| » Escape at last |
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I took my first 2-week vacation since 1988 at the end of September. Best Beloved, the dog, and I went camping. We don’t backpack, but we spent two hours in four-wheel drive to get to our campsite in Hells Hole Canyon. We saw more deer than people on the “road” -- we could drive 8 miles an hour in 4WD on the road, and could walk faster than we could drive on the jeep trail - and nobody at all once we left the road more traveled.
Three of the four vehicles we saw were Arizona Game and Fish officers. The last held two older couples that wanted to know whether the road ever got better, and if they could get down the mountain if they continued the way they were going. I told them no, the road does not get better – ever- and that the only way off the mountain was to turn around and go back the way they came. They were not happy that they had drive the 40 miles to get back to pavement.
The old jeep trail marked on a 20 year-old USGS seven minute map had clearly not been used in years. There were twenty and thirty foot tall pine and fir trees growing in part of the track. We had the place entirely to ourselves aside from the deer, a skunk that sprayed Cerberus, and other smaller wildlife.
Best Beloved pulled out her old army compass and navigated us overland to the headwaters of a stream a mile or so from camp. She missed her target by less than 200 yards. Amazing that, since the terrain was steep, rough, and littered with obstacles that required significant detours. Besides, the last time she did this kind of navigation, she was one of the first female Airborne Rangers in the country and some forty-*cough* years ago.
There was no cell service. No WiFi. No people. It was glorious. Things that I wish we had done differently? Water. It’s always a problem camping in the desert, and can be a problem camping on a mountain. I had a 55 gallon barrel in the truck and hoped that we could stretch it out for two weeks. That’s five quarts per person per day for all uses, including cooking, cleaning, and brushing our teeth. It’s doable, but tough. Cerberus refused to believe that there was a water shortage. I had to make the 10 hour round trip drive to the nearest potable water source to refill the drum once. The creek is just too far to use as a water source.
We need another drum. It will add 450 pounds to the truck – that’s 900 pounds of water alone. That would be an issue in a ½ ton truck, but it’s not insurmountable in the ¾ ton we use. We just have to be very gentle going over obstacles.
I'll post pictures later.
Oct. 9th, 2021 @ 08:24 am
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| » Hello this is the United States calling. Are we reaching... *click* |
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Amazon Engineer texted me late (for me*) last night. She wanted to know whether I knew who was on call for the Streets division. I did not. There is supposed to be a monthly schedule, but one hasn't been published for a long time.
The police had tried the after-hours on-call number several times with no answer. Amazon Engineer had called both of Streets Superintendent's numbers -- his work phone and his personal number -- with no response. This is the fourth or fifth time SS has failed to respond (for the entire weekend on several occasions). On those occasions, PD randomly calls AE or me because we'll answer the phone and do *something*. SS has been talked to about this several times, including last Monday.
AE emailed the Human Resource Director for the correct verbiage to use in a written reprimand while we were exchanging texts.
Best Beloved, who is damned good at applying her background to assess workplace situations and human behavior, warned me again that I'm eventually going to end up supervising the Streets Division as well as Traffic. Technically, I'm part of Streets, but I report directly to the director (AE). I'm a few pay grades higher than SS, and, in this very structured town, that means that I cannot work for SS, but he can work for me. It's possible -- likely even -- that we'll consolidate within a few years.
To be clear, I really don't want to supervise SS. The crew he inherited are nice guys, but had been left entirely to their own devices by the previous superintendent and are used to having their way about everything. They resist any form of direction, believing that they know best what they need to do and how to prioritize their tasks. This mostly meant that unpleasant jobs never got done, and that trees along the right of way could be trimmed by knocking branches off them with a front loader. These guys are needy and whiny enough that the life coach/counselor hired by the town had weekly office hours at the Streets offices, and spend about half her time there. This, for seven people. I suspect that it was mostly three of them, but I don't spend enough time there to make a real assessment.
Having SS under me would make it difficult to get my own job done. Traffic Technician keeps me busy enough, not because he's a bad employee, but because he's a good employee. He asks for my help doing things that require two people at least four times a week. They're things that need doing because they've been neglected for years, and he has nobody else to help him, but that doesn't change that I lose a full day's work per week because I'm helping him.
