Church and Mowing

I took the cameras to church today so I could video Pastor Harriet's sermon.  It was a good thing I set up two, one on a tripod and I hand held one, because I pushed a button and lost part of the recording on the one I was holding.  After the service they asked for some pictures of the church to use on the church web page.  I came down later to get this one with no cars around.

We cut back some ferns when we got home and then I mowed the lawn.  I flew the quad that evening and found out I must have damaged the speed control on the last crash.  I was flying over the back yard when it acted up a little, I was heading back to the driveway to land when it quit completely and fell out of the air.  It bent a couple of motor shafts and broke the GPS mount, of course the speed control did not work.  That was not too bad for falling twenty or so feet.

Flying at Toledo

We went flying at Toledo today, the fog cleared off early and it was tee shirt weather all day.  This is Gene's old timer making a low pass down the runway, it looks good with the sunshine coming through the covering.

This is Dan's new Stearman, he got it at a swap meet for $10 and rebuilt it.  He did a good job and it flies great!

I counted fifteen members out there flying today, a great turn out.  The sad thing about this weekend is that Vera's brother Leonard passed away Thursday night.

Plum Tree

The plum tree we cut down sent up a bunch of shoots that are just starting to bloom.  Last year we were surprised that the plums it put on were really sweet.

I did some flying of the quad today, it did not end well.  I flipped a switch the wrong way and ran into the planter on the deck.  Not too much damage, just broken props.

Quad on the roof!

We provided snacks after church today.  After we got home I flew the quad and was playing around trying to blow leaves off the roof when I tipped it over.  This is after I turned it over and unhooked the battery.

 I turned around and took a couple of pictures, it was a beautiful day!

This is the first time I have seen Parker's from up here.

I brought the leaf blower along since the roof needed blowing off.  After blowing it off I had to blow off the decks because that is where the majority of it landed.  The quad wasn't hurt so flew it again after I finished but I stayed away from the roof.

Vortex progress

I finally got all the hinging done on the Vortex today.  I am getting closer to covering it.

Deer are back

While Vera was at bible study I saw the four deer go by the house headed down by the Spirit Lake Hwy.  This evening they came by again headed East.  Something was bothering the mother deer because she kept looking back towards the road.

This little fawn was sure cute, I wonder if it was the one who ate Vera's Crocus?

House Numbers

It is a good thing Vera took a picture of this Crocus because the deer came by a couple of days later and ate it.

We had house numbers cast out of brass and I had planned on mounting them on the corner of the porch.  Of course it turned into a little bigger job than I expected.  I had forgotten there was a 4 X 4 post behind there.

I decided the Equinox was too close to the road so I used a couple of cable winches to pull it back.  There wasn't much to hook onto underneath so I ended up hooking onto the suspension.

There was a nice bright moon tonight so I took a few pictures of it.

Boy did that taste good!

We went to church this morning, in the afternoon we heard vehicles outside.  It was Bev, Josh and Jordon bringing the Equinox that had broken down.  They are storing it here for a couple of months.  Vera got a much better picture of Bev's new car.

Josh's new trailer sure is a nice one.

Bev is getting a little grandson time.

Of course I had to get in a little time with him also.  Vera and I had a good time throwing fir cones with him.

Laury brought me a big piece of the cake she had made for their Saint Patrick's day party.  Boy was it good, a great way to finish the day.

The Lewis County Radio Controllers have been going to the Cowlitz Prairie Grange $5 pancake breakfast on the third Saturday of the month.  This Saturday the Cowlitz Valley Model A club happened to be there also and there were lots of nice Model A's parked outside.

After breakfast the club went to the Chehalis Lutheran Church to fly indoor models.  There was a pretty good turn out with 10 people flying, several of the wives were flying small drones.  Vicky is showing Dan something as her drone hovers in front of them.  She also had gotten a couple of pylons that she was flying figure eights through.  I made a couple of passes through them with my Vapor.

The gym is narrower than the middle school gym we had been flying in but the ceiling was higher.  We had a good time and I got in seven flights.  After lunch at Arby's we went to the Toledo field and I put in nine more flights.

Visit to Leonard and Flying

I got a message yesterday from Sherry Beth that her dad Leonard was not doing well.  I had already planned on flying so we went there first.  Leonard was very weak and could hardly talk, while Vera visited with him I helped Sherry Beth take care of a couple of things.  We left after he fell asleep and the hospice nurse showed up.

This is the first time flying at Toledo since getting back. I got in 8 flights.  The Leader flew great, just like I remembered. We had halibut fish and chips at Betty's in Toledo for dinner on the way home.

Leader and Vortex

3-13-2019 I got all the covering on the Leader done, now I have to hook up the linkages and install the landing gear.

I also got the hinging of the elevons on the Vortex finished.

3-14-2019 The Leader is ready to test fly tomorrow.

Bev's new car

Bev had been using the Blazer since her car died, today we met her in Vancouver to get the Blazer since she had gotten another car.  It is a Ford, but I don't remember anything about what model it is but it did have lots of neat features.  We finally got Bev's birthday card to her, it got lost in the motor home and had been to Arizona and back.

Bev is pointing out some of the features to me.  After we left there we stopped at Costco and picked up a few things.  We were going to take Old Hwy 99 home but it had a slide blocking it on the other side of La Center so we ended up going I-5.

House Burning

The fire department was going to burn the house across the Spirit Lake Hwy from us today so I took one last picture of it.  It was there when Dad built our house in about 1949.  I learned from Kay today that it was a bunk house in Ryderwood originally.  Mr. Finkas bought it as a home for a daughter whose husband had died and had it pulled to Vader by horses.  She wasn't sure how the move to here was made.

Four of the six kids who grew up there came to watch the burn.  This is Kay on the left, Cindy's husband and Pat on the right.  I didn't get a picture of Bob and Cindy.

David, Laury and Dianne were watching from Parker's place.

The fire department had lots of equipment there to practice with. 

This is as it was starting to burn the first time.  They had put hay bales around inside to add to the fire, there is one sitting next to the front porch.

The firemen would go inside and practice finding things and fighting the fire.

They were also outside knocking the fire down.

5-5-2019 Update, I had a picture taken about noon by Laury of the house burning that she said I could use here.

We had left so I didn't get any pictures as it burned but I took this one when we got home.  There was nothing left but the foundation.

Deer and the Leader

Vera noticed these four deer walk up the driveway and head over by the swing set today.

With the stove fixed I have been getting out in the shop more.  Today I started recovering the Leader after the rebuild.

Our first trip to Longview since the trip.

This picture was taken as we went over Delameter Rd on the way to Longview today.  We are still getting organized from the trip and eating the food we took along, we could have stayed out another week or two without stopping at a store.  The control board showed up and I got it installed.  The shop is nice and toasty now, the electric heat wouldn't quite keep up with the cold weather we have been having.