It flies!

I slept fairly good last night with the splint on, I did wake up every time I turned over because it makes my foot feel huge!  Well, after much studying, several firmware changes and some changes to the parameters I got the new quad flying.  I got a short flight in the stabilized mode and then I got a short one in the GPS mode and it did pretty good considering how windy it was.  Michelle, James and Rome came up this evening and brought pizza for dinner.  Then they packed in wood pellets for me, I had texted James asking for some help with that this weekend.  Rome had never been in my shop before, so we gave him the grand tour.  Thank you all for the help!

Night Splint

I forgot to mention Wednesday that the doctor ordered a Night Splint for treating my Achilles.  I went down and got fitted for it this morning.  It will be interesting to see how well I sleep with that on!  I got out and worked on the new Sukhoi, I got the error I made in the motor mount corrected.  I also got the video station for the new racing quad working.  The icing and heating are helping as the Achilles feels a little better this evening.

Kitchen and Appointment

Monday I put down most of the trim around the kitchen cabinets, I needed one more piece of 3/4 inch quarter round to finish the job.  I couldn't find any in the shop, so Tuesday morning we made a run to Longview for it, a rug Vera wanted for the kitchen and a couple of other things.  By the time we had made three stops my Achilles was hurting enough that I was ready to call it a day.  Wednesday morning I had an 8:40 appointment with my doctor to see if anything could be done with my Achilles.  I ended up with exercises, instructions for icing and heating it.  I also ended up getting a pneumonia shot, my arm is still sore!  I spent the rest of the day taking it easy, I did the exercises and the cold/hot treatment several times.  By evening it was feeling better, so I have high hopes that I am on the right track.

Sunday Sunset

We went to church this morning, Pastor Pam had a family emergency, so retired Pastor Bonnie did the service and it was very nice.  We stopped and picked up some groceries on the way home since we can use the kitchen again.  I had one little area of flooring to seal and wax today, so every hour or so I was putting another coat on.  I ended up getting all 3 coats of sealer and 5 coats of wax on during the day.  This evening, Vera told me to bring the camera into the living room and I might get a good picture.

The sunset looked pretty good and while I was out on the porch, I noticed the moon.

I zoomed up on it and the picture turned much better than I expected.

Barby

Pam is always so much fun to visit with, she was the high light of my day!  I went to Barby's celebration on life today and Pam was there also.  There was a really nice turnout and I ran into quite a few people I knew.  I had a chance to talk to most of Barby's family which was nice because I had not seen them for quite a while.  Later, I went over all the glue joints I could reach in the SU-29 with thin CA because sometimes joints get missed by the factory on these ARF's (Almost Ready to Fly).  James and Michelle stopped by for a few minutes this afternoon, Michelle had been showing the rental.  I puttered on the computer and watched TV this evening.

Almost all done!

First thing today, we started putting the appliances back, it is sure nice to get back to normal.  I have a few pieces of trim to add and it will be all done.

This afternoon, I went to a funeral for a long time neighbor Gloria.  We used to wait for the bus at her parent's house and she always had a smile and a laugh when you saw her.  After the funeral I had a great time visiting  with the neighborhood kids I grew up with at the pot luck that followed.

When I got home, Vera had made a batch of Cocoa Mounds, boy were they great!  This evening I gave the new floor a sixth coat of wax to cover some scratches we made putting the appliances back.

Waxed

I spent most of the day putting sealer and wax on the floor.  I put on three coats of sealer and five coats of wax.  It has a pretty nice shine now.

My birthday keeps going on, David delivered a birthday apple pie that Laury had made.  Boy is it good with ice cream!

Birthday Cards

I was a slow starter today after the big day yesterday.  I settled into my recliner with the heat pad on my knee this morning, had my rice pudding dessert from last night for breakfast and started watching the news.  I got the tablet out and looked at Facebook and a couple of other sites, then I started playing solitaire.  I scored a new personal best time, count and score, the next thing I knew it was 11 and I hadn't even taken my shower.  When I got done, I saw that Cathy had called, so I returned her call and we had a really nice visit.  I also had a birthday call yesterday from Barry that I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog.   This is the card that Cathy got me, it is kind of truthful!  I was surprised when there wasn't 76 candles on it, only 60, maybe that means she really is my older sister!

I went up to let Sam out after talking to Cathy, I had to laugh when I found this on the door!  We had a good time with the ball, he loves running after it.  I got the new floor sealed today, the wax is supposed to be here tomorrow so I can start on it.  I also got to talk to my friends Bob and Kent on the phone.  It has been several years since I last saw Kent and it was nice getting caught up with him.

 I had a pleasant surprise this afternoon when Ava, Harper and Rielee showed up with birthday cards they had made.  This is the front of Ava's card.

This is the inside of Ava's card, they made sure I had candles.

This is Harper's card, it was cute that they all included airplanes in the cards, they knew what I had been doing yesterday!