Jun. 26th, 2021 @ 07:42 am
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| » Ponderings |
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Are people with "essential jobs" -- water plant operators, Amazon drivers and warehouse workers, store clerks, firefighters, garbage collectors, etc., immune to Covid-19, or are we merely less frightened of it than those with the wealth or privilege to work from home?
The people with whom I deal daily have been shrugging at the pandemic since the first stay-at-home orders were issued, perhaps because staying at home has never been an option. If we wish to keep our jobs, we show up for work. I "worked from home" for about two weeks, but WFH actually meant sharing a cube-farm with the Streets and Wastewater staff because it would look bad if I went to Town Hall. I went to work every day. Out of sight, out of mind: they public *felt* better.
We gave up on masks after the third in our cramped space had a such a debilitating case that they weren't aware of it until they were tested to, for example, move their mother into a convalescent home. We were sharing cubes, computers, telephones, trucks, and kitchen space. We all assumed that we had been exposed at least twice, and adopted the attitude that if were were going to get sick, we would already have done so. And those of us that were infected were oblivious.
I've asked supermarket checkers, hardware store workers, contractors, drivers, and the nice people that deliver Best Beloved's medical cannabis. They all respond with variants of the same "Covid? Yes, and so what? Exactly what do you expect me to do about it?"
Workers in the City Public Works building still have not returned, but the field staff were never sent home for a single day.
What is responsible for the difference in attitude? As far as I can tell, it's privilege.
Jun. 20th, 2021 @ 11:33 am
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| » WTF, part whatever |
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Our police are generally pretty nice, for police. I mean, they're police, but they aren't the armor-clad idiots one finds in cities.
They did a totally screwed-up and IMO criminally wasteful thing yesterday.
Three bulls were wandering around a neighborhood near [Person's Name] Ranch Road. The bulls were grazing in a park and drinking from a water feature, to be specific. Our brilliant PD decided that they were a threat to public safety and shot one. The others, being sensible animals, ran from the gunfire.
Why PD couldn't use their four-wheel drive trucks, their quads, or their drone to herd the cattle back towards the ranch is not clear to me. It isn't clear to a lot of annoyed townspeople, either.
PD called the Streets Department to deal with the dead bull. Engineering Technician arrived with a front loader, scooped up the bull, and dumped it on the far side of the detention basins at the wastewater plant where it stayed over night.
Equipment Operator and I both wailed at the waste. Had anyone called me, I would have told him to loop a chain around the bull's hindquarters and dangle it from the front loader. I could have field-dressed it, packed it in ice and had it at a butcher this morning. Instead, almost a half-ton of beef is buried in the desert outside the wastewater plant. The community food bank could have used it. I could have stuffed my freezer and the freezers of everyone I know. The Streets Department could have a steaks, chops, and rib roast for lunch for a year.
More to the point, the bull could be grazing on the open range that surrounds the town. Open range. The cattle are allowed -supposed- to be there. If the town (or a neighborhood) doesn't want cattle wandering in, it is their responsibility to install fences and cattle guards. The rancher has no duty to contain the cattle. The town (or any property owner) has no right to molest, steal, or kill the livestock. That's called "rustling" and is a felony.
Abject stupidity. Unforgivable waste.
May. 14th, 2021 @ 05:44 pm
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| » Why am I not surprised? |
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NYU admits to not protecting their Jewish students against targeted harassment after a Title VI violation was filed by Adela Cojab.
Can they lose access to federal funds for this? Is there a reason that they should not? Will "Defund higher education" be the new battle cry of social justice warriors"?
Sep. 30th, 2020 @ 08:45 pm
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| » Lex (Luthor) |
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There was a time, long ago, that I thought I would be a good lawyer. I can't claim the idea as my own: I was told that by a nice officer who was handcuffing me and arresting me for a crime that he *knew* I'd committed - he was correct - but lacked evidence for. I was eleven and had just enough sense to keep my mouth shut except to question why he thought he was arresting the *right* kid wearing a blue jacket, when there were so many kids wearing blue in sight.
