New Years Eve

I had planned on getting my last flights of 2022 today so I had several batteries charged up by two in the afternoon.  The first flight was with my FW-450 which is GPS equipped so I can put it where I want and take pictures of it flying.  It will stay right there until I pick the transmitter back up.  If the battery should get low it will automatically go back to where it took off and land itself. 

Next I got out the T-Rex 500 and flew it.  No pictures of it in the air as it does not have GPS and Vera still has a cold so I didn't want her outside taking a picture.  I also had a nice relaxing flight with my Vapor slow flyer.

If you compare the transmitter size to the T-Rex 500 and then to this T-Rex 700 you will see this thing is pretty big.  The 500 uses one 25 volt battery and the 700 uses two much larger 25 volt batteries so there is 50 volts to the motor.  I had a good flight with it but I had to concentrate much more.  I have another GPS control unit that I think is going in it before I fly it again.  We spent a quiet evening reading and watching YouTube.  We stayed up until midnight because the fireworks were going off all evening.  It has been a different year for us but we are both fairly healthy and able to do the things we want.  We are both looking forward to the new year.

Wind Storm

There was lots of wind today, our power was out several times but only about an hour and a half each time.  Other than a trip to Kaiser this morning for a blood test we spent the rest of the day at home. 

James and Michelle texted me these pictures of the tree that fell against their house and blocked the driveway.

James friend Elijah West happened to drive by just afterwards and asked if they needed help.

Elijah and his uncle Pete working on the tree.

James said he got soaked before he put his flagging rain gear on.

James said they had the driveway cleared in about an hour, Michelle said it only took them thirty minutes.  So it was maybe somewhere between the two.  It is amazing that there was no damage, not even a broken window.

Christmas

I know this is a little late, but we both caught colds right after Christmas and are just now getting over them.

 12-24-2022 Christmas Eve

James took this picture at Dan and Robin's annual Christmas Eve Party and sent it to me as we had decided to stay home Christmas Eve because of the ice.  I tried counting the people there but kept getting mixed up.  I finally printed out a copy and wrote a number on each face and came up with 49 counting James who is not in it.

Here is James with his ugliest Christmas sweater for the contest they have every year.  Mik won but I don't have a picture of it.

I have never added a GIF file before but it appears to work.  Michelle sent it to me Christmas Eve.  Vera and I spent a quiet evening at home, after hearing about several family and friends who fell, I think we made the right decision!

Mik was Santa again this year and he was really tickled by Josie's reaction.  She ran right up and gave him a hug.

 

12-25-2022 Christmas Day

Christmas day the ice was almost all gone, we went down to Mik, Michelle and James for our traditional Christmas dinner and gift exchange.

Bev showed up for a little while and we were all glad to see she was ok after the house where she rented burned Christmas Eve.  She lost a lot of stuff and will not know the full extent until after the insurance adjuster looks at things.  Her car was damaged but is still drivable.

Before she left the girls got together for a group photo.  I normally take two or three pictures each time.  This time one of them turned out to have Mik photobombing them in the background.

Here are Mik and Michelle with the Prime Rib and Turkey they had prepared.  Mik did one end of the prime rib with no salt for me.  It was the tenderest best tasting one I have ever had.  I was happy when they sent a piece home with me.  There was lots of good food and deserts today.  Vera and Jim Karnofski, Debbie and Josh, Josh's mom Natalie and Vera had all brought something and it was all good.

Having Jordon and Jacob there really made it seem like Christmas.  They had both brought presents from home to play with. 

Jordon and Jacob played in the tunnel formed by Michelle and my legs for quite a while.

After we ate it was time to open presents.

Debbie is giving Jacob a hand with this present.

After everything was opened they started checking things out a little closer.

Vera is passing our gifts out to everyone.

More present opening going on.

Natalie is checking out the pictures that Jordon took with his new camera.

Just as the present opening finished Mik's brother Jim and his son Rome showed up.

Then it was family photo time.

I used Michelle's picture of Josh, Debbie, Jordon and Jacob because it turned out better than mine.

This is Michelle's picture also of Josh's mom Natalie and his brother Gabe.

James and I!

Vera and I had a great day with the family and enjoyed lots of good food.  Michelle and James had experimented with the two ingredient fudge and came up with one made with ground up Butterfingers.  It was so good that it is my new favorite.  I am going to make it next time I have a sweet tooth.  I hope you all had as Merry a Christmas as we did.

Here is a picture of our great grandson John Patrik playing with the Marble Run we got him.

More Freezing Rain and the 3D printer

 

That is all ice in this picture.  I put off going out to check in the shop for a long time but the weather never got above 25 so I finally went out to check the pellet stove around noon.

As I went by the motor home I noticed the ice on the windshield and took this picture.

Once I was out there I decided to stay a while.  First I sanded the rudder of the Elipstik so it is ready to cover.  Then I was looking to see what VCRs I had to transfer some tapes to the computer.  During that process I ended up moving the 3D printer to the dresser and the VCRs to the desk.  I still have a bunch of cables and cords to get straightened out but I think I am going to like this arrangement.

As I was coming in Vera wanted a picture of the clamp on studs on my shoes.  Michelle got them for Vera a couple of years ago.  Without them there would have been no way I could have gotten to the shop without falling.

