Pete, I wish I could remember which items I wrote back when, before the hiccup, etc...I know there are several I 'think' I posted, but not certain, and don't know if I should redo them or what? You seem to have most of them in the 'archives'...ha ...suggestions?

 

Wow it made page 17 Trumpets blaring, crowd cheering.... Yeah right!!!

Lest you forget oh wise and OLD Magician I have a few locked away on a floppy somewhere in the caves of Zebulon (NC, that is) and if you had noticed on page 16 there were two posted...

The past is still close at hand but it's still better than being whisked away into a Cyber Black Hole and.... Well you get the picture!!!!

 

1048 to go, Doc!


Here I go again with the blue!

Way back when, during my years in the moving industry...I remember several events which stand out. One of which follows:
During the loading of a shipper, her calico cat kept coming into the trailer. It would jump up on a tier, lay down on the pads, in short it was a pain in the butt. It didn't do any good chasing the cat out, for it would only return a few minutes later. Anyway, as the loading progressed, it suddenly dawned on me that the cat had disappeared. I was overjoyed at the fact, I never mentioned it to anyone, shipper, helpers. Finally after finishing, I closed the doors, had the inventories signed, made arrangements with the shipper on a delivery date and as an after thought, I asked her if she had seen her cat lately. She replied 'no', she's probably over at one of the neighbors'.
Three days later, I pulled up in front of the shipper's new house at destination, waited for her to arrive. I went around to the back of the trailer and unlocked the doors, cracked them open and out like a bolt of lightening flew that damn calico cat - last seen headed for parts unknown.
I told the shipper, she laughed and said she had checked with the neighbors before leaving and hadn't found the cat. I said, 'I'll bet that's the last time that cat runs in and out of a trailer'. Apparently the cat, having all her possessions put on the truck, followed her instinct and crawled up on top of a tier (when my back was turned) and made herself comfortable. What a shock when she came flying out the back door. I called the shipper several days later and she informed me the cat finally came back to the house.

 

Another little item from the years in the moving industry. I loaded a shipper in Riverside, and it was a COD which meant 99% of the cartons were PBO (packed by owner)...and we were not liable for any/all damages to them. When I got to destination, I started breaking down the tiers and upon grabbing a 3 cube carton, I could hear a strange noise inside - like gravel/glass. I had one of the helpers carry it carefully in to the shipper and had them open it. I got called in, and upon inspection, discovered one of their kids had pack (literally) their 10 gal aquarium with about an 1" of water/gravel in the bottom and naturally, the pet lizard and his tree stubs. I just shook my head and walked back to the trailer. The lizard suffered no ill effects apparently and the kids were happy, which all that matters.

 

Only 1,014 to go Doc! :!:

 

You're wrong, it'll be :rock: as the band plays

999 to go as I type this.

The FOG is coming!!!!!

 

What fog? And okay, we're at 976 - Hip, Hip, Hurrah :lol: :!: :!: :!: :!: :P

And no, don't have the laptop yet, but figured out a way with this 'toolbar'....elementary, my dear Watson! :!:

 

The Fog!!! Not the movie either:

There are a few things that will unnerve me quicker than anything else; steer tyre blowouts, fire and FOG!!!!

I keep having a reoccurring dream about driving into a thick fog and not coming out; it?ll wake me up in a cold sweat each time?
I?m not sure when I developed a phobia to the big mist but I?m guessing it was back in the last century on Route 22 in Pennsylvania.

I was running a load of empty bottles out to the Strohs Brewery in Allentown, I was driving the ever trusty ?R? Model with the 2 sticks. I noticed the weather was taking a turn for the no good after I crossed the Delaware. At first there was slight mist in the air just enough to run the wipers every once in a while. The further west I drove the heavier the mist became, still nothing to be concerned about at least that is what I thought.

