Some time ago, my workshop was getting so disorganised and cluttered, I had
no option but to have a big cleanout and re-organise everything efficiently.
I built more benches and wall storage and made everything neat and tidy. I
was amazed at how much space I created. (It's only about 500 sq ft.)
Then .... I realized I could fit a planer/jointer in without *too* much
trouble. At a pinch I could get a second TS as a ripsaw. And of course I
would need a shopvac.
*Sigh*
Back to square one. Not enough room to swing a cat.
Have been pondering extensions. Thought about another 250 sq ft and how I
would use that. Then decided that if I extended, I would always regret not
going the whole hog. So it became an extra 500 Sq ft. That would be perfect.
Any man would be happy with that. Could do anything with that much space.
...... Anything? ...... hmmmm ........ with so much space, I could build
larger projects, - even play with wooden boats again. ....... then I'd need
more space of course ........
I think I need a Bex and a lie down. Maybe then my sanity will return. I'm
not hopeful.
diggerop
(whose wallet has the following written on it in large red letters, "Not to
be used for woodworking purposes.")
Greg G. wrote:
> diggerop said:
>
>> Some time ago, my workshop was getting so disorganised and cluttered, I had
>> no option but to have a big cleanout and re-organise everything efficiently.
>> I built more benches and wall storage and made everything neat and tidy. I
>> was amazed at how much space I created. (It's only about 500 sq ft.)
>
> Is this a drive by gloat, mate? ;-) How many people here would love
> to have 500 sq ft?
I'm still trapped in suburbia where we have the schools that will make
SWMBO happy, at least until the kids have all flown the nest. As such,
I consider myself lucky to have a THREE car garage (where no cars are
allowed, or even lawn equipment; I have a back yard shed for that) and I
have 540 square feet at my disposal. I'd love to have a lot more, but
it's proven sufficient for the time being.
--
Any given amount of traffic flow, no matter how
sparse, will expand to fill all available lanes.
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/
"Larry Jaques" wrote:
> What, you want a large yard and driveway you have to shovel clear of
> snow _every_ _day_? I don't blame the Great White Northers.
A major reason I left Ohio for SoCal.
Could hire people to shovel the stuff but got tired of being up to my
arm pits in 6 ft of partly cloudy from November to May every year.
Standing at my front day on a 70F Christmas day and seeing the snow on
the mountains to the north has it's advantages.
Lew
Lew Hodgett wrote:
> "J. Clarke" wrote:
>
>
>> I am curious--with so much unoccupied land, why are Australians so
>> driven to
>> crowd themselves into cities?
>
> Ever been to Toronto?
>
> Same thing, especially in the burbs.
>
> Minimal yards with a common park near by.
>
Yep, I live in Toronto, but in an older neighbourhood, house built in 1952.
Smaller house on a reasonable piece of land for the size of the house.
I have friends in some of those areas you have seen, almost have to turn
sideways to walk between the houses. At one of these houses I went to a
party once, 10 people in lawn chairs and the backyard was full.
--
Froz...
The system will be down for 10 days for preventive maintenance.
diggerop said:
>Some time ago, my workshop was getting so disorganised and cluttered, I had
>no option but to have a big cleanout and re-organise everything efficiently.
>I built more benches and wall storage and made everything neat and tidy. I
>was amazed at how much space I created. (It's only about 500 sq ft.)
>Then .... I realized I could fit a planer/jointer in without *too* much
>trouble. At a pinch I could get a second TS as a ripsaw. And of course I
>would need a shopvac.
>*Sigh*
>Back to square one. Not enough room to swing a cat.
>Have been pondering extensions. Thought about another 250 sq ft and how I
>would use that. Then decided that if I extended, I would always regret not
>going the whole hog. So it became an extra 500 Sq ft. That would be perfect.
>Any man would be happy with that. Could do anything with that much space.
>...... Anything? ...... hmmmm ........ with so much space, I could build
>larger projects, - even play with wooden boats again. ....... then I'd need
>more space of course ........
>
>I think I need a Bex and a lie down. Maybe then my sanity will return. I'm
>not hopeful.
>
>diggerop
>(whose wallet has the following written on it in large red letters, "Not to
>be used for woodworking purposes.")
Is this a drive by gloat, mate? ;-) How many people here would love
to have 500 sq ft? Approximately half of a garage here, which is only
400 sq ft total, although there is some (ply)wood storage along the
wall of the forbidden zone. And automotive tools, gardening tools,
brooms, paint, renovation supplies, and plants brought indoors for the
winter. The terrain doesn't allow for more construction either.
Personally, after all the residing, rewindowing, reframing, and
reroofing would like to forget I ever saw the hole mess and start over
elsewhere with a nice single story in the middle no nowhere. Say,
what's property going for in the Outback?
Last attempt to organize (3 days ago!) resulted in a 2 hour session of
OMG where did all this crap come from and where can I put it... It's
better now, but the laws of physics seem to be immotile here...
