Flying at Toledo

It was a little cool out this morning, but it turned into a nice day at the Toledo flying field.  The first thing I did was test fly the new Lancair.  Boy were the ailerons sensitive on the first flight.  I took it into the motor home and adjusted the linkage to cut the throw in half and it flew great after that.  Only two other flyers showed up today and we had a great time flying and visiting.  You can tell summer is here, the air conditioner has been running, I am wearing shorts and I also have a sun burn on both knees.  With my boot on, I made it through the day with no problems.

More Flowers

Thursday morning there were the bunnies again, two of them this morning.

The first thing we did Thursday was put some flowers into the container Mik, Michelle and James got Vera for Mother's Day.

Then we went out and put the rest of the flowers on the back deck.

With me being kind of gimpy, Vera did a lot of work.

Today, after going to the only garage sale we saw a sign for, we picked up a few more flowers and made up a couple of hanging baskets for where the bird feeders hang in the winter.  We also got the table and chairs cleaned up and Vera got out the umbrella for it and we got it set up.  Vera got the barbecue out to clean it, but two of the legs were off so we took it to the shop and repaired it before she cleaned it up. 

This evening, we lit the citronella candle and a couple of torches with citronella oil in them and sat out on the deck and visited, it has been quite a while since we did that.

Flowers

I got my quad put back together this morning and then I put a flight on it.  Next I put the new battery in the lawn mower, Vera came home from bible study just as I finished up, she came out, took some pictures of her lilies and took this picture of me as I was testing it.

                            

It was not charging, so I got to looking around and found a plug I hadn't hooked up when I rebuilt the carburetor.  It seems I now have a spare battery. 

I went up and let Sam out before we ran to Longview.  It is great that he has this spot to drop the ball through.  I can sit in the chair and rest the Achilles and he brings it right back to me.

We went to Walmart to pick up a few things and made our main stop for flowers at Home Depot.  We got this box of flowers, plus some bigger pots and 2 hanging baskets.

As we came up the driveway, Dianne and the twins were heading towards the play fort.  We had the camera with us, so we parked and went over to watch.  Vera took this picture of Harper.

She passed the camera to me and visited with Dianne, I took this one of Ava swinging.  Harper went over, got her bat and I threw some pitches to her.

We got the two hanging baskets up and put a bowl up to hold one of the pre-made arrangements.  We are planning on doing the rest of the planting tomorrow morning.

B-36

My plan today was to fix the B-36, and I did!  Last summer when I took it out the right outboard motor would not run so I did not fly it.  There is lots of wiring in the center section of the wing, but the motors are wired up in pairs and the problem ended up being the yellow speed control for the right motor was bad.  I had a spare, so I disconnected the wiring and then hooked up the new one temporally to make sure it cured the problem, it did and I started soldering things up.  After a break to ice the foot, I finished it up and then calibrated the new speed control.

I put in a couple of flights with the quads this afternoon, when I put the HP450 out to fly, one motor would not run, so I flew the APM again.  I took the HP450 back in and hooked a spare motor which ran.  As I was changing the motor I found a broken wire and after repairing it, the old motor ran fine, so I plan on putting it back in.  I noticed the boot wasn't feeling right, so I looked at the picture I took the first day and the inner part had slipped back.  I adjusted it back to where the picture showed and it felt better.

All done!

I got the Lancair finished today, I was doing some rearranging in the shop and found the nose wheel I needed.  I guess the ones I ordered will be spares.  I installed a new GPS module in the quad with the new controller.  The new one is more accurate and locks onto the GPS signal much faster.  I put several flights on it and I am really happy with the results.  I got quite a bit done on my new schedule, breakfast, stretching, icing, boot, work on planes, lunch, work on quad, stretch, ice, boot back on, back to the shop, dinner, work on planes, finish the Lancair, take the garbage down and call it a day.  Then I did another icing session just before bed.

Pentecost Sunday

The church was decorated for Pentecost Sunday and had a memorial cross for people members wanted remembered.  It was a nice service today, Pastor Pam had asked everyone to wear red and most of the congregation did.  I got lots of questions about my boot.

Vera's outfit looked really nice, I took a picture of her first thing when we got home.  We had picked up lunch on the way home, then I iced the Achilles and messed round on the computer.  I worked on the Lancair  to day and got the cowl mounted.  I put the old one back together and hung it in the front of the shop, ready for the June swap meet.  I also got some painting done on the Dirty Birdy, one more session and it will be ready for the swap meet also.  The boot seems to be helping, the Achilles is not nearly as sore as it has been.

51

51 years ago, Vera and I were married, that was the best thing I have ever done, it has been great!  Because of the holiday weekend, we decided to do something special next week.  Today we went to lunch at Parker's and it was delicious!

 This afternoon, I flew the quad several times experimenting with different antennas.  There is one on top of the pole I have hooked to the porch rail with a bungee.  I discovered that when the TV signal gets bad, the radio is getting a weak signal also as it shut down once behind the house and once behind the shop.

James came up for a little while this evening and we watched a little basketball play offs.  I told him about the pictures I had put on here, so he whipped out his phone and checked them out.

