Sunday

We started out the day going to James basketball game at Toutle. They lost, but James was really hustling and scored 8 points. After that we went over the hill to Toledo to fly. Not a bad day, a little cool but very light winds. I had a good time flying and visiting with the other flyers. After filling the motor home with gas, dumping the holding tank, refilling the water tank, cleaning up and putting it away my knee was really sore. I settled into my chair with the heat pad and ice pack to watch the Pro Bowl. A nap snuck up on me during the game, but I felt much better after that. I never noticed the mountains for the clouds today so it will have to be a picture from the flying. Rob, a deputy from Lewis County, test flies a Corsair he got recently.

The Weekend so far

I picked up James as normal on Fridays and we stopped at their house to pick up clothes and the Xbox as he was spending the night. He opted for pizza so I had him call in an order for a family sized Combo. It was Papa Pete's normal great pizza, he and Parker finished it off today for lunch. I did better than normal at Xbox Friday night, we completed a level playing as a team. James did most of the work with me helping out a little. Then he went on to get his Captains Bars so he was pretty proud. I slept the whole night after that big workout. Amazing how tensed up you can get playing a game. Saturday did not go as well at Xbox for me and I gave up after a couple of rounds. I was glad to see Parker scored the same as me on the last game, a big fat "0".

This evening we treated Bev to a Birthday dinner at the Country Folks Deli. She is opening the present from Mik, Michelle and James. The food was excellent and we had a good time visiting with everyone. Debbie's Soccer team won today 3 to 0. Afterwards I stopped by to drop off a shredder to Bev and saw the very pregnant little dog they are fostering. Its belly can't be clearing the ground by an inch. If tomorrow goes as well it will have been a good weekend.

Trip to Olympia

The last time I was up to Barry's in June, they were installing kitchen cabinets. I had a great time watching, no help, just watching!

They were over run with boxes.

Today, things looked much different! I noticed the wheelchair Barry has right away, seems like a long time since I last saw it.

The Kitchen is looking really nice, hope my effort turns out half as good.

After looking at the progress, we went to Dirty Dave's for pizza and had a nice visit. After lunch Barry showed me pictures from their trip to AZ this year. They have some great ones, amazing how colorful rock can be.

I hit the hobby shop and Costco on the way home. If you have not been to the Costco in Lacey, they have the widest isles I have seen yet. Big surprise for me, my knee did not hurt after walking around the hobby shop and Costco. That made for a good finish to a nice relaxing day.

Catching Up

Time to catch up on here! Vera and I went flying and visiting on Saturday. Mt St Helens had clouds around it the whole time we were there.


I put in 5 flights before the knee started getting tired (only three weeks to go). Vera had a knitting project with her that she worked on in the motor home (if you look close, you may see her in it). After I fired up the generator and microwaved some Hot Pockets for lunch we went to see one of my flying friends and had a nice visit. Then it was off to the hospital to see Vera's sister. She wanted an errand ran, so it turned into a pretty long day. A Blizzard (Double Chocolate Cookie Dough) at Dairy Queen made a nice finish to the day.


Sunday was a football day for me. Vera joined me after Church and then we went to Will and Cale's birthday party. That was a nice way to finish the day, always fun being around the family.

Today we went up and did some cleaning and repairs at Vera's sisters place. We took the motor home and had a nice slow drive up and back the old highway. Sure lots more to look at there than on the freeway. A lot more relaxing as well without all that traffic.

Project day

When I talked to James last night, he mentioned he needed to build a simple machine project for school. After I picked him up today and we went to Panda Express for dinner we came home and started on the project. After some discussion he built a Hot Wheels Car Tester. He did all the measuring, marking out and cutting on the band saw. Then he marked the holes and drilled them with the drill press and a cordless drill. Of course he and Parker had to do a little modifying of Hot Wheels with the drills. We sacrificed two Hot Wheels to that idea. Then James finished gluing and assembling the hoist.

Next we headed into the house to test it by knocking down domino's. It worked good and we had fun making it. That led to several games of Domino's. While we were in the shop making the last adjustments I had James hold the wing to my B-36 project. This is the first time the wing tips have been on the center section, looking pretty darn big!

Here is a short video of the first domino test.

Wow! What a beautiful day!

What great day! We started out the day by going and picking up the paperwork for my surgery. Pleasant surprise, it is an outpatient surgery. I got my blood work done at Kaiser, had an EKG and preregistered at St Johns. Funny thing at Kaiser, she poked my arm, filled the vial and pulled the needle. Oops forgot to fill the second vial, another poke and lots of laughter. She was a little red, we had been talking about a test she thought they wanted. Turns out it was typed in wrong, once they got that straightened out. We had went back in and that is when needle got pulled before we were done. Then it was off to lunch at JT's Steak and Fish House. First time for Buffalo burgers with bacon and blue cheese. Not bad, but not something I would have every time. While we were eating Vera asked if I wanted to drive to Vancouver and get my birthday present from her. Nice day so off we went and the weather only got better down there. Only got lost once, but the GPS saved us again. I took the shot of St Helens on the way back.


