December 27th

I dropped Vic at work in the morning, then picked her up at the end of her day so we could go straight to Chris' retirement party.  Lucky bugger.

December 26th

Another IFR day, so I started playing with the videos we've shot over the year over Camp Far West Lake reservoir.

December 25th

Another cold and foggy day, so I mostly just screwed around on the computer.  Jen dropped off some cookies, but couldn't stop as she was at lunch from work.  Tilly was quite upset at not getting snuggles.

December 24th

It was a cold and foggy morning and I was on call, so I mostly just worked.  In the early afternoon, I picked Shane up and we went to the airport so I could look at the wiring for the GPS in my panel, and we could look at Shane's wheels (he's had trouble turning right, but thinks that's from low tyre pressure on the left side.)

Randy was already there and went for a flight, and when he got back we shuffled the hangar around a bit so we can get Don's gyro in for a few weeks while we get the annual inspection done.

December 23rd

I keep meaning to throw together a video of Tilly getting excited about carrots, so I did.

In the evening we watched "Black Adam."

December 18th

I hummed and hawed and eventually drove to Cameron Park to help Chris with his fuel tanks.  PJ joined us for lunch, and supplied a 5 gallon can to finish draining the second tank.

Just as well I drove the fog over Folsom Lake was bad enough driving back.

December 17th

We flew up to Auburn to meet Chris and PJ for brunch, to be joined by Mary and a couple of her friends :o)

After we left, we went and did the last Camp Far West Lake flypast for the year.  Now I just need to work out what I'm going to do with all the footage.

December 14th

I went and met Chris at the airport to take the RV up for a try at getting some pictures of the Xmas lights.  Eh, it's too fast, and the lights mostly point down, so we'll probably do a "well, we tried" video at some point.

December 11th

It brightened up a little, but was still too windy to fly, and I still have a lingering head cold.  So I went and met Shane and Chris for lunch.

December 10th

It was a wet and windy day, and I'm still not feeling great, so I mostly stayed in. 

December 9th

I spoke to the vet about Tilly's blood work.  Her ALP levels are still increasing, suggesting Cushing's disease, but she's not showing the main symptom - drinking excessive amounts.  Basically I've decided we won't treat anything until it's a problem, as I don't want to subject her to anything while she's generally happy and comfortable.

December 8th

Tilly woke up feeling full of herself again, which was nice.  I'm still not 100%, so I stayed in and watched TV while surfing the interwebs.

December 7th

I'm feeling approaching normal, so I took Tilly to the vet for her annual inspection.  She seems OK, and they mentioned a heart murmur.  I figure it's not really something we'll worry about, along with not giving her medicine that can damage her kidneys to help more with her arthritis.  She didn't feel great after the injections, so I convinced her to take a nap until she felt better.

December 6th

I've started to feel a bit better, but I'm still occasionally feeling dizzy :o(

December 5th

I'm still feeling sick, but luckily I've taken the week off.  Just as well it was raining, so it's not like I've missed out on anything.

December 4th

Another rainy day, still not feeling well.

December 3rd

It was a rainy day, which was fine as I've still got a cold so didn't want to go out anyway.  I managed to get a bit of a nap in the afternoon, which helped.

December 1st

A new month, so here are the stats:

Power billed

Power generated

We jumped through the hoops to get another Black Friday purchase, a new phone for Vic, working.

November 30th

Just in case my miserable cold is the COVID, I took a test.  It's just a cold.  Yay.

November 29th

One of my Black Friday purchases was a Google TV dongle thingy to replace the Chromecast Ultra that seems to reboot at inopportune moments.  It took a lot of moving things around to get it installed as the bloody thing wants power, but not the same power as the Chromecast got, and the power from the TV is the wrong colour or whatever.  Anyways, it's all done now.

November 27th

I met Randy at the airport, and we ended up picking Judi up from Cameron Park on the way to Auburn to meet Marty, Shane and Liza for lunch.  Because Lincoln was busy and we got split up taking off, Randy got to Cameron Park way before me so I didn't land.  I just headed over to Auburn, where it was also busy :o)

After lunch, Randy and I flew Judi back to Cameron Park and stopped in to see Glenn's fix for the fraying rudder cable on their Pipistrel.

Randy was flying a friend from Lincoln, so we headed back so he could take them up.

