Approaching the equinox 2016: travel mixed with hard work.
Weight's back down to 204.
The new battery bank arrived today, on four half-sized pallets. Alas, the 3 point hitch forks I'd borrowed were too wide. I tried some clamp-on bucket forks on my tractor, but it couldn't lift 600 kg. that far in front of the loader. So I asked one of the local farmers what could be done. He came over in a much larger tractor whose loader could lift the weight way out front. It squashed the front tires and bounced a good deal, though.
Then I mounted the crane I'd bought in '93 or '94 for this job. Took some figuring to get the concrete anchors to work, though. As I had guessed, the solution involved a hammer - drive the bolt into the anchor till the anchor is seated, then turn the bolt to make the threads...
Maybe 3 CM rain Monday, which is very welcome but not even beginning to raise the water table anywhere. But still very warm during the days. In the 1990s, we used to schedule Harvestcon for the last week of September, expecting that a frost would have killed the mosquitoes.
Wed. - Sun. of last week I went to the NER convention in Albany. Saw many new places, had chances to railfan the old Troy & Boston line west of the tunnel, saw quite a few nice layouts, operated three. I didn't know locations and driving times when I chose the operating sessions, so the banquet was my best dinner of the trip, and the best breakfast came from IHOP Sunday morning. There was no 'best lunch'. The Scottish Inn's internet would not connect with me, so there was also dancing around to check email in bits of time between events at the convention hotel.
I entered my BL-2 diesel in the contest and got 2nd place in the category, also (barely) a Merit Award. I also was asked to help judge, as part of a 2-person team covering Detail.
The new battery bank arrived today, on four half-sized pallets. Alas, the 3 point hitch forks I'd borrowed were too wide. I tried some clamp-on bucket forks on my tractor, but it couldn't lift 600 kg. that far in front of the loader. So I asked one of the local farmers what could be done. He came over in a much larger tractor whose loader could lift the weight way out front. It squashed the front tires and bounced a good deal, though.
Then I mounted the crane I'd bought in '93 or '94 for this job. Took some figuring to get the concrete anchors to work, though. As I had guessed, the solution involved a hammer - drive the bolt into the anchor till the anchor is seated, then turn the bolt to make the threads...
Maybe 3 CM rain Monday, which is very welcome but not even beginning to raise the water table anywhere. But still very warm during the days. In the 1990s, we used to schedule Harvestcon for the last week of September, expecting that a frost would have killed the mosquitoes.
Wed. - Sun. of last week I went to the NER convention in Albany. Saw many new places, had chances to railfan the old Troy & Boston line west of the tunnel, saw quite a few nice layouts, operated three. I didn't know locations and driving times when I chose the operating sessions, so the banquet was my best dinner of the trip, and the best breakfast came from IHOP Sunday morning. There was no 'best lunch'. The Scottish Inn's internet would not connect with me, so there was also dancing around to check email in bits of time between events at the convention hotel.
I entered my BL-2 diesel in the contest and got 2nd place in the category, also (barely) a Merit Award. I also was asked to help judge, as part of a 2-person team covering Detail.