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Upper Peninsula Michigan and Auction Win Outcomes

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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.
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Roof Ridge Line Straightening

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There has been a "belly" in the porch roof ridge line for as long as I have owned this house (10 years). I am finally doing something about it as I prepare for a new roof, soffits, facia and gutters. I took more than half of the sag out today. I still have more jacking and bracing, but I feel good about the progress. Certainly I have lots of experience straigtening structures like this. I remember my Uncle and my Father straigtening the collaped roof on the laundry shed near Bridgton, Maine in the 60s. The first one I did was a garage in the late 80s. I am using the 20 ton hydraulic jack I purchased in the mid 90s to jack and straighten the house I restored in Victor NY. I can't say I like working in attics and crawl spaces. I like the value it adds when complete, since it is easy, but scary and complicated for most. It is "pure" work.
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Power of Poetry

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A bit of poetry has been ringing in my head. It is from an old song. Sometimes these things can be hard to shake. And sail away on ships of wonder But life's not a wheel With chains made of steel So bless me, oh, bless me, bless me It has the same theme as in a post from 2016. March 29th 2016
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KLZU Hot Air Balloon -- Zoom Room

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There is always something going on at my airport in (KLZU) Lawrenceville GA. This weekend I got a deep brief regarding balloon piloting. I haven't been up yet. I took some pics of my zoom room to show folks what I see when I am in meetings. My zoom background is consistently a brick wall. My view could be considered the opposite. You can't quite see the lake from where I sit because of the large bush just outside the window. It's a beautiful bush. I would hate to take it out, but maybe.
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Priorities

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One of the strangest processes I go through is setting priorities of what I need to work on. I can't say I finish one project and start on another. I often take a project to "a stable place" and then start on another "comprehensive" project that ends up as many smaller projects with their own lifecycle. The good news (and what allows me to be proud) is that I finish projects. Finishing is a big deal to me. I enjoy that part. A lot of folks get joy out of starting projects, but then get beaten down by setbacks and reality. Real progress (and growth) comes in steps. The stair rise is seeing and knowing progress. The stair step is when you dont see progress. You have to have faith you will get to the next rise. It will happen. In my latest "comprehensive" project "zoom room improvements" includes deep cleaning (inside and out), new electric, ethernet, and flooring. In addition, some foundation repairs. The original posts were set poorly and th...
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Existential Imperfections

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Realizing and understanding you (and others) are not perfect doesn't get you any closer to being perfect. Nature is funny that way. When was it that you first realized that an algorithm very effectively predicted and presented something that you wanted to see?
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Life in a Audubon Society Approved Community

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I got this nice pic of a Green Heron on our dock yesterday evening. Weird looking when on the ground, very majestic in the air. For scale, the board he/she is standing on is a 2x4. It is a very large bird. Compare with post of my owl friend a little while back. here
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East Coast Travel

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We are back from the farm in NY and Connecticut. We flew up commercial. One of the strange things that happened was that we did a go-around both in Syracuse and Atlanta. Very unusual. That makes five times total ever I have been in a commercial plane for a go-around, two of them on this one trip. After landing in Syracuse I asked the pilot what happened "I could have made it, but there was a strong tailwind". I did notice on the flight tracker that there was a strong tail wind at a low altitude and he was hand flying the whole trip, he confirmed both. The new driveway on the new land connecting my farm is complete. The property has three driveways now. I had two of them added over the years. Frontage can be more important than acreage. With the new drive the possibilities of what to do has changed a lot. I am still planning for another special small house up on the hill-- not sure what else. But it is speaking to me. I flew the drone and took a lot of pics for conceptual map...
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