I see I have made several mistakes. You are my proof readers. Please read this and point out the errors I have made. I see that the time of day is wrong in one place. Help me out here, criticize my writing.


Peko Mine
The fan was running in the swamp cooler on the roof. Just the sound of the fan had a cooling effect as JB came into his cabin. It was another hot day. It was 110 degrees in the shade, not as hot as it gets on a really hot day in January, but still, it had been a warm walk coming back from the air-conditioned mess hall.
The camp at Peko Mine was laid out in rows. There were six rows of cabins, each row had about a dozen identical 12x12 wood-framed cabins. They were all built up on four-foot stilts, letting the cooling air run under the floor.
JB took his paycheck out of the back pocket of his jeans. He threw it in the bed and sat down at his makeshift desk with the Olivetti typewriter. The duct from the swamp cooler came in right over his head raining cool air down on him.
For the next forty-five minutes, he was bent over his portable typewriter, telling a story about the fixed wing gliding he had been doing. He had constructed the story in his mind as he worked in the mines. So it was easy for him to just sit down, and in as long as it took him to type it, tell about the thrills of being pulled up in to the sky in the two-seater no-engine aircraft. He told of the counterclockwise corkscrew effect as they climbed up on the column of hot air coming off the black till field of mine tailings.
As he took the sixth page out of the Olivetti, he thought about reading what he had written, but then he looked over on the bed and saw his still unopened pay check. He put the pages in an envelope that had about a quarter of a ream of pages in it, sealed it up and put a sticker on the front of it with his father’s address in the States. With his paycheck, he would have enough to mail the package of writings off. In it was all the writing he had done since he got to the mines a month ago.
He cut open the envelope with his penknife and took out the pay slip. The dollar amount was a pleasant surprise. The pay slip was for $1,212.42. That was Australian dollars, they were worth about $.82 US dollars, but that was still a pretty nice little paycheck. The pay stub said that in two weeks he had worked 104 hours. He had been paid bonus for “deep work”, bonus for shift work, and an earned tally on the tonnage of 1,786 tons. He was charged $356.23 for his Mine Store bill, and the Det Room had charged him another $298.99 for the explosives, dets and drill steels he had bought. His base pay before bonuses was $2.34 per hour. After all was taken out, he was left with over $1,200. That was pretty good wage for two weeks work! He reflected… that was pretty good. His rent was free in the mining camp. His meals were all free in the mess hall, four meals a day, not bad at all. He wondered weather he might have enough for a cheep car, or better yet, a motorbike.
The sun was right down at the horizon, a big red ball setting on the shrub-covered desert. It would cool off as soon as the sun had set. The Mine Store was open until eight, JB decided to take a walk down there and cash in his pay slip. He took his writing envelope and headed down to the bottom end of the camp, away from the mess hall where the Mine Store was in the corner of the camp compound furthest from the smelter.
The smoke and steam were going straight up off the smelter. All the lights were on in the fading light. They were running three shifts a day these days. The Peko Mine smelter processed not only the ore from Peko Mine, but from Juno Mine as well, where JB worked. The two mines were 9 miles apart on the surface, but underground, it was said that the two were connected. Peko mine was a shallow mine, less then two miles deep.
JB had never been down in Peko mine. He tried to imagine it in his mind’s eye. It was a sloped shaft, not vertical and horizontal like the Juno Mine was. There were trains that brought the ore to the surface from the Peko mine. There was no mineshaft, it was just a drift that started at the surface and went down into the earth at the slope that the trains could manage. The trains had the third rail that had holes in the rail. A cogged wheel ran in that rail. The rails going down into the Peko mine where standard gauge, the rails were 4’6” apart. That was considerably bigger then the little 2’ gauge that JB worked with down in Juno mine. At Peko, the trains were wide and low. He had seen the railcars going down the descending drift. He had been offered work in Peko, but the pay was not as good. JB had asked the man he had hitched into town with “I have never worked in the mines, what job should I ask for?”
The driver of the Ute had said, “You want to earn a lot of money in a short time do you?” He was talking to JB as he piloted the Ute up the Stewart highway, a 40-foot wide swath of smoothed gravel. He had picked JB up at Wauchope.
“I am not sure what job I can do.”
“Well, why don’t you just ask for the highest paying job they’ve got?” That was just what JB had said when he was asked by the man at personnel. “I want the highest paying job you’ve got!”
The recruiter for the mines had laughed and said. “You can’t have my job, but I will give you the next best thing.”
That was how JB had landed the job he had now, Powder Monkey for Juno Mine. He was thinking as he felt the envelope in his back pocket, he was earning pretty good money. Working six and a half miles down, was no different from working forty feet down, he had been told. Once you leave the earth’s surface and start down underground, it really doesn’t matter how far down you go. It makes a lot more difference how hard the rock is. Juno was good solid rock. Working in a drift in hard rock can be compared to drilling a hole in a two by four. The sides and back won’t fall in. In soft rock, it is like drilling a hole in a pile of sand, you have to support the sides and back everywhere. The further down you go, the more weight there is on those supports. Even though Juno was one of the deepest mines in the world, it was still just as safe as working in a shallow mine like Peko. Working in the mines was not SAFE work. Two men had gotten killed over at the smelter two days ago. They had gotten up on a pile of ore that was being fed through a grizzly. They had been trying to free up the flow so the ore would run down through the grill of the grizzly. They had freed it up all right, not only the ore went down through the bars, they had been swallowed up as well. Both men had been killed before there had been time to even go for help.
Red had lost three fingers in Juno. He had been bogging, and got too far into a drift that intersected with a shaft. A rock had fallen down the shaft and hit his hand as it rested on the controls of the bogger. Sort of like being caught between a rock and a hard place, only the rock had reached terminal velocity in it’s descent down the shaft.
Then there was the Powder Monkey who JB was there to replace. He had not been injured or killed, he had quit after the rookie he was training, had been killed. They had been hauling some ladder sections up to the head of the drift. They had been lying over four rail cars. The rookie had been on the inside of a curve when the train came by. The Powder Monkey was operating the train from the Loco that is always on the downhill end of the train. The Rookie had been told that whenever a train had to pass him while he was in a drift, he was to lie down in the piss trench. There, there was enough room for the train to go by without hurting him. The rookie had hugged the wall, still standing. When the ladder sections came around the curve, they sliced him in two. (“That will teach him to lay down in the piss trench when a train has to pass him in a drift!”)
But the money was good. JB had $1,200 and he had all his meals paid for and a place to live. All he had to do for that money was work getting rock out of a hole six and half miles deep.
The Mine Store was a corrugated tin building with a big swamp cooler on the roof. It was a long building; perhaps 120’ long and 40’ from front to back. It was in the corner of the compound furthest from the dust, smoke and sulfur smells of the smelter. Above the door was a sign, “No money. No problem, Sign for it” This mine owned store was the only place to get anything short of taking the mine van into Tennant Creek, 22 miles to the east. They had a variety. They had one of the best assortment of gloves of any store anywhere. They had clothes, guns, ammo, alcohol free beer, snack food, a limited selection of groceries. If the mine didn’t raise it, all food had to either be flown in, or come in via the Stewart Highway from either Alice Springs to the south or Darwin to the North. The railhead was over a hundred miles to the west, not a lot got to Peko mine from the railway.
JB picked up a six-pound box of pellets, and took it and his envelope up to the counter. The pellets were for pistol club. Two nights a week the club would meet at the indoor range at Juno Mine. They would do target practice. JB found it cheaper to buy the pellets then to buy a gun. He had worked a deal with the shop foreman, if JB supplied the ammo, he would share his target pistol with JB. The rule in the Mine Store was that you couldn’t cash your check there unless you made a purchase. JB didn’t think the postage for his writing would be enough of a purchase, and he needed the pellets for pistol club. He hated to buy anything at the Mine Store. It seemed like that was just giving your money right back to the mine. If you bought enough there, you could work for nothing. They would let you buy on credit, then it would be taken out of your check before you saw it.
He was given a hefty stack of twenty-dollar bills.
The next day was Saturday. JB had worked the last two Saturdays, and he wanted to work this one as well. The way it worked was if you went down standing in front of the Mess Hall, all breakfasted and ready for a day’s work at half past six, they would then bring the mine van around and they would say how many men they wanted.
Well, this Saturday, JB was there, all fed and ready to go, but when the van came, they only wanted seven men, there were ten standing there. The driver asked, “Anyone want the day off?” JB looked at the others, no one was saying anything. He decided to take it. “I can take the day off, is there a van going to town later?” “Yep, I’ll be running in about eight, after I get all the men straightened around?”
“Be standing here at eight.”
JB was sort of elated as he walked back to his cabin. He had a day off, he had not had many, just Sundays. It was hard to get work on Sundays, but he had worked all the Saturdays except one since he had started. He was going to go to town and see what he could see.
The van let him off in front of the centrally located saloon. JB had no desire for the saloon. He needed to keep his wits about him. He didn’t need to go spending money on beer and girls.
There was a used car dealer up on the north edge of town. The Van driver had told him he might be able to pick up a cheap car there. JB walked down the gravel sidewalk, if you could call it that, along the front of the shops. The last place on the way out of town was the car dealer. He had a sorry collection. Some had flat tires, some had dust on them so you could hardly see the color of them. The ones in the front row were all clean and spiffy. On the far end of the front row was something that caught JB’s eye right off. It was a fire engine red, Holden Convertible. JB could just see himself tooling around in that with the top down. He went over to look at it.
“How much you looking to spend?”, came the thick Australian accent from behind him.
“Not a lot. How much you want for this car? Does it run?” JB looked at the dealer, wrinkled straw hat and pants tucked into his boots.
“Son, every vehicle in this lot runs, they all got here didn’t they. I don’t have a tow truck. They all drive in here on their own steam. Now, how much you looking to spend? How much you got?”
JB looked around the lot. He could see that the dealer was right. They had all been driven here. Each one made it this far and then was sold. Some took the bus the rest of the way, no doubt, some were lucky and flew out. But the vehicles all stayed here to find new owners. It was a 750-mile dirt road to the nearest city of any size. That was the northern port of Darwin. Most of these cars would have come up the Stewart Highway from the south. That was a 1,400-mile trip, and about 900 of that, was on gravel roads. All these cars, vans truck and bikes had made that trip.
“You want that convertible? It will cost you four grand. That, my friend, is the steal of the day. You could take that car up to Darwin today and get twice your money back.”
JB looked around the lot for something he could better afford. “You got any motorbikes?”
“I think I might have just the unit to fit your budget. It just came screaming in here last week. It has been through our shop and has had everything on it checked, tightened, and filled. She is ready to ride out of here. What do you think, a thousand dollars and she is yours!” He was now standing over a 750 cc Suzuki motorbike. It had a yellow tank and was more streamlined then any bike JB had ridden.
“Does it run?” The dealer reached down and hit the start button. The engine came to life. He quickly turned it off. “This would be quite a ride!”
“I can give you five hundred for it.”
“If you can come up with six hundred in cash, I will let you have it.”
JB bought the bike and the dealer was good enough to throw in the helmet the rider had worn into the lot and left behind. It was one of those helmets you climb in to rather then put on. It came right down to his chest.
As he was riding the bike out of the lot, he noticed that it was a bit unwieldy. It wanted to go straight. It was not too good at turning. It went right up through the gears and JB looked down at the south end of Main Street and saw he was doing just 75 mph. This was no dirt bike. This was a street bike. There was no pavement closer then Katherine to the north. That was the start of the paved road running into Darwin. It was two hundred miles to the north. Then the pavement coming out of Alice Springs was just a day’s ride to the south. He was going to have to ride on the gravel mining roads and the Stewart Highway. JB headed south out of town. The Stewart Highway is the only north-south road coming up from the populated areas of the south and going into to Darwin to the north. There was traffic on it. JB would scoot right along on the quick to accelerate bike. When he saw oncoming cars or trucks, he would slow right down. There was a shower of dust and chunks each time he passed a truck. Even the cars had a plume of dust in their wakes. About the third time a truck passed him, he decided to turn around and head back into town. He would take the less traveled road out to Peko.
He noticed on the odometer as he came back in to town that he had already put 50 miles on the bike. He was getting the feel of the bike. It felt good as the day warmed to have the breeze as he rode along. The bike did not like sharp turns, but at a good clip, it would handle quite well. It was designed for riding at highway speeds, only they had not thought of the Stewart Highway when they made highway speeds. Going through town, he slowed right down and ran through some of the back alleys of the town, behind the main street. The bike didn’t like being in the tight quarters of the alleys. He got out on the road to Peko Mine and opened it up. He shot up to 110 mph in no time.
Having never owned a car or any vehicle in the area, he didn’t know the road very well. JB was cruising along when he saw the road had a sharp bend in it. He leaned into it, and pulled that bike for all he was worth, the gravel was good and tight, and he was just able to hold it all together around the bend. He noticed that he could corner better if he let it have a bit of throttle in the curves. If he was slowing, it was hard to get her to come around. He could see the smelter at Peko off in the distance. He was still ten miles from home. He came to the turnoff got and onto the gliding strip. He decided to go out there and ride around the strip. Maybe someone would be out there gliding. The strip was almost paved, it was fine mill dust that had been cemented together somehow so it was like a seamless concrete runway. It was a great surface for the big Ute to pull the plane up along. The Ute would start slow, then as quick as he could he would accelerate up the strip. When the cable to the glider got to a certain angle, the cable would drop. If they wanted, the pilot could manually drop the cable before that, about the best was to bring the nose right up and climb for all you can while you have the power of the Ute pulling you up. It is like a kid running with a kite.
No one was out there. JB stopped at the hanger, and the strip went off to the east from there. It was all a nice smooth surface. JB accelerated down the strip just as fast as he could. He found he had no room to jump into third gear. He was already at the end of the strip. He slowed as quickly as he could. At the end of the strip was a turn around area, then the desert beyond. It was quite a feeling to be barreling into a hazard as fast as that three cylindered bike could take you.
The rest of the way back to Peko, JB whet slower, just sort of let the bike idle along. He got back to his cabin and got off the bike for the first time since he had gotten on it at the dealer’s yard. He parked it right in front of his cabin and went in to write all about his new toy.
He was writing when some of the others who had not worked today came around to have a look at it. JB went out to bask in the glory of his new toy. Someone asked him how much gas it took and how many miles to the gallon he got. JB had not looked in the tank. The dealer had said that everything was filled. He opened the fuel fill and saw the bottom of the tank. It wasn’t dry, but there was not much fuel left. He had done less the 80 miles. The only place to get fuel at the mine was at the mine store. They charged four dollars a gallon. (Hey, it had to get there somehow, and trucking fuel on dirt desert roads is no picnic!)

