When I had delivered the Indianapolis fire truck to Oshkosh yesterday my dispatcher asked me to take a priority dispatch. My choice of course. The same severe storms that had shut me down on the way up had done a lot of damage in the St. Louis area and several thousand people were without power. He wanted me to pick up a load of generators and get them down there over night. Normally I wouldn't accept such a rush dispatch but as there were a lot of people down there who were in trouble I ...
After delivering the fire truck in Memphis yesterday I began making my way towards the Indianapolis airport to pick up another, larger one to take back to the factory in Wisconsin for some warranty work. I got it picked up today and am now on my way back North. In Illinois I ran into some pretty nasty storms and decided to pull into the truckstop. One of the permit conditions for pulling oversized loads is that one must not run during bad weather that severely affects visibility or road co...
Firstly, a big thank you to LW for suggesting the squirt bottle as a training aid. While I didn't use the amonia, a quick shot of water from the bottle sends him packing when he ventures too near the truck's pedals. Yesterday was Socrates' first day in the truck. He was terrified to say the least. The moment I fired up the big diesel he scampered for a hiding place and remained there all morning. He finally ventured out when I stopped for lunch and everything quit shaking and bumping arou...
From the Weekly World News: Link WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Frank Church and Sandra State were living together for nine months when they appeared before Judge Horace Belchick on a routine housing zoning matter. They were stunned at what happened next. Judge Belchick ordered them to agree to separate, immediately. "We were flabbergasted!" said Frank. "We were sitting there holding hands, very much in love -- and he hit us with this!" "Separation of church and state is one of our countr...
As I wrote in another article, I bought a gray kitten yesterday. I named him Socrates and he's going to be my trucking companion. As I'm spending the weekend in a hotel I thought it would allow some quiet time to get to know each other a bit before setting out in the truck on Monday. He got over his fright over being relocated pretty quickly. More quickly than I had expected in fact. In a few short hours he went from being afraid of me to begging me to pick him up so he can nap on my lap. ...
I managed to get a few pics of Socrates. Wasn't easy
This is one police chase that just smacks of the sort of things Mel Brooks and company would dream up. Link
I walked over to the grocery store a little while ago to pick up some beer for the weekend. On the way I stopped in a little pet shop next door to the grocery. I have always enjoyed browsing around pets shops. This one had quite a good selection of birds. Everything from finches and parakeets to cockatoos and even a military macaw. I always liked parrots and have had several. They also had several kittens. Now, I've never really been a "cat person" per se, but I don't really have anything ...
Ok, I know the title isn't very nice. I admit it, and apologize to all of the smart blondes out there. I am at Applebys. I had my lunch and am enjoying a few cold ones. The bartender is one I don't know. She's very young, blonde (obviously a natural blonde) and not exactly the brightest crayon in the box. I'm a natural smartass and am pretty quick with a humorous answer to questions. She hasn't "got" a single one of them. Not one. At one point she asked, pointing to my empty beer glass...
I am sitting here at the yard awaiting the 9:00am arrival of the mechanic who will be servicing my truck this morning, connected through someone's nearby unsecured wireless router. By the time the routine servicing of my truck is completed, which usually takes a couple of hours or so, and I get my load secured and ready to roll it will likely be aorund noon or so. Most states don't allow an oversized load to run on Sunday so whatever progress I make towards Memphis today will be halted unt...
I made my delivery this morning and then picked up some crane parts before returning to the yard. I picked up my paycheck and was very happy with the amount. That California trip really bumped it up so that it was easily double my normal check. I rushed to the bank so as to get there before it closed. While I was there I bought a VISA gift card. I then called the store in Florida where I purchased my laptop and made the final $541.96 payment. It's now all mine. Getting it paid off within s...
Has a better snack ever been invented?
I made it North of Indianapolis today as planned. I pulled into the truckstop and occupied the last open parking space, happy to have a place to call home for the night. This truckstop just happens to have a bar right next door. Purely a coincidence I assure you. I accidently wallked into the bar and ordered a beer. The bartender was a relatively new one and I exhanged a few polite syllables with her. About an hour later one of the more senior bartenders came on duty. After serving me a...
Stopped for lunch on the TN/KY line. Except for an unusually high number of idiots on the road today and being delayed by a few accidents slowing traffic in a few spots it hasn't been too bad a ride today. I did get a call from the broker on this load asking what exactly they had loaded. I told her about the drilling machine and she asked about some tanks and a mixer. Nope, just the machine. Seems they were meant to send some other items. Oh well, too late now. I hope to make Northern I...
On a food related forum I visit from time to time someone posted a question asking "How do you make corn nuts?" Now I know perfectly well what they were wanting to know but I just couldn't resist posting the reply "The best way that I know of to make corn nuts is to tease it unmercifully". If ya don't know the answer, at least say so in an amusing way, no? So, does anyone else have any good, not so good, or just plain groan inducing food jokes?