"I pulled you over for Speeding. Do you have any idea how fast you were going?"

Regardless of what you ride, even if you don't ride at all, EVERYONE is welcome here.

Mr. Motorcycle


I am

My photo
I live at 1 Frozen place in, Minnesota, United States
My real name is Mark. For many years now my wife has called me Mr. Motorcycle. When I started my Blog I was looking for a catchy blog name, so I went with it. I'm happily married and I'm also a father of 6 children. I have two human offspring, one dog, two cats and one custom Harley. I believe that makes 6 children. When I'm not doing my real full time job, or going for a ride, I like to do art, custom paint jobs, and of course BLOG. If you would like to contact me, my e-mail address is phonetically spelled for avoiding spammers. (I actually do use the number 1 in the beginning.) 1mrmotorcycleATgmailDOTcom

*****This is my Bliss*****

*****This is my Bliss*****
Depending on your settings, Click, or Double Click on the image for full size photo.
The photo above is my ride :
"Kenny" started life as a stock '97, 883 Sportster. It's been a work in progress since the day I bought it many years ago. Its mostly custom with a built, "slightly juiced up" 1200 motor.
The Metal Fabrication, bodywork and custom paint was done by me.

How the Hell did I come up with a name like Kenny for my bike you ask?...... Most people who name their rides, go with chick names. I of course had to be different. I think bikes look tough, cool and masculine; not feminine. Plus, my father "Ken" has helped make me who I am today. Therefore with a little twist on the name, my bike was named "Kenny".

KUSTUM PAINT

KUSTUM PAINT
Come check out my custom paint! Click on the logo above to go to my custom paint blog.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Fargo, ND flood

I must apologize to those of you whose blogs I regularly read and comment on, and apologize for lack of posting. I've been swamped with work as of late, and been working 12-13 hour days away from home. For those of you who don't know, I am an insurance adjuster. I've been away at Fargo, ND, and outlying suburbs handling claims for flooding. The Red River is Fargo's main concern right now, although other rivers, ditches, and just about anything that could flood here has. The Red River is now being estimated to crest at 43 feet. If this happens, and they don't get the dikes built high enough, fast enough, the whole city of Fargo will potentially flood. The dikes were only going to be able to handle 41 feet. Thank God for the fact that Fargo has three colleges around, and almost all of the students pitched in to lend a hand for several days sand bagging, and building up the dikes. There has been help from all over the country helping sand bagging. It is truly amazing what people will do for each other. Regarding sand bags, some trivia for you...From what I'm told, it takes approximately 70 sand bags to raise the dike one foot, and that is only for one foot of width. This is due to the pyramid effect of the sand bag dike construction. That my friends is a lot of friggin sand bags. Right now, I'm dealing with flooded basements, failing sump pumps, and sewage back up claims, not whole flooded houses. Hopefully I won't have to deal with whole flooded houses. I hope it doesn't go there. The flood waters are right up to the road sides in many areas, and fields look like the great lakes. Furthermore to insult to injury, we just had a blizzard two days ago, and it has snowed almost continually since then. Only the main roads are getting any plow service, as they have the city crews concentrating on building and maintaining dikes, not plowing streets. This makes for some awfully slow going, and the roads are slippery with compacted snow turned into ice. If you slide off the road, in many areas, you're going to go right into cold flood waters. I saw a truck in a flooded ditch yesterday. I've seen flooded tractors, and all kinds of things like it here. Then to top it all off, there are closed roads that are under water all over. The detouring you have to do to get around here, on top of the poor road conditions, is making the claims handling process go very slow. There are some areas with claims that we can't even get to until the water recedes. Oh yeah, don't forget about the fact that more snow, means more melt off to help feed the river. It's been really cold, so hopes are it stays this way until the river recedes a bit, and then melts SLOWLY. One problem they are having with the cold though is that frozen sand is not as water tight as wet soft sand. They dikes are leaking in some areas due to this. There was also an ice flow that damaged part of one of the dikes that needed repair. All in all this is just plain NOT GOOD!

