Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

We got the pony motor to fire. That is enough to keep us going. I expect one more work session and we will have the diesel going after 30 yrs of slumber. Starting an old D6 like this has a real complex procedure. The basic steps are 1.)Get mony motor Running, choke, throttle, fuel shut off, out of gear. After the pony motor has warmed up for a minute or so continue. 2.)Open compression relief valve. 3.)Engage pony motor (may have two speed transmission, if so use high) 4.)After oil pressure rises turn on diesel fuel value, smoke appears. 5.)Close compression relief valve 6.) Cover ears!

I had a interesting experience last night (like most nights). I volunteered to scrap out a fairly large camper trailer to help out my friend Roger. He is moving and he needed to get it off the property. So I told him I would take it, tear it apart and sell the aluminum (maybe 200 bucks). Of course, there is quite a bit of nuisance involved and the "fluff" left over from a camper is no fun at all. Most junk yards won't take them because of the amount of fluff. So I hooked up the truck, no safety chains, no lights, and a tire that is leaking air. Wouldn't you know that moving the trailer caused the leak to get bigger. And after filling it with air a couple of times, the tire disintegrated. "OK, I can deal with this." I am about three miles from home and there is a fresh layer of new asphalt down on the road up ahead. The new asphalt is so rare in my neighborhood; I really couldn't bear the thought of having the bare rim chew it all up. I did drive a few mi

I finally cracked the code on lime in my fields. Trying to find the cheap/smart way in farming is difficult since farmers are generally very resourceful and they figure stuff out. My lime project has been in my thinking for years. Down here we need lime on our soil for hay. The soil is great for berries, but for hay it needs to be sweetened every 10 years or so with 2 ton/acre of a lime type product with minimal mineral values. I found a close-by source (Lansing) of fine concrete dust. The numbers are great. The price is cheap since it is a byproduct and I found a guy with a tri-axle dump truck in between the source and the farm who was also willing to drive it out the field. It was about 1/4 the money and much higher quality than what most other folks do. I will be spreading it at the same time I mow. The mower on the front and the spreader on the rear. That is efficient.

Google gadgets in action.

In retrospect, I got a lot done in the last few days. I looked at the dozer. This coming weekend we will probably get it started. There is a fuel problem on the pony motor. I moved a bunch of junk for a friend and I ended up with some of it, including a genuine 1910 electric lamp post from downtown Penn Yan NY. It is cast iron and formed tin. I like it. I am not sure what I am going to do with it but it may end up in the garden as focal piece. I ran in the corporate challenge 5k race. I finished in just over 25 minutes. I got the jeep stuck and unstuck. The trick with getting stuck and unstuck is simple. Don't force it. Get a bigger tractor. If you don't have a bigger tractor, find someone else with a bigger tractor. Simple. I made a nice little whirly gig for the garden out of broken salad tongs. I enjoyed that more than I realized I would. I am making a bigger one out of an old window fan and lamp parts. I have my 1951 Evinrude outboard dissembled almost ready for str

Today I MC'd Carol Thau's retirement luncheon. I have done quite a few of these in the last couple of years. I am particularly in debt to Carol for volunteering as the acting mamager on my behalf when I was in Antarctica. She did a great job. Good Luck Carol.

In taking a walk around Greene NY during lunch the other day I gathered proof that the community is caught in some kind of time bubble. Check out the gas prices on the sign, the early 60 ford that has not succumb to the tin worms and the stove from yesteryear. <

The word miscellaneous is an evil word. This word is a handy excuse to sweep information under the rug, hide information in a desk drawer or otherwise cop-out of organization work. Miscellaneous is a usless word and concept. There is sorted and unsorted. Advice: remove misc. from your thinking. Organized thinking begets organized information and the other way around. The information paradox is pervasive. Break the cycle. Ruthlessly categorize.

Another weekend over. The scrap in the picture sold for 150 bucks this past Saturday. Amazing how high commodities have got. Hang on. The economy is in for some twists. I was all set to invest in forign currencies and I held off because of fear. Wouldn't you know my fears were warranted. The dollar started gaining some strength back. I lucked out there. I have to remember that. I was bit surprised how easy I got the scrap to the scrap yard. I used the tractor to drag the metal scrap out of the hedgerow (way back on the property), the bobcat to load onto the trailer and the truck and trailer to get it to the scrap yard. I seem to be set up for this stuff. It took less than two hours from end to end. The llama shearer will be here this weekend. I am going to look at a D6 dozer too. The dozer may be helping make some new ponds and what not. The projects on the list are going well this summer. Like always there are steps forward and steps back on the roads of progress. It is ve

The list gets long this time of year. Today the weather is perfect. The grasses have grown a lot in the last two weeks. It makes mowing a priority when I am trying to cultivate the finer grasses. I am headed to the scrap yard this weekend. The old farm junk is worth an unbelievable amount these days. So I am going to redeem the junk for cash using my new equipment trailer. The llamas are all happy after I told them about getting sheared in a couple of weeks. They are hot these days and don't like to leave the barn. They need haircuts bad! I bought the first major component for the solar domestic system. I am still designing the rest. In the process of finding components (a lot more available than there used to be) I found an opportunity to be an exclusive distributor in the US for a nice combination controller made in China. I will be persuing that opportunity if the unit works right for me. Fuel prices being so high is definately creating opportunities. I may have a donor

Sometimes it is hard to remember how nice of an area I live in. My commute is generally stress free and a joy in experiencing nature. This morning I took this snapshot from the truck window. Can you see the fawn nursing?

Things have been a blur lately. I had a flight lesson the other night. I am gaining confidence. I remeber some of the things that I struggled with before I am now comfortable and confident. I have a ways to go still for sure. The big thing was though, I called a missed approach (go around) because I was too high and didn't feel comfortbale with the rate of decent. I gave it the gas and went through the process of a go-around and the engine skipped a few beats on the climb-out! I let my instructor have the plane and to be safe we did a 300 degree turn and landed downwind. That is the second time the plane has hiccupped on me during climb out at low altitude. We agreed this time it was a bit different than the loss of power we had last time with a scored cylinder. This seemed electrical. The plane is being looked at. My instructor says I have bad luck with the plane. We had an extended debrief and talked about options. We both agreed that the golf course was the best place to go