16 June, 2009 -- Another angel in the flock

Lynn Hurtt flew off for the last time on June 16. His services will be Friday evening 6 to 8, and Saturday 2 p.m., in the First Freewill Baptist Church in Mountain Grove.
http://www.craighurttfuneralhome.com

17 June, 2009 -- Just HAD to fly today

Just some farm aerials, nothing spectacular, but the sunset was nice, yellow and orange.
Felt good to be back in the air again after a month. Worked the bugs out of the cameras (one camera would only send a thumbnail image to the monitor, useless; that took half an hour as I wandered toward my target north of Mtn. Grove quite a way) and wireless trigger (batteries dead in a receiver on one camera; robbed a flash attachment in the camera bag; moral, always take ALL of your equipment that you can carry, and take fresh batteries, all flavors).
Got some real jobs coming up, and I always like to de-bug the systems before taking a passenger along; not very impressive if the stuff doesn't work, and it's usually something really simple that fails and makes me look like a dufus. Even if there isn't a passenger and I'm alone, I get really fussy with myself if I let dufus stow away on the ride.

I'm painting the old bench "barn red". It's looking better! So far I've painted the underside and the seat slats. That is one complicated piece of furniture!

16 June, 2009 -- remodeling job

Replacing worn out parts on Grampa Chris' deck chair, must be about 35 years old.
I'll give it a new coat of redwood stain, or paint. Then I might take it down to the pond, and go fishing! I wonder if it will float...

15 June, 2009 -- Another pilot flies away

This afternoon, Randy and I drove way up north of Manes to the Lybyer farm to say goodbye to our friend, Doc Jim. He was a vet in the area for about 35 years, and was a partner in our Archer until developing heart problems about 6 or 7 years ago.


This was at Mtn. Grove Fly-In in 1997; Sherry Altis talking with Doc Jim. Doc's signature was his 52 Hawaiian shirts, and many of the guys at the memorial wore them, along with blue jeans and cowboy boots.

14 June, 2009 -- Slow traffic on the runway

Traffic maneuvering on the runway this evening... slow moving... no radio calls.

13 June, 2009 -- Some airplanes

EAA meeting this morning... nobody flew in to Willow, I suppose it was because of all the dense ground fog. Sissies.

There were a few planes in the hangar, though. The crew was working on the real Pietenpol. The other planes were just sitting around. Snoopy's flying a mailbox, it's up for raffle. The balsa planes are for tossing out during the July 4th parade. That's Charlie's Mustang, and Luna's C150.

12 June, 2009 -- Iowa plane, another one!

Amy and Mathew, weather forced them down and by chance they landed at Mtn. Grove for awhile, on their way to Arkansas.
From Ames, and they know Randy! How small a world is this...

And, we have a back porch! Recycled hangar roofing beams. How exciting a world is this...

11 June, 2009 -- Night life

It will only last until morning, so I lit it up with a flashlight. It's all tangled up with other plants, so couldn't extricate it to bring it up on the deck to enjoy.

Brrreeeeeedeeep.
Coming from the revetment out back, in an inch rainwater, this fellow was sitting on a rusty paint bucket. Couldn't find his companion, who was answering his call.

We got a huge tarp over the darkroom finally.
Maybe it will dry out some in there now. At least it won't drip as much.

Don buzzed by in Peggy's classy Mustang. He said he was doing battery and alternator repairs. Yeah, right... we know what he was doing... cruising! He denied that, said "oh, I have a motorcycle for that".

10 June, 2009 -- Rain and wind - what else is new...

Rain this afternoon, an inch, temp 86 degrees, wind 32 mph.
This evening, temp 65 degrees, humidity 93 percent.
Hey, it's Missouri, and it's summer. Well, almost.

9 June, 2009 -- An airplane! From Iowa!

Not our Iowa bunch, though. This charter pilot is from Estherville. Now, that's about 20 miles from Royal, where Fonda's dad Allen was born, and Spencer, where Allen's grandmother Daisy lived. Small world. They had to fly the long way home, first to Wichita, KS to get around thunderstorms, then head back north, almost to Minnesota.

And here we are back on the scaffolding again, up on the roof.
Chunked up some broken cement again today (not on the roof);
might pour a new small slab tomorrow. It goes on and on.