Naps are good!

Naps are good, and easy to take when you have to lay on your back a lot. I must be getting used to sleeping flat on my back with my leg propped up, because I slept great last night.  The leg continues to improve and I hope I can get out and do something tomorrow.   The banana bread the twins brought over yesterday tastes great!  I spent the day getting the old laptop ready for use in the shopand sorting the magazines that seem to collect around my chair.

New Computer

My leg was much better this morning!  The red area was about half the size it was yesterday, so the antibiotics and elevating it are working.  I spent most of the morning with it elevated until Vera's new computer showed up.  Then I was probably up more than I should have been setting it up.  The highlight of my day was when the twins brought me little loafs of banana bread.  I asked them if they helped grandma make it and they said they stirred.  By the end of the evening, Vera's computer was all updated and running good, so I started getting the old ready to go to the shop.  Hopefully a couple more days of this 24/7 elevating and I can get back to doing things.

Darn!

I got up early and headed to Kaiser this morning for my monthly blood test and to have someone look at my limb incident cut.  I got right in for the blood test, and then was able to schedule a 10:10 appointment to have my leg looked at.

Since I had 2 hours to kill, I went to Walmart and ended up with a new TV for the computer room.  I ran it home and came back for my appointment,  I liked the doctor and his nurse.  It turns out I have an infection.  They put me on antibiotics for 2 weeks and I have to keep it elevated 24/7 for a few days.  This is going to be darn boring! 

Basketball and Football Sunday

I was up early and headed to Kelso for James' 9:00 basketball game.  James played about half of the first game and played pretty good.  They ended up in a 3 way tie for the chance to play for first place.  There was a 3 point shoot out before the game to see who would play.  They ended up being in a 3 way tie again and having to do it again and James made the basket that broke that tie and got them into the second shoot off.  They won that one, so they got to play in the final game against the team they went into overtime with yesterday.  They stayed pretty close for the first half, but the other team pulled away at the end.

They ended up in second place, here is the team with their medals.  I had been looking at TV's for the computer room between games, so I made one more stop at Sears to check theirs out.  I ran into Cliff there and had a nice visit with him.  I gave Vera a call to see if she had picked up the groceries we needed (I was not going to end up with two of everything again!) and then stopped at Safeway before heading home.  I watched my recording of the Seahawks losing and then took a break to do this before watching Sunday Night Football.

Basketball and airplanes

I slept a little better last night, in fact when I finally woke up I had to hustle and get ready to head for James' basketball game.  It was an exciting game, close all the way and then went into overtime tied 43 all.  They ended up losing by 4 points in the overtime.  James played good, I saw him get rebounds, steals and points.

After the game, we headed up to Toledo so I could try my new Super Cub.  It flew great and the lights really showed up.  I put in three flights and then we went down by the Cowlitz in Toledo and ate lunch.

When I had the motor home put away, I walked over and checked out Dianne's new laptop, it is nice with a very large screen.  I had exchanged the shop faucet cartridge today, so I installed it and now there is no more drip, drip!  The pellet stove was out when we got home, the igniter had burned out.  I bought an extra last time I ordered parts, so I put that in this evening.  It is a heck of a spot, you can hardly see it, let alone get a wrench on it.  I finally got the new one installed and the stove seemed to light faster.

Lazy Day

I was wide awake at 3AM this morning!  After I laid there for 45 minutes, I decided to go in to my recliner and put the heat pad on my back.  It always puts me to sleep when I am watching TV!  It worked again and and I slept until about 7 when I got up to check Black Friday sales.  Michelle texted me about 7:30 so we could meet at 8 for breakfast at Shari's.  We had made arrangements to meet after their shopping this morning, so James could come home with me.  We had a nice visit and breakfast, then James and I headed home.  He had brought his new Xbox game and spent the day playing it and visiting with his buddies online.  He rested from his short night by doing that, but I had to take a nap!  Barry called this afternoon, he is at the dunes in California with his neighbors who have sand rails.  The one he has had a ride in has a 650 horse Corvette engine, he said it goes like crazy.  He sounded like he is having a great time.

