Today we put in the base irrigation pipes for the garden. First we dug 45 feet of trench to lay the pipe in.

Then I assembeled it as we wanted. And finally filled it in.

Put to words it doesn't sound like much, but took most of the day.

That night Thomas helped with the dishes.

This last weekend was a busy one. We began the process of building a garden.

So quick back ground... at the beginning of the year Katie was asked when she'll be taking vacation. She randomly picked some days, and said the 25th & 26th so we can build a garden. So it was planned. Then about a month ago we see the neighborhood cleanup will be on the week of the 22nd. Close but oh well. I was talking with my neighbor about our plans and he needed to cut some sod out as well. So we decided to do it Friday/Saturday the 19th & 20th. The day after that my home teacher asks if we need anything done on the 20th, and I mentioned what we were doing. He said he'd come help.

So last Friday night I went over to Home Depot and rented a sod cutter with my neighbor. Saturday morning I got started. An army from the ward showed up to help. We pulled some spots in the front that the grubs last year killed, then cut out a 20' by 20' patch in the back yard and moved some of that to fill in the front. The rest we loaded onto Jason's trailer to take to Steve, and piled the rest on the driveway.

So here's what we filled on the front lawn (still has extra dirt on it, but that should go away):

Katie listed the sod and dirty fill dirt on KSL. The sod was gone in minutes. All that remains is a small pile of fill dirt.

So now we have an empty patch of ground:

The plan now is Thursday to dig and run the irritation pipes for a drip line system. Friday we will be building the raised garden boxes. Saturday we'll be filling with dirt. Some of it will come from the other corner of the yard where we will be ripping everything out and replacing it with strawberries & raspberries.

And Thomas loves his mac & cheese...

Today I built the bases for the cockpit. I started off with a 2x4 structure. Then added 1x4's of nicer wood around the outside of that.

Then I just had to put a skin on the sides. Unfortunately I only had that crappy wood, so it's not super great.

For the right side one I added additional structural support, then cut a V into the top. Into the V I installed my throttles in a wooden surround. To route the cables out of the throttle enclosure I used my Dremel to carve out a channel for the wires, then drilled holes to run to the back of the base. So I do still need to figure out how I want to do that last side. Due to the wiring I will need to be able to get access, so it must be removable. Perhaps I will get MDF for that side...

I need to cut the bottom plate to width and screw down the rudder pedals. I'll then tilt it on end and screw the bottom plate into both bases.

I got some L brackets to attach the dash to the bases, but they are too small, so I'll have to go get larger ones, then it should be rock solid.

Oh yeah, and paint too... but honestly right now... I don't care.

Tonight I put two coats of black on the dash, then after it dried mounted everything up and took it for a spin. I currently have it just sitting on a table until I get the bases done. I did think it was awesome how my wireless keyboard could just sit there so it's easily available until I get a place for it on the side.

I did find a problem in the future though. Once I mount the Saitek Flight Information Panels I won't be able to push the yoke all the way forward. So when that time comes I'm going to have to make a full size cut out for it. Oh well!

Next up is the bases. I probably won't get started on them until Saturday at the earliest... And I may just relax and not worry about them for a while.

I'm almost there! I got the entire thing primed and most of it painted. In retrospect I should have used a different paint, definitely not a rattle can. The MDF sucks up the paint, and ends up looking splotchy. It's not too bad after two coats, but the edges soak it up the worst.

I also got my yoke taken apart so I can mount it through the hole after the paint is done.

And finally I did a test fit. I love that Saitek included some M4 screw holes in the bottom of the yoke. It makes mounting this thing a dream!

So tomorrow I will apply the last two coats of black paint on the front of the cockpit. I thought about cutting out holes for the FIP's, but without having one in hand I decided I better wait on it. When I do cut out those holes I may take the time to roll another coat of paint on it. I'm too impatient now though, I want to get it done and fly!

So I ended up sick the last couple days and wasn't able to work on the cockpit like I wanted to. So today we made a quick trip to Home Depot, and after getting home I got started.

First I ripped off the top that I put on there the other day. I replaced it with 1/4" MDF. I'm much happier with it.

After the glue dried I used my router to chop of the side excess and round the corners. Next I used the rest of the board to put the front of the cockpit on.

I then followed the same thing and routed the excess off making the shape beautiful! I then sanded down the whole thing making sure all the corners were nice and rounded.

The last thing I did was cut out the holes for my yoke to go out, and for my panels to mount.

As I sat here looking at it I realized I screwed up. I needed to mount the right panels further towards the center. That would have allowed me to install additional switches on the left edge. The big one being an engine 2 magneto switch. Oh well.

While I was working on that Katie and Thomas did some weeding. Thomas does not like grass, and did not want to crawl on it.

As some of you may have heard over the last year I've been doing a lot of flight simulation. It started when Microsoft released Flight. The best part of that game was the multiplayer, as I found a whole group of people to fly with. Eventually Microsoft cancelled Flight, so our group migrated heavily to FSX. I've been flying more and more, and have decided it's time to build a dedicated cockpit.

I looked around online and found this page with someone's first cockpit. I thought it looked fantastic. Simple, yet provided all the functionality I was looking for. So tonight I began building.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get the boxes all done, Friday get the front of the dash done and get my equipment in an initial mounting for a group flight scheduled for Saturday.

Oh yeah.. picture of Thomas...

In keeping with the purpose of this blog, here are more adorable picture of the bug.