The Dead of Night, Old Growth spiders in my brain.
- Thread starter RandyMac
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promac850
formerly promac610
`
Who amongst us isn't ?
(except me)
Hey, watch it now aussie man... Some of us are only partially nuts...
I am fully nuts though, they do all the thinking... :jester:
RandyMac
Stiff Member
Randy! I opened one eye and saw my second at the door, he called again, louder RANDY!. I said what? fighting to urge to kill him. Then he spoke the magic words "Hey, the call just came in, we gotta roll" It was just after 1am, I still had PBR flowing in my blood, but the thought of fighting fire cut through that. I sat up, hmmmm only had to pull the boots on.
My second was a good man, he had the bus warmed up and the crew moving. I headed over to the shop to fetch the saws, we were going to Mendocinco, the load out was three 10-10s, two 660s and some other things, oh yeah, Homelites. Another 20 minutes and I was tearing through the warm night air, leaving a diesel smoke trail in our wake. 4 hours traveling south and we left the paved roads behind for log haul roads. I loved haul roads, the bus handled them well, power drifts were not unheard of. We could see the glow reflected off the convection column over the next ridge. As we topped the hill, we saw the fire, it was in old logged off land, with patches of remaining old growth. The fire was a hot one as we were in the second year of the great '70s drought. The Fire Camp was three tankers, two crew buses and a few pickups. We got our assignment from the Fire Boss and did the pre-fire ritual, which looked like a bar fight. We were a rowdy bunch, to get the blood flowing, well sometimes blood flowed. My guys knew their stuff and drew their tools.
The word was that we were cutting line in the forward edge, using an old skid trail and anchored off the haul road. It was warm, maybe upper 70s, dawn was soon enough, a faint hint of the day to come. We commenced, it was brush mostly, I hung back and let the 10-10s do their thing. It wasn't long before the Sun popped up, the temps rose quickly, by 7am, it was closing in on the high 80s. My first kill of the day was a big Fir log, maybe 60", I gnawed at it with the 660, breaking a beer induced sweat. 20 minutes later I tied into a DF snag, burning of course. That was pretty much the pattern for a few hours, bucking big DF logs and dumping snags. The 660 had a 48" bar, the usual 1/2" chain, it could cut almost anything. By noon, it was hot, really hot, the going was getting tough, the ground was steep, the brush was thick. The 10s were having hissy fits, boiling fuel, hard starting, yee old vapor lock. The 660 didn't care, yet, it's time was coming though. We took a meal break, thoughtfully provided by the Feds, who invited us to this party. We managed to waylay a couple of them, they "volunteered". We entered a logged off zone, it had been cut in the mid '60s, that meant lots of debris. I sent my second back for the other 660, there were logs on top of logs....I spent the next two hours bucking 12 foot holes through the leftovers, did I mention that it was hot? This is about the time things got, well, interesting. amazing what a little change in the breeze will do. We went from chasing the fire, to defending our line. We pulled out the stops. With my second saw happily bucking old crap, I went after the standing hazards, big hardwoods and DF snags. The 10s caught up after their nap, good thing too, cutting brush with a 660 was not all that much fun.
By late afternoon the heat and smoke was taking it's toll on us, we took a break. The 660 was getting temperamental, restarts were a touchy thing. Popping snapbacks, gouts of unburnt fuel, refusal to idle. Did I mention it was hot?
A patch of smoldering DF snags was tossing burning crap, can't have that now, could we? I grabbed one of the Feds, he had a piss-pump and his Federal thumb up his ass, time for him to earn his wages. I went after a 60" DF snag, burning nicely in places. As I started the undercut, I found it was hollow, and burning inside. The Fed drizzled a bit of water on it, with all the enthusiasm, as a guy with the clap, taking a leak. I get a wedge set in the backcut, had to give up on the Fed, worthless bastard couldn't pound a wedge to save his life, would probably hurt himself pounding his pud. Anyways, I was sawing one handed while tapping at the wedge easy like, the snag was fragile looking. So it was tap, look up, tap and look up. Yeah, and sure as ####, I tapped and looked up, just in time to catch a piece of burning bark, about the size of a dinner plate, right in the tinhat. Boy I'm telling you, that pissed me off! The Fed was stumbling around trying to tell me something, I hit him in the chest and knocked him down. I turned back to the snag and killed it. Only after that, did I figure out what the Fed was telling me. It was obvious enough, to someone not in a red rage. I had three rather deep lacerations, 18 stitches worth, the blood had flowed down my back, a startling contrast to the yellow Nomex. Did I quit working? Oh Hell no!
