Hey Everyone,
So this weekend went better than I had expected. Jen and I drove down to Hillsboro on Friday and before I left for The Rodeo, I went and did a little mushroom hunting. I found about 5 pounds of morels, or yellows as we always called them when I was going up. I brought them down with me and gave them to some of the veteran rodeo guys from 702.
Okay, so I didn't sleep worth a shit on Friday night ~ probably b/c I kept thinking about how much it's going to hurt when I fall in front of everyone.....and trying to climb any pole going on 40 some hours without any sleep makes for a crappy situation. But Jen and I left Hillsboro around 4:45am and got to Duquion Illinois about 6:40am and I tried to sleep a little in the parking lot but I swear, linemen are some of the loudest son's of bitches alive!!! So, I just got up from the back seat and Jen and I went inside and I'm pretty sure the poles grew alittle over night;) But after the flag ceremony, all the apprentices went towards there divisions and waited....then waited.....and waited some more. It took a long time for things to start running smoothly but when they picked up, they really picked up. My first event was the H-Structure Cross over, I was actually the first person to do that event in the whole rodeo. A little nervous, but I flew up the right side of the h-structure in less than 30 seconds, only my problem was that I've never used two safety's before and I had to put one around the pole and then one around the static wire when I headed to the other side. There was three things that I should have done to get a quicker time, number one ~ not listened to the fat judge who told me that you couldn't cross your safety, number two ~ climbed up the back side of the pole, and number three ~ brought my own separate safety to use cause the one they had was a piece of crap!!! But still I finished in 2:20 I think which was okay as an apprentice.....especially the first person to do the event!
My second event was the speed climb, I was using my new gaffs and I really like them but I'm going to have to learn to descend smoother and faster in them. It will come with some time and practice, which I plan on doing both a lot more of! In the speed climb you have to descend down the pole with an egg in your mouth and the goal is to not crack or break the egg and have the best time. I had 41 seconds, but the dam egg cracked. I wasn't really happy anyways, 41 seconds just won't cut it! I will try my hardest to cut that in two for my next rodeo.
Um, the next event I did was the mystery event ~ we just had to climb up and change out three dead service connectors ~ aka one bolts. I actually dropped one on the way up.....another dam penalty.... I think I finished that one in 3 minutes but wasn't really sure seeing as I was a little disappointed in myself.
And I saved my favorite for last, The hurtman! I think the winning time was 57 seconds and mine wasn't my best but I did it safely in 1:54 seconds. I had an extra 20 seconds put on my time because my gear wasn't working very well with me. I need to practice putting all my new gear on, and on, and on again until it only takes me 14-17 seconds to put my gear on, and not 47 seconds..... Im not happy with the way I preformed and going to this rodeo has only made me want to do another rodeo and score better. I think I still probably finished in the top 20 but I'm not pleased with my performance. I have a video of my hurtman, and I think I'll post it, even tho I'm a little embarrassed to show it. Maybe this will motivate me more knowing that someone might be watching it.
As for today, my crew was short handed and we framed up a 60 foot pole that we will be using the cat for tomorrow. It's down the side of the highway, behind some guard-rails. I can pretty much put my hand thru this old girl. It's pretty scary thinking about all the old poles out there. We're changing them little by little and making hardly no head way on this job. I can say that we'll be busy for EVER... We also went and took a look at another pole that's in need of changing back in the middle of the woods. A walk beside machine would work okay on this job, but since we have the cat, we might as well use her all we can.
WEll, I think that's about it for today ~ we stayed a little late tonight till 6 so I'm beat. I'll try and remember my camera tomorrow.
L8ter,
dan
So this weekend went better than I had expected. Jen and I drove down to Hillsboro on Friday and before I left for The Rodeo, I went and did a little mushroom hunting. I found about 5 pounds of morels, or yellows as we always called them when I was going up. I brought them down with me and gave them to some of the veteran rodeo guys from 702.
Okay, so I didn't sleep worth a shit on Friday night ~ probably b/c I kept thinking about how much it's going to hurt when I fall in front of everyone.....and trying to climb any pole going on 40 some hours without any sleep makes for a crappy situation. But Jen and I left Hillsboro around 4:45am and got to Duquion Illinois about 6:40am and I tried to sleep a little in the parking lot but I swear, linemen are some of the loudest son's of bitches alive!!! So, I just got up from the back seat and Jen and I went inside and I'm pretty sure the poles grew alittle over night;) But after the flag ceremony, all the apprentices went towards there divisions and waited....then waited.....and waited some more. It took a long time for things to start running smoothly but when they picked up, they really picked up. My first event was the H-Structure Cross over, I was actually the first person to do that event in the whole rodeo. A little nervous, but I flew up the right side of the h-structure in less than 30 seconds, only my problem was that I've never used two safety's before and I had to put one around the pole and then one around the static wire when I headed to the other side. There was three things that I should have done to get a quicker time, number one ~ not listened to the fat judge who told me that you couldn't cross your safety, number two ~ climbed up the back side of the pole, and number three ~ brought my own separate safety to use cause the one they had was a piece of crap!!! But still I finished in 2:20 I think which was okay as an apprentice.....especially the first person to do the event!
My second event was the speed climb, I was using my new gaffs and I really like them but I'm going to have to learn to descend smoother and faster in them. It will come with some time and practice, which I plan on doing both a lot more of! In the speed climb you have to descend down the pole with an egg in your mouth and the goal is to not crack or break the egg and have the best time. I had 41 seconds, but the dam egg cracked. I wasn't really happy anyways, 41 seconds just won't cut it! I will try my hardest to cut that in two for my next rodeo.
Um, the next event I did was the mystery event ~ we just had to climb up and change out three dead service connectors ~ aka one bolts. I actually dropped one on the way up.....another dam penalty.... I think I finished that one in 3 minutes but wasn't really sure seeing as I was a little disappointed in myself.
And I saved my favorite for last, The hurtman! I think the winning time was 57 seconds and mine wasn't my best but I did it safely in 1:54 seconds. I had an extra 20 seconds put on my time because my gear wasn't working very well with me. I need to practice putting all my new gear on, and on, and on again until it only takes me 14-17 seconds to put my gear on, and not 47 seconds..... Im not happy with the way I preformed and going to this rodeo has only made me want to do another rodeo and score better. I think I still probably finished in the top 20 but I'm not pleased with my performance. I have a video of my hurtman, and I think I'll post it, even tho I'm a little embarrassed to show it. Maybe this will motivate me more knowing that someone might be watching it.
As for today, my crew was short handed and we framed up a 60 foot pole that we will be using the cat for tomorrow. It's down the side of the highway, behind some guard-rails. I can pretty much put my hand thru this old girl. It's pretty scary thinking about all the old poles out there. We're changing them little by little and making hardly no head way on this job. I can say that we'll be busy for EVER... We also went and took a look at another pole that's in need of changing back in the middle of the woods. A walk beside machine would work okay on this job, but since we have the cat, we might as well use her all we can.
WEll, I think that's about it for today ~ we stayed a little late tonight till 6 so I'm beat. I'll try and remember my camera tomorrow.
L8ter,
dan
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