Sunday, August 31, 2014
Saturday, August 30, 2014
August Weather ?
Okay, that's another three-day work week down. It wasn't too bad either. Nick and I did a water run in Room 006 to test out a new batch record. Lorie and Cindy made dihydromorphine in Room 004. Yesterday Nick and I bulked up the dried batches of morphine base in Rooms 002 and 003.
The plant will be shutdown on Monday for Labor Day. I was kind of hoping we would be open and that I would get a chance to work for triple wages.
Yesterday morning, on my drive in to work, it was very dark. I had just passed mile marker 108 and I saw a large brown shape moving up ahead. As I got closer I saw legs trotting out into the road. I put on the brakes and as I came up I saw a giant elk trotting across the road! His back was higher than the roof of my truck! If I had hit him, it would have totaled the truck, seriously, that would have been the last thing that truck would have hit. As it turns out, the animal got across the roadway before I got there.
We let Gordy know last Monday morning that we were getting low on water. He said at the time that he would go to Powell and bring a load of water back for us. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday passed and he never came with water.
Last night when I got home from work, Bob told me that we ran out of water. He texted Gordy to let him know and Gordy made a special trip to Powell to bring some water. He showed up around 10:00 PM and we dropped 450 gallons into the cistern.
We went inside and I tried the faucet. Still no water. Bob said, "Well, sometimes it takes 10 or 15 minutes before it is pumped in." Since I was tired, I just nodded and went to bed.
This morning I got up and tried to flush the toilet. It flushed - once. The pump was still not pumping water into the house. We tried several things to troubleshoot it, but we could not get it to work. Gordy came around noon with a second load of water and we added that to the cistern.
About 2 minutes after Gordy left, I went in, cracked open a valve to let the air out of the system, and closed the breaker. It worked! The pump started up and sent water into the house. I guess we really cannot let the cistern go dry or the pump will become air-bound.
It thunderstormed here today. I had planned to work on the chicken coop run today, but I cannot have my tools outside when it is going to rain. After the rain it was very cool. High temps today were in the 60's. It seems like we've had a lot of rain and cooler weather this summer.
We are planning to drive to Billings tomorrow and buy our groceries for September. I hope we get a break from the rain long enough to bring our food and supplies back.
I start work again on Tuesday morning. I will work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. I get paid on Friday. Next Monday we will rotate to night shift.
The plant will be shutdown on Monday for Labor Day. I was kind of hoping we would be open and that I would get a chance to work for triple wages.
Yesterday morning, on my drive in to work, it was very dark. I had just passed mile marker 108 and I saw a large brown shape moving up ahead. As I got closer I saw legs trotting out into the road. I put on the brakes and as I came up I saw a giant elk trotting across the road! His back was higher than the roof of my truck! If I had hit him, it would have totaled the truck, seriously, that would have been the last thing that truck would have hit. As it turns out, the animal got across the roadway before I got there.
We let Gordy know last Monday morning that we were getting low on water. He said at the time that he would go to Powell and bring a load of water back for us. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday passed and he never came with water.
Last night when I got home from work, Bob told me that we ran out of water. He texted Gordy to let him know and Gordy made a special trip to Powell to bring some water. He showed up around 10:00 PM and we dropped 450 gallons into the cistern.
We went inside and I tried the faucet. Still no water. Bob said, "Well, sometimes it takes 10 or 15 minutes before it is pumped in." Since I was tired, I just nodded and went to bed.
This morning I got up and tried to flush the toilet. It flushed - once. The pump was still not pumping water into the house. We tried several things to troubleshoot it, but we could not get it to work. Gordy came around noon with a second load of water and we added that to the cistern.
About 2 minutes after Gordy left, I went in, cracked open a valve to let the air out of the system, and closed the breaker. It worked! The pump started up and sent water into the house. I guess we really cannot let the cistern go dry or the pump will become air-bound.
It thunderstormed here today. I had planned to work on the chicken coop run today, but I cannot have my tools outside when it is going to rain. After the rain it was very cool. High temps today were in the 60's. It seems like we've had a lot of rain and cooler weather this summer.
We are planning to drive to Billings tomorrow and buy our groceries for September. I hope we get a break from the rain long enough to bring our food and supplies back.
