Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

I have seen another Christmas come and gone. We had the Kids here for the most part then went up to Brockport for Christmas dinner. I got Bonnie dance classes (with me). I must have gone through some weird ion cloud. I think never was the original time line specified for that type of project. I hope it doesn't kill me. I also purchased a very nice, however slightly used hose reel on ebay. It has a 110 VAC motor to make the rewind easy. It will be a nice addition and help in getting water to the animals in the winter. It is a luxury item. I am working on getting my blog archive working again. It is all time consuming.

This weekend was of reflection and socializing with new friends in their homes and environments. It is all good, food, culture, attitudes. Life is a buffet. Be in command, eat what you want, sample it all otherwise you will miss out. Since last blog we have had temps to 15 below zero. The llamas get concerned at these temperatures. Everything is ok. The llamaheater is functioning and we have had and are working to a plan. The kids are fine. I took the tractor out for a spin in the snow. Things are ok out in the woods. The heater and radio worked well in the tractor. The woods are especially beautiful in the winter. The pic is of my ham station (N2TYQ, November Two Tango Yankee Quebec) as of today. Things change, sometimes not visibly, but the shack changes. Sometime I may have to add callouts to this pic. Everything works. The keyboard is on my peddle generator handlebars. You cannot see it all, but I think you can get the idea. My Internet connection is via satellite (2 way, up

It is cold this morning. I measured the bottom at 8 below zero. The llamas are out walking around, waiting for their breakfast, duh. They could be in their house with the heater. It is probably about 10 or so above in their house. The air is so still. When it gets like this there is such a beauty in the cold. It is so quiet you could hear something miles away if there was any noise made miles away. I have a combination coal and wood fire which is keeping the living room at 72 degrees. I will be finishing up my final today.

I am working on my final exam for "Value of Investments." In this class I learned some sophisticated means to analyze corporations to determine value. The models get complex, so complex; I think they teeter on chaos. I have learned a lot and can immediately apply what I have learned to work and home. I expect the final will take me between 24 and 32 hours to complete. The following pics are from a vacation we took in 2000. We went through New Orleans and then up the redneck Riviera in Biloxi and then to Florida and the Suwannee river. That is Franklin and Bonnie down by the old Suwannee. We rented a cabin on the shore. I was thinking that that area hit so hard with the hurricanes this past year will never be the same. Not that anything ever stays the same, but I you have to imagine the sudden change will be lasting.

I really have to get back to the homework... These are from a plane ride ride I went on with Richard Graumann a while back. The photo shows the Dowdell Farm. You can see a speck on a trail. That is Bonnie in the Jeep. The movie is on final in Greene grassstrip airport from the north. Looking at these makes me want to get back in the air. Click pic for video

When I was procrastinating about doing homework I found this town map which I have added the callout for our parcel. Boy, taxes sure are high for "Vacant." "Ok all you animals.. get out. This land is vacant."

I have been doing homework all weekend. I ended up in two classes for some bizzare reason. One of the classes is a no-credit research class. Every program has one. It does not matter how many times you have taken a similar class. Using academic databases online is still pretty much a pain that it always has been compared to using google. I have to go out and get some hay this afternoon then it it is a Christmas party for Bonnie's work. It is hovering in the low teens her on the farm. We are almost always colder than the published temps in the area. We are in an "outlying area." These pics are a little old but are from Maine NY which is the next town south of the farm. The way I understand it there were lands annexed by New England colonies in the formative years of New York state. In my area we have Berkshire, Maine, New Conn., all part of these annexes supposedly. I have been listening to my 1940 Philco AM radio console all weekend. It is astonishing how good that

http://www.okienoodling.com/ The link is a good start to learn about "noodling". Noodling is a means to catch catfish like the one shown in a previous post. That fish is real. What you do is wade around the shores of lakes and streams, reach your hand into holes in the banks under water. The catfish will consider you a threat and try to eat you. You grab the inside of his mouth and wrestle him to victory. Seems simple enough. It is Thanksgiving again. It is about 18 degrees out and we have a few inches of snow. We have a coal fire going, switching from wood last night. The savings in getting our own wood and using low dollar per BTU coal isn't so much about saving money. I certainly waste more money on the savings on other stuff. It is about being able to take care of ourselves as we need to. Gas for the chainsaw is of course a concern. We are going over to couzin Liz's house in Dryden today. It is so weird that we ended up living in the same place almost.

