RowdyRebel

99% of safety happens between the ears. All of the "safety features" in the world won't make up for a lack of common sense, a momentary lapse in judgment, or a split second of complacency. In fact, the more "safety features" something has, the more complacent more people get, which I would argue leads to MORE incidents. Don't have any incidents and you have no need for the "safety features". Even WITH the "safety features", any time you have an incident there is still a possibility of injury. Hell, just look at cars. You have your crumple zones, seat belts, and air bags in the steering wheel and dash, and in some vehicles even side curtain air bags. Crashing no longer hurts. Add in traction control, all wheel drive, and anti-lock brakes and people get that false sense of security to drive faster than they ought to be when the roads aren't all that great. With automatic transmissions, people don't even know how to drive the car...just put it in "D" and try to keep it between the ditches...and if you can't, no biggie...you've got this protective cage designed to make sure you don't get hurt. People are willing to send text messages, read the morning paper, study for that test they are on their way to take, put on their make-up, shave, etc. because most of the time a fender bender isn't going to be any more than a minor inconvenience that they'll walk away from without a scratch. Stupidity SHOULD be painful. Put a sandbag in the airbag to pop the stupid MFer in the mouth extra hard when they rear-end somebody. I guarantee people would pay more attention to what they are doing.

Rollover bars are for sissies.

Hell, I don't know who it is...but she's got a nice rack and likes to play rough with her kitty.

Yeah, but my Dozer wouldn't let him put his lips anywhere on him to blow.

She majored in equestrian science...wants to own & operate a therapeutic facility where handicap kids learn to ride horses as part of their therapy....so we'll probably have a few of 'em some day....and probably be out west somewhere. I just want to have enough land that I can sit on my back porch sippin' an ice cold brew shootin' bottles & cans off the fence post. Anyway, she got the horse in exchange for training another horse...and she was talking about having a second before she comes up, but I think that deal fell through and she's talking about selling the one she's got because she's broke (thanks in part to scumbag roommates that never have their share of the rent or utilities)...not to mention taking care of her friend's horse currently being kept at the same place as hers because her friend isn't doing much for her own horse. Pisses me off sometimes when she puts herself into financial hardship taking care of everyone ELSE, but there really ain't much I can do about it from this far away. Would definitely make things easier if she sold it...let us get other debts cleared and get set up for it and then we could get a pair of horses to go out riding. Plenty of places to go riding around here...some of which ain't even all that far from the house.

Anyone else see the pattern?

My cousin won't....he hasn't had one in 3 years either. He'll have one next year, though.

I dunno....sounds to me like he was gettin' kinda fresh with the bulldozer's parts & pieces.

I've seen them before...wouldn't mind having one with a front end loader and a backhoe...but a little out of my price range. Hell, right now I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to buy a horse trailer before May so I can go get the fiance's horse when she moves up here. Gotta either buy or build a round pen, too....gotta have a place to keep it until we find a more permanent boarding facility.... It all costs money...which I ain't got a lot of these days.

Best map I could find with it marked... Takes me about 45 minutes to an hour to drive far enough north to reach the 38th parallel at it's most due-north place (Percy, IL). Other (bigger) towns along there....Ste. Genevieve, MO...DuQuoin, IL...Evansville, IN....all in pretty close proximity to it. Really isn't any significance to me other than that's all the farther north I typically have to go. Yeah, there was some to-do with it in Korea, but that was before my time.

