A good day of Flying

 

I setup and test flew Dan's Sig Senior Kadet today.  It flew great just needing a little up elevator trim and a few clicks of right aileron trim.

After a couple of laps around the field I gave the transmitter to Dan and he flew the rest of the flight and several more during the day.  This picture is him landing after one of those flights.

It was a small turnout today, I counted ten members and two people who were interested in the club and we picked up one new member today.

Bruce had two de Havilland Beavers out today.  The larger one is by FMS and Bruce said it is the better flyer of the two.

Ken made several very nice flights with his P-47 Thunderbolt.  I had a great day and did more visiting than normal so I only made about six flights.  Everyone was surprised when we were one of the first to leave instead of the last.

Spring

 

You can sure tell spring is here with all the flowers and plants starting to bloom.

Vera took this picture of a Lenten Rose Michelle got her, there are lots of flowers on it this year.

This is my morning routine when it is sunny, watering all the new plants and the ones in pots.  I have also been working on the lawn.  I put Moss Out on it a while back then went over it with the dethatcher to remove it.  I used the mower to blow the debris off the lawn.  All the wind this year has kept me busy clearing the trails and cutting off low hanging branches.  Steve and Dianne have picked up a lot of it also to use on Parker's burn pile.

I had a run in with a bush while setting up a new flight controller in the Trex 500.  The crash was caused by a loose screw that didn't have Loctite on it.  The controller hadn't been acting right so I decided to got back to the original setup where it flew great.  A couple more parts are due Monday and it will be all done.

Three days of Flying

4-15-2021

We were up fairly early and headed to the flying field to spend a couple of days.  I had everything set up by eleven and started flying, during one of my first flights this eagle joined me.  I landed after a couple of minutes, grabbed the camera and took some pictures of it.  They sure are pretty!

 I flew, charged batteries and watched TV with Vera all day.

There was a nice sunset when I went out to lock the gate.

4-16-2021

It got down to 31 last night, and guess who forgot to put the thermostat on heating.  My cold feet woke me up early, I got up to correct my error and snuggled in for a little more sleep.

I flew the Kitfox about 8:30 for my first flight of the day.  There was lots of dew on the grass, I had to wipe down the plane after shooting a bunch of touch and goes.

Gene, Jim, Leonard and Audrey showed up today.  Notice how the windsock is straight out, it blew like that most of the day.

This is Jim coming in to land with his Sukhoi, a very nice plane that was built by a friend before he passed away.

Leonard has flaps on his Ultra Stick and shot lots of touch and goes.

I had the Walrus (weird name for a glider) along to night fly with. 

I put in two flights with it, this is after the last one.  It shows up pretty good except when it is going away then the lights hardly show up.

This was the sunset today.

4-17-2021

I was up fairly early and flew the Edge 540 from the dewy grass again this morning.

Some different flyers showed up today, Bruce is flying and those are Mike B. planes on the table.

I have seen the jump plane takeoff several times the last couple of days.  Today was the first time I saw any jumpers come down.

It was getting pretty warm so we packed up and left a little earlier than normal.  It always feels good to get home.

It seems the warm weather caused the magnolia to bloom while we were gone.  We didn't notice it for quite awhile, it was after eight when I noticed it and took this picture.  It was a good three days, I got in lots of flying and really enjoyed the evenings kicked back watching the Olympic trials with Vera.  The new radio worked out great providing background music during the day.

Finally some sunny weather!

 4-13-2021

We ordered a climbing yellow Jasmine from Home Depot for a trellis Mik and Michelle gave us.  It came after about a week of roaming around the US with FedEx.  It was pretty dry and wilted so we gave it lots of water after planting it and we think it is recovering.

I finished the installation of the new radio and speakers in the motor home today.  I was really happy when I managed to get all the wiring through the cabinet floor.

 

4-14-2021

It was a beautiful day!  We did an early Fred Meyer grocery pickup this morning.  Then we stopped at Kaiser for my bi-monthly INR blood test.  I got the results online already and it was right where they want it.  After we got home and had the groceries put away I decided to wash the motor home.  First I washed the Mitsubishi and moved it up wind so it wouldn't get splashed.  Then I washed the motor home and waxed a few spots.  It looked so good I had to take the picture as we headed down for dinner. 

