Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

I am planning my week. The weather isn't getting off to a good start with quite a bit of snow in the forecast. I have been recovering from a bad cold. That is three illnesses I have had since I got off the ice. Some say it is because my immune system is off since I was in a realitively germ free environment in Antarctica. I am not sure. I don't like being sick. I do have a lot on my mind but that still didn't keep me from doing nothing today. Sitting around doesn't help the self esteem, but it might recharge the batteries sometimes. I had a nice quiet birthday. Rosey is doing better but can't quite get up on her own. We are giving her homeopathic cures as well as horse asprin. A heat lamp has helped her too. We shall see as it gets warmer out. She has lost some weight so that is good. The chickens are well and have been cruising the farm, but tonight everyone is in lock-down for weather. I have been staying in touch with folks from the ice. It is a bit like a f...

We are headed to Rochester for Easter. Rosie is still down, but Bonnie has become a llama whisperer and started giving her Tylenol Arthritus and that has made things a lot better. We will see how she progresses. Was I in Antarctica? It seems so weird at this point. Also I don't think anyone can be *in* antarctica. Being *on* Antarctica seems much more appropriate. Whereas *in* North America is fine since you are immersed in society. There is no society in Antarctica. It is an outpost of a foreign land at best. This is a picture of the dome at Pole. The historic dome will be gone soon. I feel so fortunate to have touched it and been inside.

I have a flying lesson tonight if the weather is ok. I was in Canada night before last. Quite a bit of driving in the last 48 hours. Rosie is still down. We will get her up tonight. We don't know what her problem is. Click pic for video

We have been working on Rosie. She isn't sick. She just seems too stiff to get up on her own. We are giving her meds three times a day and exercising her. The photo shows how to get a llama up that has been down. We have a llama sling and sometimes they just need a pull on the sling. Other times you have to use a come-a-long and winch the animal up. This is the third llama that we have had to use the sling on. We have got of use out of it for sure. It isn't much fun but that is the kind of work you need to do when you have animals. Today I am buying aviation books, budgeting the lessons and the plan, listing a bunch of stuff on ebay and working on my book. The weather is nice out there. The chickens are out and they are getting lots of bugs and enjoying their freedom.

I have not blogged in quite a while. Spring is starting to spring around here. The daffodils are starting to peek out of the ground and almost all the snow is melted. It won't be long now. Rosey the llama is down. We not sure what is going on. I took my first real flying lesson tonight in about twenty years. Here is a picture of the plane, a 1966 Cessna 172. I am comfortable, but not confident. Flying in and out of a grass strip (2600 feet) is a bit different. The surrounding hills are about 1000 feet higher than the airfield so if you are cruising at 2500 feet you are only about 600 feet about the terrain. The final approach puts you about 20 or 30 feet above some trees at the end of the runway. I think I will get the hang of it but it will take time. The book work is the easiest for me. Taking all the flight information in and processing it in realtime is a bit of a skill to learn. Knowing what to look at and for how long is a trick. Knowing what controls to gain feedback by ...

I got a nasty bug that was going around work. Man o Man. I was sick. I lost over 5 pounds in less than 24 hours. Bonnie and I both got sick. That was unusual. The animals must have gotten concerned about their food supplies. The animals are all fine. Current animal count is 6 llamas, 7 chickens, and 1 big orange cat. We are still looking at feeder-beef and breeding a llama. I am making farm plans for this spring. Every year we bring the farm back a little more and make it more attractive and useful. I have some NY state government training coming up. That will be good. There is a lot to learn about all the laws and procedures and what-not with the economic development and planning arena in which I participate. Then the snow started. After the "storm" was over is when we got hit with most of the snow. I am well enough now to get us dug out and operational again. There is almost no comparison to Antarctica. It is so humid. The air density is nice and high and you can hea...

Some pretty neat pics coming from "IO" a Jupiter satellite. www.planetaryexploration.net/jupiter/io/index.html