Here are some pics from a while back. The fish is from my pond. (actually it is just like the one from my pond.) Here we are messing around with Dwayne's muzzleloader and his regalia. Click pic for video

Tonight on Nova I learned that Sir Issac Newton predicted the end of the world in 2060. I though you might want to know.

I am Back! I truly appreciate the questions of when I was going to get the blog working again. It really means something. I have migrated servers and tried to clean up some of the file system. Although I will lose quite a bit of "findability" since google relies on a time presence as well as other criteria it will be worth it to get things right. This switch was like turning over the material in a compost heap. It has been a long strange couple of months!! I have a lot to say and a lot not not to say. I can tell you that I find there is a very interesting condition that reading between the lines is not the way to go. Material gets inserted in the human mind to fill in blank spots. I find it facinating. I am going to look for some photos after I test this post. Here is an encore of Aries, the good llama. Listen closely to the movie and you can hear Aries gently blow into the camera. Llamas will lightly blow into your face to get to know you. Strange. They are indee

I am still having problems with the server, so I have no photos posted. I have some really nice photos of llamas, fish from my pond, muzzleloader shooting and others. I have a real server fix in process. I am in Wisconsin most of this week for work. I was up in Brantford and Missisauga Ontario Canada a couple weeks back. I have been skidding trees out of the woods for firewood. I learned just how big of a log I can drag. I had to cut one in half to make it around a corner in the woods. The tractor easily pulls these things from anywhere almost. I broke a chain yesterday on a log. The new Stihl Model 290 is a huge difference. That saw blasts through these logs. I have a new spliting maul as well. I am getting wood put away. Although we don't heat primarily with wood it is nice for the spring and fall for evening fires and you have to get coal burning somehow. The jeep has a new lease on life. We were thinking that we may have to put it down because the 4 wd wasn't working.

Standby! I have lots to blog. I am having issues with the server again. Between firewood, homework, hobbies and work I will get some cool photos posted soon.

http://www.catfastferry.com/the_ship/ Bonnie and I went to Toronto Friday night on the fast ferry. We stayed at the Westin Harbour where on Saturday the World Championship of Public Speaking took place. We came home on the ferry Saturday night. By the time we got to Berkshire it was actually Sunday morning. The ferry was neat. It was clean, fast, smooth and fun. We went business class. We had fun chating and making friends on the way over. They serve food in business class and the leather couches are pretty comfy. I slept on the way back. We didn't have passports with us. It turns out that to travel between Canada and the US you just plain need a passport with you these days. We weren't sure if they were going to let us into Canada. The one little movie of the stern wake of the cat while under way got corrupted. Maybe I need a new camera. Grr. The Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking was worthwhile. The top ten competed and the winner was named, Lance

I haven't had the available time to blog. It doesn't mean I am not interested. It is not always a priority. This past weekend I spent mostly tuck pointing the south side of my barn. The wall is 80 feet by 10 feet That is 711 concrete blocks, approximately 2844 linear feet of mortar joint. Although not all the joints are being reworked it takes quite a bit of time grinding the joints out with a diamond wheel in the mini grinder, cleaning and getting new mortar in there. I was thinking that I could by accident take too much mortar out and have the wall fall me. It would be almost a certain death as a hundred or so blocks fall on me. I started being more careful on doing a smaller section at a time after having the visual pop in my head. I need to be skidding trees out of the woods. We need firewood. Although we heat with coal a lot, wood is good for fall and spring evenings and it is used to get coal burning. Coal is hard to get going and getting it stated takes some atten

I thought of a few simple crimes agaist humanity. Going to get your hair cut at 12:00 noon when you are retired. Having a handicap sticker on your car and parking in a regular spot. "That is my place."

GlideStone News I haven't found the time to blog lately. It is summer. Check out the blog link above from friend Todd Sheehan. We shall call this a cross blog or "crog." He has chronicled his hand gliding adventures. This guy is a nut. When we worked together he was building racing RC planes (electric). He was cutting the wings from foam then covering with fiberglass epoxy. Then he got into RC helicopters, first electric then gas. I took yesterday off and worked on the south side of my barn. I have to decide whether to fix the drainage right or move on. I have two foundation cracks I am digging under to pour concrete below the crack to stabilize. Bonnie and I really want to live in a finished house and property.

http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/ Not much else to say on this one.

http://www.heartsandminds.org/quotes/quotes.htm I read something very inspirational a while back. It said, "Read something inspirational everyday." Trite but right. The nice thing about inspirational reading is that it is such an open genre. It really is not a genre at all. "Inspirational" cannot be classified in a hierarchy, but only in a faceted classification scheme. Inspirational to one person is not inspirational to another. The material must "fit" and resonate to inspire. Technical writings can inspire as well as spirtual writings. It depends on the mission and context of the reader. It is Saturday morning and I am working on the list. It is cool in the house as the windows were all open last night. I am drinking my weekend coffee.

