Trick or Treat!

I am a little behind on my blog!

Friday I worked on planes, we made a mail run and in the evening we started getting caught up on some of our recordings on the DVR. They had gotten ahead of us and we only had a few hours of recording space left. We got all of our Offroad racing ones done and started on the World Rally series.

Saturday it was more airplanes. Vera made a trip up to see her sister and had a nice visit. Then in the evening we watched the 3 days of the World Rally in Jordan. The scenery was beautiful so we decided to save that one.


Sunday was airplanes and football games while Vera went to church. After lunch, more airplane building until it was time for Trick or Treater's. The first one, little Huntress came while I was still in the shop. I had a camera in my pocket so I got a picture of her. I finished up what I was doing and went in to watch the Seahawks game I had recorded and be ready for the next kids.

It wasn't long in till Parker, Auna and Rielee showed up. They looked pretty excited, at least the girls did, I can't be sure about Parker.

Our last visitor was Princess Jillian. She said "Trick or Treat" in a real big voice.
That was about our normal number of kids, I think that long dark driveway keeps them away.

Moving Day

We went and helped Nancy, a lady from our church, move from Castle Rock to Lexington today. There was lots of help from the church so it went really well. Afterwards Vera and I ran to Longview for a couple of things. Then it was home to take it easy, my knee was a little sore from wrestling the washer and dryer. It is feeling better this evening but is still swollen. I did some work on a plane in the shop this afternoon, once while glue was drying I went over to see if the twins were there. They had already left with their dad, and just Auna and Parker were there (Steve was taking a nap and Dianne was shopping). They were a little bored and were timing each other with a stop watch to see who could hold their breath the longest. I did some more on the plane this evening after dinner. We had acorn squash and garlic bread for dinner and I knew if I did not go do something, I would be napping.

I hope you were able to do something productive today.

A great day for flying

I discover yesterday that there is a webcam at the Toledo Airport that I can look at to see how the weather is for flying. I looked at it this morning and it was clear and sunny at 9AM so I headed up earlier than I had planned.

This what the Mt Rainier looked like at 10AM!

I got in two flights before anyone else showed up and relaxed in the chair enjoying the view between flights. Only 3 other flyers showed up, but we had a great day. I got in about 10 flights during the day so now I am ready for more rain.

As I was putting things away, I noticed this Praying Mantis on one table. They are a pretty good sized bug, it never moved while I was taking pictures.

Debbie's Birthday Pizza

I spent most of the day out in the shop cleaning, organizing and working on planes. We didn't even make our normal mail run. I went over to Dianne's for a visit. Auna was there also playing with the twins. When she gave them a bottle, Ava motioned at me to lay my head on the pillow with her. Then she sat down next to me and drank her bottle. They are getting pretty good at making their wishes known.

We went to Bruno's tonight to celebrate Debbie's birthday. She is scheduled to work tomorrow, so we did it a day early. We had a nice time visiting with everyone. Boy do days like this go by in a hurry.

Airplane building weather

Sunday I worked on airplanes a little and then got into watching football and bull riding. That pretty much took care of the day. Debbie and Josh stopped by to borrow the nail gun Sunday evening and we got to hear all about Debbie's new job at the Royal Buffet. Just as they were getting ready to leave, Auna showed up with an apple pie. It did not take much to get them to stay long enough to have some.

Today I spent most of the day making and adding decals to the Stearman.

Now my pilot has something to look at. It took several tries before I got instrument panels I was happy with. I have some more made up to put on tomorrow and I think the weather is going to cooperate. Wednesday is looking like the only flying day this week. Weather wise, we had rain, hail, wind and sunshine today. The only thing missing was some snow.

More Xbox

We had a nice relaxed morning playing Xbox some more. James and I made a run to Subway, he had never had their breakfast sandwich. Me and the Xbox controller went round and round again. Most of the time the "X" button reloads your weapon, unless you are in a vehicle then it makes you jump out. That got me more than once.

James got pretty comfortable while playing.

He was in a great mood even after having to rescue me every time he turned around. He also spent some time playing with his friends online. I snuck in a nap while he was doing that.

After Michelle picked James up we made a run to town for the mail and a few groceries. Then I went out and finished repairing the tail on the Stearman. I also wired up a breakout box for charging batteries at the field.

