June 28th

After dealing with Tilly throwing up a whole peach pip, I started the day playing Warcraft (hey, it's Saturday), then we watched the most excellent MotoGP race from Assen.  It wa good to see Rossi come from pretty much dead last, and the panics as it stopped raining :o)

I turned off the water to the house, and with Vic's help, pulled one of the supply fittings off my sink in the bathroom.  We then went out and bought supplies (supplies!), and some more fish for the indoor tanks.  When we got home, we installed the new fittings, to replace one that was leaking (so has been turned off for weeks), and got the new water circulation pump fitted.  It runs a bit longer than the old one, but it's a _lot_ quieter, and is much better made.  I've left a newspaper on the floor of the cabinet, so hopefully I'll be able to see any leaks easily, but so far (touch wood laminate) it's fine.

I had planned to fly in the evening, to test the work I've done on the plane recently, but I was just too tired - Tilly didn't sleep well last night, probably because she had a peach pip in her stomach.  I decided to throw some of the paint I've bought for the bedroom, just to see what it looks like.  It looks like it's going to need 2 coats, that's what it looks like.

June 27th

After work, we watched "9", a good, but odd, movie.

June 26th

The replacement cylinder head temperature probe came in, so we went to the airfield and worked on the plane - lengthening the wires that are there, and installing the new probes.  It took a bit longer than I'd hoped (I ended up talking to John for a while in the middle of everything), so I didn't get to start the plane and test it afterwards, but hey, it's done.

June 25th

I managed to crash my bicycle on my lunch time ride - there's a brick sticking out of the dirt on a corner, and it's always been there.  This time, somehow, I managed to clip it with my back wheel, and down I went.  Doh.

June 22nd

We started the day going to the airfield do I could fix the broken earth connection, even though I don't think it was affecting anything.  We did some shopping and got breakfast, then went home.

In the evening, we went to dinner with Gwen again, to find out that the Fresh Choice we usually go to has closed down.  Bah.

June 21st

We got up early and went to the airport for the EAA breakfast and flyin.  I went over and taxied the Flightstar over to the ramp with all the other planes, then spent time talking to oglers and Mike from the RC club - he gave us a talk on his 7' Phantom replica.

After I put the plane away, I went to replace the CHT probes, only to find that the wires on the new ones are too short.  I figured I could easily lengthen them (when I have wire, that is), but then one of the new probes is 12mm, rather than 14mm, so I couldn't get the spark plug through it.  Bob Sagget!  I also found a broken earth line, so I put the old probes on and we went home.

In the afternoon, we went to the Fieldhaven cat rescue fund raiser.  It wasn't as dull as the usual SPCA events.

June 20th

After work, we went to dinner with Gwen, due to a miscommunication between her and Vic :o)

June 19th

I did some more work on the RPi, and the time lapse software is now all working.  I just need to make it work with an LED transmitter for the Sony.  This might be a little tricky :o)

June 18th

I got Vic to help me with the soldering for the touchscreen controller on my new RPi, and now it all works with the testing.  On to better things, when I get some parts that I'm expecting :o)

June 16th

Vic and Christine got back from their camping trip in Tahoe, to the joy of Tillamook, who's been missing the van.

I did some tinkering with the plumbing in the bathroom, and tested a new hot water recycling pump.  It works, but I managed to leak some water, then leave the (dripping) hot connection off the top, forgetting that water can get from one side to the other when you turn the tap on.  So now I just need to replace the plumbing fittings from the wall, which means turning off the water to the house.

We also got to watch the most excellent MotoGP race from the weekend.  Yay.

June 15th

As usual, I started the day playing Warcraft, then I started playing with the Raspberry Pi and the TFT screen.  I got the screen working, but the touchscreen doesn't work, which makes me suspect that the soldering was less than perfect.  Bugger.

I did some painting in the bedroom - one wall is now purple.  I have a bunch still to do, but I'm going to get a different colour for that.

