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Showing posts from April 1, 2012

Machinery Infatuation

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I bought my first NEW piece of farm machinery. I am not sure if this is a failure or a success, but it is different. I picked up a NEW Rotary Cutter (bush hog, brush hog, mower, etc) from a dealer. It cost me almost as much as the tractor did with its bits of hardware and options. It seems to work well on the CNH Boomer 33. I planned on getting up to NY in the next couple of days, but Gracie has been sick.. she has been up and down. The steroid treatment and a change in diet seem to be helping at this point. Besides hauling the tractor and mower up to NY I have numerous events planned over the next month. I will be in Charlotte for a conference as well as Tucson Arizona and of course other events and activities. I started installing radio equipment in the Humvee. It now has a telescoping 30 foot antenna, a 24 volt to 12 volt converter, a removable SDR radio and some other stuff to be sure. I'd like to get it to the Stone Mountain Hamfest -- thats what i am shooting for. I thr...
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I tried to do a solo cross country today. But, the weather degraded unexpectedly and I ran into a low ceiling. I ended up going into a cloud. That got my attention pretty good. I diverted to a nearby airport, landed, did a bit of a read on the situation, and got my confidence back. I figured I would try it again at a lower altitude. When I was about 20 miles out from my destination the weather at the destination called for "Clear to 1200" (not enough). I decided to do a 180 and go back to LZU. Clouds can be very difficult to see when you are ascending into a haze. The density of the haze is especially difficult to distinguish when you are looking up. I still got some hours and some practical experience in "aeronautical decision making" (ADM) and used some good judgement (GJ) which is the opposite of poor judgement (PJ). I still had time to take the self portrait. It is a special place alone in a plane. I got to try out my new iPad app that has charts with an overlai...
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This has been a long stretch in Duluth GA, 4 weeks, it will be 5 weeks before I leave for South America this weekend. I am looking for houses again/still. It is a bit overwhelming. But, I am closer to zeroing in on exactly what I want and what makes sense. Here are two pics about one of the most talked about characteristics in the Atlanta area, traffic. The new roundabout is really a revolution near downtown Duluth. It is very anti-Atlanta thinking. Roundabouts or what we used to call "traffic circles" years ago are a great way to keep traffic moving. The car in the pic is somewhat typical. You see Georgia plates with a Dorschel dealer sticker from Rochester NY and a SUNY Geneseo, NY license plate frame. NY State isn't bad, really even in the winter (well that is a stretch some days), but bring your own job. Atlanta is nice. There is a lot to do. You can get anything here and you are close to the country if not in it.