One thing to remember is that no matter how much room you have, junk
will expand to fill available space. If you're gonna build, do it up
right the first time. A divided finishing area, a separate
boat/auto/loading area walled from the shop so that moving materials
and vehicles doesn't suck the heat from the shop area. Material
storage.
Well, one can (pipe) dream, no?...
Greg G.
"J. Clarke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>> Dreams are good. : )
>
> I am curious--with so much unoccupied land, why are Australians so driven
> to
> crowd themselves into cities?
>
>>
>> diggerop
>
Doesn't seem to make sense on the surface of it.
Worlds fifth largest land area and the least densely populated.
It's primarily about Economics.
Factors include lack of water, infrastructure costs, having a small
industrial base, employment opportunities.
There are only two main industries of any size outside the cities, both
export based. Mining and agriculture. Mining, by it's very nature, is a
short-term proposition. Market forces or depletion of ore bodies can cause
them to shut down at any time. Towns that rely solely on mining become ghost
towns, virtually overnight. Although in previous years, government and
industry have tried building towns near the mining areas, they almost always
end up being abandoned in the end. Kalgoorlie is one mining town that has
survived long term, but has been through many severe cycles. In the 90's,
during a severe dowturn in mining, I bought a house in kalgoorlie for
$15,000. There were hundreds of houses for sale, very few opportunities for
employment. Shortly after, gold started to move again, mines reopened,
housing prices soared. I sold within 4 years for $160,000. Timing is
everything. : )
Agriculture has had to implement economies of scale to survive. That means
expansion of land area. My grandfather had 3000 acres that supported two
families and as many as 20 full time employees. Over the years, succeeding
generations have bought out the neighbors to maintain viable size. Today,
that family farm comprises 20,000 acres, supporting one family and one full
time worker. Turns over millions. Can be quite profitable, yet three
droughts in a row could wipe them out financially. The associated towns are
losing population proportionately. A town that had three grocery stores 25
years ago, would now have one. Some country towns have resorted to
entreprenueurial schemes to encourage population growth. Giving land away
for free, if you undertake to build on it. Also, building commercial
premises and leasing them to small business operaters for low rents. All to
little avail.
Climate. If it isn't viable to live in the country side, then the natural
choice is close to the sea and in an area with an mild climate. 80% of us
live within 60 miles of the coastline and clustered aroung the major cities.
diggerop
[email protected] wrote:
> On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:41:18 -0800, "Nonny" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> No shoveling needed,
>>> no snow chains required,
>>> no blizzards to survive,
>>> just fun.
>>>
>>> Works for me.
>
> Then there's the alternative.
>
> Grass to cut,
> Lawnmower to run,
> Fertilizer to spread,
> Clippings to compost,
>
> Agreed, summer has it's better side, but it has some downsides too.
But we have to do that here too, but only for a couple of months.
--
Froz...
The system will be down for 10 days for preventive maintenance.
"Greg G." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>Is this a drive by gloat, mate? ;-) How many people here would love
>to have 500 sq ft?
>
Heh. No gloat. I just forget at times just how lucky we have been in Oz to
be able to spread out a little. Having grown up in the wheatbelt and worked
mainly in the Kimberly and Pilbara, Perth seems so cramped and crowded. How
people keep their sanity in places like Hong Kong or New York has me beat.
Even that's changing. Land prices have doubled where I live in the last 6
years. Everyone wants a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom house as a minimum. So house
blocks are shrinking. Ours is the traditional 1/4 acre size, while over the
other side of the street, a new subdivision is being completed with block
sizes about 1/3 the size of ours. The eaves of the houses they are building
are almost touching the neighbors'. Almost no yard space. Suburban ghettoes,
I call them.
>
>
> One thing to remember is that no matter how much room you have, junk
> will expand to fill available space. If you're gonna build, do it up
> right the first time. A divided finishing area, a separate
> boat/auto/loading area walled from the shop so that moving materials
> and vehicles doesn't suck the heat from the shop area. Material
> storage.
>
> Well, one can (pipe) dream, no?...
>
>
> Greg G.
My pipe dream includes a 5T overhead travelling gantry crane in a 100 x 60
shed.
Separate sections for storage, woodwork, major projects, paint booth,
welding/steelworks and dedicated car restoration area.
Dreams are good. : )
diggerop
On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:45:38 -0800, the infamous "Lew Hodgett"
<[email protected]> scrawled the following:
>
>"Larry Jaques" wrote:
>
>> What, you want a large yard and driveway you have to shovel clear of
>> snow _every_ _day_? I don't blame the Great White Northers.
>
>A major reason I left Ohio for SoCal.
>
>Could hire people to shovel the stuff but got tired of being up to my
>arm pits in 6 ft of partly cloudy from November to May every year.
>
>Standing at my front day on a 70F Christmas day and seeing the snow on
>the mountains to the north has it's advantages.
Amen, and I've never lived in snowy country. It dropped an inch or
two in Arkansas when I was a boy, and it occasionally sticks here in
OR, but I've never lived in frozen wasteland and never want to.
