A couple of days of rest!

We didn't do a whole lot Monday after the big day of flying Sunday.  Vera sat outside and read part of the day, it was really nice out.

I did some watering as the flowers didn't get any Sunday and were drooping.  I commented on this flower in the hanging basket and Vera got the camera so I could take a picture.  That led to more pictures of every type of flower in it.  I am sure it has doubled in size since we got it. 

The Mini Sticks showed up this weekend, Tuesday was the first time I had a chance to mess with them.  Hobby Express had them marked down to fifty dollars and if you bought one you got one free.  I put a couple of flights on this one just before dark.

CVRCF Picnic

We left for the Cowlitz Valley Radio Control Flyers barbecue at seven this morning.  We were the second ones there and right away I could see the runway needed mowing.  I got a few things out so we could move around in the motor home and started mowing.  It took about an hour, but the field looked much better when I finished.

Lots of flying went on today, when I took this picture there were five planes in the air.  Three of them were making passes down the runway together.  There were several midairs today, my friend Dave and I hit and the only damage was to both of our propellers.  Both planes flew again, mine with a new prop and his just had a nick in the prop.

Vera counted fourteen flyers at one time and some more came after that.  Five members of the Lewis County Radio Controllers came down for the day.  When you add in the family members there we had a pretty large turn out.

We stayed and I flew until the sun went down.  My last flight was with the little quad videoing the field and the sunset.  Vera suggested a Burgerville milkshake on the way home, Marion berry is the seasonal flavor now and it was delicious.  It was kind of sad to pull into the driveway and not see Barry's motor home and PT Cruiser.  I have really enjoyed visiting with him every day for the last couple of weeks.

Threshing Bee

Marie had called yesterday and left me a voice mail about some supplies she needed.  Vera and I were going out to dinner, so we just went to Longview instead of Castle Rock and picked up the stuff she needed at Walmart.   Then we got up early this morning and ran the supplies up to her before going to the Threshing Bee at Toledo.

This was our first view after getting out of the Blazer.

After watching the steam powered equipment cutting firewood with a buzz saw for a little while we went to the miniature engines.  We ran into our friends Jim and Carole there, Vera and Carole looked at antique sewing machines while Jim and I looked at the miniatures and talked.

 There didn't seem to be as many tractors or vendors this year.  The weather was perfect for walking around.  I decided to look for a nice Mason jar for one of my solar lights so we had a reason to look at all the booths.  We found quite a few to choose from and I finally picked out a quart one with large letters on it.  I also found a handle for one of my old tools.

While we were looking for the Mason jar I saw this set up, I wonder if they raise it up so the passengers have a better view.

If it was green this Ford would have fit in better.

At the other end of the line was this lawn mower puller, it is quite a contrast between it and that John Deere beside it.

Vera's dad had a truck like this that he used to haul logs.

After we looked at this classic, we saw Myrna, the sister of one of my classmates who drives in the tractors pulls.  She said there was about another hour before the pulling started so we decided to pick up the jar and handle and head home.  Barry and several of our friends were there about the same time but we never ran into any of them.

Barry and Mona  are relaxing after taking us to dinner at the 49er, Thank You, it was great!  I spent the rest of the day getting the motor home loaded for tomorrow's Cowlitz Valley RC Flyers barbecue.

When I was taking the camera to the motor home I saw Barry looking for Bentley who was on a walkabout.  He located him on the back deck, Bentley spent a bunch of time checking out the ferns as he slowly made his way back to the motor home.

On the way back he went behind the Japanese Maple and Barry couldn't coax him out, he insisted on going behind all the ferns on the North side of the house.

When we got back to the motor home Mona had the rabbits out.  Freckles is a little wild yet so had to be on a leash.

Mona is taking Mama rabbit for a walk.

Two days looking for it and two days can't find it!

We still have some roses blooming North of the shop and Vera was out getting  some pictures of them.

