Getting Better

My cold has gotten lots better the last two days. I still have a tickle in my throat that causes a cough. Today I started the laundry as soon as I got up, trying to help Vera who is still not feeling very well. Her cold is effecting her ears and she had the volume on the TV up to 18, that is higher than I have to have it. After I put the last load on to dry I made a trip over to see how the twins were doing. It was a little later than yesterday and it showed, they were a little tired and having little (well maybe major) disagreements over toys.

Harper is finding a little comfort in her dog.

Ava was excited and squealing about the TV show.

After I was done with the washing, I went out and worked on the B-36. I added a piece of balsa sheeting to the bottom, I put a thin coat of epoxy on the fuselage and put them together. Then I covered them with waxed paper and wrapped the whole thing with two Ace Bandages to keep pressure on the sheeting until the epoxy sets up.

The twins are back!

Boy it seems like they have grown in the two weeks that I have not seen them because of my cold. They were in a great mood when I went over, they were just finishing lunch. After they were done we went over by the toy basket. I sat down on the couch and Ava brought me some toys and a doll. When they were busy with something else, I put my hat on the doll. It was quite a while before they noticed, then it couldn't be taken off quick enough! Ava laid it next to me and patted (pounded) it a few times until I put it on. They were playing with their blocks today and I laughed so hard my face hurt! They have great motor skills and it shows when stacking the blocks.

Afterwards I checked on Vera, this morning was the worst she has felt. She was still sleeping so I went to the shop and worked on the B-36 some more.

I got the rear of the fuselage shaped today and started making up the sheeting to cover the foam. When Vera got up, I had lunch and then made a mail run. I did a little more CyberMonday shopping and got another present out of the way. Monday Night Football wasn't the greatest game, so I gave up on it and did a little more work on the B-36 before settling in for the night.

Found It!

Well, I did not sleep that good last night! Vera slept in her chair to see if she could breath a little better. It must have been because she was not with me, but I woke up a bunch of times during the night. It turns out she did not sleep that great either. I puttered on the computer doing a little pre CyberMonday shopping and finally went out to the shop after lunch. I spent the afternoon finishing up the Stearman. When I started checking things out, I found why it crashed.

This servo for the elevator was bad! I turned things on and it moved up once and quit. That's just what happened when it crashed, I suddenly had some up elevator and it would not respond.

This is how it looks now with the new interplane struts (the ones shaped like an N) that I installed. It is back in the motor home now ready for it's test flight with a new servo on the elevator. I watched Sunday Night Football while I finished it up. Of course I heard that the Seahawks had lost, so I may not waste my time watching that recording. Both Vera and I are feeling a little better this evening. Her ear ache has pretty much gone away and she made some great soup for dinner.

I hope you are staying in good health and avoiding the colds going around.

Where did this day go?

My day seemed to fly by! I slept great again last night and it was almost 9 before I got up. Maybe that is why the day seems so short. By the time I did breakfast, emails and puttered around it was 2:30 in the afternoon and all I had done was spray a couple of coats of paint on those struts I made yesterday.

James, Parker and Auna were in an out several times watching TV and playing on the computer. Mik came by and picked up James later. He told me about the turkey dinner he was cooking, since Vera is not feeling any better I decided to cook dinner. I was craving Chow Mien so I ran down town to get some. As I got out of the Blazer, I discovered my billfold was home! Luckily there was enough change in the ashtray. After dinner I made another trip to the shop to try the new struts. After some work getting the wings lined up I discovered I had to modify them a little to make them fit better. Of course that scratched the paint so now they are drying again after repainting. It is going to look good when I am done. My cold must be getting better as I am eyeing the exercise equipment again.

One more day until CyberMonday!

Black Friday

Boy, I slept good Thursday night. The phone finally got me out of bed, it was James calling me to meet them for breakfast at Sherrie's. Mik, Michelle and James had been doing the Black Friday thing since 5 AM. We had a nice breakfast, I had their cranberrie pancakes with pecans sprinkled on top. They made up for the pecan pie I missed yesterday. Afterwards James came home with me as he was spending the night with Parker. He fell asleep on the way home and settled down on the couch for a 2 hour nap when we got home. I had thought about doing the Black Friday shopping as Walmart had an HP All in One wireless printer I was interested in. Our current one is acting up and it is only a matter of time until it quits. I did some checking and found I could get the same printer as Walmart had on sale at Office Max for $69 instead of $44 and I did not have to get up early. Further checking and I found out that it was a discountinued model. I did some more checking and found HP had a 50% off sale on some printers. One was the latest model All in One Wireless with Bluetooth which I ended up ordering.

