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Friday, Jan. 30, 2004 - 2:53 p.m.

Long, cold night�plus- the most hurricane-proof �home� you could ever live in(if you have the money to buy one, I can think of many other better ways to spend it)��.

I ended up working from 7:30 pm until 5:20 am last night/today. We couldn�t really do anything to what was left on the roadways once we finished scrapping down what we could, so they sent us home after we had our �8 hour day� in (5.33 hours x 1.5= close enough to 8 hours work).

The overnight low was �10� Fahrenheit. Even with the aid of calcium chloride (an additive we use with salt that helps it work at cooler temperatures, in case I haven�t mentioned it here before) , snow and ice won�t budge when it is that cold. I think they rate a mix of salt and calcium chloride as somewhat effective to +15�, and that is only if you don�t mind waiting a few hours to see results.

In other words, there was no reason for us to hang around once the scrapping was completed.

I always worry about my truck breaking down in conditions like those we faced last night. Diesel fuel can �gel up� in extreme cold, causing the engine to die. This has happened to me a couple of times, through the years. When you are out on the roadways at 3am, getting someone to stop (or even drive by) is never a given.

At extreme cold, transmissions and rear differentials can lock up. This happened to me about 5 years ago. I made the mistake of parking with my last truck with the rear end facing a strong (25 mph) wind. I only stopped for about 15 minutes, but when I put the truck back into gear, it wouldn�t budge. I gave the accelerator some diesel, but the truck wouldn�t move. IT felt like I had one foot on the accelerator and one on the brake, and had both pushed to the floor. Finally (and before I had to call for help), whatever had frozen up gave with a loud �bang�, sending my truck screaming in reverse onto the roadway.

Luckily for me, it was about 2 am. Nobody besides me was on the roadway at the time. I think it was also �10� at the time.

Only fools and state workers spend their nighttime hours in the elements in those conditions�..

My NDDOT truck (when it is not deadlined) is only 3 years old. It has a very good heater installed in it. Especially when compared to the old D-series trucks that were still around when I started working for the state back in 1983. Those trucks had such week heaters; you literally had to scrape the frost off of the INSIDE of the windshield. I used to always make sure I had a can of window de-icer whenever I left the yard. If not, you wouldn�t be able to see out of your passenger side window once snow blew up on it whenever you were using your plow.

The heater in my new truck is so strong, I usually end up taking my sweatshirt off and drive in only a t-shirt. I could turn the heat down some, but then my toes start to go numb in my (required by the state) steel-toed boots.

I am not complaining- one night last week in one of the old trucks reminded me how good I have it with my newer truck�


One of these days, I need to post an entry detailing how far the equipment and techniques have come in the time I have worked at NDDOT (21 winters, for those keeping track). We are still behind some of the other states in state-of-the-art trucks and such. But things are so much better than they were when I started, too.

I have only had 6.5 hours of crummy sleep today, after being up for almost 24 straight hours. So I don�t think I can remember all of the changes right now.

Maybe I should save that topic for my next �nothing� day at work?


I�ll leave you with a couple of links.

The first one is for a �house� I found for sale on eBay.

I guess that would be a good way to get rid of out of service ones, besides the usual �junkyard in the desert� method�


This page has a Flash animation clip that should bring back memories for anyone who grew up in the 1970�s. You have to scroll all the way to the bottom of this webpage to view the short video. Slightly twisted, but funny none the less (IMHO).


We picked up another inch or so of snow again today while I was sleeping. I just called the storage, and they are trying to get things cleaned up so my shift won�t have to work tonight.

I, for one, am hoping that they succeed��.

Antique - Futuristic


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