Everyone loves hot air balloons. They are bright, beautiful, and huge. Many people travel to local balloon festivals to see the sky filled with them. Few people realize how much work and maintenance it takes to be a balloonist. Since balloons travel in the direction of the wind, it isn’t always easy to predict where they will land. To retrieve a balloon, the chase crew must follow it as it floats across the sky. This might mean they drive for several miles until the hot air balloon finally comes to a rest. @caryssjorgensen6 I thought it was a joke that vans follow hot air balloons until they land. I genuinely have no idea how they did this, we went over Trakai castle and a bunch of lakes and towns in Lithuania but they caught up every time #lithuania #vilnius #hotairballoon #europe #underrated #underrateddestinations #underratedeurope #hiddengem #europe #europetravel #travel #bucketlist #holiday #travel #vacation #travelling #budgettravel #traveltiktok #travellife #traveltips #travelrecomendations #fun #explorelithuania #lithuania #vilnius #lithuania #visitlithuania #europetravel #baltic ♬ Funny – Gold-Tiger A balloon team has an incredible amount of dedication. The weight of an empty hot air balloon is around 1,100 pounds. That includes the bladder (balloon), four full fuel tanks with 60 to 80 gallons of fuel, and the basket. You might think hot air doesn’t weigh much, but an inflated balloon weighs around three tons (around 12,000 pounds)! There are several different sizes of hot air balloons. The smallest are the personal models, which carry two to four people. Larger, tourist-style balloons may carry up to 34 passengers. Hot Air Balloon Chase Teams Chase crew members are the multi-purpose members of a balloon team. Their job starts when the balloon is getting set up. They assist where necessary to get the equipment out, fill the balloon, and launch it. They may help with laying out the bladder or setting up the basket. Once the balloon is in the air, the adventure begins. The chase crew chases the balloon as it flies. While vehicles must follow roads, the balloons travel over fields, forests, rivers, and residential areas. The chase team has to navigate the available routes to keep up with the balloon’s speed. Depending on where they are flying, the chase crew may have a straight-forward route or be zigzagging through city streets. Image from TikTok. Once the team determines where the balloon will land, they may need to talk with landowners to get permission to land. Once the balloon lands, they go to work packing it up and returning all the bits and pieces to the trailer or truck. When they finish, the crew must leave no trace. They try to leave the property exactly the way it was before the landing. Hot air ballooning is not for the faint of heart. It is a lot of work for a relatively short flight time. Every member of the balloon team, from the pilot to the chase crew, loves what they do. Please share if you love hot air balloons. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Tourist Shares Surprising, Silly, And Slightly Daunting Fact About Hot Air Balloons appeared first on InspireMore.

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly should go have their demon-child on Canadian soil

'TSA is scanning passenger’s faces.'

