I over did it. Lots of pain .... might be dipping into my stash of narcotics tonight. KIDDING!!
6 hours of plowing on the Polaris. Most of that was digging it out with a shovel, and the rest yanking it out with the Blazer (with no 4-wheel-drive ). Got stuck more than I plowed. Minimum 2' here with 4' -6' drifts in spots. Never lost power though. We've had so many storms take down trees and wires that all the dead trees and so-so wires have already fallen & caught fire - there's nothing left to cause an outage! The past 3 years gave us a new power grid I guess.
Started out at 18°, snowed till noon, then the sun came out and it hit 20°. A few good gusts. Between my constantly running nose & blowing snow, I had icicles hanging off my face.
Just another day in frozen, over-taxed, & heavily regulated communist paradise!
Coffee, Day of the Nemo Storm
- CoalHeat
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About 6" of snow here, got lucky. Places to the east got a lot more. I've been sidelined with a nasty virus since Thursday night, no plowing here yet. I did manage to keep the stove going, had a few pails of nut nearby.
- wilder11354
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Another wonderful day in paradise. agree with Flyer5 snows in 8-10 range, there is blowing and light drifting in areas. went out did my plowing, ran up to barn plowed a bit around box truck thats there for load of hay. Got truck warmed up, diesel, started hard but started. Went to swing truck out to reposition..BAD Move! couldn't make swing out on raod and clear other side, couldn't back up, ice under rear whells. BUMMER GF's son lives by farm, got hito come down with F250 to help pull back and reparked. TThen went back up an hour or so later, filled it with 225 bales hay. Good thing, this guy is going to buy all hay I have, should all be gone with 3 more loads. later in spring, clean out loose hay, stack in field(old barn foundation) to mulch for a year.
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I kind of agree with that too, but its not really "Union Crap" that is the issue. It has to do with skill level and employee retention.
Even the most experienced welder does not walk in off the street and instantly become a First Class Welder capable of churning out the quality welds the US Navy demands in the the exotic hardened steels used on ships that is designed to see battle. That takes training and time, and results in skill. As a company, it just does not make sense to let those welders migrate to other jobs when the average age of the shipyard is 55 years old and you have a retirement rate of 300-400 people per year. A company wants to retain that skill level and is why during slow periods of construction, they lay us off, but allow us to migrate to other trades. Paying a group of welders a few dollars more per hour is a drop in the bucket compared to hat it would cost to hire, orient, and train a new block of welders to the level of proficiency that is required to build modern war ships.
But as a farmer, I know where you are coming from; a fair days pay for a fair days work. If that was the case however, a labor cleaning the bilge of a ship would deserve the same pay as a welder, but that is not how the system works. I mean the US Navy is not going to buy a ship that has a filthy bilge just like it would not buy a half welded hull! But a laborer has a lower skill set and can be found anywhere, where as a First Class Navy Welder is much harder to obtain. It is no different than an school system paying a higher salary to a teacher with her Master's Degree then just a college degree in child education for example. You are paying for knowledge...paying for potential...not a days production.
This is to the employers favor. A long time ago I was rehired at the shipyard as a painter, the lowest paid job in the shipyard, but allowed to keep my First Class Welders pay, the highest in the shipyard. Being a Christian, I am told in the bible not to antagonize and I didn't say anything about my pay, but when I was told to paint fuel lines the JP-5 purple, I realized it would improve my welding skills. With a mirror taped to a stick, I was able to slap paint on those pipes in the most unreachable spots, but in doing so I learned the skill of manipulating a paintbrush backwards to what I was seeing. We call this mirror welding and do a lot of it at the shipyard to weld spots unreachable. If you think it is easy, I suggest you try giving yourself a haircut by looking in the mirror!!! When I told the welding school instructor what I did, he said he would have never thought of that, and later when I went back to welding, my mirror welding had improved so much, mirror welds were about all I did. Again, the employer got a welder trained for mirror work while getting paint put on their JP-5 piping...that is a lucrative deal.
So it is not "Union Crap", it is sheer economics.
(I am not offended in the least however of what you said, I am just trying to explain why things are done this way, and why an employer would agree to it during Union Negotiations).
Even the most experienced welder does not walk in off the street and instantly become a First Class Welder capable of churning out the quality welds the US Navy demands in the the exotic hardened steels used on ships that is designed to see battle. That takes training and time, and results in skill. As a company, it just does not make sense to let those welders migrate to other jobs when the average age of the shipyard is 55 years old and you have a retirement rate of 300-400 people per year. A company wants to retain that skill level and is why during slow periods of construction, they lay us off, but allow us to migrate to other trades. Paying a group of welders a few dollars more per hour is a drop in the bucket compared to hat it would cost to hire, orient, and train a new block of welders to the level of proficiency that is required to build modern war ships.
But as a farmer, I know where you are coming from; a fair days pay for a fair days work. If that was the case however, a labor cleaning the bilge of a ship would deserve the same pay as a welder, but that is not how the system works. I mean the US Navy is not going to buy a ship that has a filthy bilge just like it would not buy a half welded hull! But a laborer has a lower skill set and can be found anywhere, where as a First Class Navy Welder is much harder to obtain. It is no different than an school system paying a higher salary to a teacher with her Master's Degree then just a college degree in child education for example. You are paying for knowledge...paying for potential...not a days production.
This is to the employers favor. A long time ago I was rehired at the shipyard as a painter, the lowest paid job in the shipyard, but allowed to keep my First Class Welders pay, the highest in the shipyard. Being a Christian, I am told in the bible not to antagonize and I didn't say anything about my pay, but when I was told to paint fuel lines the JP-5 purple, I realized it would improve my welding skills. With a mirror taped to a stick, I was able to slap paint on those pipes in the most unreachable spots, but in doing so I learned the skill of manipulating a paintbrush backwards to what I was seeing. We call this mirror welding and do a lot of it at the shipyard to weld spots unreachable. If you think it is easy, I suggest you try giving yourself a haircut by looking in the mirror!!! When I told the welding school instructor what I did, he said he would have never thought of that, and later when I went back to welding, my mirror welding had improved so much, mirror welds were about all I did. Again, the employer got a welder trained for mirror work while getting paint put on their JP-5 piping...that is a lucrative deal.
So it is not "Union Crap", it is sheer economics.
(I am not offended in the least however of what you said, I am just trying to explain why things are done this way, and why an employer would agree to it during Union Negotiations).
freetown fred wrote:Good to hear NS--not thrilled with that union crap of keeping pay scale where a person WAS--get pd. the proper pay rate for what you'll be doing or I'd find someone that will. Sorry my friend--just an old farmers beliefs. Of course you're on thieving Govt. contracts
- mozz
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http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l497/ArielleG ... ntryRd.jpg
This is what people on the Ford Escape forums are showing how the drivers are in around NYC.
This is what people on the Ford Escape forums are showing how the drivers are in around NYC.
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Snow stopped at 2am sat, roads clear by daylight, parking lots all plowed, coal has been delivered and now I'am off to meet a cust for coal pu this morning. You guys up north keep digging and be safe. Later
- Hambden Bob
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For a change,the NE Ohio Snowbelt had a vacation from this one ! Hope all you E'Coasters take your time digging out from this one !