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TIL you can lift a load with the wind if you know how to read the gusts
I was on a job last month out in Odessa, Texas, setting steel for a new warehouse. A sudden 20 mph crosswind came up around 2 in the afternoon. I'd normally just shut down and wait it out. But an old timer I was working with showed me how to watch the dust devils and time the lulls. He said you don't fight the wind, you dance with it. I got the whole beam up and set in 40 minutes flat. Has anyone else used wind timing like that or is it just something they teach in the desert?
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kelly_coleman612mo ago
I love that line about dancing with the wind. I tried that once and ended up doing more of a clumsy two step while my hard hat flew off.
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the_fiona2mo ago
Those hard hats are surprisingly aerodynamic when they want to be. Did you ever find it or did the wind claim it for good?
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oliver52318d ago
Man that dust devil trick really is something else. I've been on sites where the wind just grabs your tools like they're nothing. Once had a guy lose his whole tool belt off a scaffold because a gust caught it just right. The timing thing is legit though. You start noticing how the wind comes in waves, like a heartbeat almost. Watch the trash on the ground, the way the gravel skips, and you can predict when the quiet spells will hit. That old timer was right about not fighting it. You just got to let the wind tell you when to move and when to hold.
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