"The arm was pale white and appeared to be female. It had a classic shroud-like sleeve ending a few inches before the wrist. It waved palm-side down for about five seconds and then retracted."I received the following account:"Thanks for reading my story. I grew up on the west coast of Ireland, in County Galway. One night when I was around 17 years of age I woke up in the middle of a gale with rain pelting the windows and wind whistling through the cracks. Now, on this night there was only myself and the mother, and the sisters inside in the house as my father was away minding the cattle due to it being calving season. Normally I'd be helping him out, but not so on this night.We had these spotlights to illuminate the outside of the house and one of these spotlights shone directly up into my window and even with the curtains closed it would lighten up the room. The shadows of branches and long blades of grass would project onto the ceiling and the gale being what it was caused a frantic wildness to characterize this night's shadow play. I watched the shadows on the ceiling and listened to the wind roar outside for a short while. I sat up to take off my blanket and looked over at the door.My view of the door was such that I couldn't from my bed see into the hallway unless the door was wholly ajar. The door was only slightly cracked. But it was open enough to allow the width of a human arm. And there extending into the room was just that.The arm was pale white and judging by the shape of the hand on the end of it appeared to be female. It had a classic shroud-like sleeve ending a few inches before the wrist. It waved palm-side down for about five seconds and then retracted.Now the gale and the lights and shadows and all that was bearable. Even the arm and hand would've been grand enough, I could've pegged it down to that sleep paralysis. But the way that arm retracted back into the hallway, the way the door handle moved downwards as the arm retracted, and the way the door slammed after it took my breath away!I began to roar and shout and managed to get my bedside lamp on and covers off and began running around the room, opening the door of the hallway into nothingness, not a soul awake in the house besides myself and the ghost. I ran into the mother's room roaring about ghosts and she woke up and blearily told me, "Shut up! You'll wake your sisters!" Well, I calmed down and slept on the floor in my mother's room that night.Now that house had been built by my parents. No one had died in it, nothing else even slightly paranormal happened in that house before or since.A few weeks later though I was talking to the guy down the road, an old bachelor who had lived in the area his entire life. I told him about the ghost and his wiry smile got wider and he laughed. "Well, isn't that bit of land your folks built that house on called 'Cnóc na Sí' by the old people of the village? In Irish doesn't that mean 'Hill of the Faeries?" H**********ALIEN ENCOUNTERS! EXPERIENCER TESTIMONIES | Join Us - LIVE CHAT - Q & A (OTHERWORLDLY INFESTATION!)PHANTOMS & MONSTERS VIDEO LIBRARYPOLL: WHAT DO YOU THINK? Vote & comment on paranormal, cryptid & unexplained mysteries!LISTEN TO NARRATIONS OF PHANTOMS & MONSTERS REPORTS & CASES - PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, LIKE & SHAREPHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on SpotifyPHANTOMS & MONSTERS READING LISTCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistHave you had a sighting or encounter?Contact me by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonOUR SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSBigfoot and Other Cryptid Videos on YouTubeLYCANS! - PENNSYLVANIA'S CRYPTID CANINES UPDATE'KILLER BIGFOOT' HUNTED BY U.S. SPECIAL FORCES / GLIMMER MAN / MANTIS HUMANOIDSCRAWLER HUMANOIDS - GRUESOME INVADERS! (REAL EYEWITNESS ENCOUNTERS!)WEREWOLVES: DO THEY EXIST?'DOGMAN IN OUR YARD!' - AN OHIO FAMILY'S 12-YEAR SAGA WITH CRYPTID CANINESHey, folks. Thanks for the congrats on 'The Mothman Revisited' episode on Unsolved Mysteries. As a result, we are receiving more sighting reports and are very excited and grateful for the new information!I sincerely thank the Unsolved Mysteries team and Netflix for allowing us to tell the world about this phenomenon.If you have information about this or any other cryptid or unexplained sighting or encounter, please feel free to contact me by email or at 410-241-5974. Thanks again! LonCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistChicago / Lake Michigan Winged Humanoid Regional Interactive MapEXCLUSIVE VIDEO of CHICAGO MOTHMAN RECORDED----------Become a Phantoms & Monsters Radio Insider - just $2.99 monthly, and receive these perks. Thanks for your support!-Members-only live chats-Exclusive members-only videos-Priority reply to members' commentsHave perks suggestions? LMK-----YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED! THANKS-----Have you had a sighting or encounter?Contact us by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. Lon Noted UFOlogist Dr. Raymond Keller believes the idea of extraterrestrials and even ultra-dimensional beings from many different planets and alternate realms living and working among us clandestinely is more than just another conspiracy theory.Available on Amazon.comSan Francisco Book Festival Honorable MentionNew York Book Festival Honorable MentionAlso available with audiobooknarration by Terry Springs,CBS-TV Las Vegas affiliate.OUR PRIVACY POLICYThis blog and newsletter are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Work 3.0 United States License.Registered trademark PHANTOMS AND MONSTERS ® / PHANTOMS & MONSTERS ® - USPTO #90902480 - Lon D. Strickler© 2005-2024 Phantoms & Monsters - All Rights Reserved

