Judie needs a shot of "Grandmothering." That is she yearns to see her grandchildren in Madison, Wisconsin. She needs this rejuvenation about three or four times a year. She got the itch a week or two back and in cahoots with son, Jake, has acquired a plane ticket to Madison for a short visit. She will leave on a Thursday and return on a Monday, apparently the most opportune flying times.
She collects her stuff, things for grands. And she provides a built in baby sitter for son and daughter-in-law for a weekend. Gives them a respite from two youngsters, one a baby and one just out of toddler stage. They are Will and Jane with Jane being the baby.
Once a year I join her and drive up to Madison. I rarely fly anymore; I avoid it if I can. And as a consequence have not flown in maybe five or six years. Just do not see putting up the with TSA and BS to fly. So I just don't fly. I do not mind the driving even in bad weather.
But we usually go up there together in late summer early fall time of the year. And we can cart more stuff up there like rocking horses and the like in the SUVs. I especially like driving through Oklahoma, up the eastern side, intersect with the Interstate going across Missouri at "Big Cabin, OK" From there it is a short run to Joplin, MO. and off across Missouri. We stop in Rolla, far enough for one day's drive from Texas and close enough to be a bit more than half way to Madison. I have often thought of stopping at Fort Lenard Wood where my brother, John, took his basic training but decided the Army is just to primitive for me. Rolla is a nice town, about 90 miles from St Louis.
I enjoy driving up through Illinois too. Out side of Springfield (Land of Lincoln) it becomes some what flat country with farm after farm. The terrain changes as one crosses into Wisconsin. It gets a bit more hilly or rolling country with dells and such. Pretty quickly after crossing into Wisconsin, we are at Madison. Overall it is a little more than 900 miles, maybe 950 or so one way. A good two day trip.
We stay a while doing our grand parent thing, then pack up and charge back. On the way back we stop in Springfield, MO. Arrive in time to enjoy a good meal, and get a full nights rest. Up in the AM heading for the Big Cabin turn off to head down towards McAllester and on into Texas. I have been to McAllester many times to visit the Army Ammunition Plant on business. We stop there for a potty break and get a fresh soda pop and hit the road heading toward Durant (big indian casino, Cherokee I think) and cross the Red River just below the Lake Texoma dam. We cruise on to McKinney and turn right on US 80 (could be 180 or 280 - east to west running road that is four lane and avoids the toll roads).
We turn south at Denton driving past our old haunt, Argyle, on to the environs of Fort Worth, turn right again on I-30 heading for home. About five miles or so from home I-30 intersccts with I-20 and stays that way until out in west Texas past Midland -Odessa area where I-20 intersects with I-10. But we get way back at Weatherford. Big state, Texas, where Interstate highways coalesce into each other, one two, three. Having driven across in a number of times I can tell you it is 850 from south Louisiana to New Mexico border. Good thing that we live in the northeast sector of Texas.
And we are home again. And usually, the grass needs to be cut. Yeah, we know we are home again.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
More Kites . . .
The Kite family is back. While walking this AM saw three of them roosting in the dead tree in front of Andrus' house on Forest Park. They like that tree. No foliage to obstruct their view of the surroundings. And when there is a fledgling, it usually sits there while its parents do the foraging for it.
All in all I counted nine Kites all in close proximity of the dead tree. Four were across the street and then I say two more off in the distance on power poles. Resting up I am sure after their long flight from South America.
Now we will see them soaring over the neighborhood. Soon they will select trees for their nests. They are not great nest builders but usually use the crotch of a oak tree to situate themselves. They do not seem to use the same location ever again. But it will be near enough for us to know that they prefer our quite neighborhood to spend the summer months.
There are literally hundreds of Post Oak trees in the area. Also some native Live Oaks and of course, the Shumars that have been planted. There are also some Barkley Oaks, another native. With Lake Weatherford not more than a quarter of mile in the distance, and plenty of roosting spots, they will stay with us.
It is a small thing, but it is our thing. Rachel Carson would be happy.
All in all I counted nine Kites all in close proximity of the dead tree. Four were across the street and then I say two more off in the distance on power poles. Resting up I am sure after their long flight from South America.
Now we will see them soaring over the neighborhood. Soon they will select trees for their nests. They are not great nest builders but usually use the crotch of a oak tree to situate themselves. They do not seem to use the same location ever again. But it will be near enough for us to know that they prefer our quite neighborhood to spend the summer months.
