# Ever had one of those days??



## Terrywerm (Jun 7, 2014)

This past week at work was rough. Very busy, and nothing seemed to go right all week, but I realized that I do have some things to be thankful for!

For those of you who don't know me, I drive truck and operate heavy equipment for a company that recycles tires. It is an interesting job with plenty of variety, but like any job, it does have its pitfalls.

Tuesday morning I loaded six tires at one of the taconite mines in northern Minnesota. These were good sized, but not the biggest ones I handle. These were twelve feet in diameter and weighed approximately 7500 pounds each. I got them all strapped down, put on my oversize load signs and red flags, turned on the flashing lights and set out toward Minneapolis. Due to road construction on I-35 I was not allowed to take the normal route but instead had to take a different route on quite a few two lane roads that also added fifty miles to my trip.

Trouble reared its head within the first hour in the form of a black bear that came running across the road. I saw him coming in the corner of my eye but there was nothing I could do. He came across in front of me and disappeared in front of the hood, but there was no thump, no noise whatsoever. I missed him, which was a good thing! I could hardly believe it, but thought it best to stop and take a look, just in case. Sure enough, my red flag on the right side of the bumper was broken off, but luckily he only got a spanking with a stick instead of getting hit with the bumper. I replaced the flag with one of my spares and headed my merry way.

I made a brief stop for a sandwich at a fuel stop/convenience store, checked all of my straps, and headed south once again. About an hour later a whitetail deer committed suicide in the usual way by darting out into my path of travel. She was not so lucky as the bear. Instead, she became pressed venison in very short order. Yup, I felt her go under all the wheels on the right side. Stopped to check on the damage, figuring my oversize sign and everything would be gone, but not so. The sign was intact and in place, and the new red flag, installed just a couple of hours earlier, had a cracked wooden shaft, but it was still in place. The bumper was pushed back, but luckily not so far that I could not drive without it rubbing on the right steer tire, so I placed a call to the safety department, took photos, and headed south once more.




My route took me through a number of suburbs of Minneapolis, including some distance on a four lane divided highway with signal lights every mile or so. In addition to red flags on the four corners of the vehicle, I am required to attach flags to the widest parts of the load as well. For those I use flags that have eyelets in them and are not attached to sticks. To attach the flags to the large tires is quite simple, I use an electric drill to drive a #10 machine screw with a washer through a couple of the grommets in the flag, and into the tire. This method of attachment is time tested and is nearly fool proof. So while sitting stopped at a red light, along comes a young fellow on a motorcycle, with his girlfriend on the back, and he decides to grab her a "prize". He reaches out, grabs a flag and yanks on it, but it is firmly attached. So he yanks harder and manages to pull himself off balance, tipping the bike and his girlfriend to the ground. In the process the windshield on his bike hits the tire that the flag is mounted to and breaks the windshield, now I am involved in a traffic accident. The cops come and do their thing, everybody is okay, and after another wasted hour or so, I am on my way once again.

I arrive in our yard without further incident and set about the task of removing all of the flags, straps, etc., and getting unloaded. Easily done with an excavator with a scrap metal shear on it, just grab the tire by the bead, pinch down on it, and pick it up. Keep in mind that you cannot 'feel' how hard you are pinching the bead of the tire. Pinch too hard, and you cut it, dropping the tire. Pinch too soft, and the tire slips out of the grip of the shear. Usually not a big deal. There were three stacks of two tires on the trailer. I took the first two tires off and set them on the ground, then started on the second stack. I grabbed the top tire by the bead, lifted gently to be sure I had it gripped firmly, then lifted it clear of the bottom tire. At that point is slipped out of the grip of the shear, bounced off of the tire under it, then fell my way, landing on the ground standing up between the excavator and the truck. The top of the tire kept coming and smashed into the front of the cab, popping the windows out without breaking any of them, but crushing both of the cab's front corner posts. Luckily, the cab did its job and I walked away without a scratch, though I must admit that a chunk of the seat is now missing, the pucker factor was extremely high during this event! Notified management, and safety, and had to wait for everyone that was important to come out and look at what had happened. After all the hoopla, I was able to finish unloading and prepare to head back north to get another load on Wednesday morning.