Some of the Black Friday deals are good, but you have to be careful. James was in and out all day as he visited Aunt and played with Parker. I did some work on the Stearman making new struts to go between the wings. I found some airfoil shaped aluminum tubing in my racks that will look more scale than the plywood ones it had before. I also painted the new cowling and it turned out great. We spent a laid back evening watching TV. My cold seems to be getting better, but it sounds like Vera's is getting worse.

Hope you are staying healthy!

Thanksgiving

I had a small breakfast this morning, saving my appetite for dinner at the Mansion. This is the first time Debbie and Josh had came and it was lots of fun having them there. Beside them there was Bev, Mik, Michelle, James, Mik's mother Margret, Mik's brother Jim and his family, Kim, Rome, Gage and Elle. The food was good and lots of it. The only problem was James beat me to the last piece of Pecan pie. As we were leaving I saw they had put more out and considered going back for a piece. One of these times Debbie is going to smile normally for me if I'm lucky.

James came home with me and we hung out at the Robinson's for a while, Diannne wasn't feeling well and we hope she gets over it quickly. When we left there James wanted to take a 4-wheeler ride to the pipeline and creek.

When we got back James wanted to try the Snow Board Dianne had gotten him last year for Christmas. We looked around for a hill with snow and finally settled on the field down at Eddie's.

James would ride down the hill and I would haul him back up with the 4 wheeler. It finally got kind of dark so we headed home. We made a run to BK only to discover it was closed along with just about everything else, we went back home and had Chicken Pot Pies. Michelle came up to pick up James and we had a nice visit. Vera is fighting a sore throat so she stayed home today, everyone missed her!

It was nice being with family today, I hope you got to be with yours.

Even Colder

Our house never gets cold, the thermostat sets back to 64 at night. The thermostat is in the living room so our bedroom can be slightly cooler. As you can see the low inside 61.9 and outside it was 12.7 degrees. It still seemed cold, so I ended up sleeping in my sweats.

The pond is frozen over and the waterfall looks kind of pretty.

The duck is stuck! It doesn't fair too well in freezing weather.

My day was spent working on the Stearman. I am just about ready to put it back together. I painted the dummy engine and made up dummy spark plugs for it. If the paint doesn't need another coat I can install the plugs next time. I did get the 4 wheeler out and hauled some wood pellets to the shop. I took a ride on the trails afterwards but it was too cold for much of that. Most of the day the temperature stayed around 24 degrees. I made one run to town for the mail and a few supplies. It looks like maybe it has started warming up as the temperature was up to 27 when I came in.

Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving!

Dang its Cold!

I slept good last night, the cold didn't seem to bother me. After I finished getting ready for the day, I looked at the thermometer. Wow! it is cold outside. It was 18, the thermometer is showing the low last night.

I took a look out the back door and it was beautiful out, not a cloud in the sky. I was going to check the sunrise, but forgot while doing emails and breakfast.

I was a little concerned about the motor home plumbing as I did not remember to put anti freeze in the drains until late last night and it was already 20 degree then. I put on my Carhart Arctic work suit and went to check on it. I have a small leak in the tub drain that will have to be fixed when it warms up. Since it was forecast to get into the single digits tonight I put a heater under there to keep things warm. I also took in one of our fountains after I heard the pump making weird noises and it was froze up. I spent the rest of the day working on the Stearman and made good head way on it.

When I came in from the last check on the motor home I took a couple of pictures of the shop in the dark. I was going to take some of the house, but the lens frosted up. Probably because it was 15 degrees out there.

Snow

I got up a little after 7 and checked outside, but no snow. I showered and dressed and it had started snowing so I took this picture at 7:50.

I made breakfast, ate it and checked emails and looked out at 9:30 and this is what we had.

I went around and took pictures of several things before heading out to the shop.

About 12 or so I measured and there was 2 inches on the rail of the shop porch. We made a mail run as I had some airplane parts at the Post Office. Then it was back to working on the Stearman. I measured one more time during the afternoon and there was 3 inches. It warmed up some and a little melted and then it started snowing again and the temperature dropped. The last time I checked it was 24 degrees so not much will be gone tomorrow. We watched Monday night football, there sure have been some lop sided games lately. They are much more fun to watch when they are close. I did get Model Aviation read during it. I would have liked to go see the twins in the snow, but I don't want to expose them to this cold. It is feeling a little better today so I have high hopes that I am on the mend.

