ARIZONA TO ALASKA

6000

Posted by: joealaska, 6:03 AM GMT on September 28, 2012

SIX THOUSAND.

Just a number. Relevant at certain times. Not here, at least as I am concerned.

We are talking photos I have posted. I am at 5998 as I write, 6000 a short time after.

Several of my loyal followers have asked if I would have something special for number 6000. That would be cool, but no sirree bob. Just the same old crap.

Any regular readers know what I post... whatever is interesting. Quality or not. If I get an AC approval, fine. After 6000 posts, anyone can get lucky. I am proof of that. If I wanted to post award winning photos, I have failed. But I am happy with what I have posted. Life in Dutch. It is not always pretty.

Sometimes I get lucky, snapping with eyes closed. But that is not my goal, at least for now. There were a couple photo contests recently which I wanted enter, one involving the fishing industry. I only have a couple thousand photos I could have entered. But I ended up not entering even one. Mainly because I was too busy, but also because it is not a high priority, YET.

It has all been fun posting, and after 5998 pictures it is hard not to come up with something special. To me, 6000 is not special. Just like 5278. Or 3210. Remember those? Maybe #1000 was special, but even that one is forgotten to me. Lets say #10,000 will be special, and I will save a good one. But why save a nice photo then publish it at a certain moment? I may have a better one come through. Until I get paid to do this, it will happen as it happens. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

6000 is just a point in time.

Thanks to UK for the vacation adventures. Her latest adventure on that logging road was what I would have done if I were there. I hope we get some photos of that.

Talking vacations, here are my plans. Several of you have asked for the schedule via email, so here we go...

10-14 Depart Dutch 5 PM. Anchorage, Portland, LA, Albuquerque.
10-15 Arrive in Albuquerque at 6:30 PM
10-16 Golf with CASA
10-17 Golf with CASA
10-18 West on I-40 to Grants, south to PIE TOWN, eventually to RESERVE. The Gila Wilderness
and primitive roads. Finally to Safford AZ. Golf somewhere. Wilcox/Safford/ Vail?
10-19 South to I-40 to Tucson. Golf somewhere .
10-20 North to Payson via east of Phoenix. House hunting.
10-21 Payson house hunting.
10-22 To Las Vegas golfing somewhere Henderson, Nevada?
10-23 Golf Paiute North Las Vegas RT 95 Nevada 95 to west into Yosemite (never been there)
10-24 Livermore / San Francisco
10-25 Golf Lake Chabot (Oakland)
10-26 Golf SunolValley Fremont
10-27 Back to Nevada NW Gerlach STOLPA COUNTRY
19-28 Gerlach to Winnemucca DIRT ROAD
10-29 NEVADA Battle Mountain, Austin, Tonopah. Warm Springs to Vegas via Rachel and the Extraterrestrial HWY. Stay in Rachel? At the A-LIE-INN.
10-29/10-30 Jerome, AZ
10-31 Albuquerque

OR NOT...

Gnu guy left today after being stuck a day here due to wind and rain delay. GNU-R arrived today.

Four vans arriving tomorrow. The boat is late again. Big day tomorrow, what else is new?

10,000 here I come.

10 PM, wind and rain. Time for a BBQ of a couple brats...

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A VISION OF SLEET

Posted by: joealaska, 2:33 AM GMT on September 26, 2012

Still have not had a day off since June, but I did take off a half day yesterday and another half day today. Better than nothing. There are periods of very little going on right now, but we still get the rushes. Most of the big boats are southbound. Arctic Fjord left today.

This past weekend we only had a couple of vans. You would have thought no problem. That sir, would be incorrect. Shell had a boat heading north to the fleet, so all the orders started coming in. All at the last minute, all needing to be filled and catching that boat Saturday AM early.

As usual, the Friday boat was late, so our window was pretty tight. We were supposed to see the first container show up around dinner time. So we spent all day pulling what we could, but we always wait for the fresh produce to arrive so we can give that to the customers. This is the same dance we have been dancing the last few weekends but it is hard to get used to. Everyone just goes into marathon mode and kicks ass. The faster we work, the quicker we leave.

But we HAVE to get the product, unload it, put it away, then pull the order. No product, no pull.