Coming up on Carrolls Bluff, the sky and clouds look so nice I had to take a picture. Perfectly legal, I wasn't texting.

A little further up, it looked interesting so it was time for another picture. It looked nice to the West, but the camera decided it needed a rest and quit working?? When we got home it had turned it self off and was fine. The sunset was kind of nice after I had put my present together so I took this final shot.

Only 24 more days til surgery

Ouch!

Well, not really, we went down and got our H1N1 flu shot today. We thought we had made it through the flu season without catching it. Then they warn about a third round of it that may be even worse.

Afterwards we did some shopping. It was a great day, no rain, sunny at times and almost warm, we had no problems getting everything on the list plus a few extras (never been in Bed Bath and Beyond before, that was a mistake!).

My efforts on the MP3 player that went through the wash paid off as it started working today. Now we have a spare as the new one I bought Vera is much nicer.

Went for a Walk

I went for a walk today and found my path blocked by a tree that had came down last night. Wow did it blow last night, I went out with the spot light about 11 and looked at the tree tops, boy were they whipping around. We had been hearing things hitting the roof so I decided looking from the door was close enough.


The root system does not look too good, it appears to be a little rotten. Of course I caught my left foot on a branch taking this picture and the knee hurt the rest of the day. The things I go through to get pictures for this!


Well, the lawn was clean until last night! Not as bad as some other times this winter. I will just let them lay, as the weather man says that we may be getting a worse one Wednesday night, something to look forward to. Dianne, Parker and Auna did a great job on the driveway, hope the wind Wednesday doesn't ruin their work.

Getting my Birthday Present

I will be getting my birthday present a couple of days early. Today I went down and started the process, if everything goes as planned I will get a new left knee joint February 15th. With any luck I will be out of the hospital for my birthday. The cortisone shot helped me get through Christmas, but any amount of activity and it gets pretty sore. Forget stairs, they are something I take one step at a time. At least since the shot it does not wake me up at night.

Sunday Flying

Mt St Helens looked different Sunday morning with the cap on it. The first thing I did when I got to the field was take a picture of it. When I am taking pictures of planes, I always try to get one of the mountains in the picture. I had a good day of flying, 8 other flyers showed up and everyone was in a great mood.

Here is a link to some video one of the flyers took of my Stearman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPecCWvos_U

We spent Saturday in Clatskanie at a Tournament James' team was in. The won the first one big time and then lost the last two games. After the last game Vera and I went for Pizza at Fultanos with James, Mik and Michelle. I must say, if you are in Clatskanie and hungry their pizza is pretty darn good.

While we were trying to find the gym the games were in we saw this house. It was so interesting looking I was wishing for my camera, but had to use the cell phones camera instead.

Not our normal Friday

Normally on Friday's we putz around home until early afternoon and then I run to Longview and pick up James from school. Then we spend the rest of the evening together at home. We spent today in Centralia with Vera's sister Marie. She was nervous about her move to Liberty Care and Rehab Center for the rest of her therapy for the hip. She also had some errands for us to run. As it turned out, not all the test results got read so she is spending another night in the hospital. The picture is from her hospital room. It was raining like mad and the window was streaked with rain drops making the skylights in the roof look kind of eerie so I took a picture with my cell phone. I took one break and sat in the car to read for a while. The rain on the roof was pretty relaxing as I took a nice nap. Long day, but worth it as Marie seemed more relaxed.

It is Good!

The "Two for Twenty" at Applebee's is great! We both had their 7 oz sirloin steak. Great tasting , I was planning on having the "Blondie" for dessert but I was too full. Maybe next time! I did get rid of the gift card I tried to use at Sentry the other day.

Busy!!!

It has been a busy couple of days. It turns out Vera's sister broke her hip when she fell last week. We spent most of yesterday up there taking her to the doctor and then getting her checked in and settled at the hospital and running couple of errands for her.

Not much else going on except Apple Bee's later.

Have a good day, Alan

New Years Day Flying

Every New Years Day for the past 40 years or so I have went flying. Even when the weather is bad it beats a hangover. This year we got to the field about 10 and I started flying right away. I had brought a seaplane just in case it was really nasty, so I flew it first. After that flight I decided that I needed my Carhart Arctic Work Suit and insulated boots, after putting them on I was comfortable the rest of the day. Then I flew my Cub, other modelers started showing up then. There ended up being 9 of us out there. Four flew and the others offered encouragement and advice. The wind was blowing pretty good all day and the guys were making down wind passes for the radar gun. The highest pass was 112 mph. I flew four flights and called it a day. Vera and I stopped at the South County Park and had pizza for lunch and watched the ducks. Michelle and James stopped by after we got home for a short visit. They managed to find my lost TV remote which had made it into the back of my recliner. Now I won't lay awake trying to figure out where it went.