RVers of Oshkosh: Vern Darley and Tommy Turner

Vern and Tommy, from Peachtree, Georgia, arrived yesterday, navigating a front that has extended from Iowa across the middle of the country. Some of the RVers were stranded on the southern side of the front, and should make it in today, Vern said.

Vern's airplane isn't a kit. He made it from parts, including a canopy which had a gallon of epoxy poured on top of it. "You can do great things with sanding plexiglass, Tommy said. And they did. The airplane is beautiful.

Vern said he heard that an RV flipped yesterday while coming in, although I haven't heard anything about that (I wouldn't; I haven't been done on the flight line until today).

Crosswinds are a real problem so far this year, some of the RVers report.

There's a big empty hole in the space where RVers are usually parked. I assume that's for a 36-ship formation that's arriving around 1:30.

Oshkosh Diary - Sunday July 26, 2009

We amateur economists -- and these days, what economists aren't amateurs? -- have been figuring we'd use AirVenture as one of the barometers of house the economy is affecting people. After all, aviation isn't an essential and finding one's way to the middle of Wisconsin is an optional way to spend a week.

As evidenced -- sort of -- by the picture above, the early indication is more people will be at AirVenture this year than last year. Usually the field around where I set up camp each year doesn't fill up at my neck of the field until Sunday afternoon. But by Saturday afternoon this year,the tide of humanity has reached me.

Now this, of course, is all anecdotal. It could very well be that the people with pop-ups and tents this year, used to be the people with the big "land yachts" down closer to the show in previous years.

We'll see.

This morning I'm going to meet up with the guys from Trio Avionics to help set up their booth. It's going to be cool this week, especially for the people from the southwest who've been living with 100+ temperatures. Dry heat, schmy heat; that's no way to live.

Welcome back to Wisconsin, fellas!

BROWSING



I strolled along the homebuilt camping area for RVers a little bit ago (9:27 a.m.). I'll upload some pictures later but I loved the plugs I found above.

And here is the obligatory and cliche self portrait. I am not above cliche.



RUDDER TRIM

Here's an interesting modification. A rudder trim tab.



This is the RV-6 of Roger Hansen of Henderson, NV. This may be a common thing on a 6; I don't know. But it's cool.

Of course you can always find the builders strolling the RV corral. They're the ones taking pictures VERY close up.

I've been looking at fiberglass work of the elevator tips as I go from RV to RV. As you may know, that's what I've been doing. For the first time in 10 years of coming to Oshkosh, today was the first time I've ever said to myself "I like my work better" when I looked at some planes. It's not that the ones I looked at were poor; far from it. I just like the amount of work and payoff I got in the last two weeks working on my plane.

WIND

This one incident today involves a Pietenpol.



Completely second-hand info follows: A couple of Pietenpol Air Campers were landing and one caught a gust of wind and went vertical, settling back on the tail. I understand the pilot is OK. I suppose if you're going to break your airplane, Oshkosh is a good place to do it. There are more than few folks around who know what to do.

THE FORMATION

The 36-ship formation of RV airplanes flew over with a roar at 1:01 p.m. As usually, very impressive.



TODAY'S RANDOM IMAGES

Updated 8:01 p.m. - I've added a few more pictures. Apologies if this stuff isn't all that great. I'm taking things a lot slower -- so far -- this year.

Oshkosh Diary - Saturday July 25, 2009

Around 7 this morning, Rich Emery stopped by to help me get the canopy up before the wind came up. We got it up and the wind followed shortly thereafter. Such is the life of camping in the field.

Now we just wait to see who shows up to claim some of the camping sites I've staked out, and who will be neighbors around the "compound." You never know at Oshkosh but in 9 years of attending, I've never been disappointed.

I'll update each of these entries throughout the day.



We were spoiled by last year's Oshkosh weather. Especially out here in the field, you're vulnerable to high winds, pestilence and, of course, downpours. We've had one so far today but the wind is the difficult child. Paul Trotter (above) has joined the compound. He's joined the broken-tent-rod club.

Chris Stone, who's not too far away from flying one of these newfangled airplanes that he built himself, has also joined the compound. And John Porter should be in tomorrow. Looks like we're going to have an extra camping spot, or two.

Darwin Barrie, Glenn Brasch and Glenn's son, Michael, arrived from Chicago. They brought Glenn's trailer, got in an accident in Kansas where a woman side-swiped the trailer, they dropped the trailer off here and then Glenn and Michael went to visit Mom/Grandma in Chicago. They picked Darwin up at O'Hare today and made their way here. Good folks. I'm looking forward to many happy hours together.

Roger Evenson, also from Arizona, and his wife have also arrived. Very nice people who are helping the Hazebusters people sell sunglasses. Roger built the Web site.

