Rainy, Wet and Gray Days

I was beat after my last road trip and did very little on Saturday except to unload the hydrant off the back of the truck. Doing that job alone was an aggravation of makeshift ramps etc. It is all awaiting installation whenever the monsoon season ends.

Sunday was one of those all day rains. The rain would vary in intensity, but it was steady all day. There were eight hardy souls that showed up to row in that miserable weather. We were one short of taking out the eight. We were just getting ready to disperse when Bill showed up from Birmingham. He mentioned to Robin that he would like to join us for a row. We never expected him to show up with the weather being so rotten.

We had enough to go out. I was rowing port in the four seat, and Bill from BHAM was in the five starboard seat just in front of me. My teeth were chattering from the rain and cold as the bow pair rowed across the river. Alison coxed without a cox-box. I was the go between to the bow section of the sweep as to when to drop out or join in.

Once we got to rowing my core body temperature warmed up and I began to feel better. We rowed as far as the overlook where boats can dock on the riverwalk, and we turned around. The wind had picked up and the rain was falling sideways!

We rowed sixes back to the dock. Bill did pretty well rowing with us for the first time, but sorry to say he got banged up with my oar when he transitioned in wrong or did not hold the set far enough up on his seat. I’m able to get a real good stretch rowing port. I always try to get my outside hand on the oar to reach over the gunnel. This section of the row was with the current which was pretty strong from all the rain. We flew down the river with that headwind added in.

We spun the sweep around to dock so we were rowing into that headwind and against the current. My God that was a first…. The wind hitting the oar blades and that force of the current really slowed us down.

Even though we were soaked to the skin it was still a rush. Taking the sweep out of the river, “up and overhead” made sure we were thoroughly drenched when all the water poured out of the sweep and over us.

Once home I striped off the wet clothes and luxuriated in a hot shower. After supper I lit the gas lights and relaxed in the Morris Chair. Daggy and Stump took turns lounging in my lap. I had the Jack Benny Show playing through my stereo speakers and enjoyed a glass of box wine. It was just like old times

Monday was another dreary gray day. It was damp and chilly for the entire day. I finally broke down and turned on the furnace. It only had to be on for a bit to clear out the dampness.

Things around here always seem to go on the blink at once. I had three different clocks I had to tear into. Anything mechanical is bound to mess up. When you add age to that equation and it is pretty much a given. It is hard to think my grandfather clock is approaching the 200 year mark.

Today broke as another gray misty day: I showed up for rowing practice at 5:15 a.m. in my sweats and thermal underwear. It had warmed up a lot from Monday so those extra clothes were really overkill. It was still foggy and mist was hanging over the river. Both oar trees were filled as the novice men’s teams are on the water now. The river is at full capacity for rowers now. I was barking out orders to get off the dock as fast as possible.

This morning I was cox of the women’s racing boat and was a wreck trying to keep with the other two sweeps. Alison was going crazy trying to coach three sweeps at once. Our big race is Saturday which has me thoroughly wigged out. I have to resign myself to the fact that all we want to do is to make the race in one piece and be happy with that.

I really wish that all the rowers would take turns at coxing. You learn so how the boat handles and realize how to adjust your rowing technique to affect the course of the boat. From what I’ve learned, if the rowers can keep the sweep on course it cuts through the water easier and faster than depending on riding the rudder.

It was supposed to clear up this afternoon and I took a chance and hung a load of laundry on the line early this morning. Those clothes were just barely damp when the sky opened up at 1:30 and they were thoroughly drenched again.

What else can go wrong? I was putting the mission shelf clock back together after repairing the slipped click spring when I heard an E-mail bling in. This mail was from Priceline wanting feedback from my trip to Chattanooga. WTF??? I’m going there this weekend. Pulling up my paperwork I realized the room I booked for the race was for Friday October the 3^rd!!!

I can’t blame anybody for that one but myself!!! Fortunately I was able to get another room for Friday night at the same cheap price.

On two I want my bow pair in and my stern pair out…. one……and two…bow pair in, stern pair out!

