No Picture Wednesday

Vera went to bible study this morning and I went down to Steve K's to give him a hand with some radio programming.  I had a nice time getting to see all his models.  We got the problem figured out and I headed home about noon after a stop for gas.  The gas gauge in the van has been acting up and I was not sure if it was reading right.  It was, because it only took 1.3 gallons to fill it up.

Yum!

We walked again this morning, we went a little farther than we have been and I am still feeling fine this evening.  After we got home, I was checking the mail and there was a flyer announcing a new Harbor Freight in Longview!  It didn't take me long to talk Vera into going down and looking around.  I found a couple of things in the flyer I wanted, so we ended up touring the whole store and running into five people we knew.  It only cost me $131 to get out of there!  I found a few things that were not in the flyer.  We stopped by Mik, Michelle and James' next to pick up my camera, then stopped by Safeway for a few things.  I had set my sights on a yogurt treat again today and they were open!  They had a yogurt with no sugar added that Vera tried, I had chocolate, peanut butter and the NSA New York Cheesecake that Vera had with a bunch of toppings and caramel on top.  It tasted great and I was really full when we got done.  After we got home, I downloaded the pictures from the camera, Mik, James and Michelle had taken 510 pictures and there are some great ones from the Babe Ruth Tournament and the Hydroplane races.  I put a cart I got at Harbor Freight together while Vera was making a great avocado chicken salad for dinner.  Boy was it good, we both had seconds.

The throttle cable from down there!

We walked this morning, it was just the right temperature for walking.  I took a picture in the same place a couple of weeks ago, the water level has gone down quite a bit since then.  After our walk, I decided to change the throttle cable in the Blazer, it has been sticky for a long time.  Everything under the hood came apart fine, probably because I could reach it.  Under the dash was a different story, why put it where a bracket covers up half the fitting!  I worked for a while before deciding to cut it apart under the hood.  A long screwdriver ground to a chisel shape destroyed it nicely! 5 minutes later I had it out and the job when pretty quickly after that and it works much better now.  I had gotten some helicopter parts in the mail, so I put them in after I finished the Blazer and I got in a couple of flights this evening.

Flying

Vera went to church today, and I went flying at Toledo.  I am sure glad I didn't wear shorts today, it was pretty cool all day.  I must be used to the sun we have been having, because I just looked and the high was 67.  We had ten flyers there today, my student is doing great, he soloed my Champ today and I expect him to solo his Cub next time.  Kids sure pick it up fast, he is 12!

This Chinook made a low pass down the Toledo airport runway today, then he turned around and came back just South of us.  Later I saw another one flying up the Cowlitz River pretty low.  I managed to ding one helicopter today, I had on my really dark sunglasses and I couldn't tell which way it was going.  One disadvantage to a camouflaged helicopter or airplane.  I was really watching my Mustang close after that little incident, since it is olive drab.

Car Show

We went down to walk and get the mail this morning, when we got to the Post Office, there was a car show going on!

This is a 1923 T Bucket, it had some seriously wide tires on the back.

I did not get a picture of the information on this one, but it is sure cute.

There were several 57 Chevy's, but I liked this one the best!

I worked on the F-4 this afternoon and got the aileron and flap linkage all hooked up.  Then I started plumbing the air retracts, before I finished, I had the main gear all done and they worked!  I got my batteries all charged for flying tomorrow and had time to watch an old Matt Helm movie.  The special effects were pretty crude back then!

Thursday and Friday

Well, I looked at lots of my pictures and I can not find one that I want to post today.

Thursday I did not feel good, so I begged off walking.  We did make a run to Safeway and I pushed the cart around, then I was all fired up to have a yogurt treat, and the shop was closed!  I didn't do much else the rest of the day.

Friday, we headed out to some local garage sales.  There was a listing for a neighborhood sale in the Head Quarters Rd. area, so we made it our first stop.  We had a great time, going on roads we had never driven up before and finding places we did not know existed.  We even found a few little things to buy.  I scored at the Post Office, a new magazine and an order of solar lights.  I spent the afternoon putting up the lights and working on the F-4.