I was about 10 miles from Allentown when the fog got real thick; it looked as if someone dropped a huge blanket and covered the entire roadway. I slowed down, didn?t want to over drive the headlights. It seemed like every mile I drove the fog kept getting thicker.
I?m guessing I was about 5 miles from Allentown when a real cold chill swarmed over my body and the deep feeling something serious was wrong, I slowed down to about 35 miles an hour and put the emergency flashers on praying the whole time that no one ran into the back of me. It was at that time I was looking for a safe place to pull over when a flashing blue light popped up in the mirror. It scared me at first until the patrol car went past me. I slowed down even more not knowing what to expect. Finally the fog lifted just enough for me to see the highway patrol officer had pulled a Chevy van over that had no lights on it what so ever. I eased past them and found my to Stroh?s, I had just backed in the dock when the highway patrol officer pulled up and said I was lucky he saw the van go by. I admitted to the officer that I never saw the patrol car. He was parked on the side of the road and the white car blended real well into the fog. The officer also said I probably would have hit that van because the driver was driving at 10 miles an hour!!
Made me feel real insecure after that, my imagination went into overdrive working out different outcomes to the scenario!!! I waited until morning when the fog lifted to head back home!!!

This answer your question about the fog Magician????


The clock is still running......

Time for an Ice Cream run!!!

 

Ice Cream, we all scream for Ice Cream!!!

Time for an ice cream run!

Back in the last century the boss?s wife was not to be believed, she was the most obnoxious human I had ever met. She was, what the boss considered, a $.25 Millionaire. Give ?em a quarter and they think they?re rich. His definition, not mine.
This chick had her hands in everything, well almost everything!

I had a run to Minnesota with a refrigerated trailer; this wagon had a Carrier not a Thermo king. Anyway, I had a load of frozen pizza dough to deliver in Saint Paul, odd, I thought, Saint Paul at certain times of the year gets as cold as a deep freezer, so why would I be delivering frozen dough. It was another one of those Mysteries of Trucking, in other words don?t try to figure out the logic.
I backed the wagon to the dock and walked inside only to be met by the dock boss, he told me to call dispatch ASAP. I called and was told in no uncertain terms I had to go to Moline, Illinois for a pick up. I didn?t question the command, wouldn?t have made any sense to.

The trailer was unloaded in two hours and I was on my way to Illinois. As I was rolling on to Moline I started thinking about the load and realized all I had was a phone number for the shipper, no address. I stopped, called the shipper; Whitey?s Ice Cream Company got directions and headed towards the plant. I pulled up in front of a store with that name and walked inside and asked the manager where the plant was. I soon discovered that there wasn?t a plant, they made the ice cream there and I was to pick up 2, yes 2, cases of ice cream for a Mrs. Mahan in North Brunswick, NJ. The manager looked out of the window and saw the W-900 and trailer and asked if that wasn?t a bit of ?overkill!? I just told him I never question anything dispatch gives me it would have been fruitless!!!
I loaded the two cases on the trailer, slid them all the way to the front and made sure they were secure. The store manager asked me if the trailer would be cold enough, I assured him it would but he had said they packed the boxes with dry ice just in case. I know it was a waste of fuel to run the reefer but I wanted to be sure the ?load? would be in good condition when I arrived back home.

Thinking there had to more than that I called dispatch and was told to get the ice cream back as soon as I could. Again, I didn?t dare argue I was getting paid for all of the mileage the truck went no matter how much was on the trailer!!!

For the record; I didn?t get any of the woman?s ice cream??

 

Alright, fog question answered! I also share the same re: blowing out a steer, driving in fog and/or a white out because of blowing snow such as one can experience in Wyoming. Yucks!

Alright, time for a tomato run - I think this one should be in your archives cause I am almost positive I posted it way back when.....

Having unloaded in Florida, my broker sent me over to a little produce shed where I was met by a little Jewish broker. They proceeded to load the wagon with box after box of tomatoes. He threw a seal on the door and away I went - headed for good ole southern California. When I arrived at the destination broker, I bumped the dock and they proceeded to unload the wagon. The broker told me to stay put as they were going to reload me for the same broker that loaded this load. I walked in the cooler and watched as they dumped each box of tomatoes they had taken off my trailer and put the same tomatoes in a box labeled 'California tomatoes'. They then loaded the wagon and I headed right back to the very same broker I had left days earlier.

When I arrived back in Florida, I bumped the dock and there stood the little Jewish broker. As soon as I had the door open, he and a friend of his grabbed a box of tomatoes, opened it and took a nice plump tomato out and proceeded to cut it open with a penknife. Having done so, he nudged his friend and stated, 'see, I told you their tomatoes were better than ours'.....little did he know he cut open one of his own tomatoes shipped days previous. :shock: