Memorial Day

I read some interesting stories today about P-51 pilots during WWII. They went through a lot on their missions over Europe. We owe all veterans a lot.

We got good news today, Bob Stedham called and relayed a message from Marie that she can move into her permanent room anytime. It works out great because we are picking up the last of the stuff for her tomorrow and were planning on taking it up. After I heard that, I got the trailer hooked up and got things ready to go. I spent most of the day working on airplanes. I got my new helicopter done and got one test flight on it. It flies pretty good, well enough that I went over and landed it on the porch to show it off to Vera. My trip down the driveway with the garbage was the best one yet, I did not have to stop and rest the knee. Vera made cookies and it is time for me to have another.
Hope you had a good day!

Flying in the Rain

Well, I flew one flight in the rain this morning. I have been wanting to test the new landing gear I put on my Stearman all week. I added shock absorbing struts to the main gear which turned into a major project. The weather did not look real good, but I decided to go make the one flight regardless. I got there just after our friends and fellow flyer's Leonard and Audrey, so I did not have to open the gate. They had a new radio that needed a test flight. We were both successful and happy with our flights.

The field had just been mowed and the wet clippings really stuck to my plane. I spent more time cleaning it than I flew. The wind was cold, it was wet so we called it a day and headed home.

I spent the rest of the day putting a night stand together for Marie, sorting some of her stuff and messing with my planes. I was going to go online out in the shop and I think the video card died in that computer as both monitors have a blank screen after it boots up. That may wait for a while as I have plenty of other projects going.
Hope you stayed dry today!

Busy!

The weather did not look good for flying this morning, so we went shopping for things for Marie's new room. We had great luck and found several major items on sale. I have to pick up some of them on Tuesday and if everything works right we will make a run up there and deliver them. After we got home I decided to look for the short that is keeping us from opening the back window of the Blazer. That turned into a major job! Have you ever tried to get under the dash of a car. I ended up with covers off of half the dash, laying across the seats with my head down in the driver's foot well. I got two out of three fixed, I will tackle the horn some other day. We tried the new pizza place on the Westside Hwy today. Both of us really liked it and will be going back again. The Dolan's are gone, so I am feeding Max. After I fed him this evening I noticed the rhododendrons by my shop were in full bloom as I walked back. Now if I could get that grass to grow, it would look pretty good. Of course, I don't have to mow there too often!

Thursday and Friday

My knee feels great this morning (Saturday the 29th.) and I thought I had better do this before I forgot what I had done.
Thursday I worked on my planes most of the day until it was time to leave for James' game. They called it for rain and everyone left, Vera and I sat in the motor home a few minutes before leaving and by the time we left it had almost quit raining. We went to Fred Meyer to do some shopping and it had stopped raining and was really nice by the time we left. Thursday Vera saw a squirrel on one of the bird feeders. She thought that the chair was too close and they had jumped from it. We moved it and watched from the house and one of them had figured how to get around the dome by grabbing the rim. I got the power shears out and cut the rim off the dome (bowl) before we left for the game. I would have loved to watch them try after that but we couldn't wait. It seems to be working as we have not seen them up there since.
Friday was another laid back day. I worked on planes until it was time to pick up James. Then we picked up Panda Express and headed home. James and I settled in the computer room and watched iCarly, a movie, the Celtic's win and played on the computer all evening. It was really relaxing. Hope you stayed dry the last couple of days.

Tuesday and Wednesday

I was tired Tuesday night so an entry did not get made here. I worked in the shop most of the day until it was time to head down for dinner with Mik, Michelle and James to celebrate our anniversary. It was also a surprise for Michelle to give her a birthday present that Mik, James, Vera and I went in on. She seemed pretty surprised and pleased with her iPad.

After dinner we went to James' band concert at Cascade. The band sounded really good, James played the drums, here is a video of one song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRyHLauZsDc

Wednesday Vera had bible study and a birthday celebration afterwards so I decided to go up and have lunch with Barry.

It turns out this is his last week of work before his second retirement. Barry called in an order for lunch and we brought it back to the office to eat and visit. We ended up talking for 2 1/2 hours and had a nice time. I am going to run up after he is retired to see what he has been doing on their house. I stopped by and saw Marie on the way back and got there just in time to go check out her permanent unit with her and John. She will be moving in a week or so. This room is not furnished so I was able to find out some things we can get for her. I visited with her for about and hour and got all caught up with what was happening there and let her know what had been going on down here. It sure felt good to get home and kick back on my chair. Vera cooked biscuits and gravy made with the last of the elk steak for dinner and boy was that good.

