Last day of Spring

Its been a weird year. More rain, snow and wind than seems normal. As they say "The only thing that stays the same, is that every thing always changes". The "normal" spring weather was missing as well, with few days that would lead one to trundle his little airplane out of its snug hangar to get tossed around the sky.

The weekend was stormy with rain, and last night there was a early dose of lightening that was rocking the sky to the North. Happily it was accompanied with rain so there were no columns of smoke this morning. It was far enough away that we couldn't even hear the thunder, but the light show was pretty spectacular.

I got up early this morning, and Karen and I did our runway walk. When we got back I checked the wind forecast. It wasn't all that bad, but was supposed to come up in the noon time frame. I eventually ran out of excuses and rolled the plane out so that I could check the river conditions for a possible fishing trip.

The air was actually pretty nice and I fear that I am in danger of becoming a wuss, so I resolved to do a bit better in the future.

https://vimeo.com/222426663   password-     owyheeflyer

There is feature with these Vimeo  videos that will try to match video quality with your down load speed. The video is uploaded at 1080 highest quality. This gives a video that is sharp enough to actually see some features of the landscape. You can change the speed it is playing by clicking the HD letters. It will show that it is on the "auto" setting.  I always click 1080. If it gets a bit jumpy by stopping, you can click on it to start the video, then pause the playback until the video gets far enough ahead to run smoothly. Depending on your down load capabilities it is well worth the wait. At least it is for me.

Flight to Big Grassy

https://vimeo.com/219800134    password -        owyheeflyer

This is a flight to Big Grassy which is about 39 miles to the East of the house. I flew high for a change in the hopes that the bigger view would be better. Unfortunately it was a bit hazy and the camera isn't capable of cutting through all of it. Again I was struck with how much water there is every where. The Cheat grass is maturing and every thing is turning red. The foliage at the higher altitudes is a little slower to mature, and therefore greener.

The air was quite smooth so the video is sped up 2.25 times faster than my little plane flies. Its a little jerkier, but you get to see more of the country that way. There is an annoying flutter to the sound track that I could not find or eliminate- sorry!

I once had an acquaintance that scolded me for making the feral horse's run with my plane. That in turn annoyed me enough that I no longer correspond with him. The reason that it bothered me so much is obvious in this video. I am at least a thousand feet above the horses, but they still ran like hell for the rougher country. Perhaps my motor sounds similar to the copters that they use to herd them with.

  

Snake trap?

This year seems as though it was a good year for Snakes. In the 12 years that we have been here I have only found one Rattle Snake on our property. The Gopher Snake or "Bull Snake" is quite common however. This year they seem a bit more common than usual. There is also a strain that I call "flying Snake". You see them when I toss the intruder across the creek, thinking that they won't come back quite as easily.

I admit to not knowing very much about their lifestyle or ability to see, or how they "think" if that would be the correct term. I just know that the house seems to draw them. Of course then I give them flying lessons. It would seem to me that the creek should constitute a barrier that they would not willingly cross. So I am assuming that I am seeing different snakes each time I toss one across the Creek. I am sure that my friend Richard will enlighten me soon. It is obvious that Mice are more often found in the rocks and other natural barriers. Perhaps they follow the Mouse trails to my house.

The dogs have become quite proficient in finding these critters. Being pointers and naturally cautious, they stay back, but get my attention. The Bull Snake does not have all that much of a noticeable scent to most dogs. Unlike a Rattle Snake, that has a really nasty stink to it that even a human can smell. Most of the dogs that I have had that weren't Brittney's did not even notice a coiled Bull Snake, and would walk right over them. Now that Josie and Brick know that I want to find them, they naturally look for them, so that they can get the praise from me when they do.

My Hawk Mews have been empty for quite a while, but this weekend Sarah brought Yogi back. She is moving and can't keep her, so I am keeping her until Tami can get ready to fly her this fall. I put Yogi in the center mews to finish her molt. I also installed an automatic water set up for her bath and went in to check it yesterday. The door to the first mews was open and I could see a Bull Snake inside the door by a bucket and a noose carpet. After I finished my morning chores, I went back to remove the Snake.

