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 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. It turned out to be an easy fix. The vacuum line was pulled off the front axle. I love easy fixes... once I knew what to look for.

The masonry and paint is done for the most part on the south side of the barn. Bonnie sprayed a lot of paint. I painted the flail mower orange. It looks much better.

It always gets busy this time of year getting ready for Winter. I still have a lot to do.

My new class is going well (Valuation of Investments). I am not all stressed out like last class. This professor is a human being, a smart one at that. The class is challenging and I am learning bunches. There is a considerable amount of review/reinforcement from the last class which is good. One of the quotes in one of the texts is something like; "You cannot learn finance until you have learned finance." I agree. There is a ladder approach taken. There is a lot to learn. There has been enormous progress in the last 20 years or so in the field of finance. Now anyone with a desktop computer can do complex analysis in the privacy of their home.

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

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Image
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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