Hope you stayed dry today!

Friday Night Smack Down

I did a little more organizing in the shop Friday morning. Then around 12:30 I headed to town to do a couple of errands before picking up James at Cascade. All the errands went just as planned plus when I picked up the mail the covering for finishing the Stearman's tail repair was there. Then when I stopped to pick up wire for a motor home project the guy said they were tired of storing the roll and gave me 41 feet for the price of the 15 feet I needed. Now I get to store the surplus. After picking up James and stopping by their house for the Xbox, Netbook and clothes we headed home via BK for dinner.

Have you ever tried to master an Xbox controller? I think it is a senior citizen torture device. I just push all the buttons like crazy and hope for the best. It actually works pretty good in the wrestling program, but my guy always ends up getting Smacked down.

To top it all off there are 4 buttons on top. Sometimes the program will give hints, but by the time I figure out which button to push it is all over. Even with all my problems, I still had a good time playing.

Hope you had a chance to play with your kids or grand kids!

Surprise Visitors

I was working out in the shop when there was a tap on the door. In walked Ava and started checking things out. Harper and Dianne were right behind her. I think Harper was a little uneasy as she came and sat on my lap. I went with them when they left to play on the slides. Ava was walking all over the place and bringing me pine cones. Then she started bringing me leaves, I had a pretty good handful by the time she got tired of that.

Harper was playing over by the fort when she sat down and started picking up wood chips. She finally tried tasting one and I had to tell her "No" and she stopped.

Here they are having a little discussion over the car.

After that, I went back to arranging the planes hanging in the shop. I ended up dropping one, so I have a wing tip to repair. It was not too bad a break, so I don't think it will take long to repair. We had the best acorn squash for dinner along with baked potato's. I couldn't finish it all, so I have something for lunch tomorrow.

Beautiful Day!

It was nice outside today, of course everything I ended up doing was inside. I did take one ride on the 4 wheeler down to the creek and up towards the pipeline.

I went over to see the twins today and had a great time. I was using my hat to play with Ava and she started feeling my bald head and comparing it to my hair. Harper noticed and came over and did the same thing on the other side. A little later Ava noticed my watch so I took it off and gave it to her. She messed with it for a long time and was trying to put it over her toe, so I took it and snapped it around her ankle. That did not last long, she stood up and decided she did not like it. When I put it back on, I slid my sleeve down over it and they could not figure out where it went and were doing the hands out "Where's it at sign". I finally showed them.

After Vera got home from bible study and we had lunch I decided to organize some of Marie's stuff and create a little more room by my front door. I had to get pellets for the stove this morning and it took lots of maneuvering to get them in. By the time I was done, the knee was not liking it and had swelled up quite a bit so I am sitting here doing this with it elevated and iced.

Hope you got out to enjoy this beautiful day.

Football

I had a nice laid back day. I went out and repaired some of the damage that was done to the Stearman when the wind blew it off the table. Then it was over to see the twins for awhile. Ava and her dog sat on my lap, that was a treat. It is sure fun to watch them interact. James had a football game this afternoon. The last one of the year for 7th grade. James made some nice passes, hit the receivers in the hands, but no one was catching them today.

James 33 throwing a pass early in the game. He took some awesome hits later in the game, but stayed in and play even though he was hurting.

James 33 on defense.

James holding for an extra point kick which they made. It would have been nice to win the last game of the year, but it was not to be. Afterwards, we went to Bruno's for pizza and rehashed the game a little.

Hope you got to do something fun today.

Out with the old and in with the new!

We kept pretty busy today. A little after 9 we headed to Kaiser for flu shots. When the doctor started me on the new blood pressure medicine he wanted me to get my BP checked in two weeks. Today was close enough so I had it done and it was 122 over 80. It has not been that good in a long time. Then we went for hair cuts and did some birthday shopping at Fred Meyer. We had a nice leisurely lunch at the Royal Buffet, (we skipped dinner after that and just had some snacks during Monday Night Football). Next we stopped at Lowes and picked up some lumber for a couple of projects, the rest of the trip was noisy as the hatch would not close with the lumber sticking out the back. Our last stop was Greg's Gardens to pick up a new plant that will replace a tree we don't like the looks of anymore.

