Making things better one step at a time.

And avoiding gym fees!

When we stopped here in October 2015 there was a pile of logs next to the communal fire pit. For the Saturday night bon fire the previous management would throw a full length log or two over or in the fire pit an let it smolder for the rest of the weekend. After the previous management threw their temper tantrum, quit and or were fired, I talked the owner into loaning me an electric chainsaw and the use of his small John Deere tractor – after my heart surgery. I’ve slowly built up to two hours of work in the morning before the temperature rises to slow roast and this is a typical fire for the day. By night time there will be little to nothing left but ashes.

Log fire in firepit.

When I quit this morning the temperature had risen to 91F, an hour later the temp is now 96F and rising.

Here is a view past the tractor, which is what does the actual lifting for me.

Fire pit view past the tractor.

Fire pit view past the tractor.

And here is a view of the remains of the 1 1/2 to 2 cords of rotten, bug infested, disease ridden pine logs leftover after the pine forest was culled of the rotten, bug infested, disease ridden trees.

Remains of the diseased wood

Remains of the wood pile.

This area is nicknamed the land of 10 Million Pines. That’s a problem from practical people that fear imagination. On the surface it sounds like a great idea, plant, wait 20 years and harvest. But when you have all of one type of plant, all it takes is one disease to destroy them all.

About Art

55 years old. By training, ability and experience I am a master toolmaker. My most recent projects include designing and building a process to grind a G rotor pump shaft with four diameters and holding all four diameters within plus or minus 4 microns of nominal. This was an automated process using two centerless grinders refitted to my specifications using automatic load and unload machines plus automatic feedback gauging. I also designed and built an inspection machine to check for the presence and size of a straight knurl on a hinge pin using a vision system for non-contact gauging.
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