Ya just can't please everyone,, all the time.

Varminting and vertebrate pest control. Small game, hunting feral goats, foxes, dogs, cats, rabbits etc.

Re: Ya just can't please everyone,, all the time.

Post by brinny » 01 Jan 2023, 5:39 pm

Lazarus wrote:The "good" old days brinny.

In the early 80s I was working for mob who specialised in rollers, I'm getting sleepy just thinking about it, but that was the days of A rates for when the machine was working and B rates when it wasn't.
B wasn't significantly lower so the owner actually preferred it if I didn't turn a wheel.

It was a smooth drum working with a patching crew, last machine on the job so most days I'd get my docket for the day before signed at 7am and curl up in the car and go to sleep.

I was doing so little, I got a job driving cabs at night.

Eventually they moved the machine to one of the Hume bypass jobs and I had to do an honest day in the noisy bastard.
It was a 15t Dynapac with a big air cooled 2-stroke Deutz with the loudest fan I've ever heard on a machine.


Yeah mate....they were the good old days.....
a spade was a spade back then.....and everybody knew where they stood....
Didnt have to get dressed up like bobo the clown.....and things were as straight forward as they come ....unlike now where people in the office like to complicate the simplest things, to a degree where you need a university degree to understand them.......
Can remember the very first scraper i learned to operate was a Wabco 222A self elevating....it was electric steering and elevators.....bloody great 871 gm two stroke sitting right in front of you and a massive generator underneath you to power the electrics....had to be full noise all the time to generate power to work things.....
Was in a cut one day, over 100 degrees, and the accalerator peddle was getting that hot it was melting my boots, so i had to get a bit of 4x2 and put on top of the peddle.....foot had blisters on it....No cab, or roof......no rops....not even thought of in those days.....pair of boots and shorts and that was it.....burnt to a crisp but the dust did protect us to a point.....be as black as black from the dust at the end of the day.....
Yeah....the good old days...... :sarcasm: :D :D :D
A day without a hunt, is a day lost.....
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Re: Ya just can't please everyone,, all the time.

Post by Lazarus » 01 Jan 2023, 6:04 pm

brinny wrote:
Yeah mate....they were the good old days.....
a spade was a spade back then.....and everybody knew where they stood....
Didnt have to get dressed up like bobo the clown.....and things were as straight forward as they come ....unlike now where people in the office like to complicate the simplest things, to a degree where you need a university degree to understand them.......
Can remember the very first scraper i learned to operate was a Wabco 222A self elevating....it was electric steering and elevators.....bloody great 871 gm two stroke sitting right in front of you and a massive generator underneath you to power the electrics....had to be full noise all the time to generate power to work things.....
Was in a cut one day, over 100 degrees, and the accalerator peddle was getting that hot it was melting my boots, so i had to get a bit of 4x2 and put on top of the peddle.....foot had blisters on it....No cab, or roof......no rops....not even thought of in those days.....pair of boots and shorts and that was it.....burnt to a crisp but the dust did protect us to a point.....be as black as black from the dust at the end of the day.....
Yeah....the good old days...... :sarcasm: :D :D :D


I will admit, the last dozer I operated, an R series 10, was a differently world from the first, a cabless D9H.

I don't know if you've operated loaders but they can get exciting sometimes.
I was in the oldest 992B in the fleet, and it had flogged out bucket pins and I got sloppy.

I had a full bucket, crowded right back, lifting on full revs and forgot for just a second, when the rams topped out the bucket gave a flick backwards and a 50gk lump of copper/lead/zinc complex ore came off the back.
Luckily I saw it coming in time to spread my legs, because it went straight the wire mesh screen guard, the screen, demolished the steering wheel and the throttle pedal.

I was uninjured except for a badly strained anal sphincter, which heroically managed to hold back the sudden attempted evacuation.
Courage is knowing it might
hurt, and doing it anyway.
Stupidity is the same
.
And that's why life is hard
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Re: Ya just can't please everyone,, all the time.

Post by brinny » 01 Jan 2023, 6:34 pm

Lazarus wrote:
brinny wrote:
Yeah mate....they were the good old days.....
a spade was a spade back then.....and everybody knew where they stood....
Didnt have to get dressed up like bobo the clown.....and things were as straight forward as they come ....unlike now where people in the office like to complicate the simplest things, to a degree where you need a university degree to understand them.......
Can remember the very first scraper i learned to operate was a Wabco 222A self elevating....it was electric steering and elevators.....bloody great 871 gm two stroke sitting right in front of you and a massive generator underneath you to power the electrics....had to be full noise all the time to generate power to work things.....
Was in a cut one day, over 100 degrees, and the accalerator peddle was getting that hot it was melting my boots, so i had to get a bit of 4x2 and put on top of the peddle.....foot had blisters on it....No cab, or roof......no rops....not even thought of in those days.....pair of boots and shorts and that was it.....burnt to a crisp but the dust did protect us to a point.....be as black as black from the dust at the end of the day.....
Yeah....the good old days...... :sarcasm: :D :D :D


I will admit, the last dozer I operated, an R series 10, was a differently world from the first, a cabless D9H.

I don't know if you've operated loaders but they can get exciting sometimes.
I was in the oldest 992B in the fleet, and it had flogged out bucket pins and I got sloppy.

