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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 2, 2024 8:25:15 GMT -6
An Excerpt from the post just previous to this one:
"We see this in education these days. It only matters that one gets a passing grade, not that they learn. It happens in all areas of life. What's scary is when this delusional approach to life collides with hard reality."
My comment:
This post about our current system of education reminds me of a question I was asked by a professor once while working on my Teaching Degree. It was a question concerning grades and testing in college. The question was this: "What do you call a doctor whose highest grade on any exam was only a 'D'?"
Answer: "You call him, Doctor".
Isn't that a scary thought?
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Apr 2, 2024 12:28:22 GMT -6
I took my son in for strep throat where they also swabbed him for something else of which we are unknowing. The doctor prescribed amoxicillin, something which I had in the cabinet at home but can no longer buy without a prescription.
How many skills does it take to be a doctor where your clients are legally forced to see you to obtain life saving medicine that is standard care practice? Better yet, imagine the next up and coming generation of “doctors”? God forbid. (This is proof they have very little to account in safe upgrades in care.)
———
That being said, I have dangerous trees that need to come out. We can rent a boom lift and attempt ourselves very carefully and piece by piece but I dunno. It’s dangerous. A couple need bucket trucks and a team to top. They’re not the most precarious but they’re just too darned big. I need advice or help or something. Or maybe some patience.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 2, 2024 13:34:07 GMT -6
Back in the day, when I worked maintenance, (26 years ago) keeping trees cut back from the buildings was part of our job. Back then, we could rent a bucket truck for $90.00 per hour. I don't know what the going rate for a bucket truck is nowadays, but it was amazing how much good you could do in less than an hour if your chainsaw was in good running order and sharp before you started cutting. (Assuming you already own a good-working chainsaw).
With a bucket truck, you can start cutting at the limb tips, making stove-size firewood as you make your way toward the main trunk of the tree. (A thing well worth $90.00 per hour in of itself).
That way, nothing very dangerous is falling on your house or whatever is below the tree. We used a tarp and an old mattress from the dump to place on the roof to catch the sticks of firewood as they fell, so minimum damage was done by the impacts. The person spotting from the ground would move the mattress with a rope as the limbs got shorter and further down the incline. When we were done, the tarp under the mattress held all of the twigs and sawdust, etc. so clean up was easier.
Any fat logs closer to the trunk of the tree could be secured by a rope attached to the bucket truck and lowered to the ground.
When you're done, all that will be left is the standing tree trunk. If you cut a deep grove around the base of the trunk, it will die and rot in place. If not, it will at least be a lot easier to fell, so you can haul it off or split it for firewood. If you have room to maneuver the bucket truck to extend the boom downward, you can whittle the trunk down one backlog at a time until it's short enough to manage from the ground.
At first, the price per hour for the bucket truck sounds staggering, but price a tree removal crew's day of labor and you will quickly realize the bucket truck price was not as bad as you first thought.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Apr 2, 2024 15:56:44 GMT -6
You’re certainly right about the rental being more cost effective. Even renting a boom lift is frightening to me, but I know that Bill can handle the weight distribution correctly for safety. Otherwise, I’d be up the creek without a paddle, lemme tell ya. One of these is a 2 story elm and it is already rotting, but not so much that it cannot be climbed (not that we’d climb it). It needs to be dealt with asap and has a lateral branch about 30’ long with a lot of weight over a structure. However, that lateral branch with the use of a boom lift isn’t too harrowing as it is straight horizontally.
You know, I was perplexed over trying to sharpen the saw blades when I realized a new chain is only about $20 bucks.
We should have taken care of this stuff in early years, but I remember our dire financial situation.
I take notes. The neighborhood is still abuzz over renovations and rentals and I can only act so fast. I’ve been taking notes of the dates and amount of time spent working and doing ‘what’. I’ve made contact with my lawyer and told him I’ll be shooting complainers his way since they are never civil.
Having issues, yet again, with the trash company. The city is under financially incentivized to encourage the population to recycle. They have a stupid recycling center available on Sundays but no plastic recycling. in order to encourage people to recycle, they are shaming the community and using the trash trucks and drivers as their henchmen. They’ve done this before.
