Flowers, Deer and Baseball!

Vera's pink rose is really looking pretty this year!

Vera walked with the church group this morning, I started watering while she was gone.  I was by the pink rose when she got home, so she got the camera so I could take pictures of it.  Then she took a picture of me watering on the patio.  I had the boot off for 3 days, but this morning the Achilles was sore, so I put it back on.  I worked out in the shop this afternoon and tried to sit down as much as I could.

Vera came out to show me some pictures she had taken of a little buck going through the yard.  I worked out there until it was time to head down to James' game in Longview.  We had a couple of things to pick up, so we started early and had time enough for a dinner of halibut at Freddie's before the game.

James got a nice hit his first time at bat, he went to second on the next hit.

Here he is stealing third, he got such a jump on the pitcher that they didn't even try to throw him out.

He was able to score when the next batter got a hit.  They ended up winning the game 3 to 0.

Road Trip with James!

At Vera's birthday lunch, I mentioned I was buying a plane from Bob and that I needed to run up and get.  James said he would like to go along and see Bob.  This weekend we made arrangements to go up today.  Bob was really impressed with how much James had grown.  We had a nice visit before getting the plane and leaving.

Our next stop was Marie's, I had loaded 50 new pictures onto the card for her digital picture frame and I wanted to install it.  There is now 727 pictures on the card and Marie said she watches it all the time.  The door was locked when we got there, so we headed down toward the dining area as it was lunch time.  We met Marie about half way there and came back to her room with her.  I put the new pictures in and we visited for a while and I explained what some of them were.  I wanted a picture of her and James, but she was too interested in the new pictures to smile for me.  From there, we went back to Bob's so I could take a picture of him and James.  He was surprised when I called so soon after leaving.  James and I had a nice time talking on the way up and back, we took his Maxima because it has working air conditioning.

This evening, I put in a flight on one of the quads.  It is the first time I have ever taken a picture while I was flying.  I sat the transmitter down and the flight controller kept the quad right where I wanted it while I took the picture.

That went so well that I decided to fly Pogo, Vera noticed it flashing by and came out to take pictures.  I did good tonight, all four landings were upright on the tail, practicing every night is helping.

Winners

We had a pretty laid back day here Sunday.  Vera did make a batch of great Cocoa Mounds.  I puttered on planes in the shop and got the landing gear on my new Extra 300.  We got this picture of James' team at Walla Walla, they won the Bronze Division of the Tournament!  He was really happy, they beat the team that beat them last year.

Bees!

Saturday morning we headed out to some garage sales on Si Town Rd. and then up to Toutle for one and we found another on the way.  We didn't get as many things today, one thing Vera got was the plaque with blue birds on it hanging on the rail.  When Vera went out to pick out a spot for it, she discovered a bees nest in the cushions we were storing there.  I used up the part of a can of spray I had and there was still lots of activity, so we made a run to town for more.  It turned out they had ruined two of the cushions so we threw them away.  We heard from James that they had won both of their games in Walla Walla today.

Garage Sales

There was one Castle Rock garage sale in the paper for Friday, but before we were done we had found 3 unadvertised ones.  We found something to buy at every one we went to.  The flowers are Vera's first find.

The lamp shade was our next treasure, it replaces one in the computer room that was always in the way when we talked to each other.

I have liked watching this type of clock since I was a kid,  we got it at the same sale as the shade was at.  It is not an expensive one, but fun to watch and it keeps great time. Once we got home, it was an inside day as it got up to 90 degrees this afternoon.  I worked on the Schluter Cobra today making up a mount for the new motor.  It wasn't long before I discovered that I needed a different adapter from the motor to clutch.  I found two different styles at Tower Hobbies and got them ordered.  I got in a flight with Pogo when the wind died down a little.  Take offs are no problem, just pour the power to it and away it goes, the landings are another story!  It has been a couple of years since I last flew it and I am having to practice the vertical landings.

James is playing in a tournament in Walla Walla this weekend.  Michelle got this great picture of him catching a foul ball.  James texted me that it was 103 over there!  He said they won one and lost one and that he had been hitting good.

Flying

Earlier in the week, I thought about going to a seaplane Fly-In today, but being out and about all day in the heat that was predicted made me change my mind.  Instead, we went to Toledo early with plans to leave before it got really hot.  The picture is our friends Jim and Ken flying, those are Ken's planes in the foreground.  They were the only other flyers there today.  We headed home about 1:30, 1:00 would have been better, because we started feeling pretty warm about 5 minutes before we got home.  I watered the plants as soon as we got home.  I spent the rest of the day doing some firmware updates to two of my transmitters.

