Three pictures from the weekend and a few thoughts

A goat and a tree that is being removed from the canopy. Southern Belle is using goats to remove brush.

Detail of a door, one-of-six, that will be in Southern Belle's rabbit jail.

Chinesium sprayer puking spray.

I am going through a steep learning curve with the sprayer. The manual is...crude.

The controls were shipped with the "sprayer" and "duster" modes both in the half open position. That meant that the reservoir was sending highly corrosive liquid to both the turbo spray-head (good) and the vacuum side of the fan (bad).

I justified the purchase of the sprayer solely on its ability to spray calcium solution (a nutrient) on an acre of orchard. I really don't need it for any other purpose although I might spray micronutrients on some chlorotic oak trees in the neighborhood.

I was feeling bad about spending the money but then I saw a truck pulling a trailer with a new dirt-bike on it. A $2000 trailer with a $5000 motorcycle for a high school kid. From that frame-of-reference, dropping $150 for something with a gas motor that provides entertainment (but does not break bones) is dirt-cheap.

The motor started and ran fine although the gas:oil ratio of 28:1 was unexpected. I had to add oil to my usual 40:1 mix.

The liquid feed to the turbo-head is by gravity. Lifting the snorkle to spray up, into the tree starves the turbo-head. Consequently, I need to find an elbow to insert into the system so I can get enough liquid to the head while still spraying upward.

We are not the same

We were on a family camping trip circa 2000. We took bicycles for local transportation.

Pelee had a melt-down because his bicycle did not shift EXACTLY when the pointer on the grip pointed at the "speed" he wanted.

I tried to explain that the numbers on the display are meaningless. If the pedaling is too hard, downshift. If the RPM are too high, up-shift.

That was a hard NOGO for Pelee. He threw the bike into the weeds beside the road and stomped off.

I was baffled.

In retrospect, Pelee was slightly ahead of the curve. In a digital world, the Command-and-Control display is slaved to actual state. In an analog world (the world I grew up in), the display is a general guideline.

Very, very different. 

For example, when turning down a piece on a lathe, there is lash (slop) in the adjustments. You backed off and then dialed back in to minimize lash. You took off less than you could to avoid over-shoot. You measured frequently. Those were all ways of compensating or coping with the inherent limitations of the analog world.

Most of the time, the digital world is better. What you see is what you get.

However, being able to operate in the analog mode can be a life saver when systems operate in "degrade" mode.

I used a lot of words to set the stage to say, I can deal with things like this Chinesium sprayer because I grew up in a time when low-end-of-market US-made goods needed tweaking to make them usable.