August 2
I was a little stiff and sore when I woke up, so I stretched out while I was still on the futon, and then hopped off the bed and decided to take a little morning flight around the neighborhood to work my muscles some.
So I went out the balcony, scattering a couple of the early-morning birds, and flew up until I was just over the treetops.
When you're a ways up, all the trees kind of look like they're the same height, but when you're right at the tops of most of them, there's always one or two that are poking their crowns above all the rest. There were a couple of proud oaks a few blocks from my apartment that stood above all the others.
I just made a quick loop, and then landed on Grand Avenue and trotted back to my apartment, to give my legs a bit of exercise too.
Since we'd used all the waffle mix, I had hay for breakfast and then I started to plan out my day. I hadn't seen any clouds in the sky and it felt like there wasn't going to be any rain at all, so I probably didn't have to worry about that. I knew that some places had a rainy season which sometimes was called monsoon season and I had been worried that maybe Kalamazoo did, too.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to go and trot around at the Nature Center some, and I had to get more food, and I should also call Mister Salvatore and see if he knew of some kind of little map I could carry. My telephone had one, but it wasn't very hoof-friendly, and I think if I tried to use it while I was flying, I'd just drop it.
So I called him, and told him that I thought I was almost ready to fly to Chicago, and that I'd also been thinking that it would be useful to have some kind of portable map like my pocket telephone had, but one that would be useful while I was flying, and he said that he'd see what he could find. And he said that he didn't think I should try to fly to Chicago before I went to Canada, and I told him that I'd been thinking the same thing. Gusty would be upset if I got lost at sea right before her play.
He said that he could probably get a boat for the week after, and that would give him enough time to negotiate with the airplane directors at O'Hare, which is the big airport in Chicago.
He asked how my GoPro was working, and I said that Meghan had put a video on her YouTube channel of me flying in a storm, and it was kind of long to watch.
Mister Salvatore promised that he would see what kind of navigation aid he could get for me. He said that he might try a couple and I could see which one I liked the best, which I thought was a good idea.
I told him that I was going to go shopping today and he asked if I wanted a ride, but I wasn't planning to get anything that I couldn't fit in my saddlebags.
It was still a little bit early to go to the farmer's market—they didn't open first thing in the morning because they needed time to come in from their farms.
So I thought I'd go to Meijer first, and then I would have time to empty out my saddlebags and get to the farmer's market before lunch.
I didn't feel like putting on all my flight gear today, so I just wore my saddlebags and kept low over the street, which was safe because airplanes weren't allowed to fly that low.
I'd gotten so used to wearing all my flight gear that it felt strange to fly without it. My forelegs felt lighter, and my barrel and back seemed to be cooler than normal, even though it was a hot day. And I didn't have the fabric of the vest brushing against my wing roots, either.
When I got to Meijer, I landed on one of the car-free islands in the parking lot, and then got a cart out of their little cart paddock and pushed it inside. That's one thing that I don't like about shopping by myself, because the carts are really awkward to push. I guess they don't get many ponies shopping here.
As tempting as all their produce was, I skipped over it and went straight to the aisle with the waffle mix. There were lots of other mixes, too, and so I also got a box of Bisquick that could make pancakes, because pancakes were good. I had to get a can of spray-butter so that they wouldn't stick to the pan, and some other stuff like baking powder that the box said that I needed.
It didn't tell me what kind of milk I wanted, and there were lots of different kinds to choose from. Some of it was only 2 percent milk, and then there was half and half, and there was also almond milk and soy milk, and I didn't know that you could milk an almond or a soybean. I would have to ask Aquamarine about that.
They did have whole milk, and I thought that would be the best, so I added it to my cart and then went to find the sugar.
There were also lots of choices for sugar. I could get confectioners or brown or cane or beet or artificial and I didn't know what was best for pancakes. How could there be so many kinds of sugar?
Since pancakes were brown, I thought that brown sugar was the best choice. But then I saw a small package of maple sugar, and it was also brown and when I sniffed the package it smelled nice and mapley, so I changed my mind and got that instead.
I also got some Oberon and thought about buying a bottle of wine to share with Meghan but it was more fun to shop for it together, because we could decide what we wanted right before we drank it. And there were hundreds of different kinds, which was really overwhelming.
This time I'd been smart enough to not buy so much that it wouldn't fit in my saddlebags, and the woman who tallied up my groceries was even nice enough to put the groceries in my saddlebags for me. She didn't balance them very well, though, so I was a little bit lopsided flying back.