What Fun!

I woke up about 7 this morning feeling great. After a shower, breakfast and email I headed to the shop to work on the planes until the grass dried enough to mow. After a toasted Elk steak and cheese sandwich for lunch, I went over to check on the twins. Boy was that fun and I spent way more time there than I had planned on. They are doing their balancing act all the time, they stand by their little play table with just their stomach against it and then lean away and stand with no support for a few seconds.


Dianne gave them some magazine pages to play with and things really got busy for awhile. I posted a video of the action on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjlP7Z0_Ug . Part way through it, I had to get some paper out of Ava's mouth. Then towards the end she goes around the chair out of sight, by the time I got over there she had a couple more pieces in her mouth. After all the playing they were getting tired so Dianne fed them and I got a picture of Ava holding her bottle.

I finally got started on the mowing after showing Vera all the pictures and videos I took. The mowing went good, but I had to dump the bagger every time around the lawn for most of the lawn. Afterwards I gave the mower a much needed washing. That is when I remember that Vera had went down to serve at the Church's Community Table, so I went out to the shop and worked on planes until she got home. She had brought home potato soup and carrot cake for me. They were both really good, the Castle Rock Bakery donates desserts for the community table and the carrot cake was great. I know where I am getting my next one.

46 Years

We celebrated our 46th Wedding anniversary this morning by going to church where it all started. Time sure flies when you are happy! Marrying Vera was the best move I ever made.

After church we went to Freddy's for lunch. After their excellent Fish and Chips we came home and had a nice restful afternoon. I worked on planes and Vera watched TV. Then for dinner we had Elk steaks, baked potato's, Brussel sprouts and fresh tomatoes, they were all really good. Now for a nice quiet evening at home.

Planes and Baseball

I slept all night and woke up feeling great! I started the day riding the exercise bike and doing stretching exercises for the knee. After a shower and breakfast I went out to the shop and spent the morning working on the Eurofighter, the next time I have a couple of hours free it is getting painted. I got the mower out and made one pass around the lawn and it started raining so that was all of that. We ran to town for the mail as my new wheels for the Stearman were in, on the way back we hit Burger King for lunch. I just had time to take a quick look at the new wheels before it was time to go see James' game.

James played good today, every time he was at bat he got walked. Maybe they knew his average this year is .675. They ended up winning in the 4th inning on the 10 run mercy rule as they were ahead 13 to3.

I have been wanting to take a picture of this house for ages. On the way home, I turned around and went back to it and got a couple of pretty good pictures. It looks like a great place to have a Halloween party! After we got home I played with the new wheels some more. Vera made Halibut for dinner which tasted great. Tonight we are watching Australian Rules Football. Pretty rough game and they don't wear any pads.

A Normal Friday

Well, as normal as Fridays get around here. After our big day in town yesterday, we slept in this morning. I checked emails and messed around on the computer most of the morning until my knee started getting stiff. I decided to go out and putter around in the shop. On the way I spotted the wayward umbrella and returned it to the back porch. I sanded on the Eurofighter until I heard Max bark. I knew that meant there something going on at Dianne's so I headed over for a visit. David and Laury were there as were the twins. Ava was really putting on a show of dancing by the play table. Later she stood several times with no support while she played with a toy. I had a nice time there until I got hungry and decided to get the paninis out of the motor home and have them for lunch. They were just as good today as the first half was for lunch yesterday. I worked on the planes a little longer after lunch until it was time to pick up James. We had a nice relaxed afternoon watching TV, playing on the computer and snacking. I think I may have snuck in a short nap in there also.

Thumps on the roof

Just after I finished my blog last night, Vera and I heard a couple of real loud thumps on the roof. It was still raining and blowing like crazy so I did not go out and check right away. The rain finally let up about the time we were getting ready to call it a night so I got the light and went out the check the roof. The West side just had small branches on it, so I went to check the East side and found the trouble before I even looked at the roof. The umbrella from the table on the West side had made a trip over the house and was laying in the flower bed. Big surprise, it was not damaged so I cranked it down and set it against the house. Funny thing is, before it got dark we had both watched it spinning round and round and never gave a thought to cranking it down.

This morning we got an early start to town as we had a bunch of errands to run. Everything went like clockwork, so we had time to enjoy a leisurely lunch and dinner. With all the spare time, I decided to price water heaters as ours has been acting up. I hit Sears, Home Depot, Searing, and Lowes. Now I have lots of prices and features to consider.