This is the new project, a Lancair, I already have one I got at a swap meet, it was built when I got it and there were several things I didn't care for.

I flush mounted the aileron servos instead of having them stick out.  It is getting close to done, now I need to find a nose wheel for it.  I also added magnets to the canopy so I don't have to have a latch on the back.  The boot seems to be working, I did not have any pain during the day and the swelling seems to be down a little.

Another new toy!

Well, I am not sure this really counts as a toy.  I had an appointment at eight this morning with Dr Heck a podiatrist.  After checking out my foot he said I have Achilles tendonitis and they fitted me with a boot for the next month to six weeks.  When I was done there, we did some shopping and Vera renewed her drivers license before heading home.  I spent the afternoon working on the new plane, getting the second aileron servos installed, the canopy finished and one wing tip installed.    Maybe I will remember to take some pictures of it the next session.  I put in one flight on the 450 quad trying out a new downward camera angle.  It was better, but I had gone too far, so I will take a little of it back out.

 Vera was out taking pictures of this iris that is in bloom.

New Toy?

Well, I sure slept good after my busy day Wednesday!  After my now normal routine of breakfast and icing the Achilles, we headed to Centralia to pick up a couple of things Marie needed.  Marie was in a great mood and we had a nice visit before it was her lunch time.  While Vera took her down to lunch, I gave Bob a call and then we went up and visited him for a little while before heading home to let Sam out.  We got to see the pictures of Bob's newest great granddaughter, she is really a cutie!  We did make a quick stop at Home Depot to pick up a new cordless hedge trimmer.  Sam is lots of fun, after a few times of retrieving the ball, he started playing in the brush.  He was barking and carrying on, tail wagging all the time.  When my foot gets better, I will have to go down and see what he is doing.

The hedge trimmer uses the same battery as my string trimmer, so I was able to go out and do some clearing on the trails right away.  We went out and put up the game camera tonight in a new spot where I could see something has been eating the leaves.  I also did a little work on my latest project, I got the first canopy magnet installed.  Now that I think about it, this is the first time I have mentioned it and it is almost done, maybe I will have to take some pictures for tomorrow.

Jury Duty

I headed down to Jury duty this morning in the motor home so Vera could use the van for going to bible study.  I got there at 8:00 and there were only a couple of other people there.  8:30 was the reporting time and that is when most of the people showed up.  Luckily I had taken my Model Aviation to read!  It ended up being a civil trial, I was the 11th juror selected.  During the jury questions they mentioned it would be a 3 day trial and did anyone have a problem with that, I raised my hand and told them about my doctor appointment.  I ended up getting excused before they started on the juror challenges.  I headed home with a stop at the bakery for a buttercream bismarck.  When Vera got home, she made the best french toast toasted cheese sandwiches!  Vera had picked up the part for the exhaust system, so after I let Sam out and played with him I started working on the Blazer.  It went pretty good once I got the bolts out of the flange.  While I was checking it out after I finished, I found a leaking radiator hose, tightening the clamp took care of it.  I was still feeling ambitious, so I mowed the lawn, when I finished that I was ready to take it easy.  While I was mowing Vera picked out the first two roses to bloom and put them in the house.  The red Don Juan smells so good!

More props

Lots of mornings when we get up there are piles of eaten flowers on the deck rails, this morning I got a picture of the culprit.  I did some flying with the little quad today and I managed to hit the TV antenna and the oak tree.  If this keeps up, I am going to need some more props because I broke three of them.

Our Iris is doing great this year, Vera was out taking pictures of them today.

Mt St Helens 35 Years

We headed up to Mt St Helens this morning, this was our first stop at George Taylor Rd to let a diesel pickup get a ways ahead so we did not have to smell it.   Vera took a couple of pictures of Silver Lake while we were waiting.

Our next stop was the Weyerhaeuser visitor center, looking down at the mud flows, we could see the recovery that has taken place.

From there we went to Elk Rock, we have been on top of it many times during ELT practices.

We hiked out on this point so I could get a picture of the mud flows we had looked at from the visitors center.  This is looking West from Elk Rock, the visitors center is the light area on the next point down.

This is Mt St Helens from the Elk Rock view point, the first really good view of the whole area.

We could remember being at the Castle Lake view point one year when it was so cold it hurt to breathe.  That was not the case this year, it was nice and warm with light winds the whole time we were at the mountain.  At first we thought that something was in bloom on the hill behind me.

It turned out that they had been thinning the trees, they also topped all of them.  We saw this in several places and I am wondering why they were topped.

By the time we left the Castle Lake view point my Achilles was getting pretty sore so we headed for Johnston Ridge without any more stops.  I wanted to be able to get up were we could see the dome better.  It took a couple of rest stops, but I made it!  There sure isn't much snow up there this year.  I had a nice time talking to a lady from Mississippi who had never been here before.  I told her a few of the things that we saw the day it erupted.

