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After a couple of dark, rainy days that already had me thinkin’ ahead towards winter, I headed out early on a beautiful late-summer Saturday morning. I was whistlin’ practically the whole way drivin' to load up in Tenino, and then singin’ along (outta-tune of course) with my satellite radio as I headed on across the river into Oregon. I was real happy that I didn’t have a stop in Longview where I would have probably crossed paths with that crabby old loadin’ foreman. Nor sir, I was in too good a mood to even think about him this gorgeous Saturday morning. As I drove in past Pittsburg Road, your pretty little town was just wakin’-up and it sorta reminded me of some of Lorraine's flowers in the backyard this time of year - shakin’ off the dew & raindrops and reachin’ up to soak-in these last few rays of the summer sun. I stopped in for a quick plate of eggs at The Villiage Inn where I sat next to a nice ol’ gal who started tellin’ me about Saint Helen. No…not your town, and not the mountain neither…she was nice enough to fill me in on the Saint Helen. Turns out that she is the patron-saint of divorcees and difficult marriages! I damn near didn’t believe this nice lady at first, but after talkin’ with her a while I was soon convinced she knew all about the Catholic Church and all the Saints and Stations of the Cross and everything else there is to know in that line-a-work. “Saints are the timeless celebrities of the spiritual world,” she told me. Wow! Y’all sure got a lot of real interestin’ people to talk with here in town. She went on to tell me that livin’ here under Saint Helen’s protection might have even helped and guard her own marriage because she and her ol’ man were still in love and together after 30 some-odd years. I told her I hoped that some of Helen’s saintly help might rub off on me & my wife every time I pass through town. Oh yeah…and after I got back home that night, Lorraine asked me to remind y’all that with school startin’ up here next week, to be sure and keep your eye out for the little ones who’ll be out and about again, because they might be runnin’ for their school bus stop in the morning without payin’ no-mind to nothin’ but catchin’ their bus. Be sure and drive slow and keep a sharp eye out for ‘em, and take care of things here in this nice little town y'all got, ya hear?
Tom
Things sure looked promising as I loaded up and left Naillon Logging in Winlock on Friday morning armed with a full thermos of coffee at my side and a couple of ham sandwiches Lorraine had made me the night before. I only had a quick stopover in Longview before droppin' in for another visit to my favorite town this side of the Columbia River. I'd been talkin' a few days back with some of the head-office boys at my company about upgradin' from my current truck to a real nice Pacific P16. No sooner than the boys heard that, they told me that they'd kick in a tidy $5000 to help-out with payin' for such a high-grade haulin' machine -- what with the extra work and money it would mean for them -- just so long as I had the startup costs and the rest of the balance covered myself, and that I would put it to work for them pronto. Well, they didn't have to twist my arm and as soon as I heard 'em say that, Lorraine & I made it our mission to get all of the money-gatherin' done. We got quite a few outside loans & contributions from our friends & families who sure didn't have to be told twice that a new P16 would make a helluva difference in all of the heavy-haulin' prospects I'd be able to take-on. So on Wednesday, with all of the money raised, I figured I'd be pickin' up my new P16 sometime next week, just as excited as a kid on Christmas mornin'. In Longview, the loadin' foreman was his usual crappy-self sayin' somethin' about how I "would never get a P16 and no company in it's right mind would help me get one neither." Boy, I hate that guy. As usual, he got me hoppin' mad and this time he got me to start doubtin' the head-office boys' promise and after crossin' the river at Rainier, I called the head-office to check in with 'em to see about the status of their $5000 toward my new P16. I should have known it: all's they had was a bunch of excuses for why they couldn't do it right-off: money this and thats and that I must have "misunderstood them" and whatnot. And then they had the nerve to tell me to try and raise the $5000 that I was short myself. Mind you, they still wanted me to put it to work for them just as soon as I got it. I really couldn't believe what I was hearin', so I just hung up on 'em. I rolled into town toward Boise and before unloadin', I stopped for minute to blow-off some steam down by the river at the new amphitheater. I noticed that it still looks as unfinished as it did last week. Somebody passin' by told me that, "it might not get finished at all, what with the city backin' out on it's pledge to help out with their end of the money." What's happening with people keeping their word these days? Do we actually have to remind people what they had promised in the first place? I ain't too good about keepin' my cool when this kinda stuff happens, that's for sure. Well, I'll be keepin my eye on things in my own yard, be sure an keep an eye on things here in this nice little town y'all got, ya hear?
