See, with our chaotic schedule, Angi leaves me notes on how the day went, I review them at about 3 am each morning, then use my smart phone to post the blog (hence the wee hours of the morning post time). HOWEVER!! When I went to use it the..other...day (GOD, I am SOOOO loosing track of time!) Friday morning...yea...that's it! I discovered that YET AGAIN someone was messing with my phone, changed a lot of settings, thereby making it impossible for me to access "manager" on my blog account (the amount of Kaleb's "Selfies" on my camera memory leads me to only one conclusion as to WHO the culprit is!) and when I came into the shop yesterday, I forgot the computer at home. Well..."forgot" is a euphemism for "someone got a hold of it and it disappeared from where I left it plugged in", and I didn't have an hour in the morning to waste going through the whole "I DIDN'T take it!" thing. Angi found it last night, relocated in a different hiding spot in our room. Of course, all fingers were pointed at Owen for trying to use it, then forgetting where he found it, so just stashed it any old wares! Yes...welcome to our world!
ANY old WHO!
I was just re-reading the other post, and realized, I never bothered to post the pics of the gems we built last week, so I'll do that in a few mo's!
So, the last couple of days have been pretty much a wash, sadly. I had high hopes for yesterday as it was beautiful outside, with just the right amount of breeze to make riding very comfortable. The mornings and evenings ESPECIALLY! WOW! We had a breeze coming off the water that felt positively Northern! But, nope. This morning was more of the same weather, and it was absolutely blissful riding in! Barely broke a sweat! AND, I got to enjoy it on Greedo! Have been riding the truck each morning and afternoon as that's how I get Izzy to and from school! I play chauffeur each day. Sure turns a lot of entertained heads!
The upside is, we are getting more and more looky loo's each day. Weather worn survivors of the apocalyptic summer, optimistically poking their heads out from under their air conditioned sanctuaries are, cautiously, testing the waters as the mercury dips slightly. Granted, by the time eleven AM rolls around they have scampered back into seclusion...but hey...it's a start!
Things at the plant (I've learned not to call it a "warehouse" or "factory". For whatever reason, those senior to the place look down upon those terms?) have been "interesting". My normal routine of cleaning machine, sand blasting and making packing crates has been interrupted the last couple of days as we were running ahead of schedule. I've taken it upon myself to clean and cover machines before their scheduled processing date. As they have not been leaving me with much work to do, but given the understanding to "keep busy", I did just that. So now they are scrambling to keep occupied during the day! So as a reward (or punishment?) they assigned me and one of the morning guys, Jeff (who happens to have been a regular at OUR shop for some time...small world!) the task of re-con. Re-conditioning in layman's terms, we have several machine out back, that had been trade in's. We strip them down to a shell, clean them, then they totally redo all their innards and resell them at a reduced price! WOW! Shades of "re-cycle"! (Heh, heh) Thing is, these bloody things have been sitting outside for....years!
Ick!
Honestly, I have rehabbed some REAL nasty bikes in our time, but aside from a weeds, hornets nests and colonies of ants (and in two cases...barnacles) being the worst ickies I've had to deal with, well...there is a LOT of room in these things for all sorts of critters to crawl in and...well....breathe their last breaths...if you know what I mean! THANK HEAVENS for really BIG drain pipes and a pressure washer! At least I didn't have to touch what little evidence remains of once vibrant critters. But don't ask me to identify the remains, I got NO idea what they once were!
Honestly, in the beginning I was excited for the change in venue, and with all the available tools (some with POWER!!) I climbed aboard the big machine with GUSTO!!! Reminded me of my youth, when I was twelve and worked at the junkyard tearing out starters, alternators and radiators for copper (this was back in the days when you could do things like this as a child and NOT be barred for insurance reasons! You know, back when kids ACTUALLY WANTED to work, earn money and buy their own sh....stuff! You know? That ugly word..."responsibility"! AHHHHHHH!) Anyway, I was having a hoot of time decimating this behemoth, looking at each part destined for the scrap pile, wondering what other thing they could become, but then it was time to clean them.
oy.
Long story short, covered in years of rust, scale and lyme....
oy.
Me shoulders and arms were ah killin' me by mornings end!
Second night was interesting though. As I was pressure washing the second machine, one of the front foreman, Danny approached me, and without preamble, asked me where I wanted to be transferred too as soon as my 90 day probationary period ended. See, after 90 days (if you survive) they take you in for a review, and if they like what you have done, give you a raise, and in some cases offer you a promotion to another department. Now here's where the old "ego" kicks in, so be forewarned, he stated that he and the other managers had been talking and they had been trying to find an excuse to promote me now, before the end of the probationary period, but in the end, determined it would not be good for morale if they gave me preferential treatment. However, they wanted to let me know to start thinking about what department I wanted to go to. To this, I just grinned, pointed at him, and said "I want YOUR job" (forming and press...a position I made a point of stating earlier, I was interested in). Surprisingly, he grinned back and simply stated "I was hoping you would say that". Turns out, they have an opening in that department, but have been quietly holding off filling it, until my term is over! See, Speaking out DOES pay off! But, excitement over, went back to pressure washing...and squishy socks!
So, today...I am poking about looking for something to keep busy with. Already cleaned up, and now looking for something I might be able to build without the need of the grinder!
*sigh*
Yea, still dealing with the "pre-industrial revolution" conditions around here! BUT, I have hopes!
So, with that, I'm gonna skedaddle!
See ya soon!!!
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