I'm sure glad we're keeping this quite the "spirited" discussion. 
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SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
My wife cajoled me into a glass of Reunite Lambrusco this evening. Brought back memories of an earlier time when a magnum of Lambrusco was my lunchtime beverage. A salami sandwich and a magnum.
Kept me warm working on the Great Lakes Freighters in the wintertime. The outfit I worked for did refits, bow thrusters and coal to oil conversions and I had the wonderful job of hanging in a bosins chair suspended from a cable between the outer hull and the inner cargo holds, coating the hull plates applying this paint like preservative/water repellant with an airless sprayer by the light of a 100 watt bulb. One slip and it was a 30 foot drop to the bottom which was basically watery slime. No harness, just the chair, my sprayer the light and me.
Colder than hell in a steel coffin but the Lambrusco kept me warm. Didn't do much for the quality of work however.
I worked on the Fitzgearld btw. She was a real leaker. She had to be pumped constantly or she'd scuttle herself, pretty typical of the lakes boats in general but the Fitz was worse than most.
I remember a thruster install where we had to literally carry an entire Caterpillar Diesel engine down ladders to the lower front compartment so the roustabouts could do the install. They'd scuttle the stern so it sat in the mud of the river bottom and the bow was up out of the water and then you'd cut the hull plates for the tunnel, install the prop and powerplant....and only in the dead of winter.
Can't recollect what I made but it was fun for a young buck just back from Vietnamn.
Those were the days.............
Kept me warm working on the Great Lakes Freighters in the wintertime. The outfit I worked for did refits, bow thrusters and coal to oil conversions and I had the wonderful job of hanging in a bosins chair suspended from a cable between the outer hull and the inner cargo holds, coating the hull plates applying this paint like preservative/water repellant with an airless sprayer by the light of a 100 watt bulb. One slip and it was a 30 foot drop to the bottom which was basically watery slime. No harness, just the chair, my sprayer the light and me.
Colder than hell in a steel coffin but the Lambrusco kept me warm. Didn't do much for the quality of work however.
I worked on the Fitzgearld btw. She was a real leaker. She had to be pumped constantly or she'd scuttle herself, pretty typical of the lakes boats in general but the Fitz was worse than most.
I remember a thruster install where we had to literally carry an entire Caterpillar Diesel engine down ladders to the lower front compartment so the roustabouts could do the install. They'd scuttle the stern so it sat in the mud of the river bottom and the bow was up out of the water and then you'd cut the hull plates for the tunnel, install the prop and powerplant....and only in the dead of winter.
Can't recollect what I made but it was fun for a young buck just back from Vietnamn.
Those were the days.............
Outlaw6.0
Well-Known Member
That kind of reminds me of my breakout days in the Oil patch. If the company man didn't show up on location with a cooler full of beer at the end of the day...
My have times changed; of course, people weren't complete idiots then (just mostly).
I'm not sure what that stuff is (that you're talking about) but I sure got a laugh when you stated "didn't do much for the quality of work"... good stuff there 'flip.
t
My have times changed; of course, people weren't complete idiots then (just mostly).
I'm not sure what that stuff is (that you're talking about) but I sure got a laugh when you stated "didn't do much for the quality of work"... good stuff there 'flip.
t
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
To refine it a bit, when the Lakes boats (ore boats that haul taconite iron ore from Minnesota and coal from Sandusky, Ohio down to Cleveland) traverse the Cuyahoga River, without a bow thruster they have to rely on tug boats to get them around the curves and to dock.
With a bow thruster the Captain can steer the boat without Tugs so it makes them more agile. Laks boats are all flat bottom hulls because the depth of the lower laes isn't that great so a thruster works even better with no keel to impede the sideways motion.
I was born in Florida but raised in Cleveland, my dad worked for the now defunct Republic Steel (presently Mittal). I thought I was destined to work at the mill (like most kids whose parent(s) worked there. Never happened and in a way I'm glad it didn't. The mills were a dangerous place plus it was dirty work, but someone has to make steel so we can all consume it.