-Tom
As usual, I was one of the last ones to find out about the “important stuff” goin’ on. The talk ‘round the Boise yard the other day was about Boise agreeing to sell off its timberland, wood products and paper operations to somekinda investment group in Chicago for $4 billion. Four-Billion…man, I can’t even imagine havin’ that kinda money. Hell, I just jumped back in my truck and headed on down the road, a little bit upset - I figured a workin’ feller like me and my little ol’ job don’t matter a whole helluva lot to the sorta people makin’ that kinda money. No sir. So needin’ a pick-me-up, I stopped in at the Dari Delish to wallow away my sorrows in a large dipped cone. While I was waitin’, one of the old-timers hangin’ around told me about Bobby Kennedy pickin’ up a cone right there at the Dari Delish a couple days before he was shot down in California back in ‘68. I sure liked him and his brother and I was proud to be eatin’ a cone from a place right here in St. Helens that served one to Bobby K all those years ago. As I drove home to Lorraine, I started thinkin’ how Bobby was the sort of fella who would have kept his eye on those guys makin their billions at me and my job’s expense. I sure am missin’ ol Bobby right about now. When I got home, Lorraine gave me a big hug and kiss and told me everything was goin’ to be fine. I dozed off to sleep thinkin’ about Bobby Kennedy, The Dari Delish and this nice little town y'all got here. Y’all be sure to keep your chin up and take care of things, ya hear?
Tom
Had some time before loadin’ up on Saturday mornin’ and headed out to do a little fishin’ on a nice quiet river in the woods between Mist and Vernonia. I ran into a nice ol’ fella from Scappoose who seemed keen on showin’ me the better spots to fish on. He was talkin’ the whole time about all of the differences between Scappoose and St. Helens, which basically was all about how much better their high-school football team is and some artsy events and little coffee shops that he thinks are much better than any in St. Helens. Well, I was getting’ close to puttin’ in my two-cents worth, when all of a sudden we heard some rustlin’ in the thicket some fifty or so yards past us!!! “Shhhh!,” the old boy said somewhat nervously. “That maybe the Elk boy!” Now with me just passin’ through town all of the time, I’d never heard of any such Elk Boy, which of course got me a little bit curious. “All that Bigfoot stuff ain’t but a bunch a-nonsense,” he whispered to me quietly so we wouldn’t be discovered. “But the Elk-Boy is fer reals!” There was a little more rustlin’ moving from the weeds and brush to the thicket just a little past us. "Some say it was a science experiment gone wrong," he continued on with his eyes getting’ bigger with each sound we heard and I was listenin’ real carefully and keepin’ my sharp eye out for this-here Elk Boy when suddenly a branch snapped just a few feet away from us! This ol’ Scappoose boy went a runnin’ and a hollerin’ like a chicken about ready to be grabbed, killed and served for dinner. I turned around fast and saw somethin’ that looked like a hairy deer or maybe a small elk movin' away from me just as fast as it could. I think it was movin on two feet! Though I can’t be sure. Hmmmm…I’ll try an’ keep my eye out for this-here Elk-Boy each time I come through town. Y’all sure got some real interestin’ stuff goin’ on around here. Be sure and take care of things, ya hear?
-Tom
Had a big emergency run here today because of somekinda yard mistake in Aberdeen, WA courtesy the Jackson-Timber front-office boys. Busted my ass to help get it all straightened out and was feelin’ pretty good about things until I made the mistake of stoppin-in at Longview to see if they had anything to do, since I was passing by. So they paged the loadin’ foreman over the intercom and he came struttin’ up to the office like one of them Hollywood bigwigs on the red-carpet at that Oscar Show they do every year. He’s one of these guys that can’t see a fella doing a nice thing for anybody for nothin’. And even if he could, he was all over everyone’s ass today for no particular reason at all. So all I did by being thoughtful and all, was to end-up walkin’ straight into a damn hornet’s nest. I sure was happy to pull into town again this week. Unloaded and grabbed a steak at the Dockside where I met a helluva guy named Jim. Seems Jim’s been providing the fireworks-show on the 4th of July for y’all out of his own time and pocket for years. He went on to tell me that the City-Hall boys have always been gripin’ about something he didn’t do quite right in his fireworks-show, which made me think again about the damn loadin’ foreman in Longview. I hate these kinda guys. They told Jim that they didn’t want him to do his show anymore on the 4thand that they would pay someone else to do it. That about did it for me - I was madder than an old wet-rooster. I figure that the boys at City Hall really don’t want Jim to help out because of all the insurance, red-tape and other what-nots that usually leave them City-Hall boys like deer in headlights. But I gotta tell y’all, it’s a pretty crappy way of saying thank you for all the years that Jim has helped out on the 4th for nothin’. Seems a lot like somthin’ the damn loadin’ foreman in Longview would do. Be sure to keep an eye out and take care of things here in this nice little town y'all got, ya hear?
-Tom
