The Evolution of Trucker Logic

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           The Evolution of Trucker Logic

      Trucker Logic is usually taught by some guy named Murphy.  It is most often learned the hard way.  If you are lucky it is at someone else’s expense and not yours.  Over the years I have had learning opportunities both ways.  Though I no longer drive my experience continues to expand.  Murphy never quits and is always ready to teach. Murphy’s lessons are seldom forgotten and often used as teaching models.  I heard Murphy mentioned often over the years.  The first couple times I saw him in action I was amazed at how something that should be routine can become a teaching experience.

      My first experience was in a lumber yard near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  It was early fall and cold.  Another driver and I were removing our tarps so the forklift could get at the load.  Our loads were covered with our companies eight foot boxed end tarps.  The corners were sewn to make them fit the load better.  Each tarp covered half the trailer.  Our company used rope ties on the tarps.  That is not usually a problem, but when they are wet and cold they can be very hard to untie. I was struggling with mine but my buddy got his undone quickly as he had bought his own rubber straps.

      When we entered the lumber yard we drove along the fence on our left and then turned and parked side by side with our back to the fence.  We left about twenty feet between the back of our trailers and the eight foot chain link fence so the fork lift could maneuver while unloading us.

      As I said my buddy was ahead of me and was on top of his load trying to get the tarp off the load.  It was windy and he grabbed some of the ropes that the company had permanently attached to the tarps and wrapped them around his hands.  He then whipped the tarp up to loosen it from the load.  At the same instance a gust of wind rushed under the tarp and lifted it clear of the load. The tarp snapped loudly and inflated and lifted much like a sail.  When I heard the popping sound I turned just in time to see my buddy who was standing on top of the lumber about twelve to fourteen feet in the air being lifted up.  He tried to let go but the ropes tangled and suddenly he was airborne.

     He resembled Mary Poppins as he sailed over the twenty foot open space and cleared the eight foot fence.  He finally landed about twenty feet the other side of the fence. He stood there and did not move.  I ran to the gate and back to him and he was still just standing there with the tarp ropes wrapped around his hands.  He seemed to be in a trance.  I think it may have been shock.  Anyhow once he regained his composure we rolled up the tarp and carried it back to his truck.  He said the landing was feather soft, but the whole thing freaked him out.  It taught me a lesson and I never wrapped the ropes around my hands when unloading.

      Some years later I got a refresher course in what can happen when material is flapping in the wind.  I now had my own truck and was eastbound on I-70 in Indiana near Greencastle.  The cars in front of me were swerving to the shoulder and into the left lane for no apparent reason.  Then suddenly I saw it.  It was a blanket lying in the middle of the right lane flapping around.  It was just a blanket what harm could it do. Evidently having forgotten the preceding story I decided to straddle the blanket.  As I said what could it hurt.

       I was about to find out it could hurt a lot.  The flapping blanket was snatched up buy my driveshaft and whipped around repeatedly.  The tail reached into my frame rails and somehow grabbed my air lines and snatched the completely out and tore them off.  I lost my air pressure suddenly and barely had time to get to the shoulder and out of traffic before my brakes locked up.  Fortunately I was near a truck stop with a shop. A towing bill and repairs came to about seven hundred dollars.  Getting it to the shop turned out to be pretty simple.  We backed off all the brakes and the mechanic slowly towed me to the shop less than a mile away.

      What I learned was that flapping things can be dangerous.  Like the truck that passes you with the loudly slapping casing that says he is about to pitch the treads off his tire. 

       Another time traveling westbound on I-40 just east of Knoxville at night a bread truck driver lost a complete pair of tandem wheels off the passenger side of his vehicle. The tires rolled along the shoulder for some distance before cutting between his vehicle and mine.  Then they travelled across the interstate before coming to rest on the south side shoulder.  They narrowly missed hitting some eastbound vehicles headon.  The ironic part is it took us almost three miles to convince the driver he had lost the tires.  He thought we were trying to pull a joke on him.

    

      The point I am trying to make is that things that seem harmless can suddenly become very dangerous in the right situation.  The blessing in all these stories is that no one was injured.  That was strictly by the Grace of God.  They all could have caused serious injury. My reason for sharing them is that they may help someone avoid a similar situation.

