Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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/Rant/
I think one of the biggest culprits in this whole skilled labor shortage is the Feds and Department of Education colluded in the late '80s & early 90's with statements to the effect that, "College educated people make 2-3x what a laborer will over their lifetime..."
They saw college education as a way to level the socio-economic gap that they saw widening (poor black and brown people stuck in the slums).
So DoEd said EVERYONE needs to go to college. Then changed entry standards to allow for (arguably) less qualified students to acheive admission to colleges and Universities.
They ALSO started giving money away to anyone who got in, taking BS liberal arts degrees, with NO HOPE of getting a return on their investment.
And NOW, 25-30 years later, we're crying about not having enough tradesmen/women.
AND they want fracking LOAN FORGIVENESS because they spent a bunch of government money with no marketable skills! 🤦🏼‍♂️
/Rant/
In southern WI -can't speak to other parts of the state- we're (finally) starting to addres this shortage and all of the unions have posters up in the high schools and many guys I know have kids apprenticing with IBEW or the Machinists Union or plumbers making $18-$20/hr learning a trade.
My nephhew in Portage is a Sr. in HS apprenticing with a plumbing outfit - he's a really sharp kid who *would* make it in college but he doesn't want that so more power to him.
Incredibly well said.

And another thing. Colleges indoctrinate you with some of the entitlement (some of it obviously comes from this generation that for the most part is also incredibly entitled.)

As a college graduate 22 years ago, I fully expected to get a job making 60k+ per year because thats what the college (state school) told me I was worth, minimum. There was an definitely an attitude adjustment when you had to fight 25 other applicants to make 35K working for the man!

The mines up here have had a large amount of retirees over the past few years so if a young individual (mostly men) are lucky or connected enough to get hired they can be making well into 6 figures driving production truck or a host of other non-skilled labor once overtime and bonuses are added in. Not too shabby for a job you can completely clock out of at the end of the day.
 
Where the problem comes in is, NOT all of the axles are created equal and not all of them are "one-way" axles...

Most of the axles were pulled out after delivery and went back under a new mobil home for another delivery. Those axles can be used for equipment trailers, and there use to be a mfg. here that did exactly that, I have one of their trailers.

The tires, they are one-way tires, but good ones can be bought.

SR
I've replaced bearings and seals in mine. and they are a bastard size. Quite certain it's rated as a 5,200lb. axle.
 
Those tires and axles are not supposed to be used on equipment trailers. They were made for one time usage and marketed as motor home items with a big MH on the sidewalls. The brake systems on the axles are not like equipment trailer axles.
Mine do not have brake assemblies. The tires say "For mobile Home Use Only" on the sidewall, but I can't read it from the cab of my pickup at 55 mph, so I'd say she's golden.
 
Took the day off on Monday to go fish striped bass. My buddy had reported a hundred fish day between two guys the day before ,mostly on the smaller side mind you , but still 20" to 25" schoolies. So I decided to go with him. Well, we had a big cold front come in that night and we got there to find that the had fish shut right down. We only ended up catching one. I did manage to put a positive note on the day after I brought the boat home, walking an old logging road.20241028_183443.jpg
 
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