That tree trunk in the background is the one we fell and cut up this afternoon.

We ended up with one load of wood from it.

This is our new Cherokee Chief Flowering Dogwood where the fir tree used to be. After we put all the tools away, I was ready for some R&R watching Monday Night Football.

Sunday Flying

Holy Cow was it cold at the flying field this morning. I was darn glad I had my Under Armour on and it was not long until I got back in the motor home and put on my insulated boots. I also turned on the furnace so I had somewhere warm to go. After adding the boots and another jacket I was pretty comfortable outside, a lot more so than the others there.

This how it looked at 11:30, the fog had lifted but it was still damp and cold. We ended up with 8 flyers before the day was over and had a good time.

Rob had two new planes he test flew today. The motor quit on this Sparrow Hawk and he is making a deadstick landing. This is at 12:30 and conditions had improved quite a bit. It was nice flying weather from then until about 3:30 when the wind came up and blew my Stearman off the table. Now I have a broken tail to fix. That was a good sign it was time to head home and watch the Seahawks game that I had recorded.

Hope you stayed warm today!

Flying at Toledo

Before I get to the flying I have to tell you about Friday. I puttered in the shop a little before going down to pick up James after school. After we got home James wanted to go see what was going on at Aunt's. While James was playing with the girls Ava started showing off for him. It was a riot to watch, she was down on the floor making noises and squirming around like mad. James had a short stay today, he went to watch Mark Morris football with his friend Joey.

We were going to get up early and get flu shots Saturday, but the weather forecast was so good that we went flying at Toledo. There were just 4 of us there today and it was beautiful flying weather.

This is our friend Leonard shooting a touch and go with their newly acquired plane. I got quite a few flights in. I figure out more about flying the Eurofighter every time. Today I figured out how to do a flat spin with it. I am having fun learning the way this type of plane flies.
Lots of activity by the Skydivers today. This is the jump plane turning final after taking a load of jumpers up.

It is not real clear, but this is a tandem jump. There is a person strapped on in front of the skydiver.

I hope you enjoyed your Saturday as much as I did.

Thursday 10 14 2010

I spent most of Thursday doing minor repairs to the planes I fly the most. I put the Stearman back in the motor home until I decide to add more details. I brought the Sukhoi in to Loctite the landing gear bolts. I love to shoot touch and goes and I noticed the bolts were loose Tuesday when I was putting it away.

I also had the Eurofighter in to work on the nose gear again. The strut was not tempered good enough and kept bending. I ended up breaking it, but found another that looks like it will work great.

The AT-6 had a little crack in the cowl I have wanted to repair and I noticed the motor had a little play in it on Tuesday. It turns out the play was just normal flexing. I got the crack repaired, now I need to repaint the black anti glare panel. I made a trip over to see the twins and play with them, lots of fun. I saw them again later when they were taking a ride in their little cars. I talked with Barry, they were on the way to North Carolina. My knee got a little stiff from the swelling around 7, so I went in and put ice on it. I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

The Stearman is getting close to done!

I started kind of slow today, it was almost 11 before I got done on the computer. I went outside and came right back in for another shirt, kind of chilly out there yet! I had set a couple of things on the pellet stove lid that left marks or took the paint off so I sanded it out this morning. After Vera came home from bible study and we had lunch, it was off to town for some heat resistant paint. I got it sprayed and stunk up the shop so I went out and mowed while the paint dried.

After mowing and some left over pizza for dinner(Yum), I went out and got the new numbers for the Stearman done.

I have a small vinyl cutter that works pretty good on Ultra Kote covering. I had downloaded a font that matches what the military uses, so I typed in the new numbers, loaded a strip of covering and put them on. I have a few more small details I want to add, tail brace wire and some placards. Maybe some instrument panels also. This thing may be a work in progress for months.

This nice weather sure makes mowing enjoyable. After I was done with both lawns, I ran over our trails. Now that the leaves are falling I will probably have to do it several more times. Hope you got out in the sun even if it was to work like I did.

Tuesday Flying

What a great day for flying! I had not planned on an early start to let it warm up a bit, so I went over to see what the twins were up to. They were in great form, it was not long until Ava put a piece of pancake in her hair. Harper had to follow suit, it got pretty funny after that.

