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Author Topic:   Finally, the earth moved.
Colonel Panic
Geek

Posts: 69
From: Des Moines, Iowa
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 01, 2002 06:09     Click Here to See the Profile for Colonel Panic   Click Here to Email Colonel Panic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I don't exactly know how to say this.

It was my first time.

And maybe that's the way it is with Geeks; some things most other people do at a young age come a bit late.

Yep, the earth moved. Lots of it -- by my approximate calculations about 50 yards of it. Which is a VERY cool feeling.

See, for the very first time, this weekend, I operated heavy machinery. Not real heavy mind you, but heavy enough. In my mind if it's heavier than a 21" CRT monitor, then it's heavy equipment.

Any way, it was a Bobcat, model # 763. Next door neighbor is a landscaper and he lent it out. I only tipped it over once, which was kinda fun in an almost-upside-down amusement park kind of way. He helped me right it, and I went right back to work, tra-la! (I understand most heavy-machinery guys might not say, "Tra-La!" but, hey, I'm a geek, tra-la!)

The best part was feeling like Sigourney Weaver in Alien II, where she's in that loader/robot thing. Boy, a person can be really strong with a Bobcat, model #763.

I still have more to do, probably this weekend. Maybe if I'm ambitous and anybody is interested, I'll post some photos on my iDisk or something like that. I'll call it, "Colonel Panic Goes to Town."

Best thing about the experience is I still have my geek-a-tude intact (I worried non-stop, "Will my geek friends still respect me when I'm done?" Well, will you?). Before you answer, I'll let you know that after 7 hours of operating heavy equpment I have no strong desire to wear my jeans below my butt crack, or have my belly hang out and whistle as pretty women walk past.

Yep, the earth moved. And right now Independance Day comes with a whole new feeling of freedom.

More Later!

Colonel Panic

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snupy
Highlie

Posts: 583
From: Chicago
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 01, 2002 06:51     Click Here to See the Profile for snupy   Click Here to Email snupy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Damn, and I thought this was gonna be good.

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"Happiness is a warm puppy"-Charles Schultz

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Snaggy
Moderator

Posts: 1644
From: Canada
Registered: Jan 2000

posted July 01, 2002 08:00     Click Here to See the Profile for Snaggy   Click Here to Email Snaggy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Damn, and I thought this was gonna be good.

Wow, it's better than I expected!

COOOL!!!! Back on the farm, I always wanted to rent a giant excavator and dig a pond or something. It's very cool how after a while in a machine like that it feels as if you have extended your senses.

My friends work with and operate giant snowmaking and grooming machines... I was alway jealous, ... it's very terraforming-esque

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skylar
Super Geek

Posts: 111
From: the creepy house on the corner
Registered: May 2002

posted July 01, 2002 13:32     Click Here to See the Profile for skylar   Click Here to Email skylar     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
You snagged me and my dirty mind too... thought you were going all Hemingway for a minute

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aikohana
Newbie

Posts: 7
From: hotspot baby. phx, az.
Registered: Jun 2002

posted July 01, 2002 14:30     Click Here to See the Profile for aikohana   Click Here to Email aikohana     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I've never driven any big construction machinery, but I did use an Air Impact once. That was hella kewl! I'm all about power tools now. =D

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TheAnnoyedCockroach
Highlie

Posts: 582
From: Denial
Registered: Feb 2002

posted July 01, 2002 16:43     Click Here to See the Profile for TheAnnoyedCockroach   Click Here to Email TheAnnoyedCockroach     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Bobcats are crazy awesome. I had the chance to use one whilst we were constructing our new garage.

Didn't tip it over, but I did tear up most of our lawn 'cause I kept spinning it in little circles for the dizzying effect.

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You can keep that silly fat wanker, the lads can't move him.

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quantumfluff
Uber Geek

Posts: 898
From: under the mouse pad
Registered: Jun 2000

posted July 02, 2002 07:15     Click Here to See the Profile for quantumfluff   Click Here to Email quantumfluff     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Very Studly!

But what are you doing? Building an extension on the basement? Putting in a pool? Just fooling around? Hiding evidence?

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greycat
Alpha Geek

Posts: 324
From:
Registered: Oct 2001

posted July 02, 2002 13:15     Click Here to See the Profile for greycat     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I expected to hear a story about an earthquake. But this is much better.

And yes, of course we'll still respect you and your geek-a-tude! Being one with the machine is part of the geek nature.

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LifetimeTrekker
Highlie

Posts: 605
From: Albuquerque, NM, UD
Registered: Sep 2001

posted July 02, 2002 14:25     Click Here to See the Profile for LifetimeTrekker   Click Here to Email LifetimeTrekker     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
After that, I need to go outside and smoke

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snupy
Highlie

Posts: 583
From: Chicago
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 02, 2002 15:29     Click Here to See the Profile for snupy   Click Here to Email snupy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by greycat:
I expected to hear a story about an earthquake. But this is much better.

