other dog

I went to Raleigh with a load of steel on a side kit trailer this morning,got lost, ( kind of par for the course for me ) then came back to the shop and tied down a load of pipe going to Cumberland,Md. for Monday delivery. The guys in the shop had discovered that an empty Pepsi bottle explodes much louder than the windshield washer jugs.I guess they just ran out of the jugs and had to find something else.The Pepsi bottles take much more pressure to explode-then they'll blow off of the fitting and go flying across the shop,or the yard.They fired 2 of them at me out of a piece of exhaust stack when I was strapping my load down-Kevin had it on his shoulder like a grenade launcher while Tom applied the air, but I was out of range and the wind was throwing their aim off anyway. But,as they say,all good things come to an end. Todd (boss man) sent word down from the office that if he heard any more noise he was going to "fire the whole bunch".Tom put his impact wrench down and said "well I can't change this tire then,the impact wrench makes too much noise". I just left and came home.

The Appomattox Railroad Festival and Parade is this weekend.Last year Tom at the shop put the big "Mack" sign on the water tank on the mixer the morning of the parade. I had to burn the frost off of it with a hair dryer first,and we tilted a space heater up inside the shop to try to warm it up so the decal would stick. When I stopped by the shop to get fuel before I went to Seneca Tuesday it was 94 degrees. Still no rain ....speaking of Tom at the shop ( I'm Tom too ),he's discovered a new form of entertainment (?)-he took the top off a windshield washer fluid jug,drilled a hole in it and screwed an air line chuck into it.Then he connects an air line to it that has a shut-off on the wall,sets the empty jug by the tool box or under a trailer and waits for an unsuspecting victim to walk by,then he turns the air on and the jug explodes like a cannon firing. I think he's gotten about everybody-i'll be glad when he runs out of empty jugs.I think when I fill my washer tank if the jug is empty i'll cut a hole in it with my pocket knife.

Kind of like a knuckleboom-I've seen knucklebooms when I was young that had about 15 levers,plus the pedals,and wondered how anyone could run something like that.I'm not an equipment operator either,and of course people did run them and were good with them,but now they just have 2 joystick controls and the pedals.

That is a neat looking show-where is this located if anywhere? Is the old equipment and mixer retired and parked at the same site? I've seen some of the trucks at Winchester and the bus in N.C.

I left Sunday and went to Cleveland,brought coils back to Roanoke,then loaded treated lumber at Moneta and went to Seneca,Pa. and finally went to Kent,Oh. and picked up 2 new 48' aluminum Fontaine trailers. They bought Ravens trailers,so you can't get a Ravens anymore,but I suppose these are the same trailer,just different name.They came from the old Ravens factory.Just got in with them a little while ago,so i'm too tired to write anything tonight. Maybe later...zzzzzz

I don't know,but I agree totally

Whew! And I got up this morning wondering why I even put this question out there. I have the Delicate Sound of Thunder video along with Pulse and Live at Pompei. I saw the Pulse tour at Raleigh.

Yep,that's it! Some of the lines are still copper,most have been changed to the plastic lines,still got some rubber hoses.

OK, I know this isn't the recipe corner or music discussion forum,but I was just looking at Aussie Floyd on You Tube.That's an Australian Pink Floyd tribute band,and very good I must say. I'm 51 years old, married most of it,been driving a truck for 29 years come January,and Pink Floyd is my Favorite band. Got to see them live in Raleigh,N.C. in the early '90s-I've seen the Eagles, Jimmy Buffet,Lynard Skynard,Dan Fogelburg (former girlfriends idol,that's the only reason ),ZZ Top several times,and many others-but Pink Floyd put on a truly awesome show,far and away the best concert i've ever seen. So my girl friend and I got into this discussion-well,most drivers my age are into Country and Bluegrass,and I like some country music,but mostly like the Floyd,ZZ Top,George Thorogood, etc. and I always listen to classic rock on my XM when I listen to music. I've completely worn out a couple of "Dark Side of the Moon " tapes...so the question is-am I an aardvark or not?

Hey Greg, that sounds like my girlfriend driving my Ford Ranger.

When Mack comes out with the BIG horsepower i'm gonna ask Jeff to get me a Mack,when I wear that Peterbilt out!

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