September colors

Picked the last of the tomatoes.

Not much growing left in them this year, so took them all and cut down the plants.

Bumble bees are drunk on sugar from the sunflowers

Sleeping it off right on the flower

Parsley has finally got bushy after looking sorry most of the summer.

Got a good bit of my dead fall and garden trimmings brush pile taken care of.

Yes, we do chainsaws and trees too

 The old Stihl 028WB was running quite badly, and would not idle at all when I got it from dad a few years back.

 So a couple of months ago I bought a carb rebuild kit on ebay.

6.59 U$ much better than the 36 $ at my local dealer.

And rebuilt the carb.

Also replaced the old black feed hose from the tank to the carb as it was full of holes due to the ethanol in our fuel, and likely one if the reasons it would not run right. Also added a missing gasket between the carb and the head.

Carb is as good as new

 

 Reinstalled.

The old air filter was also full of holes and as it is has a built in choke and regulates airflow it is no surprise the saw was not running right.

So that also got replaced, and would you know it, it runs like a charm.

Also added a new chain just to top it off. Total spent about 45$

So on Saturday we figured it was time to lop off a few of the lower branches on one of the oak trees in the back yard.

And allow a bit more sunshine in on that part of the yard

We took off a couple of the lower ones and Annie helped me buck it and clean it up.

Then my neighbor Ralph put down his beer and got in on the act, helping me lower a few more branches using a rope.

 And wound up with a small pile of red oak and a mess of brush to clean up.

Garden, hardly worth the trouble

Abominable creature

Beats me why they call it the Tobacco Hornworm if it eats tomato plants.

Most of our pathetic harvest this year. Its the first year we actually have edible pears. Managed to harvest six more or less healthy ones out of about 25 we started with.

Acorn squash, not so much

Seems the Powdery Mildew got it bad no matter what I put on it to control it

A total of three acorn squash no more than 3 inches across each

And only the second of two yellow squash (courgettes)

Also suffering from Powdery Mildew, I doubt it will make it more than a week longer

Even the maples are confused this year

This one has not dropped it seeds yet and its late September. Usually they drop in spring.

And the Sunflowers are oblivious to the sun, they just look the other way

But I guess winter is not too far off

A couple of chores

I sealcoated the driveway earlier this week.

First time since it was paved 12 or more years ago and it has begun to show its age.

Between patching the holes, caulking the cracks, cleaning and sealcoating, about a six hour job.

Then we had some more fun

On Saturday we got the east side eve ends of the house filled with insulation . . . a brutal job.

with an insulation blowing machine that mostly did not cooperate all that well

Annie manned the machine and between fits and starts we managed to blow in nine bundles or about 900 cubic feet, filling the eve ends behind the upstairs knee walls on one side of the house completely.

It was a messy and frustrating job.

But now it's insulated and closed in

And I can finish taping and mudding the stairwell
Hopefully we will notice a difference this winter.

Some more instrument work

After a bit of fussy work to stitch the replacement cover on to the copilot's head rest, and a bit of fiddling to set up the new Garmin Virb video camera . . .

 

We went out for a fly

Heading down the coast past Pine Point beach in Scarborough

We do a couple turns in the hold for the VOR approach in to Sanford RWY 25.

The approach plate in the radio shows the top view of the procedure turn

Inbound leg of the procedure turn

The view of the vertical profile on the approach plate

Procedure turn inbound now past the VOR

Down to 640 ft decision height

We taxi past the old Catalina PBY restoration project

And the Civil Air Patrol lineup

For some self serve 100 low lead

After a brief stop for a sandwich we head back to KPWM past the Bush compound at Walker's Point.

And just outside of Saco spot a neat corn maze paying tribute to the University of Maine Black Bears.

And get vectors for the ILS Localizer approach for runway 11 at Portland

KPWM and the city of Portland viewed from the initial approach fix

BUXTO fix inbound we initiate our decent

Getting a bit closer

Passing through 1100 ft

Decision height 274 Ft

After another successful ride we park next to the big kerosene burners. That's a TBM 700 next to us, and beyond it a newer TBM 850.