The Shutdown Before The Meltdown.

             The Shutdown Before The Meltdown

      The Retarded Genius’s in Washington supposedly running this country need to get their collective heads out of the collective posteriors.  A minority of one party has taken the system hostage.  The President needs to threaten to impose a budget by Executive Order.  He also needs to threaten imposing martial law if they continue to destabilize the government. 

     That being said something does need to be done to fix a completely broken system.  What would be good for the country is for a few radicals to stand up and say, “We are going to pass a balanced budget amendment “now” and a budget that complies with that view. Yes it is going to hurt, but not near as much as the economic collapse of our nation which is inevitable if actions to fix it are not taken.”

      If they do so a few rules need to be put in place that outline what they can cut and what will not be cut. The first rule and the first duty of Congress is to defend America.  Anyone who has made that sacrifice for this country should be exempt from any cuts.  That includes all active duty pay and benefits, all retiree pay and all disability pay and programs.  Without their sacrifice we would not have the nation we have today.  They have paid the price for their benefits.

      Secondly all Social Security benefits will be paid and are exempt from cuts unless they are cuts made to every member of government starting with Congress and the Courts and must be on a uniform percentage of cutting.

     Thirdly and finally the Constitution requires the Congress to look out for the Welfare of the nation.  Food banks should be established if necessary and nobody in the United States should do without food.  Also no one should die because they can’t get medical care in this country.  The Congress will make sure all these requirements are met.  Everything else is fair game.  The size of the military may be cut as long as it does not affect national security. 

        So what is a balanced budget?  It is not one that only causes the deficits to stop increasing.  It is one that expenditures do not surpass income.  Realizing that making such drastic cuts will throw many people into the unemployment line it may need to be programmed to be implemented over a five to ten years period, but a budget that achieves that goal must be planned and programmed to take effect in a specified time frame.

     It is time to restructure the whole system of government.  Especially the tax system so everyone and every business pay’s their fair share.  There should be no exemptions for anyone or anything that benefits one person or business over another.  All subsidies should be ended.  If a business can’t survive in the market place it needs to be revamped so it can. 

     This may all sound simplistic and idealistic, but if it is not done and soon the collapse of the American system is inevitable.  It can’t continue the way it has and is doing at this point.  History shows us what happens to countries that try to do so.  Sooner or later they implode and collapse and lose their position as world leaders. With no one to step up and take America’s place as the world leader we would be looking at a system of worldwide anarchy.

     The present two party system is not going to bring this to pass in America.  We need a viable third party.  Most of the ones that want the job are no better than the ones we now have in place.  It will take a party different than the two parties that we now have.  It will have to be a party willing to make tough decisions and stand their ground.  That is something lacking in most of America these days.  It will also have to be a party that understands the values of America and is willing to work to return to those values.

       We need some New Revolutionaries that still look to our original Revolutionaries for ideals and direction to guide this country forward.  It they do not appear or step forward this nation is doomed to becoming a third world country if not worse.  Congress does not get that Abomnicare is a moot point if the economy collapses.  Abomnicare "will" collapse the system simply by draining it of any money that might have helped make it grow.  When people are already broke they can't spend what they don't have.  When they take money out of their budgets to comply with Abomnicare it is money they might have spent on goods that would have stimulated the economy.  Without that stimulus the collapse is not only inevitable but quickened.

Why Abomnicare Will Shut Down Economy, Regardless

          The Abomnicare Government Shutdown

      Everybody is worried about the Congress shutting down the government over repealing Abomnicare.  If that is the case you can’t see the forest for the trees.  The government is going to get shut down either way.  This is not rocket science.  Most of the Abomnicare insurance plans cost between 14% and 22% of a person’s income.  When you remove that much money from greasing the wheels that make America function things are going to start binding up.

      The economy is struggling at best to keep going.  The numbers are sometimes fair, but never great.  The average American is barely surviving and paying his bills as it is.  When you take that much money out of his budget the impact will be devastating.  It may take a few months to see the full impact, but it is a hard reality.  When you do not have enough to get by something has to go.  Many will have to make a choice between eating and paying the mortgage.  As I have said in past posts, people will chose to eat.