October Brick of the Month/Fire Hydrant Pick Up

The time has really gotten away from me this fall. I totally missed my monthly “Brick of the Month” feature for September. I’m a bit late for October, but here October’s brick.

This is a new hand made brick crafted by Rich Nagy I acquired this at a brick swap auction of the International Brick Collectors Association last year in Wellston, Ohio. It sits on top of the computer armoire in my bedroom. The motto: BRICK SMARTER THEN YOU THINK pretty much says it all!!

Last Thursday, October 1^st I took off for a road trip to Kalamazoo, Michigan to pick up my latest treasure: a rare fire hydrant manufactured by the Michigan Brass and Iron Works in 1902.

I left direct from rowing practice and drove to Anderson, Indiana only stopping at one horrible flea market. I had covered some 575 miles when I checked into the Motel Six.

Friday morning I was on the road very early. There was a steady, heavy rain pouring down. The kind of rain I HATE to drive in. The inky black wet road swallowed up the white fog and lane lines. I lucked out and was able to follow a truck that was going at a reasonable speed. I’d much rather take my time and have somebody else “break the road” for me.

I was just south of I-80 in when I had to pull over for a breakfast. There were no Waffle Houses, so I had to settle for a Cracker Barrel. I was so wound up; I just needed a hot coffee to start out. There were a few early birds in the dining room. A wood fire was burning in the large fireplace. I was seated right by that. That heat felt so good!

I jumped as my cell phone went off! That damn thing drives me nuts! It was Bob, the seller of the hydrant. We worked out a rendezvous spot to transfer the hydrant from his truck to mine: a Perkins at exit 20 on I-94. Knowing all is lined up I relaxed and enjoyed a heavy breakfast.

The rain had let up some as I got back to my truck. It stayed misty, gray and overcast my entire trip to Kalamazoo. I found the Perkins with no trouble. I called Bob on my cell. I’m getting pretty good at using that thing: I even programmed his number into the memory under “fire plug!”

Bob works nearby: he showed up in no time. Fortunately I had straps in my truck to make moving the hydrant easier. It weighs a LOT! Bob related how he happened on the hydrant. It was in the front yard of his house which is located many miles from any water main. He was so sick of mowing around it. His wife suggested he list it on E-bay to see if it was worth anything. Bob had inquires from all over the country on this. I beat out a guy from Philadelphia who wanted it badly. At least I’m not the only crazy person scarfing up fire hydrants out there!

With that weight in the back of the truck, I felt a lot safer on the wet roads as I headed back home. The further south I went the more the weather improved. It was a straight through drive to Bowling Green where I checked into my old stand-by Motel Six. There must have been a lot going on in the area as the weekend rate was $55.00. I was too beat to pound the pavement for a cheaper place. The location is so good. I was able to walk to the Outback for a greasy bacon cheeseburger and happy hour price beer.

Saturday I was on the road at 5:00 a.m. This drive to Tuscaloosa I’ve done too many times from this location. Pilot Gas stations usually sell the cheapest gas. They have a special on the charge receipts from the pump, 16 oz coffee and any fresh baked good for $1.00. I took advantage of this special filling the truck and myself at Franklin, KY and Decatur, AL.

All in all the traffic was not bad and I walked through the front door of my house at 9:45.

To a “normal person” driving nearly 1,600 miles round trip to acquire a fire hydrant is totally insane. “Normal” is something I’ve never claimed to be. I like to think I’m living my life as I want, no matter how crazy it looks to outsiders. I spent 30 years at GM on the factory floor planning, saving, and daydreaming how I would live my life when freed from the “golden handcuffs” that chained me to my job.

I’m freed from the golden handcuffs and my life since retirement has been very good.

Misty Morning on the Black Warrior River

There will always be change, nothing ever stays the same. It is amazing how as I age this becomes more and more true. When I was growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s network television was still pretty much in its infancy. Local stations produced and filled huge blocks of air time with local programming.

CBS in Buffalo was channel 4 on the dial of our first TV. They filled the late afternoon Monday through Friday airspace with movies. The films they aired were not the blockbuster movies of the past, but rather the “B” films that played as the second features of double runs. The ones I can remember by name would be the "Dead End Kids" series which starrd Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall along with "Frances The Talking Mule".

