This is sorta an OPUS session..Pretty cotton picking long. (like an e-mail from Phil)

Stumpwater Second Annual (a play)
“The Mobile Mapper Mowing Project”

Scene One- (the plan)
(We begin some months earlier)

JD hatches a most ingenious plan and consults with Sharon,Phil and Linda.
(this part is secret, so I’ll not post the details).

JD “You guys think this will work?”

Phil “The proof in is the grass”

Sharon “What icons are you going to use? I can make you a custom one if needed.”

Linda “Make sure you download the latest version
Of the firmware. Grass 2.0”

Scene Two-(the gathering begins)
Many have already arrived as this scene opens. All know to ignore the front door and walk to the side
following the smells of crawfish. No need of directions or of GPS to find that strong aroma.

We gather in the infamous cooking quarters of our chef.
JD hints at what is to come , but we must await all the guests arrive he tells us.

(a long clanging sound suddenly catches every ones
attention).
As we turn we see a smiling Dangerous One who is rubbing his forehead rather vigorously.

At last all the participants are gathered around the tables
As JD lays out the afternoons contest.

Scene Three- (the Mobile Mapper mowing Project)

JD passes around a hat and we each draw a slip of paper from the hat denoting our roles in todays little experiment.
It appears Jimbo, the Dangerous One and Deral have drawn the drivers roles.
Deral carefully notices a pepper placed within the hat but deftly avoids it with a flick of the wrist.

JD “Today gentlemen, we are going to put WAAS to the test”. “Shawn and I have done a survey dividing the yard into three equal parts”.

“Each of you will , using my riding lawnmower attempt to mow his area following the routes set up in the Mobile Mapper” “You will
be using WAAS only corrections”.

“The unit will log your journey and we will post process your results against our survey and see who mowed in the shortest time with the most accuracy.”

Interlude- (We hear the sound of a metal saw in the background)

DD- “Thanks Jeff”
JO- “No problem DD”
JD-“What is the half moon cut into the entrance of my cooking area?”
DP-“It’s call the DD tunnel!”

Back to our story.

Scene Four- (The first contestant)
Jimbo has drawn number one.

Shawn “The mobile mapper has been cooking for 20 minutes and your route is route number one”.
Jimbo (returning with several items) makes some modifications to the mower.

Using duct tape and a rather large bowl he adds the crawfish attachment to hood of the mower.
He fills the bowl and signals that he is ready.

Jeff O waves the starting flag and Jimbo takes off on his route.
He looks to be following a sure path when suddenly he veers into the trees.
JD (looking at shawn)..”Did you fix that one point where we lost WAAS and only had a autonomous
Fix?’
Shawn “Woops.”

Jimbo emerges from the trees wearing a stand of canopy.

Jeff and Randy see the problem and rush in with machetes to fix the anamoly. Just in time Jimbo shakes loose the
tree branches before our two helpers arrive.

As Jimbo continues on his way he reaches the half way point where a mandatory pit stop will happen. He
pulls into the pit and Shawn services the mower.

Wait..There is a problem. The stop is taking longer
Than necessary. Someone else is in line at the crawfish boiler and Shawn must wait 10 seconds extra to get
Back and fill Jimbo’s bowl.

Jimbo continues on his quest and finishes in a pretty fast 15 minutes and 12 seconds. His portion of
The lawn looks well manicured and in addition JD now has a path to the outdoor ‘bathroom’ back amid the trees.

Scene Five- (second contestant)

The Dangerous one arrives with a rather strange looking cylinder. All eye<

Or am I pronouncing it wrong?

Why was I not invited? I thought I would be good at running interference, blocking the Ohio guy from planting his ProMarks under the grass to see if whirling blades really mess up GPS signals.

I would assume that using WAAS only, Wanda undestood why the petunias and gladiolas got wiped out.

Paul in PA

Applause, standing ovation, curtains close.
Waas that from Shakeyspear?
"to ce or not to ce, that is the quest(yun)."
"There's work to be done, and throats (yards?) to be cut", also from shakeyspear.

that's just too good.

I'm just afraid Mikey D, powered by Green Thumb Ann's "High Octane Green Delights", may just kick it in overdrive on the back stretch though

I sure hope you take your golf as serious as DD. If you're lucky, he may let you try out his pitching wedge

Sharon enjoyed the story so much she made a special something and sent it to you.

Bravo, Bravo,

Encore, Encore

This past weekend I brought my MobileMapper receiver software up to date, reformatted the SD card, and reloaded my feature file, a large map from MapSend DirectRoute, and my local waypoint file.

I got distracted by the play and instead of going out to play I made some background maps with Sharon's lawn mower icon.

First. Thanks for the e-mail to Shane.(and to several others)

I sent Sharon's files to the office, but alas, an emergency at the landfill filled our day and I did not have time to look at the files.

Lawnmower Icon? I might just have to go in an hour early tomorrow and dig into the treat she sent. I'll not share the secret files, but would Sharon mind screen shots of whatever it is she sent?

I'm glad that everyone liked my little play, but I'm sure it will look weak indeed up against the actual event!

Meeting all the guys from the Shuttle recovery, GPS talk on networks, fun, food and just plain East Texas hospitality. It really doesn't get better than that. We REALLY should get PDH's from these get togethers.

How many PDH's for learning 'not to eat that pepper?'...I durned sure learned that one last time.

Deral Paulk, PLS

PS_We did gather two hydrants we spotted coming back to the office today with our little buddy the MM. (just to keep it Thales related)