        The only thing holding the economy up is the direct deposits from people’s retirement and 401k plans.  When the Abomnicare money starts coming out of their budgets.  Those plans will start slowing down.  The market is not growing because of investments by business.  It is a balloon getting pumped up by retirement funds.  If the economy does slow down we will see how robust the stock market is.  It will make 2008 look like nothing.

       I am not going to rant and rave on my blog or waste a lot of time on this issue.  I just can’t believe that the big investment companies have not been backing off knowing it is coming.  Or maybe they are not smart enough to see it.  I have a post called “The Ripple and Gravity Theory of Economics” It applies in this case.  When big money or new inventions are thrown into the economic pool ripples are formed.  Sooner or later things will settle down.  It may be at a slightly higher level or it may be at the same level.  When you pull the plug(take money out of the economy) there is a different effect.  The economy will go down till the hole gets plugged.  That is the simple “Ripple and Gravity Theory of Economics” by Ric Ryan.  It works and it explains all the financial turmoil for the last couple hundred years.  As I love to say, It ain’t Rocket Scienc

        Obama may get his healthcare plan, but the American economy will get be put into a full scale collapse. I am not smart, but when you take some of my money, when I do not have enough to get by as it is.  Something has to give.  This is probably the shortest post I have done in ages, but I had to vent, not that it is going to do any good other than maybe a few people will be able to tighten their belts and ride it out till things settle down again

Do Gifts of the Spirit Still Exist?

             Do Gifts of the Spirit Still Exist?

       If you travel much and attend many different churches you will quickly find that most churches are divided into two camps when it comes to the issue of gifts of the spirit.  That is sad because the Bible makes clear that if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  Many people take a statement and or a few key words from a statement and say it means one thing.  The truth is if you read the whole statement it often may mean the exact opposite.

       Satan has used our lack of understanding God’s Word to divide churches and to keep many people in bondage.  Much suffering could have been averted if people simply believed what the Bible says.  I have one set rule when I read the Bible if Jesus said it, it has to be true.  If I interpret it any other way I am going against the Word of God. 

      So what did Jesus have to say on the matter.  John 14:12 says,“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

      Why don’t we see healing in this day and age?  Well if you use the Bible it makes clear that Jesus marveled at two things belief and unbelief.  In Mark 6 it talks about Jesus going to his hometown.  It says even he could not do any great work there because of their doubt and unbelief.  He was still able to do some healings of the sick though.  It says he marveled at their unbelief.  There was another time the Bible says Jesus marveled.  It was in Matthew 8 and is found in the story of the centurion.  Jesus offered to go to the home of the centurion and heal his servant and the centurion said there is no need to go. If you say it, it is done.  It says Jesus marveled at his belief.  The Centurion had unquestioning belief that Jesus was able to do whatever  he said.

       Today’s Christians are somewhere between the two extremes.  It is because we listen to men’s interpretations of the Bible instead of what Jesus and the Bible actually say about the matter.   Many use 1^st Corinthians 13:8-9 to support the view that the gifts ceased with the last apostle.  If they read verse 10-12 however they will come to an entirely different view.  Those final verses say, “when that which is perfect is come.”  Well what is perfect?  Christ is the perfect thing that shall come and as he had already been here, it is clear it is speaking of when he returns.  Verse twelve verifies that point of view.  It says when we are face to face we shall understand clearly. We will not be face to face till Christ returns in glory.

     It does say charity will never cease.  Why will it not cease? Because those are attitudes and actions we will share with each other even in heaven.  Do we have a full measure of charity toward others?  Are there people in your life you have issues with?   Read Matthew 6:15 and you will understand why you can’t receive the healing you need.  It may have nothing to do with you or your attitude, but the attitudes of those you share your faith with.

      We all have a terminal illness.  It is called life. Sooner or later we all die.  Jesus healed many people but they are not still walking around waiting for him to come back.  The purpose of Jesus healings was to show the power and glory of God and so they could see who he was.  It was not a feel good exercise to get people to follow him. He healed because of the people’s faith.  Their faith that he could stop their suffering or the suffering of those they loved.  The story in Luke 5 tells about an man’s friends lowering him down through the roof to be healed.  It says nothing about that particular man’s faith.  It talks about the faith of those who bought him to be healed.

