Fitty's Angling Ramble 7.0

[Nainoa]

They have LED grow lights?

Yeah but they are CRAZY expensive, they also have a questionable reputation among home gardeners, mostly because when they first hit the market about half of the manufacturers made outrageous claims about how good they were without UL testing and approval.

As a result it's hard to tell who is selling the good ones and who is continuing to sell the over-promised ones.

Considering some of these are $200-$400... That's a big risk... Especially when a Flourescent set is only $25!

EDIT: If you read my books you would know this already!

[Hartski]

Got a rejection letter yesterday for the Maintenance Apprenticeship program i applied for at work. I've signed like 20 postings over the last 2 years and haven't gotten called on any of them. I made over 70k last year, and I'm starting to see this as a dead end job. That's pretty sad.....

[Procta]

Fitty's Angling and Job Hunting Ramble 7.1

[Hartski]

Well it's been the parenthood ramble for a while now....

[Nainoa]

Well it's been the parenthood ramble for a while now....

Yeah I used to think that a massive storm front or high winds was the biggest obstacle to getting out fishing... Turns out money and kids have much stronger powers at stopping you from wetting a line than an F3 tornado!

[Nainoa]

Got a rejection letter yesterday for the Maintenance Apprenticeship program i applied for at work. I've signed like 20 postings over the last 2 years and haven't gotten called on any of them. I made over 70k last year, and I'm starting to see this as a dead end job. That's pretty sad.....

A couple of years back I advanced the theory "The way the world works now, you basically have until the age of 40 to become your own master or spend the rest of your life as a slave."

I've been working on the "Be your own master" thing for the last 4 years with mixed results... If you decide to take that path, accept that it's pretty damn tough.

However I was a slave for 24 years before that and the lack of control over my life, even at it's best, was more stressful than all but my worst days now.

Once you get past 40 people don't want to take a chance on a guy who's got big salary, benefit requirements, and way of doing things. They tend to prefer to get someone straight out of college who can be molded into their way of doing things and will work for 10 years for peanuts and cheap benies.

Essentially what you're doing for the next 5 years is probably what you will be doing for the 25 after that.

[Hartski]

Once I get the truck and credit cards paid off, i can work towards the brewpub that my town desperately needs.

[Nainoa]

Once I get the truck and credit cards paid off, i can work towards the brewpub that my town desperately needs.

I've found that the pursuit of your dreams/being your own master is a matter of percentages.

Let's say, just as an example that right now 97% of your "Work" related energy is devoted to your "Day Job" and 3% is spent towards developing your skills, knowledge, experience "Acumen" of your dream job.

You shouldn't look at the change as if it's a new form of quitting smoking, where you just step off a cliff... It's about changing that percentage by a tiny amount each day.

So tomorrow the goal is to be 96.95% day job... And 3.05% Dream Job. Maybe it's just something simple like staying up a half hour later tomorrow night to read an interesting article about Hops.

The real point isn't so you'll eventually get there in baby steps... I mean that's a part of it FOR SURE. But pursuing your dreams is like 90% about building Emotional Fortitude. Making that little bit of progress each day makes you feel like you're getting closer, it builds your dedication, and it keeps the fires burning inside in a way that helps you to "Believe" it's possible during those natural times when you're going to take a misstep along the way.

The "Cliff" really seems to be at the 50/50 mark... Right now I'm about 50% day job and 50% dream job... Can't seem to budge the slider any further towards dream without poking towards a disastrous risks.

[GREENFEATHER]

They have LED grow lights?

Yes, I've been using them for 3 years now and I wouldn't trade them for anything. My issue with a fluorescent strip is your bulbs are done in 4 years, they should be replaced every 6 months of use due to spectral shift and loss of brightness. LEDs are lifetime, you lose 10% around 30,000 hours of use. That's somewhere in the 15 year range if you were running them around the clock 7 days a week. I'll fetch up the link to ones like the ones I use.

[Nainoa]

Yes, I've been using them for 3 years now and I wouldn't trade them for anything. My issue with a fluorescent strip is your bulbs are done in 4 years, they should be replaced every 6 months of use due to spectral shift and loss of brightness. LEDs are lifetime, you lose 10% around 30,000 hours of use. That's somewhere in the 15 year range if you were running them around the clock 7 days a week. I'll fetch up the link to ones like the ones I use.