JB Working
JB was working, standing on the side of the bogger, left hand forward, towards the ore pile. The bogger runs forward and back at the command of his right hand. Right hand towards the ore, takes the bogger back. Right hand back, brings the bogger towards the ore. The left hand controls the bucket. Left hand back and the bucket comes up, over the bogger and empties into the rail car behind. Put the left hand forward and the bucket comes back down to the scooping position. The bogger runs on a short track, at 90 degrees to the working rail line. JB works the machine into the ore with the right hand, gets a good scoop full, then raises the bucket with the left hand as he backs out with his right. As he backs, the bucket comes up. The airlines bend as the bogger moves back. The bucket passes over in front of JB's face, and as the bogger gets back to the waiting rail car, comes into position to dump over the back of the machine. A quick jerk of the right hand, stops the backward motion of the bogger and the scoop empties into the rail car.
The ore is coming down through a shaft, and JB is mucking it out as it comes down. The ore comes in various sizes and shapes, the bogger can pick up a two-foot square rock, but it is not good strategy to load a rock that big. All of the ore has to go through the grizzly, a grid of heavy steel, one-foot squares. The rock can be bigger then a foot in one direction, but it has to be able to go through the grizzly. The rocks too big for the grizzly can be popped up here where JB is working. If they get down to the grizzly, it is a sledgehammer and crowbar to get them down through the grizzly, no explosives down there. There is an electric light over the grizzly, and any popping done there would put out the lights. Up here in the working area there is no light other then the light on his helmet, without the helmet light there is total darkness, a darkness no one ever sees on the surface.
So JB mucks all the finer dirt out, filling one car, moving the train down, and filling another car, until a fresh charge or ore comes down, with it several large rocks. The bigger boulders will have to be drilled and set, the medium sized ones, still too big to go through the grizzly will be plastered with plastic explosives. So starting with the biggest of the new rocks, JB starts drilling, setting up the airline from the bogger on the air drill. The weight of the drill does most of the work. JB just has to hold it so it will drill downward. If the rock where too big to be drilled downward then the “airleg” would have to be used, a piston, with compressed air from the air line which will push the drill into the rock. But for the most part gravity will do the pushing, with a lot less effort. Drill two holes in the biggest rock. Anything bigger then a refrigerator gets two holes, bigger then a VW and it gets three, bigger then that and it won't fit down the shaft to get to him and it will have to be broken up above, before he ever sees it.
The fresh boulders take five holes, two in the two biggest ones, and one in a smaller big one. Each hole is about 18" deep, or into the center of the rock
whichever is more. To make an 18" hole the 2-foot bit will do the whole job.
To go deeper, start with the 2-footer, get it in there good, then take it out and put on the three-footer. There are four and five-footers there as well, but better not to use them if you don't have to, they get stuck and bent very easy when they are that long and are that far into the rock.
Charge the holes first. One stick for each, the smallest might do with less. JB has to pay for the explosives he uses, but he also has to work any too big ones down the grizzly, so better to use enough than to have to fight with them, or have to come back after a pop and have to reset and pop again. Having the hole in the correct place so the charge is in the center of the mass of the rock helps to ensure the resulting chunks will be small enough. The pay is by the amount of ore making it to the surface. The more you get out the more everyone gets paid. So, a stick for each hole, then the dets, and the mud. The fine silt mud in the trench is just the thing to be sure the bang stays in the hole. Then set up the plastered ones. A det in each; wired in series. The electrical charge going from one to the next to the next, never in parallel. If you put both the pos and neg to one charge, and again to another, there would be no way of telling if one charge had gone off or if you had a det still live in a piece of rock you are whaling away on with the sledge hammer. So, the dets are in series, the pos to one charge, to the neg of the next until you have a loop going around with each charge in the loop. Now if one goes off, they all do. The pos and neg you end up with are then connected to the det main wire, a wire running on the far side of the drift, along with the airlines, running back down the line to where the popping generator is. Both lines connected securely with a twist. A check to be sure everything it out of the way of the blast, the bogger is left with the bucket all the way up to keep any rock from getting behind it on the track.
Everything all set, get on the train, the loco, and head down to the popping
generator. The popping station is where the popping generator is located. This is at the switch in the tracks, about 400 feet from the work site and around two curves.
Up the other line is where the other work site is, about 500 feet away.
Stopping the train up above the switch, (keep the train between you and the
blast; it will stop a lot of the percussion from getting to you.) JB goes to
the detonation generator. Overhead in the airline there is a quarter-turn valve. Making sure his ear protection is on, good and snug, he turns the quarter turn valve. A train whistle sounds, 200 pounds per square inch in a four-inch airline, there is a two-inch whistle. It is loud enough that anyone close enough to be effected by the explosion should be able to hear the whistle. With the shrill blast of the horn continuously going, JB hooks the neg wire to the generator, then starts cranking on the handle as fast as he can. The little green light on the end of the box lights, still cranking away as fast as he can, JB touches the Pos wire to the terminal and quickly puts booth hands up over his ears and pushes at the muffs to his head. There is a dim flash as he touches the terminal, then a thud and then the wind. Just a sort breeze, and reach up and turn off the whistle. (If ever the whistle kept going after a pop, it would tell others there was something wrong. The one setting off the charge was not able to turn off the horn.)
After a pop, it is a good idea to go down to the grizzly and dump the cars, the gases in the area after a pop will give one a screaming headache. Better to go down and dump the cars and let the ventilation pull the air through and clear out the area.
It is a ten-minute train ride down to the grizzly. The grizzly is the first
light you come to as you come down the line. Until then the light on the helmet is all the light you have. The cars dump best when they are filled to the top, so they are a bit top-heavy. There is a trigger on the far side of the car, one foot goes on that, then rocking back and forth, the tip car is tipped over and the ore goes down on to, and hopefully through, the grizzly. Any pieces too big to go through have to be worked by hand, hit with the sledge and maneuvered with the crowbar, until they go down through the grizzly.
When the four cars are empty, it is time to go back and see how the popping went. The loco pushes on the way back up. The cars are light and will jump the track if you get going too fast, but it is up hill going back, and you get to know where you have to slow down a bit, at the switch by the popping generator is one place to slow a bit. Hit that switch at full speed and you'll have a derailed train to put back on.
Getting back up to the work site is a good idea to stop a bit short, you have four cars in front of you, and you can't see very well. If something was blown out on to the tracks, it is better to stop and get it off the track them to run into it or over it.
Hook the airlines to the bogger, and put it back up near the ore. Bring the train up and put the car closest to the loco just behind the bogger and you are ready to start mucking again.
The shifts come and go this way, popping and mucking, dumping tip cars and working the material down through the grizzly, four trains before break, and maybe three after is a good day, (there are a lot of days where something goes wrong and less then that happens.) Last thing of every shift you pop, this gives the on-coming shift a fresh start, and it gives the air, time to clear.
One thing about this practice of popping last thing, every shift you come on, you are coming into a work area where someone else has popped. Did they all go off? Where did they leave the extra sticks?

****ey Lamb
JB and ****ey Lamb were riding their bikes, on the way home from seventh grade. The school was in West Concord, and the boys lived in Canatum. It was a mild fall day. ****ey lamb was stout and firm for a boy of eleven. JB was a bit bigger and not quite as rugged.
They had a stop to make on the way home. The bulldozers had built a new road. Over the summer, it had taken shape. They wanted to scout out the new road. They put their bikes behind a tree. They would walk in from just before where the new road turned off of the “Old Road To Nine Acre Corner” (The road with the longest name in the state.)
They found they had buried a big water line, a storm sewer drain. It was a storm water drainage system for the new road. The out flowing end of the storm drain system was a big apron with a funnel like shape. (To funnel young kids attentions to a big round open pipe going off into the unknown.)
The pipe where the water came out was about three and a half feet in diameter. They got down and looked. ****ey went right up the pipe. He just got in there and sort of crawled up the pipe. First, he was just bent down looking, then he was in up to his waste and then he just scooted up the pipe. He got to where the manhole was on the edge of the street and he could stand up. He called for JB. JB got down on his knees and crawled up the pipe. JB found it a tight fit to come from the prone position, crawling, into standing in a vertical column about four feet across. His partner in crime was already standing there. Over their heads was the storm drain on the edge of the Old Road To Nine Acre Corner. At their waste to ankle level were three lines. The out going, that they had just come in, and two flowing into the manhole. There was no water flowing now, they where however standing in six inches of water.
JB got down and looked at the pipe coming from the new road. He put his head in, with ****ey’s urging he started to crawl up the pipe. The point of no return, when crawling up a pipe, is right when you start into it. Going backwards is very hard. JB crawled along at a pretty good rate. He wanted to get to the next manhole where he could stand up. After he had crawled in so far, ****ey came up behind him. The two of them crawled up the pipe. It was a long section. The pipe had no break in it of any kind until it got up on the new road. It was exhilarating crawl, with no light, no idea where it is leading, with ****ey Lamb at his heels. They took a break at one point and ****ey said he thought he saw light ahead. They crawled on. It was a long way before they really did see light.
They got to the manhole. It was a small one. There was no room to stand. JB could just see the heavy grate, two feet over his head. He could not get his body out of the pipe. ****ey was behind him, he wanted out, they both did. JB got his whole body into the small area of the street drain. With his back against the heavy iron, drain cover. He lifted it off.
No, that is a good way to end it. That was not how the little adventure into the unknown ended.
JB and ****ey yelled, from stuck in the pipe. It got cold and it got dark. Several cars drove overhead. None heard the two boys yelling from the storm drain.
Finally the cops and the fire department came. Someone had started looking for the two missing boys. Their bikes had been found, and soon after, they had been found. The cover was removed. The boys came out. They had another adventure to tell tier kids about.

I guess I needed to call him Richard.