A Happy Thanksgiving!

We had Thanksgiving brunch at the Mansion today with all of our family except Mik and Kim who were both sick.  We had a great time visiting and enjoying our meal.  This has become a tradition that we look forward to.

James continues to grow like crazy, it will not be long and we will see eye to eye!  We were really happy to get home before the rain hit this afternoon!  The rest of the day was spent editing photos and checking Black Friday ads online.  It is always nice to get together with the family!

It is Done!

Tuesday

It was a stormy, rainy day so we just stayed at home all day.

The flicker has been enjoying the apples in the tree by the pond.
I started putting the windows in the Cub and did some touch up painting on the F-15, I had a little landing accident the last time out and did not notice the dings until I got home.  John came by to pick up the Extra I gave him and we had a nice visit.  I got an email later from him that the wing plans were missing.  I looked in one spot, but found nothing, so I went in and settled in for an evening of TV.

Wednesday

I am back at the exercises after letting my leg heal up from the limb incident.  While Vera was at bible study, I finished up the Super Cub, now if the weather forecasters are right, I will test fly it on Saturday.  After Vera got home, we went for a ride to have lunch and see how high the rivers are.

This is from the Lion's park at the South end of town.  The fishermen will not be parking on the other side for a few days.  There was lots of debris floating by.  When we had finished lunch, we cruised the dike and then went out around Wren Loop road.  The Arkansas wasn't flooding, so we headed up to Mickey Mouse to look at the Toutle.

The Toutle was running really fast and very dirty with lots of debris floating down it.  I would not want to be in it, as I saw logs sucked under by the current.

We were glad that we did not have to go out on the freeway the last couple of days, the spray looks terrible!

Every once in a while, I take a picture of this building on Dougherty Dr. the blackberries are slowly claiming it.  I did a little Black Thursday window shopping this afternoon, but did not buy anything.  I am curious to see if the prices get better Friday or Cyber Monday.

The Cub and Football

Sunday

I started some football games recording and worked on the Cub wiring today.  It seemed like I was making servo extensions all day.  I took one break and watched the Raiders win, then back at the wiring again.  When I finally got the wiring finished, I went in and watched the Seahawks win their game.

Monday

Today, I neatened up the wiring, programmed the lighting controller, installed the wing struts, programmed the radio and tested everything.  I love this radio, everything went the right way first try and I could have flown it without any further adjustments.  The only thing left now is putting the windows in, it was lots easier running all the wiring when I could reach in through them.  I came in and watched my recording of Monday Night Football, once again, my team won!  During the last quarter, Vera made oatmeal cookies that turned out great!  It was nice doing this blog with a cookie snack!

More Cub building

I woke up feeling pretty good today, the shin was not too sore, but enough that I knew it was there.  I decided not to exercise and give it a couple of days to heal.  I put ice on it a couple of times today and that sure helped the swelling.  I got lots done on the Cub today, this morning I finished hinging the ailerons and flaps while they were drying we made a mail, groceries and BK lunch run to town.  When we got home, I did some more work on the lights for the Cub and took a break for ice while that was drying.

While I was sitting with the ice pack on my leg, I noticed how much better we can see the sunsets with the leaves off.  I planned on taking a picture of the sunset, but forgot while I was eating the delicious casserole and garlic bread Vera had made for dinner. 

I got most of the lights done on the Cub this evening and I could not resist hooking up the landing light and seeing how it looked.

Dang it's Cold!

It was sure chilly this morning, the new heater felt great while I was doing my exercises!  I made a visit to the Robinson's this morning.  The girls were watching TV in Steve's room, so I had a nice visit with Dianne.  Then Ava came in with the Hot Wheels storage container which turned out to have dominoes in it.  It was funny to listen to them hollering back and forth at each other.  Ava finally went in to see what Harper wanted.  After that, I worked on the Cub some more and got the landing lights installed.  They look pretty good if I do say so myself!

