Rain

Boy did it rain Thursday!  There was a heavy downpour and I took a couple of pictures.  A little later it really came down and I got the camera out again for this picture.

It was coming down so hard the gutters couldn't handle it, I am sure glad I didn't have to go out in it.

I worked on the P-39 Thursday and today, I have the left elevator hinged and ready to cover the top.  The right elevator is sanded and ready for the bottom covering.  I got the last hinge installed for the rudder today so now I can start covering the vertical fin and fuselage.  I had some visitors today, Ava and Harper came by and played with the magnets.  Right after they left our friend Dennis came by to see what I was building.  By the time he left, I think he may be looking for a V-Hawk and a couple of other things I showed him.

Busy

I kind of took a break from posting while trying to finish the P-39.  After two ten hour days working on it I decided there was just too much that still needed to be finished before the Balsa Challenge Event, so Friday evening I stopped.  Now I am just working on it when I feel like it and it is a lot more fun.  I rested up over the weekend and then Tuesday we took the Mitsubishi to Olympia for service.  We had gotten a letter from Marie needing supplies so we had them loaded in the trunk.  As we went by Mellen Street where we would normally turn off to see Marie, she called to tell us she only had one of an item left.  We told her we would be back that way after lunch and she was happy.  The service took five hours, so we had the shuttle driver take us to the Capital Mall.  It is huge, after a couple of hours there I was tired of walking so we went to Panera Bread for lunch.  Then we had the shuttle driver take us back to the service center.  Vera found me a Warbirds International magazine to read and I found a really interesting article about a stunt pilot.  On the way to Marie's we stopped at Costco for a few things and to fill up.  This is the first tank we have checked and we got twenty seven miles to the gallon which I am happy with as most of it was short trips to town.  We delivered Marie's supplies and headed home so I could get ready for flying the next day.  I wanted to spray the flying field so I mounted the sprayer on the tractor and sprayed our place.  When I finished I didn't feel like loading it onto the trailer so I planned on just flying Wednesday.

It was cool and cloudy this morning so I did some work on the P-39 until Vera got home from bible study.  All during the snow this winter I felt uneasy on my shop steps when they were icy so today Vera suggested we build railings.  With her help, the job went great!

James Flying

Today, James came up and flew with us after his morning class.

I asked him what plane he wanted to fly and he picked out his Yak 55P, it is in the picture above.  He has been flying it for many years and I always carry it in the motor home.  It turned out I had not programmed it into the transmitter yet so he flew my Sbach 342 while I did that.

James hadn't flown for a year but he was shooting touch and goes just like he used to.  When you learn at three years old it must be like riding a bike, you never forget.  We had a good turn out today, nine flyers were there to enjoy the warm weather.

Flowers, Butterfly and Cora

Vera took this picture of the biggest clematis bloom we have ever had, all the flowers seem a little bigger this year, it is probably from all the rain we got.

I was wandering around the yard with the camera looking for a bunny I had seen when this monarch butterfly landed on the red rhododendron.  It stayed on this bloom for  several minutes so I got plenty of pictures.  I never did see the bunny again.

 Jackie texted me this picture of Cora playing with the Baby onboard sign in their car.  It looks like she is quite the busy little bee.  I got lots of sanding done on the P-39 Airacobra, it is getting close to ready for covering.

Marie's Birthday

Veda made arrangements for a dinner to celebrate Marie's ninetieth birthday.  We met at the Panda Inn in Centralia.

It was great getting to see everyone, it had been a while since the last get together.  Left to right, Gus, Dean, Kelly, Marie, Veda, Loren and I.

Here is a little better angle of Gus and Dean, Vera's nephews.

This is Vera and Kelly as we were ordering, Kelly is Gus's wife.  The food was great and lots of it, I have enough left over for lunch or dinner tomorrow.

We came up on Jackson Hwy. and we went back the same way with a stop at the field to see what was going on.  There were still four club members there so we visited for a few minutes until we got cold.  It was a nice relaxing drive home.

Michelle's Birthday Party

Friday was Michelle's fiftieth birthday, Mik arranged a party for family and friends at the Backstage Cafe on Saturday evening.  I didn't hear any comments about turning fifty, just the black lettering on the cake, so she got off pretty easy.  I didn't count the people, but there was a good turnout and we had a great time.

Mik, James, Henry, Jim, Kyle and Kim were having a good time before everyone sat down to eat, lots of laughter over there.

Michelle commented that there were three generations wearing red, quite a coincidence as no planning went into it.  I had fettuccine Alfredo which was delicious!

Thursday

First thing this morning we headed to Kelso for a few things at Safeway.  On the way we stopped by our friend Steve's house to look at an airplane he bought at a swap meet last Saturday.  He gave Vera a tour of his model car collection and his airplane storage room.  I had seen them before but it was interesting seeing them again.  A few things turned into an almost full cart before we got out of Safeway.

Some Safeway bonuses turned into a dollar off per gallon of gas.  

Not long after we got home, Harper came over and showed off her cast.  She broke a bone in her foot and will be wearing it for six weeks.  She can cover ground pretty fast hopping.  I did some work on the P-39 this afternoon, I got the top of the wing coated with the second coat of epoxy and I got the canopy fitted to the hatch.