Night Flying

I took the FW-450 helicopter out tonight to see how well the strobe light showed up.  It took me five tries before I got it when the strobe flashed.  The phone does a great job of making it seem lighter than it was.
 

MRRCS Jet Rally

 6-22-2023

We went up to the Mount Rainier Radio Control Society field today to attend their Jet Rally this weekend.

They were repairing and painting things today so I spent most of the day getting the motor home and planes set up.

6-23-2023

There was fog hanging over the pond this morning, I took this picture at 5:21 AM.  I must have been excited to begin flying to be up that early!

I had a good day of flying the Tigercat, Mustang and Skylane.

We had quite a few of the same neighbors that we had last year.  They were all good neighbors.

6-24-2023

This is one of the business type jets landing.  There were quite a few of them and models of airliners flying this weekend.

This member had a whole trailer load of airliners in addition to this one.

I really liked this model of the Grumman F9F Panther, it was fairly large and had a great sounding EDF.

We had a nice place to sit and watch, I didn't do a lot of flying.  Instead I just enjoyed watching the activities.

The B-1 bombers were sure fun to watch, the wings swing out for takeoff and then can be swept for high speed flight.

This pilot was from the Hood River area and he put on a great flying demonstration with his jet powered glider.

We saw quite a few C-17's this weekend as the field is near McCord AFB.  This one was fairly high and I will have to get a better one next time of one that is lower.  We spent an extra day this time and went home on Monday rather that Sunday afternoon.  That sure made a difference in the amount of traffic we had to deal with.

Swinging

 June 19th

This bunny was sitting next to the driveway as I went to the shop.  They sure do blend with the grass.  It stayed there after I took the picture and went on to the shop.

I found the left front tire of the motor home flat today so I checked at Castle Rock Tire and Oil.  I ended up getting two new ones for the front and plan on changing the rears after we get back from MRRCS.

June 20th

I saw Josie and Dianne swinging today so I went over and visited for a little while.  Josie really looked cute holding the sucker while she was swinging and talking to Grandma.

Josie's Birthday and Fathers Day

 June 17th

Today we went up to David and Laury's for Josie's third birthday party.

I had a great time watching her eat the cake, she is very good with a spoon.

June 18th

Today, Mik, Michelle and James took us to the El Compadre for Fathers Day.  I had a great time with them!

Jordon's Graduation

 Well the nice weather is over and I am laid up for a week after getting my ingrown toenail repaired a second time so I will get caught up with my blog.  It has been a different summer for me with another MOHS surgery plus surgery to correct a hammertoe and ingrown toenail.

I will start my catching up with Jordon's kindergarten graduation on June 15th.

Jordon with his classmates.

As each kid was called up they would put up their favorites on a large screen TV.

This is Jordon as he told what he wanted to be when he grew up.

Here is Jordon, Jacob, Grandma Natali as Jordon gives his papers to Josh. 

This is Jacob with his two Great Grandmas.

Michelle was there also and met up with her classmate Tammi who teaches one of the Kindergarten classes.

After we got home I got half the plywood pulled off the trailer.

The next day, June 16th I got the other half of the plywood pulled off.

Flying at Clatskanie

 

This picture Vera took was a surprise to me, I hadn't noticed the water lilies were starting to bloom.

Last Saturday we went to Clatskanie for a Cowlitz Valley Radio Control Flyers picnic and meeting.  We stopped at the upper view point on Hwy 30 and I took this picture of the Longview Rainier bridge.  I expected it to be rough since they are working on it, but there was only one spot where there was a steel plate that we had to slow down for.

This was the first test of the van for hauling airplanes and it worked great.

This is the setup the club has at Clatskanie.  It is a nice place to fly and it is getting better all the time as improvements are made.

Mike R. has just launched his EDF model of the U-2, part jet and part glider.  He got in some nice flights with it today.

During the meeting, there were I believe ten members there today.

