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Posted on Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Pacer Game & New Year's
Lee Enterprises had made some progress on filling in the tax sale lot,
but it had rained too much for them to finish. They did remove the over
grown shrubs in front of the Daleville house which let us see the steps
were falling apart.
Pauline
& Brent joined us Friday afternoon with Julie. After everyone returned
from visiting Nana, we went to Bird's Smoke House for supper.
Saturday
we played Aggravation before going to Shelly & Jeff's house for their
New Year's Eve Party.
We
hung around the Daleville House after Pauline & Brent took their kids
and headed home. We really sat around too long and were about late for
the Pacer game. It started an hour earlier than we thought, not because
of the time difference, because we didn't look at the tickets.
I
may take decent pictures, but I'm really lousy at taking "selfies"! LOL
Of
course we stopped at King Fish. We ate inside because it was raining,
but it was warm enough Coco could stay in the truck.
We had a good
trip, had fun with family and friends, saw a good ball game and ate good
food.
Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2017
Our Drone
Stacey, Linda & I went to Brownsville to watch Julie & Kyle play
basketball. After the games, we ate with them at the Dairy Queen, then
went to their house to check out the new DJI
Phantom 4 drone that Brent and I purchased together. Brent gave me a
quick tour of the controls, then it was my turn to fly it. I started the
drone, lifted off the driveway and snapped a picture.
Then
moved it a litte further away and higher. I flew it with one hand on the
controlls while we waved as the drone remained motionless.
I
then moved the drone even higher, I used my cell phone's live video feed
to position the drone so the camera would frame Brent's house and I
snapped another shot.
The
DJI Phantom is super easy to fly. The hardest part is remembering which
end is the front while it is in the air. I was totally impressed with
the ease of controlling the flight of the drone and the quality of the
pictures it took. It also takes HiDef movies.
Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2017
Dogs Run
We went outside this morning and took Coco with us down to the barn,
picked up Daisy and headed across the creek in the Mule. Coco was a
nervous wreck with Daisy in the Mule, he was squeaking and growling real
low.
We
crossed the creek and stopped the Mule, let Coco and Daisy sniff around.
Then
Coco hopped down and we let them run loose a little while.
Incidently,
the Dale Hollow Lake Eagle Camera is now LIVE and the eagles are
nesting. I'm leaving it on the right side of this page until the eaglets
hatch and leave the nest. There is a link to their web site below the
video feed.
Posted on Sunday, January 29, 2017
Kyle's Birthday Shootout
We left the farm and went to Pauline & Brent's house, arriving about
12:30 PM. We were a little early for Kyle's birthday party at the
elementary school, so we helped load the cupcakes, ice cream and stuff
to take to the party. The party's theme was s Nerf Shootout. We sat up
the school's mats for the kids to hide behind and tables for the drinks,
ice cream and cupcakes.
Brent
had purchased around 400 Nerf darts and he spent some time loading guns
and dispensing ammo around the hiding places. The kids began arriving
and started shooting as soon as they put on the safety glasses and
stepped onto the gym floor.
After
a half hour or so, Brent called for a "cease fire" and had everyone lay
their weapons in the center circle. Pauline then called everyone to the
side of the court and served them ice cream and cupcakes along with a
drink.
When
the refreshments were gone, Brent had the kids line up at both ends of
the gym, then said, "GO!!" The kids raced to the center circle, picked
up a "weapon" and ammo, then ran out of the area before they were shot.
Snipers
were hiding in a lot of places during the shootout. Most of the adults
joined in the action too.
It
seemed the smallest girl up to the adults, all played together and had
fun.
Pauline and Brent did an excellent job of planning and
"executing" the party.
Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Drone Farm Pics
When we went to Kyle's birthday party, I brought the drone back to the
farm. I flew it a couple times yesterday, then messaged Brent to find
out what I had hooked up wrong. He explained to me how to hook up the
cables to my phone so I could see the video the drone sends back to the
controller. Today I was able to see what the camera was seeing so I
could position the drone for the image I wanted. I went to the hay field
to launch the drone so there would not be anything for me to run it
into. That worked well. I positioned the drone with the camera looking
up the creek and pressed the button to take a picture. Then I swiveled
the drone around and took a shot looking down the creek.
I
became braver and flew the drone towards the house and higher. I took
several pictures, turning the drone slightly after each picture. It was
nerve racking, so I flew the drone back to me, descending slowly until
it was about 10 feet above the ground and 20 feet away. I brought the
drone down right in front of me and slowly touched down, then shut off
the motor. Safely back on ground. I picked it up and laid it beside me
in the Mule's seat, then drove over to the house.
I
parked the Mule and took the drone out to the drive way, set it down and
pressed the button on the battery to start it. I then started the
controller and my phone app. The hills were not blocking the wind as
much as they were in the hay field, so I was even more nervous as I flew
the drone out across the front yard and up higher. The wind tried to
buffet the drone around but it held its position without my having to
adjust the controls. I watched the picture on my phone to adjust the
position of the drone until I had the house framed, then I snapped a
couple of pictures.
I
turned the drone, backed it away from the house and included the barn in
the next pictures. Finally, I turned the drone nearly 180 degrees and
took a few pictures looking across the creek.
As
soon as I was done taking pictures, I slowly landed the drone and went
inside as the wind was making it difficult to fly the drone. I hooked up
the charging cables and popped out the micro-sd card, put it in the
laptop and began looking at the pictures. Success!!