We got the call from the freight company unloading the vessel somewhere around 4 PM. Something new. There was a problem with the crane unloading the ship. THAT is not unusual. I thought the wind was the problem, as it was really starting to blow. There are wind alarms that will go off and the crane shuts down for safety reasons. But not this time.

The crane drops down to pick up 40 foot containers, with four locking devices connecting at each corner on top of the container. It then lifts the container off the vessel. But this particular time when the crane swooped down and locked in, it was not a 40 foot container it was grabbing. Rather two 20 foot containers sitting end to end. So as it lifted up, the two containers fell open like a jack knife from the unsupported middle. One of the locks broke, and now there were two containers flopping around against each other. Nobody was hurt, but when everything settled the two containers were stuck in the way of everything coming off the boat. Like our stuff.

Long night was getting longer. We went home not knowing when we could re-start. It was a couple hours.

We went back and it was raining hard and blowing pretty well. I was surprised they got it all straightened out with the wind like it was.

We got it all done eventually, but it was midnight before we left. Now we have a 6 AM delivery set up for every Saturday to one good customer, so these late boats are a killer. That driver was able to go home early, about 11:30.

The Shell orders were all finished, but that strong wind slowed down the loading of product on that outbound vessel on Saturday.

When we headed to work next morning, it was SLEETING.

There are still a lonely whale or two hanging around in the bay.

I am impressed as usual with the solo travels of UK. I thought I was the only one who did that. I am not sure I would have crossed that stream, though. Twelve inches of water puts out a lot of force with any current at all. Having lived in Arizona I have seen plenty of flash floods, usually on the TV news where a vehicle tried to cross a wash that was flooded. You know the rest of the story. Grandma being winched out of car in a torrent by a helicopter. It is why they have THE STUPID MOTORIST LAW, where the motorist is liable for the expense of any rescue (IF they drive around a barrier set up to stop them...).

Obviously UK knew what she was doing, and I am glad she got across. When I suggested she try that cruise I did not know nothing about no creek crossing! Boy that would have been a guilt trip.

I hope she keeps us informed about her ongoing vacation. AND I want to see a picture of her view from her place. Royal Dornoch is on my bucket list of courses to play.

In three weeks I will be on the second day of my vacation. This vacation I have made too many plans for, where normally I wing it. There will always be some changes, gotta keep flexible.

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SUMMER WAS A GREAT MONTH

Posted by: joealaska, 6:02 AM GMT on September 18, 2012

I took a ride over the switchbacks last night. By myself, as GNU was delivering. The FALL COLORS were there. No trees turning colors, but the tundra was. Splashes of bright red against the green. Pretty cool. Very photogenic.

Today it was obvious the CHANGE was coming. Seasonal change. It hit a number of us all at once. Summer is history. We plunge toward winter. The color of the sky. Shorter days. Light around 8 AM, dark around 9:45.

The return of the wind. Saturday night 50 mph with rain beating the window by my head. I slept like a baby...crying all night and pooped my pants.

IT’S A JOKE.

My ride last night was insightful. The salmon berries are ripe, but not so plentiful. A disappointing crop. I hear the blueberries are ripe, unable to verify yet. On the way back I saw the creek choked with spawning salmon. Check out the video on youtube.

I have not been over the switchbacks for weeks. Same with the summit of Ballyhoo. Now the days are numbered. Last year it went into December, then all hell broke loose. But it can start early, too.

And that Saturday night storm brought more than wind and horizontal rain. Someone I know called it TERMINATION DUST. The far off mountains, the highest mountains, were dusted with fresh snow. It all starts again. The melt stops, the new cover begins. It mostly melted the same day. But it is trying to form a base coat. And when that inevitably happens, it becomes easier to deepen the base. And it snowballs. Literally. The TERMINATION of Summer.

Just a couple weeks ago, or less, we were busy as hell and commenting that the weather was awesome. It could have been worse. Now it may be.

We seem to be over the hump in business, but we just got a round of new orders from most of the Shell boats up north. One boat takes many orders. Of course, it leaves on the weekend when EVERYTHING is happening.

Our ground squirrels seem to be back hibernating.

It seems colder.

Come on vacation!

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NEVER FORGET 911

Posted by: joealaska, 6:10 AM GMT on September 11, 2012

As I told you earlier. Labor Day we were laboring. This past weekend was a new superlative. And it came out of nowhere.

