"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

screened porch said:
I tried a cartridge pen again recently, but all the ink had dried up in my cartridges. At least that way they can't leak in my shirt pocket.
The only fountain pen I ever bought, though I have a few old ones:
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Levenger catalogue. I think they're still in business; they just realized I wasn't buying enough to pay for my catalogues.
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I had an inexpensive Sheaffer my grandmother bought me for my 21st, and a Mont Blanc Meisterstuk that my missus bought me for my 30th. Sadly, both were stolen ☹️
 
Peregrin said:
We got some snow overnight. Has spring sprung?
I am contemplating which knives I should carry when I venture outside to dig out my wife's car.
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Peregrin said:
Oh, our daffodils were about ready to bloom. I'm not sure if they will now!
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We had 6-8 inches of snow in my area last Friday, and I'm a little worried about the daffodils and tulips in our yard. They hadn't bloomed yet, but the leaves are up high already.
Monday and Tuesday, we had temps near 60˚F, along with rain on Tuesday, so last Friday's snow is all gone. And the last of our crocus blooms came through the snowstorm only a little worse for wear. (I took the photo late Monday afternoon, and those flowers look really sad after yesterday's rain.)




- GT
 
5K Qs said:
We had 6-8 inches of snow in my area last Friday, and I'm a little worried about the daffodils and tulips in our yard. They hadn't bloomed yet, but the leaves are up high already.
Monday and Tuesday, we had temps near 60˚F, along with rain on Tuesday, so last Friday's snow is all gone. And the last of our crocus blooms came through the snowstorm only a little worse for wear. (I took the photo late Monday afternoon, and those flowers look really sad after yesterday's rain.)




- GT
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Here's a photo from Sunday's snow (taken from a Ring camera on my driveway), followed by some pictures I took just a few minutes ago. I'm happy to see that the Jonquils have had a chance to bloom.
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<<<sigh>>> y do vintage Ray-O-Vac stainless steel flashlights cost so much these days? ☹️
$24.95 plus (without bats and has a standard (dim) incadescent bulb) for a 2 D cell that works, has a "good" cardboard liner, and still retains the end cap hanging ring. 😳
A 2 D cell was under $10 (with bats and a dim (LED's was not invented yet) incadescent bulb) when new. 🙄
so sad whut inexpensive stuff I had asa lad is now expensive ... or worse.
The Aurora AFX H.O. slot car model I paid call it "$16.00" for in '73 is on the auction site for $100.⁰⁰ 🤯😳
(Makes me wish I still had it ... I wonder what happend to it ... I don't think I've laid i's on it since late '74 or early '75. I last raced it soon after H.S. graduation in '74, just b4 the H.O. slot car club I was in disbanded.)

I mites well get a new 2D Mag Lite for about the same $$$.☹️
Not as "classy" as the old Ray-O-Vac, perhaps maybe ... and no tail cap hang ring ... but allegedly water and (in the wrong enviornment) explosion proof.
Being retired I have my doubts I will be in the wrong enviornment with Haz-Mat suit and supplied breathing air again in this "life"time, so I not too stressed about accidentally blowing up self and the surrounding area. 🤔🤨😇👍
 
afishhunter said:
<<<sigh>>> y do vintage Ray-O-Vac stainless steel flashlights cost so much these days? ☹️
$24.95 plus (without bats and has a standard (dim) incadescent bulb) for a 2 D cell that works, has a "good" cardboard liner, and still retains the end cap hanging ring. 😳
A 2 D cell was under $10 (with bats and a dim (LED's was not invented yet) incadescent bulb) when new. 🙄
so sad whut inexpensive stuff I had asa lad is now expensive ... or worse.
The Aurora AFX H.O. slot car model I paid call it "$16.00" for in '73 is on the auction site for $100.⁰⁰ 🤯😳
(Makes me wish I still had it ... I wonder what happend to it ... I don't think I've laid i's on it since late '74 or early '75. I last raced it soon after H.S. graduation in '74, just b4 the H.O. slot car club I was in disbanded.)
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Gotta remember that paychecks have been going up with the prices over the decades, although probably not at exactly the same rates.

When I got my first off-the-farm job as a summer janitor in the local public school in 1970, I made Michigan minimum wage: $1.25/hr.

In 1972, minimum wage jumped to $1.60/hr. In summer 1973, I cleaned and waxed the floors in a nursing home before I went off to grad school, and they must have liked my work, because after a month, they paid me $2.10/hr for the next couple of months, a 31% raise! (Then I went to grad school and made $300 per month (plus tuition) for a 10-month teaching assistantship.)

Michigan's current minimum wage is $10.33/hr, about 8.3 times what it was in 1970. If I divide your $24.95 cost today for the flashlight by 8.3, I get $3 for a 1970 flashlight. Is that in the ballpark you remember?

- GT
 
5K Qs said:
Gotta remember that paychecks have been going up with the prices over the decades, although probably not at exactly the same rates.

When I got my first off-the-farm job as a summer janitor in the local public school in 1970, I made Michigan minimum wage: $1.25/hr.

In 1972, minimum wage jumped to $1.60/hr. In summer 1973, I cleaned and waxed the floors in a nursing home before I went off to grad school, and they must have liked my work, because after a month, they paid me $2.10/hr for the next couple of months, a 31% raise! (Then I went to grad school and made $300 per month (plus tuition) for a 10-month teaching assistantship.)

Michigan's current minimum wage is $10.33/hr, about 8.3 times what it was in 1970. If I divide your $24.95 cost today for the flashlight by 8.3, I get $3 for a 1970 flashlight. Is that in the ballpark you remember?

- GT
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yabut my house has about doubled in value in the last four years, based on what houses in my neiborhood were/are selling for.
And in 1973 that flashlight was made in the US. Not so, today.

And that's all I got to say about that.
 
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