My idea of snow when I lived in LoCal was to spend an hour driving up
to Mt. Palomar, take an hour there playing in the snow (in t-shirts,
with the hot winds blowing on us from the Borrego Desert), and then
head home.
No shoveling needed,
no snow chains required,
no blizzards to survive,
just fun.
Works for me.
--
When we are planning for posterity,
we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.
-- Thomas Paine
On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:41:18 -0800, "Nonny" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> No shoveling needed,
>> no snow chains required,
>> no blizzards to survive,
>> just fun.
>>
>> Works for me.
Then there's the alternative.
Grass to cut,
Lawnmower to run,
Fertilizer to spread,
Clippings to compost,
Agreed, summer has it's better side, but it has some downsides too.
"dpb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> diggerop wrote:
>> "dpb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> Them's remarkable yields over that much acreage--we'll get some like that
> in good years but a 40 bu/A average would be pretty remarkable.
>
Several factors, first is this year the rainfall was above average and more
importantly, fell just at the right time and in the right quantities. Second
is the wheat varieties keep getting better and better. The plant breeders
are producing plants with yields that were not thought possible and seem
somehow to continue to do that.
The inputs are carefully controlled as well. Soil sampling is a necessary
part. Everything, including spraying and fertilising is custom applied
through GPS linked computer controlled equipment. It all gets downloaded to
a database and forms the basis for the following year as well.
An example is ryegrass control. At harvest, the GPS records the exact path
the combine takes. When the first rains occur prior to planting, the
emerging weeds are sprayed. Each nozzle on the boom spray is linked to a
computer that has the information from harvest of the combine path. It
applies the heaviest dose on the area where the combine left the windrow
containing most weed seeds in the prior harvest. Same principal applies to
seeding, - fertiliser rates are automatically adjusted according to last
seasons yields and soil analysis via GPS.
The next combine that is bought , which will probably need to be in 3 years
time, will also have full automatic control via GPS. No need for operator
input at all. It will steer itself, continually adjust threshing settings
and ground speed as well as controlling the cutting height of the front.
We'll probably see 60ft fronts by that stage. The operator will simply sit
there and monitor what is happening. I can see the day when even that will
occur remotely.
How things change. It's all moved so quickly. (My last combine, - we call
them headers, - when I was contract harvesting, had a 22ft open front. 18ft
was considered by most at that time as being the maximum that an operator
could handle safely. That was less than 20 years ago!
I'm off to make some sawdust.
diggerop
"Bill" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> diggerop wrote:
>
>> My pipe dream includes a 5T overhead travelling gantry crane in a 100 x
>> 60 shed.
>
> I know you know how to operate one, but why do you want a 5T overhead
> traveling gantry crane? Actually, don't answer. I think I know why. I
> think it would be cool to excavate on a whim too. : ) I think it would be
> fun to have some arc and oxy-acetylene welding equipment too!
>
> Bill
>
>
>
>> Separate sections for storage, woodwork, major projects, paint booth,
>> welding/steelworks and dedicated car restoration area.
>>
>> Dreams are good. : )
>>
>> diggerop
>>
The gantry crane is built into the internal structure. Runs on overhead
parallel beams, can be positioned at will via electric drives. Doesn't
excavate, it lifts. Handy as a pocket on a shirt.
Great for lifting steelwork, heavy machinery and most importantly, wooden
boat hulls.
Would also cost far more than the building, but this is a dream so that's
ok.
diggerop
diggerop wrote:
> My pipe dream includes a 5T overhead travelling gantry crane in a 100 x
> 60 shed.
I know you know how to operate one, but why do you want a 5T overhead
traveling gantry crane? Actually, don't answer. I think I know why. I
think it would be cool to excavate on a whim too. : ) I think it would
be fun to have some arc and oxy-acetylene welding equipment too!
Bill
> Separate sections for storage, woodwork, major projects, paint booth,
> welding/steelworks and dedicated car restoration area.
>
> Dreams are good. : )
>
> diggerop
>
diggerop wrote:
>
> The gantry crane is built into the internal structure. Runs on overhead
> parallel beams, can be positioned at will via electric drives. Doesn't
> excavate, it lifts. Handy as a pocket on a shirt.
> Great for lifting steelwork, heavy machinery and most importantly,
> wooden boat hulls.
Thank you for the lesson!
Bill
> Would also cost far more than the building, but this is a dream so
> that's ok.
>
> diggerop
>
diggerop wrote:
> "Greg G." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> Is this a drive by gloat, mate? ;-) How many people here would love
>> to have 500 sq ft?
>>
> Heh. No gloat. I just forget at times just how lucky we have been in
> Oz to be able to spread out a little. Having grown up in the
> wheatbelt and worked mainly in the Kimberly and Pilbara, Perth seems
> so cramped and crowded. How people keep their sanity in places like
> Hong Kong or New York has me beat. Even that's changing. Land prices
> have doubled where I live in the last 6 years. Everyone wants a 4
> bedroom/2 bathroom house as a minimum. So house blocks are shrinking.
