Another busy week!

 9-30-2024

Today James and Henry took our old water heater to the dump.  I took this picture when he came by to give us the check for it.  I figured they would have to pay but it was taken as scrap metal.  I told him to keep the check and gave him a bonus for doing it.

When James got here this fawn and its mother were in the driveway.  Later as I was going to the shop the fawn was out there again.  I talked to it and it came a little closer before running into the brush.

10-4-2024

James came up after subbing at Castle Rock this morning and we had a really nice visit.

10-7-2024

Vera was out taking pictures of the leaves that are turning color today.  There would be a lot more leaves on the blueberries and the burning bush in the back ground if the deer didn't come by every couple of days and nibble on them.

The walnut tree sure showed up with the sun shining through its leaves.

10-8-2024

This is my project this week, the entry to the motor home.  The old carpet was faded and dirty so I ripped it all out.  I used left over tiles from when we did the kitchen and we are really happy with the way it turned out.  Today I added the hinges for the second step which lifts up to reveal a built in ice chest.

James Birthday Party

 

Debbie and the boys were the first to arrive.

Mik and Michelle were next with the delicious Costco cakes.

We had lots of great pizza tonight.

As usual the kitchen seemed like the most popular place.

The candle that was supposed to unfold and turn was quite the adventure.  Then the door was stuck so they couldn't take it outside.  I was thinking the smoke alarms might go off but they didn't!

James ended up taking it out the back door and this is what it looked like after it quit burning.

Michelle and Debbie are serving the cake and ice cream.

This is James as he opened the card from Steve and Dianne, it had lottery tickets in it.  There is a funny story that goes along with the lottery tickets that you need to hear from James or Steve and Dianne.

Kalyn and Will brought Brentley Mae who got lots of attention.

Michelle tried to get around and talk to everyone.

Mik always has a lot of fun with the boys.

Michelle tried to get a picture of James with everyone who came and I think she got every one except Laury.

As they were leaving I got this picture of Josie pushing Hattie home.

It was one of the most enjoyable evenings we have spent in a long time.

Physical Therapy, Hattie and Phone pictures.

9-23-2024 

I started my day behind that upper left window working out on a machine to get limbered up for my physical therapy.  10 minutes on it sure seems like a long time when you are doing it.  Since it was a 7AM appointment we went to breakfast afterwards.

9-24-2024

Laury sent me a "Happy Tuesday" picture today, Hattie really likes being outside.

I was out working on the motor home today and decided to take a picture up behind the front end.  I forgot the phone takes pictures out the back and got several nice pictures of the ground and battery before I figured out what was happening.  After aiming the phone the right way I never did get a picture that showed what I wanted.

James and CVRCF BBQ

9-18-2024 

James stopped by after student teaching today.  The teacher he is working with usually finds some reason to leave James alone with his rowdier classes to see how he handles it.  He sure looked spiffy!

9-20-2024

James came by for a short visit before heading to Skamokawa to meet up with friends.

9-21-2024

Today we went down to Clatskanie for a Cowlitz Valley Radio Control Flyers barbeque and flying.  There was a pretty good turn out with every bench in use.

Our friend and club president Jerry did a great job of cooking.  I think he served about a dozen people.

I was sure impressed with the way this Grand Tundra flew.  We had a great time and really enjoyed the beautiful day.

James, a Peach Pie and Motor Home

 9-1-2024

James stopped by today and visited for a little while this afternoon.

9-2-2024

Laury brought us a peach pie she had made and it was delicious.  They had gotten the peaches from the Peachman at the bottom of the hill.   We spent the entire Labor Day weekend at home.

9-4-2024

I hadn't heard from the repair shop for a while so on Wednesday I asked James to drive me down to Cottage Grove with the van so I could pickup some things I needed.  It turned out the owner had found out they were expecting another child so he needed a job with insurance coverage.  He was planning on closing at the end of the month and had been trying to figure out how to get the motor home to me.

 He made some calls and found one that could tow it tomorrow at a price I liked.  He didn't charge me for any of the labor on the engine change, I just paid for the engine.

9-5-2024

Alpha Towing showed up with the motor home this afternoon.  He would have been a little sooner but had stopped at a car fire to make sure the family was okay.  The car was a total loss but he was able to keep the fire from spreading into the fields next to the highway.

Vera was out on the deck taking pictures of the process.

I took this picture after it was parked.  The driver was really nice and I ended up showing him my airplane collection.

9-9-2024

I had James come up today and put the batteries back in the motor home.  We also went down and got a new battery for the engine, the old one was 5 years old.  I also had him help me get the mower back from the trail where the drive belt had jumped off.  I sent him over to borrow Steve's mower but they were not home.  Then he went over to borrow David's and David said sure but you need to provide the gas as it was sitting in their yard where it ran out.  James walked back and got one of my gas cans.  Then it wouldn't start because the battery was dead so David jumped it.  He followed James over incase it died and that was a good thing because it took the mower pulling and David pushing to get it out of the trail.

9-13-2024

Today we put a new entry door window and assist handle on the motor home.  Both turned into bigger jobs that we planned on.  The assist handle needed to be shortened and the hole pattern was a little different.  The window needed the opening adjusted a little plus it was awkward to get to.

One nice thing about the new assist handle is it lights up when the porch lights are on.

A nice Sunset

8-27-2024

I started out this week with a doctor appointment.  It went fine and the doctor was happy with the results.  Then after a stop at Safeway we went home and after lunch I started looking at the dishwasher which was not pumping out.  It turned out there was a bad air gap fitting.

After doing some checking online it turned out Lowe's had them in stock so we made another trip to Longview.  I installed it and tested it a couple of times and it seems to be pumping out OK.

8-29-2024

We had another visit from James today, I got this great picture of Vera and him.

8-31-2024

We had a nice visit from Bob and Cathy this afternoon.  Cathy had made blueberry muffins, she brought us some and they are delicious!

I installed a new compass readout in the van today and I asked Vera if she wanted to go for a ride to check it out.  We went up the hill and around Studebaker Spur 2, as we came to the Studebaker road there was this awesome sunset so I turned around and came back to take this picture.

As we went down the Spirit Lake Hwy to town I had Vera take this picture of the compass.  It uses GPS and reads out direction, altitude, speed, time and tilt angle.  I am not going 87 as I have not set it up and it is reading in kilometers.  We tried a couple of other pictures of the sunset but none were as good as that first one.

Happy Friday, James, Game Camera and Flying

 

This is the picture Laury sent me Friday titled "Happy Friday" she is so darn cute!

James came by after getting things arranged for school.  We had a great time talking about school, sports and he gave Vera a lesson on Google AI.

I went and got the game camera this afternoon.  It had been out for four months and had more deer pictures than I have ever gotten at other locations.  This is the first deer picture I got this time.

Of course I got myself mowing several times.  I also got most of the neighbors and neighborhood kids on this side of the driveway.

There was only one coyote that came by a couple of times.

The deer were pretty active at night.

This pair of deer must have found something they like right in front of the camera.

This is the last deer picture I got this time.

I got in six flights this afternoon with the helicopter and two of my Vapors.

It is pretty hard to fly and take pictures with a phone but I did manage to get one of the Night Vapor.  It has lights on the nose, tail and blinking ones on the wingtips for flying at night.  On Thursday I got in seven flights, two with a vapor and five with two helicopters.