Vacation?

[littledenny]

Did everybody go on vaction, and I'm the only one who didn't get the message?

Seems like there's been no traffic here the last few days, just wondered if anyone's still out there.

[DKinWA]

Vacation?? Can't speak for anyone else, but I've been off work with the flu and haven't felt like posting much on any of the boards I frequent. It does seem unusually quiet though. While I'm resting at home, I've been working on my taxes and wishing I would've paid closer attention to a few things this year. Oh well, live and learn.

The big thing I noticed was I had over $10,000 in equipment rentals and most of it was on mini-excavators. I can't imagine how much time and money I lost just driving back and forth to pick them up and drop them off. Had I been paying closer attention, I could've purchased one for what the rentals alone cost me. I've been waiting for the business to get a little bigger before I bought any more equipment, but it looks like it time to buy again.

[littledenny]

Understand your plight.

I'm returning to operating, after retiring from the Army. While I'm still working for another guy, I've started my own biz, and thus far, have been renting equipment as required. Hooked up with the local rental guy - he sends me the jobs where someone wants to rent a piece, but is a bit too scared to tackle the local hills and sideslopes, or simply tried, and couldn't make the @@#$ thing work. I go in as the operator and make everyone happy.

Anyway, my own equipment is coming this Spring. Can see that I could make some money with my own, but rentals sure cut into the profit on 1-2 day jobs.

[Steve Frazier]

Many of us up here in the NorthEast are involved in snow removal. When a storm comes through, we'll lose a few days, I often don't know what day it is. We've just had a couple lengthy storms come through to take care of, at one point I was running on 8 hours of sleep for 4 days!

Vacation??? I wish!!! :dizzy

[Bob Horrell]

In Southern California we have a similar problem. Its not the snow but way too much rain. In the rural areas many roads and driveways are washed out and there is much work available especially for someone with a track vehicle that can work in the mud. Many back yards are filled with mud and silt and have to be cleaned out to prevent water from running through the house with the next rain. There is one road that stuck three construction vehicles trying to clear it. First was a backhoe. Next came a crane to pull out the backhoe and it got stuck. Then in came a large dozer and it too got stuck. It took 2 days to get them all out. The road is an access for several ranches and it runs along the bottom of a hill. The base is clay with about 6 to 8 feet of silt on top that has flowed off the hill in past years. The land rises on the other side of the hill creating a place to trap moisture under the silt since it won't perculate through the clay. It seems to look dry on top but it is just a crust and as soon as a vehicle punches through it is is stuck in a quicksand type muck. I am familiar with this road and was called the day after the rain stopped to come clear it. I told them they would have to wait till it dried some. They didn't want to wait and called the backhoe guy. They called me again after everyone got unstuck and I told them to dig a hole at least 18 inches deep and if any water seeped up into the hole it was still too wet. It looks like I will be there this Friday as this daily test is starting to look promising.
Every night when I get home I have a minimum of 6 to 8 calls from people with road/mud/silt etc problems. I guess it is better than not having any jobs, which isn't a problem I normally have anyway. At times like this, though, it ceases to be fun.