Thursday and Friday

I got started covering the fuselage of the P-39 Thursday.  I am putting the covering on in the same shapes as the panels used to form the full sized P-39 fuselage.  If I did it in one big piece I would have a problem with wrinkles because of the compound curves.

We went up for our normal mowing and flying session today.  I mowed Mrs. Herren's lawn while Steve used a weed eater, then I did some more spraying with Roundup.  Ken had mowed the runway and Doug was mowing the parking area when I got back.  It didn't take long to finish with both of us mowing and the field looked great when we finished.  I had a good day of flying, I hadn't had the V-Diamond out for a couple of years and had forgotten how good it flies.  We spent a lot of time under Steve's canopy visiting, everyone was in a great mood.  On the way home we stopped at the 49ER for dinner.

ANOTHER new quad?

This showed up yesterday, but I just got around to checking it out today.  I saw it advertised as being indestructible and only thirty dollars so I thought it would be good for a demo I am doing this summer.  I can let the girls fly it and not worry about it.

James came up today and mowed down below.  Afterwards he reminded me the dogwood still needed to be straightened up.  We got a nylon rope and cable winch hooked to it and pulled the top back about six feet.  It looks much better now.  The dogwood is the tree right above my head.  During the snow it was laying on the deck but did not break.

This little guy was on a chair right across from James and I, it might be the one I found in the gutter when I was cleaning it.

I finally got the elevators on the P-39 covered tonight, I had been dreading the job and it went great.

Spraying and Flying

We went up to Toledo today, the first thing I did was go over to Mrs. Herren's to spray her lawn.  When I finished that I put a gallon of Roundup on the berry vines that are trying to take over between her house and garage.  When I got back James was there, he got in three flights before he had to go.  He did a great job flying the Convergence which can be kind of tricky.

It cleared off later and a few more people showed up.  I had a great time, getting in fifteen flights.

After everyone left I sprayed the runway and pits, then mixed up another batch to do the area between there and the road.

Rope Chainsaw

James came up today and helped me take down some limbs with the rope chainsaw.

The rope chainsaw is two twenty five foot ropes with a special chainsaw blade in the middle.  James throws the red weight over the limb and then with me on the other end we pull it back and forth until it cuts through the limb.  We ended up taking down four limbs that were hanging over the driveway.

James found this old wheel and sprocket in the brush while we were doing one of the limbs.  It might have been off the Cushman motor scooter Barry had when he was a kid.  After we finished the driveway we took a couple of limbs off the dogwood that got damaged this winter.

Barry, Ride and Flying

Barry has the motor home all buttoned up and ready to head out for Olympia.  There is not enough room to hook up the Jeep for towing so I drove it down to the parking lot at the bottom of the hill.  On the way, I parked at the bottom of our driveway, walked across the road so I could see traffic better and signal to Barry when it was OK to come out of the driveway.

Vera drove the Mitsubishi down so we would have pictures of hooking up.  This picture is as Barry was backing up to the Jeep.

That tow bar is pretty heavy, helping pack it and moving the Jeep once were the only things I did.

When it is all hooked up it must be at least fifty feet long.

After Barry left we took a ride out Old 99 to see how many people were swimming.  There were not as many as I expected since it was pretty warm.  We cruised through town once, went past Lion's Pride Park and headed home.

Later, I went out back and flew the quad on the trails a couple of times before the mosquitoes ran me off.

Vera's Birthday Party

While we were waiting for Vera's party to start Barry and I had our phones out checking the temperatures in different places.  Vera got a kick out of it and took this picture of us while we were doing it.

I didn't tell her until the last minute that I had invited people over for cake and ice cream, she thought it was just going to be Barry, Debbie, Josh, Michelle and James for dinner and cake.  I put one candle on the cake so we could light it and sing Happy Birthday.

Lots of visiting went on.

There was also lots of laughter and stories, it is always great to have the family over.  I guessed pretty good on the cake as there was only three small pieces left.

Ava and Harper made the cutest cards for Vera with really sweet messages inside.  Vera really enjoyed her birthday party.