My second was a good man, he had the bus warmed up and the crew moving. I headed over to the shop to fetch the saws, we were going to Mendocinco, the load out was three 10-10s, two 660s and some other things, oh yeah, Homelites. Another 20 minutes and I was tearing through the warm night air, leaving a diesel smoke trail in our wake. 4 hours traveling south and we left the paved roads behind for log haul roads. I loved haul roads, the bus handled them well, power drifts were not unheard of. We could see the glow reflected off the convection column over the next ridge. As we topped the hill, we saw the fire, it was in old logged off land, with patches of remaining old growth. The fire was a hot one as we were in the second year of the great '70s drought. The Fire Camp was three tankers, two crew buses and a few pickups. We got our assignment from the Fire Boss and did the pre-fire ritual, which looked like a bar fight. We were a rowdy bunch, to get the blood flowing, well sometimes blood flowed. My guys knew their stuff and drew their tools.
The word was that we were cutting line in the forward edge, using an old skid trail and anchored off the haul road. It was warm, maybe upper 70s, dawn was soon enough, a faint hint of the day to come. We commenced, it was brush mostly, I hung back and let the 10-10s do their thing. It wasn't long before the Sun popped up, the temps rose quickly, by 7am, it was closing in on the high 80s. My first kill of the day was a big Fir log, maybe 60", I gnawed at it with the 660, breaking a beer induced sweat. 20 minutes later I tied into a DF snag, burning of course. That was pretty much the pattern for a few hours, bucking big DF logs and dumping snags. The 660 had a 48" bar, the usual 1/2" chain, it could cut almost anything. By noon, it was hot, really hot, the going was getting tough, the ground was steep, the brush was thick. The 10s were having hissy fits, boiling fuel, hard starting, yee old vapor lock. The 660 didn't care, yet, it's time was coming though. We took a meal break, thoughtfully provided by the Feds, who invited us to this party. We managed to waylay a couple of them, they "volunteered". We entered a logged off zone, it had been cut in the mid '60s, that meant lots of debris. I sent my second back for the other 660, there were logs on top of logs....I spent the next two hours bucking 12 foot holes through the leftovers, did I mention that it was hot? This is about the time things got, well, interesting. amazing what a little change in the breeze will do. We went from chasing the fire, to defending our line. We pulled out the stops. With my second saw happily bucking old crap, I went after the standing hazards, big hardwoods and DF snags. The 10s caught up after their nap, good thing too, cutting brush with a 660 was not all that much fun.
By late afternoon the heat and smoke was taking it's toll on us, we took a break. The 660 was getting temperamental, restarts were a touchy thing. Popping snapbacks, gouts of unburnt fuel, refusal to idle. Did I mention it was hot?
A patch of smoldering DF snags was tossing burning crap, can't have that now, could we? I grabbed one of the Feds, he had a piss-pump and his Federal thumb up his ass, time for him to earn his wages. I went after a 60" DF snag, burning nicely in places. As I started the undercut, I found it was hollow, and burning inside. The Fed drizzled a bit of water on it, with all the enthusiasm, as a guy with the clap, taking a leak. I get a wedge set in the backcut, had to give up on the Fed, worthless bastard couldn't pound a wedge to save his life, would probably hurt himself pounding his pud. Anyways, I was sawing one handed while tapping at the wedge easy like, the snag was fragile looking. So it was tap, look up, tap and look up. Yeah, and sure as ####, I tapped and looked up, just in time to catch a piece of burning bark, about the size of a dinner plate, right in the tinhat. Boy I'm telling you, that pissed me off! The Fed was stumbling around trying to tell me something, I hit him in the chest and knocked him down. I turned back to the snag and killed it. Only after that, did I figure out what the Fed was telling me. It was obvious enough, to someone not in a red rage. I had three rather deep lacerations, 18 stitches worth, the blood had flowed down my back, a startling contrast to the yellow Nomex. Did I quit working? Oh Hell no!
