Pinhead Angels

In the Middle Ages there was much debate about how many angels could stand/dance on the head of a pin. Some research suggests that the actual controversy revolved not around the head of the pin but the point.

I will let you know right now, regardless of which end of the pin we are talking about, I have no idea how many angels can sardine themselves together on that spot. It seems silly to me to even wonder about something like that but I guess that in the Middle Ages there was no Blogger so counting angels worked well as and evening's distraction.

d. and I ran out east for a flight tonight. I called d. on the way out because the cloud cover looked to be rather dark out east. Being closer to the farm, d. assured me that the conditions were better out that way.

When I arrived at the field, d. had the motor out, the windsock up and was checking the wind. Clouds were a little dark and the wind was a little squirrely so we decided to wait a few minutes, there was lots of time before sundown.

When we finally decided that conditions were ok, we started setting up to fly. As usual, d. was quicker. After starting the motor, d. noticed that the prop would stick at certain points and determined that it was in the redrive. Rather than take a chance, d. decided to sit it out.

I felt bad about d. being grounded so I only went up for a few minutes. Just long enough to realize how very wet everything around us is. We are flying off of 16 acres that is surrounded by several hundred acres of 10 to 40 acre homesites. The homesites are surrounded by several thousand acres of farmland. With few exceptions, the homesites around us are all under water.

d. snapped this picture of the sunset, the windsock and me.



The strange weather, the beautiful sunset, the stuck prop, the water everywhere but on our field, all of these things made me wonder if only 6 angels can dance on the head of a pin. If only 6 will fit on the head of that pin then maybe there were 7 angels in the area tonight and, not being able to crowd herself onto the pin with the other angels, one was forced to wander around until one of the six left the pinhead. Rather than soil her pretty white gown in all of the surrounding mud, perhaps the seventh angel came and perched on our dry, green takeoff area. While watching us, maybe this angel realized that something was not quite right with the weather or d.'s setup. Maybe she yelled and yelled as loud as she could but being so tiny, we couldn't hear her. In desperation did she grab d.'s prop and stop it as a way of communicating with us?

Was this the same angel that whispered in our ears that the original field we were looking at (which is now under water) was not the one for us? Were her whispers so subtle that we believed that we had acutally come up with all of the reasons for choosing this parcel over any of the other parcels?

I don't know. But, I do know that if the head of a pin can hold 6 angels then I always want 7 in the area.