.....I'm still busting balls keeping our industry moving. 100+ heat, no shade, no wind, injured shoulders, Poor eyesight due to the sweat rolling off my forehead. I ask that you please have a BBQ, cold beer, beautiful women catering to your every need, brotherhood, fellowship of the machine and happy thoughts throughout the weekend. Dont worry about me as I am holding the fort down, by myself until all of you return from your holiday weekend of rest and relaxation. Have a HAPPY LABOR DAY and see you all Tuesday
So what's new-I've been working every holiday the last 20 years-7 days a week. I see you smoke my brand and I'm running a little low mind if I bum one?
Hey Vetech. Thanks for holding down the fort, means I can stay retired and not have to worry about things. I worked many a long weekend in my day. When you do get done, the beer tastes just that much better.
Cowboy Killer lights!! Between those and Hump Day Lights was about all I ever smoked toward the end.
That's {Drug Store Cowboy Killer Lights}.
Started off in the illustrious smoking game on Pall Malls and Lucky Strikes, BOTH Unfiltered, moved to Cowboy Killers, then on to Pall Mall Filtered and finally ended up Marlboro Lights and Camel Lights. Never could handle the taste of Winston, brother smoked them for YEARS. Older brother quit smoking and every so often would bum one so would kick on free of the pack, he would grind it in his hand saying "OOOO, that is just SO Satisfying!!" I at one time was smoking 3-5 packs a day, kick one free of pack before feet hit the floor out of bed and grind last one out as tucked back into the bunk. Driving fuel truck chewed Beechnut and Red Man, would still have a chaw tucked then light up a cig as ended a day, and be swilling a coke or root beer with the other two still in process
I'm glad you got it covered! I've had enough of the working weekends and crazy long hours. Can you send some beautiful women up north though? I am lacking there
I spent the morning splitting fire wood with my son who is soon to be three. And then had my parents over in the afternoon for drinks and dinner. Tomorrow it will be just me and the boy since the woman has to work so maybe we will go for a walk in the bush or take him to play with some cows and horses. And monday i hope to go up north to the woods and play on the avts and three wheeler. Glad some of you are willing to work on weekends and holidays cause i sure wont anymore.
At least you have enough shop towels to make it through a long weekend.
Yeah, I was out there today, too; and I will be out there tomorrow and Monday. I hope to get closer to caught up, so I can take next Sunday off.
Well it’s Labor Day so I’ll be laboring. 2 big orders for trees this week so got to get them dug. Couple of semis worth so a good payday when the check comes in.
I'm back and forth on it, as much as I enjoy taking the weekends off in some ways i'd rather be working them right now and take even more time off this winter but not busy enough right now. This week was the busiest i've had in a few months and still was only 4 days of work. I'm looking forward to winter actually, taking at least 2, maybe 3 months off completely.
Wait, it's a holiday of some sorts? There isn't weekends here, holidays, 5 o' clocks or birthdays here, days just blend together. It's get up at 0600/0500 hrs and go till the wife says it's dinner time, at lunch she is shoving some food in my hand and saying eat as I wipe the grease,grime, or whatever off shove it down and go again. When it hits dinner I know it's around 1900 to 2000 hrs, time to shut it down unless I am in too deep. If I'm in too deep on the project and want it done then I eat grab a nice stiff drink and go at it again for couple more hours. I'm actually retired, you believe that? I could actually flip a middle finger up, get a mortgage, move into suburbia (probably never get a hard on again) subscribe to some TV channel thingy and drink all day and not have to work for a living, but I chose this route and I don't have to work for a living, but I chose this route while earning retirement pay.
What’s with the not taking holidays off? I enjoy my job, but I enjoy time with the family and friends a lot more. You give up too much for work when you’re young, and at nearly 60 I’m unashamedly backing off. At the end of the day, it’s getting too near the end of the day.
It all depends on the time of year. When you farm for a living as I do there no weekends or holidays. Not to say that are not days off, but when things need to get done it really does not matter what day the calendar says it is. Now when I worked for someone else and was away from home for months at a time I missed a lot of family things and that is part of why I went back to the farming full time. The worst is sitting in a hotel 2000 miles away and you miss something special. Honestly as hard as this seems at times I look at every day as a holiday so an official holidya is just nothing special. My Dad is 81 now and i know the field work is keeping him young.
Couldn't agree more ih100. I enjoy what I do 5 days a week and enjoy the weekends and holidays even more. We'll work the occasional Saturday but that's if there has been a lot of rain or we are behind on the schedule which rarely happens. People will work you to death if you let them.
So we decided to have a boys day and went north today to play in the woods. My little guy will be three this month and absolutely loves going for rides in the woods. No double time pay could ever be better then going for a ride with him.