There are literally hundreds of Post Oak trees in the area. Also some native Live Oaks and of course, the Shumars that have been planted. There are also some Barkley Oaks, another native. With Lake Weatherford not more than a quarter of mile in the distance, and plenty of roosting spots, they will stay with us.
It is a small thing, but it is our thing. Rachel Carson would be happy.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Have You Noticed . . .
Have you noticed the subtle, well maybe not so subtle Internet changes. Once you used to type a word, description or whatever and get several hits on the definition and meaning. Not any more, all you get is "How can I sell you this item." It gets harder and harder to find out the information you want or need.
The service/research element seems to be dying. The sales element is on the ascendancy. All the hits except for Wikepedia are for selling something, eBay, Amazon or some outfit like that. If you look up Loews or Home Depot, they want to sell it to you on the Internet or at the store but no information about the product, at least not enough data to make a real decision.
I noticed a while back you could look up Briggs and Stratton engines, get part numbers etc. even exploded diagrams of how the engine is put together. Not no more; you can buy the manual. You ask a question and up pops three people that will answer your question - for a fee with no guarantee it will be the correct answer. They no longer want to share information, they only want to sell information. Sometimes a forum will be of help, but I note that even on the manufacturer's forums, they tend to clean out the old data or answers.
I was looking up oil filters for cross reference. That used to be common data - uhuh not no more, just not there. Go to Walmart and look in their catalogs by the oil filters, once again, cross references are gone. They want you to buy mine and only mine, not anybody else's product. They don't want you to know that a Briggs and Stratton oil filter at $13.95 can be had in the auto parts area by a different brand name for $2.95. Takes a while of searching, got to go the brand's specifications and cross check thread size and relief valve (the by pass valve) rating. Its all there but you gotta be creative in your search or they will hide the pertinent data from you.
It is sort of a kind of greediness. Basically, I am not going to tell you anything anymore kind a of thing. You gotta pay for it some kind of way. No more free service. No more assistance. Gimme, gimme, gimme is mantra now.
I recall years ago I had Triumph Spitfire sportscar. It had universal joints all over the place. The main joint from the drive shaft broke down and I had to replace it. I went to the Triumph dealer and he want $29.95 plus tax for the joint. So I went looking in the junkyards. Found a place that sold both new and used parts, a fancy junkyard but could convert part numbers and they did it for you. Well what do ya know, I found the universal joint for $3.95 plus tax new. It was a common General Motors product. But Triumph would not tell you that. Now days it is not so easy to find such information.
But if you are smart, you will search for the answer. Takes some digging but it usually is out there for free if you work at it long enough. Just got to be creative. Sometimes you have ask for the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) when dealing with fluids. They can not hide the data. I once had a company say to me it was proprietary. I said, I have to protect your data but the law says you have to give me the information. I got too.
The service/research element seems to be dying. The sales element is on the ascendancy. All the hits except for Wikepedia are for selling something, eBay, Amazon or some outfit like that. If you look up Loews or Home Depot, they want to sell it to you on the Internet or at the store but no information about the product, at least not enough data to make a real decision.
I noticed a while back you could look up Briggs and Stratton engines, get part numbers etc. even exploded diagrams of how the engine is put together. Not no more; you can buy the manual. You ask a question and up pops three people that will answer your question - for a fee with no guarantee it will be the correct answer. They no longer want to share information, they only want to sell information. Sometimes a forum will be of help, but I note that even on the manufacturer's forums, they tend to clean out the old data or answers.
I was looking up oil filters for cross reference. That used to be common data - uhuh not no more, just not there. Go to Walmart and look in their catalogs by the oil filters, once again, cross references are gone. They want you to buy mine and only mine, not anybody else's product. They don't want you to know that a Briggs and Stratton oil filter at $13.95 can be had in the auto parts area by a different brand name for $2.95. Takes a while of searching, got to go the brand's specifications and cross check thread size and relief valve (the by pass valve) rating. Its all there but you gotta be creative in your search or they will hide the pertinent data from you.
It is sort of a kind of greediness. Basically, I am not going to tell you anything anymore kind a of thing. You gotta pay for it some kind of way. No more free service. No more assistance. Gimme, gimme, gimme is mantra now.