I start work again on Tuesday morning. I will work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. I get paid on Friday. Next Monday we will rotate to night shift.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Cool and Wet
It rained almost all day yesterday. It only sprinkled today, but temps did not get higher than the 70's. There is a good chance of rain through Tuesday. Not really typical summer weather for Wyoming. I bet we have an early fall this year.
The weather was cool and wet and after taking Buddy for his morning walk and topping off the chicken feed, I really didn't want to do anything else outside. I put a large jar of tea outside to brew and spent the rest of the day inside.
We kept the windows closed last night and all day today.
After Buddy's evening walk I went to the chicken coop run and dug out the last 10 feet of trench. This was made easier by the fact that the clay soil was still moist and easier to shovel.
Tomorrow we are going to take a bag of trash down to the dumpster at Gordy's house. Then we are driving over to Red Lodge, MT to pay the electric bill in person. We will visit the hardware store while we are there and maybe buy some loose tea.
The weather was cool and wet and after taking Buddy for his morning walk and topping off the chicken feed, I really didn't want to do anything else outside. I put a large jar of tea outside to brew and spent the rest of the day inside.
We kept the windows closed last night and all day today.
After Buddy's evening walk I went to the chicken coop run and dug out the last 10 feet of trench. This was made easier by the fact that the clay soil was still moist and easier to shovel.
Tomorrow we are going to take a bag of trash down to the dumpster at Gordy's house. Then we are driving over to Red Lodge, MT to pay the electric bill in person. We will visit the hardware store while we are there and maybe buy some loose tea.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Noisy Brake
Yesterday morning I chocked the back wheels on the truck, jacked up the front, and pulled the driver side front wheel off. I poked around and found the noise maker - the outside disc brake pad on the brake caliper was a little loose and make clacking sounds when I pushed on it. I took the caliper off of the wheel and removed both disc brake pads.
The outside pad - the loose one, came off freely. The inside pad was still stuck to the piston. I took the pads to the vise, and using a chisel, cleaned all of the elastomeric quieting compound off of both pads. The outside pad must have gotten hot because the compound was brittle and friable.
I put a generous coating of the red compound back on both pads, let them sit for 10 minutes until they were tacky, and then put them back into the caliper and fastened the brake caliper back on to the wheel.
Next I bled the front left brake caliper and topped the brake fluid off.
This morning the wheel was quiet all the way to Cody. I think that problem is now solved.
Today was cloudy and cool. It rained several times. The forecast is for rain all weekend. There is a chance of snow in the mountains this weekend. Yes, you heard that right - snow in August!
Bob cleaned the house today and it smelled nice and clean of Pine Sol when I came home. He also took care of Buddy, the chickens, the garden, and made a nice beef stew for dinner.
Tomorrow is everybody's Friday at work, except for us in Production - it will only be our Wednesday. My Friday will be on Saturday. But tomorrow is payday, and those are the best Fridays no matter what!
The outside pad - the loose one, came off freely. The inside pad was still stuck to the piston. I took the pads to the vise, and using a chisel, cleaned all of the elastomeric quieting compound off of both pads. The outside pad must have gotten hot because the compound was brittle and friable.
I put a generous coating of the red compound back on both pads, let them sit for 10 minutes until they were tacky, and then put them back into the caliper and fastened the brake caliper back on to the wheel.
Next I bled the front left brake caliper and topped the brake fluid off.
This morning the wheel was quiet all the way to Cody. I think that problem is now solved.
Today was cloudy and cool. It rained several times. The forecast is for rain all weekend. There is a chance of snow in the mountains this weekend. Yes, you heard that right - snow in August!
Bob cleaned the house today and it smelled nice and clean of Pine Sol when I came home. He also took care of Buddy, the chickens, the garden, and made a nice beef stew for dinner.
Tomorrow is everybody's Friday at work, except for us in Production - it will only be our Wednesday. My Friday will be on Saturday. But tomorrow is payday, and those are the best Fridays no matter what!