I had a full bucket, crowded right back, lifting on full revs and forgot for just a second, when the rams topped out the bucket gave a flick backwards and a 50gk lump of copper/lead/zinc complex ore came off the back.
Luckily I saw it coming in time to spread my legs, because it went straight the wire mesh screen guard, the screen, demolished the steering wheel and the throttle pedal.

I was uninjured except for a badly strained anal sphincter, which heroically managed to hold back the sudden attempted evacuation.


Ha ha....that sort of thing tends to wake you up a bit.....very lucky indeed......didnt operate any loaders as big as a 992.....used to have a 980G in my fleet.....a 9R, an 8R and some 6Rs as well.....Cut my teeth on an old Allis Chalmers HD16 when i was kicking off....bout the size of a D8.....Wilson and Noble bush canopy on it certified for bush work.....down the otways pushing trees out....freezing cold.....wind howling...sleet coming in at me at 45 degree angle....just had an old army coat on, tractor hat...socks on the hands ...heshan bags across the legs to try and keep warm.....no s**t... i had icicles hanging off my nose it was that cold.....ah the things we did....and survived.....Worked up in a tin mine at Chillegoe in FNQ when i was 19.......first day on the job boss said take the old 12E grader up the hill to the tailings dam we were going to raise......jumped in it....headed off up the hill winding my way through the trees.....got to the top and started going down the other side.....thought to myself......wonder if the brakes work on this thing.....nope no brakes.....s**t better put the blade close to the ground in case something happens......just started to lower the blade ....when she jumped out of gear.....and away she went.....with me trying to jam it back into gear while trying to get the blade on the deck.....when the tandems started to almost go over them selves....it was time to bail out.....so i did.....ended up in a busted heap in the bulldust ...had that much gravel rash over me....grader could be heard crashing its way through the bush when bang......then nothing......blokes up the top saw what happened and came running down to see if i was ok.....boss said.....s**t forgot to tell you it jumps out of second gear.....grader had no windows at all in it and was pretty much flogged out.....we wandered down through the trail of knocked over trees till we found her.......against a tree big enough to stop her......there was a small tree that had been sheered off and had gone straight through where the front window should have been and out the back...If i had of rode her down it would have cut me in half i reckon........once we got that out we towed her out started her up and straight back to work again......things were different way back then......
A day without a hunt, is a day lost.....
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Re: Ya just can't please everyone,, all the time.

Post by brinny » 01 Jan 2023, 6:44 pm

Die Judicii wrote:
brinny wrote: Its actually interesting you say that....as i have been involved in earthworks for over 40 years.....and one of the jobs i had when i was a young bloke working for a boss was to operate a 623B self elevating scraper on the western Ring Rd in Melbourne.....subbying to Theiss.....Back then they put rocker clocks in the machines that, when the machines were moving, it indicated it on a graph inside the clocks, but if the machine was stationary, it wouldnt mark the graph....and you only got paid on what was marked on the graph.....One of the jobs i was doing was picking up windrows of trimmings for graders....and had to do a lot of sitting around waiting for the graders to call me up and pick their windrows up.....of course while sitting there....the clock wasnt marking the graph....so the machine wasnt getting paid for....so i reefed the clock loose....and sat there for hours sometimes wobbling this damn clock so it marked the graph so the bloke i was working for got paid for the machine ......thank christ those things are a thing of the past.....


LOL,,,,,,,, Speaking of Theiss Bros,,,,,,,,, I know personally of one of their employees that was sacked for not working.
They got a nice little pic of him standing on the dozer track whilst rolling a cigarette,, inserted into the pay packet on payday..

It was a sub zero temp morning, and the dozer had only momentarily before been started.
Being mindful of cold engines and hydraulics, he used to give it those few minutes to at least start warming up before flat out work.
But by being a good worker and looking after the machinery for them,,,,,, he got the big A




I have seen that happen a lot over the years Ed.......How that works always astounded me......So many good blokes get the arse, but the sniveler brigade last till the end......
A day without a hunt, is a day lost.....
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Re: Ya just can't please everyone,, all the time.

Post by Die Judicii » 01 Jan 2023, 9:20 pm

Seems a lot of people lived on the edge back then in the 70's
My close call was on the outskirts of Canberra while driving a Cat 988 with a log grab that only had the two separate upper clamp arms.
As I was positioning ,,, the log truck driver released the bolster uprights just before I was right in and under, and the top outer log decided to be an acrobat and
rolled and turned,, then slid end first downwards and straight through the windscreen alongside my left leg.
It only stopped when it got wedged against the bottom rear corner of the open door frame.
I've still got an old black and white photo of the gaping hole through the window after the dragged the log back out.

Another scary time (actually not too far away from your stomping grounds Brinney) I had was when stoking and burning windrows of scrub that we'd cleared.
The machine was an Allis Chalmers HD 21 PowerShift,,,,,,, no cabin,,,,, just the bars.
Take a deep breath and drive in while lifting the rake, until it got too hot to bear,,, then reverse out.

That machine occasionally refused to go into reverse but incredibly,,, it never did it when actually in the fire.
I did have my fair share of belly fires though and the belly guards always had a good amount of oil etc in them.

When I got home at the end of those days I looked like I'd just stepped out of a Black& White Minstrel show.
Dangerous days,,,,,,, but I cherish those memories.
I do not fear death itself... Only its inopportune timing!
I've come to realize that,,,,, the two most loving, loyal, and trustworthy females in my entire life were both canines.
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