Get Good Or Go Home

Along a bike trail, I'm in the middle of what feels like a jungle with Brian and new guy Mike.  We are surrounded by vines.  We don't have to cut everything down, just the fast growers.  Box elders, soft maple, black walnut, etc.  If there is a God, he made vines just to fuck with people.  So I say fuck him.  We approach some soft maples just as tall as the power lines and ready to make contact.  We have to cut the trees down so they fall parallel with the wires instead of into the wires.

Everyone gets pretty annoyed with new guy Mike.  I try my best to give the kid the benefit of the doubt, but here in this vine jungle, even he is getting on my last nerve.  Roley said everytime he turns the radio on, the kid sings like he's trying out for American Idol.  Because of this, Roley has given him a second name, Bieber.  Yep, named after Justin Bieber.  In the same sentence, Roley might start out calling him Michelle and end it with Bieber.  It's pretty funny. 

So there we are in this clusterfuck of a forest with God sitting up on a cloud to look down so he can laugh his ass off.  All I want to do is throw my middle finger up to the sky, but I don't want anyone asking me what that was for.  So I do it mentally.  Small victories.  I am explaining to Mike how to push over the trees as Brian is making his felling cuts into the tree.  He tries the technique on two trees, but he's getting close to making contact with the powerlines.  He's not pushing on the right spots of the tree or at the right angle.  Brian's chainsaw runs out of gas, so he walks away to fill it up.

"Do you want to do this instead, Shawn?" Mike
"Do what?" Me
"You know, push the tree over.  I just, I'm no good." Mike
I look as casual as I normally am, but inside I am totally getting pissed, cause if there's one thing I hate, it's a quitter.  People quit on themselves all the time and the typical mentality of America these days is to say it's okay and let them walk away instead of conquering the obstacle.  Lucky for Mike, I'm not going to let him let me down.  I don't give a shit if he gets electricuted or not.
"Get good or go home." Me
Mike is taken back by my words and my delivery of them.
"This is a job, not a club or a support group." Me
Brian walks over with the chainsaw ready to fire up.
As calm as I can be, I finish with, "Now set the hook pole against the tree and get ready to push the fucking tree over."

Blowjob vs Packed Lunch

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Jimmy's Dog Had Cancer

Monday morning starts with the few people who want to say good morning to each other.  The rest are hoping the coffee or cigarettes will trigger a better mood.  Futile, but it's a norm.

Out on the bicycle trail, Jimmy will make small talk with anyone else but me.  If I haven't clued you in yet, Jimmy could have been the back up actor for Andre The Giant in The Princess Bride.  As I am staring off the bike trail at the vine covered trees we have to cut down, I feel a light punch to my shoulder.  I have no idea who it could be, but I am sure it's not Jimmy.  A few inches taller than me, it is Jimmy.

"How was your weekend?" Jimmy
"Good, went paintballing in Michigan.  Real good time.  How about your weekend?" Shawn
"Not much."
Well then what the fuck was the point in coming over to talk to me?  Something is up.
"You must have done something, Jimmy." Shawn
"Well, we noticed there was something wrong with the Husky on Friday night.  It was missing patches of hair all over it's body.  Took the dog into the emergency room and had some tests done.  They came back with cancer.  It had a knot of cancer in its intestines.  There was nothing we could do, we had to put the dog down." Jimmy

Moments like this are tough.  One minute I'm just planning on spending another day at work to daydream about being a successful filmmaker, but it's been interupted by the death of Jimmy's dog.  With clear safety glasses, I look straight at Jimmy.  He can't make any kind of eye contact, he just plays it off, but I can see it's tearing him apart. 
I don't see much anymore when I look in the mirror.  Kind of a blank stare from the person on the other side of the glass.  Other people are something else.  I like to look for differences in behavior and how people handle the life around them.  It's a curse when it comes to personal situations like this.
Saying "I'm sorry" doesn't make sense, but it seems appropriate, so I tell Jimmy I am sorry to hear about his dog.  He avoids the conversation all together.

"We got home and took the kennel down and threw away everything that went with the dog.  I watched some NASCAR on Sunday and putzed around in the garage for a while." Jimmy

He's done talking about the dog.  He's completely fucked up my morning by talking to me about his dog dying and now he's done and walking away.  That's his coping mechanism I suppose.  He just had to talk about it with someone and he picked me.  I don't know why.
All I want to do is make enough money to get out of this tree job.  To make a movie or go back to school.  As each day goes by, each of these men I work with becomes more like a brother.  Not because of some bullshit labor concept, but because we get alone and we actually count on each other to get home safe after each new day in the trees.

Don't Grow Old Alone

Stormwork
"Sir, I did what I could back there in the woods.  It's up to the power company to restore your power now." Ken
"Call me Dave." Dave
"Nice to meet you, Dave, I'm Ken."
"I'm going to give you some free advice, Ken."
"What's that, Dave?"
"Don't grow old alone."
"What's that about?  You're free to do what you want."
"Come here, I want you to show you what I can do all alone." Dave said as he took Ken to his barn.  Garage door revealed a 1950 Chevy, a Corvette and a 1977 Harley Shovelhead.  "I can enjoy them anytime I want, but I don't have anyone to enjoy them with me. I was married.  It didn't work out.  Take it from me, don't end up alone."
"Alright, Sir, Dave. I won't."
-Zen and the Art of Tree Trimming
by 5PM

Michelle Refuses Tree

"Michelle, climb that tree, get the broken limb off the wires." Roley
Mike, the new guy, gets his gear and climbs halfway up the tree, "This tree has a big crack in it."
"Are you saying you can't climb it, Michelle?" Roley
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't think it was safe." Mike
"Come on down then, Michelle. Shawn, get you gear." Roley
I walk away to get my climbing gear.
"Shawn, your truck's too far away, I'll climb it." Union Man
Mike climbs down off the tree as Brian walks up.
"Michelle, even though Shawn didn't go up the tree, he didn't say no. He's never turned down a tree. Started out here just like you are." Brian
"Michelle, let me get your number later so I can call you for storm work." Union Man
"Ok." Mike
"I was being sarcastic, I wouldn't ever call you for storm work." Union Man
-Zen and the Art of Tree Trimming
by 5PM

Non-verbals Are Louder

Everyday up in the tree, my foreman specifically tells all the other climbers around me they are doing a good job. I have never heard it and I don't need to. I am a low maintenance climber. If I wasn't doing a good job, I would be kicked off the crew. The non-verbals are louder than the verbals.
-Zen and the Art of Tree Trimming
by 5PM

Labels

Labels

"Ever thought you'd be working with a redneck?" Brian
"I was in the Army for a long time, it's full of your kind." Me
"Oh yeah, that's right. Well then what are you?" Brian
"I don't like labels." Me
"Just cause you don't like 'em don't mean you ain't one." Brian
"I do everything I can not to be one. Ask the last handful of women I dated. They'll vouch for me." Me
-Zen and the Art of Tree Trimming
by 5PM