The first time in 2 years!

Vera's bible study got cancelled, when we made our mail run this morning we found signs for a Wednesday yard sale.  It has been a long time since we have been on the Growler's Gulch Rd.  There was not much we wanted or needed, but I did find two lift struts for one dollar.  It has been two years since we last barbecued, we had picked up some Johnsville Brats last night, so we cooked the whole batch and boy were they good!  It was a perfect evening to sit out on the deck and eat.

Happy Birthday Vera!

Today was Vera's birthday, we met Bev, Michelle, Debbie and James at Stuffy's for lunch and had a great time.

When they figured out she was having a birthday, they brought Vera this giant cinnamon roll with a candle on it and sang Happy Birthday to her.  The picture is after we got it home and sliced it up to freeze, well that heel with all the frosting may have gotten eaten.  It makes great french toast, they have it on the menu there as Sue's Special.

Debbie gave Vera a vase filled with roses she had grown, they really smell nice.  Debbie takes her boards for LPN tomorrow, she told us all about the procedure which she is going to go to Seattle for.

After lunch, we stopped by Lowe's and I got another arrangement of perennial flowers like the ones we got for Vera's plant stand with the gift card Mik, Michelle and James got me for Fathers Day.  That is it on the left, it was just what we needed to fill that spot up.

James had a ball game tonight at the Mark Morris field.  This is his third time at bat and he drove in a run with this hit.  They won the game 6 to 0.  It was a big day, lots of fun, but I was glad to get home and take the boot off.

Dinner at Mik, Michelle and James'

I started out today with the boot on, I wanted to save my out of the boot time for dinner at Mik, Michelle and James' tonight.  It was a combination Fathers Day, Mik's Birthday and Vera's Birthday.  When we pulled in the driveway and I saw the Traeger grill going, I knew it was going to be good and it was!  Mik had made ribs and Michelle made a pasta salad, they were both delicious. While we waited for the ribs to finish cooking, we snacked on blueberries, cherry tomatoes, caramel corn and a watermelon that Michelle had tried a new way of cutting, it worked great,   In the picture, Vera has just opened the angel that Mik, Michelle and James gave her.  We had a really nice visit and got pretty well caught up on what we all had been doing.

Fathers Day

This morning, Vera asked what I wanted to do for Fathers Day.  I said I would like to take it easy and maybe go out for dinner tonight.  After stretching and icing the Achilles, I did some unloading from the motor home.  I kept looking at the stand Vera had gotten, it was looking kind of bare without any flowers.  I asked Vera if she wanted to make a run to Longview for plants, after grabbing the camera in case we saw a photo op for my blog, we headed out.  Our first stop was at Harbor Freight for some stainless steel trays to plant the flowers in.  Then we hit Jo Anne's for some fabric for a project Vera is working on.  Since I wanted to go home via the Delameter Road, we went to Lowe's for the plants.  Our first photo op was just as we started up the Coal Creek Rd. there were some ducks in the old treatment ponds.  There was a duck with two young ones and the young ones were diving, one was under water when I took the picture.

We had only gone about a hundred yards when Vera spotted this heron, so we turned around and came back for a picture.

This view was the reason I wanted to come back on the Delameter Road.  There is only one spot now where you can see it.  There used to be several places, but the trees have grown up in the others.

This is Vera's plant stand after we got everything planted and placed on it.  I did some more unloading of the motor home and then started putting my favorite planes back into it.  We went down to the 49er later for dinner.

While I was editing pictures for the blog, Vera went out and took some of our roses, it smells so good out there!

Swap Meet

Friday morning Vera and I went out to a few garage sales.  Vera found a metal stand she plans on using for plants and I found a set of storage drawers for the shop.  I spent the rest of Friday getting things loaded into the motor home for the swap meet at the Toledo High School Saturday.   Saturday, Vera and I were up bright and early and went up to help with the swap meet setup.  We beat the guy with the key by about a half hour, but some other modelers were there we could visit with.  The picture is just after the doors opened, the swap meet was much smaller this year and there was very low attendance of buyers.  Normally every table would be taken, but this year about 1/3 were empty!  We did manage to sell all but 3 of the kits I am selling for a friend.  None of my planes sold, so I can hang them back up until the next swap meet in September.  We stopped by the flying field on the way home.  We had lunch, I got in one flight and we visited with the people there for a little while before heading home.