A noose carpet is a trap for Raptors that is put over an active kill to snare the hawk when it comes back to feed. It is mostly used on Falcons, or at least that is mostly what I use one for. After the hawk makes a kill it is bumped off of it. The carpet is then laid over the prey and when the Falcon comes back its feet are snared in the nooses. I had tossed the carpet in the mews so that it would be close but not in the way.

I moved the bucket and it was obvious that the Snake was caught in it. With Karen's help I soon freed the Snake. It had been quite successful in the chambers and had two Mice in its stomach that it had tried to regurgitate unsuccessfully of course since it could not open its mouth. It was a little worse for wear, but I pushed the Mice back down its stomach a bit and put him in a rock pile. He had been caught around the jaw. I don't think any thing was broken since the jaws are quite flexible. If he kept the Mice down, he would have enough food to sustain him until he healed. He might make it, at least he has a chance.

New tires for the Plane, and the problems from that decision

This is what the new ones look like. Smooth Tundra Tires, new spun rims, special tubes. 21 inches tall and with screws in the rims to prevent the tire from slipping  They are what common sense and a little slush fund needs to provide for this country. With four pounds of air in them, the landings should be like setting down on a pillow. Enough clearance and most of the terrain shouldn't be too bad to land. Of course that is a bit rosy, but a fellow can dream, can't he?

https://vimeo.com/214265452

If you highlight the link to the left you can choose a function that will take you to the video.

Well after that, it became obvious that I did need to balance the tires. The weather was crappy anyway, so I proceeded to make a viable balancing system to use for that.

Pretty easy actually. Just take two transformer straps that someone was kind enough to leave here on the place. put them in a vice and bend them 90 degrees so that I can clamp them to the bench. Then use a section of 1/4 inch rubber hose to fit the bearing and a section of 3/8 rod to go between the bars. No resistance, no cost.

I had tried balancing my last pair of tires and found that they sold little 1/4 oz lead weights at a cost of about $12.00 for 8 oz. Most of them also fell off. so I decided that I would use hot glue and cast lead bullets.

At least that would give me an idea of how much weight I would need. The right one was no big deal, about 3.8 oz of weight for it. However the left one was something different. It required 14.7 oz of weight to balance out.

I had problems as you can see of getting enough weights in both sides of the tire to get it balanced.

I got a bit of a clear morning and rolled it out for a test, and the difference was just what it should have been from the first.

I decided that I couldn't leave the tires like that so I decided to make my own weights. I ordered some Hot Glue sticks by Gorilla Glue from Amazon. Naturally I ordered the mini size by mistake. The package was destroyed somewhere near Northern Oregon, so they "next day " delivered a full package of the minis. I retaliated by ordering the proper size. The hot glue that I had could have been anything from 15 to 20 years old, so I thought that I had a better chance of getting something useful from Gorilla glue. I like all their other stuff, so I had an even chance of it actually being some good.

The area where I can put the weights is only about 3/4 of an inch wide, and there is nothing on the market for these kind of tire rims, so I was limited to something home made. I admit that I am not much of an Engineer, but I am hell for making do. The pretty part is generally whats missing. I fondly call it Industrial strength "Mickey Mousing".

I made a mold out of a piece of 2x4 with a plunge router tip in my drill. I made it deep enough that I could get enough lead in there for the application.

Then I drug out my Propane heater and an old left behind frying pan, and my bucket of cast 38 wadcutters.

I weighed the weights that I had hot glued in for my test flight, poured out clean weights until I got the right amount,  put them in the pan and on the fire till they melted.

Then I poured it into the mold and had my wheel weight in a much more compact package.

3.7 ounces for the right wheel. I took a hammer and bent it to conform to the rim, then put a little dab of glue of the bottom to test the wheel for balance, and when I was satisfied with the location, slathered the glue on the bottom and stuck it in place. One wheel down.