> Ours is the traditional 1/4 acre size, while over the other side of
> the street, a new subdivision is being completed with block sizes
> about 1/3 the size of ours. The eaves of the houses they are building
> are almost touching the neighbors'. Almost no yard space. Suburban
> ghettoes, I call them.
>>
>>
>> One thing to remember is that no matter how much room you have, junk
>> will expand to fill available space. If you're gonna build, do it up
>> right the first time. A divided finishing area, a separate
>> boat/auto/loading area walled from the shop so that moving materials
>> and vehicles doesn't suck the heat from the shop area. Material
>> storage.
>>
>> Well, one can (pipe) dream, no?...
>>
>>
>> Greg G.
>
>
> My pipe dream includes a 5T overhead travelling gantry crane in a 100
> x 60 shed.
> Separate sections for storage, woodwork, major projects, paint booth,
> welding/steelworks and dedicated car restoration area.
>
> Dreams are good. : )
I am curious--with so much unoccupied land, why are Australians so driven to
crowd themselves into cities?
>
> diggerop
diggerop wrote:
...
> Agriculture has had to implement economies of scale to survive. That
> means expansion of land area. My grandfather had 3000 acres that
> supported two families and as many as 20 full time employees. Over the
> years, succeeding generations have bought out the neighbors to maintain
> viable size. Today, that family farm comprises 20,000 acres, supporting
> one family and one full time worker. Turns over millions. Can be quite
> profitable, yet three droughts in a row could wipe them out financially.
> The associated towns are losing population proportionately. A town that
> had three grocery stores 25 years ago, would now have one. Some country
> towns have resorted to entreprenueurial schemes to encourage population
> growth. Giving land away for free, if you undertake to build on it.
> Also, building commercial premises and leasing them to small business
> operaters for low rents. All to little avail.
> Climate. If it isn't viable to live in the country side, then the
> natural choice is close to the sea and in an area with an mild climate.
> 80% of us live within 60 miles of the coastline and clustered aroung the
> major cities.
The US demographics (particularly agricultural in the mid-section) on a
much smaller scale w/ the coastal bias somewhat more pronounced. I've
not looked it up but surely a very sizable proportion of US population
is within a short distance of the shorelines.
For ag, _much_ higher input costs and only marginally higher commodity
prices means either expand both size of operation and equipment to
increase productivity or fail. The High Plains in the US are also
similar in that are in the "iffy" rainfall areas so dryland farming is
always a gamble even more than just the usual fluctuations of weather in
those areas that have higher normal precipitation levels. (I know that
well; our average annual is roughly 18" and we've been thru about five
years of well below while just 100 miles or so east they've been drowned
the last two. While we're ok again for just now, W TX and some other
areas south are still hurting while cornbelt guys can't get in to get it
out or if are may be cutting up to 30% moisture. We've still got corn
and milo standing that isn't ready yet because we've barely had a really
killing freeze and they're now talking perhaps significant snow by
Sunday/Monday while it's 70-75F all this week. If it does indeed do
this to us, we'll still be trying to cut past the first of the year in
all likelihood. If it hammers them up north they'll probably never get
it all before it goes down. :( )
The trend to the suburban expansion as described is also the same--most
of the developments are single-developer so they have high incentive to
maximize number of lots on a given acreage, hence the eaves-touching
building. In the 50s/60s, folks were buying individual lots in
ones/twos or farm tracts and selling off a couple lots so before they
built their own in more affluent areas while the tract housing was much
smaller houses on probably similarly-sized lots as the current ones.
Escalation of development costs and population growth have probably made
this a totally universal trend in developed economies.
--
diggerop wrote:
> "dpb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
...
> The family farm is in a 15 inch rainfall area. Used to be 50/50 wheat
> and sheep. Now it's 90/10
That's similar to roughly 100 miles west of us as move more and more
into the rain shadow of the Rocky Mtn's it gets drier every mile.
...
> ... planted 16,000 acres to wheat and the season was *very very*
> good. Yields will probabably vary between 40 to 55 bushels per acre. As
> a reward for that, the FOB price at the closest port looks like being
> 30% less than last year at current predictions. Last year's break even
> was around 30 bushels/acre at $335 /tonne delivered to port. This years
> costs have risen, the current price is about $230/tonne So the
> proportion of production required to meet costs has just risen
> dramatically. Break even is probably in the order of 40 bushels per acre
> at those prices.
> They've just started harvest, got my fingers crossed the weather gives
> them a good run.
Them's remarkable yields over that much acreage--we'll get some like
that in good years but a 40 bu/A average would be pretty remarkable.
Let's see...230AUD/Mt works out to roughly $5.80/but US if I assume
about 8% exchange premium. HR#1 closed yesterday (KC cash) at
$4.75-4.80/bu and we lose almost $0.50/bu in transportation penalties
locally. Since we're in fall harvest at the present I didn't pay any
attention when at Equity yesterday what local wheat actually was; the KC
prices are what I heard on farmcast news this morning.
