Shop Ceiling

This is how the windshield looked this morning as we headed to Home Depot to pickup an order.  We got to sit there for a few minutes and watch it melt.  I had gone out yesterday to hang the light I got for my birthday as I was looking at where to put it I decided it would look much better if I finished the ceiling so I made up an order of what I needed online for curbside pickup.  I also got the scaffolding out and set it up in the shop, it will be a lot easier working off of it compared to using a ladder.

This is how it looked when I quit tonight.  I got the last of the sheetrock put up around the beam and did some taping and mudding.  I can see that it will be a few days until I hang the light.

Flying

 

The forecast was for light winds and no rain so I headed up to the field today.  It was foggy when I got there so I had to fly in close shooting touch and goes with the Skylane.

I flew the Edge 540 while it was foggy by eleven it had cleared off enough that I could fly the Corsair.

This is how it looked at noon just after a flight on the Kitfox.

As it cleared up Bruce, Jim and Mark showed up.

This is Jim landing his ME-163 Komet, after getting it trimmed out it is flying great now.  The last time we were out I launched it for him and it flew right into the ground, he found out the receiver was bad.

I was really impressed with the way Mark's Twin Otter flew.  It turned out to be a great day of flying and warm enough that I took my heated vest off.

New Heater

 

I kept pretty busy today once I got away from the computer.  I moved the Smart car out so I could bring the Blazer out and unload some pellets.  I went through the last five bags during the snow and cold weather.  I got the speed control and voltage regulator wired up for the Trex 700.  Doing that meant I had to clean off the electronics bench first.  I ended up putting quite a bit of stuff in the garbage.  I also got the trailing edges of the Comet sanded out so I could fiberglass the center section where the vertical fin mounts.  Tomorrow I will turn it over and do the bottom.  We had the best dinner tonight, Vera fixed four cheese mashed potatoes, pork and mixed vegetables and they were all delicious!

I finished up my under the desk heater tonight.  My desk sits against an outside wall and in the winter there was always cold air flowing under the desk.  I have had it in there for several days and it works great but it was not fastened down.  I hooked it down with Velcro tonight so it can't slide around and the reflector doesn't fall into my lap.

Working on the Trex 700

 

I spent yesterday pulling the main rotor blade holders apart, lubing the bearings and putting it back together.  That is it laying on the instructions.  Today I pulled the main rotor drive gear apart and serviced the autorotation bearing.  When I got that back together I pulled the motor out and cleaned it up.  I spent some time online finding and ordering some upgrades and bearings I wanted to replace.  During my research I found out the motor sells for $329, which is more than I paid for the helicopter, boy was that a surprise.  It's maximum power rating of 3500 Watts which is way more than I will ever use.  I just did some checking and the speed control that came with it is $234!  I also got the right trailing edge of the Comet sanded down so, now I can put some fiberglass where the vertical fin mounts.  They didn't call for it in the instructions but that 1/16th inch balsa just doesn't look strong enough to me.  That building they were tearing down across the street is completely gone now.  There was a crew taking down the wood frame work today and Vera saw them head up the hill with two trailer loads.

A nice relaxing birthday

 

I took this picture while Vera was at bible study, the snow is fading fast with the temperatures getting up into the forties.  When I took the picture of the driveway I found a card from Steve and Dianne.  With the car gone they probable didn't realize I was home.

I had a nice quiet day and spent most of it right here in front of the computer watching You Tube videos on motor home tips.  I had a good video chat with Jackie, Cora and Chris followed by phone calls with Barry, James and Mik.  I also got texts from Michelle, Laury and Bev.  We went down to the El Compadre and picked up Polo Loco for my birthday dinner.  As always it was great and there was plenty left over for a dinner tomorrow.   This evening I had a good time on Facebook looking at all the birthday wishes.  I got one of the brownie cupcakes out and had it this evening with the coconut pecan frosting on it, they are so good!  The cupcake was not big enough to have eighty two on it so I settled for just the two.

Some Welcomed Sunshine

 

It was sure nice to see some sunshine this morning.  It started warming up yesterday afternoon, didn't freeze last night and got up to forty five today.  I cleaned the snow off the Mitsubishi and we made a mail run.  Everyone else must have had the same idea as there were no parking spaces anywhere near the Post Office.  I decided there was nothing there that couldn't wait a day or two so we went for a ride.  We drove the road by the dike and then went down to Lions Pride Park to see if anyone was fishing.  There were two guys across the river and they had four poles out.  I am not sure if that is legal.  After we got home I packed down a path to the driveway so Vera will not have any problem going to bible study tomorrow.  I also did the monthly run of the motor home generator, then I started it up and smashed down some of the snow with it.  I took a walk out on our trails and lots of limbs had came down.  This evening I started working on the used TREX 700 helicopter I bought over a year ago.  I pulled the main rotor blades off, cleaned and lubed the bearings before reassembling it.  Next on the list is pulling the main rotor shaft so I can do it's bearings and auto rotation clutch.

Valentines Day

This is how things looked this morning at eleven, I never did measure but it looked like we picked up a couple of more inches.