Milking
Let me try to tell you how to milk, or at least how I do it here at Walter's dairy. There are two ways to milk. You might think, the right way and my way. This is not what I was thinking. There is the morning milking, and the afternoon milking. 2am and 2pm.
Let me start with the morning milking. The alarm goes off at 1;32am. It is important that I go to the bathroom. If I skip this step, like most any step in the milking process, the whole thing will not work smoothly. Then I get in to my morning milking cloths. I have morning milking cloths, and afternoon milking cloths. They have some common garments, but for the morning milking it is very cold outside, and also dark. So extra layers of warm cloths, and the rechargeable flashlight has to be picked up just before I go out the door, but I am not ready yet to go out the door. I need to pour my coffee. The big cup is there and the coffee was brewed five minuets before the alarm went off, so it is all ready. (I awoke to the smell of the coffee if I missed the sound of the alarm. When the coffee maker comes on, a fan also starts. Between them I wake.) This has to be preset before I ever go to bed. So coffee in hand, and all dressed for the cold, check the time, if it is too early yet, good time to read just a little in the Bible and maybe pray, if not in writing on the computer, at least one-on-one with the Lord. 1;55am I head out the door.
Grab the rechargeable flash light on the way out the door and go straight over to the milking barn. Turn on the lights to the milk room. Check to be sure the pipe is set to go in to the tank, not still in the wash and circulate position. Check to be sure the bucket was taken down to the pump, and the stainless bucket is down in the milking parlor, ready for use. Check the cooler and make sure the hoses at the bottom are connected. These things should have been done the night before, but it is best to check and be sure everything is in its place. I go through the door into the milking parlor room, turn on the light. The door to let the cows out has to be opened, so after they are milked they won't run into a closed door. Then down the stairs, check the pump, valve in the milking position, and the short white cork in place, the bucket is ready to catch the milk when clean up starts, all seals good, look for anything out of place. Then I head down to the milking area. My coffee cup goes on the chair after a big swig. Then I push the "remove" button of each of the twelve milkers, six to a side. Open the two doors the cows come through from the holding pen. In the morning all the suction cups should be in the ready position, they where all made ready the night before. I check, look for anything out of place. Check the gates; the gates to leave the milkers has to be shut on both sides, and the two to let the cows into the milkers have to be open. Then I go out in to the holding pen, walk along the side, make sure all the gates are open for the cows to come in. As we milk we push the cows forward and shut gates behind them, they all have to be open to start the milking. I turn on the incandescent light as the florescent lights are not working. Then I head over to the dry cows. I'm looking for new calves, mothers about to calve, or anything out of sorts. It was at this point that Bob saw the lights on over at Rick's trailer and went over to investigate. I look for anything not as it should be at two in the morning. This is an area where the flash light comes in to play. It is a lot like the night nurse coming around, making sure everyone is asleep and where they belong.
After checking the dry cows, it is back to the mouth of the calve pen. Every gate has to be open so the cows can go right in. Now we are ready to herd the cows in. I whistle in order to move the cows, Bob shouts, I whistle, always have, it works for me. In the morning the first tune I whistle is always revelry. I work along the west side, going north, whistling as I go, check the waterer at the north west corner, whistle to the cows and make sure they all get to their feet as I pass. Along the north side working to the east, over to the fence, before I cross the fence I make sure all on this side are headed in. They know where to go, we do this same drill every Morning at 2am. Then check the waterer straddling the fence, cross the fence and whistling an upbeat sort of tune, push the cows along towards the barn. Flashlight in hand, always checking for new-borns. They don't belong over here, but sometimes a calf will be born in the production cow’s pen. I also check the heifer pen as I work back south along the east side, The heifers are all bread, they are supposed to go to the dry cow pen to have their young, but with fifty bread heifers you’re wise to look for newborn calves. Whistling as I go, there is always a group at the hay manger on the south east corner, make sure they are headed in, these are the night owls, the ones who like to go get a late night snack. They realize by doing this just before milking that it will get them into the barn last. There are some cows who like to be last, and there are others who are always waiting for me to open the gate so they can be first in. Whistle while you work, a joyful tune as they all head in to the barn. Checking always to be sure none are behind you, and nothing out of place. This is a good time for morning prayer. It takes practice to be able to whistle and pray at the same time, but I assure you it can be done.
With all the cows in front of you, looking forward to getting milked, get through the holding pen gate, shut it and chain it. They won't be up against it now, but after they are milked, it will hold them from coming back in, and it is a safeguard, if the electric line doesn’t hold them in. Next the eclectic line, Billy always puts it away in the wrong way, but it is there, stretch it across and check the charger to be sure it is live. Then I walk along the walk way at the edge, past the waiting cows, down in to the milking area. Check to be sure there are six to a side. Close the gates so they won't back out and no more will come in before I need them.
I then head up in to the milk room, double check be sure the pump is all ready, check the out going door, make a mental note to turn on the water as I return, is everything ready in here?
In the milk room I double check the pipe, make sure the milk will go in the tank and not on the floor, as it would if the pipe was left in the clean out mode. Turn on the water to the cooler. I have to get a bucket to stand on to do this, the bucket will come in handy right there later anyway. Then back to the parlor, turn on the milking pump, three way switch, don't want to turn it to wash. It is on the off mode when I get there. Turn it to Milk, to the west. Then turn on the water, down the stairs, check the pump, the receiver, the out going door, a swig a coffee as I pass, and we are ready to milk.
The first cows to be hooked up, have a little different procedure then other others to follow. The milkers are all hanging upside down with no strings attached. They have to be removed from the hook, inverted and I place the suction cups on the tits, doing the far back one first and the far front one next, the near rear and the near front. The reason for the order is kicking. You put the cups on first witch will make the cow kick on the far side. It saves me from getting kicked. Attach the string, and on to the next cow. After all twelve are hooked up, go along and hit the Auto bottom on each of the units, the red and green lights will come on, this will pull the milkers off when each cow is finished being milked.
I then go up to the milk room and be sure the milk is not going on the floor, check the cooler and be sure the milk coming out is cooler then the milk going in, the water is turned on, check to be sure nothing is out of place, there shouldn't be, but I check just in case.
Then it is back to the cows. It isn't a requirement of milking, but every morning at this time I have a big swig of coffee, it seems to make the whole process go better.
As each cow is finished, a light will go off on the unit, showing there is no longer a flow of milk, then the unit will continue to milk her for 30 seconds, then the milker will be pulled off by the string, the suction will stop. When this happens I have to go and check the cow, feel each of the four quarters and be sure she has milked out, if not, put the milker back on, if she is milked out I spray the utter with iodine, enough so it will drip from each of the four tits. The whole side has to be done before they can be released. If there is extra time it is a good time to spray feet with tetracycline, a spray for foot rot. Also in the last week I have been trimming the tails, making the cows look better, and cleaner, and it makes it a lot easier to get at the utter. A Pair a scissors is there for the purpose.
When the side is all finished, checked and sprayed, open the out-going gate and release them. Wait till all are out, close the gate, go open the in coming gate, and about a third of the time six will come right in without being asked, if they don't go out and convince then to come in and get milked. As it gets later, and the more reluctant cows come in, it takes more convincing.
As the cows come in, watch for specialty cows. These are new mothers still giving colostrum, and medicated cows, they have an orange grease crayon mark on their utters and a red leg band, medicated cows that can not under any circumstances go in to the tank, have two leg bands on each leg. If a specialty cow comes through, also know as a bucket cow, the bucket has to be placed between the unit and the cow. This is done by removing the milk hose from the unit and placing it on the bucket, then taking the hose from the bucket and placing it on the unit. This will simply let the milk drop in to a bucket before going into the pipeline to be taken to the tank. After a specialty or bucket cow, the milker has to be rinsed out, and the bucket removed. The bucket has to be emptied if there are more going to go into the bucket.
The cycle continues for 136 cows, or until there are no more, as it gets harder to get them to come in, go out and push them forward with a whistle or a shout and close a gate behind them. It is good to talk nicely to them in the catch pen, they are about to be milked and the happier they are the more milk they will give. Hook up the suction cups, far ones first. Check each cow, all four quarters, replace the milker as needed, and spray all four quarters with Iodine, watch for leg bands and any sick cows. The cycle is a pleasant one going on for about two hours. There is time for contemplation and prayer. Plenty of time for witnessing if anyone is in helping me milk.
During the milking, it is good to hold back the right number of cows so at the end there will be a full six to get milked, this is done by closing the out going gate and keeping back the desired number of cows. Then at the end you are left with twelve cows. Some new milkers and others that are reluctant to go through for their own reasons. With a full parlor the cows can't move around with the milkers on, if you try to milk less then six on a side there is nothing to keep them from backing up. This wouldn't be a problem with the early cows, who all seem to look forward to being milked and getting back out. But the late ones will back and play games if given the opportunity.
When I get down to the last set, six to a side, I start the cleaning process. One with many steps. Each has to be done in order. The first step is, as each milker is finished being used, it gets hung upside down from a hook, making sure it is positioned so it will drain. The washing cups are put on each of the suction cups. This will allow water, soap and chlorine to circulate through the system and clean it. The milkers must be washed down as the washing cups are being placed.
One concern when thinking about hooking up the wash gear, don't forget the cows. Every cow still has to be checked, and the milker replaced if need be, and each quarter needs the iodine spray. It is easy to forget about the last cows, and concentrate of hooking up the wash cups. The cows are the livelihood, the bed and butter, they all need to be checked, and these last ones are often new milkers and cows in pain for one reason or another, that is why they are last, so it is important to check them before hooking up the washer.
After all twelve milkers are hooked to the washing cups, the last twelve cows can be released. The gates have to be set, the out going gates closed, and the in-coming gates open, ready for the next milking. The doors the cows come in have to be closed, as well as the man door into the holding pen. Then pick up the Stainless bucket and the coffee cup and head for the tank room. The stainless bucket is placed near the cooler, two buckets are places under the cooler, the water to the cooler needs to be turned off. The hose under the cooler needs to be separated and drained in to the waiting buckets. Then back to the milk pump on the other side of the door, hit the receiver empty switch, hold it till you hear the receiver empty, and then hold it another ten seconds or so. Now turn off the main milk pump, it is on the same panel. Then I go back in to the tank room and take the top off the stainless bucket, place it in the sink with the hose hooked to the suction port. I put the plug in the sink and turn on hot and cold water to fill the sink. Then back out in to the Parlor, hit start on each of the units, and come back to the receiver. The valve is turned straight up and down for the wash position and the filter is removed and the filter chamber washed and put back together. The black bucket should be full of milk now if everything is going right. The milk in the black bucket is what drained back down the pipeline when the pump was turned off. Grab that, and the filter with spring and end, and bring that with you back to the tank room, on the way turn off the water to the parlor. Place the black bucket under the cooler. The sink should be nearly full, if it is full turn off the water, then climb up on the tank and remove the pipe going into the tank and refasten it to the circulate line. Bring the pipe with you to the sink. Then check your self, you are going to start putting water through the system, make sure everything is in place, the pipe is in the circulate mode, the valves under the cooler are open, the return for the wash water is in the far sink, is everything ready to wash? Get as many calf bottles as you need and fill them before the wash water dilutes the milk. Fill them with colostum from the stainless if you have it. Then go out to the pump panel and turn the pump to wash, to the east. The water in the sink will be sucked through the lines, through to milkers and will come out into the far sink. Empty the black bucket into the calf feeding buckets, and place it under the return line. Stand by the cooler hoses, when the water comes through is will come with a blast, with the milk coming first. Make sure it goes into the calf feeding buckets, and then when the return comes, soon after, make sure is goes into the black bucket, this will be milk first, it will be the last milk you will get to feed the calves. When the milky water is clear, turn the hoses under the cooler off. As the rinse water is going through, take the cup from the sink and fill it with soap from the closet, the middle tank in the closet is the soap. When you get back to the sink with that all the water should have been sucked up. Go and shut off the wash pump, came back and take the cork out of the sink, drain it, and replace the cork. Turn the water on all hot. Take the cup and go to the closet and fill it with chlorine, the tank to the east, place that on the hand washing sink, and finish filling the calf buckets. When the sink has enough for the pump to suck, make sure the return hose is back into the sink with the water in it, and go turn on the wash pump. As soon as the water starts returning, and the water is circulating, turn off the hot water, take the calf buckets and the bottles and go feed the calves. This is the heaviest part of the job, taking two full five gallon buckets across the yard to the calves. The bottles can float in the milk. Put the Buckets down at the near end of the calf hatches, before doing the bucket feeding, place the bottles in the bottle calves milk buckets, this way you won't put milk in there bucket as you work along the line, it also gives the shoulders a chance to rest after carrying the buckets across the yard. Then came back and take a bucket, put about a quart in each calf bucket. There is enough in one five gallon bucket to do the front row and three off the back row. Then return and get the other bucket, start where you left off, and finish out the back row, or till you get to the weaning calves. If you have given the right amount to each, there should be a few inches of milk left in the bottom of the bucket. Go over to the hydrant and fill the bucket with water, diluting the remaining milk. Take this and feed it to the weaning calves.
Then return the bucket to the starting point and go and feed the bottle calves, always trying to teach them to drink out of the bucket. When they are done, I am cold and wet from the spilt milk. Then return to the tank room with the bottles, caps removed, in the five gallon buckets. Look at the thermometer in the wash water, if it is down below 100 degrees, the return hose can be moved to the drain sink, and the out going water can be used to rinse the two five gallon buckets and the bottles, and the stainless bucket and the black bucket. The bottles go back in the other room on the window sill, and the stainless gets turned over and put on the draining rack. Use the drain water to wash the floor, any spilt milk, fill the buckets and use that water to wash all behind the tank and in the alley. The five gallon buckets get turned over on the drying rack. When the water in the sink gets down so the pump won't take any more, go out and turn off the wash pump. Return and pull the cork in the sink, drain it and start the water on hot and cold. Place the return hose in the drain sink. Put the waiting Chlorine in the sink, and when it is full enough for the pump to take water, turn on the wash pump. The system will fill with water/chlorine mix, when the water starts coming out the return, turn off the water. Use the chlorine water to wash down the dairy. When the sink is down where the dump won't suck, turn off the pump. Pull the cork in the sink. Make sure every thing on the sink will drain, the hose on the top of the stainless bucket, and the pipe for the tank, then go out to the far end of the catch pen and turn off the incandescent light, come back and turn off the parlor light, grab the coffee cup (witch has been washed at some point in all this) and turn off the tank room lights, return to the house, and before getting too far in to the house, replace the rechargeable flash light in the plug. Then take off the milking cloths, keeping them separate from any other cloths, and it is time for a shower.
Afternoon milking
The Afternoon Milking starts at 1:45PM. Once again I have to be in the right cloths. They are not the heavy, cold weather, cloths of the morning milking. The outside layer is composed of the same manure covered shell. I have to be all hydrated when I go out. There is no coffee in the afternoon milking.
I go out to the Tank room first. The barn is not set up like it is for the morning. I have to put the pipe in the milk tank and connect the hoses under the cooler. The spring to mount the filter on is in the sink. I have to get a new filter, from the rack next to the door, and install it on the spring with the ends witch is also in the sink. I put the top on the stainless bucket; take the Stainless the filter and the black bucket down to the receiver pump. On the receiver pump there is a cylinder for the filter. I have to dismantle that, put the filter in and reassemble it. Then I have to go along the milkers and take the cups off each of the four suction cups on each of the twelve milkers, six to a side. Then go back through and hang the washing cups, then go through one more time and hit the “remove” bottom on each of the twelve units. I open the in-coming doors for the cows, and make sure to out going gates are closed. The in-coming gates have to be opened. Then I go out through the catch pen, opening all the gates so the cows can come right in.
I then go over to the dry cows, any new calves have to be taken to the calf hutches, and their mothers have to be brought across and banded on the legs. This can take some time with all the gates that have to be moved to bring a cow across. If there are no calves it saves quite a bit of time in the afternoon.
I am now ready to herd the cows in. I open the last gate between them and the holding pen, and make the same pattern I make for the morning milking, today being Sunday I whistled the songs we song in church. One good thing about whistling for the cows, I haven't yet heard a complaint. I check for calves in the heifer pen, as well as any in the production cow’s pen. In the day I am less apt to find a calf, it is light and someone else would have most likely seem it before me, and cows don't usually have their young in the day light hours.
I make sure I got them all in. It is again a good time to practice whistling and praying to God at the same time. There are the snow caped Rockies for a back drop as well as the Big Thompson River working it's way down the valley, there is much to be thankful for.
With all the cows in the holding pen, the gate closed and chained, the electric wire across, I head back to the milking parlor. I close the gates behind the cows in the milkers. Make sure there are six on each side. Then go down through the parlor. Turn the valve on the receiver to the “milking” position, horizontal. Open the out-going door so the cows can get out after being milked, and go into the tank room. Check to be sure the pipe is going into the tank, don't want milk on the floor. Then I turn on the water to the cooler. I go out and towards the parlor, on the way I turn on the milking pump, make sure it is on “milk” and not on “wash”. Then I turn on the water for the parlor. I am now ready to milk. The first twelve are like the first twelve in the morning. Each has the milker inverted in the washout position. It has to be inverted. The 'Start' button pushed and the suction cups placed on the cow's tits. The far rear is placed first, working to the front and near. The hoses have to be hung on the movable hook. This will line up the milker, and keep the hoses out of the way. Then the string has to be put on each milker. If the string is forgotten and the 'Auto' button is pushed, then when the cow’s milk stops flowing, the suction will stop to the suction cups and the whole milker will fall on the floor under the cow’s rear feet. With all the milkers on the cows and all the strings attached, it is time to go check the tank room. The most crucial thing is to check if the milk is going in the tank, and if the milk is being cooled by the cooler. Then I head back down to the parlor, and go through hitting 'Auto' on each of the units. I check to be sure the strings are attached as I push the button.
We have only one bull. He does not need to be milked, but he does come in and go through the parlor with his girls. He is most often one of the first twelve to come through. So if he comes through, it is a good idea to take the milker down just like you are going to milk him, and put the string on it, don't put it on him, he wouldn’t like that, but make sure the milkers is ready like the others so it won't be an anomaly later.
As a cow gets finished she needs to be checked out. Feel all four quarters, make sure she has been milked out, any milk left in there runs to possibility of spoiling and giving the cow a condition referred to as mastitis. Each of the four tits needs to be sprayed with iodine, enough to make each tit drip. At the bottom end of each tit is the aperture where the milk comes out, if there is a drip left there, it will be right where the hole is, and do the most good. All the iodine that is sprayed on the utter does very little good, it is the droplet on the end of the tit over the opening the milk comes form, that does all the good.
When a side of six cows are all finished, checked and sprayed, I open the out-going gate, make sure they all get out, close that gate and open the in-coming gate. If I have some thing else to do, I do it while the cows come in. If I am waiting for them, I go out and hurry them along. Then I close the in-coming gate, and start placing the milkers. The incoming gate can wait to be closed. Often I start putting the milkers on before all six cows are in place. The incoming gate does have to be closed however before the out going gate is opened. If they are opened at the same time, or if the in-coming is mistakenly left open, and the out going is opened, the cows will come in, and keep right on going. They will pass right through the parlor and never get milked. Once they are through and out with the already milked cows, it is all but impossible to tell witch ones they are, or to get them to come back in without getting everyone to come back in. So it is a good idea to milk them all, make sure your in-coming gate is closed before you let the cows out.
The pattern repeats, time and again, for two hours or more. I keep an eye out for specialty cows, ones with leg bands or orange marks. There are a few cows who only have three working tits. When one of these come through, a cork has to be placed in the extra suction cup. The extra cup is them put over the others to keep it out of the manure on the floor.
Bucket cows need the bucket placed in the line so the milk won't go into the pipe line leading in to the tank. When ever the bucket is installed in the line, the 'Manual' button must be depressed. The milk is bypassing the sensor that activates the release mechanism. The units will sense there is no milk coming, and it will drop the milker. With the Manual button pushed, you have to come along and hit the 'Remove" button for the milker to come off.
In the after noon, after clean up, it is always a good idea to make sure everything is as ready as can be for the morning milking. One day a week, Bob does the morning milking, He wants to find everything all set and ready to go. If any thing unforeseen should come up, and he should do the morning milking, it is good to have it all as it should be. At the pipes in the ready position, all the valves set to go, any thing like the filter for the milk, that can be done after milking, is done before the job in finished.
Afternoon milking happens at 2pm. There is a good chance that company will be there for at least a part of the milking. Even if a friendly girl comes to see how it is all done, be sure it is all done before you leave the barn for the afternoon.
The calf feeding in the afternoons is warm and delightful. It is a good time to get pictures of the calves learning to feed and of me teaching them to drink from the buckets.