The sun came out this afternoon, so I hopped on the mower and started blowing leaves off the lawn, a little after I started, I noticed the twins and Dianne had come over.  I shut the mower down and went to meet them, the twins each had a plate with a cinnamon roll on it for me.  Boy did that taste good!  The lawn turned out pretty good, so I did the driveway.

Hopefully the third time is the charm on cleaning up the leaves.  A limb that has been hanging in the fir trees for years finally came down in the wind storm the other day.  As I was throwing it into the brush, I kind of forgot to let go and it took me with it. This evening we went to a play at the church called "The Real Housewives of Cricket County" a hillbilly comedy by Eddie McPherson.  This is the third play the church group has put on and each one gets better.  It was so funny that it cracked up the cast a couple of times.  During the play my shin kept aching, after we got home, I looked at it and it seems I did not escape the limb incident unscathed. 

A great day to work on the Cub!

Boy did it rain and blow last night and at times today!  You would never know I cleaned up the lawn a couple of days ago.  It was a good day for inside projects, so I spent most of the day working on the Super Cub.

I got all the wheels on it and hooked up the push-rods to the elevator and rudder.  Of course as I was putting the wheels on I dropped a set screw, I could hear it bouncing around on the floor.  I got my magnet out and went over the whole area, I found 3 other set screws, but no sign of the one I dropped.  I ended up tapping the hole to a size I had.  I was ready for a break after that, so I went in for lunch, which turned into a nap.  When I finished the nap, it had cleared up a little, so I got the leaf blower out and blew off the decks.  I was going to get the mower out and do the lawn again, but it started raining.  After that, it was back to the Cub, I got the tail light in, ran the wiring for one wing tip light and installed the hinges for one flap.

On my last trip out, I decided to take a picture of the instrument panel, it is looking pretty good!

I spent the rest of the evening watching the Thursday night football game.  Glad I recorded it and could zip through it, as it was low scoring and not very good play by either team.  The final 2 minutes was the best part of the game. 

Heater

UPS brought my new heater for the shop this morning.  The front half of the shop is pretty cool in the mornings when I exercise, so I got this radiant heater to mount on the ceiling and aimed it down at my weight machine.  I worked on the Cub and got the rudder installed after lunch.  We made a run to Longview this afternoon, I needed a new cartridge for the faucet in the shop and a new light.  While we were there, we made several other stops and I ended up finding some glue to try on the windows of the Cub.  After dinner, I went out to put the cartridge in, I turned it on and water went everywhere!  The cartridge was the wrong one!  I put the old one back in and will return the other one the next time we are in town.  I worked on the Cub's lights for awhile and then called it a night.  I was in here getting ready to do my blog when there was a knock on the door, Vera answered it, it was Auna with a warm pumpkin pie for feeding the cats last week.

 It tastes great, Thank You Laury!

Lots of company today!

The cold is definitely getting better, I slept great last night and the exercises this morning were easy.  I found myself doing extra rep's if I got to daydreaming.  Some of the club members were coming down to look at the stuff I have to give away, so I did some rearranging to make it easier.  Bob showed up first with his new Spitfire and Radio.  It is a nice kit and we finally agreed on a way to strengthen the wing saddle area.  John was the next one there, followed by Leonard, Audrey, Bill and his wife.  Vera invited the ladies to visit with her in the house, something they were happy to do.  The guys went through the stuff from Bruce and found quite a few things they could use.  After they left, I rearranged again and then we went down to BK for dinner.  It was fun visiting with everyone this afternoon and the day just seemed to fly by.  This evening I got the floor, seats and tail bracing installed on the Super Cub.

Club Meeting

My cold is getting better, so I went out and did my exercises this morning.  I could really notice the changes from not doing them for about 2 weeks.  Right after breakfast and checking the fire in the shop, I went over to see how the Robinson's tourney trip went and to see the twins.

It was really cute when Ava went to the cupboard, opened the door, reached inside and undid the child proof latch and got the Play Doh out.

Right away, they called for Papa, it seems Steve is a Play Doh Master.  Lots of fun, I ended up making enough little balls to fill Ava's container.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning in the shop until I got tired, then I went in and took an hour nap before we left for the Lewis County RC club meeting.

