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Mountain trapper said:
Finally a dog picture!
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Random dog Photo, Teddy Ruxpin waiting for his peanut butter snack.

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I’m waiting for the winners of the books giveaway to be announced!
And there was something else…forget; heading out in a bit. Might finally finish off bagging the leaves later today. Hate that. Wish we could just put them all loose curbside.
Paint, finish my paint project. Looks so much better even though it’s not finished.
Maybe have plant therapy at my favorite garden center. @Pearl 😎
 
Spikedriver said:
Haven't checked in for a while. Life has been craziness for the last couple of months. At work it seems that as soon as I get assigned to a new position, I get bumped right back out of it. Since January 23rd I've held six different positions an been bumped out of five of them. Monday morning I'm headed up to the Twin Cities for #7 - a spot on an "In-track welding" gang. This is a gang that welds rails together to form continuous rails. Hopefully I don't get bumped out.

On the home life front, I've been spending a lot of time with my GF and her dog. They both love me. For privacy's sake, I can't really post a pic of my GF, but I don't think Ruby the Lab will mind if I share a pic of her adoreableness...
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Doing Thermite or Flash Butt?

Been with both operations any times. I prefer Flash Butt as long as the rails are not curve cut.

A good friend of mine was at the top of the Welding section of Bankhead before it merged when he retired.

That has been many years ago.

Are you Teamsters Rail Conference BMWE or short line?

Good Luck with the job the Railroads are in a battle that leaves everyone living beside on in mortal danger, They have cut maintenance personnel and operating personnel to below the level that comes close to be able to maintain their corridors in any kind of a safe condition,

They have no appliances to replace faulty and worn parts of rolling stock, signal electronics, or track crossovers and switches, they are using to the limit worn rail that will sometimes break when you lift it from the bed.

Palestine, Ohio is just the beginning of a trend that will result in a super catastrophe if things do not change.

To win the war they all want to get to the lowest Operating Ratio even if they have to go to zero maintenance to get it.

It is A GAME of king of the hill.
 
LadyLocust said:
I don't want to scare you or cause you any urgent medical issue so you might skip the following. 😂

Our coffee pot is dying so here in a minute, I will go see if I can find a new one. We do have a percolator or two, but for work days, we like the drip kind that we can set so the coffee is ready when we wake up. This morning, I had to go in and push the button then WAIT for coffee - oh the agony.

Knee is somewhat better. Hoping it just keeps getting better. Thanks for all the kindness.
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We have back up pots, we buy them at garage sales sometimes. Hubby has a little kitchenette in his shop, coffee pot included! But I have to blame bacpacker for your horrible wait this morning......if he would have posted bacon pictures you would have had something to do while waiting for the coffee!!😉
 
Responsible Coffee consumers always have back up ways of making it, I think the trauma of no Bacon picture may out way the thought of having to use a back up coffee method
 
@12icemaker Flash butt. We are welding strings off track and then dragging them in and threading them with a Pettibone. We did a bridge over the Minnesota River this morning. I typically run with tie gangs or construction gangs, but with all the PSR cutbacks I can't hold a position on those gangs unless I go out to California or Oregon.

I'm BMWE, nearly 16 years with Uncle Pete. You are correct about the operating ratio. The disciples of Hunter Harrison are running the railroads now and they are bent on milking every penny out before they walk away from the broken, empty shells of the once great transportation empires that crossed our country. Meanwhile they will take home millions. It makes me want to vomit...
 
I am having a Coffee while I am waiting for my Espar hyronic heater to warm up my little tractor (Hubie one) then some snow is getting moved, When It warms up a bit I will clean up the banks with the John deere 820 (A real 820, not the euro trash model)
 
I am doing an assessment of the damage to sons 2020 Can Am Maverick XRC turbo RR 72"

He met a tree in the worst possible spot for the car, not for him thankfully.

I am pretty sure it will be a total as the frame is cracked in front of the rear upper rails, the trailing arm link mount is ripped off, the rear Shock Therapy built shock is bent and the mount broken as are the sway bar mounts and right side link.

The wheel is bent and the tire is flat.

The Plastic is broken in a lot of places and the

You cannot weld the frames on these things they are thin tubular high tensilesteel and welding outside a controlled cooling situation is a dangerous proposition.

This thing will run 100 mph on the trail if you need a thrill.

He had just started off or I might be doing a funeral instead of a junkyard trip.
 
