Enough BS Already

I thought when I came home from Newton, KS, last week I'd spend a day or two in the shop getting my equipment and paperwork in order and then be on my merry way back to Wisconsin. That's apparently not what the office had in mind.  

When I got there this morning they had several people lined up to go do county spraying, those people did not include me or a few others there. Basically we were left to figure out what to do with the rest of the day ourselves, which wasn't much (I spent it getting my stuff in order). Figuring they had too many people and not enough projects I went and talked to the man in charge to see if they really needed me since I want to get back to Wisconsin. This is what he says to me:

"Oh, I don't know if we can let you go, I mean we have some stuff to do here. Yeah, most of the days there won't be much to do and you'll just kind of stand around here doing nothing, but there will be a few days where we really need you to fill in for someone."

I said I'm still renting a place and paying for it in WI, it makes no sense for me to do that and stay up here and do nothing, if they need me bad they can call me and I can come back up to do a little more spraying.

"Well, I don't know, I know there's a lot of down time, but we really need you just in case you have to fill in, I mean, we should be all done by the end of October after the fall meeting, but we may need you here. If you want to use your [32 hours of] paid time off to get things together in Wisconsin you can do that."

At this point I realized I was talking to a complete fool and went back to work on my equipment figuring I'd probably never step foot in that place again except to hand in my last time card. What a bunch of BS! What a fucking idiot! They would rather pay me $13/hour to stand around and do nothing on the off chance they may need me rather than not pay me anything to go back to Wisconsin! And I even offered to come out and spray for a few weeks if that plan goes through, no deal! 

I've had enough of this place and their BS, they have no communication, no plans, no organization, you're all just expected to jump at whatever dumb ass idea they come up with at the moment. They tried to send one guy on the road for 4 weeks straight from the shop, where he had been working days, without even considering he didn't have a bag packed for the road! A college student on my crew who informed the office months in advance when he had to be back to school was told he'd have to miss the first week of college because they couldn't get him back home (which was total BS and I sent him home regardless of what that idiot in our office said). They consider a big raise 25 cents and have tried to get people to be crew leader for $11.25/hour. And then they can't figure out why they have such a high turnover rate!

I've had enough of this BS. I'd rather starve than work there anymore, I'd much rather sit on my ass at home and do nothing than get paid to sit on my ass and do nothing at their shop, 10 hours away from my bed, my books, my photos, my friends. Eff that! 

Been a While

Yes it's been a while here, but that's because I was on my week (and a day) break, and I had much better things to do. But now I'm back, back in Dodge City, ready to get the last leg of this season over and done with so I can go back to a somewhat more normal life, at least I am hoping so!!

The strange thing is I've been in a particularly good mood since I've come back out. I have no idea why though. I don't think it's because I know I won't be out here much longer, I haven't been thinking about that, because thinking about it will make the time go by much slower. I'm not sure just what it is. I think I have hope for the future again. 

Oddly enough I've been thinking a lot about my past and the people in my past. When I've thought about that stuff earlier this year it made me depressed, but now it doesn't completely come across that way. It's actually been kind of good to think about some of my past life events and the people in them, perhaps because I'm reminded that the further back I go the fewer people I knew. How does this relate to my future of hope (and change, blech! no time for that political stuff just right now...)? 

The fun times and fun people I can think about in my past at one time were my future. In 2002 I had no idea the people I would know and the things I would do in 2005, and so on. So I realize that, as much as I miss a lot of people from my past, when 2012 rolls around I can imagine there will be a bunch of new people and new events that take place in my life, and even though I don't know what it is yet I can look forward to it. I've come to the realization my life didn't end this past May (even though it felt like it). I have a lot more in front of me and I have to get over the fact a lot of people from my past I will probably never see again, and certainly the events that took place can NEVER take place again, but there will be new people and new events to look forward to.

So despite having no plan after September I am feeling much better than I was just a few months ago. I feel like something is going to happen in my near future, something good. Also adding to my contentment right now is the feeling I've had a few burdens lifted off of me after this past week. Some are great to get rid of, others bittersweet, but all will keep me moving forward and not dwelling on the past (even if I have been thinking a lot about it recently). 

Tonight I spent some time going through some archived e-mails dating all the way back to 2002. It was a nice trip back, it brought up some things I forgot even happened, and also made me question some of the events that would transpire over the following years. But overall it was just a nice trip back, not really all that depressing or sad, just, um, interesting.

Now I say I feel content and hopeful for the future, let's just see what horrible event takes place at work tomorrow to wipe all that out!! 

