Bean Soup!

All day long I was treated to the aroma of Vera's bean soup cooking.  She had found the recipe last night, so right after breakfast we headed down to the store for the ingredients.

When I opened the blogger, I noticed that I have made 1016 posts since I started doing this, it amazes me that it went by so fast.  This morning, I published the LCRC newsletter, I have always enjoyed doing things like that.  We both ended up having a cup of the soup for lunch, it is good!  We got a call from Leonard and Audrey, wondering if they could stop by with a disc from Rob.  Since Audrey is the club treasurer, I hurried up and got the club charter renewal done.  She did not have the club check book with her, so she took the renewal home and will mail it off.  We had a nice visit before they headed for Cougar.  Audrey tried Vera's soup as they left, and went home with the recipe.  I had soup and crackers for dinner, it was great!  I made up another gear door yesterday and it was too flexible, just like the other one I made last week.  Wouldn't you know it, 4 kinds of epoxy on the shelf to try making the gear door with, I can rule out the 5 minute epoxy, so that left three and it looks like number three is it, the one I made tonight looks the same color as the one I made several months ago that is not too flexible.  Maybe this is the one that will work, we will see in the morning when it is cured.

Oops!

It wasn't raining today, so I decided to attack the blueberry bushes by the deck, I don't think they had ever been pruned.  They were leaning about 3 feet into the lawn so I couldn't mow along there.  I ended up hauling one garden trailer load of clippings to the lower compost pile.  After lunch, I was having so much fun that I started on the bushes and shrubs along the driveway.  That generated an even bigger load that I hauled over to the compost pile by the walnut tree.  The Velcro I put on last night pulled right off this afternoon, so I super glued it, then I took the Viking out on the driveway to taxi it a little.  I sat it down, looked up and there was Des heading home.  I gave right rudder to taxi out of the way, the plane turned left and ran off the driveway.  I had the nose gear steering hooked up backwards, it was an easy fix, I just moved the linkage to the other side of the servo arm.  I was working on the P-51B's landing gear when Jeff and Tina showed up, we had a nice visit with them.

Visitors!

Dick and Bob came to visit today, Dick had a new plane to be checked out and Bob came to see the changes in the shop and paint booth.  After the new plane was checked out we had a great time talking airplanes.  I spent the rest of the day finishing the Viking, the only thing left is putting in the Velcro for the receiver.

Behind again!

Sunday

It was a pretty laid back day around here Sunday, I did some wiring on the Viking, then when I tested it, I found out those two little fans have quite a bit of thrust!  I had it on my lap, hooked up the battery and it almost flew off my lap, surprised the heck out of me.  The next time, I put a speed control in and ran it up slowly!  I watched the last 50 laps of the Daytona race.  The last lap was exciting, there were two sets of wrecks, one on the back stretch and one just before the finish line, cars were going across the finish line backwards, sideways, every way you can imagine.  Barry called, he had been to the Arizona NHRA Nationals today, the guy he went with saw Barry during the coverage on ESPN, it was the first time Barry had ever been to a drag race.  They were in the VIP section and had a great view of everything.  I had big plans to finish up the CD, DVD project for Vera's classmates today, but I discovered there were no labels, so that was put on hold until Monday.  I settled into my chair and spent the evening watching the Great Race with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, I don't know how many times I have watched it, but I enjoy it every time!  They just don't make movies like that anymore.

Monday

Right after breakfast, we headed to Office Max for labels, then over to Office Depot for some printable DVD's.  When we got home, I printed up the labels, Vera put them on, I put the DVD's and CD's in and we went down and mailed them.  I had to put a customs declaration on one going to Mexico, funny, because they only cost 25 cents each.   I made a trip over to see the twins, Ava decided I needed a cinnamon roll, then insisted Steve get me a "BIG" plate!  They each had one with me, maybe that was the reason?  I fitted a couple of servos in the Viking, put wheel collars on and did some shop clean up as it is garbage day.  I did a short walk on the treadmill, the knee felt fine, but I did not want to overdo it.

