Tankchair:- An Engineer's token of Love.

Awesome! Tankchair
Built by a very talented man, after his wife was injured in an accident, he sought to make a chair that would enable her to enjoy the woods, hiking, the places she had loved when she was able to walk. It can cope with mud, streams, snow, gravel, soft ground, all those things that are impossible for an ordinary wheelchair.
It can even climb stairs!
(though I bet that's scary for the pilot)

Their website says "For every 10 chairs sold, TankChair is going to donate one to a fire department in a rural area so that they can give it away to someone who would not normally be able to afford one. The first is going to go to Parker Fire Department in Arizona. This is our hometown and they were the ones who rescued my wife, my kids, and myself when we got in the accident that put her in the chair."

When I read their website I was so impressed at how he has striven to give his wife back the freedom of the outdoors.
If ever I need a wheelchair, I'll beg for one of these.

I Was driving to Work When......

Warning:-Technobabble and boys toys follow.

I was driving to work, a bit mentally vacant and stuck in slow traffic when I spotted a man in a yellow jacket fiddling with a radio control box. How strange, thought I. A group of business suited onlookers watched.
Up the embankment slope above the road a bizarre yellow thing was pirouetting, weaving between trees.... and cutting the deep grass. WOW! I WANT ONE! was the first thought..... Then an angry beep from behind forced me to notice the hundred yards of clear road ahead... That was a couple of years ago, The city bought, I think, four of these supertoys, to cut steep bankings by roads and in parkland. Ride-on mowing machines can be very hazardous on steep slopes, and fatalities are not unknown. Hand held brushcutters, (strimmers, weed whackers) are very labour intensive, and again, operator injuries are common.
The machine in question is a Ransomes Spider, an awesome machine, powered by a seventeen horse-power kawasaki engine, four wheel drive, four wheel steer..... Hydrostatic drive.
As far as I can tell it was designed by a Czech inventor, Mr Lubomir Dvorak, who founded a company to build them, and is the holder of the patents.
However, they're being made by Ransomes in England, under licence I assume.
What makes me think of this just now? Well I was sent a link to Dave Mows Grass, his most recent post, in which he is running short of blog materials, so loads up his pick-up with what might be well rotted horse-sh*t, and promptly gets it bogged on a perfectly innocent flat patch of grass.

A-ha, I thought... Dave NEEDS a Spider...

(The Spider would not do the pick up's job, I know, but a man with a stuck truck needs something else to do.)



Elsewhere, Warwick University has been experimenting with robotic self control of these, and the use of artificial intelligence to allow a group, or 'swarm' of spider-bots to co-operate.
Not slow to see that they need not be confined to mowing, another team, in Denmark, calling its Spider-based device 'Hortibot' has worked on building an autonomous machine to carry out tilling, seed planting, spraying, and much more.



At the moment they seem fearsomely expensive. Like about the same price as a BMW 1Series,
And I only have a tiny patch of flat grass.

Somewhat cheaper, and not quite as fun-looking is the Goat Hybrid Mower.


Now I look, I see all manner of geeks designing radio controlled lawnmowers... Anyway.... The growing season is over. I'll forget it all until next year....

A Picture of Me...

Being a Knight of the Order of the Besmirched Countenance, one has to maintain certain standards....

Harry's Troublesome Buzz.

Dear Miriam.....

Click on the image for embiggenment.....................................

A Reply to Mildred X,

Mildred X, writing over at Red Dirt Scribbles, (where she borrows blogspace from the Red Dirt Scribbler, a known sympathiser, and, some have suggested, undercover officer of the Sisterhood of the Pointy heels), sent me this message, by mulepost.

"Sigh. Do you truly believe you are aiding us in advancing our cause ?? We DO know how to have fun .... all work and no play make us sistahs very dull indeed .....and we KNOW how to play, don't we Soubriquet ??"

The mule declined a return message so I post it here in the knowledge that Mildred will eventually see it.

Grit in the Gears is not about advancing the Sisterhood's cause. Rather, we serve as a monitoring instrument, keeping abreast, as it were, of the Sisterhood's activities.

However, in a spirit of non proliferation, I shall now disclose some of the activities of The Brotherhood of the Besmirched Countenance, a secret organisation which is trained to resist any attempt by the Sisterhood to abolish male activities, such as D.I.Y. and beer drinking, and any further attempts to demolish The Shed, traditional retreat for men.

I shall furthermore reveal, that I am he who was once was hailed as The Knight of the Besmirched Countenance.

I refer you to the Chronicles of the Bogus Cognomen, yet to be published in blog form.

A rapid response, lightweight airforce unit. note we have wheels, not pointy heels.
A sisterhood traffic officer attempted to book the squadron for speeding on the runway...

A Naval Vessel.

Remember these crack forward Can-Can Troopers?
At the time of my previous post they were unstoppable.
Enjoy it while you can, ladies.

Our latest units are all being reconfigured for Can-Can abilities.

The official caption on this was "First Stealth Buses Under Test" However, it is now revealed that the stealth vehicle story may be being used to cloak our new levitation abilities.

Hogwarts graduates are being recruited as rapid forward broomstick patrols.

Spidermen in training.

And the Aquatic Cavalry.

I think is enough revealed, for now.


UPDATE: A REPLY TO COMMENTER MILDRED X>

Thank you, Mildred X, for that feedback. Gerty the Mule has now retired on a full pension and has been awarded the DSMM (Distinguished Service Medal for Mules).
Gert started life as Gerald the mule, and at an early age, volunteered for Brotherhood training.
He was a master of disguise even before he could walk, and frequently masqueraded as a donkey, becoming fluent in Donkish. Seen here as a foal, you can see his disguise was really quite excellent.

I am also reminded as I write of his infiltration of a training camp dressed as a large dog.
It was a little later, after training in special tactics and the advanced application of stubbornness that he approached high command and asked to be assigned special, and arduous duty.
His first special forces assignment was with the underwater cavalry, but he did have problems with mane care, and applied for Intelligence Corps training.
There had long been a draft plan to infiltrate sisterhood riding schools, and Gerald volunteered.
Although various prosthetic disguises were tried, Gerald was clearly, um, overendowed.
But, ever brave, he underwent surgery, and after recuperation and voice training, re-emerged as 'Gertie', under which pseudonym 'she' joined the Sisterhood's ranks.
Equipped with a phenomenal photographic memory, 'Gertie' provided many of the pics I have previously shown. Still more are kept in our archives, some too saucy to print. Yes Mildred, the Jacuzzi incident?
Now after long and distinguished sevice, 'Gertie' has returned, and for a while acted as a double agent for us, 'leaking' information that we chose to 'leak'.
We are currently defrosting Gerald's artifacts, ready for the restore studliness operation, and (s)he is looking forward to a good deep bray again.

Meanwhile others of our squad take up the baton.... You'll never know, sisters, which mouse to trust, which cat conceals, beneath its purr a satellite uplink....

Oh. And, Ladies..... glad to see you took in the Trojan Shoes, our chocolatier will be delighted.

Troops of The Sisterhood of the Pointy Heels:- Undergoing Advanced Training

Rhinocratic Oaths

Ladies, I think you'll find it's the little things that mean a lot.



Or "Say it With Ears".