for Coots....

Good to hear from you Dave,

I used a lot of acronyms when corresponding with folks who were familiar with it.If you wern't in the loop you were lost ,but I comtinued to use them out of habit.

Later Mort 55 Chevy 327 11.87 @.......I forget.

Ah, the good ole 327, bulletproof.

I'll expand on Al's farmer talk on the PC tomorrow.

Later
Dave
 
There is a materials plant near here in Lebanon, NH which I frequently drive by. They hvae crushed rock, gravel, sand and concrete. I know it has been there for at least 60 years because when I was in elementary school, my Dad would sometimes get the company dump truck and pick me up at school. We'd drive up there and pull up under a huge hopper and get a load of crushed stone. That hopper is still there and functioning.

The interesting part is that there is (was) something of a mountain in back of that plant. It is now more of a hill and dwindling fast. I read the local paper cover to cover every day and I've never seen a word of complaint regarding the demise of that hill. I am sure that roads and driveways for miles around owe their existence to it. That peak has been something of a navigation hazard for the airport that sits at its base, so perhaps folks are happy to see it gone.

If it were across the river in ultra-liberal Vermont, you might get more of an outcry, but I've seen some hills disappear over there too with nary a whimper of opposition. Go figger.
 
Well

"If it were across the river in ultra-liberal Vermont, you might get more of an outcry, but I've seen some hills disappear over there too with nary a whimper of opposition. Go figger.

Perhaps the high level of marijuana use by all the earth muffins that have moved into vt?
 
Whining Farmers

I had a lot of farmers that were good customers, so I didn't say much about them in the past. Now that 2/3 of my business is sold i will be saying what I think. This government wants cheap food prices as another way to keep us in control. Hungry people don't herd well. I got pretty tired of all the subsidies, crop insurance, bailouts, free updated corn dryers, ect. the farmers get. If they had a piece of equipment over 3 years old and had a couple thousand hours on it they thought the world was coming to an end. Then the grain farmers whining about how hard they work. In the summer my crushing crew usually worked at least 55 hours a week and in the winter 40 to 45 moving overburden. I have some Cat 988 end loaders that are still in good shape and have 35K hours on them after going through a certified rebuild. If I trade in a piece of rolling stock with less that 10K hours on it, it was a piece of crap. One of my portable screening plants is over 20 years old and works as good as a new one. Regular maintenance is the key. The flood of 93 came through and basically washed every pound of sand away that we had stockpiled, probably around 20K tons. Where was MY check? Just last year we were flooded out of our sand pit six times, cost me 10's of thousands. Where was MY check. All i saw for 8 years was a flood of Federal rules and regulations, inspectors, and chicken $hit fines. This problem has slowed down the last couple of years only because of our leader.

I didn't really want the governments money, because with the check, comes control. I just wanted them to leave me alone.

See what you started Al.......................

Later
Dave
 
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Well said Sir David.....

Since teenage when I'm involved in a discussion, I've been often accused of "changing the subject".....

Which has always confused (and later concerned) me.

People are all like "we're talking about HORSEPOWER here! Why you keep bringing up WEIGHT???"

I think you see my point. This IS a "gun discussion".... And, yes, I'll admit to being a discussion starter because "changing the narrative" has ALWAYS been the only real effector for change.

And I care.


Enough to put myself on the line, every day.
 
Hey Dave

If they are getting 10,000 hours on the equipment every three years I wouldn't complain. I would find an appropriate depreciation schedule so I could write it off. On logging equipment, I used 7-year straight line minus salvage value....only because someone smarter than me said to do it that way.

What is your final product? Sand or gravel, not sure what you were looking for.

If pit run wasn't available we would bring in a crusher and shoot for 3/4 inch minus surface material. Don't remember ever laying down less than 6 inches on a road as it has to last.

I'm just curious Dave, and my questions have nothing to do with the basis for your response. If you and I share one thing, besides racing, it is mistrust or dissatisfaction with the government.

