Back to school again..... :S

Hi guys,
  Today looks like a nice day to be outside, with a nice warm temperature of almost 40 degrees! :P  Well, nice for being a day away from the winter soulstice, anyway.  Let's just hope that it stays nice for a while longer...

  Anyway, yesterday, Dad; Andrew; and I worked on Andrew's car some more, and then this morning, Andrew went up to Bismarck to pick up some more parts that he had orderd through the Dodge dealership up there.

  Our current shop project, (one of them) is taking apart our Internataional 1486 tractor apart to find a bad bearing in there somewhere.  You see, one day when Andrew was changing the hydraulayic filter on it, he found a roller from a bearing in the housing for the filter, meaning that a bearing went out, and the roller got trapped down by the filter.

  After digging into it for a while, and not finding the bad bearing where we thought it was, we think we are going to have to split the tractor, and examine further. :S  Anyway, it looks like it is time to go again, so here is a parting picture. :)  As you can see, you could mow in there for hours... :)

  Jacob B.

Agricultural Simulator 2012 screens. :)

Hi guys,
  I just got my copy of Agricultural Simulator 2012 Deluxe on Saturday, so I have been playing that whenever I have a little free time.  The game is very good already, and with more updates coming, it looks very promising!  Here are some screenshots that I took.

 Here I have a worker going ploughing.

 Just finishing combining my wheat field, and you can see my worker in the background.

Baling the straw, as my worker cultivates.

I've got some bale collecting to do!

Spraying my corn. :D

Here I am taking a load of energy corn silage out to the Bio Gas plant!

Coming back empty, but just had to get a picture of this huge meadow.

Back to the farm!

Chopping another load!

Taking another load... had to get some pictures of the beautiful scenery on this huge map!

Dropping off the trailer...

And last, I used the built-in "flight mode" to get this cool shot of my farm yard and fields!

  Hope you like my pictures. :D  After playing the game for a while, I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes agriculture.  The game quality is very high, the graphics are amazing, and it is the most realistic farming simulator type game that I have found.

  There are a few bugs though, lest you think it exactly perfect, but nothing too big.  One cool feature, is that on the big Fendts, like the tractor that I am driving around in the pictures, you can actually put the dual wheels off by pressing a button, and by pressing it again, you have duals. :)  I don't know if it makes any difference in traction or not though.

  Another nice addition to the game from the previous editions, is that, if you are raising the right animals, you will get milk, wool, or eggs, considering that your animals are healthy. (yes they can get sick and die on you, if not taken care of)  Love the game, and if anybody buys it, let me know, because I would love to play some multiplayer with you. :P :D

  Gotta run, Jacob

A Book Report.

Hi guys,
  Mom told me that I had to write a book report on the book that I just finished, so here goes. :S  The book is called "The War for Mansoul", and it is basically the story of man's soul on earth, and how we get tempted to sin. :(  The book is set in the time of castles and sword fights!

  It starts out with the devil, aka. Diabolus plotting in hell to take away God's greatest possession, the fictional town of Mansoul.  In the town of Mansoul live many fictitious people like Lord Mayor Understanding and Mr. Conscience.

  To make a long story short, Daibolus appears to the Mansoulians as a dragon, and after some fancy persuading gets let in and takes over the town's castle.  After a while, Emanuel, (son of king Shadi who had possession of the town before) comes and reclaims the town as his own...

  After reclaiming the town, Emanuel exposes Daibolus to the townspeople, and then sends him on his way back to hell.  The people are all very happy now, but there are still a bunch of Daibolonains hiding in the walls of Mansoul.

  These Daibolonains eventually send a messenger back to Daibolus, telling him that they have weakened the Mansoulians's spiritual strength, and that he should try to take the town again.  He does return and breaks into the city, but never gets into the castle.

  After some time of fighting, getting nowhere, they leave, thinking that the Mansoulians will let down their guard, but they actually go out after them, and with the help of Emanuel, kill all of the Daibolonains outside of the town, except for Daibolus and his executive demons, who escape back to hell.

  After that there is a speech by Emanuel, telling his love for them, and that is pretty much the end of the book.  On the whole, it is a pretty good read. I would give it a 9.5/10, just because some of the chapters were seemed like endless rants. :(

  Well, I'm singing out again, Jacob B.