One movie that sticks in my mind is a “college” flick from the 30’s or 40’s that would compare to today’s “Revenge of the Nerds.” The plot centered on a big rowing race. The good guys were on the underdog team. (naturally!) The underdogs were behind the well heeled frat boys in the race. The quick witted wise-guy coxin started to issue threats to black mail to individual rowers during the race. The thought of infidelities being revealed to girlfriends prompted the rowers to new peaks of strength and endurance to win the race! I can see in my mind the facial close-ups of these rowers as they first had a horrified look and then grim determination and exertion to protect their honour.

Why does something like this stay in my mind for over 40 years? I don’t think I want to know!!

Well, I’m now playing the part of coxin with our women’s racing team. It is very intimidating to have eight rowers following your orders. Remembering the drill sequencing, steering the sweep, constantly checking for obstacles in the water, and trying to make sense of the readings on the cox box has given me a lot of respect for the coxes. This is really a learning experience for us all.

Last night I won my E-bay auction for a dandy fire hydrant. This is going to entail a quick road trip to Michigan to pick up. To any “normal person” this appears as total insanity. Perhaps it is…but as crazy as it seems, these acquisitions and the freedom to travel at my will were the things I daydreamed about for years working in the factory. Those dreams were got me thorough in one case a 10 year stint of working the same process day in and day out. I practiced “delayed gratification” so now I’m retired I can cash in some of those chips.

A few weeks ago I attended a union meeting seeing people I have not associated with in many years. So many of my old co-workers have turned into “slugs”. That is a term we coined back in the shop days to describe those who had no ambition or purpose in life. It was unnerving to see these people who have no real passion just getting older and decrepit.

If anything my eyes were opened as to how and why things worked out in my life to have brought me to where I am today.

Enough of this, there are errands to run errands and then the “Y”. I need to erg extra hard again today as I did not row……

The newest addition: A 1902 Michigan Brass and Iron Works fire hydrant.

Rowing and Rain

Saturday the 26^th the rowing club hosted a fundraiser “row-a-thon” to raise money to offset regatta expenses from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. This day was also a home football game against Arkansas starting at 2:30. The excitement in the city was as crazy as the traffic.

I was awakened by the sound of heavy rain right at 4:00 a.m. UGH! It literally poured. But, right around 8:00 it slowly started to subside and the sky cleared a bit.

I needed to have some keys made up for the front gate of the club. I originally planned on having them made up at the hardware store in Northport on the way to the row. But…. If for some reason they did not have a blank I would be s—t out of luck. I promised to have the keys to distribute. Instead I went to Lowe’s. I have not been in this store for weeks. Walking in I was horrified to see the first aisle lit up with Christmas trees, and those horrible blow up yard decorations all over the store accompanied by the computer generated sounds. This gives me three months to work up my Scrooge attitude. How I’ve gotten to despise the Christmas holiday season crammed down my throat….. Enough of that rant!!!

The weather held and a dedicated group rowed “guests” in the sweep. We could take up to two riders in the 8. It is difficult to row and maneuver the boat in this fashion. Poor Trish in the five seat never got a break from rowing…she was integral to both the bow and stern section of the boat!

We were headed back to the dock when we heard the rumblings of thunder. “I don’t hear anything.” I innocently stated. “That must have been a dump truck!” said Robin. The open water is a VERY dangerous place to be during an electrical storm. We got back to the dock and could see the front of rain approaching us.

We were all soaked to the skin by the time we got the equipment all packed up and put away.

It sure felt good to get home and take a hot shower and get into dry clothes. I was beat from all the rowing. We did not do a lot of drill work, just easy straight out rowing. This was a perfect opportunity to concentrate on correcting all the things I do wrong… not opening my back till my legs are fully extended, not digging the blade into the water, reaching over the gunnel as far as I can to lengthen my stroke, sitting tall and not slouching my shoulders, etc, etc, etc….

Sunday I decided to finally clean up the brick patios. The spell of rain is supposed to be over for a while. Moss is everywhere on the brickwork. Fist straight bleach is worked into the bricks followed by TSP mixed in water. This is scrubbed around with a heavy push broom. Then the power washer goes to work clearing up the gunk.

