Visiting Day

I did quite a bit of visiting today. I had talked to Barry on Monday and we decided to get together for lunch if we could as he was working this week in Centralia. I called him this morning and he was free so I headed up. First, I stopped by the hospital to see how Marie was and what had happened with the evaluation Tuesday. She has at least another week before she is discharged. I had a nice visit with her until it was time to meet Barry. We met at the Olympic Club for lunch and had a good time. Barry said "Hi to everyone". Afterwards, I stopped by and visited the Stedhams for a while and looked at Bob's new plane's cowl. The knee held up fine today and I can get in and out of the car with no problem. Up to this week, I had to slide across the seat to make room to get my leg in. Sometimes, I would have to grab it and help it along. I am sure glad that is over.

Good Food

This morning as I was making breakfast I threw away a banana that was kind of black (well really black) and I don't like them! Vera said to put it in the freezer and she would make banana bread. We went up to see Marie this morning, still no word on when she gets discharged. After a nice visit with her we went to lunch at Skippers. All of a sudden Vera jumped up and went over to the people in line, turns out she saw her brother and his wife. She invited them to sit with us and we had nice visit with them also. After we got home I took a little nap and then was going to head out to the shop when the sky opened up.


It rained, blew and hailed before it was all over. When I finally made it out to the shop, I worked on the Eurofighter and a GPS that quit working. No luck on the GPS, it is going into the garbage can! When I went in this evening the house smelled great. Vera had made the banana bread. After it cooled, I had a piece and it was great. The picture shows the first piece I had, followed by a second about the same size. I'm supposed to take my pills with food so I had an excuse!

Since I am talking about food, I could not resist putting a picture of the hamburger Vera made us for lunch the other day. Boy were they good!

Monday

We took off early this morning to get the items Marie wanted for her move. We also picked up her bedding and I collected all her pictures. I am going to scan them and put them onto a Digital Photo Frame for her. After we got home and unloaded, I crashed in my chair (maybe a combination of lots of flying Sunday and the work this morning) while Vera washed the bedding and organized the things we had picked up. Vera worked at the church this evening helping with the community table where they provide a meal for folks on Monday nights. While she was gone I took the garbage can down to the road. Every trip down the driveway gets easier, I didn't feel like my speed was out of control this time. It also bends far enough that I had to find a new place to exercise as it was hitting the bed frame, now a dining room chair is where I head in the mornings.

A Great day of Flying

I had a great day at Toledo today, it was a little cool in the morning but once the sun came out and the wind died it was really nice. This is my friends Leonard and Audrey's plane coming in for a landing.


They were towing this glider up all day long, kind of interesting to watch. There was lots of Skydiving activity also.

I was talking and noticed this C-17 coming in the distance. Even though I am not too fast right now, I was able to get back to my table and get the camera for some pictures of it.

Because of the telephoto lens, this looks closer than it was. The C-17 probably had the jump plane on Radar. I spent 8 1/2 hours at the field and the knee held up really well. I love these signs of progress.

I hope you had something fun to do today.

Hiking Walmart

But first the rest of the story! We had been planning on seeing Vera's sister and finding out how the arrangements were going for extended care. Vera got an e-mail from her niece that her brother Leonard was in ER and would probably be admitted to the same hospital that Marie is in. He was the first one we visited when we got there. After visiting him, we headed down to see Marie and met her about half way being taken up to see her brother. So we went back for a second visit. Afterwards we took Marie back to her room and visited for awhile. We made a list of things she wants for her room at the extended care facility and headed out to take care of the one thing that needed to be done today. When we got back to the hospital, my knee was swollen, so Vera ran in to deliver the copies. When she came out, the car would not start. I finally located a loose battery terminal, but none of the wrenches in the Blazer would fit. By twisting it I got it tight enough to start. I decided to stop at the Chehalis Walmart and get the tools I needed. Wouldn't you know, the tools are in the farthest corner of the Walmart Super Store. I had quite a hike to get them. After we got home I sat down to ice the knee and watch some TV. Of course I fell asleep and woke up well after the time we wanted to leave for James' baseball game. We rushed around and headed out. We made it with about 15 minutes to spare before the start of the game. We got a good parking spot for the motor home up on the street. We were sure glad we took it as the weather was cold and wet.

James after fielding a grounder and about to put the runner out. He played a good game tonight.


I think that this hit was a double.


James talking to some friends while waiting to bat.


The game was called for rain after the top of the 4th inning. Because they played the 4th inning, James' team won 10 to 3. He is friends with the first baseman for the other team so they were clowning around after the teams congratulated each other.

