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The Lo Boy is a movie star....

Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 12:46 pm
by Buzzard Wing
Ok, actually a slide show.... Hope you have some time, it's 26 minutes.

Re: The Lo Boy is a movie star....

Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 4:54 pm
by Buzzard Wing
Trivia question.... What are the big steel wheels for, apparently a cannon carriage?

Re: The Lo Boy is a movie star....

Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 6:30 pm
by ReTractor
Thanks for the slide show I enjoyed it. That is a very cool place. My wife and I have been to Newport several times but always did the regular tourist things...mansions, shops, food. I gotta see this place. I'm not that far away down here on the coast in CT so it's an easy day trip. That's some big boat in the background in the beginning is that a cruise ship or someone's toy? The big steel wheels...made to move something heavy for sure. I'm guessing you know the answer?

Re: The Lo Boy is a movie star....

Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:59 am
by Billy Fussell
Enjoyed the slide show. Great job on "rescuing" the fort from Mother Nature. Hats off to you and the volunteers doing the work.

Billy

Re: The Lo Boy is a movie star....

Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 7:50 pm
by Buzzard Wing
Thanks Billy! I am just happy to have 'challenging' mowing! Wait till I get one of the Advanced Redoubt put together, all of that was done with volunteers and is truly a gem now.

The cruise ships are around in the fall. I didn't pick the photo that youtube used but it is a pretty good view up there and a respectable photo. I have even seen the Queen Mary 2 from that corner of the crown works (east demi-bastion).

I got the big wheels free with a hi lift jack and a come-a-long. One wheel spins but the other is stuck on the axle, with the yoke/bridle removed (1" bolt! vs 18V DeWalt sawzall) we can roll it by hand before they put up the fence. Official word is that there is a photo of it with a cannon barrel on it somewhere.

When I was putting this together I was amazed at how much the place really changed in the 3 summers I have mowed it. At first I never knew that behind the sumac and poison ivy was more stonework until the Boy Scouts cut and chipped one section of the south bastion. (the blue tarp is finally gone). But once you get used to something looking a certain way, you (or at least I) forget what it looked like before. I call that 'house blindness', you notice the change, but after a time it becomes normal.

Took a walk through there yesterday (to cut the 1" bolt and the other rusty pin) and the place hasn't looked so good in ages. I am really, really happy with how it looks and proud to be part of it.

Bing 'birds eye' view is great because you can make out details that a straight down view (IE satellite) view obscures. You can pan and rotate 90 degrees (upper right) http://binged.it/1cOkizS That was obviously taken before the 'big haircut' but in the winter, so not all the details are obscured.

Re-tractor.... got a pair of loppers with your name on em, always glad to show a fellow Cub owner (or even an innocent passer-by) the place. It is a marvel!

Re: The Lo Boy is a movie star....

Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2013 9:43 am
by Billy Fussell
Although the grounds are now covered with grass and vegatation, were they origionally covered with crushed stone or some other form of cover? I don't think that grass would have been there then. It would not have held up to foot traffic. I remember when yards around here were hoed clean and then swepped with brush brooms. Just wondering how the military handled the grass problem.

Billy

Re: The Lo Boy is a movie star....

Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 1:33 pm
by JohnL (BlackJeep)
Larry - thanks for the great slide show! That really looks like a fun mowing job. Keep the great photos (and movies) coming..

Re: The Lo Boy is a movie star....

Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 10:55 pm
by Rob in NH
slide show is nice larry, but i still like the private tour better :D