 It does not look like there is much heat in the dome as there was no sign of melted snow.  On the way home we stopped at 19 mile, but there were quite a few cars in the parking lot, we decided to eat some where else.  We really like the fried chicken at Drew's so we headed there.  After picking up the chicken, a couple of salads and Jo Jo's we went to Harry Gardner park to eat.  After lunch as we pulled onto the road the Blazer started making all kinds of noise.  I stopped and looked at it and decided it was the exhaust system.  After a noisy ride home, I checked and the pipe from the catalytic converter to the muffler had broken.  We went down to NAPA to get one, but it was going to have to come from Seattle and would  not be here until Wednesday.  Even with the little problem, it was a great day!

Garage Sales and Flying

We headed out to go to a couple of garage sales right after breakfast this morning.  After the two that we knew about, we kept finding more.  The third one had some awesome cookies for sale and I bought four.  On the way home, there was a sign for one in the Silver Lake area, so we headed up there.  They had lots of stuff and we had a good time looking and I ended up with a set of drawers.  On the way up I had spotted a small sign for a sale on Schaffran Rd.  Nice people there and Vera ended finding a couple of treasures.

I worked on the video cameras for the quads this afternoon, I decided to put a couple of flights on the little one between showers.  On the first flight I just flew around the house and driveway.  Then on the second flight, I got a little braver and went down the driveway, flew along a short trail to the yard, flew over the ponds back to the driveway and landed.  For the third flight, I moved my flight station over to the back deck.  I took off the deck and flew past the walnut tree onto the trails.  The route I took back to the yard was pretty overgrown and I ran into several branches.  I was expecting to have it crash, but it flew right through them.  I took the picture after landing back on the deck, it had picked up a few leaves.

I also got the camera mounted on the quad with the new controller and I got in a flight just as it was getting dark.

Rhododendron Season

Our rhododendrons are all coming into bloom.  I think we have 18 of them around the place.

This pair by the pond bloom like this every year.

This is a rose that was given to Vera by her friend Lois who passed away last week.

This is a start of a rose bush my folks had next to the driveway.  When they widened the Spirit Lake highway, it got destroyed.  We did some cleaning around it last year and it has more buds this year.  I got the rest of the lawn mowed today, when I filled the mower afterwards, I spilled gas on my foot.  Boy did that stink up the house when I came in, I had to take everything off and put it outside.  Then I threw the clothes in the washer, took my Crocs to the shop and washed them with 409 three times.  The clothes smelled OK after one washing.  I got in three flights on the quads this afternoon, I am getting braver, I went down the driveway a ways then turned around and came back.  One of these days I will probably be posting about getting stuck in a bush or on the house roof.  This evening, I spent some time working on the video cameras they carry.  Vera made some great biscuits and chili for dinner, of course I had to have one with honey.  There is nothing better than a warm biscuit and honey!

It Flies!

Many mornings when we look out the kitchen window, we see this bunny eating in the same spot just South of the shop.  I have looked, but I don't see anything special about that patch of grass.  I got the quad with the new flight controller going today.  It fought me for a while until I updated the firmware and then found out I had one channel reversed in the transmitter.  After I got the quad flying, I decided to fix the mower deck, it has been making lots of noise and I had new mandrels for it.  I also found one idler pulley that had bad bearings and was probably making most of the noise.  I didn't have a new one, but I found one in the drawer that was better.  Sometimes it pays to save that old stuff!  A couple of the mandrels were not in that great of shape, so I changed all of them and sharpened the blades.  I ordered all new idlers tonight.  I mowed about half the lawn to check it out and the deck is much quieter.  I had time enough after that to get in the three flights on the little quad and one more on the one with the new flight controller.

Referral

I had an email from my doctor this morning, I had emailed him about how my Achilles was doing on Monday.  Since I am still having trouble, he was referring me to a podiatrist and he ordered xrays.  Vera was at bible study so I decided to go get the xrays done right away.  Then I would be ready when I got an appointment.  My timing was great, I only had to wait about 3 minutes before they called me in.  Afterwards, I checked to see if I needed to schedule an appointment, but they told me the podiatry department would contact me and to call if I hadn't heard from them in 2 weeks.  I stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home for lunch and a Blizzard.  When I got home, I went up to let Sam out and played with him until it started raining.  Just as I stepped in the door when I got home, the phone started ringing and it was the podiatry office to schedule the appointment.  Their first opening was next week, so I took it and I am looking forward to it.

 This afternoon, I programmed the P2 flight controller.  I had downloaded their programming software and it works great, the easiest to use that I have had since I started flying these quads.  Now all I need is some dry weather so I can take it outside and calibrate the compass.  Michelle and James stopped by for a little while this evening to deliver some cookie dough we had ordered.  James asked what I was watching, and I didn't have a clue as I must have been taking a nap.  That one really snuck up on me!

Quad updated!

Things continue to bloom, we noticed our first roses today.  This bush is really hardy and keeps ahead of the deer.  We were a little more active today, making it down for the mail and then having dinner by the river at Lions Pride Park.

I have been working on my first quad for several days, updating the flight controller to one with GPS position hold and Return to Home capability, it is the blue case marked P2 and the tall antenna.  I have also added a video camera and transmitter, it has the short white antenna.  The next step is programming it with the laptop.  I put several flights on the little quad today, I flew it for seven minutes just using the video it transmitted back.