doing what everyone else in the world already knew they had done…some fool with control got the jitters and shot down a commercial jetliner. Why does everyone in power always think they have to try and deny the obvious, I’m back to my theory that – one politician lies and there are half a dozen ass kissers lined up behind him and say it’s true – to this day if a politician is moving his lips he is most likely lying.

Well I really wanted to show you something flying today, and this was the best I could come up with. Apparently when the flags are stretched out like this, hot air balloons don’t even try to fly. Ascension a word I was not familiar with, but apparently that’s what hot air balloons do, they do not launch as I had previously incorrectly stated. See you are never too old to learn something. And if a bunch of balloons are going up at once it’s called a mass ascension…who knew

So it is Friday at the Lake Havasu Balloon Festival and there is lots of things going on, balloons in the air just happens not to be one of them…there is a continuous flow of entertainers on the main stage. There are lots of venders selling all kinds of crafts, pain relief, souvenirs, and such. There are food venders selling everything that you didn’t even know you wanted to eat. There is a midway with rides and entertainment for kids, but none of these were intriguing enough to draw us out on a windy day, with folding chairs blowing around outside, we just stayed tucked away in the coach today…our hopes are riding on tomorrow, it looks like a great day as long as the wind co-operates, so maybe I can get a picture of a balloon in the air!

On a more somber note:

Imagine that a Ukrainian commercial jet shot down by Iran defence missiles with 178 passengers, 63 Canadians, and apparently it was scientifically impossible that it could have been done by Iran, but as amazing as it my sound they have been able to pick up tons of the shot down jet and clean up the whole debris field in just a little more than 24 hours, so that no one can do a proper investigation? Now that is the part that I maybe would have said that part was impossible, and as President Trump said someone may have made a mistake…no shyt…kind of like poking a hornets nest…so the death toll starts to add up from this first poke. If anyone thinks this is over, I have some swamp land for sale, you see some of these leaders don’t care about who they kill, and anyone from a different tribe is fair game. And now that Russia’s President Putin has said it wasn’t Iran, I almost was expecting a theory after a statement like that, but it’s pretty hard to argue with the actual real facts. Just waiting for the statement from Iran tomorrow as to what caused the crash…they are so much more efficient than any other countries crash analysts…just saying