Rielee even included a helicopter in hers, it was really nice having my birthday celebration continue another day.

Happy Birthday!

I spent most of my birthday flying up at Toledo.  It was perfect weather for it, about 60 degrees and very light winds.

We ran to town before going flying and picked up my birthday present at the post office.  It is 200 sized quad (200 mm from tip to tip) with a video camera and transmitter mounted on it.  The camera was hooked up already, I just need to mount it.  The kit has everything except the receiver and battery.  It looks like I can have it going fairly soon.  On the way home to get the motor home, we stopped at Subway for sandwiches for lunch.  As I was paying I spotted the cinnamon rolls and said "I think I will have a birthday cinnamon roll!".  When the girls who were working heard that, they didn't charge me for it.

This my birthday pie, after flying Mik, Michelle and James took us out to dinner at the 49er.  I had their chocolate cream pie as my dessert and was it good!  It was a very enjoyable birthday!

Sunsets

My day started in the recliner with the heat pad again today.  I managed to spend all morning there watching TV, checking emails and playing Solitaire on the tablet.  Around 11, James came up to borrow the chainsaw, so I got up and went down to help.  Their rental got trashed by the last tenant and there was lots of clean up to do.  James and I got a fire going in the fire pit and burned some of the debris.  We also cut down some old scrubs and tree limbs and burned or hauled them off.  James had just given the fire a fresh shot of kerosene before I took the picture.

Later, Vera and I went down to BK for dinner again, the sealer for the kitchen floor came today so we are getting closer to being able to use it again.  While we were eating at the Park and Ride, the sunset just kept getting prettier and prettier, so when we finished eating we ran down to Lions Pride Park to take a picture.  This picture is looking South from close to where we had lunch Friday.

As we were headed home we noticed it looked really nice from the North end of the river trail, so we stopped and took the picture above.  This is the best one out of the half dozen I took, the reflections turned out just like I wanted.

Sunday

I settled into my recliner with the heat pad on my foot first thing this morning.  James' advice seemed to work because it felt better all day.  When I finally got going, I spent most of the day messing with the quad.  I got all the wiring hooked up right, it was wrong the first time I tried it!  Then after I changed the wiring, I could not get it to arm the motors every time.  I went through the programming several times trying different things and finally gave up for the day.  We went to the 49er for dinner and after we got home, I edited pictures and got caught up on my blog.

Valentine's Day

What a difference a day makes, Lions Pride Park was full of cars today.  The smelt are in and there were people everywhere.  We were headed to the nursery at Pleasant Hill and I had to stop and take a picture of our peaceful spot.  Vera picked out a couple of day lilies, a pink one and a yellow one.  James came up this afternoon and I helped him take a couple of measurements down at the rental.  Then we got the mower fired up and he mowed down there.  It looks like this is the year for a new battery for the mower as we had to jump it the last two times.  James got me stocked up with wood pellets, I had been hoping he would come up, because my Achilles Tendon has been really sore and I have not felt like packing them.  I iced it this evening like James suggested and hopefully it will be feeling better tomorrow.

Indoor Flying!

Thursday was another day of rest for me, I had some parts for the quad come in at the post office, so we picked up lunch at BK and went over to the Park and Ride to eat and watch the world go by.

Since the kitchen is so torn up and I had more parts coming today, we did BK for lunch again.  Our spot at the Park and Ride was taken, to we came down to Lions Pride Park and ate.  It was a nice relaxing spot.

This evening, we went up to Centralia Middle School for another indoor flying session.  We had a small turn out tonight, just four of us, this is John, Dick and Ken flying.

One plane got tipped up on its nose and we tried to blow it over or bump it with our Champs.  Pretty soon all three of them were tangled up and we had to break down and walk over to them.  We got a good laugh out of it.

 My new BO-105 flew great in the gym, no wind is really nice!  The hardest part of flying it is getting the battery hooked up!  I have to use hemostats to hold one of the plugs, if I ever have to tear it apart, I will certainly extend the wires.

 It looks really good in the air and the body makes it easy to see flying around in the gym.  We flew until 10 PM again, then after a stop for gas and snacks we headed home.

And even more floor!

I took Monday off to rest my knees, then Tuesday we moved the washer, dryer and storage cabinet out of the utility room.  Once they were out of the way I found a couple of spots that need repair in there.  Then on Wednesday while Vera was at bible study, I got the glue spread.  Later we added a couple of heaters blowing into the room to make the glue dry faster and I was able to finish laying the tile by about 10 PM this time.

More Floor

That is what the kitchen floor looked like a midnight, it was an all day job.  The damp weather made the glue dry really slow, so it was evening before I could start laying tile.

Rain!