Hiya, Did you write it on microsoft word or monzilla even??? both check spelling & grammer..

I use Word 007. Is my spelling that bad?

If I'm going to edit your writing. I want to get paid.

Nick’s
Wheaton must have once been a sleepy little town, twenty miles form the center of Washington, DC in the wooded countryside of Maryland. But somewhere along the line, a Metro was built. With the commuter train came the commuters, and with them, the town grew to the bursting point. The town's streets were all enlarged to take the increase in traffic. The sidewalks were built then pushed back, then in places they had to be done away with altogether.
The two main streets that intersect to make the town of Wheaton are Georgia, coming up from the center of Washington and University, an East-West street that has grown to become a major connecting artery.
One block west of where to two main streets of the town meet, at the north east corner of University and Vear's Mill Rd, there is an ever-smaller parking lot as the streets encroach on it. At the edge of this parking lot is a breakfast and lunch dinner with a red and white awning out front. The sign across the front proudly reads, "Nick's Dinner.” At one time the dinner was set back from the street, with maybe a tree or two between it and the street. Now as motorists and busses zoom by on University, they can look right in and see the patrons sitting at the counter.
Finding a parking spot in the front lot of the dinner can be a trick, the locals all know that there is another lot built in the back of the building. There is only enough room left now for four cars to park out front.
The entrance is in the middle of the front of the dinner. As a concession to the cold winter days, there has been an entryway added on. The same builder as built the original building did not build the cold weather entry. It is of newer and thereby cheaper and not matching materials. The door is wood, in sharp contrast to the stainless steel and tile of the older structure. The entryway gives a block to the winds as the inner door is opened on the backs of the folks enjoying their breakfast at the counter. Going through the inner door you come in to the middle of the counter area, where there is a break, and a passageway. The room in the back is not for the public, it might have one time been a kitchen, but now houses the dishwasher and storage for the many foodstuffs needed to keep the little place going.
To the right of the gap in the counter is the cash register, sitting on the counter with a sign saying “We longer take personal checks” and a cup beside it with toothpicks in it. The lady ringing up the sales is the matriarch of the establishment. She is Nick's wife, Emporia.
To the left of the gap in the counter on the back wall is the grill, the heart of the place. Manning the grill is George, Nick's son. In need of a shave, or maybe just starting a new winter's beard, dressed in a Miller Beer T-shirt with a white apron tied around his waste. He is a skilled, short order cook, going from flipping a neatly made patty of hashbrowns, to one handily cracking two eggs on to the grill, then flipping an order of scrapple. George is able to get the orders together and get them out, each cooked to perfection, and each in its own time. Everything around the grill has its place, and as George moves about, half by habit and half by skill, he is the entertainment, working right in front of the breakfast eaters. There is what is left of a whole ham sitting in a rack on the left edge of the grill. It is there so he can neatly slice off peace's to make the "Best Ham Sandwiches in town" as the sign hanging over his head says. More of the ham lands on plates beside eggs then ever makes its way to ham sandwiches, but either way it is still the best ham in town. The grill is in two parts. The left side has a heap of warming hash browns at the back. The right side is slightly hotter and it is where the sausage patties are grilled along with the bacon and the pancakes. To the right of the right side grill are two gas-fired burners, with saucepans on them. George uses the burners for frying the eggs, flipping them with a flip of the wrist in small well-worn frying pans.
Working behind the counter are two young, good looking, girls. The dark haired one is Heather, Nick's daughter. She waits on the counter and greets each customer with a smile. The blond girl is Emilie. She is not related to Nick, the only one in the dinner who is not family. Between Emilie and Heather they wait on the counter as well as the ten small tables cramped into the far end of the counter. Each table has a blue and white checkered tablecloth with the center peace being the catch-up bottle and salt and pepper.
If you ever get to Wheaton Maryland, on the red line of the Metro, walk to two blocks up-hill and have a meal at Nick’s place. I suggest an order of eggs over easy and ham.

