guts

["andy gladish" <gladish@domain.elided>]

You guys would be so proud of my rig.
I'm getting ready to build a house, and I just happen to live in a place
where sawlogs (sometimes big sawlogs) wash up on the beach.
A couple weeks ago my bro-in-law offered to help with a little aqua-logging
and brought his 51 IH L-series homemade boom truck down the hill. 
We got four seventeen footers up on the beach- I put a 6x6 on my step
bumper so I could take two and he hoisted and tied off the others on his
boom. I bound mine down and so far so good.
Problem was, the winch (mounted to a humongous front 'bumper' along with
the a-frame boom, and now sagging from the weight of 34 feet of 18"
dripping wet doug fir) dragged just enough that he coudn't quite make the
corner at the bottom of the hill, even with 400 gallons of water in barrels
in the bed for counterweight.
SO,,,I saw that he needed a little help and got around, hooked on, and
started up the hill. 
Now, the road up this hill is paved, but 250 yds long and steep enough that
even the grocery getters go up in first gear. Picture it- my rig (lifted
1200 with enough weight in the bed to rear it up a few degrees) PULLING
Ian's truck (won the Ugly Truck contest four years ago, <before> the
windshield got broken and the kids replaced it with plexiglas) up a grade
so steep the fire department pumper won't even go down it! Felt like a wild
pony.
That's around 7000 pounds of wood (maybe 1300bf?), a ton of water and two
and a half tons of truck (times two). (ok, he was helping a little, with
that worn out 240)
I know, I know, I really NEED  a 4bbl on that 392, if that's all it'll
do...
 Andy Gladish
Guemes Is., WA
ps. Had to pull him 3 miles home, too...we were too tired by then to figure
out why it wouldn't start...