I had something interesting happen this past week. I work in Forestry for the Feds and one of my collateral duties is to deal with HazMat related issues like spills, dumps, etc. So when a co-worker reported several 5 gallon containers of motor oil dumped over the bank I put that on my to-do list to clean it up. Man, I hate it when people take their trash out to the public forest lands and just dump it Once in a while they'll have things like mail or prescription pill bottles in the trash so we can trace it and nail them for it. This wasn't that kind of dump, but when I got to the recycle station and was pouring the used oil in the tank I found one of the buckets hadn't had the bung open yet Then I realized that I had a brand new bucket of Mobil 85-140 weight gear oil So they may have saved gas money by not driving to the transfer station where they could recycle the used oil, but since they inadvertently dumped the new bucket they lost the money they paid for that Also... I won't need to buy any gear oil the next few dozen times I change out rear ends

 

That's about the best of the worst type of situation I've heard in a long time. Thanks for 1. Cleaning up that mess, 2. Protecting the environment and best of all 3. Major score on the new gear oil

Who say's there aren't perks working for the Feds... I assume you get a company truck to 'salvage' this with....

 

Yep. It's a late model Ferd pickup that's much nicer than anything in my driveway! But the roads I drive on at work I wouldn't want to drive my cars on, so its the tool to get the job done. John

 

Yeah, prolly one of them eco boost engines too? I just saw a show about the emission restriction ***** they are installing on Macks. Another sore topic with the trucking industry. They should give you an 80's or 90's K.W, Freightliner or Mack to drive around in....

 

It's a diesel with the urea injector, 3/4 ton 4X4 with agressive tires. No winch, but that keeps me from driving on the really bad roads

 

What!! No daytime Sasquatch hunting in de backwoods????? Sad......

 

No but a couple weeks ago I snuck up on a black bear! I was hiking one of those roads too bad to drive when I came up to a small pond built for open range cattle. It had deep sidewalls so the bear didn't hear me coming. I'm a couple miles from my truck and in an oak flat environment, small scrub oak trees and grassy meadows. I'm watching where I walk due to rattlesnakes, this area is bad for that. When I look up this bear is 30-40 feet away from me, had just come up out of the hole and was walking across my path at about a 45 degree angle away. My first thought was where do I run... then I realized there was nowhere to go! So I start digging in my cruiser vest for my camera to take pictures! I must have made some noise as he turns to look back over his shoulder and freezes for a moment. He must have been just as startled to see me as I was to see him! Then he bolted away and up the hill. My adrenaline was going, but the black bears in Oregon aren't often aggressive. If he had been it would have taken a while for someone to find my body as I was way out in the boonies and may have been one of the few or even the only human this bear had ever seen! Most of my days are work are pretty boring, but that day was not one of them

 

Cool story John! Sooo with all them snakes and wildlife does the DOF allow you to carry a firearm for protection? I would hate to think you would be asked to go into harms way without 'something'. IMO, you should be equipped with a GPS tracker when you're out and about on work ventures like this. Maybe I'm off base on that, but I'd sure want someone to know where to look if I got hurt or in trouble. Never can tell if roving gangs of squatches might decide they want to rape and pillage.....

 

Nope. Unless your law enforcement no sidearm allowed, or even pepper spray! But in the 34 years I've working in Forestry the greatest threat is the human being with a loose screw. I've run into a couple miners that were concerned I would restrict them from getting the pot of gold they knew was just under the surface of the ground. Or the guys stealing firewood that I asked to see their permit. It wasn't until later that I found out one of the two had recently got out of prison for killing a police officer But over the years I've see lots of bear and three cougars in the woods. Every time as soon as they saw me they headed for the next mountain! I do carry a radio that gets reception in all but the deepest canyons. In our safety meetings its been discussed that statistically the most dangerous thing we do is drive on the state highways. That's where the greatest number of fatalities on the job have occured.