This is at the end of the meeting, Dick, the president is getting ready to have the drawing for the door prize.

Our friend Bob won the door prize, an airplane shaped personal fan, with candy in the base.  I had taken a load of things to the meeting, it all got taken.  Cameron, the young man in the picture above, was thrilled to get the airplane I had brought up.  It was a fun evening with a bunch of nice people.

Thinking Big

This is one of the things from Bruce that I decided to keep!  It is a Saito 3 cubic inch 4 stroke twin.  Dick Evans had one and the sound was awesome!  I am going to have to build something big, so I can hear this one run.  I puttered in the shop today, cleaning up some of the stuff I am giving away.  I made a trip up to feed Charlie first thing this morning, but the Dolans were home, so I went and gave Buttons some food.  I watched some football after lunch, then went back and worked on planes some more.  After that, I came in and watched my recording of the Seahawks, it made my day when they beat the Raven's.  Finally, it was one more trip to the shop, so I could take a picture of the engine.

Pictureless Friday and Saturday

Friday

Friday turned into a pretty busy day,  the first thing I did was go see about the cats.  After a night out, Charlie was ready to come in, I ended up leaving them both in for the day.  Thursday afternoon Vera had gotten a call from Bruce Coopers wife, he wanted me to have the radio control equipment his family did not take.  I made arrangements to start picking it up Friday morning, I forgot all about Vera's walk, so she had to do the short version.  It ended up being two loads of stuff, some I can use, the rest I will give to other club members.  We were lucky, the rain held off until we got the last of it loaded.  I worked on the Stearman for a while, repairing the firewall, which came loose when I tipped it over doing a touch and go.  I found the problem during the repair, the axles were dry, a little oil and the wheels spin like crazy.

Saturday

Saturday after checking on the cats, I started sorting all the stuff we brought home yesterday.  That turned into a big job, it went a lot faster when Vera came out and helped me make some decisions about what to keep and what to give away.  We got a box prepared for the Lewis County meeting on Monday.  The evening kitty check went OK, Charlie was happy to stay in this morning while the other cat headed right outside.  This evening it was back to go in for the night and keep Charlie company.  I came in and watched Emmy's CWU volleyball team win their game in 3 sets.  Castle Rock Volleyball was in the final game at state at the same time and ended up coming in second, probably hard for the girls as they wanted first really bad.

Flying at Toledo

Wednesday

Since I was planning on flying Thursday, I made a run to town and filled the motor home's propane tank, got the mail and picked up the milk and bananas we forgot yesterday.  My breakfast wasn't dry as there was about a cup left in the jug.  The parts for the Super Cub were in the mail I picked up, so I spent the afternoon and part of the evening installing some of them.

Thursday

It turned out to be a great day of flying!  Eight flyers were able to come out and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Everyone was in a great mood, so we had a very enjoyable day.

Need I say that we stayed the entire day!  It really cooled off in a hurry when the sun went down.  When we got home, I went up to Laury's to put Charlie the cat in for the night.  He don't like me, I opened the door and tried to coax him in with treats, he was having none of that!  I went down the driveway and left the door open, but he still would not go in.  After a half hour I gave up and went home to put the motor home away.  I went back a tried again later, same story, I can see him in the shadows but he wouldn't go in.  I tried circling around behind him and that did not work either.  Maybe I will have better luck tomorrow.  

Church Fire

Sunday 11 - 6 - 2011
When Vera came home from church, she was excited about the fire at the church. A drunk had broken in and set 6 fires trying to burn the church down.  Thankfully they all went out, God's intervention?  Then my modeler friend who is a sheriff's deputy stopped by and filled me in on what he knew.  I spent most of today watching football, that was a waste of time, none of my teams won!  I did do a little work on the Cub.

