Oriental, NC

 We're riding out Hurricane Ian on the boat.  Literally on the boat since I can't safely get off the boat!

The water has been slowly rising over our dock.

 

The view back towards shore.

 

The boat deck is about 5' off the water now - too big a "step" for me to get off/on.  I will just occupy myself on the boat for the next 24 hrs.

Pittsboro, NC

 I spent most of the day with the HondaJet corporate PR department.  They had requested permission to do a "photo/video shoot" at the Asheboro Airport with their newest plane.

 

They arrived during the day and scouted out the airport environment.

Very cool camera mounted on a Honda Avalanche truck.

 

The main photographer got in some strange poses to get the "best" shot.

 They did several passes - takeoffs and landings. 

 

 

The truck "chased" them - filming at high speed down the taxiway while the airplane was on the runway. 

 

Here's my video of a takoff run.  You can see the chase truck at the end of the video.

 

 

And the sky was just beautiful as the sun set.

 

 

And it's a "wrap".  Fun day - the HondaJet folks were a pleasure to work with.

Pittsboro, NC

 Sorry to see my sis and her hubby leave this morning.  We had a great couple of days visiting with them and their adopted kitty - Kitten. She made herself right at home and is a real sweety.

 

We all went for a walkabout on the runway.  Quick selfie!

Pittsboro, NC

 Having a great time visiting with my sis and her hubby.  Robert came over for a cookout last night.  Fun times!

Oriental, NC

The non-skid patches on the foredeck are well past their useful life.  But they are a requirement since the area they are protecting is extremely slick!  With some hard pulling, they removed quite easily.

 

But left behind was debris and lots of adhesive.

 

So I got to work with various tools and acetone.  Eventually got all the sticky adhesive removed and the surface all cleaned and ready for application of the new treads.

 

I used a 4" tape that is especially made for this application.  I replaced the treads exactly as they were since there is some discoloration where the old ones were that I want to cover.

 

And a few hours of scrubbing and installing, all done for another 10 years or so!  (This is just half of course, but the other half is done as well...) 

 

Oriental, NC

 I finished the port side enclosure panels - got the "smiley" curved zipper put in the front panel so that we can easily open it up without completely unzipping the structure.

 

Here it is all opened up.  It turned out exactly like I'd planned - with extremely low "thresholds" so that we don't trip over the panels like we did with the old ones.

One more "smiley" to go on the starboard side then I should be finished sewing for a while. (Fingers crossed)

Oriental, NC

 I forgot to mention that Keith and Denise sent us home with a trunkload of veggies, as usual!

A couple of bags of peppers - too many for me to use fresh.  So I sliced them up and put them in the freezer for later use.

 

And back at the boat, I used some of their freshly dug red potatoes for a nice baked veggie dish.

 

And used the same hot oven to oven-bake this yummy okra. 

I didn't snap a photo, but they also sent us away with a nice box of canned goodies that we'll enjoy! 

Oriental, NC

 Good morning!

Finishing up the zipper on one of the enclosure panels.  One more to go.  (I have to wait on a delivery as I didn't calculate some material properly...)

Hendersonville, NC

 It's time for the McCraw reunion! 

 

Nice catching up with folks we haven't seen in a year now.

 

And this year it seems like even more food on the table than last year!

 

I didn't snap a photo of my huge meal, but I thought I'd show you the sample plate I had of desserts.  Wow, it was all yummy.  I shouldn't need to eat for a week, haha!

And always fun to find photos in the albums from past years.  We were all a little younger then!

 

Hendersonville, NC

 We had a lovely visit with Keith and Denise.

 

Spent a bit of time in their wonderful garden.

 

Always fun to visit the peaceful Mills River just a few feet from their garden.

 

Cookout in the evening with Mom.  Yummy food as always.

 

And we celebrated Mom's birthday just a bit early to accommodate our trip timing!  Fun day.

Hendersonville, NC

 Heading to the mountains this weekend for a visit and to attend the McCraw family reunion.  

Pittsboro, NC

 Weird, slightly sad day....time to give the Mooney over to it's new owner.  But time to focus on boating and quit wasting lots of $$ on the airplane each year with very little time to use it.  We'll come back to flying regularly sometime in the future.

A little bit of a complicated day - first, Duane was not "current" since we hadn't flown in 90 days.  Easy to fix - just 3 take off's and landings - so we visited Siler City for a bit.

 

And to hand over the plane - the new owner's flight instructor needed to be picked up at Greensboro (PTI) Airport.  So we flew over there to the "big airport".

 

Picked him up at one of the nice FBO's there.

 

Steele (the flight instructor) flew in the right seat to get familiar with the airplane. I sat in the back of the airplane for the first time in years - weird feeling!

 

Leaving Greensboro.  Lovely day!!

 

Approaching Eagles Landing for the last time in this airplane!

Time for the Mooney to go to it's new home.  One last photo.

And off it goes without us for the first time in 10+ years!

Pittsboro, NC

 Ahhh, it's starting to feel a little bit like the season is changing.  Woke this morning to fog and turkeys and little fawns!  

Pittsboro, NC

 Just a busy day at the airport. Pretty little turboprop