Our tenant ran into financial issue so we let her out of the lease on Friday. So spent the day resetting the kitchen drapes etc.

Tomorrow I will run around with the leaf blower to make the place more presentable to possible tenants.

I also had to work through some frustration while repairing a rug shampooer. A Youtube video helped. There is a unique method used to control the soap mixture from the knob on the tip. Clever but definitely a way to keep the authorized Bissel repair shops in business.

Behave

Ben
 
@Spikedriver I was with Southern Railway before it became NS, It was a lot different in those days.

I stayed with NS after the merger but the management and the focus changed.

I have seen the Operations people take it over after they crash it and lose all of the customer base before, BUT this time they are selling property, cutting off their access to new customers and burning their bridges

It will be hard for people who know how to run the companies and give the best service and a safe method to carry bulk loads through sleeping cities of the country to even fix it when they strip the assets and leave NO capital or material to bring it back from 10 mph or excepted track speeds to a 55 or above speeds.

I held all kinds of jobs too like you have but spent almost all of my time as a foreman.
made tons of OT as a senior foreman and it added up.

I was the President of our local for 18 years, The Southern System General Chairman and Vice Chair came from my local.

A lot of the problems you are all having now came from the leaders of ALL THE UNIONS and their friends.

I quit years before I retired because of it.

It is a problem that faces this country in a ways that most people who tell their kids to wave at the Choo Choo could never know.

From the day I finished the paperwork classes and speech classes for Foreman School my primary focus was on safe working practices above all including doing absolute Quality work, using the right material and as President of the local, having the most Professional people doing the job.

You cannot seem to make people understand that a union is just a contract labor organization just like manpower.

The idea is to provide the best worker for a fair price and assure the company doing the contract that they are getting the best fastest safest worker they can get to complete their job.

Unfortunately that is not the case in almost every union local today.

I don't need a union organization to get a good job, I need worker with honor and skill.

RANT warning RANT warning !!!!! please forgive me for the run-on.

I know what Spikedriver is dealing with every day, and wish him the best of luck my son is out there as a Signal Maintainer in the southeast corridor.
 
12icemaker said:
@Spikedriver I was with Southern Railway before it became NS, It was a lot different in those days.

I stayed with NS after the merger but the management and the focus changed.

I have seen the Operations people take it over after they crash it and lose all of the customer base before, BUT this time they are selling property, cutting off their access to new customers and burning their bridges

It will be hard for people who know how to run the companies and give the best service and a safe method to carry bulk loads through sleeping cities of the country to even fix it when they strip the assets and leave NO capital or material to bring it back from 10 mph or excepted track speeds to a 55 or above speeds.

I held all kinds of jobs too like you have but spent almost all of my time as a foreman.
made tons of OT as a senior foreman and it added up.

I was the President of our local for 18 years, The Southern System General Chairman and Vice Chair came from my local.

A lot of the problems you are all having now came from the leaders of ALL THE UNIONS and their friends.

I quit years before I retired because of it.

It is a problem that faces this country in a ways that most people who tell their kids to wave at the Choo Choo could never know.

From the day I finished the paperwork classes and speech classes for Foreman School my primary focus was on safe working practices above all including doing absolute Quality work, using the right material and as President of the local, having the most Professional people doing the job.

You cannot seem to make people understand that a union is just a contract labor organization just like manpower.

The idea is to provide the best worker for a fair price and assure the company doing the contract that they are getting the best fastest safest worker they can get to complete their job.

Unfortunately that is not the case in almost every union local today.

I don't need a union organization to get a good job, I need worker with honor and skill.

RANT warning RANT warning !!!!! please forgive me for the run-on.

I know what Spikedriver is dealing with every day, and wish him the best of luck my son is out there as a Signal Maintainer in the southeast corridor.
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So you've come to the right place (this forum). There is even a rant thread - that's why the laughy face.
 
12icemaker said:
I am doing an assessment of the damage to sons 2020 Can Am Maverick XRC turbo RR 72"

He met a tree in the worst possible spot for the car, not for him thankfully.

I am pretty sure it will be a total as the frame is cracked in front of the rear upper rails, the trailing arm link mount is ripped off, the rear Shock Therapy built shock is bent and the mount broken as are the sway bar mounts and right side link.

The wheel is bent and the tire is flat.

The Plastic is broken in a lot of places and the

You cannot weld the frames on these things they are thin tubular high tensilesteel and welding outside a controlled cooling situation is a dangerous proposition.