> Our farmers suffer badly from perceptions of city dwellers. This year,
> city folk will read of record production levels, see the huge gross
> returns, (Should be in excess of $5 million for the family this year,)
> yet fail to understand why we say that there is little or no money in
> farming!
> I was trying to explain to a friend why the farm needed to invest in a
> new combine to take the crop off. (A John Deere rotary, over half a
> million plus the custom 42ft front.) He maintains it's just a tax dodge
> and all farmers complain about everything to try and hide the fact that
> it's really a license to print money. Sheesh!
...
Again, no different here -- the city editorials are all about high food
prices when there's less than a quarter's worth of wheat in a pound of
bread even if wheat were $10/bu and it's only a little over half that to
the farmer so it's patently clear the cost to the consumer isn't in the
raw product.
Also, I had just commented in another posting a day or two ago in a
thread on a new shop that the new corn head had sorta' taken the place
and was a little higher up on the priority list. I hear ya' on the new
machine; that'll have to wait.
We're small potatoes by those numbers--Dad didn't try to expand from
what we were when I was growing up since neither my brother nor I stayed
home. I came back after Dad passed away and since was reasonably
successful w/ engineering career all really have to do is not lose too
much but if were going to do more than that such as try to raise a
family w/ a decent living we'd have to grow significantly, too. If I
can pay production costs and have enough for the property taxes, etc.,
w/ a little left over I can survive. Couldn't put kids through school
or such, though, simply relying on the farm at this size.
As you say, cash flow may be sizable but ROI on production agriculture
would be better w/ almost any other use of the principal invested other
than perhaps burying it in the proverbial tin can in the back 40. :(
--
diggerop wrote:
> "dpb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> diggerop wrote:
>>> "dpb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>
>> Them's remarkable yields over that much acreage--we'll get some like
>> that in good years but a 40 bu/A average would be pretty remarkable.
>>
>
> Several factors, first is this year the rainfall was above average and
> more importantly, fell just at the right time and in the right
> quantities. Second is the wheat varieties keep getting better and
> better. The plant breeders are producing plants with yields that were
> not thought possible and seem somehow to continue to do that.
> The inputs are carefully controlled as well. Soil sampling is a
> necessary part. Everything, including spraying and fertilising is custom
> applied through GPS linked computer controlled equipment. It all gets
> downloaded to a database and forms the basis for the following year as
> well.
> An example is ryegrass control. At harvest, the GPS records the exact
> path the combine takes. When the first rains occur prior to planting,
> the emerging weeds are sprayed. Each nozzle on the boom spray is linked
> to a computer that has the information from harvest of the combine path.
> It applies the heaviest dose on the area where the combine left the
> windrow containing most weed seeds in the prior harvest. Same principal
> applies to seeding, - fertiliser rates are automatically adjusted
> according to last seasons yields and soil analysis via GPS.
> The next combine that is bought , which will probably need to be in 3
> years time, will also have full automatic control via GPS. No need for
> operator input at all. It will steer itself, continually adjust
> threshing settings and ground speed as well as controlling the cutting
> height of the front. We'll probably see 60ft fronts by that stage. The
> operator will simply sit there and monitor what is happening. I can see
> the day when even that will occur remotely.
>
> How things change. It's all moved so quickly. (My last combine, - we
> call them headers, - when I was contract harvesting, had a 22ft open
> front. 18ft was considered by most at that time as being the maximum
> that an operator could handle safely. That was less than 20 years ago!
...
Ayup to all the above--excepting we call the platform a header and the
overall machine a combine.
I assume a lot of yours is white, not hard red? The whites here have
been "the coming thing" for it seems almost 20 years now but still the
combination of varietal problems and the extra handling for segregation
haven't had enough premium available to make them take off on a
widespread basis as yet.
We're about 50-50 wheat-milo on the dryland w/ some dryland corn
depending on the year. Run feeder heifers on wheat pasture and stalks
over winter (assuming it gets in early enough and have the rain to have
the pasture--just now getting ground covered this year as were too dry
until nearly end of September/mid-October to drill) and then move some
to our lots and sell rest off in spring before starting field work.
There was some 100-bu dryland corn around this year...Quite a lot of
irrigated corn/soybeans.
Folks keep trying various alternatives for less water-requiring
things--there's a little cotton, sunflowers, have tried Jerusalem
artichokes, ... but nothing really has taken over for the old staples as
being economically viable. The current new idea is canola but until can
solve problems w/ shatter and high loss rates owing to the tiny seed
size it'll stay that as well...
But, as you say, production equipment is light years from what used to
be. We're running 24-32ft headers w/ the size of our operation and
ground; couldn't survive w/o the monitoring gear though both for input
control and output monitoring to tie the two together though even on our
acreage (we're about 2000, larger than average for the county when I
left high school, well under now of course).
OBTW, Mom and Dad did a K-State/USDA-sponsored visit w/ a
"people-to-people" type touring arrangement where visited quite a number
of farms/ranches in AUS and NZ back in the 80s. One of the families
returned a visit some years later here (altho was while I was
engineering in TN so I didn't meet 'em).
