Elipstik

I was still full this morning from the great dinner yesterday.  After spending most of the day in front of the computer watching videos on YouTube I finally went out to the shop in the late afternoon.

I got the rest of the wood added to the bottom of the Elipstik wing.  Then I got out the carbon fiber, cut it into narrow strips and epoxied it down.  After the epoxy cured I soaked the main spar in water and pinned it down over the plan to dry.  Tomorrow I will shape it and add carbon fiber to it.  Once that is cured I can glue it in and start on the top of the wing.

Thanksgiving at Debbie and Josh's

We went to Debbie and Josh's house for Thanksgiving dinner.  As usual there was lots of great food.  I started my dinner with peanut butter pie and had another piece just before we left.  I also had pumpkin pie after dinner and for some reason I was too full to have any of the pecan pie.

Michelle's picture of James and Vera at dinner time turned out better than mine.

Josh's mom Natalie and grandma Anita were there also.  Bev had planned on coming but got sick.

Michelle commented that Jacob was sure good about smiling for pictures, I love this picture of the two of them.

As soon as we got there the boys took Vera to their room and showed her all their dinosaurs.  Later they were attacking Josh and Mik and I think they were both enjoying it.

This is another of Michelle's picture that she shared with me.

Debbie looked so relaxed and enjoying herself all day.  Michelle captured this perfect moment.

Just before we left I took this picture of the girls.

I took this picture of Mik, Michelle and James shortly after the one of the girls.

As we were headed home I stopped and took this picture of the sunset near where I lived on a house boat when I was a baby.  This was a perfect end to a very enjoyable day.

Mik had gotten us our annual poinsettia and sent it home with us.  Spending a day with family is sure great!

My First Winter Project

 

Vera had ordered this apple slicer and it came today.  Boy does it do a nice job, the slices are a perfect bite size.

I started on my first winter project today, I had James get down this Elipstik kit on Sunday thinking it might be a good one to start with.

I thought I could build it in one day but having to soak the wood in hot water before forming it slowed me down.  I did get the leading edge formed and glued with some carbon fiber reinforcement.  I will let the epoxy cure overnight before I do anymore.

I needed some help

Sunday James came up and helped me rearrange some cabinets in the shop.  I had bought a new fire proof cabinet to store the Lipo batteries in, that is it on top of the gray cabinet.

First we had to move this dark gray cabinet that was under the gray one.  I had done some measuring and we moved it to this spot on my utility shelving.  I am sure glad James was here to help as getting the gray one off this one was quite a wrestling match.  As always, James said "I've got it" and he did.  He also got down a couple of kits that will be my winter projects.  Vera and I had a nice visit with him after we were done.

PNWB

I had a three o'clock dental appointment in Vancouver today.  We left right after Vera got home from bible study so we could go to Costco before the appointment.  We were out of Costco in about forty five minutes so we had plenty of time to sit in the car and read at Kaiser.  My appointment went great, I spent most of the time talking with the doctor and assistant about knitting after they noticed the hat I was wearing that Vera knitted.  They took a couple of pictures and I was out of there in about fifteen minutes. We had already decided to stop at the Pacific Northwest Best café and have their halibut for dinner so that was our next stop.

This their menu, we have only had the Halibut Fish and Chips and Clam Chowder, both are excellent.  I have been eyeing the Clam strips so they may be the next thing I try.

This is the area next to where you order.

I5's traffic wasn't bad going or coming home.  We turned off onto the old highway at Kelso when we saw lane closure and possible delays signage.  That took us right by Dairy Queen so naturally we had to stop for a Blizzard before taking the Pleasant Hill Rd home.  I stopped at Lions Pride Park for one last picture but the sunset was already fading, ten minutes earlier would have been better.  It was a great day where everything went as planned.

Helicopter Flying

The forecast for Toledo looked good so we got to the field about nine.  It was a little cold, you can see the marks in the frost on the table.

Not long after we got there fog started rolling in.  I put in my first flight of the day with the FW 450 helicopter.

This is how I stay warm while flying, a Little Buddy heater and bubble wrap Velcroed to the chair to break the wind.  I kind of hate to get up sometimes after a flight.  I also had on a down jacket and electrically heated vest.  The seventy one degrees in the motor home sure felt good between flights.

I ended up having five flights with helicopters and three with planes.  One other flyer showed up late in the afternoon, he really liked the FW 450 after he saw it fly.  The sun came out for the last couple of flights, I was able to take the down jacket off and turn off the vest.  We filled up on the way home and dumped the tanks so we are all set for our next session.

Pocket Drone

 I took the pocket drone up higher today and took this picture of the house.

This is the pocket drone, the arms and propellers fold up and you could fit it into a large pocket.  It has GPS and is able to follow you but I have not tried that yet.  I'll do more reading of the instructions before I try that!