Sounds like you are headed for retirement...all the best in that regard.

Later

Mort
 
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Guns

Al,


When it comes to guns and ownership requirements/restrictions we are all on the same page. Not sure what I could add here.

Mort
 
Hey Dave

If they are getting 10,000 hours on the equipment every three years I wouldn't complain. I would find an appropriate depreciation schedule so I could write it off. On logging equipment, I used 7-year straight line minus salvage value....only because someone smarter than me said to do it that way.

What is your final product? Sand or gravel, not sure what you were looking for.

If pit run wasn't available we would bring in a crusher and shoot for 3/4 inch minus surface material. Don't remember ever laying down less than 6 inches on a road as it has to last.

I'm just curious Dave, and my questions have nothing to do with the basis for your response. If you and I share one thing, besides racing, it is mistrust or dissatisfaction with the government.

Sounds like you are headed for retirement...all the best in that regard.

Later

Mort

I bet the farmers don't get 1,500 hours in 3 years. In your business and mine you put many more hours on than that. I also used the 7 year depreciation schedule.

I was in the crushed limestone and sand and gravel business. Drill and blast the limestone and then process it. In the sand operation we use a hydraulic dredge and go to a depth of 45-50' to the bottom of the deposit. There isn't a large percent of gravel around here, about 7% from 3/8" to 4". I'm sure the bank run deposits you dealt with had a much larger percentage of larger material. Our material is pumped through a 10" pipe to the processing plant where it is screened, graded, and washed.

With the employee situation the way it is today I'm glad to be done. I don't imagine you miss it either.

Later
Dave
 
Shooting Limestone

Dave,

We also had Limestone for which we always used a crusher. The off white material made for a nice road surface.

One of the local guys was a gold miner (rock not placer) so he knew how to drill and shoot. He went by the name of Chuck. Chuck had long hair and a beard so we called him "Hippy Chuck" and he never seemed to mind.

One day on the job he was ready to let it go and I asked him if I should leave. He said, "Hell no, just stay with me". After getting showered with debris and choking on dust, I asked him if I had ever pissed him off? He said, "Hey.... you're still here aren't you"? and started laughing.

He could also sing and play the guitar and would sometimes play in the local bar.

The wife and I lived in a logging town with one mill...population 2200. You pretty much knew everybody...and loved it.

Mort
 
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Cool story Mort. I designed the shots and loaded them for years. I know how noisey it gets under a truck box when things go awry and fly rocks pellet you...here's a video you might enjoy with your explosive background. I used to have a little fun now and then... I don't know why it starts at 41 seconds in???????????


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUalpgfUVOM&t=41s


Dave
 
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The video

That's a great video..I watch it in the morning with my coffee.Good for a laff and a way to start the day.

Mort
 
We were up at the pit behind the house working on a flat pit floor maybe 15acres. We were setting forms for moving the truck scales and were told we had to leave for 20min. We went down the hill and after the whistles and all clears we drove back into the pit to find this enormous pile setting where it wasn't 20min ago. When I say enormous, I mean 4-6ft bones piled 70+ feet high in a huge snow cone. The Dyno-Nobel crew had sent 5 different faces and floor shots into this huge pile, a computerized series of blasts lifted the rock, sent it all to the pile and it collided in mid-air and dropped. Couple big excavators and loaders grumbling around clearing stray dice off the floor and placing them around the base of the pile.

It was stunning to say the least. If I were to guess, some of the rock flew 200ft to land on the pile. The crew were all gathered around videos re-playing the timed sequence of shots but they wouldn't show us anything.

All's I know is there was a MASSIVE friggin' pile there that wasn't there a minute ago!

Here's the pit, the floor is now well below the scale shack

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/J+L...ec3aef3eafd!2m2!1d-122.468532!2d45.855244!3e0
 
Scales

Al, We use scales for hauling timber to get volume,and weight if hauling rock on county roads with structure and weight limitations.

