Colossal Danger
Re: Colossal Danger
The temperature you really are interested in is that on the surface, or just below the surface, of the CPU. If the exhaust temp is 105F, that means the processor is heating up way more. I think 80C (175F) is about the normal limit for a processor under full load. Silicon starts to melt above that. Most SMART devices measure the internal processor temperatures which are even higher than the surface temperature. My ASUS tower sits around 37-40C most of the time. I don't have an easy way to check out the laptop. In my case the nVidia card will heat up as much if not more than the CPU if I push it to its limits.
Re: Colossal Danger
Back in the '90s I picked up a double-tall, almost double-wide computer case, used, at business moving sale.
It was like 3-1/2 half feet tall, and the case was perhaps 12 inches wide, but it sat inside a plastic base that was 14 inches wide. It still had two 5-1/4 floppy drives, and two small hard drives installed, plus the power supply. That thing had four huge fans, two in the back, and two in the side, plus a large intake screen with a plastic horn that probably went close to the original CPU on the motherboard. It did not have the mother board. Apparently it originally had like 8 slots on the motherboard, based on the slot openings on the back.
I took it downtown to the guy who built my previous two computers. He said it was designed for a huge motherboard, and the mounts would not line up with the ATX motherboard. I asked if he could just add a new mounting plate over and bolted to the existing mounting plate. He said that was possible, but I would need all new wiring, new power supply with the right type of connectors, and with the labor involved, he could sell me two new cases like those I already have for, or another new computer complete for about the same price as messing with this one.
A couple of weeks later he called me on the phone and asked if I still had that large computer case I brought in.
I said yes I do. He said he had a customer who had one just like it and wants another matching one solely to hold hard drives. Said he would pay two-hundred bucks to get one. Told the guy I'll be down there in a half hour. When I got there I had to wait for another half hour for the buyer to show up and look at it. He wanted to make sure it was the same one as he had. Boy did I luck out, it was identical, except for the plastic base his didn't have. Paid me in cash!
He took out both of the hard drives, both of the 5-1/4 floppies, and removed the tin frames that held them, and his hard drive rack slipped right in just like he wanted. He had to remove the plastic horn from the side cover to fit it back on and said he didn't want what he took out and gave it all back to me. It looked like that rack he put in could hold ten hard drives in two columns of five each, and there was still plenty of room in the case.
About three or four years ago while at the computer store, I saw one of the biggest motherboards I've ever seen in my life. Looked like it would hold two CPUs and had 9 slots. Thing had to be at least 16 inches wide. It sure wouldn't fit in a regular computer case for sure. So they must have still made some big stuff not to long ago.
Have not had a chance to get back to the library to see how those micro-miniature computers are doing.
It was like 3-1/2 half feet tall, and the case was perhaps 12 inches wide, but it sat inside a plastic base that was 14 inches wide. It still had two 5-1/4 floppy drives, and two small hard drives installed, plus the power supply. That thing had four huge fans, two in the back, and two in the side, plus a large intake screen with a plastic horn that probably went close to the original CPU on the motherboard. It did not have the mother board. Apparently it originally had like 8 slots on the motherboard, based on the slot openings on the back.
I took it downtown to the guy who built my previous two computers. He said it was designed for a huge motherboard, and the mounts would not line up with the ATX motherboard. I asked if he could just add a new mounting plate over and bolted to the existing mounting plate. He said that was possible, but I would need all new wiring, new power supply with the right type of connectors, and with the labor involved, he could sell me two new cases like those I already have for, or another new computer complete for about the same price as messing with this one.
A couple of weeks later he called me on the phone and asked if I still had that large computer case I brought in.
I said yes I do. He said he had a customer who had one just like it and wants another matching one solely to hold hard drives. Said he would pay two-hundred bucks to get one. Told the guy I'll be down there in a half hour. When I got there I had to wait for another half hour for the buyer to show up and look at it. He wanted to make sure it was the same one as he had. Boy did I luck out, it was identical, except for the plastic base his didn't have. Paid me in cash!
He took out both of the hard drives, both of the 5-1/4 floppies, and removed the tin frames that held them, and his hard drive rack slipped right in just like he wanted. He had to remove the plastic horn from the side cover to fit it back on and said he didn't want what he took out and gave it all back to me. It looked like that rack he put in could hold ten hard drives in two columns of five each, and there was still plenty of room in the case.
About three or four years ago while at the computer store, I saw one of the biggest motherboards I've ever seen in my life. Looked like it would hold two CPUs and had 9 slots. Thing had to be at least 16 inches wide. It sure wouldn't fit in a regular computer case for sure. So they must have still made some big stuff not to long ago.
Have not had a chance to get back to the library to see how those micro-miniature computers are doing.
Re: Colossal Danger
If you have a need for them, there are some pretty exotic motherboards out in the wild. Those with room for two CPU's are fairly common for some reason. I've also seen ads for four and eight CPU's on a single motherboard. I don't know what keeps the circuit board from breaking into flames. LOL
Just about all the servers I've dealt with were in racks that are open. A few of the smaller ones were in cabinets. The racks seems as if they were easier to cool. One server room I can think of had a few dozen racks that had to be 6-8 feet tall. Not all of them were fully loaded, but there was a substantial amount of heat being generated in that room. They simply used an a/c unit on the roof with ducts running around the room to keep things cool. The individual server drawers might have had small fans on the processors, but just about all the heat was carried away by the ambient air flow. And, yes, it was hot in that room even in the winter. LOL
Just about all the servers I've dealt with were in racks that are open. A few of the smaller ones were in cabinets. The racks seems as if they were easier to cool. One server room I can think of had a few dozen racks that had to be 6-8 feet tall. Not all of them were fully loaded, but there was a substantial amount of heat being generated in that room. They simply used an a/c unit on the roof with ducts running around the room to keep things cool. The individual server drawers might have had small fans on the processors, but just about all the heat was carried away by the ambient air flow. And, yes, it was hot in that room even in the winter. LOL
Re: Colossal Danger
Not that it has anything to do with computers.
But when I moved into the old three-story automobile dealership building downtown to build Wonder Plant System.
Handling the heat output from the HID lighting was a major factor to consider.
Let me pat myself on the back for a few seconds here. In order to pull off this major project, I needed a couple of financial backers. After they looked at my plans for the roller track growing benches they were already impressed.
But when it came to the lighting itself, rather than buy those super expensive lighting fixtures, I designed my own.
We still had to buy the ballasts and lamps, but I bought a different type of metal housing used for electrical work, and had a sheet metal guy make the hoods for me. We saved many thousands of dollars doing this. I wish I had pictures of my layout there.
OK, they decided to have an engineer go over all of my designs for the inside of the building. And air handling was something I had not yet addressed, although I knew I would have to soon or at least before spring arrived. I figured I had all of late fall and winter to get the air handling taken care of for the heat from the lighting system.
The crazy engineers came up with this elaborate exhaust system, a duct work system running over the tops of the lights down each row, and somewhere around six fans to be installed through the wall up near the ceiling in the back of the building. The cost would have been astronomical to say the least.
At one time this old building had coal heating, so there was an old chimney that extended over 30 feet above the roof of this 45 foot tall building already. It was not used since an oil furnace replaced it, and it had it's own little metal pipe chimney.
I simply ran three ducts across the room at ceiling level, to a large vertical duct I placed from ceiling to floor on the west wall. From the top of this vertical duct, I ran another duct that could be closed over to the tall brick chimney. This duct had a small fan, just enough power to get the natural draft started, then it could be shut off. The heat going up that tall chimney would keep the draft going, the same as a fireplace works. And it worked great!
Now for the winter, the damper to the chimney was closed, and at the bottom of that vertical ductwork was a duct running against the wall at floor level on either side. I had long thin and narrow vent openings facing out under the growing benches, and a speed controlled blower in each one. So, the heat that rose from the lamps instead of going up the chimney was redirected down the vertical duct and it blew out at floor level under all the benches. The speed control on the duct blowers allowed me to balance the heating in the room, since this was an 85 foot long room.
The cost to do this was less than 1/4th of what the engineers came up with too.
Because of the width of the building, as the winter got colder, I had to do something similar on the east wall, but just to get ceiling heat down to floor level. Even when it got down to only 3 degrees outside, the lighting was enough to keep it a toasty 74 degrees at the level of the plants.
However, we did not run the lighting 24/7, plants need to sleep too, hi hi. But since we were growing indoors, with no sunlight anyhow, we ran the lights all night, and used the furnace during the day when it was warmer outside. We also later built two walls from west to east through the building so we could use the main lighting to light the day work area, and only a few of the plants that were just planted, before they went down the roller track benches to the other sections of the buildings growing areas. This worked out really great and saved us a lot of our energy costs too.
