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!