Wednesday

I had a busy day, "Coffee with the Pastor" group this morning.  I picked up some new flexible sandpaper on the way home and then used it to sand the fillets on the P-39's tail.  After lunch I applied a second coat of epoxy to the fiberglass I had put on the bottom of the wing, this coat was to fill the weave of the cloth.  While that was curing I decided to mow the lawns.  FedEx brought some batteries I had ordered so I got them labeled and put into the motor home.  Then I repaired the leads on one of my chargers, they were not making good contact.  I did a little rearranging in the new shop closet and put one of my F-4s in it.  I put a new receiver into the Model Tech P-51 and programmed it, I was going to fly it Memorial Day but discovered it was on a transmitter that has issues and was home on the bench for repair.  I started to come in for the evening when I noticed it was nice and calm so I put a flight on the little DR-1.

Memorial Day Flying

On the way to get the motor home out this morning I spotted this baby rabbit.  I went back to the house, got the camera and took several pictures, this is my favorite one.

Vera and I were the only ones at the field for the whole day.  Here I am, doing what I love to do, getting my picture taken by the one I love.

This picture was taken a little after 1:00, the sun was out and it was really comfortable.  I am checking to see how the batteries on the charger are doing.  This is my bigger DR-1, still not real big but it flies great.

While we were at the field Jackie sent this picture of Cora with a big smile, she is sure a cutie!

Ready for takeoff with the MXS-R, I flew it and the convergence the most today but the yellow Extra 300 on the table could easily become my favorite as it flies great.

While Vera and I were sitting in the shade talking, she spotted this cloud that looked like a face.  I took several pictures of it and while we were looking at them on the camera it disappeared!

Mt St Helens still has lots of snow on it.  I never get tired of the views we have at Herren Field.

I sure enjoyed the day, I got in twenty four flights.  These are some of the batteries I used today along with the three transmitters.

The last thing I did before loading up was put the six planes and one helicopter I flew today on the runway for pictures.  It is kind of neat that I got a real plane landing in the background.  On the way home we stopped at Papa Pete's and picked up a pizza I had called in.  Then we sat in the parking lot and ate it.

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday I got a call from Buford a member of the Cowlitz Valley club.  He bought a Convergence like mine and wanted me to check it out.  After checking over the programming I took it out for a test flight.  It acted really strange and we finally decided there was a problem with the flight controller in the plane.  He is going to call the factory next week.

Vera took some pictures of the iris we have blooming, I didn't realize there were so many, these are next to the bigger pond.

These are hidden away behind the lilac bush.

I programmed this DR-1 into the Hitec Flash 7 transmitter this afternoon and then took it out for a test flight.

I put a couple of flights on it and our neighbor James came over to check it out.  I got the V-Hawk out and put in one flight with it for him.  I need to close my mouth when Vera is taking pictures!

Sunday we went to church, afterwards they had a slideshow by a couple who had just been to Israel.  When we got home I went over and let Sam out, I have been taking care of him all weekend while Auna was at State track.  It was too hot for him, he wanted right back in the house, Saturday evening when it was cool, he had played with the ball and branches for quite a while before wanting in.

Mowing and Flying

We made our usual Friday morning trip to the Toledo field to check on the mowing and do some flying afterwards.  Dan had just finished the runway, pits, parking area and race track when we got there.  He had to leave early for an appointment so I took the mower and mowed Mrs. Herren's lawn.  The picture is of me on the way back.

It turned into a pretty warm day and before long there were three canopies set up in a row.  We had a good time visiting with everyone.  We also flew some more Slow Stick Combat, I got two good hits on the streamer but couldn't cut it.  We also did some formation flying, it looks pretty funny when four Slow Sticks are all trying to loop at the same time.

Here is a picture from a couple of days ago of Cora standing up.  It looks like she is ready to take off walking.

A two trailer load job

I was up early and out working on the P-39, when I had the first piece glued on I went in and had breakfast.  While I was working on the plane Vera was out taking pictures of the flowers.  We are getting more color all the time.