Not that it is relevant, but we later moved the plant growing area up to the second floor, in order to build large concrete tanks to raise Tilapia on the first floor. The water from the Tilapia tanks is what irrigated the hydroculture plants up on the second floor. We had liquid nitrogen tanks also so we cold flash freeze the Tilapia bags before they went into the cartons. The waste from fish processing was turned into an emulsified fertilizer which we also sold, two types, plus we had a press to get the fish oil as well. On the third floor is where we built all the fixtures for our franchise stores.
It was great while it lasted. But that is a super long story of how the thieves stole everything and ended up in prison.
But when I moved into the old three-story automobile dealership building downtown to build Wonder Plant System.
Handling the heat output from the HID lighting was a major factor to consider.
Let me pat myself on the back for a few seconds here. In order to pull off this major project, I needed a couple of financial backers. After they looked at my plans for the roller track growing benches they were already impressed.
But when it came to the lighting itself, rather than buy those super expensive lighting fixtures, I designed my own.
We still had to buy the ballasts and lamps, but I bought a different type of metal housing used for electrical work, and had a sheet metal guy make the hoods for me. We saved many thousands of dollars doing this. I wish I had pictures of my layout there.
OK, they decided to have an engineer go over all of my designs for the inside of the building. And air handling was something I had not yet addressed, although I knew I would have to soon or at least before spring arrived. I figured I had all of late fall and winter to get the air handling taken care of for the heat from the lighting system.
The crazy engineers came up with this elaborate exhaust system, a duct work system running over the tops of the lights down each row, and somewhere around six fans to be installed through the wall up near the ceiling in the back of the building. The cost would have been astronomical to say the least.
At one time this old building had coal heating, so there was an old chimney that extended over 30 feet above the roof of this 45 foot tall building already. It was not used since an oil furnace replaced it, and it had it's own little metal pipe chimney.
I simply ran three ducts across the room at ceiling level, to a large vertical duct I placed from ceiling to floor on the west wall. From the top of this vertical duct, I ran another duct that could be closed over to the tall brick chimney. This duct had a small fan, just enough power to get the natural draft started, then it could be shut off. The heat going up that tall chimney would keep the draft going, the same as a fireplace works. And it worked great!
Now for the winter, the damper to the chimney was closed, and at the bottom of that vertical ductwork was a duct running against the wall at floor level on either side. I had long thin and narrow vent openings facing out under the growing benches, and a speed controlled blower in each one. So, the heat that rose from the lamps instead of going up the chimney was redirected down the vertical duct and it blew out at floor level under all the benches. The speed control on the duct blowers allowed me to balance the heating in the room, since this was an 85 foot long room.
The cost to do this was less than 1/4th of what the engineers came up with too.
Because of the width of the building, as the winter got colder, I had to do something similar on the east wall, but just to get ceiling heat down to floor level. Even when it got down to only 3 degrees outside, the lighting was enough to keep it a toasty 74 degrees at the level of the plants.
However, we did not run the lighting 24/7, plants need to sleep too, hi hi. But since we were growing indoors, with no sunlight anyhow, we ran the lights all night, and used the furnace during the day when it was warmer outside. We also later built two walls from west to east through the building so we could use the main lighting to light the day work area, and only a few of the plants that were just planted, before they went down the roller track benches to the other sections of the buildings growing areas. This worked out really great and saved us a lot of our energy costs too.
Not that it is relevant, but we later moved the plant growing area up to the second floor, in order to build large concrete tanks to raise Tilapia on the first floor. The water from the Tilapia tanks is what irrigated the hydroculture plants up on the second floor. We had liquid nitrogen tanks also so we cold flash freeze the Tilapia bags before they went into the cartons. The waste from fish processing was turned into an emulsified fertilizer which we also sold, two types, plus we had a press to get the fish oil as well. On the third floor is where we built all the fixtures for our franchise stores.
It was great while it lasted. But that is a super long story of how the thieves stole everything and ended up in prison.
Re: Colossal Danger
Reading the stories you tell shows that you have an intuitive knack for making things work. I have no idea what engineering design you were competing against, but there is no doubt it would end up being more expensive to build. Engineers don't care much about that. However, it might have been an interesting experiment to see if what they offered had any merit. I realize that because you were earning a living off what you were doing, experimentation would not be advisable. Just go with what is known to work. And, you seem to be pretty good at that.
Losing to the criminal element is the worst kind of loss a person can experience. If it was fair competition and the other guy did better, that is something else. But when the system is corrupt and they seem to be winning, the pain is intensified. And, in my limited experience gardening, fish emulsion is only second to chicken guano as far as fertilizer is concerned. LOL
Losing to the criminal element is the worst kind of loss a person can experience. If it was fair competition and the other guy did better, that is something else. But when the system is corrupt and they seem to be winning, the pain is intensified. And, in my limited experience gardening, fish emulsion is only second to chicken guano as far as fertilizer is concerned. LOL
Re: Colossal Danger
In the beginning, nearly every dime came out of my pocket. I developed the system and slowly grew from a rented bay in a service garage which was converting each of the eight bays into small shops. I did most of the work on that project also.
Made the down payment to buy that three story building, and knew I had enough sales to keep up the payments. I intended to grow slow at my own pace, only expanding as I could afford to add more equipment and inventory. At that time I was making enough money I had to worry about how to handle it. And this is where I made my first mistake. I hired an investment tax attorney who at one time worked for Johnny Carson, something I didn't believe at first so had it verified.
All was going great for about three years, I paid off the building in full. And already told you about moving up one floor to use the first floor for the fish production. That end was a separate company they formed, although I would benefit from it in a few small ways. The first was they paid rent on the first floor, and for a small restaurant area on that first floor.
But this is where a few problems began too. I hired all handicapped workers for my business, and moving up to the second floor meant many changes required by the city. A second small elevator, a special fire drop inside as well as outside the building, and many other things, new bathrooms as well. I took out a new mortgage on the building to cover it, but paid that off within six months.
This is when my tax attorney brought in some investors that was only supposed to be for the franchise stores that they would control. I would benefit because I was the grower of the plants, and the owner of the planting systems. So it worked out well and things were finally humming along smoothly.
Getting the number of rooted plants I needed to keep up with orders was getting harder and harder, so I took a one-month trip down to southern Florida to establish new contracts and hopefully pick up a few more growers to supply us.
When we did get new growers, we always paid them when we placed an order, until we were well established with them, then it just became routine for us to place an order and wait for them to bill us.
About two and a half weeks into my trip, I stopped by one of the older places I had done business with for years. He told me he could not ship my order, because he had not been paid for the past four orders. He thought perhaps since I was in town, that is what caused the delay so did send two more shipments, but could not afford to send another one until he got paid. I told him I would call home in the morning when they are open and see what's going on.
I did not get an answer until just before lunch when my plant supervisor picked up the phone. They said everyone was gone, they quit because they have not been paid since I left. I called the bank and found out my banking account was cleaned out. Later I found out my off-shore accounts never existed, but that's another story.
I flew back home as fast as I could get a plane to see what was up.
Nearly everything of value was cleaned out of the offices. And in the mail was a notice of foreclosure for my building. Impossible, my building is paid for in full.
Behind my back, this attorney had refinanced my building, took in numerous investors, cleaned out all the cash, and disappeared. I called the FBI and they sent a couple of agents over. This one time I lucked out big time. I was worried because my name was on nearly every document they used for all of these evil purposes. But the FBI saw through the scam. Although I was not charged with anything, most of those investors did file lawsuits against me.
My only bit of luck was the FBI did catch the attorney and his cohorts and put them in prison. He also appeared at my lawsuit hearing and told the judge that I did not know what they were doing behind my back. If it were not for this, the judge would have never cleared me from those lawsuits. It also turned out one of the cohorts had turned over the evidence that put him away for life. He ended up dying in prison. But I never recovered the business, because no one would sell me stock after that fiasco. So that is how my life in horticulture ended. Even so, I still had a patent attorney I had to pay off for my three patents in order to be able to sell them. Never did, and finally let the three patents I owned become abandoned. I didn't have the money to enforce them against infringers if I did keep them.
At least I had all of my trades licenses to fall back on and began to get back on my feet that way, at least until my sickly late wife at up all of those funds, and then once I saw the blue side of the ledger 9/11 pulled the rug out from under me again.
Sometimes I just think I was never meant to get ahead, or if I do, stay there for very long.
Made the down payment to buy that three story building, and knew I had enough sales to keep up the payments. I intended to grow slow at my own pace, only expanding as I could afford to add more equipment and inventory. At that time I was making enough money I had to worry about how to handle it. And this is where I made my first mistake. I hired an investment tax attorney who at one time worked for Johnny Carson, something I didn't believe at first so had it verified.
