Monday, August 8, 2005

Cars and more debris

Well, today is certainly not going how I planned it. Sometimes one just has to go with the flow, or as I like to call it these days: "Let go and let God." My poor stepson has had a run of bad luck and just as some light is shinning at the end of the tunnel, his car died in my driveway after he dropped Trenton off for the day. So now I have Trenton AND his father here for the day.

I am fortunate to have many friends and contacts locally, so my resources were not strained at all in finding a mechanic who will come and diagnose the problem with the car in a couple of hours.

I set Trenton and his Dad up in the Family Room with one of the new DVD’s that I bought the other day and I sneaked back here to the computer room to share another story with all of you. For those of you with dial-up service, my apologies if this takes a long time to load. There will be a lot of pictures.

Oh, hang on a minute, the mechanic just rang my doorbell.

Ok, it’s now a quarter ‘til four in the afternoon. My friend diagnosed the car and took the starter off. I took the starter into town to another acquaintance. He didn’t have a rebuilt one on the shelf, but he will have that one rebuilt for me by noon tomorrow at a cost of $75.00. This guy does good work and has a sterling reputation. The car will stay in the driveway for the night.

Now, back to the story. I wrote an entry on debris that got pulled out of the river a few entries back, and I thought that would take care of that subject nicely. Wrong. You have got to see this piece of debris that floated into the marina and became a huge headache for my crew and me!

A dock nearby fell into the water and pieces started floating with the tidal currents. I called the Coast Guard, however, other than broadcasting a warning to mariners they could do nothing about it. I then called the Department of Natural Resources and reported it. Two days later an agent showed up and I took them for a grand tour of the dilapidatedstructure. They were amazed that the owner would let it get to that point and wrote a letter to the property owner demanding that the structure be removed in a timely fashion. Mean while, chunks keep breaking off and floating my way.

 

This is what the dock looked like before and after the collapse.

This is a picture of me and the County Marine Patrol guys.

The roof of the dock house on the fallen structure wedged itself underneath one of the boats at our place and I called them to make an incident report in case an insurance claim had to be filed by the boat owner.

The roof was finally dislodged from under the boat and tied up at my dock. What to do with it was the topic of discussion for an entire weekend. On Monday, two weeks ago, I went in on my day off and moved the roof with a couple of boats around to the hoist to be lifted out and hauled off to the dump. Because it was a day off, I did not wear my regular work outfit, opting for a Tee shirt and a baseball style hat instead. I did not want to mess up my normal gear because of this mess.

The plan was to tow with one boat and use the boat with the rubber sides to keep between the roof and the boats docked at the marina so no damage would occur if they bumped. Thiswas very tricky, but it worked.

I decided I needed to be on the boat with the rubber sides, so I made my assistant change boats with me.

 

Once out in the river, we untied the towboat and both used our boats as bumper type boats to push it around to the other side of our property to the hoist. It did not want to cooperate, LOL!

 

 

I saw this guy coming by and thought he might help. No such luck, LOL!

Does this look like I am determined?

 

I am attaching a line to the roof.

 

Here the hoist is starting to lift the roof

 

 

Now that it’s out of the water, look at the size of this thing.

I could not believe that our director of maintenance was going to tow it to the back of the property with this little trailer and his golf cart, but it worked (just barely).

 

This is the final resting-place before the chainsaws came out of their cases and this was bundled off to the dump.

My apologies to those with Dialup Service if this took forever to load.  I just thought Y'all might enjoy seeing this whole process.

On a final note, I am still picking up pieces of this dock every day because the owner hasn’t fully removed it yet.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHEW! that made me tired just looking at those pictures LOL. I know that was a tough job to do. Looked like that yellow boat was getting awfully close, just being nosy as to what was going on I guess since it didn't stop to give any help. Gongrats on getting the job done. Good entry. Helen

Anonymous said...

OMG You must have just entered this.  I am usually the last to comment.  I'm not certain how to handle the honor of being the first.  OK here goes ... It looks as if the owner also lives by your "Let go" credo and took it at face value.  What a heck of a clean up job.  But obviously you were up to the task.  I loved the story and pictures.  It gave us a glimpse into something that jmost of us would not normaly be a part of.  Thank you.   Pennie  

Anonymous said...

