Playing in the dirt

It is crazy weather, we noticed today that the azalea Vera got from Mik, Michelle and James was blooming again.

 We dug up a spot North of the house and planted these tulips and some crocus today.

I finished up the Cobra's rudder servo mount today.  I got this Cobra in a trade and I am having to do some patching in places, one of which was where this servo mount is fastened.  I will get everything ground down and painted later.

This is a picture of the two servo mounts I installed yesterday, I have some cleanup and painting to do in there also.  My friend Jerry came up today and we checked out a helicopter he had gotten.  I had a transmitter that would bind to it and it worked fine once we got the programming figured out.  I put one short flight on it and it flew good, now he can order a transmitter to use with it.

Cobra

We walked this morning, Don joined us, but Pam has a cold.  There were not nearly as many fishermen along the river today.  It was a nice morning for a walk, I wore my jacket and that was a mistake as I ended up packing it about half way.  I was a little tired from the big job yesterday, so I did not do much this morning.

This afternoon I went out and started working on the Cobra fuselage.  I had forgotten how big it is!  I got the mounts for the pitch and roll servos installed and I did some removal and clean up of old mounts in the nose.  Then I came in, made a great blueberry, nectarine and banana smoothie and started watching Monday Night Football.

Maxima

James and I are getting ready to start changing the left rear strut cartridge.

They lifted the burn ban today, so Vera got a picture of Steve tending his fire.

James is working on getting the shelf loose so we can get at the top bolts of the strut.  Mik had ordered a manual and it sure came in handy.

Mik and Michelle came up as we were putting it back together.  The job went pretty good, the old cartridge was really in bad shape and came out in pieces.  James was really happy when it didn't make any noise when we finished.  We changed the oil and filter to complete the job.

I am putting the GoPro on the quad for a flight, I found a piece of plastic packing that made a perfect rain shield for the electronics.

I made one flight, this is probably the highest I have ever had it.  It took 525 pictures during the flight.  I spent the evening editing pictures and watching football.

Happy Birthday James!

It was James' 17th birthday today and he wanted a family party at Papa Pete's.

There are enough candles now that it takes two to light them.

Yes, that last one went out!

Something was pretty funny!

James is checking out his present with mom.

James and friends.

Bev is watching the boys play some games.  It was a great party, pizza, cake and lots of family and friends.

A new project!

I have been thinking about this project for a long time, converting my old Cobra helicopter to electric and flying it again.  This picture was taken in the 70's at CVRCF field.

I had an old fan and clutch assembly with a fan blade broken off, so I sawed off the others, got the lathe out and turned the stubs down.  Then I put it on my prop balancer and rebalanced it.  Then I had to modify a 5 mm collet to mount it on the motor.  It took a couple of trips to Bredfield's, but I finally found a pipe clamp that worked to hold the motor.  During one of the trips to town, we drove down to Lions Pride Park, there were lots of people fishing.  Across the river there were 4 tents, 5 or 6 sun shades and a bunch of pickups with boat trailers.  While we were sitting there, a boat came drifting down the river with a guy fighting a fish.  They netted it right in front of us and me with no camera.  Next week I will get the Cobra down and make a few changes to it before installing the gearbox and motor.

Timber!

OK, I overslept this morning so we did not walk until about 10.  The fish must be in the river, there were boats everywhere.  Walking from the North River Trail parking lot to the post office and back was just the right amount of exercise this morning.

After we got home, I headed out to take a picture, Vera and I talked about where to move our Wisteria to as it has never done much where it is.  We decided to move it North of the driveway where it will get lots of sun.  Vera said she would go dig it up, I put the camera in the shop and went to help her.  The spot where we decided to put it had some wild hazelnuts, so I got the chainsaw and cut them down.

Then Vera said, "What about those two wild cherries"?  The only way to fall them was across the driveway, so she watched for cars while I fell them.  As I fell each one, I cut a section out so the driveway was clear.

This is how it looked after hauling off the limbs, rakeing up the small debris and blowing the driveway off.  Steve is going haul the rest away to use as firewood.  After all that, we transplanted the wisteria.

The Sukhoi is finished!

Tuesday:
Tuesday was a day of rest after unloading and stacking the pellets.  I did set up my paint booth and sprayed the Sukhoi 29's cowl.  I mainly messed around online and watched TV.  I also put in a session on the heat pad as I had a couple of sore spots.