Vera's Birthday and visitors

It was Vera's birthday today.  She heard from all the kids and grandkids wishing her a Happy Birthday.  James came up to see her and we had a nice visit.  Then James and I went out to touch up a couple of scratches in his bumper.  While we were doing that, Barry arrived.  After he got it set up we got a tour of it.  It is really nice and roomy inside.  We sat in it visiting and watching the cats, Mona joined us after she had picked up a few things on the way there in the Jeep.  We finished up James' car and he headed home.  I did a little work on the P-39 today, getting the right elevator mounted and lined up with the left one.  Now I am almost ready to finish covering the fuselage.  Barry and Mona's friend Mark and his wife Lynne came down and wanted to eat dinner at Papa Pete's.  I called in a Rocket Pizza a half hour early so we didn't have to wait too long.  David and Laury came down and joined us so we had a nice group.

We went down and picked up the mail before coming home.  Mona had her bunny out for a walk when we got there, it had cooled down enough that it was really pleasant talking outside.  The mosquitoes finally found us plus Barry and Mona had to be up early in the morning, so we headed in for the evening.

Spring Cleaning

I was reading about mosquitoes this morning when it dawned on me that the gutter on the back of the house probably had standing water in it since the downspout was plugged.  I was right and it turned into a pretty big job.  After I got them all cleaned out we washed down the outside of them, the door and windows.  It looked so good I decided to do the front also.  I am just putting the front downspout on in the picture.

Here I am taking my gloves off at the end of the job with the nice clean gutters and door behind me.

A butterfly report, it has been moving around the flower pot, but has not flown away.  It looks like one wing is damaged.

Vera spotted this bunny in the back yard by the magnolia tree.  It has similar markings to the one we see North of the house but it is bigger.  I got the bottom of the right elevator for the P-39 covered and the hinges glued in tonight.  Then I put in two flights with the quad and made a couple of passes down the shorter trails.

Working Outside

Finally some nice weather to get a few things done outside.  Tuesday I decided to clear the brush along the driveway so Barry can get his motor home up it.  Ours rubs against limbs in a couple of spots.  Today I did some clearing on the trails South of the shop while Vera was at bible study, then I ran the string trimmer around the the lawn before mowing.

Vera was out several times with the camera taking pictures, it looks like a good year for blueberries.

When James was in kindergarten he brought us a potato plant that we planted and it has came up every year since then.

After I finished mowing we noticed this butterfly fall onto the driveway.  It didn't seem to be able to fly.  We left it for a couple of hours and then I carefully put it in one of our flower pots so it wouldn't get stepped on or ran over.  We will see if it recovers in the next couple of days.  This evening I finished up the installation of two bug zappers I had bought.   Every time I go out to fly the quad in the evenings the mosquitoes drive me back inside so I thought I would see if the zappers would help. I did get in two flights on the Tarot 200 quad, something I have not done for quite a while.  I managed to back into the oak tree on the first flight and had to change props before the second.

Bunny, Church, Deer and a Birthday

Every time I went out today this bunny would be out in the grass just North of the house.  It hardly moved when we left for church.  Church was very interesting today, Pastor Pam was commissioned as a Provisional Elder at the annual conference and she told all about it.  I got the bent adapter changed on the MXS-R and then decided to change the way the motor was mounted.  We decided to go to "Freddy's for the Halibut" for dinner with a stop at Ace so I could pick up some fender washers I needed to do the job.  I finished up the new mounting after we got home and it turned out great.

When we headed toward the shop for the first time this morning this doe was grazing North of the driveway.  We watched it and talked for a while, then I went in and got the camera to take some pictures.  It was still over there when I went into the shop.  The deer and the bunny are not too scared of us, they watch us go by and keep on eating.  I got the MXS-R put back into the motor home, I changed a battery in the DR-1 and took it to the motor home as well.  I did a bunch of clean up in the area where I have been building the P-39 so I can finish covering it.  I saw the bunny several times again today and he only ran once when I almost walked over him.  It surprised me since I hadn't seen him until he ran.

Today, Vera was out taking pictures of the roses, they are blooming a lot later this year.