We washed the Mitsubishi and Blazer, then left for Kaiser to get my blood test that was due.  After a quick stop at Home Depot we had lunch at Freddy's for the Halibut and then putted home over Pleasant Hill Rd, it was a nice relaxing outing.

After we got home, I trimmed a limb off the apple tree and went over to take out a dead vine maple by the pond.  That turned into a two trailer load job by the time I got done cutting things down.  It was getting a little warm so Vera talked me into waiting to haul the limbs away until it cooled off this evening.  I got the last piece glued on to the P-39 before calling it a night.

Barry and Mona

This is NO PICTURE WEDNESDAY, but I put plenty on here yesterday.  I did my usual "Coffee with the Pastor" this morning and Vera went to bible study at Carole's.  After coffee, I picked up some parts for James' bumper.  When I got home I decided to mow the lawn, I got a call from Barry while I was doing it to let me know they would be arriving this afternoon.  After lunch we made a quick trip to Longview to pick up the new license plates for the Mitsubishi.  When we got home I finished our lawn and did the one down below.  Just as I finished James showed up to work on the bumper.  The bumper had been replaced before he got it and they had not fastened it right.  I had picked up some washers with rubber bonded to them that ended up working great.  Just as James and I finished the job, Barry and his friend Mark showed up.  Mark is into radio control, ham radio and is a pilot also, Barry had told him about my shop so I gave him a tour.  Later Barry called to say they were going to Papa Pete's for dinner about six.  I called in a pizza for Vera and I and they said it would be about an hour.  When we met them at Papa Pete's Barry was in line to order pizza and was told it would be seventy five minutes.  He decided that was too long and didn't order.  As we talked it over,  we told them we had ordered a family size that should be ready in about a half hour.  We ordered drinks and sat down, the pizza came out of the oven sooner than they had predicted so we only had to wait about ten minutes for it.  There was plenty for the five of us, sometimes things just work out great.  We had a great visit while we were eating and Mona got to hear some of the things Barry and I pulled on Cathy when we were in school.  They showed us some pictures and told us about their trip up.  That was another busy day that just flew by.  Did you know I can type forty words a minute, but I backspace at sixty so I am not sure what my average is.

53

To celebrate our fifty third wedding anniversary we decided to go to the coast.  This is our first stop at Bradley State Scenic Viewpoint.  A nice delivery lady from Vancouver Bolt took the picture for us.

Our next stop was the Astoria waterfront to take some pictures of the boats.  We learned something, the sea lions are loud!

I really like the Pilot boat they have on display.  We stopped at the Warrenton Costco for gas and a few snacks.

We had lunch at Norma's and it was excellent!  We both had the combo lunch, Vera had hers sauteed and I had mine deep fried.

After lunch we went for a walk up to the turnaround.  We couldn't see too far as the low clouds hadn't cleared off yet.  We went back on the other side of the street until we found a candy shop we like the looks of.  Vera got one piece she liked and I got two pieces of something that turned out tasting great!

We always stop at the Neahkahnie Viewpoint when we are down in this area it is one of our favorite spots to take pictures.  We turned around there and headed home.

We went up the Washington side on the way home.  Vera is reading the signage to see why it was called Clark's Dismal Nitch.  When Lewis and Clark came through here bad weather caused them to be stuck there for six days and it was not a pleasant stay.

We stopped for another photo op at the Cathlamet Boat Basin, this was the last picture.  We stopped at Fred Meyer for a few things and went home.  The Mitsubishi was very comfortable to spend an eight hour day in.  James came by this evening and we looked at a small issue with his car that we will fix tomorrow.

The hottest day of the year.

When we got home from flying yesterday there was a hanging basket on the porch.  Vera talked to Dianne and found out she was our secret friend.  She had raised it in her green house.

Vera's macro picture of the  honeysuckle is an interesting shot.

She also took pictures of the different colors of columbine we have, this is the one by my shop.

Today was my first day with shorts and sandals this year.  They felt good when it got up to ninety this afternoon.  Which is the hottest day we have had so far this year.

I was working on the P-39 this evening when I noticed the wind had calmed down.  I took the hexacopter out and put in a flight.  I still have a problem as it will not work right in the GPS loiter mode.  I didn't realize that Vera had came out and took some pictures of the flight.