All was going great for about three years, I paid off the building in full. And already told you about moving up one floor to use the first floor for the fish production. That end was a separate company they formed, although I would benefit from it in a few small ways. The first was they paid rent on the first floor, and for a small restaurant area on that first floor.
But this is where a few problems began too. I hired all handicapped workers for my business, and moving up to the second floor meant many changes required by the city. A second small elevator, a special fire drop inside as well as outside the building, and many other things, new bathrooms as well. I took out a new mortgage on the building to cover it, but paid that off within six months.
This is when my tax attorney brought in some investors that was only supposed to be for the franchise stores that they would control. I would benefit because I was the grower of the plants, and the owner of the planting systems. So it worked out well and things were finally humming along smoothly.
Getting the number of rooted plants I needed to keep up with orders was getting harder and harder, so I took a one-month trip down to southern Florida to establish new contracts and hopefully pick up a few more growers to supply us.
When we did get new growers, we always paid them when we placed an order, until we were well established with them, then it just became routine for us to place an order and wait for them to bill us.
About two and a half weeks into my trip, I stopped by one of the older places I had done business with for years. He told me he could not ship my order, because he had not been paid for the past four orders. He thought perhaps since I was in town, that is what caused the delay so did send two more shipments, but could not afford to send another one until he got paid. I told him I would call home in the morning when they are open and see what's going on.
I did not get an answer until just before lunch when my plant supervisor picked up the phone. They said everyone was gone, they quit because they have not been paid since I left. I called the bank and found out my banking account was cleaned out. Later I found out my off-shore accounts never existed, but that's another story.
I flew back home as fast as I could get a plane to see what was up.
Nearly everything of value was cleaned out of the offices. And in the mail was a notice of foreclosure for my building. Impossible, my building is paid for in full.
Behind my back, this attorney had refinanced my building, took in numerous investors, cleaned out all the cash, and disappeared. I called the FBI and they sent a couple of agents over. This one time I lucked out big time. I was worried because my name was on nearly every document they used for all of these evil purposes. But the FBI saw through the scam. Although I was not charged with anything, most of those investors did file lawsuits against me.
My only bit of luck was the FBI did catch the attorney and his cohorts and put them in prison. He also appeared at my lawsuit hearing and told the judge that I did not know what they were doing behind my back. If it were not for this, the judge would have never cleared me from those lawsuits. It also turned out one of the cohorts had turned over the evidence that put him away for life. He ended up dying in prison. But I never recovered the business, because no one would sell me stock after that fiasco. So that is how my life in horticulture ended. Even so, I still had a patent attorney I had to pay off for my three patents in order to be able to sell them. Never did, and finally let the three patents I owned become abandoned. I didn't have the money to enforce them against infringers if I did keep them.
At least I had all of my trades licenses to fall back on and began to get back on my feet that way, at least until my sickly late wife at up all of those funds, and then once I saw the blue side of the ledger 9/11 pulled the rug out from under me again.
Sometimes I just think I was never meant to get ahead, or if I do, stay there for very long.
Re: Colossal Danger
WOW - talk about irrevocable power of attorney 
I guess you have to do that when you are in business, but there must be a way to keep your name off legal documents unless you are consulted first. The good news is that you didn't have to do prison time. 
"Sometimes I just think I was never meant to get ahead, or if I do, stay there for very long."
I ponder that statement every time I read it. It implies that there is such a thing as predestination. If that were true, then it would be unnecessary for you to do anything. It would all happen according to destiny's plan without your intervention. However, A person's destiny is the product of the choices and decisions they make. Some things are a given, such as gender and inborn talents, but nearly everything else is acquired. After reading some of the narratives about your past adventures, I'd have to say you have been successful many times. You proved more than once that you can achieve any goal you set your mind to.
The peculiar thing about success is that intrinsically it's short lived - your 15 minutes of fame and all. An effort must be made to sustain it, and that is not the same effort required to achieve it. A few times something beyond your apparent control determined the outcome. It's tempting to say those factors are mysterious and out of your control. Yet, in the final analysis, you determined all the circumstances that led to the ultimate outcome. I still say your instincts are finely honed and you use them to your advantage nearly all the time.
We can both agree that times have been easier. Age only makes life more complicated even if you might be a tad wiser. Your lament about good fortune not being durable probably has it's roots in your generous nature. I don't know how many times you've told me that you achieved a degree of success and then sold it or gave to to some worthy individual. I believe that will be your legacy. Those who have benefited from knowing you will be grateful forever. In that respect your successes will endure eternally.
I guess you have to do that when you are in business, but there must be a way to keep your name off legal documents unless you are consulted first. The good news is that you didn't have to do prison time. "Sometimes I just think I was never meant to get ahead, or if I do, stay there for very long."
I ponder that statement every time I read it. It implies that there is such a thing as predestination. If that were true, then it would be unnecessary for you to do anything. It would all happen according to destiny's plan without your intervention. However, A person's destiny is the product of the choices and decisions they make. Some things are a given, such as gender and inborn talents, but nearly everything else is acquired. After reading some of the narratives about your past adventures, I'd have to say you have been successful many times. You proved more than once that you can achieve any goal you set your mind to.
The peculiar thing about success is that intrinsically it's short lived - your 15 minutes of fame and all. An effort must be made to sustain it, and that is not the same effort required to achieve it. A few times something beyond your apparent control determined the outcome. It's tempting to say those factors are mysterious and out of your control. Yet, in the final analysis, you determined all the circumstances that led to the ultimate outcome. I still say your instincts are finely honed and you use them to your advantage nearly all the time.
We can both agree that times have been easier. Age only makes life more complicated even if you might be a tad wiser. Your lament about good fortune not being durable probably has it's roots in your generous nature. I don't know how many times you've told me that you achieved a degree of success and then sold it or gave to to some worthy individual. I believe that will be your legacy. Those who have benefited from knowing you will be grateful forever. In that respect your successes will endure eternally.
Re: Colossal Danger
There is always more to things than meets the eye, or often spoken about.
There were a few reasons why, after starting a new business and making it successful, that I passed it on.
Several of my employees over a ten year span were folks who worked in the greenhouses and were looking for ways to get ahead. Having my working facilities either in one of the greenhouse storage areas, or in the garage of the house I lived on on the property, made it simple for them to clock out in the greenhouse and walk the 100 feet or less over to work for me for a couple of hours before going home for the day. It was not hard for me to select someone to come work for me, because I got to know almost all of our employees very well first. And many would jump at the chance, especially after my reputation was learned among them. It also helped that I paid them nearly double, well actually about 2/3 more than they made working in the greenhouse. Plus after a few years, they knew there was a good chance they would end up running the business. So, now that I have the competent help problem out of the way, let's move on to the next reason.
I developed many unique products, equipment, and work areas in both the greenhouses and the cut flower shop, that a few folks called me The Inventor. Especially those who knew of my hundreds of experiments on my growing system.
But once a project is completed, it's done. I may find a few tweaks to make it better after either using it or watching others use the tools or work areas I designed. But most of the time, when a project was done, it was done and in use.
Some of the businesses I started were merely to have a stable income stream, not necessarily to improve on how it is done. The income from those is what I used to work on my own projects, invent something new, and get a business started. That is what I really loved doing! So much so, I still help a few folks get their businesses off the ground, but mostly just by hashing ideas over with them. Most of this is just trying to find a business they could do and be profitable at, but that normally ends my involvement with them.
The reason I let go of a business is twofold. You know of my medical condition, which is a small factor in most cases, but a huge factor in other cases. Routine businesses, such as my gold stamping business, is simply just do it into total boredom, the same with sharpening saws and tools. One person can only do so much, so you are always limited in what you can make, unless you hire others to do some of your work, and eventually almost all of your work, and then you hire another so you can handle more clients. It all gets very boring and fast. I simply tire of the routine and no time left to work on other project ideas. So I take my best employee in that business and make him a manager first, then teach him everything about the bookwork end of the business, and finally sell it to him. Which in turn always produced another income stream for me, with a five year contract, after which they own everything lock, stock, and barrel.
The times have changed drastically, a little bit each year, until we now have a lazy generation, and most have no get up and go, they want everything handed to them on a platter, and don't really want to work to achieve anything. They want a high paying job, for doing next to nothing. And most of the jobs today do pay way more than they are worth.
In other messages, I mentioned a few businesses I started that were too far ahead of their time, at the time, but are now commonplace and several companies now do them. Most of those businesses I just shut down, because I was the only one doing all the work, trying to get clients, and bucking my head against a wall because other companies put a damper on my sales. One quick example as a refresher. My auto glass repair business. Most folks had car insurance that covered damage to windows, and the normal way to do this was replace the window. Today, insurance companies will pay a company like I started to fix a stone chip rather than replace the windshield, but not back then, which is why I couldn't make a go of that business, except to a few folks who didn't carry glass breakage.
