Life on the Horizon

It has been a grueling year of heads-down software development, and I've paid the price. I have been away from my hobbies for far too long. But that is changing. I renewed my American Modeler's Association insurance, so now I can fly my model airplanes at any AMA sanctioned field, and anywhere else that I need protection. I dug out the Questor project again and realized just how many design detail questions remain unanswered - plus, it is hard to know where to pick up on the project. I'm also missing a small but critical piece, which I will have to re-create when I get back to it. However, that is such a daunting project that I decided I simply want to keep that one on the shelf while I get back to the basics.

I dug out boxes of engines and parts and my flight boxes and looked at a couple of my airplanes. Everything is getting invaded by dust and spiders - and I've seen a mouse in the basement, plus quite a few mouse trailings, so I have placed a live catch trap down there hoping to relocate the little critters. I used to have mice as pets when I was a kid, so I can't kill them. I zapped a couple already with this horrible trap that electrocutes them, but I just can't turn that switch back on again. I'm just a softy, what can I say?

I've got pretty much everything I need to fly again - I just need to get batteries in order. They've been sitting around getting old, so I have to see about getting new ones or getting the ones I've got into shape.

I have five airplanes in near flight-ready condition, and I just need some fuel and a place to fly. I am on the hunt for a flying site, which is not easy to find at the base of the Sierra Nevadas. But I am determined. One thing I would love to do is open my box of floats that I have had on my shelf for probably ten years or more, and build them and put them on a plane. I live five minutes from a lake, and there's plenty of room to fly there. I'd love to get a little boat and take a plane out and fly around the lake at night. I can't wait to make my first water landing at night.

I'm headed down to the basement now to see if I've got what I need to test run some engines tomorrow. I'm also going to try my hand at mixing my own diesel fuel for my diesel engines. But that will come in time. First things first - I've got to get back to the basics.