      Mark 5 relates another story of healing.  Jesus goes to a ruler of the synagogue’s home and heals his daughter.  When he gets there some people mock him and tell him he is wasting his time.  He takes Peter and the brothers John and James with the parents and enters the girl’s room to heal her.  He first kicks out all the other people though.  I can’t prove what I am about to say, but I believe it.  He removed any doubt and unbelief from the room so he would have his full power to heal.  I base that on what happened in his hometown.

      If we are sick and we are not healed.  It is not because we lack the faith to be healed.  God can heal anyone at any moment, but it will be for his reasons and purposes not ours.   The Bible says the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  Sickness fall’s the same as the rain.  It is in and part of this world.  We are not exempt because we are Christians.  We do have the hope that when we are resurrected it will be to a more perfect body.  We will no longer have to fear the ravages of life we will have entered a more perfect state of being.

In closing remember a few things Jesus said , If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believes

Mark 16:15-18

5And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Luke 8:48

And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

John 17:20-21

20Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me

       Jesus said nothing about those that come after having a lesser gift.  John 17:20 makes clear that Jesus prayed for us who would come later.  So what and how you believe is up to you.  You can believe to receive.  Or you can believe you received a lesser gift than those that came before us.  It is our choice.  One key is coming to a true and clear meaning of what charity really means.

How To Read The Whole Bible

                              Mark My Word

       For many of us reading the Bible from cover to cover is almost as challenging as climbing Mt. Everest.  It took me many attempts to figure out how to do it.  When I finally did succeed it was because I finally learned to read the Bible literally.  By that I mean take what it says literally.  It says what it means and means what it says.  Getting over that hurdle took looking at the challenge from a new way.  It took a completely new perspective of why and how to go about the task. 

     Jesus said to them,” I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” How do you eat bread?  Certainly not the whole loaf at once, but one bite at a time.  Jesus did not sit his disciples down and teach them the whole Bible in one sitting.  He broke it into bite size pieces and gave them a little here and a little there.  Then he gave them examples so they could understand what he was saying. Suddenly I realized I needed to find a way to break the Bible into manageable bite sized pieces.

       The big question I really needed to answer was why did I want to read the Bible from cover to cover? Just so I could say I had done it.  So I would be a complete Christian.  So I would know what God expected of me.  None of those were the reason I wanted to read the Bible.  I wanted to “Know God.”  I wanted to do it through a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ.  Once I understood that simple point things got easier.  I just needed pray about the matter.  Why did I need to pray about it?  That is what Jesus did when he faced a situation.  So that must be a key to the problem.

     When I came to that revelation I happened to be reading in the book of James.  In the fourth chapter it makes clear. ”You have not, because you ask not.” The last verse of that chapter convinced me I might be onto something.  I took the matter to the Lord in prayer.  I told him I knew I needed to know His Word, but how could I do that.  I admitted my failure.  It was shortly later I found part of the answer in Jeremiah.  It says, “Mark my word.”  I took that literally and started marking every verse in my Bible that I thought was important. 

       Once I got over the hurdle of “Marking His Word.”  I still had a problem.  How could I recall all those verses or make a reference to find them quickly?  I started using the blank pages in the front and back of the Bible to put down the chapter and verse with a few words to help me recall the verse.  Here is one thing that I will offer as advice that I did not do.  I just started writing in whatever order I found the verse. There was no order.  I had Old and New Testament all tossed together.  Many verses were written down several times.  It may help a person to put the Old Testament info in the front and the New Testament info in the back.  I finally started using light colored paper like kids use for crafts in school.  I folded them in half and they fit neatly in the front and back of my Bible. That helped some as I did not have to flip constantly back and forth.

                       Jeremiah 23:17-22  Especially verse 18

      Even with all this I was still having problems making it work.  I had just gone through a Jonah time in my life and one of the resolutions I made was to tithe my time to the Lord as I did not have a job.  That meant spending two and one half hours a day studying the Bible.  It was easy to do when I did not have a job.  It got much harder when I got a job.  I kept it up for a few years and then I started just tithing money.  In retrospect I think I acquired and grew much more when I was spending time with the Lord.  Slowly, as I am now retired, I am trying to transition my life back to the way it was.