Wednesday

Fedex was early today, when Vera went out the door, there was the package with my wiring harnesses in it.  I spent the morning getting the short one installed in the P-51B and it worked out great!

The left picture is the P-51, where I had 7 plugs to unfasten so I could remove the wing, I now have just the two in the lower part of the picture.  The right side of the picture shows the other set I got with long leads that will be used in the F-4.

This afternoon, I did some rearranging in the motor home so the new P-51 would fit and unloaded some of the club's stuff I will be storing until after the threshing bee.

 I went over to the Robinson's to see what all the activity was, the twins and Parker were there.  Parker was cleaning up the pickup Steve gave him, on the way back I spotted two pink roses in bloom.  I got my nippers and had just gotten them cut for the bud vase when Vera got home from bible study.  We were out taking pictures of the flowers when she noticed the red ones in bloom and cut them to put in the vase also.  It sure looks and smells nice.

I got the fan unit installed in the F-4 this afternoon, the duct work and engine exhausts were dry, so I installed them also.

I got all the servos in the wing screwed down, so I put it together and weighed it.  It's 10 pounds at this point.

When I started to come in for the evening, I noticed it was not windy.  I got my helicopters out and got 2 flights on the MCPx and two on the Trex 500.  It was a nice end to the day.

A step backward

I was up early, but I had a hard time getting away from the computer, so it was after ten before we headed down for our walk.  It was close to 70 by then and I really enjoyed the walk.

Just before we got back to the car, I saw this boat leaving the boat ramp and thought it might be my blog picture for today, so I waited until it got to this opening and took my picture.  On the way home, we had to check on the progress of the new service station, they have the foundation poured now.  By then it was close enough to lunch that we stopped at BK for chicken sandwiches.  I spent the afternoon watching my new Blu Ray disc and taking the elevator servo out that I put in the other day, I had put in the wrong one!  After I got it done, I did some painting on the duct work and engine nozzles.  I had a nice visit from one of the club members, he had been flying and it got too warm.  I showed him the best parts of the disc, full contact combat with planes and night bowling with planes.

F-4 Day

We walked this morning and picked up the mail, not much there today!  Vera had noticed another Cosmos was blooming, so we went out to take pictures.

I took some pictures of this flower, neither of us know what it is, but the flower forms that funny looking square blossom.  After getting caught up on my blog and having lunch, I went out to work on the F-4's rudder servo installation.

I amazed myself when I got it all done, the original linkage went through that yellow tube in the picture.  After the cable made those bends, it was so stiff that the rudder would hardly move.  I pulled the cable out, cut off the arm on the rudder and made up a new push rod that runs straight to the rudder control horn.  It is the one running from the smaller (right one) of the two servos.  Vera had made up some Papa Murphy's cookies, boy are they good with Coconut Pecan frosting on them.  I ate almost the whole batch while we were watching TV.

LCRC Picnic

We were at the field about 7:30 AM this morning.  It was a little overcast in the morning, but cleared off nicely at noon.  There were around 50 people at the club picnic and we had a great time.

Garret asked lots of questions and had a great time at the fun fly.  He knows his planes, he asked what my Beechcraft was, and when I told him a Bonanza, he said it doesn't have a vee tail.  I had to explain that they quit making the vee tail and the tee tail has been named the Bonanza since then.

I did a panorama of the field at noon, we just about ran out of parking room.  We stayed and flew until after six, then loaded up and headed home.  It felt good to settle into my chair for the rest of the evening.

Mario flies again, sort of!

We walked this morning, making up for not walking yesterday.  Afterwards, we hit a couple more garage sales and went back to one that had said there would be more stuff today.  On the way home, we stopped at the store and got the supplies for the club Fun Fly and picnic tomorrow.  I loaded the groceries into the motor home when we got home and got my stuff ready for flying tomorrow.  I wanted to try Mario with the new electronic flight stabilizer installed, so I took him out by the play fort.  You can see the results in the picture.  I tried several adjustments and finally got him more or less under control.  The last flight was going pretty well until the wind or something upset him!  After a bunch of gyrations, he ended up in the Gourde's pool, luckily, the cover was on!  Vera made a pasta salad today that turned out great, we had it for lunch and dinner, we still have enough left for dinner tomorrow night after the Fun Fly.  We like to stop at the South Lewis County park after flying and watch the ducks while we eat.