Oh...we have had a few Aussie basketball players over the years at the
local community college, though, which has always been entertaining.
The latest is now a senior on the womens' team at Oklahoma
State/Stillwater having finished her second year here in '06-07.
--
Greg G. wrote:
> Steve Turner said:
>> I'm still trapped in suburbia where we have the schools that will make
>> SWMBO happy, at least until the kids have all flown the nest. As such,
>> I consider myself lucky to have a THREE car garage (where no cars are
>> allowed, or even lawn equipment; I have a back yard shed for that) and I
>> have 540 square feet at my disposal. I'd love to have a lot more, but
>> it's proven sufficient for the time being.
>
> On behalf of those of us who are spatially challenged, allow me to be
> the first to say, "You suck." ;-) Schools and a three car garage...
Ah, the ever-coveted "You suck" - Thank you. :-)
--
See Nad. See Nad go. Go Nad!
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/
On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:47:18 -0800, Larry Jaques
<novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote:
>On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:51:52 -0800, the infamous "Lew Hodgett"
><[email protected]> scrawled the following:
>
>>"J. Clarke" wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I am curious--with so much unoccupied land, why are Australians so
>>> driven to
>>> crowd themselves into cities?
>>
>>Ever been to Toronto?
>>
>>Same thing, especially in the burbs.
>>
>>Minimal yards with a common park near by.
>
>What, you want a large yard and driveway you have to shovel clear of
>snow _every_ _day_? I don't blame the Great White Northers.
They really are silly in Canuckistan, eh? When I lived in Vermont I
never shoveled out the my 1/2 acre yard. ;-)
The driveway was made short work with an 8HP snow blower. I sold it
when I moved to Alabama. ;-))
On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:51:52 -0800, the infamous "Lew Hodgett"
<[email protected]> scrawled the following:
>"J. Clarke" wrote:
>
>
>> I am curious--with so much unoccupied land, why are Australians so
>> driven to
>> crowd themselves into cities?
>
>Ever been to Toronto?
>
>Same thing, especially in the burbs.
>
>Minimal yards with a common park near by.
What, you want a large yard and driveway you have to shovel clear of
snow _every_ _day_? I don't blame the Great White Northers.
--
You know, in about 40 years, we'll have literally thousands of
OLD LADIES running around with TATTOOS, and Rap Music will be
the Golden Oldies. Now that's SCARY! --Maxine
On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:48:21 -0500, the infamous [email protected]
scrawled the following:
>On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:41:18 -0800, "Nonny" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> No shoveling needed,
>>> no snow chains required,
>>> no blizzards to survive,
>>> just fun.
>>>
>>> Works for me.
>
>Then there's the alternative.
>
>Grass to cut,
>Lawnmower to run,
>Fertilizer to spread,
>Clippings to compost,
>
>Agreed, summer has it's better side, but it has some downsides too.
Nah, I didn't DO lawns. See the pic of my shaving horse on my website
if you don't believe me. I've taken flak for that for years now. Heh!
--
When we are planning for posterity,
we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.
-- Thomas Paine
"J. Clarke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> diggerop wrote:
>> "Greg G." <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>> Is this a drive by gloat, mate? ;-) How many people here
>>> would love
>>> to have 500 sq ft?
>>>
>> Heh. No gloat. I just forget at times just how lucky we have
>> been in
>> Oz to be able to spread out a little. Having grown up in the
>> wheatbelt and worked mainly in the Kimberly and Pilbara, Perth
>> seems
>> so cramped and crowded. How people keep their sanity in places
>> like
>> Hong Kong or New York has me beat. Even that's changing. Land
>> prices
>> have doubled where I live in the last 6 years. Everyone wants a
>> 4
>> bedroom/2 bathroom house as a minimum. So house blocks are
>> shrinking.
>> Ours is the traditional 1/4 acre size, while over the other
>> side of
>> the street, a new subdivision is being completed with block
>> sizes
>> about 1/3 the size of ours. The eaves of the houses they are
>> building
>> are almost touching the neighbors'. Almost no yard space.
>> Suburban
>> ghettoes, I call them.
>>>
>>>
>>> One thing to remember is that no matter how much room you
>>> have, junk
>>> will expand to fill available space. If you're gonna build, do
>>> it up
>>> right the first time. A divided finishing area, a separate
>>> boat/auto/loading area walled from the shop so that moving
>>> materials
>>> and vehicles doesn't suck the heat from the shop area.
>>> Material
>>> storage.
>>>
>>> Well, one can (pipe) dream, no?...
>>>
>>>
>>> Greg G.
>>
>>
>> My pipe dream includes a 5T overhead travelling gantry crane in
>> a 100
>> x 60 shed.
>> Separate sections for storage, woodwork, major projects, paint
>> booth,
>> welding/steelworks and dedicated car restoration area.
>>
>> Dreams are good. : )
>
> I am curious--with so much unoccupied land, why are Australians
> so driven to
> crowd themselves into cities?