       One of those things I did back then was trying to help others grow in their understanding of the Lord.  I used to make book markers and give them to people.  That is how I finally read the whole Bible.  I made a marker that marked six places in the Bible.  One marker was for each day of the week. They were held together with a little plastic cross. You could use a bead, or any little thing that has a hole in it for the ribbons. You also need one little bead. Sundays I would read wherever I felt moved to read or use the marker that was part of the Bible. The other days of the week I read at any marker I wanted to.  When one marker came to the end of the Bible I moved it back to the front.  When a marker caught up with another marker I moved the one that caught up back to the start.  I left the one in place and it kept moving till it caught up or came to the end.  Eventually they will all come to the end and start over.

      I basically broke the Bible into three parts. The first two went in the front.  One was at Genesis.  The second was at the book of Judges.  The next two covered from Ezra and the second one was at Isaiah.  The third set went in the New Testament. One marker was at Matthew and one was at Timothy.  You can put them anywhere you want.  Basically my way of dividing the Bible goes like this.  I only have six markers and eight parts so I already have a problem.  I could add one more ribbon which would solve the problem.  In fact I have or plan to make some with multiple ribbons.  You can make one with a ribbon for each member of the family in their favorite colors.  They can also be used for marking favorite verses or ones you use to witness.

      The ones I make and share with others are almost all Red, Yellow and Blue.

I look at the red and think of the Blood of Christ.  The Yellow is for the Glory of God and His Wisdom and finally the Blue represents the cleaning water of Baptism.  Those colors remind me of those things.  You can use any colors you want when you make yours.

 

1. The Pentateuch or the Books of Moses. I usually put Joshua in this part also

2. The Historical Books which run from Judges to Esther

3. The Books of Wisdom from Job to the Song of Solomon

4. The Major Prophets Isaiah to Daniel

5. The Minor Prophets from Hosea to Malachi

6.  The Apostles Matthew to Acts

7.  The Books of Paul Romans to Hebrews

8.  The Books of the Apostles Messages of James to Revelation

    There is no importance to any of the sections I broke the Bible into.  I am using it to keep my notes a little neater and to make it easier to find certain verses instead of putting them all together and having a hard time finding anything.

     When I started seriously studying the Bible I based it upon a pretty simple plan.  It worked for and helped me.  My first priority was everything in Red or that Christ said.  Then I based it on their closeness to Christ.   James was his brother so he should have some pretty good insight.  Then I did the Apostles Books and what they said.  That was followed by Paul and finally the Old Testament.  It is all important and Jesus quoted from many books.  From my point of view he validated many of the Books of the Old Testament, especially those parts and prophets that were talking about him.  It does not matter how you do it, but the main thing and I believe this.  The better you know God’s Word the better you will know him and what he expects of you.  Here are a few verses to get you started.

1 John 2:27

 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him

Christ will teach you if you earnestly seek him.

Jeremiah 17:5

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

When you have to make a choice of who to trust, rely on the Word, not man.

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

You should be able to see that knowing God’s Word is how you come to know God.

Hosea 4:6

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Notice it says “MY PEOPLE” it does not say the heathens, the lost or the evil.  It says his people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge.

II Chronicles 16:9

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

This verse makes clear the Lord seeks to bless those that seek him.  If you are not seeking him you are losing a blessing

Joshua 1:8

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success

So how do you have success?  By studying His Word and knowing it.  Who has to apply it and do the work though?  It makes pretty clear you have to do the work.

Here is one final passage and it has helped me all of my life.  Sometimes we are not sure what or how to do something.  This next verse tells us how.

 Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

This last verse is strong and will help you a lot in your walk with the Lord.  Actually the whole first three chapters of Proverbs will help a person in understanding what God wants and expects from us.  I pray this helps someone in their search for God in their lives.

How-to: Recycled Container For Starting Cuttings

The Perfect (Recycled) Cutting Starter Container

Sometimes we have to make a better mousetrap.   I like all the ideas on Pinterest but I also like to deal with and use what I have at hand.  At my house people drink pop from cans so I do not have a supply of two liter bottles.  My good luck is that they drink a lot of milk.  So rather than throw bottles away I have learned to make real neat starter containers out of them.  You will notice the bottles have indents on the sides. (some don’t, but that is not a problem)  The indents help lock the top on.