1375619cm3
ArboristSite Operative
Would like to place my preorder for the book since i have been glued to my computer screen for the last 8 hours and have read the entire thread trough.
thread subscribed.
Randy your life story through the good and bad has made me think in depth about mine and giving me much needed wisdom for the future.
thread subscribed.
Randy your life story through the good and bad has made me think in depth about mine and giving me much needed wisdom for the future.
RandyMac
Stiff Member
The best wisdom is learned by ####ing up.
1375619cm3
ArboristSite Operative
That is true but a few stories go a long way with "between a rock and a hard spot" decision, they help you pick the one that is the lesser of the two rough choices.
RandyMac
Stiff Member
Well, I have dents from choosing the rock.
In the "Foreword, with afterthoughts" I have disclaimers.
In the "Foreword, with afterthoughts" I have disclaimers.
bitzer
******** Timber Expert
Awesome Randy! Just frickin awesome!
RandyMac
Stiff Member
Oh Bitz!
I just hit up. going through old photos, havin' flashbacks, this could be good!
(whistles, claps, yells HEY YOU! Get there hell over here and talk to me!)
"Huh?"
I just hit up. going through old photos, havin' flashbacks, this could be good!
(whistles, claps, yells HEY YOU! Get there hell over here and talk to me!)
"Huh?"
Last edited:
RAG66
ArboristSite Operative
Wow, cool stuff! I'm a residential tree service owner and think I've done a few crazy things but NOTHING compared to working in the woods or on a woods fire crew.... I lost a good buddy last year and he had been in the big trees when he was young. The stories and knowledge he had were nothing short of amazing. I am also continually surprised at the close ties between the woods and the residential cutting. He tought me a bunch of good things about making special cuts or whatever other jackpots I got into. Seems like the farther I think they are apart I'll hear stuff that makes me remember my own spiders!
NORMZILLA44
Addicted to ArboristSite
Kinda miss this guy, well alot lately really. I would like to hear more storie's, and see more picture's someday.
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
Randy's still around, but has been busy with other things. I agree that it's time for another installment of our Old Growth Spiders adventure...
NORMZILLA44
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yep, good friend's good storie's. The they are all gone now thread kinda hit me, and choked me up. So time for bed my friend's.
flushcut
Addicted to ArboristSite
Book release date?
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
Here's a pic of the old jail...
The grand old jail is scheduled to come down over the next few months. Hazardous materials removal is going on now. The wrecking ball will follow. I'll try to get some more pics of the old place (past and present) soon. Also, there's an early '70s doccumentary of the place floating around on the web. Interesting to see how the place ran 40 years ago. Not too different from how it was when I was there at the turn of this century. I'll try to find it and post the link. Also hoping this'll prod Randy into sharing more of his Spider Tales with us...
The current jail is located to the right of this pic. The 6-South cells I mentioned are on the top left of the building (from our point of view).
Here's a pic of an old tree on the same grounds. We've been there a while. See what's left of an old fence rail sticking out of the tree? I think this was once part of a hog pen (the inmates used to raise livestock on the grounds). The rail comes out the other side of the tree too.
The grand old jail is scheduled to come down over the next few months. Hazardous materials removal is going on now. The wrecking ball will follow. I'll try to get some more pics of the old place (past and present) soon. Also, there's an early '70s doccumentary of the place floating around on the web. Interesting to see how the place ran 40 years ago. Not too different from how it was when I was there at the turn of this century. I'll try to find it and post the link. Also hoping this'll prod Randy into sharing more of his Spider Tales with us...
I still have a few of my greens. We changed to black uniforms in 1999. Took the patches off of the greens and use them as coveralls when working on equipment. You see and hear strange things working nights...
We shut our old facility down in August of 2006. It had been in continuous opperation since 1932 or so. I feel fortunate to have worked in there before the shutdown. It's extremely facinating. The sub basement (which is realy three stories underground) has three HUGE boilers that are similar to what was in large steamships of the period. The electrical pannels down there look like something out of Dr Frankenstein's lab. They're taking 'soil samples' around the place (lotsa lead and asbestos) and planning it's demolition. I'll be sad to see it go, but am looking forward to seeing much of the 'inner workings' exposed to view. The original refrigeration plant was amonia based. Much of the old compressors and such were just walled over in sections of the basement when they were 'replaced'.
