Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

[rick91351]

I can not remove the gate, omit the gate nor remove the road going to the gate.  I have talked and talked to the USFS about the problems I have with the people using the road.  They tell me to post signs and other than that there is nothing they can do......  or was it will do ......... and I have to do the posting.....  That okay guys you all sit in your aid conditioned offices and keep on pushing pencils and I will continue sending in my tax dollars.....

Oh by the way if I lock the gate I can be ticketed because of the easement.  I can request they lock my gate.....  Fat chance of that....

[glenn kangiser]

Many moons ago they occasionally did something worthwhile.... not so often anymore.... 

[rick91351]

Let change subjects while my blood pressure is down..... Lets talk about my next favorite subject.  Americas National Parks and how well they are cared for.  Using photos and remembrances as a barometer or a bar.  Then and now.  WAAAWHOO    

[glenn kangiser]

Actually many of them no longer belong to America... take Yosemite for instance... a World Heritage Site... Changes must be approved by the world (UN?) except minor stuff as I understand...

A local businessman was thinking it was ours... wanted to lock out the internationals...

[pmichelsen]

Thought of this thread last week and this week as I drove down 58 on my way to the Grand Canyon. When I went passed the sight of the derailed train I thought to myself "why does this look so familiar..." Then when I passed the Borax mine it hit me.

[glenn kangiser]

Wow... deja vu eh?

[glenn kangiser]

One more weld of 4 bars on this corner of the "c" phase of the building and I will have it completed... tomorrow God willing. 




A panorama of the site now....





Paul... you missed the hospital site...... just off of the north end of Mill Street.

[glenn kangiser]

Done with that and onto the next part of the job... welding #4 rebars along the walkway... 30" long both sides of the 8 inch square columns....




Tried a little wine tasting yesterday... hmmm ... yup.. tastes like wine... but did get into some good conversations with others there.  This little winery is pretty famous here and made the local papers recently.  Nice people.



...and got to visit my son and Daughter In Law in Pasadena.... on Rose Bowl (New Years) day of all days... on the Motorcycle.. traffic was not that bad though but near freezing when I rode home that night.




We found a zoo type place that was open to visit...





and last but not least... a wonderful ice cream specialty shop...




Cranberry Orange Thyme Sorbet, and Fresh Mint with Cocoa Nibs... yummy

[rick91351]

One of my old students (best one I ever had)  sent me this.  He was not involved... he is fishing on the Columbia.

One train ran in to the rear end of another train stopped...... 

I can only guess but I would lay money on what happened.  Most likely modern operating practices and modern rules which allow for to many trains in the same track segment.  People not ready to stop even though they think they are and not using air brakes when they should be.

 

[glenn kangiser]

....and when they mess up... it's not generally an easy one to fix.....

Great when everything is going right though.....

Looks like we have about 40 trains per day through Tehachapi per day....

I was on The Chihuahua al Pacifico railway a time or two.... you might find it of interest, Rick and not that far away...


http://www.railsnw.com/tours/copper/chepe01_routeguide.htm



It has a loop and a 180 in the mountains.


I had some delicious Thai food tonight..... Pineapple Shrimp Curry..... so good I could hardly contain myself...




over white rice....





...and had to have Thai Coconut Ice Cream for dessert....

[glenn kangiser]

So... I had to do the weld test and take it to Fresno for inspection and Certification...

No problem... that is done and back to welding tomorrow...

Next was to pick up the weeks worth of mail.  Sassy and I went up to the cabin to spend some time with the animals too....

Spike is such a sweet little lap dog... he missed seeing us...



Whitlock is taking care of the animals for me... but Mr. Ed still likes me to check in with him every weekend.  [ouch]



More and more work lining up for the near future... I may be all over the state...

[glenn kangiser]

We got up to our international student family dinner in Sacramento on Friday.



We hadn't seen them in a long time and some of them actually missed us. 



Some have stayed at the underground complex... some haven't been there, but we love them all.   [ouch]

[glenn kangiser]

Lots of time wasted on the hospital job waiting for replies from engineers and for others to get their work done so I can do my work.  The company I am working for is flexible so I managed to squeeze in another job from the company I usually work for.

They called and asked my schedule so with both being flexible I was able to get started with them on this job today....



this is going to be a big commercial laundry operation.  Tilt up concrete walls with structural steel roof and deck inside.



Stuffing that big corner column in between all of the bracing and shoring was quite a challenge but we were able to do it.  It goes up about 7 feet inside to hold the corners of the panels together and up.

I  am working with the company crew running a few of their extra men while they also have another well qualified foreman on the job....

Nice to be accomplishing something again and will allow the other company to get their stuff together at their leisure... this is about 280 miles north of my other job rough guess....

[ben2go]

The layout looks like a prison that was built here in the 90's. 

[rick91351]

The layout looks like a prison that was built here in the 90's. 

Great minds.... I was thinking the same   

[ben2go]

Great minds.... I was thinking the same 

Sorry Glenn.I thought it was just me.I know you didn't design the building but apparently the designers have an unusual style.

[glenn kangiser]

OH no Ben... I don't design anything... I just put up other peoples stuff.   I'm too lazy to work that hard. 