Bike Ride


In Sussex in the south of England, bicycles are a good method of getting around. The distance between things is not too great, and the topography of the land is somewhat flat. The weather is conducive to being outside, not too hot on the hottest day, and it seldom gets cold enough to snow. The motor traffic is used to seeing the peddling sort and gives them room. Yes, it is a good way to get around. JB had himself a bike, a good one. His bike was built in 1947. It was built to replace the motorized transportation during the war years. This bicycle must have been built by the same people who where making the tanks, and armored cars. It was a heavy thing, built to last. The rear fender was made of good enough steel that a passenger could sit back there and feel quite safe. Someone in the years since the war had fashioned a seat and fixed it over the rear tire of the bike. JB didn't have a passenger with him, he was just peddling along by himself, thinking what a good form of transportation his bike was in this part of the world. He could ride to the train station, leave his bike there quite safe, and travel to parts further away than he would want to ride. He was now riding down towards town, towards the town of Arundel, Sussex England. He was going to ride through the near side of town, then by the bridge in the center of town. He would leave the road and take the footpath up the river to Warningcamp. The road portion of his ride would be just about half of the ride, the second half would be the footpath, ridding along the dike of the tidal River Arun. It was a warm spring day. It was so nice to be out and about on such a day. School was over for the year. He had gotten through his first year at college. His grades had not been the best, but with the help of the lenient grading system, he was able to get through the year with all passing grades.
There had been a coarse or two he would not be getting any credit for, but the fact he had not completed them was not going to be held against him. The students were all gone now, well, most of them, with the campus being right here, with in swimming distance of France, and all of Europe, there where several students who would be staying over. JB had decided he was going to stay the summer. He had spent other summers in Britain and in Europe. It seemed natural for him to stay over again this year. He had his old job back at the Warningcamp Youth Hostel. He would again be the assistant warden. He was keeping his room in the college. He would stay over there on his nights off, and stay at the hostel whenever he was working.
Downtown Arundel, with the Dukes castle and the Catholic cathedral, all the small shops, everything so old, so well established. The pubs where full of fore noon pub goers. The tobacconist was JB’s favorite place, all the different pipe tobaccos, JB decided to stop. He didn't have a real need for tobacco, he had a pouch that was nearly full, but the tobacconist had so many different sorts of tobacco, and some tasted so good. He pulled his bike up to the stand outside the shops door, noticed that his bike was about the best of those there on the rack. Many were older models, but non were so old or in such good condition as his bike. He felt lucky to have such a good bike.
There where two customers in the tobacconist ahead of JB. The one being waited on was a sixtyish gentleman. He was asking about one particular blend of pipe tobacco, the man behind the counter was enjoying waiting on him. They were discussing the finer points of this one blend. The shop owner's daughter came out from behind and asked the other customer waiting if she could wait on him.
This young lass was right about the middle of her prime, and doing a smashing job of it. Her hair was auburn, with high lights of red. It was tied back with a bow and just reached her collar. She was built for comfort, and her smile was worm and welcoming. She was wearing a white pleated shirt, and a plaid skirt. The entire package was very pleasing to the eye.
" Can I help you sir?" JB was startled his mind had been wondering, well not wondering so much as focused of the shape of the girl. She smiled at JB and added to her greeting. “Are you looking for more pipe tobacco?"
JB realized he had been in only yesterday. He thought fast, and his eye spotted a rack of pipe cleaners. “No, I was just looking for some pipe cleaners, I seem to have run out."
JB paid for his pipe cleaners, trying all the time to think of something smart to say to the girl. He left the shop, a little mad at himself for not having the clever words to say to her, he had been tongue-tied. He stopped in the shop almost every time he came through town, and he had never gotten any further with the girl then buying pipe cleaners.

Up Stream
Thank you Lord for so nice a day. That was the thought going through Josh’s mind as he listened to the birds and watched the scenery of the day go by. One hand on the tiller, the other hand held his pipe. The scenery of the C&O canal passed him by as the canal boat he was on made it’s way up the channel. He was thankful that he had run in to his friend in Georgetown. The boat was nicely loaded with a backhaul load of carefully crafted chairs and desks, all bound for the world out west. The furniture was not heavy, it filled the cargo bins of the boat, but didn’t make it sit low in the water as they worked their way back up the canal towards Cumberland for another downstream load.
On the towpath up ahead, were three of his most cherished beings. The rear mule is Lil, the mother of Shane in the stable on the bow of the boat. Lil had been pulling boats up and down the canal for 24 years. She knew this waterway better then Josh.
The fore mule was Adrian, named after Josh’s mom. She was in her prime, just 9 years old. She had been working the boats up and down through the locks here between Virginia and Maryland for 7 years. She just loved to work, given the chance she would pull till she dropped. As the fore mule, it was her job set the pace. Hers was a good fast walking pace. She kept them going upstream just below the speed needed to make a wake. They were making good time.
The third one on the towpath was Jake, Josh’s brother’s boy. Nine years old, and as full of goodness as the Lord could make him. He was the rookie on the trip. This was his first summer to work on the boats. Not that he didn’t know a days work, he had been out west and back. He liked the work on the boats, it was like a vacation to him.
Jake had left for California four years before. His father, Josh’s brother, Tom, had run out there looking for gold. The whole family had made the long hard trip out there. The trip had cost the family most everything. Now they were back. Jake was the only one of the family ready, willing and able to work. Jake loved his new job. He tended the mules and guided them along the towpath for most of the day. He knew and loved mules, and he had four now that he could look after and get to work as if they really enjoyed pulling a boat up and down the canal.
Josh held the rudder, centering the boat as it past a family of ducks along the shore. The towrope pulled off to the side, the rudder kept the boat out in the center of the channel. Locks 16 through 20 were not too far up ahead. They raised the level of the canal up as the canal passed by the Great Falls of the Potomac River. Locks 16 and 17 were tended by Willie and his family. The Thortons who lived and worked in the Inn at Lock 20 tended the top three in the five lock series.
Josh watched the northern bank of the channel as they came around the next bend. He was looking for a tree bent out over the water. There were not a lot of trees left along the canal. This one had been spared by all the firewood gatherers. It made for a good landmark. It was just a bend below Lock 16. Josh always made it a habit to blow the trumpet horn just as that tree came in to sight. It was from that spot that the almost deaf Lock keeper at 16 could hear the horn. Blowing it there would give them the best chance of having the lock low when they got up to it.
It wasn’t the landmark tree that came in to sight first, rather it was another boat making it’s way down. From the color of the boat, the shape and the little girl leading the mule team, Josh knew it to be Oldman Green. The splash of red on the towpath with his mules must be his youngest daughter, Kimmy. She was going to be a knock out in another few years, Oldman Green would be wise to keep close track of her. She was only about seven now, but she was a looker, even at this age.
As Kimmy and Jake drew closer on the towpath, Jake asked Adrian to “step over”. Adrian and Lil slacked off on their paces, the towrope grew slack leading back to the boat. The wiffletree dragged on the ground for several steps before Jake told Adrian to “Hoo up”. Both Lil and Adrian came to a stop on the side of the towpath away from the water’s edge. Jake patted both his mules as he waited for Kimmy to bring her two along the working part of the path.
Jake saw a dandelion off to the side of the towpath. He told Adrian and Lil to stay, much like one would a dog. And he put the lead rope over Adrian’s ears and quickly went over and grabbed the yellow blossom. With Jake’s towrope slack in the water, Kimmy was able to lead her team over it and continue down stream. As she passed, Jake held out the yellow flower for her. She giggled and took it.
As soon as Josh had seen the other boat coming down stream, he had started to work his out further off the bank. The remaining headway he had was enough to bring the boat off the bank and over to the far side of the canal.
Jake watched his towrope as Oldman Green’s fully laden boat approached it. It was very important to have that towrope as slack as possible. With their boat over on the far side of the stream, the mules had to be kept just ahead of the bow of the boat. This would give Oldman Green’s boat room to float over it. If the towrope was to catch on the downstream boat, Jake would have a true emergency. The towrope to his team would go tight, and start to pull his team back. The reaction of the team would be to pull. It was always best to be sure that never happened.
Josh waved to Kimmy on the bank as she made her way down past. On the bow of Oldman Green’s boat was Sally, Oldman Green’s wife. She was working on putting out some wash.
Josh waved to her and called over, “ Keeping him in line, Sally?”
“ Wish I had the power! He has got the gold bug in him now, wants to sell the boat and take off out west. Talk to him Josh!”
Sally passed by and the 94 feet of Oldman Green’s boat came down along past. Oldman Green was at the tiller.
“Sally says you have gone mad? Think you can go strike it rich? Have a talk with my brother before you start out!”
Oldman Green puffed on his pipe and looked at Josh. “I can do better then what he did. I know where to go. I got a map.”
“Talk to my brother Tom before you make it a done deal”
Oldman green and his boat passed by, hauling their load of coal down to the carriage shop in Georgetown.
As soon as the tiller on Oldman Green’s boat was clear of the line, Jake told Adrian to “Hep”. Adrian gave a half step, and Lil felt the harness pull forward on her, she too took a step. Jake said a gentle, “come on up” and the two mules fell into step, the towrope still slack in the water behind them. Josh’s boat had lost almost all headway as the heavy boat had passed. He was all but dead in the water now. As the towline comes taut Jake says “Hoo now”. Just as she feels the line become taut, Adrian gives a push into the harness, then comes to a stop. Lil does the same. The furniture-laden boat comes along a bit, Jake says “Hep”. The team steps ahead, and just as the line again comes taught Jake commands Adrian to “Hoo”. Each time the boat gains momentum. This is called bumping, it will get the boat moving without straining the team. With three short stoppages, Jake has Adrian and Lil leaning into their work, starting the boat going along at the steady walking clip. .
Josh takes the trumpet horn from the peg rack it set on. He gives two short honks much like a Canadian goose. Then he takes a good lung full and blows a long hard steady blast of the horn. The two shorts mean he is coming from downstream. The long blast means get out there and do something about it. Josh gives the same horn blasts again. Oldman Green’s boat has just come downstream, so the lock is low now. If the lockkeeper, Willie, hears another boat coming up, he will leave it low.
Josh thinks of Oldman Green. Going out west had been his brother’s obsession. He was back now. Tom had come back from his experience with the gold rush a broken man. Now he didn’t amount to much, wouldn’t even come on the boat. Much less get one of his own.
“Honk, Honk, Honk, HOOONNNKKK!” Josh heard the call of an answering trumpet horn. Three short blasts meant someone was coming downstream. They would have the right of way. Josh had signaled first, in an ideal world that would mean he was let through the locks first. More then likely the downstream gates were being closed. The lock would be allowed to fill with water, and the upstream gates would be opened. This would ready the lock for the loaded boat to pass through first.
As Lock 16 came in to view, that was indeed what had happened. The gates were closed. That was all right, Josh would slack off well below the lock, giving himself plenty of room to get a good straight shot at entering the lock. His boat was 12 foot six in the beam. The Seneca sandstone walls of the lock are only 14 feet apart, to get the 94-foot boat in the lock, it had to go in straight.
“That’ll do!” Josh called out to Jake.
“Step over now” Jake ordered Adrian. Both Lil and Adrian slacked their pace and stepped to the side of the towpath away from the water. They ambled along at a slower pace, leaving the towline slack behind them. Josh worked the tiller to bring his boat over to the northern side of the canal.
Up ahead the lock keeper Willie was on the towpath side and Hank, his hired hand, was on the north side of the lock. They opened the keys and let the lock fill. Then both Willie and Hank leaned their weight, each in to a gate, and swung the upstream gates open. As soon as the gates hit the walls, in sailed King Henry 5. It was Charlie Howe’s boat. His team of roan colored mules was lead by his son Dan. Josh could see the name of the boat, in big red letters, on the forward stable cabin of the boat as it pulled into the lock. Hank and Willie each closed the keys in the upstream, now, open gates, readying them to hold back the water of the cannel when they let the water out. They then walked down the 100 feet length of the lock to the downstream gates.
Dan and Charlie hoped off the boat, each with a line in hand. They wrapped them each three times around a synching post and brought the boat in close to the northern wall. Dan’s brother Tory hoped off the boat and went over to take his turn at leading the mules. Tory was Jake’s age, he waved to Jake down along the towpath.
“Lock ready?!” Called Dan.
“Lock ready,” said Willie as he and Hank each turned a key part way in the down stream gate. King Henry 5 started to sink down between the red sandstone walls of the lock as the water gushed out from the valves at the base of the lock gates.
“Open her up?” called Hank.
“Lock ready” answered back Dan and Charlie in unison. Hank and Willie opened the four keys to the full open position. The water at the base of the gate gushed out full force and the King Henry sank between the walls of the lock.
The water slowed coming from the valves.
“Ok to open?” Hank barked.
“Open when ready” answered Charlie. Both Dan and Charlie unwrapped the lines from the synching posts and hopped on to the roof of their boat. Hank and Willie leaned on the ten by tens of the lock gates, and slowly the big down stream gates opened.
Taking a fifteen foot pole from the roof, Dan stood in the stern and pushed off, anchoring his push pole on the mortise at the base of the up stream gate. The 12-year old boy pushing on the push pole was able to push the fully loaded barge boat out of the lock.
The loaded King Henry 5 came out of the lock. Tory got his mules going along down the towpath. As soon as Tory had his tow line clear, Jake started his team. Bumping the boat three times, each giving the upstream boat more momentum, till the boat was headed up into the waiting low lock.
“Come on now hard!” Jake asked his team to give an extra pull to give the boat the headway it would need to glide upstream into the lock. As the towline came up to the lower lock gate, Jake gave Adrian the command to “Hoo now” The towline went slack as Josh guided the boat up into the lock. Jake lifted the line over the lock gate, he then rapped the leadline from Adrian’s halter to the hitching post along side of the lock.
Josh took the stern line and Jake the bow line, each wrapped three wraps on the synching posts. As the bow of the boat drew up to the upstream gate, both Jake and Josh pulled in the slack on their lines, bringing the boat tight against the sandstone wall of the lock. Hank and Willie put their weight on to the gate arms and the downstream gates swung shut to meet in the center. As soon as the gates were closed, hank and Willie walked the length of the lock, up to the up stream gate. Each with a key in hand, Willie asked in a loud voice to be heard over the sound of the water, “Lock ready?”
Josh raised his hand and waved as he responded, “Lock ready”
Both Hank and Willie feathered the valves open with the big iron keys. The water came rushing through the up stream gates. Willie and Hank knew just how fast to let the water come in. The faster the Locking threw was done the better for all concerned. There were two more boats waiting up stream to be locked threw. Every one was on a schedule, the faster the locking through was accomplished, the happier everyone would be. But it was no good to open the valves too fast. That could damage the boat. If the valves were to be opened very fast, the lower gates to the lock could be harmed, that would shut down the lock, and thereby shut down the entire C&O canal. Joshes boat raised up as the water lever rose.
When the level was about a third of the way up, Willie raised a hand and asked, “Lock ready?”
Josh simply waved his response. The sound of the rushing water would have carried away the voice if he were to yell. The boat came up fast now.
As the water level in the lock came even with the water on the upstream side of the gate. Willie and Hank both leaned on the arms of the upstream gates. They swung fully open and came to rest in they’re recesses in the lock wall.
Josh got on the stern of his boat, and took the long pushing pole. Placed it on the base of the down stream gates and started to push his boat out of the lock, upstream. Jake when to Adrian and Lil and brought them up, stopping to raise the towline over the upper lock gate. As soon as Josh had the boat out of the lock, Jake had his team in the right place to bring the line taught. As the towline came tight, Jake gave Adrian the command, “Hep”. The boat was already under way from being pushed out of the lock, there was no need to bump it to get it going. Josh steered over to the northern side, way from the towpath. There were two boats waiting along the towpath side of the canal to go through the locks.
That was how they did it. There were five locks in a row to be locked through. That would take about three hours. It was not hard work, each person knew what they had to do, and like clockwork, they all did their jobs.