We had only three containers of food, and one container of freight. Friendly enough.

And the days between last weekend and this weekend were indicative of a slowdown.

WRONG P.B.

The first flag was the boat was late, very late. It started unloading at 4 PM instead of 7 AM. Normally our first container gets to us about 2.5 hours after the start. But at 6 PM the union for the crane operators goes to dinner for an hour. No matter what is happening.

We were busy enough Friday, delivering freight and filling a few last minute orders, including one fat order of about 30 pallets.

But we REALLY needed that food off the container vessel. Two weeks prior we had a feeding frenzy from the Shell vessels just before they headed north. It included the single largest order I have seen in my 4.5 years here. So the warehouse was cleaned out, and I ordered the largest replenishment order ever for me. 20% more than the record up until then. This monster order was arriving NOW. MOST of the pallets arriving were for our warehouse, not all the other customers.

We already knew we were going to be busy early in the day Friday. The TSA (Transportation Security Administration) had popped in the day before wanting to see our records for training ourselves during the last few years. Turns out there were annual requirements of which we were not aware. We are agents of a freight company, pretty much doing what they tell us to do. Not good.
So just as the phone began ringing about orders needed in the next few hours, the TSA came back to see what we were doing to correct it all. The phone was ringing off the hook when they were back for a second visit in 24 hours.

But they were pretty cool, saying that this was the first time they have come to Dutch in the lat five years, so they were PART of the issue with no enforcement. We all agreed to get it fixed, and they were OUTTA here.

Now boats were calling about the food that was coming in, still unloaded. One wanted delivery at 8 AM. A big boat and big order. Another big boat asked for 7 AM. The Coast Guard was in and wanted 9 AM. We were getting an order in that needed to be examined and checked in, to be delivered at 6 AM. Another BIG boat called and wanted their order delivered Sat afternoon.

Mid afternoon Friday we got more calls. Shell. One of their tugs going back and forth, north and south, taking supplies to the vessels on site up north, was coming in. Evidently this was a big surprise to all involved, as we were suddenly presented with four orders to be filled by 8 AM. A couple of them were big orders. The phone kept ringing late afternoon Friday for early Sat deliveries. All to catch that same northbound boat at 8 AM.

To fill these orders we needed to unload our three vans. Which we were still waiting for. And we needed to break apart the pallets and put the product away, so we could PULL the product for those orders.

We had TWENTY FIVE pallets of frozen product alone to unload. These are pallets 6-8 feet tall. Find the shrimp! Find the hash browns! It takes HOURS to put this stuff away.
.
At 6 PM I sent everyone home for a break, until I knew a container was pulling up.

We had worked a hard typical day, and it was just beginning. Around 8:30 PM we were called back. The containers were all coming in.

Thank God the Shell orders were put off a few hours. So we all worked until past midnight, then went home. One of our guys who came in late stayed all night, filling orders and putting away stock. I left at 12:30AM after a 16 hour day, came back at 8:30 AM, and he was still cranking.

He gave us a head start, and we all kicked ass. Three guys worked until almost midnight, and they were back at 5 AM. Awesome effort. New Guys, great guys.

After a LONG day Friday, we returned to Saturday where everything was needed right away.

Thank God Saturday was a beautiful day, which made it all (a BIT) easier.

SUNDAY, it was all done. A quiet day, except I have to order the entire replenishment order for the warehouse. WHILE we are pulling large orders at the same time. WHILE some product just arrived is not put away yet. Order what?

Now it is Monday, and suddenly there is a calm.

I will never forget 911.

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LOOKING AHEAD

Posted by: joealaska, 7:19 AM GMT on September 05, 2012

I hope everyone had a nice mellow LABOR DAY. Cookouts, camping, boating, baseball, and road trips. It all sounds great.

Well, here in Dutch, boats don’t do holidays, so we don’t. Our crew gets 8 hours holiday pay, and the overtime starts when they do.