Did any of the remnents call anyone's name out to you? LOL. Great work!!!!
Betty

Anonymous said...

I have dial up. Live out in the country. I didn't mind at all to wait. I think it is very interesting. I would love to hear about some of the strange and interesting things you have found since you've been working there.

Anonymous said...

hey..I loved the photos...are you in my favorite place in the world???Savannah??I'm christie BTW and I'm over at

Anonymous said...

loved the blow-by-blow...... that is one interesting job you have my friend! So nice you are getting the car issue handled. judi

Anonymous said...

I am one of the dinosaurs on dial up, but worth the wait.
Cooked a complete chicken dinner in bewteen photos loading on our mutual grill.
Teasing!
Great entry! What a day!
Wishing you health, happiness and laughter.
TJ~
http://journals.aol.com/vaultofsecrets/MoonDancer/

Anonymous said...

Sam, I can attest to the difficulties that a job such as this presented. We had a similar situation, although just a tad bit less complicated, over in Beach Channel in NY. My friend's small dock got him a letter of warning, and we thought this would be a quick afternoon's job. No way, and it was 1/10th the size of what you dealt with!

Great job, read like a good magazine article, complete with the step-by-step photos. Thanks for taking the time to put this one up.

Jim

Anonymous said...

ok.. I need help.   All I could think of after looking at the pictures was ... A roof! kewl... where could I put it... lol.  What a great job you have, always somebody interesting or something interesting happening.  

Anonymous said...

dang you're good!

Anonymous said...

And one would hope there is a provision to BILL said negligent owner???? Great step by step in instruction and photos!!! Penny

Anonymous said...

Never a dull moment!  Car stories come when you least want them or least expect them!!  A good and honest mechanic is worth his/her weight in gold!  I'm not aware of all the debris in our marina--maybe because it is sheltered and the current doesn't naturally flow into the marina.  Maybe it all happens and I am not there often enough to see what goes on behind the scenes, but there are enough wharf-rats that surely it would be a topic of an afternoon on the end of the dock!  Good job, I liked the story a whole bunch!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a mess! I have dial-up and it didn't take too long at all. Well worth it. BTW...who takes all these pics? I want that job...snap pics while everyone else is working! :)

Anonymous said...

Now you did it Sam, you opened up Pandora's box. You mentioned one such incident of debris floating in and now you will be bombarded with all sorts of interesting things....LOL.

As for your stepson? I sure do hope that a broken starter is all he will endure for awhile. I know nothing about him but in the way you wrote that it reminded me of my recent entries that you have so kindly remarked at. Every light that shines down on us turns into a broken lightbulb so to speak, you know the ones that you buy, put in the socket and pop almost immediately? I always just say, 'this too shall pass' but sometimes it takes a while....he's lucky to have you there to help out.

Anonymous said...

Wow you sure have some crazy days at the office Sam!  My hubby would truly appreciate the towboat fashion used in the process of removing that huge debris.  Just Shove It!  LOL!  I'm sure all that work is very tedious and time consuming.  I bet your thankful that it's not a dead body either, YIPE!!!  ~Nikki

Anonymous said...

Never a dull moment for you, Sam !  Thanks for letting us see the story, as well as hear it .  I enjoyed it ........... Tina

Anonymous said...

Sorry about the run of bad luck your stepson is having.  Hate when that happens!

I used to keep a metal pipe in my car (it was the bar from a dumbbell) for protection.  I also used it to bang on my starter when it acted up.  ;)  It, at least, made it work a few more times... LOL.

Glad you could hook the stepson up, though.  Since I drive a '78 Lincoln, all the parts I need have to come from a junk or salvage yard.  Or from the Internet :)  Try finding one, though!  

Anyway, I don't mind waiting for pictures on dial up.  This was definitely a Kodak moment I didn't want to miss ;)  Outstanding job getting rid of the roof.  What happens if the owner does not do anything after his letter is received?  Is your assistant snapping these photos?

Too bad you couldn't haul it back to it's owner and dropped it on his front yard...

And, yes you looked determined ;)

An interesting experience, Sam.  Thanks for the view....

Cat

Anonymous said...


Dear Sam, wow...it's like a never-ending story there! But really quite an interesting saga and amazing that you were able to deal so aptly with it!
It's wonderful! Thanks! Oh and I's so sorry that your step son had arun of bad luck wiht teh car. He's lucky to have you for a support system. Yours,natalie

Anonymous said...