I had company in the yard in the form of the birds and squirrels fighting for the bird seed. Hummingbirds have finally discovered the feeder I put up. They were battling over the nectar. For little guys they sure are aggressive!

Our Sunday row was cancelled due to lack of people. I was really disappointed, as I was looking forward to getting on the river again. I would think the people who will be competing in the upcoming regattas would want to get every second on the water they could.

Fall is in the air. The sun has moved south enough now to where the back yard is in shade for much of the day now. With not going on the river, I was able to get the back yard all mowed and trimmed up. The grass is exploding with the rain we have been getting.

This morning before daybreak I enjoyed my first cup of coffee on the cleaned up brick patio. Daggy and Stump emerged from their respective hiding places. Daggy took her perch on my lap while Stump sniffed around for interesting smells. He is walking on his sore leg pretty much all the time now with only a small limp. I can tell he is better in that he will sleep a lot now totally stretched out on his back. I can handle his leg and paw and not get growls or at the worst hisses. He even attempted to climb his favourite tree! He got part way up!

The UPS man just delivered a new battery to replace the defective one in the new "cox box". It was just installed and put on the charger. Hopefully this will solve an annoying problem with our new EXPENSIVE equipment.

Time to post this entry and get to the “Y”: I need to erg extra hard this morning to make up for not rowing yesterday…..

Rain, Bricks, Manhole Covers

What a roller coaster these past two weeks have been. After a vast improvement, Stumpy took a turn downhill. He stopped walking on his “bad” leg and went back to being lethargic. Monday morning the 21^st I noticed his paw was swollen. He hissed at me when I tried to handle him.

The infection from that bite does not want to heal up. The Vet had to drain more pus out and shoot him up with more antibiotics. Stumps fever was 104.4°. When is this going to end? It has been over two weeks now…..

On the Stumpy front: I’m hopeful all is well. He is again walking on that sore leg, and the Dr. just gave him a quick check over and all seems as it should be.

We have had so much rain and humidity these past few weeks. The “monsoons” kept us from rowing for nearly a week. The Black Warrior River was way high, flowing fast and dirty. All kinds of crap was floating in that river. Thursday we were able to get out and had a great row. We did a long stretch rowing all eight which is always an adventure. We were all soaked from water splashing up from the oars when we docked. It was still invigorating!

The wood cabinet doors, drawers, and house doors are swollen from the humidity. Some will barely close. I thought I was Oliver Douglas from “Green Acres” the other day. I tried to slam the side door shut to the driveway. It has one of those door knobs you push and turn to lock the outside knob. The damn door knob came off in my hand! Fortunately I was able to take the thing apart and repair the thing.

Saturday night Em had a wonderful dinner at his home in Birmingham. He grilled up a huge fillet wrapped in bacon. It was a game day in Tuscaloosa. I left at 2:30 in the afternoon just missing the traffic. I had Em laughing when I told him I was going to drive up on my own. There was no way I would drive back with Gary having to listen to his horrible music! Gary is one of those who will switch out a radio station or song after only about 20 seconds of listening. That drives me CRAZY!!

A good friend of Em’s Jerry was there. He is such a nice guy. I was being teased for my passion over bricks and manhole covers by the others. Jerry said, “I’ve got a City of Birmingham manhole cover that was dumped on my property if you want it!” I nearly had an orgasm!!! We worked out a day to meet for me to get the thing which was today, Friday the 25^th.

If that were not enough, my friend Buck called Wednesday with news of a listing on Craigslist for Graves paving bricks also in BHAM. I was able to pick up those 31 bricks today on my way home! Life surely is good!

The back of my truck:

I was waiting for Debbie to call this morning when my cell phone went off. NOBODY calls that number. It was Debbie calling to confirm our morning walk. She told me my line was busy. I picked up the phone and it was dead!

I called the AT&T number and went through the voice mail Hell. They performed a test on my line and told me all is fine, the problem is in the inside wiring. They ALWAYS say that!