Wheat Stubble and Poles

Wheat Stubble and Poles
Originally uploaded by kindoflew

About two or three times during the spray season everything comes together to bring a laid back day where I can do my favorite thing to do on the road: photography! Today was one of those days. I had intended to spray east from Dodge City, Kansas, on my way to our new location in Newton. However before I could even get started the wind picked up to the point of no spraying, so that left me with the whole day to make the drive to Newton and lots of time for photography!

The landscape of western Kansas, both natural and manmade, is fascinating to me. Vast open plains with nary a tree, hundreds of pole lines, and huge, white concrete elevators the can be seen for a good 10 miles over the landscape. I could probably spend month photographing here and not get bored. That's why it was so great to get to do a little on my way east today.

By far this was my favorite photo of the day. It's so simple, yet so interesting. The wheel tracks through the wheat stubble against darker field of milo in the background is a nice contrast as is the vertical stubble and grass with the man-made poles in the background. The smooth, light texture of the sky is also a nice contrast with the rougher texture of the field. I'm very glad I turned around to grab this photo!

One of the Better Mornings

As you know I've had a real distaste for my spraying job this year which has resulted in a lot of me whining here. But somedays things come together to make at least part of the day very nice. Today was one of those days. 

We had to meet our BNSF pilot at Coolidge, Kansas, the last town on Highway 50 before you enter Colorado. The landscape is a lonely-looking vastness filled with irrigated corn and rangeland and nary a house or tree to be found. It's actually quite fascinating.

Our meet time was 0730 so we arrived a little early, just in time for the sunrise. It was amazingly still out and the fog hovering over the ground was a bit eerie. I knew Amtrak's Southwest Chief had a station stop at Garden City, about 67 miles to the east, around 0645, so I figured we would see them blast by us. Sure enough just after 0730 I could hear the distinct sound of a 5-chime horn and the chug-chugging of a four-stroke General Electric diesel engine. The light was magnificent so I snapped a coming and going shot of the train.

The stillness of Coolidge was briefly broken as the train roared through town, though way below the 79 mph speed limit. This portion of the La Junta Subdivision still has jointed rail and it was nice to hear the clickty-clack of the railroad track as they used to say (compared to the continuous welded rail, which is more of a constant scream). You could follow the red marker lights at the end of the train for several miles before it disappeared into Colorado on its way to Los Angeles. Indeed it was one of the better mornings on this job!

Wrath of Argentine

Argentine Yard. One of the biggest railroad yards in the country. It was originally built by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe and rebuilt by successor railroad BNSF in 1996. It's state of the art, and amazing to watch it work. But I have to spray it. That's not nearly as much fun.

To get an idea of the size of this yard, take a look at this aerial photograph:

View Larger Map

Now I have to admit I don't have it as bad as the previous crew, they had to do pre-emergent spray. This means they had to cover every square inch of the property. It took over a month and included spraying 24 hours a day. Thank God I don't have it that bad. However, there is still a lot of ground to cover and a lot of things to spray. The worst part is we can't just go spray it on our own, we need a railroad pilot for nearly everything we do.

I can understand the need for a pilot, most of the time you are spraying close to active tracks, and there is no shortage of activity in this yard either. It's a pretty dangerous place and if you aren't paying attention bad things can happen. 

The problem with pilots is they often don't want to be there, don't know the whole process of spraying, and tend to get impatient. Our work is tedious, we can only get so much from the truck. A lot of spraying, especially in the tight area of a yard like this, has to be done by hand, which is tedious, time consuming work. But if you want to do a good job and get everything covered it's a necessary evil. Most pilots just don't have the patience for it.

Now when you are on your own doing off-track spraying (without a pilot, as is the case most everywhere else) you can take your time and do a good job. You aren't being rushed by anyone, you can get things covered. All my experiences with pilots have been they want you to skip this or that, or not get out and hand spray, etc., and it just gets on my nerves.

Just as I figured our pilot wasn't much different than the others I've had. As usual it started out good, but quickly deteriorated. This was the last thing this guy wanted to do on a Sunday morning (and who could really blame him?)! I like to do a huge yard like this in sections so that everything can get covered in a somewhat orderly fashion. Today, though, we seemed to just drive around here and there and hit up weeds wherever it was convenient. There was all kinds of stuff that was being skipped just because he didn't want to stop. I know we are going to have to go back and redo those spots now. 

I tried to just simply stop and hand spray where it needed, but it became obvious that was taking up to much time, so soon we were just driving around. It was a really half-assed job that got done today. It irritates me to do such a crappy job, especially knowing I'll probably have to come back and redo it.

Even more depressing though is it's just the first day and we've barely made a dent. There is just so much there. We haven't even got started on the actual tracks yet, there are hundreds of those to try and do! And I know just when we think we've got everything done there will be some new, big section we didn't even know about we'll have to do.