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Primary Election
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| Venus and Jupiter at 5:00 AM 8/19/14. |
While Bob was working at the polls, I walked the dog, sharpened my axe, burned the burn barrel with a dead (and decomposing) rabbit, sounded the water tank, took a shower, made a peach pie, made a steak dinner, hung some pictures on our bedroom wall, watched a movie, and read part of a book.
Later I watered the garden, fed the chickens, changed the water in the chicken drinker, and walked Buddy again.
We had a couple of thundershowers here in the late afternoon. Temperatures are supposed to be below normal for the rest of the week.
At 7:00 PM I headed over the the rec center to pick up Bob. We came right home and had our dinner.
We checked the online election results to see who was winning (and losing). 15 out of 29 precincts have been counted, and it looks like Jerri Torczon won't be getting re-elected this time. So, there will be lots of big changes in the county clerk's office next year.
Tomorrow I want to bleed the brakes on the pickup in hopes of quieting down the driver side front brake caliper. I need to dig out the trench around the chicken run too.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Clark, Wyoming
Sometimes it seems like we take two steps forward and one step back...
Rabbits have gotten into our garden and eaten all of the green tops off of our radishes, all of the spinach, the tops off of the carrots, and the beets, and the turnips. They ate some of the green parts of the onions, and they ate two of my tomatoes!
On Tuesday night I spied three rabbits outside from the loft window. I got the bb gun and went out onto the roof. I shot at the rabbit in the garden. I hit it twice, but it barely moved. Finally, I hit it in the head and it fell over kicking. It was dead a minute later. We got the shovel and put it into the burn barrel.
Yesterday, while Bob was watering the garden, I saw a rabbit just sitting next to the house. I told Bob, "Keep doing what you are doing, but I see a rabbit, and I am going to take care of it." One good shot to the head and it fell over kicking.
A few minutes later we saw another one. I hit it in the head and it jumped 4 feet into the air and bounced around a little before it finally came to rest bleeding from the wound. It joined the others in the burn barrel. We lit the barrel this morning and burned everything up.
We are still watching for more rabbits - I know we have more because our last raspberry bush was chewed up today. You are not supposed to kill rabbits between April and September, but believe me, there is no shortage of them this year!
We traveled to Billings yesterday to get fence slats and groceries. We picked up 40 fence slats at Lowe's. We took them from two piles and the second pile did not have a price on them, so when we got to the checkout, we simply told the clerk that we had 40 of the $1.48 slats.
We also browsed the fabric at JoAnn Fabric, but we did not see anything that we really liked for kitchen curtains. We will try Hancock Fabrics on our next trip up there.
Across the street at Home Depot we got a 2x6 and a treated 4x4. We also got two concrete pavers.
Next stop was Mary's Health Foods. Here we got some dried lemon grass, tea, sweetener, and flour.
Now we were starting our grocery run. We headed over to Sam's Club and got about $230 in foods. Our total came to $275 because we had to renew the membership. After this we went to Wal*Mart in Laurel. We went a little over budget this month on groceries. We spent another $300 at Wal*Mart. Then we pointed our heavily laden pickup truck back home.
We stopped in Bridger to fill the gas tank and we were back in Clark around 3 PM. It took awhile to get all of the grocery put away.
This morning it was sprinkling when I took Buddy out for his walk. I decided to move ahead with the privacy fence around the propane tank and the last board on the porch. Soon it was raining harder and I put all of my toys away so that they would not get too wet.
We went inside and made watermelon jelly. I put lemon peel and lemon grass in it too. Making jelly is so messy. We made 11 half pints. This batch really didn't jell very well.
Today was John Thigpen's 68th birthday. Happy Birthday wishes were pouring onto his Facebook.com page from people I don't even know. Today is the 69th anniversary of VJ (Victory Over Japan) Day.
Later it cleared up and we were able to work on the privacy fence. We cut all of the slats to 58 inches tall, and screwed them in so that the tops were all 11 inches above the top 2x4. I had guesstimated that we needed 40 slats for a 21-foot-long fence. We ended up one or two slats short of finishing this fence. The fence still looks very good, and it helps conceal the big white aspirin-shaped propane tank.
This evening I had to kill two more rabbits with the bb gun. They are in the burn barrel now. These rabbits are so prolific! If you hit them on their body, they hardly respond, but if you hit them in the head, it is usually fatal to them.
