Leigh is Back

Well team, its spring down here in the far south …. early spring but the daffodils are starting to come up, there is duck sex on the pond and well it just smells of spring. Ahhhhhhh another crushing (wink) winter survived.

Leigh has also returned from her pan-USA trip. She fell in love with the place and want to move there. The eastern seaboard really touched her and she could just see us living in Maine or one of those places. I suggest the next holiday be in the middle of winter to get the full effect but hey …. Seriously she had a great time and is doing really well. If people want we’ll wack up a selection of photos for you . She took 1000 photos. Digital is great.

I’ve been improving my RC flying with my little parkflyer (a SpreeEP for those who care). I’ve been getting 30 minutes of flying in after work! This electric stuff is great, but given it only weighs 450g it needs to be a calm day. You cannot even hear the plane at half throttle until it is 5 meters away. I cruise around a field down in the orchard. There are three projects in the works right now. 1) I have about an hour left to finish my big LT-40 traier that is combustion engine powered four chanell plane (the next step in learning to fly RC) 2) a seaplane kit that I bought 10 years ago. I young fellow a work who loves building planes is assembling it for me. He’s a absolute craftsman and is happy just building it. 3) A giant Unmanned Aerial Vehical (UAV) that looks like the RQ pioneer. I’m talking just under 3 meter wingspan and using a converted weed eater motor spinning an 18 inch prop. Way cool … Ian is being bullied into building the GPS based auto pilot. I intend to have my own photo recon squad next year. Am I paranoid enough?? The air to arsehole motorcross bike riders missles are on the drawing board.

So thats kind of it. Sam is doing great, Uni goes well , he has a cool job up in Auckland this summer and then tumbles into his last year Today he is in Blenhiem at a memorial service for a cousin killed on Mount Blanc in France a couple of weeks ago. Sad.

What news from the frozen north? progress Ian? New Photos Terry? Viv? Joan??