It's 3:00 a.m. and I'm too anxious to sleep. Too many things going on. Maybe if I blogged about it...

In two hours my phone will probably ring to go hot air balloon crewing. The grass is really wet in the morning and the mosquitos swarm around us when we're readying for a flight, but the days are getting shorter and I welcome any opportunity to go. Regularly crewing is one of the best things I've done with my swiftly-coming-to-a-close summer.

Yesterday morning we took an excited retired teacher up. She was simply following her dream, had already rode a motorcycle. Another thing to check off on her list of things she must do before she dies. Many of her fellow teachers, including the principal, chipped in for the flight and were there to see her go up. By the time they calmly landed on a residential street there were about seven cars following. One of them opened a tailgate and had a little breakfast party ready for everyone.

After ballooning this morning, my mom-in-law and I will drive east for the last ethnic festival of the year at the lakefront, Indian Summer. The non-denominational prayer ceremony will get us into the fest for free but the real incentive is to participate as a Native American. To learn more about Earth Mother, honoring ancestors, sacrifice and cleansing of the soul. There'll be much dancing, drumming, music, speeches and stories. Attending religious services at the many ethnic festivals is another of the best things I've done with my summer and I'm sad that the year is coming to a close.

I'm anxious to get going with this new blog tool we've heard about, and BrookfieldNOW's been using, for a month. It will allow readers' comments and dialog directly on my blog, and if it works right I should be able to add my own photos. It should have begun by now so I'm just waiting.

Still trying to get a new furnace and A/C. I signed a contract and scheduled the install with a highly recommended Rheem dealer then cancelled it after talking again with the Carrier dealer. Hopefully there will be resolution soon.

Looking forward to a tour tomorrow of the near half million sq. ft. Journal Sentinel printing plant in West Milwaukee. It'll be interesting to see how they produce 85,000 copies of the paper an hour, and it'll be nice to meet the publisher, editor and Journal Interactive V.P. Like the downtown facility, the new plant is something I've wanted to tour when I worked as a weekend Journal Sentinel distributor but never had the chance until I left that job and started doing this. Another blog-efit I enjoy.

Have been tired lately but don't know why. I got a good night's sleep Saturday after a late tether of the Re/Max balloon in Richfield and woke up at 4:30 a.m. Sunday to crew again. We set up alongside another balloon at a dairy farm on Hwy. G in Delafield and this time, instead of chasing the balloon, I rode in it. My second flight ever.

Yes, I heard about the two hot air balloon deaths in Canada the day before. I don't know what the cause of that fire was, and may not know for quite a while, but with the safety precautions we take here, I knew I'd be safe. Pilots have to be licensed, winds have to be calm, have to have enough daylight and weather prediction has to be good. We're in radio contact with competent crew, and redundant controls virtually eliminate accidents. (the balloon I flew in had two burners, two tanks, two vent ropes, three people in the chase vehicle...)

Winds were dead calm for my flight so we travelled just a mile or two in an hour, from north of Hwy. 18 on G to just south of 18 on G. There was a little wind at 100 feet so we used that to find a spot to land and took the envelope down on a driveway between a row of trees. It was neat to see Lake Michigan, Pewaukee Lake, Lapham Peak...

After a quick breakfast, and more coffee, I headed to Maier Festival Park for my fifth ethnic mass and festival of the year, Mexican Fiesta. Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiga lead the two hour Spanish Mass, along with Archbishop Dolan and Bishop Sklba. When the cardinal remained seated for the homily, that should have clued me in. The half hour sermon must have been great because he gestured, raised his voice, got a few chuckles and a large applause, but I only knew about twelve out of the thousands of words he spoke.

I was still in the dog house for spending nine hours at Irish Fest the previous weekend, so I didn't stay at Fiesta very long. I did enjoy what I saw very much though. I got a good look at the Ballet Folklorico and Milw. Ballet II in the Cultural Village, along with many handcrafted items and demonstrations. There was a lot of music, food and activity, as you'd expect, with approx. 70,000 attendees anticipated for it's three day run.

To make a long story not as long; Soon as I got home gave son ride to party. On way home from party stopped at an acquaintance to visit. They're disabled and needed to mow the lawn that day because landlord coming. Mower not working -- grass real long. Went home, got my mower and finished what they had started. When done, rushed home to get ready for evening balloon crewing. Was pretty windy but we waited until after 6:00 and pilot, Rod, was able to lift off with two passengers. We chased the swift-moving balloon all the way to just this side of Holy Hill and walked it out to a gravel road through 6 foot tall weeds. It was dark by the time we got back but still only 8:30 so I went home, ate something, read the paper, and contemplated this blog entry.