Now I have my shower and shave, but I am going back to the tub to cut my hair really short. I will take a short shower after that just to rinse all of the loose hairs off.
I am working tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday. We will set the alarm for 5 AM and I will drive to Cody, fill the gas tank, get something to eat, and clock-in around 6:30 AM.
Rabbits have gotten into our garden and eaten all of the green tops off of our radishes, all of the spinach, the tops off of the carrots, and the beets, and the turnips. They ate some of the green parts of the onions, and they ate two of my tomatoes!
On Tuesday night I spied three rabbits outside from the loft window. I got the bb gun and went out onto the roof. I shot at the rabbit in the garden. I hit it twice, but it barely moved. Finally, I hit it in the head and it fell over kicking. It was dead a minute later. We got the shovel and put it into the burn barrel.
Yesterday, while Bob was watering the garden, I saw a rabbit just sitting next to the house. I told Bob, "Keep doing what you are doing, but I see a rabbit, and I am going to take care of it." One good shot to the head and it fell over kicking.
A few minutes later we saw another one. I hit it in the head and it jumped 4 feet into the air and bounced around a little before it finally came to rest bleeding from the wound. It joined the others in the burn barrel. We lit the barrel this morning and burned everything up.
We are still watching for more rabbits - I know we have more because our last raspberry bush was chewed up today. You are not supposed to kill rabbits between April and September, but believe me, there is no shortage of them this year!
We traveled to Billings yesterday to get fence slats and groceries. We picked up 40 fence slats at Lowe's. We took them from two piles and the second pile did not have a price on them, so when we got to the checkout, we simply told the clerk that we had 40 of the $1.48 slats.
We also browsed the fabric at JoAnn Fabric, but we did not see anything that we really liked for kitchen curtains. We will try Hancock Fabrics on our next trip up there.
Across the street at Home Depot we got a 2x6 and a treated 4x4. We also got two concrete pavers.
Next stop was Mary's Health Foods. Here we got some dried lemon grass, tea, sweetener, and flour.
Now we were starting our grocery run. We headed over to Sam's Club and got about $230 in foods. Our total came to $275 because we had to renew the membership. After this we went to Wal*Mart in Laurel. We went a little over budget this month on groceries. We spent another $300 at Wal*Mart. Then we pointed our heavily laden pickup truck back home.
We stopped in Bridger to fill the gas tank and we were back in Clark around 3 PM. It took awhile to get all of the grocery put away.
This morning it was sprinkling when I took Buddy out for his walk. I decided to move ahead with the privacy fence around the propane tank and the last board on the porch. Soon it was raining harder and I put all of my toys away so that they would not get too wet.
We went inside and made watermelon jelly. I put lemon peel and lemon grass in it too. Making jelly is so messy. We made 11 half pints. This batch really didn't jell very well.
Today was John Thigpen's 68th birthday. Happy Birthday wishes were pouring onto his Facebook.com page from people I don't even know. Today is the 69th anniversary of VJ (Victory Over Japan) Day.
Later it cleared up and we were able to work on the privacy fence. We cut all of the slats to 58 inches tall, and screwed them in so that the tops were all 11 inches above the top 2x4. I had guesstimated that we needed 40 slats for a 21-foot-long fence. We ended up one or two slats short of finishing this fence. The fence still looks very good, and it helps conceal the big white aspirin-shaped propane tank.
This evening I had to kill two more rabbits with the bb gun. They are in the burn barrel now. These rabbits are so prolific! If you hit them on their body, they hardly respond, but if you hit them in the head, it is usually fatal to them.
Now I have my shower and shave, but I am going back to the tub to cut my hair really short. I will take a short shower after that just to rinse all of the loose hairs off.
I am working tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday. We will set the alarm for 5 AM and I will drive to Cody, fill the gas tank, get something to eat, and clock-in around 6:30 AM.
Friday, August 08, 2014
Clark, Wyoming
I had to attend an All-API Meeting at 7 AM. While I was in the meeting, Bob took Buddy for a walk.
After I got out of our meeting, we headed over to Powell to get our laundry done at the laundromat. Once the laundry was done we went to First Bank of Wyoming to discuss our migrating into a mortgage with Trace Paul and Brandon Douglas.
