Chapter 9

I spent the winter on various jobs. With the frozen ground the UG (underground) jobs pretty much shut down. I cleared out on a job replacing hi-voltage insulators on single poles. The line was dead and grounded, so we used a "squirt" steel boom with a single 2-Man steel caged bucket on the end of it. As the winter got worse a lot of the IBEW L.U. 55 hands either took off south and west for warmer jobs or had saved enough of their summer wages to stay at home for a while.

On very bad weather days most of the hands that showed up would take their 2 hours pay for inclement weather / show-up and go back home. But I didn't want to live on 10 hours per week so I would stay and tough it out. The Lead Lineman / Foreman was a "company hand" that had been with the Contractor many years by the name of Jack. There was an Operator that stayed with the Contractor named Tom. They both would work in any weather.

I was still bothered by my frost bit nose I got the previous year up in MN. The Operator looked strong and healthy but he was kind of a hypochondriac. He was always taking lots of pills, herbs, vitamins and I don't know what else. He carried a thermometer to monitor himself. On the very bad days I would get him off to the side to talk about the job and the day's work. In the middle of the discussion, I would ask him "Do you feel OK?" He would get worried and asking me questions about what I was seeing. This would go on awhile and he would take his temperature. He would go to the Foreman Jack and tell him that he was not feeling well and he just wanted his inclement weather 2 hours for the day as he was going home.

Since there was just Jack and I and he didn't know how to operate the Hi-Lift steel boom bucket lift, it was up to me to sit in the cozy and warm enclosed cab doing the work of an Operator. I couldn't do this very often but it got me through most of the winter. Jack never caught on that I was creating my own benefits.

When the Inflation Rate was going up and finally peaked at about 15% the Linework came to a dead stop. No jobs were available so I studied and passed the test to get an Iowa Realtor License. I was living in Arnolds Park, IA and signed up with a Real Estate Agency there. This is by Lake Okoboji, a fresh water lake and near Spirit Lake. There were a lot of houses around those 2 lakes. I got a few listings and sold a few cabins on the lakes. In the winter time these lakes freeze over and people would ice fish and run snowmobiles on for their winter fun and games. I would put up an "Open House" sign near the water of one my listings, go in the house and build a fire in the fireplace. I would also make coffee and cocoa. A lot of people would stop to come in and get warm. I got to be known as the "Unreal Realtor". But there was not enough money in it for me, so I got and took another call from the Hall.

That spring I took a call with the Contractor N. G. Gilbert that had a job on the Mississippi River. Their job was to build a steel tower on Iowa side and one on the Illinois side of the river. Also 2 more towers on islands in the river. This involved barges for hauling the cranes and materials to the islands and using motor boats for travel. The barge personnel would put out traps to catch fish and turtles and we were always having a good hot lunch most days.

Building the 2 towers on the islands was going back in time. They had to be built by hand. One Crew built theirs steel "stick" by steel stick. I ran the other Crew and we built our in sections on the ground and put them in place with the crane. Both took about the same amount of time to finish. My memory says these towers were 150' tall. The crane had a boom reach of 165' with a 50' tip over jib mounted at the end so it had a full usable reach of 210'.

The Operator came with the Crane and he was very good. When we were at the top and needed a little extra either up or down, we would tell him on the radio how much we needed. When the steel didn't move we'd call him again and he'd say "Give it a minute for the winch line to react." And soon it would move. He didn't keep giving us what we asked for because the load would move too much. We would also ride the headache ball up and down to save a climb.

I had a Tramp Lineman named Maynard that was going to turn 50 years old that summer and he was dreading reaching the "Big 5 0". He worked hard at trying to outdo everyone else. But our Apprentices gave him as hard of a time as he gave them. Maynard would run up the steel trying to beat everyone to the top. But after about 50' he would get winded and stop for a breather. The Apprentices would run up to his level, belt off and start on him. "Why did you stop here Maynard? What work needs to be done here Maynard?" Maynard would start yelling and cursing them and then take off climbing up again.

Maynard loved to pull practical jokes on anyone he thought was an easy target. He tried a few on our Crane Operator until one day the Operator was giving him a ride down on the headache ball. Maynard was the last Hand to come down and the Operator swung him out over the river and dropped him very quickly. He stopped the winch line just as the hook touched the water.

Maynard was belted off on the winch line but his eyes were very big and he was holding on to the winch line for dear life! The Operator said "Do you love me Maynard?" Maynard said "Yes, I love you man!" The Operator dropped him a few more inches until the headache ball was completely under water and Maynard was wiggling trying to keep his boots dry and he said "Do you REALLY love me Maynard?" Maynard said "I REALLY love you man!" The Operator said "Then no more games right Maynard?" Maynard said "I promise no more!" And the Operator picked him up and set him down on the island. We had a lot of fun on that job!