Easter

 It was great getting to see everyone during the Easter Party at the Dolan's!

Cathy is explaining the Egg Roll rules, I went out on the first roll.

During the Raw Egg Toss there might have been a couple of hard boiled eggs used!

The little kids did great hunting their eggs!

This is the big kids egg hunt, boys against the girls.  They were supposed to hold onto the towel and work as a team.  The boys split up right away, the girls did almost the whole thing as a team, they won also.  It was a great day, I took 257 pictures!  There was lots of great food and desserts, I sure did not need a bedtime snack tonight.

Not a cloud in the sky!

 We headed out fairly early this morning, the first thing I did was unload the mower, that took a few minutes, I tried to back up and it would not go!  I checked the brake and tried again, still no go, then I realized the front tie down was still hooked!  After I told Vera, took the picture, I make a couple of passes around the tables and put it away.  Guy showed up and I had a nice visit with him before getting my planes set up.  Then Bob showed up and I showed him the camera.  He liked it and got some good pictures with it by the end of the day.  Dale showed up next with a Skylane I had for a while, but never finished and I have been waiting to see it fly.

It turned out great and he put several flights on it today.

Galen showed up next with a new Waco biplane.

It is powered by a 77 cc 7 cylinder 4 stroke radial.

I got to do the test flight, it flew and sounded great!  It only needed a couple of clicks of aileron trim!  I got in a bunch of flights today, I flew the P-51 five times, the Bonaza three or four flights, the Cessna once, the Mosquito once and last but not least, Mario once.

Mario's flight was really exciting, all over the sky, flying knife edge when I was trying to fly level, I finally got it level just as it touched down and no damage was done.  The flight only lasted about 20 seconds, but it seemed like minutes to me!   After everyone had left but Bob, Vera and I, we visited, flew a few more flights and ate dinner before leaving.

Easter Practice

This is Ava and Harper during Easter practice, Ava hunts pink eggs and Harper's are green.  They were really excited when they discovered money inside!

That was followed by a tea party, they were very serious about pouring the tea (water).   Vera and I headed to Kelso early today and got stocked up for the weekend.  I got the trailer hooked up to the motor home and loaded the club mower to take it back.  Vera was cleaning up the table on the deck and needed a hose, so I put the first one out for the summer.  I helped her finish up the table, then we hosed off the upper deck.  I think it was right after that when I slipped in a nap.  It was after the nap that I heard the girls outside and went over, Steve mentioned the practice, so I went home and got a camera.  Later, I charged up the batteries I used during the last flying session, finished the gear doors on the Bonanza and loaded it into the motor home along with the Facetmobile.

Vera and I were out enjoying the sunshine on the deck, watching the birds and taking pictures, the 42X lens sure brought these daffodils up close.

Wednesday and Thursday

Boy, did I sleep in Wednesday morning!  Vera was all ready for bible study before I got up.  I puttered right here on the computer until Vera got home, she had gone to Parker's for a birthday breakfast and brought home half of her three cheese omelet and hash browns for me, it made a great lunch.  I finally worked up some ambition late in the afternoon and started tearing apart the clock that stands in the flower beds.  It quit working last winter and was also getting very rusty.  I had it pretty well apart by evening and got the new parts ordered before settling into my chair.

Thursday

Steve is the only one who can push the twins, Grandma doesn't make them go high enough.  I had a nice visit with Dianne while watching them play in the sandbox and then swing.  I did more cleaning and tearing apart on the clocks today.  Then I decided to change oil in the club mower.  Surprise, it started right up after sitting all winter.  That went so good that I got the chainsaw out and cut down the oldest plum tree.  It was really rotten in the base.  I got it all cut up and hauled away before dinner.  I sat down in my chair after dinner, big mistake, I did not get back up until after nine.  There might have been a bunch of short naps, because some TV shows seemed to be in a different place when I opened my eyes.  I went out and did a little more cleaning on the clocks and got Mario all setup for the weekend before calling it a night.  It was sure nice to work outside without having to put on a coat.

