Back on the farm in Summer

-
Image
I trailered a towable man lift (bucket lift) from Georgia to New York. The thing that made it eventful is that I had to drive my truck. My 2017 Chevy 3500 HD service truck (with only 31k miles) is not my Tesla. I have grown very accustomed to the Tesla self-driving, navigation and general hi-tech luxury. The truck, although I am very fond of my truck, is stressful and expensive to drive compared to the Tesla. Being on the farm alone has been an eye opener. I had forgotten how quiet and in-nature this place is. Very occasionaly a car or plane comes by and disrupts the void, but only occasionally. It has been very reflective. It is the first time I have been up here from Georgia without a specific date I must be back for... or so it seems. "All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone."-- Blaise Pasacal mid 1600s. I guess I am working on humanity's problems. It can take a lot out of you. I feel good about some of the pics I ha...
Post a Comment
-

It is 5:00 AM. The shuttle will pick me up to take me to the USAP centre at the airport in 15 minutes. We all have to change into our ECW and hopefully we will launch at 9:00 AM. I am passenger number 62. Yes, they do stamp your passport and yes you have to have your baggage screeened. Antarctica is clearly (in) a strange political and regulatory "state". I can envision Washington folks wasting a lot of time worrying about the extreme exceptions of Antarctica for no real value as compared to worring about things stateside. The current weather at McMurdo is -5F with winds of only 7 mph. Visability is 7 miles. Sounds like a nice day except for the visibility. The flight takes about 6 hours. I am getting comfortable with the idea that I will be in Antarctica today. I think I got my computer working right yesterday. I did have to spend about an hour and a half connected for downloads via dial-up. I went to bed early and I am pretty refreshed at this point.

See you from the ice.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back on the farm in Summer

-
Image
I trailered a towable man lift (bucket lift) from Georgia to New York. The thing that made it eventful is that I had to drive my truck. My 2017 Chevy 3500 HD service truck (with only 31k miles) is not my Tesla. I have grown very accustomed to the Tesla self-driving, navigation and general hi-tech luxury. The truck, although I am very fond of my truck, is stressful and expensive to drive compared to the Tesla. Being on the farm alone has been an eye opener. I had forgotten how quiet and in-nature this place is. Very occasionaly a car or plane comes by and disrupts the void, but only occasionally. It has been very reflective. It is the first time I have been up here from Georgia without a specific date I must be back for... or so it seems. "All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone."-- Blaise Pasacal mid 1600s. I guess I am working on humanity's problems. It can take a lot out of you. I feel good about some of the pics I ha...
Read more

Solon NY Water Mill

-
Image
I went and looked at the Solon Pond Mill. I was mistaken last time when I was up there in 2000. It was Summer and everything was overgrown. The mill is about an 1/8 mile from the building I thought might have been the mill. The mill is in rough shape. But everything is still there. I couldn't get underneath to see if the turbine was in good shape. I had heard that it was buried in muck. I suspect it is there, but probably in rough shape as well. It is a combination grist and saw mill, and could be restored to do exactly that. I am going to pass. I was thinking it would make a great homesite however. There is 3.9 acres (a lot for a mill) and you could build a nice house that looked period and work on getting an awesome water powered workshop out back. There is a planner, and it looks like a jig saw and I bet a few other pieces of woodworking equipment in there. All the shafting looks good. It is fun to think about the coolness of starting with logs and making furniture all out in th...
Read more

Helen Elizabeth Raymond Dowdell

-
Image
My Mom died today. It happens. It is the way it is supposed to happen. I am her son, always. Our human lives are physical/emotional, everything else is an abstraction (unless you are from some sort of lizard species). Looking through some photos today, I decided I liked this one for my blog (originally posted in Sept 28, 2009). The subtlety in this pic (looking very closely) is that in my Mom's gaze is an aviation NAVAID "the white thing" usually invisible when flying. I have faith. The same faith you feel when your foot hits the floor getting out of bed or when you make a turn in traffic. I will grow my faith. I will drive and pull as I did as they all did as they prayed for my survival when I was born. God bless us all. Throughout my life I was reminded from strangers that MY Mom was a genuine caring healthcare provider. She sincerely touched thousands of lives in Western, NY. They may not remember her name. They will somehow remember her care. Today, it seems these day...
Read more

Southern Africa!

-
Image
I was successful getting to all 8 countries I planned. South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, and Namibia. The trip was 14 days with 13 flight segments. The shortest flight was 15 minutes in an ultralight and the longest flight 16+ hours. I rented a 4x4 in Lesotho and another in Namibia. Among many other things in my travels, I walked across the Victoria Falls bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe and took an ultralight aircraft ride over the same bridge and falls. Namib Desert from the air. Look for my 4x4. Skeleton Coast Heart of Namid desert near uranium mine Maputo, Mozambique-- City Hall and Samora Machel statue Maseru, Lesotho-- I was delayed at the airport leaving Lethoto by about three hours. I had to find a nother hotel in Namibia since I wasn't going to drive after dark. The delay was caused by the Airport being shut down because of an expired battery in the airport fire truck. We had to wait to get a n...
Read more