Summer Starting to End on the Farm

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It has been good spending time on the farm. I really had forgotten how quiet and dark it is here. It can actually be a bit unnerving. The leaf doodle bug was put to work in the forest. However, it looks like the car will be going back on the road. We can say it failed field trials,but that would only be partially true. The better utility value at this point is more suited to getting a teenager back and forth from high school. The mycological aspects of the farm did not disappoint. The pics of these shrooms are not photoshopped. The coal stove (very heavy) is loaded on the truck. It will be rebuilt in Georgia if I can save it. Coal stoves are increasingly out of production. When they are gone they are gone. The small wood stove is now in its place. The pic of the red sky in morning was indeed a warning of weather. We had strong storms and tornados in Upstate NY. Although I was travelling much that day in the area, I missed the worst of it.
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Franklin and Denise are in from Texas this weekend. There isn't much snow on the ground so we can get around back in the woods with the jeep and the tractor pretty well. I am getting firewood still, although it gets processed in the barn since I don't want to have to dig it out of the snow if we get a storm. I am getting noticeably more capable with my exercises. I am getting stronger in leg and arm as well as cardio. Once I run for half an hour I don't want to stop. Watching TV while I run on the treadmill I enjoy "Monarch of the Glen"(BBC). It is somewhat confusing why that show or why I like the show, but I do. It is basically a soap opera. Maybe that the show does not have the commercial intervals as American TV makes the difference. American TV is getting even more commericals. I think the longest stretch is 8 minutes of program these days.

I am taking my Ham radio test to upgrade to "Amateur Extra" on January 30th. You get more frequency bands on which to operate with an extra but the real reason to get an extra, since the test is pretty tough, is to "have an extra." Current ham projects in the que consist of installing a filtre on the generator bike power lines, and making a more permanent switching apperatus for the wattmeter.


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