I Declare!

It seems that I confused some readers when I wrote "Mutiny" this week judging by this Comment from gee_oh_jo:

"OMG! Lunch and break times use to NOT EXIST before the laborers had their share of being taken advantage of by management. Break times are mandated by safety laws that laborers sweated for, lost lives for and finally won!!! That's a significant part of the U.S. economic history. One should receive a 10 minute break every two hours on company time. A 1/2 hour punch out time for lunch is customary OP.
How you can relate the DI to work procedures is kinda a stretch. Later on down the slope. "

I believe gee_oh_jo is my friend BajaBabe, from the Great Green North. BajaBabe's from the Cold Upper Midwest originally, and her Family has deep roots in the Farm Labor Party. Railing about "Work Rules" was like waving a bright red cape in front of an angry bull...BB's hardwired that way.

My intent was to use the New Lunch Break Regime to ramp up to my bit about the CARB Regs requiring new diesel engines in most applications across California, and to the Declaration of Independence and the problem with our Governments' ever burgeoning intrusions into American's lives.

I'll reiterate my point:
"I've been hearing libertines say: "Keep the government out of the bedroom" for decades. Today apparently, the government is welcome in our dining rooms, kitchens and pantries, bathrooms and laundry rooms, and everywhere else from our highways to byways, schools, businesses, workplaces and hospitals."

In 1992, President George HW Bush signed into law the "Energy Policy Act" which mandated the 1.6 gallon per flush toilets. In no time at all, the most smuggled item across our border with Canada became Old School Toilets!

Eighteen years have passed and still we tolerate this intrusion into our most private of places...I'd guess that today the most smuggled item is Cigarettes...across International Borders...and across State Lines because of the onerous Sin Taxes the Government keeps piling on the coffin nails...

The list of things the Government regulates "on our behalf" grows daily, raising the price of goods and services, and growing the bureaucracy ever larger, all the while creating new classes of criminals to be suffered and dealt with.

Government grows during Good Times and Bad Times...always growing and consuming more of the Private Sector, while usurping more and more of The Public's freedoms in the guise of protecting them, and especially to "make things fair" for them.

This ultimately is Tyranny...oh, it's a Soft Tyranny now, but who's to say our "Public Servants" will always strive to serve...isn't it more likely that they would rather Rule us, for "our own good" at some time in our future?

Today, 30% of America's economy is under the direct control of Washington DC. Should ObamaCare become the Law Of The Land, fully One Half of our once mighty economic engine will be directed by faceless, Un-Elected Federal Bureaucrats!

Did you know that AMTRAK loses money in it's Club Cars? Are you kidding me?! How do you lose money in the Bar Car, when you're the only game in Train?

Post Office...Broke, Medicare...Broke, Social Security...Broke, Fanny Mae...Broke, Freddy Mac...Broke...need I go on?

America got to the top, and helped untold millions around the world Declare Their Independence, all because America was free of an intrusive Government.

Americans just want to be left alone by Washington DC!

You, The Governed...have you given your Consent to Washington DC today?

Hope Floats

What a grind last night! The Work Orders were sensibly sized, and still I put the Boss in a tractor for the AM Home Stretch! It was rough going...the dreaded soft snow just under a thin hard shell.

I woke up this afternoon and looked at the Mountain Sensors...there's Hope for tonight. Afternoon highs are down 10 degrees from yesterday's highs. NE Winds are to blame...sometimes the Easterly and Northerly wind help "dry the pack"...so. I'm hanging my "Hope Hat" on that.

I watched Sacramento's Senior Weatherman on the 6 O'clock News, who said: Winds end tonight...not a peep about the Back Door Flurries that missed us by a mile...the warming trend will continue the rest of the week...it's gonna be awesome nice at the Ancestral Digs come Monday!

Even I am daydreaming about tomato plants and vegetable gardens, so I guess the end is in sight for this season.

I woke up again and looked at the Reno AFD Yikes! Dry out the pack? More like blow it away!

 TONIGHT...EAST TO NORTHEAST WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE OVER
THE SIERRA CREST WITH SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING INTO THE
WESTERN GREAT BASIN. MODEL 700 MB WINDS INCREASE TO 40-55 KTS BY
MID EVENING AND PERSIST UNTIL FRIDAY MORNING. GUSTS 80-90 MPH WILL
BE QUITE POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT BEFORE WINDS BEGIN TO EASE OFF AS THE
700 MB WIND SUPPORT WANES BY AROUND SUNRISE FRIDAY.

