Pittsboro, NC

 Saturday morning at the airport....means a bunch of "old" pilots hanging around....

 

And most importantly it means doughnuts.....someone always brings the doughnuts.  After a sufficient amount of caffeine and sugar has been ingested...many flying stories and lies are told.....

Pittsboro, NC

 Just hanging at the airport on a very hot day!

Customer being towed by the aircraft mechanic to the fuel pit.

Oriental, NC

 The hulls in the cabins are lined with a carpet-like material.   It helps with sound dampening and hides any condensation.  Unfortunately, it does get moldy.  So every few years it needs addressing.

This is the "before" photo in our berth. 

 

And the nice clean "after".

I bought one of those little  Bissell "spot clean vacuums" and used their cleaning fluid.  A couple of passes and the mold was all gone.  Makes the berth seem so nice and clean again!

Oriental, NC

 Still nasty hot here!  93 degrees and it's not even noon yet....

I've finally placed my Sailrite order for the material for the side enclosure panels.   Measured and planned for a long time to make sure I have everything right.  So next week I'll probably be whining about that process....(the old ones rolled up in the mini-van)

Oriental, NC

 It is blazing hot here!!  We've got all the shades out on the boat trying to mitigate the amount that the a/c needs to run.

The grass has been ignored for about a month now....so we took care of that this morning along with the vacant lot.  We sure know how to have fun!!  if you look close you'll see two baby deer beyond the camper....

Oriental, NC

 Duane is busy doing a bunch of wiring.  I have no idea what he's doing...I'm not interested in things electrical.  Anyway, the boat is a bit torn up....never fear, it will be all nice again soon.

And I want to brag on a little thing our son Robert made for us - I know this is a weird photo - it's one of our bathroom sinks.  He did a 3-D print to make the white drain strainer for us.  Before there was just a gaping hole just asking for items to be dropped directly into the sea! 

Oriental, NC

Finally back at the boat!!   

 I had a pretty rough 24 hours after the Covid booster set in!  Had chills and just slept.  The worst seems over now.  

We're staying on the Avion for a few days while Duane tears into some modifications on the lithium batteries and completes the fridge/freezer re-vamp.  Boy, the camper is small!!  

 

Pittsboro, NC

 We had planned to head to the boat yesterday, but we were waiting on a FedEx ground delivery.  They are notorious for not delivering on time....got the "delay" notice in an email.  Hoping that arrives today.  It says the package is in Durham now....we'll see I guess.

So, we decided to go and finally get our last Covid booster shot....weird photo, I know.....feeling a bit sore but otherwise OK.

Pittsboro, NC

Back to the boat soon!  

Military heli doing pattern work at the Siler City airport.  Fun to watch but loud!!

 

Pittsboro

 Beautiful sunset at Asheboro tonight!

Pittsboro, NC

 More putzing at Asheboro airport. I wandered around in the museum For a little while. I hadn’t been inside in a couple of years. They’ve done a nice job with their displays lately.

Pittsboro

 Just another day at the airport. Cool Vision jet at Asheboro. 

 

Pittsboro, NC

 Just putzing around at home and the airports lately.  Dreary day but busy at the airport.

Asheville, NC

 We had a relaxing time at the Hall reunion this year.  Mom and David getting things rolling before we had lunch.

I didn't take a photo of my plate....but needless to say, I had some wonderful food - sampled as much as I could!

After lunch my uncles John and David played some nice music.  The audio is not great but watch for a few minutes - fun vibe.

And soon it was time to head back to Pittsboro!  Nice cloudy/rainy drive home.  

Mills River, NC

 My trunk leaving Mills River this morning!! Thanks Keith and Denise for the extra bounty!

Hendersonville, NC

 Enjoying the mountains - not cool weather like you'd expect!!  

The view from Duane's parent's house. 

Mills River, NC

 Happy Birthday to Duane!

Asheville, NC

 Driving “home” for a little mountain visiting this week!

Pittsboro, NC

 Dick and Lindy invited me to share in the abundance of blueberries on their tree/bush.

I made quick work of picking a bowlful (with a little help from Sandy as she and Charlie visited a bit on their golf cart while I was picking).

 

The usual process - lots of sugar.

 

And before I knew it, all done!  I have a mis-mash of jars/lids so it looks a little wonky.  But I can assure you it tastes wonderful!

Thanks Dick & Lindy for the offer!

Pittsboro, NC

 More sorting/cleaning/organizing.  

I called the local Habitat Restore to ask if they would take a working but old treadmill.  (I know they sell them as I've seen similar equipment there before).  The answer was "no, we're completely full of donations"!!  

So we've loaded it up on the pickup and will take it tomorrow to the "swap shop" at the dump.  Hope someone will take it.  We've decided that 5 years collecting cobwebs in the corner is enough!

 

And more purging.  All the stereo equipment that was in the basement cabinet.  A cassette player, a CD player and a VCR.  None will ever be used again.  We're also ditching all the CD's we'd collected over the years.  We have all of that stuff on MP3's.  My goodness how time flies.  (Yesterday I took a box of 8-track 70's rock tapes to the dump!)

 

And in the evening Charlie and Sandy had invited us to view fireworks at the end of the runway.  We took our golf cart up to Dick and Lindy's for the best viewing.  Lindy had a bike accident a few weeks ago and had surgery a couple of days ago to repair it.  Dick is being a very nice caregiver!

 

Looking down the runway as the skies darkened with nightfall.

 

Chatting waiting on just the right amount of darkness.

Dick had a Chinese lantern that he lighted.

 

Beautiful to watch is slowly rise and float peacefully away.  Made a wish!!

 

And a wind current could be seen pushing it westbound until it was out of sight at a high altitude.  (Never fear - it will burn out at altitude before it drops the ashes harmlessly).

 

Before long we could see Charlie's red headlamp (I assume) in the distance prepping the fireworks.  Good show!!

 

Really enjoyed the evening.  Thanks Charlie and Sandy!

Pittsboro, NC

 Fun fact - according to Blogger, this is my 1500th post....

Only vaguely "nautical"....I did some mending with my home sewing machine.  It's so much easier to handle with light fabrics than my heavy duty one.

My flag banner has gotten tattered around the edges of most of the small flags.  So I re-stitched all the borders to prolong the life of the flags.

And more house-cleaning/purging.  Another load to the dump and a lot of sweeping/vacuuming.  Not very exciting/photogenic but satisfying in it's own way!