Lots of heat (70s and 80s is high heat around here) and rain means lots of yard and garden work and home repairs! I haven't had much time to fly anything lately. Other hobbies need to wait for fall and winter. But, tomato plants are doing great!

Check these out:

I took my son and youngest grandson to a fun fly at the Sky Ranch in West bend the weekend of the 23rd. This was the first time either of them have ever seen RC aircraft other than mine. They were impressed and had some fun. There was a nice variety of planes, including a 3D competition, some combat wings and a few ducted fans. There was even a 1/4 scale sea plane.

But the highlight of the event was some of the pros from Compass flying their 600s and 700s. Some amazing 3D performances! My boys were very impressed. My son kept asking them to fly again.

The container garden is off to a poor start this year. Since planting on Mother's Day, we have had two frost warnings, temperatures in the 40s and 50s and rain 75% of the time. We got our first day in the 70s this year, yesterday. The only thing doing well was lettuce and damn rabbits ate a lot of that last night!

The last picture is before and after "rabbit dinner".

I got a second opinion from a specialist... he says no surgery for now! Apparently, I have had this injury long enough for other muscles to compensate. The tear won't heal itself, but I may be fine with cortisone shots and therapy. I had a shot, first therapy is on Friday.

We picked up a new dog yesterday! He's a 6 year old dachshund we found through a Humane Society in Paris, Il. He's extremely friendly and seems to be very adaptable! I'll post some shots of him. We had to put down our 16 year old male dachshund about 2 months ago and our 15 year old female last fall. It feels real lonely without a dog underfoot.

Turns out I tore my rotator cuff and bicep, plus rotator cuff is frayed in several places as well and joint is separating. Surgery is definitely called for, seeing a specialist in two weeks. In the meantime, my right arm is not good for much. I tried to do some work on the hull of my steam punk quad, but I just can't do it. Shaping a fiberglass form with my left hand is just impossible. Planting the containers is going to be a real test!

Like many old people, my other hobby is gardening. I have a lot of fun with container gardening on the patio behind my garage. I've managed to grow lots of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, squash, peppers, basil and other herbs. I can stretch the growing season from May until November, which is quite a trick in Wisconsin. I really like to grow heirloom tomatoes and unusual lettuce varieties.

Here's some pictures from last year. the first ones are from the end of May. The later ones are mid June. By the end of August, my plants are several feet above the roof of the garage and there's no room left to walk. So, I may try a different arrangement this year. I will be hauling out the containers and begin setting them up in a few weeks.

I went ahead and ordered it. I saved a few bucks ordering from China. I will have to wait a while for it, but February in Wisconsin is not my idea of flying weather anyway. They can't ship lipo batteries, so they gave me a discount and added extra blades. I'm good with that. I already have batteries, that are hardly used, that will be about right. I need to buy some Traxxas connectors. I really like them. Easy to solder and you don't need shrink coat.

I'm ready to order the DJI Phantom quad. I would have ordered it already, but I hate the landing gear. I don't need the long legs because I have no interest in a camera mount. I've flown way too many miles for my job to want to see another aerial view of anything. Anyway, the antenna and compass are mounted in the lower part of the legs, so getting rid of them will be a challenge. The weather in the first half of February is usually crappy, so I don't need to rush.

I decided to make my own hull for the steampunk quad from fiberglass. The plastic CSS Alabama hull just didn't look right. I am going to cut the huge tail and centerboards from G10. I am going to use 2 center boards, angled about 30° from the center line of the hull, to serve as landing gear, along with the tip of the rudder. At least that's the plan for now, unless I can come up with some retractable landing struts.

My only progress is in the planning phase just now, because I tore a rotor cuff shoveling snow. I go for surgical evaluation on the 22nd. I had to have some MRIs done and I didn't fit in the machine! I'm too wide! I had to go to where they had a bigger machine. It's still a very confined space. I didn't like it at all!

Wow, it's been a long time. My HBFP/GuruZ upgrade venture never got off the ground. I couldn't find someplace that would make the parts for a reasonable cost.
That was a few years ago, anyway....

At this point, I'm backing out of the hobby. I should have done this a year ago, but I just couldn't do it. I have a number of physical problems that are making it more and more difficult to fly. I thought if I tried RC cars, that would be an OK substitute for flying. It didn't work out so well. I don't have a good place to use them and I really couldn't develop much enthusiasm. Plus the Traxxas Stampede I upgraded to run 3S burns the crap out of my lawn. I had a hard time explaining the twin 2" wide brown stripes in the grass to my wife!

Anyway, I've sold all my quads, cars and most of my helis. I still have a few I'm going to sell, a couple I'll give away. I'd like to keep my Quark and MCPx V2. I'm thinking maybe I will buy a quad that has lots of pilot assists. I am going to build a steam punk quad based on the attached image. I have an old Revell CSS Alabama ship model to use as a basis. It won't fly very fast or do any aerobatics, just cruise.

I'm debating starting a website to sell GuruZ and related products... Xtreme, Micro-Heli, etc. I contacted them and they are willing. They also would be willing to manufacture my 45 degree HBFP head. I was going to build it myself (still may), but I just can't find a source for linkage balls to use in the new paddle control frame.