It is starting to look like a plane!

Friday was a great day for working on stuff, boy was it nasty outside!  I spent the morning and afternoon making up DVDs and CD's of Vera's class reunion for her classmates.  The CD's went great, but my first attempt and DVDs would not run in the DVD player.  I took a couple of breaks and did some painting on the Viking.  I did a little research Friday night and developed a new plan for making the DVDs.   This morning, I started the process going, then did some more painting, made a run for the mail and had a couple of snacks.  When it finished, I burned a DVD and tried it in the DVD player. Success, it worked!  I also tried it in the Blue Ray player and our portable player in the motor home, it worked everywhere, now I can send them off.  After dinner, I went out to the shop, epoxied on the Viking's fan units, put some of the decals on, put the wheels on and took a couple of pictures.  I still have a little painting to do around the canopy, then it will be time to put in the radio gear.

Not good Flying weather!

Vera tried out the treadmill this morning, I turned the TV on and she walked for 30 minutes while watching one of her favorite shows.  I wanted to let the Viking's paint cure today, so I worked on the P-51B fitting the gear doors.  I did not like the gear doors it came with, they were very non scale.

I cut one up and I will be using it as a pattern to make new ones.  The fiberglass inner door I made ended up working pretty well.  I started over to see the girls once today, but it was raining and cold, so I ended up in the shop masking off the Viking and giving it a coat of gray paint.

While that was drying,  I got out some left over panels from the kitchen remodel and made fronts for the two drawers I put it.  Now I have to stain the others to match.  I got Vera to show off the drawers, then  I went in for a break, which turned into a nap and then dinner.

After dinner, I went out, put the hinges on the fiberglass inner door and started making the same changes on the right wing.  Today was not good flying weather, but it was sure good building weather.

This will work nicely!

Vera had bible study this morning, so I worked on the treadmill.  I got it torn apart no problem, just lots of screws.  When it came time to put the deck and belt back on, I needed another set of hands to guide the rear roller.  I painted the bottom of the Viking's wing and did some recycling while waiting for Vera.  Then after a snack we went out and got the deck and belt installed.  I had a Dave's Sin Dawg that I wanted to share with Steve, Dianne and the girls, so as soon as the nap sign was down, I headed over.  Harper was still sleeping, but Ava was doing Play Doh, Dianne told her to show me what she could do, she jumped down, got paper and showed me how she could make an "A", then a "v", she was still working on the small "a" when I left.  It took most of the afternoon to get the treadmill put back together and adjusted.  Where it is sitting now, I will be able to watch TV or video's while using it.

Just before going in for dinner, I gave the Viking fuselage a coat of paint.  After dinner, a piece of the cake Vera made, a nap, some TV and heat on my back, I went back out to the shop.  The Viking was dry, so I put it on the bench, masked off the P-51's cowl and sprayed it.  I watched a Blue Ray disk of SEFF, an electric airplane event on the East coast while the paint dried and then headed in for the night.

Thank You Dianne!

No walking today, the knee was still a little swollen.  I puttered in the shop after finding the "Girls Sleeping" sign up.  My order of parts for the treadmill showed up while I was out there.  The weather started clearing up just about when I went up to let Sam out, we had a good time with the ball.  I threw it until he walked back, then a couple of short throws and we called it a day.  Vera and I had several things we wanted to get in Longview, so we headed out about 1:00. After a stop at Office Max and Fred Meyer, we went to Applebee's to eat.  Dianne and Steve had given me an Applebee's gift card for my birthday and I couldn't wait to use it.  Vera and I both had their Two for Twenty 7 ounce House Sirloin, it is great, tender, juicy and so tasty, the only problem is, I never have room for dessert!   After a quick stop at Safeway, we settled in at home for the evening.

Back to walking!

After about a month off from walking, we headed down when I was sure the mail would be in.  Big mistake, it is Presidents Day, but that gave it a chance to warm up a little.