I recall years ago I had Triumph Spitfire sportscar. It had universal joints all over the place. The main joint from the drive shaft broke down and I had to replace it. I went to the Triumph dealer and he want $29.95 plus tax for the joint. So I went looking in the junkyards. Found a place that sold both new and used parts, a fancy junkyard but could convert part numbers and they did it for you. Well what do ya know, I found the universal joint for $3.95 plus tax new. It was a common General Motors product. But Triumph would not tell you that. Now days it is not so easy to find such information.
But if you are smart, you will search for the answer. Takes some digging but it usually is out there for free if you work at it long enough. Just got to be creative. Sometimes you have ask for the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) when dealing with fluids. They can not hide the data. I once had a company say to me it was proprietary. I said, I have to protect your data but the law says you have to give me the information. I got too.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The Kites Are Back . . .
The Mississippi Kites are back, they are a medium size bird not quite a hawk but has hawk like features. They feed mostly on insects but are known to eat moles and small vermin too. So sometimes they act like hawks.
They like to nest close to lakes and we are of course close to Lake Weatherford. And we have plenty of trees, mostly Post Oaks, but a scattering of Live Oaks and Red Oaks like Shumar or Barkley Oaks. They seem to like to nest in and around our neighborhood. We have tons of oak trees.
They are migratory birds and spend our winter in Uruguay or Paraguay in South America. They arrive this time of year and it is here where they nest and usually raise a young chick. They rarely have two birds in the nest, one one off spring per year. But they are like Blue Birds and exist as a family. So if you see one, you will see more of them.
In our area there are a couple of dead trees and they like to sit in them and survey the hunting grounds. The youngster will sit there all day and his parents will fly in a feed him or her.
I have seem up to nine in our family of kites. When you see a youngster roosting, look around and sure enough you will see two or three others watching over the chick.
They are very graceful fliers. And unlike other raptors, they have smooth curved wing that ends in a pointed tip. No tip feathers like you will see on hawks or buzzards. They soar but seem to move about at a little faster rate than the slow moving buzzards.
The Kites will spend the summer with us and in late August or early September, they will depart for their winter home. But you can be sure summer is here if the Kites have arrived and sure enough, Spring is just about over. Soon the temperatures will be peaking toward a 100 degrees.
They like to nest close to lakes and we are of course close to Lake Weatherford. And we have plenty of trees, mostly Post Oaks, but a scattering of Live Oaks and Red Oaks like Shumar or Barkley Oaks. They seem to like to nest in and around our neighborhood. We have tons of oak trees.
They are migratory birds and spend our winter in Uruguay or Paraguay in South America. They arrive this time of year and it is here where they nest and usually raise a young chick. They rarely have two birds in the nest, one one off spring per year. But they are like Blue Birds and exist as a family. So if you see one, you will see more of them.
In our area there are a couple of dead trees and they like to sit in them and survey the hunting grounds. The youngster will sit there all day and his parents will fly in a feed him or her.
I have seem up to nine in our family of kites. When you see a youngster roosting, look around and sure enough you will see two or three others watching over the chick.
They are very graceful fliers. And unlike other raptors, they have smooth curved wing that ends in a pointed tip. No tip feathers like you will see on hawks or buzzards. They soar but seem to move about at a little faster rate than the slow moving buzzards.
The Kites will spend the summer with us and in late August or early September, they will depart for their winter home. But you can be sure summer is here if the Kites have arrived and sure enough, Spring is just about over. Soon the temperatures will be peaking toward a 100 degrees.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Repairs . . .
My old 60 sized Stik is in constant need of minor repairs. It is really showing its age now.
When I took it out of my car, I noticed a large tear in the underneath Monokote of the wing. Not unusual kind of thing but irritating none-the-less. I found a scrap of red Monokote big enough to do the job, fired up my sealing iron (that is the tool of choice for installing MonoKote) and went to work. It did not take long.
Then I notice over by the switch which is located on the left side of the fuselage, a crack that had been repaired before. The switch is always located on the left side of the fuselage around the wing area to avoid the oily engine exhaust. Putting in a switch weakens the structure and that is a prime location for a crack to develop and grow. While wood is generally tolerant to vibrations even it gives up after a long period of vibration. So I added a doubler inside the structure to bolster the strength and to stop the crack from causing problems.
