Saturday, November 30, 2019

November 29th

The annual on the plane runs out at the end of the month, so I wanted to fly.  We met Chris at Auburn for breakfast, and he was doing pattern work at Lincoln (in his RV-6A) when we got there, so being a little late wasn't an issue.  It was pretty damned cold, but we survived.

After breakfast, Chris headed home to Cameron Park, and we went back to Lincoln, where I flew one of my hangar mates' (David) brother Jeff, who's in town for Thanksgiving.  He was really enthusiastic about the whole thing, as he's used to David's RV-9A, which is like 150mph at 7,500', so it was nice to be doing 60mph at 800'.

In the evening we nipped over to Costco to get Vic a new tablet in the Black Friday sale - her old tablet is starting to glitch.

November 28th

Today was Thanksgiving, so we had spaghetti, obviously.

We also watched "Spider-Man: Far from Home", "The Kitchen" and "Daughter of the Wolf" (which was terrible).

Monday, November 25, 2019

November 24th

We did some work in the garden, then I went to the airport and changed one of the fuel pumps on the plane.  It was a lot more of a struggle than I'd hoped, but I finished up with enough time to do a few circuits, then head out for a quick local flight when the pattern got busy (and Randy took off).  We landed just before it got back, then I headed home.

I've managed to hurt my back, probably with the contortions I needed to get the pump replaced, so I think I'm going to be taking things a little easy for a while.

November 23rd

I got up and took Tillamook for her annual inspection, the we went to the airport, then flew to Auburn to meet Chris and Randy for lunch.


We came back via the canyon, then packed everything up and went home.

Monday, November 18, 2019

November 17th

We got up and went to the airport.  The agreement was that we were going to meet at Auburn for brunch, but we were a little early.  Still, Randy wasn't at the airport when we left.  Vic and I started out towards Folsom Lake, but it was a little misty, so we couldn't actually see it.  When I heard Chris approaching Auburn, we turned and headed that way, following the train track where a really, really long train was just starting up the hill.  Eventually we turned straight towards Auburn and landed about 10 minutes after Chris.

Randy showed up pretty late, and shortly after that, Paul showed up in his American Ranger - it's the first time I've seen it, as he only got it this summer.



After brunch, we all stood around chatting and answering questions from people who'd come over to see what we were doing, then headed out.  Chris went back to Cameron Park, the rest of us went to Lincoln, where I put ours away while Randy and Paul headed out - Randy was going to fly part way to Byron with Paul.


We headed home and did some more work in the garden, then in the evening, the three of us (Tilly included) watched "A Dog's Journey".

November 16th

I was on call, and it seemed like a bit of a busy day, so I ended up staying home to deal with that.  I did get out and help clear out the leaves in the garden though, so that was something.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

November 10th

I got to the airport early and pre-flighted, then replaced the vacuum hose for the manifold pressure sensor.  Mark showed up while I was in the middle of this, and got to hold zip ties and tools.  Randy and his daughter arrived, as did Jamie and Nancy, and we all flew to Auburn, where we met Chris.  We parked the 4 gyros together (in one plane space) and headed over for breakfast.


After breakfast, Chris and I ran down the canyon before heading home.  Interestingly we were low enough that we didn't show up on the flight tracking facilities :o)

After getting back to Lincoln, we got everything packed up, and headed home.  On the way, I stopped at Lowe's and got a couple of pressure treated 2x4s.  At home, I took the bottom step of the steps for the hot tub apart and replaced the rotting wooden braces.  I got to use my jigsaw for the first time :o)

In the evening, we watched "Avengers: Endgame" (again).

November 9th

I got up and went to the airport to cook lunch for the EAA presentation - it was crazy busy, and I must have done something like 40 hamburgers.

After the presentation, I showed Chris' friend Rob the space at the back of our hangar - he's looking for space to do the final build and test flying of his RV-14, and would be looking for space at the end of the year for about four months.  I've forwarded his details to Todd, who runs our hangar.  There was a guy, Mark, hanging around to talk to me, and he came and looked at the gyroplane.  I was too tired to do anything (I didn't sleep well), so we agreed to meet up in the morning, and he could join us for the breakfast flight up to Auburn.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

November 5th

We used the hot tub for the first time this autumn :o)

Monday, November 4, 2019

November 4th

It's been unseasonably warm, so I went out and got the hot tub filled, all chemically treated and started heating - it'll probably be ready to use tonight, but I'm sure we'll be in bed by then.

November 3rd

I'd agreed to meet Chris for breakfast, and I'd agreed to fly Scott up with us, so I was doing to the pre-flight when he arrived.  We had an uneventful flight up, it was warmer than I'd expected because of course it was an hour later than I'd been thinking, and Vic drove up and met us for breakfast.  On the way back to Lincoln, Scott and I flew over by his daughter's soccer game so he could take a picture from ~2000' above them, then we flew back to Lincoln.  After putting everything away, I went home and cleaned out the hot tub with a view to getting that started up before it gets too cold to stand around outside throwing cold water about.

November 2nd

I went out to the airport and cooked what seemed like an inordinate number of breakfasts for a cold November morning.  When that was all said and done, I sat in on the EAA board meeting, then went and looked at the plane.  It had been running rough the last time I flew, and I'd decided it was a vacuum leak - sure enough, we'd dislodged a hose while balancing the carbs the previous weekend, so it had worked its way loose on the flight to Auburn.  That was quickly fixed, and a short flight proved that had fixed the problem.  I met Chris for lunch (as I hadn't got to eat breakfast, just cook it), then headed home to update all the clocks.

Friday, November 1, 2019

November 1st

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

Power generated









I went out and tinkered with the AC condenser, and got that working.  The fan blades seem a little out of balance, but I've got months to get around to fixing that :o)

October 30th

The relay I'd ordered for the AC fan came in, so I went and installed that.  While it's triggered manually, the fan runs, but it doesn't run otherwise, suggesting the problem is with the fan getting told to run.  Progress, methinks.