I've only had 1 fluorescent bulb burn out in 6 years. In the older ones I've noticed a decrease in lumens around 4 years. Which is not a big deal when you consider they're $9 per... I actually got mine on sale for $5. So it's less than a dollar a year in useage... And I only burn spend 33 cents per bulb per month for the time and months that I run them.

You obviously have one of the good LED's... How much did you spend to light say a 2 foot by 4 foot spread?

[HairyScandinavian]

Yeah I used to think that a massive storm front or high winds was the biggest obstacle to getting out fishing... Turns out money and kids have much stronger powers at stopping you from wetting a line than an F3 tornado!

Just drag them out with you, you pansy!

My 9yo is going camping on the island with us this weekend. 30mph sustained winds forecast for Friday and temp in the 20's (that's cold for TX so bite me) and he aint skeered.

[Nainoa]

Just drag them out with you, you pansy!

My 9yo is going camping on the island with us this weekend. 30mph sustained winds forecast for Friday and temp in the 20's (that's cold for TX so bite me) and he aint skeered.

My wife is a tad bit over protective... The other day I walked carried the baby from the house to the car, a distance of 15 feet and she didn't have two pair of mittens on when it was 10 degrees... Wife hit the ROOF!

Luckily the baby didn't die of frost bite from that 2.8 seconds!

[lhprop1]

My wife is a tad bit over protective... The other day I walked carried the baby from the house to the car, a distance of 15 feet and she didn't have two pair of mittens on when it was 10 degrees... Wife hit the ROOF!

Luckily the baby didn't die of frost bite from that 2.8 seconds!

My wife is the same way. If he doesn't have the full array of winter gear suitable for climbing Mt. Everest when I take him from the house to the truck on a 20 degree day, she freaks out.

I took him to the fish house for the first time this past weekend. I don't know which he loved more; "catching fish"* or sitting on my lap while I drove the truck off the lake. It was all he could talk about for 2 days.



*Catching fish consisted of him watching me catch fish. He just turned 2 and doesn't quite have the motor skills to read the electronics, set the hook, and turn the reel handle.

[Nainoa]

My wife is the same way. If he doesn't have the full array of winter gear suitable for climbing Mt. Everest when I take him from the house to the truck on a 20 degree day, she freaks out.

I took him to the fish house for the first time this past weekend. I don't know which he loved more; "catching fish"* or sitting on my lap while I drove the truck off the lake. It was all he could talk about for 2 days.



*Catching fish consisted of him watching me catch fish. He just turned 2 and doesn't quite have the motor skills to read the electronics, set the hook, and turn the reel handle.

I know... The way our "System" is set up these days is a little ridiculous... Kids are expected to know their ABC's and count to 10 by the end of PreSchool... But they make it all the way to Kindergarten and no part of the program teaches them to read a Vex or understand when it's time to switch from a number 3 to a number 2 sweedish pimple!

It's sad that kids have to pick that stuff up on the street!

[lhprop1]

I know... The way our "System" is set up these days is a little ridiculous... Kids are expected to know their ABC's and count to 10 by the end of PreSchool... But they make it all the way to Kindergarten and no part of the program teaches them to read a Vex or understand when it's time to switch from a number 3 to a number 2 sweedish pimple!

It's sad that kids have to pick that stuff up on the street!

And here's another thing: I'll be damned if my kid is going to learn to fish by watching a bobber. He will be taught to watch the rod tip, the taughtness of the line, and feel for the fish to bite like a proper fisherman does.

[Nainoa]

And here's another thing: I'll be damned if my kid is going to learn to fish by watching a bobber. He will be taught to watch the rod tip, the taughtness of the line, and feel for the fish to bite like a proper fisherman does.

Well you might want to start with a bobber... Even if it's just the simple little foam bobber set uber light. At least to start with. It'll keep him entertained at first.

[GREENFEATHER]

I've only had 1 fluorescent bulb burn out in 6 years. In the older ones I've noticed a decrease in lumens around 4 years. Which is not a big deal when you consider they're $9 per... I actually got mine on sale for $5. So it's less than a dollar a year in useage... And I only burn spend 33 cents per bulb per month for the time and months that I run them.

You obviously have one of the good LED's... How much did you spend to light say a 2 foot by 4 foot spread?

You can get Chinese clones of the German system I have for about $200 delivered direct from the manufacturer. The ones I have were 3k for the 10x12 greenhouse. I don't ever have to worry about a bulb or anything. It's not gonna be too long and you won't be able to buy tubes, srs.

[lhprop1]

Well you might want to start with a bobber... Even if it's just the simple little foam bobber set uber light. At least to start with. It'll keep him entertained at first.

