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Showing posts from August 29, 2004

Upper Peninsula Michigan and Auction Win Outcomes

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I was up in Wisconsin and the UP (upper peninsula) in Michigan. It was a lot of driving after launching/landing in Appleton WI. I got an item off the bucket list by driving across the "Mighty Mac". Altough it was built in the late '50s. It is still the longest suspension span in the Northern hemisphere. It is a crazy long bridge with a crazy long suspension span. It was good to see the bridge in context of the seemingly endless forests of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The culture in the two haves of Michigan are noticibly different as you might expect. Great time meeting with folks both in WI and MI. The tractor I won in auction, seems to have paid off. This time I beat the odds. It was a really good deal. I have the "no-key, non-running, may have hydraulic problems, unknown hours" -auction win, running well with minimal cost and time. I have some more tweaks, maintenance and minor fixes but the major risks are gone.
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Ultralight aircraft, used ultralights for sale. I went for a great ultralight airplane ride the other night. John's Dad, Mel took me up for about 20 minutes or so. It was great. I felt myself smiling pretty good. I took the controls and did some practice coordinated turns. It was a great experience. I hope to get an ultralight at some point. It is different and fun. Click pic for video
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Do It Yourself: House Exterior The roof is done. That makes two big jobs this summer on the house. First I did the electric service entrance for the barn and the house and later the roof. Luckily, no sheathing had to be replaced. I thought there would need to be some replaced, but I lucked out. I used 56 bundles of 25 yr shingles, with new drip and rake edges, one course of snow and ice guard and rigid ridge vent. I am glad the two big jobs for this year are over. Next year I am replacing the load beams in the barn with steel I beam. I will need to buy about 80 more feet of 8 inch beam. I get a great price on steel through work. The other big job is probably going to be the deck. I can't start on that until we have a comprehensive design plan for the house done. We still have lots of ideas, but no definitive plan. Hopefully, I will be sponsoring a design competition at the school of architecture at SU shortly. I am waiting to hear back about the "ins and outs"...
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The Official Site of the Great New York State Fair Bonnie and I made it to the fair finally. There was a lot to do. Overall, we had a good time. Click pic for video Click pic for video