Dictation, and a mystery sound.

I started this post a week ago, but didn't get a chance to finish it till now... Here goes:

Happy Sabbath!

This morning after chores, while I was waiting for the shower to be available, I was playing around in my room and found a way to make this funny noise. Can you guess how I made it?



Jacob said this sound reminds him of a robot computer processing data. I think it would be a good sound effect for a SCI/FI movie...


As you may be able to tell from the title, I am once again dictating to my computer. It is actually working pretty well this time, and I am gaining more confidence in the system. In this whole paragraph, I haven't had to correct one mistake! It is definitely a lot faster than typing, at least if you're as slow at typing as I am. :-) You can even make a smiley face by simply saying "Smiley face"!

Well, I need to get going. "Talk" to you later,
Andrew B.

Why I haven't been posting...

Hey, I'm back!

"What has he been doing," you might be asking yourself, "that he hasn't been posting for so long..." Well, one of the reasons is that I have had another busy week, but the other reason is that my computer monitor has found it's other purpose in life, and hasn't wanted to just be a monitor any more... :-) Meaning that I have had my monitor/HDTV set up in the living room, so that we can watch the TV coverage of the Olympics. :-)
We could watch some of the Olympics online Here, but they only show little clips of things, and the video quality leaves something to be desired... So, when the Olympics began, and we found ourselves wanting to watch them again, (First time in 12 years!) I decided to try to hook up the old antenna that is hanging in our attic, and see if we could pick up anything...
I knew there was a wire coming down somewhere in the living room, as we had cut it off when we moved here and didn't think we would ever have a use for it... After digging around for a while, trying to find the hole where it used to come through the wall, Dad said he was pretty sure the wire came down on the OUTSIDE of the house. Oh! I wonder why I didn't remember that wire hanging there... ;-) Anyway, after a short trip outside I stuck the old antenna cable through one of the living room windows, hooked it up to my TV, turned the TV the direction I wanted it, and took a nice seat.
Power on > switch to TV input > Figure out how to use the remote... ;-) > Menu > Setup > Scan for TV channels > Results -- Nothing! Rather dismayed, I looked behind the TV to make sure everything was hooked up, and sure enough, my antenna cable had come unplugged when I turned the TV around... I plugged it back in, CAREFULLY turned the TV back to where I wanted it, and tried again. SUCCESS! After flipping through a couple of channels, (I almost forgot how...) I found the one I was looking for, and was greeted by a barrage of advertisements, and the local news team with the latest weather report... Hmmm, no wonder we got rid of the TV!
The Olympics weren't on till later, so I flipped through the other channels to see what was on. Hmm, Wheel of Fortune, America's Funniest Home Videos, a cooking show, a dumb movie, more advertisements... What was I doing? I hit the power button and got up. You sure can waste a lot of time just watching TV! I know we won't be watching TV regularly, but once every four years for the Olympics, it is kind of nice... And it's even in HD! Cool!
Well, I need to get going now, but I will be posting a post that I started sometime last week a little later, so check back for a new Mystery Sound!
Andrew B.

New Poll

Here is an explanation, and pictures for my new poll:

Question: What do you think of when you hear/see the word LEGO?

Answers:

1. Big blocks for little people, LEGO Duplo:

2. Bulk bricks, Standard Legos:

3. Star Wars! Recreate your favorite movie symbols!

4. LEGO Technic! An advanced building system with working motors, hydraulics, gears, wheels, pulleys, and just about everything else:

5. LEGO Mindstorms! The ultimate in LEGO design; build robots that act, think, and move exactly how YOU want them too! Complete with a microcomputer, motors, sensors, and lots of parts and pieces...

Soooo, What do you think?

Progress

Hello again!

We have had another busy week, but since I posted last Tuesday, I will just continue from there...

Wednesday was spent in sorting off Cora's calves from the rest of the herd, and then hauling them in to the Napoleon Livestock Auction. Mom and Jacob were in Bismarck, so Dad, Cora, and I had to work with the cows by ourselves... Thankfully the animals all cooperated, and we got all the calves to the sales barn without incident.

Thursday afternoon, Cora and Jacob went to town to watch Cora's calves go through the ring, but by the time they got there, they were already sold! O well...

Dad and I spent Thursday and Friday working on my grain cleaner, as that is top priority right now. We have to get it ready to run before the grain cleaning season starts, which could be as soon as the end of the month. We have been making a good bit of progress, although we are still a long way from done... Yesterday, we finally got the generator set in place on top of the goose neck, but it still has to be bolted down and wired in. Then we have to reposition the large fan beside it, which then needs to be bolted down, wired in, and re-ducted; we have to figure out how to mount 3 augers, a tip scale, and a hydraulic system to run the rear auger and a drag auger; how to modify the building framework so that all of the augers can be folded in, and still be able to close up the sides... Get the picture? We have definatly made some progress, but there still is a long way to go. :-)

Got to go,

Andrew B.

I'm Back!, Pictures, and an Update...

Well, I'm back. This probably isn't a surprise to most of you, as it has been posted on my other family members blogs, but I thought I would say it anyway...
Like I said in my last post, on Friday we were going way up North to look at a grain cleaning unit that was for sale up there. On the way up, we made a little detour into Minot to pick up a certain giveaway there:

Cora has been wanting a Basset Hound for quite a while, and when she found one for giveaway on http://www.bismanonline.com/, she had to 'Pounce' on it. :-)
Here are some pictures of the grain cleaning unit that we went to look at:

We spent over an hour looking at the cleaner, trying to decide if it was worth what the guy was asking for it, and if so, what we would all have to do to it in order to make it work with our operation... The verdict? Yes, it was in fairly good shape, and it didn't look like it would be too hard to get it going again, so we called the owner, and made a deal; we would be back up on Sunday to pick it up.

Now, seeing as it would only be about 10 miles out of the way for us to go visit some friends of ours up there, (Who we don't get to see very often, because of the 200 mile trip,) we were able to go visit them for an hour or so. Then we had to head for home... Correction: Then Dad, Cora and Jacob headed home. Seeing as we had to be in the area again on Sunday, I had the opportunity to stay with the Bartlett's for the whole weekend!

I had a very fun time at the Bartlett's. Friday evening we spent playing games; I taught them how to play Pit, and they taught me how to play Stratego. (Which I enjoyed so much, I made my own from cardboard as soon as I got home. :-) ) I don't have very many pictures from my time up there, but you can check out the Bartlett's blogs, as they posted a couple of me... They are linked to on my sidebar; ND Homekeeper, Adventures of a Turtle Mt. Hillbilly, Mr. Flatpicker, Out in the ND Boonies, and ND Wood Hauler.

Here are some pictures I took while I was out at chores with the Bartlett's:

The Bartlett's dog, Samson.

Peter, milking Sandy.

Mrs. Bartlett, doing ?, and Peter straining the milk...

More later...

Andrew B.