November 26th

I went to the airport for the EAA donuts-and-coffee meeting, then pottered home as I'm tired.  Stupid dog still has jetlag from the time change :o(

We watched "Thor: Love and Thunder."

November 25th

Today was Black Friday, when Americans supposedly kill each other to get a big TV on sale (like that doesn't happen on any other day of the year.)

I picked up Randy and we went and bough a crapton of gas between us, then went to the airport and flew with Marty in his Cuby to Oroville to meet Steve and Chris for lunch.

After flying back, we dinked around with the planes a little, then went home.

November 24th

Today was Thanksgiving, so just a day off for me.  I went to the airport before Randy got there and changed a tyre, then we flew around Beale Air Force base.

November 20th

Due to being called out yesterday, I decided to stay home and get some stuff done around the house.  Tilly and I did go next door so she could beg for some different treats.

In the evening, we watched "Top Gun: Maverick."

November 19th

I got up early because I was on call, cleared out the queue then went and met Shane and Liza at the airport to fly to Woodland for their display day.

Steve from Petaluma joined us there, and we met Phil and Nancy, who are interested in getting a gyro.

I got called out at work about something we shouldn't be called out for :o(

After pottering around for a while, we flew back.  Steve followed us as he's never landed at Lincoln.

Steve headed off to visit some other airports, and Vic came and met us for lunch in Lincoln before we headed home.

November 16th

We finally got to go and pick up the car, with its shiny new hoses and heater and deflector.

November 13th

We went and met Randy at the airport to fly up to Auburn to meet Shane for brunch.

It took us a while to get out of Lincoln due to traffic - when it's pretty windy things get a little hectic, as the downwind leg is fast, but then it takes people forever to take off and get out of the way :o)

At Auburn it was also pretty busy, and it didn't help that there was a guy who's first radio call was when he turned downwind - I thought he was a totally different plane.  Still, extending my downwind into the depths of beyond made everything work out in the end.

After brunch, we went and did the monthly lake fly-by.  It's still pretty low, even after the recent rain.

There were some interesting people doing things wrong at Lincoln when we got there - a guy circled down from 5,000' directly over the runway, for example.  Still, we landed without any unnecessary drama.

November 12th

I started the day at the airport where I'd been supposed to fly a Young Eagle.  He'd wanted to go in the gyro, then he'd cancelled, then he'd said he was coming, and then he went with Jim because it was cold.  I'd said it was cold beforehand, so whatever.  There was a young lady there who's looking to join the Air Force, and was interested in gyroplanes, so I took her for a quick flight before her scheduled Young Eagles flight with Dan.

Shane, Randy and I went and checked out the new Fingers cafe that's replaced the Spitfire cafe at Lincoln.  It seems pretty good, even just for a sticky bun.

November 9th

I attended an EAA webinar on radio communications.  Some day maybe I'll try talking to a tower again :o)

November 8th

There was a lunar eclipse, so of course it was cloudy :o(

November 6th

The day started out crappy, but later in the afternoon Randy and I managed to get out for a flight.

 It was pretty windy, so we turned back a little earlier than we'd originally planned, and toddled back at ~35kt.  I pulled up to the hangar just as my GPS went into night mode :o)

November 5th

It was a crappy day, so we drove to meet Chris, PJ and Shane for lunch.

November 1st

A new month, so here are the stats:

Power billed

Power generated

October 30th

I was pretty tired after the last week and a couple of miles of walking at over 6,000', so I played around on the computer most of the day.  I did, however, put together some video from the creek we walked along:

October 29th

I drove over to Cameron Park to meet Chris.  We ended up retorquing his prop bolts, then flying the Lee Vining, by Mono Lake.

We hit 11,500' on the way there, and Chris used oxygen while we were up there (it's only required after 20 minutes) but only has 1 bottle (I've only been that high once in the gyroplane, so I've never even looked at it.)

We wandered through the (tiny) town, had lunch, then walked the trail along the creek there.

We briefly touched 13,000' on the way back, and I saw my blood oxygen level hit 44%.  Oops, I'm going to have a headache tonight.

October 27th

We'd been invited up to Nevada County airport for a show and tell with one of the local schools' first grade class, so Shane and I flew up to answer questions about the gyroplanes.

Kids are weird.  Adults want to know how they fly, how fast they go and how far you can go in them.  Kids want to know why there are so many buttons.