After we picked up dinner at Panda Express we parked over by John Noll park to eat and wait for James' game. It kind of turned into a mud bowl by the time it was over. James played good, but they ended up losing after coming back in the top of the last inning to go ahead. It turned into a 12 hour enjoyable day.

James sliding into second base, he was safe!

The mud he picked up doing the slide.

He added to the mud sliding into third, he was safe there also!

Wind and Rain

Boy did it rain and blow this afternoon. The morning was sunny and warm, but that all changed shortly after we got back from lunch. We had one downpour that lasted 10 or 15 minutes that put .35 inches in our rain gauge. I don't know what the wind gusts were, but the fir trees can sure bend a long ways. The first video is the trees along the driveway taken from our yard. The second video is from the front porch. There was lots of stuff blowing off the trees, you will see a maple leaf go by fairly close. I spent most of the day in the shop, painting the Eurofighter, working on my new helicopter and building a new aerobatic plane and going through some of Marie's records. It was my best day yet for the knee, I did a lot of standing and it felt great all day. It did not start to stiffen up until I had been on it about 10 hours.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning we headed to Centralia, Marie had a doctors appointment that we were taking her to. Everything went good, we checked out where the office was first, then went to Colonial and visited with Marie until it was time to go. I took a couple of pictures, the one above is the little writing desk we got her. You can see the bird feeder outside the window that John got her. She had a batch of cards done that we mailed on the way to the appointment. It was just a routine visit, all they did was check her blood pressure and blood oxygen levels and talk to her. We ran a couple of errands for her on the way back to Colonial, visited a little longer and headed home. The picture below shows the stuffed kitty Vera took for her the day she moved in. She held it on her lap the entire time we were there that day and now it is on her bed all the time. It was good to see her in a better mood, I think she is getting used to things slowly. It is hard for her to let go of any of her independence.

Lazy Monday

After our busy weekend, we decided to have a lazy Monday. I slept really good last night, only waking up once with a cramp in my thigh. After watching the squirrels for a while, I settled in front of the computer to have breakfast and check emails. I downloaded all the weekend pictures and edited them. Then I used them to do two days of blogs I was behind and made a posting on the flying clubs forum of the picnic Sunday. I noticed the knee had stiffened up, so I decided to go to the shop and putter. After putting a couple of batteries on charge I decided to go see what was happening at Dianne's. Harper was in a great mood, eating string cheese and laughing at everything. She is really good at picking up and eating the cheese, but would have nothing to do with the Cheerios's, she dropped them off the tray.

Then Ava woke up from a nap and added to the fun. I put a short video on You Tube that I took with my new Droid. My first video with it and I am surprise how good it turned out. I added a link to it on this post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCw5AV-_3_c

James called about 4 and told me he had a make up game tonight at 5:45. This is his second time at bat and he got an RBI single, the only points they scored tonight. He did good as starting pitcher for the first 3 innings and held them to 4 runs. Things went down hill from there and they lost 12 to 1.

James running to first as the other runner scores. Luckily I had checked with Michelle and found out the concession stand is not open during make up games, so I stopped at Panda Express and picked up dinner. The wind was kind of cold all evening, but there was no rain until the last inning and then it was just a sprinkle.

Sunday picnic at the flying field

Sunday we headed up to the Toledo flying field for the club's spring picnic. Maybe it was the threat of rain, but we had small turnout. The strange thing was, after one dark cloud went by, it was a great day!

The first thing I did when we got there was get the mower out and attack the runway. The club had moss killer and fertilizer put on the field. It is amazing how much it grew since Thursday when it was mowed. Vera unloaded all my planes for me while I was mowing. Just as I was finishing up people started arriving. We ended up with 11 club members there, 7 of them flew at sometime during the day. Horty cooked the hamburgers and polish hot dogs for lunch and there was some great potato salad (the best yet Len) and lots of desserts.

Rob had his Cargo flying and dropped Butterfingers candy bars and two skydivers. Bill had a similar plane and dropped Snickers candy bars.

This is the view into a trailer one of the visitors from the Thruston County Club had. With the visitors we had 15 people a lunch time. Everyone was in a good mood and I had really good time.

Saturday the 15th

James spent the night Friday and then Saturday morning he went to Macee's baseball game with Aunt, Parker and Auna. After he got back, he mowed lawns for me and we took the recycling down to the drop site. Then it was time for him and Parker to do some motorcycle and 4 wheeler riding.

