Pavers

First thing this morning we headed for Home Depot to get pavers to cover the existing sidewalks North of the house.  They don't seem that heavy when I pick them up, but a pallet of them weighs 3700 pounds.  Way too much for our trailer, so they loaded half of them for us and we headed home.  We laid the first load and headed down for the rest.  The picture is how much we got done today.  We still have some to level and more to put down to the right of the picture.  It was a nice day, but by 1, it was too hot for working, so we quit until evening.

Flying

We walked this morning, then as soon as we got home, I got the motor home out and finished loading for a day of flying.  It turned out to be a great day and I got lots of flying done.  By 3, it was warm enough that we loaded up and headed home.

Our friend Galen had his giant Super Sportster out today with a new electric starter installed.  It really sounded neat, he shut the engine down in the air several times and then restarted it.  After we got home, I washed the motor home, it was looking pretty grungy, Vera came out and helped.  When we finished it, we washed the Blazer.  By the time we finished it, we were ready to take it easy the rest of the night.

James Baseball

I went out this morning and got the battery and motor mounted on the Dr1.  The Dr1 had a rotatory engine and the bottom third of the cowl is open for cooling, so I will have access for charging the battery.

James had a double header this afternoon, we got there an hour early again to get our parking spot.  The first game did not go well and they lost it.  The second one was a different story, they ended up winning 15 to 5 after 5 innings when the game was ended by the mercy rule.  This picture is the team meeting after the second game, they were one happy bunch of kids.

Timber!

James and I took out three trees today.  There was one by the corner of my shop that was looking bad and getting taller than I wanted.  Over by the plum tree, we took out a cascara and a holly tree that were shading the plum tree.  This picture is the area just South of the plum tree with a lot more sky showing.  James ended up making many trips to the brush piles.  We both had a good workout by the time we went in to watch the Blazers game.  Boy, was it an exciting game, close right to the end.

Baseball

James had a makeup game today, I got him up a little earlier than he was ready for and sent him off.  It is nice that he can drive now!  We went down an hour early so we could get our favorite parking place where we can see the whole diamond.  I am glad we did because it was a windy cold day.  I lasted 2 innings outside watching and taking pictures before I came back to warm up.  The game did not go well, there were lots of errors and they ended up losing via the mercy rule, behind 10 runs.  James batted good, , he was walked once, had a nice single, and grounded out to the pitcher.  After the game James did some flying of the new quad until it was time to go to his friend Conner's so they could practice choir and then spend the night.

Playing with the quad.

I ran several battery packs through the quad today.  One flight, I took nothing but pictures and on several others all I took was video.  Outside with very little wind is lots of fun, I put several videos on Vimeo and I will put a link to them at the end.  I also went out and got the game camera.

I got plenty of pictures of myself, some of James, Laury's cat, a coyote, the neighborhood kids and a raccoon.

Here is the infrared picture of the raccoon, when it gets dark, the camera changes over to infrared mode.  It is fun leaving it out for a couple of weeks and then it is a big surprise seeing what you got.  It will also do video, so some time in the future, I will put it out in that mode.

Here is the link to Vimeo Quad Video

A Change of Plans

I was all set for a day puttering in the shop when my cell phone rang, Vera picked up one of the home phone handsets, and for the first time, the bluetooth connection and the cell phone worked like it was supposed to, Vera was able to answer the call without using the cell phone!  It was a call from Marie, there were some things she needed and she had sent a letter.  It had not arrived, she did not know it went from her to Seattle, from there to Portland, and finally to Castle Rock.  We ran to Longview and picked up the things she needed, had lunch and headed North.  Marie was in a great mood and we had a nice visit.  We stopped by Bob's afterwards, so I could make a suggestion about his new plane.  We had a good time talking to Bob, and I got into his candy bowl again.  We came home Jackson Highway and I stopped North of Toledo to take a picture of this place.  The windmill makes it look like a working farm.

A new Quad

I did not do much today except sit right here and mess around on the computer and watch TV.  I had a doctor appointment yesterday that I had to go without eating for 30 hours, it took a while to get feeling normal again, plus a stop at Dairy Queen!  My new quad showed up today, so I had fun reading up on it and trying it out.

It has a camera built into it that takes video or pictures, I hovered in front of the living room window and took this picture of the deck.  I would have liked to try it outside, but the rain never let up all day.

Flying

After walking this morning, we headed up to the LCRC field at Toledo.  It was a beautiful morning for the first flight on my ultralight conversion of the Slow Stick.

Vera got a great shot of the first take off, that is always the moment of truth for a new plane.

I am not sure if Vera or our friend Steve took this picture, but I like it.  I counted 8 of us out there today and we had a good time.  Vera and I headed home about 3 when the wind came up.  I spent the rest of the day working on the Dr 1 and the RV-9.  The RV-9 motor mount came apart, I discovered that it had hardly any glue holding the layers together.

Easter

I started my day by going to breakfast at church, I had a great time visiting with everyone.  After breakfast, I puttered on the computer until it was time for church, it was a really nice service today.

Then it was off to Cathy and Bob's for the family celebration, we were blessed with great weather this year.  Everyone brought their favorites, so there was lots of good food today!

The adults are hiding the eggs, there was a plastic egg with $5 in it out there somewhere.

This is the kids and a few shots of the hunt.

After the Easter egg hunt the kids checked out their loot and lots of pictures were taken.

The raw egg toss was next, this is Mik and Michelle making catches.

Rielee is getting really good at catching the egg.

James and Ty were partners, it came down to them against Mik and Michelle, that is James making the winning catch.

The happy winners are getting their medals!

The egg roll was next, this is the kids doing their rolls.

The adults were next, and Ty was the first place winner.  After that we went in for Ty's birthday and deserts which there were lots of.  It was a great day, I had a nice time at everything I went to.