We met (and Shane chatted with) Juan Browne of Blancolirio YouTube fame.

At home I sorted out a video of me landing there.

October 26th

We started what looks like a miserable process dealing with the insurance company over the car.

Vic went and organised getting it towed down the hill and dropped off at the Chevy dealer in Roseville.

I dealt with the assessor.  He's said the Chevrolet dealer isn't one of their approved repairers, so they'll have to approve any repairs before they happen.  I'm probably going to end up telling them they can send it wherever they want, but if it's not a certified GM EV repair centre, I'll be wanting a letter from them saying they'll accept liability in the case that it catches fire somewhere because a panel repairer was chosen to repair the cooling system.  These aren't like your average internal combustion engine car, and they need to be aware of that. 

October 25th

Vic had been up in Auburn, and on the way back on the freeway she hit something - she thinks it was a ladder.  The front of the car looked OK, but the bottom's torn up and it's leaking fluid, most likely coolant for the battery.  She called me, and I went and picked her up, leaving the car in a gas station parking lot (well away from the pumps.)

October 24th

We'd had a company holiday on Friday, and obviously everybody in support couldn't be off at the same time, so I had Monday off.  I intended to work on some things on the van.  When I went to look at replacing the O2 sensor in the catalytic converter (because the fuel economy's gone down a bit,) I was thinking it looked like a lot of aggravation to get the old connector out.  Just generally checking the engine, I found a couple of slightly loose spark plugs, which could well be the issue, so I figured I'd just tighten them and call it fixed.

October 23rd

I flew to Auburn to meet Chris, Tim, Shane and Liza for brunch.  I left early, so I flew towards Cameron Park hoping to hear Chris leave, but the first I heard of him was 5 miles out from Auburn, so I was a bit later than them getting there.  Exactly on time for Shane and Liza (who drove) though.

It was chuffing windy, as you can see in my speed graph - ~70kts on the way out to Folsom, and ~45kts on the way back to Auburn...

After breakfast, I flew straight home, as the turbulence was less fun than I'd hoped.

October 22nd

I went to the airport early to fly a couple of Young Eagles for the EAA.

After that, I stayed for the EAA lunch and Brent's presentation about his Mini-IMP airplane.

October 20th

I'd taken the day off to go to a school day thing up at the Grass Valley airport, but that was rescheduled and I couldn't be bothered to cancel the day off, so I decided to get some stuff done.

We dropped the car off at the Chevy dealer so it could get a software update, and Vic dropped me home on her way to work.
They then called to say that the EV guy wasn't coming in today, so they couldn't do the software update.  That's all well and good, but I'd already told them not to rush because I couldn't come and get it if it was done by 11:00.

There's an LED by the water dispenser on the new fridge that's supposed to come on when you get water.  It's never worked, so I logged a ticket with Samsung to get that fixed, and the guy was supposed to be here between 13:00 and 17:00.  I was hoping earlier rather than later, so I went out and cut the grass in the morning, then settled in to screw about on the computer while I was waiting.
At 16:35 he called to say he was 35 minutes away in Yuba City, and I told him not to bother because
a) Yuba City is a 45 minute drive without traffic, and it's 16:35 and
b) I have to go and collect the car that hasn't had the software update it was dropped off for

Vic picked me up on her way home from work, and ran me over to the Chevy dealer.  They were very apologetic about it, and we'll figure something out.

So, on my day off the only thing I achieved was getting the grass cut.  Which I'd have done in the evening after work if I didn't have the day off and have to go and collect the car after Vic's work day.  FML.

October 16th

I was still on call, so I cleared out the support tickets, then Vic and I went to the airport for the monthly lake flypast.

We had intended to go to Auburn for breakfast, but the weather up there was crappy.  Actually, down in Lincoln it still wasn't great - there was a lot of haze.  Anyway, we parked the plane and closed the hangar, then went and got breakfast.

At home, I cleared more stuff at work out.

October 15th

I was on call, I got up early to clear everything out at work, then met Shane and Randy at the airport so we could fly to Watts-Woodland for their display day.

There were fewer planes than last time, but more cars.

When we got back to Lincoln, we all trooped out to get some lunch before heading home.

