A frosty early morning ride

 

This is on Pleasant Hill Rd just before the sun came up as we were on our way to Kaiser for my INR blood test.  They are still working at getting it balanced after the surgery.  It was a nice time of the morning for a drive with frost on all the roofs and lawns.

By the time we went over the Lexington bridge the sun was hitting the Columbia Heights area. 

After getting the blood test at Kaiser and having breakfast at Burger King we took a drive out to Willow Grove Park.  This picture is at the West end of the park looking Southwest at the Columbia River.

I turned around and took a picture towards the East.  It looks like the jets have been playing in the sky this morning.

I have gotten in several helicopter flights this week.  Today I finally got the one I deleted the programing for redone in the new radio.  I have been working on sorting batteries and getting rid of some old ones this week.  While I was waiting for one to discharge I went up into the shop loft and happened to notice the sunset so I opened the window, stuck the phone out and took this picture.

Kaiser again and the Electra

 

This is what I got done last night on the Electra's tail, now it is ready for the control horns and linkages.

Today I had an appointment with my Ophthalmologist in Vancouver.  Before we left I called my friend Mike Miller and arranged dropping off his PBY kit that I had been storing for him.  We hadn't seen Mike in about ten years as he had moved and we didn't know where he was.  It was a foggy drive down and got worse the closer we got to Vancouver, I am sure the visibility was less that a quarter mile until just before we got to Mike's.  We delivered the PBY and had a nice visit with him before we had to leave.  We stopped at Costco for a few things, that ended up being two hundred and eighty four dollars, it was nice and sunny when we came out.  We had everything timed pretty well as I got checked in at Kaiser ten minutes before the appointment was scheduled for, I sat down and got called within a minute.  The doctor was really happy with my progress and said my vision has improved since my last visit.  I was out of there in under a half hour and we headed home.  We stopped for a late lunch or early dinner in Woodland and then ran into fog again just North of there.  We had a very nice day for our little trip.

T-Rex and Electra

We made a run to Longview this morning, after breakfast at Jack In The Box we picked up our grocery order at Fred Meyer.  Once we got things put away I worked on the Electra some more, then late in the afternoon I put in a flight with the T-Rex 500.  The seven minute flight was about as long as I want to stand out there even though there was not much wind the temperature was going down fast as the sun set. 

During the day I had gotten the rest of the transparent covering put on and the hinges all glued in.  This evening I went out and started adding the red, when done it will have red leading edges also.  It was another good day, I hope you had one too!

Electra

The sunset hitting the trees was sure pretty today.  Vera noticed it just before we had dinner so I ran out and took a couple of pictures.

Here are the pictures from last night that I forgot to take.  I have been gluing the carbon fiber reinforcements on all week and finally got them all on and sanded.

I got the bottom of one stabilizer covered before I quit last night.

 

Vera was sure happy to get this in the mail today.

Today I got both sides of the stabilizers covered and the hinges glued into it.  I also got one of the elevators covered.  Whenever I cover anything there is always lots of scraps on the floor, what you see is just a small part of them.

Sukhoi

 

It has been a quiet week around here with Vera knitting and me working in the shop.  The Sukhoi took up so much room I could hardly get around in the area where I build.  I got a couple of brackets and a piece of shelving at Bredfield's and put up this shelf in the front room to get the Sukhoi up and out of the way.

It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be to get the plane up there.  I also did some other rearranging and brought the B-36 in from the motor home.  The silver wing section with all the motors is part of it.  I just remembered that the wing tips are still in the motor home, I will have to get them later.  Tuesday Dan and Vicki stopped by and we had a great visit.  Later James came and we had a good time looking at the new blog book and talking.  Since  I can now turn around in the building area without running into the Sukhoi I started finishing the Electra glider that has been rattling around the shop for years.  Tonight I started covering the tail after getting the hinges installed.

Flying

 

We took the nice clean motor home to the Toledo field and did some flying today.  I had some of my old batteries and some of the new ones I got to test.  I ended up making ten or twelve flights today.  Three of the four old batteries turned out to be bad and I will dispose of them.