Picture two shows the markings as to how and where the cut lines are.  Yes it takes two bottles to make one container, but hey you were going to throw it away anyhow right.  If I run short I go to the recycle center and get a trash bag full for nothing or next to nothing.  If you ask friends to save them for you they will be coming out your ears.  One word of advice as it may be awhile before you use them.  Rinse them out before you store them.

,

    Pictures three and four show what the two separate cuts look like. Notice picture three the cut goes down the corners.  Picture five lets you see that the cap cut leaves a lot of the back on so it can help hold it on the container.

            The drainage slits do not have to be big or fancy 

To remove the grown plant simple cut on the dotted lines.  Insert you hand under the plant and slide out. You can also make it like a big U and go down the corners and across the front.  Whichever seems simplest for you. The shown can be duct taped closed and recycled again, sometimes.

This part may get a little redundant, but I had problems getting the pictures to load the way I wanted them to do.  So just bare with me.  There are a couple good points in this part though.

Picture two shows the markings as to how and where the cut lines are.  Yes it takes two bottles to make one container, but hey you were going to throw it away anyhow right.  If I run short I go to the recycle center and get a trash bag full for nothing or next to nothing.  If you ask friends to save them for you they will be coming out your ears.  One word of advice as it may be awhile before you use them.  Rinse them out before you store them.

The key is how you cut the handle.  On the container you want to save it so you can use it to move the container when you have to.  The lid however does not need the handle but a little tab of it helps line it up when you put the cover on.   When you cut the container, you cut between the cap and the handle.  Then you cut to the top of the shoulders on each side of the jug.  Then down about a quarter of the way.  You can adjust this based on what you are starting.  I like to have four to five inches of dirt. I usually put four to five rose cuttings in each container.  With butterfly bushes I only put two or three.  Some plants I only put one cutting in.  That is up to you. Then you cut around the front and you are done with the container.  Well make some slices in the bottom to allow for drainage.  Most plants don’t like wet feet. Now you are done.  For the top you cut above the handle and then down each side of the handle and go down maybe three quarters of the way. You want it to cover the container and keep out the weather.

The upside is it is cheap it keeps plastic out of the landfill, at least for a while.  The down side is you can’t see the plant very well without removing the cover but that is very easy to take off and to put back. That is a plus to this design that you can open it to the weather when you want to. One benefit is they do not get quite as hot as the clear plastic.  I used to buy pots for taking the plants to market.  Doing them this way I can sell them a little cheaper.  If you want to you can take them to market in the milk container and the handle makes them real easy move around and load.  You can also write on the plastic what kind of plant it is.  I use spray paint to color code my plants.  Especially stuff like melons and gourds that all look very similar at the starting of the growing cycle.

Some plants are more sensitive to transplant shock than others.  If I grow the plants bigger in the container to make it sell better I tell people to cut on the dotted line and put their hand in under the plant and just ease it out.  No stress or damage to the plant occurs this way.  Of course you can’t reuse the container if you cut it(Unless you believe in duct tape) but hey it was trash when it started and to trash it has returned   It is the old ashes to ashes and dust to dust thing .

When I take them inside and sit them on the window ledge.  I put them in an old pie tin to prevent water damage. I get them at yard sales and Good Will or the Salvation Army.  Sometimes I will make the ultimate sacrifice and actually eat a pie. 

These are totally recyclable and you can use them year after year.  Using a pie tin you can also put them in a macramé or wire hanger and put them up off the ground and out of the weather.

One thing to pay attention to is where you put the containers.  While plants love sunshine, cuttings need TLC and just subdued light part of the day is usually fine.  Direct sun can have the effect of turning the container into a microwave oven and finish the plant before it gets started.

Hope somebody gets some use out of this one….Have a Gourd-eous Day.  Guess I just gave away my plant preference.

My Life As A Moonie

For anyone interested.  If you type truck on search bar at the top of my blog it will bring up a list of my other truck related stories.  Hope it helps someone.  There are a few funnies in the bunch and some politics.as well as some opinion pieces that some may not agree with. Thanks for taking time to read my blog regardless

                  My Life as a Moonie

When I got my big break and started my over the road trucking career I should have realized what I was getting into, was not what I thought I was getting into.  I mean when you realize you are hiring on to be a Moonie it can’t get much worse, or can it.  They had nothing to do with the ones you see in airports fortunately.  Moon Freight was a Specialized Carrier.