I got to the farmer's market not too long after they'd opened, which meant that I had my pick of the freshest and biggest fruits and vegetables, and I would have bought more except that I knew I was going to be gone for the whole weekend, and I didn't want any of it to go bad before I got back.
So for lunch I had a fresh cucumber and some carrots which still had the greens on them, unlike the ones that Meijer sells, and some green beans and a turnip.
I did still want to get some more exercise, so I flew out to the Nature Center and did a few laps of their pasture course. It wasn't as fun as it usually was in the morning, because there were more people there that I had to watch out for, and the deer weren't anywhere to be seen. They like to hide in the woods during the day, and only come out in the mornings and evenings to feed.
Instead of flying back the normal way when I was done, I flew across the railroad tracks and along the river, just above the water except when I had to fly up to get over an abandoned railroad bridge.
They'd taken the tracks off it, but there were still long rusty streaks on the wood crossties from where the rails had been.
There was a big factory with stinky ponds that smelled like sulfur and shit, and that smell stuck with me for a little bit. When I'd first seen it I thought that maybe the ponds had fish in them, and maybe they did but I wasn't interested in getting a closer look at it.
When I got to the active train-bridge, I turned to follow the tracks most of the way home, up until they crossed over Main Street, then I went that way, curving off at the cemetery to my apartment.
I took a shower, and then I got my Bible and sat down in my papasan chair and I'd just opened it to Jeremiah when I heard a knock at my door, so I went down to see who it was.
It was Lindy and Trinity and they asked if I wanted to come out and play because Caleb was away at a camp and they kind of didn't miss him because he was a boy and boys were dumb but it wasn't as fun playing with only two people.
So I said said that I would, and Trinity was really happy and hugged me and they played croquet first, and let me hit the ball with my hoof instead of the hammer. I still wasn't very good at it, but I didn't mind. Having fun with friends is more important than winning a game of croquet.
I also gave Trinity a ride around the backyard, and then when Jeff came home the four of us walked around the neighborhood looking for Pokemons. He wasn't hunting any of them, but he said that he needed the exercise.
They found a Tanglea, which looked like a ball of worms wearing a pair of shoes and I didn't see what the appeal in it was but Lindy said that it was rare and that Caleb would be mad that they'd found it and he hadn't.
While the girls were trying to catch it, Jeff said that he could see some of the birds around my bird feeder, and that he liked watching them in the morning when he drank his coffee. He said that the girls did, too, and he asked if I'd considered getting a suet block and maybe attracting woodpeckers.
Well, I hadn't thought of that, but it sounded like it might be something fun to set up. I thought that I could put it by the living room window, and hang it off the side of the house. There was a gutter that ran around the edge, and I could hang it off that, which would give Jeff a good view of it.
There weren't any other interesting Pokemons in the neighborhood, but they did find a couple more of them that they'd already caught. It seemed kind of silly to catch the same ones that they already had, but it gave them experience, Trinity said, and experience was important.
I guess I caught the same kinds of clouds a lot.
There was a mare on my team who was really good with cumulus clouds but she couldn't do anything with stratus. They'd get away from her every time.
We went back home so that they could have dinner, and I made myself a nice dinner, and then I sat down on my papasan chair and did start reading Jeremiah, until the light started to fade.
It was kind of like Isaiah, with God saying how Israel had been bad and He was going to punish them because of it, and he was going to come after them with horses that were faster than eagles, because they weren't following His rules.
He told Jeremiah that if he could find one good person, than He would spare the city, but if he didn't, God was going to make all the Israelites live in a foreign land to punish them. But He also promised that He was going to restore things once they had learned their lesson.
Some people didn't like what Jeremiah had to say, and so they wanted to kill him. But God found out, and told Jeremiah not to worry because He was going to take care of them.
God said that He was going to restore his people afterwards, though, and He was going to give them back what He had taken away.
I put the Bible away and took a dusk flight around my neighborhood, and then across Main Street and over that neighborhood, too. There was a woodlot over there, and also a strange little cluster of houses on a looping road, that all faced one that was in the center. It was odd that I'd never noticed that before, but I usually didn't fly that way.
It was dark enough that bats were beginning to fly around when I landed back on my balcony, and I yawned and stretched out my legs then went inside and got a blanket and just curled up on the papasan and fell asleep there.
It's these little touches that make this such a joy to read.
No comment from Silver Glow on the similarities and differences between the croquet mallet and the one used for pony polo?
