Back in the Saddle

[245dlc]

Got a call a few days ago from my boss asking if I mind working on an out of town job. I said yay to the job as I haven't worked since February 28 due to a premature lay off and the spring thaw. I'll be working on a job a couple hours north of here staying in a motel during the week and we'll be stripping overburden from on top of a seam of limestone that'll be mined to make gravel. It's a pretty big job as most of the company's equipment will be there including two excavators a Kobelco 350 and a Kobelco 290, four articulated 25 tonne dump trucks, and I think at least 2 dozers. I'll be running the 290 from what I understand as I've got lower seniority than this Russian guy, but who knows that might change I he's a lot slower than I am and has much less experience but it'll be to be swinging again.

[ianoz]

That Good news Bert . Nice to have a cash flow once again .

[Wee Jim]

Well done! you'll be glad to get back to work!!

[ianoz]

Hey Bert , So have you got a laptop ,so you keep in touch ? I reckon the new bride will be demanding your undevided attenshion on weekends home.

[245dlc]

Hi Ian well I'm back for a few days as it rained all last night and it's expected to rain all weekend maybe into Monday . And it had rained on Tuesday as well we ended up only working until 3:30 p.m. which was kind of a bummer. Yesterday was a good day and we got all the topsoil pushed into piles and about half of it hauled to the stockpile. The Sk350 had started digging the overburden which is quite a rugged mixture of hard glacial till with some mammoth boulders in it. Some places the overburden is about 15 feet deep which can really slow down production as it's quite a stretch to reach with either the Sk350 or Sk260 we also had some trouble with one of our Cat ADT's having transmission overheating problems. My wife does have an older laptop that I'm free to use but I wasn't sure if it was worth bringing it if the Hotel doesn't have internet in which case it doesn't so we just text each other back and forth lots. lol And yeah she does miss me and do my cats. lol

[245dlc]

Well I've got some pictures to post, we're slowly getting to the end of this project last week was quite dry and very dusty and neither us or them have a decent water truck, I was going to get a video of a blast but apparently I'm not allowed to do that (DAMN IT!!) they're worried that something will go wrong and they'll get shit from health and safety....yeesh they're blowing up rocks how can things get any more unsafe? Lol! Looks like the uploader wants to upload the wrong pictures so I've used photobucket instead.

[ianoz]

Thanks for the photos Bert .Good to hear the weather has been kind to you .Is there more jobs coming up after this one finishes?.

[Muz]

Those first few look pretty barren

[245dlc]

Yeah there is always hourly work around town and a couple of possible big jobs like a big retention pond job.

[ianoz]

Been keeping Busy Bert ?

[Stock]

Sorry Bert missed this thread completely excellent pictures how is it progressing.....................

[245dlc]

Well it's one of those jobs that just keeps dragging on. They've got very little work going on this season and seem to have little inclination to work out of their normal operating area. They use to do a lot of flood prevention and cleanup work in the past as well road work. But with the bulk of last year's flood damage being in the western part of the province all the government money is being spent out there and the current administration doesn't believe in fixing or upgrading our failing roads. So my boss shut down my machine on this job and just has the Sk350 loading our 25 ton trucks and I have to drive one of them which really sucks. I had a job offer from another company this week that has lots of work and operates several gravel pits where I would likely end up, however the job in question involves a fair bit of dumper driving and I might lose my two week holiday in August so I declined it until they come up with a better deal. However with the current employer there is a lot of talk about a couple of retention pond jobs one small one by my inlaws and another large one about half an hour away from our shop.

[ianoz]

Well , having the paypacket coming in each week is fairly important , Grin and bare it , dumper and all .

[245dlc]

Well , having the paypacket coming in each week is fairly important , Grin and bare it , dumper and all .

Oh I am Ian but it doesn't help me if they run out of work and start giving pink slips.