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Showing posts from November 18, 2007

Back on the farm in Summer

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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...
Today is Thanksgiving and I am emailing folks in Antarctica to wish them the best. My friend Dave is stuck about 5 hours (LC-130 Aircraft) away from McMurdo at a god forsaken place known as "WAIS Divide". WAIS is an acronym for "West Antarctica Ice Sheet". There has been a seasonal science camp out there for years taking ice core samples. Dave has been out there 3 years in a row. We use a an old C-band satellite dish to get Internet through an old NOAA satellite through the University of Miami. I think he gets 5 hours of visibility at 56 kbps. Good for email for the scientists. At least they have a regular camp cook out there. I am looking for a new controller for my electric car. I have been doing a lot of research and planning. It won't be cheap. I want to do it right. I know if I don't it will be a mess and give electrics a bad name. I am diligently looking for what the the EV folks call a "Donor Car". I have reduced my goal to a 40 mile range...
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It is a normal weekend I suppose. We went to a Toastmaster event in Ithaca last night. Jason and Claudia both competed in the district contests. This was the contest that culminates 2000 toastmasters from across the state. Unfortunately, neither won, but to compete at this level is certainly an achievement. The Columbian guy who won the Humorous contest was a real hoot. I have been patrolling the woods out back with the jeep looking for hunters and getting firewood. There were no signs of hunters on opening day which was great with me. I take my camera and my note pads to capture back tags. Anyone I catch will get a ticket from the DEC. I have a bunch of firewood to process. I should have enough for this year, but you really can't have too much. Worst thing is that I will use it next year. As long as I can get out back (snow not too deep) I might as well bring it forth. It is a great excuse to spend time in the woods. Even though it was in the 20s I was down to a t-shirt working ...