My dad was killed at the mill in an industrial accident before the advent of OSHA.
Its interesting in a way that foreign entities have quietly bought up the core industries in this country. The only domestically owned milsl left in this country are owned by Carpenter Technologies and they are specialty mills that produce specialty steels like stainless. Every other mill is owned by offshore entities like Servistal and Mittal. Republic Steel still operates a tube mill called Electrunite. They cold draw seamless hydraulic tubing but they get their materials from Mittal.
Lots of American workers lost their jobs and had to go back to the same jobs at a lesser wage and lesser benefits or it was no job at all. Growing up in a blue collar enviroment is an interesting childhood.
I could tell you stories about growing up and taking tours with my dad at places that used Republic Steel (my dad was a research chemist). I remember going to Cadiz, Ohio and touring the Silver Spade mining shovel. 10 stories high on huge crawler tracks and you could park 2 pans side by side in the bucket. Amazing industrial stuff. My dad was one of the chemists who worked on the high strength alloys that they used to fabricate the bucket from....
Neither here nor there but gives some insight as to my younger life and what I did.
It was fun most times. I don't want to do it again, one time is enough.
With a bow thruster the Captain can steer the boat without Tugs so it makes them more agile. Laks boats are all flat bottom hulls because the depth of the lower laes isn't that great so a thruster works even better with no keel to impede the sideways motion.
I was born in Florida but raised in Cleveland, my dad worked for the now defunct Republic Steel (presently Mittal). I thought I was destined to work at the mill (like most kids whose parent(s) worked there. Never happened and in a way I'm glad it didn't. The mills were a dangerous place plus it was dirty work, but someone has to make steel so we can all consume it.
My dad was killed at the mill in an industrial accident before the advent of OSHA.
Its interesting in a way that foreign entities have quietly bought up the core industries in this country. The only domestically owned milsl left in this country are owned by Carpenter Technologies and they are specialty mills that produce specialty steels like stainless. Every other mill is owned by offshore entities like Servistal and Mittal. Republic Steel still operates a tube mill called Electrunite. They cold draw seamless hydraulic tubing but they get their materials from Mittal.
Lots of American workers lost their jobs and had to go back to the same jobs at a lesser wage and lesser benefits or it was no job at all. Growing up in a blue collar enviroment is an interesting childhood.
I could tell you stories about growing up and taking tours with my dad at places that used Republic Steel (my dad was a research chemist). I remember going to Cadiz, Ohio and touring the Silver Spade mining shovel. 10 stories high on huge crawler tracks and you could park 2 pans side by side in the bucket. Amazing industrial stuff. My dad was one of the chemists who worked on the high strength alloys that they used to fabricate the bucket from....
Neither here nor there but gives some insight as to my younger life and what I did.
It was fun most times. I don't want to do it again, one time is enough.
FEENIX, I agree
Guinness is freaking AWESOME!
I am also not sure what 'Flip is referring to, but I also agree that it is a great story. Also, Captain Morgan with Diet Dr. Pepper is amazing. I call it Captain Skippy.
Thank all of you who have served in the military!!! I only regret that I was too tall to get in, and they tend to frown upon type 1 diabetics...
Guinness is freaking AWESOME!
I am also not sure what 'Flip is referring to, but I also agree that it is a great story. Also, Captain Morgan with Diet Dr. Pepper is amazing. I call it Captain Skippy.
Thank all of you who have served in the military!!! I only regret that I was too tall to get in, and they tend to frown upon type 1 diabetics...
Outlaw6.0
Well-Known Member
I know what you're saying with a Blue collar upbringing except is was the oilfield here.