Wednesday:

Vera had bible study this morning, I got the Sukhoi's cowl mounted and checked out the radio.  After Vera got home, I had a Kaiser doctor's appointment at 1:40, so we left early and had lunch at Jack in the Box.  They have a Deli Trio sandwich that we really like, my Oreo milkshake wasn't bad either!  The appointment went OK, I was following up on some skin lesions that I had removed last spring.  I also got my flu shot while I was there.  When we were done there we stopped by Bev's to drop off a cordless drill I got when we were going to garage sales, I had two just like it because I bought an extra one by mistake.

Wood Pellets, Football and Apple pie!

First thing this morning, we took the log splitter back to the rental place.  After a gas stop at Fred Meyer we went home via the Westside Hwy, as we came by 4 Corners, we saw that wood pellets were still on sale.  After picking up the mail we went home to pick up the trailer.

We bought a ton of pellets and two 40 pound bags of black sunflower birdseed.  I got the trailer backed around to the woodshed and I fully intended to unhook it and unload it later, but  after lunch, I went out to take this picture and next thing you know I was unloading it.  It took about a half hour to unload 1000 pounds, then I took a 30 minute break and puttered in the shop sanding the Sukhoi 29's cowl.

In about another half hour I had it all unloaded and stacked.  I used the two sacks of birdseed to fill the metal can we keep it in.  At one time we had a plastic container, but the squirrels ate holes in it to get at the seed.  While I was cleaning things up, I got a text from Michelle that James had a game tonight.

James is ready to take the snap.

James (14) has just pitched the ball to number 40 and is blocking for him.  Late in the game when they were up 27 to 0 they let kids play positions that they normally don't.  James was playing at the defensive tackle position and did pretty good putting pressure on the quarterback.  I have a short video of him playing that position that I may put a link to here later.

There was a beautiful sunset during half time, a nice end to a good day!

On the way home from the game, Laury texted me asking if I could exercise Sam, I said "Sure".  Then she asked if I was home as she had an apple pie for me.  I texted that I was on the way home, but Vera was there.  She said she would leave it on the bench and it was still warm!  It was still nice and warm when I got home, so I had a piece with ice cream right away and it was really good!  Then I settled in to watch Monday Night Football.

LCRC Flying and BBQ

The Lewis County club had a barbecue today to use up the left over food from last week's event.  I got the settings on the GoPro right today, so I have an aerial picture of the field to share here.

There was a pretty good turn out, 13 of us enjoyed lunch and flying.

Steve had two of his motor gliders with him today, I just had to set my little motor glider on his and take a picture.  The little glider is named "Baby" and it seems really appropriate after seeing this picture.  This evening, I watched my recording of the Seahawks very exciting game.

Log Splitter

We got an early start on the firewood today, we wanted to beat the heat.  It went great, we were done in four hours.  I packed the big chunks out and split them, Vera did the majority of the stacking once they were split.  After lunch, I spent most of the rest of the day getting planes ready and loading the motor home for flying on Sunday.

Civil War

Mark Morris played RA Long in the annual Civil War Game tonight.  This is during the National Anthem, it was a great evening to watch football.  Before we headed down, I put a coat of Thompson's Honey Gold stain on the shop deck.  We left early for the game so I could check on renting a log splitter.  We have a bunch of wood that was never cut up.  I went out the other day with an ax and split two pieces, that took about 15 minutes and convinced me that renting a splitter was a good idea.  I was planning on doing the job Monday but the guy said I could get one right then and for the one day fee keep it until Monday morning.  A few minutes later, we were headed back home to drop off the splitter.  We got back to the stadium in plenty of time to get a great parking spot.  Last year we were 3 or 4 blocks away.

The MM Scholarship Foundation was selling hamburgers, chips, cookies and a drink before the game.  We had dinner there with Mik and Michelle.

James (14) and the team are waiting for the coaches to signal in the play.  The game did not go well for them tonight and they lost 42 to 0.  They kept trying right to the end, makes us proud of them

Yard Work

No picture today, so here is a throw back to September 18th 2004.  James is playing soccer at the 7th Ave. fields.