These pics are from a llama walk a couple of weeks back. We have been eating a fair amount of our own food lately. We get eggs from the chickens (about 4 a day). We still have some pork in the freezer. Now we are getting lettuce, zuchini and green peppers from the garden. Bonnie has been picking a lot of berries too. We have had several awesome fruit salads with our own blueberries and raspberries. The stuff we grow and raise at home tastes so much better, even lettuce. I went to a few auctions this weekend. I probably spent too much, but I had a good time. I also have some regrets on a couple of items I did not bid on. I ended up with: Three antique seltzer bottles Some junk, I mean real junk mixed in with some good stuff (cheaper than a dumpster) A pressure washer that uses compressed air and a water hose (works ok) A kerosene lantern I very nice soup tureen that Bonnie does not like. (I am going to have to move it on ebay) I am probably forgeting something. My fathe

The garden looks nice and we are taking zuchini out of it today. I am looking at windmills. I recently obtained a bunch of 180 VDC motors that I think may be just the ticket. I am looking at propellers now. They are not that much money these days, made of plastic. They appear to be durable. I am looking at ones about 7 foot in diameter. I read an interesting article on testing your windmill on the front of a car. Seems like a natural job for the jeep.

This was my Sunday morning walk. So much to do. So much not to do. Click pic for video Click pic for video

Tioga Had a rough night last week. This is a movie of tioga as we left for work. He stays out all night and then I let him inside in the morning. He tucks himself in the bed. There is a lot of stuff going on that is for sure. I have to catch up on the pics and posts. It is kind of rainy today. I did mow a couple of acres in the rain. The windshield wipers worked well. It is great to look back to the back pasture and see alternating strips where I mowed and plucked out the Mutifloral roses. It is a pasture on the comeback. Duane and I were thinking about what the original farmers would think as they see their pastures go wild. They didn't have the same tools to create them that we have today. I have a lot of computer work to do today. BAH.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7616 I like this article in New Scientist. A turn to focus on technology in the last 100 years may have lead us to a slowing of true inovations. That fits with my understanding of how drug research is done. A market is developed/identified first before research is started on a compound. Sometimes drugs that can be developed fairly easily are not developed because the market is not that large. I guess what I am saying is that the economics tied to innovation is technology. Science is not tied to either, unless it is directed as such. I am sore this morning from my work yesterday. I moved a lot of trees and rocks. I have to get at it again in a couple of minutes.

Clark at work had a new baby (cria) alpaca Monday morning. He invited me over to see it at lunch. The cria is less than two hours old. Amazing. Click pic for video

Man, I hate to wait. It was a real wait to post tonight. slow.... /// There is the usual multitude of stuff going on. I mowed a bunch. I still have an issue with the tractor that it loses power after an hour of mowing. I checked the injection pump oil level, cleaned the radiator fins, re-looked at the vacuum issue in the fuel tank, did some web research, looked through my manuals, and it still happens. After an hour I decided (looking at the big picture) it is a feature. I have more clues, but I think it might be devine grace. I could sit in there with a mission mowing for hours and hours and get miserable. I have approximately 3 hours left to mow the particular field I am working on. My neighbor was mowing at the same time as I was today. He makes a little better speed. He has a really nice new mower (maybe 20k$) and a 100 hp+ tractor. My little 65 hp German communal machine is doing fine. I was a little surprised on how well it did in a farm-to-farm comparison. It has been hot

If risk is the precursor to learning and courage is the precursor of risk. My belief is (after a few financial classes) intellect is the precursor to courage. I have learned to manage risk in some simple mathematical ways. Perhaps the bottom line in today's thinking is that if you do not embrace your intellect and weigh it against your emotion (AKA: your current thinking) you have decided to stay where you are.

I found a good quote today. "Risk is the precursor to learning. Courage is the precursor of risk." I find the preceeding quote to be very profound. "Just like the llamas that are cautious where they drink their water. So should humans, where they get there knowledge. Often humans emblazonly extoll truth that they obtained from a turbid pond." Life is ok today, complex but ok. I mowed a couple of acres maybe, but the tractor is losing power after an hour. It is not water temp related. I have to do some research. The fields I mowed once last year are absolutely beautiful this year. They are all wildflowers. Some are green grasses, some are other colors and shapes. There are no weeds, only misplaced plants. The weather this week has been fantastic. Today there was a huge barn fire in Triangle. The smoke went straight up and stayed there.