Monday morning Vera spotted this rabbit out the kitchen window.  I got the camera and we opened the window carefully but I think it heard us because it never moved after that and looked right at us.  I took several pictures, then closed the window and it took off.  My new vinyl cutter showed up today and I spent the day installing the software and learning how to use it.

Tuesday my replacement transmitter for the one I hooked the battery up backwards arrived.  The old transmitter was not repairable so they offered me a new one at half price.  I had all the programming for the planes stored on my laptop but do you think I could find the programmer for the transmitter.  Barry had gone to Portland to pick up Mona at the airport today.

This is Wednesday morning, Mona is getting ready to go for a bike ride.  They didn't get home until fairly late as the flight was three hours late because a landing gear indicator was not working right.  I did a bunch more searching for the programmer with out any luck.

Today things went better, I finally found the programmer out in the shop.  I hooked it up and got twenty two planes downloaded into the new transmitter.  The case it was in is well marked now!

This evening we went down to Papa Pete's for Barry's birthday pizza.  I let everyone know we were  going there and everyone showed up.  There was lots of talking and laughter, it sounded like we all had a good time.

Playground

We got sad news first thing this morning, one of Vera's bible study friends had passed away.  Janet had been having chemo for cancer, came down with pneumonia and it was just too much for her system.  Vera let Barry know because Janet was in his class.  People at church were sad also and she was mentioned several times and the service was a little different because some of the things she did were missing.  After church we went to a blessing of the new playground the church members had built to honor a member who had passed away four years ago.

Mik sent me this picture of Michelle and the new Grandpuppy today, they are so cute!  We took Barry to Gee Cee's for dinner tonight, their chicken fried steak is huge, I have half of it in the frig for lunch tomorrow.

After we got home I went out and got the game camera.  It had lots of pictures of deer this time and this one of a doe and fawn with spots is my favorite.  There were some infrared pictures of two bucks fighting right in front of the camera.  The infrared pictures are not real clear so I didn't use any here.  While I was getting the camera I got a call from Bev and got caught up a little with what she has been doing.  Twenty five degrees cooler today was sure enjoyable.

HOT 100 Degrees!!!

The annual family garage sale was today.  I spent Friday getting ready for it and a model demo we were putting on for a company picnic at the Cowlitz County Fairgrounds.  At the last minute I decided to add a radio control plane to the stuff I took down.  Boy was I surprised when it sold.

Vera and I did some shopping on the way down to the fairgrounds and wisely filled up the motor home with gas so I could run the generator and air conditioner if needed.  By the time we got there at about 11:45 it was really getting hot and there was no shade in the field we were using.  After getting set up, it wasn't long until I moved the motor home to where the noise of the generator wouldn't bother us and got the air conditioner going for Vera.  I flew a few demonstration flights and talked to some people while Mike and Gary gave some flight instruction on the buddy box.  I was sure glad when it was time to pack up and head home.  After getting the groceries unloaded and the motor home put away I settled in my chair and promptly took a nap.

Mik sent me a picture of James and the new Grandpuppy.  They have to wait until October to bring it home.

Done for now!

I have had the two dummy engines mounted for a couple of days.  Today I added a couple more braces to the nacelles, they are just for looks and don't support anything.  I decided to take it outside for some pictures even if it was 96 degrees.

I got tired of working on the engines so I will add some more detail next winter.  Vera and I had picked up a couple of plants the other day so we potted them this morning.  We also rerouted the end of a trail so I can get through it with the lawn mower to maintain it.  Today we picked our first apples for this year and Vera made a delicious apple crisp.  Warm with ice cream on it was a great treat, both Barry and I enjoyed it.

Barry's Back

Sunday was a pretty laid back day after church.  I rested up from the work party Saturday and did a little work on the Tri-motor's dummy engines.  Monday afternoon Barry got back from Walla Walla, he had been over there visiting friends.

