I'm from Ontario Canada, I too cant wait to see spring and all the snow melt!

rw2 wrote:

Crzyivan13 wrote:That's just awful. May I ask, what do you do in Mexico?

Same thing as Zzz. I write tediously detailed instructions on how to move electrons around in predictable ways to make humans happy.

While I guess that beat selling pencils now doesn't it

rw2 wrote:

gbflyer wrote:I was a farmer in a former life. The very best farm labor came from your state. Hard working and trustworthy. I always thought it would be a neat place to visit.

Interesting. I'm not surprised, my experience has been that people around here are pretty industrious. I wonder how many leave for the US these days. Net immigration is from the US back to Mexico for a while now due to the strength in the mexican economy, weakness in the US economy and stricter labor law enforcement. In Guanajuato and neighboring Querétaro there has also been tons of investment in heavy industry, leading to tons of jobs that people can get without having to leave their country. Would be interesting to see how that has mapped to your area.

I don't know man, I've been out of that business for nearly 20 years. I have heard that it is much more difficult now to get help, mostly due to what you've mentioned about an increase in industry in Mexico. I have lots of fond memories of the people who worked for us. I know that at the time the field labor was getting piece work, a real go-getter could make $100-$125 per day. Pretty good money back then. Most of the guys went home each Fall with a stack of cash that would easily last the winter. Contrary to many opinions, they had no interest in sticking around and working the US system. They worked, paid their taxes, and went home.

At the risk of not being PC, I can say that no "white people" wanted to do the work. I imagine that hasn't changed much. There would have been some pretty hungry people in this world without those from S of the border. To that extent, I have some very strong opinions on immigration.

Quit wining and go flying! Leave the doors off if you really want to have fun!

My biggest gripe about the winter is having to use the tow strap and my car to open and close the sliding doors on the hangar. Once out, taxiing isn't a problem because the airport staff does a great job of clearing the runways and taxiways. The Reiff pre-heater works well, so starting is easy. And flying is good. The heater in LRB works well, the engine runs smoothly and powerfully--but the darned hangar doors freeze in whatever position they are in if they're left there for more than 15 minutes. It takes an hour before and an hour after to fly for an hour, just because of the dag-boned doors!

And frankly, I am tired of shoveling and using the ancient rotary plow. Both the shovel and the plow are pretty worn out, so I guess I'll invest in new ones before next winter comes around.

And stay off my lawn!

Cary

You need a rotary plow like mine Cary.



Steve

Cary: Whoever made the decision to use sliding track doors in your climate, should be sent to a North Korea re education camp, I feel your pain, having dealt with those in a previous lifetime.

You got it figured out Steve, around here nothing beats a skid steer with a blower. Maneuverable as hell and a small footprint with lots of power at the PTO. Great setup you have there. The AWD mini tractors/Kubotas do OK, like I have, but nowhere near as capable as a skid steer.

We had a boatload of precip the last week or so, but damn the luck it accompanied a warming spell so it all fell as useless rain (onto still frozen ground, causing some minor flooding concerns) instead of useful snow: useful to farmers and boaters this summer, Idaho Power for their hydroelectric generators, the local ski areas, and last of all ME.

My ski runway is toast, even the snow I had stockpiled (like Yeltsin did at Sochi ) is now gone, but I'm left in limbo, with patches of snow, some gravel, some SOFT dirt, in such a combination that even the wheel skis can't handle it. An in between stage, so today I blew off the remaining snow, so at least it can dry out enough for the little 6:00's to handle. Lot's of snow up high and winter isn't over yet so no Airstreaks for a while. Winter doesn't suck, this in between stuff for sure does! It's useless!

courierguy wrote:

Sorry it's interrupting your flying, but the patchiness of the snow sure does make that a beautiful photo.

Nothing like that beautiful shot you posted of your courtyard! I had to put my sunglasses on to look at that, the only colors I've seen in the last few months being white, grey, and thankfully at times brilliant blue.

This time of year that runway should be covered with 2 to 4' of snow, this picture looks like late March not mid February. Sure as heck if I pull the wheel skis off and put the Airstreaks back on, we'll get dumped on hugely for another month! It's a rough life and I just have to put up with it

I know how you feel Tom. I had to put my tires back on to bring my plane for annual. Picked it up yesterday and now deciding wether or not to put the skis back on. Decisions decisions. Worst of it is, thats its right around the zero mark (Celsius) and the snow is settling and hard, but fresh snow seems persistent on falling...