We finally got going somewhere around 10 after a stop at Subway for lunch. The conditions were perfect at the field, little or no wind and getting warmer all day. I was looking forward to flying the Stearman with the new wires on it to see if they made any noise. No noise, but they look good as I fly by. I ended up flying about 10 flights during the day.

After we got home and I had hooked up power to the motor home I went over to see what was new with the twins. They are spending the night and Dianne and Auna were getting them ready for going to tonight's volleyball game.

They looked darn cute with the little bows in their hair.
I spent part of the evening making some minor repairs to planes I flew today and then came in to do this. Now it is time to ice the knee. It seems to help as I slept better last night.

Hope you were able to enjoy the sunshine.

Stoves and Football

Stoves and Football have nothing to do with each other, it is just what I did today. Fedex was here this morning before I got dressed with the parts for my pellet stove. I took the parts to the shop and went over to see the twins, but the sleeping sign was up. I started getting ready to work on the stove and noticed it was down so off I went. It seems they were having no part of a nap. I played with them and visited with Steve and Dianne for a little while and then headed back to work on the stove. The repair went real well and I had the stove going in a couple of hours in plenty of time to change and go to James football game. It was a great day for the game, it only got cool once when the sun went behind a cloud.

The second picture I took today was of James making this tackle. He played good, made some tackles and some nice passes when quarterbacking.

Here he is holding for the extra point after their second touchdown. The first extra point kick they have made this year.

James ready to take the snap. After his game we picked up a few things at Fred Meyer's and headed home. Monday Night Football had been delayed because of rain and lightening so I got to watch most of it while icing my knee. Swelling is the only thing that I am have a problem with if I am on my feet a lot. I am going to try icing and elevating to get rid of it.

Party time!

I slept really good last night, James and I had stayed up until midnight watching Sports Center trying to see the rest of an interesting story that we only saw part of. I had my breakfast at the computer and played on it until after 10! Then I decided to go out to the shop and work on the Stearman until James woke up. Just as I was ready to head out at 10:30, he woke up. I sat down with him and we watched some TV until Auna showed up. Then I watched football while they visited and watched TV. After James had breakfast, they headed over to see Aunt. Vera came home from church and after visiting with her, I went to the shop and started putting flying wires on the Stearman. At 4 we headed down to Bob and Cathy's for a surprise 50th Birthday Party for my niece Lynne. They had a Nacho Bar set up that was delicious!

James was happy to see Mik and Michelle, he went over and sat on Mik's lap several times.
Cathy had a bean bag toss planned for the party, you had to score 50, if you went over you were out. If you scored 50 you got one bonus toss at the 100. I think everyone there did it, Vera ended up in a sudden death shoot out with Steve for first place.

Lynne opening her presents, most of them were gag gifts about turning 50, Dan was also opening gifts as he turned 50 a couple of weeks ago. They had two flavors of ice cream cake that really tasted good. They did provide a lighter moment as they had been in the cold freezer and resisted any attempt to slice them for quite awhile.

After the party, I went out and finished the installation of the wires on the Stearman. Now I am curious as to if they will make noise when the plane is flying. Tuesday's weather looks pretty good, so I may get a chance to test it then.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Costco and a stupid Cowl

Friday we went to Costco, we only had a small list and a half dozen coupons, so we had a good time just wandering around seeing what was new. Of course by the time we were done the cart was full. I could see a little out the back window of the Blazer when we got it loaded.
The first order of business when we got home was lunch. There was a coupon for a dollar off on pumpkin pies so we had gotten one and I had it with ice cream for lunch.

Saturday I went out to work on the Stearman some more. The cowl is not going well, I filled where the old numbers were with paint but ridges showed around the edges. I sanded them down and sprayed with clear to bring back the shine and the color changed a little. I ended up sanding down the whole cowl and repainting it. Now I just have to put the new numbers on and I am done with it.

James came up to spend the night while Mik and Michelle went out to dinner. He was tired from playing with Levi, so he took it pretty easy.

After watching some TV and having a bite to eat he wanted to go see what Aunt was doing. Auna came by while we were there and when I left they were watching TV there. Everyone else is watching streaming video of Emmy's team playing volleyball in Fairbanks Alaska.