However, I did hold in there a long time repairing store front windows, and came up with another type of product just to repair those cone shaped holes in store front windows. Most storefronts are leased, so I first had to get in with the leasing companies and let them see what I did. Since most renters never complained, about the only times I did get a job is when one company moved out, and they were trying to lease the place. But here too in this business I was doing all the work and would never have enough clients to hire someone and teach them how to do the job. Not enough money in it either, hi hi. Plus, it wasn't long before some companies started selling kits for folks to do exactly what I was doing myself. I had thought about selling kits, and eventually did in another business for another product and method, and it took off for a short time. Then it seems everyone and their brother started the same thing, only much cheaper and more junky than my process, which required a few tools and certain types of products. At least I can say this, the way my process was done was the only proper way. All the rest were more like a temporary band-aid that wouldn't hold up.
As an aside: I ran across a small booklet I wrote back in 1978. 100 businesses you can run from home on a shoestring. There is not one thing in that booklet that would be relevant for today. Every item has been replaced with modern technology. In a way, it was basically a summary of all the little businesses I started, and included where and how to get the materials and some way or place to get some of the materials made for cheap, or alternative materials to save having to have them manufactured.
By the time the book was finished, and right before I was ready to have 1000 copies printed up for me, I had to move, so it got set aside. Then after I was all settled in at the new house, I made some changes and sent it off to the printer. About that same time, my wife decided to take off and left me with both kids. I now had a huge bill from the printer and no way to pay it. I did borrow the money to pay him, plus run an ad in a multi-city corner of hundreds of newspapers. We sold about 800 of those booklets over the course of three months. So I was able to pay back the borrowed money and had a nice amount left over for myself, but not enough to run another round of ads or have more printed. A few of the folks who bought it contacted me to tell me how well they did, a few other to complain that they didn't know how to sell what they made, or where. Drove me nuts dealing with those folks, hi hi.
Sorry, didn't mean for this to get so long. And I have much more to tell, but I'll save your eyeballs, and sanity.
There were a few reasons why, after starting a new business and making it successful, that I passed it on.
Several of my employees over a ten year span were folks who worked in the greenhouses and were looking for ways to get ahead. Having my working facilities either in one of the greenhouse storage areas, or in the garage of the house I lived on on the property, made it simple for them to clock out in the greenhouse and walk the 100 feet or less over to work for me for a couple of hours before going home for the day. It was not hard for me to select someone to come work for me, because I got to know almost all of our employees very well first. And many would jump at the chance, especially after my reputation was learned among them. It also helped that I paid them nearly double, well actually about 2/3 more than they made working in the greenhouse. Plus after a few years, they knew there was a good chance they would end up running the business. So, now that I have the competent help problem out of the way, let's move on to the next reason.
I developed many unique products, equipment, and work areas in both the greenhouses and the cut flower shop, that a few folks called me The Inventor. Especially those who knew of my hundreds of experiments on my growing system.
But once a project is completed, it's done. I may find a few tweaks to make it better after either using it or watching others use the tools or work areas I designed. But most of the time, when a project was done, it was done and in use.
Some of the businesses I started were merely to have a stable income stream, not necessarily to improve on how it is done. The income from those is what I used to work on my own projects, invent something new, and get a business started. That is what I really loved doing! So much so, I still help a few folks get their businesses off the ground, but mostly just by hashing ideas over with them. Most of this is just trying to find a business they could do and be profitable at, but that normally ends my involvement with them.
The reason I let go of a business is twofold. You know of my medical condition, which is a small factor in most cases, but a huge factor in other cases. Routine businesses, such as my gold stamping business, is simply just do it into total boredom, the same with sharpening saws and tools. One person can only do so much, so you are always limited in what you can make, unless you hire others to do some of your work, and eventually almost all of your work, and then you hire another so you can handle more clients. It all gets very boring and fast. I simply tire of the routine and no time left to work on other project ideas. So I take my best employee in that business and make him a manager first, then teach him everything about the bookwork end of the business, and finally sell it to him. Which in turn always produced another income stream for me, with a five year contract, after which they own everything lock, stock, and barrel.
The times have changed drastically, a little bit each year, until we now have a lazy generation, and most have no get up and go, they want everything handed to them on a platter, and don't really want to work to achieve anything. They want a high paying job, for doing next to nothing. And most of the jobs today do pay way more than they are worth.
In other messages, I mentioned a few businesses I started that were too far ahead of their time, at the time, but are now commonplace and several companies now do them. Most of those businesses I just shut down, because I was the only one doing all the work, trying to get clients, and bucking my head against a wall because other companies put a damper on my sales. One quick example as a refresher. My auto glass repair business. Most folks had car insurance that covered damage to windows, and the normal way to do this was replace the window. Today, insurance companies will pay a company like I started to fix a stone chip rather than replace the windshield, but not back then, which is why I couldn't make a go of that business, except to a few folks who didn't carry glass breakage.
However, I did hold in there a long time repairing store front windows, and came up with another type of product just to repair those cone shaped holes in store front windows. Most storefronts are leased, so I first had to get in with the leasing companies and let them see what I did. Since most renters never complained, about the only times I did get a job is when one company moved out, and they were trying to lease the place. But here too in this business I was doing all the work and would never have enough clients to hire someone and teach them how to do the job. Not enough money in it either, hi hi. Plus, it wasn't long before some companies started selling kits for folks to do exactly what I was doing myself. I had thought about selling kits, and eventually did in another business for another product and method, and it took off for a short time. Then it seems everyone and their brother started the same thing, only much cheaper and more junky than my process, which required a few tools and certain types of products. At least I can say this, the way my process was done was the only proper way. All the rest were more like a temporary band-aid that wouldn't hold up.
As an aside: I ran across a small booklet I wrote back in 1978. 100 businesses you can run from home on a shoestring. There is not one thing in that booklet that would be relevant for today. Every item has been replaced with modern technology. In a way, it was basically a summary of all the little businesses I started, and included where and how to get the materials and some way or place to get some of the materials made for cheap, or alternative materials to save having to have them manufactured.
By the time the book was finished, and right before I was ready to have 1000 copies printed up for me, I had to move, so it got set aside. Then after I was all settled in at the new house, I made some changes and sent it off to the printer. About that same time, my wife decided to take off and left me with both kids. I now had a huge bill from the printer and no way to pay it. I did borrow the money to pay him, plus run an ad in a multi-city corner of hundreds of newspapers. We sold about 800 of those booklets over the course of three months. So I was able to pay back the borrowed money and had a nice amount left over for myself, but not enough to run another round of ads or have more printed. A few of the folks who bought it contacted me to tell me how well they did, a few other to complain that they didn't know how to sell what they made, or where. Drove me nuts dealing with those folks, hi hi.
Sorry, didn't mean for this to get so long. And I have much more to tell, but I'll save your eyeballs, and sanity.
Re: Colossal Danger
millenial: a person reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century.
I think those are the lazy lot to whom you refer in your comments. Much has been written about them in that they are not like the previous gen-z gen-y, gen-x, and certainly not like us baby boomers. These are the people who grew up not learning how to write with a pen and paper - those things being irrelevant in this century. Much of their communication is the size of a Twitter tweet, or less. It's not that they can say a lot with a few words; I'm sure it has more to do with a short attention span in this fast moving world of ours. They are not like previous generations, and in some ways that is a good thing. I miss my youth, but I'd not want to be burdened with the challenges these Millenials have ahead of them. It is their mission to save the world that us boomers created. Good luck with that.
Of course. I could never know all the motivations of any person. Frankly it's none of my business. Yet, I always have had an interest in human behavior and love to speculate about it. You obviously worked hard for all that you had and you can be proud of your accomplishments. Sharing your wisdom and good fortune borders on sainthood, even if the real reason is sheer boredom. LOL I'm convinced that you have had many successes in your life but had no interest in standing still to enjoy them. Part of that is hereditary, I'm sure, but the choices for actions ultimately are of your own doing. You created what you have, as did the rest of us, but you aren't about to stand still and admire it. LOL
One of the alternate paths to the one you have taken is to make some wise investments and let THEM do the earning for you. I'm not talking about inventing something or developing a business plan. If you had ten million dollars to stash away in a bank account earning, say, 4% a year, your investment would be bringing in $400, 000 annually. Give half of that to Big Brother and you still would be able to live a very comfortable albeit boring, life. I know you likely never had that much cash to invest, but if you retained all the businesses you had a hand in creating, and let others run them for you, I don't think $10M in assets is an unreasonable estimate of their worth at this point in time. I realize you were forced by circumstances to make some of the business decisions you had to make. All I'm pointing out here is that there are other ways you could have handled the benefits of what you were doing.
