Enjoying the pellet Stove

I have sure been enjoying the pellet stove this week, it blows right on my back when I am working on the Vortex.  I had a doctor appointment Wednesday for a sore knee I bumped while doing the deck.  There was nothing wrong on the X-Ray and it is slowly getting better.  Thursday I went in for my cataract surgery follow-up with the optometrist and everything checked great, I could read the smallest line. 

I have been working on the Vortex off and on all week.  Today I installed a carbon fiber spar to tie the two landing gear mounts together.  When the epoxy had cured I glued the lower wing spars in.  After they dried I epoxied it in the left hand gear mount.  Tomorrow I will put the right one in and then I can start sheeting the rest of the wing.

Vortex Delta

Yesterday I got the left wing leading edge sheeting installed.  Today I finished making up the center section sheeting, put the cap strips on and then sheeted the center section.  After it had dried I pulled it off the building board and started working on the other side.  I was surprised how light it is when I had it loose from the building board.  I just heard from James that he made it back to Reno without any problems, just lots of rain on the way.

Church and the Vortex

We went to church this morning, as usual the choir sounded great!

Some of the congregation have been knitting caps for babies that will be donated to various charitable organizations.  I had a great time visiting with people before and after the service.

I watched the Seahawks win, then I went to the shop and worked on the Vortex.  I got one piece of leading edge sheeting glued down and started making up some of the center section sheeting.  Now I am watching the Steelers and Broncos recording.

Flying

I was surprised when we got to the field a little after nine and there was lots of sunshine and no fog or wind.  Vera took this picture as I was assembling the Airacobra.

After I had everything put together I had her take this picture with my phone and I put it on Facebook.

The sky was pretty all day long, that is Marshall's plane in the lower left corner.

James came up for a little while and put in a flight on the foam Mustang.

It has been six months since the last time he flew but he did great and was shooting one wheel touch and goes.  The clouds got a little thicker in the afternoon so we headed home a little earlier than normal but I still got in fourteen flights.

Thanksgiving

Michelle and Debbie are making the gravy, with a little advice from Vera it turned out perfect.

There was a video game session going on for quite a while before dinner.

Dinner was good, I didn't overeat for a change and had lots of room for when I hit the dessert tables.

They were all good but James started saying how good this one was so I hustled right over and got some.  He was right, it was delicious!

Some how we didn't get Debbie in the picture of the family's girls.

Since James was up from Reno for Thanksgiving we all got our picture taken with him.

Jordon is giving their new puppy, Jack, a hug.

With three toddlers to watch there was always one doing something.  We had a great time, lots of good food, laughter and visiting.

Lots of visitors

Chris, Jackie and Cora came down for Thanksgiving and spent the afternoon at our house before spending the night at Debbie and Josh's.  Cora really had a lot of fun on the airplane scooter.

Cora and Jackie are sitting in my recliner.  Watching Cora with the cup was fun, when it got low she would unscrew the lid and take a drink, then screw it back on.

Josh and Debbie stopped by to visit in the afternoon and we made plans for pizza later.

Something made Jordon give out with a big belly laugh.  Both great grandkids are fun to play with.  We watched the cartoon movie Bolt this afternoon with Cora and we really enjoyed it.  I had to record the last part so I could watch it after pizza.

Debbie and Josh had the pizza ordered ahead of time so it wasn't long until we were eating at Papa Pete's.  Michelle came up to join us and everyone had a good time visiting.  Afterwards Michelle had to see Debbie, Josh and Jordon's new chocolate lab puppy Jack.

Vine Maples and Carrot Cake

James came up this morning to help me take out some vine maples that were trying to take over the area.

I am sure glad I didn't have to wrestle those pieces around.  It turned into a little bigger job than I thought it was going to be.

I wish that I would have kept track of how many loads James hauled off, it was quite a few.  I sure appreciated his help, it wouldn't have gotten done without it.

Later Vera and I made a quick trip to Safeway for some things Vera needed for Thanksgiving and to pick up the mail, Vera made me this carrot cake with cream cheese frosting after we got home.  Boy is it good, I went right back for seconds after my first piece.

