Getting caught up!

I spent the day doing yard work, when I got done, I decided to fly Pogo.  I had not flown it for several years, it sits on its tail and takes off straight up.  Taking off was no problem, but it was way out of trim (different transmitter) and I can not believe how close I came to the trees without ending up in one.  I finally crashed right in front of Vera, I gave up when it should have been down.  Just minor damage, one glue joint to repair.

Yesterday, I had put the game camera out on the deck aimed at the bird feeder.  It wasn't long until Vera saw a squirrel on the feeder, I went out and moved the umbrella I mounted the camera on back, that was the only thing different and the squirrels had never been able to get up on the feeders before.

I brought the camera in this evening and down loaded the pictures.  Nothing but birds after moving the umbrella.

Flying

It was a beautiful day to go flying, except it was a little windy.  We were the first ones there and I set up the wind speed meter right away, the wind was about 2 to 3 mph then.

I got in several flights before the wind picked up to around 8 mph which made landing a little more interesting.  If you can't fly in the wind, you are not going to do much flying around here.  Since landings were such a challenge, I shot a whole bunch of them and practiced some steep approaches with flaps, lots of fun.

 While I was unloading, Vera took pictures of the flowers, the water lilys have been blooming one after another.

I had put the game camera over by Vera's rose bush that the deer like, after the motor home was unloaded I got it and downloaded the pictures.  On the 27th, the deer came back for seconds.

The article that Carrina Stanton did about the club was in yesterday's Chronicle, our friend Bob brought a copy to the field for me.

Dentist

This picture is from 7-29-2010, I have been wondering how long some of my batteries have lasted.  The four gray batteries were bought for the Eurofighter, I went back through my pictures until I found the first flights on it.  I am still using three of them after almost 4 years (one was destroyed in a crash), they have lost some capacity, but I still get 7 minutes of motor run with them.  We both had appointments this afternoon to get our teeth cleaned.  Afterwards, we went to Freddy's just for the Halibut for dinner, they have the best fish and chips!

Again!

Vera did not have class today, so we parked at the North River Trail parking lot and walked to get the mail.  First, we walked to the North end of the trail where there is a viewing station and I took a couple of pictures, this is looking upstream from there.  The new camera for the quad was at the post office, so after we got home, I installed it.  I took it out for a test flight, and it was worse than the last one, it locked up after 21 seconds.

Later, I tried it again with a different memory card in it and wouldn't you know it, I got it into a tree.  I was cruising around the antenna above the shop and I went a little further toward Steve and Dianne's.  The wind was funneling right up the little canyon and it blew the quad into this pine tree.  I got the extension pole out and started looking at the tree but I could not see it.  I called Vera out to listen for it, because I couldn't hear it.  She could hear it and thought it sounded like it was in the bush behind me.  I finally went and got my step ladder so I could see on top of the bush, after moving around the bush to a couple of different spots, I happened to look up while on top of the ladder and spotted the light on the quad up in the pine tree.  I could not reach it from the ground with the 24 foot pole, so I moved the ladder over and from there I could reach it.  The first time I touched the branch, it fell clear to the ground.

Vera took a picture of it after she retrieved it out of Dianne's flowers, the only damage was two of the prop guards got broken.  I had bought some spares, so it is all repaired already.  This evening, I got all the hinges glued in on the OV-10, I just have to mount one rudder and the final assemble will begin!

Mark Morris Concert

The calla lily is really blooming this year, so Vera asked me to take a picture this morning.  The new UV clarifier for the small pond showed up today, so after lunch, I installed it.  Just as I finished it started pouring, so I grabbed the tools and headed to the shop.  I worked on the OV-10 until it was time for James' choir concert.

James is part of the Advanced Mixed Ensemble, the boys did a solo number the Best of the Boys.

It was really good and the boys were having a great time doing it.

Since this was the last concert for the seniors, they had a slide show with the last number with pictures of everyone in the group.  We could really see how much they have improved this year.  After the concert we met Mik, Michelle and James at the Sweet Spot for our traditional treat.

Memorial Day

The last day of the Memorial Day weekend was nice and relaxing, I worked on the OV-10 and I got the elevator servo mounting figured out, made and painted.  I also masked off the Dirty Birdy canopy and painted it, I wanted to see how it flew before I put a lot of work into it.  Need I say that it flies great and has become one of my favorite planes.  We went to the 49er for dinner and it was great!  I had the Captain's Plate and I could see right away there would be plenty left over for a nice lunch tomorrow.  After we got home, I remembered it was garbage day, I happened to take it down at the same time Steve did, when we came up the driveway, there was Dianne with a badminton racket, there was a tournament going on at the Dolan's.

  I got my camera and went over to watch.  I think Dianne is amazed that Steve made this hit.

Auna got up pretty high to hit this one!

I think Dan and Emmy lost a point on this one.

Dianne is making an athletic return, Steve is so good that he wears barn boots to give everyone else a chance.

Laury is returning one to Emmy and Dan.

Emmy and Dan were not on the ground all the time, they are hard to beat, I am glad I did not have to play them.  It was great fun watching the games.

Where it all started!

We went to church this morning where our 50 years together started.  They had a nice Memorial Day service, then we stayed for refreshments afterwards and we got to visit with several friends.  On the way out I took a picture of the Cross of Remembrance, they had it in the sanctuary during the service.  I had been watching the Indy 500 before we left, and had recorded it also, so I finished watching it when we got home.  We had the left over pizza and an avocado salad for lunch, Yum!  I got a little work done on the OV-10, but we mainly just had a laid back day.

Vera made the best apple pie this evening, I did not think about taking a picture until after I had the first piece.

Flying around home!