James had an evening ball game. So we headed down there after the riding session. He did great, a 2 run homer, a single and pitched the final inning.

James is waiting for the home run ball. Uncle has just sat down in his lucky spot in the bleachers.

This is just after rounding second base. He knows most of the kids down there and is friends with lots of them. The kid congratulating him also has the number 12 and he also got a 2 run homer in the bottom of the first.

The team is getting ready to congratulate him at home. You can see uncle in the bleachers cheering him.

It took me most of the night, but I finally got the ball in a picture of his single.

Squirrels

The squirrels were at it again this morning, one of them figured out how to get around both domes on the Sheppard's hook. I went out and greased the lower part of it with silicone. That provided some interesting viewing. Vera said they could still climb it, but when they tried to reach up and get a hold of the upper part they slid down. It wore off after a few tries and they could still get up.

Our other feeder has a much larger dome, which they can not get around. So we decided to add one like it to the Sheppard's hook. I was going to town to pick up James after school, so I left early to find a Stainless Steel Salad bowl (that's what the domes are). No luck in the couple of places I had time to look in. So when James and I got home I used a little smaller one Vera had. The next day or so will tell the tale. Today was my first day in a long time with shorts. Maybe a tan will help the scar on my knee to blend in. I know the sunshine sure felt good on it. I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the sunshine too.

Look No Hands!

Well a squirrel figured out how to get around the dome on the Sheppard's hook and get to the bird feeders. I added a second dome above that one and he still got up because I left too much room between the two. I lowered it down about 6 inches and so far today it is a success.

I went over to see what was new with the twins today and had great time watching them. Ava has really turned into a speed crawler.

I painted on my eurofighter this afternoon and got the bottom done. I went out and did some stairs on the deck this afternoon and discovered the knee has gotten stronger. I went up and down the stairs without holding on to the rail. Up until this time, I have always used the rail for a little help.

Moving Day

Today was Marie's moving day. We headed out at 8:30 to help her and deliver the things we had picked up for her. Pastor Tom brought her from the hospital to Colonial and we were shown where her room was. Then we started hauling things in and Vera put them away. By lunch time we were done and Marie had met with a bunch of the staff. We went to eat while she was taken to the dining area for lunch. We also picked up a writing desk for her to use for doing her church mailings. That turned out to be a little bigger job than I expected as it took about 2 hours to put it together.

Vera is sitting by the East wall of Marie's room. It has a little kitchenette, with a stove, sink and refrigerator.

This is the view out to the South from her room. John put a bird feeder right outside it later.

I really like the room, it is nice and bright and cheery.

Squirrels and Home Runs

Boy was it fun watching the squirrels today. They were a little upset that they could not get up to the bird feeders. I believe one of them got onto the other feeder by jumping from the Rosemary bush onto the feeder. We moved it about 3 feet away from the bush and they never got on it again. They would climb the pole and try to get around the dome only to have it dump them on the ground. Lots of activity in that area today, Vera saw Crows, Stellar Jays, Finches, Pine Siskens, Robins, Swallows, Squirrels and Chipmunks, plus a few I probably forgot.

This evening we went down to James' Baseball game. His first time at bat he hit a home run. He grinned all the way around the bases. They ended up losing, but James and the others made some great plays.

A relaxing Monday

We started out seeing if we could squirrel proof the bird feeders. They can empty one in a day. Yesterday we moved it away from the bushes so they could not jump to it. They still run right up the pole, so we added the lower dome. So far that seems to have done it. Time will tell, they still come over and forage for the seeds the birds drop. We also cleaned up three other feeders and the suet feeder and put them up. There were birds everywhere this afternoon.

After we got done with that, we planted Vera's Lavender Plant she got for Mother's Day and move a lounge chair out there so we can sit and watch the birds.

I did minor repairs on three airplanes this afternoon getting ready for the club picnic this coming weekend. Bob Stedham relayed a message from Marie that she gets out Wednesday. I gave her Bob's number because she can not call long distance from the hospital.

Mothers Day

I had just finished making my breakfast when I spotted the bunny on its morning rounds. I think they have a route they take every morning eating their favorite things. I grabbed the camera and got a couple of pictures of him before I ate. While Vera went to church I did a little cleaning (emphasis on little) cleaning around my chair. Then I ordered pizza for the lunch we had planned with Bev, Michelle and the kids.

A group shot with a couple of Vera's presents in front of them.

