Ottertail Country

Ottertail Country
Ottertail South

May 30, 2008

Computer is sick

My home pc has a virus...... I spent last night copying photo files to CD.

I'll not post til I get it fixed at home.

I gotta go, Carlo


May 22, 2008

Later May


Quick update on "the tree". Amazing how much post mileage I can get out of one incident, hey? Onlyhow, I saw this spook up in the tree on day. Or is it some incarnation of Kokopelli? I can't say....


So here we are, all set for the felling. I hooked this rope to the tree so it could not head for the deck in the event the truck of the tree is too rotten and it is hard to control. I'm thinking now that if the tree decided to head South, the rope probably would not hold it. Hmmm....








So the tree hit the ground as planned and I cut it up. Doesn't seem like I'll be able to split it with the maul, I tried with no luck.
I went flying this evening, and I could have used a photographer on board. The poplar trees are such a luscious light green right now. The hardwoods are either in bud or with tiny leaves, a darker background for the almost luminous poplars. I got the chance to play fire pilot tonight!




This is not the fire I'm referring to, but a rubbish fire in the neighbor's field a couple of years ago. John took the photo. Anyway, there was a big smoke just west of Phillips this evening. I flew toward it, descended to about 600' above the ground and circled the burn. Looked like someone readying the land for clearing. As I circled the fire, I got into a bunch of wood smoke... just like I was working the forest fires out west. I wondered if everyone makes up junk like that when they're doing something. I bet they do, just don't admit it? Oh, well.
We're heading for Milwaukee for the weekend, will try to get some pics of Hailee and others.

The last couple of posts were done with the photos centered, making it so much easier to fit the text. I inadvertantly used the old 'left, right' method in this post, but I think I'll go back to the centered method.

It's been three years now since I started this blog. Who would have thought it would have lasted this long?

I gotta go, Carlo

May 18, 2008

Update:


I wish I could figure out how to have this thing work on this blog so you folks that want to contribute money to the Ottertail could do so easily......



Caught in the act, I should have hidden the camera.... I kept thinking, "do not saw between the ladder and the trunk....".





Relax, I'm not sawing off my support limb! It's really on the other side.








I quit because this storm front was moving in. Weird lighting, but it looked really neat out there.





The weather chased me away from the outdoor work, so I had to go into the house and have a bevvy.... as Onslow would say. We watched Onslow and Daisy's grand-daughter's christening on the telly tonight. I think that's one of their best episodes. It's the "Keeping Up Appearances" series, and it's a riot.

I gotta go, Carlo

May 17, 2008

The tree....

For you seldoms, there is another "new" post just below this.....



I needed fortifiers to sit down and write this post. It's a Point Amber Classic. Onlyhow, I made the inevitable decision to tackle a project that needs doing, don't want to do it. But I started tonight and now I'm just resigned to see it through. It's the tree at the Northeast corner, the old soft maple that has defined that portion of the yard since I can remember...







What a sight against the evening sky! But it is not to be for much longer.





It has a nasty lean to the South, directly at the deck and east side of the house. A walk around the tree with an eye to the top gives a startling view of the defects. I hate to take it down, but it looks like the top could go off at any time. I really don't want to have to rebuild the deck AND cut up the tree. So......













You can see through it near where it branches out!






So, I got the trimmer device out and started eliminating the lower limbs. It will be a job, all right, but now that I've started, it'll go OK.






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Oops, looks like it's time to go back into the house....... I'll keep you posted on the progress.

May 16, 2008

Flying fun.


Sometime on Wednesday a dead Red Pine blew over in the wind and landed on the power lines! I called the number for this, described the situation and they said the "Vegitation crew" would assess the situation. Not having heard anything by Friday, I called again. This time they asked if the tree was on my land or not.

Yes.

Then it's your responsibility to remove the tree.

How will I do that?

Hire a tree business.

If the lines went down, would I have to pay you to put them back up?

No, we maintain the lines, but your tree is interfering with our lines, you need to remove it......

Hmmm.


Had a great night flying on Thursday. Actually, the "project from hell" caused me to take half a vacation day which I spent cleaning up some wiring on the plane, re-routing the power cable to the radio, vacuum cleaning the cockpit, washing down the exterior of the plane and a few related tasks.




Here's a shot of the mighty Marquip. Innocent enough from the outside....
And by the way, you do need to enlarge these pix.
One of the tasks I completed at the hangar was to get my radio working. Everything seemed to work O.K., except it seemed that I was not transmitting lately since no one answered my calls, even after I had just ansered theirs. So I did a little testing with the airport manager on his radio and finally narrowed it down to my having a switch on the intercom set to the wrong direction! Doh!!



And yet another view of Phillips.



The sunset was awesome. This is the first time I've flown this year without the doors on, so the pictures turned out better.



The narrows on Long Lake, just west of highway 13, visible from Harbor View.



Here is a cool view of the land bridges on highway W, about 2 miles west of Phillips. It's what divides Long Lake from Wilson Lake, both part of the Phillips chain.



Here's a view of the airport as you get ready to start an approach on runway '0"1.

