It was a very good week!

 

The week started on Sunday, Fathers’ Day. We were invited to Sara Anne’s Dad’s house for a cookout. The invitation was for Helen and me, but Helen had a bad hair episode on Saturday and wouldn’t come outside. Thus I attended stag.

Here are the four Tempestas. The two with hair are grandsons Kyle, in red, and Keaton, in blue. I’m the bald one behind Kyle and my son PT (Paul, Jr.) is the one on the right going bald.

The cookout was a grand success and I got to meet a lot of Sara Anne’s family. They turned out to be a very friendly group and really made me fit right in. I look forward to seeing them again at the wedding.

 

On the home front, Helen was visited by Scott and his family and I returned home around three PM.

My son Scott is on the far left, then there are grandchildren Kourtnie, Kolbie, and Brandon.

A little later on we were joined by PT, Sara Anne, Keaton and Kyle, so it was indeed very nice to have the whole clan together for the day. Between cookout #1 and cookout #2, I think I gained 10 pounds.

 

Tuesday I indulged in one of the activities on my bucket list. I have always wanted to get into Radio Controlled air planes. Years ago I built two from kits, but as a dad with a family, I just couldn’t afford the radio and electronics which was VERY expensive then. Last year I saw an ad for a plane complete with radio controls for about $129.00, and bought it impulsively. My efforts to control it were futile and I finally went to a R/C club for instruction.

This is the plane. It’s not dinged or damaged yet.

At the field, my instructor took the plane off and he really had his hands full trying to control the red menace as it was totally out of trim. So, he was trying to keep the plane in the air and adjust the trim at the same time. I was very impressed as I am certain that I would have crashed. In short order, he had the plane flying well and gave me the controls. In just a short time the battery was running low and the instructor took control and brought it safely to earth. For some reason, the battery would not recharge, so that was it for the day.

Another toy is my R/C micro-mini helicopter. This is to fly in the house. For  a while, it was a case of take off, crash, and repair. Take off, crash, order parts, and repair. Now that I have a lot of spare parts, I don’t crash anymore. When I first got it, Coco had to investigate, getting her nose too close to the rotors. She now avoids the contraption.

 

Years ago, like half my lifetime, I used to shoot skeet at the Plymouth Rod and Gun Club back in Massachusetts. Another item on the bucket list was to shoot skeet one more time. I checked a few times over the years, but couldn’t find anyplace close. A few weeks ago when Sam Weibel was down, he mentioned shooting and I found there was no place in Citrus County. The I heard of the Hernando Sportsman’s Club. Friday I went to Homosassa to help a friend and the club was just a few miles away. I drove down to check it out.

 

This is a skeet range, but not the one I attended. There is this house on the left that throws out a clay disk which shatters when hit. On the right side of the range is the second house which throws out the discs at a much lower angle.

Of course I didn’t have a gun, but several members offered me theirs. Some were very expensive guns and I was tempted, but I used to have a Remington 1100 of my own and decided to stay with a known friend. Besides, the 1100 is an auto loading shotgun that doesn’t kick like some others. I only shot 25 rounds, but could feel the effect later on my shoulder. It was fun, but that page of the bucket list has been closed.

Later.