Hi Sam :)

I really enjoyed the photos...a lot! I love the being able to see what is being described. You should really join the Round Robins, it would be great to have you along. Good to know you are hanging in there, you really try to make the best of every day. :)

Always, Carly :)

Anonymous said...

Sam really enjoyed your pictures - Golf cart lol - seems an impossible task - but you got it done.....Well done ....Ally

Anonymous said...

Hi Sam - I was expecting something much smaller than that - looks like a whole roof! Sorry to hear about your stepson's car. They sure are "fun" - can't live with 'em, can't live without them. Thx for sharing the pics, always cool to see what excitement is going on over there. ~ Lori

Anonymous said...

Oh man! That is just criminal. It was such a pretty dock and must have cost a fortune to build originally...to let it go and just fall down that way. Eeesh!

Anonymous said...

wow! what a job. i bet you feel like you reall assomplished something seeing that through!
Your poor son! Nothing can make me crazy like car trouble. The other day,my car would not go out of Park. I took a wrench and beat like a madwoman on the little button on the shifter you puch in to shift gears .amazingly enough ,it worked!
Marti

Anonymous said...

You certainly are the Georgia Boat Man!  Great story and wonderful pictures.  I'm glad to hear the car won't cost too much to repair because I know how expensive cars can be!

Anonymous said...

Wow on the pics, great entry wowoon th size saying hello to you, great job well done,

Anonymous said...

Great story Sam.  Enjoyed seeing the pictures and the process.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like alot of work!!! Your job seems really interesting though....I would love to be on the water all the time...I envy you!
Tracie

Anonymous said...

Your days are just filled with, shall we say unusual incidents.  Definitely not common place that is for sure.  Loved the story with all the photos.  But then I have broadband  :D.

Dona

Anonymous said...

But I'm curious.  Who takes all those pictures if you are in the majority of them?

Dona

Anonymous said...

So glad I have cable! The pictures were priceless.  Especially when you could grasp the size of the structure! Holy cow!

Anonymous said...

There should be some way to make money off that debris... aren't there some kind of "artists" out there that use weird stuff for sculptures or something?  People buy ANYTHING off e-bay... why not an old rotten dock.. I mean it is a part of history right?? You could always add a few years to it in the e-bay description to make it an antique piece... lol.
Anyway great great pictures.. they show the job so well.
Me <------ had car problems TOO... one of a few things I REALLY hate dealing with!
Hope your stepsons problem is something simple... mine was just the battery, but it is still an inconvenience to deal with.  

Anonymous said...

I'm glad I don't have dial up anymore - I'd really hate to miss out on all the pictures as they really tell the story.  The size of that ... the determination.  Seems there is much work to be done.

BTW, Sorry I've missed so much lately - I'm hoping with my new schedule I can journal more often - reading that is. :-)

Monica
http://journals.aol.com/photographybymon/Mamarazzi/
http://journals.aol.com/sonensmilinmon/SmilinMonsAdventures/

Anonymous said...

geez ... that flotsam is a meace to navigaion ... what, exactly, is the CG's function?? ... or the State's?

Anonymous said...

Well you just snagged another reader...I came here to deliver a message but I began to read.....and read....and read...and I got caught...hook, line, and sinker! Courtenay
O.K. Here is the message:
Hello J-landers

It is time to sign up or enter your voice in your own journal to celebrate the Second

Aol J-Land Annivoicery

If every one who is participating would leave their link in the link below, it will be the greatest gift in the world....Hearing your voice for the first time reciting your favorite entry.

If you are shy you can just wish the rest of us a Happy Anniversary and leave a link to your journal where we can pick up your personal message on the day of J-Land's 2nd Anniversary...We are looking forward to hearing from you....literally!

http://journals.aol.com/courtenaymphelan/saturdaysix/entries/496

Anonymous said...

Good story and great pictures.........hope you are using your sunscreen!  Anne

Anonymous said...

That was quite a job!  It was interesting to see the process...and yes, you did look determined in that picture.  :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow Sam!  What a mess!  You must have the patience of Job. ;)  C.  http://journals.aol.com/gdireneoe/thedailies