>
>>
>> diggerop
>
snakes? <grin>
--
Nonny
You cannot make a stupid kid smart by
handing him a diploma. Schools need standards
to measure the amount of education actually
absorbed by children. Don't sacrifice the smart
kids to make the dumb ones feel good about themselves.
diggerop said:
>"Greg G." <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>
>>Is this a drive by gloat, mate? ;-) How many people here would love
>>to have 500 sq ft?
>>
>Heh. No gloat. I just forget at times just how lucky we have been in Oz to
>be able to spread out a little. Having grown up in the wheatbelt and worked
>mainly in the Kimberly and Pilbara, Perth seems so cramped and crowded. How
>people keep their sanity in places like Hong Kong or New York has me beat.
>Even that's changing. Land prices have doubled where I live in the last 6
>years. Everyone wants a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom house as a minimum. So house
>blocks are shrinking. Ours is the traditional 1/4 acre size, while over the
>other side of the street, a new subdivision is being completed with block
>sizes about 1/3 the size of ours. The eaves of the houses they are building
>are almost touching the neighbors'. Almost no yard space. Suburban ghettoes,
>I call them.
McMansions here. Using the term ghetto tends to piss-off those who
don't understand the word's etymology. It carries a racial connotation
here. I called one particular locality a corporate ghetto once and a
dude spit on the ground. He was not Jewish. Or Italian.
>> One thing to remember is that no matter how much room you have, junk
>> will expand to fill available space. If you're gonna build, do it up
>> right the first time. A divided finishing area, a separate
>> boat/auto/loading area walled from the shop so that moving materials
>> and vehicles doesn't suck the heat from the shop area. Material
>> storage.
>>
>> Well, one can (pipe) dream, no?...
>>
>
>My pipe dream includes a 5T overhead travelling gantry crane in a 100 x 60
>shed.
>Separate sections for storage, woodwork, major projects, paint booth,
>welding/steelworks and dedicated car restoration area.
>
>Dreams are good. : )
I don't even want to think about the metalworking stuff. Or the car
stuff. I've had a need as of late for a lathe and welding equipment.
No where to put it and moving stuff that heavy has become problematic.
Your gantry crane seems quite prudent.
When in my teens, worked for a guy in Newnan, GA who owned most of the
town. He gave me the creeps and the commute was miserable so the job
didn't last long, but he had a large collection of exotic sports,
racing, and luxury cars stored in a huge, rambling building
constructed as post and beam, gravel floor with vapour barrier, and
fibreglass panel roof. Nice setup if you're a crook. Last I heard he
was in Federal Prison for selling stolen cars badged with insurance
write-off VINs at his car lots. What a Guy!
It's damned tough to get rich while honest these days.
Greg G.
Steve Turner said:
>Greg G. wrote:
>> diggerop said:
>>
>>> Some time ago, my workshop was getting so disorganised and cluttered, I had
>>> no option but to have a big cleanout and re-organise everything efficiently.
>>> I built more benches and wall storage and made everything neat and tidy. I
>>> was amazed at how much space I created. (It's only about 500 sq ft.)
>>
>> Is this a drive by gloat, mate? ;-) How many people here would love
>> to have 500 sq ft?
>
>I'm still trapped in suburbia where we have the schools that will make
>SWMBO happy, at least until the kids have all flown the nest. As such,
>I consider myself lucky to have a THREE car garage (where no cars are
>allowed, or even lawn equipment; I have a back yard shed for that) and I
>have 540 square feet at my disposal. I'd love to have a lot more, but
>it's proven sufficient for the time being.
On behalf of those of us who are spatially challenged, allow me to be
the first to say, "You suck." ;-) Schools and a three car garage...
Greg G.
"diggerop" <toobusy@themoment> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> The gantry crane is built into the internal structure. Runs on
> overhead parallel beams, can be positioned at will via electric
> drives. Doesn't excavate, it lifts. Handy as a pocket on a
> shirt.
> Great for lifting steelwork, heavy machinery and most
> importantly, wooden boat hulls.
> Would also cost far more than the building, but this is a dream
> so that's
Out home had a walk out lower level that housed a 4-car garage,
set up as 2 cars wide by 2 cars deep and separated by a 10' tall
roll-up door. The 2+2 garage also formed one wall of my workshop.
This garage arrangement was terrific on cold or hot days, since
the inner garage was at house temperature despite whether the
outer doors were open or closed. Ceiling height in the lower
level basement was 12' and there was an exposed I-beam in the rear
garage.
While not nearly as elaborate as your gantry crane, I got a Harbor
Freight roller truck to mount on the lower section of the I-beam
and used it to suspend a 1-ton chain hoist. I could drive my
pickup in with a load, such as a 20" planer, and using the chain
hoist lift it a few inches to clear the truck bed. Once lifted,
I'd drive the truck out and lower the item onto a roller platform
I built. . . rolling it right into my shop. With the kids gone
and nobody to help, it was a really great thing to have around.
