No flying adventures? No problem. We always have something to do around the birds. When not in the air and the birds resting in the hangars, it is a perfect time to give them some TLC. And by TLC I mean cleaning, washing, polishing, getting rid of undesired residues, scrubbing layers of dead bugs, cleaning oil spots from the belly, some more washing again, scrubbing more dead bugs, cleaning and polishing the windows and canopies, hosing the birds down, and drying the birds with special microfiber materials not to end up with water spots on the paint. This time it was turn for Jimmy's RV-8.
If you live in a high desert, cleaning the bird must be carefully planned according to the Sun's activity. The best time to wash the bird is usually very early in the morning or right before the Sun goes down otherwise you are setting yourself up for a serious sweating extravaganza and very likely heat stroke too.
When I saw the forecast with a few cooler days coming, it was time to pick a bird and go for it. Jimmy's RV-8 won the toss up so we set up the late afternoon to gain an advantage of pleasant outside temperatures. Washing Jimmy's RV-8 is always fun, at least for me. It is not a big bird and with a low wing construction- piece of cake. I look forward to washing and cleaning the birds not only because I love cleaning and organizing by the default, but also because I get to see the shiny bird after the work-out. And then later, jump in the puddles to wet my flip flops to make perfect imprint of the soles revealing its funky pattern on the dry asphalt. Someone could say that I still act like a curious kid sometimes, well that someone would be correct. The key to success is to stay enthused about ordinary hustles. Haha.
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