I didn't take pictures, but I was putting conduit in a ditch Sunday. Customer rented a mini excavator, finished 180 feet of ditch Saturday. I asked for 46". He gave me 4'-6' deep. Narrowest trench I've ever seen! I'm pretty brave about being in a ditch. I, or any full time excavator will slope the sides enough that injury or death are unlikely. This was extra deep, with vertical walls. Spots the gap in the sod was only 2' wide. I didn't want anybody in that ditch. I laid conduit, and a crew of the customer's friends with hand shovels & wheelbarrows brought in sand. Worked surprising well. Dump a wheelbarrow of sand, lift the conduit off the rocky bottom of the ditch. sand falls under the conduit. More sand on top. People with shovels pick around the biggest rocks & cover several more inches before the tractor pushes the bony gravel in. They were still backfilling when I left them with a roll of warning tape. 68 degrees, my day went better than yours.
Thank goodness someone was working. I took my youngest daughter to see a couple college campuses. Of course you can't actually meet anyone or get a real tour, with covid still around, but at least she could see where she's looking at spending 4 years and who knows how many $$$$$. But- it wasn't all roses- I had to pull out the wrenches on the way home. A/C quit on the way back. Not a happy crew on a six hour drive with no A/C . I saved the day in a McDonalds parking lot under a shade tree. (I wasn't hungry enough to eat their food). Pugged up cabin filter removed- and ice cubes were back flowing from the dash vents.
Didn't you say you did all your own maintenance.? So who got the finger pointed at them for failing to change the cabin filter before it got plugged..? (Tin hat on. Ducks for cover.)
Oh trust me- there were plenty of comments directed at the wrench turner. Prior to and post event. You would think that once it was working again it would let up, but then it was all "if it was that easy to fix- whhhyyy didn't you fix it sooner????" BLah Blah Blah.... You don't even have to duck and cover- I've heard it all.
Its just about over i dont know how many holidays i can stand i always try to get some jobs done when i have a day off so its start early and go till i am exhausted. I even helped my mom sort out 2 weeks of meds.
Well I am tickled PINK all you guys are back today! I continued to tow the company line all weekend as most of you got to relax and celebrate Labor day. Though the line was heavy, I managed it.........by myself Here is the other 2 projects that I used to keep our way of life alive LOL An intermittent electrical problem on a CB64 Cat roller. It may work right for 1 minute at high idle, then start cutting out.....kicks back into low idle by itself, and sputters......NO CODES. CAT had sent a field tech out on this 2 weeks ago and could find nothing wrong with it. The next job it went on.....same thing was happening. I got to look at this Sunday and after checking some things I noticed the alternator charge rate was all over the place.......bouncing between 13.36 volts at the alternator output, but only getting 11.65 at the batteries. I removed the circuit breaker panel to find a loose connection at the charge line circuit breaker. It got hot enough to melt the red cover and the arching damage was pretty heavy. Removed the crossover straps, cleaned them up........perfect charge rate and problem solved. Took a little while to find because I had to get the machine to act up but once it did it was much easier to diagnose.
Yesterday, as I continued my quest to carry the industry ...............I was now on a Case dozer that had been vandalized last week. They cut the batteries cables and stole the batteries according to the owner. When I get there I noticed this...... So I call the customer, knowing he is at his lake house for the weekend, and ask him if he had seen the front grill removed and the chain hanging out of the front. He replied "NO!!" So it seems when the owner saw the batteries gone this was still intact. The thieves had come back the next night and used a chain to try and rip the radiator and oil cooler out the front of the machine. The a/c condenser is gone, cut the hoses to it. They then took a chain multiple times and tried yanking it out with a truck or car. The chain had evidently come off what ever vehicle they were using and chain slapped the radiator a few times.............it leaks water like a sieve about halfway down. I repaired the battery cables and installed the batteries to get the machine started. Topped it off with water, fired her up, and drove it maybe 150 yards into the woods so deep no one was going to get to it. I then had to remove the batteries and carry them to my truck so they didnt get stolen again. The customer has a truck coming to get this dozer this morning then once it is at their facility, out comes the radiator. A better pic for your viewing pleasure!
Thanks for the well wishes all you holiday working fellas. I'm one that has very little trouble relaxing and I appreciate my 9-5 (or 6-3) job. We did do some stuff around the house this weekend but also did a fair amount of go-karting and screwing around. I don't know if I'm proud about it but it's nice to see some fellow smokers out there. I have found that if I was running equipment all day I would smoke substantially more...
Vetch we highly appreciate your effort in keeping the industry intacked over this much needed holiday weekend but a few of us are concerned that with the load you are taking on it might bend up your trailer I just could not help myself lol
you rock!
LOL!! Good point there my friend!
Have to watch machines around here for radiator stealers, poisoned a few dogs and cats just cutting hoses to get them out. May be time for a little Lead Poisoning to occur.