Garage Sales

This Cosmos is from seeds Vera saved from the wild flower mix we planted last year, the flowers in the background were volunteers that came up.  We headed out this morning to a couple of garage sales we saw in the Castle Rock area.  Then we saw signs for ones not listed in the paper and we had a great time.

I found these drawers at two of the garage sales, I always check to see if the drawers have stops to keep them from coming out all the way.  I have a set in the shop with no stops and I have lost count of the number of time everything in a drawer has ended up on the floor.  I spent the afternoon messing around on the computer getting some tea lights for an Amethyst crystal candle holder we found.  I also talked to Barry, he was trying to figure out a problem with his new computer.   I got a couple of sets of batteries in the mail today, so I spent the evening putting plugs on one set.

Fair Day

Well, I talked myself out of flying again today, so we walked and then hit the only garage sale we could find.  Vera added some more roses to the vase she has in the living room and took it outside for a picture.  I worked on the elevator servo for the F-4 most of the day, it is going pretty good now after a trip to Bredfield's for parts.

The Castle Rock Fair started today with a parade at 6:30, we found a nice spot in the shade and really enjoyed it, this old fire truck is one of my favorites.

We had decided to eat at the fair and we had great hamburgers at the Fair Board food booth.  We had a good time looking at the exhibits and touring the animal barns.  When we got home, I downloaded my pictures and got caught up with this week's blogs.

Under the motor home.

No picture today either, I will explain this one later!  I had planned on flying today since Vera did not have bible study, but the forecast did not look that great so I decided to not go.  We walked instead, my legs were still sore so it was a short one again.  Since it was nice and cool we decided to run to Longview for my monthly blood test.  That went great, I went in and they were serving number 85, so I took a number and it was 86, need I say the wait was short.  Then the first person could not hit a vein (I have a nice bruise from that) so she called for help.  I don't even have a mark from that person.  I wanted to go to Fred Meyer after that for cereal, Vera suggested haircuts since we were close to Great Clips.  When we finished at those two places, we had lunch, picked up a couple of Papa Murphy's Pizzas and headed home.  Tuesday, I had ordered new idler arms for the motor home, so when we got home, I decided to install them.  I took that picture of the motor home motor when I had the motor rebuilt in 2000.  The idler arm that was bad is right below the radiator hose, but now the radiator and a bunch of other stuff is in the way.  I am sure glad I bought that little impact wrench last week, because it was the only thing that would get up there to take the nut off.  Once I figured that out, the job when really fast and I was done in a couple of hours.

Did I over do it?

No picture today, so I got one from ten years ago.  I had been flying at Goble and stopped by Bev's place on the way home.  They were putting in a sidewalk and Jackie was finishing the cement, she did a good job and she was only 12 at the time.  We walked this morning and boy, were my legs sore, we had to cut the walk short, the extra yesterday came back to haunt me.  I worked on the F-4 some more today, other than that, not much went on.

Airplanes, Roses and Trails

We walked this morning and we went a little farther than normal.  I worked on the F-4 most of the day, but no pictures of the progress.  I did take a picture of the roses by the back deck, they smell so good.

I felt like some exercise later in the day, Vera was reading on the back deck and I asked if she wanted to come along while I cleared branches off the trails.  She got her gloves and we started in, then she got the rake and made piles of the small stuff for me to pick up.  We ended up going over most of the trails and they look better than they have in years.

A day of rest!

I had planned on flying today, but I talked myself out of it last night before I went to bed.  I did some editing of the pictures from Saturday's Fun Fly this morning while Vera went to church.  Then I watered the plants and cleaned the filters in the pond pumps.  One of the pond pumps has been making a lot of noise, it's filter was plugged and the pump was sucking air.