The home theatre PC has been crashing after a few hours' viewing, and I figure this is probably heat.  I decided to disable the graphics card (NVidia 730) and use the one on the motherboard, to see if that would help.  When I disabled the graphics card, Windows fell back to using its default adapter drivers, which are stuck at 1024x768, which wouldn't let Kodi start.  Of course, I hadn't expected this, so I had to get into the Task Manager and disable the auto start before it had started, as it would never get past the error :o(  I eventually managed that, and couldn't see a way of bypassing the NVidia drivers while leaving the card in place, and the motherboard HDMI port wouldn't work with the NVidia card installed.  So I got to take the PC apart and remove the card.

It still came up in 1024x768, so I had to figure out what motherboard it is (MSI B150 Mortar, for reference) so I could figure out what drivers to install, and as I found out it's an Intel 530, Windows installed the drivers for it, even though I'd told it like 4x to upgrade the drivers.

Then I just had to install the Intel controller software (from the Microsoft Store, that's a first) to get full RBG rather than the dumb cut down RGB for LDS screens, and I had real black on the OLED TV.  I even got to watch "Family Guy."  Now we'll see if it's truly fixed...

October 13th

I went to an FAA web conference on mid air collisions, which seems timely due to the Watsonville crash a short while ago.

October 12th

We watched "Bad Teacher."

October 9th

There'd been a note on the hangar door talking about an inspection by the city, and cut locks if the hangar was locked.  They said 72 hours from 10/6 at 12:23, so we got there early and tidied up, putting all the empty gas cans and suchlike in the van and Randy's truck, then left the hangar open and went for a flight around Beale Air Force Base.

As usual we dropped off ADS-B when we got to the part of the map labelled "here be dragons."

Back at the hangar, no sign of inspectors, and Chris showed up.  We left the hangar open and went to lunch.  When we got back, no sign of inspectors, but Marty in the hangar next door said "tomorrow," so Randy'll deal with it as he's off.

October 8th

I got up early and went to the airport for the Airport Day, which was open to the public.  The plan was to have the balloon lift happen at 07:30, so I took off at 07:30 to watch the take off.

So, there was a Cherokee doing pattern work, meaning I couldn't just fly around in circles, so I toddled off to the West for a bit and screwed around, then headed back as everything was starting up, and the balloons were just lifting off.

I parked up with Randy and Chris (who'd flown in from Cameron Park - Shane's come down with the COVID :o() and spent the day looking at the planes and cars, and answering questions about the gyroplanes.

In the evening, I threw together a video of the balloon:

October 7th

Gwen and CJ (and Jazebra) came over and picked up the fridge from the garage.  Now I need to put everything back where it was :o)

October 5th

I attended a web conference on operations at untowered airports, like Lincoln.

October 2nd

We got up and joined the family for breakfast, then left them heading South and headed back North and home.  Charging the car was free again in Gilroy, and while I pottered about with Tilly (she was fine) at home, Vic fast charged the car for free at the mall.

October 1st

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

Power billed

Power generated

Our plan had been to have Tilly stay with our next door neighbours, and we dropped her off early so we'd be about if there were issues.  There were issues - she wouldn't settle down and stop whining, so it was decided that she'd stay at home, and they'd check in on her.  She's used to spending 22 hours a day asleep around our house, so we left her to it.

We drove down to Pacific Grove to meet Russ and Deepah, and hand over the parents.  The high point of the drive was stopping at Gilroy to charge and find that it looks like Electrify America's free this weekend.

When Russ and Deeps arrived (in their Tesla) we walked up the road to dinner, and a good time was had by all.

September 30th

Dad and I moved the old fridge into the garage.  We had to take the doors off to get it through the front door, then put them back on once it was out there.

Dad and I went to the airport so we could do the Bear Creek flight.  Oh, and give way to a Gulfstream coming in to Lincoln :o)

September 29th

We stayed home to get the new fridge delivered.  And pull all the protective tape off it.  Funnily enough, a neighbour just over the road also had a fridge delivered :o)

The high point of my day was Tilly going to the empty space where the old fridge had been to ask for a carrot.  I walked over to the old fridge and got one, then magicked it out of thin air for her.

September 28th

We went to the airport so I could do a test flight post big maintenance...

(I love how ADS-B interpolates a few data points - my flight looked not really like this)

And take Mum up for a flight - we flew up to the Bear Creek canyon and, it would seem, disappeared.

