Work Buddy

One of my Christmas memories when I was little was when my Dad took some of us kids to work with him on Christmas Eve. It was so much fun to run amok throughout the office. There weren't a lot of people in the office that day, so we had free reign of the 9th floor. Playing in the break room, making hot cocoa, playing with my dads paper weights, playing with the photocopier, etc. My dad also saved the empty paper spools from his adding machine, (pre-PC days) and I would give them a second life by using them as building blocks, boats, cars or whatever. It was made up fun all the way.

That memory was long forgotten until I spent the day with Simon at my work. He was so excited about every little thing. He made it so much fun. I think that's what kids do best.

Simon helping the fellas get the rig ready.

Stay in school, young man!

Hair Apparent

It’s been interesting observing how hair plays by its own rules. I didn’t pack a razor when I went out of town last month. I noticed that some of the hairs in my chin were a shiny light blonde, nearly a whitish blonde. I though to myself that I’d better lose that scruff asap. The other day I saw those same color hairs on my forearms. My forearms!? How weird is that?

I have also noticed that some of my regular hair that used to be assigned to the crown of my head is growing out my nose, eyebrows and, get this, my ears! The eyebrow reassignment bothers Rachel more than I me. The nose hair is personally annoying, and the caterpillars crawling out from my ears are driving me nuts!!

So this is what growing old is like.

Turtle Power

As work goes we are scratching anything we can. It’s not like it used to be, we have to look hard and get real creative to keep going. We picked up a job waaaay out in the middle of nowhere on Highway 93 between Wickenburg and Kingman. Where is Wickenburg or Kingman? Exactly my point.

I have a crew who are filling between the rock, (rip rap as it is called), in the drain areas. The little path along the side is for desert tortoises. The environmental impact study of this road improvement project found that this new road would endanger the desert tortoise should one need to cross the highway. They assume the tortoises will be smart enough to see these little trails and cross under the highway instead of over it. Brilliant!

We are getting paid by the cubic yard of material placed, the animal paths will account for one third of our total volume. In rough numbers the state is paying us tens of thousands of dollars to build little trails for tortoises that no one is really sure if they will be used, or even if the tortoises regularly migrate from one side of the road to the other.