Hope you stayed dry today!

Papa Pete's Pizza day

Today we had Vera's nephew Dean and his wife Jenny come down to visit and pick up pictures and the video I took of their wedding. We asked them if they would like to have pizza with us for lunch, Papa Pete's of course! Surprise, they had never had Papa Pete's before, they had lots good to say about it. We had a nice visit with them until it was time to leave for James' football game. We got there just as the first quarter ended as we had to make a gas stop. We got to see them make their only score, a nice about 50 yard run.


James holding for the Point after attempt, they missed it.

James running on 4th down, he almost made it. Henry commented that was the fastest he had ever seen James run.

James tackling Hunter, Hunter did a lot of running for Mt Solo and was hard to bring down. I think Mt Solo scored 3 times, but I am not sure since we missed the first quarter. Then after the game we went to the Papa Pete's at Baker's Corner to have pizza with Mik, Michelle, James, Margaret and Levi. That's when things changed, one Cascade player had gotten hurt and they took him to the hospital by ambulance. The coach had to go with him and Mik was elected to pick up the coach at the hospital. James had to ride the bus back to Cascade and change. A friend ended up taking James home and after Mik finally found the coach that is where he headed also. Michelle took the left over pizza home to them (there was lots, they had messed up the order and gave her a free medium pizza of the right kind.). We stopped for gas as I had only put in a couple of gallons to make it to the game. Then we wandered around Fred Meyer and picked up a few things before heading home.

Tuesday and Wednesday

I had a doctor's appointment Tuesday morning for my shoulder. Naturally it started getting better as soon as I made the appointment. I had him check a couple of other things and ended up with another blood pressure medicine to try. The doctor recommended that I check with the doctor who did my knee about one question, "why is it warmer than the other one". After leaving a message for the knee doctor we went to breakfast at the Pancake House. Boy was I full when we left there, no lunch today! We did a little shopping and headed home. I had a model club meeting at Toppers Tuesday evening, so I had dinner there. Big surprise, I was the first one there.
Today, I puttered on the computer until 10 again, then I decided to change the light switch that was acting up in the laundry room. That went good, except I had to go down and get one part. After Vera got home from Bible Study, I sat down with the mail but started feeling like a nap, so I got up and went out and cleaned and filled the pond. By the time that was done the sun had dried the grass so I mowed. There are signs around the apple tree and in the lawn that deer and possibly elk have been eating them.



Vera had gotten the Knitter's Almanac in the mail today so she sat out and read it while I mowed. I got a book about the Skyraider, one of my favorite airplanes. I had one once, it crashed on the third flight. I would like to build one this winter as I have the retracts from the one that crashed. I got in a couple of flights this evening after the wind calmed down with my little park flyer.

Well it is time to go watch the new season's Mythbusters episode that I recorded. Hope you had as productive day as I did.

Monday

I did not get right to the chimney this morning, I had some pictures to edit and it took a little longer than I planned on. After I finished it was time for a visit to Dianne's. Dianne went up to get Rielee, so it was just Steve and I with the twins. Boy are they busy little girls, doing things all the time. Harper finally sat down on Steve's lap and he read to her.

I finally got started on the chimney about 3, it went good but when I went to take the exhaust fan apart things went downhill fast. I had used silicone gasket cement last time and it did not want to come off. After I got it apart and cleaned inside the stove, I went in and ordered the right gasket along with some other parts that need replacing. Now I can ignore it for a week until the parts come in. The only thing left now is to take the garbage can down to the road.

Sunday

Sunday on Monday, I decided to change the marking on my Stearman Sunday morning. All of these models have a 25 on them and I wanted mine to be different. After doing some research I found one painted just like mine is now except with different numbers (112). I was able to get the numbers off the rear fuselage pretty easily with a little heat. The numbers on the cowl were a different story, instead of decals, they were painted. It took many tries, but I finally managed to mix up some paint that matched.

Vera got back from church while I was researching this project so I went in for lunch and then started watching the Seahawks which I had recorded. The game sure goes a lot faster when you can fast forward through the commercials! That was followed by Sunday Night Football and then PBR Bull riding. It was a nice relaxed day. Hope yours was as good!