Country Boyz Can Survive ;-)

jbird74

jbird74

Well-Known Member
"These pussies these days ain't gonna wade titty deep in no pond for a bullfrog." Agreed Smidge. It's what the culture has become here. Over protection is run amok. Hell I caught myself being to over protective with my own children early on. I blessed to have seen it and acted accordingly. I'm not a reckless man...well maybe just a little when it's just my ass on the line.... but I'm not gonna train my children to afraid to live. Besides that I have very deep and strong spiritual views which lay to waste the fear of actually living rather than being careful for this and careful for that. Life is a balancing act and much more enjoyable when one can use a bit of blatant wisdom to not push the envelope to far one way or the other though in my younger years I pushed that fucking envelope like mad.

It's a lot like my line of work. It's terribly dangerous and men in my line of work die every year. It goes with the territory but if you balance the job with sound wisdom and don't take foolish chances odds are you'll go home at the end of the day with all being well.
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jbird74

jbird74

Well-Known Member
A small photo shoot Miss Petal(Rose)
Nosey Rosey has been topped and then FIMed a bit very recently. She is responding well. I do love my little Rosey:-D
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I best not leave out the yard pets Amanda and Lizzy. You know women get jealous of one another. Like I always say no one and I mean no one can hate a woman like another woman.:wall:
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jbird74

jbird74

Well-Known Member
doublejj said:
I'm surprised you guys aren't piss tested jbird....for insurance purposes if nothing else.....
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Well it's really very crazy....seems good help never get popped on the randoms...it's always the bad help or someone who pisses the wrong person off. Crazy huh??? I got popped once on a random and it didn't go well. I had clean out on me and was able to drink it and even piss a couple of times but one of 2 things still showed up. But it's a union trade craft...you do some counseling or get fired from that particular contractor, etc. and get back to work. I've worked with guys under my main contractor who have been fired multiple times only to be brought back. Good help is hard to find.
 
jbird74

jbird74

Well-Known Member
Believe you me traveling industrial painters and other traveling construction workers are some of the biggest pot smoking and various drug using individuals you will come across. It gets lonely on the road...people missing their friends and family...tired of living out of suitcases..etc....mix in good money with that and you get a lot of self medicating going on.
 
doublejj

doublejj

Well-Known Member
I'm retired 25 years from a state job that was subject to drug testing. I dodged random tests just long enough to get promoted into Supervision (no random tests, only testing 'for cause' for Supervisors!)....I'm better at supervision anyway.. lol
 
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jbird74

jbird74

Well-Known Member
LOL that bridge looks familiar though I've never had the opportunity or I would jump to be able to walk on that standing monument. I see the trolley on the bottom side for maintenance and painters to use. I've seen a documentary on TGB and they have a regular crew of 20 painters or so who work full time doing touch up / spot work. A lot of your more notable ones do. Especially bridges subjected to so much salt water in the air. Here is a cool video of just such painters on The GW up in New York.
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/gw-bridge-painter-dangerous-jobs-17774701
 
jbird74

jbird74

Well-Known Member
I spent the better part of 2 years(2011-2013) climbing around on this beast in New Orleans.
"The Big Lift III - engineers moved a 2,650 ton bridge span into place this weekend on the $1.2 billion dollar widening of the bridge over the Mississippi River in New Orleans. The bridge was built in 1935 and the 7 year widening project is expected to finish in 2013. The widening is a TIMED program project."
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jbird74

jbird74

Well-Known Member
I'd love to walk across the Golden Gate from the top side...would looove to. Every bridge painter dreams of that I can promise you. I've had some close calls. Once on The Huey P. a crane operator from on a barge down below on the river accidentally got into the platform I was on and it almost got ugly. Two co workers had just got into a little spider basket to head back down to the deck and all of the sudden the platform lifts up a couple of feet in the air and I had no idea what was happening...I didn't know I could move so fast as when i jumped up inside a box beam. Poor bastards below me in spider basket seen what was happening and their lives flashed before their eyes thinking the platform was going to come down on them. It didn't break loose and all turned out good. We were laughing our asses off once the adrenaline flow slowed down. Another time I was down on a barge in a 150 feet JLG with it stretched all the way out and the wind suddenly picked up and started blowing my basket into the bridge and back away and back into it with a force that most men should shit their pants(not sure how I didn't)....that scared me pretty bad. I refused to go back out on it for a couple of days.
 
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