Machinery Infatuation

-
Image
I bought my first NEW piece of farm machinery. I am not sure if this is a failure or a success, but it is different. I picked up a NEW Rotary Cutter (bush hog, brush hog, mower, etc) from a dealer. It cost me almost as much as the tractor did with its bits of hardware and options. It seems to work well on the CNH Boomer 33. I planned on getting up to NY in the next couple of days, but Gracie has been sick.. she has been up and down. The steroid treatment and a change in diet seem to be helping at this point. Besides hauling the tractor and mower up to NY I have numerous events planned over the next month. I will be in Charlotte for a conference as well as Tucson Arizona and of course other events and activities. I started installing radio equipment in the Humvee. It now has a telescoping 30 foot antenna, a 24 volt to 12 volt converter, a removable SDR radio and some other stuff to be sure. I'd like to get it to the Stone Mountain Hamfest -- thats what i am shooting for. I thr...
Post a Comment

Advice to the young man.

-

Here is a list I started a few years back.

Advice to the young man.

  • Listen to yourself. Don't expect others to.
  • Work to identify your basic needs even as far fetched and difficult they may be to cope with. The important thing is to realize that they are your basic needs.
  • Work to identify how you should obtain your basic needs.
  • Develop a vision of your life. You and your vision are sacred and should never be compromised.
  • Make lists. If you don’t know how to make a list ask someone who does.
  • Ask questions of your enemies, how else can you figure out what they are thinking. Of course years from now you will not consider them enemies but they were actually helpful in your development.
  • Take self tests, but don’t take them seriously.
  • Be nice to yourself. Don’t plan on anyone else being nice to you. You have the responsibility to be nice to yourself alone.
  • Better yourself, and think about what that means.
  • Work hard. Work hard at increasing your ability to work harder, both mentally and physically.
  • Listen 50 percent of the time and talk 50 percent of the time.
  • Do the things that are hard so long as you have vision behind them. If the vision is not there it may only make you bitter.
  • Do want you want, but not at someone else’s expense without their explicit approval. (this is a tough one in the global economy, think about the person making your clothes in a China, or Africa or some orther place, maybe Mars.)
  • Find good in everything. See perfection in things that are not perfect. It is there.
  • Think about what life balance is. Disregard it when necessary.
  • Don’t waste your money on a sports car as part of a mid life crisis. It will not make you better.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Machinery Infatuation

-
Image
I bought my first NEW piece of farm machinery. I am not sure if this is a failure or a success, but it is different. I picked up a NEW Rotary Cutter (bush hog, brush hog, mower, etc) from a dealer. It cost me almost as much as the tractor did with its bits of hardware and options. It seems to work well on the CNH Boomer 33. I planned on getting up to NY in the next couple of days, but Gracie has been sick.. she has been up and down. The steroid treatment and a change in diet seem to be helping at this point. Besides hauling the tractor and mower up to NY I have numerous events planned over the next month. I will be in Charlotte for a conference as well as Tucson Arizona and of course other events and activities. I started installing radio equipment in the Humvee. It now has a telescoping 30 foot antenna, a 24 volt to 12 volt converter, a removable SDR radio and some other stuff to be sure. I'd like to get it to the Stone Mountain Hamfest -- thats what i am shooting for. I thr...
Read more

Environmentalism and Earth Day

-
Image
I remember the first "Earth Day" in 1970. I remember it well. I was in third-grade at Oakview Neighborhood School in West Irondequit, NY. We had energized school lessons regarding care for the environment and there was a common thread in our cultural changes that we all need to care more about nature and ourselves. There was almost no opposing dialog. We had seen large fish kills, weird colored skys, and bodies of water we wouldn't even think about swimning in, including Lake Ontario. This was almost 10 years before the awakening of " love canal " in nearby Nigagra Falls NY. Generally, in 1970 the dialog was about polution and what we can do to reduce polution. Polution consisted of many things, trash along the highways, untreated sewage and industrial dumping and runoffs. Don't forget about sound polution, also part of the polution spectrum. We were also significantly concerned about needlessly cutting of trees and wasting paper. Since 1970 we have made g...
Read more
-
Image
I finally cracked the code on lime in my fields. Trying to find the cheap/smart way in farming is difficult since farmers are generally very resourceful and they figure stuff out. My lime project has been in my thinking for years. Down here we need lime on our soil for hay. The soil is great for berries, but for hay it needs to be sweetened every 10 years or so with 2 ton/acre of a lime type product with minimal mineral values. I found a close-by source (Lansing) of fine concrete dust. The numbers are great. The price is cheap since it is a byproduct and I found a guy with a tri-axle dump truck in between the source and the farm who was also willing to drive it out the field. It was about 1/4 the money and much higher quality than what most other folks do. I will be spreading it at the same time I mow. The mower on the front and the spreader on the rear. That is efficient.
Read more

On Being Single.

-
Image
Another weekend over. The scrap in the picture sold for 150 bucks this past Saturday. Amazing how high commodities have got. Hang on. The economy is in for some twists. I was all set to invest in forign currencies and I held off because of fear. Wouldn't you know my fears were warranted. The dollar started gaining some strength back. I lucked out there. I have to remember that. I was bit surprised how easy I got the scrap to the scrap yard. I used the tractor to drag the metal scrap out of the hedgerow (way back on the property), the bobcat to load onto the trailer and the truck and trailer to get it to the scrap yard. I seem to be set up for this stuff. It took less than two hours from end to end. The llama shearer will be here this weekend. I am going to look at a D6 dozer too. The dozer may be helping make some new ponds and what not. The projects on the list are going well this summer. Like always there are steps forward and steps back on the roads of progress. It is ve...
Read more
-
Image
The reality has finally hit. I will be away for the holidays. We will all get through it that's for sure, but reality has a way of resisting all other thought. Not only will I be away from home and NY, the United States, I will even be away from "Antarctica". I will be at the very small camp at Taylor dome almost for sure. In actuality is is probably better to be out in the field camp (tell ya the truth) than here. The culture and customs are very strong in Mactown. It is like having your holiday at a stranger's house (not by their invitation). I told my boss about what I had heard the temperatures were at Taylor dome and he assured me those were windchill temperature. That doesn't count. I go by real temperatures. It probably won't be colder than -25F. I feel a lot more confident. Work is going well. I get the chance to fix all sorts of electronic stuff. I was working on solar panels, transmit combiners and PRC-1099s today. My ankle really went around t...
Read more