The long and short of it: “You’re using too much trash and the bins are too full. If the lid doesn’t shut, they might not pick up your trash. You could . . . [insert demand here] and you can always (pay) to have your extra taken to the x-fer station (where payment goes to the same trash company).” They’ve done this before, using the trash company as their henchmen and when someone gets the idea that what they’re doing is bordering on BREECH OF CONTRACT for services paid, they let the trash company take the fall and then they have problems with the trash company contract with them, etc. etc. This time they even went so far as to write on facebook “Our drivers are taking pictures of the bins located next to your houses that are not put up.” Extrapolate that one into legalities.
So, now I am burning my TRASH in the burn barrels while cleaning up tree trash. Again, I informed my lawyer and will be redirecting people to him. The city of Cushing is TRASH as far as I’m concerned. Some of the workers are just fine, but they are constantly breaching the law and I’m sick of it.
it only motivates me more to spend more time getting rid of CRAP so we can leave and go buy another piece of property at unaffordable rates but maybe we can get rid of the con artists and live in peace somehow. Who knows.
The GMC truck went into the shop Friday. He already had the heads pulled which means I’ll get it back soon. Hopefully, I can get a trailer and make things ready a ton faster.
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Post by macmex on Apr 3, 2024 5:54:25 GMT -6
All good points! Thinking of the medical/educational points, I've come to the conclusion that our society prefers "form" over "essence." In other words, it doesn't really matter if one actually has a skill and knows how to perform in their chosen profession. What matters is the piece of paper which says they deserve the title and accompanying pay. Programs, such as recycling are often more for show than actual environmental benefit. Once the powers to be can say they have documentation that they are recycling, then they receive government funds for doing it, but it really doesn't matter, in their mind, whether the recycling is truly happening. I know a certain university which has a plastic recycling program which illustrates the mindset. They have large red, very conspicuous bins for plastic recycles located in their buildings. Everyone is told that they're to recycle plastic. Yet, the bins fill up and no one collects the material. Instead, after a while, the custodians empty them and place the plastic in the dumpster with the other trash. I'm sure that some paper pusher is collecting government funds because they can show on paper, that they have a plastic recycling program, yet in reality, nothing is happening.
We saw a lot of this during the pandemic. It didn't matter if a measure really helped, what was important was that everyone be complying and doing it!
This mentality is scary if it gets applied to medicine, architecture, engineering or mechanics. Has it permeated our armed forces? If so, we're in a heap of trouble.
I suspect that we're coming up on a time when this whole fake system will come crashing down. A good mechanic or tradesman will be more valuable than most graduates of institutions of "higher learning."
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Apr 6, 2024 18:14:25 GMT -6
Thank you for your perspective George. I don’t know why this stuff bothers me so much. It’s not new. Well, I guess the scary part is the realization that it’s getting harder and harder to avoid, like it’s almost showing up on our front porches nowadays unannounced and demanding our attention. I wish I had a better sense of humor over it all.
I’ve been burning my trash and, honestly, it’s cleaner. If the whole thing bothers me because I don’t know what to expect, then I guess making a change for my own security is better. One of the issues with our trash services (and prior mail services) is that we are a sole client on a sole street away from their normal routine. It’s out of their way. Sometimes they just don’t want to bother with it. I don’t want to bother with bickering over it. Thank God for the lowly 55 gallon barrel and a chop saw for which a giant trash dumpster with hydraulic lifts is no match.
I has FAHR!!!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 8, 2024 6:34:50 GMT -6
I lived in Seattle for two years, 1989-1991. During that time we had to separate all of our trash into several color-coded containers. One for glass, one for paper, one for plastic, one for metal, one for organic waste, and one for baby diapers if you had them.
The city garbage trucks had color-coded bins to match. That made their trash service very inefficient because the different colored bins would fill up at different rates on various days, causing them to have to make extra trips to the dump, but it saved the city from having to hire workers the way Tulsa does to separate their trash at the bottom of the burn hoppers before disposing of it in the landfill.