The ride
The weather in the Northern Territory of Australia, during their summer, January and February, is not very changeable. It is almost always sunny, and there is a wind that comes from the southwest. The likelihood of rain is nearly non-existent. JB had formed a plan over the course of the night. He was going to ride over to Warrego Mine. It was just about 100 miles to the west. He had gone to the Mine Store the evening before and filled up the bike. It took four gallons. He wondered where it put it all. The tank didn’t look big enough to hold $20 worth of fuel.
The mess hall served breakfast on Sunday an hour later then the rest of the week. They didn’t start handing out food until 6 am. JB was there right soon after they opened. He was thrilled with the idea of going exploring on his new bike. He had a good breakfast of steak, beans and eggs, all raised right there on the mine’s farm. He got a boxed lunch and stuffed a few extra rolls in the top of it as he left and headed back to his cabin to get ready to head out.
He took two bungee straps and fastened his boxed lunch in the back of the bike. He was ready to go.
He would ride into town, and then from there on, he would be on mine roads. He had never been west of town. To get to Warrego should be easy. There was a smelter there, which processed the ore from the two mines out that way, Warrego and Orlando mine. He would pass a turn off for Orlando, and the only other thing out there was the smelter at Warrego Mine.
On the way in to town, JB took the turnoff for the glider strip. It was Sunday, and as soon as the sun got hot, they would be gliding. He rode out to the strip, not in any hurry. He was just out to see the country on the surface today. When he got out there, Larry was already at the hanger. He was the head honcho of the gliding club. JB pulled up on his bike at the front of the open hanger.
“Anyone going for distance today?” JB asked as Larry came out to look at the bike.
“Rice rocket ha? What is it, a 500?”
JB polished some of the dust off the tank as he straddled the bike. “750, I just got it yesterday.”
“I won’t give it long on these roads!” Larry was wiping his hands with a rag. He had a crescent wrench he was holding.
“I was thinking I would ride over to Warrego today.”
“That’s about 100 miles. You think that bike can take it?”
“It must have driven up here from the city”
“I dout very much that bike was ridden into town. I bet that came in the back of the Ute. It is pretty clean for having come up from down below!”
“Anyone going for distance today? Anyone going to be going west?”
“I will tell them to keep there eye out for you on the west road. I am not sure who is going to fly today.”
“OK, I guess it is pretty much a straight shot out there, right?”
“If you just go north out of town to the Movies, it is the turn right after that, the first little bit is a bit curvy, but after you get past the Airport, the road straightens right out. Keep to the widest road, there are a few forks out there, but if you take the big road, it will take you to Warrego all right.”
“You not going up today? Hey, you got a minute before you head out, can you help me pull out the gliders?”
The three gliders were housed in the hanger. JB helped push them out and anchor them down. The first out was the biggest. It was a tandem, two-seater with dual controls. If one is accustomed to looking at motorized aircraft, the gliders have over sized, long wings. JB had gone up in this one with Larry. Larry would sit in the back, and do a lion’s share of the flying. JB, in front, and was learning how to work the controls.
The next one they pushed out was a one-man aircraft. It was bright red and very small. JB had seen it doing all sorts of stunts the first day he had come to the gliding strip. The entire canopy of this aircraft was made out of transparent Plexiglas. The pilot could look down through the floor.
The last one out of the hanger was another trainer. It was smaller then the one JB had gone up in. They got them all anchored down so they would be ready to fly when the sun warmed the tailings field.
The sun would shine on the black surface of the tailings field, the heated air would rise, and that was the thermal that they used for their gliding. The Ute would pull them up, and then they would fly out over the tailings field, find a strong column of upward rushing air, and ride it up in a counterclockwise spiral.
JB had come to the gliding strip each Sunday he had been at the mines, the first Sunday he didn’t go up, but just watched as others went up. Some would stay up for an hour, flying around then coming back to the tailings field to get another lift. Most of the flights were a simple ride to the top then sore around as they lost altitude and then come in to the strip for a landing.
Occasionally one of the gliders would go on a distance flight. Each of the smelters had a tailings field, and with the tailings field came a thermal current that could give enough altitude to start another fight. Warrego mine was the closest tailings field, 100 miles away. That was a popular destination for the distance flights.
The second week JB had come, he had decided to join the club. Each flight cost $50 for members, $75 for non-members. JB was thinking that he might have spent his money better here than on the bike.
Once the three gliders were all out and tethered to the anchors, JB went over to his bike and got ready to go for a ride. He decided to pull off his t-shirt and let the sun tan his back as he rode. He worked his helmet over his head and mounted his bike. The sun was getting high enough now that it was starting to warm things up.
It was another splendid day for a ride. JB kept wishing he could find some paved roads to ride this bike on. The mining roads where OK. They where smooth enough most of the time. However, it was not the same as riding on pavement.
In Tenant Creek, JB saw the gas prices were just half what he had paid at the mine he pulled up to the pump and flipped the fill top of the tank. It was still full to the brim. He thought to himself that the dealer had sold it to him with a nearly empty tank. He decided to by a small gas can, fill it, and strap it on the back of the bike. He didn’t want to have to fill up out at Warrego where the price would again be outrageous.
He used the straps he had used to hold his box lunch on the back, and found that the gas can and the boxed lunch made a neat little package on the tail end of the seat and down on to the fender over the rear wheel.
With that in place, he was ready to ride. The road out to the airport was a curvy winding affair. It was not the sort of road the Suzuki liked. This section of the road was not mine owned. It was a public road. When they encountered an obstacle, a hill or a big rock, they would simply skirt around it. This made for a winding road. Just past the Airport, the road intersected with the Mine road. This road was four times as wide as the public road had been, and close to dead straight. When the mines made a road, nothing was too big to be plowed through. The road had to be straight for the huge road trains the mines used to haul ore.
At the intersection of the public road with the mine road, there was a sign. It said that the mine’s equipment had absolute right of way on the road. The public is allowed to use the road, But remember, this is a mine road, used for hauling ore.
Out on the big road, the bike found it wanted to run. JB looked down at one point and saw he was comfortably doing 100 mph.
It was Sunday, so the road trains would not be running today. The road was clear of almost all traffic. JB did see a cloud of dust ahead after a while. He pulled off to the side to let the vehicle pass him.
As he pulled of to the shoulder of the road, he noticed that he had lost his cargo. His lunch and the gas can had somehow, come undone and come off the back of the seat. He thought about turning around and going back for it, but figured it was still, a long ways to go, he might as well go on and maybe it would still be there when he came back later. The sun had started to turn his back red. He could feel that it was starting to burn. His t-shirt had gone with the gas can and lunch. He noticed the cloud he saw, was not coming any closer. It was a vehicle, going the same direction as he. It was several miles in front of him. He mounted up.
The countryside was stark and deserted out there. There was not a building or any man-made thing anywhere. There wasn’t even a fence to be seen, just the uneven terrain of the desert. Ten or fifteen miles off, he saw the cloud of dust that he had come to a stop to avoid.
Back on the bike, JB decided to see if he could catch up with the other vehicle he had seen. He lit out like there was a fire to go to. The bike really liked to go at full gallop. He looked down but could not tell that the speedometer said, it was shaking too much, but he knew he was doing a good clip. He figured he would be catching up to that car, or whatever it was, pretty quick.
The throttle on the handgrip had a place it liked to stay. That was close to wide open. JB sure hoped there was no kangaroo or other road hazard in the middle of the road.
He soon got into the dust of the vehicle he had seen. It was hard to see in the dust, he had to slow down. The closer he got, the harder it was to see. The full face shield of the helmet kept the dust from pelting his face, but it was still hard to see. He inched up closer into the cloud. It was a losing battle, the closer he got, the harder it was to see. He decided to take a break and let the dust settle. He found a place to pull off the road. The edge of the road had a windrow of gravel where the road grader had scraped the road to smooth it. He found a gap it the windrow and pulled off. There was a rock to sit on. He pulled up to it and switched off the bike. As he was getting off, he noticed that the lens on the taillight was missing. He got off and looked over the bike. He saw that he was also missing the side cover that covered his battery. Then he saw the left front turn signal had come off as well.
He found it was too hot to sit still in the hot desert. He now had no water, he figured he better get going. He would take it easy the rest of the way out to Warrego, he didn’t want to loose and more parts off the bike.
When he was going again, he found that if he didn’t use the top gear, but kept it down in the fourth gear, he would travel along at a more sane rate of speed. He soon got so he could see the Warrego smelter way off in the distance. Then he passed the turnoff for Orlando Mine, he had thought he wanted to go out and see that, But he just wanted to get to Warrego, get some water, and head back. He kept straight at the turnoff for Orlando. He could just see the head frame. It didn’t look like there was much out there, just about like the Juno Mine where he worked.
He came to the Warrego smelter after a while. There was noting there, no camp, nothing. Not even a mine. It was just a stand-alone smelter. He rode in on the road that went past it. He figured there had to be some place for all the men who worked there to live, somewhere they could at least get a drink of water.
The smelter was running. All the lights were on even in the middle of the day. There was a column for smoke and steam coming from the stacks.
He needed to find the camp. He came back out on to the main road. It continued on past the smelter. It went around a small hillock. There he found the Warrego Mine. There was a camp there very much like the one where he lived at Peko. He pulled up by the mess hall. The noonday meal was being served. He walked right in like he lived there, took a tray, and three drinking glasses and went through the line selecting his lunch.
Being located where they were, they didn’t check IDs or anything. If you had taken the trouble to get there, they would feed you.
When JB came out there was a gathering around his bike. They all wanted to know if he had just ridden in from the cities down below. He explained that he had only just ridden the bike from Tenant Creek. That was the nearest town to the mine. Looking at the dust-covered bike, he could see why they thought he might have made the 1,400-mile trip up from Alidade or Melbourne. They pointed out to him that he was missing his tail light lens and the side covers. They also noticed that the chain guard had come off. JB was not sure, but he was pretty sure it looked different. He opened the fuel tank and looked in. It was bone dry.
The bike wouldn’t even start. He had to push it over to the Mine Store and buy some fuel. He bought a Warrego Mine T-shirt to cover up his sun burned back. He was feeling grateful that he had not run out of fuel out in the middle of nowhere, with no water and not even a shirt. When he went to fill the tank, he noticed that the fuel was running out from somewhere. He looked and saw it was coming from where the fuel shut off had been. It had some how vibrated loose and come apart. He figured, that could have been part of the reason he only had been able to get 100 miles out of a full tank of fuel.
He was able to stop the flow of leaking fuel, and get the bike started. He was sort of wishing he was closer to home then he was. He still had 100 miles of dirt road to go before he got back.
The ride back was much slower then the ride over had been. He found that the bike was much harder to ride while going slow, but it rattled a good deal less. He past the Warrego Smelter on the way out, and remembered how far he had come to get there. A few miles to the south of the road, was where the tailings field from this smelter was. JB could see a glider climbing up on the thermal. He wasn’t sure if it was one from Peko, or one that lived over here. He thought gliding was a better way to see the country than riding a motorbike.
The ride back was a long one. All the way JB was wondering if the bike was going to make it. He went slow and took more interest in the passing desert. At one point, he felt a bump when he had seen nothing in the road. He looked back and saw something lying in the road. He turned around and circled back. There in the road lay his kickstand. Not the small side one, but the big center stand that lifted the front wheel off the ground. JB just looked down at where it had come from, picked up the stand from the middle of the road, and threw it off on the side. JB finally came back past the airport in Tenant Creek and followed to road back into town. The Dealership was closed. He had resigned himself that he was going to ride the bike back into there and get his money back.
JB got back to the Camp just in time for the start of dinner. He climbed off the bike and noticed that the head light was now nothing but a shell. The light itself had fallen off somewhere on the ride back. The tail light was now completely gone. He could see that fuel was seeping out where he had repaired the fuel line.
After dinner, the Van was going to be going in to the movies. JB decided he would ride the bike in and leave it at the dealers. He would go back later and deal with them.
He put just enough fuel I it to get to town, and headed in as the sun was going down. He parked the bike at the dealers, and when the van came by, he flagged them down.
The movies were a bit different then any JB had seen. It was almost like an American drive-in. Only here, everyone didn’t have vehicles. They rented out lawn chairs, and people sat huddled around speakers that were mounted throughout a field. It was a drive-in for people who had no vehicles.
The next Sunday, before he went gliding, JB got the van driver to take him down to the dealership. He didn’t have a lot of time to talk, The van was going to be going right back out to the mine.
The dealer came out to see him when he came into the lot. “How did you ride that thing in here?”
“What do you mean? I just rode right in. There was no chain across the drive.”
“No, Boy, I mean how did you dare ride it the way it was?”
“It still drove OK. It was just missing the head light.”
“It was missing more than the head light, look at this.” They were now standing at the side of the shop for the dealership. The bike was parked right where JB had left it.
The dealer was pointing to the front forks. The axle the front wheel turned on, was mounted to the forks with a split housing. The bottom half of that housing, on both sides, was not there. The axle was resting on the half of the house that was still there, but if the bike was to be lifted, the front wheel would fall right off.
“I want me money back.” JB said it without much force in his voice.
“I am always willing to buy used equipment. That is the business I am in here. I can give you $25 for it, and that is more then you will get anywhere else, no one can ride it the way you brought it in here.”