It's funny you should bring up the Silver Spade. As far as draglines go Ursa Major is here outside my home town at the Black Thunder Coal Mine. As of right now she's the biggest in the world (IIRC). 690ft boom, over 700 thousand tons... big ole girl.
http://www.vincelewis.net/diggers.html
Small world
t
It's funny you should bring up the Silver Spade. As far as draglines go Ursa Major is here outside my home town at the Black Thunder Coal Mine. As of right now she's the biggest in the world (IIRC). 690ft boom, over 700 thousand tons... big ole girl.
http://www.vincelewis.net/diggers.html
Small world
t
MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
My grandfather worked as a laborer for many years for Bethlehem steel until he retired. He worked a lot of very long shifts during WWII. He ended up retired with my Gramma (she was a seamstress) in a small but nice house in Bethlehem PA, that he built himself. My uncle, his son, got a degree in accounting and went to work with Bethlehem steel also, as an accountant.
I remember the collapse of the steel and coal industry. I had just graduated from college about an hour South of Pittsburgh. I decided I would rather start a construction business than pursue my degree. It was going well for about a year when the plug got pulled and the steel mils and coal mines went under. I lay a big share of the blame on the unions. They just got out of control. I remember a union steel worker bragging to me how he got drunk on a Saturday night and slept the hangover off the next day in a cubby hole somewhere in the plant making double time for "working" on Sunday. He thought that was pretty cool and could get away with it because of the union. About a year later, he and a lot of other guys were out of a job.
My uncle survived the first and second rounds of layoffs at Bethlehem, but eventually lost his job also a few years before he was eligible for retirement. No sure things in this world. He then got a job with Martin Guitars in Nazareth PA making a good bit less but he and his wife got by. He taught me how to hunt and was the best PA deer hunter I knew. He got his buck almost every year and it was usually a nice one and got one that was just a few points shy of BC. And that is saying something in PA where back then, only about 10% of those who bought a tag bagged a buck and the majority of them were 6 points (3x3) or less not more than 2 1/2 years old.
I bounced around partially employed here and there for a couple of years then joined the Air Force and was able to go to OTS because of my degree. It ended up be useful for something.
Sorry to hear about your dad Flip. And thank you for your service. I appreciate anyone who serves and go out of my way to especially express that to Nam vets as they were not treated well by a lot in this country.
I remember the collapse of the steel and coal industry. I had just graduated from college about an hour South of Pittsburgh. I decided I would rather start a construction business than pursue my degree. It was going well for about a year when the plug got pulled and the steel mils and coal mines went under. I lay a big share of the blame on the unions. They just got out of control. I remember a union steel worker bragging to me how he got drunk on a Saturday night and slept the hangover off the next day in a cubby hole somewhere in the plant making double time for "working" on Sunday. He thought that was pretty cool and could get away with it because of the union. About a year later, he and a lot of other guys were out of a job.
My uncle survived the first and second rounds of layoffs at Bethlehem, but eventually lost his job also a few years before he was eligible for retirement. No sure things in this world. He then got a job with Martin Guitars in Nazareth PA making a good bit less but he and his wife got by. He taught me how to hunt and was the best PA deer hunter I knew. He got his buck almost every year and it was usually a nice one and got one that was just a few points shy of BC. And that is saying something in PA where back then, only about 10% of those who bought a tag bagged a buck and the majority of them were 6 points (3x3) or less not more than 2 1/2 years old.
I bounced around partially employed here and there for a couple of years then joined the Air Force and was able to go to OTS because of my degree. It ended up be useful for something.
Sorry to hear about your dad Flip. And thank you for your service. I appreciate anyone who serves and go out of my way to especially express that to Nam vets as they were not treated well by a lot in this country.
MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
I was introduced to Guinness Stout on my first TDY to England. They have it on tap there and served a t room temp. It became my favorite. I can get it on tap here but served cold. But after trying some IPAs they have become my favorite. There are about half a dozen or so Montana brewed varieties.