Tulsa burns its trash to create steam to create electricity, but I'm not sure what Seattle does with all the separated trash they collect.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Apr 8, 2024 11:06:27 GMT -6
Wow, there’s no telling what Seattle has going on now.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Apr 28, 2024 22:46:32 GMT -6
Out of all the things I am doing, I must stop and do something about my neighbor’s massive poison ivy farm. Patch must be 30’ x 10’ and 2ft to 5 ft tall. It’s trying to come up all over my yard. I’ve mowed and trimmed the exterior perimeter of my fence, but I need them to mow. Unbelievable.
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Post by macmex on Apr 29, 2024 7:14:42 GMT -6
That's the one case in which I believe Round Up is truly the solution: poison ivy. It would take a number of applications, but I'd do it. I seriously doubt the neighbor wants poison ivy. This is a matter of neglect. They probably just don't care.
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Post by rdback on Apr 29, 2024 8:10:51 GMT -6
I agree with George. I don't use chemicals here at all, but I do have a jug of Round Up, just for poison ivy.
@frostyturnip - be careful mowing/weedwacking that poison ivy. Chopped up pieces of the vines can root easily, spreading the patch instead of eliminating it. Best thing to do is pull it by the roots, or spray it. I vote for spray, lol.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 29, 2024 10:21:51 GMT -6
Frosty,
When we moved here the poison ivy was taller than I was and growing in patches that went on for several yards in every direction. Since poison ivy spreads by a rhizome, sort of like Bermuda grass, I was able to wipe it out in one year by using 41% Glyphosate. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, but cheaper to buy in bulk than Roundup, because it's a concentrate that I mixed with water.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on May 2, 2024 11:43:10 GMT -6
Hey friends,
This may be old news to you, but it slapped us in the face. SO, my 40 yo washing me went out a few months following the dryer. Dryer? No big deal. I use the clothes lines. I tell ya, it was refreshing to watch them get crushed at the scrap yard.
But wait … we hopped on down to Lowe’s and bought a $700 whirlpool washer. Yippee!!! So shiny. We bought on Saturday ad they delivered it Monday.
Clothes came out
FILTHY
Not enough water and agitation was weak. We tried everything under the sun to get the water to fill up, but nope. Turns out the mfg of HE appliances are required to reduce the amount of water to you, you know, save the planet.
Displays boasted 3.8 cu ft capacity after removing the agitator. Welp, there’s no disclaimer about that machine being designed to not handle that larger capacity because there’s not enough water. I did further research and some folks are actually fastening an indoor water hose to add water and some other tricks. What?!! Gov’t regulations stipulate so much water and then there is a special function called “deep water” wash/rinse which adds and extra 2” of water!!
Even with the deep water wash, it could only handle one pair of Bill’s overalls and I had to wash them 5 times to get the same results as my older washer. Let’s say it at least got them clean. Mmm Kay? I’d need to wash 3 times as many loads to get the same results. Where’s the efficiency?
Oh, wait. I noticed the water temperature settings. They didn’t just have “cold” but “cool” and then “tap cold”.
What’s that? The “cool” uses both the hot and cold from the tap. INstructions say the water pressure works better under the “cool” meaning I would need to use both my hot water tap. They DO understand that the hot water tank is the 2nd worst offender to electricity use, right?
High efficiency? Did I mention the cycle on that bad boy is 1/3rd longer than my old one?
They came and picked it up yesterday as I was still within my 48 hour time limit for appliance refunds.
Yesterday I washed my laundry by hand in a big stock tank. Clothes are clean.
Not real sure how to get a washing machine that works
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Post by macmex on May 2, 2024 12:09:36 GMT -6
Soon as I can, I'll send you info on the machine my wife purchased last summer. It does a good job, even with a large load.
If they've changed things, regulation wise so that one cannot purchase a decent new washing machine, then I'd start looked at Craigslist. In the past I've purchased decent machines, used of course, for around $100.
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Post by amyinowasso on May 3, 2024 11:36:31 GMT -6
We bought a speed queen from Hawn's appliance in Tulsa. It is the brand used in most laundrymats. It's not cheap, but we figured it's the last one we would have to buy. This looks like ours. hahnappliance.com/laundry/washers/traditional-top-load-washer/speed-queen/TR3003WNYou can do the full tub or the half tub with ours. It also has a bulky/heavy duty cycle. The top of the line offers more options, but there's only 2 of us now, so we don't need as much. Amy
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