John Lussmyer

These are all the vehicles that are currently on site (and possibly functional!).

This has been one of the most useful pieces of equipment to have around. It's a 1963 (approx) Ford Industrial tractor with backhoe and front-end loader. It's had problems, and needs work, but is just too useful for words.

It was retired after the differential stripped it's gears for the 3rd time. sigh. Just too much work to keep it going. I did sell it to a guy that was going to fix it and use it though.

After commuting with the Dodge truck for a while, I decided to get something that used less gas than the average battleship.  So I bought a 1979 Subaru Brat - that had once been a hybrid electric vehicle.  It came with most the parts to make it run electric again - possibly a future project - But I gave up on that.  The Subaru had become extremely unreliable, and had been relegated to being a self-propelled wheelbarrow for the property.

After a while, I finally realized that I was wasting about 1 hour a day waiting in line for the ferry. That's when I bought this 1976 Honda Goldwing. By riding a motorcycle, I get priority loading on the ferry and don't have to wait in line.

Since my old Honda GL1000's were getting too unreliable, I decided to get a new bike. This is a 1985 BMW K100RT with 25,000 miles on it. (Of course the miles went up quickly! :-) This was totaled when my shop burned in 2006 - one of the firetrucks backed into it while turning around.

After the other Brat died, I got this one for my mom.  She really liked having a "Self-Propelled Wheelbarrow".

I needed something to reach the top edge of my house, roof of shop, etc..  So I picked up this thing.  It worked ok, but I eventually decided it was just too big, so I replaced it with a van-sized bucket truck.

This is my current prime people mover vehicle. It is a 85 Mercedes 300D that is in excellent condition. It almost makes me want to commute in it instead of riding the bike every day. (note that I said "almost" :-) This is by far the most reliable vehicle in the fleet.

These are all my Pets.  I have an unusual assortment of Animals.  In fact, so unusual that I am USDA licensed so that I can exhibit them, and bring tours and groups in to see them.  (Well, there are a few "normal" pets sprinkled in as well...)

Feel free to contact me if you would like to come see them in person.

 Exotic Animal Groups

I took in this old guy when he needed a new home.  (Previous owner could no longer care for him.)  He has a cage in my basement, with an enclosed "run" across the ceiling to an outdoor cage with 2 levels.  As he's aged, and become more used to me, he has gotten quite friendly, and just loves for me to scratch him though the fence.  He is still a bit excitable however, so I do have to be careful.

Birthday: 1995

Lots more pictures of him in my Gallery.

Eiger came to me from a friend who could no longer give him the care he needed.  Eiger is blind in one eye, and has developed rather severe arthritis, so he is on medication for it, and has a heater in his house.  He has become a wonderfully friendly old guy, and just loves to sit with me and be petted.

Birthday: 06/13/1994

More pictures in my Gallery.

I received Homer (and Craiger) from a couple that loved their animals, but had a problem neighbor.  The neighbor had recently moved in next door, and proceeded to try and drive the animals crazy (noises, flashing lights at night) or kill them (puddles of green liquid found near the cages).

This was somewhat traumatic for Homer, as they had raised him from a kitten.  He seems to have settled in nicely, and just loves attention.  Purring loudly whenever anyone is near.

Birthday: 10/30/1994

Gunner is a big goofball of a mutt.  We aren't sure what his parentage is other than "dog".  The main reason that I got him was to keep the Cougars entertained, which he does quite well.  He runs up and down his 200' cable run between their cages.  He does seem to be rather intelligent, and it's been quite difficult coming up with a harness and cable system that he can't get out of.

Hyper Friendly, Hyper Active.

Birthday: 2004

This is a random collection of Fun and/or Humorous things I've found on the net over the years.  Pictures, Poems, whatever.

Now, this is my kind of airline!

Video of a Feline Massage Therapist in action!

This is a wonderful song about what should happen to most Animal Rights extremists.

Clever Scam - taking advantage of older men

Women often receive warnings about protecting themselves at the mall and in dark parking lots, etc. This is the first warning I have seen for men. I wanted to pass it on in case you haven't heard about it. This will only become more commonplace as the weather warms.