A Home Run!

James hit a 3 run home run today at Ridgefield.  The fence was 285 feet and I guess it went in the road past that, what a bomb!  They went on to win that game 15 to 3.

After a slow start this morning, we got going on finishing up the bark around the NW corner of the deck.  It was really nice out there, we had a high of 63.

We are finally getting some flowers blooming up here.  I did get some work done on the Dr 1 this morning, I started fitting the cockpit fairing and I found the perfect pilot for it.

Cupcakes and a Secret Project

Boy did I sleep last night, almost 9 hours, I felt really good this morning.  I just puttered around on the computer until about 10 when we made a run to Safeway for a few things.  Since it was getting close to lunch, we stopped at Jack in the Box for lunch, that is getting to be one of our favorite places!  Just after we got home, Ava and Harper showed up with Easter cupcakes of us.  They are made just the way I like them, lots of frosting!

My new project showed up in the mail today.  It looked like a quick build, so I started on it this afternoon.  It went great, and it is ready for a test flight the next time I go flying.

Wednesday

Vera did not have bible study today and I did not have a lot of ambition, so I didn't do much, except work on the Dr 1 a little.  I did have 3 visitors today, Danny was the first one, we had not seen him for a long time, so we got caught up, he has had a rough year, several deaths in the family.  A little later, Steve stopped by and we did a little work on his plane and had a nice visit.  Then Jerry came by and dropped off some carbon fiber that he had gotten for me.  I answered a couple of questions for him, and showed him the latest projects.  Maybe I should put in for a commission from Hobby King, both Steve and Jerry are ordering some of their products after seeing mine.

A day of rest!

We walked first thing this morning, then I did very little except sit here the rest of the day.  This afternoon, I went out to paint the cylinders of the Dr 1 silver.  Right away, the paint underneath wrinkled up, so I tried a different brand with the same results.  I used MEK to clean off the silver, red and the paint under it.  This evening, I did a little more clean up and then put on a coat of silver, it looks like things are OK now.  The next session, I will paint the intakes and add some details.

I couldn't find anything else I had done, so I took a couple of pictures of the shop front room.  There is no way to get all the planes in one shot, or even two.

Getting caught up again!

Monday

This is James during the the Southwest Washington Symphony Spring Concert dress rehearsal, he looks pretty darn good in that tux!  They sounded great and we really enjoyed it.

Before and after the choir sang, the orchestra played.  We stayed for the whole thing and it was really nice.  Watching the different member's style of playing was pretty interesting.  We got there just as it was starting and we were tickets 445 and 446, so there was a good crowd.  We spent the day cleaning up what James and I started on Sunday, those grass clipping turned in to a big pile when I bagged them.

Sunday

We went to the Palm Sunday service at church this morning.  I really enjoyed it and I had a good time visiting with people before and after.  James came up later in the day and mowed.  I was going to have him mow it real short, but the mower plugged up right away, so we set it higher for the first cut.  Then we lowered it down and it plugged again, there is lots of moss.  I took the chute off and had him just mow and leave it to dry out.  When he finished, I was showing him a pruning job I was planning on and he asked if we could do it now.  We got the chain saw, ladder, 4 wheeler and started in.  Daylight was fading when we finally quit, but we had the big stuff hauled away to the brush pile.  Then it was time for some warm apple pie and ice cream before he had to head home.

The Holy Grill

Apple pie for breakfast is a good way to start the day!  I spent the morning editing photos and getting my blog caught up.  Just before noon, we went for a walk, parking at the North parking lot and walking to the South end of town, then back through town to the post office.  My new battery monitors showed up, they were several weeks getting here.  They are wireless, they measure the battery voltage in the plane and send it back to a pager in my pocket, when the voltage gets down to a set value, the pager vibrates and I can land.  From the post office, we went to the store for ice cream to have with the apple pie.  Of course we came out of there with 3 bags and a quarter mile walk to the car.  Wouldn't you know, we forgot the ice cream. After we got home, I used the string trimmer around the yard and sprayed weeds.

This evening, we went to a play at the church "In Search of the Holy Grill".  Between scenes, we went down to the fellowship hall and had dinner with the cast.  The play was great, by the time it was over, my cheeks were aching from all the smiling and laughing!

This is most of the cast just after the play finished.  We picked up the ice cream on the way home.  Warm pie and ice cream is a great way to end the day, too!

Bark!

The first thing this morning, we headed down to Swanson's for some bark to finish up the area that I dug up for the septic tank pumping.  We also picked up a Japanese maple and a couple of ground covers to plant there.

We planted the tree and ground cover, put down new edging and fabric, then we put in the new bark.  I remembered afterwards that I had new lights to put in.  It would have been much easier if I had done it before putting in the bark.

We are pretty pleased with the way it turned out!

Since we had the camera out, we went for a walk to get some pictures of the Easter lilies.  I like the colors they turn, even if it means they are about gone for another year.

As we were coming back, I noticed how much the rhubarb had grown, it looks like we will be having some delicious pies!

Speaking of pies, Vera made one this evening that tastes great!

A beautiful day for some baseball!

I got the wheels mounted on the Dr 1 today.  I changed out the axle for a little larger one made of much better material, then my adapters worked just like I had planned.

James had a 3:00 game today, so we left at about 2 so we could get our favorite parking spot.  This picture is James during warm up fielding a grounder while his friend Dalton (22) waits for his turn.

James really had to stretch for this out, he ended up going over backwards afterwards.

Here is a pick off attempt at first.

James had a monster hit his first time at bat, they must have played him deep, because there was someone there to catch it.  Tumwater ended up winning, but the boys had made some good plays and had one good inning where they scored some runs.