I went for a ride along the Lake Erie shoreline on Friday and when I came through Long Beach the place was packed with teenagers. I guess it was their Beach Day, when they all take the afternoon off school and party at their local beach.

There was a ton of cops there, even a few on horseback given out parking tickets and generally living up to their name, OPP - Official Party Poopers. I guess they've got nothing to do in Caledonia?! But don't get me going on that subject...... grrr!

On the way home I decided I would take a little siesta at a free access area of the shoreline, so I wheeled the bike into this small parking area I have visited many times before. It is part of the trail system that Horseplay Niagara takes you on when you do their Sunset Ride. Which by the way, is a great deal. My wife and I went for our anniversary in May and we both enjoyed the ride and tour, we would do it again.

When I parked at this spot on Friday I was not situated as I am in the above photo, I was facing the other way and although you cant really see it on the picture, the ground slopes away at this point. As I have mentioned previously, I had to get the bike lowered because of my little short ass legs. So when I kicked out the kickstand it looked like the ground was a little lower than usual. But, the bike was sitting nice, no rocking or excessive leaning, so off I went to the beach. When I returned I mounted the pig, gave the handlebars a tug and ..... NOTHING! I had the 850lb pig too far over and I couldn't raise the dam thing! I pulled and pulled, nothing..... I tried to turn the handlebars while pulling, again nothing..... dam gravel wouldn't let me turn the bars wither. Oh great, now what! I'm sitting there straddling the stupid thing looking like Wally Weakling. Finally, I got off the bike, using two hands on the same side I managed to push the handlebars so the wheel wasn't pointing downhill anymore. Then I got back on and started to make racking motions until I finally got the dam thing up! EEEE ha

And here it is Monday, my arm has finally stopped aching and if the grey clouds run away maybe I'll take her out for a spin this afternoon.

Lesson learned: You cannot lift 850 lb of dead weight, and watch were you park the pig!

After 32 years of layin' the dog,
Now its time to ride my hawg.
See ya guys, its been a gas.
Oh yeah, Stelco KMA!!

I retired April 3rd 2009 from Stelco after receiving an option of lay-off with no definite recall date or take a reduced pension and run. I would guess that approximately 80% of the guys did the same thing. Way too many signs on the wall: PCB transformers not being changed out, changerooms being dismantled, no maintenance or repairs for years now. We should of seen the signs when USSteel bought the place and the first thing they did was a little "cleanup" with any old metal or steel being separated and shipped out, looking back now it seems obvious they just wanted Nanticoke and they took Hilton Works as a free throw in to run into the ground with no maintenance and then crying "old equipment too expensive to repair" later on. Just part of the Grand Corporate Plan, and we were the unlucky pawns on the wrong game board. Could be worse, I have lots of buddies with less than 30 years, so no retiring for them.

Don't get me wrong, I found out within by first few months that we all more or less get paid the same amount in the operating side, so why do anything extra. I quickly gravitated towards to "dogger" jobs and spent a career there. I did as little as I possible could during my shift, and looking back now to see how things turned out during our constant battles with different management groups, I am damn proud of it! I took them for as much as I could, and they tried to get the same from me.

To this day I still bunch my pillow into a ball to resemble a pile of rags. Then ZZZZZZ time! And I haven't worked a night shift in 10 years or more. Just goes to show: old habits do die hard.