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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The Sunday night science lecture was about the Andrill project. The "Andrillians" have a drill rig on the ice shelf afew miles from staion. They are drilling thru the ice shelf, than after 1200 feet of water they are going to go thru 1500 feet of sea floor. It is a real engineering challenge to get these geological samples. The ice shelf moves (both with tides and laterally), sea currents and all the unknowns oof what the strata is below. I am planning on attending a "briefing" tonight that has a more informal meeting of interested people. One of the things that makes this project a little different is there is grant money for outreach and education. So they have a wbsite and a means to find out a lot more about the project. www.andrill.org

I had my Matttrack and Pisten Bully training. I have been somewhat fascinated by tracked machines. I don't know why. They are just cool. They aren't very smooth or fast. They can go just about anywhere though. The Pisten Bully is very German. It is remarkably similar to my Holder c500 Tractor. I am all checked out and ready to use these machines to get to some of our radio sites.

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Upper Peninsula Michigan and Auction Win Outcomes

-
Image
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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Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches Please do not attempt these pop tart experiments at home. I am sure they are trained professionals and they know the meaning of DANGER. Besides, didn't anyone ever tell you not to play with your food!! --------Other news---- This should probably should be a new blog. HOWeverrr, FAWN wore a halter for the first time tonight! It took a lot out of her...and a lot out of me!. She is large and she is the last of our animals to wear a halter. it is great. She was sooo nervous. But she did it! She yanked on me and yanked. She fell once, ran into some stuff. She never came close to hurting herself but to get an adult llama haltered is a big deal in my book. I never had large animals before this group of five we got last march. It is a different kind of animal. One that could pounce on you or drag you around. It is scary. I was wary of her lunging at me. The first time Calisto lunged...it scared the crap out of me seeing a large animal legs up ...
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Solon NY Water Mill

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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...
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Southern Africa!

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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...
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I got the bobcat going again and I have almost all the holes drilled. I will be taking the auger back Monday morning. I still have to assemble the fence, fashion 4 gates and generally get the job done. I am gaining on it. It is amazing what you can get done when you are not studying for a class and working a full-time job. We have our new llamas, two females named Rosey and Ultima. They settled in with the herd right away. The current animal count: 7 chickens, 6 llamas, and 2 cats. Click pic for video
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