i did not mean it that way Sheldon, what i meant was that it gets old real quick after spending 16 hours a day in the cab every day. but it is a rewarding life, knowing what you are doing is going to feed a lot of people. i figured the farm life was not for me and went into heavy construction. it is basically the same thing, getting paid to play with really cool really big toys, just in a different type of sandbox.

i watched a shop steward and 30 year dozer operator do almost the same thing. he stopped on a hillside with a high-track D8, and got out of the cab to take a leak, we think. the problem was he never set the parking brake, and the dozer started rolling backwards, tossing him off the end of the tracks before rolling over him, killing him as it rolled all the way down the hill before stopping at the bottom against a big oak tree.
there was nothing we could do except call for EMS and watch it run him over.

 

Man Ray, thats fast loading! I cant load that fast in my 580 lol.

 

Joe thats some cool equipment!
Ive seen some cool military equipment pass through saskatoon lately, one was a really neat JD410 backhoe painted all up, I want it!

Im a farmboy at heart. i would have loved to take over my grandfathers farm, but the money just isnt there like I was looking for, that brought me to the patch, then to buy some equipment to do some digging with.

 

Morning folks. Happy Bday Tristan. Looks like you had a good time.

 

Heres one of the biggest non tractor/trailer type trucks that I have driven.

index

 

Joe those loaders are approximately 3 yard loaders which is the same size as our loaders if I'm correct. They look to be a little shorter height-wise though.

I ran a 544J on a job 2 years ago and that was a NICE machine. Joystick control for the bucket. F-N-R selector was just a toggle switch on the bucket joystick and two buttons on top of the stick would shift up and down. That was if you wanted to shift manually. You could switch auto and manual trans.

That meant you never had to take your left han off the wheel or take your right hand off the joystick. Made for much nicer operation. Plus it had hydraulic brakes rather than the air brakes like our Dressers have.

 

Yep them guys were fast and good at what they done
Think the fastest I ever loaded was with a 21yd LeTourneu-Westinghouse payloader back when I was 19 or 20.That was when I worked down here for GALC a subsiderary of GM,they had some awsum machines

I'de hate to change that kelly by my self.The biggest we used down in construction was 40 ft,some of the drillers used the long bars

 

The JD544 has come a long way since it's birth,they were about the first articulated loader for a small contractor only ones before that was a Scoopmobile but you didn't see many in the south
We bought one when they first come out in the late '60s,a whopping $17000 so it must have weighed around 17000 lbs

 

Good morning everyone!

Happy birthday Tristan!!!

 

Morning, Cris.

And yes Happy Birthday, Tristan.

Anyone seen "The Last Castle" ? I'm watching it now and it seems to be a pretty cool movie.

 

Morning Cris.

Never seen the movie Pete, whats it about?

 

There's a really famous general who is sent to prison. The guy controlling the prison is a nutjob. It's a military prison.

The general guy gives the prisoners a sense of self-respect again and the guy who controls the prison doesn't like it.

Like, for example, the guy who controls the prison was making them build a wall. They were doing a really crappy job. The general finds a guy whose father was a mason and they knock their wall down and build it again, but do an awesome job at it. Except the guy controlling the prison doesn't like that they are getting their self-respect back and are listening to the general. So he brings in a dozer to knock their wall down. Except he does it while they are all out working on it. They sound the horn which means all prisoners are supposed to go prone and put their hands on their head. The guy whose father was a mason runs over and stands in front of the dozer. The guy in the dozer stops so he doesn't run him over. The guy controlling the prison radios to a guard in a tower and they shoot him in the temple with a non-lethal projectile which kills him.

Another thing is that they aren't supposed to salute inside the prison so they salute and then run their fingers through their hair so it's not technically saluting.

Now they are going to try to take over the prison and get the guy in charge relieved of his command. They have to raise the prison's flag upside down.

 

I don't think I have seen that movie Pete, sounds good though.

Time to give Bilstein his meds, had him at the emregency vet lastnight for sneezing and couching up blood. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with him so she said to just give him some Benadryl thinking he might have allergies. For a little dog he is a PITA to squirt liquid meds into his mouth. After that I am off to jump out of a plane!!!

Have a good afternoon everyone!!

 

A few pics from the lake yesterday

alamo lake pictures by AzBlueWolf - Photobucket

I have to ask Vicki for the pic she took of me and post it later

 

Movie sounds pretty good Pete.