About all I did today was mess around with the quad, taking pictures and videos.
This a link to one of the videos about 3 minutes long.

Heli-Max  

I think every flight included some shots of the rhododendrons North of my shop, they are in full bloom now.  We went to Papa Pete's for dinner, the Rocket pizza was delicious  and there was enough left over for lunch tomorrow.  I had a nice call from Barry after we got home, we ended up talking 30 minutes, the Verizon to Verizon free calling is sure great.

I was really tickled yesterday when I discovered that the Curtis Pusher was on the floor now.  The last time I was there, it was hanging from the ceiling and all my pictures were of the bottom.  I have the plans for it and I hope to build it next winter, now I will have lots of closeups for reference.

The last picture for today is Vera with the Skyhawk, I have a kit of this plane that I would like to build also.  Maybe next winter will be really busy!

50 years!

Yep, 50 years ago, Vera and I got married, that was the smartest move I ever made, she is great!  She suggested we make a trip to McMinnville and go through the Evergreen Museum.

It couldn't have been better, there were hardly any people there!  Some school bands came in later, but they were in an area we had already looked at, and they were gone the next time we came by.

It was raining when we got there, so I didn't think we would get to get pictures of the planes outside, but by the time we finished up it was sunny out and I got pictures of all the planes.  In fact, I took 568 pictures today not counting the ones I took with my phone and put on Facebook.  After all that walking, we were ready to head home.

We decided to try a different way home, one our friend Dale had told us about using Highway 47.  We loved it, when we got to Carlton, this mill had me pulling off for pictures.

Carlton's business district reminds me of towns fifty years ago.  We parked and wandered around all two blocks of it taking pictures.

We picked up some treats at a bakery before continuing on our way home.  I told the GPS to take us home, and it mapped a route over Cornelius Pass, which is the way we wanted to go.  We stopped in Scappoose and had dinner, then we were all refreshed for the final drive to home.

Flying

Just three of us on the walk today, Pastor Pam, Vera and I, we had a great walk, and just before the end, Pam looked at a property for sale and there was an agent there who gave us a tour.  It was an older house with 7 bedrooms, kind of interesting to wander through.  After breakfast, I got the motor home out to go flying, as I was loading Vera asked me to take a picture of this rose.  It is one the folks had next to the driveway, when the state moved the Spirit Lake Hwy, it got taken out.

Here are the three things I flew today.  The runway has been moved to a new spot and is a little rough, so I left a couple of planes with small wheels home.  By about 3 it was getting pretty humid, so we headed home.  I worked on the UV filter for the small pond, but finally gave up and ordered a new one.  I spent the evening catching up on the blog.

Good Cookies!

While Vera was at bible study, I assembled this hose reel that has been out in the shop for a couple of years.  I was going to put it next to the shop, but I decided it would look much nicer over by the new little patio.  When the hose is hooked up and turned on, it rises out of the ground exposing the hose reel.  It has a spring loaded reel, so you can pull it out to where you are using it, listen for the click and it will stay there until you release it.  When you are done using it, you turn the water off, push a button on the  top and it retracts into the ground again.  I took a couple hour break after that, then I ran around the lawn with the string trimmer, got the mower out and got all the lawn mowed.  When I got done, I got a treat, Vera had made the best chocolate chip cookies from a recipe book she got at the bridal shower before our wedding.

Yard Work

When I walked out to the car this morning, I spotted these two deer having breakfast at the rose bush.  I had Vera bring the camera out and took several pictures before we headed down for our walk.

Starting the car did not bother them, so I stopped on the way down the driveway and got a picture of the second one.

It was a beautiful morning for a walk, this is Pastor Pam and Vera approaching the Rock.

We decided to replace the bush in the flower bed, it had gotten kind of ugly looking and nothing we did made it look any better.  We went around it with shovels and cut the roots, then I ran the winch cable from the 4 wheeler around it and pulled it out.

I planted the bush we picked up yesterday, I forgot to mention that in my blog!

Then we put down fabric and barked the area.

Vera took some pictures of the iris that is in bloom, things are finally starting to look good up here on the hill.

Talent Show

I had a 8:20 doctor's appointment this morning, so no walking today.  The appointment was just a check on a test I had.  I skipped breakfast in case they wanted any fasting blood work, which they didn't, so we headed to the Pancake House as soon as I got out of there.  After a nice breakfast, we stopped at Safeway for a few things and filled up with gas before heading home.  I spent the rest of the day getting ready for the talent show at the Kelso Methodist Church.  Vonda had heard about the one I did at the Castle Rock UMC and asked if I would be in theirs.  Everyone I met tonight said "you are the helicopter guy", it seems they had been talking it up in church.  I flew my birthday present helicopter and the two quads, then I gave a short talk about the bigger planes and helicopter I had brought.  It was fun, and it seemed easier than the one I did at Castle Rock.

Weekend

Saturday was mostly spent getting ready for the club picnic on Sunday, but I did do some rototilling North of the driveway and planted the rest of the wild flower mix.  

Here I am giving the reporter from the Chronicle a flying lesson on the club trainer during the picnic.  She commented to several people later that it was harder than it looks.  She had come out with a photographer to do an article on the club.

This how it looked at 10:30, we had a pretty good turn out considering the weather.  Just before lunch, we had a downpour for about 20 minutes that sure stopped all the flying.  Then after the BBQ, we got in some more flying before leaving about 3:00.  I ended up making 8 flights during the day.

After unloading and putting the motor home away, I puttered in the shop for awhile.  When I went to go in, this bunny was eating right across from the shop.  I got the camera, took several pictures and went back in the shop to give it time to finish dinner.  I came out later and there it was in the same spot, just sitting there, so I took a couple more pictures and turned back to the shop, that move must of scared it, because it took off.