I like Morgan with pineapple fruit blends, makes me think I'm in Hawaii when it's 20 below outside, especially if I have more than one
Outlaw6.0
Well-Known Member
I was introduced to Guinness Stout on my first TDY to England. They have it on tap there and served a t room temp. It became my favorite. I can get it on tap here but served cold. But after trying some IPAs they have become my favorite. There are about half a dozen or so Montana brewed varieties.
I like Morgan with pineapple fruit blends, makes me think I'm in Hawaii when it's 20 below outside, especially if I have more than one
Morgan & pineapple... yup, that may be just a little girly
sorry bro, but I had to. I'm an Amber beer type of guy, or possibly a Boch. IPA's haven't ever caught my atttention... too hoppy I guess.
t
MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
Morgan & pineapple... yup, that may be just a little girly
I'm an Amber beer type of guy, or possibly a Boch. IPA's haven't ever caught my atttention... too hoppy I guess.
t
Harsh bro, harsh,, ehhh, whatever,, at least it's healthy! That's what i tell myself anyway
Outlaw6.0
Well-Known Member
Harsh bro, harsh,, ehhh, whatever,, at least it's healthy! That's what i tell myself anyway
I try
I do have to admit that I haven't tried Guiness warm... sounds terrible but i'd try it.t
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
BTW, thanks for the link, brings back memories. Interestingly, the Spade and the Gem of Egypt are all electric. I remember being on the Spade to this day. It was digging and the only sound was the creak of the cables and the whirr of the motors.
I also remember the huge 'extension cord' that came out the end on a retractable spool. It was as big around as your thigh.
The draglines don't crawl, they walk whereas the shovels were on tracks. At one time it (Spade) crossed I-77 and they had to move in 12 feet of earth across the pavement plus lay down blocking so it wouldn't destroy the roadbed.
I hear it's good hunting down Cadiz way in the old mine pits but I've never hunted there. I used to fish Tappan Lake back in the day.
The coal companies really decimated the land around Cadiz before the government got involved and passed laws and made them reclaim it. Looked like a lunar landscape when they were done. The overburden wasn't capable of growing anything.
Despite Obama' ranting, coal is still the most abundant resiurce for power generation but I heat the NG reserves are huge and directional fracking in PA and Ohio is tapping those reserves. I know we export a bunch of coal to other countries like China. NO EPA crap there.
I also remember the huge 'extension cord' that came out the end on a retractable spool. It was as big around as your thigh.
The draglines don't crawl, they walk whereas the shovels were on tracks. At one time it (Spade) crossed I-77 and they had to move in 12 feet of earth across the pavement plus lay down blocking so it wouldn't destroy the roadbed.
I hear it's good hunting down Cadiz way in the old mine pits but I've never hunted there. I used to fish Tappan Lake back in the day.
The coal companies really decimated the land around Cadiz before the government got involved and passed laws and made them reclaim it. Looked like a lunar landscape when they were done. The overburden wasn't capable of growing anything.
Despite Obama' ranting, coal is still the most abundant resiurce for power generation but I heat the NG reserves are huge and directional fracking in PA and Ohio is tapping those reserves. I know we export a bunch of coal to other countries like China. NO EPA crap there.
I was introduced to Guinness Stout on my first TDY to England. They have it on tap there and served a t room temp. It became my favorite. I can get it on tap here but served cold. But after trying some IPAs they have become my favorite. There are about half a dozen or so Montana brewed varieties.
I like Morgan with pineapple fruit blends, makes me think I'm in Hawaii when it's 20 below outside, especially if I have more than one
IPA's are something that I like as well, but there are some bad one's out there that you have to be careful of.
That's funny about the Hawaiian weather...I have no need though. I live for 20 below. I hate summer with a deep, hot, burning passion lol
MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
I try
t
Dude, Americans spoil good quality brews. Room temp is how they do it over there and once you get used to it, which didn't take long for me, it's hard going back to chilled... unless it after a long hard hot day, then a Bud Light Lime is nice