Jeremiah and Lamentations are nightmarish.
How lonely sits the city, that was once so full of people?
....Bats????
That's a good reason!
Hmmm! Pancakes!
Don't forget icky!
But
7615312 excluding private aircraft, yes.
This is an interesting series but it's too long for me. 220 chapters?
7616119
we steampunk now ?
7617182
you'll catch up quickly, or you read one or two chapters a day, since the chapters are eachy between 2k and 3k words
7617019
Pripyesk, Chernobyl?
No matter how long you live in a given place and explore it thoroughly, you will always find new things, even if nothing whatsoever grows, things weather and decay.
Wonder if Mr Salvatore will go all the way up to a Cutter, Lifeboat and Air Coastguard on patrol, practice at the time, given I suspect a sub shouldnt be in the Lakes?
Pity he cant be borrowing a test berg for a deep water trial.
Silver found a Tangela? Ive seen enough Hentai to know where this is going.
7617211 hehe it's a bit from Lamentations, which is Jeremiah grieving over the sack of Jerusalem and subsequent relocation of the people by their new overlords.
Maybe the building in the centre is some sort of utility building?
I've been looking at Kalamazoo from the air for so many weeks now, I'm starting to see bits of the road system as some sort of latterday Nazca lines. I swear I saw the Einstürzende Neubauten 'little man' symbol one time. It's funny what you notice from above.
Not sure about this one.
Play now CloudGo™! Level up your pegasus pony and capture a cloud factory near by ! Join other pegasis to fight storms and rough weather !
Gather for MMPEs (Massive Multiplayer Pony Events) like winter wrap up!
*hide from the optimalverse crowd*
Somehow, I wouldn't be surprised to see Silver trying to milk an almond or a soybean.
Silver, darling, we need to talk...
You hear that, Rainbow Dash? God's going to use you to destroy Israel because they were being naughty!
(And the best part: she'd have to fly east to get there. )
Bats, you say? Well, Silver, if you ever came down to Austin during the summer, you could get your fill of watching bats at sunset down by the Congress Avenue Bridge:
It's the largest urban bat colony in the world, according to Wikipedia.
7617114
And full of cooties!
7617211
7614252
If she did have access to a fly through Taco Bell, she could have a few burritos and use her afterburners to make trip easier... ...
7617958 Yeah! Mapple goes on the pancake, in your syrup!
I think that is the first time she said that.
Silver Glow, not an experienced baker, buying baking powder... Nothing foreboding here, nope!
(Bisquick contains some baking powder already, and only suggests adding more to make their extra fluffy "Ultimate" pancake.)
Really, she should have just bought some Krusteaz buttermilk pancake mix. Mix it with water and fry it. Simple enough that even Twilight could get it right!
7618306
Though hardly surprising, given her commentary on the sculpture of two crabs fucking.
7617958
About how delicious these pancakes are gonna be?
7617182 It'll be 365 (or a little over)by the time it's finished.
7617211
Actually there are two subs in the lakes. The Cobia at the Manitowoc museum, and a WW1 U-boat, the UC-97. The German sub was sunk as a target after a tour of great lakes cities by the USS Wilmette, which is more infamous by its original name- The SS Eastland.
*to
Well, there's that new buddying system now. They just needs to walk around with her a bit and wait for the Ponyta candy to drop, right?
I guess I caught the same kinds of clouds a lot.
What?
I hope Meghan introduces Silver to the wonderful world of vanilla or almond extract pancakes and waffles. Though that might be abit much combined with maple sugar pancakes.
Maybe...
This requires testing. Lots and lots of delicious testing.
7616934
Thanks!
7616942
I haven't seen that episode, apparently.
7617019
7617072
Bats!
They're as close of kin to ponies as anything. Closer than birds, for sure.
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7617114
That's a great reason. I ought to buy some pancake batter and make me some pancakes.
7617163
Corrections made; thank you!
7617187
Proper steampunk would be these bad lads:
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7617211
Very true. And there are few places that no animals call home, so there's that, too.
I can look out my window and see a truck which is slowly being reclaimed by nature. . . .
There actually used to be lots of them, since there was a sub factory in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. So in WWII at least, subs were transiting the Great Lakes.
If all else fails, Mister Salvatore can probably have an RB-S follow Silver Glow.
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(Usually, they leave the gun off on the Great Lakes.)
7617581
I think it's a community center, since the cluster of homes is an independent living retirement home. The homes are now all the way around that ring road (the satellite image is out of date).