Freezing Rain

 12-20-2022

I had a doctors appointment today for the big toe on my left foot that is giving me trouble.  My doctor ended up referring me to Longview Orthopedics, the same place that did my knee replacement.  I got the elevon servos mounted in the Elipstik today.

12-21-2022

I had a nice phone call from Barry today, he is back from his trip to London and told me all about it.  This afternoon we made a trip to Kelso, got groceries and finished our Christmas shopping.  I spent some time this afternoon making sure the motor home was winterized as the temperature is forecast to be in the low twenties tonight and Thursday.

12-22-2022

The table and chairs look wet but it is freezing rain and boy is the deck slick.  The temperature got down to 19 last night, it is 24 degrees now and it never got above freezing all day.  It has been a long time since we have had any freezing rain.  I got a short flight with the new helicopter this afternoon.  It didn't last long because of the cold temperature the battery was not putting out like normal and the helicopter landed itself because of low voltage.  I did some work on the Elipstik this evening and got the elevons and rudder sanded.  After taking the picture of the deck I am staying in for the rest of the night.

Lots of visitors today

James came up to do some more sheetrock work today.  While we were visiting Debbie pulled in and dropped Bev off at her car.  Bev had left her car here last night because of the chance of snow.  She had a doctors appointment today and did not want to be trapped at Debbie's if it did snow.  They figured that Debbie's Jeep would be able to get out.  The snow didn't amount to much, not ever worth a picture at our place.  After Bev left Debbie and the boys came in to see us.  It turned into another great session of stories and lots of good laughs.

Jordon and Jacob headed right in to play with their favorite toys.  They got to take a couple home with them today.  James decided he didn't feel like doing the sheetrock today so he headed home shortly after they left.

Bev stopped by after her appointment to visit until it was time for Jacob's preschool Christmas program that we were all going to.  We got a text later that Jacob woke up from his nap with a fever so they were not going to the program.  We had a nice time talking with Bev until she headed to Josh and Debbie's to spend the night.  It was a great day seeing and visiting with our family.

Christmas Cards, Parker and Alissa's Reception

My goal today was getting our Christmas cards sent off.  The printer and I got along great today, I only messed up one card by putting it in the wrong way.  Signing all of them took me awhile so I did them in batches and we were able to mail them on the way to Parker and Alissa's reception.

It was fun sitting with James at the reception, lots of stories and laughs.

There was a great turn out, I think Dianne said there were 22 tables and it looked like all of them were full.

The Hotel Monticello Ball Room had been redecorated since the last time we were there and seemed a lot brighter.

This is Rielee telling about growing up with Parker, she has sure grown up.

Macee had a long list of things she told about, it was fun listening to the girls.  It was a nice evening seeing all the family who were there.

James working on the sheetrock

 

James came up today to do some more work on the shop loft sheetrock.  He picked up pellets for me on the way, a good thing because I was down to one bag.  I remembered to take pictures today so I stopped him on the pull down ladder for the first one.

Right away we had to use the bucket system to send a fresh battery up for the impact driver.  I think Jackie and Debbie rigged it up years ago when they played up there so I could send them up things.

I took this picture while laying on my back so it is a little tilted.  James had asked a question so I went up to take a look.  I think the pencil marks on the sheetrock were done by one of the grandkids.  James made lots of headway today, next he will be taping and spackling.  I got the motor mount put on the Elipstik while he was working so it was a good day for me.

Jordon's Christmas Program, Sheetrock

12-6-2022

I had walked over to Steve and Dianne's to take a battery back that I was checking for Steve.  On the way back I stopped and took this picture of their lights. 

12-13-2022        

James came up today and started putting sheetrock in part of the shop loft I had never finished.  I showed him a couple of basic things and got out of his way.  All I had to do was answer a couple of questions and hand him things.  He did great and almost got everything done.  This evening we went up to Jordon's Elementary Christmas program at the Toutle High School gym.  We got there early and got a great parking spot right across from the entrance.  Debbie had saved some seats so we joined her and Jacob up a couple of rows from where we were.  I took this picture not long after and by the time the program started just about every seat in the gym was filled.  The 5th and 6th grades preformed first each doing several songs.

Then the 3rd and 4th grades did two songs and I think that when they did "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" it was the hit of the evening. 

Josh is keeping Jacob occupied in this picture.  Jacob was good considering that Jordon in Kindergarten kids part were the next to last songs on the program.

This is Jordon's Kindergarten class.

They gave them bells to ring during Jingle Bells and all the kids checked them out.

Jordon looked happy talking with his fiend who was in the front row also.

I am not sure  if they were singing or not as I took this picture.  We really enjoyed the program.

12-14-2022

Vera had Bible study today, it was Carole's birthday and her cherry delight dessert had been requested.  I had some with lunch after she got home and it was just as good as last time.  The biopsy results indicated that I have Bullous Pemphigoid and and they put me on an antibiotic for it.  It interferes with the blood thinners I take so I had to go in for a blood test.  Since it was such a nice afternoon we decided to do it today.  After the blood test we decided to go to the new Space Age station in Castle Rock because they have the cheapest gas in the county.

After filling up we tried the new A&W located there for dinner.  We really liked their Papa burger and will probably be stopping there more often.