After James and I threw the football around, he took my camera and went in the woods taking pictures. This one turned out great! He mowed our lawn and part of the rental backyard while the girls visited and I cleaned the pond. Then he got an upset stomach, so he called it a day on the mower. He helped me with the pond until it was time to go. I went ahead and finished the lawn and ran over our trails for the first time this year. First time on the mower for any length of time and the knee handled it great.

Finally more flying weather!

We headed out early this morning to do some flying at Toledo. The sky and clouds were beautiful all day. You can see a couple of my planes and the helicopter on the bench. Against the cloud at the top center is Leonard and Audrey's Moonraker.


The Moonraker on final to a landing. Mt St Helens was visible all day, while we hardly caught a glimpse of Mt Rainier. Five other fliers showed up to fly with us. I put a video camera on one plane, but must have pushed the wrong button as I did not get any video. I guess it is time to get the directions out again.

There was lots of activity at the Toledo Airport all day. There were two jump planes taking up skydivers continuously. The picture is a tandem jump, two people on one chute. They were towing a glider up with a vehicle most of the day, it does not look like they are high enough to make a safe landing some times, but it always came back up later.

When we got home and unloaded, Vera and I were pulling some weeds and messing around with the bird feeder when I saw the Wild Iris was in bloom. Time to whip out the cell phone and take a picture.

Again the knee held up good, less swelling than other trips to the field and no soreness. I used to ride home from the flying field trying to find a position of the knee that relieved the pain. Since the operation, No Pain even after a six hour session of flying. I sure have lots to be thankful for!

Hope you got to enjoy the sunshine!

Sure seemed like a busy week!

Tuesday Marie was supposed to get out of the hospital, so we went up there expecting to help. The plans had changed and she was not getting out until Friday. So we visited and back home we went.

Wednesday was Vera's bible study and I puttered all day.

Thursday we went up to get some records and pictures from Marie's. That turned into an all day job by the time we sorted, loaded and then unloaded them at home. Boy was the knee stiff after that. It woke me up at 2 AM aching, so I got up and put heat on it and my back and proceeded to sleep the rest of the night in my recliner.

I was really stiff and sore this morning. I made a trip over to Dianne's to see the twins. Poor things have colds and are a little fussy, still Ava waved at me. Every time I go over there I wave to them, today she did it back. I have a picture of it on the new cell phone, just have not figured how to get the darn thing to send it. OK, I figured it OUT!!!!

Turns out Marie's plans were changed again, now next Tuesday is the big day.

By the afternoon I had worked the soreness out and was feeling pretty good. I edited a bunch of pictures for Marie's Digital Photo frame and we headed to town for a little shopping and James' baseball game. James played a good game and made some really good plays, one of which is the picture. He really stretched out to get a high throw and made the play at first.

New Phone

Big day today! It started out with trip to the Verizon Store to look at upgrade phones. Michelle keeps showing off her new iPhone and maybe I was a little jealous. I ended up with a Droid which I used to take the picture of the Blazer with. After we got the phones taken care of, adding another line so Vera now has my old phone which she likes, we headed to Costco. We filled a cart fairly fast in there, picked up a couple of Polish Sausage Hot Dogs and got ready to head home. Just after we got loaded the new phone started ringing, (it took a few seconds to figure out how to answer the darn thing) and it was Marie's Pastor with word that they wanted to have a meeting today at 3:00. That gave us two hours to get home, unload, fill up with gas and get to Centralia. We made it almost exactly at 3:00. After the meeting we ate at Skippers and headed home the slow way on Jackson Hwy. That did not work, the road is closed so we had to cut across Rush Road and come home I5. We had a nice evening playing with the phones, Debbie found out Vera could text and they went at it until the battery ran down.

Work Party

The Lewis County radio control club had a work party first thing this morning to do maintenance and put up the safety fence for the summer flying. We had a pretty good turn out of 10 members and were all done in under two hours. Since it was so cold, windy and raining at times most of us headed home right after.


James had two games today, in the morning a make up game for one that was rained out Wednesday and a regular game in the afternoon. We were able to make the afternoon one and really enjoyed it. He also had a game Friday night that we came down to that ended in a 6 to 6 tie. It was a close game all the way and very exciting. James was in on two double plays, one that ended the game. When pitching he also picked off a runner on first base.

James on third leading off trying to shake up the pitcher. They ended up winning 5 to 3.

James and his friend Joey after the game. They both wear the Number 12 and have been friends a long time.

James running wind sprints after the game. He was really in a good mood. After all this today, my knee is still feeling great tonight.