Right now, the airplane parts are in my garage. I am planning some real work this weekend, so of course last night when I got home, the garage door would not open. Seems I have a broken spring. I will fix a lot of things myself, but I think this is beyond my expertise. The world’s best garage door guy is at my house right now making sure I can get in and out. If you are in Northern Colorado, I highly recommend Grizzly Garage Doors. They guy who owns the company is a bit kooky but so nice and does great work.

Then, for four days, my packing list disappeared. I have almost all the tiny pieces sorted, but I had two bags left. The packing list has all the item numbers. That might not seem like a big deal, but the instructions refer to all those tiny little parts by their item number. I could just look each one up on the Van’s website, but that might drive me more crazy than any other part of this project. So I was very happy to uncover the four sheets of paper on my desk today. Whew.

Saturday morning will be building the sample kit. It is a piece of a flight control surface. If that goes well, then Sunday, I put the very first rivets into a very small part of the actual airplane. Small so that if I have to replace it, it isn’t too expensive.

On a good note, this week at work I had one client bring me new shoes on Monday (she ordered them and they were too small – yay for tiny feet!), and another client bring me a tasty burrito for lunch today. All in all, I cannot complain. At least about that!

So wish me luck with my rivets this weekend. I am excited to have something to show for all of this prep. I need to figure out some way to display my test project in my hangar in perpetuity. Not sure what I am going to do with it.

Not sure if I mentioned it here, but a few weeks ago, I got the supreme pleasure of taking Wally Funk to lunch. That’s her with me (in the purple) and my sorority grand little sis, Deanna. Turns out we are all Alpha Chi Omega alums. Anyway, she was a delight and we have a standing lunch date anytime I am in Texas visiting my mother. She said she would love to fly with me sometime. Not sure I can handle that kind of pressure! The woman has flown everything from jets to hot air balloons. And her passion for aviation and for life was infectious. She is adorable and if you get the chance to meet her, do not pass it up.

Deanna’s father just finished a 42 year project of building a 2/3 scale P51. Without a kit. He’s a better engineer than I am. It is airworthy and I am looking forward to seeing it the next time I am visiting down there, probably in a month or so. Deanna and I are having some serious discussions about her finally finishing her license. She started years ago and she needs to get back in the air. Maybe Wally and I can get her there!