Greetings loyal airmen, it's good to be home after a truly wonderful week in Florida.  On first day there, March 5th, Valerie and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary and our children and family helped make it a really special day for us.  That's a basket bouquet made up of edible fruits sitting there on the table between us.  The smiles were also for the very fact of sitting outdoors in warm weather after leaving a cold, snowy New Hampshire behind.  We had a condo for the week in Orlando and did a little sight-seeing while there.  One of our stops was Epcot at Disney World which neither had done since our kids will little tykes.
                 
Valerie had experienced the ride called Soaring Over California while out at Disney Land a year ago with our son Alan, and his family, and she'd loved it.  Well, lo and behold, the entire ride had been packed up and moved to Epcot and so I finally had the chance to enjoy it as well.  It's a wonderful ride wherein the illusion of hand-gliding over the land is just incredible.  Then after we'd left that ride, I spotted the above Mission SPACE and there was just no way I was not going to hop on that baby.  The ride simulates a NASA launch and then speedy travel to our future colony on the red planet, Mars.  All of us, me, Val, her sister Barb and husband Gus, loved this truly imaginative ride. Truly as close to outer space as any of us will ever come, so thanks Disney & Co. for providing us with these truly unique memories.

As always, trips like this seem to speed up time and before we knew it we were on a plane winging our way back to snowy, cold New Hampshire.  Upon getting back to Hangar 27 and logging on, I found myself weeding through over two hundred and seventy e-mails awaiting me.  Ha.  Most were normal, routine stuff but amidst this tidal wave of digital news was one truly sad revelation that simply stopped me in my tracks. During our week away, one of my all time favorit comic artist, Dave Stevens died after long battle with leukemia.  He was only 52!
                         
                                               DAVE STEVENS        1955 – 2008
Most of my life I've been a fan of those classic Republic Serials, especially the three that starred Rocketman.  As I grew older and became an avid comic book collector, I always wondered why no one in that field ever shared that same love.  Until the mid-70s when a young fellow named Dave Stevens came along and created a comic strip called THE ROCKETEER!!  Clearly inspired by those wonderful Republic serials, it was set smack dab in the 1930s and told the story of daredevil pilot Cliff Secord and his discovery of a fantastic rocket-pack that allowed him to fly!!  Stevens was one of the most meticulous artist ever to grace a comic page and his arwork was rich in period details, the love of the story so obvious in every single panel.  I soon became a diehard Rocketeer fan.
                             
Then in 1991, much to my joy, Disney came along and turned the strip into a full-fledged color movie, starring Billy Campbell, who was perfect as Cliff.  The film co-starred the beautiful Jennifer Connelly as his girl Betty and Allan Arkin as his mechanic mentor, PeeVee.  Directed by Joe Johnston, the movie was a brilliant recreation of the Steven's comic adventures and he even had a small cameo in it.  I remember seeing it with some comic book pals and how we all screamed and cheered when he took off and soared through the stratosphere “like a bat out of hell”.  It was and remains one of my all time favorite adventure movies.
               
                            Billy Campbell as Cliff Secord – THE ROCKETEER 
It is difficult for me to put into words the sadness I feel at Stevens' passing and at such a truly young age.  Those of us who were his fans will never forget him and his legacy of capturing the thrills and excitement of a time long gone will echo in our own hearts forever.   Fly high with the Angels, Dave!

Finally, segueing into someone's demise by cancer, I'm about to undergo my own personal moment of truth with my continued existence.   Almost three years ago, back on March 22nd, 2005, I wrote a log entry I labelled RECENT TURBULENT AIR, in which I related to all you loyal airmen about two anomolies that had been discovered on my lungs and the inability of my doctors to clearly identify what their nature was.  A biopsy had ruled out cancer back then and I began a routine regiment of having scans done several times a year to keep tabs on these two little mysteries.  Last fall my most recent catscan actually indicated that the left nodule had grown by a millemeter.  Don't bother taking out your slide rulers, that's about the width of a cat's hair.  Still, the radiologist called it a change and all of a sudden what had been passive treatment became active.  Several meetings with my lung specialist and the surgeon seemed to be starting up the old carousel again, in that no one wanted to commit to a specific action.  One doctor even suggested I go to another hospital out of state for a second opinion.  Although I appreciated his conservative approach, such a process would have simply put me back three years to the GO spot, having to start all these tests all over again, this time with all new doctors and with absolutley no guarantees that by the end of this journey they'd have any more information to give us.

Frustarted to the max, I bit the bullet and asked that the spots be cut out.  Once the doctors realized I was completely serious about this route of treatment, I was finally given two new tests which surprised all of them by showing that my lungs, despite the msytery spots, are really very strong and healthy.  Meaning I'm an excellent candidate for this kind surgery.  Once that was determined, it was full speed ahead.
                   
Now airmen, I am not a doctor, and the above is just a crude representation by me to give you a little idea of what is going on here and what will happen to me starting this coming Monday, 17th March.  The two white dots are supposed to be the mystery growths (?) which have been sitting in my lungs for the past three years.  Come Monday morning, my surgeon will go in from my back-side and remove a portion of my left lung with the nodule in it.  Again, this picture is not real.  But is is in the ball-park.  The fact that my lungs are so healthy means that once he has removed this piece and sown me up, the lung should still, after a period of recuperation, function normally the remainder of my life.  I'll be in the hospital for four days to assure there is no infection etc. then released, wherein the next six week there'll be no heavy lifting, but I'll be able to do most normal things.  At the end of that time, if all is well, we will schedule a return trip to the hospital and the process will be repeated on my right lung.   Time-wise, by the start of June, all of this should be well behind us, and at long last I'll be able to get on with my life not having this mystery hanging over my head.  Oh, yeah, that's the real bonus factor here.  With cutting out these “things”, we are finally going to find out exactly what they are.  A cause for celebration around the old Hangar 27 for sure.

Of course if you know your dates, March 17th is St.Patrick's Day, and there'll be no green beer for the Crew Chief this year.  Darn!  But I'm hoping all you loyal airmen will tip one for me, and at the same time say a prayer on my behalf.  I'm a man of faith, and prayers are the currency I live by.  So thanks in advance.  You all take care, and God willing, I'll be back here next week, a wee bit lighter, but much, much happier.

Ron – Over & Out.