Long Time no Write. :P

Hi guys,
  It's been a long time since I've written anything, but I have been very busy working on the shop project and a whole lot of other stuff.  We actually have the shop finished, except for finding a place for everything again, so that is very nice to have done!

  I think it was the Wednesday two weeks ago that Dad; Andrew; and I went up to Bismarck to pick up a few supplies, and....... a giveaway POOL TABLE!!!  That's right, a pool table!  We had to take it all apart to get it out of the guy's basement, but now we have a 8' pool table in our heated shop!

  Last Saturday, everybody that was home, (Mom was at another body talk class in Calgary, Canada.) went up and played some ice hockey on a frozen lake up in our pasture!  We had a lot of fun until it started getting dark, so we came home and played some pool. :D

  Two days ago, I pulled my dirt bike into the shop, and pulled the engine out of it.  I am going to put a new "top end" in it, which means getting the block bored out a little bit so that it is all smooth again, and then putting a new oversize piston and rings in...  Well, time for me to go again, so I will see you later.

  Jacob B.

  PS: For those wanting to see pictures of Agricultural Simulator 2012, it hasn't come yet, but it should soon... *twiddles thumbs* :P

Shop Renovation. (and some other stuff)

Hi guys,  The past week or so, Dad; Andrew; and I, with some help from mom and Cora on occasion, have been working on fixing up our shop so that we can have it heated over the winter, so that we can work all day out there, instead of catching a chill.

  So, to accomplish this goal, we have built a wall that divides the shop into 2 parts.  The front is the heated work area, and the back is "cold" storage. :P  After bilding, insulating, and painting the back wall white, (to reflect the light) we started on the side walls yesterday.

  We got 8 rolls of insulation put up yesterday, and that is about as far as we can go until we rip out the shop bench and some other storage racks...  So we started putting plywood up on the sides last night.  We also got our stove put up yesterday, and it was about 20 degrees warmer inside then out, and with the walls about  a third of the way insulated!

  First video of Agricultural Simulator 2012 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE3xexkJJS4  Looks pretty good, and I am waiting for my copy to come from Germany somewhere..... :P  I will get you all some pictures as soon as I can.
  Jacob B.

Shop and School Work...

Hi guys,
  Sorry I haven't written in a while, but my computer is on the fritz, so I am writing from Dad and Mom's computer.  Also thanks for all of the comments from my readers!  I appreciate them all very much, and will try to give some out as well. :P

  Anyway, I have been keeping busy with my school work, as well as working in the shop, and doing other odds and ends.  Andrew's Intrepid is coming along nicely, and when we have that one done, he has another project car to start on!

  For the past few days, Dad; Andrew; and I have been working on cleaning out a space in the shop so that we can build a wall across part of it.  The reason for that is so that we can insulate the front part of the shop, and then we will set up a wood-burning stove, so that we can have some heat!

  Just a little note to all gamers.  Agricultural Simulator 2012 will be released this Friday, so if somebody wants to see some pictures, here is the official site link: http://www.agrar-simulator.de/  Go there and click on Bilder up at the top of the page.

  Well, Mom wants some help to clean up the house a little, so I gotta go. 
 Jacob B.

Another driver in the family!

Hi guys,
  Yesterday, Mom and I went over to Linton so that I could take my road test to get my drivers licence!  They were running a little bit behind schedule, but when I did get around to taking the test, I past!  So now we all can drive by ourselves! :P

  Last night, Mom; Andrew; and Cora all went up to Bismarck to see a play of Fiddler on the Roof...  Dad and I stayed home and watched a movie because we don't like that kind of thing.....  When they got home at about 11:45, Andrew said it was prety good.

  On Saturday, we had a birthday party! :-)  It was just us and Dad's cousin, (I think) Jerome.  We had a nice time opening presents, visiting, and eating cake and ice cream! :P :D  Jerome also dropped of one of our stock trailers that he had borrowed.

  Today, Mom and Andrew are up in Bismarck; Dad is trucking again; Cora has been working on the carrot project; and I ave been doing my school work.  We also had to go outside and chase a couple of cows back in the fence and then go around and check the fence...

    Well, Cora wants some help with the carrots, so I will go.

  Jacob B.