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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Poland, Lithuania and a trip my Grandfather couldn't make to Kaliningrad since it was part of the USSR.

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We are back from a complex trip in Western and Eastern Europe. In ten days it included the following countries: Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Finland, and The Netherlands. Angie was in Moscow and we met in Poland.

On the weekend, we drove across the Lithuania/Russia border. We weren't sure about the realities of crossing the border and we had several different contingency plans. We ended up executing a form of our plan C. We had to spend extra time getting processed since the guards had likely never seen a US passport and Visa. Actually it took two tries. We were refused exit at a backwoods Poland-Russia border. Needless to say it was quite interesting. All the guards at all sites were pleasant and helpful. Only one guard of the 6 sites spoke any English.

It was all a trip through part of the Prussian empire in my thinking. Looking at the very nice architecture from the Prussians in disrepair was very evident. We saw a number of structures that were destroyed in WWII, never torn down, never repaired. Eastern Europe is a fascinating place. We visited the site of the first shots of WWII in Gdansk. We also visited the Immanuel Kant Museum in Kaliningrad (Konigsberg). I found my Grandfather's book on display and signed the guestbook as such. He is the only one to have translated one of Kant's books into English.


Auto diesel in Poland was 4.79 złoty per cubic decimeter and in Russia 36 rubles per liter. So, in Poland diesel was $5.00 USD per gallon and in Russia it was $2.62 USD per gallon.

As normal, it was too fast and I got lots of work done in Germany and Finland. Fun, satisfying, expanding and tiring.





"Never Again War"



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Machinery Infatuation

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