100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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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 attention.

I won a raffle at a local airshow for a free flying lesson. I am booked to go fly this week.

Bonnie and I are headed to Toronto this weekend. We are taking the fast ferry. That should be fun. Then I am headed to Atlanta for a day or so for work, then Brantford Canada and then later in the month to Wisconsin for a conference.

I have to ship a motor to Australia tomorrow. I sold it on eBay. It is a nice motor for sure. The shipping is twice as much as the motor at $135. Shipping is $270.

I have a 440 FM radio in my shack now. I finally got it programmed. I am planning on going the Elmira hamfest near the end of September.

My new class starts on Sept 6th. "Valuation of Investments". It looks like more of the same. It is difficult for me. I promised myself I will stay calm this course. I picked an instructor that has a life, unlike the last class I took. He was just plain rude.

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