".......Don't tempt me! I need some comic relief right now and that could be funny........"
Here's one for you
I can look at your balloon and smile--- for time has soften an experience .
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I used to be a Balloon Mistress (if that is a good term) who flew these big 12 foot-plus monster balloons laden with our various equipment packages. One thing that never seems to gets mentioned about balloons this size is just what they are capable of lifting.
Granted, if you are holding on to one it will not carry you off like Dorothy to the Land of Oz, but they will lift you off the ground if you want to try to 'moon walk"- which is sort of a bounce-about. We were quite cautious about doing this, especially in the deserts where a 'moon walk' could land you in a patch of cholla cactus (oh ! the painful voice of experience.)
But a particular episode that stands out in the annals of (foolish) playing around was when one of guys -- we'll call him Bonzo for lack of a better name, (and to protect his reputation for he is quite a highly respected scientist today) -- decided to fill enuff balloons to achieve a neutral buoyancy -- this, to allow him to hover for several feet above the ground for several seconds with each jump. He tied the tethers to his belt....
I think you are seeing where this is going .........
(This, BTW, was your tax dollars hard at work.)
Our balloon launch site was right across an arroyo from a pair of mainline Union Pacific railroad tracks,
It was a quiet period when the rest of our little team were sitting out the sweltering heat in the shade of an equipment trailer; sitting idly watching whatever the hell "Bonzo" was up too..... for with balloons attached, he was bouncing about the site, doing leaps that took him over fuel drums and other objects...
Then a sudden gust of wind------
"Bonzo" was lifted several feet off the ground and spirited rapidly towards the ditch.
Bad Timing !
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Rapidly approaching on the railroad tracks was a UP freight train.
"Bonzo," in one magnificent arch, bounded into the arroyo, was caught by the next gust and carried half stumbling, half flying, towards the on-coming train.
Bingo!, right into the centre of the tracks !
We idle onlookers were not idle now ! Running and shouting we watched helplessly as "Bonzo" stumbled and staggered on the tracks. The train engineer was screaming his air horn.... we expecting at any moment to see "Bonzo" turned into raspsberry jam before our very eyes-
Then, mercifully another gust of wind carried him safely off the tracks.
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Thus officially, and forever, end'd our lab's the Moon Walking Program
Lauri
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