James' visit

James came up to visit today, he went up to let Sam out with me and did the throwing of Sam's stick.  On the way back we stopped and James surprised Steve and Dianne.  We had a nice time there hearing all the latest news and telling stories.  After we got home James helped me by putting moss treatment on the shop roof.

James is spreading the treatment on the South roof.  When we finished that he gave me a hand sorting some of Marie's stuff to throw away, then he took the garbage down for me and loaded the shop pellet stove.  Tomorrow he is coming up to help me with some yard work.

Flying at Toledo

The forecast was so good for today that I skipped church today to fly.  It was cold and frost was everywhere, this cobweb was sure pretty.

The table in the background is still covered with frost, I had squeegeed off this one. 

Vera took this picture because she wanted to show how much frost I scraped off the table.  I got out planes I could fly in the fog and got in six flights.  The propane heater and my electric vest sure felt good.

About eleven thirty the fog lifted and I got in a dozen more flights before we left.

The moon was in the Eastern sky most of the afternoon and I got this picture of it.

We were just getting ready to leave when Vera pointed out Mt Rainier with the sunset coloring it to me so I grabbed the camera, hopped out to take a couple of pictures.  We stopped at Betty's for dinner and had a nice relaxing drive home on Jackson Hwy and Barnes Drive.

Vortex

After it warmed up a little (darn little) today I got the mower out and used it to haul some pellets to the shop.  Then I put the bagger on and started picking up leaves.  on the second pass I saw two deer under the apple tree, one ran away but I got a picture of this one.

For the last several days I have been planning and making parts to add retracts to the Vortex delta.  I think that I have everything ready to start the build so I laid out the parts for a picture.  It looks like everything is going to fit OK.

Costco

We went to the Tumwater Costco today, I found this sweatshirt that I really liked but of course there were none in my size.  After we got home I went online and they had it there with free shipping.

As we were driving home Barry texted us this picture of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Kennedy Space Center that they were watching.

I sent Barry this picture of the sky at Chehalis where we were then.  It was a beautiful day for a drive, on the way up there was some fog until we passed Hwy 12, then it was sunny the rest of the day.

We took Barnes Drive, Jackson Hwy and the Little Rock road both ways today.  There is lots more to see, like this barn on Jackson Hwy.  It was a nice relaxing ride with a stop at Dairy Queen on the way back for my favorite blizzard the Reese's Outrageous.

After watching the Seahawks win I went out to fill the shop stove with pellets and restart it.  On the way back in I noticed the moon was really clear so I got the camera and got this picture.

Heat Pump

Last week I discovered the heat pump outdoor unit was all frozen up.  I switched it over to the emergency heat setting and made an appointment with Entek to get it repaired today.  The serviceman was really nice and we had a good visit while he checked it out.  The problem turned out to be the temperature switch that detects icing up.  He had one with him so we are back on the heat pump now.  I did a little work on the Vortex, I was gluing up the leading edge sheeting when Vera came out to see what was new.  While I was explaining it I realized that the offset had not been put in.  Luckily the glue wasn't dry so it came right apart so we could put in the offset.  With Vera's help it only took a couple of minutes to get it right.  I am sure glad she came out because I would have been a little upset if it was in the morning when I noticed it and the glue was dry.  It is also a good thing that I was using carpenters glue instead of CA which sets in seconds.

A beautiful day of flying!

They sure got the weather forecast right today, they forecast light winds and low fifties.  The whole day there was mainly calm conditions and it got up to fifty eight this afternoon.

I shot a lot of touch and goes today, Vera caught the MXS-R coming in this picture.

Mt Rainier looked so nice we backed the motor home out of the way to take this picture.  We were the only ones there the entire day.

I had a great time flying the X-Vert.  I picked up a second one on sale and read the instructions as I got it set up.  I made the same set up on this one and boy did it make a difference.

I hadn't had the little Ultimate out for a long time and had forgotten how well it flies.

Here are sixteen of the batteries I used today, I got seventeen flights in today but one was really short because the battery was bad, that battery is going in the trash.