"He ran at full speed. He had long dark hair and piercing eyes, and a nose like a muzzle but to a point, like a coyote. As he ran, he turned to me and bared his teeth!"I received the following account:"Hello, Lon. I recently came across your site. Now, I rarely tell this story because of what I want others to believe about me, and because it truly scares me. In fact, it scares me more than anything else in my life. More than my rational fears, more than any real risk. This is the most terrifying experience of my life.It was 2008. I was recently married and my wife and I had driven to Las Vegas from Flagstaff, Arizona for dinner. After an evening there we were driving back because we had no money for a hotel. I hadn't been drinking, I was of a stable mind. It was late and I was a bit tired but I was young and had some coffee. It is after midnight, and lightly snowing. My wife was asleep next to me as I drove, and I was listening to some AM country music. I like drives like that, I just relax and think.I don't believe in the supernatural. Even when I was a Christian I was never very into the ethereal world of angels and demons and ghosts. I never felt very 'spiritual.'But as I drove along, on this empty road, I thought I heard my wife say something. I looked at her, and she was asleep, but I looked through her window and saw someone or something running next to my car.He was about the height of the truck, maybe a little taller. He ran at full speed. He had long dark hair and piercing eyes, and a nose like a muzzle but to a point, like a coyote. He had a beaded shirt, with beads that made a shallow 'V' across his chest. His arms were scrawny and his face sunken, and hairy. As he ran, he turned to me and bared his teeth.I immediately lost all breath from my lungs and was frozen. I gripped the wheel to control the vehicle, turned away from him, and looked back. He was losing lateral distance from the vehicle but still keeping pace. I turned back to the road and hit the gas.I looked over again and he was gone. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw nothing in the road. Nothing ahead. I sat frozen holding the wheel and speeding down the road. I hadn't made a noise, my wife hadn't woken up. I didn't say anything, I didn't stop the rest of the way either.When I got to Flagstaff I woke my wife and we went to bed but I could not sleep. Even as I write this I have a terrible feeling of dread. I've spent tons of time in the desert, in the forest, camping, and hiking. I feel fine at night in a cemetery. I have seen flying objects and assumed a logical reason for them. But I have no explanation for what happened that night. I saw that. It happened. Maybe I fell asleep, maybe it was a dream, but I don't personally believe it. That thing was there.Years later I recounted this story to someone who lived in the area, who is Navajo. They told me that what I saw was a skinwalker, and it made sense. Right now I'm afraid, a grown man can be drawn close to tears from this. I don't believe in gods, I don't believe in angels or ghosts. But I believe in skinwalkers." N**********ALIEN ENCOUNTERS! EXPERIENCER TESTIMONIES | Join Us - LIVE CHAT - Q & A (OTHERWORLDLY INFESTATION!)PHANTOMS & MONSTERS VIDEO LIBRARYPOLL: WHAT DO YOU THINK? Vote & comment on paranormal, cryptid & unexplained mysteries!LISTEN TO NARRATIONS OF PHANTOMS & MONSTERS REPORTS & CASES - PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, LIKE & SHAREPHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on SpotifyPHANTOMS & MONSTERS READING LISTCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistHave you had a sighting or encounter?Contact me by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonOUR SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSBigfoot and Other Cryptid Videos on YouTubeLYCANS! - PENNSYLVANIA'S CRYPTID CANINES UPDATE'KILLER BIGFOOT' HUNTED BY U.S. SPECIAL FORCES / GLIMMER MAN / MANTIS HUMANOIDSCRAWLER HUMANOIDS - GRUESOME INVADERS! (REAL EYEWITNESS ENCOUNTERS!)WEREWOLVES: DO THEY EXIST?'DOGMAN IN OUR YARD!' - AN OHIO FAMILY'S 12-YEAR SAGA WITH CRYPTID CANINESHey, folks. Thanks for the congrats on 'The Mothman Revisited' episode on Unsolved Mysteries. As a result, we are receiving more sighting reports and are very excited and grateful for the new information!I sincerely thank the Unsolved Mysteries team and Netflix for allowing us to tell the world about this phenomenon.If you have information about this or any other cryptid or unexplained sighting or encounter, please feel free to contact me by email or at 410-241-5974. Thanks again! LonCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistChicago / Lake Michigan Winged Humanoid Regional Interactive MapEXCLUSIVE VIDEO of CHICAGO MOTHMAN RECORDED----------Become a Phantoms & Monsters Radio Insider - just $2.99 monthly, and receive these perks. Thanks for your support!-Members-only live chats-Exclusive members-only videos-Priority reply to members' commentsHave perks suggestions? LMK-----YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED! THANKS-----Have you had a sighting or encounter?Contact us by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. Lon Noted UFOlogist Dr. Raymond Keller believes the idea of extraterrestrials and even ultra-dimensional beings from many different planets and alternate realms living and working among us clandestinely is more than just another conspiracy theory.Available on Amazon.comSan Francisco Book Festival Honorable MentionNew York Book Festival Honorable MentionAlso available with audiobooknarration by Terry Springs,CBS-TV Las Vegas affiliate.OUR PRIVACY POLICYThis blog and newsletter are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Work 3.0 United States License.Registered trademark PHANTOMS AND MONSTERS ® / PHANTOMS & MONSTERS ® - USPTO #90902480 - Lon D. Strickler© 2005-2024 Phantoms & Monsters - All Rights Reserved