Argentine. It's fascinating to look at, but a real bear to spray. 

I think this is pretty funny

Wild marijuana is rampant throughout Nebraska and extends into Iowa and Missouri as well, often growing in ditches and along fences. Unless you knew what you were looking at it would be easy to miss for most people, it blends into the surrounding foliage pretty well. 

From what I understand marijuana was likely introduced when settlers would plant it along fence lines to help keep cattle in. The cattle would not eat the marijuana so the chances of them breaking through a fence were less. I have also heard that settlers planted it as hemp to make rope. Like other noxious weeds it eventually got out of control and spread everywhere.

The wild marijuana, often called "ditchweed," contains little THC and therefore you would be sick from the smoke before you ever got high. I have heard that people still come and harvest the wild pot to mix with more potent homegrown and imported weed to sort of "fill out the bag." Mostly though it's just an eyesore competing with native plants. In terms of railroad right-of-way, the plants, which can grow up to 6 feet tall, can block out signs and a view of the tracks, which can result in deadly accidents.

I think it's pretty funny that on my paperwork I can write "Target Weed Species - Marijuana." I think it's funny that marijuana plants are as prevalent as corn in Nebraska. I think it's funny people come from out of state to harvest ditchweed. Who would have ever thunk it?

Despised

Today was another one of those days. It's one of those days where you just feel like calling up the office and telling them they can shove it and hopping on a Greyhound bus back home. It's one of those days where you have to wonder if railroads ever plan anything out. More on why later, but the main thing is the fact that we, as contractors, are sometimes the most despised work group on the railroad.

Now that's not to say we always are, in fact where we have been working, St. Joseph, Missouri, everyone has been very helpful, nice and accommodating to us, even helping us get some work done on days they weren't scheduled to take us; but then there are the other locations where we aren't greeted so warmly.

The biggest accusation we get is of us being "scabs." That is because we are not only contractors, but also non-union, whereas all the rest of the railroad maintenance-of-way is unionized. So we are scabs, stealing their work, weakening their union (never mind the fact when the railroad did their own spraying no one wanted to ever bid that work because it is terrible!). So right off the bat we're often hated.

We don't spray very fast, we probably average 10-12 mph, because that's all the faster we can go to do a good job. The track inspectors we get as pilots typically inspect track at 30-40 mph, all we do is slow them down. There's another reason we are despised, they don't want weeds but can't grasp the fact we can't go as fast as they do. The train dispatchers also hate us because of this and I think sometimes forget we have a railroad radio in our trucks so we can actually hear all the snarky remarks generated about us.

The most annoying are the people that think the stuff we spray will kill them if they even get a whiff of it. I've never seen people as childish and whiney as railroaders. And of course if they complain, we get in trouble, even if we didn't do anything. 

Despite the friendly people we have been working with I got a bad impression about the guy we were with today. First off, I thought the plan was to spray within 30 miles of our hotel. Of course not, this is a railroad, so we got sent 75 miles away to start on a section of track I was planning on doing later, when we were closer to it. So we drove the hour up there where we were supposed to meet our pilot and of course, he wasn't there yet, he was out inspecting track before we slowed him down.

Two hours later he finally showed up just as it started raining. That's when he started in on me about why I didn't check the weather before I drove up there. This is where I nearly lost it, but just bit my lip and didn't say anything. What I would have liked to have said is, "First of all, I didn't know we were going to be up here. Second, whatever weather I would have looked at would have been four hours ago. Third, if you had showed up when you were supposed to we could have got two hours of spraying in. Fourth, go fuck yourself!"

I turned on the weather radio which was predicting scattered showers for the area, so I wanted to wait it out and see if the rain let up. Of course, he didn't want to do that, he had other things to do. Then he started in with why we didn't check the weather radar before we drove up here. Then there were some other snarky comments made at which point I knew I had to get out of there before I said something that would get me fired. So I rolled up the window and sped off, 75 miles of driving ahead of me.

Of course when I got back I looked at the weather and the rain had all moved out of the area we were in, it was beautiful spray weather, and here we were, sitting. It is frustrating. And all of this made me wonder why I care. I didn't do anything today but got over five hours of overtime. If I worked my ass off to do a good job and get things done I wouldn't get any sort of raise or more time of or a bonus, I'd just get an e-mail saying thanks for getting that run done. So why do I even care?

I guess it's all just from that Midwestern work ethic. Even in a job I hate, a job with no incentives, I still want to do a good job just for the sake of doing a good job, and that's why the whole thing just eats at me. 

But, tomorrow's another day of spraying, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day..............