It looked like a light day, one delivery scheduled. I went in late, taking advantage of the slowdown.
But before I left the phone rang and I took a decent order to be delivered later that night. No big deal. When I got to the office another boat crew walked in to the warehouse and placed an order to also be delivered that evening, Then the phone rang and a big boat had arrived, and they wanted an order delivered ASAP. (That call could have been made the night before and we would have been readier). Now we had a busy evening going, then we got the bomb dropping around 4 PM. A BIG BOAT had some type of mix-up and did not get their food they ordered from Seattle. So it was US who came to the rescue, as always. Fill a BIG order ASAP.

It was a 14 hour day Labor Day. We left at 10 PM. Went home, tried to go to sleep at 11:30. REM had been attained barely when the phone rang at 1 AM. There was a bit of a problem on an order we had delivered that evening (when YOU were toasting those marshmallows). It was a glitch that was unable to be fixed. Tried to get back to sleep- not easy for me.

OH. A storm came through. Heavy rain and wind. 71 mph by my own gauge.

5:30 AM GNU is calling. I am on auto-pilot, talking for a couple minutes before I really wake up.

There is a problem. As usual. They did not get their entire order shipped from down south. They needed food, and we were the only option. And the captain wanted to leave NOW.

I picked up GNU and we made a very quiet ride to the warehouse where I wrote up the order from his chicken scratch as he pulled it, the we both finished pulling it. Then we delivered it by 6:45 AM.

Then we went home just in time to go to work.

I worked in a daze today, wanting to leave early. I did at 4:30.

Made a general plan for my upcoming trip tonight. I have never made these plans so far ahead. And it all could change. But I plan on driving through fire damaged land in New Mexico, seeing the CHOLLAS, house hunting, VEGAS, DAVE and his wife, Yosemite (never been there), Death Valley (LOVE IT), PGA WEST GOLF in Palm Springs (TOUGH COURSE), stay in JEROME, Arizona for the night (old mining town at the top of a mountain. GOOGLE IT. Really cool.) Then back to Albuquerque. With all of these plans, something will give.

Tonight another storm came through with 50 mph winds.

Today at work a nice lady came to my warehouse to meet JOEALASKA. It was pretty cool, something that was good right then. She had read the blog from the early days, a lurker. Never made a comment (just like I would). She was surprised I was there and we chatted. She worked in Dutch a couple times but lived elsewhere. But she liked my pictures and followed the blog since then.

Made me feel good, and I told her that. I really appreciate all you regular bloggers. But it is nice to hear from the those that comprise the underside of the iceberg. At least that is what I like to think.

LOVE THE LURKERS!

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WHALES, VOLCANO, AND TRAFFIC

Posted by: joealaska, 6:31 AM GMT on September 03, 2012

It feels like we are over the hump. Still busy, but everyone is leaving Dutch and heading south. Three big boats doing so this weekend. Still, we are busy as usual.

The last few days have been rainy, with wind today. A couple of 57 mph gusts. Big deal.

Some volcano in Russia (?) is causing flight issues. You may know more about it than me.

The whale video seemed to be popular. I just posted a follow up with some video I missed, as well as some other snippets.

AND I just booked some tickets for the last half of October for a cruise featuring the SW USA. This includes Albuquerque to San Francisco. I will be trying to hook up with DAVE in Livermore, CA as well as THE CHOLLAS in Tuscon. Oh yeah, also doing some house hunting in AZ. Sounds like a working vacation.

OH YEAH, trying to play some golf. Landing in Albuquerque to see CASA and get some golf in. Then off to AZ. I want to play some private courses in Tuscon near CHOLLA that are letting some public play, as well as Lake Chabot near DAVE, a course I played a lot when I lived there 25+ years ago. Very hilly, with views of San Fran from across the bay. And a par SIX to finish. Mostly downhill.

Too much planning for me, where I want vacations wide open. Will see what happens.

There is a lot of work going on in Dutch. Road work. There are not a lot of route options here. Normally just one, in a rare occasion two. Well, all paved roads are getting repaved. Last week was a nightmare when it all started. They blocked the road and kept it blocked for 20 minutes as one lane drove through. Then the other waited. It was terrible. Our DUMPSTER was full and needed emptying. The company doing that was sitting in traffic all day. They finally got our dumpster emptied, and now it needs it again.

The traffic blockage seems to have been relieved the last couple days, maybe due to rain?

Meanwhile they are putting in the last breakwaters on the new small boat harbor. And they are ready to start lengthening our runway by a few hundred feet each way shortly.

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