I had so much problems with the tail feathers (the rudder and elevator) that I finally covered the cracks with fibre glass and left it clear to see if it failed again. I found just adding plywood (yes, I have some really very fine, pliable plywood that is about one thirty second of inch thick) does not do the trick. So I cover all of it with epoxy/fibre glass coating. That has held up. The tail takes a lot of punishment and has holes structure for control rods. This weakens the structure and leads to cracks and sometimes out and out failures. Combine that with the fact that I convert my airplanes to "tail draggers" meaning tail wheels instead of nose tricycle arrangements, puts further stress on the tail area. In Stiks especially, they suffer from tail failures due to the weakness and the way we fly.
I think with all the repairs over time, and several crashes to boot, the plane is probably a pound heavier than when it was newly built. As long as the weight is balanced correctly, it will fly. Stiks are not fast, that is they have big fat wings and tend to be draggy, so speed is not their ilk. So a little more weight does not seem to effect their flying ability at all. They will not go any faster nor will they go any slower. The just keep on flying.
The 60 size refers to the two cycle engine displacement usually used to power the model. 60 means 0.60 cubic inches in displacement. I substitute a 0.90 four cycle engine, roughly equivalent amount of power, for it. I like four cycle engines, they do not turn over as fast but sound much better and use a tad less fuel. I use the same kind of fuel in both my two cycle and four cycle engines. That leads to raging arguments but it does not seem to matter and I am not going to get fussy about it. The engines run just fine.
So the old Stik is showing its age but I will keep flying it until it falls apart. I have had this plane now for more than two years - that is a record for me. I find the newer radio equipment and bigger batteries make life easier. Not as many radio gliches and that is a big issue.
Today the winds are off the charts - again. And the temperature is dropping, We are in for a cold snap, a record one to boot. So hunker down and fix airplanes.
When I took it out of my car, I noticed a large tear in the underneath Monokote of the wing. Not unusual kind of thing but irritating none-the-less. I found a scrap of red Monokote big enough to do the job, fired up my sealing iron (that is the tool of choice for installing MonoKote) and went to work. It did not take long.
Then I notice over by the switch which is located on the left side of the fuselage, a crack that had been repaired before. The switch is always located on the left side of the fuselage around the wing area to avoid the oily engine exhaust. Putting in a switch weakens the structure and that is a prime location for a crack to develop and grow. While wood is generally tolerant to vibrations even it gives up after a long period of vibration. So I added a doubler inside the structure to bolster the strength and to stop the crack from causing problems.
I had so much problems with the tail feathers (the rudder and elevator) that I finally covered the cracks with fibre glass and left it clear to see if it failed again. I found just adding plywood (yes, I have some really very fine, pliable plywood that is about one thirty second of inch thick) does not do the trick. So I cover all of it with epoxy/fibre glass coating. That has held up. The tail takes a lot of punishment and has holes structure for control rods. This weakens the structure and leads to cracks and sometimes out and out failures. Combine that with the fact that I convert my airplanes to "tail draggers" meaning tail wheels instead of nose tricycle arrangements, puts further stress on the tail area. In Stiks especially, they suffer from tail failures due to the weakness and the way we fly.
I think with all the repairs over time, and several crashes to boot, the plane is probably a pound heavier than when it was newly built. As long as the weight is balanced correctly, it will fly. Stiks are not fast, that is they have big fat wings and tend to be draggy, so speed is not their ilk. So a little more weight does not seem to effect their flying ability at all. They will not go any faster nor will they go any slower. The just keep on flying.
The 60 size refers to the two cycle engine displacement usually used to power the model. 60 means 0.60 cubic inches in displacement. I substitute a 0.90 four cycle engine, roughly equivalent amount of power, for it. I like four cycle engines, they do not turn over as fast but sound much better and use a tad less fuel. I use the same kind of fuel in both my two cycle and four cycle engines. That leads to raging arguments but it does not seem to matter and I am not going to get fussy about it. The engines run just fine.
So the old Stik is showing its age but I will keep flying it until it falls apart. I have had this plane now for more than two years - that is a record for me. I find the newer radio equipment and bigger batteries make life easier. Not as many radio gliches and that is a big issue.
Today the winds are off the charts - again. And the temperature is dropping, We are in for a cold snap, a record one to boot. So hunker down and fix airplanes.
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