Hi Everyone!
It's coming...the sweet taste and smell of retirement! I can now see clearly the light at the end of the tunnel. WO0HOO! June 8 is my last day of teaching orchestra at West H.S., Madison, WI. I'm 66 and a lot of time is going to open up for me come late August when..... I DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL ANYMORE! Awesome, jump for joy!

I live in Madison, WI which is surrounded by 5 lakes. Most of my flying is with flying boats. Lake Wingra is 2 minutes away, a hop, skip and a jump from my house. This makes flying very convenient with no travel time and little storage issues: the car stays ready with airplanes packed in the back.

I tend to build and fly during flying season and here's the build / repair schedule:

1. I'm currently building a Bellanca Cruisemaster, Dennis Sumner. Beautiful lines on this art-deco airplane. Should be wrapping it up in the next 1-2 weeks. Hindsight 20/20....If I build this airplane again, I'd spray paint it instead of covering it. My covering technique is, how shall I say it..."Leaves a bit to be desired". Looks great from 36", but get in close and it has much "texture/wrinkles." I call it "the organic look". Cannot seem to master the covering technique as I don't do it enough. The cowl looks as if it has a disease, LOL. This is where I lost patience, went to Home Depot, had them color match the covering and bought 2 samples of white and orange, the overall color scheme....Continue Reading