Plum Tree

 

It turned into a really nice day so we made a mail run and picked up lunch at BK and then went down to Lions Pride Park to eat.  The river was quite a bit higher so there were no fishermen.

I picked up a chocolate Oreo milkshake to have later. 

It was so nice I decided to prune the plum tree by the house.  Boy did I end up with a lot of limbs, on the left side of the picture the remains of the tree can be seen.  I got to use all of my cordless tools on this job.  Monday Night Football finished up my day.

Motor Home Curtain

 

While downloading pictures for this blog I ran across this picture of the apples in one of the trees my dad had planted.  Vera had taken it a couple of weeks ago.

11-28-2020 I put up an insulated curtain between the cab and the back part of the motor home.  All that glass makes it hard to heat when it is cold out.

11-29-2020 Vera stepped outside about seven thirty and noticed the moon and clouds looked really nice so I went out and took this  picture.  I didn't do much today except watch football.

Flying and more Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving day we spent at home, Vera fixed a nice turkey dinner, I worked on the F-18 getting it ready for flying today and watched the football games.

This is how Mt Rainier looked when we got to the field about nine.  Dan was the only one there when we arrived but it wasn't long until Ken, Jim, Teresa and Gene showed up.

I flew the new F-18 twice today and both flights were pretty exciting at first.  I had way too much throw on all the controls during the first flight but I got it trimmed out pretty well.  On the launch for the second flight it slipped out of Dan's hand because of the slick finish and things were a little interesting for a few seconds.  Then I lost orientation at the end of the flight and landed in the field but no damage.  Of course for lunch today Vera made us some great turkey sandwiches.

This is the only other picture of an airplane I took today it is Jim taking off with I believe a Sukhoi.

The lenticular clouds formed over Mt Rainier this afternoon, that may be a sign of some rain coming.

The low sun really makes the features of Mt St Helens show up.

Michelle texted me they were coming up to deliver left overs so I took I5 home and the timing was perfect as Michelle, Mik and Jazz pulled in just as I was parking the motor home.

Parker had friends up helping him clean up the logging debris.  They had a pretty good fire going at times.

We had a nice visit with Mik and Michelle before they headed home.  This is my plate of left overs they brought.  It tasted great and Mik had made sausage stuffing that was excellent.  Both Vera and I have enough left for another meal tomorrow.  It has been a great Thanksgiving that lasted three days for us. 

Early Thanksgiving Dinner

 I had a busy morning, I made a recycling and pellet run right after breakfast.  While Vera was at bible studay I glued the pilot into the F-18 while the glue was drying I asked Parker if I could put some limbs on his burn pile and he said "Yes, no problem".  The cedar by the driveway limbs had gotten really dense by the road and making it hard to back the motor home in.  To tell the truth I didn't realize there were so many limbs in there because I ended up with a heck of a pile. 

 It took a little while but I got them all packed over to the burn pile.

Debbie has to work Thanksgiving so she made their dinner today and brought us each a helping.  It was delicious, but I am sorry to report the pumpkin pie didn't last long enough to get in the picture.  It was a nice end to a busy day. 

The Car is clean again

 

I had an item from Amazon I needed to ship back with UPS so we ran down to the UPS store this afternoon.  Amazon sure makes it easy, I handed the girl the item and sheet with the code on it, she scanned it, handed me a copy of the receipt and I was done.  They even wrap it for you.  In the next block is Washman car wash so we stopped and got yesterday's dirt cleaned off.  After a stop at Safeway in Kelso for a few items we had an early dinner at Dairy Queen.  I know it is hard to believe but we didn't have blizzards!

When we got home Parker was out working with the excavator moving the trees and digging out stumps.  This evening I went out and got all the linkages made and hooked up on the new F-18.  Then it was time for one of the cinnamon rolls Vera had made and they turned out great, no picture as they are gone. 

Late Night

I had made a Fred Meyer order Sunday so we were up early to run down and pick it up.  After breakfast at BK we got there a few minutes before nine.  When I called to tell them we were there I learned that I had picked nine PM!  I had the option of cancelling if I didn't want to come back but I told them we would come back.  They said it happens all the time, I will sure be double checking it for a while.  We decided to take Delameter Valley Road home, that was a mistake.