This thing will run 100 mph on the trail if you need a thrill.

He had just started off or I might be doing a funeral instead of a junkyard trip.
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I have been involved in fixing some side by sides and four wheelers. On a couple occasions we threw a bunch of money at them and then when sorta finished only three wheels wanted to touch the ground......
can am has their own way of doing things as well so it seems they are difficult to fix no matter what the problem.
Good that no one was injured. here in montana it is usually kids that center punch a tree on a four wheeler at speed and it is all over.
 
Got the garage cleaned out, looks better! Grrr....I am not a plumber person. Upstairs toilet keeps running, husband can hear it, makes him mad. So I determined it needs a new flapper. Well, the universal flapper is too small. I have loads of those backed up. The turn off on the water will not turn. His ideas are for me to take a photo on his phone, and he instructs me what to do, since he is immobile. But I need a bigger flapper. Grrr. Tomorrow. He has a doc appt, and there's a Home Depot near it, so I'll see what they have.
 
Got most of my snow plowed, ended up starting the John deere, that thing is amazing not much above 0F and the diesel fired up pretty well, no pre heats or any thing. And it is older than I am.
 
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Amish Heart said:
Got the garage cleaned out, looks better! Grrr....I am not a plumber person. Upstairs toilet keeps running, husband can hear it, makes him mad. So I determined it needs a new flapper. Well, the universal flapper is too small. I have loads of those backed up. The turn off on the water will not turn. His ideas are for me to take a photo on his phone, and he instructs me what to do, since he is immobile. But I need a bigger flapper. Grrr. Tomorrow. He has a doc appt, and there's a Home Depot near it, so I'll see what they have.
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I AM NOT a plumbing guy, but I have never seen a flapper for other than 2 inches.

Put a couple of these in over the years:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fluidmaster-PerforMAX-2-in-Plastic-Toilet-Flapper-Repair-Kit/1000085205
 
12 Icemaker, my grandpa retired for Southern back in the late 70s. Mostly worked in John Seiver Yards. I'd bet you know where that is.

WOW, gettin hammered by so many for no bacon pics????? Seriously I was trying hard not to burn it cause it was cooking so fast, I never considered gettin the phone out for pics. I will get one of the flat top before long. It's a 22" model, with a removable folding stand. Mainly got it to take camping. It'll be great for that. Now I just gotta learn to control the heat and cook on it. Much different than grilling. I like though.

Back to work today and more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Making progress though so thats a good thing.
 
Bacpacker said:
12 Icemaker, my grandpa retired for Southern back in the late 70s. Mostly worked in John Seiver Yards. I'd bet you know where that is.

WOW, gettin hammered by so many for no bacon pics????? Seriously I was trying hard not to burn it cause it was cooking so fast, I never considered gettin the phone out for pics. I will get one of the flat top before long. It's a 22" model, with a removable folding stand. Mainly got it to take camping. It'll be great for that. Now I just gotta learn to control the heat and cook on it. Much different than grilling. I like though.

Back to work today and more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Making progress though so thats a good thing.
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We can all handle pics of burnt bacon!!😉
 
Had an unplanned trip to town when I needed to rest, oh well. Bought a laptop yesterday and still haven’t opened the box, too tired to deal with it. Anyway, got an emergency prescription for the folks. Picked up a few groceries then few hundred pounds of critter feed. Stopped for a haircut, got lunch, even had time for a short walk in the woods, yellowroot was blooming.

The pup caught another squirrel. He celebrated by tearing up a cardboard box in the yard. Wish I knew where he got the box… :oops: At least he brought me the squirrel. I blurred the squirrel in the photo, don’t want folks getting cravings for dumplings... 🤣

Mini-rant... if you're sedentary and over 60, DRINK WATER! Lots of water! Once again mom has a UTI. Could have been dad, he gets 5 or 6 a year. The reason is simple... not enough WATER to even keep their kidneys flushed! Dad should be drinking a gallon a day, 3qts minimum. 2 cups of coffee at breakfast, tea at lunch, small glass of milk at supper, ISN”T enough! Just over a quart a day.

Even worse, at their advanced age… every other health issue they have is exacerbated by dehydration. I see it over and over again with their declining health. They’ve had several er visits, first thing is always an iv for fluids.

...Oct 12, 2022The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine determined that an adequate daily fluid intake is: About 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids a day for men. About 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day for women. These recommendations cover fluids from water, other beverages and...

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-...nd-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256

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