Snow!

I am fighting a head cold so I didn't do any exercises this morning. I had the second half of the 49'er omelet and hash browns from the dinner last night. The 49'er puts everything in it, even chili and it tasted great. I went out to the shop later than normal and puttered on the Stearman for awhile before coming in about Noon. I was sure surprised when I came out of the shop and it was snowing. After lunch Vera and I watched the Steelers game. I was a little stiff after sitting through that so I headed back to the shop to work on the Stearman some more. On the way I took the picture below.

The next break was for dinner and to watch the Seahawks which was a disappointment, I fast forwarded through lots of that game. Then we watched remainder of the Eagles and Giants game. I didn't accomplish much today, but I feel better this evening so maybe the cold is on the mend. I'll cross my fingers and toes and hope so. I see an 80% chance of snow tomorrow and lows in the 20's for Monday and Tuesday so I think it will be inside days for me.
Hope you are staying warm!

Christmas List

Boy was it cold this morning when I went to the shop to exercise. It is going to be colder tomorrow, so I may take a day off. I decided to clean my electronics bench today, it turned in to a little (maybe a lot) bigger job than I expected. Once when I made a trip into the house I heard a helicopter coming so I went out on the back deck to take a picture.

The Chinook was level with me out over the valley and I could just catch glimpses of it through the trees. I thought I got it, but it was nowhere to be found in the picture. They were flying pretty low today as we are 340 feet and it was at the same height.

It may not look like it, but this is a vast improvement on my work bench. I couldn't see the top this morning. I threw away lots of stuff out of the drawers that I will never use again. Some of the parts were for 35 year old radio gear that doesn't work anymore. Mik and Michelle had to come to Castle Rock this evening so they took us to dinner at the 49'er. Afterwards we watched the finish of the Oregon USC game. It was a nice relaxing evening. After they left I came in and started on my Christmas list, it is getting to be that time of year.

Hope you stay warm the next couple of days.

Friday Winterizing

Holy Cow was it a cold wind this morning! After exercises, breakfast and emails we went out and did our winterizing. The forecast looks like the next week will be pretty cold. I drained the hose reels and put them away, put facet covers on and cleaned the bird bath.

I guess this rose doesn't know it is winter. After we finished outside, it was off to the Post Office to pick up the mail. The BPA letter told about a website where we could check the route of the new line. We checked that as soon as we got home and then it was off to see the twins.

Boy do the twins love the remote! When grandma asks for it back, they take off now.

Harper had her shot at it also, they punch those buttons like crazy.

I don't know why Ava gave me this look, but it sure made us laugh

I did some more work on the planes today, that windshield is not coming off the Cessna now. I put matching magnets on it in place of the washers I had before. In fact, it is hard to get off now. I cleaned up the bench were I had been shaping the B-36 fuselage and then swept and vacuumed the floor. Things are looking pretty good out there now. I wonder how long that will last?

Little Visitors

I was back to the exercises as soon as I got up this morning. Then it was the normal morning routine along with a mail run. I went over and visited at the Robinson's after we got back. Darn those twins are fun! They were both feeding me bites of pretzels today. They can feel the crunch of the bite so they don't pull it back until I take a nibble. When I got home, UPS had been there with the new stainless steel recycling bin. After I unpacked it I had lots of cardboard to flatten. I had a few boxes in the shop also so I got them all done and loaded in the van. I was feeling ambitious so I took out the recycling and cleaned the pond.

I got the nose gear for the F-4 finished this afternoon. The new one retracts much better and just a little of the wheel shows, with the old one half the wheel was out.

While I was working in the shop the door opened and in came Harper and Ava. I had a great time showing Harper the stove was hot and she said "Hot". They looked at the planes and I gave Harper a ride in my mechanics chair. She didn't want to get out when they left. After dinner I put the Thursday Night football game on record so I could fast forward through the commercials later and went back out to the shop. Around 6:30 there was a knock on the door and the couple from the folks place came by with their daughter to tell us goodbye as they are moving out.

Huntress has just turned one year old last week and was pretty animated by the time they left. Sorry to see them go as they were nice quiet neighbors. After that I settled in and watched the football game, good game since the Bears won and we were rooting for them.

Hope you stayed dry today!

