Chapter 2

We had accidents. A lot of accidents. That happens when you let young guys mix up large trucks, electricity, dynamite and other evils with very little adult supervision. Every now and then we would get a Power Co. Lineman working his vacation. They were a lot of help trying to keep us from blowing up our world or theirs. I remember being on a pole with hot 7.2 kV lines on top. I would be wearing the old rubber gloves I found in the truck and touch my Klein Lineman pliers on a hot phase wire. And just be in awe seeing the spark that I could draw (make larger) by pulling my Kleins away from the hot wire for an inch or two. This was especially awesome at night time! Or being on a corner pole standing inside the neutral (ground) wire jumper working on tapping the new primary wire to the hot phase wire. Then feeling a spark biting my butt where I had leaned back on the neutral wire. Yes, looking back on this, it was a miracle that I didn't blow myself up like a lot of the others did.

When we would stop at a café for lunch I would put on my hooks if I wasn't already wearing them to swagger into the little cafes. I wanted the world to know (or think) that I was a hot, high Lineman! I did this until one day I overheard 2 elderly women sitting in a booth talking as I walked by. One told the other "Oh, just look at that poor young man. Having to wear leg braces for the rest of his life. You suppose it was polio? Or maybe a car wreck? Or maybe a birth deform or just a defect? Why, bless his heart..." That's when I quit wearing my hooks unless I was ready to climb a pole. I had already put scratches and some holes in my expensive Lineman boots with the sharp gaffs!

We were sent up to western Nebraska after an ice storm tore down a lot of rural lines. It warmed up quickly but I would rather have the snow and ice to work in than all of that mud. A lot of farms had converted their operations over to electric and the farmers couldn't get feed out of the silos for their cattle. They did everything they could do to help us restore power. They would be out there at night helping us carry poles and equipment onto the right-of-ways. One night while carrying a pole into a muddy field one of the farmers yelled out "Dang! Someone sure has sharp shoes!" I took my flashlight, found the culprit Lineman wearing his hooks, made him take them off and go down to the heavy end of the pole (the butt) and help carry the pole from there. He never wore his hooks after that.

We got sent up later to the Sandhills in Nebraska (yes, proper spelling) to restore some power lines there. We saw that most of the poles had a cut used tire around the base of it. We were told that this kept the sand from blowing away and the pole falling over. We also found that rattlesnakes love hiding in them to keep warm and nest. We were told to jump over the tire and stick our gaffs in the poles to dodge the snakes. When my gaffs missed and I fell down I was really hoping the rattlesnakes were out searching for food! Those sand hills were always moving by the blowing winds.

One Sunday morning our Foreman Andy told us that we had about enough work to last until noon and then we could head home for Kansas. Well, Murphy's Law really into effect that day! We found more poles down, crossarms broken, and wire down. On one hill the wire was down and very heavy so I couldn't lift it by myself. I yelled at Foreman Andy and showed him where the wire was hung up in a small tree ahead of me. He yelled to his Driver Grunt to hit the gas and go there. So off they went and left me alone to watch their show. Andy yelled at his Grunt to get the hand saw and cut down the tree. The Grunt started slowly sawing and Andy came unglued. He started yelling to cut faster. Then he started climbing the tree to try and shake the wire loose.

When the Grunt saw him start up the tree, he started sawing faster. A lot faster! Then the tree shot up in the air, flipped Foreman Andy way up, the wire shot up and Andy came down crashing on top the tree where it landed. Man was I laughing hard. Late that night we finally got this "1/2 day's work" finished. Foreman Andy said he would meet us at the Motel and we would go home the next morning. I got to the Motel no more than 15 minutes after him and he was sitting in the room drinking his 2nd pint of whiskey. Needless to say his Grunt did the driving home the next day.

All of those accidents are what kept me dragging up a lot and trying other Contractors. But I kept coming back to C&P Electric. Once again I drug up and that was my last time with C&P. I went to Hutchinson, KS to see Larry Blanke and try to get into that high paying Apprentice Program with the Power Company. But they had a cut-off age of 24 years old for new Apprentices and I was a few months over that. So I went to work for a Union Contractor there that had the Contract to manage and maintain the power and lights at the Kansas State Fair.

Since he couldn't get any Apprentices out of the Union Hall, they let him hire me as a 3rd Step Ape. His Contract gave us 16+ hours per day but all was paid straight time. Since this was the most money I had ever made, I jumped on it bid time! We would go to the fairgrounds before dawn and start turning off the parking lot lights. Then just circle the grounds in case anyone was having problems with their electric connections. We also could set our bucket trucks up near the race track and watch the races, shows, and whatever was going on. At night we would go out and turn the parking lights back on. This was like a paid vacation for me!

I was staying in a hotel room while in Hutchinson. When I checked in the Clerk told me that there was another Lineman staying across the hall from me and asked if I would be quiet so not to bother him. He had been staying there for several years and they didn't want to lose his business.

The 1st night I saw him when his door was still open, he was just sitting on his bed staring at the wall with his shirt off. This was before there were TVs in the rooms and radios were frowned on. He had a pint of whiskey and would sip on it. He was always in the same condition on all the nights I saw him. To me he looked very old and worn out. This shook me up and I promised myself that I would never go down the hill like he had. I felt very sad for him being in that room all alone. But he would never say "Hello" when I tried to talk to him. He would just get up and kick the door closed. Oh well...

After 3 weeks we were finished with the Kansas State Fair Contract and the Contractor told me that he couldn't keep me on as he had no work that would apply to me learning what a 3rd Step Ape needed to learn and build up "work hours" with. He said he had heard that the REA (Rural Electric Association) in western Kansas in Scott City had an opening. So I called and got an appointment for an interview. Kansas is very long and yes, very flat in the western area. It was about a 200 mile drive and I was ready for my interview the next day. The next morning in the ready room I found 2 other new Lineman there that had worked for C&P Electric before me, so it was kind of like old home week.

The GF (General Foreman) Randy was also related to Bucky, the owner of C&P Electric so he had already talked to Bucky and learned all of my good traits and the ones Bucky considered bad. I had the interview and Randy took me out to their yard and asked me questions about the materials stacked up out there. Then he had me climb a short pole in the yard that had the yard lights mounted on it. He said I passed all of the tests and he hired me as a Journeyman Lineman. The pay was fair but enough to me to get through the winter before my feet started getting itchy again.

I grew up in Central Kansas out in the country 10 miles north of Holyrood and the winter snow storms and blizzards were a lot fun as a child. Hunting, building snow forts and not being able to drive to town for school was a great way to grow up. But the western Kansas snow storms and blizzards were some of the worst I ever saw in all my years tramping around the USA.