I've been busy and haven't posted in a while. I know you guys prefer photos, but, I'm too lazy. LOL.
Being in the grain business, we've been in crunch time mode lately. Two major storage projects that need to be filling with grain. Good news is, they both started filling mid week this past week. As always, just in the nick of time.
The week before last, we had the 190 and the 100 ton cranes scheduled at a local ethanol plant for the entire week. Whenever they scheduled it, I KNEW we'd be in crunch time mode, and couldn't bring myself to NOT take the job. Besides, I'm greedy. A weeks rental on those two cranes is good income. The 100T had to be lifting 7:00 AM that Monday, so we set it up late Saturday afternoon after moving it from one of my jobs. The 190 was there also, but, we were basically finished with it and any heavy lifts. Our 60 ton has been out of commission and still is. ECM problems or so we thought. Still not fixed. Mechanic is thinking it got struck by lightning. I had planned it to finish up at the flat storage site. Monday morning the 100T starts to work as planned. We sent a rigger to assist in setting up the 190. They got it on the outriggers, swung the job and extended the boom. No jib or boom luffing. They retracted the boom, checked all the connections and extended again. Same thing. On phone with Liebherr Tech they figured out there is a switch on side of the boom that tells the brains that the jib is stored. The switch was bad, so the brains thought the jib was stowed, but, the wiring harness at the boom tip is telling the brains the job is installed. It went psycho. In the old days, you'd remove the cover from the switch, and either jump the two wires or disconnect them. Not in today's world. It's down until we replace the $200 switch. Found out later if you're good enough, it IS possible with a laptop to lie to the brains. But, we're not that savvy. We had to break the crane down and move it as they called a crane in from Nashville. To pour salt on a wound, I had to call my competitor and rent a 35 ton crane from him the entire week to finish the flat storage project. I suppose in the end it all works out, just not the way I'd hoped. Oh well.
I don't normally post personal stuff, but, found out a few weeks ago that I had a melanoma cancer on my upper thigh. During all the crane fiasco I was dealing with that. The melanoma was the size of a nickel. Looked like a small bruise. I blew it off as nothing for the last few years. My wife has been after me for 5-7 years to see a Dermatologist. I kept saying, OK this winter. She set the appointment w/o my knowledge a few weeks ago, and took my, screaming and fussing the entire way. Good thing she did I suppose. When they called and said I had a melanoma I shrugged and thought, well, cut it out. I didn't know how dangerous they can be. More so than other types of skin cancer. Had surgery to remove it this past Tuesday. I'm cut from just above my knees up about 8" long. They took three lymph nodes from the groin area and tested them for cancer cells that may be in the blood stream. I've been holding my breath for a month or so now. But, got the report back last Friday the lymph nodes are clear and as far as they can tell, I'm cancer free. If any of you guys have a odd little spot somewhere, have it checked. It could be the difference between life or death.