This is what used to be there, back when I was in college.
(No, that's not me in the pictures; that's one place that I never visited in Kalamazoo.)
I know--sometimes it makes sense, and other times you wonder what they were thinking.
It's colloquial and legit.
7617768
I would play the hell out of that game.
7617958
There's lots of soybean fields in Michigan, so she's got plenty of access to them. Not so many almonds, though.
(Oddly enough, there are pecan groves in Michigan, though.)
I bet a pancake made with maple sugar would be magnificent.
Maybe that's where the Austraeoh series is ultimately going to end.
Huh. I'd like to see that.
7618154
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7618175
Or does it? Because the more I think about it, the more brilliant Silver Glow's idea is.
7618306
I think you're right.
7618335
What could possibly go wrong?
Bisquick shake and bake is really easy, too. You put the water in the container, up to the line, shake it, and then pour it out for pancakes.
7618441
Or that the summer sausage Malcom had was as big as a donkey dick.
And that's legit what everyone called that sculpture. I was at college for a year before I learned it was actually called Sisyphus.
7618545
You're gorram right.
7618758
The German sub was sunk as a target after a tour of great lakes cities by the USS Wilmette, which is more infamous by its original name- The SS Eastland.
Ah, the Eastland. The worst ship disaster on the Great Lakes.
And it was tied up at the dock when it happened.
7627377 Personally, whenever I wan't pancakes, I do my own batter. Take some time, but is way more rewarding.
For some reason, I'd bet Caleb is saying almost the same thing about his sister. Like "I don't miss them that much, they're grils, girls are stupid, and weird."
7627406 Not sure how much you'd be able to taste mapple if you use mapple sugar in your batter. Food for thougths.
(And potential real food)
7618830
Correction made; thank you!
It would be interesting if the game worked that way. Maybe if Silver Glow was a registered player, it would.
(Can you imagine how many online questionaires would have been modified by this point in the contact? "Are you human or horse?")
7623410
In her regular weather duties in Equestria, she'd mostly be working with the same few types of clouds: to put it simply, rainclouds, shade clouds, and breaking up stormclouds. She's not going to be working with any variety of cirrus cloud, for example, and she'll probably never see a roll cloud in her life.
7624775
I agree. I'm strongly considering getting together the ingredients for pancakes including maple sugar, and try to make 'em that way.
7627425
Would that be your inner Browncoat showing, Biscuit?
7627750
Maybe just a little bit.
7627866
I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I HUUURRK! *dies*
Yes indeed, Silver! Wanna know how? Papa Franku will show you (NSFW):
7627917
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7630987
No no no I didn't want to know.
http://www.businessinsider.com/weird-things-about-america-reddit-2016-3
That's one of the things foreigners find really weird about the USA. They left out portion sizes, tipping waiters, & everything's open so late & on Sunday. (What? Let a chance go by to gouge a nickel out of someone!?) I imagine that in EQ, pretty much everything shuts down at night. I imagine even Kalamazoo has more night life than all but the largest EQ city
8782360
The small town I live in mostly shuts down at 8pm. There's a 24 hour gas station, and that's about it for nightlife. We've got a bar, which pretty much sucks (although they're trying, dammit). We do have a bowling alley, though.
I'm not really sure what kind of night life they have in Equestria. I'd think that Chonamare probably doesn't have much, and it probably revolves mostly around the tavern that Silver Glow has mentioned a few times, and the docks.
A big town, though, I'm not sure. Especially Las Pegasus. In fact, the pegasus cities might be more inclined to have 24 hour services, since there's a good chance there are weather patrols at night, or ponies stockpiling clouds for morning use.
Tipping waiters, I don't know if they do that in Equestria, but I believe that Rarity has tipped bellhops on one or more occasions in the show. And portion sizes might vary significantly to the ponies, depending on tribe (I could see hard-working Earth ponies eating a lot), plus it might not seem that weird to the ponies, since humans are so much bigger than them.
Considering some of the borderline witchcraft done with soy... actually, this is the wrong site to talk about that. (Anyone who wants to know more, no you don't. If you insist that you do, the keywords are "Beanis Cinematic Universe" and I'm probably already there to say I told you so.)
11078869
I’ve seen a few fics in the Beanis Cinematic Universe and suspect that you can make a REDACTED from beans (based on the story description). I was too scared to actually read the story.
To make a long story short, it keeps escalating so hard that the finale is a Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann homage.