James

 11-20-2023

I had James come today and help me put the new Lithium batteries in the motor home.  Boy are the old lead acid batteries heavy, there is no way I could have lifted them out of the tray.  Even James had to work hard to pick them up and move them to the storage container.  I got the new batteries all hooked up the next day.

11-22-2023

James called me on the 22nd and said he had smoke or steam coming out of his car.  He sent me these pictures of the area where it was coming from.

11-27-2023

James came up today and brought me a load of pellets for the shop.  The stove has been going through quite a few bags in this cold weather and I had put the last bag in last night.  I followed him home and we did some checking on his car and found a plug leaking on the radiator.  I think that is the end of it where I put the red arrow.  We went to O'Reilly Auto Parts and found some much heavier plugs to repair it with.

Thanksgiving

 

The boys were pretty interested in the Disney Christmas movie that was playing. 

We had a great time, everyone was in such a good mood.  The biggest discussion was about if the turkey should be baked to 160 or 165.  It tasted great as did everything else we had.  I was surprised how well my M&M casserole was liked. 

This is our group photo today. In the front row, Jordon, Michelle, Jacob, Vera and James.  In the back row, me, Gabe, Josh, Debbie, Natalie and Anita.

Mike took the pictures so he was not in the group shot, he is telling Jordon to get in the group.

Jacob is attacking Mik right after the pictures were taken.

Jordon's Basketball

 

Jordon lost another front tooth this week.  Debbie told me she is teaching him "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth", it will be fun hearing him sing that.

This is during their warm up, Jordon is just fractions of an inch from getting it high enough.

He is getting better at dribbling, he was looking to see where his teammates were as he came up the court.  It was a fun game to watch, Jordon played the first and third quarters.

After the game we had our usual lunch at Arby's and then stopped by Harbor Freight on the way home to pick up a free flashlight they were offering.  After finding some other things on their flyer it only cost us thirty seven dollars to stop and pick up the free light. 

Sunsets and Flying

11-16-2023 

This is the sunset as I came in from the shop Thursday evening.  I added handles to my motor home leveling blocks and gave them a couple coats of paint today.  I also checked the Motor Home's oil and water since we are planning on going flying tomorrow.

11-17-2023

It was pretty foggy when we arrived at the field this morning.  The ceiling was low because I could hardly see the plane at the top of a loop and the plane got really hard to see when I got much beyond the end of the runway.

After a couple of flights with the plane the fog started to lift so I got the helicopter out for a flight.

One of the first things I noticed was that the helicopter was much steadier at the field than it is at home.  I decided that it was because there are no trees at the field so the GPS unit is getting a better signal.  It was a great day of flying and I got in seven flights before we headed home.

I thought the sky looked nice at home just before we headed down to get dinner so I took this picture.

After we picked up dinner at BK we decided to eat at Lions Pride Park.  I took this picture right after we parked.

As I was eating I noticed the scene to the left looked just as good so I took several more pictures.  It was sure a relaxing end to the day watching the sunset.

James has great timing!

 

This is where I was when James called today to see if I needed pellets.  I did, so he stopped at Four Corners and picked up five bags for me.  We were finishing up installing an air bag on the left side of the motor home.  I noticed that the front end was a little lower a while back and ordered a set of air bags for the front axle.  I started on it yesterday but still had a hole to finish drilling when it got dark.  I finished it this morning and with Vera's help I got the bolt tightened.  She was sure glad when I recruited James to help me with the right side air bag. 

We had a nice day for doing it, James took all the pictures and surprised me with them so I was able to do a blog tonight.

The right side went much better with James doing most of the work.  He was able to get the hole drilled much faster than I did on the other side.  This picture might be when I was starting to run the air lines.  We both spent quite a bit of time underneath the motor home.  We got the air lines ran and the valves installed.  I put thirty pounds in each air bag and after retracting the jacks it looks pretty level.  The next time we are somewhere level I will do a little measuring and adjust the pressures if needed.  Having James do the second one sure did speed things up, if I hadn't had his help I am sure it would have taken another day.

Jordon's missing tooth and Basketball

 

We went to Jordon's basketball game today.  He was late getting there so he only got to play the fourth quarter.  This is the first game where they kept score and Jordon's team won 48-12.

The big news was that he had lost his first tooth.  I asked him if it hurt when it came out and he said "only a little".

Jacob sure likes riding in great grandma Anita's walker.  Mik had sent a bag of treats to each boy so he was keeping a tight hold on the sack.  After the game we had our usual Arby's and then went over to the Kelso Safeway and did a little shopping.  I planned on going to the shop when we got home but a nap snuck up on me.  I spent a nice relaxing afternoon and evening watching YouTube.

Fall Colors and a visit from James

 11-6-2023

Vera was out taking pictures of the leaves today, being wet made the colors show up a lot more.

We hadn't noticed the dogwood turning red, but Vera noticed today.  It is only two years old so it should be really nice when it fills out some more.

Vera made a batch of cocoa mounds this afternoon.  That big one on the right end didn't last long after I took the picture.  I spent most of the day trying to find a helicopter fuselage I knew was in the shop closet.  I finally found it along with a helicopter kit I forgot buying.

11-7-2023

I was out in the shop cleaning and inventorying a closet when James stopped by to visit.  We had a great time talking and reminiscing about our various adventures. 

Jordon's Basketball and colorful Leaves

 

We left early for Jordon's basketball game at the YMCA so we could pickup more Epsom salt to soak my toe.  This picture is just before the start of the forth quarter when the coach was assigning who they were to guard.

Jordon is taking the ball up the court after a play.  I could see a big improvement over last year.  He kept track of the player he was guarding and was after the ball whenever a shot was missed.

This ended up being a jump ball after Jordon went after a shot the other team missed.

He had a big rooting section today, two great grandmas, Vera and Anita, grandma Natalie, Josh, Debbie, Jacob and uncle Gabe.

After a stop at Arby's and Harbor Freight we went home via the Pleasant Hill road.  There was a rainbow here but it did not show in the picture. 

With all the trees turning color it was a nice trip home.  Not far up the road we were back in rain again.

More Halloween

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Josie wasn't feeling good yesterday so they did their Trick or Treating tonight.  Josie picked out a bag of candy for Hattie.  Hattie spotted the Pumpkin and wouldn't look at anything else.  Our candy worked out perfect, there were two left so Vera and I got them.