Yard Work

It turned into a great day for working outside!   I had a call from Jackie and while I was talking to her, I noticed Vera was out cleaning the flower beds by the small pond. Jackie had sent me a really cute picture of John Patrik playing in a box and we ended up having a nice visit.  If I could figure out how to get the picture from the phone to here, I would have included it!  When I finished talking, I went out and started setting the stones of the path into the ground and leveling them.  Looking at the picture the two on the left don't look level, but I checked them with a level, maybe I will check them again tomorrow.  After I finished that, I spaded up the bed where we had a wild flower mix last year, in a couple of days, I will run the rototiller over it.

I have been eyeing the lawn for a week or two, so when I finished the flower bed, I got the mower out and started in.  The sprinkles held off until I finished.  We made a run to the post office and picked up dinner at BK.  I went out to take pictures of our work after dinner.

Once I had my pictures of the flower bed and lawn, I started taking pictures of the flowers.  I have a nice batch of Easter lilies right in front of the shop, we never pick them and they have really multiplied!  I went out and put in three flights on the little helicopter and one on the Champ after I finished taking pictures.  Before coming in for the night, I got a little digital multimeter repaired so I can keep it in the house for checking batteries.  It is beginning to feel like I am going to sleep good tonight after all that exercise!

Flying and Music

It doesn't get much better than this, 6 airplanes, 1 helicopter, numerous batteries, sunshine and friends, it was a great day of flying.

We had quite a bit of activity to watch during the day at the airport.

This evening, we went to the Mark Morris Spring Concert, this is the group James sings with.  They have improved during the year and are going to be in their first contest Tuesday at LCC.

We were glad we arrived early, it was not long before all the good seats were taken.  After the concert, we did our traditional yogurt treat at the Sweet Spot.

This is what we had, I got to finish James' and Vera's, an extra treat! 

Vera, James and I just before we left, we had a nice visit.

Flying at Toledo

We headed up to Toledo this morning and got there about 10:30, we were the first ones there, so I had my choice of tables.  It was a little chilly until about Noon and then the sun started breaking through the clouds.  There were 15 club members out flying today.

Bob had a new Stinson SR-10 he wanted me to test fly, after a few minor adjustments it was flying fine.  Later he had me fly it again so he could get some pictures.  I shot some touch and goes, did some loops and rolls, it is a great flying plane.  I got in a couple of nice flights with my glider, there were lots of thermals today.

We stopped at the South Lewis County Park on the way home and watched the ducks and geese while we ate dinner, that was a nice relaxing end to our day.

It always feels so good to get home, even when you have had a great day!

What is that bright stuff?

This is what it looked like Saturday evening, nice!  The sunshine inspired me to do some trimming on the plants today, I even hauled all the cuttings to the compost pile.  We made a mail run earlier in the day, I did not make it past the bakery on the way home, I had to run in and get a couple of Chocolate Buttercream Bismarks.  One was history as soon as we got home, the other was my evening treat, Yum!  I got my planes ready for Sunday flying and charged batteries, I am looking forward to a nice day tomorrow.

Holy Cow!

Holy Cow, did it hail today!  It was also cold all day, I looked at Three and the temperature was 41 degrees!  James had a game today, but after the second hail storm, we decided to stay home.  A little while after that, the third hail storm came through and I thought yesterday's weather was crazy!

This is what it looked like after the second one!  I worked on the Mustang gear doors, getting some primer on them.  While I was waiting for it to dry, I did some rearranging in the computer room and I found a box with my baby book in it.  That was pretty much the end of any progress and I ended up in the house getting them put on the computer.

Here my dad is holding me when I was one month old.  I had a great time working on the pictures this afternoon.  Mik was umpiring a game that was broadcast online this afternoon, so I watched a couple of innings.  I went out and did some more painting this evening.  This is another day that just flew by!

