Sunday, November 30, 2014

November 29th

I spent the day installing, updating, transferring and installing my new PC.  It's surprising how fast the thing boots :o)

After dinner, I moved my old desktop into Vic's office, and deleted a bunch of the junk on it.  I hadn't really thought about it not having speakers or a microphone, so maybe I'll have to go and get those for it.  Oh well...

November 28th

Today was Black Friday, when Americans remember how thankful they were yesterday by punching each other to save a few dollars off some plastic geegaw that they don't need.

We pottered around, getting stuff done, then took Tilly to the vet for her annual inspection.  She got a bunch of shots, and elected to get a baseline blood test done, as she's now entering what the vet calls "senior dog" status.  When we got home, she was feeling a little sorry for herself, and was a little bit swollen at one of her injection sites, so we let her cuddle up on the sofa and sleep that off.

I took a few hours to build (and rebuild, and rebuild) my new PC, and everything worked OK when I turned it on, other than one fan squeaking.  I've ended up taking that fan out, as it's not really that necessary, and I wanted to press ahead and get the thing working.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

November 27th

Today's Thanksgiving, where Americans remember decimating the indigenous population by eating turkeys.  Hmmm...

We started the day by watching "Planes: Fire and Rescue".  I got some work done, and swapped out a broken LED running light on the DRZ with a new one before we took the Mook and went over to Gwen's for dinner.  A fun time was had by all, but after Tilly fell asleep on the kitchen floor, we figured we should probably head home :o)

November 26th

We watched "The Expendables 3".  It wasn't as good as #2, but it was still entertaining.

November 25th

We went out to dinner with Fred and Marsha, so we could catch up with their cross country trip several weeks ago (they got back when I was in the UK, but Fred's been sick).

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

November 23rd

We spent the morning clearing leaves in the garden.  The back is all done, but there's a pile of leaves in the front garden, as we ran out of space to put them.  Luckily the green waste is this week, so we'll have an empty green bin again on Wednesday.

In the afternoon, I spent a little time figuring out what parts I need to order in for the time lapse controller I haven't been working on.  Those should be here by Xmas, as everything seems to ship from China these days.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

November 22nd

It was a miserable day, what with the rain and the wind.  Oh, the anemometer's stopped working (again) as it's got water inside it.

Vic has a tree in a pot by the front door, and that managed to fall over, so we pulled it upright and repacked it.

We wasted the day playing Warcraft and watching "Edge of Tomorrow".

Thursday, November 20, 2014

November 19th

It was the EAA membership meeting.  There were only about 25 people there, and I briefly showed the web site in an attempt to get people to use it more :o)

Monday, November 17, 2014

November 16th

I got up on the roof and cleared the tumble drier vent, and the gutters, then spent a while raking leaves - this is going to be a regular thing for the next few months, I reckon.

When all that was done, I went over to the airfield and spoke to Jack - he thought he had a spare EGT probe, but it's a different fitting to the ones I have, so eh.  Danny pulled is Quicksilver out, and the battery was dead, so we jump started it.  It wasn't running very well, and it looked like it wasn't getting gas to the rear cylinder as the fuel hose was full of air.  We re-jump started it, and he ran it at full throttle with Jack and me holding it back until that cleared, then he went out for a low hop.  I pulled the Flightstar out and managed a couple of circuits before it was starting to get dark.  And cold, it was cooling down quickly too.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

November 15th

After playing Warcraft for a while in the morning, we pottered around for a bit, then I went to the airfield.  All the EGT wires look to be plugged in OK, and when I took the plane out, one still wasn't working, so Houston, we have a problem.  I spent the flight just doing circuits, and everything was a little busy, so I was doing full stops rather than touch and goes.  I was just taxying over to park up, when Jack and Danny came over - Danny wanted to go for a flight :o)  We got him strapped in while Jack grabbed the passenger headset, then we went for a quick circuit (visibility was starting to suck, and poor Danny was just in a T-shirt, so getting cold).  He had a great time, it would seem :o)

Friday, November 14, 2014

November 12th

Gwen came over after work, and was playing with the guinea pigs when Tilly and I got in from our walk.  Tilly went ballistic :o)

November 11th

Today was Veteran's Day, when Americans celebrate their veterans by working.  Government workers are free to go shopping though, which confuses me every time I wonder why there's been no post delivered.

Monday, November 10, 2014

November 9th

We watched the excellent MotoGP finale from Valencia.  It was interesting to watch people's reaction to the spits of rain, and I thought Lorenzo's gamble on swapping to rain tyres was a good decision, bearing in mind his terrible position at the time.  It didn't cost him anything, even thought he didn't finish the race, but it could have meant he won if the rain started the fall properly.

I took the front fairing of the DRZ apart, as one of the little LED lights I've put on has stopped working.  Seems like the problem is the LED, rather than my wiring, so I'll have to look for a new LED :o(

November 8th

Oh, the days, they grow short.

After playing Warcraft for a little while (I'm just doing a couple of profession things most days, as I've run out of meaningful stuff to do for the moment), I cut the grass, then went to the airfield.  I discovered (again) that one of the exhaust gas temperature probes isn't reading properly, so I need to look into that - I had thought that the probe wasn't reading, but I'm now wondering if it might just be unplugged in the wing root.  Anyway, I went and flew about for a while, and saw turkey vultures just hanging out at around 800', and a couple of ultralight type aircraft over by Freedom Field - a Hurricane looking thing and a Kitten looking thing.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

November 5th

I rode over to Lincoln for the EAA board meeting.  Much was discussed, and things are afoot :o)

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

November 3rd

I got up stupidly early to go in to the office so I could give Dave some Cadbury's chocolate, say "so long" to Don, who's leaving, and let Dave play with my Dremel clone Black and Decker RTX.  He liked it so much he's ordered one.

November 2nd

Having been dug out of bed an hour early by Tillamook, I went around and updated all the clocks.  Hopefully she'll look at those come supper time.

I took Vic's laptop apart (with Vic's help, after we'd thrown some choice language at it).  The cooling fan shrieks, and I'm not expecting it to last much longer.  She's had it shut down once due to overheating, so I just wanted to see if there was anything obviously wrong.  Cleaning it has helped a little, but I've ordered a new fan (rather than a new laptop right now).

November 1st

A new month, so here are the solar stats...

Power billed

Power generated









Richard was having a barbecue at the airfield, so we went over for that.  Vic got to go for a ride in the RV-6A - I should have got the Flightstar out and offered rides, but I didn't realise that was a thing we were doing :o)

October 31st

It rained, and by rained, I mean threw it down.  Drought officially solved :o)

October 30th

I managed to get out on my mountain bike at lunchtime, and hit a dead tree branch hard enough to dislodge the magnet for the speedo.  I didn't notice until I was almost home, so there's a few miles I haven't got credit for - I'm lucky it didn't fall off :o)