One thing that pleasantly surprised me during our bank visit was the possibility that our monthly house payment may actually decrease from $1039 per month to around $816, depending on the interest rate we lock in at.
Next we stopped at Chris Schuler's house to get some 6-foot-long treated 4x4s. I intend to use these to make a privacy screen around our propane tank. Let's face it - nobody wants to stare at that big white steel tank.
Finally we popped into Blair's Market and got some foods, topped off the gas tank, and headed back home. It was late afternoon by the time we returned.
We got our new chicken feeder installed on the coop door before the end of the day. It can hold a lot of food!
Today I dug three holes around the propane tank, put the posts into the holes, leveled them from side-to-side, braced them in place, and poured QuickCrete into the holes around them to hold them in place. Tomorrow I will screw 2x4s from post to post. These are what the fence slats will be fastened to.
Our garden continues to do well. Gordy admired our little garden and said that we were able to do something that he hasn't been able to do - grow a garden. He will have to build raised beds like us and use city water on it.
Tomorrow morning I intend to change the oil in the truck. Then I will work on the propane tank screen. I am working this weekend - Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
Monday, August 04, 2014
Clark, Wyoming
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are work days. Then they informed us that we were having an All API Meeting on Wednesday at 7 AM. Now the All API has been hi-jacked by QA for training. I hate to have to drive all the way in to Cody on my day off, just to have one hour on the clock.
After this meeting/training, we are driving to Powell to do our laundry and visit Trace Paul at First Bank of Wyoming.
We had pizza today for lunch. The new guy, Amaleki Boyer, started today, and he ate pizza with us.
Nick and me are working in Room 006 making Ecgonine Methyl Ester Hydrochloride (EME HCl). This product gets further processed into synthetic cocaine. We should have this batch done tomorrow afternoon.
My order from Amazon.com came today. In it I had two items for Bob's birthday, a tank level gauge for our cistern, a big one cubic foot chicken feeder, a book, and some bench dogs.
It is rumored that we might get paid early this week because HR and Accounting are working on migrating some HR info over to ADP. Early pay is good, but it won't be a huge check. This is the check I will take the house payment out of.
We finally got a break from the heat. We have had some thundershowers these past two days and the temps are falling into the 50's at night! I have been sleeping very well!
After this meeting/training, we are driving to Powell to do our laundry and visit Trace Paul at First Bank of Wyoming.
We had pizza today for lunch. The new guy, Amaleki Boyer, started today, and he ate pizza with us.
Nick and me are working in Room 006 making Ecgonine Methyl Ester Hydrochloride (EME HCl). This product gets further processed into synthetic cocaine. We should have this batch done tomorrow afternoon.
My order from Amazon.com came today. In it I had two items for Bob's birthday, a tank level gauge for our cistern, a big one cubic foot chicken feeder, a book, and some bench dogs.
It is rumored that we might get paid early this week because HR and Accounting are working on migrating some HR info over to ADP. Early pay is good, but it won't be a huge check. This is the check I will take the house payment out of.
We finally got a break from the heat. We have had some thundershowers these past two days and the temps are falling into the 50's at night! I have been sleeping very well!
Saturday, August 02, 2014
Tim's Barbecue
It's been very hot. Too hot to do any work outside, that's for sure.
I tried to dig trenches in the chicken yard to put the fence down below ground, but the clay soil is just so hard and it was too hot, so I gave up. I figure that when Gordy brings the back hoe up here it can scratch those trenches out in 15 minutes.
We have an infestation of flying red ants (carpenter ants?) up on the roof. We first noticed them when they started coming out of the wood stove. I cleaned the flue out really good, and treated the roof with ant spray. Then I washed the entire roof down with the garden hose. We had a huge pile of dead winged ants, but they keep coming back! We are going to call in the experts because this seems to be too big for us to handle by ourselves.
I recall that we had these same flying ants around this time last year when the house was under construction. We got some ant spray and we sprayed all of the wall sole plates inside the house. There was such a mess of dead ant bodies!
