"Quarks of Death" I kind of like that...
An edited bit from this last weekends track report, written by Henry
"Well, as expected, it was another low turnout for the track gang. We knew going in that our spiritual leaders Hugh Tebault and Steve Jones would not be out this weekend, and then the forecast was for rain, which of course prevents all the sugar-based ballasteros from leaving their homes. When I got to the canyon, the only ones there were Bob Zacher and Steve Barkkarie. Steve Barkkarie had promised Dexter he would take the tamper East and tamp up the 45 ties H&H put in Friday East of Farmer’s Crossing.
Bob and I had a quick confab to discuss what we would do today. Turns out Bob was going to be relegated to light duty as he was still recovering from what was the absolutely worst case of Poison Oak I had ever seen. His arms were covered with the rashy stain, past the elbow, and the swelling was still evident. Bob reported that the Poison Oak treatment kit Steve Jones had presented him with last Sunday after the Niles Planning Committee meeting appeared to be working, as it definitely prevented it from spreading and minimized the itching. But the swelling was making movement difficult...
...Getting back to Bob, his Poison Oak is a result of last week’s brush cutting operation. It seems everyone involved in the chipping portion of the task got a pretty significant dose of the nasty stuff. This happens when the people cutting aren’t as skilled as they need to be in identifying Poison Oak in its dormant state. With long sleeves and gloves, the dormant PO twigs aren’t a real danger unless you wipe your bare skin with your gloves. They can be cut and stacked without much danger to the cutters and draggers.
But if it is misidentified, watch out. Chuck Navarra and Bob Zacher were zealously feeding the chipper with slash from the ‘Not Poison Oak’ pile when John Pelmulder happened to walk by and stopped them. He informed them that what they were feeding into the chipper was indeed PO, and they needed to stop. Which, of course they did. But by that time, the damage was done.
When you feed PO into a chipper, several things happen. First, yes, it gets chipped. In fact, it chips very nicely. And the chipper broadcasts that radioactive cloud of Ureshiol-saturated dust into the wind. Invariably, everything nearby gets covered in that film, including the chipper. And the chipper operators. Secondly, the chipper blows back small chips while additional items are being fed in. So the chipper feeders get exposed to those tiny but high velocity Quarks of Death. And lastly, from the slash rubbing on the sides of the input chute as they are being fed in, the chipper itself becomes a giant hunk of metallic Poison Oak just waiting for unsuspecting folks to rub against it. (I know that for a fact, because the worst case of PO I ever got came from rubbing the sides of the chipper after someone previously ran some PO through it.)...
...Bill wanted 8 or 9 ‘reasonably whole’ ties to take back for the Swanton Pacific railroad to use in a fence project (Swanton-Pacific uses 4x6s for ties), and when we got to a bunch of them, he brought his pickup over to receive them. Bob used the Tie Handler to gingerly place the ties in the back of the truck (which is fairly new and in great shape). Bob did a fantastic job, but the stress was showing on his face! Very understandable, but made even more so by the fact that this was the first day Bob had ever used the Tie handler. Great job, Bob.
Oh, we probably should have filled Bill in on that little fact, seeing how he seems to like his truck. But everything went well and safe, so, no harm done. It was now getting dark, so we all hightailed it back to Brightside."
"Well, as expected, it was another low turnout for the track gang. We knew going in that our spiritual leaders Hugh Tebault and Steve Jones would not be out this weekend, and then the forecast was for rain, which of course prevents all the sugar-based ballasteros from leaving their homes. When I got to the canyon, the only ones there were Bob Zacher and Steve Barkkarie. Steve Barkkarie had promised Dexter he would take the tamper East and tamp up the 45 ties H&H put in Friday East of Farmer’s Crossing.
Bob and I had a quick confab to discuss what we would do today. Turns out Bob was going to be relegated to light duty as he was still recovering from what was the absolutely worst case of Poison Oak I had ever seen. His arms were covered with the rashy stain, past the elbow, and the swelling was still evident. Bob reported that the Poison Oak treatment kit Steve Jones had presented him with last Sunday after the Niles Planning Committee meeting appeared to be working, as it definitely prevented it from spreading and minimized the itching. But the swelling was making movement difficult...
...Getting back to Bob, his Poison Oak is a result of last week’s brush cutting operation. It seems everyone involved in the chipping portion of the task got a pretty significant dose of the nasty stuff. This happens when the people cutting aren’t as skilled as they need to be in identifying Poison Oak in its dormant state. With long sleeves and gloves, the dormant PO twigs aren’t a real danger unless you wipe your bare skin with your gloves. They can be cut and stacked without much danger to the cutters and draggers.
But if it is misidentified, watch out. Chuck Navarra and Bob Zacher were zealously feeding the chipper with slash from the ‘Not Poison Oak’ pile when John Pelmulder happened to walk by and stopped them. He informed them that what they were feeding into the chipper was indeed PO, and they needed to stop. Which, of course they did. But by that time, the damage was done.
When you feed PO into a chipper, several things happen. First, yes, it gets chipped. In fact, it chips very nicely. And the chipper broadcasts that radioactive cloud of Ureshiol-saturated dust into the wind. Invariably, everything nearby gets covered in that film, including the chipper. And the chipper operators. Secondly, the chipper blows back small chips while additional items are being fed in. So the chipper feeders get exposed to those tiny but high velocity Quarks of Death. And lastly, from the slash rubbing on the sides of the input chute as they are being fed in, the chipper itself becomes a giant hunk of metallic Poison Oak just waiting for unsuspecting folks to rub against it. (I know that for a fact, because the worst case of PO I ever got came from rubbing the sides of the chipper after someone previously ran some PO through it.)...
...Bill wanted 8 or 9 ‘reasonably whole’ ties to take back for the Swanton Pacific railroad to use in a fence project (Swanton-Pacific uses 4x6s for ties), and when we got to a bunch of them, he brought his pickup over to receive them. Bob used the Tie Handler to gingerly place the ties in the back of the truck (which is fairly new and in great shape). Bob did a fantastic job, but the stress was showing on his face! Very understandable, but made even more so by the fact that this was the first day Bob had ever used the Tie handler. Great job, Bob.
Oh, we probably should have filled Bill in on that little fact, seeing how he seems to like his truck. But everything went well and safe, so, no harm done. It was now getting dark, so we all hightailed it back to Brightside."
posted by zLog at 10:42 PM
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