Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Saturday Night

It’s Another Saturday Night…. (Remember the Song?)

Today I got up early and went to the flying field. It must not have been early enough because by the time I got there at 9’oclock, everyone was gone or they never showed up to begin with. Anyway the wind picked up, I was alone and decided to walk through the procedure of running up the PT-19 Trainer I have. So I put it together, fueled it and tried to start the engine. Alas it wouldn’t start and I decided that three strikes and you’re out and went to the Hobby shop and bought a new glow plug (Model Airplane spark plug) I have a theory and that is that if a machine won’t start it is always the spark plug that is to blame.

I came home, had lunch and checked my email. I was halfway hoping that the four students that failed to submit their vignettes on Thursday would have posted. Alas, this was not the case. Actually I long ago resolved that I would not let others drive my life and went out to the garage and worked on my models. After installing the new plug I got my PT 19 to going and it ran great.

Later, Linda and I went to the Thresheree in Plainfield Wisconsin. It was very hot and we didn’t stay long. I wish it had been cooler because I really like to listen to the “Hit and Miss” engines running. From about 1900-1920 these engines were produced to operate cheaply and help mechanize farm labor. They were put to use sawing, pumping water and grinding corn to name just a few of the tasks they were adapted to do. They did a lot of cool things back in the good ole days, one of which was leaving behind a legacy of good writing. Those old time men and women writers could really spin a yarn. They understood the art and science of writing and left behind a legacy of fine literature.

Now this is the time I usually pull out my soap box and start lecturing but tonight I just don’t have it in me. Linda is next to me in bed reading book three of Game of Thrones and from time to time she tries to weasel out of me answers to what she sees unfolding. I tell her to keep reading.

I wrote the Hobby Shop in Florida about some of the problems with my order and they have been very responsive and accommodating. I told them that I was new to the hobby, had won an airplane and provided the specifications and told them I want to make an electric flyer out of it. They provided some recommendations which I followed exactly and still didn’t get the stuff I wanted. I mean I still needed a control box (transmitter) receiver for the airplane and four servos to operate the rudder, elevator and alierons. Anyway they were helpful but didn’t really read carefully my first email. These guys are so technically advanced in the hobby that they are next to worthless trying to communicate with a novice. Have you ever noticed that the more advanced in a field people get the more difficult they have communicating with newbies? The make too many assumptions. I guess the lesson learned in any industry is that if a customer is a novice they need to be led down an entirely different path than experienced customers. Is it just me, or have some of you noticed the same thing?