And yes, of course we'll still respect you and your geek-a-tude! Being one with the machine is part of the geek nature.


What a clean mind you have. Haven't we taught you anything?

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"I didn't know all of them."

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snupy
Highlie

Posts: 583
From: Chicago
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 02, 2002 15:31     Click Here to See the Profile for snupy   Click Here to Email snupy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by LifetimeTrekker:
After that, I need to go outside and smoke

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Solemnity
Newbie Larva

Posts: 2
From: California
Registered: Jul 2002

posted July 08, 2002 19:18     Click Here to See the Profile for Solemnity     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm a 'low-tech' newbie in this 'high-tech' world. Nice to know
there ARE other Mac users out there!

See my link: Swat Down, topic: people ---> trying to keep my
sense of humour & curious what you think.

P.S. My Father named his snow blower, Elvis (hee.hee.)

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greycat
Alpha Geek

Posts: 324
From:
Registered: Oct 2001

posted July 09, 2002 11:41     Click Here to See the Profile for greycat     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by snupy:
What a clean mind you have. Haven't we taught you anything?

Ah, you misundestand me.

You see, it's Obvious(tm) that the title of this thread was meant to provoke memories of the popular phrase "the earth moved", meaning sexual satisfaction. But since this is geekculture.com, that would have been trite. So my immediate thought was that it was intended to mislead -- to taunt us with hints of a sexually explicit thread, and then deliver something else.

So my mind turned to a literal interpretation of the phrase "earth moved". And since I have no experience with landscaping or Bobcats, I figured "he must have just been in an earthquake".

So don't fear that you lack teaching skills. I already had a dirty mind long before I started reading this forum.

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FatGnome
Alpha Geek

Posts: 269
From: Idaho
Registered: Jan 2002

posted July 09, 2002 18:53     Click Here to See the Profile for FatGnome   Click Here to Email FatGnome     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I opperate heavy machinery all the time. I live on a farm so usualy I am in machinery that will rip my arms off if I wear my cloths too loose. Fun stuff and it is always fun to say that my summer job lets me run around with quarter million dollar machines at my disposal.

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DigitalBill
Alpha Geek

Posts: 326
From: The TiBook, on the WLAN, nothin' but Net!
Registered: Jan 2001

posted July 09, 2002 21:41     Click Here to See the Profile for DigitalBill   Click Here to Email DigitalBill     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
That's cool Col.Panic... I always wondered about those Bobcat dealies...

My brush with heavy machinery was running a forklift with a basket to lift lighting guys and lights into the grid at a TV station...

I was OK at it, but I'd rather be behind the camera or chyron...

=bd

lights, camera, forklift!

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Colonel Panic
Geek

Posts: 69
From: Des Moines, Iowa
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 11, 2002 07:21     Click Here to See the Profile for Colonel Panic   Click Here to Email Colonel Panic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hmmm,

So what am I up to?

Updating a 1930s brick Tudor in a tweedy, college-professor/artsy-folks neighborhood. A lot of my art director, web-designer and video production friends live in the area, plus I live two blocks from a very nice bistro that gets overrun by presidential candiddates and the national press during the Iowa caucuses. I've run into Al Gore, Wolf Blitzer and John McCain there, which for living in the middle of Iowa is kinda cool.

The home was formerly owned by a widowed elderly woman who had not done any updates to it since her husband died in 1972. I saw it go up for sale during a beer run for the 2001 Super Bowl and made an offer the next day. The dating of when maintenance stopped was evident by the Brady Bunch interior decorating complete with two-tone lime-chiffon shag carpeting, avacodo green appliances and an unkempt lawn that featured over 50 junk trees (box elder, dieing choke cherry, soft maple and chinese elm, which my neighbor and I cleared) all sporting 30 rings each.

Interior construction is spiffy, featuring a 2" reinforced concrete floor over the basement resting on concrete-encased steel I-beams on 20" centers. A basement room with one 32"-wide steel door and sealed with cinderblock makes a nice home soundstage, tornado shelter and cool refuge if "W" ever messes up. I've done a lot of work inside.

The home sits on nearly 1/2-acre of land, unusual for a home in an urban setting; there are three other lots in succession that enjoy this kind of space -- making for a back-yard view of close to 2-acres of well-kept gardens, manicured lawns and woods.