The city stopped spending any real money to maintain it back in the '80s, as it was "only going to be running a couple more years".....................for about 25 years or so. If they'd maintained it, the place would be in much better shape. I am so angry about that fact that I could chew nails and spit screws. We're only about 1/4 mile from the ocean. Salt air....neglect.......concrete........steel...
The property this facility (and the new one) is on is still heavily wooded. There's a section of GG Park NRA that butts up against it. There's a wildlife preserve nearby too. Whole place is still very old and wild.............despite being so near metropolis. Told you about that Cougar I saw last year while making night rounds. There was a herd of Bison from GGP there years ago. I've seen coyotes, deer, a cougar, bobcats, owls, various falcons, etc. I believe there were Miwak Indians on that land at some point as well...
I've been in the old facility about a dozen times since we shut 'er down. Extremely spooky. Back in the 'old days' (up until about 30-40 years ago) it was used to house a lot of drunk-in-publics (that are now just kept in a 647f RWS tank downtown at intake/booking until sober, then cited and released). Drunks would spend a week or so out there. I know old timers that swear that during certain times of the year they'd have a DIC once a WEEK amoung all those decrepid old drunks. Again, that was many decades ago. That's a lot of souls that departed there over the years.
Then there's the ad-seg cell in 6-South where three guys committed suicide. We hadn't used any of those ancient "Alkatraz sollitary confinement looking" all steel cells in 20 years. If you spend any time in that cell you'll get a terrible chill and a nervous feeling that doesn't come from any of the other cells. Doesn't have anything to do with a draft either. I won't get into the violent DIC's that have happened there over the decades...
Since we've shut that place down, I've seen more than a few flashes of orange moving by the windows on the tiers. Heard gates crashing when inside too, despite there being no wind at the time. Also heard locks turning and showers being turned on (they have push-button pneumatic timed valves).
Down in the basement, a coworker and I were loading firefighting equipment to take over to the new facility for storage. We heard a heavily loaded bar being lifted and clanked onto the bench in the old staff weight room down the hall. Heard it many times over about an hour period (while we were finding equipment and loading it in a cart). Made our way to the weight room, and ALL of the weights had been removed. Only an empty bench. NOTHING loose to swing or clank. We had the only keys to the facility and were the only live souls there save the rats...
That will do for now. I've got a cold sweat going. The rest will wait until we're talkin' and drinkin' face to face...
Thanks Chris. I just feel fortunate to have something to share in Randy's thread here. I'll shoot some pics of the old place and post them here sometime. Time to take a cue from the 'normal' non-nightshift folks in the house and hit the rack. I'm typing while they snore!
The current jail is located to the right of this pic. The 6-South cells I mentioned are on the top left of the building (from our point of view).
Here's a pic of an old tree on the same grounds. We've been there a while. See what's left of an old fence rail sticking out of the tree? I think this was once part of a hog pen (the inmates used to raise livestock on the grounds). The rail comes out the other side of the tree too.
Joe46
ArboristSite Guru
Toured the old Montana State Prison several years ago. Can't really put into words, but there was just this feeling of ugliness?????
We took the Alcatraz tour. Same feeling. Eerie place.
coastalfaller
ArboristSite Operative
I did the same, Bob, I agree. Eerie! Especially the medical room. Took the audio tour, highly recommend it!!!
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
I took the Alcatraz tour as a teenager. That was back when they only had live tour guides. They also locked us in a solitary confinement cell for a few minutes. That practice was ended a few years later, after a tour group got locked in for several hours due to a malfunctioning lock! Our old jail is older than the main cellhouse at Alcatraz. When we shut it down, we gave a buncha keys, locks, gates, and such to the park service so they could refurbish a few things at Alcatraz. Same vintage of hardware. Years ago, a number of the parks service folks took a tour of our jail. They were excited to see it in operation with inmates! I still have a "house set" from our jail (don't tell anyone....LOL), and will shoot a pic or two for those folks that have never seen the old style Folger Adams keys.
coastalfaller
ArboristSite Operative
Yeah, the audio tour is pretty great. They have it timed perfectly like when you enter the mess hall, you can hear the din of background conversation, the clanging of cutlery etc. Puts you in the moment!
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