Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

Amazing what some paint and decals will do to make a machine look good. I was surprised how many little projects I had accumulated on the bobcat. I have worked through most of them at this point. Electronic ignition, fuel pump, fuel lines/petcock, exhaust manifold gasket, exhaust pipe, crankshaft oil seal, new filters, breathers, it goes on...

I welded some little stands on an old grill to stack pizza in my Weber grill. It works great, even better than I expected. The taste of the stuff below really permeates the pizza, while at the same time the pizza is in the hot baking part of the grill, not close to the flames. We had cube steaks, sausage and potatoes on the base level and pizza baking on the second level. I look forward to the next experiment.

In looking closer at my eclipse photos I saw something interesting. During totality, the corona light seems to actually refract around the moon illuminating the surface features (craters). Cool.

Along with millions of other Americans, we went to see the total solar eclipse. It was a few hours drive away in North Georgia. We decided to go to Tallulah Gorge. It is a place I only recently revisited after I passed through in the 80s on my motorcycle. The place really has not changed. Kinda hippy. Traffic was scary, but we managed with out any major delays with live traffic mapping software. It is tougher to take photos that you might first think. I guess there is not much opportunity to practice. Arc welding glass helps when it is partial. It was very dark (and very cool) for over two minutes.

Some recent pics from my Farm in NY. We did some SUV camping on the farm, practicing for Iceland. We had some guests (from Russia and Germany) out for a boat ride in Duluth. I have trips planned for Minnesota, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Hungary.

I enjoy losing arguments. It proves I have the ability to learn, unlike my opponents. --Charles Dowdell

We enjoyed time at home this weekend for a change it seems. I do appreciate it. I have been working on the Bobcat. I put an electron ignition on it as well as some new gaskets and a bunch of other odds and ends. And now waiting for a new fuel pump. I put a new fuel pump in it about 10 years ago.. seems like it should last longer than that.