Scott Stone

I have a max width trailer that is 12 feet long. It is something like 85" between teh fenders. It is also rated at 10,000 lbs. I had this trailer custom built. I have two water tanks on it, side by side at 225 gallons, each, the pressure washer sits in front then a pressure hose reel with 200 feet on it, and 300 feet of feed hose on the back. I also have a reel for a vacuum hose for recovery purposes. The way it is set up I still have room for a water jet on the back between the hose reels and the tanks. This works for me. Anything unusual goes in the pick up bed. The reason I went with a 12 foot versus a bigger one is because they fill up. Of course, I do ZERO residential. All government work. Scott Stone

This is really impossible for me to vote on. All of the things listed have a component that leads to professionalism. Some are kind of remote, but to me there are three or four of them that all Professionals have to have. 1. Knowledge. That is what education gets you, and even though many do not have a college degree in this field, many of hte experienced people in this field have endured years of on the job training. 2. Conduct. I think that a professional is differentiated from a non professional by the attitude on the job. If there is horse play, profanity, and general nonsense going on , it does not look like anyone knows what they are doing. 3. Type of business. I am surely going to be castigated for this comment, but it is really the way that I feel, especially for those that do work for commercial enterprises. If someone is owning and operating a business full time. Contractors that are doing it full time have a lot more riding on satisfying the customer then those that have the safety net of a regualr full time job. Most of us start part time, and I realize that, but you do not get a level of professionalism until you are totally dependent on the income from your business. FWIW, there are a few that I know of on the boards that could probably call themselves professionals, even though the have a full time outside job, but they have developped their busiiness sufficiently to provide for themselves from just their pressure washing income. In my opinion, after these three, most areas listed are a function of experience and will. Scott Stone

Like the extinquished looking gray!!! Not to worry, you are not the only one with year round summer lightening of hair.

Hey Jon, Shouldn't you being lying horizontal somewhere? I'm going to tell the Warden on you. She will make you behave. Scott:D

I'm with Henry. I do artificial because I am allergic. When my wife and I just started dating, I lived by myself in a townhouse. She felt bad for me because I did not have a tree up, so she went out and bought me all of the ornaments, etc. eveything but the tree. I roundeed up the tree and made her decorate it with me. IT was wonderful, but I knew what I was in for... A couple of days later I called her and was talking and she started worrying that I was sick, she felt really bad when I told her how truly allergic I was to dead pine trees. I think it lasted a total of 4 days in the house before it hit the dumpster.

Little giant ladders ROCK. There is not another way to describe them. Scott Stone

I know that many of you know who Jon is. He recently underwent surgery on his eyes, and has been down, and actually sold out due to this medical condition. He sent me this e-mail last night, and I thought I would share it with you. I fyou could throw a prayer or concern his way, I am sure that he would appreciate it. Hi Scott, As usual I saw my doctor today and things are going ok, not as they should but not as bad as a week ago when there was blood where it should not be, still a bit there but going away, gas bubble still inside eye but slowly dissipating yet no sign of being able to see yet! Doctor said I can spend a little time watching TV as long as I am higher then the screen meaning standing up, yeah two hours watching a moving and I am ready to take a nap, LOL. No driving, lifting, nothing requiring any effort yet and still sleep face down, since I am so hyper last week he prescribed Valium so I won’t be so active and with Remy sneaking up on me every time I try to do anything I might as well sleep forever. I hate taking any kind of narcotics so am not taking them as I should which is one in morning and one in evening to keep me tired, I take one every 18 hours, give or take an hour. Larry Hinckley from Delco has sent me Email and every time I reply it keeps coming back to me so I guess I will call him so he knows I have read and tried to reply to him. Truth be told I am sort of preparing for not having any eyesight in my left eye since as of today still nothing, cannot even tell if they are moving their hand in front of it or not yet all signs show positive improvement, all except the one they cannot test yet, did the Macula Hole heal up, that is going to be a few more weeks, well could be a couple month. Then the cataract has to be removed which I knew would grow due to the operation so that might be one reason not able to see yet. All in all my spirits are up and I will be mentally ready for what ever the results are and let me tell you not being able to drive is the hardest part. Not sure if I will sell truck or not yet, it sits, I run it for about 15 minutes once a week but that is all. Ok enough of me for now as I get tried doing this. Happy Thanksgiving and all and it is ok to let others know my status. Jon

