Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

rick91351 · November 21, 2013, 10:37:41 PM

Glenn up this way insulated bibs are the uniform of the day. Even the girly girls wear them. But it has hardly been that cold. I had to go help repair a frost free water hydrant over in the yard of the church. I took my bibs just in case and rode the fourwheeler over there. WOW was I ever glad to get home even with the bibs. I about froze my bibs off

getting home and being a little to wet.

glenn kangiser · November 22, 2013, 03:18:29 AM

I found an "O" ring safe chain lube today recommended at the NAPA store Rob. Made things a lot easier.

I wanted to find the valve adjustment tool but not a chance here in Tehachapi.. and I wonder about Fresno...may have had to order it and didn't have time. I did read about it though. [ouch]

The other thing here is clearance... glad I didn't have much problem on the exhaust valves... one was a tight .006 when it should have been 007 down to a loose .006.

Getting in to adjust it made me figure it was close enough... [ouch]

November 22, 2013, 03:26:58 AM

Rick... I saw the other welders wearing them so I was jealous and had to order me some ..Besides ...they tell me it is getting colder....

.... no....cold

Today I took the bike out for a ride... bought a set of rain gear and rode it up to My Pastor friends house about 30 minutes or so away up on the mountain....

I put the rain gear on... stepped across the water in the gutter by the street where my bike was parked in front of my truck. Ripped the crotch right out of my brand new reinforced rain pants.... needless to say.... on the way home in driving rain, the rain pants, my blue jeans, my first and second pair of long johns and my underwear were all soaked clear through.... No ... it's not an incontinence problem, thank you...... [ouch]

rick91351 · November 24, 2013, 10:50:39 AM

If you like bibs to work in those heavy double lined in the leg canvas Carhart or Key are hard to beat. They look a lot like the insulated ones but no quilting and not near as bulky. I used them when I was working on the railroad in the winter time a lot. I was never a big fan of bibs just to wear. Funny it seemed like all us engineers were stereotyped into bibs and those weird huge gantlet gloves. Those went out when they retired and cut up all those old steam engines. Really no embers burning your sleeves and your be-goggled head out the window to see, freezing your flesh. Wonders of wonders. So I would put a pair in my grip and if I had a drafty cold cab, or the heating unit went out I would dawn them. When it started to get really cold I ditched them and went to the insulated bibs.

glenn kangiser · November 25, 2013, 06:19:04 PM

I could just see you in them, Rick... how long since you shoveled coal anyway?

I think they will be good to work in though I have never really wanted to wear suspenders... remember Fred?

Got home for the weekend... the winter garden is starting to take off pretty good...

I don't want to pull the grass out untill I am sure what is plants and what is not... planted onion and leek seeds in there too as well as beets and carrots broadcast. I added a bunch ov compost and a bit of commercial fertilizer to get things going.. lets see what it will do while I'm gone. I have to move back up here to the old garden as the steer thinks the hugelkultur bed is his garden.. pretty much gone now... [ouch]

November 25, 2013, 08:44:44 PM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 25, 2013, 06:19:04 PM
I could just see you in them, Rick... how long since you shoveled coal anyway?

Last time I shoveled coal was when I filled the stoker on mom and dad's Iron Fireman coal furnace.

Next question................

glenn kangiser · November 26, 2013, 01:04:03 AM

Hmmmmm .... I am becoming a bit disenchanted...

I had pictured you right up there feeding that big ol' firebox right alongside of Casey Jones as he taught you the ropes......

rick91351 · November 26, 2013, 10:19:03 AM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 26, 2013, 01:04:03 AM
Hmmmmm .... I am becoming a bit disenchanted...

I had pictured you right up there feeding that big ol' firebox right alongside of Casey Jones as he taught you the ropes......

No but I had a lot of old engineers when I hired out tell me about it when they were young aspiring fireman learning the trade. And the stories of the old engineers they apprenticed with. Apparently some of them would even acknowledge when they reported for duty. Others-- OH not so much until they messed up. Not enough coal not enough steam - stupid #$@##$#@%$ fireman. Too much coal - your chokin' 'er she cant breath -- dumb #$R%$#%(#$( fireman. To much water in the boiler 'er drownin' her - yep @#$%#$#% fireman. Not enough water in the boiler you stupid @#@@#@#$%%@# you will blow us all to hell. 95% of the time they would not even let the the firemen step over to the right hand side of the cab where the engineers seat box was let alone show them anything about running an engine.....

