eltejano1
Woodville, Texas
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I mow 6 acres of lawn - with a Grasshopper 0-turn radius with a 24hp Kubota diesel engine and a 62" deck. I also bush hog another 15 acres of pasture with a 30hp Kioti tractor. I use about 20 gals a month of off-road diesel, which is only about 40 cents cheaper. After hurricane Rita, they allowed off-road fuel in highway vehicles for awhile and I took max advantage! Still had off-road fuel in the my Dodge a year after the storm. My story would have been that I had bought a whole lot after the storm and had to use it up. ![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/smile.gif "smile") But I never got checked, thank goodness. It's a $2000 fine in Texas plus an additional $100 for every gal of dyed fuel in your tank.
Jack
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eltejano1
Woodville, Texas
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HiTech:
I've been fishing with the fly rod all my life - also tie my own flies and bugs.
I've done a lot of saltwater FF in the Gulf and have taken 30# jacks on ten-wt gear. But my favoite fishin' is big ol'bull bluegill on light-weight trout gear and standard dry flies. Talk about fun! These bream would tow a rainbow of the same size around all day long if you tied 'em together. We get big diptera hatches on these waters every evening and the bream are rising steady - lay a size 12 quill body mosquito dry fly out there with 3-4 wt trout outfit and WHAM! A 1# bream will give you quite a tussel. Every now and then a bass will grab the bream you are playing - just point the rod at him and break the tippet.
I guess theis doesn't have much to do with fuel prices, does it. Oh well, we've been too serious for days. We can't do anything about it anyway.
Jack
PS I have images shut-off, We have a half mile of antiquated phone lines between our house and the county road and they won't carry much data - runs about 19.5 bps on a good day. SW Bell says we are lucky to get the internet at all. I'm thinking about a Hughes satellite system. Meanwhile, I can't open photos, videos - any data-rich thing like that. Just text.
JME
* This post was
edited 06/14/08 03:06pm by eltejano1 *
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onrecess
Boca Raton, FL
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eltejano1 : I mow 6 acres of lawn - with a Grasshopper 0-turn radius with a 24hp Kubota diesel engine and a 62" deck. I also bush hog another 15 acres of pasture with a 30hp Kioti tractor.
How long does that take you? I used to mow my little 1/4 acre lot with a riding mower I traded some junk for. My son was about 2 1/2, the mower was the rear engine kind, and he used to stand in front of me. He loved it. That was during the Houston recession of about 85'. There were repossessed houses all around my house so "we'd" mow 3 of those. I guess today that might be child abuse, huh? ![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/wink.gif "wink") I don't know if it would have been as much fun without the passenger, but it sure was fun with.
Tom Anderson
2005 GeorgieBoy 35
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eltejano1
Woodville, Texas
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Onrecess:
Interesting you mention that oil "bust" in the early eighties - I'd forgotten about that! The price of oil skyrocketed in the seventies and Houston went crazy in a fabulous boom and then the price collapsed - around '83 as I recall. All the yankees went back home, everybody was getting layed-off and the real estate market collapsed. So, the price fell dramatically then (how could I have forgotten that in the earlier discussion here? Yeah!! Collapsed!!) Maybe that might happen again? Let's do some research on the web and see if we can find out what the economic mechanisms were that brought the price down bigtime overnight. This is really relevant and it wouldn't have come-up without our mowing and fishing digressions.
I was a painting contractor in Houston back then. I made some good money during the tremendous building boom of the late seventies (I speak spanish and hired mexican crews) and bought a real nice house near Wilcrest and Westheimer. My father passed away in 1980 and left me our old home place up here in Tyler County - there's 22 acres left from the original 160 and an old house (thank goodness, he never sold the lake). My wife was making pretty good money too, as a bank loan officer. We were in fat city and decided to sell the Houston house (which was clear) and move to the old Woodville place (also clear). We sold the Houston house just before the bust in oil prices, to two gay petroleum engineers with Shell, and made a killing. We were only in our late forties, but opted to move up here and semi-retire. In 2003, we quit working altogether, bought an RV and hit the road. Now we're in our seventies.
My folks sold the mineral rights on this property for a pittance fifty years ago to buy a 12" tv set, while my neighbor's parents wisely resisted the landman's cash and kept their mineral rights. They sunk a gas well on his place a couple years ago and drilled directionally under my property. Now he's REALLY rolling in dough with a big royalty check every month - but not to worry; he and I played together as children, and hunted and fished all summer, and if we go broke, he'll feed us.
OH, mowing -- this big diesel mower will cut the six acres in about four hours. It will mow at 12-15 mph! I used to have a 44" Cub Cadet and it took two days.
Carrying a child on a mower is a gigantic "NO, NO" - but on flat ground, and no beer, it's probably okay.
So that's my story. Jack
Let's research that oil bust in 1984! Topflite - you're good at that. What happened then? Can it be duplicated now?
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crudeman
Texas
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I am sure it can be duplicated someday, lets hope not for the young hard working folks that depends on jobs everyday. Of course we could hire some more mexicans that can speak english to take care of our work as long as the boss can speak english. that should be could for their safety if something happens and the boss is the first out the door. heck we may even shut some more refineries down as happened in the early part of the eighties and up root countless more families across the country, as long as I can stay put. I am sure some folks wont mine that have some investments in this decline either. But if they can sell their house prior to all of this and make a killing ( and please no windfall taxes on this income since they hit it just right) and maybe sell it to a couple of oil field workers right before they hit the street after they lose their job. I must drive my gas/diesel guzzler cheaply, because its my right and to heck with everyone, I want the government to bail me out and help me out all the time.