I started out getting the leaf blower to blow off the patio, pretty soon I was blowing off the sidewalks.  I got the string trimmer out to trim around the sidewalk and I ended up going clear around the house.  I blew that debris along with the debris from the bird feeders out into the lawn and used the mower to pick it up.  Once that was done, I mowed the lawn and cleaned up the fir needles off the driveway.

Today, Vera made a skillet apple pie, the first time she had tried this recipe.  Boy is it good, I had two helpings, one was lunch and then one helping for my evening snack.

Another set done!

We had a light sprinkle this morning and a few drops off and on all day.  I gave Barry a call this morning to see if the rain in AZ was affecting them.  He said there were dark clouds to the South that were moving East, so they had not had any yet, but tomorrow is when it is supposed to be the worst.  We had a nice visit while he was waiting for the Jeep to be serviced.

Vera's bible study group went for a birthday lunch for one of the ladies, so I made myself a great blueberry, banana, plum and vanilla ice cream smoothie for lunch.  When Vera came home, she brought me a dessert from her lunch, it was a slice of coconut pineapple cake and it was delicious!

After lunch, I went up to let Sam out for a while and throw the tennis ball for him.  After one throw, he dug around in a pile of branches until he found one he liked, then he started chewing and breaking off the small limbs.  It was great fun watching him beat the branch on the ground, he finally broke it in half.

I started spraying the second coat on the table and chairs this afternoon.  I had underestimated the paint again and we had to make a run to Bredfield's for another can.  This time I bought two just to be on the safe side.  This evening, I took the night flying Alienator apart so I could add some down thrust as it wants to climb under power.  While I was researching how much power the motor will develop on the shop laptop, I seemed to have taken a nap.  Those charts were kind of boring, I remember looking at my watch at 7 and thinking it was about time to head in.  When I looked a little after waking up, it was after 8!  On the way in, I packed the painted table and chairs over to the deck and took a picture of them.

Finally Fixed!

We walked this morning, then I stopped at Bredfield's for more paint.  I could see that the second set of table and chairs will need an extra can.  I also picked up primer to replace what I used on them.  Since the paint still had 24 hours to cure, I edited pictures from the club picnic and put them on their website.  I tried yesterday but for some reason it would not let me post anything!  I couldn't even log out?  After I finished that I worked on the wing of the Dirty Birdy, I had a run in with a tree a couple of weeks ago and I am just getting around to finishing it.  Part of the repair showed through the covering and I was considering a different color to cover the whole area.  Vera suggested yellow, so that is what I went with.  Yellow is one of the better colors for visibility and I have been having problems seeing the white top of the wing when it is cloudy.  The bottom is red and white checkerboard and shows up great.

Chairs

We walked this morning and then picked up some cleaner for the table and chairs I am painting.  After we got home, I gave the table and chairs I had been working on their last coat of paint.  Then I mixed up the cleaner, washed the second table and chairs and left them in the sun to dry.  A couple of hours later, the first set were dry enough to bring back up on the deck and take a picture, they look much better!  Before calling it a day, I got the primer and first coat of paint on the second set but it will be Wednesday before I can finish them as the paint has to cure for 48 hours before the second coat.  This evening I did some work on the pictures from yesterday's flying and watched Monday Night Football.

LCRC Electric Fly In

Today was the LCRC club's annual Electric Fly In, Tailgate Swap Meet and picnic.  It was a good day for flying, light winds and clear sky, that also meant it got pretty warm in the afternoon.  We had a  good turn out, although some people left early to watch the Seahawks game.  I sold the two planes I had for sale, so the motor home was not as crowded on the way home.

 I got in quite a bit of flying and visiting before lunch time, Steve and Dave did a great job of cooking!

Just as we started lunch a group of RV's started practicing for the Hillsboro Air Show.

It made for a very enjoyable lunch, eating and watching them perform.

After lunch, it was back to flying.  This is Bob hovering his plane, he is getting really good at it.

Vera took lots of pictures today, here she got my ECO8 with Mt Rainier in the background.

Vera and I stayed after everyone had left so I could try out the lights on my plane.  As the sun was setting, I took the quad up to take some pictures of the sunset, but I had the camera in the wrong mode, so I only got one picture each try, usually of the ground.

Luckily, Vera took a picture of the sunset that turned out great!

Here I am getting ready to launch the Alienator, the camera makes it look lighter than it was.

The end of a good day!