Until last year, my next door neighbor (who runs his own landscaping company) had developed a showplace garden which was used on occasion by the folks at Meredith Corporation (Better Homes and Gardens, cable garden shows etc.) for photo and video shoots. When I told him of my interest in gardening and landscaping he volunteered his assitance and equipment. In fact he went beyond that; we've ended up collaborating, to the extent that he dug up the berm/garden bed that flanked my yard, donated over 2,000 perrennials to the botanical center, and we "killed and tilled" everything else on the berm. You can see that berm in my photos. When we're finished the berm will be a perennial border averaging 40' in width and 100' in length.

The Bobcat has helped me shape the berm on my side creating undualtions which I will accent with perrennial floats of daylilly, true lily, lupine, iris, echinea and Royal Standard hosta.

I decided on the earth moving after surveying the back yard and discovering a 6'8" drop over 200' -- more than enough for drainage, plus an asset that allows me to add dips and elevations to the landscape for visual interest. Of course, the my neighbors offer of the Bobcat helped, too.

The property was once part of a farm, and sports a highly organic clay loam over 3' in depth. This is Iowa and it is the most fertile soil in the world. The clay base creates a problem however with worm castings and soil cracks during dry spells leaving an uneven, hard-to-mow lawn. I'll correct the problem with sand and compost. The compost was developed by grinding/chipping the trees I cleared and adding 100# of 32-3-3 fertilizer to get the compost pile cooking. Currently I have over 25 yards of steaming hot compost for this purpose. Rear lawn will be a bluegrass mix of clutivars that exhibit strong shade tolerance. If that thins out, I will overseed with fescue in the shady, thin areas.

The general design of the back yard will offer a stone patio near the house, a recreation lawn area in the intermediate zone, and a vegetable garden and private "contemplation" garden at the back of the yard. I love to work on my laptop in a quiet, shady secluded area.

Simply because I have cleared many trees does not mean I don't like them. Most of the clearing was simply good forestry; I'd rather have a few beautiful specimen trees than a yard full of misshapen, sick junky trees. Right now I have left a legacy Oak that is 10' around, over 80' tall and with a 62' crown. Two smaller Oaks, with 20' and 30' crowns are also left. Within a decade I expect their crowns to join, providing full shade to 35% of the back yard and partial shade to an additional 40%, leaving me with 25% of the yard for vegetables, apples and full-sun perrenials. I'll add understory trees like dogwood and redbud.

Out front, on the north side of the house, I've cleared the overgrown junipers and started from scratch (leaving a 50' spruce). I took advantage of 16" elevated plateu surrounding the entrance of the home by creating a mixed bed of perennials and shrubs. I use taxus and stone to protect shaded rhododendron and azalea located near the house. The berm, stone rhododendron and taxus also protect the north side of the home from north winds, and so does an existing 50' spruce. The elevated garden is ringed with 16"-18" pit boulders, and 36" glacial boulders are used for accent (hey, thanks for the boulders, Canada!) . The pit bolders around the entrance form a look I call "Mrs. Cleaver's Pearls" it's a visual joke one of my neighbors spotted right away. In front of the elevated garden I've built a stone walk reaching from my neighbor's driveway to my own. It's for the letter carrier and adds visual interest. The path is made from 2"-3" red-orange sandstone called "Tennesee Crab Orchard, complements the stone accents in the home's brick, and sits on 6" of mason's sand. Again for the boulder's, flagstone and sandstone the bobcat came in very handy.

The area remaining for lawn will be sodded with a monoculture of the bluegrass cultivar, "Midnight" and extremely dark-blue grass with a dense growth habit ideal for show lawns.

Like a lot of geeks, I get pretty obsessive-compulsive about my hobbies. And what I've done is the result of a few hundered hours of research, CAD work and just plain staring at the yard. I'm expecting to have the lawn in and begin the perennial plantings this fall.

In exchange for my neighbor's contributions, I help him with his computer (the Apple I talked about) and some digital A/V materials for promoting his business.

I'll post more pictures later if you're interested.

Sorry about the second thread there.

Colonel Panic

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OSxMan
Maximum Newbie

Posts: 18
From: Big Monte, CA, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted July 11, 2002 09:30     Click Here to See the Profile for OSxMan   Click Here to Email OSxMan     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well I am relatively new here but I still expected something completely different. It looks like in the short time I've been here I have learned well.

------------------
Welcome to Darwin!
[localhost:~] osxman%

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Tau Zero
BlabberMouth, the Next Generation.

Posts: 1724
From:
Registered: Jan 2000

posted July 11, 2002 11:46     Click Here to See the Profile for Tau Zero     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Way to go, Col. Panic!  And it must be a real head rush to be able to do for real what every 4-yr-old played at doing in his sandbox!

(Adult geeks are just little kids with money who've let their ambitions grow along with them.)

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