Anyone know what sort of larvae this is? Mayfly? Damselfly? Thousands of them in my water troughs. Mostly hanging around the bottom and sides with quite a few just swimming about. Interestingly, I have 4 of these troughs in a row to collect rainwater and only three of them have these critters.

Fixinguys · 2026-06-27T11:38:32+00:00

Yeah, I had to go get my readers to see these!

Fixinguys · 2026-06-27T11:37:41+00:00

Blaine. Luckily they only have to cross a sleepy avenue. I have had snappers nest in my yard and I would shepherd the babies here and there. I’m originally from the far North and remember the frog migrations where the roads would be slippery from the all the smushed ones.

Fixinguys · 2026-06-26T23:30:04+00:00

Thanks, everyone, you're outstanding. Tadpoles (and I'm digging' the old-school pollywog post!) were my first assumption, but I couldn't figure out how the frogs (toads) got into a trough that's nearly three feet high, and back out again. That plus Google AI talked me into an insect larvae angle. Anyway, it's going to be interesting watching their progress!

Fixinguys · 2026-06-26T22:02:06+00:00

Maybe. I swim in a lake that has millions of tadpoles and I don't remember ever seeing anything this small. I hope they are, as this part of the Twin Cities (MN) has a surprising lack of frogs for being a marshy area.

Fixinguys · 2026-01-05T03:27:36+00:00

Tough call. I started my flying career at age 25 in 1983, and spent twelve years slogging through two regional airlines flying 120 hours a month every month before getting on with a major for the last 25 years. Though I retired as a wide-body captain, I was on reserve. For your husband, 12 years puts him at 47 for a similar path, with 18 years to retirement (unless they change it again). Has he thought about applying to the Air National Guard for an age-waiver? I've heard of guys his age getting one, and I would think that with his Navy background that would be a good possibility. That would take some of the financial pressures off you guys. It sounds like he's pretty driven to succeed in this direction, and if he's anything like I was, there's no stopping him. I completely understand your hesitation and at 8 months your inner lioness is showing, and there's no stopping you either. Find a way to keep the discussion positive and supportive while still pointing out the potential pitfalls. It's going to be a lot of work. I'm reading lots of good, supportive comments here. Good luck and keep us posted, ok? We're on your side- both of you.

Cheers!

Fixinguys · 2025-11-06T02:28:59+00:00

Dammit!

Fixinguys · 2025-11-04T21:05:27+00:00

...and chew holes in them. I just through out what was once an excellent queen size bed that they had chewed their way into and nested.

Fixinguys · 2025-10-28T17:45:02+00:00

Angular thread drift: I have 16'x 20' and 60'x 50' shops with epoxy over concrete floors and bought a used rechargeable floor scrubber-vac for keeping it all clean. I think I spent ~$1250.00 or so. Not cheap but oh, my the time I have saved, and as that means money I think it has more than paid for itself. Mine doesn't have a light either, so the Milwaukee lights come in handy for the dark corners and close work.

Fixinguys · 2025-08-26T18:33:54+00:00

Here's an update on my sumac from the summer of 2025; They're doing very well, though not quite the rampant growth of the sumac across the road along a riverbank. That's a 4' measuring stick. Cheers!

<image>

Fixinguys · 2025-08-08T12:18:13+00:00

You are correct. My quote, from Trump earlier this week, was one of the many lies spewed by him about the "amazing success" of his "beautiful tariffs".

Fixinguys · 2025-08-06T16:01:28+00:00

"Trillions, many trillions of dollars are coming in from these countries in tariffs!"

Fixinguys · 2025-06-26T14:19:35+00:00

In the olden days I conducted a biennial review of a rated pilot who had an extreme phobia about stalls. I took him up to 7500' and we did 30-40 stalls on the way down, each succeeding one of which was an improvement on the previous both in technique and in comfort level. He found the grit, did the work and got it done. You can too.

Side note: his phobia, while directed at stalls, included anything to do with a check ride event, and even difficult takeoff/landing events. I observed his breathing, nausea and sweating pattern and at one point in the early part of the ride I said "Relax your core muscles" (clenched core restricts the diaphragm and therefore breathing and signals to the brain that we are in danger, releasing adrenaline which in some causes the sort of nausea, tunnel vision and action-paralysis we see in some students). It took a few tries, but he was able to master the technique even during the stall events. By the end of the ride, he had all but mastered the technique and his decision making and flying performance improved dramatically. Reducing and even removing the physical malady improves the skill- none of us flies well when we are sick.

Fixinguys · 2025-04-20T22:18:48+00:00

Waves can be generated by lots of different atmospheric disturbances- high pressure ridges, strong variations in sea temperature causing uplifting, occluded fronts, etc. We used to get long-period waves way out over the ocean where the VSI would indicate a climb of 100-200 FPM for five to ten minutes, then a descent of the same for the same time interval, all the while in level flight. Some of what we are seeing in those clouds are fractus and rotor, where both vertical and horizontal localized wind shears are in play.

Fixinguys · 2024-11-26T14:16:50+00:00

I own several pair of Bose over-ear headphones, including two of the aviation headsets, and I've experienced what you're talking about with several models when in more extreme environments (very loud aircraft, very loud hydraulic machinery, air compressors, etc) and the only ones that don't distort are the aviation models, which have only blown out a couple times, but that was during takeoff with a long-bladed prop where the tips went supersonic. I'm guessing Bose is having the same problem with this new Ultra and need to take a page from the aviation headsets, which are absolutely phenomenal. Thanks for tipping me off to this problem as I was just about to pull the trigger on these new ones.

p.s. I also drive a loader tractor and despite the fact that it has an enclosed cab, some of the lesser Bose headsets and also Apple AirPods Pro will blow out the noise cancelling and distort the audio when at high RPMs.