Yes Rick... we have to build things like a prison around here.....but it is your thinking that is backwards.  Not the design. 


California is a prison state .....pretty much entirely.  The problem is that....  the prisoners are all loose on the outside (aside from the ones who are stuck in the walls making money for the politicians and profiteers invested in the system).   [ouch]

Anything that is not nailed down pretty much will be stolen.  Any item of little or major value will be stolen for drugs of choice.  Meth can be had for a few bucks.  Never mind that tool cost you $200 or more.... it is worth $5 or so for another hit of meth.

They came into the jobsite over the weekend and tried to steal batteries and things from the equipment... cut cables and wires ... left batteries on the ground when too tired of carrying them a few feet....

I have to run chains through loose equipment and around cables on my truck... California...   The prison state and we are the prisoners.


Tweakers and addicts... I have an extreme dislike for them to put it mildly.

Saw my two Mariposa boys last Saturday.   Pat and Fred... worked with me building the underground complex and on my jobs in the early days.  My how they have grown up....



About 3 years since I have seen Pat and about 5 since I have seen Fred.    Pat waved when going by and Fred was following shortly behind.  I caught up with Pat on the motorcycle.  Met his wife and 2 kids and Fred and his son.   

[glenn kangiser]

I have to get to work but here are a couple of shots from the job last night .




Joists were supposed to be here last week... still waiting on the last truck...




The joists and girders are 50' each  for the most part.  The roof is about 27' high. 

[glenn kangiser]

Got 'em up.....

As I suspected, Google made a panorama from the three shots I took.... and they were not even in order... kinda warped but you get the idea...



Now for welding all of the joist connector plates together, the joists to the girders and girders to the columns... others will likely be doing the deck and I will be running the crew on Friday.  For now, I am happy to be second in command under a very capable new foreman.  I just assist him and do all I can to move things forward which includes a lot of welding at this point.  Friday he and another worker go to start another job. 

Seems it is either no work at all or everything at once. 

Friday night Sassy will come up here and we will go to see our international student family in Sacramento.  They invited us to the monthly dinner again. 

Saturday I will come back to work here and try to get ahead of the others welding the column lines by myself to stay ahead of the decking.

[ben2go]

Those walls look rather thin for their height.Is the roof structure going to support the top of the wall and keep it standing?

[glenn kangiser]

Yes Ben, everything is connected together with steel plates between the panels and the entire truss system is welded to ledgers embedded into the concrete with headed studs.

Today among other things I was welding joists to girders and adding a strap plate to the top of each pair above the girders.




A sea of bar joists..... all needing welding... there is a ton of bridging to be welded underneath also to keep the joists from deflecting under load.




California .... you gotta love it... full of tweakers and thieves.  Last night they stole our 9000lb forklift ... just delivered to the job... we hadn't even used it.  we turned it in to the rental company and they came out and found it about a 1/4 mile away in an almond orchard nearly tipped over in a canal.  Apparently the thief didn't see the canal as he was stealing it and he jumped off and left it there.... last week they tried to steal the batteries out of the manlifts...

[ben2go]

I can't stand a d*mn thief.I been beating them off here for the past 20 years.It's always the dope heads looking for something to make quick money from.I hope they find who did these things.

[glenn kangiser]

They ruin thousands of dollars of equipment for a few bucks worth of meth... gotta hate 'em...

Got up to see the animals a few hours this last weekend .... and got a message from one of our early student visitors from UCLA he wants to drop by the first of the month and bring a friend... only Chinese speaking lawyer from Tennessee I know. It'll be great to see him again.



The job is progressing well...


The guys have most of the first bay decked as we try to keep the welding going ahead of them.  I am boss this week... I have a good crew under me though.  I just run the crew for the company then try to do all of the welding I can do in the meantime... keeps me busy and out of trouble ...

[rick91351]

They ruin thousands of dollars of equipment for a few bucks worth of meth... gotta hate 'em...

Got up to see the animals a few hours this last weekend .... and got a message from one of our early student visitors from UCLA he wants to drop by the first of the month and bring a friend... only Chinese speaking lawyer from Tennessee I know. It'll be great to see him again.

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Glenn I have never seen anything like it.  They will steal from friends and family.  They willfully will deny honest people the right to earn a living by stealing that persons only means to do so from them.  They force honest people into living behind windows and doors covered with bars, drives gated and barricaded.  WHEN THEY - THEY are the ones that should be living as such.  Then when some dumb A$$ tweaker gets their head blown off in a home invasion.  About half the time they are trying to prosecute the home owner.  Prosecutors  apparently feel you should dial 911 and hide under the bed!  Great I am all for that I don't want to put anyone down or under but....  The deputy that covers up here is only a mere phone call away providing he is in the area or even has radio coverage.  He might be right here but most likely he is over at Pine or Featherville a mere hour or two away.  Providing he is not busy investigating some tweaker over there.

We have a few friends living here from China.  All of them seem to do well and are more honest than those listed above.           

[BiggKidd]

Hi Glenn

  Finally caught back up with your thread here looking good. Hope everyone is doing well.

  Here's a link to a thread I wanted to make sure you saw. Since I have read your whole update over the years and can't remember how you heat your water. I thought this might interest you.

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=13519.0

You all have a nice night!

Larry