Good morning!!!!

[lostcreekranch]

Good Morning!!!! 49F @ 4:30AM. Cloudy skies. High 58F. Winds light and variable.
"Winds light and variable"?? We just had a 28 MPH gust.:confused2: And the rain forecast by the TV weather lady seems like it may all pass to the north; it's missing entirely in the hourly forecast.

How's the supply of hand sanitizer in your neck of the woods? I meant to pick up another small bottle or two last week while I was in town, and just tried to find some on Amazon. It's there, if you don't mind being gouged for it. :muttering: There are plenty of homemade recipes out there for it, so I think I'll go that way instead.

That dinner sounds like it would be very enjoyable, Randy. Just wash your hands if you use their facilities, and don't touch your face, and you'll probably be fine. Same with your trip, Drew.

But I wonder if there's another unanticipated repercussion to CoVid-19 in large gatherings. Could a single sneeze or cough start a stampede for the exits?:confused2:

I've always loved the smell of cedar when it burns, Wng, but it sure doesn't last long. Easy to cut and split, too. And so lightweight. But western cedar pollen makes me sneeze and sneeze...

Those pallet fork extensions would have come in handy this week for that long pallet, Rick. I might have to go shopping...

I left the joint between the PVC and metallic electrical conduit unglued until the contractor visit, and with rain on the way yesterday, it was time to close them up. I'd had trouble sliding the heavy metal section into place last time, so decided to pull 30' or so up out of the trench and support it on cross braces across the trench in hopes it would slide together more easily. And it did. I've had trouble with the short length of the PVC couplers not being very strong when the glue first sets, so I just left them up on the cross braces and went and found something else to do.

The FedEx man showed up at about lunch time with the drone, so I finished up with the glue job, then went inside to open the box. It was a nice kit, and in spite of the light weight, the drone looked like it was pretty well put together. But I've never seen such small documentation: The pamphlets and booklets were no bigger than 1 1/2 " x 2", and the type was maybe 4 point. I had trouble even with a magnifying glass. The thickest stack was labeled "Warnings and Disclaimers", and it was just as illegible as the rest. I'd already downloaded .pdf versions of most of it, so opened up the Owner's Manual and followed the simple instructions to get the batteries for the drone and controller charging, and once that was done, apply firmware upgrades. Watched a simple "first flight" tutorial, attached the propeller guards, and made a short flight around the great room. It was really easy, but even with the propeller guards in place made me nervous moving around the ceiling fans, pictures on the wall, and motorcycles, but it was enough to confirm that everything worked. The best part was that landing was really easy because the drone can see the ground coming up and slow and stop its descent about 18" above the landing surface. At that point it just hovers until you push the altitude stick down and hold it, at which point it lands and shuts the motors down. Big relief!

By then it was about 2PM, and the winds had picked up to 5 MPH with gusts to 12 MPH. But I decided to try an outside flight anyway, figuring I could always abort and land if the drone started to get carried away.

Launched off the back porch and immediately found that the wind was strong enough to knock the drone several feet up/down left/right when it tried to hover. So I gave it a little more elevation, maybe ten feet or so, and headed over to the trenches to see if I could follow them. Not too difficult, taking it slow and dividing my attention to direct visual observation of the drone and watching what was coming in on the video camera, and being displayed on the little screen of the iPhone SE. Got all the way to the bottom, pivoted and came back up, and got back over to the patio without incident, and landed. Then saw that I'd forgotten to record the video.:laughing: But the winds were picking up, so I decided to go to the other side of the house and try there. That's the video shown above. The only anxious moment came after flying over the fire truck and turning toward the trees, and having trouble seeing the drone. It's really tiny, barely bigger than your hand, and it was just a tiny dot about 50' away. I started to panic, but then just let up on the joy sticks and it stopped. Then I backed it up, pivoted again, and flew it back to the driveway for a landing. Nothing dramatic, but when I was done I went back to the DJI website and signed up for their $39/year insurance plan that offers two replacements should anything untoward happen to the drone. Then I made up a "Reward offered for return" sticker with my phone number and stuck that on the top. I was pretty pleased with how steady the video turned out, but can see I've got a lot of practicing to do before my video looks as nice as the stuff I've found on youtube.:laughing:

One of the "How not to crash your drone" videos I watched recommended an app called UAV Forecast for help with weather conditions and deciding whether or not to fly. After I put everything back on the chargers, I installed a copy on the iPhone and it told me that flying wasn't advisable. Uh huh, right. Next time I'll use it first and maybe save myself some stress.

