Sisters!

Abigail is still loving being a big sister ... so much so that if Naomi gets a little fussy Abigail will give her all-time favourite possession (her Monkey!!) and tells us it's "To make Nomi feel better"!! How cute is that?! If you know Abigail and her Monkey ... this is HUGE!!!! As you can see Naomi's name is slowly evolving in our household, she was first called Omi by her big sis but only a few days after she came home from the hospital Abigail renamed her Nomi and that has stuck ever since ... and seems to be a name we're all using!

This month we had another sister in the house as Jenny's little sister, Pippa came to stay/play/help/relax ;o)!! As you can see she soon became a favourite of both of our girls ... and Abigail spent a lot of time playing with Pippa's camera mostly looking at photos and video clips of herself but sometime's attempting to take the odd photo too!!

Abigail had loads of fun playing with 'Popeye' ... if you've been reading our blogs for a while you'll remember this is what Abigail renamed Pippa on her first visit here to the States last spring and I think will be forever known as ... in our house at least!! They were often out on the trampoline or playing in Abi's room ... where Abigail perfected what she calls her 'Superstar Pose'! We have no idea where that came from but here it is ...

Over the weekend that Popeye was here was the annual Hot Air Balloon festival ... so we spent some time at the fairground on the Saturday having fun! Although Naomi was with us in body ... she slept through the whole experience from beginning to end!!!

Abigail really enjoyed having a go on some of the fairground rides ... but of course her favourite thing continues to be the ponies so when she spied those there was no way we were going to be allowed past without stopping off there!

Just like last year, the weather threatened to stop all the scheduled hot air balloon launches but also just like last year the Saturday evening launch was able to go ahead and as we live close to the fairgrounds we got to enjoy it from right outside our front door!!

Abigail and Popeye found a much easier way to watch all the balloons fly overhead without craning their necks ... much to our amusement!!

Just to prove we were watching them from home ... a more 'arty' shot!!

The same weekend as the Hot Air Balloon festival is the Corvette Car Rally in Roscoe Village ... this year there seemed to be even more cars than last year!! Complete with the same amusing license plates ... below is a picture of one we didn't see last year!!

Abigail really wanted her picture taken next to a pink car ... but having walked the entire length of Roscoe Village (which isn't all that long!!) and not finding any, she chose this blue one instead!

Popeye loves thunderstorms and they can be pretty spectacular out here! We were able to oblige with two impressive ones while she was staying with us, although couldn't muster up a Tornado warning like we have for our last two sets of visitors! We also took a trip to the pool at Lake Park ... always a fun time ... not sure who was being more goofy in the water though, Popeye or Abigail!

It's turned into a tradition that every time Popeye comes to visit us she goes home having done something different with her hair ... usually a different colour ... red, purple etc etc. This time though we went a little more dramatic ... as you can see below (the before and after) ... my hairdresser did a great job!!

We had lots of fun and were sad to see Popeye leave ... especially Abigail, as for the first time at the airport she 'got it' ... after all the visitors we've had since living here, she finally understood that when someone says goodbye and goes through security they won't be coming home with us and was wailing loudly for all to hear!

From one sister to another ... our next visitor at the end of July will be Mark's sister, Amy!

Latest 402 Action

It has been quite a while since I wrote about what I've been doing in the hangar. Well, I'm still working on the Cessna 402 for 'Wings with Word' with another MAF UK apprentice. The good news is that we have finally finished the spar strap modification and got the engines installed and rigged. Below are some photos of the finished job. The first shows the engine in place. The second has the nose bowl in place (making sure the engine was set correctly on its mounts). The third shows the engine with the propeller, spinner and top cowling on (although we removed it again so we didn't keep on hitting our head on it whilst installing the landing gear). The side cowlings were going to be going on as well, but that was before we found inter-granular corrosion and chaffing which will require more work.

