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Fifteenth Job of Bob - Lawn Service Part III - unsustainable grind - shop cats
This entry was posted on 5/1/2008 2:33 AM and is filed under Cats, Jobs of Bob.
Trying to explore running a lawn service business was all well and good, in spirit. But the hours needed, equipment handled, and traveling to the job sites took its toll. The whole project was contingent on my health. If something happened to me - the thing shut down. Poetically, it was very similar to operating a small farm in that regard. Remember also, I traveled to the work sites. Customers did not wander to me like they do with a retail store. You don't get paid for driving to and from the job.
Interestingly enough, my equipment took its greatest beating while on the trailer. Once a man was waving to me as we drove side by side down a road under construction. He was trying to tell me a wheel had just bounded off a mower that was on the back of my trailer. I just caught site of it out of the corner of my rear view mirror as it rolled down into the construction area.
I eventually rented a bigger garage that was just down the road from my house. There I could back in the trailer with equipment on the back. I could also leave the truck parked in front of the door if I needed. These were things I could not do at the smaller rental unit.
I remember driving to Austin, Texas to take an irrigation exam. I passed the test, but I never really took advantage of the knowledge and would stay with simply cutting grass. Digging pipe was labor intensive.
Two fond creatures came out of the bigger rental unit era. Just around the corner was a dog pound. One day in a fit of loneliness, I went in to look at the sad beasts. Two cats caught my eye - a male Maine Coon, and a female Russian Blue.
"What are the red tags for?" I asked the good ol' boy with his feet up on the desk. "Does that mean they have just come in?"
"Nope," he said between tobacco chews. "They's a go'in to be put to sleep this afternoon. Five Bucks a piece if you want them - fire sale." Then he spit into a coffee can by the desk. My heart broke. The whole room was covered with red tags.
I tried to ignore the countless sad faces peering out of all the cages. I threw 10 Bucks at the fool behind the desk and I hurriedly brought the two beasts I picked out over to my shop.
Arther and Susie where only at the shop for a week when Heide got wind of the new additions to my business. Arthur the "big fuzzy" was summarily delivered to the house by her to live out his life in leisure. Susie would stay behind and keep me company at the shop. She would live almost 20 years. Not bad considering that day at the dog pound she was down to about one hour left.
Wisconsin military service person of the week
Sergeant Kirk Allen Straseskie of Beaver Dam died while participating in the rescue of the crew of a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter that crashed in a canal near Hilla, Iraq, on Monday, May 19, 2003. Kirk was 23 years old. His unit was Company B, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division based out of Camp Pendleton, California. Hilla is about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Kirk was survived by his dad John and step mom Barb; three brothers - Chris, John, Ryan; and, grandmother Jan Helmer. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Kirk had played football for Beaver Dam High School. The Journal Sentinel also mentioned Kirk had been pictured in a April, 2003 Los Angeles Times story about American troops stationed in post-invasion Iraq. Sergeant Kirk Allen Straseskie was the first Wisconsinite to die in the war in Iraq.
83,221 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
8,219 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,063 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
492 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
308 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
301 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
29,911 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1,937 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
90 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
127 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
15 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
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