They tried to rob my shop the other night. I've got them on video walking around and then getting the door open. When the alarm went off, they took off running. Sheriff said "make sure you have everything locked". Not much they can do- prosecutor won't do anything if they do catch them.
Trailers are the flavor for stolen items around here, you don't leave one on a job site. Copper? Someone dug under the local power companies fence and made off with about 3,000 lbs of it.
Was it a Holiday weekend.? I must've missed it. I was working you see ......... Must update the On the Road Again thread. Got new photos.
A number of years ago I was on the school board. I got a call early on a Sunday morning. A well known local neer do well had stolen a van, pried open the school door, loaded it with VCRs, & televisions, even a copier. The van he stole was at a back woods garage because it had a bad oil leak needed fixing. It left a trail of oil with a puddle at school. A neighbor noticed activity, called 911. The town Constable was joined by State Police. They found the thief 5 miles away, the van's engine seized, low oil. The dirt bag was unconscious, middle of the road, drug overdose. Mid morning the female State Trooper explained no charges would be filed. This habitual offender could only be charged with possession of stolen merchandise. "We could never prove breaking & entering. He'll argue his finger prints were left at school on another occasion." Same dirt bag was convicted of murder a few years later in Florida. I think Florida cops were less ready to sweep it under a rug.
Hey Vetech, sorry I missed you while down to Junkyards place, was a entertaining weekend, has not let up YET!! Took a small load of stuff to him on a trade deal, had been fretting over a possible front wheel bearing I could not find as bad, finally the L F tire showed me the problem as threw a belt. Of course on Sunday and NOBODY with tires open until Tue. morning, dragging a trailer. Picked up two slightly Larger 285/75/16 E ATs for the front end as turns out BOTH fronts(265/75/16s) had dropped a belt, rears looked OK so left them figuring to get a match pair of Hercules ATs up here. WRONG!! Checked EVERY Where I knew, went to the Web NADA ZILCH NUTTIN, "Call for Availability" on nearly every site that handled Hercs. KNEW I should have bought ALL Four then and there but being cheap, CRAP!! Called back to tire shop still had two bought them over the phone, JY said would pick them up, somehow will find a way to get them here. Dry most of the way home then for the last 5 hours rained, and currently over 2.5" worth. Renter of our place was mowing, was trying to get further before got too soft and drop front end of his 4340 into a shallow ditch hung up with a 18' batwing, rescued him with the Fat Allis then the rains REALLY picked up.
As low as scrap prices are i didnt think any one would be takeing any thing to scrap.
Tweakers are game for ANY amount of money currently
Well some weekend/holiday this turned out to be. Got a few trees out , felt crappy and ended up in the hospital for emrgency gallbladder surgery. Can we just get a redo on 2020?
I will second that request
Dam, YOU GUYS SUCK!!! LOL JY knows how to pick up a phone and call me.....I talked to him a week ago. I'm thinking he just wanted you to himself Next time your down this way have him give me a ring, Im sure I can manage time for a coffee or something! PS.....Don't tell my other 2 bf's that we are meeting. MG and FWF think Im monogamous
Yeah, me three!
I hope you are ok @Ct Farmer !
Thanks, they let me out today. Nice to be home. They said it was bad and infected. Had it blown, it would have been a real problem. Still got weeks of antibiotics and other pills. Just shows, you got to stay ahead of the maintenance issues.
Man, I hope you feel better soon!
F'kin A. I had the same deal with a hernia that according to the surgeon could've turned nasty if it had been left much longer. We put of doing maintenance to our personal rides and our bodies in order to "git 'er done" - sometimes it can backfire...........
Most service trucks are over due for an oil change that I have ever seen and I have met very few mechanics that maintained them selves half as good as the service they sold
Ex boss of mine had appendix burst, was troubled with rheumatoid arthritis from then on. Triggered some auto immune disfunction.
If it makes you feel any better, my 64th birthday happened to fall on Sunday the 13th. Usually, there would be a family gathering. Often at a beautiful lake nearby. An industrial customer had a fire, so they were out of business until it got repaired. A new machine very different from the old was trucked in from Colorado, arrived middle of Saturday night. Seth & I worked Sunday. Late afternoon the maintenance crew was working outside 200 feet away cutting steel. The rest of the workers had left, locked all doors except the one we would leave by. Suddenly, a fierce pounding on the doors! By the time I got there, he had run to a different door. Eventually I let him in. He was screaming "Why isn't there water?" They had emptied a couple fire extinguishers, and grabbed a hose. I followed water lines back, finally found a valve shut off. By then, flame was six feet high 25 feet diameter around a machine surrounded by wood debris. I suspect there was a factor of oil that had leaked. We knocked it down with a water hose, it was out except a bit of smolder by the time 20 fire trucks arrived. We were about done for the day. I wound our way through more fire trucks than they had at the World Trade Center. Went home. Younger son & daughter in law on their way home from Maine brought lobster & clams. Nice evening!