Now that the engines are done, it's time to get the aircraft back onto it's wheels. That sounds SO much easier than it actually is. Every push-pull rod had to be removed and inspected, all the bolts, nuts and washers had to be checked for wear and corrosion, and specific inspections had to be performed. One specific inspection involves NDT (Non-Destructive Testing) using florescent penetrant. The part has to have all paint and primer removed and be totally clean. Then the penetrant is sprayed on, left to dwell for about half an hour and then removed. A developer is then put on which draws out any penetrant that has seeped into cracks. You use a black light to highlight the cracks. Follow the link ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cl2ULh0_ss&feature=email ) to see a short example of florescent penetrant.

All along we have found problem after problem, but we have finally managed to hang the main landing gear. The photo below shows the left hand main landing gear strut on the table being inspected. The two parts on the lower left are the torque knees. One of the bushings had to be replaced, filed down and reamed to the correct size.

The landing gear on the 402 is a retractable system. This means that the once the aircraft is up in the air, all three wheels are retracted into the fuselage/wing and doors close over them. There are two types of systems: the first is a hydraulic system that uses hydraulic fluid and pistons, whilst the second system is all rods, bell-cranks and pivots. This 402 uses the second method, and you can see some of the mechanisms in the photos below. The first photos shows the main wheel door mechanism. You can see the main push-pull rod coming through from the fuselage on the left and the door push-pull rod hanging down. The second photo shows some of the nose wheel mechanism.

We have finally got the main landing gear hung and have installed the wheels. Unfortunately the money has run out again, so we cannot purchase the things we need to finish the job until the mission raises more funds. We will need to buy new brake cylinders (damage found due to special inspections and corrosion), nose wheel halves (corrosion), wheel bearings (water marks and overheating), high pressure strut valves (incorrect ones installed) and numerous hardware.

There will be more updates as we proceed with getting this aircraft complete and back into the mission field.

Stateside Silliness!!

We realised the other day it's been a while since we commented on any of the differences we've found living here in the States ... some more obvious than others ... and some of which we don't even notice any more as having been here for 21 months they've just become the 'norm' now!!

So here are just a few little gems ...

• On the road ... you 'Yield' instead of 'Give Way', a 'No through road' or 'Cul-de-sac' will have a sign reading 'No Outlet' and you can get a $250 fine for parking in a disabled parking spot, apparently even in your own church carpark (!!) ... the most obvious difference is being able to turn right on a red light (which is difficult to explain to a 2 year old when you've already told her that red means stop and green means go!!!)
• At the bank ... you pay in money with a 'deposit ticket' instead of a 'paying in slip' and check's are still widely used to pay for things (and no we didn't spell it wrong ... American's use 'check's' not 'cheque's'!) When you first open a bank account you are given a box of checks and deposit tickets and once you've used them they don't automatically get re-ordered ... you have to pay for more ... but you can get some really weird and wonderful designs on them!!!
• When we talk about getting 'Post' most of our friends out here picture a wooden stake in the ground rather than a letter in the 'mail'. Here you always write the senders details on the top left corner of the envelope and the 'mailman' will collect outgoing 'mail' from your 'mailbox' so you don't have to actually go anywhere to send something as long as you have a supply of stamps at home!

Here are a few other random language differences ... the American comes first ...

Candy - Sweets

Diaper - Nappy

Grocery sack - Shopping bag

Broil - Grill or Sizzle

Wrench - Spanner

One Fourth - A Quarter

Noodles - uncooked pasta of any shape

Ladybug - Ladybird

Embroidery Floss - Embroidery Thread

Bandage (or Band Aid) - Plaster

Shovel & Pail - Bucket & Spade

Pocket Book - Handbag

Bank - Money Box

As you can see sometimes they're more obvious than others ... and often we've found we can 'translate' to American but they have more trouble working it out the other way ... probably because of all the movies we watch!!!

Of course not all the silliness is because of cultural differences ... we can also be quite silly too ... just check out the newest addition to Mark's tool box in the hangar (shown below) ... you can only hope he has learnt more than that during his apprenticeship so far!! ;o)