We bundled up good and walked from the North end this morning.  My knee was feeling fine where we normally turn, so I said lets go further.  Later, I came to regret those words, as my knee swelled up this afternoon.  I messed around on the computer for a while after we came home, I had the last piece of cake this morning with breakfast, so I polished off the pizza for lunch and headed out to the shop to do some painting.  Before I got too far, I had visitors, Jeff and I spent quite a while talking airplanes.  Then, Don stopped by with a question about his plane, I had a short visit with him before showing him the correct way to turn it on and off.  I took a short break in the house, before coming out to paint again.  I spotted the lazy Susan that I had been working on, so I cleaned up the bearing, put it back together and we took it to the back deck where it will be used.  I put the motor home away, did a little painting and came in to edit some video.  I got one short one done this evening of our friends Leonard and Audrey flying and posted it on Vimeo, here is a link to it.  https://vimeo.com/59969711

Birthday

I started today out with my normal breakfast, granola, raisins and milk, but I followed that with birthday cake and ice cream.  While Vera was in class at church, I got caught up with my blog.  Then I met her for church, during the service they ask about birthdays, Vera pointed to me, so I had to tell them how old I was, then they sang Happy Birthday to everyone.  It was a nice service and sermon, we have the best pastor, makes us laugh at times, but gets her message across.  We had some of the left over pizza for lunch, Cathy showed up a little later with a card and a plate of peanut butter brownies, so I had to try one, Yum!  I had lots of birthday wishes on Facebook and had a good time answering them.  I went out to the shop in the afternoon to do some painting and had a nice visit from Steve and Dianne.  The stirrers turn into hot chocolate when you put them in hot water, I will have to try that tomorrow morning.  It has been a great weekend, what a good way to start out year number seventy five!

That did not go as planned!

I started my day by visiting the twins, they had spent the night at Grandma's.  They were playing with Lego's, that went great until Harper knocked over Ava's castle, then they were a little upset.  They had painted the bird houses as a birthday present for me, and gave them to me this morning.  They are really cute, Ava did the top one and Harper painted the lower one.  Vera offered to make me a cake for my birthday and asked what I wanted.  I made my choices, and was getting ready to head down town for supplies, I started the Blazer to let it warm up a little and it died.  I tried a couple of more times and it died each time.  I went around to the drivers side, gave it a little gas and tried again, it died again.  I gave it lots of gas, tried again and it started, then lots of smoke started rolling out from under the hood.  I opened the hood, started it again and discovered the alternator was not turning, the back bearing had failed.  I checked to see what I would need, Vera and I hopped into the van and it would not start!  I got the jumper battery, started it and we headed for NAPA.  I got a new alternator, serpentine belt and battery, then we went to the store for the cake mix and then picked up the mail.  I came home and installed the alternator, belt, and battery while Vera baked the cake.  We made a run down to take the old alternator and battery back for the core charge, it all worked out pretty good, just a $300 trip to town.  Michelle texted me asking if we wanted to do something for my birthday tonight, as they were going to the beach tomorrow.  We finally decided on Papa Pete's for dinner and cake here afterwards, I called Bev and she could make it also.  We had a great time at the pizza parlor.

Then we came home and had the cake and Breyers Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Ice Cream.  The combination of chocolate frosting, Butter Cream frosting, milk chocolate cake and ice cream was Delicious!  I am excited about my gifts, I have wanted the screw driver set from Michelle, Mik and James since I put it on my Christmas list.  I even looked at it one day in the store and left it there because my birthday was coming.  Bev gave me the Jelly Belly's which I love, I will try and make them last.  The Corsair from Vera, they went out of production and I had a heck of a time finding them, the retracts are from me to me.

This is the cake after the first set of helpings, Vera sent some home with James and a little got nibbled off, but I have plenty for the next couple of days.  It was a great evening spent with the family.

Sunshine and Flying!

