Upper Peninsula Michigan and Auction Win Outcomes

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I was up in Wisconsin and the UP (upper peninsula) in Michigan. It was a lot of driving after launching/landing in Appleton WI. I got an item off the bucket list by driving across the "Mighty Mac". Altough it was built in the late '50s. It is still the longest suspension span in the Northern hemisphere. It is a crazy long bridge with a crazy long suspension span. It was good to see the bridge in context of the seemingly endless forests of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The culture in the two haves of Michigan are noticibly different as you might expect. Great time meeting with folks both in WI and MI. The tractor I won in auction, seems to have paid off. This time I beat the odds. It was a really good deal. I have the "no-key, non-running, may have hydraulic problems, unknown hours" -auction win, running well with minimal cost and time. I have some more tweaks, maintenance and minor fixes but the major risks are gone.
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Life around the Farm and all the other hobbies!

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Spring has sprung in Berkshire. The weather was great Saturday. I riggged up a tractor back-blade on the tractor and it has become a formatible dozer. We took the llamas for nice hike outback. The woods were as beautiful as expected; the buds are getting green and you can still see through the woods. Nothing is hidden by the leaves as it will be in a few months. I got some more sand for the garden and will be turning that in soon. The chickens have been having a great time picking bugs from around the house and letting us have their eggs.

I went for a very nice plane ride a few days ago in a Cessna 172. The weather was near perfect. It was possibly one of my best flights ever. My interst in aviation is hightened lately; I was just reading about the DeHaviland Twin Otter aircraft. I am expecting to get a ride in one of these this year. They are 20 seat twin torboprops (Approx. 580 HP each) with a 12,000 lb takeoff weight. They seem to be very rugged and versatile. They are non-presurized and can be noisy compared to a commercial jet.

Today I am working on the conference for next weekend of which I am co-chair. Planning a meeting of 150 people requires planning in its purest form. It will be stressful if you want it to be stressful. It is that simple.

I also hope today to work on some 900 MHz radios (FM) that KB0VIW are planning on using for a simplex connection between our stations.

The pics are of Bob and DJ's emu chick. The chick is 8 days old when I took the pictures (hatched on April 7, when I was in Denver). The emu males sit on the nest and boy is he serious about protecting his chick. I wasn't interested in getting in the cage with him. He has making some weird growly noises. The chick makes a fairly loud peeping noise.



Click pic for video

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Upper Peninsula Michigan and Auction Win Outcomes

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I was up in Wisconsin and the UP (upper peninsula) in Michigan. It was a lot of driving after launching/landing in Appleton WI. I got an item off the bucket list by driving across the "Mighty Mac". Altough it was built in the late '50s. It is still the longest suspension span in the Northern hemisphere. It is a crazy long bridge with a crazy long suspension span. It was good to see the bridge in context of the seemingly endless forests of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The culture in the two haves of Michigan are noticibly different as you might expect. Great time meeting with folks both in WI and MI. The tractor I won in auction, seems to have paid off. This time I beat the odds. It was a really good deal. I have the "no-key, non-running, may have hydraulic problems, unknown hours" -auction win, running well with minimal cost and time. I have some more tweaks, maintenance and minor fixes but the major risks are gone.
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