SNOW!

I had just gotten my breakfast made, sat down at the computer with it, turned on the computer and TV when the weather came on.  The next thing I knew I heard the weatherman say "the buses are on snow routes at Castle Rock"  I grabbed the camera and headed for the back door.  Sure enough there was a trace of snow on the shop and the grass.

I notice the deck rail looked like it had ice, so I walked over, felt it and sure enough it was solid ice.  Then I noticed the deck was pretty slick, so I carefully walked back into the house.  I puttered away most of the morning on the computer making up another CD of Vera's reunion for a classmate in Phoenix, AZ.  When I finished that, we went down, mailed it and went to Bredfield's for some paint to do the gear doors with.  While I was in the Post Office, Vera's Kindle quit.  When we got home, we decided the battery is getting old, I did some checking online and they can be changed.  I found one with more capacity, ordered it, so in a few days it should be good as new.  I had a call from Barry after asking him a question about a picture he sent me.  We had a nice talk, then I headed over to see what kind of excitement there was at the Robinson's.

I had a great visit with Dianne and the twins.  Not long after I got back home, Bev called, it was nice getting all up to date with her.  I got a set of landing gear in the mail for the Bronco today, so after dinner I went out to see if they would work.  I had to modify the nose gear a little, but they are going to look good.  Just after I finished that, Emmy and Parker showed up with Emmy's laptop.  The arrow keys and the Z key were not working.  I blew them out with air and cleaned under them with a brush, but no luck.  I remembered a wireless keyboard I had that we were not using anymore, so I started hunting up all the pieces for it.  I finally found the receiver, everything worked, so I took it back to her.  Boy this day sure flew by!

There is a creek running through there!

Boy, did it rain at times today!  Just after we got up, a dandy hit, I came out and it looked like a small creek running past the cars!  I got the camera out and got a couple of pictures of it.  Vera had bible study today, they were celebrating one of the ladies birthday with a potluck salad lunch.  There is always leftovers, so I was planning on it for lunch.  While I was waiting, UPS showed up with Vera's new CD changer and my order from Tower.

I started right in getting the CD changer installed, by the time Vera came home, I had it working with 5 CDs transferred.   The new one is a 300 CD unit, the old one held 400, so we had to take 100 out and put them back in the cases.  That turned into the hardest part of the job, but we got it done this afternoon.  Vera is happily reading and listening to it now.  After I cleaned up all the packing material, I went out and worked on the P-51's landing gear for a little while.  I got the right wing retract unit installed and the outer gear door will be tomorrows project.

A nice afternoon with Bob

We were in town early so Vera could get the things she needed for potato soup made with the leftover prime rib.  It turned out great and we had it for lunch.  Then Vera went out and took pictures of the flowers.  My friend Bob came down so we could make a trade for an electric motor for his plane.  The one I had needed a set of spacers to fit into the cowl, then we tested it and changed props to get the current draw into a safe range.  We had a good time talking while this was going on, Bob told me about a flight he had taken with a friend.  They started out flying over Mt St Helens, then kept climbing and flew over Mt Adams, then still climbing they headed for Mt Rainier.  Bob said when they got there they were over 16,000 feet, asking each other if they were feeling OK and wondering what Hypoxia felt like!

Of course, I had to show him how my gear doors worked before he left for home.  I went in to visit with Vera and had my Arby's sandwich from last night for dinner, I had been too full last night to eat it after doing my blog.  Then I went back out and started working on the gear doors for the right wing.  It is going much faster since I have a pattern.  I got the servo installed and hooked up before coming in for the night.

The Dentist and Baseball

We headed to Kaiser this morning for my dental cleaning and checkup.  My checkups have been much better since I discovered the Glide Floss Picks.  Today, I also got a fluoride treatment, I had not had one of those since I was a kid.  I must say, they taste a lot better now!  We came back home, I puttered in the shop and made a trip over to see the girls until it was time for James' baseball game.

