Post-Summer 2025

 SUMMERTIME - 2025

Anna Ruby Falls, Georgia

Most of the festivities, activities, and other 'ties are just about wrapped up for the summer.

All camps are done, vacations taken, and fun has been had. 

I had the opportunity to join my wife at summer camp in Orlando. We usually are camp deans for our own separate camps, but I was able to join her at her camp. as a "Dorm Dad/Counselor of counselors".

The Passat and the Tacoma are putting in work... still thinking about the next vehicle. 

Put a little over 1600 miles on the Tacoma in 5 days, with shuffling kids around and the trip north all together. It averaged 20.03 MPG over all, which is right in line with the EPA rating. I guess what they say is true, "The Tacoma V6... Power of a 4 cylinder, fuel economy of a V8."

We had a rare opportunity this past week where one child was in a summer camp outside of Tampa, the other in a camp in North Carolina, and the wife and I headed to parts unknown, childless. "Unknown" wound up being Helen, Georgia, and Sparta North Carolina.

Helen was wonderful, weather was great, and the food was better. We used to visit Helen during our JaxDubs/Volkswagen days, as Helen held a yearly VW/Audi/Porsche meet that took over the town, called SoWo (Southern Worthersee). Sadly, losers will be losers, and SoWo overstayed its welcome and was ended after 2015. The wife and I did plenty of sight seeing, hiked to a near by water fall, and ziplined. 

After that we drove "back home" to Sparta, North Carolina. It was bittersweet this year, as we spent less that 24 hours there. We meet my dad, as he was headed there himself, and just enjoyed the mountain air and green grass. Normally we dedicate most, if not all, of our 10 day trip to Sparta. All is good as time was still well spent. I'm going to try and make a few more short trips before the end of the year.

We split the drive home up, and I used some more rewards points to get a "free" night at a Holiday Inn located in Florence, SC. For the record... I cannot stand South Carolina. I have yet to find a redeeming quality about it. The roads are Grade "A" garbage, and I just don't like it, the stay at that Holiday Inn didn't help either.

We've done well over the summer, and looking back this has been a good one. Very busy, but very productive as well.

See you on the next post...

It was another year indeed!!!!!!!!!!

Well how about that. 

Last post said it might be another year, and looks like it was.

Whats new? A few things...
What's old? 2020.

No need to go into detail, we all know 2020 has gone to hell in a hand basket. I feel like its been 2020 for 6 years.

A few things to update:

Mazda3 is gone, Here's a Tacoma.

While I loved the Mazda, the hatchback like just wasnt cutting it. Needed a bit more room. Enter the 2020 Tacoma TRD Offroad, 4x4, Manual Transmission, yadda yadda yadda.

I like it.


What else...

Went to North Carolina. I think just once since the last post? Maybe twice? We try to go every summer.

I am going back for a weekend or two throughout the year.

I mean, I think that's really it, or at least all I want to talk about right now. I might make a post or two coming up about the truck. maybe something else. I dont know.


Whatever. :)

Mud Holes, Forever

The week seemed to be dry and all the clothes were too clean.

But we got a chance to get a little dirty before the week was through. 

A few leaks popped up this week, some where passed off to other crews, but we fixed a few ourselves. Friday was the muddy one.

A reuse leak came in a few days before, but it was small so we let it go for a couple days.  Since it was reuse water, we shut (we thought) the main off so it could dry up (it didnt).

We headed out Friday morning to get it fixed. I hooked up to a trailer and we brought out our BobCat and a mud pump.

No matter where you go, make sure your hair is fabulous.

A few scoops taken out for exploratory reasons.

The main ended up not being off all the way, and the somebody turned the main back on with someone else in the hole. Main was shut off all the way, then the repair began. Ended up being a slipped fitting coming off the main tap saddle.

Mud hog pumping down the hole

Squeeeeezing the bucket between the main and other utilities.

I thought the main was off!?

After we got down to the break, I headed back to the yard with a trailer full of mud. That proved to be a task. All that muck settled driving back to the yard, and suction cupped itself to the trailer floor. I had to hand shovel it all out.

Brownies?

The mud did not move. At all. I even shook the tar out of the trailer and nearly broke the hitch.

After getting more dirty emptying the trailer than I did working, I loaded up some fresh dry dirt to back fill the hole, and headed back. Fuel first.

All the lights

Once back, both reuse services were built back in poly. Meter boxes were set, and we began to backfill. All in all the repair went the way it should.

Tee'd straight off the main.