We reappeared when I got above ~1000'...

September 27th

Dad and I went to the airport via Autozone, where we picked up a box of M6 grease nipples.  That sorted the rotor block out, so we changed the oil and the plane's 200 hour service is complete.

At home, I did all the paperwork, and even had time to put together a video from our arrival at Cameron Park for the Props, Cops & Rodders show on Saturday.

September 26th

Dad and I went to the airport and started the big service on the plane.  Things were cleaned, oiled, greased, tightened and replaced.  Oh, and one thing was broken.  It's not all finished yet, but it's mostly done.

September 25th

We went to the renaissance faire in Folsom, where we met Shane, Liza and Sara and arranged to go to dinner in the evening.

September 24th

Dad and I got up early and headed to pick Randy up to drive to the airport and fly to Cameron Park for the Props, Cops and Rodders show.

It was cold on the ground, so we wrapped up warm only to find an inversion layer at around 300', where it was warmer.  It got cold again on finals into Cameron Park.

We parked with Chris and Chris and Ray outside PJ's house, and alternated between looking at the cars etc at the show and sitting in PJ's driveway talking.  Vic and Mum drove over and joined us.

When we'd watched the flybys and got hot and tired, we headed back to Lincoln.

When we got back to Lincoln, Randy had managed to get a puncture and roll the tyre off the rim on his gyro.  We put air in the tyre, pulled it into the hangar and put a new innertube in before heading home.

September 23rd

I'm trying to get the hours on the plane to 1400 in time to do a major service early next week, so I flew Mum to Auburn to meet Dad and Vic (who drove up.)

After lunch, I flew Dad back to Lincoln while Mum and Vic drove to the aquarium store to talk about rehoming a bunch of fish born in Vic's tank.

September 22nd

I drove Mum and Dad to Vacaville so Dad could buy half his body weight in Jelly Belly Jelly Flops.

September 21st

I took the day off, and after pottering around the house all day, went and picked Mum and Dad up from the airport.

September 19th

It threw it down with rain, so we went to the airport and replaced the radio push to talk switch.

September 18th

The weather was crappy - it even rained! - so I pretty much did nothing all day.  It was everything I dreamed it could be.

September 17th

I left the house early and met Shane at the airport.  We flew over to Cameron Park.  I'd said to Shane about taking the camera, and we both agreed it wasn't worth the hassle.  So obviously there was a house on fire in Lincoln that we flew past.

At Cameron Park we looked at one of Chris' wheels that had been juddering - we jacked the plane up and span the wheel, noticing that the tyre wasn't even close to round.  Luckily Chris had a spare, so we installed that and went to lunch with PJ.

After lunch, we flew back to Lincoln.  It was bumpy, as the weather's changing right now - there's talk of rain in the next few days.

Shane's plane was due for its 25 hour service, which is just a bunch of torque settings to check.  As we were finishing that, Chris arrived.  His wheel was better, but not fixed completely, so there are some axle bolts he wants to look at when he gets home.

September 11th

I met Shane, PJ and Randy at the airport, where Shane tested his EGT probes and started calibrating his air speed indicator, I did a couple of circuits while I waited for him to get back and Randy took PJ out to Camp Far West Lake and back before we went and got lunch.

(I always love how ADS-B guesses when it doesn't have much data to work from)

September 10th

There's been a fair amount of smoke from the Mosquito fire up by Foresthill, so a lot of flying stuff in the area's been cancelled.  Boo.  So, Vic and I went and met Shane and Liza for breakfast, then Shane and I went to the airport to change his remaining bad exhaust gas temperature probe.

September 5th

Today was Labo(u)r Day, when Americans celebrate the successes of the union movement by going shopping.

We met Randy at the airport and went for a little flight over Camp Far West Lake Reservoir.  On the way back, there was a long train, so we followed that for a short while too.

After the brief flight, I had to go home and tidy up some stuff for work.

At home we stayed inside to hide from the (112F) heat, so I threw together a short video of the train.

September 4th

I met Randy at the airport, and we flew up to Auburn to meet Shane, Liza and Sara for brunch.

It was chuffing hot, so we didn't do anything exciting on the way home.  The orbit was when I told Randy that the wind coming from 270 meant runway 33 was the best choice, so I did an orbit so we weren't too close together in the pattern :o)