I love flying!



Another shot of the sunset.

I love flying!

Carlo

May 13, 2008

Spring? Kind of.....


Spring is SLOWLY making it's way into northern Wisconsin. The flowering crab on the south lawn is starting to show a little lavender tinge, a harbinger of the intense blossoming period. Some years it looks like a giant, glowing, intensely purple dandelion about to lose it's fluff.

The lawn looks quite green, I haven't mowed yet and don't want to with gas at $3.80 something up here..... sheesh.






The big silver maple in the yard is covered with these little pointy leaves. Soon the seeds will start forming, the leaves will stop growing, and the tree will be covered with thousands of little straw colored whirligigs. They will drop and cover the lawn til it's green, the leaves will re-awaken and things will be back to normal.




The first blooms have arrived, four tulips! It's still been quite chilly, with frost every morning, so things are taking their time. The poplar trees are quite green in the woods, the birch across the drive is covered with light green, tiny leaves.



Found another wood bicycle! These things are way cool, in my book. Well that's about it for this update, what's happening in your world???





I gotta go, Carlo

May 10, 2008

Miscellaneous


Not much going on around the Ottertail right now. Received this photo in an email recently. It says on the bottom "Human Statue of Liberty, 18,000 officers and men at Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Iowa. The complete story is here,
and states "Many examples of Mole's patriotic photographs in true perspective still exist. Pay close attention to the way spatial depth and perspective is defied. As in the Statue of Liberty there are twice as many men in the flame of the torch as in the rest of the design." It's worth checking out.




Now here is an adventurous soul... hanging on the edge of a huge drop, it appears.








It's on the edge of Victoria falls, in Zimbabwe. I googled the falls and it looks like an amazing place. Reminded me of the photos that Rosie brought back from Brazil. A huge falls they visited in, ?? maybe Paraguay? Where was it, Rose?



Here is another of those lovely wooden bicycle frames. It would be fun to fabricate one of these, but looks like a lot of work for something to look at.







The comment on the last post by Karthik reminded me of the garage party last year. Most to Marquip's India folks were there and by now only Muruga's and Kumeravel's families are left. Joselin and Anita are still here for a couple of weeks, but will be leaving for good then.




Karthik (in this photo), I really need to ask you about your blog!!! You said you were going to start one but you have not sent me the link.....











By the way, 3year anniversary is just around the corner......

I gotta go, Carlo

May 7, 2008

This is entertainment????

O.K., I'm going to vent a little. Maybe a lot....
I stopped at the pumphouse tonight to refuel, so please bear with me.

I turned on the telly at 7:40 to find the following. I don't know the letters of the networks, so I'm just giving the channel numbers...

07- Wausau-... Price is Right--- Wrong!!!.... this show would be marginal even if Bob were still on it. But Drew Carey???? DREW CAREY???? Why would anyone watch this boob squint away an hour playing some dizzy game? It's beyond me.

Need

I

say

more

?????


09- Wausau-... Super Nanny Has anyone seriously evaluated this tear-filled fiasco? What a crock!!! I just can't believe it's on, let alone have sponsors and an audience. Are we this pathetic that we can actually watch this crap...... Here is what Greg says about it.
"Another show I dislike is "Super Nanny," one of many shows on television to utilize a big adjective to make up for its less than stellar effect. This is a very similar show to "Nanny 911," "Fanny the Nanny," and of course "Killer Nanny From Outer Space." In "Super Nanny," a hired nanny -- in this case a super one with a British accent -- is brought in to fix a messed-up household. Unfortunately this nanny does not wear a cape, which makes the "super" aspect hard to understand. Second, any household that feels it is so broken that it needs to bring in a televised super nanny really just needs to start over. It's not hard: just rewind a few years when the decision to have kids first came up and change "Let's have kids" to "Let's make a sandwich." Granted, some needy network will probably pick up the show "Super Sandwich" to capitalize on this decision, but that concept would get boring after a couple of years of watching some big guy spread mustard on bread..."

Pass the mayo.....



12- Rhinelander-.. Deal or No Deal. TWO HOURS, I mean TWO HOURS OF THIS CRAP!!!!!
Who watches this garbage??? Who in hell is Howie what's-his-del, and why would we care? And they all pretend it's very serious, models and all.... Please, just shoot me.....


I

rest

my

case

.........






55- Wausau (Fox, so don't expect much)... Some drivel with Kelsey Grandma (sp?) and Ray's wife. Now here is a brilliant piece of drama. I'm surprised these "actors" actually stoop these levels just to get some money.
What, exactly, is the viewing public's fascination with this guy? I mean, have you actually watched "Frasier"? Imagine it without a laugh track.....

I would rather watch an eighth grade Christmas pageant than this sorry excuse. Oh, by the way, it's followed by american idol, like we need that. It even gets news headlines..... We're beyond hope if this is considered popular entertainment.....



I'm thinking of getting satellite so's I can watch South Park, Bill Maher and re-runs of old westerns.....
If you have any opinions or arguments about this evaluation, please let me know....

I gotta go, Carlo