Mowing and flowers

I decided to mow today but first I wanted to clean up a big branch that had fallen on the path North of the house.  Since I had the chain saw out I cut up a tree top that had fallen on one of our trails while we were in Arizona.

Mowing is a lot easier since I put the ball bearings in the steering wheel gearbox.

After taking my picture Vera went around taking pictures of some of our flowers.  This rhododendron is on the West side of our back yard.

The Prairie Fire Crab apple tree's branches hanging in front of the Port Orford cedar sure make a pretty picture.

We have two of this color azalea that we can see from our bedroom window.

These artificial birds and the pond are also visible from the window.

I have a solar powered light that shines on these rhododendrons at night.

It was a pretty warm day so I watered the new nasturtium bed again after I finished mowing.

Parker started burning the bush pile from his clearing this afternoon.  We lost four roses and our wisteria bush when he did the clearing.

We have two thistle feeders up but the gold finches seem to like the black sunflower seeds just as well.

Friday's Flying

The Cub takes a while to put together so I got in a flight with the Skylane while Dan was working.  The Cub would be hard to tell from a real one with a little more detail.

I have been wanting to try out the new Mini Convergence but it has been too windy at home.  This morning was dead calm so I got it out.  For some reason it hovers tail low, it also would not go into forward flight so I have something programmed wrong.  I put it away to check at home and flew other planes.

Gene, Leonard, Jim and I all had Vortexes out there today.  We sent a copy of this picture to the plane's designer.

This picture turned out just like I wanted, Jim's Vortex coming in to land with the mountain in the background.

Debbie, Josh, Jordon and Jacob showed up at the field with a Mother's Day basket for Vera.  I got to fly the Vortex for them.

When we got home Colleen and Boris had delivered a basket from 4 Corners that Mik, Michelle and James ordered for Vera's Mother's Day present.  The house is looking a lot nicer now.

When we got home Vera was excited to see her purple Iris in bloom.  Of course we checked the nasturtiums and found a lot more had came up.

An overnight flying session

5-6-2020

I spent most of Wednesday getting the motor home loaded so we could spend Thursday night at the Toledo flying field.

5-7-2020

We got on the road fairly early this morning.  Dan and Vicky were already there when we arrived.  Dan and I were both unloading and getting planes ready to fly so Vicky got to put in the first flight of the day.

This is Dan and Vicky with their motor home, they are spending the night also.

A few other flyers showed up today, Ken is getting his Ugly Stick ready and Gene has just finished a flight with his Vortex.

I put this picture on Facebook and one of my friends said the planes were too close together for social distancing so I flew the one in the middle.

We had a nice view of Mt Rainier out the windshield during our stay.

This picture was  taken at 8:40 PM as it was getting dark.  I wanted to put in a flight to see how well the lights showed up.

I went out again at 9:20 to make a flight in the dark.

Just after I plugged in the battery on the Night Walrus Dan mentioned the moon was coming up near Mt St Helens.  I got Vera's camera out of the motor home and took this picture before it got clear up.

Once it was clear of the hills I took this one, the camera does a good job of taking low light pictures.

My flight went great, I was able to fly way out and still see the plane fine.  After I had put it away I took a couple more moon pictures before heading in for the night.

Flying and the Moon

5-5-2020

We went flying at Toledo today.  It turned out to be a very nice day.  I got us all set up so we had Dish and used it to listen to Sirius Radio all day.  I didn't fly as much as normal but I still had a great time.  It was 72 degrees this afternoon.

There were a total of twelve club members out today.  It was no problem keeping the six foot social distancing with everyone spread out over a couple of hundred feet of runway.

5-6-2020

As I was coming in from the shop I noticed the Super Moon so I hurried in and got Vera's camera.  Being newer it takes a little sharper picture than mine.  I was curious if the camera would focus on the moon with the fir branches showing in the picture but it worked fine.

I moved out onto the driveway to get a clear shot and this is the one I liked best.

Rhubarb Crisp and Costco

5-3-2020

I got both of the Kitfox's wings fiberglassed today.  Vera made a rhubarb crisp this afternoon that turned out great.  We checked several times but there were no nasturtiums up yet.

5-4-2020

We were up early to make a run to Costco for the senior hours.  Vera looked at my printout and discovered we could have slept another hour, they opened at nine instead of eight like I thought.  The drive down was easy as the I5 traffic was pretty light we turned off at the Ridgefield exit and took 72nd down to Costco.  We were in and out of Costco in one hour as there were not many people in the warehouse.  There was no line at the checkout, we just walked up and started unloading the cart.  We took 72nd again on the way home, it is a lot more scenic than I5.  The traffic on I5 was a little heavier heading home but we never saw any crazy drivers so it was a relaxing drive.  We did the unloading and put stuff away then I fixed myself rhubarb crisp and a brownie for lunch.  Barry had called while we were in Costco since I had a mask on and was pushing the cart I just let it ring.  I gave him a call while eating lunch during the call I mentioned what I was having and by the time we hung up he was planning on making a batch of brownies.

I asked him if he had ever tried the mix that Costco sells, he didn't know they had one so I sent him this picture and he is going to look for it the next time he goes.

The Kitfox and a new Convergence

I got the top of the Kitfox's right wing fiberglassed today and it turned out much better than the bottom.  On the bottom I spread full strength epoxy on with an old credit card.  Today I thinned the epoxy about fifty percent with alcohol and brushed it on with a small brush.  It went on easier and smoothed out much better.  It will only need a light sanding while the bottom will need quite a bit.

I got out my new Mini Convergence today and started decorating  it.  I have wanted one ever since they came out but I felt the price was too high.  They went on a close out sale for $99 instead of $229 so I got one.  Vera made brownies in her silicone cupcake liners today and I am having a hard time resisting them.  She also made the leftovers again in the silicone liners and they were great this time also.

Game Camera and Waxing

4-30-2020

I mowed the lawn today it was getting pretty tall and going to seed in some places.

 I got the bottom of the Kitfox's right wing fiberglassed this evening.

I remembered the solar lights we had gotten to put on the trellis Mik and Michelle gave us and put them on.  After sitting in the window for a couple of days charging they looked great tonight.

5-1-2020

I had thought about going flying today but the forecast showed it getting pretty windy so I stayed home and started waxing on the motor home nose cap.  Barry had told me about Maguiar's three step fiberglass restoration kit.  I got one and got two steps done today.  I am really happy with the results and will have to get a picture the next time it is nice.

I brought the game camera in today and downloaded the pictures.  It had been out for a month and there were 411 pictures on it.  There were lots of deer pictures both Vera and I like this one.  There was even the one above of me mowing.

After I took the game camera back out in the woods and was heading back to the house Vera pointed out how nice our crab apple tree looked so I took this picture.