Yesterday we went to a barbecue in Cody at Tim and Dawn Hadaway's house. Tim is my surpervisor at work, and he invited the people from our team. Chris Schuler, his wife Lori, and their three daughters were there. Arnie Flores and his wife Michelle were there. Lorie and Mark Heinke came. Nick Herrmann didn't show up because he had an appointment with his guidance counselor in Laramie, WY on Friday. Bob made a strawberry-banana icebox cake and it was a big hit with everyone.
After the barbecue we went to Wal*Mart to get some fruit and other foods. It was after 11 PM when we finally rolled into our driveway.
Over the past week we've been cutting the tumbleweeds in our front yard back away from the house using the scicle and the wheelbarrow. We have everything cut back about 30 feet from the house now. The tumbleweeds were biggest and greenest right over the septic tank and drain field.
I am thinking about getting a couple of fruit trees and planting them at the edge of the drain field. We would have to water the trees for the first couple of years, but when they got big enough, they would get their water from the ground. These trees would shade the bedroom window in the summer, and drop their leaves in the winter.
Right now I am suffering from a summer cold or some kind of allergy. My mouth itches, my throat is sore, my nose is running, and I feel tired. I took some antihistimine and pain reliever earlier in the day. I hope this passes soon.
Tomorrow morning I have to go to work. We will get up at 5 AM and I will leave shortly after that. Tomorrow should be an easy day because it is on the weekend. I am working on Monday and Tuesday as well. On Wednesday we will go to Powell and do some laundry. While we are in Powell we will stop in to see the banker and talk about having the house appraised so that we can get into a mortgage.
Even though we are uncomfortably hot right now, in a few short weeks we will look back on these summer days fondly as the temperatures drop and the snows come again!
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| Barbecue at Tim Hadaway's house. |
I tried to dig trenches in the chicken yard to put the fence down below ground, but the clay soil is just so hard and it was too hot, so I gave up. I figure that when Gordy brings the back hoe up here it can scratch those trenches out in 15 minutes.
We have an infestation of flying red ants (carpenter ants?) up on the roof. We first noticed them when they started coming out of the wood stove. I cleaned the flue out really good, and treated the roof with ant spray. Then I washed the entire roof down with the garden hose. We had a huge pile of dead winged ants, but they keep coming back! We are going to call in the experts because this seems to be too big for us to handle by ourselves.
I recall that we had these same flying ants around this time last year when the house was under construction. We got some ant spray and we sprayed all of the wall sole plates inside the house. There was such a mess of dead ant bodies!
Yesterday we went to a barbecue in Cody at Tim and Dawn Hadaway's house. Tim is my surpervisor at work, and he invited the people from our team. Chris Schuler, his wife Lori, and their three daughters were there. Arnie Flores and his wife Michelle were there. Lorie and Mark Heinke came. Nick Herrmann didn't show up because he had an appointment with his guidance counselor in Laramie, WY on Friday. Bob made a strawberry-banana icebox cake and it was a big hit with everyone.
After the barbecue we went to Wal*Mart to get some fruit and other foods. It was after 11 PM when we finally rolled into our driveway.
Over the past week we've been cutting the tumbleweeds in our front yard back away from the house using the scicle and the wheelbarrow. We have everything cut back about 30 feet from the house now. The tumbleweeds were biggest and greenest right over the septic tank and drain field.
I am thinking about getting a couple of fruit trees and planting them at the edge of the drain field. We would have to water the trees for the first couple of years, but when they got big enough, they would get their water from the ground. These trees would shade the bedroom window in the summer, and drop their leaves in the winter.
Right now I am suffering from a summer cold or some kind of allergy. My mouth itches, my throat is sore, my nose is running, and I feel tired. I took some antihistimine and pain reliever earlier in the day. I hope this passes soon.
Tomorrow morning I have to go to work. We will get up at 5 AM and I will leave shortly after that. Tomorrow should be an easy day because it is on the weekend. I am working on Monday and Tuesday as well. On Wednesday we will go to Powell and do some laundry. While we are in Powell we will stop in to see the banker and talk about having the house appraised so that we can get into a mortgage.
Even though we are uncomfortably hot right now, in a few short weeks we will look back on these summer days fondly as the temperatures drop and the snows come again!