        My civilian trucking career started totally by accident.  When I left the service I tried to open the door, but it was not meant to be. I worked for a company for forty five days essentially for free to show them I could do the job.  When my discharge became final and I thought was going to start trucking.  The guy who owned the company would not hire me. He said I did not have any history. 

      At least I had an alternative and spent the next couple years in school. Then I started my own business.  Saying it is a lot easier than it was to do.  I did okay for about three years and then I went belly up.  Not because I didn’t succeed, but because I could not manage my success.  I decided partying was more important than working.  That is the short route to the bottom.

     After losing everything I had including my family and spending six months living in a Ford Van in Fort Meyers, Florida I made my peace with God and decided to quit running from him.  I went back home and went door to door looking for a job.  After about two months I got a job as a warehouse man for a local moving company.  Three years of college to get a minimum wage job packing moving crates in a warehouse.  Not exactly my view of success.

      About a month after hiring on my boss asked me if I could drive a truck.  One of the drivers had not shown up for work.  Sure I said.  How hard could it be to drive a straight truck?  DUH!!!  Well if you have never driven one with a two speed axle it takes some adapting.  My loader for the day knew more about trucking than I did, but he had gotten a DWI and was now a laborer.  He basically tutored me on how to use it.

      It went fine for a few months and then one day I was in Bloomington, Indiana and there was semi-trailer that had been converted into a billboard looking for flatbed truck drivers.  It was a union company the sign said.  When I got to the driveway I wheeled in, in my company truck and swaggered in.  I told them how I had driven a truck in Vietnam and hauled 750 pound bombs and how we ran convoys up and down the coast.  Which was all true, I only left out the fact it had been almost eight years before and was all OJT.  I had no formal training.  He gave me an application and told me I would have to come back for a road test.  Union companies loved to give veterans a chance.  Wish I had known that when I got out of the service.

      The next Monday I called in sick so I could go take the road test.  The road test was almost like the one I took in the Army which is in another post on my blog.  It took a lot but I humbled myself and explained I was use to split shifting with two levers and had not driven the kind they had in their cab-over cornbinder’s.  He just smiled and told me to get into the passenger side.  We hooked up to a loaded trailer and he drove me out the motor pool and went south till he got to the bottom of the first big hill.  He then cut across the medium and parked on the northbound shoulder.  We then switched seats and he told me the differences and told me to take a couple minutes and practice the pattern on the transmission and get the feel of the truck.

      The first time I tried to take off the truck started bouncing up and down like it was a basketball and then died.  He just smiled and released the brakes.  DUH…I figured I just failed bigtime.  The next time we actually moved and got a couple gears up before I missed one and pulled back to the shoulder and started over.  He explained how to use the RPM’s to tell when to shift and we took off again.  The rest of the test drive went smooth.  When we got back he told me I passed and that dispatch was at four o’clock.  I informed him I already had a job and kind of needed to give notice.  He said no problem and to call him when I was ready. I asked him why I didn’t fail over the stupid mistakes I made.  He said anybody could be nervous.  Starting on a steep grade with a full load took some understanding of how to drive and as I adapted well, he passed me.

       When I showed up for my first day at work the safety director assigned me a truck.  He also hooked me up with one of the company drivers and said he would show me what to do.  They assigned me my first load.  I did not get to pick one from dispatch.  They assigned me a load of sheet rock going to Pawnee, Illinois. To get our loads we pulled an empty trailer down to the USG plant in Shoals, Indiana.  When I say down that is a literal down.  The plant sets at the bottom of about a quarter mile long road which goes straight to a gate.  That is not the gate we used except when it was snowing and we couldn’t get stopped.  Coming off that hill with an empty flatbed in snow was like riding a bobsled sometimes. 

        My escort helped me get hooked up and we helped each other strap our loads and tie down our tarps.  He taught me how to use a cheater bar and had one he leant me and told me to buy my own.  He told me to give his to the safety officer when I got back.

