End of October

Things are looking a little different around the place.... the leave are mostly fallen and I just got done with the pick-up-leaves project. We've had some quite cold mornings but the lawn grass is still bright green in most places. The silver maple is almost bare. It's one of the later to drop. There's a big oak tree just off the southwest corner of the lawn that is really the only tree with leaves that will fall in the yard. Here's a pic of the flowering crab on the edge of the south lawn.All that is left on it are the crab 'apples'. The robins that pass through in the fall LOVE these little morsels. One year when the pateridges were plentiful, they could be seen in that tree every day, sometimes half a dozen birds at a time. They eventually eat every last one of these little things. They look big here but are about 1/4" across. Deer sometimes visit the tree and eat what they can reach. At the risk of raising hackles on some readers, I am going to include a photo of a tree you may have recognized in an earlier entry. Yes, it the famous supply source of the pie apples we so desperately tried to eat up this late summer..... it looks a little different than when it was almost more gold color with apples than green with leaves!


I got up this morning (Saturday) at 5:45 A.M. and left for Merrill at 6:15. Met Steve at 7:30, did a preflight inspection and off we went to practice airport "traffic pattern" flying. Only we were going to try it over a little grass strip that belongs to a friend of Steve's. Winds were calm on the ground but as we passed through 1800', things got a little rough and the winds aloft were quite strong from the southwest. At about 2200' things were smoother, but still strong. Tying to fly straight west had the plane turned about 45° to the south. So we were crabbing along and I was trying to maintain a straight path in relation to the ground. Of course when turning to go south, it seemed like we were not moving and then the turn to the north left us moving really fast, in relation to the ground anyway. After fighting this situation for while, we headed back to the airport. I did the approach and instead of landing right away, we flew just above the runway for ways. Then Steve put it down, we taxied to the end of the runway, turned to go back to the hangar. Steve said to do a normal take off, but as soon as it was off the ground, level off and adjust to cruise speed. We flew above the runway for a ways and then touched down again. Today I realized that I am not yet making the connection between all the little things that happen with the plane and the small adjustments too be made with the controls. I guess it will take a bunch of doing to get that part figured out. Anyway, it was good to fly again and it was just as good to get home to the Ottertail..... I went hunting this evening, with great success, I might add!! Not only did I see the 'rare for here' red bellied woodpecker, but there was a Pileated woodpecker in sight at the same time!!! (pi'le-a'tid all long vowels except the last i) Oh, yeah, I also saw a nuthatch and a gray squirrel. Then I went home........

Hi, it's Wednesday night!!!!

O.K., O.K., so I've been a little busy lately!!! Actually, not much to report on. This first pic is not current but it's of one of my favorite spots, about a mile south of Phillips on Hwy 13. Always a beauty of a spot to drive past in the fall.

I've been getting out hunting a little more lately. That doesn't necessarily mean anything good..... to night I saw the red bellied woodpecker. It's such a bright red-orange it's hard to believe the color. I took a picture one evening while hunting but the bird was too far away and was too fuzzy when cropped and zoomed. So, I took a picture of the bird book page showing them. Ladderback family, named for the bars across the back.

I saw some deer tonight, but not the one in this photo. Six in all, a doe, two fawns, a six pointer, an eight pointer and one unknown (I think it was a small buck traveling with the six pointer). No action to report. At least I'm way more interested now that I've seen some deer!!!

I went flying last night! It was cloudy at the start, but breaking up. There was a very nice sunset and this photo was taken by Peg just before Steve and I came in for a landing. I looked over some of the previous posts about flying and it seems like I may have made it sound like it was quite easy and I was doing most of it. Well, I practiced some more stalls last night, the "approach stalls", and didn't do too well on the first couple. Then on the third one I think I forgot to nail the throttle at the appointed time and put the stick too far forward. As a result, we ended up heading quite steeply toward the ground!! Steve recovered for us and I was wondering what all had happened in the last few seconds...... I tried a few more (after some indepth explaining from Steve!) and they went pretty well. At the landing approach I realized how tricky that is. For the first time I was trying on my own to line up and approach near the ground. I don't know what all I did wrong, but Steve completed the procedure. Man, there is a lot to do to keep one of these things going!! I suppose it will get better with practice... I hope. I am scheduled for flying at 7:30 Saturday morning. Looks like weather will be getting a little warmer toward the weekend, but it will still be chilly that early in the day!!

Ah, the October Classic! I'm listening to the game as I type: bottom of 4th, 0-0 This photo is Blum hitting his game winning homer last night. 14 innings???? I slept through the last six......

Update

Greetings. This is the little hard maple in Peggy's yard. Normally it is a ball of red-orange fire. This year it is bare at the top, yellow in the middle and green at the bottom!

