This week I've been busy and only working in short spurts over several days. Finished the flap actuator installation, prepped primed and dimpled the upper tailcone skins, pulled the rudder cables, and probably a couple of other things I can't remember right now. Leaving this afternoon to Branson Mo for some family business. I grew up down there and I think I've already mentioned that my folks still live on the farm. Unfortunately, my mom is in the hospital with her second broken hip in 11 months, and is transitioning to a nursing home, at least for a while, so I'm going down to help with that process and to lend some emotional support to my 90 year old dad. Flying down in a brand new C-172, and by brand new I mean it had 6 hours on the Tach when I got it. Nice to fly new stuff, but a sad trip nonetheless. Once I prepped the tailcone skins I peeled the blue vinyl off of them and discovered a ripple in the F-2117 fwd skin. It's not really a dent, so I didn't notice it until I got the blue stuff off, but the distortion is very noticeable if the light is right. This is a huge bummer, and I've though for several days about just using it as is and counting on paint to hide it. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that since it's not riveted on yet, it's only the cost of a new skin and a few hours of prep work to make it right, so I'll order a new one from Vans on Monday. The bummer is that I think it was likely this way due to shipping damage out of the box, and I just didn't see it when I unpacked. The other news is that we've just contracted to buy a different house. The market is crazy right now, so we're hoping to get top dollar where we live now, and are moving into a "better deal" that is on a golf course with a pool, two things that teh fam wants. What this means for teh RV is that I have to get it in a shape to transport about a mile and move the airplane factory as well. I've rented part of a shared hangar about 10 miles away that we'll move the wings to, but I'd like to take the fuse to the new house, where it will still be convenient to work on. The engine and finish kit should be showing up within the next month or two as well. Lots of stuff happening in the next few weeks!