Now he has to rebuild his right elevator which suffered when it hit the ground when Roger stepped on on his RV the other day.

Darwin reports by way of Jeff Point that a steady stream of RV airplanes have been arriving. I'm not sure how much time I'll spend down there this year. I may try to take in more forums.

Tomorrow morning, I hope to help Sid, Jerry, and Chuck set up the Trio Avionics booth in the hangar. I always look forward to their company at Oshkosh.

On to Oshkosh!

I'm heading over to Oshkosh this afternoon. I'll post some items when I get there.

And, yes, I will be doing Ask the Dummy in the Campground again this year. So if you have a question about Oshkosh, send it to me at bcollinsrv7a@comcast.net.

I wanted to leave St. Paul by noon and I'm on track. Here's the shot of the car all packed. You're not going to believe how much I crammed in. I'll put up another shot when I get to Oshkosh and unpack.



Update 7:15 p.m. - This much:



As I was putting up the tent in the wind, I said to myself, "Please don't let this be the year one of these poles breaks. Then the wind came up and one of the four poles snapped. Some gents from Iowa helped me fabricate a fix but it involved using one of the pipes for the big canopy. So the tent is up but I can't put the canopy up yet because the pole is being used to hold up the tent. In a bit, I'm off to Fleet Farm in search of a pipe. Then grocery shopping. Then dinner.

As is custom, Rich Emery of Missouri was the first to stop by and say hello. He's two builder numbers below me and thinks if he put his wallet to it, he could be flying at the end of the year. I'll try to get things done quickly here so I can join him for happy hour.

If you're going to Oshkosh, be sure to stop by the campsite and say "hello" so I can duly report to Planet RV that you're there.

On Wednesday, of course, we've got Piece of Grass 2009. I'll be providing some live updates, picture and, maybe, video during the evening. So if you can't make it, join us virtually.

The life of bees

Bees are disappearing from the planet and nobody seems to know why. But I worry about it. How will things be pollinated without bees? I've planted plenty of bee balm (although this is a pincushion flower above) around the estate to do my part. And when I go out to get the paper (another endangered species) just before 6 a.m., I walk out to the perennial garden in the front yard to see if there are any bees. I'm quite certain if anyone was up at that hour, they'd think Old Man Collins is off his rocker.

Two years ago, I had lots of bees. Last year, not very many. This year: Just a few more than last year.

I'll keep my eye on them and wonder whether bees are at all worried about this -- or anything else for that matter. Do they feel the pressure to make their deliveries on schedule? Is it good to be a bee? Is there something to be said for ignorance of the matters of the world?

I'll see you tomorrow morning, bee.

A bridge too far

I don't know why but when life is too hard to figure out, I've always headed for the shore, whether it's the camp in Vermont, or Plum Island, or Hampton Beach or -- as befits my land-locked locale -- the Mississippi River. (Click on the image to see full sizes)

Reports from back East have not been good. Carolie's dad is not doing well and there's a fair amount of sighing going on at my house. And I walk to the river.

The Wakota Wabasha Bridge is the best bridge in a city of bridges, especially if you're walking.



It doesn't look like much, perhaps, but the designers of this bridge knew what they were doing. The stairs that take you from the bridge deck down to Raspberry Island, leave you out over the river.



Never been scared of heights? Try these stairs.







Raspberry Island is a lovely little spot below the city, along the river, which is low right now and is only this high because of high rainfall out in the western part of the state. The water made its way to the Minnesota River and eventually to here.



I can sit in the sun and ponder chucking it all and living on a boat on the river:



Or whether the guy in this little house atop the railroad bridge has the best job in the world ...



... or the worst.



I can consider the merits of swimming in this river, which I still consider America's sewer...



Or I can just sit and try to prove the existence of a loving God with his plan to make a good man -- and a good man's daughter -- suffer.

I always find myself heading for water to make a question like that make sense. Two-thirds of the planet is covered with water.

I don't think that's going to be enough.

The great deck rebuilding project

My mother has said she feels as though summer is over on July 4th (this year might be the exception since she lives in New England and they haven't had anything resembling summer weather yet), and being genetically linked and all, I could hear the tick, tick, tick of another summer slipping away without completing one of my long-standing projects. I'll bet it's been six year since I started rebuilding the deck.

Of course, when I started I didn't intend to rebuild the deck. I was replacing some rotted stairs at the bottom of the deck, but that led me to notice the railings were wobbly, which led me to noticing some planks were rotted which led me to just rebuild the darn thing (except for the joists which were fine).

So this holiday weekend, I finished the bottom deck and then removed the top, added a new footing and beam and just before work Monday morning, I screwed down the last plank and cut the overhang.



Now I need to make stringers for the stairs (they'll be much wider than the old ones) connecting the upper and lower deck, then add posts and railings.