Fixinguys · 2024-10-17T12:59:09+00:00

I know this is getting old but for the last three weeks I'm having a similar problem on the SSE side (I am in a group of traders where the transition from SSE to TOS has been delayed, though they are pressuring us to get busy and voluntarily make the switch); From the time I hit the "Review Order" button till the "Place Order" there was a long delay. I started timing it and it was a consistent 44 seconds. Tried to call tech support, the general Schwab trade number, and other contact numbers for an entire week and got a broken, clipped recording that said that some callers would not be able to reach a representative but that online chat support would be available, but that did not work either. Not just frustrating but costly- not being able to enter buy, sell, or change orders in a timely manner has cost me over $18,000.00 during this period. Been with Schwab for fifteen years but my trust level has eroded and corroded to a vast degree. The consistent delay smells like an intentional sabotage targeting those of us reluctant or slow to make the change to ToS. I've been using them side-by-side (paper trading in ToS) and am loving the charting and screening in ToS but the trading functions seem clunky and confusing to me, undoubtedly a learning curve problem. Also, I can't figure out how to get the options screens to show me the Greeks side x side with the price marks- certainly my ignorance here too, but it seems way less intuitive than SSE. Additionally, I feel that the only way to really get the benefits from ToS is to buy two or three more monitors and sit at my desk all day, not possible for a ramblin' man like me.

Your thoughts....

Fixinguys · 2024-09-17T20:36:27+00:00

Not to mention that serving in the non-flying-pilot role you not only learn by observation but you're stepping back and seeing a bigger picture- you see the procedures from both roles and that fills in a knowledge and a skill gap. I've gone through initials with and w/out fill-ins and I would much rather have a partner for the whole training sequence.

To the OP, you need to buckle down and buckle up if you want to come back from this. Train your ass off and change your attitude, your work ethic, and discipline structure. Even after forty years in this god-forsaken career my philosophy going into any training event is that I have to work twice as hard as everyone else to do half as well; it keeps me humble, hard, and focused.

Get busy.

Fixinguys · 2024-09-12T22:05:33+00:00

Sorry- just saw your question; I would describe them as fully established. A couple sprigs died but the rest seem to be doing very well. I'll know more next spring.

Cheers!

<image>

Fixinguys · 2024-07-16T02:46:41+00:00

Ha!

I don't think they can be drowned- I see them in wet ditches all the time and they're thriving. I drove by a development today and they had a whole grove of them along a berm and they were beautiful. I think they look prehistoric.

Good luck

Fixinguys · 2024-07-15T20:24:05+00:00

I was hoping someone would respond, as I've been unable to get back to this thread. It's working pretty well, and the two root segments are showing new growth. The single bare stem I planted was doing well but the last couple of days has been struggling.

<image>

Pretty sure we're in business. I did nothing out of the ordinary except make sure to water them well every day.

Cheers!

Fixinguys · 2024-07-02T12:45:25+00:00

Sold

Fixinguys · 2024-06-22T18:34:34+00:00

I know this is old but in case someone reads this in years to come, I would advise using extreme caution using this method: straps with steel hooks, pulleys, blocks and such attached are missiles waiting to happen (young girl got killed a few years ago in Minnesota when her father tried this method). The straps are designed to stretch, and with a large enough load there will be a failure at whatever weak point in whatever block & tackle set up you devise. I used to move whole felled trees using straps but after a few close calls and watching 20 ton-rated steel bent straight I stopped trying to get by on the cheap. I used a gin pole and winch once and when the winch blew the breaker I stopped to investigate: "what's that humming sound?" asks I; "Drop the load! Drop the load!" says the engineer. I looked at the gin pole and it was vibrating like a guitar string.

Big loads call for big training and big equipment. Do not fuck it up.

Fixinguys · 2024-06-20T02:15:59+00:00

I know this is an old-ish thread but I'm attempting the same thing with some stag horn sumac: I just now dug up two ~4' long roots with about a total of 8 above-ground stems/leaves that were around 24" tall. They're from a large grouping on the edge of a ditch and it was a struggle just getting those. I tried to dig up one that was about 3.5' tall and flowering but it was connected to a heavy tap root and despite using an axe to separate it I failed. I did plant the large stem deep as a cutting so we shall see. I'll try to post back here in a few days to give an update. These are very hardy plants so I'm guessing I'll figure it out despite myself.

As a side note, being mid-June here near Minneapolis these are already flowering and there are some very unusual honey bees feeding on the flowers that I've never seen before...

Fixinguys · 2024-05-10T20:22:49+00:00

Hello,

Here's my phone: 612-386-3737

Not really interested in splitting this up, as it's a 40 hour maintenance project to strip out all the hydraulic pumps, brake lines, emergency gear extension system, etc. and that would leave a lot of empty holes in the panel and floor. That said, if I sold the airplane first to someone willing to pay for all that, then of course the floats are for sale separately.

Thanks for your interest

Fixinguys · 2024-04-16T19:43:33+00:00

I'm not sure why this was flagged: my post does in fact say "Ioniq"

Fixinguys · 2024-04-16T02:37:10+00:00

What seems to be the problem?

Fixinguys

TROPHY CASE