What's so happy about it? I was SUPPOSED to be wandering around a motorcycle show drooling over a bunch of stuff I can't afford and trying to talk my parents into buying some of it for me...but the stupid DMV wrecked them plans. I had to stick around here to renew my drivers license today since they were closed yesterday for Lincoln's birthday (which is today). Yeah, they were open today. Anyway, parents decided to go to the show today without me instead of waiting to go with me tomorrow...so even if I do drive all of the way up there, I'll be wandering around the show alone...and what fun is that? So, I canceled the trip up north. It's supposed to be in the mid-50's and sunny around here this weekend and I've got some work to do on my F250, Ranger, and 8N...maybe take my motorcycle out for a ride on Monday, too...who knows. Only thing I'm missing by not going up there is getting to see my grandma. She was telling me that my uncle in Georgia is going to be heading up there to pick her up and take her down to my cousin's baby's (grandma's great grandbaby) baptism...then driving her home again. I suggested they drop her off here for a few days, then I'd drive her the rest of the way home that weekend. My uncle will have a full day's worth of driving cut out of his trip, I'll get to spend time with my grandma (and get some home-cooked meals)...a win-win. She seemed to like the idea, so we'll see. If I can think of a project that needs getting done around here that weekend, it'll give me an excuse to turn & burn when I drop her off instead of dropping by my parent's house for a visit with them. They were pissed when I did that the last time...I went up there to grab the old riding mower from my grandma, do a few chores nobody else in the family would do, and get back home...never told 'em I was coming and I was 1/2 way home before they knew I was there. They called to ask if I wanted that old mower because grandma had called them looking for the key earlier that day. LOL. Parents number just popped up on the caller ID, but I was talking to the fiance so they got to listen to a message telling 'em my voicemail box is full. They were probably wondering whereabouts I am. OK...just had a good long conversation with my older brother (the one just starting out driving trucks). He's got a real knucklehead for a "phase II" trainer....and mom & dad tried calling me 2 more times while I was on the phone with him. I should PROBABLY call them back. Nah.... Holy crap. 4 friggin hours on the phone with my brother. Guess I ain't going to Show-Me's tonight. Sad thing is, I started typing this reply nearly 5 hours ago.

Nope...not gonna be me. I TRY not to go north of 38 degrees latitude....doesn't always work out that way, but that's what I shoot for.

Pretty close. I can be in Cairo in less than 30 minutes. My parents are anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours from Soldier Field, depending on time of day and what all is going on in the city.

My truck gets a new air filter every time I change the oil and give it new oil & fuel filters. Sometimes I feel like THAT is even too long...and it's only a couple months. The filters in my pickup trucks generally last several years...but they don't play in the dust near as much, and probably see less miles in 3 years than the Mack does in 1 month. That one was pretty bad.

Was GREAT when I was younger....NEVER had to go to school on my birthday until I got to college. Didn't matter what day of the week it fell on, school would be closed from my birthday all the way to the nearest weekend. Freshman year of college? I had an exam in one class and a big paper due in another This year is a license renewal year, though. Took yesterday off work to drop the truck off at Mack for some work before I stopped by the DMV to renew my license and hit the road to go wander around the Chicago motorcycle show with the family. That's where I was SUPPOSED to be today. 'cept the DMV was closed yesterday "in honor of Lincoln's birthday". Sign on the door said they'd be there today, though...so I gots ta get over there in the next 2 hours or so or else I won't have a valid drivers license before I gotta work again. They ain't ever open on Sundays or Mondays. Makes no sense to me why they'd close "in honor of Lincoln's birthday" the day BEFORE his birthday.....and then be open on the actual birthday. Anyway, when mom called to see how far out I was to know if she should set a place for me at the dinner table, I told her we'd have to go tot the show on Sunday...because I had to go to the DMV today. She said I could go to the DMV up there....yeah, right. I go up there and it's a 3 hour wait...no, crap...it's saturday....more like a 4-5 hour wait. Screw that. Not to mention, if I'm standing in line at the friggin DMV all day, we wouldn't be able to go to the motorcycle show anyway. Gotta go Sunday, which is fine because I took Monday off work too. "Dad doesn't like going on Sunday, so we may still go on Saturday." Really? Fine. I haven't told 'em yet, but I'm not driving 6 hours north to wander around the motorcycle show by myself. They better not complain about the canceled trip, either, because if they wanted to see me they'd go to the show on Sunday with me instead of going Saturday. Hell, football season is over, so it's not like dad would even have to miss a Bears game. Probably better I stay here anyway. Changed a valve stem that was leaking on the F250 and in the process discovered the axle seal was blown....brake drum and everything inside was just saturated with gear oil. So, I've got that to do before it can go anywhere. I could take the Ranger, but it's supposed to be 50 degrees and sunny both Sunday and Monday...GREAT weather to be outside doing things that need to get done...like pickup truck repairs. Hell, maybe I can get the tail lights working on the Ranger again so I can stop having to rig up my tow lights to act as tail lights when I'm out after dark. Wouldn't hurt to get started cleaning out the garage, either...been 2 years since I've been able to park a pickup truck in there. That ain't ENTIRELY my fault, though...I had just enough room to squeeze the F250 in until I got some stuff that used to be my grandpas'. 2 pickup truck loads of stuff that used to be my dad's dad's stuff (mostly tools...air tools, shop press, power hacksaw, etc...) and 1 pickup truck load of stuff that used to be my mom's dad's (riding lawnmower). The other load of stuff from my mom's dad is parked out in my front yard...the 8N. Anyway, I gots ta get going. Thanks for all the Birthday wishes...ain't usually a day I look forward to, other than the motorcycle show, but the last several years I ain't been able to afford to buy anything anyways....wrong time of year, coming off the slow winter months when money is starting to tighten up. Oh well...probably better off this way.

