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Just dropping in to say HI

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 21:33
by Swallow
G'day to all in this place. Just joined cuz like I enjoy playing with my meat and I figured what better place to find kindred spirits than with a bunch of sausage stuffer' s :lol:

Anyhoos, I'm a retired foundry pattern maker of some thirty really odd years. I have in my tenure as a pattern maker made wooden foundry patterns for anything from watch parts, oil rig parts, steam engine parts to patterns to cast dinosaur bones in bronze. I retired some years ago and moved away from it all to basically live off of the grid and now live in a log house over looking the beautiful Pembina valley somewhere in Sunny Manitoba Canada, 1068 meters from the US border.
We, that is the little woman and meself pretty much live off of the land what with four acres of garden, a couple of Black Iberian pigs ,a whack of Red Rock Cross hens and a couple of Jersey cows named Sh%ts and Giggles. Oh yeah there's also the half dozen pea fowl who are as brainless as most politicians, I say most simply because I have seen politicians even more brainless than these feathered rejects from the short bus and last but certainly not least there is the herd of Dobermans, five in all but one of the girls is looking decidedly portly so I guess it will be the pick of the litter AGAIN and the family circle widens.

Been making sausage off and on since I was a kid but it has always been just the regular farmer sausage smoked hams I have decided to try my hand at some thing a little more exotic. Hope to find some help along the way.

P.S My name really is Swallow it was given to me by my Grandmother who said I reminded her of a little bird that chirped too much and the little womans name is Sky. Go figure (The Swallow and the Sky) It works fer us.

Swallow

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 22:45
by ssorllih
Swallow forty years ago you and Sky would have fit right in with the VW bus crowd. What maner of foundry pattern did you make for the watch industry? Investment casting molds?

Re The VW bus crowd

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 23:12
by Swallow
Ross forty years ago I was the VW bus crowd, Buckskins, beads, rose colored shades long hair and sandals. Then I grew up and had to work, got rid of the "LOVE LOAF" and bought a 1966 Corvette. The rest as they say is history and now I can afford to live the life that I dreamed of WAY back then.

And yes the patterns were actually machined out molds to make the lost wax investment castings for a model of Walt-ham watch casing, plus the little wind up knob used before batteries were invented and wrist watches were still coal fired.

Swallow

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 03:57
by Devo
I been a papermaker for the last 37 years. At the mill I work at we make newsprint paper. When I started there it was called Great Lakes Paper and has since gone through at least seven name changes. At one time we had 3 paper machines running and 1500 employees at the mill but do to the internet and tablets we are now down to about 400 people and one machine. I have a crew of 6 guys all between 45- 52 years old and boy its like babysitting a bunch of kids. Can't wait till I retire in another 2 years. :lol:
Image

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 04:13
by ssorllih
Devo, Do you really believe that you can work for forty years and retire for thirty to forty years?
If the company goes out of business where will your pension go? Thirty years ago I was charging eleven dollars per hour for my labor today I charge eighty. It is hard for me to believe that the next thirty years won't do the same thing or worse to our money. I continue to work because I honestly fear out living my money.

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 04:24
by Devo
ssorllih wrote:Devo, Do you really believe that you can work for forty years and retire for thirty to forty years?
If the company goes out of business where will your pension go? Thirty years ago I was charging eleven dollars per hour for my labor today I charge eighty. It is hard for me to believe that the next thirty years won't do the same thing or worse to our money. I continue to work because I honestly fear out living my money.
Well i'm sure going to try to get back some of that money I put into the pension plan. I can leave now but I will loose 18% of my pension and I'm not about to leave that money on the table. :roll:

Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 19:37
by BenjaminTaylor
I am a cook and chef instructor. I developed and teach a Sausage making and Meat curing class which I teach around the Seattle area. I am looking to eventually open some sort of establishment (Beer Garden w/ great sausage is the newest iteration). Always exploring the world of cured meats and sausages. I live a very meat centric life.

Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 20:07
by w1sby
I am an application engineer for a building controls company.
Building controls, building automation, in simplest terms is thermostats. It is MUCH more involved than that, everything is computerized, and I write the programs and the user interface.
I am also involved in security installation/programming, both access controls and CCTV.
The building controls can be integrated to the access controls so it all works together.

It is an interesting job, and keeps my mind working. Every day is different, just as every job I program is different. I enjoy the challenge.

A funny anecdote: I begged to be allowed into computer classes in high school (Class of 83), I was told I didn't have the aptitude. I'd like to see Mrs Kaufman now :razz:

As for hobbies: I am an amateur radio operator (Ham), I fish and garden, I really enjoy building electronic stuff. Any more it is mostly clocks, as they are useful.

73 de Allen, W1SBY

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 01:47
by uwanna61
Benjamin
You sound like my kinda person, I too long for the meat smoking and curing. I was born in Germany several ago and usually go back for a visit every 2 or 3 years. I really like walking around the beer gardens and visiting the delis that sell smoked meats and fresh bread. Welcome aboard and visit often, I have a feeling you may teach us a thing or two!

Wally

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 04:40
by ssorllih
Benjamin and Wally, Is it posible to separate bread and sausage? The Polish parent of this website has extensive bread making pages but Google tranlations leave much to be desired.
http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/about/conf ... nvention-6

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 02:20
by uwanna61
Ross
Is it posible to separate bread and sausage?
Hmm bread & meat has been the main staple for years and years. As for translations try Bing translate, I'm interested also, I will check it out myself.
Wally

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 04:52
by ssorllih
This is my favorite bread and baking forum. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 18:30
by sawhorseray
I worked as a union carpenter in the San Francisco bay area from 1969 to 2000 when my back would take no more. I learned to use a computer and then found gainful employment in a large construction company office as a estimator / project manager. I retired in 2007, comfortably, and am looking forward to start collecting my carpenters pension and social security in 15 months when I'll be 62. I'll be really pissed if I die before then!

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 19:24
by ssorllih
Ray , I hate to be a kill joy but in 1972 $3.75 per hour were pretty good wages. Now forty years later it is just over half of minamum wage.I can't help but think that the next 30 or 40 years will do the same thing to a dollar. Pension income is tenuous at best. With modern health care you need to plan financially to live past 90 years. It won't be any fun to out live you money.

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 20:31
by crustyo44
Ray,
Just imagine if you live in the EU, where governments in the northern region plunder private retirement funds to prop up banks and governments in the southern region.
See how diplomatic I am, no longer am I mentioning names.
I just love your photo's, keep up the hunting and fishing. I will start again soon I hope, first ,y shoulder and elbow have to get back to normal, they have to adjust to some staineless paltes and screws.
Best Regards,
Jan.