I was slated to help Ivan pour concrete today, so I left work at 1:00 P.M., went home to change clothes and get boots. Got to the site at 1:55 and the concrete truck was supposed to be there by 2:00. We waited and then called, the truck was going to be a little late, will be there by 2:30. It pulled in at 2:51, and as I needed to leave by 3:00 I didn't give any help to the project. Here is the job site on Solberg flowage, just out of Phillips.
Sorry Ivan, I hope you guys didn't have to work too hard, but I must say I had a blast this evening. After leaving the job site I had a couple of errands in Phillips (pharmacy, etc), then home to get ready to go to Merrill. I got to the airport a little after 5:00, did the preflight inspection on my own. Steve's hangar co-owner was there, another flight instructor stopped in, and we didn't' get going until 5:35.
Here's what it looks like on Solberg in October.

I got to taxi out to the runway, do the clearance check, pre take-off checklist, and taxi to runway head. I did the final turn, full throttle and away we went. When the front wheel came off the ground about a foot, I eased the stick back until we were climbing at 42 mph (right for that plane). Did a slow turn during climb-out and headed east. At about 2400' MSL I was told to climb 300' then level off, descend and level off, etc. Turns were added to the climbs and the most complicated was leveling off at some specific altitude while the 180° was still in progress. Steve explained a 'turn about a point' and I did a few around a little pond. There was 15-20 mph winds so staying in a circle around a point on the ground was tricky. Part of the circle the plane was level while turning and the opposite side of the cirle had the plane in a VERY steep bank to keep it from being blown of course by the winds.Interesting!
Here is a pic of Johnson's south lawn with dark spruce and bright maple behind it.


Steve demonstrated a power-off stall and how to recover from it, then I did about three or four of them. Another odd sensation. Finally Steve said to fly directly above a road he pointed out, gain about 500' altitude as we made our way back to the airport. We heard another plane call the airport to announce his intention to do a touch-and-go on runway 21. We could see him do the approach, downwind leg, base leg and approach. By now, it is nearly dark, all the lights are on in Merrill and the airport lights look really cool.... They touched down then speeded up and took off again.... it was another local instructor out with a student. By this time we were parallel with the runway in our down wind leg. As we passed the end of the runway I throttled back, dropped the nose a bit to maintain airspeed and started our descent. Then a left turn, and another and we were lined up with the runway. We were a little short, so I put on a little more throttle, aimed for the center with the intent to land about 100 ft onto the runway. Steve helped some with this part. I then needed to ease the stick back a little to get the plane flying level, and with the reduced throttle, the plane just sinks. At about 1 foot above the ground with the nosewheel, the stick comes back a fair amount which pulls the nose up and causes the plane to sink to the rear wheels. That last maneuver requires constant adjustment to cause a smooth landing. We touched down and I taxied back to the hangar, where we discussed a bunch of things from the flight and general bits of info concerning stalls and landings.



So, it looks like a possible Saturday morning flight coming up, as Steve is home for the weekend. Also scheduled for next Tuesday.
Next tasks will be flying at minimum controllable air speed, power on stalls and s-turns (criss crossing a road or something with symmetrical turns).
Did I mention that I'm having a blast with this??????

Here's the last turn on the way to Ottertail Lodge. The reds are mostly gone, with the gold aspen glow taking over. It looks nice with the evergreens.

The end of the road......

It's Monday night.....

O.K., I guess this about figures.... I have a flight lesson thursday and this is what the forcast is. Hmmm.... maybe I am jinxed on this project???? I'm trying to remember what the sequence is for change pitch, throttle change, etc. for each of the four different changes to and from level flight. Maybe I can make some flash cards and practice at home ;-)

Went hunting this evening. Saw three squirrels, several jays, one nuthatch, a downy woodpecker and a Chickadee! Late in the evening I was sure I heard a deer coming in. But I was wrong. No deer sightings by me this season.

Ominous looking dude here, hey. Maybe the deer are just too intimidated by the aura of this mighty hunter... or not. Every year the deer are more active and I see more of them from mid-September thru the end of the month. Early October is usually a slower period, and this year I was not out much during the September period because of a series of projects and stuff. So now I am in 'practice sitting in the tree' mode in hopes of better days ahead. Not that I haven't enjoyed the time I've spent so far.

I'll leave you with a view of the largest spike horn that I have ever seen. It makes anything the macho hunters get look like babies. Have a happy day....

