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Fifteenth Job of Bob - Lawn Service Part V - Parting the waters of the Mixmaster
This entry was posted on 5/15/2008 3:52 PM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
I am breaking one of my loose blog rules and re-posting a piece I wrote last year about a close call I had in Dallas: Date with fate - post 13. The tale offers one small peek at the precarious nature of traveling around a busy city with a private business work crew. This experience happened after I had quit the City and focused on my business full-time. The narrative starts below:
About 1990, I had quit the City of Dallas to focus on my own landscape maintenance company. My customer base had gone from 10 to 250 rather quickly. The number of clients brought me around the city. And, it is a big place. All major roads seem to meet just south of downtown in a junction affectionately and coequally called "The Mixmaster."
One afternoon I was hurriedly driving my crew truck and equipment to a job site on the west side of town. I had a one-ton commercial Ford pickup pulling a 16-foot, four-wheel trailer full of equipment. In the front seat with me was two of my best helpers. In the back of the covered truck sat another. We blasted down the freeway and entered the odious and notorious Mixmaster. Multiple lanes, on-ramps, and off-ramps merged in all directions. The lead-in flow brought you into the cavernous and Orwellian interchange. Traffic flowed bumper to bumper at 65 miles per hour. Suddenly up ahead, somewhere in the midst of the eight-lane race track a hub cap rolled down the middle of the dynamics - not a good sign, usually meant a side-swipe. Then fenders began to fly, cars began to swerve, tail lights began to flash. In a moment, dozens of vehicles were sideways, backwards, in the guardrail, and screeching into each other.
My two guys in the front seat just kept eating their lunch. Anthony said rather calmly, "Just stay straight, white boy." Ramiro said, "Crazy peoples, look at the crazy peoples." Robert Lee dozed in the back.
We threaded the carnage like a bullet passing through the open doors of several side-by-side shot gun tenant houses. In the rear view mirror I could see the wreckage. It looked like a Hollywood movie set - crossways cars, trucks, parts, wheels, wreckage.
When I got home that night I went through the mail. While I looked over the boring advertisements I thought of a friend who once suggested it was impossible to part the jammed up Mixmaster at rush hour - impossible to part it like Moses might part the waters. I opened a notice from my business insurance company last. It informed me the insurance on my work truck had expired a couple days prior.
Wisconsin military service person of the week
Sergeant First Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 40, of Frederic was killed in Baquba, Iraq on Wednesday, July 9, 2003. His convoy came under hostile fire and attack. Baquba is about 45 miles northeast of Baghdad. Gabrielson was a 22 year veteran of the Army Reserve. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said he was a specialist in repairing construction equipment for the Army Reserve's 652nd Engineer Company based out of Ellsworth. He worked as a mechanic and machinist in the unit's motor pool and was in charge of bridge building equipment. Gabrielson had taken over the role of platoon sergeant for his unit and was studying to become a warrant officer. He was promoted from staff sergeant to Sergeant First Class after his bridge building unit was sent to Iraq. The Journal Sentinel also mentioned the 652nd shipped out to Fort McCoy on February 13 and was sent overseas in April. The unit had 179 members activated for the war. In civilian life Dan was a CNC machining programmer for Nexen a manufacturer of industrial clutches and brakes. Gabrielson was the father of three: son Dustin; and two daughters, Audra, and Vanessa. Frederic, Wisconsin is located about 75 miles northwest of Eau Claire. Sergeant First Class Dan Gabrielson was the third Wisconsin military service person to die in Iraq and also the first reservist from the state of Wisconsin killed there.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
83,521 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
8,257 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,079 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
497 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
312 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
304 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
30,004 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1,944 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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