The air photos you show here look like 1/2000 which are what I used in the planning process for timber haul and any road improvements.

Mort
 
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Al, We use scales for hauling timber to get volume,and weight if hauling rock on county roads with structure and weight limitations.

The air photos you show here look like 1/2000 which are what I used in the planning process for timber haul and any road improvements.

Mort

I dunno.... I just looked at google earth and linked it. My home is off to the left with my range cut in from my shop. It's right at 660yds from the wall of my shop to the timber at the end of the range (edge of clearcut) if that helps for scale. That said, my google link provides a measuring tape and I can just measure point-to-point anywhere on the grid
 
Hokayy..... I just followed the link and I was unclear. MY HOME is not the one directly west of the pit. My neighbor also has a range, and a clearcut, much larger than mine.....

MY HOME and range are west and south, my range is cut at an angle and terminates in the mushroom-shaped smaller clearcut and is the 660yds

TMI I know but I didn't want anyone measuring the neighbor guy's distances and seeing a lot more than my measly 660yds.
 
Al
Pretty sure I f.ound your place....was going to check it out again today but your map disappered.

We didn't weigh timber. It was scaled ( measured for volume ) at scaling stations or the mill yard. My wife was a part time scaler for the Forest Service. I have a picture of her on top of a logging truck measuring a 3 log load. We cut a Doug Fir once we couldn't get on a logging truck. I wasn't out there at the time but they managed to roll it on a low boy with a dozer.

Mort
 
Al
Pretty sure I f.ound your place....was going to check it out again today but your map disappered.

We didn't weigh timber. It was scaled ( measured for volume ) at scaling stations or the mill yard. My wife was a part time scaler for the Forest Service. I have a picture of her on top of a logging truck measuring a 3 log load. We cut a Doug Fir once we couldn't get on a logging truck. I wasn't out there at the time but they managed to roll it on a low boy with a dozer.

Mort


LOL!!

You said


The air photos you show here look like 1/2000 which are what I used in the planning process........


I _think_ that would be 1:2000 scale to the USGS who taken the photos. I thought ya's was measuring stuff ;)


Yeahh, the logging industry is fascinating. We had 12-15 springboard stumps on the property when we bought it, and we took out two stumps at the homesite that still aren't burnt 20yrs later even though we've tried 3-4 times. I stacked and fed slash onto the edge of one stump for three days while hitting it with a 4ft airplane prop powered by a 20hp Briggs. That blower would eat holes through 20-30ft of slash and blow out both sides around the stump but never more than charred the actual stump....... just a big ol' coal on the side, the stump acting as a diverter for the airflow lol

We logged 10-12 loads here this last fall, one load was a 6-logger, and my feller left one old larch standing because the TD-8 dozer I was using wouldn't be able to move it.
 
Photo scale

You're right Al, USGS Quad Map Scale 1:2000 equal 2.64 inches per mile. If the photo height from the plane is correct you can take ortho (veg. type) photos and lay them right over a quad map. The fit is never perfect because of variation in topography. The camera in the plane assumes a constant distance between the lens and the ground surface for scale...never happen.

Now that you're an expert in photogrammetry we will move onto slash disposal. A Briggs and Stratton with an airplane prop! I have to laugh just thinking about it. It is typical Al...the free thinker.: )

The thick bark on old growth Fir is pretty fire resistant. When splitting Fir for firewood, I would bring the bark home and burn it. It worked great in the wood stove.

Still laughing

Mort
 
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Using blowers on piles brush is perty much standard here.....it often takes a jumpstart to get them self-sucking. of course a small pile is the size of a house, a large one the size of a school.

Those two stumps that won't start are simply too large and dense. The bark is long gone off them. If I ever have a big machine here, something with a 12ft or longer stinger I'll have 'em split but meantime they'll just set off in the brush for the next 100yrs

my 4ft saw might get'em seamed deep enough to split with a backhoe but just a lot of work for nothing IMO, I've got room
 
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