other dog

well sh...oot! sometimes it doesn't pay to try to save a couple of bucks. I got my power steering hose made,$34.00 and went to put it on. First thing I did though was to take the air line off that I put on yesterday and put some thread tape on the fittings. It only took a few minutes,it was easy to get to. The power steering hose was much more difficult ,but I got that on and started the truck and turned the wheel back and forth then refilled the reservoir and was good to go,until I pushed the brake button in and heard the air leaking.The old line just had a small pinhole in it,and there was one on the shelf at the shop with the right fittings,it was just longer,so I put that on. They don't use that type air line at all anymore,the rubber hose type. And it's no good,it was leaking around the swivel part of the fitting,not around the threads. I saw similar airlines at the parts store hanging on the wall,and should have gotten one,but they're closed now. Now i've gotta get one and get it on by Saturday morning.

I'm off to Car Quest to see about getting a new line made.Just wrote a check to pay my real estate taxes- $239.00. I sold my house in Appomattox on 1 and 1/4 acres and bought this place,a single wide on .73 acres for $28,500 and now they've asessed it at $59,000 at tax time.I don't know whether to feel like I got a heckuva deal or if I got screwed big time. Gotta wait 'til later to pay the vehicle taxes-about $270.00.They asessed the mixer at less than half what I paid for it. I would take offense at that,but i'm afraid it would make my taxes go up. I must be off.

What did I do this week ,if anything?...oh, I remember- I went to Negley, Oh. with a van load because my return load from Follansbee,WV to Richmond had to be in a van. Didn't have any 48 footers at the yard so I had to pull a 53. Tight spot at N.B.Handy in Richmond,got to blind side back to the dock,and it's much easier with a 48' trailer because it's so cramped in there. The windows in the sleeper and motorized mirrors really come in handy there. Then I went to Seneca,Pa. with a load of treated lumber.Had to pull a 53' flat up there because they were putting 8 new tires on my regular trailer,a 48' aluminum Ravens. Nothing like a Ravens,in my opinion.I keep my beveled wood and coil racks in the tool box and my tarps , straps, and long 4x4s on the front of the trailer,and I had to transfer the beveled wood,coil racks,and tarps to the trailer I was pulling because I either had to bring back 2 new trailers from Kent,Oh. or load coils at Sharon,Pa. Got to Seneca that night and when I got to 84 Lumber there wasn't room enough to get off the road if I pulled up to the gate,so I figured i'd turn around and go back to the Wal-Mart and park,at least until somebody ran me out of there. I didn't see a good turn around spot and went on to Oil City and turned around,down the 14 mile 21% grade,then had to drag the load back up the 21 mile 19% grade to go to Wal-Mart.Funny thing was,it was only 6 miles to Oil City from where I turned off of 322 onto 257,and it was a mile to 84 Lumber. And I never did need the wood or tarps,I ended up going to Sugar Creek,Oh. to get a load of bricks going to Lynchburg. Now I'm loaded with Kyanite on my regular trailer,the one with the new tires, to deliver Monday in Cleveland. I even got a chance to replace a leaking air line on the mixer this evening,and took the power steering line off that was leaking. I'll try to get a new one made tomorrow and get it back on there-the Appomattox Railroad Festival and parade is next weekend.

yes,Blue Ridge Wood Preservers-I delivered there twice this week. I posted a picture of that A-40 Mack that's sitting in the field by Marshall Concrete

Well,I've got one load "in the hole" since I deadheaded home.My week wasn't near as good as I expected-should have left that load in Plymouth,it really wasn't worth fooling with,and I invested those two 3 liter Mountain Dews in it. As slow as it's been anything's better than nothing I guess,but it's a tremendous letdown to run as hard as I did and not even bring home $500....geez! About the only thing that would cheer me up is if Jim MacMahon showed up here with a big ol' check in his hand.

But what about the tree ? Is it still upright ?

After I unloaded the second load of lumber I went to Orlando.Wasn't real happy with going that far on Thursday,and sure enough I deadheaded all the way back.Left there about 10 this morning and got back at 9 tonight. Didn't see any alligators,no bikinis,and only 1 armadillo. Looked like he was mashed about a week ago.

I know where an A-40 gas is sitting in a field too.Don't know if it's for sale or not,but it's been there a while.There's a picture of it in my gallery.It's still in the same spot in Moneta,Va.

Since I was here last i've unloaded the lumber in Moneta,been to Petersburg and got a load of beams and delivered them in Garden City,Ga, and picked up another load of lumber in Estill,S.C. Got 8' 6x6s this time,but I didn't have any trouble with it sliding. This and the pipe to Weaverville from last week should give me a pretty good week for the first time in a long time. And if I go out tomorrow I should have 2 loads on next week's check. It's about time to make a pickup payment,the electric bill's laying here,and gotta pay my real estate taxes-there's never a shortage of something to pay.

