What a week with the balloons

68º in Albuquerque at 6 pm Thursday.  Has been heavy overcast all day, but excellent weather this morning for the Special Shapes Balloons session this morning.  Took couple hundred photos from walking around beside the balloons as they were inflated and lifted.  Due to the "box effect" some of them even came back to the field to try to drop bags on targets on the field and then landed on the field.  This "Box Effect" is due to the lower temperature generally having the wind follow the Rio Grande River north to south and above it there are layers of air that are warmer going south to north.  So they could rise and lower into the different layers and go south and then north and then back south to the field.

With the huge crowds, there were a lot of these necessary
shacks set up.

Yeah, we were close to this balloon being inflated!

They use the fan to cold inflate and then when it is pretty well
filled they use the propane heat to finish filling the balloon
and bring it into an upright position.

Got to visit a bit with one of the 4 mounted Albuquerque
police that were on the ground this morning.  They said
these were Percheron's 

After eating breakfast at 5:30 am we rode the school bus the mile plus to the balloon field and walked about a hundred miles back and forth on the field in in some of the exhibitor tents.  Back to the trailer about 11 am and I spent hours, after lunch, editing and sorting the couple hundred photos taken today and yesterday and we went up to the Mexican supper tonight at 4:30 pm.  Phyllis went up to the tent and played cards this afternoon.

Got our electrical/propane issues figured out -- needing to run the generator more to keep up the house battery.  When it gets low it won't run the fan motor on the furnace.  And, we replaced the CO2/Propane Detector which was going off frequently.  Had had a propane situation where it went off frequently, and is 4 years old.  New one is quieter.  Running the generator more, especially when we run the furnace, and, of course, to watch some TV.

There is a special Glowdio this evening on the field, but they are having it tomorrow night also, so we think we will feel like the walking more tomorrow night.  Hope the weather cooperates.  In this Glowdio the balloons are anchored to the ground and just inflate enough to use the propane to light up and "glow".  With several hundred doing this at the same time it is quite colorful.

Could mention that the 1,000 or so RV's here are all sitting on a closed landfill.  There are a lot of sites where methane can be monitored.  That is the reason why any external generators must be two feet off the ground.

Only two more full days here -- we leave Sunday morning heading to Texas.  Phyllis is going back to work.  She got a call last week when we were on the road in Kansas asking her to come back to work as Activity Director as the one they hired instead of her had resigned her third week -- some health issues with a relative.  Even though she was a little chagrined at being looked over when re-applying for the job she had done a year and a half, she is going to go back to work on the 22nd of October.  Gives us a week to wonder through a little of New Mexico and then on through Texas.  Hope to get to our home by Wednesday or Thursday so can re-open it before the weekend.

Later, Lynn