Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

I get a kick out of hearing the term "Deep South" in 2026. It is a crazy incredibly outdated label. I think maybe I should start saying the "Deep Northeast". I am a Yankee. My family came over on the Mayflower and moved to Upstate NY via Connecticut. Terms used in the revolutionary and Civil war days are generally inappropriate. My family is all but totally out of NY State now. I find the term "deep south" to be of the same thinking that the movie "Heidi" is what contemporary Europe is like. Watching the fireworks in Rochester, NY from the back yard of a house in the city made it look like a real war zone. It is a long drive between Berkshire, NY and Duluth, GA. Most of the 35K miles on the truck were spent in between. I drove the truck about 3k miles in 2-1/2 weeks. It was great to spend time on the farm. It was good to make some progress on needed repairs and improvements. I also felt good about making some new friends up there. I will be...

I trailered a towable man lift (bucket lift) from Georgia to New York. The thing that made it eventful is that I had to drive my truck. My 2017 Chevy 3500 HD service truck (with only 31k miles) is not my Tesla. I have grown very accustomed to the Tesla self-driving, navigation and general hi-tech luxury. The truck, although I am very fond of my truck, is stressful and expensive to drive compared to the Tesla. Being on the farm alone has been an eye opener. I had forgotten how quiet and in-nature this place is. Very occasionaly a car or plane comes by and disrupts the void, but only occasionally. It has been very reflective. It is the first time I have been up here from Georgia without a specific date I must be back for... or so it seems. "All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone."-- Blaise Pasacal mid 1600s. I guess I am working on humanity's problems. It can take a lot out of you. I feel good about some of the pics I ha...

Angie and I took the sports car to one of the many parks in Gwinnett county to walk. We saw signs for "free food / Comida". Being that I am always up for a snack, I decided to see if I could get some. Sure enough, they are handing out Breakfast and Lunch kits. We got a "lunch" and ate it in the park. I was pleased that there was no political literature in the bag only the normal commercial stuff for the products and the company that assesmbled the kits. It was a weird expereince. I have no idea of who these meals were intended for. I entered the Humvee in the Duluth car show. That was fun. It actually won second place in the "pickup" category. Car shows are like that.. somewhat self-congratulating. We signed up for drone home delivery. Although it is very unlikely we will ever use it. This squirrel was particularly tenacious on the feeder. I am sure the birds saw it as a spectacle. The bobcat came in quite handy this week, both for some str...

Summer is here. I have the AC on occasionally, except for the zoom room, which the AC is on all the time I am in there. Since we had so much rain awhile back, the mosquitos are unbearable. I called for air support from a pest killer company. June brings new fawns in this area. We have two new ones in the back yard, learning about the world. There was a nice Pitts Special that showed up at the EAA 690 breakfast this past week. I picked up another traffic control device. I will add an appropriate relay and sell to someone with a man-cave or bar. Wisdomino is certainly keeping me busy. I am a professional networker now. A lot to juggle.

I went to Elliot Brack's funeral yesterday. He was a friend. And he was quite a character. He was one of the first people I met outside of work when I moved to Georgia. He was sort of a variation of the main character of Tom Wolfe's "A Man In Full". I used to say that Elliott and I had a 50-50 relationship. He told me what to do and I did it. His 50% was telling me. My 50% was doing it. He was a fixture at my church and involved me in all sorts of things. Including organization of our "Civic Breakfast" where we invited leaders from the community for information and opinions of the community. It goes on and on. There were 260 people attending his funeral. He will be missed. https://www.crowellbrothers.com/obituaries/Elliott-Earl-Brack?obId=48440319

We have had a dry spring weather-wise this year. But now Mother Nature is making up for it. There was flooding on what we call "The Connector" in Atlanta. The connector is both I 75 and I 85 running through downtown. Needless to say it is a very large artery. The forecast looks like it will be rain for about 10 days. Here is a rare picture with at least a piece of each car in the current fleet. It is too many vehicles. It takes too much attention for all the care and feeding. The Humvee goes on display today. Maybe an interested party will buy. Jewel the Turkish Angora enjoying nature

Yes, it is election day in Georgia. We have Early voting but today is the official voting day. From what I saw at the poles and the lines at the early-voting polls, turnout has been very high. I like to put the flag out on Election Day. Gracie doesn't care.