We visited with James and Michelle in the motor home afterwards and then went to Papa Pete's for dinner. It was nice ending to a busy and sometimes stressful day.

An afternoon with James

Since James has a game tomorrow and no practice tonight, I picked him up after school today. We stopped at the Panda Express and got dinner, then headed home. After eating and visiting for a while, James mowed the lawns. When he was done with that it was time to clean the birdbath. Playing with the hose has been his favorite thing to do since he was little.

Here he is in 1999 playing with the hose, some things never change. After he was done with the birdbath, he was off to play with Auna. They came back and watched some WWE and a magician David Blaine doing card tricks. Lots of mobility in the knee this morning, I bent it back much further this morning. I even did some practice crawling on the bed last night. It feels a little different because there is no feeling on one side of the incision, but I don't think it is going to be a problem. Every once in a while I have been stepping up onto things with the left foot without thinking about it. Slow but sure we are getting there. Right now I have ice on it after doing some yard work with the shovel. I talked to Barry today and he said to say Hi to everyone.

Hope you got to enjoy the sunshine when it peeked through the clouds.

Another busy day

Today started out like any other Wednesday with Vera going to Bible study and I deciding to go down and have coffee (well Coke for me) with the modelers at the 30th Ave. Burger King. But first I had to make a visit and see what the twins were up to. Boy, Harper can cover ground! I can imagine what it will be like when either Dianne or Steve is watching them alone and one goes each direction.

After that I headed for Burger King. No modelers, but there were 3 retired Fibre people there. I sat and had a nice visit with them before heading home. I worked out in the shop until Vera got home from Bible Study. Vera got a call from the guy in Marie's Church who is handling her financial planning and they wanted us to come to a meeting with Marie at 3:00. Marie can't live alone anymore and will have to go into an assisted living facility. She is being moved on Monday so some things had to get taken care of. Afterwards, we stopped at her house to pick up some things for her. Her flowers are all in bloom so I took some pictures to show her and also one of her dog. She is really going to miss him and the cat.

Everythings Great

I had a doctors appointment for my knee today. He checked it over and it is doing fine. He measured 120 degrees of motion in the knee with no warm up and was real happy with that. The soft tissue swelling is to be expected and will go away in time. I also found out I can kneel on it and take Move Free for my other joints if I need it. It turns out he is related to a guy I used to fly with, we ended up talking Radio Controlled Airplanes and Aviation for about half the visit. No more visits unless I have a problem. Before my appointment Vera and I went to lunch at the Country Village, love their Peach Smoothies. We did a little shopping after that and got everything on our list done. On the way home I stopped at Dairy Queen and got a Blizzard to celebrate!

Sunday Flying

I went to Goble for a BBQ provided by the club president on Sunday. Early arrivals were treated to a breakfast of biscuits and gravy by Ken.

Kevin cooking scrambled eggs for the breakfast. It really made for a good start to a great day. The weather could not have been better, with little or no wind all day and lots of sunshine.

For lunch, Mike cooked hamburgers and we also had chips, cookies and brownies provided by other members. Lots of flying went on and it was a nice relaxing day.

Mike shooting a landing while practicing using flaps. I never had any problem with my knee all day. When I got home, I hooked the motor home to power, had a break to finish the Coldstone ice cream from Friday night and went over to see how Steve was doing on the tree. When I settled into my recline that evening, it was not long before I was asleep. The big day must have worn me out as I got up around 11 and went to bed and slept great.

Lots of activity Today!

Right on schedule a 9 this morning Steve was rigging up the tree for falling. David is coming over to supervise.

The ground shook when it hit and Vera felt it in our house.


I got about 40 growth rings, what do you get?

It split the scrub right in two. David paced it off and said it was about 115 feet. By the time we left for James' baseball game most of the limbs and about half the tree were all cleaned up.

I spent the morning finishing up the Blazer. I put the wheel on, greased it, changed oil and filters. Then we took it for a test drive on Ph-10, Wren Loop, Sandy Bend Rd, Cook's Ferry Rd and the Westside Hwy.

After that, I cleaned tools until it was time to go to James' game. We took the motor home and got a good spot up on the road again. In the picture, he has just hit the ball, which turned out to be an RBI Double. They ended up winning 10 to 5, a good end to a busy day.

Home Run!

James with his home run ball. His first time at bat tonight he hit a 3 run homer. The smile on his face was great after he crossed home plate and was congratulated by his team mates. They ended up winning the game 4 to 3. James pitched the 3rd. and 6th. innings and did a good job.