This evening I went over to Gabe and Des's for Rielee's 12th birthday party.  I had a great time visiting and watching the present opening.  There was a little guy about 2 years old helping Rielee open presents and he really stole the show.

Flying

We went to the Toledo field today.  The field had been mowed by Ken on Friday so Steve and I decided to head over to Mrs Herren's and do her lawn.  I would mow while he used the string trimmer.  Before we got going Leonard and Audrey showed up, they were planning on going over also.  It wasn't long until we had seven club members over there working on her lawn.  It took us about two hours and it looked really nice when we got done.  We came back to the field and everyone flew and visited the rest of the day.  I got too slow on one landing and bent the prop adapter on the MXS-R.  It has always vibrated a little and the fix tonight using a better quality adapter will probably cure that.  I put my glider up several times and put in a twenty four and a thirty minute flight.  After pizza for dinner and watching some AFL football I did a little work on the MXS-R before coming in for the night.

Rain

Boy did it rain Thursday!  There was a heavy downpour and I took a couple of pictures.  A little later it really came down and I got the camera out again for this picture.

It was coming down so hard the gutters couldn't handle it, I am sure glad I didn't have to go out in it.

I worked on the P-39 Thursday and today, I have the left elevator hinged and ready to cover the top.  The right elevator is sanded and ready for the bottom covering.  I got the last hinge installed for the rudder today so now I can start covering the vertical fin and fuselage.  I had some visitors today, Ava and Harper came by and played with the magnets.  Right after they left our friend Dennis came by to see what I was building.  By the time he left, I think he may be looking for a V-Hawk and a couple of other things I showed him.

Busy

I kind of took a break from posting while trying to finish the P-39.  After two ten hour days working on it I decided there was just too much that still needed to be finished before the Balsa Challenge Event, so Friday evening I stopped.  Now I am just working on it when I feel like it and it is a lot more fun.  I rested up over the weekend and then Tuesday we took the Mitsubishi to Olympia for service.  We had gotten a letter from Marie needing supplies so we had them loaded in the trunk.  As we went by Mellen Street where we would normally turn off to see Marie, she called to tell us she only had one of an item left.  We told her we would be back that way after lunch and she was happy.  The service took five hours, so we had the shuttle driver take us to the Capital Mall.  It is huge, after a couple of hours there I was tired of walking so we went to Panera Bread for lunch.  Then we had the shuttle driver take us back to the service center.  Vera found me a Warbirds International magazine to read and I found a really interesting article about a stunt pilot.  On the way to Marie's we stopped at Costco for a few things and to fill up.  This is the first tank we have checked and we got twenty seven miles to the gallon which I am happy with as most of it was short trips to town.  We delivered Marie's supplies and headed home so I could get ready for flying the next day.  I wanted to spray the flying field so I mounted the sprayer on the tractor and sprayed our place.  When I finished I didn't feel like loading it onto the trailer so I planned on just flying Wednesday.

It was cool and cloudy this morning so I did some work on the P-39 until Vera got home from bible study.  All during the snow this winter I felt uneasy on my shop steps when they were icy so today Vera suggested we build railings.  With her help, the job went great!

James Flying

Today, James came up and flew with us after his morning class.

I asked him what plane he wanted to fly and he picked out his Yak 55P, it is in the picture above.  He has been flying it for many years and I always carry it in the motor home.  It turned out I had not programmed it into the transmitter yet so he flew my Sbach 342 while I did that.

James hadn't flown for a year but he was shooting touch and goes just like he used to.  When you learn at three years old it must be like riding a bike, you never forget.  We had a good turn out today, nine flyers were there to enjoy the warm weather.

Flowers, Butterfly and Cora

Vera took this picture of the biggest clematis bloom we have ever had, all the flowers seem a little bigger this year, it is probably from all the rain we got.

I was wandering around the yard with the camera looking for a bunny I had seen when this monarch butterfly landed on the red rhododendron.  It stayed on this bloom for  several minutes so I got plenty of pictures.  I never did see the bunny again.

 Jackie texted me this picture of Cora playing with the Baby onboard sign in their car.  It looks like she is quite the busy little bee.  I got lots of sanding done on the P-39 Airacobra, it is getting close to ready for covering.