In North Dakota, where I grew up, the flatness of the prairie impacted moisture preservation.  For instance, a farmer will depend upon the snow in the winter to provide moisture in the spring during the melting time.  However, when you have vast expanses of flat prairie, and lots of wind to go with it, containing the snow on the desired field is difficult.  Most of it will blow off of the fields and into a ditch.  In the spring the snow melt will water the weeds along the road instead of the crop in the field.

My father showed me where the snow had piled up the winter before by pointing to the greener vegetation during the summer.

One farmer of our acquaintance invented a machine that we referred to as a “tumbling bug” in order to capture more snow melt on his fields.  The farmer would use the tumbling bug by towing it behind the tractor in the fall.  The machine would leave depressions in the ground about six inches deep and about a foot apart.  These man-made dimples would allow the snow to stay in the field despite wind, and the next spring the moisture was where the farmer wanted it.

As a farmer’s son, I tended to invent tools that I needed to make a job simpler or easier to do.  (One of my grandson’s has apparently inherited this attribute.  He is consistently inventing things to do various jobs.)

One of the tools I invented was to facilitate wire pulling when you are working alone.  The problem is that wire insulation can catch on the edge of conduit unless it is properly guided.  There are times that several wires feeding into one conduit may become crossed over, thus using more of the conduit fill space than needed, and possibly causing a problem with a tougher pull.

The tool I invented allowed me to protect, feed and guide wire into a conduit while I was actually working from the other end.  Someone must have appreciated my invention a great deal because later a major tool manufacturer came up with the same type of tool.  I think mine was better.

I also intended to create a tool to tighten locknuts on conduit connectors, but never got around to it.  I’m sure it would work better than an “electrician hammer” and a dull screw driver.  I imagine tool manufacturers will come up with it sometime.

One electrician and his father of my acquaintance invented a screwdriver that would grip a screw while the driver spun it around.  (The definition of “spun” being a high speed turn, as opposed to a quarter turn per hand revolution.)  The screwdriver was constructed to spin like a wheel or a crank at a high speed.

The screwdriver was fast and efficient.  The two people who invented the tool were smart enough to patent it.  However they told me most of the profit went to pay the lawyers involved in protecting their interests.

And patents usually end in 20 years and you have to start all over again.  Or so I am told.

Lately most of the new tools invented lean toward electronics.  Those type of tools are out of my network.

Some workers in desperation do desperate things.  And usually the desperate thing turns out to be, well, dumb.

One of the larger jobs I was on was a build of a thirteen story building.  As the electricians were finishing up our trim-out of the job, the carpet layers arrived.

I had made a habit of cleaning up behind me as I worked, so there weren’t many issues on my end with tools and debris lying about.  However others had not been so careful.

The carpet layers said that they wouldn’t do any clean up because, in their words, “That’s not our Job.”

There were many rooms that after being carpeted, had small lumps under the carpet.

That will wear out a carpet much faster.  And of course a worn out carpet will need replacement quicker.

It reminded me of a story I heard about a couple of carpet layers doing a job.  As they finished up and were leaving, one of the carpet layers couldn’t find his cigarettes.  As he looked about he saw a small lump in the carpet near the middle of the floor.

Taking his hammer he went over and pounded the lump flat.  Then as he was leaving the door, he saw his cigarettes on a window sill near the door.  He picked them up and put them in his pocket, but stood wondering what had been under the carpet.

About that time the lady of the house came hurrying up and asked them in an anxious voice if they had seen her parakeet.  It had gotten out of it’s cage and was nowhere to be found.

Smoking can be hazardous to your health.

And to the health of little birds.

For awhile, in order to make a living, I worked out of town.  Over a period of a couple years, I worked part time in Seattle.  I couldn’t afford to move there, so I stayed with our daughter and son-in-law and drove home every weekend.

This practice gave me a wide variety of experience.

Heavy fog was the most challenging condition I encountered.  For instance, at times I would follow a set of tail lights through the night, in the fog, on the freeway.  One time I followed a car right off of the freeway.  Then I had to figure out how to get back on the freeway and find another set of tail lights to follow.

Another type of experience was accidents.

One time my wife and I were driving home from Seattle when we observed a huge cloud of dust.  When we reached the location of the dust cloud, we saw that a car had gone off of the freeway and rolled.  The lady who had been driving the vehicle was standing by the edge of the road hugging a passerby.

I immediately thought of all kinds of back stories that could have lead to this eventuality.  However since the lady had help and we would have been holding up traffic, we continued on without stopping.

Seventy-five years of driving makes me appreciate the song that says; “It’s a jungle out there.”  (Even if I’m not OCD)

I have travelled by airline to get to some jobs.  Air travel is said to be the safest way to travel, but I don’t feel it.

For one thing, it is difficult to stop by the side of the road and visit with someone when you travel via plane.

Or to visit a roadside attraction.