Considering the way my day had gone, I briefly considered going home, but I knew that I had to be back at my customer first thing the next morning, so heading back up to the mine was my only option. Luckily the trip was uneventful until I was about an hour from my destination. It was starting to get dark, so I turned on the lights only to hear a circuit breaker pop. A quick look in the mirror revealed that I had no lights on the trailer. I pulled off at a rest area just a couple of miles further up the road, and started looking for the problem. The deer I had hit earlier in the day managed to mess up a few wires at one of the side marker lamps, and the wires were easily repaired in a few minutes time. Once more, I was able to get on my way. Instead, I gave up. I was not going to tempt fate any further. Called it a day and flopped down in the bunk, falling asleep almost instantly.

The next day was quiet and uneventful. Everything went like clockwork. No problems, no unexpected delays, no surprises.  It is hard to imagine how two days of doing the exact same thing can be so different!

Oh, and yes, I do know that I have many things to be thankful for!


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## dan12 (Jun 7, 2014)

had you speed up,you could be eatin BEAR sammiches all week:drink2::roflmao:


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## xalky (Jun 7, 2014)

Wow, that was a rough day!  You didn't happen to be praying for patience any time before that did you?.....God usually answers those prayers with obstacles to try your patience. LOL. 

We all get those days one in a while. Like you, I've noticed that a different day makes all the difference. I'm a professional power napper. I find that they help me to start my day over. 40 mins to an hour of shutting down, almost meditating, mid afternoon, recharges me, and I'm good to go until midnight. I do this daily.

When things get tough, I tell myself, "this too, shall pass".

Marcel





Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## Marco Bernardini (Jun 7, 2014)

Statistically the smarter creature you meet was the bear…
:roflmao:


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## davidh (Jun 7, 2014)

Aaahha, that explains it All.  i see yuor loads often, being from "up" north  and my old buddy was probably the one that mounted that shear on the excavator here in Superior..  they are awsome hunks of iron.  great stpry, im happy the outcome was satisfactory fer ya. . . .


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## Terrywerm (Jun 7, 2014)

Let's just say that when I have days like that, I no longer ask "what next?"    I know better....


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## samthedog (Jun 7, 2014)

Sometimes you just have to quit while you are ahead. I have had days like that where no matter how hard you work, the odds are against you. Then I have also had other days where you kick goals all day with no effort. The universe has it's own alignment.

That's why I pray for wisdom, patience and foresight daily ) So I know when to fight and when to walk away.

Paul.


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## GK1918 (Jun 7, 2014)

terrywerm said:


> Let's just say that when I have days like that, I no longer ask "what next?"    I know better....



feel for ya  been there then dit' t  now anything that turns goes around & got a motor I am gone. like this in 2012 And I lived with all 
them gears --turnin around  
sam

well I lived got 3 grand for junk got beat up by the general Mad momma

who says this?    momma says thel'l be days like this;; momma says thell be days like this      1962 i think


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## GK1918 (Jun 7, 2014)

found more   mad mommy  we tied cables to dozer and truck the yellow one 30,000 winch on that


oh well   sam


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## Rbeckett (Jun 7, 2014)

I've had days like that when I was truckin.  Hit a deer coming out of OKC headed for Omaha and spent the rest of the night waiting for road service to repair the tire and pull out the front bumper.  Got to Omaha and found it had broken the spring stack pins so the front end had to be rebuilt.  Just a generally crappy day, and it was a big deer.

Bob


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## Ray C (Jun 7, 2014)

I had one of those days last Friday.  Two simple repair jobs that should have taken 1/2 day took ALL day and then some.  All you can do is persevere and try to maintain a sense of humor over the ordeal.  Getting annoyed only makes it worse...