Today was the new schedule again, I think it is going to work OK doing the exercises in the evening. I worked on the Eurofighter for a while this morning. Made a visit to Steve and Dianne's to see the twins. Hunted for the nylon rope for quite a while, went through the shop and storage shed twice before Vera said something about is it on a tree? Then I remembered I was using it to straighten up a Rhodie after the snow smashed it down. Steve wanted to borrow it for the big tree falling Saturday at 9 AM. Videos tomorrow night. I did my normal Friday thing and picked up James after school, we ate and then hung out here until it was time for the game. It was a great day!

New Schedule

I am trying a new schedule with my exercises. I had been doing them first thing in the morning, but then my knee would swell up and stay that way the rest of the day. Today I did my stretching exercise and then went about my day. When the sun came out I decided to work on the Blazer. Before starting I decided to see the twins before I got dirty. Boy are they starting to cover ground. Steve and Dianne are going to be busy in a week or so. I got the front differential put back together, the new half shaft installed and put the suspension and brakes back together. If things go good tomorrow I should have it back on the road. I also did some work on the Eurofighter and it is getting close to being painted.

I was in the house this evening when I heard some strange sounds. I went out and saw Gabe's boom truck turning around in the driveway. Right away I knew they were rigging the next tree to fall. The fir with the sign by it at the left of the picture has a root that is cracking the driveway so they are falling it. I gave them a bad time about fogging for mosquito's, but it was the choke that was stuck.

Quite a ways up there!

Gabe keeping an eye on things!

Steve getting the rope around the tree. We should have some more tree falling video in a few days.

Another day, another tree

Lots of frost on the roof this morning. I did my exercises a little different today, I started out on the exercise bike and every 5 minutes I lowered the seat. The third setting was lower than it has ever been and I could tell it was stretching things. This afternoon when it was warmer, I went out and did my trips up and down the deck steps. 110 steps today and I was ready for a break. I did some work on the Blazer today, I got the new halfshaft installed and the new vacuum actuator put in. I found a possible problem with the actuator, it was full of water. I worked on the Eurofighter off and on all day and made good headway. On one of my trips to the house I noticed Steve cutting on a tree so I got the camera out of my pocket and headed over to video the fun.

This one is a little smaller than the others, but fun to watch.

Hope you were able to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

Ninja Warrior

I did a short version of my exercises this morning as we wanted to run up early and see Vera's sister Marie. Before we left, I went down and got the garbage can. Strange thing walking down hill to get it was harder than pushing it back up the driveway. Going down,, maybe because my leg isn't strong yet, it seemed like I was speeding up out of control. Vera's sister was just finishing breakfast when we got there. She was feeling pretty good today and we had a nice visit until it was time for her therapy. After we got home the knee had swollen up a little, so I elevated it and took a little nap, iced it a couple of times and did some more exercises. I made one trip to the shop and worked on the Eurofighter some more and unpacked a new hydraulic jack that came today. My other one just barely lifts the motor home, at 20 tons, this one should have little trouble. After watching 5 episodes of Ninja Warrior we had on the DVR it was time for more exercise bike, ice and bed.

Work!

I have slept great the last two nights and really felt like doing things today. I have been walking pretty good, so I decided to try wheeling the garbage can down to the road. Vera had already said she was going to get a picture of that activity so she walked down with me. I want to thank Steve for taking it down for us since my surgery. No way I could have done it before today.


I elevated my knee for a little while after the trip to the road. It felt so good I decided to wash the van. I think you can see in the before picture that it really needed it.

Looks much better now! My knee was still doing pretty good, so we hit the motor home next. By the time we were done washing it, I knew the knee was ready for a rest. I elevated it, took a short nap, iced it and here I am.

I also did two sessions on the exercise bike and two sets of the deck steps. I worked on the Eurofighter this afternoon and glassed the top of the fuselage. I sure hope things keep improving like this and I will be able to enjoy the good weather when it gets here.

Finally some Flying

It was cold and windy when I got to the field. Everyone was sitting around talking, I visited awhile and got my plane out and flew. That kind of got things going and more flying took place. As the day went on the wind died down and it started feeling a little warmer. More flyers showed up and before I left all the tables were full.

Len and Audrey had their new plane out. It flies great and I really like the color scheme. I have thought about getting one of these for a long time.

I left flying a little early because James was coming up to mow and do our recycling. After he got the mowing done we started loading the van for a run to the recycling drop site. James found the pond net and made a game out of putting the cans and bottles into the sacks.

Just as James was putting the mower away, I heard a chain saw running! I took a look and Steve was killing another tree. I called James and we hustled over just in time to see them pull the tree over with Gabe's truck. The kids were really hooting and hollering after it hit.