Yeah, I might have to do that until he learns what a bit feels like. He's not ready to handle it by himself just yet. He might be by next winter. It'll take him at least another year to understand how to use the electronics. He's only 2.

[GREENFEATHER]

I can't wait for ice out here, something I NEVER, EVER thought I'd hear myself say. Everything here is frozen. Maybe this will do in a bunch of skeeters and those fukn Chinese stinkbugs.

[Nainoa]

I can't wait for ice out here, something I NEVER, EVER thought I'd hear myself say. Everything here is frozen. Maybe this will do in a bunch of skeeters and those fukn Chinese stinkbugs.

Hell... I spent 4 hours tonight snow blowing the ditch to try to buy myself room for drifting... The banks and drifts up here are over 4 feet tall and we're not even into the snowy part of winter YET!

Considering how far I am over the "Average" for this time of year... I might hit 8-10 foot banks by April 1st.

[Hartski]

Nainoa, you really need a skidloader or tractor with a plow/loader

[GREENFEATHER]

Hell... I spent 4 hours tonight snow blowing the ditch to try to buy myself room for drifting... The banks and drifts up here are over 4 feet tall and we're not even into the snowy part of winter YET!

Considering how far I am over the "Average" for this time of year... I might hit 8-10 foot banks by April 1st.

The last time the reservoir iced over was 1979 and there's 8" of ice on it right now. That was a cool year, the MPs would come chase us and we'd skate away from them. One of them dropped his .45 and it skidded 1/2 way across the lake. For a fleeting moment I toyed with the idea of skating over and getting it, man would he have been pissed and I'd have been a marked man. I don't exactly blend into the crowd at 2 metres tall, lol.

[Nainoa]

Nainoa, you really need a skidloader or tractor with a plow/loader

Someday when the money works out better I want to get a wheeler, like a prowler with a blade on the front. Then I can take the blade off in the summer and it still gets me around when I need to move buckets and such or just run out to get the mail.

[GREENFEATHER]

Someday when the money works out better I want to get a wheeler, like a prowler with a blade on the front. Then I can take the blade off in the summer and it still gets me around when I need to move buckets and such or just run out to get the mail.

I would buy a used compact tractor. It'll come in a LOT more handy than a 4 wheeler will. With the kinda snow y'all get a 4 wheeler ain't gonna do much bro.

[Hartski]

I agree, Greenfeather. They have a quad with a plow at the stables. Almost totally worthless. Plus a compact tractor can have a plow, disk, or tiller towed behind it.

[Nainoa]

I agree, Greenfeather. They have a quad with a plow at the stables. Almost totally worthless. Plus a compact tractor can have a plow, disk, or tiller towed behind it.

Well when I'm desperate enough to pay the $80, the guy who will clear my driveway uses a beefy ATV (Not sure how big) with a blade and he does an awesome job in under a half hour.

The one neighbor who's driveway ends opposite mine, is 80-something, lives alone and uses a prowler with a blade.

Now if my Father in Law would just finish up with drinking himself to death, I'd just inherit his 98 F-150 and slap a full man-plow on the front of it. Then I could just strap the car seat into it and plow whenever it calls for. My daughter would just grow up with memories of plowin' with Dad!

[Hartski]

Cookin ground venison and noodles for dinner and watching The Great Escape. Blizzard conditions tonight and tomorrow. Doubt we'll be able to go to work tomorrow.

[Nainoa]

Cookin ground venison and noodles for dinner and watching The Great Escape. Blizzard conditions tonight and tomorrow. Doubt we'll be able to go to work tomorrow.

To get my wife in from work I had to break a bunch of 4 foot drifts. Tallest one was 6 feet.

I have the record for snow banks marked from last year. I am currently 3 inches under the record at the end of last year... And we haven't gotten to the snowy part of winter yet!

[Hartski]

Figures. Blizzard stops me from coming to work yesterday for double time, but it stops and lets me come in today for regular time.....

[lhprop1]

I can't wait for ice out here, something I NEVER, EVER thought I'd hear myself say. Everything here is frozen. Maybe this will do in a bunch of skeeters and those fukn Chinese stinkbugs.

I hate to break it to you, but we've had over 30 days of below zero temps so far this winter with the lowest being around -25 or so. I guarantee you that we'll have plenty of skeeters this coming summer.

I remember reading somewhere that the eggs can lay dormant for something like 7 years through extreme drought and/or cold and still survive.