Ray


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## genec (Jun 7, 2014)

I thought catching the downspout with the lawn tractor was a bad day


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## TOOLMASTER (Jun 7, 2014)

you don't want to get in the way of a dump truck in that mine.

or you'll look like >>>> ___________________


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## fixit (Jun 7, 2014)

YEP ! your week was worse then mine !

fixit


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## ddmunroe (Jun 8, 2014)

Wermie you tell a story well, you almost made me feel sorry for yah !
I thought I was having a bad day until I read your post :::::
I don't feel so bad now, It ended up unscrewing after a 1/2 hr of trying ... very lucky : )
Warning boys *make sure you play with the tension setting of your tapping head on a test piece 1st !
dd


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## 34_40 (Jun 8, 2014)

TW, when I have "days like that"..  I keep repeating to myself, "some days you're the bug...  some days you're the windshield!" :roflmao:


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## Marco Bernardini (Jun 8, 2014)

34_40 said:


> TW, when I have "days like that"..  I keep repeating to myself, "some days you're the bug...  some days you're the windshield!" :roflmao:




Some days I'm the biker yawning because of low speed limits…


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## Brain Coral (Jun 8, 2014)

Hello Terry,that's a great story and very well written with lots of anticipation of.... "good grief... what's next ?!!! ". Even though it would have been a very trying day, difficulties ( where no one gets hurt... errrmmm... humans, that is ) always make the best stories, like camping and the tent leaks all night, etc.

I think that we can all identify with your day at one time or another, but I don't think too many of us could quite match it... 

Thanks for the story... 

Brian


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## Terrywerm (Jun 8, 2014)

I have to agree with you guys, we all have days like that once in a while, but I don't think I've ever had one quite that difficult. It does make one ask "Just how much stuff can go wrong in one day??"  Evidently LOTS!!

But in retrospect, things could have been much worse, so I've said some prayers of thanks that things did not go worse than they did. We all have so much to be thankful for, we only need to realize it.


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## davidh (Jun 8, 2014)

i was so impressed reading your story and making my first comment i forgot to ask. . . 
what does the company do to those monster tires when they recycle them?  cut them with the shear head and feed a chopper or ? ? ? ?

40 years ago my boss was working on a cyrogenic (sp) system for pulversing tires by freezing and dropping them from a great height.  it sounded kind of like a good idea but it never got ery far off the ground (so to speak)

can you write a detail on how its done in Minneapolis / st. paul ?


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## HMF (Jun 8, 2014)

Many years ago, I was a conductor/motorman at the Seashore Trolley Museum up in Kennebunkport, Maine. 

I was driving one of their trolleys on the mainline through the woods heading back to the Visitor's Center. I was going downhill coming to an area where there is a deer crossing, when this huge buck leaped across the entire right of way in one jump, from one side of the roadbed (where there is a ditch) to the other. Luckily, there was no contact. Unlike a diesel, many of these trolleys are light wood construction, so hitting a deer would do some serious damage to both the trolley and the deer.  It all happened in a flash. I couldn't have put it into emergency in time if I'd have wanted to. You just can't believe how fast these animals are. Thank goodness we didn't hit.


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## Marco Bernardini (Jun 8, 2014)

Here we don't have deers, just wild boars, but they are _sturdy_.
A night, while driving my motor scooter on the hills here around, I had a very close encounter with a male: I had the luck he didn't considered me dangerous, because he was bigger than the scooter… and I think faster, too.


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## Uglydog (Jun 8, 2014)

As a Paramedic I've responded to incidents that didn't have as good an outcome as the many near misses you experienced on day 1. 
I'm glad that we didn't meet on day 1, it sounds as though you traveled through my territory.
God willing you will have many more day 2s!

Take care of your self and your family, all you can do is hope/pray that the wild bear and motorcyclists do similarly.


Daryl
MN


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## markknx (Jun 8, 2014)

Yes I know this because when I was younger my mom ask the ladies at the church topray for my patience. And you know them old church ladies won't shut up so you may as well give up.





xalky said:


> Wow, that was a rough day!  You didn't happen to be praying for patience any time before that did you?.....God usually answers those prayers with obstacles to try your patience. LOL. We all get those days one in a while. Like you, I've noticed that a different day makes all the difference. I'm a professional power napper. I find that they help me to start my day over. 40 mins to an hour of shutting down, almost meditating, mid afternoon, recharges me, and I'm good to go until midnight. I do this daily.When things get tough, I tell myself, "this too, shall pass".MarcelSent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## Terrywerm (Jun 9, 2014)

The large tires are first cut up with the shear shown in the second photo. How many pieces depends on the size of the tire, but the twelve footers get cut up into about eight pieces. After that they are fed through a series of shredders that gradually reduce the size of the pieces. Finally the pieces are passed through a machine that grinds the pieces in such a way that the wire and rubber are totally separated from each other. Wire goes to the steel mill as high grade scrap and the rubber from the large tires gets used primarily for ballistic pads and blocks for shooting ranges and such.  Car tires and truck tires get made into other products because the rubber compounds are different.