Sounds sorta crazy dont it, well so does some of the other stuff we read here IMHO.
Steve & Pat
Hannah - Sophie
2006 HR Ambassador PDQ
2010 Silverado
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topflite51
In The Desert of Nevada
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eltejano1 wrote:
Let's research that oil bust in 1984! Topflite - you're good at that. What happened then? Can it be duplicated now? Ok Jack, what are you smoking now?![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/biggrin.gif "biggrin")
Because of the oil bubble burst in 83/84, it sent economic and energy policy development in this country back to the '50's. Major reason why there is no good policies in place TODAY. Most probably if it had not happened, we would be in significantly better shape, than we are. You DO NOT WANT it DUPLICATED. For if it were, Americans would go back almost immediately to ignoring conservation and development of alternative energy sources. It would stop virtually all R & D in this country for new forms. It would become "Bring on the guzzler era," all over again.
">David
Just rolling along enjoying life
w/F53 Southwind towing a 87 Samurai or 01 Grand Vitara looking to fish
Simply Despicable ">
Any errors are a result of CRS.">
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onrecess
Boca Raton, FL
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eltejano1 wrote:Onrecess:
OH, mowing -- this big diesel mower will cut the six acres in about four hours. It will mow at 12-15 mph! Let's research that oil bust in 1984! Topflite - you're good at that. What happened then? Can it be duplicated now?
WOW! Now THAT'S mowing!
I think I'd rather get this shafting than another bust like that. Whole neighborhoods empty and reposessed, people living in tents under the bridge in Porter. I bought a nice repo for $40k! Unfortunately, I did commercial a/c and 75% of commercial space was empty... Lost he house (bad), got divorced (good), and moved to Florida (best)! I'm sure it fouled up a lot of people's lives. (i'd say ruined, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger... I figure I should be able to CARRY our RV!)
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RLMiller
Palmdale, CA, USA
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To understand the oil crisis, we have to understand who’s not at fault, and who’s at fault.
Not at fault are the following:
Oil Companies: They simply operate like any business and attempt to produce an 8% to 10% return to shareholders
OPEC: Like capitalist, they just sell their product for what the market will bear.
Futures traders: They’re little more than Las Vegas gamblers, but they can only exist when there is a supply side deficiency.
Environmentalist: Environmentalist cannot cause any damage without the cooperation of the congress.
Totally at fault is the U.S. Congress, and the irresponsible acts of our congress have affected the world market price of oil. Here we are the largest consumer of oil, and we’re virtually the only country that refuses to develop our own oil, coal, or nuclear resources. Then to make matter worse, the inept congress subsidizes inefficient energy production like Ethanol. All the hearings and investigations are nothing more than smoke and mirrors to divert responsibility from themselves. And, while they’re sending out stimulus checks, and causing a serious imbalance of trade, we can thank the congress for the devalued dollar and increasing debt.
Virtually every problem we face has its’ roots in the congress. None of the “not-at-fault” entities listed above could profit from the supply side deficit without the complicit help of congress.
Someone in a previous post quoted Mark Twain. Here’s another Mark Twain quote: "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress."
Richard L. Miller
2001 Safari Zanzibar, 38'
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eltejano1
Woodville, Texas
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Oh! Okay.
I smoke King Edward cigars - but don't inhale. Thanks for that info, Topflite and Crudeman, BA, MS (Master of Sarcasm) . I see what you're both talking about - my brief mental inspiration was short-sighted.
So how's fishin"?
Jack
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eltejano1
Woodville, Texas
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Crudeman:
Back then, hiring illegal immigrants wasn't a big deal like it has become now. There was so much work that it didn't hurt anyone - in fact, the extra labor was vital. Houston was RED HOT! Reagan had opened-up the border, calling mexican immigration a "safety valve" to relieve social pressures in Mexico - in the face of extensive Soviet activity in Central America. There was a communist govt in Nicaragua and the Reagan administration virtually shut-down border enforcement, explaining that accepting a "few thousand" immigrant workers was better than "Soviet missles deployed along the Rio Grande" (exact words as I recall).
Everybody was hiring them and we thought we were doing a good thing at the time. Now, with 20 million here, it's a different story. I understand that. You couldn't compete in Houston without that $6.00 labor in those days - white journeymen painters were getting $14-$16 and had no trouble working. Those who spoke a little spanish could almost name their price!
There were a couple of humorous bumber stickers in Houston in '84. One read: "Dear Lord, please let there be one more oil boom and I promise I won't piss it all away next time". The other one, in the 70's, said: "Will the last one to leave Michigan please turn-out the lights" Ahhh - them was the days!!!
We used to go to Gilley's in Pasadena on sat nite(Urban Cowboy, etc) and spend money like a drunken sailor! Tall Cotton!! Having been raised Southern Baptist, I also understood the bumper sticker that said: "JESUS IS COMING; and boy is He pissed!"
Jack
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