If it is cold, the oil may be flowing like molasses. A thinner hydraulic oil in winter months might help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCyGymRvPQg I love Texas women...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUQ-UnxXo5Y

My first job was a camp counselor at a boy scout camp. We had a real hard-ass for a camp director, and on the first day every year, he gave his speech about how we were all employees of the camp, and that ANYTHING needing done at the camp was our job. He didn't care if our job title said "scoutcraft instructor" or "nature instructor", if the waterfront needed help Saturday morning for swim checks, THAT was our job. If the commissary needed an extra hand getting food ready for the units to pick up, THAT was our job. The first time he heard anyone utter the words "that ain't my job" they'd be on the next bus home. I've taken that same attitude with me to every job I've worked since. Don't matter what it is, if it needs doing, it's my job. I prolly wouldn't do too well in a union shop.

This company's been around a while...over 100 years. Over 500 trucks...no driver numbers. Dispatch don't even ask for our truck number unless they are new & having trouble finding us in the computer. There's about 4 people working in dispatch that know me by voice...don't even have to tell 'em who I am. They've been good to me, both as a company driver and as an O/O. Equipment is in pretty good shape, too...but it is trucking and things do wear out occasionally. Like they say, $#!t happens. When I HAVE had problems, I carry tools to get my job done and get it back to their shop...and they have never complained about my "field repairs", either. ...and can't say I ever seen ya around, either. Unless you do your driving on the 2-lanes, I prolly won't either. I just don't spend much time on the big road.

I've been the only one that has pulled this trailer since last May when I switched back to tanks. It was just a normal wear & tear type deal...when you haul granulated material and unload it with pressurized air blowing the product through a 5" hose, it's like an hour in the sand blaster on the inside of that pipe every load you unload. The fitting that broke is SUPPOSED to look like this: ...and the groove wore thin from the inside & broke off when I latched the hose end. It happens.

Use whatcha got to get done what needs gettin done....really ain't all that tough ta do if'n ya got half a brain and a few tools. 'course anyone with a full brain prolly has a good enough job to be able to afford to pay someone else to do their dirty work...

When I called dispatch (from the shop, of course) I apologized for not calling in when empty. Sometimes on them shorter runs, they'll have something else to run. Once I explained what happened, it was no big deal. I guess I'm lucky...my dispatcher is pretty cool.

Yup...cuz them dumps NEVER have any problems. I've seen company trucks with the beds stuck up in the air that won't go down...airbags that won't deflate...tailgates that won't unlatch...loads froze up in the bed...all sorts of issues. Not to mention the tip-overs. This is trucking. Don't matter what kind of wagon you're pulling, eventually you're gonna have problems. You will either have the ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome so you can do your job and get on down the road...or you will waste a lot more time (and money) sitting there waiting on a service truck to come bail you out.