It was a beautiful day for flying!  Counting Vera nine of us showed up to enjoy the weather and do some flying.

Vera is putting her seal of approval on Dale's new twin, well not really, she was asking a question about part of the covering.  I kind of lost count of how many times I flew, but it was a bunch.  Everyone had their chairs out in the sunshine and lots of visiting and story telling went on.  We left a little early because I was excited to see the things UPS and FedEx were bringing today.  When we got home, the FedEx package was there, but no UPS.  I went online and tracking showed it as left at the front door.  I checked the other porch, nothing, then the shop porch, nothing!  Vera suggested I check at Dianne's, so I headed that way and met David coming down the driveway with my package, they had delivered it to their house with one Laury had ordered.  After the big day of flying, I hooked power to the motor home, went in and checked out my presents, then settled into my chair for the rest of the evening.

Valentines Day

We went to the 49er for breakfast this morning, boy was that good, lots different from my normal granola, raisins and milk.  I had french toast and bacon, Vera had steak, eggs, hash browns and an English muffin with melted cheese.  Then after a stop at the store, we came home and I went over to take cards and candy to the twins.

They had a cute card and a plate with four cookies on it that they had decorated for Vera and I.  A couple of cookies did not make it to picture time, in fact only one is left and it will be history shortly.  I was impressed with Harper, she opened the card and looked at it before opening the candy.  It was a fun visit, they were excited about the candy and Bridget was there also, so there was lots of activity.

I worked on the computer and in the shop until it was time to let Sam out and throw the ball.  He is really good at catching it in the air when it bounces.  I gave him a pretty good work out before going back home.  I worked on several projects in the shop until about 4:30, then I took Vera to the 49er again for dinner.  I did a little more painting, sanding and tried to figure out what the shop computer was doing?  The CPU was running at almost 100% and everything was really slow, it turned out that it was updating.  I called it a day after that and came in for a little TV.

Digital Cameras are Great!

Last night the treadmill belt gave up the ghost, it ran to one side and folded over on its self.  The belt had delaminated and part of the drive pulley covering was gone.  I whipped out my trusty digital camera, leaned down and snapped a picture of the nameplate.  Not having to stand on my head with a flash lite writing down numbers.  I printed out the picture, went online and found the parts I needed in about ten minutes.  After I ordered them, I puttered in the shop until it was time to exercise Sam.  Boy is he picky about which ball to retrieve,  once he did not see where the ball went and was running around looking for it, he found two other balls, but dropped them and kept hunting.  I walked down to where the ball went and he found the right one.  Then I threw one of the others, he ran up, smelled it, and left it there and came back.  He would only bring back the one we started with today.  When I got home, Vera and I headed up to visit Marie and take her a Valentine card and present.  She was not there when we arrived, so I called my friend Bob, he was home, we went up and had a very nice visit with him.  When we left there, Vera went in to check and see if Marie was home, she had just gotten back from getting her hair done, so I parked and went in to visit.  Marie was happy to see us, she got a kick out of the pictures of JP and James driving.  When we left there, Vera and I ate at Applebee's, wandered around Home Depot and headed home.  The traffic was light today and we had a real relaxing drive home.  This evening, I fixed the toaster, did some sanding on the Viking, then put the fuselage in the paint booth and got to use it for the first time.

Viking

The Viking is starting to look like a plane.  After quick trip over to visit the twins, I spent Monday putting the rudder and stabilizer on.  I also got the fairings over the wing fitted.  I went up and threw the tennis ball for my buddy Sam in the afternoon.

Tuesday, I did some sanding on the filler around the fairings and stabilizer.  We made a run to town in the morning for mail and a few groceries, it turned into two trips because I had forgotten my billfold.  Sam and I ended up playing with the ball for 25 minutes today, we were having a great time!  I tried editing my videos from Sunday this evening, but the file must have been too big for this computer, as the conversion failed every time.  I have a new plan for tomorrow.

FLYING!

