It was my damn idea to move back to Wisconsin. Heide had stayed back in Dallas for six months while I methodically moved our lives back to Southern Wisconsin. I made several trips back and forth. It's about a 1000 miles one way from Dallas, Texas to Janesville, Wisconsin. In the mean time between trips, I tinkered with cutting a few lawns and properties, working for the farm store, and putting in applications to work for the State.
About the time we made the final trek back to Wisconsin for good, I had secured a night job with the University of Wisconsin in Madison. It would be a full plate of work and I was well into my mid-thirties. And it would be especially challenging after so many health issues. But, I felt this move was my fault. So, with that in mind, I took on both the State job at night and stayed at the farm store during the day. Both were full time. There is 168 hours in a week - I worked almost 90 of them. It was amazing how short a time it took for me to realize what a folly I had embarked on.
To ease the pain a bit, Heide had miraculously found a dandy little duplex on the near West Side of Madison. So, the commutes to these jobs was at least tolerable. It was late fall of 1992 and the cold Wisconsin weather was descending on us. That made it harder to take a break and a nap in my pickup truck now and then. I remember going down the street from the farm store to the park to catch a nap at lunch in my truck. When the cold snow stated to fly, that strategy was no longer a peaceful experience. Within a month, overwhelming fatigue was taking over. Remember too these were blue-collar physical labor jobs. I was a janitor at the State all night and lifted cases of automotive oil all day at the farm store. The State was Monday through Friday, but the farm store brought us in almost every Saturday and Sunday with their bread and butter being retail and the weekends their big money days.
As she has through out our marriage, Heide held down the home front and also found a paid job with a local charity organization. While I constantly worked for what I hoped would be a boast economically for us with our new life Heide fixed up our humble wood-floored duplex.
One day she woke me during one of my many four-hour stints at inadequate sleep and insisted I come with her to put my approval on a new sofa for our duplex. At the big-box store down the road from our neighborhood, Heide pointed to a dark gold and black sofa with tiny shiny sequins. It was extra long so I could sleep on it. I laid down on it and promptly fell asleep.
"We'll take it," I heard Heide say as I drifted off.
With the sofa came a dandy radio with a double cassette player compliments of "a major household purchase."
The duplex is now four residences ago. The State job is a vague memory as is the farm store job. The sequined sofa was long ago pulled apart by a naughty kitty. The cushions of the sofa had long lost their shape by years of my napping on it. It was hauled to the dump long after it should have been retired.
But, that damn free radio is still cranked up every morning in the basement laundry room of our current house. We have been in the place now for 10 years. My job in my old age is to organize the laundry, feed the cats, and scoop the litter boxes - tasks of which take place mostly in said laundry room. I even have a television down there too for my entertainment enjoyment.
Every morning I click on the utility light, put yesterday's cloths in the washer, make a couple of lame scoops to the cat box, open the cat food, and smile to myself as I click on that damn old radio - and think of a simpler time when I rarely slept.
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)
Army Specialist Robert Michael Rieckhoff, 26, of Kenosha, Wisconsin was killed on Thursday, March 18, 2010 in Baghdad, Iraq. His unit had been attacked by rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to Battery Bravo, 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), out of Fort Drum, New York. The Kenosha News via their Website related that Specialist Rieckhoff was at guard duty in a watchtower when attacked. Rieckhoff was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. He had also served in Kuwait. The paper went on to note Rieckhoff had just re-enlisted for five more years in the Army. Specialist Rieckhoff also had been promoted to sergeant which was just about to take affect. The family was quoted as saying Robert had helped train the Iraqi Army. He was due to come home in June of 2010 around the time of his 27th birthday.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that Robert was nicknamed "Bubba" as a kid. Rieckhoff had joined the military when he was 18 years old. Robert was remembered as a practical joker and someone who could make people laugh; and, Robert also frequently reminded everyone he had sidestepped trouble by joining the military. Rieckhoff had joined the Army Reserves in 2002 after graduating from Tremper High School in Kenosha. At a later date he went on to join the Regular Army. The Journal Sentinel also said that while in the Reserves, Robert worked at a Pizza Hut in Kenosha. While in Iraq, he constantly communicated with his family by telephone and e-mail.
At the time of his death Robert Rieckhoff was survived by his children Tyler, and Katrina, of Tennessee; sisters Sheila Sartorius, Kaszaray Rieckhoff , Jolene Garwood, and Cathy Garwood; brothers Roland Garwood III and Bobby Garwood; mother Barbara Garwood; stepfather Roland Garwood; grandmother Judith Nelsen; uncle Bruce Anderson; and nieces, Alexis and Jasmine Sartorius. Specialist Robert M. Rieckhoff was the 92nd Wisconsin military service person to die in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
0 American and Coalition casualties in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March 2011
100,293 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,903 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,449 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1530 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
869 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
32,058 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10,855 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
29 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
148 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
2 journalists (regional agencies) have been killed in Libya since March of 2011.
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.
