4 weeks ago I received a text message on my new-fangled flip phone. "I have a skidder op. job. $19 per hour plus $1.50 per ton for anything over 75 tons per day. 5 days 7am to 4pm. Interested?" Since I had given up logging my own patch due to various factors that I couldn't control I said "Yes". I show up on day one. Tuesday. I am informed that we are burning brush. Sounds good to me. As long as I am out doors and still have a pulse I'm pretty much happy. So, we burn brush at 9950 feet for 4 days. Week two day two. Now we are processing pulp piles left on some BLM land by 4 other outfits. No problem. I sit in the loader all day. I "pencil" the sticks (tops mostly) up and make a neat deck. My coworker comes along with a saw and cuts 20's and 25's. We work up around 6 loads and call it a day. The hayrack shows up first thing the next day and hauls a load to the pellet plant only he doesn't make it to his destination. He twists the driveshaft off of his truck and calls his wife for a ride. Parts are ordered and we continue to work up loads. 2pm on day two of pulp duty we get a call that the pellet plant yard is stuffed up. We are cut off indefinitely. No problem. There's 5-6 miles of skid roads with pulp piles. I jump in the D4 the next day and proceed to plow snow. Hour after hour. Tank of fuel after tank of fuel. There are drifts up to 7 feet deep. I am wishing for a D11 with a v-plow! My coworker shows up (no cell service) to tell me there has been another change of plans. One of the main haul roads, the one that doesn't have the disabled hayrack acting as a paperweight. Needs to be widened. No problem. I head cross country with the D4 to plow the road. I notice a perfect set of bobcat-hunting-hare tracks on the way so the trip was worthwhile. I plow the east side of the road on the way down the hill. In Colorado you are usually headed straight up or straight down at any given moment. I make my turn to widen the west side of the road on the way back to the crummy and not 200 yard into the job the dozer starts to lose power. Crap! This is a northwest facing stretch and is gray ice 6"thick. Since the only other way in that doesn't require a Huey is blocked by a crippled Freightliner I know that I have to get this piece of scrap metal off of the road and now. I turn perpendicular to the hill using the last of the dying Cat's power and proceed to begin sliding sideways (big surprise). In some manner that I don't remember I managed to get the yellow pig off of the road and between a few trees. Perfect spot to park. I walk the 2 miles to the top of the hill in the sweltering 52 degree temps. This is Friday. I text the mill, that I am working for, on Sunday morning first thing " Are we working Monday or Tuesday?" "No" comes the reply later that afternoon. Apparently the mill owner, for whom I am now working, has not left his previous clients in a good mood. This is all fine and dandy except the 1270(d)(lol!) acres we are supposed to be cutting can only be accessed through these folks' property! So it has been 6 days since anyone has any idea what is going on. 6 days since I have "been on the clock". Six days since anyone has said anything to me that wasn't a lie. The biggest problem here folks is that I had a 40-hour-per-week job in town that was going to last until break up. I quite that full time job for...NOTHING. Now I have no income at all. I have been out in the wind for the past 4 days trying to finish up a load for the stud mill in ******* deep snow.
My question is; what sort of names are appropriate for the particular mill owner that courted me in to taking this non-existent gig? Fug.
Signed,
Down and Out on the Western Slope
"Descriptive" enough? This reply is certainly over processed.