All in all, though, I'm pretty impressed with how easy it was to pilot the drone and get it to go pretty much anywhere I wanted. The wind was the biggest concern, but only because I wasn't sure how easily the drone would be able to fight against it. Turns out I had just the opposite problem in that the joy sticks were pretty sensitive and it was easy to get the thing going faster than I could keep up with, mentally. The other mental challenge is that the controls stay oriented to the drone, not your point of view, so when the drone is headed back to you, left is right and right is left. But that will get better with practice, but it's pretty obvious how a drone could easily get hung up in a tree or lost in a lake, both of which I have in abundance!

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

"Those pallet fork extensions would have come in handy this week for that long pallet, Rick. I might have to go shopping..."

Mine are the 72" x 4.5" extensions for 4" forks.

Pallet Fork Extensions | Titan Attachments™ | Titan Attachments

 

[daugen]

Thanks Jay, I see in Germany they have 670 cases and no deaths! That's encouraging.

Confirmed Cases by Country/Region
80,651 Mainland China
7,041 South Korea

just think what this doing to industry there. These two countries make a huge amount of consumer and industrial goods. Samsung, Hyundai, Haier, big companies affected.
At least they are first world countries with exceptional containment knowledge. Africa will be worse, like the untreatable Plague coming through.
Prayers for all affected.

off to take the truck out with a couple of recycle bags and some junk for the dump. Have been stuck on email too long responding to multiple family members.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Good morning to all! Low of 32, frosty.... that was not in the forecast... but going for a high of 64. A very good chance of rain showers tomorrow afternoon.

RNG, nice video, especially for only your third flight! Beautiful scenery. I am sure looking forward for some more clips! You need to hurry up and learn so you can get some of those really high shots! Will the camera angle down or is it just straight forward?

Rick, I have looked at the Titan forks, but even when on sale, still too pricey to justify for the infrequent use I will give them. My neighbor (who is buying the new tractor) ordered the Titan bolt on forks.... if I need to use them, I am sure I can borrow them (or him with his new tractor):thumbsup:

I have flown r/c airplanes and helicopters for many years... sometimes it is still difficult to change orientation / perspective of the flight path... some of the guys out there that can fly them upside down and still do acrobatics backwards really amaze me... my brain is definitely not wired to do that!
I have never flown a drone.... they look the same from all directions... I am sure I would get in trouble on my first flight!

Today is going to be an outside cleanup day... before any rain comes. Maybe help my son with the staining of the garage floor.... maybe not... it will be a take it as it comes kinda day....

FedEx tracking shows the mower in Albuquerque since yesterday morning, but delivery still shows Monday... maybe they will surprise me and show up today.....

Everyone have a great weekend!

"Rick, I have looked at the Titan forks, but even when on sale, still too pricey to justify for the infrequent use I will give them. My neighbor (who is buying the new tractor) ordered the Titan bolt on forks.... if I need to use them, I am sure I can borrow them (or him with his new tractor):thumbsup:"

Several years ago, before I bought our first LS tractor, our "small" tractor was a Kubota B-2710 with a bolt-on bucket, i.e. non-SSQA.

I bought a set of the Titan bolt-on forks, primarily for carrying lots of limbs when trimming trees. This was in my pre-grapple days. The BO forks were fine for tree limbs but, IMHO using them for anything heavy would induce significant stress into the front edge of the bucket. YMMV.

1,5 lbs Capacity Clamp on Pallet Forks

 

[RoyJackson]

Any luck, I'll also pick up a Kahr CW380 I'd ordered from Bud's a week back.
I'd stopped by the FFL yesterday, but the NICS check came back as a "hold". This had happened to me several years ago...once. Last time, it took a day to square away...hope it's that quick this time

This little .380 will be my warm weather pocket pistol, as long as it runs good.

Well, did pick up the CW380.
Wow, what a stiff slide spring!
It's a bit too cold and mucky to run down to the field, so doubt if I get a chance to try it today...maybe tomorrow.
One thing about Kahrs is the manufacturer recommends a 200 round break in. An alternative is to rack the slide a couple hundred times and lock the slide back for a couple days. That seemed to work well with a CW9 Kahr I have. The CW9 ran well from day one...hope the CW380 does too!