Where did summer go?

The Senate race ends

My family and friends from out of town can stop asking me if we have a senator yet.

Here was my on-air analysis of the end of the Minnesota Senate race.

Outed

The talented people at work have designed a new Web site, upon which my daily offerings appear.

As with any new endeavor, there's a few kinks to be worked out.

Spiderwort in the morning

This is the most interesting thing in the garden these days. I bought the Spiderwort plant and put it in a container on the deck. The flowers only unfurl in the morning, along the lines of a Morning Glory.



I like the fact a bumblebee was at the Spiderwort this morning. Click the images for the full effect.

The afternoon walk

One great thing about working in St. Paul, is the Mississippi River is just a short walk away from the downtown headquarters of Minnesota Public Radio.

My new favorite activity at midafternoon is to walk over to Rasberry Island and sit on the benches and watch the world go by.

Garden therapy

I have always said -- only to myself -- that the more I'm enjoying work, the worse my gardens are. This year, my gardening is going very well, despite a drought that doesn't seem to want to quit anytime soon. We're getting a few showers in the Twin Cities today, but only enough to ruin some people's plans, not enough to do any good.

Here it is June 6, and some of the perennials that should be out in mid-May are just unfolding. It's been that kind of year.

Here's the spring tour.

I had hoped to expand the perennial bed in the front yard, but money being tight and the economy being what it is, a kid in college, a deck project to finish, and an airplane engine loan to pay, it doesn't seem like the right time.



It's going to be a big year for the delphinium.



The Japanese lilac is the last to bloom. Unfortunately, it's season is just about done.



I've got a lot more flowers on these cool-colored iris that my mother sent me a few years ago.



And the peony are just starting to bloom. This was my grandmother's bush. She would've been 113 on Thursday.



OK, hummingbirds, where are you?



These peonies -- one white and one pink -- aren't quite ready to show themselves.



You can't see it very well, but Carolie bought me two hydrangea bushes for my birthday. I'm branching out, as it were, from gardens on the edges of things and starting to try to develop one in the middle of the backyard. It seems silly to have a big patch of grass back there now that the kids are gone. Better to have a nice "nature walk."



The original garden, back by edge of the estate, isn't much to look at anymore. Trees have grown so much that it's shady most of the time. Still, I planted some beans and radishes and corn, all of which sprouted. The rabbits have pretty much eaten everything except the radishes, however.



And there's not much to the yellow iris garden around the apple tree. I spent an hour or so last week weeding this. There's also some bee balm in there... somewhere.



Now that part of the deck has been rebuilt, I'm trying a little container gardening this year.



I even threw some extra radishes, beans, and corn in this one. I realize it's too much for one container, but what the heck. By the way, my corn is now -- technically -- knee high.



We'll check in a few months and see how they all did.

When you say 'Cleveland', you say 'pathetic'

The Cleveland Indians have a habit of coming to Minnesota when it's Patrick's birthday. Yesterday was that day and Patrick and Sean enjoyed -- presumably -- a 10-1 Indian win. Today was my day to take Patrick and, of course, the Indians lost 11-3.



I got to buy Patrick a beer for the first time, hoping he will not realize -- any time soon, anyway -- that the best way to enjoy the Indians anymore... is fully inebriated.



It was a gorgeous day for baseball, except in Minnesota where we take our baseball (at least until next season) indoors. Afterwards, a stop for the entertainment on the plaza.



And then home for the traditional presentation of the toolbox.

Happy birthday to me

It's birthday #55. I headed outside shortly after sun-up to thin out the radishes and the next thing I know, I was hand trimming (with shears) the lawn, weeding the iris garden, cleaning the laundry room, weeding the gardens around the deck, planting two new hydrangea bushes that Carolie bought me, and washing windows. I like accomplishing things on the list. Oh, and eventually I thinned out the radishes.

It was a great birthday. Sean and Patrick both stopped by. They're unbelievably funny kids men.

I got all I wanted for presents when we went over to the park and hit the ball around. I like catching a ball in the outfield once every 20 years or so.

Patrick turns 21 on Wednesday. I had one beer left (Hey, Tim Pawlenty! How about getting government out of our lives and letting me buy beer in Minnesota on Sundays?). I gave it to Patrick.



Somehow we got into a discussion about testosterone. Carolie had some test with fingers to determine who's got more. She does. She says the less testosterone you have, the most anxiety and worry you have. So that explains that.



Sean arrived, we grabbed some Famous Dave's BBQ and had a great lunch. Why yes, that is the famous 'bench' that I just sanded and refinished.



This photo I took by hanging the camera on a twig by its wrist strap...

Biking

Yet another video of me doing something I used to do when I was younger. I'm sensing a theme here.