Quote from: glenn kangiser on August 10, 2014, 10:37:27 PM
Ummmm Gary... that is my oldest hat.... not so classy...

Note the great improvement in style...




Working in San Jose building 2 strip mall stores now...

I do love a fresh subject

To the lab!!

Be gentle, Gary......

Working two jobs now.... Tehachapi and the San Jose Strip Mall stores.... so much to do - so little time.....

I did take time out yesterday to go to a Lechon Pig Party with Wally and my International Student Friends.



We were even visited by a Burmese Python.... courtesy of CIA friend.... from the early 60's in Thailand



He put it in a garbage can the night before and when he lifted the lid off in the morning it Jumped up to bite him in the face... Ohhhhhh.... what a fright... 17'6" of mean ol' snake.  Sorry snake .... don't mess with this guy... clubbed it over the head with the nearest available wooden club... The Thai military boys he worked with took it, ate the meat and tanned the skin giving it back to him a couple months later. About 185 lbs he said if I recall correctly...


Carmella from Palau was its next victim...

My word I am not afraid of snakes at all.  That one there I would wet myself and still been girly screaming since the early 60s!!!  Had a buddy that killed a cobra that was in his hooch.  Someone told him that the mate will hunt down who ever killed its mate.  I think he still sees that cobra swimming the Pacific Ocean crawling up the Blue Mts.... Snake River plain.  Ought to be here any day now......
 

I wonder what the meat would taste like... for some reason I am assuming it would be fishy. 
The hide really help up after all these years.

You can see my old CIA friend in the background of the pix.  The story was so interesting - as are all of his stories.  He and some friends were drinking a bit in a Thai bar.  After some beers it was time to go and and water a tree.  Asked where they were going he and some of his buds said they were going out to find a snake.... They were watering the tree when he looked and saw the snake in the flashlight beam across the road... they couldn't see either end of it. 

He thought it had probably eaten a small pig or something and wasn't moving too fast.  He went to grab the head and his buds went to grab the tail.  He got the head but his buds missed the tail and it started to coil around him.

I would guess there was al lot of commotion and swearing going on at this time as the snake was starting to coil around him.  finally his friends got it uncoiled from him and a bunch of them got the snake subdued.  They took it back in the bar and everyone in there jumped over the counter and hid behind the bar... I'm sure there was a bit of intimidation before the took it out to place it in the garbage can to wait for him until morning.... 

The next morning after it tried to eat his face and he killed it, his Thai military buddies took the snake and skinned it. They took it to be tanned and returned it to him as a gift a couple of months later. He drug it out last night to prove his story.  I don't doubt it a bit.  I know him.

Adam... everything tastes like chicken doesn't it?   


Rick.... he had more snake stories to go with this one... next one the base commander made them release it off base. 


Wet myself... can you spell number 2?   

I had to kill a 15lb 6 foot black snake today.I didn't want to but it wouldn't stay out from under my house.

That's a pretty good sized one, Ben.... I haven't been home enough this year to see the rattlesnakes... generally 3 feet or under. [ouch]

Headed to Tehachapi Monday night then San Jose Wednesday night from Tehachapi.... drive ...drive....drive.  but... I do get paid for it. 

Hi everybody.. sorry I haven't made it in for a long while... working 7days a week 12 hours per day 99% of the time on 3 jobs San Jose, Fresno and Tehachapi.... not at the same time of course... and driving between them.  Home on the average of 8 to 15 hours every couple of weeks..



Can't guarantee when I will make it back so take care... 

I was wondering where you were, glad you're OK (that is, if working 7 twelves a week is ok)

You have been missed -  Well at least  by myself... 

 Miss you guys and gals too, but I hardly even get the computer out lately traveling from motel to job to motel, but I am at my Tehachapi apartment now so it is a bit easier. 

I hadn't even billed my customers for a month or more.... didn't want them thinking it was free so last night got it out and started billing... I don't care for the paperwork but the numbers are extremely nice... and in the right direction too. [ouch]

I am back on at the Hospital Job in Tehachapi after the first concrete company lost their contract... they kept me... maybe I said that.  Looks like we may even finish some day now.  In the meantime I got 2 more jobs - the Fresno Air National Guard Hanger and The shopping center strip mall stores in the above picture and well as several extra change orders at the hospital. 

The engineering/construction company managing the job likes me hence i am back, as I have told them of many problems much in advance as I see them.  Not my job but it will increase the success of the job by giving them much more time to deal with the problems.  Decisions where the state is involved sometimes take months to solve.  Any heads up on a problem is warmly welcomed by them. 

Waiting until they get to them to decide could be another small disaster....

There are a few old photos of the logging of OLD up around Mariposa - and a tad bit of mining around there popping up on a logger facebook page I watch pretty close.  When I see one I wonder what the heck ol' Glenn and Sassy are up to.

Wish I had time to do more logging Rick as I do have logs to get... but my friend in Burma wants me to look more at doing some business there and helping the poor people to make decent durable houses similar to some of the things done on mine, except.... using Bamboo.

I will be going to evaluate some of that this winter.  I am thinking lighter than the underground house for roof using the blue tarps available anywhere for a membrane on the lowest cost houses... and just a a few inches of soil over the tarps to protect them from sun and allow growing grass- rice etc. on the roof to hold the soil in place.  Walls would just be cob.

