Thursday, April 3, 2014

A Little Green

It may not be much but around here it looks pretty good. The ground has been visible in some areas but it has been looking pretty dismal still. This is the first suggestion of "green". Not too much going on around here. The full size battery is now back in the sidecar and I'm thinking about making a platform on the inner sidecar frame to hold the battery box. The Mazda project is back on Craigslist as my son needs reliable transportation sooner rather than later.

Aerostitch asked me to send in the Roadcrafter Light sometime so they can permanently fix the velcro used to hold the back pad in place. Since I am heading out of town this weekend, it seemed like a good time to send it off. The last ironing job worked for a couple of weeks and it didn't start to come off until I removed the back pad and armor before shipping.

Our campus facilities department decided to tackle the ice in front of our building the hard way. No machines here just sledgehammer and a shovel. These two guys traded off tasks for a couple of hours trying to get most of the ice off of the walkways.

13 comments:

  1. That's the way to do it, too. Man power.

    Good for you and the bare earth! Whatever will happen next!

    I think I read in my scooter/motorcycle insurance update that motorcycles with sidecars will be classified as cars? Did I read that right? If it's news to you then I"ll retrieve the info from my recycling bin and check it again.

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    1. Don't know if the two guys felt that way after swinging the sledgehammer for a couple of hours. And that was just for this area of the sidewalk.

      The steam truck was in the parking lot this afternoon putting up parking cones. They will probably be returning tomorrow to open the storm drains.

      Progressive considers the sidecar as a motorcycle "accessory" and just asked for a cost estimate for replacement.

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  2. Remember when men used to build muscles by working instead of going to the gym?

    I'm sure those guys felt something right when they told to use the sledgehammers and I really can't blame them.

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    1. No, that was before my time ;-)

      Muscles, gym, work, I've heard of those terms before. But it is a faint memory along with green leaves, swimming (by choice), and warmth....

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  3. Man, hacking at thick ice with hand tools.....such memories came flooding back....the place was some ice covered field in Germany, the time was one of the REFORGER exercices (Return of Forces to Germany).....it had gotten so cold that maneuvers were suspended and units told to "laager" in place to avoid accidents and further damages. To while away the time and boredom I took to hacking away at the ice on the ground inside the tent that comprised the TOC (tactical ops center) portion of my FDC (Fire Direction Control) M5777 tracked vehicle. I believe my crew thought I'd gone nuts as I maniacally wielded a pick axe, then a shovel, then back to the pick axe with sometimes wild abandon.....I was just trying to rid myself of the ice floor, as my toes were fast approaching frostbite status, even with insulated boots. I'd forgotten this little episode in my life RichardM, thanks.....I think.

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    1. Glad to bring up wonderful memories of times past...

      That sounds pretty miserable way to spend your free time...

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  4. Those guys with the ice won't have to go to the gym anytime soon.

    Glad to see a little green poking through the snow too. Won't be too awfully long and you'll have to mow something.

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    1. The green poking through was somewhat of a surprise and sort of caught me off guard. Didn't expect it at all and right outside my office door.

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  5. Richard:

    Glad to see a bit of Spring popping up. Your cold weather must be over now that they are spending so much labor on removing the ice.

    I remember back in the old days I had a job unloading and loading trucks by hand. We had 3 of us moving 100 lbs sacks of potatoes and stacking the box up to the top, by hand. One by the skid, another bringing it over to the truck and have to Fling it up to the guy in the truck who would stack the piles.

    I also worked in a lumber mill, on the Chain line and stacking the wood by hand for the Grab trucks. Couldn't do it now . . .

    bob
    A weekend photographer or Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. I see one of the workers on a regular basis (the one swinging the hammer) and he isn't that much younger than either of us. But probably in much shape due to the heavy lifting he does day in and day out. I can't imagine hauling and loading 100lb sacks all day long.

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    2. I don't think that our cold weather is over but probably close enough to justify breaking up the ice and opening up the storm drains.

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  6. Yay for something green. I am glad that the maintenance crew takes care of an obvious dangerous issue. Looks like hard work.

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    1. The sidewalk was dangerously slick before they worked on it. An the ice layer was getting thicker and thicker with each warm afternoon.

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