Bluebird Bonnie and I have had fun watching the Bluebirds out the back window. Today is the day the fledgling is to fly. We watched and watched and watched. I got a couple of decent pics.

Smithville NY I ran my first ever 5K race this morning over in Smithville NY. Smithville is the town that has a great old unrestored mill. The mill captured my attention when I stated looking for property just after I decided to take the job down this way. I hope someday it gets restored. It feels good to do something that is good for yourself for the first time. You have to get over the natural resistance of something new (the biggest hurdle), plan, execute, and reflect. I have now moved into reflect. It was a marathon for me. I am planning on running in the Berkshire Heritage 5k later this summer too. Maybe another one, if there is another one close by. I fueled up last night on some of Bonnie's most excellent Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. My exercise bike generator project is working now pretty good. I ended up using the motor out of a paper folding machine. I still have some testing to do to it to see if I have the right ratios. I am thinking about creating a website d

My computer at home has a weird problem. I cannot get the browser to work. I can ping a domain name ok but the browser doesn't work. We got it working last night after calling tech support but it didn't work this AM again. Computers are definately a pain in the neck. We are getting another pond put in. It is approximately 50 foot oval and 5 feet deep. It is for ducks, asthetics, and for llama fun. We are also ordering 800 linear feet of vinyl fencing. I have a few holes to dig, about 100.

Well I got my truck back. It had been in the shop for two weeks. I made the serious mistake of taking the truck to Botnick Chevrolet in Binghamton, NY. I suspected the injection pump went bad. Chevrolet, as part of a class action suit increased the warranty on the injection pump. I thought it was increased to 150k miles. It was only increased to 120k miles. I have 132k miles on my truck. I asked Brian if it was under warranty. He originally said yes. So every day I would call Brian from the (place primary color here) team in service and everyday he told me tommorrow, except for Friday when he said Monday. The original quote for the repair was $2100. So I told them I would take it to a diesel shop where I could get it done for $1800. They decided to fix it for $1800, 'cause they would have had to put it back together. I think that is quite a bit of flexibility in price. They have quite a gravy train. So yesterday I give Brian a call at 12:00 and leave a voice mail indicating th

Small farms Bonnie and I went to a wedding yesterday. That was nice. It was in a small church in Virgil, NY (in between places). James and Georgie got married. Now they have 7 kids between them. I think there are five girls and two boys. The oldest is younger than 10. Everybody has to have a hobby. I had a good time. We are working on the yard again today. I am working mostly with stone. They are plentiful and mostly in the way. I found a great use for old roof shingles. I put them under the stones in the washes I am constructing. It looks great and should keep the weeds out for quite a while. The shingles are also plentiful and inexpensive. There is no shortage of work. I had to get out of the sun for a while. The basement is cool. I am tinkering with some technology projects. You can see the bluebird sticking her head out of the house. There is quite a bit of activity in the bluebird house. It probably was not the best time to build the stone ring around the well head. The tr

I thought of a quote at work at lunch today. Maybe I will write a speech around it. "Trustworthy is not something you are. It is something you do."

Memorial Day again. That was a fast cycle. We went to Bonnie's sister's place on Chatautqua lake for Saturday and Sunday. We took eggs and had a big duck and chicken egg breakfast. Side by side comparisons of scrambled eggs showed the duck eggs to have a lighter flavor (surprise) and a somewhat creamier texture. They all tasted great. I went fishing but I didn't catch anything. I did manage to wear out my fish reel. It cranks really hard and sounds like it has some loose parts. I think I relubed this reel about 12 years ago. I can't remember though; it is old. I bet it is from the 70's. It's time for a new one. I think I am going to get a new rod too. I'll get a new ultralight rod and reel. I had a crappy ultralight years ago. I threw it away after the the drag stuck for the third time, loosing a fish. This time I will get a decent (not the best) one. We did landscaping and gardening on Monday. I bet we are the only ones in the neighborhood with a couple o

hamvention I am back from Dayton. It was 9 hours driving each way. The fuel mileage was a lot worse with the camper on the truck too. We have to expect that. I purchased a radiation detector, nicads, button cells, monitor, a generator for the exercise bike, connectors, tape, IC sockets, and an A/B box. I probably got a few other things too. All of which are part of existing projects! I started no new projects. The place is quite a draw. It is very large indeed. It is approximately 3 times the size of the Rochester hamfest. We met up with hams from around the country.