I have worked a ton of holidays but I never ever worked on Labor Day. Its the working mans holiday. The only one we get. Lets continue to enjoy it.
Working Power Plant we worked regardless the holiday, just dealt with it. My Crew had the dubious distinction to nearly always get either Labor Day &/or Memorial day with the Fourth of July six years running. Christmas and new years seemed to fall onto our night shifts regardless for that same period. Pay was good as basically got double time for each, did not make up for the lost free time.
Must have missed this thread. As a matter of fact on 9/10/2020 I was on the table having my gallbladder ripped out! Mine was not an emergency so not too bad just in and out the same day. Pain meds for a couple days and now just waiting for incisions to heal. Have over half the pain pills left over wonder what street value is on those, just kidding! I'd do a Google search for that but think I would hear a knock on the door a few hours latter!
I had no idea what the pain was when I went in but they told me it was coming out now. Kept me overnight. Sent me home with antibiotics that I had a reaction to and ended up back there. Going better today, might even get out i the fields today and do some light work. Pain and swelling is going down but the bruising is still nasty. Ya, I look at that thing of pain pills and think, “man that would cover a lot of parts bills.” Then reality sets in and I know that my first venture as a criminal would not end well...wait is that a knock on the door?
My mother had gall stones and she said it was worse than giving birth to my giant fat baby ass. I was 11 lbs. 13 oz...
What gets me is the price I pay for the pain meds (Vicodin) my co-pay for the 15 pills was $0.81!
After all the meds and bad reaction to them, I find it hard to imagine that people on the street actually want to pay money to feel like that.
I think the Vicodin did help me sleep a bit better the two nights I took it, but have to wonder if a couple good IPA's or couple shots of JD or Bacardi would have done the same! And had a little flavor to enjoy while waiting for the sleepy time to hit!
Any Opiate based pain med shuts down my intestinal train, locks me up tighter than Ft Knox. They and nearly everything else have little value as a pain relief any longer so just deal with it. JD, Makers, Buffalo Trace, Four Roses are my Go To's these days.
I'm not going there! At 30 I had wisdom tooth extraction. One was a "DRY SOCKET". Pain was extreme! The dentist prescribed Vicodin. I felt like I was swimming in grease! Nightmares aren't as bad. In my life I have had several periods where I get Migraines. I would pay any price to end that pain. Funny thing is, Migraine medicine only stops the headache. There are no side effects.
I like Maker's Mark.
One of my best friends was a horrific drug user in his youth. He has not used for 30 years and is still paying the price now. Now 60 he has heart walls that are more than double thick, his kidneys and liver are half functional, and he is continually fighting huge kidney stones. He had to go in again yesterday to have them bust some up and is now spending a few miserable days laying on his back with a special catheter in him that is supposed to give them a slippery slope out. Most drugs wont work on him. He has been having these issues for 10 years already. He speaks at his local jail to young arrested drug users but they don't seem to listen.
Hard life OIH that fella took a bad path, sad to say those following him will not listen to him.
Just letting you fellas know that I am still out there fighting the good fight. I did take a few days off the end of last week to rest a bit, but I had to wait for the rest of you to come back from Labor Day weekend so our industry could continue to flourish.
The pain from my Gallbladder work was really not bad, I have to compare all pains to when I had a ruptured appendix back in 1979, that one was bad! After that surgery the doc had me on IV Demerol. Now that stuff worked! Only problem is wife had a hard time with it. Seems she got the feeling that I would stop talking in the middle of a sentence or even a word and then something like 15 or 20 minutes later I'd pick right up where I was like nothing had happened. At least that's what she told me! But the Migraines have to be the worst for me, maybe not from the intensity of the pain but they can put me down for a full day at times. Today was one of those days! I've had a couple root canal jobs done under just novocaine and that is no real problem actually had a case where when the dentist was injecting the novocaine she hit a nerve in my jaw that felt like a lightning bolt going up the side of my head. I try to reminder her of it when ever she comes at me with the needle. She felt bad about it but I just said I thought it was kind of neat! It only lasted for a few seconds and then the novocaine kicked in! I'd trade a migraine for one of those shots any day!
Don't worry, I'm still out there tearing stuff up....
Having a wisdom tooth pulled was easily the worst pain in my life, partly because of the dumba$$ dentist. Went in for first checkup in years, said it was infected I can just pull it now making no big deal of it, so why not? Gave me script for T3's I thought nothing of it and went back to work driving dump truck rest of the day. As the freezing wore off it got unbearable and popped a T3 while still driving and popped them like candy for the rest of the day to get it under control.