Good Intentions

I had good intentions this morning, while Vera was at bible study I was going to finish the landing gear on the F-4. Then I slept in, decided to skip the exercises today and ended up puttering on the computer until it was almost time for her to get home. I did fill the bird feeders. After lunch I went out and worked on the landing gear but did not get it done. I went over to visit at Dianne's and play with the twins a little until it was time for James' wrestling match.

Ava is really good at stacking the blocks while watching TV, Multitasking already!

Rielee took Harper for a ride and provided lots of things to keep Harper occupied. Rielee also told us that kids that don't mind at Kindergarten get "Processed", sounded pretty scary to us.

Boy was it raining as we went to James' wrestling match. We got there early and had a parking spot fairly close to the school. James had 3 matches, 2 were during the tournament and 1 was after, a grudge match with another Cascade wrestler. He lost the first two matches, but you can really see where he is getting stronger and learning more moves. I added a video of the last match which he won.

A Fun Day

After the morning routine of exercises, breakfast and email, Vera and I went down to get the mail. Not much there now that the elections are over. We took the long way home over Headquarters Road and found some sunshine highlighting the valley as we went up the hill.

I saw this rather forlorn looking house on the South Silver Lake Road.

After we got home I worked on the Eurofighter for a while finishing the installation of the new retracts that came yesterday. After lunch I made a trip over to see what was new with the twins.

I took a Kodak EasyShare along to see what the girls thought of it. Harper loved it and no one else got a chance to look at it.

Ava was rolling around on the floor in front of me when she struck this pose. She was really putting on a show.

After I went home, I got out the F-4 Phantom that is having nose gear issues also and started changing it to an electric retract. It is going good and I should finish it tomorrow. When I came in for dinner, I sat in my recliner and immediately fell asleep. I decided it was back to the shop for me or I would be ruining my nights sleep. Now that dinner has digested, I am ready for a little pumpkin pie and ice cream while I watch some TV.

Monday Football

Boy did the Eagles put on a show tonight, 59 to 28 right now with 2 minutes to go. It was a pretty laid back day for us. We had our normal morning routine with a quick mail run and a delivery of books to Vera's friend. UPS showed up with my new heavier duty retracts for the Eurofighter. That along with the B-36 kept me busy for the rest of the day. I gave up on Monday Night football about half time and went back out and worked on the planes. I talked to Barry this morning, he is in AZ now trying to recover from going through 3 time zones along with the change back to standard time. I made a run over to see how much the twins had grown in the last 5 days. The only thing I could really notice was their hair seemed much longer. The only other big event was taking the garbage can down to the road. For seeming like a do nothing day, it sure went by fast!

Toledo Flying

First thing this morning I looked at the Toledo Airport Webcam and it was clear, so I started getting ready to go. I got there at about 10:30 and one of the other members was just unlocking the gate. Excellent timing on my part. The first thing I did was get the Cessna out and put the first flight on it. It flew great and only needed minor trim adjustments. The one problem I had with it was at high speeds the removable windshield would blow off and put a dent in the tail as it went off. Of course, I forgot and did it again, then I had to take a walk out into the field to get it.

This is John's Electric Ducted Fan Mirage. It flies great and we were surprised how slow it would fly, it has a pretty wide speed range.

Rob just after a flight with his Ultimate. He has just put a bigger engine in it and it has unlimited vertical performance now.

Our friend Audrey shooting touch and goes, she made a bunch of great landings. It turned out to be a good day for flying with very light winds all day, it never warmed up much and my shoes were wet from retrieving the windshield out in field and as the day went on my feet got colder and colder.

I was flying my Stearman today and something went wrong and I had no control of the elevator. Now I have some repairs to make as it came straight down about 20 feet.

I came home early because of the cold feet and watched my recording of the Seahawks, they looked pretty good today. Then we watched the Sunday Night Football recording of the Steelers and it was not pretty!

Back to the Peacemaker

Boy did I sleep good last night! I was up doing my exercises at 6:30, I added more reps again today and still finished in 45 minutes. I even set the treadmill steeper and it was no problem. After breakfast and the normal email and news checks we made a run to pick up the mail. Since the Cessna is done I decided to go back to work on the B-36 Peacemaker. It is a cold war plane that never did drop a bomb in anger.

The fuselage is a balsa core surrounded by blue foam.