 

[toppop52]

My doggie proof rear seat cover/ hammock for the Ram is due in today, got an email from the company on how to use it. That was cool. Also ordered some 75/140 synthetic gear oil and friction modifier, time to restock my garage. While I was sick everything got out of sorts. Also have non skid pads like I used on the tractor step coming, always handy. I keep several cases of motor oil but I’m not sure I have the right filters for the new tractor. Need to check my transmission and brake fluids too.
Visited mom this morning, she was pretty sharp today.

RNG, happy flying, looks like you are off to a good start.
I can’t fly drones on my property because of airport restrictions. I can stay below 50’ or call and get permission, but the better drones won’t even take off because of their programming re airport airspace.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I have flown r/c airplanes and helicopters for many years... sometimes it is still difficult to change orientation / perspective of the flight path... some of the guys out there that can fly them upside down and still do acrobatics backwards really amaze me... my brain is definitely not wired to do that!

What caused me the most concern is that the drone was far enough away that I couldn't tell its orientation. That's when I should have looked at the video to verify what direction it was facing, instead of guessing like I did. Got lucky there. Then what happens of the video link drops and you can't see it? There's an automatic Return To Home function, but so far I haven't been able to make it or the automatic landing feature work. Back to the user guide.

Not a high tension line, Don, but it is the transmission line that feeds the house. I flew right under it, and the user guide says to beware of them because they can interrupt the control and video signals. So that third flight could have easily been the last...

The camera gimbal can be panned to look anywhere between straight down and 20 degrees above the horizon. And you can adjust it in flight with a thumb wheel on the controller. That's a training issue as well: Lots of buttons and controls to master, and get muscle memory for when to do what.

Depends on where the fire is, Drew. Typically they erect No Fly zones around fires, with large margins, and putting up a drone under those conditions can be quite costly if they catch you, even if you don't know it at the time. So far, it's been pretty obvious from the monster smoke clouds just where the fire is, even when it's 20 or 30 miles away. Big fires also create their own weather, with strong winds that sweep toward the flames, then go vertical at the fire itself. That might make very dramatic video, but you'd have to get the drone back to enjoy it. At least with this drone; the high definition video is stored on a microSD card on the drone, and only a low res version is sent back to the iPhone. Don't think the news services would be interested in that.:laughing:

 

[RedNeckGeek]

just think what this doing to industry there. These two countries make a huge amount of consumer and industrial goods. Samsung, Hyundai, Haier, big companies affected.
At least they are first world countries with exceptional containment knowledge.

There's a video out by Tucker Carlson on just that, Drew. China now makes a great many of the ingredients in prescription drugs, and also 95% of the antibiotics we import. That's in addition to the rare earths used in the super powerful magnets that make much of high tech possible, and lots of other areas, too. That could have huge impacts on trade, much larger than the retaliatory tariffs China was considering during the recent trade negotiations. Wall Street knows this, and it's showing in the recent roller coaster ride in the stock market.

 

[sodamo]

65°F and .49 inches rain. Dare I hope for a drier day today? My roof is waiting.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[jbrumberg]

Early morning sunlight revealed a coating of snow left by the departing weather system. A mixed cloud and sun breezy 23ºF for today’s low (W= +15mph/G = ~30mph) and with increasing sunshine it is presently a breezy 30ºF and I anticipate a clear and sunny and breezy afternoon with high temperature in the mid 30ºF’s. The NWS has issued a Special Weather Statement for Elevated Fire Risk due to wind and low humidity which really does not apply here with my still-existing icepack. Dump run completed and I managed to corral our town’s Police Chief and got my LTC renewed. A beautiful day here.

RNG- A great first video flight video. I am impressed with your Mini Mavic. Flying a drone back while flying forward takes some practice. A good way to learn orientation is to practice flying “0’s” and figure 8’s close up and gradually increase distance and altitude. I look forward to more videos RTL is still unnerving to me and I need to sit down to fly FPV.

“… I need to get mine out and flying again.”- Lou I can relate. My solar panels take up a lot of my (former) airfield. I could see the basically all aluminum “FC” taking out a panel or two and creating quite a light show.

I hope that everyone is having a decent weekend.

My + thoughts, wishes, and prayers.

 

[sodamo]

Ron
The roof has to be pulled tight.