The left tire was the problem. There was no way that I was going to be able to put 14.7 ounces on one side of the tire where I wanted it. So I had to make two of them.

One of the was 6.7 oz, and the other 8.3. It was easy to get my raw weights, just dribble bullets on the scales until I got what I wanted, then into the frying pan and pour in the mold.

The one above was the smallest, the one in the back side was going to be 8 oz and inside the brake rotor.

When I did my temporary stick on, I found that I had made it too heavy, so I trimmed it with a band saw until I got it down to what I needed. I had to stick it further in the rim to clear the brakes. I glued it as best as I could, I shudder to think what could happen if the one on the inside ever comes off. It would probably make a mess of the brake on that side. The glue however is tough, and it requires a bit of an effort to peel it off.

Five hundred and Forty Five for the two tires and tubes. That doesn't count the new rims. The Tires are $195.00 each. One would think for that price you could expect to get a damn good tire.

I contacted Desser about the problem with the tire, and I thought for a while that they were going to make it right. There is no way that any tire should require 14.8 ounces of weight to balance. It tends to make the argument of a 2 pound weight savings per tire seem to be a bad joke.

I once heard a wise man say "If its got tits or tires, its going to cause you problems".

Owyhee Field day 2017

Karen and I  loaded up the entire group with the exception of the Chickens and made the trek to the Owyhee Dam Campgrounds for another Field day for the 5th graders of the area schools. Tiger the cat wisely decided to stay in the camper where it was a lot warmer and drier. 

The pictures are bigger this time, but they will still enlarge to full size if you click on them.

This year they had to hold it at the last campground of the area because the water was so high that the road into the dam headquarters was washed out.

This is called the "Glory Hole" and has the same function as the opening at the top of your bathroom sink. It keeps the water from washing over the top of the dam. I have never seen this much water in the dam before.

These are the normal water release openings and they are about four feet in diameter.

                                                                     This is the spillway for the Glory hole.

                                             The white water on the right side is the spill way for the Glory Hole.

                                                                       You can see how big it is over the guy's shoulder.

We got there a day early and set up camp in preparation for the onslaught.

Every thing was green as could be, but the lighting was really flat. I actually need a filter on the camera for decent pictures.

I have never seen this much water in the reservoir before.

Jessie and Hope were forced to endure the visit and in Hopes case the petting fingers of  about 200 kids

The first day it rained, and rained, and the wind blew. 

Someone at the station before us thought it was a good idea to give the kids ice cream. The kids were freezing and so unprepared to be holding a freezing cup of ice cream that much of it was wasted simply because they couldn't stand the cold enough to eat it.

We took the 50 inch TV from the house and set it up for the video's that I had loaded to show what falconry is all about. At least this time they could actually see what was going on.

Thanks to Les Schwab tire store, they all had rain coats.

The first day we left the dogs in the house simply because it was so wet. Brick was going through withdrawal, having had to watch all those lickable kids that were just dying to pet him. 

The station next to us this time was Charley the Steer, who is a test subject for feed quality. The round white spot on his side is a window into his rumen stomach. There is a rubber stopper in it when the kids aren't sticking their hands inside to see how cows digest food. They cut a hole in his side and stitched his stomach to it so that the contents could be examined.

The second day it was dryer, but the wind was bitterly cold. The kids were freezing, none of us was dressed warm enough to be sitting outside. We did let the dogs out and at least some of them got to get warm with Brick being the heater. He was like a movie star throwing himself into the Mosh pit. I saw him laying across three kids at a time licking each face that got anywhere close enough to reach.

The kids were all excited to see the birds, and perhaps that makes up for the set back in their molting that will inevitably occur. Of course they all wanted to pet the birds. Poor ole Hope drew the short straw as there was no way that Jessie would allow that kind of indignity. There was not enough band aids for that. I am afraid that Hope made a serious impression on a lot of the girls especially. One of her Alula feathers fell out and there was a scramble for it. The victor had a smile a mile wide.