This was my first Corbin Sparrow, purchased relatively cheap off Ebay.  I had to replace the batteries (of course) when I got it, but it did work quite well.  I used it to commute 27 miles each way to work.  (I could charge at work.)  That's when I found that 27 miles each way at highway speeds "uses up" a battery pack pretty fast.  It was only about 3 months before the batteries could no longer get me to work.

This was the Sparrow I bought after my shop burned down.  The problem was that my job had moved and was now too far away to reach, even with a little 2KW range extender genset I rigged up.

So I ended up selling it.  sigh.

More pictures in my Gallery.

These are some of the various things I did to my Sparrow(s) over the years.

Since Optima YT's have problems with cold weather, I decided to install a battery heater system in my Sparrow. I didn't want a super complex or expensive system, and I had to fit it into the existing battery boxes - which have very little extra space.

The bearings on the rear axle failed, so I had to rebuild the axle.  This was NOT easy, as getting the axle apart can be quite difficult.  I had a local machine shop do it for me, as I didn't have the tools.  Following are pictures of all the parts.

I've also picked up a 20' flatbed trailer which has been quite useful for getting lumber and other large items. (and for delivering non-functioning vehicles to the shop - sigh.) This picture also shows the old B17 Engine Hoist I picked up cheap. (lying on it's side.)

And of course, I also got a parts truck with the dump truck.  It doesn't have a dump bed, but it does have other useful parts.  It also has an old Hemi engine in it that I will probably sell.

This one may look familiar to many people.  It's a 198? bluebird 40' schoolbus.  This was my moving van and main storage unit since I left Michigan.  It gets lousy mileage (about 4 miles/gallon), but is good storage.  (Especially since I removed almost all the seats.)

This is the house that John built.  My friend, Dave Belt, helped a LOT, as he had worked as a construction contractor years ago.  The house is a log home - built using fake logs!  Each "log" is a Glu-Lam beam that is about 8" thick, outside curved like a log, inside is flat for a wall, top and bottom and tounge and groove for a nice well-sealed fit.  This took about 2 1/2 years to "finish" (a house is never really done...).

Lots more pictures in my Gallery.

The original shop building I put up was a 42'x60' quonset hut building.  This was a LOT of work to build, but the kit was relatively inexpensive.  The biggest problem I had with it was that it was pretty much impossible to insulate, so it was COLD working in the winter in there.

This was the first building actually built here.  All the utilities were brought to the shed before branching out to all the other buildings.  This meant that I had water, phone, and power during construction!

After my Ford tractor died, I ended up getting this to replace it.  While it is a lot stronger, and can move more dirt, it's also a lot bigger and harder to maneuver.

This has been a wonderful help for my mom around here.  It's small, maneuverable, and quiet.  She does a lot of hauling loads of brush she's cleared down to the fire pit with this thing.  It's also good for taking the garbage can out to the road, as that is a 900' trip.

This is one of 2 of these I bought from Boeing Surplus, this one was the easiest to get working again. (replace batteries).  It's been very useful for hauling tools, lumber, etc... around the place.  Mom occaisionally uses it when she wants to move brush that doesn't fit on the Golf Cart easily.

Worf is an African Jungle Cat, aka Felis Chaus.  While extremely shy to strangers, he is quite friendly to me and spends most of his time asleep on my bed.

Birthday: unknown

This page is the starting point for information on my various interests, hobbies, and projects. Who am I you say?  (Well, if you say that, you can answer it yourself!)  Now, if you actually wanted to know who the person responsible for this mess is, that's me - John Lussmyer.  Some of this stuff is just me fiddling around, some might actually contain useful information.  (I try hard not to let that bother me though.)

I live out on Whidbey Island in Washington state on 20 beautiful forested acres of land.

These are various useful or fun links to other places on the web.

Comics

• Belfry WebComics: http://belfrycomics.net/
• Girl Genius: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
• Graphic Smash: http://www.graphicsmash.com/

Buying Things

• Woot: http://www.woot.com/

Music