Have you ever forgotten where you were parked?  The man who taught me the electrical trade is gone now.  I guess he won’t object to my telling this story.  His son is still alive, he’ll probably recognize this.

At one time Ewald had gone a very great many hours without sleep.  He was so tired that he decided to pull over and get some sleep.  He chose to do so in a movie theater.  He bought a ticket (they were considerably cheaper then) and went inside and slept.

When the theater closed, an usher came to wake him up.  He had slept through multiple showings.  When he woke up he couldn’t remember his name, the town he was in, what kind of car he drove, or where he had parked it.  And, he couldn’t remember where he lived.

He walked around outside the theater for a bit and finally came across a car that looked familiar.  He had keys in his pocket, so he got in and they fit.  It must be his car.  He drove around for awhile and noticed many signs with a town name on them, so he figured out where he was.

After some driving around town he saw a road that looked familiar, so he started to drive down that road.  After going quite a ways into the country side, he pulled into a driveway that turned out to be his.

He didn’t suffer any debilitating permanent damage from his memory loss, and he did remember his name, but after that he had difficulty staying awake while driving.  It wasn’t a terrible problem though.

He would fall asleep with his eyes open and continue driving; down the middle of the road.  When he met traffic, he would pull over to the side until it passed, then go back to the middle of the road.  He was able to navigate through turns in the road without trouble, all while asleep.  You could tell from his conversation when he was asleep.  It would turn nonsensical.

His wife had learned how to handle his condition (how many wives can do that?).  She told me never to wake him up by screaming or calling his name.  In that case he would wake up in a panic and drive off the road.  The proper way to wake him was to reach over and jiggle the steering wheel under his hands.  That would wake him up gently and everything would work out fine.

Ewald told me when he first noticed something was wrong.

He had been plowing in a field and fell asleep driving the tractor.  He drove erratically through the field and at least one fence, through a ditch and across a road, through the other ditch out into someone else’s field – plowing all the way.  He woke up when the tractor stopped.

I rode many a mile with him.  His body would stiffen and he didn’t blink.  I would follow his wife’s instructions and turn the wheel slightly.  He would wake and on we would go.

He was an excellent electrician, had a great sense of humor, and was utterly fearless.

Through the years, some of the most unforgettable friends you make are exceptional characters.  One character that sticks out in my mind was a man who was an engineer on the local radio station.

He came from down in the Ozarks.  My! How that man could play the fiddle.  He started playing fiddle music for dances when he was five years old.  When he was older, he would walk to town, bare footed, to play for a dance and play all night.  He was so shy, that when he played, he would turn his back to the audience.  In later years when he was old enough to drink alcohol, he would gradually turn his chair around, a little at a time, drink by drink, until he was finally facing the audience – fully loaded.  One of the boys who he played with when we knew him said that those guys that think they play better when they have been drinking only think so.

Eventually this man was given the opportunity to return to the Ozarks to set up a radio station; towers and all.  He had bought an old washer and dryer set that was broken down.  He had been intending to repair them for use.  I asked what he was going to do with the old appliances sitting there un-fixed.

He replied that the company that had hired him to build the radio station was paying him moving expenses.  He was just going to take the broken appliances with him when he moved, hoping to find the time to repair them at his new location.  We listened to him play one last time thinking we would probably never see him again, and said our good-byes.

Low and behold, five years later he came back to work for the local station again, having completed the construction of the station in the Ozarks.  The local station had paid for all his moving expenses, … Including the broken down washer and dryer and his fiddle.  We were very happy to have all of them back again.

Sometime later I asked him if he had ever got his washer and dryer repaired.  He said he had finally had time to take them apart and found the washer tub was leaking, … so he hauled them both to the dump.

I have done some work repairing appliances and rewiring and repairing electrical motors.  I found you really have to know what you’re doing, because it costs more than a new machine or motor.

The only real value in an old washer or dryer is if you keep them long enough for them to become antiques.  And that may be something of a characterization.

One time I was wiring a house out in the country.  Several of the trades were there.  We went to take a coffee break in the living room area.  We were sitting on the floor with our backs to the wall.

When break time was over we got up to go back to work.  The plumber remained seated on the floor.  One of the guys asked him if he was alright.  He replied “I can’t stand up.”

In those days there were no cell phones.  He was quickly loaded into a car and driven to the hospital as fast as they could go.  We heard the next day he had died before reaching the hospital.  I don’t recall if we ever heard what caused his quick illness and death.  It always seems strange to me that one could die so quickly.

During the time I was working on government work in the wilds of Montana, all of the work crews were provided fans to keep the air moving in the deep recesses where we were working.

One of the welders was careless about his fan, claiming he didn’t need it, even though some of his welding occurred 60 to 70 feet down in the ground.

One morning he didn’t wake up.

Though you don’t want to give up on life, sometimes going quickly seems advantageous compared to a lingering, ailment filled span of months or years.  In any case it is good to remember that we could go at anytime.

It also reminds us that Safety Precautions on the job are there for our protection.  It is not a good idea to ignore them.

Remember, babies and electricity do not mix.

When our oldest son was about two years old he climbed up on the couch.  He pulled a reading lamp into his lap.  Our backs were turned for a moment.  He unscrewed the bulb and was putting his finger in the socket.

Fortunately the switch was off.

Today’s light bulbs do not put out as much heat.  Therefore there is no inherent preventative to detach a hot bulb and put a finger in a light socket.

Other appliances can be dangerous to youngsters too.  Our neighbor’s child picked up the cord to the sewing machine while the mother was sewing, put the cord into his mouth, and bit into it.  The resulting shock injured the child’s mouth so badly, reconstructive surgery was needed later.