Lauren Tjaden......

......She was all over me at the Worlds. Pursuing me day and night (even dressing like me!)
... It began tender and sweet....








I resisted.

...and then she got very aggressive.







I finally gave myself over to her.















And then- heartbreak- I caught her starting up with someone else.















And now all I have are the memories of what once was....






Lauren you slut!!!! Cheer up!
Love,
Linda

Finally got a flight in at the Flight Park after many attempts. It was the first air time I got since the last day of the Worlds. I took a tow to 1700 feet behind Mark and didn't hit much of anything. VG was set too shy so the tow was tough. But behind Marty for the next one I thought I had it set correctly but we were towing over the "ridge" to the WNW and I got blasted high and he almost came up to meet me, then I hit bigger lift and he got dropped. I released at a hundred feet or so... He towed Bob up in the Atos just before that one and Bob was doing alright so I tried again, this time pinning off at almost 2K on what I thought was lift, but wasn't much. I thought Bob had landed but then I saw him SE of the field working some bug fart. I made a bee line and got in the thing at 6 or 700 feet and stayed in it a little while- at least til Bob landed! So for the most kick ass day I have seen all year - easily 100 miler - I got my sorry little flights in at 6pm at FLAP. Launching at noon or just after would have for SURE been epic. Too bad work and kids get in the way so much. Today looks promising if all those sticky little logistics work out okay. I have a fall back (Bristol)and that seems to be the way to plan from now on.

Turtle
March?1990- May 31, 2006

Well the saga of Turtle ended badly. I paid a visit on Tuesday afternoon to see her and she was looking better. I got her to pee and eat and purr and sit up wobbily and I had hopes that she was on her way to coming home. I knew she wouldn't have more than a month or so at most but at least she would be home and I could spend time with her. When I returned with Emily in the evening, she was noticeably worse. The vet didn't even want to take her IV out for the visit so we went into the treatment room where she was on heat and a drip. I had brought cantaloupe thinking she would be up to her favorite food but she didn't really respond. That from a cat that used to dive into a tall garbage can for the melon rinds once upon a time. I knew when I put my ear to her chest that it would likely be the last time I heard her incredible motor, muted now. When I got no call during the night from the animal hopsital I had hopes that she was on the mend, but on the way to work Wednesday I found out she had been siezuring during the night and her prognosis was very poor. I went straight there and allowed the vet to put her down. No more purr. My heart just breaks. Especially in hindsight. I probably should have let her go at home right when we found her on Monday, but in my selfishness I wanted her to know I hadn't abandoned her when she fell ill. I didn't want her to die wondering where I was. Instead she got to get poked and probed and bled for a day and a half, miles away from her home. Now she is buried with a piece of cantaloupe at the side of our yard. Next to Hopper and Pongo's stone. Wow, this is pretty depressing and has absolutely nothing to do with hang gliding so I apologize. It really sucks to love something so much. I try to console myself with the fact that she had 16+ years and never had anything bad happen to her- truly a lucky cat by statistics. 'Nuff said.