Any feed-back?

Tanny

Down on the farm in Bradford, we had a verity of critters. Pigs were always a popular animal with me down there. I would raise sows, the females. I had a female, and I would get her bred by borrowing a bore, a male pig. I would then have little piglets. Hopefully I would have them at the beginning of the summer when the price for young pigs was the best. I would sell all the piglets but one or two, keeping only females. I would then raise her up until she was old enough to be a mother pig. I would let a pig have two batches of piglets, and then she would be sold as a still good mother pig. That way I never had to butcher a pig. I kept them as pets. By selling all the males, and the mothers as mothers, I never had to kill any pigs and I always had a few around the place.
Tanny was the runt of a litter of 17 piglets. Her Mom did a champion job at raising the 16 others, but when Tanny came to the dairy bar to get her meal, her Mom would shoo her away. So Tanny became a "Cosset" pig. That is, she was a bottle fed pig. We had her in the house from the day after she was born. She was started on the Colostrum we had frozen. That's the first milk from a cow after they have a calf.
Tanny survived the start, and was raised in the house. She had a nest box under the wood stove where she slept. Through her formative years of childhood to adolescence she was a family pet. She slept in a basket under the stove at night and was out in the yard with the dogs and cats and chickens and whoever else was out there during the day. When someone would drive into the yard she would come running up to great them, a trick she had learned from Blue Dog, our Airedale and her best buddy. Tanny was never sure if she was a misshapen dog, or a cat, or a human who couldn't stand. Her treat was to wait until Blue Dog had had all he wanted from his dog dish, she would go over and finish anything he had left in the bowl. Blue Dog and Tanny became fast friends.
As she got older and healthier after a shaky start, she had run of the house. She had a wading pool in the front yard. She would laze in that. She was a tan colored pig, and we always used to say she was working on her tan when she would lie out in her plastic wading pool.
That lasted until her wedding. Borus the bore came for a mouth long stay when Tanny was of an age to be courting. The two of them had a month long love affair out in Tanny's new home in the barn. From the time Borus showed up at the farm, Tanny was no longer aloud in the house. She by this time was a good-sized sow, and was too big to be in the house. While Borus was dating her, she was locked in the barn, something she never thought was just. But when Borus left, she was again let out from time to time. She would squeal and beg to be let out of the barn whenever anyone drove into the yard.
The place in the barn became like her place under the stove, she would go there to sleep, but she had run of the yard. She just was no longer allowed in the house.
As I said I let each mother pig have two litters. Tanny had had her second at the time I am thinking of. She was a big girl by this time. Being free to roam, she found plenty to eat, and she grew to be a very plump and happy sow. She might have tipped the scale at about 5 to 6 hundred pounds.
Well, Laurie had to make a trip down to her folks house, down in Territown, NY. I was working down in town as a millwright in one of the local reel mills. While Laurie was away, and I was at work, I tried to keep Tanny locked up in the barn. But this one morning, I couldn't get her to come up from the pound where she was busy digging and playing in the mud. The reel mill was a time clock sort of job, and it was time for me to go. She wasn't going to go in the barn, she wasn't ready, and it was time for me to go to work. I left her out, and went down to work. I came up to the house at lunchtime. I wanted to have her locked in the barn. Laurie was coming home that day. I wanted Tammy to be in the barn when she got home. Lunch is just 30 minutes at the reel shop, and it is a five-minute drive up the hill to our farm. I came up and Tanny greeted me, running up from the pound. I asked her to go in the barn, coaxing her with a dipper of grain. But she wanted to play... Lunchtime was near over, and she was still out, I had to leave her and go back down to work.
My neighbor was coming down the hill as I was going out, I stopped him and asked if he could just go down and put Tanny in the barn. She was a frequent visitor up to their house, and he was used to bringing her down the hill and locking her in the barn. I sped off down over the hill, trying to get back to work before the whistle blew.
Well, I had bought a fifty-pound bag of dog food, and I had put it down just inside the door. There was a trashcan it was supposed to be in, but with me, alone in the house, it had not gotten into the can yet. It was still sitting just inside the kitchen door. Now, our kitchen door in that old farmhouse was not hermetically sealed. By that, I mean the sent of the dog food was able to penetrate that door. Tanny came to the kitchen door wanting, most likely, to come in the house. She often would stand at the back door and beg to come in, but by this time she was not allowed in there, not at all. She must have sniffed that dog food, and it brought back fond memories. The dog dish and the treats she had gotten as a kid, eating out of Blue Dog's bowl. That was a raised panel door, an old one, one we were all sort of found of. But Tanny found it the only thing between her and a treat. She came in through the door, making tooth picks, most of them broke in the center, of that raised panel door.
The fifty-pound bag of dog food was indeed a nice treat. But then she wanted a little something more. She knew the fridge had food in it. When we used to open the fridge, she would get cool milk, or a treat of some sort put in her bowl. She finished off the dog food and gave a thought to a nice drink of cool milk to wash it all down. She opened the door to the fridge, and looked through the items on the door. She found that easiest if she just placed them all on the floor. She opened them by breaking bottles and eating whatever she could break open. The milk was near the back on the top shelf. To get that down she just got her snout up there and raked the selves down onto the floor. That worked well, now everything was out of the fridge, shelves and all. Several containers had broken so she could have a good little meal.
After the fridge, the pantry was right there. A pan of brownies I had baked for a treat for Laurie when she got home was on the top shelf. Tanny got that down, and in so doing took all the shelves down and everything on them. She found the cans could be opened by biting down on them. She wouldn't get all of what was in them, but it would be all over the floor for a later snack. That was all real good. Now, for one last treat. I had made a pine kitchen table. In the center of that pine table was a decorative little vase of popcorn. Tanny just climbed up on the table, reached for the popcorn. When I built that table, I had not planned on the stress factor of a six-hundred-pound pig climbing up onto it. The pine table couldn't stand the strain and broke in to several small pieces, just about right for kindling.
By then Tanny was full it was time for a nap. What better place than her old spot under the wood stove. She was bigger now then she had been when she last went under the stove. In getting down under there she dislodged the stovepipe and spread soot all over the living room. I guess that was not as comfortable as she had remembered it. She then went into Grammy's bedroom, the only bedroom on the ground floor. The bed looked like a good place for a nap. Laurie had spent a year making a quilt, and that was on Grammy's bed. Tammy wanted to readjust things a bit to make it a bit more comfortable. After all, she always dug around a bit in the mud before she lay down for a nap. It was only natural to use her snout, covered with the remainder of the contents of the kitchen, to dig a hole in the center of the bed. She dug down through the quilt, the blankets and the sheets, and into the mattress. There must have been something in that mattress that smelled like it needed a bit more investigating, because she dug right down though the mattress and into the bed springs.
That was how I found her when I got home. As I came into the kitchen, I thought we had been broke into. I followed her trail of destruction, and found her asleep on Granny's Bed.
Now, a normal pig BM, from a two hundred-pound pig, is about the size you see every morning in the toilet. Tanny was now three times that weight, and she had had a large meal. (Fifty pounds of dog food was the first course.) Her BM was of a great size, and she had not even bothered to get up off Granny's bed to defecate. So there she lay, with a BM behind her on the bed, the size of a cat curled up, sitting behind her.
I yelled at her and shooed her out of the house. I got her to go in the barn, when you got mad at her she would go there. I was mad at her.
Just as I was locking the gate on her pen, I saw the headlights from Laurie’s car, returning from a week down with her folks.
Laurie was not pleased with me.