I think those are the lazy lot to whom you refer in your comments. Much has been written about them in that they are not like the previous gen-z gen-y, gen-x, and certainly not like us baby boomers. These are the people who grew up not learning how to write with a pen and paper - those things being irrelevant in this century. Much of their communication is the size of a Twitter tweet, or less. It's not that they can say a lot with a few words; I'm sure it has more to do with a short attention span in this fast moving world of ours. They are not like previous generations, and in some ways that is a good thing. I miss my youth, but I'd not want to be burdened with the challenges these Millenials have ahead of them. It is their mission to save the world that us boomers created. Good luck with that.
Of course. I could never know all the motivations of any person. Frankly it's none of my business. Yet, I always have had an interest in human behavior and love to speculate about it. You obviously worked hard for all that you had and you can be proud of your accomplishments. Sharing your wisdom and good fortune borders on sainthood, even if the real reason is sheer boredom. LOL I'm convinced that you have had many successes in your life but had no interest in standing still to enjoy them. Part of that is hereditary, I'm sure, but the choices for actions ultimately are of your own doing. You created what you have, as did the rest of us, but you aren't about to stand still and admire it. LOL
One of the alternate paths to the one you have taken is to make some wise investments and let THEM do the earning for you. I'm not talking about inventing something or developing a business plan. If you had ten million dollars to stash away in a bank account earning, say, 4% a year, your investment would be bringing in $400, 000 annually. Give half of that to Big Brother and you still would be able to live a very comfortable albeit boring, life. I know you likely never had that much cash to invest, but if you retained all the businesses you had a hand in creating, and let others run them for you, I don't think $10M in assets is an unreasonable estimate of their worth at this point in time. I realize you were forced by circumstances to make some of the business decisions you had to make. All I'm pointing out here is that there are other ways you could have handled the benefits of what you were doing.
Re: Colossal Danger
Although not super rich, our family was fairly well to do for several generations.
Being the oldest son, I was expected to take over my fathers end of the business.
A job in which he worked from 7am until 7pm nearly every day of his life.
I honestly would not have minded that, but the times were changing, and fast.
Which is one reason they decided to sell out back in 1984.
I guess I should admit, I as moving ahead financially back in the late sixties and early seventies.
Ten percent of my pay as a draftsman went into saving and were converted to CDs until I had enough to get a few solid stocks. Later, working as an engineer, I was able to up that to fifteen percent of my pay, because I also had a few other sources of income from my businesses. I moved into a large 18 room house on our florist property in 1975, formerly my grandmothers house. It was a white elephant, the heating alone was 1200 bucks a month. But this is where I had room to start many of my smaller sized businesses, plus I had warehouse and manufacturing space using buildings on the property.
In 1981 I was able to buy the house in Creve Coeur, without touching my stock, using just what I had in savings to get businesses going, and the income from businesses in their accounts.
I was able to come up with a sizeable down payment to buy the downtown building for Wonder Plants and just one of the molds I had to have made cost over 140 grand.
It wasn't until my wife got sick that I started having to tap into my savings and resources, and once she was wheelchair bound, I started selling my stocks to pay her medical bills that were over and above insurance.
That combined with the loss of my business, of which I had invested heavily in, and I thought I was moving money to an off-shore account via my tax attorney, which you already know about that.
When the smoke cleared, I was flat broke and struggling just to make ends meet. However, I was not making enough to sustain the high payments from remortgaging my house to pay medical bills.
I did get into the blue for a short time, long enough to keep up with bills, and even got remarried.
Then when 9/11 hit, that was it, I was flat broke. I auctioned off everything I could to become debt free.
I've remained debt free ever since, but have lived like a pauper ever since too.
Had I not had to touch my stocks, they would be paying out around 1200 per month right now in dividends.
Being the oldest son, I was expected to take over my fathers end of the business.
A job in which he worked from 7am until 7pm nearly every day of his life.
I honestly would not have minded that, but the times were changing, and fast.
Which is one reason they decided to sell out back in 1984.
I guess I should admit, I as moving ahead financially back in the late sixties and early seventies.
Ten percent of my pay as a draftsman went into saving and were converted to CDs until I had enough to get a few solid stocks. Later, working as an engineer, I was able to up that to fifteen percent of my pay, because I also had a few other sources of income from my businesses. I moved into a large 18 room house on our florist property in 1975, formerly my grandmothers house. It was a white elephant, the heating alone was 1200 bucks a month. But this is where I had room to start many of my smaller sized businesses, plus I had warehouse and manufacturing space using buildings on the property.
In 1981 I was able to buy the house in Creve Coeur, without touching my stock, using just what I had in savings to get businesses going, and the income from businesses in their accounts.
I was able to come up with a sizeable down payment to buy the downtown building for Wonder Plants and just one of the molds I had to have made cost over 140 grand.
It wasn't until my wife got sick that I started having to tap into my savings and resources, and once she was wheelchair bound, I started selling my stocks to pay her medical bills that were over and above insurance.
That combined with the loss of my business, of which I had invested heavily in, and I thought I was moving money to an off-shore account via my tax attorney, which you already know about that.
When the smoke cleared, I was flat broke and struggling just to make ends meet. However, I was not making enough to sustain the high payments from remortgaging my house to pay medical bills.
I did get into the blue for a short time, long enough to keep up with bills, and even got remarried.
Then when 9/11 hit, that was it, I was flat broke. I auctioned off everything I could to become debt free.
I've remained debt free ever since, but have lived like a pauper ever since too.
Had I not had to touch my stocks, they would be paying out around 1200 per month right now in dividends.
Re: Colossal Danger
Life isn't fair, so the saying goes. And, if there is a god he certainly has a sick sense of humor. I must say you were a good man and hard working all your life. You gave back to the community in many ways and have made a difference in the life of more than a few people. Now that you could use some payback, what happens? It's situations like yours that convince me Karma is all a myth. I suppose it could be worse. But then, If you are at peace with yourself, not much else really matters.
Re: Colossal Danger
Just in case I forget tomorrow, Happy pre-dated Birthday Yogi!
Or I guess I could say Happy Birthday's Eve Yogi, hi hi!
There is always the Positive Side of things, if we choose to see them.
The flower and plant business isn't was it was from the 1920's to the 1970's.
And by the 1980's nearly everyone's obituary read "In lieu of flowers!"
Big agro business companies raised plants in tropical climates and shipped them in to flood all the stores.
Plus they patented many new varieties and pushed them like heck. So nobody could propagate their own anymore.
I would have been stuck in a very hard slowly failing business, so perhaps it is good we sold out in 1984.
Wonder Plants was a fun business, and I did miss the attention I got.
Although I got ripped off and had to close, and this forced me out of the horticulture industry completely.
Horticulture is a hard business, and Floriculture is even harder, so this could have been a blessing.
I did make my mark by earning three U.S. Patents, and got several hydroponic installations set-up for others.
My years in construction and renovations had some highlighted years when I was restoring historical homes.
But then I was also buying, gut rehabbing homes down in the inner city.
Sometime those were in some mighty dangerous areas,
and if I continued in that line of work, I could have been killed.
So, 9/11 wiping out any possibility of B-Paper home sales could also be considered a blessing.
My medical condition afforded me many opportunities most people never get.
While working in the NASA division of McDonnell-Douglas, I drew the Drop Chute Door for the Gemini XII Space Capsule.
While working for Sverdrup & Parcel, I designed the Eddy Current Brake for the Alton Lock n Dam project.
I also helped to design and draw the Flood Gates for the Gateway Flood Control Project.
Plus I worked on the Interstate highway system on the roads crossing the Poplar Street Bridge.
I got to travel the country sorta, while driving OTR, where I racked-up 1,800,000 accident free miles.
Part of that was driving for the Flower Shop, and two gravel companies, then driving for ALDI, and also driving escorted Government Loads for North American Van Lines Electronics Division. This was a fun time.
I got to work on pinball machines and video games, and became a Williams/Bally electronics expert. This led to my working on gaming machines for several casino's. Other than having to go out to dark bars and trying to do chip level repairs in a dark tavern with all the drunks telling me to hurry up and how to do my job. The best phun was getting to play perfectly clean and adjusted pinball machines, plus all the new ones that came out. While doing that job, I had a VHF/UHF Ham Radio station in my office, so I could chat with other Hams while I worked.
Next I developed a chemical formula for a product that is still on the market worldwide, and although sales are dropping, and I do need what little income it produces. In a way I will be glad when it finally dies out completely. I am quite bored of handling the small orders that come in. More work than I make from them.
Was losing the house I spent 20 years getting it set-up exactly the way I wanted for my retirement years a bad thing?
I had over financed it to cover medical bills, so the monthly payments were super high.
Selling nearly everything I owned at auction really hurt since auction prices are low.
But the good points there were, I came out totally debt free, and without filing bankruptcy.