Flying at Goble

Saturday was spent getting ready for the Fun Fly/BBQ on Sunday.  Vera took this picture of her Iris, it seems the deer have developed a taste for the Bachelor Buttons in the background as several were missing their blooms.

Today we went down to Goble for the CVRCF BBQ.  We were the second ones there and I was the second one to fly, Gary got in the first flight of the day.

I took the V-Hawk and Convergence along because this club's members had not seen them fly yet.

Four of the LCRC club came down also, this is Audrey flying early in the day.  The field has been underwater for months and is still very soft.

Lunch was great, Mike did the cooking and who ever made those beans did a great job.  We counted 18 flyers, by the end of the day it was 84 degrees but there was a 5 to 7 mph breeze all day so it was pretty comfortable.

Of course on the way home I had to go by the Kelso airport and check on the two Albatrosses that were there.

I talked to Jackie after we got home, Cora wouldn't say Hi but I got a big kick out of hearing her baby talk in the background as I talked to Jackie.

Mowing and Flying

We went up for the Friday field mowing this morning.  We had a good turn out to help, eight members showed up.  Dan had not slept well, so he was there early, he had the runway and pits done when we arrived.  Steve I. went over and did Mrs Herren's lawn.

Steve K. had stopped at Doug's and picked up two new tables Doug had built.  Everyone had to stop and check them out, then make a decision about which tables to replace.

After the mowing and table job was done, the flying started.  The first thing I did as I unloaded was put up our sun shade.  Leonard and Audrey put theirs up right beside it and we had room for everyone to sit and have lunch in the shade.

I had only been sitting for a few minutes when an Army Chinook came in and landed at Toledo airport.  It is one of my favorite helicopters so I took lots of pictures, this one is as it departed.

We did Slow Stick ribbon cutting today.  Doug towed a crepe paper ribbon while Ken, Leonard and I tried to cut it.  We each hit it, but just with our wings so it was still in one piece when we quit, but we sure had fun!

Steve K. has been bringing donuts on Fridays, I volunteered to get them today.  They were the only thing that ended up on that new table.  Steve K's glider is on the next table and that is Audrey in the background.  It was sure nice to have a sunny day for our flying.  Remember those red geraniums we planted yesterday?  When we got home today most of the flowers were gone, Vera suspects the deer made a visit for a little snack.

A busy day!

Right after breakfast we made a recycling run with the Blazer, since we don't have the van to store it in anymore we will be making a trip every week.  It was actually easier to only have to unload three sacks.  A little later we went out and did two trailers loads of branches from the trails.  When we finished that I remembered one propane tank in the motor home was empty so we went to 4 Corners to get it filled, while I was doing that Vera picked out some red geraniums for the plant stand.  We repotted them and put the stand by the heat pump.  I made a trip around spraying weeds this afternoon, this is the second time and there are not many left.

We noticed the rhubarb really looked healthy this year, Vera asked me if I wanted a rhubarb treat, silly question of course I did!

I heard the chainsaws running so I picked up the camera and went out to see what was going on.  There was Parker and Rielee working on the tree.  Rielee was cutting up limbs and loading them in the trailer while Parker cut up the tree.

When she got the trailer full, she took them to the burn pile and unloaded.

Parker cut the tree down to sizes he could pick up with the bucket and hauled them to Steve's.

I wandered around taking pictures of the different plants that are in bloom.  I got under the crabapple tree and shot up at these blossoms.

My favorite rhododendron is in bloom and I try to get a picture of it every year.

This is the first rhododendron to bloom for us this year, they are sure a lot later than normal.

As I was walking by I noticed the Salal blossoms, they are kind of pretty.

Vera went out and took some pictures of the area North of the house after we noticed it had lots of color.

That is where I left the loppers, I picked up the branches I had trimmed, took them to the burn pile and came back a different way.  At various times today I got the battery hatch hold down on the P-39 figured out and installed.  I also got in a flight on the hexacopter and played around blowing stuff off the house roof with it.