Fireman had to keep the cab swept and wiped down en-route. Plus look out on curves to the left because the engineers view was obstructed by the boiler. He had to also observe signals by lantern and wayside signals as well. Oh yes and keep the boiler tended..... Of course there were no hand held radios and everything was communicated with hand signs and lantern signals in to the cab from the outside. It was that way when I hired out as well. Hand held radios were not common until the eighties. In the switching yards you could go a whole shift and hardly talk to the switch crew. Lots of times for 'beans' (lunch period) they would line you into a track and again give you a bean sign. You took your engine into the clear and turned out the lights and rested and waited for the go home move..... or you would walk over to the switch shanty and eat...... Us younger guys would talk to the switch crews the older guys just sat there trained in; 'Enginemen were not to talk to switchmen.' Some seemed to be good friend way from work.....At work ---- well not so much.....

considerations · November 26, 2013, 10:30:05 AM

I have a pair of insulated bibs...there are times when it is worth the trouble.

November 26, 2013, 10:15:15 PM

Hmmm Rick... that sounds like the signs of a Union Job.....

Considerations, I was never one to want to spend all that time and trouble getting dressed either... trouble... yup, but when it gets really cold out you are right... it becomes worth it.. [ouch]

Last Thursday I bought rain gear for my ride home...put it on and in 30 seconds I was crotchless..... Sassy said to take them back... so I did. Surprise surprise... a full refund of about $34 from True Value. I will shop there next time I need something. Today I received new rain gear from Amazon for about $50 including shipping overnight on Prime,.... Nelson-Rigg Stormrider 6000.... 100% guaranteed for 2 years. Their motto... "It isn't just a bike"..... I must say they look great too.

Checking out the bike specs the other day... 130hp.... I didn't think it was that much. No wonder it is so much fun....

Paperwork this week then back to work next week... a little anyway...... still waiting for the rest to catch up again.

Snow right above our heads... brisk motorcycle rides....this was the view from my apartment patio today....

Interesting place to work for an extended time for a change....I guess I'll just keep getting geared up to handle it.....

glenn kangiser · December 12, 2013, 12:14:27 AM

OK.. I took off without my computer about a week and a half ago because it was going to snow and it didn't fit in the saddlebags... rode my Motorcycle back to Mariposa.... [ouch]

In the meantime, it did snow and it is still here.. both Tehachapi and Mariposa..... and still icy and snowy at both places. Snow melted enough in Mariposa for me to get a bike carrier built for my Motorcycle and take it back on the truck with me... I got explorin' to do.....

Work in Tehachapi has been delayed a bit but I still have a load of paperwork to do..... guess I can do that before my next excursion....

This was just a roadside stop to check the straps.... lighting was decent so I took a few pix.

I calculated it all out in my own little non-engineer way... using my rules of thumb... heck ... I'm all thumbs sometimes...

Anyway, when I got to the apartment it was still on the truck... guess it worked...

Windpower · December 12, 2013, 04:12:35 AM

Good to hear from you - I was wondering what happened

good looking rack

rick91351 · December 12, 2013, 05:43:26 AM

Quote from: Windpower on December 12, 2013, 04:12:35 AM
Good to hear from you - I was wondering what happened

good looking rack

Ya I was wondering if we needed to form a committee to delegate a posse of seven able bodied men to go looking for you......

glenn kangiser · December 12, 2013, 12:48:16 PM

Sorry Guys... I'll try to do better next time... [ouch]

Missed the train derail while I was gone too.....

Go to address below for video

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Freight-train-derails-near-Tehachapi-235252111.html

I am very happy with the way the rack worked. It could have been a little higher but I already had a 2x2 tube steel left over from another project with an 8" drop in it.... it looked like an easy way to make the thing easily loaded for highway travel and I wasn't off roading anywhere with the heavy bike....I think the rack weighs about 60 lbs estimated.

Even with the massive math intensive calculations I stopped every few miles to make sure all was well....my calcs showed a large safety margin but still.... the straps never did loosen as I thought they might.....

I have to unload it today and check out the jobsite to see when work may start up again...

December 12, 2013, 10:59:43 PM

Just glad it wasn't another passenger train.

This was 1/4 mile from my girlfriend's post and a few miles from our house.
http://www.wspa.com/story/24058586/spartanburg-south-carolina-train-derailment

glenn kangiser · December 13, 2013, 02:34:12 AM

At least nobody was seriously hurt in that, Ben. That's good.

Snow at the complex last weekend... OK... you caught me... yes... it is fake Google Snow. One of their auto-awesome tricks.... [ouch]

Checked out the jobsite today...nearly nobody working due to the snow...