There is no daylight savings time here either. I jus tadjus tmy work day seasonally according to what I have to do, and what is in store for me on a daily basis.

The funny thing is that it all depends on the area that you live and work in. I prefer a pickup and trailer. If for some reason my truck should ever break down, and it has happened once due to a tire guy not tightening the lugs, I can take another truck of my wife's excursion. I like that option. I also like that I do not have the fumes inside. Starting out, I had a toyota pickup and loaded all of hte stuff in the bed everyday. I eventually got a little trailer, and a hot box to go with my pressure washer. As time went on, I moved up and now I have three trucks, two wash rigs, and really reliable vehicles. The vehicle of choice for me now is an f-250 or f-350 superduty with the diesel engine. Reliable decent mileage and can pull a trailer really well. Of course, it all depends on what kind of vehicle you like... Scott Stone

Try some of these http://www.tgand.com/newauto/maryland.htm

It is one of those things that you believe in, until you try something different. A 1500 will pull the trailer, but like you said, it will not last as long. If you plan on flipping trucks every couple of years, go with the 1500. Personally, I like to be able to pull a larger trailer, and 450 gallons of water, fully loaded, and not worry about it. I have a few regular accounts that I do that I must bring my own water on. Sometimes 450 gallons is not enough. So I will stay with my F-250 and trailer. I tired to post an old photo of my truck and trailer, but I could not get it to go. I will try a little later on my other computer. It might be saved on there. Scott

You have a loose body mount. Go to the diesel stop and do a search, and they will tell you which one and how to fix it. As for trucks, I prefer Fords. I also prefer the diesels. I do have a 2004 that is gas though that one of my guys drives. It seems to be a pretty nice truck. It does run good, and I have had no problems with it. If I was you, I would find a good auction that sells old Fleet vehicles, and take your pick. A lot of times they are in excellent shape, and you can get them for a good price. They are also very often diesels. When it comes to trucks you pick your poison. I would not get a 1/2 ton truck under any circumstances. I had a 93 that was toast at 70,000 miles. It just could not handle the towing and the weight of the trailer. No more 1/2 tons for me. Scott

Hmm, Jon, Did you ever think that he might have heard of your reputation??? :P Scott

The flow actuated unloader is sensing the flow fromt he other machine, so it thinks it does not have to activate. Get another pressure unloader

I would have preferred looking at his face!!!

About fifteen years ago I was put in charge of the hazardous waste communication program for the largest utility in Arizona. As part of my duties, I was to put together a training video that was to be used in safety meetings to train employees on how to handle hazardous waste. I worked of and on for months on this video, whenever there was no work for anyone else, I always had a job to do to get this thing done. I finally got it done. I was going through editing the video, when low and behold; there was my "superior" dropping his pants on camera. You could say I caught him red-handed.;) I was shocked, since I have never been one to be a voyeur for such behavior. Since it was a union shop, I got the Bull steward, (this was the smartest move I made on my part) who happened to be one of my best friends at work, and had her view the video. Let's just say SHE was a woman of experience. She laughed for fifteen minutes as she viewed and reviewed the video. She called my so-called superior, and asked him to come into my little hole I was editing this video in. I showed him what I found, and this poor, dark complexioned guy turned white. It was the funniest thing I saw, and since it was on the leader of the video tape, we could not get it erased. We tried for 2 hours, and it just would not work. (Hey, I was being good, and not trying to hang the guy) After a very long time trying to correct the, ahem, problem, he finally confiscated it. He, with the help of the manager of the department, erased it with a magnet. You would think that would be where the story would end. Nope. About two weeks later I got called in by the department that dealt with union employees. They actually had the head of the department there. That was the first sign that something was definitely wrong. I was grilled for nearly 4 hours on this video tape. I had been accused of sexual harassment. Finally, the bull steward, who was there as well, spoke up. She looked at the guy and point blank said, "Document the harassment, and then get a note from his doctor saying he was circumcised, and then we will talk." Of course the supervisor refused to get a note, since the guy in the video was uncircumcised, and presumably, he was, too, and it was totally dropped. The supervisor did walk around on egg shells when I was around after that. It was truly amazing the change in his attitude towards me.