Holy Cow did it rain at times today!  During this cloudburst we had a quarter inch of rain in about 5 minutes!  Here is a link to about a 1 minute video of that rain. Rain 2-7-2015

I did a bunch of sanding on the spots I am leveling, one spot was not fully cured and some chunks came out.  When I got done sanding, I filled it and several other low spots and with any luck maybe I can put down some tile tomorrow.  I had a couple of calls from Barry, he got two flights on the quad I sent him today and he is planning on another flight at dusk to see how the lights look.

Another new shirt came today, can you tell I am proud of my Finnish heritage.  I worked on the quad some more this afternoon and evening.  I got the four speed controls calibrated, the motor rotation direction checked, two were turning the wrong way.  Next is a mount for the GPS unit and then when it quits raining I can test fly it.

A day of rest!

Boy was I tired this morning, moving the appliances around and working on the floor for a couple of days caught up with me.  I had breakfast, checked my emails and watched TV for awhile and decided I needed a nap.  I must have slept pretty good because I was watching Mythbusters and the next thing I knew a remodeling show was on.  I felt lots better after that, but I didn't accomplish much until evening when I worked on the quad.  The receiver wouldn't fit where I wanted to put it, so I pulled the case off and covered the circuit board with heat shrink tubing.  It fit fine after that, I also changed how the speed control was mounted.  That only took three tries before I got it right.

Kitchen floor

We moved the stove and dish washer out of the way this morning, then I finished up removing a couple of sections of flooring that were loose.  Water had gotten under it when we had a leak in the sink. Then I spread on the leveling compound to make everything level again, that was a messy job.  By the time I was done with that, my back was ready for a rest, so I am sitting against the heat pad as I do this part of the blog.

This evening I went out and did some cleaning in the shop.  I ran across that new servo for the ECO8 that was bad, so I got it boxed up and ready to mail tomorrow.  With the stove pulled out, Vera used her pressure pot to make a beef stew for dinner, boy was it good!

Here is my Throw Back Thursday picture, James and I are playing on February 5th 1999.  I don't have a clue why I was upside down!

Lunch with the class of 58!

I went to lunch today with my sister's class of 1958.  There were four others there from my class of 57 and I had a great time catching up with several people from both classes.  I got started on the new kitchen floor this morning, I discovered that my oscillating tool worked great for taking up some sections of the old flooring that I wanted to level.

When I got home I went up and let Sam out, he was doing his dance again as I got ready to throw the tennis ball for him.  I finished up removing the flooring and I am now ready to do the leveling.  Settling down in my recliner with the heat pad sure felt good tonight.

All done!

I boxed up Barry's quad, transmitter, chargers, extra propellers, battery and instructions this morning.  Then we ran down to UPS and got it on the way to him.  After lunch, I made a run up to let Sam out, what fun, he has started dancing from one foot to the other as he waits for the ball to be thrown.  He must have been ready to quit when I was, because when I headed toward the door, he beat me there without me calling him.  This afternoon, I moved the refrigerator into the dining room so I can get started on the new kitchen floor.  After that wrestling match, I was ready to call it a day.  We got our W-2's today, so H&R Block and I did the taxes online.  This has got to be the earliest I have got them done in a long time.

While I was doing that, Vera had been making a batch of rolls, she is such a sweetie!  When they were done I finished off Mik's jam on a couple of them, boy was that a good combination!  I had a club meeting at Stuffy's tonight, I was too full for dinner, so I just had dessert, the Baby Gobb, I am sure glad I didn't get the bigger ones because the Baby is a monster.  I had a good time at the meeting visiting with Jerry and Lincoln.  I wrote up the minutes first thing when I got home because I have tried to remember what those scribbles mean after several days and it is not easy.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday!

OK, it is time to do a little catching up.

I did not take a single picture the last 3 days, so here is one of me with the grand kids from 1999 at Bev's birthday party.

Saturday morning, we made a run to Longview to stock up on a few things.  Not too much went on after that, I did some tuning on Barry's quad.  I took it outside about 10 PM and flew it, the lights looked pretty cool up about 50 feet in the fog going round and round.

Sunday morning I baked a batch of brownies right after I finished breakfast.  I put half the batter in the pan, covered it with Reese's peanut butter chips, poured in the rest of the batter and covered that with milk chocolate chips.  Vera made a birthday cake for Bev, she added cream cheese to the batter and boy was it good!  Bev came up and watched the Super Bowl with us.  She loved the brownies and cake.  There was way more than we needed around here, so we sent lots of it home with her and she dropped off a plate of it to Debbie and Josh.  I wore my Seahawks shirt and socks, but it didn't help, there is always next year!  I did win $50 in the family Super Bowl pool.

Today we made a run to Home Depot and picked up tile and everything we would need to do the kitchen floor.  I went over and wished Dianne a happy birthday and had a good time looking at Steve's memorabilia from when he was in the Army.  I went out this afternoon and put another flight on Barry's quad.  It was working hard, but it handled the gusty winds fine.  I finished up a few last minute details on it this evening and I think it is ready to go.