... foreman seemed a bit ticked... not really enough for anybody to complain about today. They should have been out there working in my opinion.. he was out there shoveling a bit of snow out of the ditches.

So many nice mountain people up here...

Dropped by the historic old cemetery on my motorcycle. Two guys at the green house yelled out... hey, you ready for a beer?

I said yes, I guess I could have one.... so I met Fernando and Fernando.. father and son who offered me my choice of Bud Lite or Bud Lite...

Hmmm... ya know, maybe I'll just have a Bud Lite.....

Nice guys who told me if I needed help or anything while in town they were there.

rick91351 · December 13, 2013, 10:29:52 AM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on December 12, 2013, 12:48:16 PM

Hey Glenn what happen to your photo?

Repost it........

Actually that is not as bad as it looks. It is ones - those where you wad up 30 or 40 cars and stuff them in to a rock cut or wedged into a tunnel and you can not figure out if they are a tank car, box car or a hopper car. But then it just doesn't matter much you have to get in there and start cutting and pulling. Best one in my carrier was one in the 1980's close to 100 cars of Soda Ash were in a jumbled mess under a freeway bridge on Sherman Hill. Soda Ash is so I understand just baking soda but used for everything from glass to toothpaste - car parts to plastics. The railroads and barge lines haul train loads of it. Around here it is mined in Wyoming. It is exported all over the world. But it is also powder and they had trouble keeping it out of the air filters on the equipment.

This derailment what they can't pull back on the rail after the dozers get there they will just set over to the side. Then the track panels will be laid, they will dump a little ballast, bond the rails to the signal system, put out a temporary speed restriction and a close clearance track bulletin and good to go.....

16 to 24 hours from the time the dozers get on site. Useually three big D 8 dozers and a D6 or so. It does not take long to get dozers anywhere when the railroads are paying for it. Most places I knew of they are on retainer. You call - we come - no matter what we are doing at the time.... Rock and roll lets get'er done.

glenn kangiser · December 14, 2013, 01:39:09 PM

Not sure what happened to the pix.. may be the way I linked them.. let me know if you don't see one and which one.. I see all of them.....

The trains are of course running. The cars are still along side of the trax... going exploring today... Hopefully some interesting pix soon.

rick91351 · December 14, 2013, 03:49:37 PM

I rebooted my computer for an update. Checked last night and bingo it was back.......

ben2go · December 14, 2013, 03:52:34 PM

Quote from: rick91351 on December 14, 2013, 03:49:37 PM
I rebooted my computer for an update. Checked last night and bingo it was back.......

NSA just need to install a script so they could see what you are looking at,that's all.

December 14, 2013, 05:33:53 PM

Quote from: ben2go on December 14, 2013, 03:52:34 PM
NSA just need to install a script so they could see what you are looking at,that's all.

Yep

I so don't like what is goin' down.....

ben2go · December 14, 2013, 07:07:50 PM

Quote from: rick91351 on December 14, 2013, 05:33:53 PM
Yep I so don't like what is goin' down.....

I'm with you on that.

glenn kangiser · December 15, 2013, 11:14:37 PM

Computer troubles, Rick...

Maybe you could use a new mouse......

I did get to the desert.. in fact all of the way to Arizona as well as took a look at the London Bridge again.

I went to the Hole In The Wall...

Providence Ghost Town...

Stuff in the Mojave Desert National Preserve...

All in all it was a relatively busy weekend...

rick91351 · December 16, 2013, 09:04:05 AM

Did you go up from Parker or down from Needles to see the bridge? Or is there another way?

Lots and lots of desert no matter which way you go.

I am using a cheap HP laptop and it does have issues. But I think the thing with the photo was something in the script said it was there and it was not.

glenn kangiser · December 16, 2013, 10:43:34 AM

I went through Needles but you have to go on into Arizona and go down from the North to get there.... seems it is about 27 miles east of Needles.

The bridge in the day time... must have been a real task to bring that bridge over here and reassemble it....

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/14232

As the article states... the little British town at the base of the bridge has faded since I was there in 1980 something and a time or two in the early 90's. I wanted the Fish and Chips at the shop at the bridge...but it is gone and the rest of the town has lured people away I think. Still for a concept town.. it is greatly successful. Whoda thunk so many people would like to go out here to the middle of nowhere.

At least it is improved from what the article states it was when the author was there.

The fountain was working well when I was there.

Things were decorated nicely though closed with few people around.