 They are working on a couple of miles of the road.  We had to wait for a pilot car and then follow it down the muddy gravel road.  The pilot car took off way faster than I or the pickup and trailer in front of me wanted to drive.  The car needed washing anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

When we got home we discovered the tree service was falling Parker's trees.

They fell ten trees, we got home in time to watch the last two.  This evening we made another run to Fred Meyer, picked up our order and had blizzards at Dairy Queen before heading home.  It has been a long time since we have been out and about this late.

Foggy Flying

Today was the only dry day in the forecast this week so we headed up to the field this morning.  Boy was it foggy, 35 was about as fast as I wanted to drive.  When we got to the field at nine we could barely make out Dan's Jeep from the road.  This picture was taken about one thirty after I had put in a couple of flights.  It was so foggy that all I could do was stay low and close shooting touch and goes.

I got out and took a few more pictures of the flyers and the fog.  Not much flying went on today and several members packed up and left without flying.

Dan had his rebuilt Piper J3 done up in the Navy NE-1 color scheme.

Brian's C-130 looks really good in the Coast Guard colors.  I may have to get my kit out and build it.

After the fog lifted in the late afternoon Bruce put the maiden flight on his new plane today.  I found out today that he is a Ham Radio operator also when I noticed his call letters on his license plate.  It turned out his dad was one also and Bruce was able to get his call letters.

The mountains were looking really nice in the cold clear air after the fog cleared.

Mt Rainier looks like it has more snow than Mt St Helens.  As soon as the fog lifted there were skydivers jumping at the airport, I sure wouldn't want to be falling at 120 Mph in air as cold as it was today.

I took this picture just as we were leaving and the ground fog was starting to form.  It was a good day of flying now I am ready for more rain.

Motor Home Heater and a new Motor

 
I got the heater for the water compartment of the motor all finished today.  Today was the only forecast dry day in sight and I had to get under the motor home to finish it, when the parts I had ordered from Amazon didn't show up as scheduled I dug around in the shop and found one thing I needed.  I checked online and Fred Meyer had the other piece I needed so off we went.  Since Dairy Queen is right across the street we had to stop for a blizzard before heading home.  The job went pretty good and I was also able to get the wiring for the inverter installed.  I will mount and hook it up on the next dry day.

I found this motor with contra-rotating propellers on Amazon and thought I would give it a try.  It came the other day and now I am trying to decide which plane to put it in.  It is an interesting design, it is actually two motors.  The front one drives the rear propeller but has a hollow shaft.  The rear motor drives the front propeller with a shaft that goes through the hollow one.  I saw one like this fly in Arizona and I was surprised how quiet it was.  This one is smaller and turns faster so it will probably make more noise.  Getting the heater going made it a good day, then Vera made pizza from scratch that turned out great and  it was a perfect end to the day. 

Red Robin and a Thermostat

Tuesday 11-17-2020

Vera had an eye doctor appointment this morning, after it was over we headed to Vancouver.  Our first stop was Costco for a few things, it was a little different than senior hours, lots of people and we had to wait in line to check out.  Vera had a Red Robin's gift card so we called in an order to the Battleground Red Robin and did their curbside pickup.  It was good, we will probably stop in there again.  This picture is from the onramp at the Ridgefield exit, lots of rain and spray to look forward to on the way home.

Wednesday 11-18-2020

The motor home heated up the other day when we headed for the flying field so we turned around and came home.  It turned out to be a bad thermostat and radiator cap.  The thermostat is hard to get at, you can see one bolt in the picture above if you know where to look.  Both of the hoses to the intake had to be removed along with the vacuum hose.  The bolts were no fun and it took most of the first day to get out and back in.  I got it finished over the weekend but never got fluids put back in until today.

Of course there was a leak, I hadn't tightened the hose clamp on the thermostat housing tight enough.  I marked the easiest bolt on the housing to get at.  After tightening the hose clamp and filling the radiator again everything checked out great.  This evening I got speakers hooked up to the TV in the motor home and it sounds much better to me.