Although in retrospect, I probably should have.
Although I had to knock around in borrowed living space for a few years, I really did come out on top.
Every Ham's Dream is to live on a mountaintop for excellent antenna farms.
Unfortunately, other items kept me from setting up my gear or installing antenna's.
But look at it this way. I own an old but nice home I've renovated most of the rooms in,
and we live on 1 acre of land on the north face of Rodgers Ridge, a foothill of the Great Smoky Mountains.
It is beautiful here. My home is paid for in full, as are my burial plots and niches both here and in St. Loo.
So when I do croak, depending where I'm living at the time, everything is covered, including the opening and closing. So no one will be burdened with any cost, and they can sell off the property to add to their inheritance.
The only real hardship I do have is not enough money to cover our meds or get a newer vehicle for the frau.
And as my health is declining, picking up a few extra bucks here and there and now next to impossible.
All I can say is I had a long and interesting life. Did many things I enjoyed doing at the times I was doing them.
It's a shame my nest egg was eaten up by crooks and medical bills for the late wife.
But even so, I honestly and truly have never been happier. Just not enough time in the day to do all I want to do is all.
Or I guess I could say Happy Birthday's Eve Yogi, hi hi!
There is always the Positive Side of things, if we choose to see them.
The flower and plant business isn't was it was from the 1920's to the 1970's.
And by the 1980's nearly everyone's obituary read "In lieu of flowers!"
Big agro business companies raised plants in tropical climates and shipped them in to flood all the stores.
Plus they patented many new varieties and pushed them like heck. So nobody could propagate their own anymore.
I would have been stuck in a very hard slowly failing business, so perhaps it is good we sold out in 1984.
Wonder Plants was a fun business, and I did miss the attention I got.
Although I got ripped off and had to close, and this forced me out of the horticulture industry completely.
Horticulture is a hard business, and Floriculture is even harder, so this could have been a blessing.
I did make my mark by earning three U.S. Patents, and got several hydroponic installations set-up for others.
My years in construction and renovations had some highlighted years when I was restoring historical homes.
But then I was also buying, gut rehabbing homes down in the inner city.
Sometime those were in some mighty dangerous areas,
and if I continued in that line of work, I could have been killed.
So, 9/11 wiping out any possibility of B-Paper home sales could also be considered a blessing.
My medical condition afforded me many opportunities most people never get.
While working in the NASA division of McDonnell-Douglas, I drew the Drop Chute Door for the Gemini XII Space Capsule.
While working for Sverdrup & Parcel, I designed the Eddy Current Brake for the Alton Lock n Dam project.
I also helped to design and draw the Flood Gates for the Gateway Flood Control Project.
Plus I worked on the Interstate highway system on the roads crossing the Poplar Street Bridge.
I got to travel the country sorta, while driving OTR, where I racked-up 1,800,000 accident free miles.
Part of that was driving for the Flower Shop, and two gravel companies, then driving for ALDI, and also driving escorted Government Loads for North American Van Lines Electronics Division. This was a fun time.
I got to work on pinball machines and video games, and became a Williams/Bally electronics expert. This led to my working on gaming machines for several casino's. Other than having to go out to dark bars and trying to do chip level repairs in a dark tavern with all the drunks telling me to hurry up and how to do my job. The best phun was getting to play perfectly clean and adjusted pinball machines, plus all the new ones that came out. While doing that job, I had a VHF/UHF Ham Radio station in my office, so I could chat with other Hams while I worked.
Next I developed a chemical formula for a product that is still on the market worldwide, and although sales are dropping, and I do need what little income it produces. In a way I will be glad when it finally dies out completely. I am quite bored of handling the small orders that come in. More work than I make from them.
Was losing the house I spent 20 years getting it set-up exactly the way I wanted for my retirement years a bad thing?
I had over financed it to cover medical bills, so the monthly payments were super high.
Selling nearly everything I owned at auction really hurt since auction prices are low.
But the good points there were, I came out totally debt free, and without filing bankruptcy.
Although in retrospect, I probably should have.
Although I had to knock around in borrowed living space for a few years, I really did come out on top.
Every Ham's Dream is to live on a mountaintop for excellent antenna farms.
Unfortunately, other items kept me from setting up my gear or installing antenna's.
But look at it this way. I own an old but nice home I've renovated most of the rooms in,
and we live on 1 acre of land on the north face of Rodgers Ridge, a foothill of the Great Smoky Mountains.
It is beautiful here. My home is paid for in full, as are my burial plots and niches both here and in St. Loo.
So when I do croak, depending where I'm living at the time, everything is covered, including the opening and closing. So no one will be burdened with any cost, and they can sell off the property to add to their inheritance.
The only real hardship I do have is not enough money to cover our meds or get a newer vehicle for the frau.
And as my health is declining, picking up a few extra bucks here and there and now next to impossible.
All I can say is I had a long and interesting life. Did many things I enjoyed doing at the times I was doing them.
It's a shame my nest egg was eaten up by crooks and medical bills for the late wife.
But even so, I honestly and truly have never been happier. Just not enough time in the day to do all I want to do is all.
Re: Colossal Danger
It all comes down to how you measure success. The tendency is to put it in terms of material possessions, and that would be appropriate for people half our age. At the current stage of life the focus turns toward comfort. You don't need a lot of money or fancy toys to feel comfortable, but they do help. As I look back on my life I can see now that I could have pursued more. At the time it didn't seem right. So, you do what you think is the right thing and hope for the best. It could have all been different for me, but I have no regrets. I'd probably do the same things all over again given the chance.
Re: Colossal Danger
Me Too!
One trait my grandfather possessed that I never inherited, was to keep certain things.
Every car, tractor, or truck he ever owned, when he retired it from service, he parked them in the back barns and stables.
He always said, some day, these things will be worth something! And he was right.
I got the '46 Ford Custom to restore myself, then it went to my cousin.
Unfortunately, my uncle Clarence, the greedy one, took each of the classics and sold them, and never shared the money with his brothers, or sisters for that matter. They were left to the boys, all the boys along with the property and everything on it. At least dad got the Woody grandma bought and used it for two vacation trips when it was new.
Then when it came time to retire it, Dad sold it and he kept the money to get even with CJ (Clarence).
Clarence sold everything built before 1920 first, in the 1960's, except for the Moon. He sent it out to be restored, planning on paying up to ten grand on its restoration. Someone spotted it while it was at the place being restored, and after learning who owned it, called CJ with an amazingly high offer. So naturally CJ sold it on the spot. The guy restoring it was madder than a wet hornet, told CJ he would have paid him more than double what he sold it for.
His brothers did know up until that time that he had pulled most of the cars out of the back barn. But it's a good thing he did because that barn burned down with only two basically useless cars left in it.
Cars from the 1940's were all in the stables, and most of the tractors and trucks were in another barn.
When my dad's other two brother's got wind of what CJ took and sold. Uncle Louis claimed all the remaining 1930's cars stored under the warehouse, and the 1940's cars not already taken by family members over the years. Dad claimed all the remaining trucks, and Uncle Leonard all of the tractors and farming equipment.
Leonard just left all the tractors in the barn, and sold the farming equipment to a neighbor farmer.
Dad had all the trucks moved at the rate of about one per week to a local auction house. This does not mean they were sold at auction. The auction house put a price on each and if it didn't sell in 3 or 4 weeks, then it would go in the auction. More than 2/3 of the flat-bed trucks, vans, step-vans, and a couple of old pick-em-up trucks were bought for the price the auctioneer put on them, or a few bucks less in a couple of cases. It took close to a year before they pulled the last one out.
Leonard managed to sell three of the seven tractors before that barn burned down. The one he got the most money for was a steam driven tractor which actually belonged to my great-grandfather. My grandfather hated that thing with a passion, hi hi. And technically, it was never needed on our farms anymore. After all we had the Big-M and a few other gas and/or diesel powered tractors. None of the tractors were used after we built more greenhouses, and placed saran houses where the farming fields used to be. Even so, we still bought a new yellow tractor with a scoop for handling the large amounts of dirt and soil we went through each week. Clarence's son got that when we closed in 1984.
All the modern vehicles were traded in when we bought new, and all the vehicles we had when we closed went with the property when it was sold. I bought one of the vans right before that and used it for years myself.
If I had known what the cars I used to own would be worth today, I would have kept every one of them.
But in retrospect, I would have had to sell all of them to cover Ruth's medical bills, and they probably wouldn't be worth much because they were not yet over 25 years old. I loved nearly every car I've ever owned! But who wouldn't. They were all the best muscle cars of the era.
And once again, I've rambled on long enough. Sorry about that!
One trait my grandfather possessed that I never inherited, was to keep certain things.
Every car, tractor, or truck he ever owned, when he retired it from service, he parked them in the back barns and stables.