This is the second bucket of wood that I had packed over that didn't even make it into the house.

I went out to the shop and did some work on the nose gear retract fitting pieces around it so it is flush with the cowl.

The main reason I went out was so I could get this tin of candy for Vera that I picked up on Wednesday.  One of those rare times that I planned ahead.

Mona texted me some pictures today when she wished us Happy Valentines Day.  They have a lot of nice sunsets down there.

They have some cool lighting set up on different plants.

She also sent me a picture of Barry's new Massey Ferguson tractor.  The picture must have been right after they got it because Barry said he has it all scratched up now.  They were heading over to Dallan and Helen's later for Dallan's birthday dinner.  This evening we watched a bunch of shows on the DVR since the snow was blocking the Dish signal.  It was a nice relaxing day that we spent together.

Lots of Snow!

There was plenty of snow everywhere this morning.  We had already decided we weren't going anywhere until it melts which is good because I don't know if we could get out.

I finally ventured out after lunch to check on the pellet stove in the shop.  On the way I measured fourteen inches of snow on the deck.

Boy walking in this much snow is a pain, I stopped and took this picture of the motor home and house.  After filling up the stove with pellets I came up with a way to get temporary twelve volt power to the new heater I had added to the motor home's fresh water tank.

Michelle texted me this picture of the snowman she and James had made.

We really like this picture of them.  Michelle said the snowman is really small because it was too cold out to make a bigger one.  His arms are pine needles.

The fir trees sure look pretty with all the snow on them.  I have been hearing limbs break off so it will be interesting walking the trails once the snow melts.

Vera made me a batch of brownie cupcake for my birthday so I got to start on them a little early.  They are sure good with the frosting on them.

This is how the deck looked at about five this afternoon.  The power went out again tonight at about seven thirty.  With fourteen inches of snow I didn't want to mess with the generator so we read by flashlight most of the evening.  I started getting cold about ten so I decided to start the stove.  I bundled up again and stopped by the motor home and turned the holding tank heaters on.  Then I got a couple of buckets of wood and headed in.  It was a pretty good workout carrying them through fourteen inches of snow.  Just after I got the stove going good the power came back on so we turned it down and let it go out.

The Snow Continues

First thing this morning I took a picture of the small pond through our bedroom window.

 

I was a slow starter this morning so this is how the car and motor home looked at ten thirty.

The deck was starting to pretty well get covered at ten thirty also.

We had just a little over six inches at eleven AM.

At noon I walked out by the driveway to get a picture of  the motor home and the house.

I took one of the shop at the same time.

Here I am all bundled up heading to the shop after lunch.

The rhododendrons were sagging down under the weight of the snow so I got my extension pole and knocked a lot of it off.  I was pretty tired after doing nine of them.

This is my last picture today at about six, Vera measured eight inches of snow a little later.  We spent the rest of the evening puttering on our computers and watching recordings on the DVR.  Then just before midnight the power went off so we went to bed.  Of course we forgot to turn off any lights so when it came on at 3AM we got up and turned them off.

Snow

 

This is the snow that was forecast to start this morning.  This is how it looked a little after seven when I got up.  I spent Wednesday while Vera was at bible study stocking up with wood pellets and generator gas.  We had made a Fred Meyer pickup on Monday so we have plenty of food.  I think we are all ready for what ever happens.

I took a picture of the deck at the same time.

This picture is as I started in from the shop this evening about eight thirty.  I had been dragging the broom back and forth with me every time I went to the house and back to kind of create a path.

This is how much was on the car at eight forty when I was headed in for the night.  I measured my fingers and it was about three inches.

Finally some flying weather

 

The weather forecast for today didn't look too bad so I spent Sunday charging up batteries and getting all the new planes loaded into the motor home.  Then I went in to watch the Super Bowl I had recorded.  Kind of a Ho Hum game so I was glad I could fast forward through the commercials and half time.  It was pretty nice when we got to the field a little before ten.  I hopped right out and put the maiden flight on the little Edge 540BP.  It flies great and will probably turn into one of my favorites.

The Osprey was next and it flew fine but I kind of messed up on the landing and did some minor damage and broke both props.  Luckily they send spares with the kit.

I had a good day, I flew 5 different planes and made a total of 14 flights.  The Corsair flew great after one minor adjustment to the elevator.  I am going to put my GPS tracker in it next time to see how fast it is.

Jim and Teresa showed up a while after we arrived followed by new member Mark.  Jim had several flying wings with him today, one flew great but the red one on the table seems to have a balance problem and nosed into the ground with no damage.  It sure felt good to get out flying again.

 

We made a mail and lunch run today then went down to Lions Pride Park to eat.  While we were there Barry texted me a picture of the progress on their new garage.

Then he sent me a picture of the storage shed that is done except for the door and paint.

Of course I sent him a picture of our current Castle Rock weather.

Tonight I put the last of the cap strips on wing ribs.  You can see the triangle reinforcements I added to the trailing edge.  If it falls on the floor again I don't think it will break there again.