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Showing posts from April 22, 2007

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.
I am out in Idaho. I slept well on the plane on the way out here last night. So even though I got in quite late I put in a good days work and felt rested. I am staying at http://www.cdaresort.com/. The place is quite nice. I get to stay in the penthouse starting on Wednesday. I have a presentation to give Monday. It should go great. Bonnie and I will have to get out of the populated areas and see what the "out of the way" areas are like out here. Tomorrow the guys and I are going to take a seaplane ride in an old radial engine beaver on floats. I am looking forward to that.
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What a difference a week makes with weather. We had over a foot of snow last week and this weekend it is in the 70s and is just beautiful. I have been working on farm work, gathering firewood for next year, tractor work, and so on. It is easy to over do it. I am a little sore so I am taking a break. I was outside enjoying the sun and warmth and tried to relate it to sleeping in a tent in Antarctica. There is no comparison. Even here out in the country there are signs and traces of humans everywhere and the sounds and smells of all the wildlife is more like a jungle than anything else. It is a remarkable difference. I have been looking through photos from Antarctica as a screen saver on my computers. Some one them I am seeing for the first time. We are still working on Rosey, but it is not looking good. She is up and down. Last week she got out of the barn and fell in freezing water out in the pasture and couldn't get up. Bonnie and I were out there dragging her back in the barn...