Fast-forward fifty years. I seem to be reasonably good at aspects of law. I can usually understand it. I've re-written several town codes that the Department of Law has approved unchanged, and I've correctly redlined some of Paralegal's work on contracts. So, the cop was right, it seems, and I would have been good at it. I've also learned that I don't always like things I'm good at.
I've spent days on a ridiculous six-page document that removes detailed requirements for street name signs from town code so we don't need an act of God, the good will of the Zoning Commission, and a public hearing to change the retroreflective sheeting used on signs from "high intensity prismatic" to "ATSM type XI" to comply with changing federal standards.
I've concluded that law, whether town code, state statute, or contracts is an unhappy flavor of specification writing. It's like writing ad copy for a product in which the seller has no faith and the buyer intends to misuse. Or vice-versa. I can never tell which, and I'm starting to think it's both.
Sep. 29th, 2020 @ 09:20 pm
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| » This is eerily familiar |
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For reasons I'm not totally clear on, my work days have crept up to City length. Yes, I have projects, and yes, some stuff needs to be done at night, but I really can't do back to back to back 16 hour days any more.
On the other hand, I think the solar equipment engineer and I have found a way to light an isolated signalized crosswalk when a pedestrian pushes the button without requiring a massive solar panel and battery bank. If this works, it will be -so- cool, and SEE is already talking about coauthoring an article for Public Roads, ITE Journal, or the IMSA Journal.
Work rewarded with more work, yay. Also, publication counts as several PDHs, so less ironic yay.
I'm the programming chair for a regional conference scheduled for February. I have 9 speakers lined up and still don't know whether the conference will be real or imaginary in person or virtual. If it's virtual, this is the last year I'll serve, and possibly the last year I attend. A glorified webinar isn't worth the headaches and absurd cost to attend.
Sep. 24th, 2020 @ 05:04 pm
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| » Me mind on fire // Me soul on fire, feeling hot, hot, hot |
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Then:
Yesterday, my dashboard thermometer read 110. "No," I thought, that can't be right!"
"Hey Siri, what's the current temperature?"
"It's about one hundred eleven degrees outside."
"Hey Siri, what will the high temperature to be today?"
"Today's high temperature is expected to be one hundred eight degrees."
Now:
Traffic Technician is responsible for maintaining the sign inventory, ordering signs, and creating work orders for Streets crew to install the signs. I asked him to ride along with me so I could point out some signing changes I want him to make. We both hopped into my truck and headed to the first site. When we reached the highway, I pointed at the dashboard.
"Don't you hate it when the thermometer and the clock read exactly the same", I asked. (Hint: one read 1:14)
"Yeah," he answered, "because I have to wait until one reads 'two-something' to know which is the time and which is the temperature."
Aug. 18th, 2020 @ 05:50 pm
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| » More fire news |
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The fire has been burning for more than a month. It's now burned/burning 185 square miles. The smoke plume has been visible from space. 311 fire fighters, 4 water tenders, 4 aircraft, and 12 fire engines are working in 112 degree heat to protect structures and contain the fire.
We didn't think 112 degrees was warm enough, so we built a big honkin' bonfire.
In other news, it is bloody awful hot. I wish our air-conditioner worked, but we don't have the $10K it will cost to replace it.
In other other news, Mayor and Council announced that there will be no merit raises this year. Color me surprised.
Jul. 8th, 2020 @ 04:24 pm
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| » Knapping flint, 21st Century style |
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Best Beloved was desolately rooting through our ammunition boxes. "Don't we have any armor-pirecing rounds?"
I briefly pondered the price and availability of an anti-tank rifle. A vintage British Boys anti-tank rifle (.55 caliber) or Soviet PTRD-41 (14.5 mm) could cost $10K, and ammunition would be bloody hard to find. A rifle that fires .50 BMG would cost half as much, and would be a lot more versatile and not require a crew of two to operate. Maybe I'll get to buy a fifty caliber rifle I thought.
"Do you want to shoot through a bulletproof vest or an armored vehicle," I inquired.
( Read more...Collapse )
Jun. 28th, 2020 @ 07:45 pm
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