The Descriptive Process

[woodfarmer]

So I flooded the log splitter engine, then I think I’ve cross threaded the plug threads on the engine as I don’t have those three year old hands, crap!!!

 

[northmanlogging]

I made a new friend today, fallows me around mimicking everything i do, never makes a noise and only stands on my north side

 

[rwoods]

I bet he hangs with you even when you drop something on him. Or say something less than civil.

Ron

 

[northmanlogging]

couldn't shake him all day... and there was a ceder that was hung up bad... lots of less then civil words and actions, but he stayed right there with me.

 

[chucker]

it's a good thing northy to have a close friend you cant scare away .... to bad they hide when the sun goes down or it's cloudy?

 

[chucker]

another good thing about your friend is he's a great listener.. never says a word or argue your point of view... lol kinda like a "YES PERSON"..... ? "NO" ??

 

[woodfarmer]

I’ve been thinking about picking up an old john Deere skidder, however today was 20* blowing 4 inches of snow and I was warm and toasty inside my tractor cab.

 

[northmanlogging]

don't do it, next thing you know you'll be telling folks how much you like the fresh air in the open cage of an ancient skidder, and the permanently grease and oil stained hands from wrenching on it, how good a welder you've become, and the jaggers aren't as big a deal as them HaxeMen dildo's say they are.

 

[SliverPicker]

I love my open cab. It makes it easier to hear the wind blowing through the holes in my head.

 

[northmanlogging]

So I'm taking cdl A classes...

Double clutching is the dumbest most inefficient bull **** ever

Rant over

 

[SliverPicker]

I got my CDL A permit a year ago, but the truck test was going to cost me $5500. They wonder why there's a shortage of truckers.

 

[SliverPicker]

So I'm taking cdl A classes...

Double clutching is the dumbest most inefficient bull **** ever

Rant over

I'm told some instructors won't pass you unless you double clutch. Period.

 

[northmanlogging]

I'm told some instructors won't pass you unless you double clutch. Period.

Here its just points on a test, but I figure I'm going to need as many as possible so I may as well learn it...

its tough with the gimpy leg, but I'll get er, I don't have a whole lot of control of my left... its mostly a meat hook for my shoes to hang off of.

Out here you have to either provide proof of on the job training, X # hours etc, or take one of many CDL courses that run around 4k for 6 weeks of skooling.

Then pay another $250 to take the test...

Its not cheap by any means, but then the fine for dragging a trailer behind my little dump truck is $10000, and I loose my license for a year, pull it off twice, and never get a CDL of any kind.

Figure since I need the license anyway, I may as well pony up and get the full CDL A, and be legal to drive what the **** ever I wan't, I may have went ahead and gone for tanker and doubles endorsement... but I don't remember

The skools are pretty legit BTW, flexible on hours you show up, help getting the permit, dot physicals, use their truck to test in, all the pain in the dick stuff for a gyppo like me, granted i got the permit on my own as I was planning on cheating and just barrowing a truck and having said owner sign off on the paperwork, but then we both got busy, and I realized if I wanted to actually pass, I would need to like actually drive said truck for more then 3 hours, and do the walk around and in cab... Test is like 2 hours of recital and half an hour of driving.

 

[SliverPicker]

Yeah, I spent about $280 for the written tests and the DOT physical. The driving school would have been $5500. This was for a winter-only job with the Colorado Dept. of Transportation driving a plow. $18 per hour. No benefits and no commitment to rehire you next season. They used to hire for that position with just the permit then allow you to get on-the-job training to get the full CDL. They won't do that anymore because some guy "screwed them over" three years ago by having them do the training and then not coming back the next year. They expected the guy to be unemployed all summer and then come back for $18 for 6 months? Their new hiring policy has resulted in the position not being filled for three years running. Two friends of mine work at the local CDOT garage. The two of them accounted for around $4000 in overtime in December alone last year because CDOT didn't fill the temp position. Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. The managers there don't care. It's just taxpayer money. As long as they don't get "screwed over" it's all good. Joke.

That would have been a good gig for me. Log all summer and drive a plow all winter. Hand cutting trees in 3-5 feet of snow in February can get a bit tiresome. Tiresome, but at least the production is high...

 

[northmanlogging]

I figure worst case the dump truck outfits around here always need drivers, pay isn't terrible, and it gets more experience and connections,

Log trucks need drivers too, but them guys are a little pickier about who drives for em, want experience and shizz.

Absolute werst case long haul... but **** that... I'm sitting in a sleeper cab now... barely enough room to stand or turn around, and it's the biggest one on the lot

 

[northmanlogging]

That and I figure I have 10 15 years of logging in me, by then I'd like to have me a self loader, and retire doing that

 

[Ted Jenkins]

Back in the 70's got a job working for a contractor that had several backhoes and a dump truck to pull them around. I was to keep everything running and clean. Although I knew all about the engines had not a clue into how to go up a hill or down one and here we have hills and nothing else. I had a C license with zero experience and an out of State licence for two years on top of it. Just started driving around. On one particular day boss called wants a ford 755 backhoe delivered some place so loaded it up and proceed to the destination. Was tacking out in third gear going down a hill and was thinking this thing feels kinda heavy maybe time to use a little brake. By the time I get to the bottom I was pushing my foot through the floor board and then it dawned on me that this is why you have to have a special licence and some knowledge. Every year we have school buses tour buses and large trucks go over the sides of the roadway killing most on board. A week later a co worker was arrested with a marginal driver license and guess who goes to pick up the truck and trailer with a out of state drivers licence. The CHP said that this guy was driving weird, but I was OK because he saw me driving around.

Not long after I found a crawler and dump truck from some one I knew so I started driving it. While it was parked some one threw a couple of rocks through the wind shield, but kept on driving it for year until I finally said enough already and applies for A California licence with all the endorsements. Come to find out that I needed to have my trailer inspected along with my truck so that took about six months to get every thing up to standards. In all this never got pulled over once and now I am glad cause probably would have gone to jail. Soon I had the test setup and went through it and nervously waited and then my tester came and congratulated me in that I was one of three that had passed every single aspect with 100%. So to celebrate I went up to central California and to fill my truck and trailer to the brim with wood and headed home. As it turns out I had 45,000 lbs of wood headed up to 6,000 feet where I live as I go the scales the oficier yells out the window as says a little heavy isn't and I nod. I have still maintained all DOT requirements without any meds, but some day when I can not get much older I will have to retire. Thanks

 

[SliverPicker]

That and I figure I have 10 15 years of logging in me, by then I'd like to have me a self loader, and retire doing that

That's some big hours you will have to log. 12 hours is a short day where I grew up. It's 12 hours if everything goes perfectly. Nothing ever goes perfectly when hauling logs out of landing in the land of snow and ice.

 

[1270d]

That's some big hours you will have to log. 12 hours is a short day where I grew up. It's 12 hours if everything goes perfectly. Nothing ever goes perfectly when hauling logs out of landing in the land of snow and ice.

A twelve hours day for a trucker? Seems almost unheard of.

 

[northmanlogging]

Most... of the self loader jockeys out here are up at 5 or 6, first load in at 6am, last unload at or before 4 pm, then sometimes go get another to have one ready in the morning. Say home by 6...

I'm totally ok with this