Flying

 

We went flying today so we would have a chance to see Dan and Vicky before they left on a month long trip in their motor home.  We had a nice visit with them and got in some good flying before the wind came up.  Today was the first time flying the Skylane with the new motor and I really liked the added power.  The Pilatus Porter will probably get the same motor installed since it is a little underpowered.

We had a small turnout today, seven flyers and two wives.

Gene had a new model of a Fokker Eindecker out today, it looked and flew great!

The mountains sure looked pretty today.  The wind got really strong and we headed home about two.

Jordon and Jacob's Easter Baskets

4-9-2021 

Friday we trimmed the ferns between the house and the driveway.  My wrists have been kind of sore from all the work in the shop so I bought wrist braces.  I could run the hedge trimmer ok with them on but picking up the ferns was an issue.  Vera did all the loading and unloading, you can tell she grew up on a farm the way she handles the pitchfork.

4-10-2021

I replaced a couple of planks that were rotten on the back deck today.  I took a break while the end cut solution soaked into the wood and came in the house.  My timing was great because there was a hard hail shower while I was in the there.  I didn't think to take a picture until is was changing to rain but the hail still showed up.

Jordon had his first T-Ball game today.  Afterwards they stopped by to pick up the kid's Easter baskets we had gotten them.  They were camping on the Oregon coast Easter weekend.  Jordon played with the construction toys we got him for a long time.

Jacob sure impressed me when he figured out how to turn on his Easter hen all by himself.  He has sure grown and it is hard to believe he will be two next month.  I got to show off the shop before they left, then I finished up the deck job.  This evening I sorted a bunch of screws that were in my old parts cabinet.  I also covered the new lilacs as we are supposed to have near record low temperatures tonight.  It was a good day that seemed to just fly by and we really enjoyed Debbie, Josh and the boy's visit.

Easter, Lilacs and the Comet

 4-4-2021 Easter

We had a nice laid back Easter, we didn't feel comfortable being around a lot of people so soon after our second vaccine shots so we stayed home.  Vera cooked a spiral cut ham in the Instant Pot and it turned out great.  We had a simple dinner of ham, corn and four cheese mashed potatoes.

We went for a ride in the afternoon up the Spirit Lake Hwy and then took 505 to Toledo to come home.  It was a beautiful day for a ride with lots of sunshine and blue skies.  I wanted a picture for the blog so I stopped along 505 and took this picture of a tree that is a survivor.

4-5-2021

Primroses must be a hardy plant, I run over them with the lawn mower all the time.  We have not done any cleaning around them for several years and they still bloom like crazy.  Vera had an eye doctor appointment Tuesday morning and some how we ended up at Dairy Queen for Blizzards afterwards.

4-8-2021

We planted ten reblooming lilacs on the North side of the driveway today.  I have been doing a lot of cleaning and rearranging in the shop this week and today I started working on the Comet again after we finished with the lilacs.

Trilliums, April Fools Day and COVID-19 Shots

 3-30-2021

I trimmed back the ferns in front of the shop so the trilliums would get plenty of light and it paid off as there are lots of them this year.

4-1-2021

Vera  took the only pictures on April Fools day, she noticed the sunset and took this picture.  We have a little clearer view of the sunset now after they took the spruce tree out by the folks old house.  It was surprising how tall it had gotten.  Then the tree service came up and took some trees out for Steve and Dianne.  I had them come over and look at the maples West of our house and they will be back in June to take them out.

4-2-2021

We were scheduled for our second COVID-19 shot today.  We were in and out in about twenty minutes as there was no line.  We heard that yesterday the line went clear out the door.

Afterwards we celebrated with Market Fresh Roast Beef sandwiches at Arby's and then went to Dairy Queen to have Blizzards for dessert.

This afternoon I finished up the mount for a new radio that will go back in the rear part of the motor home.  It was a good day and we are sure glad to get the vaccine all taken care of.