Tuesday, November 28, 2006

WORK TODAY...

I call in late... Thirty minutes after that I show up. Kenworth is down, air leak... Our new driver is toes up underneath with the right parts and the wrong know how... I fix it, he leaves and I radio our number one and two honchos that he is in route. Get coffee, go into office, turn on my computer. Radio lights up, more problems, goto jobsite and fix faulty wires in concrete pump. Save day twice already, its not even nine a.m. (I love these mornings...) like I said earlier, I'm still drunk from last night! Anyway...

Pick up borrowed backhoe from family friend. (he doesn't take care of his equipment very well at all! I've had to rig his shit before.) Spend the next two and half hours troubleshooting some wiring problems. FOUND IT! Patting myself on the back at this point. And that does not normally happen. Order parts and take lunch.

Return from lunch and pull up to work and meet up with number three at the bottom of the road. Borrowed backhoe has blown a hydraulic line and spewed its entire contents onto a quarter mile of highway. Oh and both the C.H.P. and the sheriff pulled over to offer help.

"Should we call the fire department to clean up this hazerdous spill?"

They noticed the twenty gallons of toxic crap polluting "their" highway. They split, it takes two trips to get the right tools and to remove replace the offending hose...

Now we are short about fifteen gallons of HYGAURD, that's john deer oil. (special, with detergents.) back to the yard to find out some one backed into something with a truck... Order parts for that. Jam to town for more hydraulic oil and to pick up parts from earlier... Phone calls, text messages and personal banking later, I leave town for the Sur. Pass two cops on the way home giving tickets and top off the tractor with oil so they can pick it up tomorrow morning.

Get back into the yard and the boys are standing around our other concrete pump, stareing with bewilderment. Tire is off and things looked fucked. More operators fixing shit...

"I think the wheel bearings are bad." says someone with greasy fingers.

"No, the axle must be loose." says another.

"The whole thing was shaking down the highway." was the last thing I heard.

It takes all of ten second for me to look down and see the tire that they removed to "find" the problem has a bulge in it as big as a grapefruit.. hmmm. Shaking? Funny noise? Trailer bouncing around.... nuff said. Problem handled. Used tire replacement and more parts ordered.

Check in and leave the yard... One more day down...

2 comments:

Black Egg said...

It's scary how much you remind me of the guy I've been dating off and (mostly) on for the past 6 years... but it's kind of cool in a way - he does the same kind of work as you and is always the go-to guy at work. Also the only person capable of operating and fixing the rock crusher. Everyone's always busting things and he's always fixing them. And yeah, the man can drink. And drive. So I know I keep saying it, but I really like reading your stories!

INNER VOICES said...

thanks and i appreciate your comments... it gets so frustrating with people breaking crap every day! already today some one ripped another hydro hose off the same tractor i fixed yesterday! WTF and kw4 batteries were dead...

"did you leave the radio on"

"uh no."

yeah right... when i hooked up the charger both radios spring into action... ass hole...