Unloaded that steel in Wilmington this morning and went up to Plymouth,N.C. to load a load of lumber,16' 2x10s.Had to weigh in and out,and where I loaded was a good ways from the scales,so I threw 2 straps across each stack of lumber to go weigh out.The weight was OK, so I just eased on out to the truckstop across the road to finish strapping down.It was about a half mile away,and there's a stop light at the end of the road,truckstop's straight across.When I got parked I saw that the inside boards on the top bundle of the front stack had already started to slide out of the bundle,so I went in the store and bought 2- 3 liter bottles of Mountain Dew. I poured the Mountain Dew on the boards that were sliding out, shoved them back in by hand, then poured the rest all over the top of the whole load. Put about 3 more straps on each stack and tightened them as tight as I could get 'em,and didn't have any more trouble-even when I had to brake hard to keep from running over that van that was doing about 40 mph in a 70 and a car was beside me...it's the sugar.

Seay milling in Dillwyn,Va, had an R-400 tandem straight truck with a van body on it .Had a quadruplex trans. in it,not sure about the engine.As far as I know it's still sitting in the field behind their store in Dillwyn.

Hey John-No,it's still the same.The picture stays 'til I shut it off,then it's just a black screen 'til I set another background,then it stays until I shut it off again.I may have changed the setting accidently somewhere along the line,I don't know what I might have done though.Might be the computer-maybe I should get the manual out and read it sometime! Not a major problem,just aggravating. My Skype name is william.thomas.blackwell

If I am in the area and stop by i'll park it way out back somewhere,or maybe behind the Wal-Mart.

Oh yeah,I should have said that's for a cb-I never put in an am-fm or anything else electrical.I did find out on the mixer that LED lights have to be wired backwards too,where a regular marker light doesn't.

I talked to Old Bill,the Diesel Gypsy, this morning on Skype so I feel a little better about not being in Winchester. The case of beer I bought didn't hurt either. Then I went over to Altavista to mail him the last "Ice Road Truckers" tape-I put the " Trick My Truck" B-model episode on it too. Also had a few extra copies of "Wheels of Time" and ''Old Time Trucks" to send,and it cost $14 and some change to mail it. And that was the cheapest way to mail it. The faster 'express mail' was 40-some dollars,so I told the guy at the post office to strap it on the mule's back and send it on it's way. Maybe it'll be there before Christmas! Then I stopped by Food Lion to pick up a few things,and almost kept it under $100-total came to $100.04. By the way,do any of you guys have Skype? Or as Paul Van Scott once said "It would be good to know if anyone's reading this"

My load to Richmond was a Bobcat and attachments-a set of forks,an auger and trencher,like on a ditch witch-some straw,a machine that looked like an overgrown tiller,and 6 big holly trees.Yeah,it was a landscaping job.Right in a residential area with narrow streets,and a tri-axle lowboy.Had to detatch and unload everything right in the street.Fortunately there wasn't a lot of traffic moving in the area-got there about 10am.Caught hell getting turned around and out of there though.But it was a good load-it was exactly 100 miles from the shop to the jobsite,and it paid me $150.I left the shop at 8am and got back at 1:30. Then I went back to the shop and picked up my regular trailer and took a load of pipe to Weaverville,N.C.-just north of Ashville.This evening I went by Staley,N.C. on the way in and picked up a load of structural steel for Monday morning delivery in Wilmington,so for the sad news I just don't see how I can make it to the Winchester show.It's about 200 miles,and I hate-just hate-to miss it,but by the time I drove all the way up there,then drove back,then gotta leave Sunday-well,I might be biting off more than I could chew.I ain't as young as I used to be.Besides,things have been kinda slow lately and I really couldn't afford to go...but if I didn't have to go out Sunday,I would go anyway...dang it,this is the first time I've ever missed Winchester.About the only thing that would cheer me up is if Johnny Carson's former sidekick Fred MacMurry showed up here with a check from publishers clearinghouse.

now I do,it didn't...oh well

That's the same thing the Diesel Gypsy says about vista! Anyway, I had no luck-it's still the same. Still won't work with my pictures I have saved,but I can use a picture from my gallery on BMT-whether it stays or not I don't know yet.

Thanks y'all,i have no viruses detected,so i'll print this so i can follow step-by-step and see what happens. I have windows vista home premium.

Anybody know anything about computers ? My picture I had as my background won't stay on-it disappears every time I turn it off,or restart,and I just have a black screen except for the usual icons. It didn't use to do this.And now none of my pictures will appear as a background picture at all,but if I go to A website and get A picture it will,but still disappears if I turn the pc off and restart it later. Stupid computers.

Have camera will travel-wire otherdog,Gladys ... too far for the mixer,but that Pete might be in the area-if it is i'll stop by! Did you say there'd be trucks there too?

They had many more Macks there that didn't look funny.

Nothing today ... gotta be at the shop in the morning to take some kind of machine to Richmond on the lowboy. Don't know what it is.Then maybe i'll get a good load going out somewhere else.Not that this is not a good load,but I need another load to make a good week. Might end up putting my good camera in the truck and try to get back through Winchester on the way in,or I might not be able make the trip. I'll figure out something,i'd hate to let my truck show picture fans down-both of them would be very disappointed.

That's all I ever did,on the F-model and my mixer now,just hooked them up backwards-ground the red wire,hook the black to a hot wire. Seems unnatural,but they worked fine.