Today I had a follow up appointment for the Basal cell that was removed from my ear last month.  The tests showed they didn't go deep enough, so I had an appointment with a dermatologist to remove the last of it.  It went great and I was out of there in ten minutes.  I sat outside with Barry and Bentley for a while this evening and had a nice visit.

Work Party

The radio control club had a work party scheduled for today.  I got up early and got up there over an hour early so I could work on Mrs. Herren's yard.  I wanted to spray the weeds I missed last time and do some work with the trimmer.  Mrs. Herren wasn't up when I started, but when she did, she looked out the window and saw the motor home.  Her first thought was "someone camped in the yard last night", then she saw me spraying and came out to talk.  At nine I went over to the flying field and helped out with the work party.  Every year we take down our equipment during the Threshing Bee.  There were eight others there when I arrived and the work went pretty fast.

We had a treat, one member's girl friend brought out a basket of fresh, still warm cinnamon rolls she had made this morning.  Another member had stopped at the Castle Rock Bakery for a box of chocolate donuts, maple bars and cinnamon twists.  Need I mention that I didn't need a lunch today plus they passed out the leftovers for us to take home.

After the work was done about half the people got their planes out and flew.  I got in three flights before it started getting warm.  I stopped at Mrs. Herren's again and worked on some blackberry briers, it didn't take too long until it was too warm for that and I headed home.

Flying

We were up early and headed to the flying field.  Two other flyers showed up for a little while but for most of the day we had it all to our selves.  The conditions were great but around one it started warming up so we headed home.  I had gotten in ten flights, so I was happy.

This afternoon I noticed the moon was out so I took several pictures of it.  This one turned out really nice.

My first thought when I got the camera was to include the tree in the picture.  The moon was sharper in the this picture than it was in one where it was right beside the tree.

Now that I have them both here, this one is OK also.  This evening I worked on my Stearman biplane adding some braces to the tail.  One side seemed like it had developed a crack as it would flex more than the other.  The real Stearman has brace wires so I put these in the same locations.  When I came in for the evening I put one flight on the little quad in the dark.  I am going to have to add a headlight to it.  Just before bedtime I am planning on looking for some meteors.  I already lit the citronella candle to ward off the mosquitoes.

Lots of pushrods

Some times the best sunset is behind you!  This is at Lions Pride Park looking Southeast.  We went down for a few supplies and the mail so we cruised the dike on the way home.  Just after I finished my breakfast this morning Kaiser Dental called to tell me my crown came in early and wanting to know if I could be there at 9:00.  I said sure, Vera had bible study so I borrowed Barry and Mona's PT Cruiser to run down and have it put on.  I was 15 minutes early and they took me in right away, I was back home at 9:30.  Now I can chew on both sides again!

 I finished up putting the pushrods on the dummy engines for the Ford Trimotor today.  I also got one intake manifold fitted.  I am not sure if I will add spark plug wires to them.  I may just finish them up and use them the way they are for a while, that sounds like a good winter time job.  I also cleaned out around the 4 wheeler so I can put it back together.  Boy a lot of oak leaves had blown in by it.

Another visit from Cora

Chris, Jackie and Cora came up this morning and spent the day with us so I got a bunch more pictures plus I got to hold her and play with her some more.

Vera is feeding her, she likes to have her bottle a little at a time so there were lots of little feedings.

She is sure bright eyed and she tries to talk back to you.  I had a great time playing with her trying to get a smile.  Of course I did not have the camera ready when she did smile for me.

We even let Jackie and Chris have a turn at holding her.

She is sure cute when napping!

After her nap Jackie wanted to go for a walk so we went over and explored the changes Dianne has made in their yard.

Chris, Jackie and Cora headed home about two, Cora didn't wake up when she was put into the car seat.

It is a big operation traveling with a small baby!

The final wave as we headed in at the end of a big weekend.  Jackie texted me later and let us know they made it home to Lynnwood OK.