After our walk, I took my spare dial phone to test the line at the box. I plugged the line into the box and actually got a dial tone! DAMN! Now I have to trouble shoot the lines to find the short. I did not have time to do that as I needed to get on the road to Birmingham.

On the drive home I went crazy retracing my steps from the last time I used my landline. Then it dawned on me. I got some very coarse steel wool to use in cleaning the grease off the iron stove top. When I put the steel wool back there was a bare phone wire it shorted out. Testing my theory out sure enough, there were the bare wires that were shorted out. I have a land line again. I take back all the horrible things I said about AT&T this morning!

Thursday in the late afternoon, I met Tim, Liz, Roger and Diane at “Innesfree”, a local “watering hole”. It is within walking distance from my house. I arrived in my Utilikilt! I know I got lots of looks! At this point of my life I don’t care. I was so comfortable!

One of their draft beers was a wheat beer from Atlanta. It was so good! A blue cheese hamburger and fries was my supper. Since I was walking I had three beers over the course of the night. We would have stayed longer, but the football game was on the big screen with the volume turned up so high to make things uncomfortable.

When I got home, I cranked open a beer and enjoyed that with Stumpy resting on my lap on my front porch. It was a warm humid evening. The ceiling fan was turned to high to keep the mosquitoes away. It was a perfect ending to the day….

My Career in Coffee

It has been damp, gray and rainy since I returned home from my road trip last Thursday. Our evening row was cancelled last night because of the weather. There are some of the most amazing fungi growing up in my yard from all the moisture. This is the perfect opportunity to pull weeds. However, the mosquitoes are so bad this year. I get swarms of them around me just walking into the back yard.

Enough of griping about the weather: This entry will be to document my stint as a “small businessperson” working with Marsha’s Coffee Service.

Early “fold over brochure” promoting our coffee!

Back in the early 1990’s I was working on a job making evaporator cores used in air conditioning systems. The machine I ran was called a “clincher”. This was a difficult involved job to learn. Nearly half of my 30 years at GM were spent running this machine.

Marsha worked in my department on the midnight shift. She was one of the nicest people you can imagine. She had a gift of getting people to do pretty much anything she wanted. In a factory this is no small feat. To get skilled trades guys to do favors for you could be pretty impossible at times…….

Coffee and the factory pretty much went hand in hand. There were coffee vending machines around the plant dispensing horrible swill at 30¢ for a tiny cup. Marsha started out selling coffee at 20¢ cup with a 30 cup coffee urn, some Styrofoam cups, creamer and sugar for her midnight crew.

When the day shift would come in, they wanted to buy coffee from Marsha. Marsha worked out a deal with me and Bonnie who worked the rotating shift opposite me to keep her urns going for a set price.

This worked out well at first, but then business increased dramatically. It was in September of 1993 we decided to pool our resources and buy some serious equipment. Bonnie and I would be responsible for keeping the coffee going on our respective shift.

The bathrooms in the plant were located above the shop floor. We commandeered an area under one of the stairways for the coffee service. Marsha was able to get steel cabinets from skilled trades to house supplies and the coffee urns. Those urns drew a lot of power. The electricians ran a separate line for Marsha so we would not be tripping the breakers. There was a “mop sink” near by where the pipefitters tapped in and installed a separate water line complete with a filter for her!

Midnights and day shift were the most profitable times for coffee sales. When starting day shift there would be two 100 cup urns going along with a smaller 30 cup urn for decaff, and another 30 cup with hot water for tea and hot chocolate.

I never had any business courses so my attempt at keeping books was pretty pathetic. I still have the records of my enterprise with Marsha. Basically I just kept track of what I paid out in supplies and the money that came in and hope I had a profit.

Sales were on the honour system. Even at 20¢ a cup it was amazing how many deadbeats stole coffee and even money from us. I would say about a third of the sales were to folks who used their own china cups. When inventorying the Styrofoam cups used during my shift, I would consider myself lucky if the money that came in matched the cups used. Having GM paying our electric and water helped a lot too!! 1994 was the only full year I ran the service. I cleared over $5,000.00.