While doing that, I discovered the UV light in the pump was bad, after much searching online, I found a couple of sources that I can check into on Monday.   By the time I got done with that job, it was getting pretty darn warm outside.  So when I finished with the other UV filter which also had a bad bulb, luckily I had a spare for that one.   Then I headed for the shop air conditioner, I refitted the canopy on Pogo, it was sticking up in front and I did not like the way it looked.  I also reinforced the wheel pants on Pogo so they will stand up to the grass field better.  I unloaded the B-36 and put a couple of different planes into the motor home for the next flying session.  Mik stopped by this evening to borrow a camera to take to Pasco for the Babe Ruth State Tournament that James is playing in and we had a nice visit.

Shelton Scale Fun Fly

We were up this morning at 5:30 and headed for Shelton at about 6:30 for a Scale Fun Fly.  It was held on an abandoned runway at the Shelton Airport.  I was looking forward to flying the B-36 on pavement.  The new cargo net held the fuselage pretty well, so I was able to take several other scale planes.

They had 27 pilots sign up to fly, the biggest turnout they have ever had.  They had everyone line their planes up just before flying started.  I ended up making the first flight of the day, I signed up to be the second person, then his plane would not steer, so I ended up having to go first with the B-36.  It was sure easy to make a scale like takeoff on the pavement, I only used about half throttle and let it pick up speed really slow and climb out slowly like the real one did.  On the second flight of the day, I made one touch and go using full throttle, it will climb at about 45 degrees.

This the five planes I flew today, they had a barbecue at noon, which I was ready for after our early breakfast.

 Vera took most of the pictures today and did a great job getting front and rear views of almost every plane.  When the fun fly was over, we stopped and had a nice visit with Barry and Mona.  Barry told us how to get out of town without having to go downtown, and it worked!  We stopped to see Marie, but she was at dinner, so we ran up and visited our friend Bob, he enjoyed seeing the pictures from the fun fly.  Marie was back at her room when we left, she was in a good mood and told us how tickled she was that Jackie, John and John Patrick stopped and visited her on there way home after the 4th.  We had a bite to eat on the way home, and took Jackson Hwy from Chehalis to home.  It ended up being a 14 hour day, but we had a great time.

Getting Ready!

No pictures taken today, so I hunted up one from 10 years ago, this was taken 7/12/2003 at the Toledo flying field, so I know that I was flying that day.  We walked this morning, then we hit a few garage sales.  We had a great time, we spent $25, I found a $20 impact wrench across the street that I had to have.  My new Edge 540 was waiting on the porch when we got home.  I am ready for a new acrobatic plane, I am getting tired of my old ones, so I will probably have something to sell at the club tailgate swap meet in September.  I spent the rest of the day getting the B-36 loaded into the motor home and loading up the refrigerator for a fun fly in Shelton tomorrow.

Gold Finches

We walked this morning, then I started on the lawn.  I went around everything with the string trimmer, I was ready to quit sooner, but it's battery was still going strong when I finished.  These Lithium Ion batteries are really something, it still had a 50% charge left!  I mowed the lawn and went over all the trails, things were looking pretty good when I finished.  I spotted the Gold Finches on the feeder this evening, there was a constant stream of them coming and going.

Wednesday Flying

Tuesday

Not too much to report about Tuesday, I spent the day and most of the evening working on the motor home.  We walked, then stopped at Bredfield's for parts to do an idea I had for holding up the chairs while we are going to the field.  I changed the oil and filter, greased it and then flushed the radiator and filled it with new antifreeze.  I also pulled the engine cover and found a broken vacuum line.  After replacing that, I did a little adjusting and it is running much better.  When I got that all done, I was done for the night, so the chair idea got put on hold.

Wednesday

I didn't sleep that great last night, I was kind of stiff and sore from crawling around under the motor home.  It was a little cold, so I put off heading for the field and put in the parts to hold the chairs, it worked out great!  We had a visitor checking out our flying today.  I have seen lots of birds on this limb through the years.