Thursday 11-19-2020

I have also been working on wiring for the water compartment heater and the inverter.  Just as we quit for lunch Laury came along the driveway taking Josie for a ride.  Boy does she look cute in those sunglasses!

We made a mail run, cruised around town a little, then picked up lunch at BK and went down to Lions Pride Park to eat.  No fishermen today the water is too high. 

This rainbow was the perfect end to our little outing.  I spent the rest of the day installing some USB plugs in the motor home for charging things 

It sure got dark in a hurry!

 

I spent a quiet day at home working on the F-18.  Just before five Vera asked me if I wanted some biscuits and of course I did.  I had just finished the first one when the power went out.  After finding flashlights, Vera went back to reading on her Kindle and I had a couple of more biscuits.  There was nothing I could do on the F-18 in the dark so I went out to the motor home, fired up the furnace, cranked up the antenna and watched TV until the power came back on about six thirty.  I put another coat of paint on the F-18 battery hatch before calling it a night and going in to join Vera in the computer room.

Blueberries and the F-18

 

The blueberry leaves have turned some really pretty colors so Vera was out taking pictures of them today.

Because it has been pretty cold we made a recycling and pellet run this morning.  I have been relearning the vinyl cutter software the last couple of days and got the final designs for the bottom of the F-18 cut out today.  I went out to put them on and decided I didn't like the color so I came back in and made a new set.  I am pretty happy with the way they turned out.  The top only has a couple of stripes so it will be easy.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Monday 11-9-2020

We were up early today so we could shop at Costco during the senior hours from nine to ten.  The temperature was twenty seven so I checked the heater in the motor home water compartment and it was thirty four degrees, just what I had set it for.  After our favorite breakfast at BK we headed to Vancouver.  It was foggy for most of the trip but we still arrived before nine and noticed seniors coming out with carts full so we were able to go right in.  I don't know what time they are opening it up for seniors but we were all done by nine thirty and headed home.  When we got home I noticed the nozzle on the hose reel was leaking, it had frozen and cracked.  That made me really glad I had gotten the heater working.  I started running the permanent wiring this afternoon.

Tuesday 11-10-2020

We were up early again today and hit BK again on our way to Home Depot and Fred Meyer to do curbside pickups of our orders.  On the way home I stopped at the post office and picked up an order with this canopy for the F-18.  It is from a different kit but with a little more trimming it will work fine.  I also got a coat of gloss clear sprayed on it after this picture was taken. 

Wednesday 11-11-2020

Vera had bible study today, I finally got going after Lets Make a Deal was over and made a run to the post office to pick up another order.  While I was in town I stopped at the Vault for a hot chocolate, I really like theirs and this is the first time I have had it since last year, mostly because they were closed by the Covid-19 restrictions.  I did a little work on the motor home and then decided to mow because this is the last dry day for a while.  It took a while to get all the leaves chopped up and blown off the lawn, there are not many left on the trees so this may be the last time I need to do it.

Cold Weather Flying

There was lots of rain in the forecasts for next week so I decided to go flying today.  There was frost on the table when we got there but lots of sunshine and no wind so Dan and I got in several nice flights each before the wind started blowing.

I am pretty comfortable when flying with the bubble wrap insulation around and the propane heater under my chair.

This is how Mt Rainier looked most of the day.

Mt St Helens was covered with clouds and I see it has some snow on it now.

The Skylane is the only plane I got out today and I got lots of flights with it.

As I was getting ready to load up I noticed the moon was showing in the Western sky and I got a pretty good picture of it.

Just before we left I put a test flight on Joel's PC-9 with new retracts in it.  It flew great but when I lowered the landing gear the right main didn't come down.  I cycled the gear again and it came down but fell off when the plane bounced on landing.  I went around again and made a landing with just the two gear down and there was only minor damage.

We stopped at the South Lewis county park on the way home to finish our lunch.  Right away this muscovy duck waddled over and begged by my window the whole time I was eating my sandwich.

I have been assembling and testing this heater to put in the water compartment of the motor home for the last couple of days.  After we got home I hooked it all up because the forecast is for freezing weather the next few nights.  Since I was dressed for the cold weather I had a great day of flying.