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Summer Starting to End on the Farm

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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.
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I am having a good Friday so far. It has been very refreshing talking technical publications and technical information strategy details with some large companies. There sure are a lot of NYS forms and agencies to fill out for the bakery. It would be unwise to consider that she has it all figured out at this point. It is hard to imagine what a "non-free country" is like compared to these bureaucratic side-steps and barriers to entry. Here is a current pic of the orange tree I started from an orange from my lunch in about 1998. I started eating the orange and discovered an enormous amount of seeds in it. I took some seeds from my mouth, placed the seeds in a coffee cup with paper towels and germinated them. I have lost count how many transplants and prunings it has gone through at this point. It needs another session. Behind the plant you can see Artemis hanging out in this delightfully warm weather (for a llama).
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Wow. What a week. Things are good. DJ's store is looking a lot more like a store. The equipment is going in this week. She has not yet set a grand opening day yet. The advertising will start coming on line soon.
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I no longer work for The Raymond Corporation. I am looking forward to getting back working at the leading edge of something. Current Animal Count: 1 Dog, 11 chickens, 2 cats, 4 llamas. Whenever I prepare for a journey I prepare as though for death. Should I never return, all is in order. --- Katherine Mansfield
Wow! What a way to start the new year! More news at 11:00
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Happy NEW Year!! It is now 2010. Aren't we supposed to be living on the moon by now? Or at least figured out controlled fusion reactions? Man o' Man it is cold and nasty out. The llamas haven't been outside in a couple of days. You know when the temperature gets below zero the wind doesn't blow? Well the wind is blowing. We only got about 8 inches of snow but I have drifts a couple of feet deep. It is just plan nasty out. It is still a lot more humid than Antarctica, however. DJ's Bakery is coming along. The first part of the electric is done. The work I have done conjures my experiences working in old city property in Rochester. I guess I learned a lot. It all come back. Working with the crusty/burnt cloth insulated wiring and back-fed 2-wire circuits brings back a lot of memories. I guess the rule of thumb with old house wiring is that "if it works, do it." Working in the environment gets you nostalgic. Thinking about the guy who put the fixture o...
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I have finally got around to blogging. The bakery is coming along. The plumbing is done and the electric needs to get finished. The heat-hood for over the ovens goes in Monday. The project is a little behind, but not too bad. I got in a battle with the folks that sold me the water heater for my solar system. They sold me the wrong unit, one without a heat exchanger. That of course wouldn't do me any good. So, I bellied up several hundred more dollars, disconnected and returned the non-exchanger model. I pick up the new one, get it home and wouldn't you know it. It was damaged in shipment. So I am waiting on a new one. Man, this has been a while getting the system done. The end is in site however. Just some insulation, wiring, and a few fittings and it will be ready for testing. I have been using so little fuel oil for water-heat now. I will be down to almost nothing with this system. I got 1600 lbs of coal. That will last me the rest of the winter. The furnace has yet to co...
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It was really slippery driving around yesterday. I heard about a lot of wrecks on the scanner and I saw a couple too.