Life goes on - Winter 2016

I finally finished snow raking off the greenhouse from the last bad storm. Just in time for tomorrow’s dump. I usually rake off the top half then shovel away the sides to the 4 ft mark.

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Any costs incl fuel cost are of cource deductible for transportation businesses.
Btw. Gasoline prices are about the same in all of Europe.

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Here in NE NY state we are at $2.49 gal.

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Yup but in Europe if I understand correctly there is actually public transportation that people can use. I thought the high gas prices where sort of a way to get people to use public transportation but I could be wrong. In alot of the usa we couldn’t use public transportation if we wanted to.

I wonder what will happen when people start using electric cars and the government looses all that tax money.

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Gooolllllyyyyy!!! I have to hook that rubber band thing from my chin to my nose ---- my mouth just fell wide open and my chin hit the key board. I guess I have always known that petro was expensive in Europe, but the price was always stated so much per liter, and I think you all have learned that I have little perspective on the metric system. Then of course you have to consider the exchange rate of the all mighty Yankee dollar. ( you know that green piece of paper that we indiscriminately print and give out to others for payment of our debts.) And finally, I guess, I never really knew anyone in Europe, so it was of little concern. My conversations with JO have changed that totally.
When I started driving, I paid 19 cents per gallon, and then it went up to 25 cents. I’d put one dollars worth in my '49 Studebaker convertible and we would drive to South Bend, ind. Fort Wayne, or Kalamazoo just for a burger and fries, There weren’t any McDonald’s, or Burger King… We usually went to a “truck stop”. They had the best “quick meals”.
So that is where my head is and I have to pay ten times what I payed then. I guess it is relevant. Dad bought a new '47 Studebaker for a little under $2,000’s and a new car today would cost you about $23,000.
These items are on the “cost” side of the equation. The income side is kind of like JO says about Sweden; we don’t have the same proportion of income increase in that time, so we should not be as well off as we were, and yet I feel we live quite well ( I can still buy welding rod ) So in the meantime I will frown a little when I buy dino fuel, but I will smile a little at the same time knowing that JO is beating the system in Europe. I have more respect for anyone in other countries who are DOW. TomC

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25 posts were split to a new topic: Switching to electric vehicles

I recall you saying your property taxes are like 5-600/yr?

Maybe I’m remembering wrong, cheap property taxes in rural Ontario are like 2500.00

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Been coming down pretty good here since about 5:00 pm.

You are right. About 600 is upper limit here for a one family house. 2500 seems a lot and impossible to escape from :cry:

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Yep no escape other than move to a cheaper locale. A big house down the road from me sold a few years back for about 470K, taxes on that one was $6000.00/yr.

That’s why I would rather have high consumption taxes, I can’t escape my property taxes by DOW😩

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Switching to electric vehicles

That kind of sums up what I am saying about the personal vehicle concept. It grew out of a found bonanza of fossil fuel energy. To come up with the true energy footprint of that by alternate means will require a far greater cost and energy generating effort. Really I think wood, either charcoal or woodgas are the next practical answer on the energy scale, and it’s already a significant cost step. Natural gas, and above all reducing curb weight are the important beginning steps. Without addressing the over all energy footprint of the vehicle concept the cost going forward will become unsustainable.

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This is the worst snow event I have seen in years. We had about 7 inches two days ago. It was soo cold yesterday I couldn’t go out and plow with an open air tractor in the wind. Now we have 3 more days of snow with 2 feet of snow on the way one day off and a repeat 3 days of snow with 1 to 2 feet of snow scheduled. I can’t remember the last time I have only has 2 non snow days in a 8 day spell. There will be some big snow banks out there by the time this is done. I have to go out in the snow now and open it up because there is a big mess out there. But it is better today then yesterday. Today is 8 F with snow in the air that is better then 8 F with wind chills down around -10 F.

Well my d15 just picked today to remind me that the alternator conversation only works when it feels like it and it wasn’t feeling like it the last time I used it. Now my truck is hooked up to get it running enough to get it to the house where I can put it on the charger.

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Several times I had projects in Tampa and once in Del Rio, TX and during the winter there were lots of SNOWBIRDS!

Seriously I admire the gumption of folks like you to stick it out

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California is getting some rain. The 770 ft. Oroville dam was 4 ft from the top. The inflow was equal to the volume of the Mississippi river at St. louis. http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/09/oroville-emergency-spillway-may-be-used-for-first-time-in-dams-history/

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Well I got that snow cleaned up around the front of the property anyway that I’d the important part the tractor is on the charger now so it should be good to go for the next round of fun.
Oh as to staying I think we are probably just to much old school Yankees to leave.

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Check out http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

You can look at the change maps or the drought history. Northern Cali is no longer in a drought, and most of the worst drought is gone in the state. D2-D4 in 2016 was 81% of the state, and this year it is 11% with very little D3 and no D4 conditions. Last year D4 covered 38% of the state.

If I were going to guess, I would say it is the net effect of all the EVs and solar, and wind they put in that lowered the temp enough for it to rain, but I am sure that isn’t the whole story if it even is part of the story. :slight_smile:

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I am not touching that one with a 10 foot pole. If I did Chris would have to give me one of those warnings…
Did you know the expression I won’t touch that with a 10 foot pole actually comes from leading a bull with a noise ring? I asked my uncle about it once and he pulled out an old 10 foot pole they used to lead bulls around with a hook on one end. Too bad that pole vanished somewhere over the years.

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I didn’t know that, but the pole is probably still in the barn somewhere. :slight_smile: You hid them so the kids didn’t start playing with the bull. Nowadays the kids have noserings so you actually need the pole. :slight_smile:

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A couple years back my son and I were out riding when he turned his base ball cap backwards on his head ( like he had seen many on TV ) I very politely pulled over to the side of the the road and told him to GET OUT . It only took him a second to figure out front and back of the cap :persevere:

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