I have DI water on my trailer. I rent the tanks from Ionics. You can also retn them from Culligan. The advantages to di are numerous for washing vehicles. IT does dry spot free, and windows are much easier to do. If you brush them well you do not need to do them at all, but that seldom happens. There are some disadvantages to it as well. If you are using a Hot Water pressure washer it will cause crrosion in your coil. That means rust. It is pretty bad when you are washing a car and black stuff comes out of your pressure washer. That means you are spraying rust on the car, and it will dry on the car, and it will not come off with a regular wash job. It will also, eventually, cause your coil to fail, and you will need to buy a new one. Another thing is that it causes hydrogen embrittlement in the pump head. It is something that will cause the pump head to fail as well. So figure that you will need a pump every two years, depending on your usage, and a coil every two years. I have a hot water machine, but I have started just recently bypassing the coil when I use DI water. It makes things come out much better. Scott Stone

Gee, Dad, happy birthday. :p 63?? man that is old. Scott Stone

Yep, QUicken charges for the tax tables, as well. It is really a subscription service. It is a set cost every year, but you will get updates of the tables, etc. two or three times a year. Quicken does not let you manually load the tables, as you are talking about. I do not know abou peach tree. Personally, I think that they both have a racket going, but it is one we have to live with... Scott

WIll it work with MSN? if so, I want one. Scott Stone

It looks pretty ponderous and cumbersome to me. I do not htink that I would like to have to run it. Scott

It is vacation time. Unlike many of you my season is year round and I have done many 80 hour weeks in the past three months. So what are we doing? Next week we are off to Washington D.C. with my wife and four kids. The oldest is 15 and the youngest is 6. Just about the right age I think. Staying in Alexandria and touring around. The way we have it scheduled is pretty tight, but that is the way I like to vacation, work hard, and play hard. We are actually staying in Alexandria, Va. in an apartment building that was converted to a hotel. We will have enough beds for every body. That is unusual when there are 6 of you. On the 31st it is off to San Diego for a week. Laying around on the beach and looking at the silicone walking by. (I look at the silicone, my wife gets mad) I usually come home for 2 or 3 days in the middle of that week so that they can get soem heavy duty laying around done. Like I said, I am so ready for a vacation!!! Scott Stone

We are planning to do the mall th first night there. I have a niece that lives there and works for the FBI, and her husband works for one of the news shows. Most of what we want to do is a drive by on most of the monuments and get out at teh Lincoln Memorial and Korean War Monument. We might drop down to the WWII memorial while we are in that neck of the woods. Air and Space is definitely on my list. Even if I have to kidnap just a couple of the kids and go. Thanks, Scott

I grew up in Scottsdale, and my parents still live there. It is a huge market, but there is a lot of competition in the area as well. There are three major PW distributors in the area. each of them put at least 1.5 new guys in business every week. Depending on the week there are a lot of little used machines for sale in the trader mag, as well. As for recovery, no one will pay it here. Scott Stone

I am pretty sure that we are totally booked up for the trip, besides, I have two teenage boys. I would not expect anyone to have to feed them. Thanks for the offer. So beth, being from the area, do you have any suggestions for must see and do's that are not the typical stuff? Just curious. Scott