Mount Wachusett

At just over 2000 feet high, Mount Wachusett is really more like a really big hill. Even so, it is a popular ski area given its close proximity to Boston. It is flanked on one side by a number of very pretty lakes which I thought would make for a nice foreground. It proved a pleasant distraction after I spent nearly the entire day repairing the dust collector in my workshop. It is a massive 2HP cyclone which stands 10 feet tall and weighs several hundred pounds. It is so tall that I had to position the top mounted motor in between joists of my 9 foot high shop ceiling. Even without a cracked rib, I would be hard pressed to lower the motor and fan assembly without assistance. Working alone, I had to devise various rope and pulley based schemes to lower one section at a time and to hoist them back in place once the repair was completed. It took three hours to disassemble and lower the system to the ground and four hours to put it back up. The repair took about fifteen minutes. Not a very satisfying ratio of overhead to actual repair work but I was pleased that I could bring a $3000 piece of machinery back on line with a bit of ingenuity and elbow grease.