Here is a video of a shredder taking on some small OTRs (heavy equipment tires): 
[video=youtube;D-wEEY_Qs3M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-wEEY_Qs3M[/video]

They make machines that can shred cars, engine blocks, transmissions,  rebar, just about anything you can imagine. Even steel drums full of concrete! Bowling balls, just about anything.



davidh said:


> i was so impressed reading your story and making my first comment i forgot to ask. . .
> what does the company do to those monster tires when they recycle them?  cut them with the shear head and feed a chopper or ? ? ? ?
> 
> 40 years ago my boss was working on a cyrogenic (sp) system for pulversing tires by freezing and dropping them from a great height.  it sounded kind of like a good idea but it never got ery far off the ground (so to speak)
> ...



- - - Updated - - -

Yes, Daryl, I did pass right through your area. It's been a while since I've seen you, but I am glad we did not have to meet again due to an emergency!  As for the wild critters out there, I am not sure which ones are the most dangerous. Bears tend to go run and hide if they can, they don't don't like confrontation. Deer are, well, just deer. Young guys on motorcycles are a whole different story though!!  



Uglydog said:


> As a Paramedic I've responded to incidents that didn't have as good an outcome as the many near misses you experienced on day 1.
> I'm glad that we didn't meet on day 1, it sounds as though you traveled through my territory.
> God willing you will have many more day 2s!
> 
> ...


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## ddmunroe (Jun 9, 2014)

Marco Bernardini said:


> Here we don't have deers, just wild boars, but they are _sturdy_.
> A night, while driving my motor scooter on the hills here around, I had a very close encounter with a male: I had the luck he didn't considered me dangerous, because he was bigger than the scooter… and I think faster, too.



I know how big these boars can get ! Very dangerous ... 
I think we'd all feel better if you wore this while driving around those hills next time.
Scare em right off the road
)dd


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## Marco Bernardini (Jun 9, 2014)

ddmunroe said:


> I know how big these boars can get ! Very dangerous ...
> I think we'd all feel better if you wore this while driving around those hills next time.
> )dd



I'd go for this one, instead:




(source with other nice pics… and price)
It's a mobile version of the tire shredder: no more "hit-and-run", but "hit-and-pffffffft".
Also useful to find a place on a crowded bus.


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## samthedog (Jun 9, 2014)

I know just how fast these animals are. I was driving my Toyota Landcruiser FJ 45 home from my parent's farm one night when I just heard a huge bang. I was on the highway doing 100 km/h and had to pull up fast as I couldn't see from the windscreen. I had a large male kangaroo jump out into the road and it exploded on my bull bar. It took me an age to drag all the bits off the car. I was hoping I wouldn't be stopped by police because my car was covered in gore and would have been a little difficult to explain.

I also recall when I was little I rode with my dad from Adelaide, South Australia to Gladstone in Queensland. We were driving an old postwar Bedford rigid axle and must have hit 15 - 20 kangaroos on the way home. Being a little kid I was in tears every time I heard the familiar Bang/Crunch of a kangaroo committing suicide on the front of the truck.

Paul.


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## Marco Bernardini (Jun 9, 2014)

samthedog said:


> Being a little kid I was in tears every time I heard the familiar Bang/Crunch of a kangaroo committing suicide on the front of the truck.
> 
> Paul.



Think at this as a way to help Mother Nature to make the roo population smarter, removing unskilled individuals…


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## HMF (Jun 9, 2014)

Nice video- just watched it. Shred up tires are used to make the rubber Swiss-Trax floor tiles for shops and garages.


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## xalky (Jun 9, 2014)

Shredding tires has turned into a big business. Finding uses for the shreddings is the bigger challenge, I suppose. I read somewhere a while back that they were developing an asphalt pavement that used shredded tires as part of the aggregate. Its supposed to be a less noisy (tire noise) pavement, I don't know if they ever made it commercially viable.

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