Machinery Infatuation

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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...
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The weather has been unusual. The extended forecast was calling for thunderstorms everyday for about 10 days. The forecast has been pretty much right.

Things are great. The realities of life are something to enjoy right now for the most part. I really slept in this morning. I got up at 7:30. I should have been rested and I know I am now after I finally get the mental wake-up cloud cleared.

Friday night I went to a great auction in Cinncinatus, NY. It was an estate for a guy who collected everything, but mostly unusual tools. So if you can imagine a collectible tool auction and the crowd that would gather discussing what the tool actually was could be quite a hoot. "Some kind of puller" was the defacto answer. It was a good brain tease for some really weird "yankee" tools. I bought a big box of files and rasps, a Geiger counter, misc. hardware will all sorts of things ($1 a box) and I got the light fixtures for the outside of the barn (I was not about to be outbid on those and ended up paying $47.50 for 4.) They were exactly what I was looking for. They are white porcelain with a 660 W (600 volt) capacity porcelain bulb socket. They are going to look great with the pipe coming out of the barn bent up and down into these fixtures. I will use a 200W to 300W (non-frosted) incandescent bulb. Of course, I have all the control wiring running underground to the barn so I will be controlling these lights from inside the house. It will be very nice.

Dwayne and I went and took the antennas off his house Saturday (he has moved out). I cut and split some firewood, plugs and wires on the Subaru, took some more metal to the scrap yard, and used my new power washer. I don't know what I did before I had one of those. I was very hesitant to get "yet another engine" but it will actually save work.

Bonnie and I are planning a trip down to Washington DC at the end of August for the Toastmasters International Convention Speech Contest (The World Championship of Public Speaking) and to meet up with some folks.

I have to get ready for this winter!

Here is a link that is an entrance to to some interesting folks and their job (Communications tech.) Don't miss Bob Zook, Bruce Blackburn and some of the others you will find linked in here.

Chuck Kimball

All of the kids were here at the same time last weekend.

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Machinery Infatuation

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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...
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