Away indeed! Hold on to your hats! I'm outta here! (hurricane remix)

Spring In Da Hood

It was Springtime all night long on My Mountain. High cloud cover acted like a lid on a saucepan, and kept the temps up enough that the piste never attained porcelain status.

My worst problem was keeping the old eyes open...springtime brings more distractions and more trouble getting enough sleep...and I forgot my Kitchen Timer, too!

One rookie didn't show up, my telephone entreaties went to Voicemail, but things worked out fine...Work Orders 100% completed!

My trusty BR350 was adorned with and old Flex Tiller from a BR275, but it wasn't equipped with Cookie Catchers...still the wet spring-like snow behaved and didn't berm up.

Ground speed was way down, inducing the dreaded Highway Hypnosis...man, I couldn't buy a break!

Looking at the sensor data, tonight's gonna be full-on Springtime Grooming...the Swing Guys dealing with slop, and after midnight...bulletproof on grave. Gonna be a slower grind tonight. The afternoon highs were up 5F from yesterday, and the cloud cover is gone...forecast lows are in the teens and 20's

Tonight I'll be earning it...there may be a little Backdoor flurry or two coming through tomorrow afternoon, but the Reno NWS Guys didn't have much confidence in it.

I however, am confident that work will be work tonight...earning it for sure.

It's Here!

Man it's too nice in Truckee today. I fussed around in my garage a little just before bedtime this afternoon...it felt like it was 75F! It was 75F in Sacramento today...the first 70 degree temperature recorded in 2010.

A Huge High Pressure Ridge is hunkering down over Central California, ensuring warm Spring-Like conditions for the foreseeable future...this means I'm about to start Earning It.

My tractor may or may not have a new/old tiller hanging off her stinger tonight. The flats are going to be as hard as porcelain tile by Graveyard Shift. The Boss phoned this afternoon to fill me in on some crew changes for tonight, and warned that the pack was a lot like a Hostess Twinkie...with a cream filled center.

I got some sleep this afternoon...a nap really...about three hours worth. I guess I was too rested to get the serious winks...I enjoyed another restorative weekend.

I cooked up my home made Corned Beef. It's yummy if only slightly salty. I need to do some more research on timing the brine...I made an awesome Reuben Sandwich for lunch.

I made some progress on my tech housekeeping,did a load of wash, and enjoyed the first Formula One Race of the 2010 Season. I did my grocery shopping in town, I blew off my Reno shopping excursion...Reno will be there tomorrow...or next week.

Next week I travel to the Ancestral Digs, and I can do the Reno-Style shopping along the way.

I feel another nap coming on...more tomorrow.

Hey! Tomorrow is St Patrick's Day! Enjoy it...and be careful out there!

Wound Up, Winding Down

So, how's that new Lunch Break Edict workin' out? So far I'm batting .500 over two shifts...

It's funny how different planning to do something later in the shift is from planning to do nothing later in the shift...

Both Friday and Saturday nights we were rushed. Friday Mother Nature was whipping up the weather, and Saturday we lost an hour to Daylight Savings Time.

To make the new rules a little easier to comply with, I added a Kitchen Timer to my backpack...

The timer didn't save my lunch break Friday...blowing snow and an Event on my Mountain nixed my well planned Lunch Break...I could have lingered for a half an hour at the end of my shift, but sitting in the Crew Locker Room feeling stupid didn't grab me. I'd much rather spend that half hour back at the DaveCave.

This whole new Lunch Break Regime has introduced a new emotion into my job...Loss. Now I get to feel Loss at the end of my day if circumstances derail my lunch break. Loss sucks, it's a lousy thing to feel at the end of your work day. This is gonna take some gettin' used to...

Winding Down
I just woke up on my first day off. I almost made it to the end of the first Formula 1 race of the 2010 Season. My TiVo watched the F1 race and the first IndyCar race so I could enjoy them at my leisure.

There's Major League Baseball Spring Training going on in warm states now, and Trout Season opens in April...many pastimes are on my horizons.

Once I get up, I get to cook my homemade Corned Beef...it's been sitting in the brine for two weeks, and St Patrick's Day is almost here!

This weekend I go shopping in Reno and do some Tech Housekeeping and laundry.

Sounds relaxing, no?