On it's Wheels!

There was a beautiful sunrise this morning, I grabbed the camera and went right out to take a bunch of pictures.  I sanded the Dirty Birdy, added some more filler and sanded some more.  It is now ready for the last coat of primer and then I will have to decide what color to paint it.

I made a trip over to see the twins, right away, they wanted to put on a show for me.  Harper danced first, I took a few pictures and videoed part of it.  That was the first time I have videoed anything with the new phone and it takes great video.

Ava was next, I videoed it also, Ava is giving Papa the look for something he did.

The Corsair sat on it's wheels for the first time today!  I spent quite a while balancing that 3 bladed prop after cutting it down to 14 inches.  Then I hooked everything up, programmed the radio and tested it.  The motor draws a little too much current with the 14 inch prop, so I cut it down to 13.5 and re-balanced it.  I will check the current again tomorrow.  I finally got the anti virus installed on this computer, I had to uninstall Microsoft Office to do it, so I will have another thing to do tomorrow installing it.  While Office was downloading, Vera reminded me I had Thursday Night Football to watch, so I made up a dish of apple pie and Cool Whip and settled in to watch the game.  San Diego beat Denver, so my day ended on a good note.

More Christmas Lights

Vera had bible study today, so I started putting up some more Christmas lights.  I had another set like the ones I put around the french doors, so I put them along the deck rail.

I had several sets of LED icicle lights that I wanted to put up on the shop.  This was the first time I had used them and they were really a pain to get untangled.  Then as I was putting them up they would get tangled again, I finally got them up and added a set of lights around the door.  I also got the oil coolers installed on the Corsair and sanded down the first coat of primer on the Dirty Birdy.  After I filled a few spots and sanded them out, I sprayed on a second coat of primer.  I also gave the new recliner a good test this evening with a nice nap.

Christmas Lights and Birthday Presents!

It was really slick out this morning, we were glad when Pastor Pam called and said she could not walk today.  I puttered around on the computer until it warmed up a little, then I made a run to town for some primer for the Dirty Birdy, the mail and bananas.  While I was in Bredfield's, I spotted some solar Christmas lights.  How they could work in the Northwest is a mystery to me and the clerk, but I came home with a set to see if I could convert them to battery power.

After a little checking, I decided that all the lights needed was 3 volts.  Michelle had given Vera this wreath years ago, it had battery operated lights on it, but only half of them work now.  I took it to the shop and took all the old lights off and saved the battery box and switch.  I hooked the LED string to the battery box and tested it, it worked great!  I took all the ornaments off the wreath and weaved the LED string in, then put the ornaments back on.  You can compare this picture with the one yesterday of Vera's picture.  I got the Christmas lights out and after checking them out, I started putting some up.

Not long after Vera took this picture, I was checking recliner prices at Costco because we saw a leather one at Costco yesterday for $399.95.  I looked online and all the leather ones Costco listed were $799!  We talked about it for a few minutes because my recliner is getting kind of broken down and Vera had said it would be a good birthday present next year.  I hooked up the trailer and we headed for Vancouver to get one, it was not an enjoyable trip down, dark, lots of spray and traffic.  It is a good thing we went, there were only two left when we got there!

This is about 10 PM after we got the old one moved out and set up the new one.  I also have the new phone on my lap.

Busy Day!

 I got an email from Costco that Vera's Christmas present was ready to be picked up, so we headed down this morning to get it.  After we picked it up, there was no way I was going to pack it around the store, so I put it in the Blazer and we shopped for awhile.  From there, we went to the Verizon store, my phone's space bar has been acting up for several months.  I ended up with a new Samsung Galaxy S4, boy is it a lot faster!  By the time we got home and I got the picture hung, I was totally beat, so I did not go to the club meeting in Centralia, I napped in my recliner instead.

Cold!

10 degrees this morning, neither of us wanted to go outside.  I finally made it out to the shop about 11, I checked the water out there to make sure it was not froze up and then worked on the Corsair some more.  I got the canopy installed today, the only thing left is putting the oil cooler inlets on the wings and it will be ready for the markings.  I was also watching football most of the day, the Seahawks came close, but lost.  The Lions/Eagles game was great fun to watch, before the game was over they had 8 inches of snow on the field.

I did some sanding on the Dirty Birdy, then I opened up the paint booth and gave it a coat of primer before calling it a night.  I went in and had a piece of the delicious apple pie Vera made a couple of days ago and settled in to watch Sunday Night Football.  I lost interest in the game about half way through when it started looking like a blowout, so Vera and I watched tractor pulling for the rest of the evening.

A Quick Trip to Town!

The driveway still had quite a bit of snow and ice on it this morning.  Just before noon today, we decided to make a quick run to Safeway in Kelso for a few things.  By the time we left, the list had grown a little!  Our first stop was Fred Meyer for my cereal and some yogurt raisins.  I wanted to check out their Christmas lights to see if I could find some icicle lights that twinkle, but no luck there.  We gave Lowe's a try next, no luck there also, but I did get some florescent bulbs for the shop.  Next, we hit Micheal's and ended up with some Christmas decorations.  From there we went to Harbor Freight for a couple of coupon items.  The next thing on the list was Papa Murphy's for a couple of pizzas that were on special.  I was getting pretty hungry by now since we had not had lunch yet, so we went across the street to KFC for an early dinner.  We finally made it to Safeway after that and we got most of the items on our list.  We had a reward for gas there, so I filled up before we headed home.  Our quick trip turned into 5 hours, but it was a beautiful sunny day and I never felt chilly until just before we headed home when the sun was starting to set.

The Madrigal Dinner

A big surprise, this is what I saw when I opened the blinds in the kitchen this morning!  I grabbed a ruler and measured a little over an inch of snow.

The first thing I did today was fiberglass the Dirty Birdy fuselage.  I made up a mount for it that screwed to the wing hold down blocks so I could clamp it in the vice to cure.

I mounted the fairing to the wing today, I did a lot of measuring to try and get those screws even.

We went to the Madrigal Dinner this evening put on by the Mark Morris and R A Long choirs.  This is the court Jester who greeted us and entertained all evening.

Inside the Great Hall (the RAL Cafeteria) you can see the King and his court at the head tables.

The choirs sang and served the food, I believe they are serving the soup in this picture.

Mik and Michelle, when it was time to eat, the Jester announced "Bib Up".  Since it was supposed to be medieval times there was no silverware and you ate with your hands.  The Jester did invent forks and ran around giving them to anyone who wanted one.  Enough people did, that he ran out before the night was over.  I enjoyed the Cornish Game hen and the pumpkin cheese cake was excellent!  James made a special effort to make sure I got my cake early!

The group James is a member of is singing some Christmas songs, they sounded very nice!  I videoed one song earlier, but I wish I had recorded these also.  I will add a link to the earlier video when I get it uploaded.

After everything was over, James and Savannah came over to see us.  We had a great time, lots of good  food, songs and laughter.