Early visitor!

Vera spotted two deer having breakfast or dessert at the rose bush this morning.  One was gone before I got this picture taken.  I started weaning myself off the boot this morning, I put tennis shoes on and did they ever feel weird!  I mostly stayed in the house, but I did make one trip over to Steve and Dianne's to see what the twins were doing since it sounded like they were having fun.  They were filling water balloons, the filling was going OK, but tying the knot was another thing.  Steve got a big surprise when one knot the girls made didn't hold.  I put the boot on after that and wore it the rest of the day.  The doctor had recommended a couple of hours a day and then gradually work up.  I spent a good part of the day getting caught up with my blog.  We got the netting put on the blueberries today, no free lunch for the birds, and I went down and put some doors on the rental for Mik this evening.

Oops!

We took this picture of Vera's Moss Rose as we were leaving for the Goble field.  I remembered that I had left my anemometer strapped to a pole on Sunday.  After her bible study Vera thought we should go get it.  I loaded up a couple of planes, batteries and transmitter into the Blazer and we headed out.  It was time for my bimonthly blood test, so we stopped by Kaiser and there was no line so I didn't even get to sit down before going in.

 I wish that I had remembered to take a picture of the anemometer, it would go great right here.  I flew the F-15 twice today and I had a great time with it.

Vera is getting good with the camera, she took most of the pictures Sunday and today.

The Lancair was the other plane I took today.  It is fairly fast, probably because it is well streamlined.  I ended up making 6 flights this afternoon before we headed home.  We stopped in Rainier at the Cornerstone Restaurant for dinner which was great.

 Vera and I were sitting on the shop porch talking when we noticed this woodpecker or sapsucker, I am not sure which.  The next thing I knew Vera had gotten some pictures of it.

James Baseball

Our hanging baskets are doing great!  They are a lot easier to take care of since we now have a faucet and hose on that side of the house.

James had a baseball game this afternoon.  He got walked his first two times at bat, I was impressed when the count was no balls and two strikes and he ended up getting walked.  He has a good eye for balls and strikes!  He also scored both times he was walked.

His third time up he got a hit, a single to left field.  He went to second when the next hitter was walked.

James is stealing third, the third baseman came down on his arm and he had a couple of cuts from the cleats, so they sent in a pinch runner while he got bandaged up.

Here he is back on first bandaged up for the final inning, they won 9 to 4.

Flying at Goble

We got down to Goble about 9 this morning and the first thing I noticed was that the field had not been mowed.  I unloaded a few things so we would have room in the motor home and started mowing.  It went good and I was done in about an hour and then I started flying.

It wasn't long until we had some excitement, a former member who was coming down to rejoin the club got hit as he was turning into the driveway.  The van tried to pass just as he made his turn.

Here I am with my best boot forward, I sure enjoy flying the Corsair.

The hay surrounding the runway had been cut and they came in to rake it this afternoon.  The new equipment they use now sure does a nice job.

This afternoon, they started baling it.  We really enjoyed watching the baler operate.  Vera asked them how they knew when a bale was ready to dump.  It turned out there is a pressure gauge they watch and they dump it when it gets to a certain pressure.  The guy also told her that they go a little beyond that to get a nice tight bale.

 A big flock of birds flew over while we were there, no one seemed to know what they were.  When we got home, I did some research online and it turns out they are pelicans.

The meeting and fun fly that were scheduled for today did not happen, so I did lots of flying.  This is the line up of what I flew today, 13 flights, two on each plane except 3 on the Sukhoi.

Bubbles

I heard the kids having a good time, so I walked over to watch them playing with bubbles.  They were going through the bubble solution pretty fast, every time grandma wasn't looking they were adding more to the tray.  I spent most of the day getting the motor home loaded up and batteries charged for flying Sunday at Goble.

While I was watering I noticed our day lilies are starting to bloom.

This rose is North of the driveway and it really smells nice.

Michelle and James came by this afternoon, James was playing in a tournament in Adna.  They had a 9 AM game which they won, so they did not play again until 6 PM.  After having a bite to eat, James sacked out on the couch.  When it was time to head for the next game, he checked his phone and the team they were scheduled to play had dropped out of the tournament so he did not have a game until Sunday.