Bob Cuts the Grass

Saturdays,weather permitting, which it hasn’t been for a LONG time, are usually spent mowing the grass. I normally don’t keep track of the exact time it takes, mainly because I’m in a mower induced trance by the time I’m through and I try not to think about it again until next week. This time I decided I would bring along my handheld GPS receiver and see exactly what cutting the grass looks like from a bird’s eye view and get some numbers for my own nefarious purposes.

My Backyard From Space!
Our yard from space.
The faint red outline marks the two yards I mow.The crop circles in our back yard are from friendly aliens or a pool we had. Right next to the “A” marker is the old me from about 5 years ago, actually cutting the grass. My wife says it is her but I can clearly see my pickup in the driveway and there is no heavenly way possible that I would allow my loving wife to cut the grass while I sit in my recliner…
A closer view. Notice the broad shoulders, the deep tan and the piercing brown eyes, so deep you could just swim in them… Has to be me!

First, some background information. I mow two yards, ours and our neighbors next door. I use a riding mower for my neighbor’s yard and a self- propelled push mower for our yard. Our mower has a grass catcher that has to be emptied every ten steps (okay,I’m exaggerating a little) and carried to the woods where I create an critter- friendly, ecological environmental habitat for my forest friends (by dumping it in a pile over the fence). I try to mow in the most efficient manner possible but I usually get sidetracked by snakes, branches in the face, unknown bugs in my mouth, ears, eyes and down my shirt, pants and by shiny objects. I also take a couple of breaks for water, which my loving wife brings to me exactly when I need it (how does she know?!), and refueling the mowers. Below are the stats of the world’s most efficient mower!

Total Time Spent Mowing: 3 hours 48 minutes 55 seconds
Elevation Gain of 6 feet
Maximum Speed 6.3 Miles Per Hour
Average Speed 2.3 Miles Per Hour
Total Distance Mowed: 5.36 MILES!!!
A bluebird that refuses to lodge in my awesome selection of bluebird houses, watches me disapprovingly.

Wednesday’s Pics

Today I visited a power line transmission tower to discuss building a cell site on it for T-Mobile.

Powerline Transmission Tower
The cellular antennas would be located at the tower’s “waist” which is 70 feet off the ground.

Gasline Marker
A 26″ gas line is buried nearby with 300PSI of pressure, I make a note not to disturb this during construction.

High Voltage
The sun shines on the 500,000 volt lines.

cut to my backyard
Betty notices some deer nearby.

Faraway Moon
Today’s moon from my backyard.

Moon
My camera brings it a little closer for detail.

Vermont Trip

New York’s Ausable Chasm on the west side of Lake Champlain

Beautiful, even in the rain.

Our second attempt at crossing Lake Champlain at Essex, NY.

The Essex ferry dock is flooded by the high waters of Lake Champlain.
If we don’t find a crossing soon,we’re going to end up in Canada.

Finally! A working ferry gets us across at Plattsburgh.

Our Pontiac handles well deep under Lake Champlain. 

Our hotel near Burlington welcomes us with champagne!

Vermont countryside on our way to Stowe
Small waterfall near Smuggler’s Notch.

Remnants of the last snowfall.

The Trapp Family Lodge.

Vermont is beautiful.

Youth Conservation Corp building.
Awesome scenery.

Farm near Waitsfield,VT.

Moss Glen Falls

Despite all the rain,we really enjoyed our little trip.

Our first view of the sky in four days!

Quote of the Day: Abraham Lincoln

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose – and you allow him to make war at pleasure.



Powerline Training: Grounding De-Energized High Voltage Powerlines

Today we’ll learn how to ground power lines safely. We are learning this in order to perform more cellular site work on powerline transmission towers.The tower on the left below is actually home to a cell site, in this case a “Cricket” cell site.The antennas are on the very top. These antennas are what makes talking on your cellphone possible. Once trained we can perform the necessary grounding, freeing up the power company workers and improving our business relationship with the power company.
The sun marks the tower for today’s training.
Before work begins, the circuit switch blades must be opened to stop the flow of electrical power.
Opening the circuit to cut off power.
Grounding equipment is gone over by the instructors.

Orange flags are placed on the “live” side of the tower as a warning.

Climbers begin to ascend.

Ready for the equipment to be sent up.

A shotgun stick with ground clamps and leads is sent up.
The first of three circuits on the tower is grounded.
View from under the adjacent tower.
Rigging equipment.
Utilizing the shotgun stick under the watchful eye of an instructor.
2 out of 3 circuits grounded, one to go.
A climber with his glove bag containing his rubber sleeves, rubber gloves and leather gloves, all of which must be worn in addition to fire retardant clothing.

Too late, the day’s work is done…