I'm getting excited that I get to go home this weekend to see my family. But I am behind on home life in general, so no chance to get caught up on the internet.

I miss all of you, my internet buddies. I look forward to getting caught up, "someday". I'm on call to go back up to Fargo, and handle claims again depending on volume. I pray for the folks here that I don't have to come back to handle a total city flood.

When I get a chance, I'll try to post some pictures. I've got some really cool ones.

TTFN

16 comments:

TRT said...

Mr. M, I am also a catastrophe adjuster. I have been in the business for 10 years, and have been doing cat work exclusively for 6 years. I am not in Fargo, but we do have people there. I am headed to Austin, TX this week for the big hail storm that just hit last night. I've worked my share of flood (i.e. 6 months in New Orleans after Katrina). This line of work makes it hard to blog in light of family time, chores, and actually riding my bike. It's a small world, take care and good luck.

Anonymous said...

Mr. M, do take care.
I'm glad for you that you get to spend time with family again.

I saw the news about the flooding, snow and freezing there. It must be terrible in those conditions!

My thoughts are with the community and I do hope mother nature cuts them a break.

I'm so thankful I live at the top of a hill and we have no rivers in my town, just a little creek.

I think it's time I stop whining about my weather.

MHL

Ann said...

Mr. M: Thanks for posting. I have seen Fargo on the news each night, and I'm hoping the sandbags hold.

Glad you're getting some time with your family this weekend. It's hard to be away from them.

Catch up with us when you can, we'll all still be here. :)

Lady R (Di) said...

Just enjoy your family time this weekend and come back to us when you can. We miss you, but I understand when priorities have to take place. If I were a flood victim, I would want my adjuster to give ME their full attention. I hope the flooding up there keeps to a minimum, but so much can factor into that (like the new snow!).

Take care, stay out of danger, and we'll see ya when your able! :)

Unknown said...

Enjoy your family time, you (and they) deserve it.

And be careful when you get back to work.

Webster World said...

Welcome back. This tragic news has shown us how strong the folks of Fargo are. As with so many coming together hand to hand back to back in an effort to save the city. My hat goes to those people.

Baron's Life said...

Mr. M, no need to apologize...This is a tough line of work you're in and since you have the weekend off, you have to enjoy family time and catch up wit them...I've seen some of the flooding scenes on the news...I wish them all well.

Dean "D-Day" said...

Stay safe brother. I'll catch ya when you get back.

Brownie said...

Thanks for blogging on our flood. I found you while googling.

It's just heart wrenching what is going on here. I have friends that worked hard very diligently and might lose their home anyway.

"Joker" said...

I've been following it on the news also. That's a real nail-biter they've got going out there. I hope they can keep the water back. It must be exhausting work for you with all those long days. But, the way things are now, I'm sure you're glad to have a good, steady job. Be careful.

B.B. said...

We miss you too, but just enjoy time with your family and catch us up when you can.
My heart and prayers go out to eveyone affected by the flooding.

Canajun said...

Seeing what's going on out there in ND and soon southern Manitoba when the crest crosses the border, makes our periodic blizzards and ice storms look like child's play. My heart goes out to those folks who stand to lose so much.

Stay safe, and we'll see you online when you're done.

FLHX_Dave said...

Life happens. At least you are working and helping folks out in your own way.

When the hard time comes people do pull together and slaps me back into the idea that people still do care.

Glad you will be able to get home to the family.

Road Captain said...

I saw the headline in the paper but didn't read the article figuring the headline said it all compared to the usual newspaper style reporting. I must thank you for your personal account of this disaster and insight into the world of insurance adjusters. I think the Discovery channel should do a reality show following guys like you around. It would make for a great educational and emotionally stirring show. It would also make us appreciate what we have and how delicate it is.

IHG said...

Stay Safe Mr. M! We won't forget you here in bloggerland!

Mr. Motorcycle said...

Thank you all so very much my blogger friends.