I ran a hot wire around the formers to rough shape it, but it leaves marks and ripples in the foam. The part I have been dreading is the final shaping of the fuselage. I came up with a plan to turn it with my 1/2 inch drill and shape it with a sanding disc. I made up mounts for each end, but things did not run true. I decided to put a universal joint in at the drill. Off we went to Bredfield's to see if they had anything that would work. No luck there or at the auto parts store so we headed for Kelso/Longview. I finally ended up at Sears and got a 1/4 inch drive socket universal that worked great! If I can get the epoxy off it when I am done it will go into the tool box. We hit Dairy Queen for dinner and then headed home to finish the setup.

I made up a mount for the drill that slides along a piece of aluminum angle to keep it lined up. So far it is working pretty good and I am about half way done. If we don't go flying tomorrow, I may get it done then.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Well, I missed two days again. I am sticking with the exercises pretty well so far and getting faster at them. Thursday being Veterans Day we did not do much. I worked on the Cessna some. and did some work in Photoshop on pictures I had scanned in with the new scanner. It is an Epson and I really like it.

I was done with exercises in 45 minutes Friday. I got the mower out and cleaned the leaves off the lawn and driveway in the afternoon. I got the servos installed in the Cessna today and the radio all set up.

Saturday I upped the count on my exercises and I was still done in 45 minutes. I finished up the Cessna and it is ready for its test flight. You can see the elevator and rudder servos in the picture. The black box on the left side is the receiver and the black object with the red and black wires is the battery. I made the two rear windows so I can push them in and they catch on those odd shaped wires and let the warm air out. The battery and speed control in these planes generates quite a bit of heat and they last longer if you have air flow to cool them.

I did a little work on the motor home, installing a 12 volt plug so I can have power to charge the models on the bench without having to pack one of the gel cells. It is about time to head in and watch something on the DVR, there doesn't seem to be much on that we are interested in watching on any of the channels.

Dang it is cold out!

You can sure tell winter is fast approaching, it was chilly every time I was outside today. I did my exercises again this morning and they are getting easier. I did not lose any flexibility in the left knee when I took the time off for the swelling. By the time I finished with breakfast and icing it Vera was home from bible study. I made a trip over after lunch to see how the twins were doing. Dianne had just put them down for a nap and Ava was not liking it.

I came back to the shop and worked on the Cessna until it was time to leave for James' wrestling. I made good headway, the motor, cowl, prop and speed control are installed. I checked the motor rotation and had to reverse it. I also started installing the servo mounts, finishing the last one just before we had to leave.

James' first match was against a kid from his school and he won it by pinning him. The ref is just about ready to signal the pin.

Here the ref is lifting James arm in victory. His second match was against a kid he knows from baseball, an 8Th grader who went undefeated last year. The kid was good and pinned James. James is looking like he improves every time. Vera and I went to the Royal Buffet for dinner afterwards. Now I am having a hard time staying awake with this full tummy.

Sunday Monday and Tuesday

OK, does anyone remember what I did Sunday? I think I worked on the plane while Vera was in Church. I watched some football and recorded the Seahawks for later. Good thing too, I could fast forward through the bad parts (most of the game!).

Monday I started exercising my knee again. I had quit when it was swollen until I saw the doctor. Now I do about an hour of exercising first thing in the morning, then after I shower I ice it while eating breakfast and checking email and news. Then I did some work on the Cessna until the twins woke up from their nap.

I had a great time playing blocks with them. Ava is really proud when she stacks them.

Harper is really concentrating on stacking hers. James had a 3:30 wrestling match so we headed out a little early to pick up the mail and do a little shopping.

This is the start of James' match. The other kid had been wrestling for 3 years so he had lots of moves.

James did score a few points before he was pinned. After the match we headed up to Centralia for the Lewis County Radio Control Club meeting. Then it was back home to watch the recording of Monday Night Football. Vera's Steeler's won so we were happy. It looked like they were trying to give the win away for a while.

Tuesday after I had done my exercises we headed down to Office Max to pick up two filing cabinets we had ordered. On the way home, (we took the long way) I stopped at Awesome Donuts to try them out. You should see the Apple Fritter I got! When we got home I assembled the filing cabinets and started cleaning the desk and rearranging. The desk was so bad there was hardly room for the keyboard. About half way through the job I had to take a break, so I went and visited at the Robinson's to see what was going on there.

Steve builds these tall shapes with the blocks and the girls knock them over, Harper got to do this one. She noticed a thread that is pulled up on the knee of my jeans and spent several minutes pulling on it and patting it back down. The visit got me refreshed enough to come back and finish the job in here. There is still a few things to do, but the worst is over.

Hope you had a good day!