Also he works with the farmers daily as he is the Vice President of the Myanmar (Burma) Rice and Paddy Traders Association as well as having his own business. He would like me to look into water and water well issues.

Since the US economy is tanking and Burma is at the start of the industrial revolution, I am taking a serious look at business over there. 

More shots of my San Jose project... finishing for the week in Tehachapi tomorrow and San Jose is screaming for me back...





I put up the frames and the company sent me two welders to help me out.. tons of welding ... Jose getting into his work...





Tehachapi Hospital Job - welded in a bunch of the tubes and brackets for the electrical contractor today...(green tape flags )



Extra work welding in plates and stiffeners for a concrete curb at a seismic joint above.. about center is bottom side of plate...




Fun... 

Quote from: glenn kangiser on October 09, 2014, 10:12:36 PM
Wish I had time to do more logging Rick as I do have logs to get... but my friend in Burma wants me to look more at doing some business there and helping the poor people to make decent durable houses similar to some of the things done on mine, except.... using Bamboo.

I will be going to evaluate some of that this winter.  I am thinking lighter than the underground house for roof using the blue tarps available anywhere for a membrane on the lowest cost houses... and just a a few inches of soil over the tarps to protect them from sun and allow growing grass- rice etc. on the roof to hold the soil in place.  Walls would just be cob.

Also he works with the farmers daily as he is the Vice President of the Myanmar (Burma) Rice and Paddy Traders Association as well as having his own business. He would like me to look into water and water well issues.

Since the US economy is tanking and Burma is at the start of the industrial revolution, I am taking a serious look at business over there. 

Glenn let me know if you need any help.  Bamboo would be a very interesting application. 

I'd like to get in on a profitable Burma project.That place looks like a good place to start a new booming economy and avoid the mistakes the rest of the world has made.It could even be an example of how the rest of the world should manage their resources.I know.I am a dreamer.

Rick, my friend has invited me to bring more people this time and my sister is going with me probably so far. You are welcome to come along if you would like. I haven't set a date yet as my friend needs a couple months notice but probably before the end of February as it starts getting pretty hot again then.

I think the whole trip can be done for two or three thousand dollars but figure four thousand should be the top. :-)

Ben, the country is full of good resources. The government has been siphoning off all of the resources for the last 50 years as the military have been in charge and the generals have been keeping the money from the sales of the resources to Thailand and China. There is gold, precious gems and oil. The US has not had to bomb them yet because they have been cooperating with the exploitation of their resources  by our corporations and Texaco already has a pipeline across the country from the oil fields to Thailand. CIA has been in charge of poppy production since 1952 I believe it is.

This information comes from a U.S college scholar and has been confirmed as being true. The information was forwarded to me by a Burmese friend. I was teasing him about sending the CIA over there to help them get their poppy production in order. He said what do you mean they've been here since 1952 and sent me the link to the book.

Let's hear it for their democracy starting 4 years ago. Things have improved greatly though for the people and I hope to help them and make some kind of a meaningful contribution to their efforts.

Thanks for the offer but that is not going to happen this year fall - winter.  Tied up with the house and all the extra money is being siphoned off to there.  Will PM you.

Maybe next year Rick..

I think the main part of my work is done on my contracts now with just extras coming in on them...

Hoping to get back to Burma soon.  The beginning of the industrial revolution.... [ouch]

Well... still doing cleanup on both projects but hoping to get to Cambodia in December.... guess I will see how that works out between the other projects.

Finally got the shower scrubbed and dried out, then put a coat of resin over it so it would be easier to clean. 

Pretty sweet.. I like how the exposed aggregate in the grout gives it more interest.

Hey Andrew, nice to see you.  I actually learned about putting the pea gravel in the grout from a nice young fellow at Home Depot about 10 years ago when I did this floor. [ouch]

The layer of resin really improved this shower.  I just bought a quart from Do It Best Hardware, mixed it with the hardener and spread it on with about a 2" Harbor Freight throw away brush.  It took about an hour to harden into a nice hard durable surface that is now smooth and easy to clean.  The old floor was getting cracks which would harbor water and possible bacteria. I know a couple times I got an itch which seemed to have come from there.  This seems to have completely solved the problems. 

In other news.... I went ahead and got my entire Cambodia trip planned and booked today.  Headed there the first 2 weeks in December.  Yaaaaay...



Sayorn, the pastors wife helps ladies from remote villages learn to sew and support their families.  I was able to assist them in getting 3 used commercial sewing machines and a house to work from as well as a place for 5 students and the sewing ladies to live in while there.  I work on small projects with them when I can assist them in getting supplies or other needs.  The students had to walk 9 kilometers one way to school and were going to have to drop out.  Now they can live near the school.  There is also room for them to have a little store to seel their goods from...

Pastor's Comments...

"Praise the Lord and I am so proud of my wife. After her sewing students leave from learning and go back home, they can do their business and now two of them are going to start and open a store for making their business with her skill. Today I went to see her and now she have some people to come and make some cloths for them."

They call me dad, or grandpa in the community there and this will be my first time to meet them, though I have been working with them over a year.  I was tired of American charities where the money intended for the people is ripped off by administrative fees.  Here 100% of the help I send goes to the people.  Makes me happy I know. 

I met them through one of the international students in Sacramento and......Facebook... 

Good stuff Glenn.I hope things go well on your trip.

Going Super Great so far Ben.  Just got this approved today... what fast service. 

Scary photo but i only had so much to work with.....





...and the adventure continues....