Learn how to plant tomatoes from one of the best homesteaders around! Follow thee steps and your vine will be ripe with juicy tomatoes in no time. How To Plant Tomatoes Tomatoes are the quintessential summer fruit, perfect for sandwiches, salads, cooking, and canning. The smell and taste of a real, home-grown tomato is something that a store bought fruit simply cannot compare to one from your own garden. While tomatoes score pretty well on the EWGs list of the most pesticide-ridden produce, it's nice to know exactly what went into the production of your food, and you can't much more in control of it than picking it from your own yard! Learn how to plant tomatoes today. How To Plant Tomatoes | Supplies Tomato plants, either purchased from the store, or grown at home from seed A spade or hand trowel Some hog wire or any left-over fencing wire, at least 4′ tall Needle nose pliers Wire cutters How To Plant Tomatoes | Steps Step 1 Buy yourself some plants from your store, or grow them yourself in the greenhouse from seed. If you want to start seeds yourself, you need to sow them approximately six weeks before the last frost date in your area, and then tend to them to make sure they have adequate heat, water and light to germinate. When the last frost date has passed, you can plant them outside. Step 2 Gather together your plants and hand trowel, and decide where you want to plant them. It's a good idea to leave at least 2-3 feet between plants to allow for ample sun and rain to get to the plants, and to leave room for you to move between them to weed and harvest the fruits.   Step 3 Dig a hole large enough to contain the entire root ball of the plant.   Step 4 Ensure that the hole is deep enough to bury 2/3 of the plant; this helps the plant develop good roots and self-support without relying 100% on the cage.   Step 5 Pack soil carefully down into the hole, taking care not to damage or crush the roots.   Step 6 Level off the soil to the surrounding area.   Step 7 Press down the soil to secure the roots and support the plant stem.   Step 8 Don't forget to mark which varieties are which! If you are planting several heirloom varieties, plant different varieties as far apart from each other as possible so that they don't cross-pollinate.   Step 9 Heap up the soil in a circular ‘wall' around the plant to contain the water when you water it in for the first time. This way, the roots will get plenty of water before it all runs away; this is especially important if your soil is clay-like or not terribly absorbent. The ‘reverse moat' holds the water around the plant and gives it time to soak in.   Step 10 Next build your cage: get some wire and cut to the correct length to surround the plant with space to spare for growing.   Step 11 Secure it into a cylinder and put around the plant. This will help to support the plant when the fruit makes the branches heavy, and keep the fruit off the ground.   Step 12 Enjoy the fruits of your labor knowing that they're natural and free of chemicals! Yum! Next Up: Save Space By Going Vertical With Your Vegetables   Love Tomatoes? Learn more here!

NOLA: New Orleans Attacker Identified and 'Source Said He Was Carrying an ISIS Flag'

President-elect Donald Trump has some very big resolutions for 2025.

Pope Francis ushered in the New Year with a renewed appeal for the faithful to reject abortion, calling for a "firm commitment" to protect and respect life from conception to natural death.

The truck used in the terrorist attack in New Orleans — which killed at least 10 people and injured dozens more when a currently unidentified attacker intentionally ran down New Years celebrants in…