Hello, All,
I'm probably a fish out of water here, but as a long-time lurker, have spent numerous hours happily reading your questions, answers, and comments. A lasting impression is of the hugely-high level of professionalism exhibited by you posters, albeit it is somewhat apparent that fools are not suffered gladly hereabouts. If I fit in the latter category, please advise, soonest.
Growing up on a smallish grow-everything-including-tobacco NC farm gave me an early memory of a cable-operated TD-24 brought to the farm to clear more farmland. Toward the last of the job, the operator hung it on a stump, so every day after school for a solid week I would hi-tail it across the branches (small creeks) to where it sat, climb on, and let my imagination run wild; it was a sad day for me when the owner recovered it. I did have about 1,500 hours on, mostly, a John Deere 40 wheeled tractor by the time I was 15.
About the time of the TD-24, I read "Bulldozer," Stephen Meader's children's book about a 17-year old lad who in the deep woods discovered a submerged and abandoned D2, and the tale of his recovery, resurrection, and gainful employment of that little dozer. Sixty years later I found the book still in print, so I purchased two volumes for small grandsons, but for sure I happily re-read one before it was mailed onward. While Meader used artistic license to portray the D-2 as being trailerable behind his momma's car (to me, a scary thought), the book is most readable for a seven, eight or nine-year-old.
College and I didn't do well the first time, so following the lead of many young men at that time, I joined the army, to find that infantry, while aptly named the queen of battle, was not the cowboys and Indians I had naively imagined. Some new army friends mentioned another school that we could sign up for after infantry school, so we did and were promptly sent to the MP's for a year, which was neat duty. We finally got dates for our school in Texas, and were introduced to machines that, essentially, are required to beat the air into submission to function. After that school, we went to different units in Vietnam, where we operated those air beaters.
Fast forward 12 years --Ten years out of service, college finished, married (as of today, 45 years), working as a commercial real estate appraiser (which I still do), when a friend mentioned that the National Guard was bringing some BIG air beaters to town. I joined up, and became a crane operator. These cranes were kind of unconventional in that they used a turbine starter motors, had no booms, for propulsion used old Navy turbine engines that drank about 450 gallons of fuel per hour, had 3 (three) operator stations, and are now mostly used for hauling water to fires and pulling logs out of otherwise inaccessible areas. So, I spent about 15 years as a Flying Crane operator, and had a great time with a great bunch of guys and gals.
This forum has provides a much better understanding of, dare I say, "Yellow Equipment" and the men and women who operate them, maintain them, own them, and plan for them.
Today, let me leave you with this: A normal profit is part of cost, and excessive profit breeds ruinous competition. If, over time, you aren't making a normal profit, perhaps you need to find another way to go about whatever you're doing. Correspondingly, if over time you're making a whole lot more money than your competition, your competition will soon find a way to weasel in on your gig by offering to provide the same service for a lower price, which means that all may soon be making less than a normal profit.
My apologies for being so verbose, but my I guess my typing fingers just get away from me. My sincere thanks to all who have, and do, contribute to this forum so that this Friendly New Guy, who's never operated or maintained "Yellow Equipment (or green or orange, or???), can live vicariously and enjoy the many glimpses into "your" worlds here offered.
Tarhe Driver, a Friendly New Guy
Savannah, G, US
Greetings from Savannah, GA, US