Not much leak action this week, but I'm sure there will be more next week. I think we have a repair scheduled to remove a meter from a driveway, so that should be fun.

See you later!

More Mud Holes?

Couple more leaks passed by our way this week. Let me show you their features.

This first one was relatively small. A backflow company was attempting to change out a backflow, and in the process split a piece of galvanized pipe.  We had to cut back on it with a hacksaw, and install a new compression fitting with curbstop. We always try to fix our leaks under pressure, especially the small ones. Fixing the leaks under pressure prevents disruption of service to the customer, as well as prevents us from putting customers under a "Boil Water" notice.

Split right behind the curbstop in the galvanized pipe.

 

Next one was a doozy

 

 

 This leak came in at 4:30pm. Sometimes we let them ride till the next day, but in the case of leaks like this one, we decided to fix it immediately. The water main runs directly underneath the driveway, about where the split is between the dry and wet pavement. Trucks were loaded with dirt and limestone, trackhoe was loaded up, and off we went.

 

 

 

Driveway was cut to gain access to the ground and water main underneath. Once we got down to the main, the leak indeed up being a 5 inch split running inline with the pipe. Looked like the pipe had suffered a hit when it was originally installed, and just wore out over time. 

Strike first, strike hard. No mercy.







Ended up staying till 12am

 

 

The split section was cut out and replaced. Sometimes we can install a repair band around the main, but the position of the crack made prepping the pipe too difficult. Before wrapping a pipe, the ideal way to handle a split is to drill a hole at the edge of the split line, to prevent the crack from spreading. The split on this pipe was on the bottom, so we would have to submerge our drill in the water and mud to drill the pipe.

 

After the main was repaired, the hole was backfilled, and water service restored. Didn't get to keep the water on this time. Total repair took around 6-7 hours. Not that bad, but we could have shaved an hour off if we went straight to the clamps and replacing the piece of affected pipe.

 

A repair band was attempted first

Two hymax couplings were used, as well as a new piece of pipe.

Driveway secured.

Bye Felicia.



TOAST PT. 4 - The Work Truck

2015 GMC Sierra 2500HD - Duramax, 4x4

Well, here it is. My work truck. The mobile office I call home for 8-ish hours a day (sometimes more).

I've had this truck since new, and as of this post it has 17,500 miles on it. It's a good truck, and performs its duties well. I think its a tad overkill (I'd prefer a Colorado, or a Van), but I'm not complaining. It takes the daily routes like a champ, and like most GM truck's I've driven, rides very car like. I try not to idle it very much, and the GPS makes sure it doesn't get romped on too hard. It get around 14.9 MPG, and thanks to the huge tank, I can go around 400 miles between fill ups. Only defects so far have been a cracked fuel filter housing, and the driver seat is starting to tear.

Lets go through the rest of the truck, starting with my "office".

The driver's seat is where I spend a good bit of my day. To my immediate right is my center console, filled with various things like medicine, pens, keys, and so on. This console also doubles as a third seat if you flip it up. The cup holders hold my phones and pass cards... as well as cups.

Next to that is my computer. That's where i get my orders from. All my field work routes through that. It's actually new as well, a Dell Latitude E6540. I'm trying to keep it clean.

On the transmission hump is the power inverter, and my WiFi hotspot (for the laptop). The inverter is obviously used to power my laptop, but it also powers any plug in tools I have, as well as my printer, and any other A/C adapters I have.

Next up is the passenger side, or as I call it, "The Closet".

The passenger side is really a catch all for whatever I don't want in my way. The floorboard sometimes is used as a trash can.

The seat holds my Every Day Carry bag (I'll do a post on that later), as well as Chromebook, and a few other things. It really depends on what i'm doing for the day as to what goes there. Some of the items on the floorboard get changed in and out. Speaking of the floorboard, it currently holds my printer, hand held meter computer, and a host of cables and chargers.

Finally, here is the radio. 

This is about the only part of my truck I interact with. The truck is equipped with BlueTooth, so I use it to stream my Google Play Music, or Pandora. The center console also has an SD reader, as well as an USB slot, so I could play music from them as well.

Below the radio are the buttons. The only one you need be concerned with is the left one. The Traction Control button. Now I think we all know what happens when you push it, but do you know what happens when you hold it down? On this truck (and most every other modern GM product), If you hold down the TC button for 5 seconds, it also turns of the Stability Control. What does this mean? Well it certainly doesn't mean you can do donuts or drift in parking lots. Not at all....

So that's about it. Thats my work truck. Im sure I'll cover a few areas of it in greater detail in the future, but that's the gist of it. Thanks for reading!