Red Ring Tupperware Party, Autumnal Equinoctal Edition (24)

On a more sad note, weather is cooling down a bit now. Low to mid teens in degrees C, though we are due to have some nice weather again in a couple o days ~25-27 deg C. This won't last long though, which is a bugger

hqqns wrote in post #18837612
...Yes, the're really good. I remember watching how a differential works a few years back. It's weird though that in the transmission one, they manage to talk about synchro but completely fail to mention a clutch?

They had one on the clutch but I can't find it now.

hqqns wrote in post #18837873
On a more sad note, weather is cooling down a bit now. Low to mid teens in degrees C, though we are due to have some nice weather again in a couple o days ~25-27 deg C. This won't last long though, which is a bugger

Never mind, the northern hemisphere is only borrowing it for a while.

hqqns wrote in post #18837873
On a more sad note, weather is cooling down a bit now. Low to mid teens in degrees C, though we are due to have some nice weather again in a couple o days ~25-27 deg C. This won't last long though, which is a bugger

We had 2 - 3 degrees C today... and it actually came a bit of rain and snow in the morning Come on spring... get your s*** together.

fi20100 wrote in post #18838110
We had 2 - 3 degrees C today... and it actually came a bit of rain and snow in the morning Come on spring... get your s*** together.

Spring here is in full swing but it has been a chilly one at least by Texas standards. 5c on the cold nights and 15c on the chilly days and we have had no days warmer than 32c and only a couple 25c or warmer. I suspect that Spring will just stop and the blast furnace will turn on full blast.

GibJock wrote in post #18837998
Never mind, the northern hemisphere is only borrowing it for a while.

Bastards.

jay125 wrote in post #18837183
Happy Healthy Birthday Mel!!!! Did you get much tractor time this winter, or did you not do that this year?

Thanks!

I didn't get any tractor time this year, but I did get a few days in a truck. We didn't have much of a winter this year. It would snow and melt, snow and melt, etc. I let the company know that I was available to fill in if needed, around my work schedule. My friend had a conference to go to for about 4 days, right when we were getting a significant 'weather event'. I took over his route for him. Work was dead due to the weather, so I made more hours plowing then I would have at work. Most of the winter was only a couple inches of snow at a time, except for that one week. We got dumped on. Some of my properties were 6+" deep, plus drifting. It was some good, fun plowing. Other than the fact that it was super cold! There are two properties that require salting. The truck has a rear mounted salter, which requires filling by hand from bags. I was standing in the back of the truck at 3 AM in -26C temps, windchill in the -40s, loading salt. Split my lower lip open. It's still healing, 2 months later. Every time I smile, sneeze, cough, etc it will crack again.

Maple syrup season was short but sweet this year. Ran like crazy for three weeks. I finished about 33 litres of syrup.

Next year the plan is to purchase a reverse osmosis system to cut down on boiling time and propane expense.

Jill-of-all-Trades wrote in post #18838884
Maple syrup season was short but sweet this year. Ran like crazy for three weeks. I finished about 33 litres of syrup.

Next year the plan is to purchase a reverse osmosis system to cut down on boiling time and propane expense.

I would think that the filters would get plugged up rather quickly and they are not cheap. I have a RO for my drinking water and a full set of filters runs about $40. That's 3 tanks of propane.

The size of setup that I would get uses 1 pre-filter and 1 membrane. The pre-filter typically lasts for 300 gallons, the membrane for 2000 gallons. The pre-filter costs $2 and the membrane $45.

This year I collected ~286 gallons of sap. At that rate, I'd replace the pre-filter every year.

If I doubled my collection next year, that would be $4 worth of pre-filters. 20 lbs of propane costs $16 (CAD)

One pass through the RO removes 50% of the water, which cuts propane and time in half. A second pass through does the same. Sugar content can easily be taken from 2% to 8%.

The kit that I'm looking at also comes with 2 pre-filters, so it's set up for 600 gallon capacity.

I don't have a final tally on my propane costs yet, but it's hundreds. Wouldn't take long for the system to pay for itself.

Had a fight with a cactus today. It won in a very big way.

Pics to come after they make their way from my phone to my computer.

Story Time

I was cleaning out the front bay window where I have some plants. Had taken everything out, cleaned it all, and was putting stuff back. I picked up a cactus, by the pot obviously, and the pot broke. Dropped the cactus on my hand and got a bunch of spines in my right index finger. Went to pull them out and found that they were buried half an inch in my finger, and a bunch were broken off. Plus one went full length under the skin across the top of my finger.

Decided that I would need some help to get them out, so I went to emerge. Thought that I would have to sit there forever and be the last in line. Only waited about an hour.

Doctor was not too thrilled when he saw that it wasn't going to be a simple task.
He had to "drill" them out. Used a tool that took little "core sample" out, which brought the spine out with it.
It was pretty hilarious listening to this doctor as he pulled each one out. Comments like "Oh my god, look at how long that is!"

I definitely made the right decision to get them taken out. Now I have 6 holes in my finger, 7 stitches to close them up, 2 different super strong antibiotics, and one really sore hand!

Can I be the first to say OUCH!

There is a lesson in this for all of us. Don't buy plants that try to kill you. Here ends the lesson.

OUCH!!!

OUCH!!! Never pick a fight with a prickly thing!