Old plane revived

I recently had a conversation with my son, Ben.

Me: I decided to finally try to get that plane flying.

Ben: You mean the one that's been moved 4 times and stored in the basement for 20 years?

Me: Um, yeah....that one.

I got interested in the hobby in the mid 80's. I bought a trainer kit, balsa and plywood die cuts that required a lot of fitting, sanding, gluing and patience. Build in progress, we moved to New Jersey a the time and the I finished the build there. But I never flew the plane or even ran the engine. For a while, it hung from son Tyler's ceiling. Most of the time it was in the basement collecting dust and getting knocked around a little.

This past summer I was considering selling it. Irma said "As much as we've moved that thing, you better fly it." So that was the start of a forgotten plane revived. The right wing covering got ripped so I took it off and will replace it.

Today I got the engine running. Without a manual I turned to youtube for help.

This afternoon I clamped it to a sawhorse and got it going.

 

Hopefully I won't crash it on the first flight!

Being a modest cyclist

I let my subscription to Mountain Bike Action expire.

The reality is that I couldn't relate. Despite the parade of riders in $200 spandex outfits, the issue they sent me featured reviews of 3 really nice mountain bikes...all of them priced at over $5000 dollars. 

Really?

I might as well have been reading Yachting magazine.

Living in a flat rural area, road biking is both popular and fun. I'm usually sharing the road with other bikers.

I have to admit, my level of gear envy sometimes increases when I pass "well dressed" biking types.

This is my typical winter biking apparel:

Decked out with 1980's sweat pants, worn running shoes, face mask and over-sized foam helmet. 

I think the sunglasses add a few cool points. Or at least make me harder to recognize.

The other day I was passed by this guy:

This shows the extremes of how people approach the sport.

Personally I would rather strap a plastic bag of packing peanuts to my head than be seen in one of these aero-helmets.

When I'm passed buy a group a sleek drafting racers, I'm this guy:

But despite the disparity of gear, he's having fun just like me.

In England the cyclists dress like this:

I'm actually envious of this chap. Nothing complements tweed like a pipe and goggles.

But the more I bike, the less I desire additional gear.

What really matters is having fun and staying safe.

If I need additional gear to achieve that, I'll buy it.

Until then, get used to the Coleman Cooler helmet, folks!

Mind games

Working from home with dogs can be challenging. The paranoid shepherd jumps up and runs squealing to the door every time I move at least 5 feet from my chair. The compulsive golden licks his paw and gives me a woeful gaze and a heavy whistling sigh. He lays in his bed, head to the side, facing away, eyes turned to meet me with a dejected emptiness. He lets out another sad moan. His message is clear....

"you're home all day and you don't pat me or play with me. You hate me. Please master, just let me outside so I can go eat some dirt. I'll be happy if you'll only let me eat some dirt."

 On the scientific scale of canine intelligence, shepherds are supposed to be #3 and golden retrievers #4. Clearly I was facing a full frontal guilt assault by one of the smartest creatures next to us humans.
What makes dogs our best friend is the fact that they are able to read our emotions so well. And Patton knows me, he knows how I feel guilty and he knows how to play my emotions.

So how did I respond to this mental challenge?

I went running!

 It was a beautiful afternoon and I don't get to run during the week anymore since the days got shorter.
A while back I started the Couch to 5K running plan. After completing the first 3 weeks I went off on my own tangent. Results have been mixed, I was keeping up with about 1.5 miles 2 times a week, but not making any progress. Today I re-inserted myself into week 5 of the program. I also followed some advice I recently read on how to deal with knee pain. I leaned slightly forward and shortened my stride. I didn't look as cool, but it was a great run without pain. My goal is to achieve and maintain a 5K run twice a week. If I can accomplish that with 56 year old knees, I'll be thrilled.

When I got home, I chuckered the dogs.

They were happy!

Sometimes it just takes a ride

After much preparation, we did make it through hurricane Sandy without any damage. I enjoy a day off from work as much as the next person, but when the government closed Monday and Tuesday I had to use my vacation days to cover it. Thanks, Sandy, not only did you devastate New York and Jersey, but you used up some of my vacation!

Saturday I spent the day removing the skylight covers from the roof and cleaning up leaves from the yard. It was a good cross training work out.

Of course there are still a lot of leaves to come down and with the addition of 8 inches of rain to green the trees up, the old oaks may be holding onto what they have until Christmas.

Today I was feeling at odds with the world, one of those moods between contempt and self pity that rears it's ugly head occasionally. I knew I needed to clear my head. And what better way to do it than a good bike ride. I've been more focused on running for the past few months, but my knees were still bothering me from the work yesterday. And a bike ride would be longer than a run. I needed longer. I geared up and took off.

The air was cool and brisk, but felt good as I cut through it with a strong effort.
The now harvested fields glowed in the late afternoon sun.

A soybean field up close displays the many small brown pods for harvest.
From a distance it puts on a warm earth tone, a color my wife wants to paint a wall.

The afternoon turned out to be just what I needed.
Maybe I'll even forget the political adds until after Tuesday!