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First Job of Bob - Dairy Farm - Part VI - The Hammer; a right of passage
This entry was posted on 12/14/2010 1:30 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
There is a hammer my dad got me for some birthday or perhaps it was Christmas. I was probably about 12 – much work responsibility on the farm seemed to start at 12 years old. It is an adult worker’s hammer. On the farm, roofs and doors and things are repaired in-house. In other words, we fixed our own stuff. When a child was big enough to participate in a carpenter job, perhaps a new wall to a calf pen, or putting new shingles on a shed, you know you were now in the special status. Farmers prided themselves on straight corn rows, and other farmers knew we all fixed our own barn roofs. If the shingles were lined crooked, it was frowned upon. It was there for all to see – your prowess of making straight corn rows, your straight shingle carpenter job was your character. Your straight rows spoke to your farming ability – your validation of your trade. Children mucking up a task were not allowed to jeopardize that image. When I got that hammer it was like a hunter giving his child a rifle. Without anything being spoken, it was understood that on the next project I would somehow participate.
That hammer sits in a low sided cardboard box in the basement of my house. In the corner of one of my bookshelves in my basement study area sits the box. Once my wife learned of the easily accessible tools, and she moved the hammer to the upstairs office desk drawer. I noticed its absence from the box and there was a quick inquisition of my poor wife; the hammer was promptly replaced to its station of honor in my box of useful tools in my man-space in the basement.
I live in the house now Dad and Mom moved to in town after it became apparent his battle with cancer was better managed in a place other than a farmstead in the quasi-boondocks. He often mentioned how much it bothered him that farmsteads often fell apart around older farmers' ears as they wound down their lives. Operating farms are far easier to maintain than farm-ettes with empty buildings. You never realize how fast a barn falls apart until one is empty of animals and work. Humidity, warmth, and the simple fact of replacing a board now and than as you work in the barn every day can make a difference in its longevity over the long haul.
Dad died in 1988 and Mom in 2001. After we took over their house in town, my wife rebuilt the whole upstairs to her style. Don’t get me wrong, this is good. She needs to get her signature on a house that came from my family. It must have been to her like moving into a house that belonged to a husband’s first wife. But in the basement and the back shed still sit things I know my dad left there. There is a chisel and screw driver both resting on the door frame of the work shed. There is an oil can I have never moved that sits on a shelf in the garage. Even the remodeling guys did not touch it while eating lunch in the garage. The oil can came from the farm. I remember it from the farm work shed. You never know when something will need a bit of oil to stop a squeak. I know the last one to have touched it was my dad, now probably over twenty years ago.
I have no brothers and sisters. I have no children. When I am gone the hammer and oil can will no doubt end up in a garage sale as my wife purges the man-spaces of the house. Or, perhaps her new boyfriend or husband will leave the hammer on the side of a truck and it will fall in the street. Perhaps he will leave it out in the rain in the garden while fixing a trellis and it will be forgotten until the next homeowner digs it up, crusts of rust on the handle, with the tiller.
I did not think consciously about the hammer for years. Oddly, it just always seems to follow me around. Its longevity outlasted girlfriends, pets, family members, and friends. Former classmates have died of old age, and the hammer seems to persevere. When I returned from the Army, I found it still waiting patiently in my pickup truck tool box; a truck that also waited patiently in the old farm shed. The truck fell apart finally in 1995. I lost a wedding ring a couple decades ago; the hammer still sits in the card board box in the basement.
I had pestered my dad over the years of my youth for a rifle. He was not a hunter; no time to hunt as a farmer. Also, having been in Africa during World War II, the awesome destruction a riffle can wreak was not lost on him. I was given a hammer; in retrospect perhaps a far better symbol of his life and work than a rifle. Dad never said much of anything about the gift of a hammer; no long academic explanation from him, just a smile.
Yet, the hammer has meaning.
It took me a lifetime to appreciate it.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Sergeant Tyler Joseph Kritz, 21, Eagle River, Wisconsin, died on Sunday, June 3, 2007 in Thania, Iraq. He died when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Kritz was assigned to Battery B, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Washington. He was one of four soldiers killed in the incident. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted Kritz was deployed to Iraq in June 2006 with his military unit He was promoted to sergeant posthumously. Tyler was a 2003 graduate of Northland Pines High School in Eagle River. He planned his enlistment into the Army in his senior year. During high school he Kritz played on the football team as a defensive back. He is remembered for his humility, drive, politeness, soft-spoken manner, and his ability to get along with people. The data base for war casualties iraq.pigstye.net mentioned via information from The Rhinelander Daily News that Tyler was on his second deployment to Iraq. Also, he was a few weeks from his 22 birthday. The Rhinelander Daily News quoted information from Tyler's MySpace site: "I'm always listening to music; I play bass guitar, or at least try to. I like to try new stuff because consistency is boring. I love to travel and explore even if it's just walking around town." The Web site rhinelanderdailynews.com also posted several other articles relating to Tyler Kritz that mentioned he was born June 29, 1985, in West Bend, Wisconsin. Sergeant Kritz was posthumously awarded a bronze star and a purple heart for bravery. At the time of his death Tyler Kritz was survived by his parents, Joe and Doreen Kritz of Eagle River; sister, Marcia (Ian) Cira of Milwaukee; and paternal grandmother, Doris Penzich of Cedar Grove. Sergeant Tyler Kritz was the 76th Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
99,021 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,796 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,432 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1426 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
830 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
32,000 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,675 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
103 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
27 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
145 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention 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; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
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