Our operation was always a bone of contention with the company that ran the cafeteria and vending machines. We operated in a gray area. If the company shut us down, by rights they would have to stop every coffee pot in the plant. There were many such operations like ours, just not to our scale!

I can’t say how, but another vending operation started up right by us. A commercial popcorn machine found it’s way into the factory and 50¢ bags of popcorn were VERY popular among the workers. The smell of freshly popping corn is so addictive! This was not Marsha’s doing. I’m sworn to secrecy on this one!

I was working overtime and covering the coffee service for Bonnie when my foreman Lou approached me. “Get over to the coffee service NOW.” He told me. “I’ll be on break in a minute” I replied. “Now, it’s the Board ofHealth, they are going to start cutting locks in a minute!” he said.

It was one nervous chinch operator who ran to the coffee service. Health inspectors were checking the temperature of the coffee in the urns and the cleanliness of the coffee dispensing area and supply cabinets. I was able to get all the locks undone. All in all the inspectors were very impressed and told me this was the cleanest operation its type they had ever seen.

The popcorn machine was the real problem. That was considered a food operation, which is forbidden in a factory environment. Sadly we had to say good-by to the popcorn machine……

Marsha’s flourished. Thursday’s were “Customer Appreciation Day” where-by bowls of hard candies would be put out. We would have baked goods for our customers on the major holidays and free coffee.

Working in Dept 862 was such a comfortable rut. I had worked in that dept for 10 continuous years. My mom died in December of 1994 and things in my life started to change.

There was little turnover in that department. We worked on rate. When you become proficient at a job it looks easy and when things go well you can work in some decent break time. That is what allowed me to run the coffee service and run my clincher at the same time.

In the early spring of 1995 management was “riding our asses” They were trying to raise our production rates and write us up for any infraction they could dream up. Time study people were clocking our every move with stopwatches. As factory workers we were regarded as the lowest of the low. Generally those fools in management did not realize we knew our clinchers inside and out. All I had to do when loading parts into my clincher was to do an imperceptible shift of my wrist. This would cause the parts to be stacked at an angle which would cause constant jam-ups. They were never able to do a time study on this boy doing that job!

I had been through this type of action too many times. Rather than go through all the aggravation, I transferred away to a similar job in a different building in the spring of 1995. A coworker Les bought out my share of Marsha’s and continued running the service on my old shift.

Moving out of Dept 862 was a good move for me. I credit that move and association with new people to my relocating to Alabama. That is another story all unto its own…..

Stumpy on the Mend / Frustration

Stumpy’s leg has been a constant worry to me for the past week. He seemed to be out of pain, but would not use that sore leg of his. He kept it curled up not putting any pressure on it. He would let me massage it, showing his pleasure with volumous purring and head butts.

Last night before turning in to bed I witnessed him taking tentative steps on that leg. If I needed a sign the worst was over that was it. It brought flashbacks of the movie Heidi when Shirley Temple as Heidi persuaded the invalid Klara to take her first steps from the wheelchair. What feeling of relief! It’s a good thing I was not holding a “snow globe” like the one in the move that was dropped! LOL!

We had a frustrating row this morning. It kind of reminded me of some restoration projects; whereby the last 10% of the job requires 90% of your work and concentration to be right. As rowers we pretty much have the basics down, now to just get everyone to work and row together. God, it so much easier said than done.

About half way through our practice we were hit by a large wake that ricocheted off a block wall that supports a viewing area into the river. That water flooded over the starboard gunnel instantly soaking the shoes we had on board. We had a soggy trip carrying the boat back from the dock. It was amazing how much water poured out onto us when we lifted it off the river.

Raising money for the club continues to be a challenge with regattas coming up. The new $500.00 cox box that had to be returned for repair a few weeks ago was delivered to me Wednesday. I was not able to fully charge the battery on it. Trying to get it to work on the sweep after our row was unsuccessful. I’ll try again with a fully charged battery tomorrow. More aggravation.

Today I was lucky and the rain held off. It has been so damp and humid, but my whites that were hung out on the line this morning are almost totally dry at 5:00 p.m. Hopefully it will all be dry enough to fold and put away before the sun goes down.