We headed to the field about nine this morning.  It never did get up to the 51 degrees that was forecast, but we still had sixteen flyers out there.  I took a bunch of video, the sighting system worked good and several people were interested in it.  By about three the cold had gotten to just about everyone including me, so we headed home.

As we were coming down Barnes Drive, I spotted a herd of about two dozen elk in the trees.  We stopped down the road a ways, turned around, got the Nikon with the 42X lens out and headed back.  This is the best picture that I got, shooting through the trees it was tough to get a good focus.  We stopped at BK for dinner, I unloaded the motor home, put it away and called it a day.

Mowing and Flying

The weather looked good this morning, so I decided to go up to Toledo and mow.  The field has needed mowing and rolling for awhile, but the mower was blocked in the building, so I took my mower.  When we got to the field, Bob was there waiting for the fog to clear so he could fly.  When he found out what I was going to do, he wanted to see if the mower in the building would start.  We hunted high and low for the key before I discovered the spare in the motor home.  In the mean time, Vera and I moved a couple of benches and got the club mower around the tractor that was in the way.  When I tried the club mower the battery was dead, so I got my jumper battery and got it going.

Bob volunteered to mow also, so Bob mowed the outside, while I mowed and rolled the middle of the runway, it went pretty fast and turned out great!

Of course just as we finished mowing, the sun went behind the clouds and the wind picked up.  Bob got in a couple of flights, I flew part of one with his Beaver and had a good time playing with the flaps.  I got 3 flights in on my planes and we called it a day.

The long way home!

I puttered on the Viking and was going to put some clear on the lazy susan when I discovered that there was only a little in the can.  Vera and I went to town to pick some up, I got the mail and then we had lunch at BK.  I had the camera with me and it was a nice day so I suggested a ride to Sandy Bend to take a picture of a barn there.  After I took the picture, I asked Vera if she was OK with running to Office Max for the materials to mail DVDs and CDs of her class reunion, she was fine with that, she had her Kindle!  We came home via Pleasant Hill Rd., stopped at the Post Office to see what the cost to mail the DVD's was, then headed home.  Not bad, 2 hours to get the mail and a can of paint.  I gave the lazy susan a coat of clear, then came in to call about the corporate renewal, I found out it has not been sent yet!   I worked on putting a brushless motor in the small helicopter, did some painting on the Viking and then came in to put heat on my right knee which has been bothering me for a few days.  I got caught up on some of my reading as we could not find anything we wanted to watch on our 250 channels.

Renewal

I hunted through all the LCRC club stuff a couple of times today trying to find the Corporate Renewal Notice or password with no luck, I guess I will call tomorrow and have them send me the paper forms since I can't do it online.  I sanded out the Lazy Susan for the deck table and gave it a coat of stain, it turned out looking pretty good.  I also got the engine mounts glued onto the Viking wing, the reinforcement put in, servo mounts made, and filled all the seams with light weight spackle.  Then it was time to come in the house so I would not be tempted to sand it before it dries.

I went over to Dianne's this afternoon, after a bit, the twins wanted me to come in and watch them march.  Lots of fun to watch, Ava had the blanket around her shoulders while they were marching, of course that picture did not turn out. Kind of hard to get a good picture of movement with a cell phone.  I think they had tired themselves out and stopped by the time I took this one.  Right after this, Harper emptied the crib at the end of the bed, folded up a wash cloth for a pillow and put her doll in there, then off to the kitchen for another of Grandma's wash cloths for a blanket.  Meanwhile, Ava tried to get a bunch of her toys wrapped in the blanket so she could take them into the other room.  They kept falling out, so I showed her how to spread it out, put the toys in and then gather up the four corners.  I exercised Sam again today, he is getting used to me as he tried to hop on my lap once when he brought the ball back.

More Food!

