15/02/17

Today has varied from cloud, to light fog and occasional sunshine, what I haven't had in out area is rain or snow.  So it's been a good day weather wise.  The work hasn't been bad either.  So far as I know everything has been delivered to the correct customer in good order.  So I suppose the day has been a success.  It hasn't been a particularly exciting day but I'm happy with it and now I'm tired and ready for bed.  See you tomorrow.

14/02/17

Valentine's day I just knew it would be bad and it didn't disappoint. I have always thought that valentine's day was a con thought up by card manufacturer's to get them over the after Christmas lull and I have seen nothing to change my opinion.  Perhaps my wife disagrees but we do occasionally hold different opinions so that's that. I was asked to take asked to take someone elses load to an address that wasn't on the ticket. I was given clear direction so far so good. I found the place from said directions. No one there. I made a call. I had been given the correct directions to the wrong place. Great. Luckily I  did eventually find d the right place but it was all without and despite our office staff. Idiot's.  I don't think a clear and correct delivery address is too much to ask but sometimes is seems it is.
See you tomorrow, that is if I have the right address for tomorrow.

13/02/17

Seed dressing , with a possible apprentice today. The job didn't seem to scare him so perhaps he will do, we will see. The trouble is the powers that be will think that once he has been out with me he will be able to RR in the machine! When we got back to base our safety consultant issued me with a rubber apron and a drain cover. He then proceeded to instruct me on how to use a drain cover. Apparently you place it over the drain. Amazing, I wouldn't have thought a drain cover was to go over a drain, why didn't I think of that?
See you tomorrow.

10/02/17

What an exciting day I have had.  I have been seed dressing again, so far so good.  The first customer was easy enough six tonnes of spring barley with single purpose dressing and all went extremely well.  I like going to this customer, they are well set up I work under cover with plenty of air flowing through to take away the dust, all very good.  I enjoy working there and like the customer. Once again so far so good, but!  The but, next two tonnes of beans.  Again I like the customer the set up is good, on concrete and outside, clean and easy.  But the seed was two tonnes of beans.  The dresser will cope with beans, usually, but not today.  I changed the riddles and got everything set up then started the beans running through.  Everything seemed okay, the first fifty kilos went through okay so I climbed on the back to set the dresser and then it went wrong.  The customer came round to tell me there was a belt slipping.  By the time I got round to the controls the belts on the bag auger had burnt through.  Guess whet, no one in the area had any A42 V belts.  The customer took me round several likley suppliers but non available, the last chance was back to base.  The mill engineering genus had two A40 V belts that he thought just might do.  Oh well, best try!  To fit them I had to slacken off the adjustment, this brought the shaft of the motor into contact with a metalo plate.  That contact stopped me being able to turn the pulley and hence fit the belts.  My only option was to tighten the adjustment just enough to enable the shaft to turn but of course this made the belts harder to fit. And yes I said belts not belt, two of them to force onto the pulleys and they were an inch too short.  But I managed it and I'm still alive.  But I did swear a little, well more than a little.  i finally got the job done and with a little luck the customer didn't think the worse of me for the problem.  I re fitted the guard in the warmth of the garage back at base.  I omitted to say that all of the fitting took place outside while it was snowing and raining in turns.  I love spring seed dressing.
See you Monday for more seed dressing.  I broke my Friday rule and looked at my tickets.  What a mistake.

09/02/17

Seed dressing today.  When I first started seed dressing I imagined working in beautiful spring weather enjoying being outside.  How wrong I was.  The reality of spring seed dressing is working outside in snow, rain, frost and mud.  It really isn't as much fun at this time of year.  The memories of being so hot that I tried to park with the working area in the shade to avoid the summer heat are now dim and unbelievable memories.  Yes I know summer will come round again and perhaps I'll be complaining about the heat by then.  In truth I don't mind the cold I can work to keep warm, what I hate is avoiding rain and snow running down my neck.  And even worse is the mud, trying to keep the bags clean is a problem.  To make matters worse at the moment I have no heater in the truck cab and I have to keep the fan running to avoid steaming up. I will work with the problem tomorrow but after that I'm spitting my dummy out and refusing to drive the machine unless the problem is fixed.  And as for the other dresser, in my opinion, it requires two people to operate it correctly.  I have operated it on my own but it isn't easy and it can't be operated to its best with one operator.  But it's Friday tomorrow, then two days off.  See you tomorrow.

07/02/17

Frustrating! A simple word but it describes my work today perfectly.  Not much went wrong, other than trying to deliver a tonne of sheep food to a customer who doesn't keep sheep.  He looked at me as if I were cracking up even though I was at the correct place according to my delivery note.  Wouldn't life be simple if we were able to deliver to the delivery address we are provided with.  But I had to start and fathom out who had ordered a tonne of sheep food and get a ticket reprinted at one of our stores.  It eventually arrived at the correct customer but I ran short of time for my collection as they stop loading at half past four and I left the last customer at quarter to five and was still a half hour from the collection.  I hate leaving work undone, very frustrating.  But there's always tomorrow and everything will get done eventually.  

I wonder if President Trump follows that philosophy.  I don/t dislike President Trump, I'm not sure if his approach is correct but his actions usually provoke someone.  I think his term in office will be interesting for everyone.  

See you tomorrow.

06/02/17

No paperwork this morning so I'm nearly at the back of the queue waiting to load in the fog  so far I've wasted nearly two hours with nothing achieved.  Not a good start to the week.
See you tomorrow.

01/02/17

The day started very badly and went down hill until I finished work.  We had a lot of rain during the night and the ditch that runs along side of my orchard was running very full.  I built a sand trap on in front of the potted section last summer and as I expected the grate in front of the pipe was blocked by leaves that had washed down the ditch;.  It was about twenty to six in the morning and still fully dark when I went out to clear it before going to work.  I looped the strap of my torch around my wrist in case I dropped it whilst raking out the leaves and sticks.  As expected I dropped it, as not expected the damned strap broke and it fell into the murky water.  It was, as I have said, pitch dark and my torch was in the bottom of the sand trap, yes I did swear a little and then some.  It didn't help.  I managed to rake the remaining detritus off the grate and gave up on my torch, meaning to order another from Amazon during the day, I forgot.  The day went further down hill as it progressed but I don't intend to  recite the details but on the good side i did get finished by half past four.  When I got home there was enough light for me to shovel out the muck from the bottom of the sand trap.  yes I found my torch covered in mud and it was still on and working.  I didn't believe it but the thing had spend eleven hours submerged in mud and water and had survived and was still shining.  It wasn't sold as waterproof but this one is.  The batteries did run out by the end of the week but I forgave them all things considered.  See you Monday.