President Ron Linn (541) 449-3630

V. Pres. & Y/E Jeff Guenther (541) 276-0431

Secretary Tami Kincaid (541)-276-6454

Treasure Cub Culbertson (541) 276-1908

News Letter Editor Jim Smith (541) 276-3533

Presidents Corner

The Skylight in the hatch over my bunk was just now becoming visible. I have been lying here, in the aft cabin of “Stewball”, (my 46' sailboat that I built in the 1980's), marveling at the total lack of outside light. This is overcast country and, there is no man-made light to spoil the dark.

I had awakened very early and was lying huddled under the blankets, enjoying the moment. Yesterday was over and it didn’t quite seem today yet. The air in the cabin was damp cold but my blankets are toasty warm. I kept everything undercover except my nose.

Minutes ago there was no hint of the skylight, so, “what time is it?” Let’s see. At home light of dawn begins about 6 AM at this time of year. In this anchorage we are about 200 miles further down the time zone, and, about 200 miles north. If the sun travels over the earth’s surface at about 900 miles per hour and we are at almost 49 degrees North Latitude that means, San Juan Islands

I dozed off.

When next I awoke the skylight was doing a weak job of lighting the cabin. Looking forward past the engine room bulkhead I can see the green glow of the readouts on the navigation instruments. Next is the “on/off” switch for the propane and the furnace controller. A quick trip turned on the propane and commanded the furnace to heat.

The propane is shut off every night for safety reasons. It is heavier than air and a leak will collect in the bilge, waiting for a spark. Such an explosion will alter the boat so that not even the architect will recognize her, and, it will squirt the sailors out the vents.

The system has a solenoid out on deck at the propane locker and a sniffer in the bilge that samples the air before startup and during operation. If there is a leak, while the system is “on”, it will sound an alarm and automatically shut off the propane. If it detects propane during the startup interrogation of the bilge, it will not turn on.

The furnace starts up and I began to feel warmth enter the morning. Soon it is warm enough to roll out and get dressed in sweats. Coffee is done and I take a cup up into the cockpit to survey the day. It is clear and calm under an overcast sky. A tall fir rainforest rings the little bay I am in. One end has huge black boulders at the waters edge that are home to oysters. I make a note to visit those oysters at low tide, which, will be in about 2 hours. The bay can be no larger than 50 acres and I am anchored in 30’ of water. I think the bottom is very rocky as I could here the anchor chain dragging on rocks as I backed down to set the anchor yesterday. If the weather were to “stir-up” this would be poor holding ground! It is, however, so small and protected by trees, only an East storm could get to you. On the bad side, however, is that the entrance is also on the East. You would have to go right into the teeth of the weather to escape.

Hot black coffee really starts the day and I am soon slipping into my wet suit to go crabbing. What I do is suit up with snorkel gear and enough weight, on the weight belt, to be slightly positive. I bring the dinghy forward from her “trail” position and enter the water holding on to her transom. This is very cold water, about 50 degrees. I kick over to 10’ - 15’ of water with a rock bottom (easy to find here). I kick along behind the dingy watching the bottom. When I spot a crab I let go of the dinghy and dive down to the crab and either I grab it, or, it grabs me. Back to the surface and drop the crab into the dinghy! I seldom get Dungeness Crabs this way but get Red Rock crabs. They are really hard shelled but better eating than Dungeness anyway!

I will spend a couple of quiet days anchored here in this forest-ringed bay. I will be completely by my self, reading, relaxing and living off the bounty of the bay. One group of people left last Tuesday and another group will be here Friday night late. I will “up-anchor” and move over to town to prepare for them on Friday midday.

Have you ever eaten all the fresh oysters and crabs that you want?

Maybe early 90's

Ron

Secretary’s Corner

EAA CHAPTER 219

PENDLETON AIRPORT CLUBHOUSE

September 16, 2003

The Chapter President, Ron Linn called the meeting to order at 7 pm. The minutes of last months meeting were reviewed and accepted as printed in the newsletter. The treasurer, Cub Culbertson, reported our treasury to be in great shape and obtained permission to move some funds from our checking to our savings account.

Ron told us about an e-mail he recently received from a gentleman by the name of J. D. Smith of Athena. Mr. Smith is a professional grant writer and was offering our chapter his services. The question Ron asked the members was: "What kind of ideas would Chapter 219 have to seek grant money for?" It was decided we would invite Mr. Smith to our hangar day breakfast to talk to him more about the grant writing process. Ron said he would contact him and invite him to the breakfast, and Ron asked the members to think about it between now & then and to bring their questions and ideas.

The next subject discussed was the Martin Field Open House to be held on the 20th & 21st of September and the involvement of Chapter 219. It was decided that we would serve hot dogs, chips and a soda pop for $2.00 and would have enough supplies to serve 250 guests. Ed Nakonieczny would supply a barbeque and so would Bob Irving. Wilma reported that she would attend a Food Handlers class on Thursday, September 18th, to comply with health & safety regulations. A show of hands of people that were planning on attending revealed that plenty of participation and assistance could be expected.

Wilma announced that the Oregon Dept. of Aviation would be meeting in Pendleton on November 19th and furnished the phone number to call for more information: 1-800-874-0102.

Ron finished the meeting by saying that now that summer is over, it’s time to get back to our many projects such as - The Baby Ace, Jeff's fabric covering, helping Ed Betts, and so on...

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 and everyone enjoyed homemade zucchini bread made by Georgia Linn.

Next meeting scheduled for October 21st, 2003.

Tami Kincaid, Secretary

Editor’s Corner

EAA Young Eagles Surpasses 970,000!
EAA Young Eagles Director Steve Buss announced September 19 that EAA has just crossed the 970,000 milestone, for registered EAA Young Eagles, leaving us with 30,000 to go to reach the goal of one million kids flown by December 17, 2003. What a tremendous effort by EAA Chapters, volunteers in the air and on the ground! We’re closing in; so let’s keep it going through these final three months, culminated when EAA's National Young Eagles Chairman Gen. Chuck Yeager flies the millionth Young Eagle at the centennial of flight celebration in Kitty Hawk.

Calendar Of Events

EAA 2003 Calendar

.December 6 ??? 219 Christmas Dinner,

PDT EAA 2004 Calendar

3^rd Tuesday (except June, Dec)

EAA 219, PDT, 7 p.m.

4^th Saturday Breakfast, Hangar Workday

PDT, 9 a.m.

Chuckle Corner

Short Final...

I was taking my brother for his first flight in a GA airplane. He was somewhat nervous and a little overwhelmed by what we go through to launch a flight. I picked up the local ATIS on my handheld before engine start and, after we got in the plane and were ready to call for taxi clearance, I briefed him on the kind of radio transmissions he would hear as we taxied out and took off. That education behind us, I called for taxi clearance:

Me: Skylane 12345, West hangers, with MIKE, to taxi.

Before I could get a word in edge-wise, my brother, Mike, (with awe in his voice...) said, “You have to even tell them who is with you?”

It took several minutes for me to regain composure and get on with the flight.