We brought up a couple of boxes of old aviation magazines for Horty and had a nice visit with him.  Eight other members showed up during the day and seven of them flew.

We stopped at Betty's, got their Halibut basket and went down to the South Lewis County Park to eat.  There were quite a few others enjoying the peace and quiet, fishing or walking the path around the lake.

Washing the vehicles

 

My goal today was to get the motor home washed.  I did the car and then half of the motor home.  I took a break for lunch and went back out to do the other half.  When I was finished I rewarded myself with a flight on the T-REX 500

I landed to check the pictures Vera had taken and decided a picture of all three would be nice.

We had both seen the Oasis's pictures of their Captain's Plate on Facebook so we picked it up during our mail run and went down to Lions Pride Park to eat, watch the river and traffic.  It tasted great, a single order was enough to feed both of us.

Windcatcher and Amy

Vera finished Amy the doll she has been knitting today, it turned out really cute. 

I put the Windcatcher that Mik, Michelle and James got Vera for Christmas together this afternoon.  Vera directed me around until it was in a spot where she could see it from the window.  It shouldn't take much wind to turn it as it has double ball bearings on each rotating part.

I got my 2021 blog printed into a book and it came today.

This is the first time I have gotten it printed with the largest sized pictures and I really like the way it turned out.  I got all my new batteries from the Black Friday and New Years sales labeled and used some new ones that came today for a couple of flights with the TREX 500 just before dark.

 

Debbie gave Vera a pot of lilies for Christmas, we put them by the kitchen window and they have started blooming.

1-9-2022

I went to the Cowlitz Valley Radio Control Flyers meeting today.  It was a small meeting as is usually the case when officers are being elected.  There were seven of us there, in the picture left to right is Ken the president, Jerry the treasurer and Lincoln the secretary  whose house the meeting was at.  I had a good time and gave away the two planes I had brought.  One was a new in the box ARF and the other I had gotten from Steve's estate.  It flew great but wasn't one of my favorites so I pulled the receiver out of it and the club is going to use it as a trainer.  Then I headed back home to watch the Seahawks finish the season with a win!

1-10-2022

Vera and I made a mail run and then went for a little ride to check the river level.  I managed to get parked in about the same spot as the picture I took the seventh.  I checked the Hydrologic site and the river is twelve feet lower than on the seventh.

Another Trip to Kaiser and High Water

It has been a quiet week here watching the snow melt and working on my planes.

We were up early today as I had an 8:15 appointment at Kaiser for a follow up Ultrasound of my Carotid Arteries.  I will have another one after six months and then they will be a yearly thing.  On the way down we went by Lions Pride Park to look at the river.  It peaked about 1AM last night but is still pretty high.  It was a rainy windy drive to Longview on I5 as Pleasant Hill was closed because of high water.  The ultrasound took about an hour and then I got my INR blood test.  After breakfast at Jack in the Box we made stops at Safeway and Fred Meyer to pick up groceries before heading back to Castle Rock.
 

This is right as we came over the railroad bridge at Exit 48.

We stopped at Lions Pride Park again and I got a better picture.  At eleven when I took this picture the river was still at forty seven feet which is the Action flood level.  I spent the rest of the day after unloading the groceries working on the Sukhoi, I got the transmitter bound to the receiver and some of the programing done.

New Years Day Flying

I decided to do my annual New Years Day flying at home this year because of the snow.  My first flight was with the T-REX 500, 5 minutes was a long enough flight to get the fingers nice and cold.  The battery heated gaiter sure kept my neck nice and warm.
 

I flew the Hobby King Mustang next.  It is made out of EPP foam that is rubbery and hard to damage.  I got to do some loops and rolls before landing.

The landing didn't go quite as planned as I discovered the cascara tree's limbs don't show up very well with no leaves on them.  Thanks to the nice cushion of snow and the EPP foam neither one was damaged.  After warming up for a few minutes I flew the T-REX again.  It is nice being able to stop and land vertically.  This evening I ordered the hardbound book of last years posts.  Vera made cookies this evening and they sure taste great!  My new year is off to a pretty good start.