He always said, some day, these things will be worth something! And he was right.
I got the '46 Ford Custom to restore myself, then it went to my cousin.
Unfortunately, my uncle Clarence, the greedy one, took each of the classics and sold them, and never shared the money with his brothers, or sisters for that matter. They were left to the boys, all the boys along with the property and everything on it. At least dad got the Woody grandma bought and used it for two vacation trips when it was new.
Then when it came time to retire it, Dad sold it and he kept the money to get even with CJ (Clarence).
Clarence sold everything built before 1920 first, in the 1960's, except for the Moon. He sent it out to be restored, planning on paying up to ten grand on its restoration. Someone spotted it while it was at the place being restored, and after learning who owned it, called CJ with an amazingly high offer. So naturally CJ sold it on the spot. The guy restoring it was madder than a wet hornet, told CJ he would have paid him more than double what he sold it for.
His brothers did know up until that time that he had pulled most of the cars out of the back barn. But it's a good thing he did because that barn burned down with only two basically useless cars left in it.
Cars from the 1940's were all in the stables, and most of the tractors and trucks were in another barn.
When my dad's other two brother's got wind of what CJ took and sold. Uncle Louis claimed all the remaining 1930's cars stored under the warehouse, and the 1940's cars not already taken by family members over the years. Dad claimed all the remaining trucks, and Uncle Leonard all of the tractors and farming equipment.
Leonard just left all the tractors in the barn, and sold the farming equipment to a neighbor farmer.
Dad had all the trucks moved at the rate of about one per week to a local auction house. This does not mean they were sold at auction. The auction house put a price on each and if it didn't sell in 3 or 4 weeks, then it would go in the auction. More than 2/3 of the flat-bed trucks, vans, step-vans, and a couple of old pick-em-up trucks were bought for the price the auctioneer put on them, or a few bucks less in a couple of cases. It took close to a year before they pulled the last one out.
Leonard managed to sell three of the seven tractors before that barn burned down. The one he got the most money for was a steam driven tractor which actually belonged to my great-grandfather. My grandfather hated that thing with a passion, hi hi. And technically, it was never needed on our farms anymore. After all we had the Big-M and a few other gas and/or diesel powered tractors. None of the tractors were used after we built more greenhouses, and placed saran houses where the farming fields used to be. Even so, we still bought a new yellow tractor with a scoop for handling the large amounts of dirt and soil we went through each week. Clarence's son got that when we closed in 1984.
All the modern vehicles were traded in when we bought new, and all the vehicles we had when we closed went with the property when it was sold. I bought one of the vans right before that and used it for years myself.
If I had known what the cars I used to own would be worth today, I would have kept every one of them.
But in retrospect, I would have had to sell all of them to cover Ruth's medical bills, and they probably wouldn't be worth much because they were not yet over 25 years old. I loved nearly every car I've ever owned! But who wouldn't. They were all the best muscle cars of the era.
And once again, I've rambled on long enough. Sorry about that!
Re: Colossal Danger
No need to be concerned about rambling. That fits right into the theme of this forum, i.e., rag chewing. I'm pretty sure both terms mean the same thing.
Your grandpa certainly was a collector, but he owned way too many vehicles. LOL I've heard similar stories in the past regarding people finding hidden automobile gems in old barns. Apparently it's a widely practiced tradition to not get rid of the vehicles acquired by the farmers. Oddly enough I was talking to a farmer in Oklahoma recently and he claimed he used an old steam powered tractor from time to time. He also has a tractor that is about 50 years old and uses that for most things. I guess it's pretty expensive buying new farm equipment these days.
Your grandpa certainly was a collector, but he owned way too many vehicles. LOL I've heard similar stories in the past regarding people finding hidden automobile gems in old barns. Apparently it's a widely practiced tradition to not get rid of the vehicles acquired by the farmers. Oddly enough I was talking to a farmer in Oklahoma recently and he claimed he used an old steam powered tractor from time to time. He also has a tractor that is about 50 years old and uses that for most things. I guess it's pretty expensive buying new farm equipment these days.
Re: Colossal Danger
When grandpa determined one of his vehicles was no longer road worthy, he refused to sell it for that very reason.
Also, back then, a lot of parts were interchangeable, so some of the real early vehicles had many of the parts removed.
Most of our whoopies (flat top wagons pulled behind a tractor) were made from the chassis of Model T's, & A's.
Some had hard rubber tires and wooden spoke wheels, the tires had holes through them from side to side I guess to make them ride smoother. Others had wire metal wheels with bald balloon tires.
Other than the Moon automobile, there were no cars left from before 1920 that were not already torn apart to use for other things, like the whoopies.
The older iron wheeled tractors were left because rust took its toll.
Slightly newer tractors were parked when the repairs on them would cost more than getting another one.
Even so, parts from them were moved to other tractors, like the side sickle bar, and very often the seats were taken to use on other tractors or turned into stools, or a long row of seats for the workers to sit on to eat lunch.
I got one of the old Milbradt lawn mowers, and used it up through the late 1970's when I passed it on, fully restored, to my cousin. It had an old model B Briggs motor you cranked to start. I used to mow the apartment complex lawn when I lived in the apartments, and gave it to my cousin the week before I moved out. I was fortunate to have a machine shop at the time to remake some of the gears it used, and there were a lot of them in that mower.
Another one was used by the florist to mow our ball field, and CJ's front yard which adjoined the ball field. It was sold at auction in 1984 along with most everything else. Still running like a top, because I fixed everything that was wrong with it or wearing out, mainly the gears, back in like 1972 when I did mine. Once I was set up to make the gear I needed, I often made two or three, so I had them if needed again, but ended up using most of my spares on the ball field lawn mower.
You've probably never seen a Milbradt. It had a sickle bar on the front, behind that was the large reel, and behind that a big iron roller that was what drove the mower forward. It had no reverse, hi hi. It pulled a two wheeled trailer with a seat to sit on while using it. You could not use it like the ones today where you just stand on a little trailer dolly. It took a lot of strength to turn them, so the seat trailer had wide foot rests so you could get some leverage to turn.
I was very fortunate to be raised in the environment I was raised, and around all the old stuff, most of which was still in use as I was growing up. We had several one-lung water cooled flywheel type motors, an old concrete mixer with the same type of motor, hydraulic powered skinner lines, and water compression pumps that filled the water towers. Those things were noisy and clacked all day and all night long. I forget the proper name for them right off. They worked on water flowing downhill, then a valve would close causing water to be forced up a vertical column. Interesting little devices that used no energy, other than the water flowing downhill in a pipe to work.
All I can say is I really enjoyed those days from age 2 to in my mid-30's.
Also, back then, a lot of parts were interchangeable, so some of the real early vehicles had many of the parts removed.
Most of our whoopies (flat top wagons pulled behind a tractor) were made from the chassis of Model T's, & A's.
Some had hard rubber tires and wooden spoke wheels, the tires had holes through them from side to side I guess to make them ride smoother. Others had wire metal wheels with bald balloon tires.
Other than the Moon automobile, there were no cars left from before 1920 that were not already torn apart to use for other things, like the whoopies.
The older iron wheeled tractors were left because rust took its toll.
Slightly newer tractors were parked when the repairs on them would cost more than getting another one.
Even so, parts from them were moved to other tractors, like the side sickle bar, and very often the seats were taken to use on other tractors or turned into stools, or a long row of seats for the workers to sit on to eat lunch.
I got one of the old Milbradt lawn mowers, and used it up through the late 1970's when I passed it on, fully restored, to my cousin. It had an old model B Briggs motor you cranked to start. I used to mow the apartment complex lawn when I lived in the apartments, and gave it to my cousin the week before I moved out. I was fortunate to have a machine shop at the time to remake some of the gears it used, and there were a lot of them in that mower.
Another one was used by the florist to mow our ball field, and CJ's front yard which adjoined the ball field. It was sold at auction in 1984 along with most everything else. Still running like a top, because I fixed everything that was wrong with it or wearing out, mainly the gears, back in like 1972 when I did mine. Once I was set up to make the gear I needed, I often made two or three, so I had them if needed again, but ended up using most of my spares on the ball field lawn mower.
You've probably never seen a Milbradt. It had a sickle bar on the front, behind that was the large reel, and behind that a big iron roller that was what drove the mower forward. It had no reverse, hi hi. It pulled a two wheeled trailer with a seat to sit on while using it. You could not use it like the ones today where you just stand on a little trailer dolly. It took a lot of strength to turn them, so the seat trailer had wide foot rests so you could get some leverage to turn.