I only flew 3 airplanes today, but I had a great time!  I got a walk in by going out into the field and looking for a lost helicopter.  It is tough to find a green helicopter in the grass, the member that lost it last Sunday pointed out a line he thought it was on and I walked way out into the field.  No luck, so I did a zigzag pattern on the way back and still no luck.  The guy that lost it is on vacation this week, so you know how he has been spending it, he even bought a metal detector to try and find it.  I quit a little earlier than normal today, I was still a little sore from yesterday.

This evening we went out and sat by the pond watching the birds.  There have sure been a lot of Gold Finches this year.  They really kept an eye on us and usually hid on the side away from us while eating.

Vera has been trying to figure out what this bird is for the last week or so, having a close up picture ruled out one of our ideas.

Let's try this!

We walked this morning and took a little different route, which turned out good, because we ran into Pastor Vonda and Julia.  After getting the mail, we went to Bredfield's and I picked up a cargo net and some fittings to hang it in the motor home bedroom.  I have been thinking about doing this for quite a while and decided to try it today.  It looks like it is going to work out great, the planes are out of the way and it is much easier to get around in the motor home.  It was a typical job, I had to make another run to Bredfield's for parts.  I spent most of the day rearranging things in the motor home.  I did fix a leak in the pond, the grass had grown down into the water and was plugging up the outlet of the upper pool.  I heard the girls out playing and made one trip over to watch them on their water slide.

Sunday Flying

I had two meetings scheduled for this Sunday, I had a couple of reports to give at the Lewis County meeting, so I decided to got there.  This is the flight line at 11:30 after the meeting, there were 16 members at the meeting, 4 more showed up later in the day, so we had a good turn out and lots of flying went on.

I flew 7 different airplanes today and I test flew 2 others for club members.  This Piper Cub flew great after a few minor changes.  I started loading up about five and headed home.  A few (Well, maybe a lot!) of those cookies Vera made yesterday were a great treat this evening.

JP at Bev's

I was a slow starter this morning after a great night's sleep.  I ended up messing around on the computer until after noon, I did pay a couple of bills online, printed some pictures from yesterday out for Jackie, but that was about it.  When I finally started moving, we went out to water the plants and check the ponds.  Vera wanted a picture of these flowers, so I got the camera out and took pictures of just about all the flowers on the deck.  I gave Jackie a call, she was at Bev's, so I headed that way to deliver the pictures and a flash drive with pictures from his birthday and yesterday.  On the way, I hit it big at the post office, 4 things I had ordered came in.

JP was just finishing a bottle when I got there and he was in a happy mood.  He was grinning and laughing with me right away.  I had a good time getting caught up with Bev, her ankle looked pretty good, but is still very tender.

Kids have fun with the most ordinary things, John played with that shoe box more than any thing while I was there.  He did climb up on the couch to get to my camera, I am pretty sure he remembered playing with it yesterday.  When I left there, I did a little shopping at Safeway, got gas and headed home.   Vera made some really good tasting cookies tonight, I can smell them from here, so I will probably be having another sample soon.

A special visitor

I got a chance this morning to do a little checking on the glider that crashed yesterday.  The elevator servo works fine so it would not have caused the crash.  The motor had some crash damage, but ran fine after a quick repair.  I guess the speed control and receiver get looked at next.

Jackie, John and John Patrik came to visit this afternoon.  John Patrik was a little shy at first, but it wasn't long before he was grinning and playing with me.  Then he started roaming around the living room checking everything out.

The phone was the first thing he went after, the kid is a button pusher, I disconnected the phone line so he couldn't call anyone.

Next I had to kid proof the stove, there are some sharp edges on it, he is one busy little guy!

Vera gave him some dried fruit, which he really liked and promptly dumped on the floor.  We called in an order of pizza for dinner, then Jackie and I took John Patrik over to see Dianne.

It did not take long for him to warm up to Dianne!  He had a good time playing with all the toys they have around there for Ava and Harper.