Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

I was up in Wisconsin and the UP (upper peninsula) in Michigan. It was a lot of driving after launching/landing in Appleton WI. I got an item off the bucket list by driving across the "Mighty Mac". Altough it was built in the late '50s. It is still the longest suspension span in the Northern hemisphere. It is a crazy long bridge with a crazy long suspension span. It was good to see the bridge in context of the seemingly endless forests of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The culture in the two haves of Michigan are noticibly different as you might expect. Great time meeting with folks both in WI and MI. The tractor I won in auction, seems to have paid off. This time I beat the odds. It was a really good deal. I have the "no-key, non-running, may have hydraulic problems, unknown hours" -auction win, running well with minimal cost and time. I have some more tweaks, maintenance and minor fixes but the major risks are gone.

A lot of driving. I have forgotten how much driving is involved when on the farm. Everything is far. But I also had to drive up and back twice to Syracuse to pickup/drop off Angie at the airport and a business meeting for Wisdomino in Albany. Yeah it was a lot of driving for me. All and all it was about 4000 miles in three weeks. Early in the morning I decided to check out some auctions (dangerous). I ended up being high bidder on a 2015 New Holland Boomer 33 ( "hours unknown, does not run, may have problems, no key, no battery" ) from the State of Tennessee. I figured I could swing by Nashville and pick it up on the way to Georgia. And indeed I did. It was only a couple of hours extra, maybe 4. But, it was more efficient than going to Georgia and then back and forth to Nashville. Nashville is about 4 hours from Duluth. So I was looking at a 4 hour savings. After I go through it and getting if working I will tow it up to the farm in NY. I wasn't prepared for a trac...

It has been good spending time on the farm. I really had forgotten how quiet and dark it is here. It can actually be a bit unnerving. The leaf doodle bug was put to work in the forest. However, it looks like the car will be going back on the road. We can say it failed field trials,but that would only be partially true. The better utility value at this point is more suited to getting a teenager back and forth from high school. The mycological aspects of the farm did not disappoint. The pics of these shrooms are not photoshopped. The coal stove (very heavy) is loaded on the truck. It will be rebuilt in Georgia if I can save it. Coal stoves are increasingly out of production. When they are gone they are gone. The small wood stove is now in its place. The pic of the red sky in morning was indeed a warning of weather. We had strong storms and tornados in Upstate NY. Although I was travelling much that day in the area, I missed the worst of it.

With tribute to USDA and other government furnished information of the post war advice converting Model-Ts to tractors --"Doodle Bugs". I towed the resurrected rear-ended 2013 Nissan Leaf up to Berkshire, NY from Duluth, GA. It is now in field trials as a farm machine in Upstate NY. Despite the lack of current ground clearance it is performing well in dirt and mud. I will be skidding firewood very soon. https://journal.classiccars.com/2018/06/08/doodlebug-1923-ford-model-t-tractor/ https://www.thehenryford.org/collections/explore/artifact/188731?AssetId=THF811118

Well, I finally have a salvage title for the 2013 Nissan LEAF (Actually I dont have the title yet, but I think they mail it to me). We are far from settled with the insurance company for sure. It has been six months since Angie was rear ended. The following chart shows a very sad and disturbing trend. Insurance companies aren't paying out. It should be criminal. I went shopping for a new rear axle so I can get the car driving again. The rear ended axle was so bent, the car couldn't move. The new one with no connecting bits was over a thousand dollars. The cheapest used ones I could find on ebay were over 500 dollars. I finally scored at a local used parts place for 95 dollars (removed) and with associated bits such as bearings, bushings, parts of the brakes. It took me a concentrated day with cancelled and moved meetings to get the axle replaced and the car running again. The accomplishment felt good. I am now configuring the car with tractor tires and other modifications ...

Only smart shoppers will find the error in this picture. Its a real photo and a real error, as in Dead Ass Wrong (DAW).

I have been asked why I am not living on the farm in NY given the pics I have recently shared. One of the reasons is I have a view like this when I get up in the morning here in Duluth GA.

"You want adventure. Every fiber of your being is screaming for it. Where do you find it? You find it in the voluntary adoption of responsibility." -- Jordan Peterson And some additional context to add is that the priorities for responsibility start with and for yourself. The deer in the neighborhood have become tame, quite tame. I think we are at the point where I can train them to eat from my hand. I dont feed them, but it is clear others in the neighborhood are feeding them. I am questioning whether it is right or wrong. It is not as simple as what you might initially think. We run through loops of listening to the mezmorizing David Attenborough as he anthropomorphizes wildlife. Or what you learned as you slammed into a deer with your car. It's not that clear. The deer are not running out in front of cars in the neighborhood. They act more like the neighborhood geese, having full reign of the lawns, driveways and streets. Years ago, we had a goose that demanded...