Tree sitter

Tonight I sat in my little treeseat up in the Hemlock tree, just past the middle forty line. I got in the tree about 5:00. It was exceptionally nice out there this evening, no wind, no clouds and very little noise. Not much traffic on the highway, which you can hear easily from out there in the woods. The stand is about 1/2 mile from highway 13 and in the winter when the leaves are all off and the air is cold and still, the trucks sound like they might be about 50 yards away.
Anyway, tonight it was sunny and calm, with about 50% of the leaves still on the trees. Some bright orange, but more are a yellowish color. There are about four good sized red oak trees just behind the stand, and their leaves are still pretty much green. They will turn a little later, to dull reddish brown, and hang on the trees well into early winter. They like to rustle loudly in the cold winds of November, adding a sound dimension to my shivering watch over the bare trees. Fortunately, the change from the colorful, easy evenings we have now to the gray, chilly days of the early November rut is a gradual change. And as you know, the only thing that matters is what is what you are experiencing at the moment. The days past and the known future does not have an impact on the immediacy of the moment. You know you're cold, your nose is running, but that's just the way it is. You don't compare the moment to past or future, you just take in how things are and deal with it.


Tonight I saw zero deer. But I did get to watch a couple of gray squirrels and a black squirrel eating corn and chasing each other up and down the trees. There were three blue jays making trips back and forth from the tree tops to the corn, scolding the squirrels if they were near. Several nuthatches were in the area, and their unusual call is one my favorite seasonal sounds. Sitting in a tree in the fall and winter is about the only time I see and hear those birds. I haven't seen any chickadees yet, but they'll be around soon. Sometimes they flit about near my stand and a couple of times I've had one land on my bow or on an arrow. They're neat.


There was a little sliver of a moon tonight, and in a few days it will be about half size right above me at dark. I like the moon like that. A few barred owls were calling to each other as I left the stand to wander back to the Ottertail in the gathering darkness. I knew there would be walleye filets waiting on the counter. I left before supper and would get to eat anything that was left..... hunting is great!!

Here is Ivan with the antlers from the elk that Chuck got. They went to Idaho a couple of weeks ago....

On we go

with life as we know it. I have a few pix of the trees and stuff around here. This first one is what the back yard looks like right now. That old Maple tree is getting a little worse looking every year. The top is partly gone and a few more branches fade out occasionally. Don't know how much longer it will last.



Some of these photos were a little weird looking, taken into the sun. I tried to fix them up, maybe I can get some better ones soon.... but the leaves are falling fast. The rain this past week really took them off. There were reports from some localities of 8-9 inches of rain on Tuesday and through that night!!!



Some of you will recognize this Westware view at the first corner as you head away from Ottertail. That tree always is bright and looks even better nestled in with all the evergreens. That's a combination that I really enjoy.




Peggy got the last of the shingles put on the new roof last Saturday. So the outside work can be done whenever the weather permits or spring comes.... I started on the electrical stuff, have the lights up in the new part, outlets as well. Started running the wires back to the breaker panel. We're putting a small panel in the garage, fed by a #6 wire from a double 60Amp breaker in the main service panel. The #6 wire is in place and needs to be connected at both ends. Still need to put the lights up in the garage proper, one set with a three way switch setup,one near the outside door.



I can't resist taking a photo now and then of the Lodge. It's looking more like fall now, and I need to get out hunting!!! Only been out once, plan to go tomorrow and Saturday for sure. Oh, yeah, the flight school was cancelled for tonight due to crappy weather....



I noticed a few late bloomers in the flower holding areas. In the first pic, the plant nearest the bottom had about two dozen bees on it just before I went in to get the camera. I guess they are finding fewer blooms all the time.


Don't know what this one is, but it was just a little thing this early summer, now look at it! Looks like it could be like broccoli or something. Maybe I'll test it....
Sigh on R ah, dude.

Flight school

Got up this morning at 6:00, left for Merrill at 7:00 to get to school at 8:00. Peg went along as we planned on going to Wausau afterward to get some garage finishing supplies. Here is a nice shot of Steve's Quicksilver MXII plane.


Steve suggested that Peg get her introductory flight today, so she got ready to go. We both participated in the pre-flight inspection that is done prior to every flight.


Then Peg and Steve got in and off they went. They were up for about 30 munites or so. In the mean time, John (owns the hangar with Steve) worked on his new ultralight. It's a really nice little rig, enclosed, heater, two seats, etc. He will register it as a regular plane and complete his sport pilot license. Here is his plane (about 25 grand).


After Peg got back, Steve and I went up. I did all the flying once the wheels were off the ground (with Steve's instructions). I practiced shallow, medium and steep bank turns, some 90°, some 180 or 360. I did one series of 3 360° and had to change bank angle mid-turn, maintain altitude, etc. We spent about an hour doing this, then headed back. I did the descent and approach turns and Steve took over the stick when we were about 20 feet off the ground. What a gas.....


The above pic is Peg coming in for the landing on her flight.
My next school is Thursday at 5:30... I'm liking this!