Up Stream
Thank you Lord for so nice a day. That was the thought going through Josh’s mind as he listened to the birds and watched the scenery of the day go by. One hand on the tiller, the other hand held his pipe. The scenery of the C&O canal passed him by as the canal boat he was on made it’s way up the channel. He was thankful that he had run in to his friend in Georgetown. The boat was nicely loaded with a backhaul load of carefully crafted chairs and desks, all bound for the world out west. The furniture was not heavy, it filled the cargo bins of the boat, but didn’t make it sit low in the water as they worked their way back up the canal towards Cumberland for another downstream load.
On the towpath up ahead, were three of his most cherished beings. The rear mule is Lil, the mother of Shane in the stable on the bow of the boat. Lil had been pulling boats up and down the canal for 24 years. She knew this waterway better then Josh.
The fore mule was Adrian, named after Josh’s mom. She was in her prime, just 9 years old. She had been working the boats up and down through the locks here between Virginia and Maryland for 7 years. She just loved to work, given the chance she would pull till she dropped. As the fore mule, it was her job set the pace. Hers was a good fast walking pace. She kept them going upstream just below the speed needed to make a wake. They were making good time.
The third one on the towpath was Jake, Josh’s brother’s boy. Nine years old, and as full of goodness as the Lord could make him. He was the rookie on the trip. This was his first summer to work on the boats. Not that he didn’t know a days work, he had been out west and back. He liked the work on the boats, it was like a vacation to him.
Jake had left for California four years before. His father, Josh’s brother, Tom, had run out there looking for gold. The whole family had made the long hard trip out there. The trip had cost the family most everything. Now they were back. Jake was the only one of the family ready, willing and able to work. Jake loved his new job. He tended the mules and guided them along the towpath for most of the day. He knew and loved mules, and he had four now that he could look after and get to work as if they really enjoyed pulling a boat up and down the canal.
Josh held the rudder, centering the boat as it past a family of ducks along the shore. The towrope pulled off to the side, the rudder kept the boat out in the center of the channel. Locks 16 through 20 were not too far up ahead. They raised the level of the canal up as the canal passed by the Great Falls of the Potomac River. Locks 16 and 17 were tended by Willie and his family. The Thortons who lived and worked in the Inn at Lock 20 tended the top three in the five lock series.
Josh watched the northern bank of the channel as they came around the next bend. He was looking for a tree bent out over the water. There were not a lot of trees left along the canal. This one had been spared by all the firewood gatherers. It made for a good landmark. It was just a bend below Lock 16. Josh always made it a habit to blow the trumpet horn just as that tree came in to sight. It was from that spot that the almost deaf Lock keeper at 16 could hear the horn. Blowing it there would give them the best chance of having the lock low when they got up to it.
It wasn’t the landmark tree that came in to sight first, rather it was another boat making it’s way down. From the color of the boat, the shape and the little girl leading the mule team, Josh knew it to be Oldman Green. The splash of red on the towpath with his mules must be his youngest daughter, Kimmy. She was going to be a knock out in another few years, Oldman Green would be wise to keep close track of her. She was only about seven now, but she was a looker, even at this age.
As Kimmy and Jake drew closer on the towpath, Jake asked Adrian to “step over”. Adrian and Lil slacked off on their paces, the towrope grew slack leading back to the boat. The wiffletree dragged on the ground for several steps before Jake told Adrian to “Hoo up”. Both Lil and Adrian came to a stop on the side of the towpath away from the water’s edge. Jake patted both his mules as he waited for Kimmy to bring her two along the working part of the path.
Jake saw a dandelion off to the side of the towpath. He told Adrian and Lil to stay, much like one would a dog. And he put the lead rope over Adrian’s ears and quickly went over and grabbed the yellow blossom. With Jake’s towrope slack in the water, Kimmy was able to lead her team over it and continue down stream. As she passed, Jake held out the yellow flower for her. She giggled and took it.
As soon as Josh had seen the other boat coming down stream, he had started to work his out further off the bank. The remaining headway he had was enough to bring the boat off the bank and over to the far side of the canal.
Jake watched his towrope as Oldman Green’s fully laden boat approached it. It was very important to have that towrope as slack as possible. With their boat over on the far side of the stream, the mules had to be kept just ahead of the bow of the boat. This would give Oldman Green’s boat room to float over it. If the towrope was to catch on the downstream boat, Jake would have a true emergency. The towrope to his team would go tight, and start to pull his team back. The reaction of the team would be to pull. It was always best to be sure that never happened.
Josh waved to Kimmy on the bank as she made her way down past. On the bow of Oldman Green’s boat was Sally, Oldman Green’s wife. She was working on putting out some wash.
Josh waved to her and called over, “ Keeping him in line, Sally?”
“ Wish I had the power! He has got the gold bug in him now, wants to sell the boat and take off out west. Talk to him Josh!”
Sally passed by and the 94 feet of Oldman Green’s boat came down along past. Oldman Green was at the tiller.
“Sally says you have gone mad? Think you can go strike it rich? Have a talk with my brother before you start out!”
Oldman Green puffed on his pipe and looked at Josh. “I can do better then what he did. I know where to go. I got a map.”
“Talk to my brother Tom before you make it a done deal”
Oldman green and his boat passed by, hauling their load of coal down to the carriage shop in Georgetown.
As soon as the tiller on Oldman Green’s boat was clear of the line, Jake told Adrian to “Hep”. Adrian gave a half step, and Lil felt the harness pull forward on her, she too took a step. Jake said a gentle, “come on up” and the two mules fell into step, the towrope still slack in the water behind them. Josh’s boat had lost almost all headway as the heavy boat had passed. He was all but dead in the water now. As the towline comes taut Jake says “Hoo now”. Just as she feels the line become taut, Adrian gives a push into the harness, then comes to a stop. Lil does the same. The furniture-laden boat comes along a bit, Jake says “Hep”. The team steps ahead, and just as the line again comes taught Jake commands Adrian to “Hoo”. Each time the boat gains momentum. This is called bumping, it will get the boat moving without straining the team. With three short stoppages, Jake has Adrian and Lil leaning into their work, starting the boat going along at the steady walking clip. .
Josh takes the trumpet horn from the peg rack it set on. He gives two short honks much like a Canadian goose. Then he takes a good lung full and blows a long hard steady blast of the horn. The two shorts mean he is coming from downstream. The long blast means get out there and do something about it. Josh gives the same horn blasts again. Oldman Green’s boat has just come downstream, so the lock is low now. If the lockkeeper, Willie, hears another boat coming up, he will leave it low.
Josh thinks of Oldman Green. Going out west had been his brother’s obsession. He was back now. Tom had come back from his experience with the gold rush a broken man. Now he didn’t amount to much, wouldn’t even come on the boat. Much less get one of his own.
“Honk, Honk, Honk, HOOONNNKKK!” Josh heard the call of an answering trumpet horn. Three short blasts meant someone was coming downstream. They would have the right of way. Josh had signaled first, in an ideal world that would mean he was let through the locks first. More then likely the downstream gates were being closed. The lock would be allowed to fill with water, and the upstream gates would be opened. This would ready the lock for the loaded boat to pass through first.
As Lock 16 came in to view, that was indeed what had happened. The gates were closed. That was all right, Josh would slack off well below the lock, giving himself plenty of room to get a good straight shot at entering the lock. His boat was 12 foot six in the beam. The Seneca sandstone walls of the lock are only 14 feet apart, to get the 94-foot boat in the lock, it had to go in straight.
“That’ll do!” Josh called out to Jake.
“Step over now” Jake ordered Adrian. Both Lil and Adrian slacked their pace and stepped to the side of the towpath away from the water. They ambled along at a slower pace, leaving the towline slack behind them. Josh worked the tiller to bring his boat over to the northern side of the canal.
Up ahead the lock keeper Willie was on the towpath side and Hank, his hired hand, was on the north side of the lock. They opened the keys and let the lock fill. Then both Willie and Hank leaned their weight, each in to a gate, and swung the upstream gates open. As soon as the gates hit the walls, in sailed King Henry 5. It was Charlie Howe’s boat. His team of roan colored mules was lead by his son Dan. Josh could see the name of the boat, in big red letters, on the forward stable cabin of the boat as it pulled into the lock. Hank and Willie each closed the keys in the upstream, now, open gates, readying them to hold back the water of the cannel when they let the water out. They then walked down the 100 feet length of the lock to the downstream gates.
Dan and Charlie hoped off the boat, each with a line in hand. They wrapped them each three times around a synching post and brought the boat in close to the northern wall. Dan’s brother Tory hoped off the boat and went over to take his turn at leading the mules. Tory was Jake’s age, he waved to Jake down along the towpath.
“Lock ready?!” Called Dan.
“Lock ready,” said Willie as he and Hank each turned a key part way in the down stream gate. King Henry 5 started to sink down between the red sandstone walls of the lock as the water gushed out from the valves at the base of the lock gates.
“Open her up?” called Hank.
“Lock ready” answered back Dan and Charlie in unison. Hank and Willie opened the four keys to the full open position. The water at the base of the gate gushed out full force and the King Henry sank between the walls of the lock.
The water slowed coming from the valves.
“Ok to open?” Hank barked.
“Open when ready” answered Charlie. Both Dan and Charlie unwrapped the lines from the synching posts and hopped on to the roof of their boat. Hank and Willie leaned on the ten by tens of the lock gates, and slowly the big down stream gates opened.
Taking a fifteen foot pole from the roof, Dan stood in the stern and pushed off, anchoring his push pole on the mortise at the base of the up stream gate. The 12-year old boy pushing on the push pole was able to push the fully loaded barge boat out of the lock.
The loaded King Henry 5 came out of the lock. Tory got his mules going along down the towpath. As soon as Tory had his tow line clear, Jake started his team. Bumping the boat three times, each giving the upstream boat more momentum, till the boat was headed up into the waiting low lock.
“Come on now hard!” Jake asked his team to give an extra pull to give the boat the headway it would need to glide upstream into the lock. As the towline came up to the lower lock gate, Jake gave Adrian the command to “Hoo now” The towline went slack as Josh guided the boat up into the lock. Jake lifted the line over the lock gate, he then rapped the leadline from Adrian’s halter to the hitching post along side of the lock.
Josh took the stern line and Jake the bow line, each wrapped three wraps on the synching posts. As the bow of the boat drew up to the upstream gate, both Jake and Josh pulled in the slack on their lines, bringing the boat tight against the sandstone wall of the lock. Hank and Willie put their weight on to the gate arms and the downstream gates swung shut to meet in the center. As soon as the gates were closed, hank and Willie walked the length of the lock, up to the up stream gate. Each with a key in hand, Willie asked in a loud voice to be heard over the sound of the water, “Lock ready?”
Josh raised his hand and waved as he responded, “Lock ready”
Both Hank and Willie feathered the valves open with the big iron keys. The water came rushing through the up stream gates. Willie and Hank knew just how fast to let the water come in. The faster the Locking threw was done the better for all concerned. There were two more boats waiting up stream to be locked threw. Every one was on a schedule, the faster the locking through was accomplished, the happier everyone would be. But it was no good to open the valves too fast. That could damage the boat. If the valves were to be opened very fast, the lower gates to the lock could be harmed, that would shut down the lock, and thereby shut down the entire C&O canal. Joshes boat raised up as the water lever rose.
When the level was about a third of the way up, Willie raised a hand and asked, “Lock ready?”
Josh simply waved his response. The sound of the rushing water would have carried away the voice if he were to yell. The boat came up fast now.
As the water level in the lock came even with the water on the upstream side of the gate. Willie and Hank both leaned on the arms of the upstream gates. They swung fully open and came to rest in they’re recesses in the lock wall.
Josh got on the stern of his boat, and took the long pushing pole. Placed it on the base of the down stream gates and started to push his boat out of the lock, upstream. Jake when to Adrian and Lil and brought them up, stopping to raise the towline over the upper lock gate. As soon as Josh had the boat out of the lock, Jake had his team in the right place to bring the line taught. As the towline came tight, Jake gave Adrian the command, “Hep”. The boat was already under way from being pushed out of the lock, there was no need to bump it to get it going. Josh steered over to the northern side, way from the towpath. There were two boats waiting along the towpath side of the canal to go through the locks.
That was how they did it. There were five locks in a row to be locked through. That would take about three hours. It was not hard work, each person knew what they had to do, and like clockwork, they all did their jobs.