Lucky Bunny

October 1, 2010:
This may well be the most unlikely story that I will ever tell. I took pictures and video in hopes that my grandchildren will not commit me to some home after I tell it to them. 

It goes a little something like this: 

I took a crew up to Colorado Springs this week to do some preliminary work for a pv solar field. In its simplest form, we perform installation and resistance tests on pipes that will support solar panels. In the picture you are looking down at one that has been driven into the ground 10 feet. The testing was complete and we were preparing to hook the pile driver back up to it to extract pipe and move on to another location. 

I was startled when I looked down the pipe and saw two little eyes looking up at me. I thought it was a ground hog. I was not sure what to do. I needed to get him out of there, that was the problem at hand, but the question of how it got in there was all I could think about. 

We tried to put a rope down the pipe, then a stick but he wouldn't grab it. Go figure. So I figured we did our best and hooked up the percussion hammer and extracted the pipe out of the ground, we banged on it with a sledge hammer to ensure all the soil was out of the pipe. It sounded clean, so we laid it down, I had one of my guys look in it and he informed me the little critter was still in there, but it looked dead now. I had my hillbilly, (every crew is not complete without one), reach in and pull him out. He reached and began laughing and he said that it was not dead and proceeded to pull it out, but it was not a ground hog, but a rabbit! He held it for a second, and then let it go and it hopped off. 

Pretty amazing that it survived. But here is the unbelievable part: There was no rabbit in that pipe when we started driving it. The pipe was installed to a dept of 10 feet. There was soil from 0-3 feet and then coarse sand from 3-15 feet below the surface. So what I have deduced is that we drove this into the rabbits burrow in the upper 3 feet and ALSO drove this 4 1/2" pipe over the rabbit. Then the rabbit burrowed up the pipe until he ran out of dirt to burrow and freaked out. The rabbit lived to see another day, and I lived to tell about it. Believe it or not that is what happened.

Little Mr. Goodwrench

A week ago Calvin came in and told me that he had something for me to do. One of the neighborhood kid's rip stick (its a new fangled skate board) broke. Calvin brought it to me and said, "Dad you're the best fixer so you need to fix this. I told Ethan that you would fix it with your tools." With the confidence of my sweet six year old I felt like I could conquer the world so we went into the garage to take a look-see. I'm not much of a mechanic but I am somewhat mechanically inclined so I was up for the challenge. Right away I saw a missing set screw. I showed it to Calvin and explained to him what was missing and that we would need to get a new one at the hardware store. He was ready to go that instant, but I had other work that needed to be done so I told him we'd go when we had more time. To satisfy his need to get this fixed I told him to see if he could find the missing screw out in the front of the house. He agreed and searched for as long as his little attention span would allow, about 5 minutes. I was impressed.

A few days passed and that darn toy sat on my work bench. Whenever I'd walk by, it reminded me of the enthusiasm and good helpful nature of my boy who wanted so much to do this for his friend. Finally I had an hour. I scooped up Cal and we went to the hardware store. He looked in all of the drawers and bins where the bolts are kept. He picked up the first one and said, "Here it is Dad! This is the one we need!" Then he'd see another and put the first one down and say, "No, here it is. This is the one we need!" This repeated itself about a dozen times. While that was going on I found the right bolt. I agreed that his 12th choice was the right one, switched it with the one I found, paid for it, and headed back home.

When we arrived home I told him to grab a stool because he was going to fix it. He ran as fast as he could, grabbed the stool and climbed up to the work bench. I handed him the set screws and an Allen wrench and after a little help with the first screw he did the second one all by himself. He was so proud. I was so proud. As soon as he was done he grabbed the board and took it out to his friend. He set it on the ground at his feet and said, "There. It's all fixed." The boy thanked him as he got on it and rode down the street.

This little boy saw a need and tended to it. He didn't do it because he broke it, he didn't do it because he could possibly ride it, he doesn't even know how to. He did it because in his eyes it just needed done. Calvin then turned and walked back to me grinning ear to ear.  At that moment of realization I was grinning from tear to tear. My boy.

Cutting No Slack

I took Lauren with me to run an errand. We went to the market to get some produce. She is so fun to be with because she gets so excited about things that most people would not, it's infectious. We needed apples. She asked if she could pick them out. Of course she can. The color was a big decision, but she found the 'most beautiful' red-yellow-green ones. I think they are called Gala Apples. She thoroughly inspected each one making sure it was shiny and had no worms. Then we moved on to oranges. The navels were on sale for 88 cents per pound. We filled up the bag. "Wait! We need to weigh it!" I agreed. As I was walking to the scale I sized up the bag and told her we had 5 or 6 pounds in it. She didn't believe me. I put it on the scale and it measured 5 3/4 pounds! Like I had just roped a calf in record time I put both hands up and said, "How do you like that?" Very much unimpressed she said, "You were wrong Dad. You said 5 or 6, its 5 3/4."

Spelling Test

While my Lauren was preparing her Valentines for the kids in her class she asked me how to spell one of the kids name. I don’t remember what name it was but after I spelled it she giggled and told me I was wrong. She dug into her backpack and found her class list. She told me the correct spelling. When I say ‘correct’ I mean the spelling that her parents used when they were filling out her birth certificate, (while highly inebriated, I suppose). It was not correct by my standards’ or by traditional, Americana spelling, that was for sure. She proceeded to give me an impromptu spelling test. She would say the name, I would give the traditional spelling she would tell me I was wrong, then squeal and give me the ‘correct’ spelling. The trend seems to go with some phonetic variation and swap y's or ee's and other such silliness. And so it went. I think I got two girls right, one of which was Lauren, and about a third of the boys names right. (Jaxon instead of Jackson is not cute but a cruel joke to play on your kid.)



I'm sure it seemed cute at the time, but as these alternately spelled name kids grow up it might become a little annoying to always have to spell your name for people. I speak with a little experience as my parents chose biblical spelling of my name, but most of the heathens spell it Steven. It has become second nature to say, "It's Stephen with a 'p-h', and Hixon with an 'x', like Nixon.”



So good luck M'kennzee S., Ryleigh R., and the others; It will be rare when you name is spelled right, learn patience and tolerance.