I got the helicopter out and made two flights with it as the sun was going down.  Boy was it cold out there, I came in, sat on the heat pad and watched YouTube after that.

Helicopters, Drones and an old Building

 10-10-2022

It has been pretty nice but cold weather so I just come out and fly the FW-450 then get warm again.  Since we had the maples taken out there are not too many leaves but quite a few of the seeds with propellers end up on the roof.  I usually do one flight a day blowing them off.

10-11-2022

I discovered today that this transmitter would work with the Vapor and Mini Vapor.  I did some flying tonight in front of the shop using the motion light to see them.

10-12-2022

I have been taking pictures of this building on Dougherty Drive since 2004, this is how it looked then.

This is how it looked in 2011 after a heavy snow.

It is gone now, they cleaned up debris and mowed this summer.

We went over Dougherty Drive today and I took a wide angle picture of the area.

It is amazing what reading the directions can do.  I bought a new drone that got terrible reviews from most people.  I tried it a couple of times without reading all the instructions and the results were not good.  Yesterday I read all of the instructions and figured out what I was doing wrong.  I went out today, it flew fine and I took this picture with it.  I also got in some helicopter and Vapor flying this afternoon, it was a beautiful day.

Halloween, Blazer and Steve's 80th Birthday Party

 Well I have some catching up to do, I just could not get in the mood to edit pictures.  Finally after James mentioned I had not updated my blog I decided I better do it before I hear from Pam and Barry about it.

10-30-2022

I have been having a great time with the new helicopter flying it around the yard and trying to blow leaves off the roof.  I get in at least a flight a day if it is not raining.  The GPS function works great, for this picture I set the transmitter on the ground and used my phone to take the picture.  The helicopter just hovered there until I was done.

Halloween

Josie was our first trick or treater, she is sure cute.

Jordon and Jacob were next, and they headed right for their favorite toys in the living room instead of getting a bag of goodies.

Jordon with the bag he picked out, I think we had five different designs.

Jacob got shy and didn't want to pose for a picture with his bag.

Bridget, Jillian and Tor were our last ones.  Tor has had the TREX costume for three years and Rick said this is probably the last year. 

Tor was able to pull his hands into the costume and eat candy inside.  Then he went into the living room and did some push ups.

The only problem was he couldn't get up afterwards because of the costume so Bridget came over and helped him up.  We made sure all the parents went home with bags of candy which worked out good because there were only three bags left over instead of eight.  There is no way I need to eat that much.

11-1-2022

We made a run to town today for wood pellets, mail and some groceries.  The stops at the post office and 4 Corners went fine.  It was when we made our stop at Cascade Select for groceries that things got interesting.  We loaded the groceries into the Blazer and it would not start!  I checked under the hood and things looked good, it turned over but would not fire.  I called our towing and arranged for a tow home.  Then I called James and he came up to take Vera and the groceries home.  He came back to keep me company and it wasn't long until the tow arrived.

I got to ride in the roll back truck on the way home.

They unloaded it in front of the storage container and that is where it sat for several days until the rains quit.

11-5-2022

They had an 80th birthday party for Steve at Papa Pete's tonight.

It was great having such a good turn out of family for an event again.

In this picture Steve is answering the questions of a quiz about him that they passed out.  I was surprised that I got thirteen right, David was the winner with the most and James was the winner of the least right prize.

This is more of the family during the quiz answers.

We have a very competitive family and everyone enjoyed the quizzes. 

This is Steve and Gabe, lots of family took pictures with Steve.

Steve is opening cards and gifts as his daughter Nancy watches.  In the background is his daughter Jill.  I didn't know who she was until I went over and introduced myself and had a nice visit with her and her husband.  It turned out he has flown radio control so we had lots to talk about.

Debbie had picked up Jackie and Cora at the train depot this afternoon so they were able to come to the party.  Cora was enjoying the merry go round.

This picture was taken by James, his turned out better that the ones I took.

Mik and James are in front of the poster with the things that happened in 1942.  I had planned on getting a picture of it but forgot to.  Desiree and Dianne did a great job of planning the party and it looked like everyone had a good time.  Michelle counted over forty people before she lost track and gave up.

11-7-2022

We went to breakfast at the Pancake House this morning with Debbie, Jacob, Jackie and Cora.  Of course I forgot to take a picture.  I had the Waffle Supreme with cinnamon apples and pecans my favorite.  Debbie said she may try that the next time they go.

11-8-2022

Election Day, we had already dropped our ballots off in the Castle Rock drop box.  Freezing weather is in the forecast so I decided to put the faucet covers on.  As I did them I realized I needed to drain the hose reels and put them away.  I am glad I did as it got down to 26 that night.