New Settings

 

I made a change to the drone's settings last night, I took it out of the Beginner mode and that gave it a higher Return to Home altitude setting.  In the Beginner mode it returns to home at 66 feet which is not high enough to clear the trees around here.  In the Camera mode that I am using now it returns to home at 165 feet which is clear of the trees.  This picture of my shop and motor home was taken from about 200 feet I believe.  I am really happy with the new settings but boy was it cold out there.  I landed well before the battery was used up and went in the house to warm up.

A Beautiful Day

 

We made a run to the post office this morning to pick up the yarn Vera had ordered.  It is really pretty and she is making a scarf with it.  We cruised around town for a few minutes and ended up at Lions Pride Park.  Lots of fishermen out today, Vera counted fourteen cars on the other side.  I got out to take the picture and could hear them talking and laughing, they were having a great time.

It was so nice that I charged up the batteries for my helicopter and drone.  I flew the helicopter first and it was a little too windy for it.  I ended up getting blown into the wall by the door of the shop.  It didn't get hurt so I made one more short flight with a freshly charged battery to check it out.  When the drone was charged I took it out and got this picture of the new house across the road.

Then I turned towards the East and got this picture of the area Weyerhaeuser had logged this summer.  We could hear them but didn't know what they were doing.  It looks like they cleared right up to the property lines of the places on Si Town road.  I changed the setting of the drone tonight so it doesn't start in the beginner mode so I will be able to go higher next time and get a better picture. 

Trip to Roy

 
We were up fairly early this morning and headed up to the Mount Rainier Radio Control Society field for their meeting.  Today they were passing out gate keys to 2025 paid up members.  On the way up we saw 28 degrees on the outside thermometer of the car and a lot of frost.  The shady areas by the trees still have some frost on the other side of the field.

After I got my key and new name tag I wandered around looking at some of the planes.  This B-26 Marauder was for sale but would take a lot of work to get up to my standards.

Vera took a couple of pictures of me from the car.  I am right below the A in radio.

I didn't know she had taken pictures of me when I took this one of her.  It got warm enough that she had to open the door at times.  It was a beautiful day with only a slight breeze.

This is during the meeting, cousin Karl is running it as he was reelected at the last meeting.  Vera counted about 36 people at the meeting which lasted over an hour because they had lots of business to take care of.

On the way home we stopped at the Grand Mound Dairy Queen for Blizzards and chicken strips.  That made it so we got to watch the whole freight train go by in Chehalis.  We made it home almost exactly a 4 so that made it an 8 hour day.  I am kind of surprised I got this done tonight.  It has been a quiet week around here.  James brought me pellets yesterday so I am set for the cold spell they are predicting.

Motor Home roof, Barry's drone

 1-6-2025

I went out to start the van last week and the battery was dead from it not being used regularly.  Some of the electronics stay on even when the key is turned off.  I had a Battery Tender that I used on the Smart Car so I added the wiring today so I could start using it again on the van.

I was going to sell this Corsair since I had two but after looking at it I decided to keep it and carry it in the van.  It took a little rearranging but I got it in the van without taking it apart which is a big job.

1-9-2025

I had cleaned the motor home roof so I got the Holy Stone drone out this morning to take some pictures of it.

Tuesday morning Vera got the scaffolding out so I could work on the motor home roof.  She had it half way out before I got my shoes on so I could help.  I cleaned the right side of the motor home roof.  I also cleaned off the roof of the container which meant I had to clean the trailer since most of the debris ended up on it.  Wednesday I did the left side of the motor home roof and we put the scaffolding away.

I also flew over to check on the progress of the new house.  As quick as it is going up I wonder if it is a prefab home.

I had a dental cleaning and X-rays this afternoon.  We left early so I could stop at T-Mobile with a question.  We had time to kill after that so we did some shopping at the Longview Safeway.  I also texted Barry to see if he had flown his drone yet.  My cleaning went great, the dentist checked my teeth afterwards and said everything looks good.

Barry got his drone going this afternoon and sent me this picture he took.

Christmas Lights

 

James came up today and helped me take down the last of the Christmas lights.

Boy does the garland hold a lot of rain water, my gloves were soaked when I got it wound up.

I got a call from Barry asking about why he wasn't getting any video from his drone.  I didn't have a clue but got mine out to see what it did.  Of course the batteries hadn't been charged the last time I used it so I had to charge them.  After charging I discovered it worked best if things were turned on in sequence starting with the drone.  After taking off the first thing I did was take a picture of myself. 

I had left it in the Beginner mode so it would only let me go up to 103 feet where I took this picture.

While I was looking around I notice what looks like a new house going in on the other side of the highway.  I called Barry back this evening and told him what I had done that seemed to work.

Optometry and the 49er

 I had an 8:10 Optometry appointment this morning.  The vision in my right eye had been getting more and more blurry the last few months.  It turned out to be what I thought, a coating had built up on the cataract lens.  I had the left lens cleaned a few years ago and it is still fine.  They do it with a laser and there is no pain.  I now have a referral to Ophthalmology for treatment.

After the appointment we made a stop at Home Depot for some new pressure washer nozzles.  Then we stopped at Safeway for gas as the car was telling us there was only 30 miles to empty.  We had enough points to get a dollar off per gallon.

We hadn't been to the 49er since they reopened after the fire we went there for breakfast.  It has about the same layout as before but some things are a lot newer.  I must have been tired from the work yesterday as I didn't do anything this afternoon except surf the web.

New Years Day

 Instead of flying on New Years Day this year I decided to turn off and take down the Christmas lights.  Vera and I talked about having something special today and Vera suggested the halibut we had gotten with a gift card from Mik, Michelle and James for the Pacific Northwest Best Fish in Ridgefield.

 Vera found a recipe for crispy breading and heated up the oil.  This is the second batch cooking.

This is the second batch after deep frying, it tasted great and there is no picture of the first batch as we had already eaten it.

When I came over to unplug the lights on the house I decided the deck was too slick to do it safely so I got the pressure washer out.  I got the first two decks done before taking a break for the halibut.

After eating and taking a short break I came out and finished the decks on the East side of the house.  Now it seems safe enough that I can take down the rest of the lights on the next nice day.