Everything went fine as I wondered through the plant and found my way back out to “The Hill”  I do not know the grade of that hill, but it is far steeper than most any hill I have ever found on a public highway in any state, except maybe Pennsylvania which has some doozies.  I took off twice and killed it when I went to shift.  I slowly backed it down to flat ground and started over.  I left it in low till I topped the hill.  Even after I had some experience that hill tended to be a challenge.

     Upon reaching the top I headed west on US 50 and had to go through Shoals, Indiana.  By now it was dark and starting to rain.  Coming out of Shoals is a pretty steep hill with a truck passing lane.  I got half ways up the hill and when I went to go from the low side of the transmission to the high side I missed the gear and had to stop half ways up a very steep mile long grade.  I kept killing it and I could picture me tearing the drive shaft out of the truck.  After many attempts, I hate to admit I was driven to tears of frustration as I could see my job disappearing, it finally started up the hill. I decided to stay in low till I got to the top.  Slow was better than never I figured.

      Once I topped that hill things got better in spite of the rain as I knew there were no more hills the way I was going.  It was the longest two hundred and forty miles I ever drove.  There are shorter routes but they emphasized that a person could be fired for failing to follow the route designated on your trip sheet.  That rule would actually save me money when the company later routed me on a state highway in Illinois that I was overweight to drive on.  They had to pay the ticket.  That is another story though.  The rain turned to a fog and rain mix.  I also learned on a short four lane stretch that the company trucks were governed to fifty five miles per hour.

 

       I got to where I was going about four o’clock and parked on an empty lot across the street.  About seven o’clock I got a knock on the door.  The rain had stopped and it had cleared off.  The guy from the lumber yard asked me if I wanted drive in and back out, or if I wanted to back in and drive out.  I must have looked dumbfounded when I asked him what he was talking about.

      He had me get down and follow him.  We walked down an alley maybe ten feet wide with a brick building on both sides.  Then we made a slight jog to the right and were in the lumber yard.  It looked very old.  The hitching posts for horses told me that was a safe assumption.  I opted for the drive in and back out as it seemed possibly a little easier.  He said that was what most of the drivers chose. 

      That is when the fun started.  I had to fold the mirrors on both sides up against the cab or I could not fit into the alley without hitting them.  Once I finally got in the yard and untarped they unloaded one side.  Then I had to juggle far enough they could get the forklift around the truck and unload the other side. When they were done I had to juggle it back and line up with the alley.  I had no mirrors so the guy from the lumber yard pointed the direction he wanted me to move the tail of the trailer and gave me hand and arm signals till I got out.  It was the longest 150 feet I ever drove in my life.

       I called the company and they told me to move to a nearby truck stop and call them in an hour.  I do not remember where the next load I hauled went.  I may have gone back empty. I really don’t remember.  I was just glad backing a truck up is a lot like roller skating.  Once you do it you never forget how.  I had learned OJT in Vietnam. 

       I had been driving less than a week and I had driven from Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam on Highway One to the air base at Tuy Hua, Vietnam.  It was less than two hundred miles, but was an all day trip.  I had a load of bombs on and was sitting in the ammunition dump when a mortar attack started.  We could see they were walking the rounds right towards the ammo dump.  The fork lift driver told me to drop the trailer and follow him.  I told him there wasn’t time and jumped on the side of his forklift and we went to the safety of the bunker.  What I didn’t tell him was that I did not know how to back up.  I had been driving less than a week and other than backing under a trailer to hook up I had never backed a truck up.  That is the truth.  Scary ain’t it.  Carrying a load of bombs and do not even know how to back up a truck.  Thanks Uncle Sam for the fine training program.  It basically consisted of saying.  You’re a truck driver.

       After the all clear he emptied my trailer I took almost an hour getting turned around to get out of the ammo dump.  When we got back to Cam Ranh I got some explanations on the basics of backing up and found me a large open area.  I practiced till could back up in a straight line with my foot on the floor.  That self- training paid off that day in the lumber yard.

       By the end of the day I felt I could handle anything that came my way.  Little did I realize how many kinds of special freight exist.  It all needs to be handled in a special way.  The biggest surprise came when I found out flat bedding would not keep me out of the cities.  In fact as a Moonie I often found myself in downtown Manhattan fairly regular.  The specialized carrier title on the sides of Moon Freight Lines trucks meant we hauled cut stone.  One of our specialties was facing stone for skyscrapers.