Just another day in paradise

As promised.........sail palm


Shot of the dimples


Not made for my big hands.......might have shrunk in the past 20-30 years. It never fit right even when new

My kit...........I have also been known to throw a few quick sutures into myself (mostly) and 1 or 2 of my past fellow crew mates. That was after the super glue wouldn't hold. Dose the wound up with some lidocaine, a few shots of lidocaine surrounding the area...........painless. I think its worse if they watch. Me........didn't bother me suturing myself up........but it's really hard doing it 1 handed!! LOL The waxed thread wasn't used on wounds. I used a lighter gauge dacron thread and smaller needles.



Sail palm, upholstery/ sail needles, and waxed thread.


Sail needle assortment


Waxed thread.........the wax makes is easier for the thread to be pulled through the material. The thread is nylon

I can see where that would give confidence to really push on the needle. Nice one

John Shipp said:

I can see where that would give confidence to really push on the needle. Nice one

Click to expand...

The cups for pushing are maybe ceramic?? Very hard material of something. And yes, it gives you alot of confidence when using most of weight to push that needle through. I had tried using vise grips before..........if the vise grips twisted, the needles broke. If the vise grips slipped, you most likely got a needle in the hand. This was one of those "OH MY GOD!!! LOOK AT THIS!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE??!!"


Edit: John, I had forgotten all about the plastic seal inside the bottle cap until you mentioned it. I can see how that would held hold the needle, plus the indent that is probably made pushing the needle through. Nice thinking outside the box!!

MIKE!!! GOTTA THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE TIP ON THE LOAD PRO!!!
All quiet on the Mike front??

Started out this morning welding out back. Got a text about a dozer leaking hydraulic. Packed up, headed out. "Hey, while your there.......turn the AC on and the belt squeals. Plus its not really that cold in the cab.........."
Dealt with the hydraulic line that had rotted out. Tightened AC belt..........power on, AC on.........only heard 1 fan turning upstairs. Climbed up onto scorching roof and took guard off (Where's my umbrella?? Owww, need something under my knees!! This is HOT!!) Sure enough.....one fan turning. Pulled out my load pro for its first use!!

2 fans, 2 relays, one wire harness with a 4 pin connector up top. Showing 10.63V's


Hit the button, voltage goes away!! Checked both sides. Only 1 side is good. Swap plugs in relays. Fault follows 1 circuit. Fan on right is bad. Bad bearings, runs slow. Check power at plug for both circuits......same......1 good circuit, 1 bad. Knees cooking!!
Down to the fuse panel we go!!


EZ ID FUSE......the kind that lights up an LED when fuse blows. The fuse is blown but I was getting phantom power from the LED when no load present.
When I was up on the roof, I gotta admit..........I WAS LOVING THIS THING!!! Old way........power was there. I would have been up and down a few times.........light bulb probably up on roof too..........and running out of room. When I pulled the fuse and saw EZ ID LED.........I said "AHA!! Theres where my phantom power was coming from!!" New fan tomorrow at the bargain price of $410!!



I use a camera case to carry mulitmeter, amp clamp, extra leads, clips, probes, etc. Spent 15 minutes trying to figure out where to stuff the Load Pro!! Ultimately, just need to order a bigger bag. Very handy bag with lots of pockets and storage......fyi.
Just figured I'd share............I was pretty happy at how quick that went.
Thanks again MIke!! Hope your not too stressed out about the move and everything is going well!!

Fluke also makes a meter the same style and size that has its own Lo-Z function built in. Not sure if the Load Pro does more than that.

Phew! It’s been a busy week. Took last week off to guide bear hunters in northern Maine. Something I’ve been doing for almost 20 years. Left bear camp on Friday and drove to our camp in forest city maine where we went fishing all weekend. Returned home Monday in time for the guy to show up and buy my boat, then my uncle came over to buy the riding lawnmower. Back to work today while planning the closing of the new home for Thursday and got the inspection back from the buyers of my current house. Now making a list of things the buyer wants fixed before the closing on October 20. The next couple weekends will be jam packed with all kinds of projects.