I went out and bought some supplies that I've been meaning to get for a while - 2 stroke oil (for the plane) and some puncture repair kits.

June 14th

I started the day off in Warcraft for a while, then started playing around with another Raspberry Pi I've bought to tinker with.  The first 8GB SD card I started playing with wouldn't show up in any computer I have, so I'm pretty sure that's dead.  The next one wouldn't accept the RPi image (of course, I didn't realise that it hadn't worked until I tried to boot from it).  Finally a 4Gb card I'd had in an old tablet worked, and everything seems great.  I went to start playing with a little TFT screen, but sadly it needs some soldering, so I put that aside.

I started throwing some paint in the bedroom - I started on the baseboards that I've already prepared.  I also started on the doors - it's amazing how many whites there are, so it looks like they'll need several coats.

Gwen arrived and did some tidying in the critter room, until I managed to convince her that I can run the tumble dryer by myself :o)

In the evening, I played with soldering the TFT panel for the RPi.  Jeez, that was fiddly.

June 13th

Vic and Christina headed out to Tahoe in the van.  Tilly was inconsolable, as she wanted to go camping with them :o)

June 11th

I've discovered a problem with the LED light bulbs - they don't charge my solar powered watch :o)  I found that the watch was dead, and I couldn't revive it by leaving it in the sun.  I emailed Citizen support, and they told me how to do a total reset (turn the selector to CHR, then pull out the bezel for ~30 seconds) and that brought it back, but I'm going to have to remember to leave it in the sun from time to time :o)

Christina's in town, as Vic and she are going on an adventure, so we had a barbecue in the evening.  Geri, Larry, Jamie and Gwen came over and entertained Tilly.

June 8th

Vic went out to run some errands, so I tidied up a little in the garage while looking for a battery tender lead, which I installed on her bike.

We then tried bending the bottom of the garage door straighter, and succeeded a little.

I went and dropped off the recycling, then went to the airfield to tinker - the airspeed indicator stopped working in the last flight, as the hose from the pitot tube cracked due to age.  I replaced that.  I also tinkered with the wiring, as I now think the problems I'm having with the EIS freaking out are the live, not the ground (as it doesn't affect anything else).  Some of the switches weren't working the way I expected, so I took them all out to find that it looks like there's been a problem with electrons doing whatever the hell they want, rather than what I've told them to.  I've taped all that up to trap them in.  Finally, one of the cylinder head temperature probes seems to read high, so I swapped them over.  If it continues to read high, I'll break down and just buy new ones.

June 7th

We puttered around the house, watching Game of Thrones, then went and did some shopping.  In the afternoon, we went over to the airfield and took the plane up for an hour - it was a beautiful night, as it wasn't bumpy at all.

June 4th

After work I went to the EAA board meeting in Lincoln.  I was pretty pissed off when I got there, as there's some work being done to put in a new bridge on Nelson Road, and for some reason they've started hosing the road down, meaning me and the DRZ were filthy by the time I got to the pizza place.  Aynway, the meeting went ahead fine - I took a few actions, and made a few points.  On the way home, I stopped at the Catlett Road radio control club, and spoke to Mike there about coming out to our next meeting and showing off his models.

June 1st

A new month, new solar statistics.

Power we've paid for

Power generated

I had to estimate the values, as the inverter was replaced part way through the month, but the TED5000 is usually within a few KWh.




In the afternoon we watched the epic MotoGP race from Mugello.

In the late afternoon, we went out to the airfield, but the wind was straight across the runway, so we ended up going for frozen yoghurt instead.

May 31st

I went to pick up my new glasses, and took the DRZ.  The new front sprocket seems to make a bigger difference than I'd thought, as it's calmed the bike down a lot.  I might go back to the 15 tooth at some point, just for the lulz.  I did find, however, a weird noise from the rear brake just before stopping, and I think the rear wheel isn't quite in alignment, so I took all that apart and did it with calipers to be sure :o)