The Shovel

My old boss and the guy who taught to me to work, Wayne Passe, used to say "that shovel is an incredible tool...you run one end and the other end goes all by itself ".  Of course he had other wise phrases like " that shovel ain't gonna run itself " and " you better start shoveling faster or you won't be shoveling at all ". But the best was my old friend Carl Butcher who worked on the road crew for the State. On Monday morning they went out North Kenai to patch roads and realised that they had left all the shovels in the solvents they use over the weekend to melt the asphalt off and were 30 miles away...shovel less. So Carl calls the boss, a legendary figure here in Slowdotna and explains the situation. Dale Sholin says " eh no worries, I'll send some out asap, you'll just have lean on each other until they get there".

So for any of you that rightly think I have the life of Reilly ( whatever that means) that's a pic of me doing one of my yearly least favorite chores. Thats hard work. Because the launch surface is flush with the river bottom the concrete silts in and some years theres a little, some years like this one a lot. Me and Mpeasy attacked it this morning. As you can see I've got a high tech fiberglass flat nose ... shovel into the cart, dump in the wetlands...er...I mean....the woods....and create more parking space for our fishing friends. Duck soup. As our energy was waning I asked MP just how many tons  she thinks I've moved in my life with a shovel, she told to me stop dwelling on past glory and get to work.....mmmmm....sounded a bit like Wayne Passe.

So that shovel to me is like playing music in the garage, you start that way and I guess when all is said and done you finish that way. Whatever you do, don't sell your shovels.

In my younger-macho days I used to tell the crew " I ain't happy unless its raining and I've got a Razor back (shovel) in my hand ". Well, those days are loooooong gone, now I just say "boy am I glad I'm still fit enough to run that shovel ", albeit with a little lower lumbar discomfort that a hot tub and a tall orange oughta take care of. Duck soup.  The boat launch is in the best shape its been for years, with all the snow we have high water which is beginning to clear, as I was shoveling I heard a splash that could have been a salmon.....hehehehe, hows that for rumor mongering as our season begins ? I have the boat out and almost ready, we'll do some marine salvage and then test the fishery. The launch is ready and so are we, its the season.