Working in the Snow

Sunday, 19 December 2010

Last week for work i went to Michigan's upper peninsula and Wisconsin to survey cell phone towers. It reached record low temps in some areas and lots of snow. I also saw 5 bald eagles over the entire trip. Here's the 48 sites that we surveyed. There were 8 of us that went on the trip.
Crossing in to the U.P.
A view of a cell phone tower from one of the cable wires
I realized after the first day that the boots i usually wear to walk on the roads weren't going to cut it, even with the hotel's "boot" dryer.
I ended up spending more then i planned on a pair of really nice winter boots that said they were good to -94 degrees. Fortunately it didn't get that cold, it only got down to -20 degrees, a record low in the town in Wisconsin. The boots turned out to be really warm and comfortable.
Dogs like following us through the snow and woods.
There were lots of iced over trees.
This was on some guys mailbox.
Wisconsin. They have cheese and food.
A custom one of a kind truck door.
And here's some other pictures from the trip.

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Swamp Pole Vaulting

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

So the last day in the swamps we were all pretty excited about going home and i was particularly happy that morning. Normally when we came to a creek that was too deep to cross we would try to either go around or just wade through it. This time i had a different idea. I figured i could pole vault across.

Just to note ... that was a mistake.

Here's what i had going against me:

• big rubber boots
• 1" of mud inside the boots
• 2" of water in the boots
• insufficient approach distance
• forgetting that a swamp has 3 feet of mud at the bottom
• lack of athletic ability

Now this first time the pole sank into the mud right as i pushed down.
In spite of that i still almost made it all the way across. Really i did.
I landed mostly on the other shore...

Here's the video:

Being the smart guy that i am, on the way back i just knew that i could make it across. This time i left the pole stuck in the mud from the first jump so that it wouldn't sink any more. Too bad it was way out in the middle of the river and when i jumped instead of pushing me forward, the angle at the top pushed me backwards. I believe the word you're thinking of is FAIL!

I guess i was thinking that "low running" would somehow help???

Right here i'm thinking "oh ya....i got this"

This is about the point where i realized that the pole was in no way helping. Notice the angle of the pole is still pointed backwards.

Video #2:

To my defense, if i hadn't of jumped i would have waded through the water anyway. But there's nothing better then being up to your waist in mud at 8am, then have to work 12 more hours.

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