Back on the farm in Summer

-
Image
I trailered a towable man lift (bucket lift) from Georgia to New York. The thing that made it eventful is that I had to drive my truck. My 2017 Chevy 3500 HD service truck (with only 31k miles) is not my Tesla. I have grown very accustomed to the Tesla self-driving, navigation and general hi-tech luxury. The truck, although I am very fond of my truck, is stressful and expensive to drive compared to the Tesla. Being on the farm alone has been an eye opener. I had forgotten how quiet and in-nature this place is. Very occasionaly a car or plane comes by and disrupts the void, but only occasionally. It has been very reflective. It is the first time I have been up here from Georgia without a specific date I must be back for... or so it seems. "All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone."-- Blaise Pasacal mid 1600s. I guess I am working on humanity's problems. It can take a lot out of you. I feel good about some of the pics I ha...
Post a Comment
-
Google News

Fauna (Fawna) is still down. It has been over a week. It is below zero outside again. The llama house is warm though. When it gets really cold both the propane and the kerosene kick on, but most of the time just the kerosene needed. The wind is whipping around and the snow is drifting. It is the dead of winter out there. We had fauna in the sling twice today with encouraging results. She is still just too damn uncoordinated to stand up and walk. She has the muscles. The hypotheria seems to create a neurological disorder. The brain gets frozen or something. Our llama mentor agrees. I have built my muscles lifting and exercising her. My biceps are burning right now. Perhaps I have discovered a new fitness system. So much for a laugh though. I think the situation is pretty grim.

The good news is that the two laptops I had that weren't working... are now. The Compaq Armada 1750 cadaver my dad gave me is up and running. That is the fastest machine in the house now!!. It has occured to me that I have not bought a new computer in many years. There has been no need to. The machines are not getting that much faster... the bloatware is certainly getting bloater. But the win 98 machin, the win 95 laptop and the win 2000 laptop are all fine for doing what I do. I should probably reformat the win 95 machine for linux. It will be useful for many more years with a decent OS. Besides, I need to get back using linux so I don't forget stuff.

I start school again this weekend. Work has agreed to pay for a Graduate Certificate in Organizational Finance. It can turn into a Masters of Science in Strategic Finance. It is all online through University of Maryland (www.UMUC.edu). I have to take a couple of remedial classes in accounting and economics before the core coursework. Work is not interested in paying for a PhD. So for now, I will be working on a second Masters Degree. I can't believe that more folks don't take advantage of tuition assistance. I did what I said I would do. I took a year off from school. TV is a vaste wasteland. A man just can't sit around.

I overheated the stove and chimney today. That was exciting. The wind kicked up at about the same time as all the fuel was hot enough to go hog wild. It was a case of classic thermal runaway. The hotter the fire the greater the draft. The greater the draft the hotter the fire. I got the stove pipe up to about 650 degrees.. WoWweee. If it was night time it would have been glowing. It definately scared me a bit.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
I twisted my ankle Saturday. I am OK, but I will be taking it easy for a few days I am sure. The culture here is somewhat refreshing. People are polite and friendly and when you are driving around they wave to you. People who don't want to be here are not here. Living in close quarters with something and having much in common (being in Antarctica) allows people to connect better it seems. The bird is a Skua. http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/wildlife/birds/skuas.shtml They can get very aggresive. They will see you carrying food and then attack you. They are a good sign of summer and they are very skilled at getting their way with humans. The other picture was taken at about midnight. That is about as low as the sun gets. It is so weird. We still call it nighttime. I understand what folks say about short term memory loss on the ice. It definately seems to have affected me. We carry small green memo books which we call green brains.
Read more
-
Image
Life in Northern Atlanta. If you substitute the car for a small airplane in this pic it would hit the national news. I am glad I am flying to stay away from wrecks like this one. Aviation is so much safer. I did a nice emergency engine out (simulation) the other day (required). I picked a great spot. My flight instructor had a good laugh when I told him the engine out field strongly reminded me of landing in Greene NY. I wish I had a pic, but I was busy. Clear the trees, towers, hills, and wires and you have it made. I won't trade any of my sweaty palms (anywhere) for anything.
Read more
-
I have been back over a week now. Upstate NY does look and feel a lot like Antarctica. It has been around zero with considerable snow just to the North. However, it is more humid and higher pressure density than in Antarctica that is for sure. Now that I am home I can upload some video. I have uploaded my McMurdo Film Festival submission "Pilgramage". You can download it here. It is 35 MB. It will take quite a while to download. I suggest using right-click "Save file As.. " option to make it convienient. I have lots more video. I will post it to You tube in the near future. You may want to do a search on www.YouTube.com for "Antarctica" You will see Anthony Powell's time lapse, very nice. He is the Winter Black Island comms tech.
Read more

Southern Africa!

-
Image
I was successful getting to all 8 countries I planned. South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, and Namibia. The trip was 14 days with 13 flight segments. The shortest flight was 15 minutes in an ultralight and the longest flight 16+ hours. I rented a 4x4 in Lesotho and another in Namibia. Among many other things in my travels, I walked across the Victoria Falls bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe and took an ultralight aircraft ride over the same bridge and falls. Namib Desert from the air. Look for my 4x4. Skeleton Coast Heart of Namid desert near uranium mine Maputo, Mozambique-- City Hall and Samora Machel statue Maseru, Lesotho-- I was delayed at the airport leaving Lethoto by about three hours. I had to find a nother hotel in Namibia since I wasn't going to drive after dark. The delay was caused by the Airport being shut down because of an expired battery in the airport fire truck. We had to wait to get a n...
Read more