They had a lot of donated radio control items for sale at very fair prices.  I didn't really need anymore planes but I came home with two.  I also delivered the drone Bob W. had donated to Don B. who was the first one to respond to the email I sent out about it.

We took what used to be the main highway to Clatskanie when we headed home.  This is one of the bridges over Beaver Creek.  The road is over grown with trees now and a little rough in places but a scenic and relaxing drive.

The road is now called the Beaver Falls Road.  These falls are right next to the road.  I showed Vera some of the spots I remember as a kid when we would go to Grandma Jarvi's house.  Once we were stalled in a low spot during the flooding in 1948.  We had gone to Grandma's house but on the way home the tide had come in and the car stalled crossing the low spot.  The State had a truck stationed there that pushed us through.  Then they used a Pyrene fire extinguisher to dry the ignition so the car would start,  That made an impression as I can still remember it seventy five years later.

Game Camera and Helicopter plus some forgotten pictures.

 I brought the game camera in a couple of days ago and downloaded the pictures off of it.  It had been out there for two months.

I like this spot, I got more pictures of activity than any place I have had it before.

All the pictures of coyotes were at night.

Of course I got some of myself mowing or walking by.

This doe and I believe last years fawn were in several sets of pictures.  The camera is set to take three pictures each time it senses motion. 

It is nice to see the neighborhood kids using our trails.  I gave them permission to ride on them and they have done some clean up of the winter storm damage. 

The adults use them also.

Me again, I usually run over them after mowing as the sticks and cones clean the inside of the mower deck.  The mower is twenty two years old and there is no sign of rust in the mower deck.

This is the first time I have gotten a picture of a rabbit.  When I put it back I aimed it a little lower so maybe I will get more next time.

5-28-2023

This is the shop when we put the flag up for memorial day.

I took some pictures of the rhodendrons after taking the flag picture.

This is one of the cluster of blooms.

6-8-2023

Yesterday I flew the helicopter three times.  Josie and Aunt came over during the second flight and watched.  Then I took them in and showed them all the planes.

6-9-2023

This is Laury's Happy Friday picture.  She said Josie loved making cupcakes for her birthday.  I sure enjoy getting these pictures, they are a great way to start the day.

A Busy Day

Rielee's Graduation Party

The first thing today was Rielee's graduation party at the J Squared Barrel House in Longview.  On the right side of this display you can see where she will be going to college.

When Rielee posed with Ava and Harper I got this picture.  It was a nice party and I had a great time visiting with Kelly, Cathy, Bob, Dianne and Steve at our table.

Michelle introduced us to her friend Pam.  Pam made the quilt hanging from the railing for Rielee.

Auna and Colby's Wedding Reception

The first thing I took a picture of was the dessert tables.  I didn't realize I was getting a selfie of Mik and I in the mirror.  I found out later those cookies were delicious.

When I took this picture I didn't know it was carrot cake, one of my favorites.  It was one of the best ones I have had in a long time.  All the pictures today are in the order I took them.

It is always fun sitting with this group.  Charbo, Ava, Mik, Michelle and Vera were also sitting here.  Kelly had to take Harper to a ball game in Portland.

The tables were far enough apart that other conversations did not intrude on our visiting.

Dan introduced the newly weds Colby and Auna Gaston.

Emmy emceed a game where they held up a shoe of who they thought fit the question.  I think this was the only time they disagreed. 

The Big Green Barn at Bunyard Ranch was a great place to have the party.

More of our family shows in this picture.

Auna and Colby are doing the traditional first dance. 

This is David and Auna during the father/daughter dance.

Colby is dancing with his mother.

We remembered to bring Michelle's birthday card.

The last dance we watched was the one to see who had been married the longest.  Emmy did a count up five years at a time.  We didn't even get up because we knew Cathy and Bob would win.  Which they did with sixty four years.  It was a great evening, lots of fun and a lot of nice people.