Another trip between Georgia and the New York farm

-
Image
Its unusual that I make the trip this late in the year. Although it is highly unlikely it would snow (and bring the road salt and all the other bad stuff). It is often rainy. I had excellent weather. The main objective was to bring the brush hog up and mow trails. The trails have been disapearing and there are a number of bush islands appearing everywhere a small finish mower can't do the job. The tractor worked well. Back up over a multiflora rose bush with the brush hog up and drop it down and take care of business --at least for another couple of year or so. I spent many hours years ago yanking these things out of the ground with tractor and chain which yields a more satisfactory long term outcome. I will be doing the same with the largest ones for sure. I understand that these bushes were originally planted as a natural fence. Animals and humans alike don't like the thorns. They are invasive.
Post a Comment
-

Today is Sunday again. I got up early and walked up oberservatio hill before 7 AM today. The cross at the top has a great inscription.

From Wikipedia:

Observation Hill is a large hill (750 ft/230m) adjacent to McMurdo Station in Antarctica and commonly called "Ob Hill" (prononuced Obie). It is frequently climbed in order to get good viewing points across the continent. Regular clear skies give excellent visibility.

Robert Falcon Scott's party was found by a search party led by the surgeon, Dr. Edward Atkinson. They were found dead by the members of the base camp, who took their photographic film, scientific specimens, and other materials. They had to leave Scott and his men in their tent, and later parties could not locate the campsite, since that area had been covered in snow. So Scott's party eventually ended up drifting out to sea as part of an iceberg as the ice shelf made its way to the sea.

The search party then returned to what is now known as McMurdo and climbed Observation Hill. There they erected a large wooden cross, inscribed the names of the fatal party and a short quote from an Alfred Tennyson poem which reads "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Climbing ob hill by yourself early in the morning is a great simple pleasure. It is not easy to climb, first of all. The view is fantastic and the solitude and respite from town, welcome. It took me less than an hour. My clothes were still in the dryer when I got back.

I have been working on my 5 minute movie for the annual McMurdo Film Festival. I am happy with the results so far. I have a lot more editing to do.

The building in the picture is the National Science Foundation administration building on campus, the Chalet. It overlooks my shop, bldg 159, AKA; the puzzle palace.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
I finally have real broadband access! Through my ham radio connections I managed to get a terrestrial link using a Motorola Canopy solution (5.7 GHz) and a 15 mile (plus) path. Of course, I would have never been able to do this except for I am on a hill that faces the tower in Binghamton. It is a haul. It is safe to say I am at the far fringes. I am working to help expand the system with the installation of a new tower on my property. The dish on the roof is fairly big (nothing like the old c-band TVRO dishes though). I was hoping we were going to get 10 or more Mbps, but I have to settle for speeds just under 5 Mbps. Considering with Wildblue (satellite) I was only getting 600 kbps with 900 ms latencies; I am very pleased.
Read more
-
Image
The weather was too bad to get in the air in the Atlanta area for VFR. I am going up Wednesday evening. I am not doing much traveling this month. It is a bit weird. Saturday I had breakfast with a Flight Instructor for Delta, saw a presentation from an expert Cave Diver, then an Aviation safety seminar and then to look at the "Liberty Belle B-17". These war birds are impressive thinking that there were half a dozen kids crammed into these things trying to kill the enemy. A lot of bravery was needed that's for sure. I have a hard enough time without someone shooting at me. I will be going for a ride in the yellow open-cockpit plane in a couple of weeks.
Read more

Value of Life and Mount Coates Antarctica

-
Image
I found a good quote. "The value of life has to be created by man. It cannot be obtained through luck, but only through wisdom."--Kant I just checked the helo schedule. It looks like I am headed to the top of Mt. Coates tomorrow. Should be good for photos. Today I worked on radios for some heavy equipment, some Cat 95 Tractors and and a D8. When I was in the heavy shop I also stopped and took a shot of the 1957 Tucker sno-cat that a guy I know is rebuilding. These machines are pretty neat. This place does get you tired. The cold, the sun, the atmosphere. I have yet to see a single person with a bad attitude. The buildings are all heated well, actually too well when you have 3 layers on after you take off big red. In the picture you can't tell the wind was about 30 or 40 knots and temps about 10F below zero. It wasn't bad. I am getting used to it. Dress in layers and regulate your body heat. It takes almost constant attention to keep your temperature comfortable. ...
Read more
-
I gleened this paragraph from: Econtent mag The Cost-Price-Value Equation One of the truisms of the information business is that information has collection and delivery costs that can usually be determined with reasonable accuracy. The problem comes with the fact that an individual user, in the context of any given information environment, determines the value of this information. Moreover Technologies is providing me with a customized newsfeed on intranets, extranets, and content management. I'm finding this out personally in the management of my own intranet blog. Many items are of great value and I use them directly in the blog. Others are of more peripheral use, and stimulate me to look into an issue that has not been high on my agenda. There are also items that duplicate other sources of insformation, or treat something well known in the industry as news. If another intranet consultant used the same feed I am certain that we would each put the daily list of news item...
Read more