4 10 2010 Tree Falling

Steve decided to fall a maple today. He borrowed my come-a-long to help pull it in the right direction. Vera alerted me when it looked like time to fall, so I grabbed the camera and headed out.

Steve pounding wedges in the tree. As you can see it was leaning pretty bad right into a fir tree. It also had branches intertwined with the fir. The hinge finally broke and the tree settled the wrong way, toward the road. After several attempts at pulling it over, the tension on the come-a-long was so great that Steve could hardly pull it. Finally one more click and it started going.

On the ground at last, it hit pretty hard and broke in several places. Lots of fun, I can hardly wait for the next time.

4 09 2010 James Baseball

I did not do much today, that session working on the Blazer really made the knee tender. In the afternoon we took the motor home down again to watch James' Baseball game. We came early to get a good parking spot, I put dinner in the oven and we read while that was cooking. James has started pitching, he went in at the end of the 3rd inning and pitched the 4th and part of the 5th. The 4th inning was great for him, he only had to throw 7 pitches to retire the side.
The picture below is James heading out to pitch the first time.


For only having one practice session, I thought he did good.

They have moved the bases and pitchers mound back further this year.

They ended up losing, but one of the boys got a home run and they looked pretty good at times.

Blazer Day

Well not the Portland Trailblazers, our S-10 Blazer. I spent the better part of the day under it.


I got the right half shaft disconnected and the noise was still there. So I pulled the axle shaft out of the front differential. No problem with it, turns out the problem is with the vacuum actuator for engaging 4 wheel drive. Of course it is located under the battery box, so the battery has to be pulled along with the box. With any luck, I can get one tomorrow and start putting it back together.

Here is a picture of the Eurofighter I have been working on. The nozzles in the rear swivel to direct the thrust so it will do some wild maneuvers. It is made of foam, so I am putting fiber glass over it to make it more dent resistant. I went out and did the bottom of one wing tonight after I quit on the Blazer.

The knee held up pretty well to all the up and down to the creeper and going for tools. I swear by the time I am done, all my tools will be out there. Standing up doing the fiber glassing bothered the knee more than anything else I did today. The doctor was right again, at one of my visits he said standing was the hardest thing on it. I didn't see how that could be since it is not getting moved much, but it sure is.
Hope your day went good and nothing broke down on you.

Wednesday 04 07 2010

I did not do too much Wednesday. The drive shaft went right to the bottom of the list and I rested for most of the day. I did go out and glass one wing of the Eurofighter I am working on. Then about 4 we took off to Longview for James' first baseball game and to do a little shopping. We took the motor home and parked on the street above the park. My knee was tired enough from hiking around Fred Meyer that I did not feel like walking to the stands. We cooked dinner in the oven and enjoyed the game while eating.

James and Mik just before the game started. James played a good game, he made a number of solo outs at his first base position. He stole four bases, below he is stealing home.

Below is one of his many plays at first.

I believe he got one hit and was walked the rest of the time. This is after one of the walks.

They led the whole game, only to lose in the last inning on walks. We went to dinner with Mik, Michelle and James afterwards and had a nice visit.

Tuesday 04 06 2010

Not much happened here on Monday. We decided to have a laid back day, so we read, napped, puttered a little with airplanes and for the most part did not accomplish anything.

Tuesday we planned on going up and seeing Marie first thing after my exercises. Vera noticed two bunnies eating out in the lawn before we left. We got in the Blazer and started down the driveway, but there were strange noises coming from the front end. After doing a little checking we decided to take the van. Good idea except the battery was dead, a door was not closed all the way and the interior lights had ran it down. Plan "B" take the motor home worked! We took the slow way up via Jackson Hwy. and had a nice relaxed trip up. Marie was doing much better, but tired from physical therapy and occupational therapy. We had lunch at the hospital while she was having occupational therapy and then visited for a while before heading home to work on vehicles. We took the slow way home through Napavine, Winlock and Vader and had a nice time. The extra half hour it takes is well worth it for the things you get to see. We came around a corner and saw this long white line in a field. Turns out they are the round hay bales wrapped in plastic lined up along the edge of the field.

A little further on between Napavine and Winlock I took a picture of a classic shaped barn and silo, one of several we saw.

After we got home, I put the battery charger on the van and it charged up OK. I changed the oil and filter on the motor home. We went for a ride over Headquarters road to check it out after the oil change. We saw 5 deer in a yard, all within 20 feet of a lady standing there, she must feed them. After our ride I moved the Blazer into the carport and found it was the right front drive shaft making the weird noise. I had a club meeting that evening, so I stopped and picked up a drive shaft to put in on Wednesday.