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Platypus - "When Pus Comes to Shove" (again) My Photographs You like photos? I love taking them. Click here, if you wanna see some of my work
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Friday, Jan. 31, 2003 - 9:11 p.m. Yeah, it snowed again. The forecast this morning only mentioned rain. No snow. Too warm for snow to fall, let alone to stick to the ground. Wrong. Again. The baby elephant flakes started falling about 9 am. By 10, we had wet snow covering the road, and making a mess of our plans for the day. We had to call in our work crews, and then needed a few hourly guys to cover all of the routes. Did I mention that most of the night crew got called in at 1 am last night? And that nothing happened all night, which means they went home at 7:30 �well rested�, if you get my drift? I headed out to my route, and had to treat the areas in town with salt because the slush was building up in the driving lanes. Now, mind you, it was 35� at the time the snow was falling. Scientifically, you would say it is impossible for snow to accumulate when the temperature at ground level is that much above freezing. Scientifically, that is bullshit. When baby elephants are falling from the sky, it has to pile up some. I think at least 2� ended up on the road. If the air had been below 32�, we would have had 8�-12� of snow. It was falling that fast. I managed to get all of the in-town area treated and plowed off, and then headed out to my rural 4 lane. I plowed the passing lane, and was working on the passing lane shoulder when my truck died. Again. It had lost its prime, and nothing I tried would get it started up. Again. Joe D. Mechanic came out and tightened up the fuel filters. After that, he pumped the primer for about 30 minutes. It did no good. Every time he hit the bleeder valve, air bubbles came forth. He decided that I had a probably had a crack somewhere in my fuel line. Great. We called in for a tow truck. And then we waited . And waited. And waited. After an hour, I called the yard. I told Rabbit to call the wrecking company up, and to tell them that we had waited too long. They said it would be only 30 minutes. This company has been bugging us to send some of our business their way, so that is the only reason why we called them today. It ended up taking their driver 1 � hours to get there. It will be a long time before I call them for another tow. That is a promise��. I returned to my route around 3 pm, and then spent the rest of my shift waiting to see if the wet pavement would refreeze. This is, bar none, the most boring part of being a snowplow operator. Well, maybe waiting for the first flakes to fall. That�s pretty bad, too. But the thermometers on both of my banks kept rising in the 4 hours I had to wait the wet road out. They both read 32� at 3 pm, and 36� when I finally returned to the yard to go home. Yes, the overtime is nice. But I have officially reached the point of burned-out on this weather. If it would dump a 8� snow on us one time, maybe time would pass more quickly. But these piddly little snows are sapping our will, emptying our salt dome, and taking a toll on our old trucks. Tomorrow? If it is above freezing at 8 am, I will be headed to the local nuclear power plant. I will attempt to fill my plastic 5-gallon bucket with tasty bluegill, using ultra-light tackle and wax worms. I will fish in the open water where the hot water flows out of the reactors. No, these fish do not come with an extra set of eyes. Lease has to work (again!) until 12 anyway. I need a diversion from constantly sitting behind the wheel of a 3-ton truck� Two quick items: Debron (or however he spells his first name) James, the high school basketball player that has made more headlines this season than any college player, is now officially ineligible to play in anymore of the �amateur �games his team takes part in this season. Why, you might ask if you were remotely interested in this story? Not because his mom gave him a Hummer (that would be the SUV, not the act that would get her in trouble with Child/Family Services), even thought she doesn�t have a job, and has spent much of her adult life away from her son because of drug and legal problems. No, the Ohio High School Association decided that was fine. HE didn�t by the SUV with HIS money, and it wasn�t a �gift� from a booster, it was from his �mom�. No, what finally stopped this freak show was the fact he accepted a couple of high-priced �throwback� football and basketball jerseys from a storeowner who wanted a little cheap publicity for his business. THAT is against the �amateur� rules in his home state. You can�t profit from your athletic ability, don�t you know? I guess the fact that his SCHOOL paraded him all over the country, picking up huge paychecks for pay-per-view showings of his games (?!?), and otherwise made a bundle of money off of his ability were just fine, but if HE profited from HIS ability, that was a no-no. I think the whole situation is both sad and sickening, if you can�t tell. Yes, he is very good. He is a man among boys, and will be the first pick in next years� NBA draft. What, you thought this rocket scientist was headed to Yale or Harvard? Get real. It just galls me that the OSHA would act so offended by his accepting the two jerseys, when his school was pimping him out like THEY were, and that was just fine. We are just goofy when it comes to sports in the country�.. The last thing I wanted to tell you about was a story I heard on the radio at lunchtime today. Somewhere in Pennsylvania, a snowplow driver for PDOT was doing his job, when the road in front of him was blocked. In order to get around the logjam, he turned off on a rural side road, and headed through the country in order to get back on his route. I have had to do this before while plowing out a 2-lane road. It�s either that, or get stuck in traffic with the rest of the traffic. Anyway�. While cutting thought he country, he came upon a overturned vehicle. The driver was pinned (!) underneath the vehicle. The plow driver gave the man first aid, covered him with a blanket from his truck, and called an ambulance for him. It turns out that he had been trapped under the vehicle for a while. Since the road was rarely traveled, and even less traffic was on it then due to the snow, he might not have been found for a long time if not for a state snowplow driver, looking for a detour from a traffic jam. Now, aren�t you glad you read all the way down to the end of this long-winded entry today? I need to contact Auntie-Mari to see if her husband knows this driver. Or, even better, if it was him�..
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