This is James playing first base.  The first inning did not go well, Union had a two out rally that put them up by a bunch.  There were some errors at first, and in the second inning they put James in to play the rest of the game there.

He got hit when he came up to bat, the pitcher was kind of wild right about then, I have pictures of one that James would have needed a ladder to get, another that might have bounced before getting to the catcher and the third one that got James.

This is where Vera watched the game from, it was nice and toasty with the sun coming in the windshield, she had to have the window down to keep it from getting too warm.  I gave up and came over to join her after about the third inning, the wind was just too darn cold.  When I left the score was 11 to 2, I think.  They scored a couple more times in the next inning, so the final was something like Union 11, Mark Morris 4?  I was ready to head home and get really warm, we swung by Arby's and picked up Market Fresh Sandwiches.  I got a new milkshake they have and curly fries, by the time I got home, I was too full for my sandwich.  I am feeling a little hungry now, so I think this is it for tonight and the sandwich will soon be history!

Gear Door Weekend

Saturday

Saturday was a pretty laid back day for us, I messed around on the computer most of the morning, Vera was busy reading a mystery she liked.  I finally made it out to the shop and worked on the Mustang's gear doors, the second inner door is giving me a hard time.  The corner does not want to lay down right.  I finally clamped it to a piece of aluminum bent the way I wanted it and left it on top of the stove all night.  I had a couple of nice visits with Bob on the phone this afternoon before coming in for the night.

Sunday

I was back at the Mustang gear doors again this morning.  I made another adjustment to my aluminum jig, clamped the door to it again and set it in front of the stove.  I did some painting on the Mustang elevators, flaps and ailerons while I was waiting for the door to form.  I heard some little voices, went to the door and there were the twins coming to visit. I showed Steve how my gear doors worked on the Mustang wing, the girls were not too impressed and headed back to the magnets and lights.  Ava had the goose neck light set so she could see to put screws into the holes in one magnet.

After they left, I decided to make gear doors for the Bonanza from plywood since I couldn't find any plastic in town.  The job went great and I was done in a couple of hours.  Now I can hardly wait to fly it again and make a low pass with the gear down.  The gear door for the Mustang finally turned out right, now I can go on to the next step.  We had a prime rib roast tonight with roasted carrots and potato's for dinner, it tasted great.  Now we are looking forward to a beef stew with the leftovers.  As I do this, I am watching the Gaelic Storm play some good St. Patrick's Day music, nice music to type by.

I hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day!

James Baseball Starts

Thursday

I started my Thursday by going to see the twins and taking them a bag of Peanut Butter Malted Milk Balls.  Right off the bat, Harper ran off with my hat and hid it, that turned into a tickle fest.  She got it again, and took it into Dianne's bathroom and threw it in the shower, when she brought it back she said it was wet, but it wasn't!  I am probably lucky it did not end up in the toilet!  I left just before their nap and they were really wound up.  Amazingly, Dianne said they went right to sleep.  I did a bunch of work on the P-51 gear doors in the afternoon and got the inner door working really well.  I made another trip over to see the girls about 6 and got there just after David had wound them up.  Harper hid my hat again, we would not have found it if she hadn't shown that it was in the cupboard.  They were spending the night, so I planned on seeing them Friday morning.

Friday

I went over to see the girls after breakfast, Harper took off with my hat again, so I chased her and cornered her in the living room and she threw it back to me.  Then she got out her Tinker Bell book and we had a nice time looking at it.  I got the outer gear door hooked up and working today.  It took a little looking, but I finally found the sequencer for the doors and it all worked the first try.  The inner doors on a Mustang are always shut unless the gear is being cycled, the inner doors open, the gear extends and the inner doors close, the same thing happens when the gear is retracted.  Now I just have to do the other wing.  James had a baseball game today, we left a little early to pick up the mail and try Micheal's for a sheet of plastic I need.  No luck there, so we headed over to the MM field to get setup.  It was a good thing we did, because the game started 15 minutes early.  In the picture above, James is warming up before going in to pitch.