I was very fortunate to be raised in the environment I was raised, and around all the old stuff, most of which was still in use as I was growing up. We had several one-lung water cooled flywheel type motors, an old concrete mixer with the same type of motor, hydraulic powered skinner lines, and water compression pumps that filled the water towers. Those things were noisy and clacked all day and all night long. I forget the proper name for them right off. They worked on water flowing downhill, then a valve would close causing water to be forced up a vertical column. Interesting little devices that used no energy, other than the water flowing downhill in a pipe to work.
All I can say is I really enjoyed those days from age 2 to in my mid-30's.
Re: Colossal Danger
You are right. I probably never saw the Milbradt you are familiar with, but I know where they live:
I only have one memory of an old automobile, which I believe was a Buick but it might have been something else. It was all black and had a running board which I stood on while my uncle drove us kids a short distance down the street. Of course the cars I saw when I was a kid would be considered old today, but the ones you are talking about were old when I was a kid. LOL
I never heard of a hand cranked motor on a lawn mower, nor have I heard of Briggs motors. In my days it was always Briggs and Stratton. I had a wood chipper at my old house which had a 10 HP B&S motor driving all the wood crunching knives and hammers inside it. It was my favorite toy because it was the loudest piece of equipment I had and it did the most damage to anything you put into it. The motor worked well for all the twenty some years I had that machine, but the fuel pump was flawed for much of the time. I don't know what kind of seals were inside it, but it only lasted two seasons at most. They claimed it had to do with the alcohol in the gas and I should be buying pure gasoline for it. Yeah, well, that kind of fuel was and is next to impossible to find. But, low and behold, after about a dozen years the fuel pump stopped breaking every season. I guess too many people were complaining because each time you bought one the price went up a couple dollars. It all looked the same but apparently they changed the seals and it never broke after that last replacement. Funny how that happened.
- Milbradt Lawn Equipment
Address: 11700 Olive Blvd, Creve Coeur, MO 63141
Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 5PM
Phone: (314) 432-8949
I only have one memory of an old automobile, which I believe was a Buick but it might have been something else. It was all black and had a running board which I stood on while my uncle drove us kids a short distance down the street. Of course the cars I saw when I was a kid would be considered old today, but the ones you are talking about were old when I was a kid. LOL
I never heard of a hand cranked motor on a lawn mower, nor have I heard of Briggs motors. In my days it was always Briggs and Stratton. I had a wood chipper at my old house which had a 10 HP B&S motor driving all the wood crunching knives and hammers inside it. It was my favorite toy because it was the loudest piece of equipment I had and it did the most damage to anything you put into it. The motor worked well for all the twenty some years I had that machine, but the fuel pump was flawed for much of the time. I don't know what kind of seals were inside it, but it only lasted two seasons at most. They claimed it had to do with the alcohol in the gas and I should be buying pure gasoline for it. Yeah, well, that kind of fuel was and is next to impossible to find. But, low and behold, after about a dozen years the fuel pump stopped breaking every season. I guess too many people were complaining because each time you bought one the price went up a couple dollars. It all looked the same but apparently they changed the seals and it never broke after that last replacement. Funny how that happened.
Re: Colossal Danger
Here is a short video of one very similar to the ones we had.
This one does not have the front sickle bar, so is missing one gearbox and one control handle, so is slightly shorter too.
https://getlink.pro/v/6y8hshD8q8Q
The store was right down the street from my house after I moved to Creve Coeur.
I learned to drive on what my grandpa called a Ford Double-B, but it looked nothing at all like the Model Double-B's I found on-line.
The one I learned to drive on was nearly all wood, except for the frame. It looked more like a milk truck than a van.
The sides were Plywood, and the front was open. You sat on a wooden seat with a pad. Looked more like a horse drawn van than anything else I've ever found.
This picture is the closest I can find to the truck I learned to drive in.
But ours did have a windshield but the windshield did not touch the roof I don't think.
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/AAMDRT/1910s- ... AAMDRT.jpg
Think of a horse drawn Amish carriage and you will have a better idea of just about what that old truck looked like.
What throws me for a loop in looking at pictures. Ours did have an engine up front, I think, and also an engine underneath the wood seat, because you could stand up and lift the seat and look underneath the seat and see a motor.
Then again, I could be remembering two totally different vehicles that looked about the same too.
In essence, it looked like the early Borden's milk trucks, except the outside was made of wood.
Not the cover over the engine or fenders, they were metal. Just the van part.
It might not have been a Ford either, it could have been a Federal as we had a few of those in the barn.
This one does not have the front sickle bar, so is missing one gearbox and one control handle, so is slightly shorter too.
https://getlink.pro/v/6y8hshD8q8Q
The store was right down the street from my house after I moved to Creve Coeur.
I learned to drive on what my grandpa called a Ford Double-B, but it looked nothing at all like the Model Double-B's I found on-line.
The one I learned to drive on was nearly all wood, except for the frame. It looked more like a milk truck than a van.
The sides were Plywood, and the front was open. You sat on a wooden seat with a pad. Looked more like a horse drawn van than anything else I've ever found.
This picture is the closest I can find to the truck I learned to drive in.
But ours did have a windshield but the windshield did not touch the roof I don't think.
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/AAMDRT/1910s- ... AAMDRT.jpg
Think of a horse drawn Amish carriage and you will have a better idea of just about what that old truck looked like.
What throws me for a loop in looking at pictures. Ours did have an engine up front, I think, and also an engine underneath the wood seat, because you could stand up and lift the seat and look underneath the seat and see a motor.
Then again, I could be remembering two totally different vehicles that looked about the same too.
In essence, it looked like the early Borden's milk trucks, except the outside was made of wood.
Not the cover over the engine or fenders, they were metal. Just the van part.
It might not have been a Ford either, it could have been a Federal as we had a few of those in the barn.
Re: Colossal Danger
That site you linked to with the lawn mower is full of malware. It only shows when you click the play button. I did manage to view the machine nonetheless, and I'll say that I've not ever seen one exactly like that; not that I can remember anyway. We had a gas powered reel type mower way back when. All that I recall about it now is that it was red. LOL
Looking at those old vans brings up memories of that '49 Chevy I used to drive. It did not have power steering nor were there power brakes. It rolled along the highway just fine, but trying to parallel park that baby really tested your arm muscles.
Looking at those old vans brings up memories of that '49 Chevy I used to drive. It did not have power steering nor were there power brakes. It rolled along the highway just fine, but trying to parallel park that baby really tested your arm muscles.
Re: Colossal Danger
Before they had power steering, I had a neckers knob on my steering wheel.
Those things could be dangerous, especially if you catch a pot-hole the right way, or manage to snag a curb and that wheel spins and the knob cracks your wrist in half, hi hi.
Hmm, I thought I only linked to the video and not the whole site, unless you mean YouTube, yes it is loaded with malware.
Grandpa bought the very best and most complete Milbradts they made at the time he purchased them. Considering they were used weekly during the mowing season to do a lot of acreage for over 50 years, I would say it was a good purchase.
Nothing cuts a lawn cleaner and prevents those brown tips like a reel mower.
My other grandpa had a tractor pulled gang mower that had 7 independent reels, but no sickle bar to keep those stalked weeds down. It was used to mow around 50 of 63 acres at the ranch. The horses kept the stalked weeds that shot up down fairly well. If their got to be too many of them, he would run a brush hog set about an inch higher than the gang mowers first, so it looked like he was just joyriding instead of mowing, hi hi.
The reason a reel cut lawn stays nice looking longer is because the tips of the grass are sliced off like as if using a scissors. A nice clean cut.
Whereas a rotary mower whips the tips of the grass which frays them, so you have a much larger area, like the tip of an artists paintbrush that turns brown right away. Even the sharpest mower blade will still fray the grass tips.
Those things could be dangerous, especially if you catch a pot-hole the right way, or manage to snag a curb and that wheel spins and the knob cracks your wrist in half, hi hi.
Hmm, I thought I only linked to the video and not the whole site, unless you mean YouTube, yes it is loaded with malware.
Grandpa bought the very best and most complete Milbradts they made at the time he purchased them. Considering they were used weekly during the mowing season to do a lot of acreage for over 50 years, I would say it was a good purchase.
Nothing cuts a lawn cleaner and prevents those brown tips like a reel mower.
My other grandpa had a tractor pulled gang mower that had 7 independent reels, but no sickle bar to keep those stalked weeds down. It was used to mow around 50 of 63 acres at the ranch. The horses kept the stalked weeds that shot up down fairly well. If their got to be too many of them, he would run a brush hog set about an inch higher than the gang mowers first, so it looked like he was just joyriding instead of mowing, hi hi.
The reason a reel cut lawn stays nice looking longer is because the tips of the grass are sliced off like as if using a scissors. A nice clean cut.
Whereas a rotary mower whips the tips of the grass which frays them, so you have a much larger area, like the tip of an artists paintbrush that turns brown right away. Even the sharpest mower blade will still fray the grass tips.