I missed Halloween this year due to my business trip. Big A came over to help and give out candy while the wife and the little one went out Trick or Treating. I know they are a week late but here are some of the things I missed.

They carved a pumpkin.



You don’t get the full effect till you light her up.



Little A dressed up as a witch. To be honest I didn’t realize it was her in the pic till they told me. Is amazing what a bit of makeup can do.



Our neighborhood is great for Trick or Treating and they racked up on the candy.

Wish I could have been here.

Simply Stuff

I am beat. Yes again. I would have posted last nite but I left my laptop bag in the work trailer. The long days are wearing on me. I aint used to this stuff. In the same breath I have had a ball. I have had a few issue with the new machine but have been able to trouble shoot and git-r-Done.

It is cold and dry and my fingers are splitting and sore. All my muscles are sore or have just refused to move. LOL

I think I get to leave tomorrow. We have to do a sweep of all the points we tested. There are always missed points.

I spent the last two days in the penthouse. It is the little room at the top of the boiler. It has the upper headers and I needed to take samples there. It is 116 steps up then climb down 15 rungs of a ladder. You crawl across an inclined edge to crawl into a 18 x 24 hole. It 4 foot tall room and the floor is pipe and the breeze blew thru. It is hard to explain and I didnt take pics cause I didnt want to carry anything else up but it is rather unpleasant. That said it was a great experience because I make equipment for the guys and I have a better appreciation for what they go thru.

Here are the pic of the day.

Here is the plant. It is a gas fired unit coupled with a HRSG. It is very efficient.



This is another view of the cooling towers. Hour glass figures aren't just for the Nukes anymore.



Here are the facilities. Granted they did a great job keeping them clean but couldnt we have heated seats??? It was 25 this morn. Let's just say I had visions of the Christmas Story, tongue on the frozen flagpole scene in my mind.



I am going to miss being on this trip. It was great for blogging. Well for me anyways. Hope y'all found something to enjoy.

Today was a pretty good day. It started cold and ended cold but was comfy in the middle. The sky was a gorgeous blue as you will see in the pics.

I just got in and am whooped so this is going to be a bit short on words.

This is my newest piece of equipment I developed. We are trying it for the first in the field today. The jury is still out right now but the first sample I cut out went well



This Is the area I was working in. We were up about 50 feet. Nope thats not me.



We have a great view from the scaffolding.



Glad I dont Have to climb up there.



I never dreamed I would ever post my pic but here ya go. My cheeks are beet red from the cold wind. The hard hat aint warm but I have a fleece do-rag. Coverall and layers help.



Tommorrow may be my last day. We work in the penthouse. It aint what ya think. LOL

I Want My $5 Back

We waited in traffic for a bit over an hour to get into the Rennasaince Festival that I threatened to write about. It was worth it and I will go again next year.

Today I sat in a twelve mile back up for almost an hour to get where??

Delaware!! And they charged me $5 to get in. You aint even in there that long. There are no hills or curves that give you a thrill and there is no booth at the other end givng you your deposit back for not stealing anything. No wonder Washington snuck across the river at night. He didnt have an hour to kill and between him and the crew they couldnt come up with $5 cause they spent it on $2 bottles of water at the welcome center.

That said it was a long day. We started work today at 7 and finished the scans in Richmond VA. at noon. I packed my truck and headed back to the hotel to freshen up. Then I headed out to eastern PA for a 5 hour tour. When I hit DC I knew how Gilligan and the skipper felt when they hit the storm. I knew DC would be jammed up but I thought it would be a bit better due to it being Sunday. I wonder if anyone was left in the Northeast this weekend cause they were all headed home tonight.

My GPS said I would get here atbout seven. OK, She should have been a weather girl instead. I got in at 9. I am a it tired and it is another early 12 hour day tomorrow.

I wanted to share some pics but I didnt see any great color and driving thru DC was too hectic to shoot pics. I love my bloggers but I cant do but so much.

SO here are what I got.

Heres some color and a Denny's Pic for you know who you are. LOL





Here is the Air Force Memorial in Washington. There are better pics online.



Here is the Washington Monument with a little Orange and Yellow added in for color. LOL

Day two. We met at 6:30 this morn to head to the shop. It was a pretty good day. At the end of 12 hours I was ready for some quiet and some dinner. Ya dont always get what ya want.

We assembled the scanner first and got down to business pulling some scans. This shop is huge. I would post a pic of it but they dont allow pics. They have turbines everywhere that are being serviced or being reconditioned. They have 3 stories underground for testing. A guy across the isle was cleanining a turbine with compressed air. If you have ever been in a tire shop you know how loud air can be.

Here is a pic of the turbine and the scanner I built. We could shoot pics of our stuff. The turbine is about 30 ft long and 12 ft high.




When we came to a stopping point we headed to the Hotel. When we arrived there was am old car cruise at the Hardees adjacent to the hotel parking lot. They had a DJ and he was sooooo loud. I love old cars but after today I hated noise more. After getting cleaned up we headed back to the Steel Horse grille for dinner. Again the food was fabulous but things were different tonight.

We failed to notice the sign hawking $125 for the best costume. They should have listed Having the worlds loudest band. I love good country music and the band wernt bad but at the end of the day sometimes ya can only handle so much volume. I felt a bit out of place sitting there in street clothes amongst Alice in Wonderland and The half nekkid chick but all I had for a costume would have been my hardhat and some climbing gear. They were having a ball but once again we have to get ready for another early morn.

I hope to be out of here by 2 tomorrow and head to PA.
Time for bed.

Dinner and a Photo

Work went well today. Since the tech that was coming couldnt get here till tonight and my work was only going to take a couple hours I slept in. What a way to start a day. Well the complimentary semi-artificial omelet kinda tempered the overall mood. I still got there at 8 but that extra hour is always welcome. Even then I had my material sample out by 10. It took longer to pack all the equipment up. I was asked to stay and help him scan the turbine blade attachments so it seems I am going to be here in Richmond a couple more nights.

Below is a pic of the tool I made to pull the sample being used this morn. It is mounted between two wheels on a turbine. Excited? Yea, Me too. LOL






The tech arrived this evening and wanted to go to a place where he could watch the West-by-god-Virgina game so he and I went to dinner at a place called Steel Horse Bar and Grille. MMMMM The service was great. The food was delicious and the crowd was hilarious. Our waiter was on top of things and we had our drinks straight away. Withing 5 mins the owner was over asking about the service and when she saw a guy at the next table without a drink she asked why. He was actually visiting with friends from another table. Satisfied she continued her rounds. I had a Curry Chicken which seemed a bit out of place for this joint but it was delicious. It must have been a local favorite place. Everyone appeared to know one another. I call my daughters magnetheads because every pic they have with their friends have their heads stuck together like magnets. Well the flashes were going off like the 4th of July. Every table taking pics. Lots of heads stuck together. By the time we were leaving the bar was pretty loose. Hate we couldnt stay for the karaoke But early morn beckons.

Good Night

What to do, What to do??

I do enjoy traveling for work. I get to see new places as I drive by at 65 oh ok 75 mph. I get to eat good food on someone elses dime. I get to collect frequent flyer miles and hotel points. Problem is we work 12 hour days on the road. We get off site and by the time we cleanup and get out to eat is fairly late and we have an early day starting again.

So here I sit. Watching the World Series in a hotel room in Richmond Va. Tomorrow I will be in PA but I will be working with a crew.

What should I do with that spare time? After reading my blog list.