--
Nonny
You cannot make a stupid kid smart by
handing him a diploma. Schools need standards
to measure the amount of education actually
absorbed by children. Don't sacrifice the smart
kids to make the dumb ones feel good about themselves.
diggerop said:
>Everyone wants a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom house as a minimum. So house
>blocks are shrinking. Ours is the traditional 1/4 acre size, while over the
>other side of the street, a new subdivision is being completed with block
>sizes about 1/3 the size of ours. The eaves of the houses they are building
>are almost touching the neighbors'. Almost no yard space. Suburban ghettoes,
>I call them.
Like this:
http://webpages.charter.net/videodoctor/images/AerialAtlanta-2.jpg
And this:
http://webpages.charter.net/videodoctor/images/AerialAtlanta-5.jpg
You can lay in bed and hear the neighbors fart.
(No I don't live in one.)
Shudder.
Greg G.
"Larry Jaques" <novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:45:38 -0800, the infamous "Lew Hodgett"
> <[email protected]> scrawled the following:
>
>>
>>"Larry Jaques" wrote:
>>
>>> What, you want a large yard and driveway you have to shovel
>>> clear of
>>> snow _every_ _day_? I don't blame the Great White Northers.
>>
>>A major reason I left Ohio for SoCal.
>>
>>Could hire people to shovel the stuff but got tired of being up
>>to my
>>arm pits in 6 ft of partly cloudy from November to May every
>>year.
>>
>>Standing at my front day on a 70F Christmas day and seeing the
>>snow on
>>the mountains to the north has it's advantages.
>
> Amen, and I've never lived in snowy country. It dropped an inch
> or
> two in Arkansas when I was a boy, and it occasionally sticks
> here in
> OR, but I've never lived in frozen wasteland and never want to.
>
> My idea of snow when I lived in LoCal was to spend an hour
> driving up
> to Mt. Palomar, take an hour there playing in the snow (in
> t-shirts,
> with the hot winds blowing on us from the Borrego Desert), and
> then
> head home.
>
> No shoveling needed,
> no snow chains required,
> no blizzards to survive,
> just fun.
>
> Works for me.
>
Smart man.
--
Nonny
What does it mean when drool runs
out of both sides of a drunken
Congressman's mouth?
The floor is level.
"dpb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> For ag, _much_ higher input costs and only marginally higher commodity
> prices means either expand both size of operation and equipment to
> increase productivity or fail. The High Plains in the US are also similar
> in that are in the "iffy" rainfall areas so dryland farming is always a
> gamble even more than just the usual fluctuations of weather in those
> areas that have higher normal precipitation levels. (I know that well;
> our average annual is roughly 18" and we've been thru about five years of
> well below while just 100 miles or so east they've been drowned the last
> two. While we're ok again for just now, W TX and some other areas south
> are still hurting while cornbelt guys can't get in to get it out or if are
> may be cutting up to 30% moisture. We've still got corn and milo standing
> that isn't ready yet because we've barely had a really killing freeze and
> they're now talking perhaps significant snow by Sunday/Monday while it's
> 70-75F all this week. If it does indeed do this to us, we'll still be
> trying to cut past the first of the year in all likelihood. If it hammers
> them up north they'll probably never get it all before it goes down. :( )
>
The family farm is in a 15 inch rainfall area. Used to be 50/50 wheat and
sheep. Now it's 90/10
Wool prices just don't show enough return any more. They've had two tough
years in a row, but survived, albeit without making a profit. This year,
they planted 16,000 acres to wheat and the season was *very very* good.
Yields will probabably vary between 40 to 55 bushels per acre. As a reward
for that, the FOB price at the closest port looks like being 30% less than
last year at current predictions. Last year's break even was around 30
bushels/acre at $335 /tonne delivered to port. This years costs have risen,
the current price is about $230/tonne So the proportion of production
required to meet costs has just risen dramatically. Break even is probably
in the order of 40 bushels per acre at those prices.
They've just started harvest, got my fingers crossed the weather gives them
a good run.
Our farmers suffer badly from perceptions of city dwellers. This year, city
folk will read of record production levels, see the huge gross returns,
(Should be in excess of $5 million for the family this year,) yet fail to
understand why we say that there is little or no money in farming!
I was trying to explain to a friend why the farm needed to invest in a new
combine to take the crop off. (A John Deere rotary, over half a million plus
the custom 42ft front.) He maintains it's just a tax dodge and all farmers
complain about everything to try and hide the fact that it's really a
license to print money. Sheesh!
> The trend to the suburban expansion as described is also the same--most of
> the developments are single-developer so they have high incentive to
> maximize number of lots on a given acreage, hence the eaves-touching
> building. In the 50s/60s, folks were buying individual lots in ones/twos
> or farm tracts and selling off a couple lots so before they built their
> own in more affluent areas while the tract housing was much smaller houses
> on probably similarly-sized lots as the current ones.
>
> Escalation of development costs and population growth have probably made
> this a totally universal trend in developed economies.
>
> --
What you describe is a mirror image of the situation here.
diggerop