Built Ford Tough

I had a little bit of trouble reversing the truck up a muddy hill this morning. Of course, it was in front of a volunteer group, too, so I was both frustrated and embarrassed. I wish people could know how difficult that truck is: the brakes are ridiculously sensitive, especially when it's cold or wet outside, and the accelerator is shy at first then makes up for lost time so there is little moderation when trying to inch in one direction or the other. And to make matters worse, Boss John's truck drives exactly opposite; I'm always afraid I won't be able to stop in time unless I push the brake pedal through the floor. There, now you know.

Boss John called me while I was at the office and asked me to bring out a drywall square. "Do you know what a drywall square is, or a T-square sometimes they call it?" he asked. "Yep." "Well it looks--you do?" "Yes," I assured him. The shock in his voice was insulting.

Our work load has picked up in these past couple of weeks and Boss John's stress is contagious. CoJo is finishing his hours and will soon be done on site, so that has meant more time just me and BJ who likes to process out loud whether or not I like to hear it. Okay, he's my supervisor and I'm supposed to be learning from all this, but honestly, if I can't do anything about the situation or if someone is complaining to me about someone else--who sometimes I agree with--and I can't do anything to fix it, stop griping to me and get to the source if it's all that important to you. I have enough stress in my own life; I don't need this work stuff.

I dropped my second load of the week--lumber that is--right in the middle of the road. Yesterday, I watched from my rearview mirror as some 14-footers slid off the side of the truck. I stopped, put on the hazards, and a good Samaritan hopped out of his truck (also full of lumber so we instantly had a bond of understanding) to help me reload and strap it all down. I don't like carrying boards over 12-feet long for this very reason. He was very helpful and I made the rest of my trip with no problems. Today, though I am very cautious when accelerating when I haul lumber, half of my stack dropped out onto the road just past an intersection--three feet back and I would have blocked traffic at the four-way. It was very curious to me that the entire stack plopped onto the road in a very neat pile, like I had stacked it there in the first place. These were 12-footers, so I guess you can never be too safe. A man and his brother/son on a motorcycle stopped to help me with this one then I pulled into a nearby parking lot to strap it down. Why didn't I do that in the first place--especially after yesterday's incident? That's a very good question.

And for one last story about the truck, when I hopped in at 1:40 this afternoon, the odometer read
66,666.66 miles. I did a double take, cringed, and drove eagerly to 66,666.67.

Slip Slidin' Away,
Construction Kim