Monday 11 - 7 - 2011
We ran to Lowe's this morning to pick up some new lights for the shop, I have been fighting with one fluorescent light and decided it was time to replace it.  I changed it to track lighting so I can aim it at areas where I work.  I had also picked up a new porch light that focused the light downward better.  Both of those projects were successful and I can see much better now.  I worked on the interior of the Cub today, it will have seats and interior so none of the framework shows.

Tuesday 11 - 8 - 2011
More work on the Cub's interior today, plus I put on the door handle, which made opening the doors much easier.  Now that I think about it, we forgot to make our mail, milk and banana run today, breakfast might be a little dry in the morning.

I went over to see what was new with the twins this afternoon.  They had just gotten up from their nap and it was lunch time.  Harper insisted on eating at the little play table next to my chair, it wasn't long before Ava wanted to be there also.  I had a great time acting like I was going to take a bite of their lunch.  They are really quick to put their hands over it and say "No! Mine!" or "No my cookie!".  Lots of fun and an hour went by really quick.  I really didn't need a cookie as Vera had just finished a batch before I went over there and I had 3.

Pizza

Friday we did our voting and turned in the ballots.  Afterwards, we decided to go down and checkout at the remodeled Walmart.  We liked it much better than the new one by Home Depot, if fact we disliked that one so much we only went there once.  I did some work on the Cub and was on the computer the rest of the day.

The motor I decided to use is going to work out great!  The people who have built the Cub report that it takes 2 to 4 oz. of weight in the nose, the motor I put in is 3 oz. heavier than the one they recommended.

This morning after I finished burning some DVD's for Will, we made a run down to Papa Murphy's, they had stuffed pizza's on sale for $13.  I spent the rest of the day working on the Cub, adding some more reinforcements, hinging the rudder and running the wiring for the tail light.

That is as far as I got before it was time to watch Emmy's game in Anchorage.  They were exciting games and it ended up going 5 games before Anchorage finally won.  It looked like Emmy played really well. 

Game day in Alaska

After a morning on the computer, I went out and started working on the new Super Cub.  I got the landing gear installed and did some reinforcement in the window area.  That is normally the weak point in a plane with lots of windows and doors.  I used my 12 inch drill bit to drill through the formers and glued 1/8 inch carbon fiber rods in.  This evening I watched online as Emmy's CWU Wildcats won in 3 games in Fairbanks Alaska.  They were good games, close enough to keep it interesting.

Brrrr!

29 degrees when I got up this morning, that put an end to doing anything outside for a while.  I puttered on the internet, then went out and worked on planes until Vera got home from bible study.  After lunch it had warmed up enough that I went out and got to work.  I moved 5 bags of wood pellets to the shop, drained all the hoses and put them away, took down the hanging plants, replaced the pond pump that went bad and used the mower to blow leaves off the driveway and lawn.

It is nice to have the pond back to normal.  When the pump failed, I discovered that style was no longer made, the one I ended up with had bigger connections, so I had to modify the skimmer.  Just as I was finishing mowing the leaves, James called and asked if we wanted to go to his basketball practice game.  As I was talking to him it started raining, I was lucky today and got everything done. We had a quick dinner, I changed and we headed to Kalama for the game.  We had a good time watching it, even though they lost they played well.  They have only practiced 3 or 4 times, so they have some work to do.

I might be there when it warms up!

When I saw the post on the forum about flying today, my answer was "I might be there when it warms up!".  They were thinking they might not see me until spring!  The airport webcam showed fog all morning, we left home at 11 and saw a few blue spots.  There was plenty of fog when we got to Toledo about Noon, I flew up into it once to see how high I could go and still see the plane.  Vera watched the altimeter and at 220 feet I had to quit.

Audrey is at the most popular spot today, it really felt good, it finally cleared off about 2 and got really sunny and I was able to shut the propane heater off.  It was great flying weather, I got in 12 flights.  There ended up being 7 flyers out today.  About 5 it started cooling down again and everyone gave it up and headed home.  I had a club meeting in Longview, so it was hook up the motor home to power, change clothes, grab a bite to eat and head out.  The meeting had the best attendance of any this year.  I ended up getting nominated for vice president, it is OK, as I have not done much there lately.