He had not pitched since last summer, it did not go all that well, so he was only in for part of the inning.  In fact it did not go well for MM the whole game and they lost by 10 or 11 to 2.  It doesn't help that they are playing the practice games against 4A schools.  After the game, we went to the Sizzler with Mik, Michelle and James, Debbie was working, so she got to wait on us.  We had a nice time and James was in a pretty good humor by the time we left.  On the way home, we stopped at Papa Murphy's and picked up three family sized stuffed pizzas with a coupon I got online.  Then it was off to home, put the pizza's in the freezer, come in here to edit the pictures and then do my blog.  Now I am off to watch a little TV.

I will get used to Daylight Savings Time yet.

Boy did I sleep in this morning, I got up just in time to visit with Vera for a few minutes before she went to bible study.  I got caught up with the blog today, then decided to move the IP Camera out to the front of the shop.  The installation went pretty good, but it took a while to get the computers all set up so we can watch it from all of them.  The hardest thing was getting things adjusted in the computers so they would record when the camera sensed motion.  The camera has infrared lights, so it can see about 30 feet in the dark.  After I got them set up, I played with them for a while, then went to the shop and worked on the gear doors some more.  I had one inner gear door servo installed and working before calling it a night.

Naps are Good!

OK, I have not taken a picture since Saturday's flying, so I will put one of Vera and the club president Dick talking that day.  Those are my planes in the foreground.  Sunday I was tuckered out from the yard work Friday and flying all day Saturday, I almost took a nap before church.  Church was nice, Pastor Vonda's brother-in-law preformed with the bells twice during the service, he is pretty talented, they sounded great and we found out after the second song that he does it with no music in front of him.  We picked up lunch at BK on the way home and after I finished it, I took that nap, about 2 or 3 hours worth.  I watched TV, puttered on the computer and managed to slip in another nap that evening.

Monday

I had a meeting tonight in Centralia, so I spent most of the day getting my paper work in order.  I made one run over to see the twins, but they were just getting ready to go home, the clock in the shop that I had forgot to set got me on that one.  We left a little early and had dinner at Spiffy's, OK, but not the greatest!  The meeting was a little longer than normal as we were making some bylaw changes, then we stopped at Safeway for a few things on the way home, so we did not get home until about 9:30.  I like to write up the minutes right away so I remember what my scribbles mean.  Then I made the bylaw changes, so it was about midnight before I finished.

Tuesday

After breakfast, emails and a few changes to the minutes, we headed to Kelso for Pepsi One.  I also needed cereal, so we went to Fred Meyer next, by the time we got out of there I had picked up a few treats to snack on.  I got the club's Non Profit Corporation status renewed this afternoon and cleaned out the briefcase.  After a very tasty dinner, I made a trip to the shop and got in a couple of hours work on the gear doors of the Mustang, I also freed up the wheels on the Bonanza.  Then it was in here to send off a list of food for the club picnic in May, I gave Horty a call and had a nice visit with him, then finished my blog.

Finally, some great flying weather!

My friend Bob took this today and sent it to me.  He titled it "Too Much Fun", which is exactly what I had today!  The planes in the picture belong to Audrey and Leonard.

It was a fantastic day of flying, the best yet this year.  I counted nine members out there today.  Vera and I got there at 11:00 just as the sun started shining.  I ended up flying seven airplanes and two helicopters.

Everyone got a little excited when they saw this skydiver's chute coming down.  I grabbed the camera with the 42X lens, took this picture and we could see there was no one in it.  They had cut it away and opened their reserve chute.  When the sun got low and it started to cool off, I loaded up and we headed home.  I took one plane into the shop, then put the motor home away and called it a night.