It's official.

I was waiting for the weather to improve so I could mow the flying flied this morning when I got a call from my older brother. He has a snow blower that he got from his oldest daughter and it doesn't run. I gave him some things to try and then figured I'd better go have a look. First up was to disconnect the ground wire to disable the switch. Now we got spark. Next I poured a bit of gas into the carb. and it started running but stopped. I looked at the float bowl and saw two things hanging down. One is a fuel sampler the other is a mixture screw that was turned all the way in shutting off the gas flow. It started running and I adjusted the mixture to where it sounded best. Now he needs to get a key so it will shut off without having to short the wire I unhooked.
Off to the flying field. When I got there all the fence sections, the transmitter impound thing and the two bench stands were in a pile off to the side. The mower was gone but the toilet was still there. Some surveyor stakes are in the runway so I figured the time has come to move on. I stopped and got a hair cut on the way home and planned on going to the little league park but it started raining. Maybe later.

Such a deal.

I started the day by calling Tower hobbies and got the credit card straightened out. Then off to the Sterling post office and found out that the Moosup post office don't know what is going on. The Moosup person wouldn't let me ship CD's as media saying only books could go. In Sterling they had no problem shipping CD's as media. Then at 0900 CA time I called the wi fi radio people and got permission to send the radio back for repairs. Then it was wait for the club member to bring the money for the plane and starter. I didn't know it but he had tried to call when I was talking to the radio people. After getting the money we went to Oneco to fly and on the way back stopped at the Sterling post office to mail the radio and some CD's I made for the PAMPA magazine Stunt News. The PO was closed until 1500 and it was 15 minutes early. I'll have to hit them early tomorrow as I have an eye appointment at the VA at 0900.
It's so humid the grass didn't dry up all day. It's getting kinda long too.

More stuff happens.

We just got off the phone with the credit card company. Someone has been charging stuff to our low limit card. The company declined all the charges and we went through the charges for the last month and cancelled that card. It is being investigated.
I bought an airplane at the local pawn shop today. I took the engine off and took the plane and starter to the field and sold it for a profit. I had to order new ball bearings so it will be a wash. I ordered on line at Tower and couldn't get the exact engine, a .46 FXi. I went back into the site later and tried a search from the O.S. page and the FXi showed up but with different bearing numbers. There is no explanation for the 'i' designation. I called Tower and questioned the operator about what I found and she agreed I had ordered the wrong parts. I had that order cancelled and ordered the right ones. I think that triggered the call from the credit card company.
I found a crack in the fuselage of the Padre and decided to retire the plane. After cutting the wing and stab. out there was nothing left of the fuselage. I had to get some K2r as the oil got under the covering and spread to the tip of the outboard wing. Now I got another wing to build a fuselage for. Maybe a new engine for it too.

Stuff happens.

I've been flying almost every day and yesterday I noticed a crack in the fuselage of the Padre. I have changed all the components at least once except the fuselage. I figured it to be bullet proof as it was laminated with 1/64" plywood on both sides. I almost went with it to the field but figured it may break and bust all the good parts. I removed the engine and cut the wing and stab. out plus removing all the hardware. I'm figuring on making another full fuselage plane with the left overs.
The wife lost confidence in the Pontiac and bought a new Hyundae today. I think it was a good move. Daughter and son in law assisted with the bargaining.
The replacement plane using the Vector wing is coming along. I got the wing installed and the turtle deck is drying.

The horror.

I went to the field to fly and mow when the dew dried up. The new bolt and tightening the others made a big difference in the mower start up. I finished about 1230 and headed for home. before I left Bolmets parking lot I saw tiny rain drops on the windshield. I took Maple st. and rte. 12. By the time I got to Wauregan I was in a down pour with the El Camino. I fumbled for the wiper switch that is behind the tach. someplace and finally found it. The wipers worked and kept working. I turned the headlights on while I was at it. They still need adjusting. I couldn't see any instrument lights and when I got home in the garage I tried again and they work. I'll have to wash the car now.

Moving along.

It took some doing but we got my article on a disc and mailed out. It's hard to say if anything can be taken from it yet.
I have the winter project framed up. I glued plywood pads to the shear webs in the wing for wing mounted landing gear. It seemed like the best way to do the installation.Lots of repairs to the wing after the crash. Very light wood was used to make the wing. I built a stab./ elev. and laminated the edges where the hinges go. I located the hinge pockets first and sanded a slot in both halves before gluing the pieces together.It worked out quite well. As close to centered hinges as I can get.
I put in a spare bolt in the clubs mower to hold the engine still. One bolt had fallen out and another was a bit loose. The engine made a banging noise when it started and shut down. While running it was quiet. Or as quiet as a mower gets.
The club may be loosing the field as Bolmet has bought the building Peerless windows was in and wants to make it 3 times bigger. Surveyors have been doing whatever it is they do between the runway and the ditch lately. Time will tell.

Off you go.

We got all the boxes packed and mailed out this morning. Clothes went parcel post all others first class/priority.
The rain almost stopped around noon so I packed up and went to Oneco. The new stab./elev. in the Padre worked well but the big Ringmaster still wouldn't settle down in level flight. When I got home I adjusted the flap push rod and the elevator push rod. No telling what that will do.
I cut the new fuselage sides to size and hogged out the wing opening. The wing fits right in and must be the Cardinal airfoil it's so close.