OK, food gets mentioned a couple of times for Monday!  Vera had a dental appointment today, so I did not do anything in the shop, not wanting to get my good clothes dirty, well mainly glue spots if I am building something.  After her appointment we went to Freddie's just for the Halibut for lunch, the lunch special was a platter for two of halibut or cod, we had the halibut and it was good!  Then it was off to Fred Meyer for a couple of things, I ended up with a bag of yogurt raisins that was $20, maybe I should have stopped filling it a little sooner, I thought you were supposed to go shopping when you were full, it didn't work today!  On the way home, we picked up the mail and I ran into the store for milk, our favorite cracker was on sale, so I bought 4 boxes!  I went over to Dianne's after we got home, the twins were playing with rocks from their fountain, that was pretty noisy because they had them in pots and pans.  Lots of fun to watch and listen.   Tonight, I had a club meeting in Longview at Toppers, they make a pretty good hamburger!  I was there a half hour before anyone showed up, I was beginning to  think it might be a one person meeting.  Finally 4 others showed up and we had a short meeting.  I came home and did the minutes right away while they were fresh in my mind.

Did I mention, Snickers now makes one with peanut butter, I saw them at FM and came home with 3.  I just had one and they are great, it is amazing that I only ate one.  Well that is enough about food for today, this day sure flew by!

Yum, Yum!

Maybe I should rename this blog to "Dining and Flying with Alan" since I have so many pictures of food.  Ava and Harper brought over cinnamon rolls today, Ava made mine and Harper told Grandma that "she was making one for Vera".  I had mine and it tasted great.  The apple pie is history also, I had the last piece tonight for my snack.  Sunday I got the paint booth all done, I just could not get interested in the Super Bowl, I don't like either team, so I did not watch it and ended up deleting it off the DVR.  Today, I put away tools and cleaned off the work bench by the vice.  It was really bad, and down about the second layer, I found the air brush I had been looking for.  It now stays in the paint booth.  I went over and exercised Sam, then stopped by to see the girls on the way home and thank them for the cinnamon rolls.  They were making Valentine cards, which was lots of fun to watch.  It was nice here this afternoon, I flew two flights before dinner, and two flights after.  The last flight was with the Vapor and I had to fly it in front of the shop lights to see it very well.  I had a great time shooting touch and goes off the top of the van.  I did some club bookkeeping this evening, after three tries, I think the club roster is right, if not maybe I need a copy of Excel for Dummies!

FLYING!

This is our friend Bob, he was really happy to be out flying today.  It was foggy most of the day at Toledo, but we flew even when the ceiling was only 100 feet. We had 13 club members out there today, almost everyone who showed up said there was sunshine at home!  About 3, the fog disappeared and the ones who were still there did lots of flying until it started to cool off.

We were ready to head home and driving towards the gate when I noticed the sunset.

This sunset made a nice end to a good day of flying!  We stopped at Betty's in Toledo for dinner, their Deluxe Burger is one of our favorites.  We had a nice quiet ride home via Jackson Hwy. and Barnes Drive.  I moved a few planes into the shop, put the motor home away, then came in to relax and look at my pictures.  I sure enjoy my digital cameras, being able to use the pictures the same day is great.  I can still remember having to send the film off and waiting anxiously to see if any turned out!  I hope it was sunny where you were!

One more piece!

I headed out to work on the paint booth this morning, it wasn't long until I realized that stop at Home Depot was not the last parts I needed.  I went as far as I could without them, then made a run to Bredfield's.  When I got home, I had a piece of that apple pie for lunch, it still tastes great today!

Lots of drilling and many small screws later, I hung it up.

This is what it looks like folded up, I still have to hook up the fan.  I got the fan from my friend Bob when he moved and it is going to work great for pulling the fumes out.  I still have to put in the vent to the outside, but that shouldn't take long.  After a great dinner, a couple of episodes of Pass Time and a nap I went out and did some clean up in the shop until it was time for the birthday party.

Parker turned 13, and Dianne's birthday is tomorrow, so they had a party for them after the basketball game.  I had a great time, a large part of the family was there and as always, the twins were fun to watch.  That was a good end to the day.