Here’s the weekly update. I’ve got 2 weeks worth of work left up here. I’m done September 30. Gonna take a week off and look over the kenworth, do a little hunting, and get ready for the long ride. Close on our house around October 10th and hit the road. In the meantime my old employer from the last time I lived in Texas caught word that we were moving back. He reached out and told me he had expanded into east Texas and has a clay mine there and he could sure use me up there which is good news. I’m not sure if he’s just looking to be a customer of mine or he wants to set me up as a resident tech. We’ll talk once it gets closer. It’s an opportunity I definitely need to explore. I do like working in the woods but this guy is a heavy hitter and I’d be a fool not to hear what he has in mind.

What does one mine clay for?

Mike L said:

What does one mine clay for?

Click to expand...

Urns and pots.

More than that and more than one type.
Cement has clay in it, women’s make up has clay in it, bentonite is a clay used to seal pond leaks, pottery, fullers earth filtration, about fifty other uses.
A mined clay pile

As I have dealt with that will let you know, gets on everything, sticks to anything, dry is a powder wet is a slurry, worse than basic dirt, twice as slimy, always, ALWAYS wearing at machines.

Mike L said:

What does one mine clay for?

Click to expand...

Making bricks.

Can be rock like, dirt like, consistency varies with types.
Red has Alkali in it, white or gray can be caustic

Hard on Shoes, tires, undercarriage, tools and clothes.

Above all the technical-and everything you wanted to know about clay. Really it's just a cheap sticky filler
in most cases-just like potato's and cereal.

DMiller said:

Can be rock like, dirt like, consistency varies with types.
Red has Alkali in it, white or gray can be caustic
View attachment 268374 View attachment 268376 View attachment 268377

Click to expand...

What about blue clay ?
I run into it when digging post holes around here, my neighbor the waterwell driller (now deceased) said it is in certain area's close to Lake Erie, and that it
means a whole different kind of water well.

Blue Clay here is Hydraulic Clay, expand and contracts with moisture content. LOADS of it in Warren Couty MO, sad to watch homes get built over it as will not ever stop moving with Wet/Dry cycles. Next door to last home prior to this one was a empty lot, contractor came in to dig foundation hole and hit Blue Clay, dug twelve feet below footer line not ever did he get out of it so filled 12' with 2" Minus and they built. As we moved, that home was on second owner, was only 10 years old and could not keep sheetrock seams from splitting.

Truck Shop said:

Above all the technical-and everything you wanted to know about clay. Really it's just a cheap sticky filler
in most cases-just like potato's and cereal.

Click to expand...

Back in Boston (Bahstan) we did a few land fill remediations (the original dump.........not a transfer station like now). A couple of these old dumps/ landfills were right next to schools...........which always amazed me. Anyway...........we dug down to where the landfill started and then lined it clay (not sure what kind of clay .......blue or grey........didn't really care at the time). I guess the idea was to prevent the ground water from being contanemaited with run off. Then it got capped with clay and methane wells installed with a vent system. The main one that I remember was the West Roxbury landfill. This was right next to the high school and the football field was on the edge of the landfill. They got a new football field when we finished. This was during the Big Dig.......guess it was just a way of getting rid of digging spoils. We ran into a bunch of clay during the Big Dig. The biggest dump site was spectacle island. Modern Continental, who I worked for; barged the tunnel spoils out to Spectacle Island. This was just any of the tunnel spoils. Not just clay. So, fun fact............the company that had the Spectacle Island contract had a couple of D10 dozers out there with JET ENGINES mounted on the back. This was an attempt to accelerate the drying out process of the tunnel spoils once they were spread.........must of had something to do with the specs in the contract. You could hear those engines miles away when they spooled them up.........ultimately, the idea really didn't work out. Anyway...........that's my experience with clay.
Hmmmm...........old dumps. So the dumps used to literally burn the trash. You back up to the edge of a pit and just chuck your trash into it. At night (and sometimes during the day).......the bears would pick through les garbage foraging for food. Used to take girl friends "Wanna go see some bears??" Or maybe take them to the beach to go watch the submarine races............LOL.
The thing I most remember about clay..............it sticks to everything, slippery as hell, makes a mess of clothes, almost impossible to wash down the decks and get clean, and turned your boots into anchors.

Nige said:

Making bricks.

Click to expand...

I thought it was for making money.....