The Radio repeater

Tales from the Backyard... While working in Alaska at the Klondike Goldrush NHS among my various duties was the maintenance of the Historic Chilcoot Trail.  We had Rangers who lived the summer months at the head of the trail just before the last climb to the top and they were without radio contact while there and had to hike halfway down the mountain every time they needed to call out. So the Service Center had sent out a radio expert to find a location for a repeater.  I had scheduled a helicopter for the day and we lifted off and began heading the 17 miles up the canyon.  We were to meet the rangers there and scout the mountain tops.  When we got to the summit, we found what looked like a good location and we were dropped off at the top of this massive cliff which looked like Half Dome at Yosemite and the chopper flew down to get the rangers.  No sooner had he left when a massive storm front moved in from nowhere.  You couldn’t see ten feet.  I told the radio expert that these fronts could last hours or for days, so we had 2 choices, stay here and wait or move along the ridge and connect with the trail, about a mile and a half away and climb down.  He didn’t want to stay and because he thought he was senior in rank, said we would head out this way, pointing in the wrong direction.  I said we could, but it’s about 2,000 miles to the nearest road.  We argued for about 10 minutes then I just said that I was going to go along the ridge and if he wanted to start out his way, when I got to the bottom I would inform the rangers and they would send a search party.  Mind you we were standing on a flat rock with zero visibility, arguing over which way to go, not knowing north from south and heading in the wrong direction meant either going into the wilderness or falling off the face of the cliff.  He followed; along the way we discovered hundreds of artifacts left by the gold seekers more than a hundred years earlier.  We even found the skeleton of a packhorse with all the gear still attached.  Why they had come so far off the trail is still a mystery, but what a great experience.  Apparently we made it down, just as the clouds lifted.  He never did say thanks.

The Programming test

Tales from the backyard…  In the sixties I worked as a machinist at an ammunition factory and because of all the pounding of the machines, I began to lose my hearing so thought it prudent to change careers.  So with the urging of my cousin, I started night school to be a computer programmer and I graduated with honors. Then my cousin said they had an opening where he worked and he would set up an interview.  The day of the appt., the traffic was a nightmare and then I couldn't find parking and running late, had to run to the office and just ran through the door.  I told them I was here to take the programmer tests and they seemed perplexed, but upon my insistence they called upstairs.  After much debate, they finally said to go up, which I did, and took the tests and aced them all.  The interview, I thought, went great but he ended it by saying they did not have any vacancies at the moment, but would surely keep my name on file.  I didn't want to say “but”, so let it go and would call my cousin that night.  On the way out as I reached for the door, on it was the Great Northern RR emblem of the Mountain Goat, my meeting was next door at the Northern Pacific headquarters.  Luckily, subsequently, I failed one of their three tests by 1 point and didn't get the job, as my cousin had a massive fatal heart attack (only 38) shortly after and I thought it might not be the kind of stressful job I was looking for anyway, so became a carpenter.

Paul's big fish

Tales from the backyard…  While working in Alaska I coached my son’s little league team, and on it was one of my sons best friends, Paul, very small for his age but a great little athlete.  One day they asked to go fishing and I said sure as long as his mom said it was okay, it was.  So we loaded the boat after practice one night and began trolling the shoreline.  Almost at once both poles got hits and they dashed back to set the hooks.  My son’s fish got off almost at once, but Paul’s was on for the long haul.  I kept telling him to keep the tip of the pole up, which worked at the beginning, but after about 10 minutes he was tiring, not so much the fish, and his arms began to sag.  He kept leaning back further and further trying in vain to keep the tip up high and I remember at one point, the pole was pointing straight back over the transom and he was leaning back, 6 inches above and almost prone to the bottom of the boat.  He was so tired, he finally let Tom give him some help and he landed the big salmon.  I weighed it at 27 lbs. (almost half of his weight) then hooked it on the stringer I used and flipped it in the water.  The stringer broke, and off the fish swam.  I felt so bad.  We had no other hits that night so I gave him a Mulligan and he did catch a nice one the next time out.

Gone with the Wind

Tales from the backyard…  The first movie I ever went to by myself was ‘Gone with the Wind’.  I was suppose to go with my mom and family but had played to late, so she left me the 20 cents to get in.  The foyer was so crowded that I kept the 20 cents and snuck in.  I went to go to the bathroom like always, and the women threw me out, mom not there to hold my hand I guess.  I had never gone to a movie with an intermission before and I thought the movie was over and left.  It wasn’t for many years that I learned of my mistake.

The feral cat

Tales from the backyard…When we moved to Klamath Falls Oregon, I bought my fishing license and drove out the 25 miles with the family to the Williamson River.  I was fishing a spot where they had replaced an old bridge and the rubble was still there.  As I was fishing the kids found some feral kittens in the rubble and caught one and wanted to bring it home, so we did.  It was young enough and adapted well, and gave our Toy Poodle a playmate.  Soon it became pregnant, so we prepared a cardboard box and showed her where it was under our bed, away from Tiger (the poodle).  When she was giving birth, Tiger just laid beside the box, with head on paws listening to the commotion inside.  When it was over, the cat got up and out of the box to get some food and water and as she was getting out, Tiger was getting in.  I nervously watched but the cat was oblivious or just knew that Tiger was going to be a great baby sitter, as Tiger just curled up with the kittens and that’s the way it went until we gave them all away.

Cady's game

Tales from the Backyard…  Cady, my little female Springer has a game she plays with the two males.  When they are in the backyard she will suddenly look up toward the wayback and then give a small woof and start running that way.  The other two will start their barking and take off all the way back, then racing back and forth looking for the imaginary foe.  Cady already having just turned around will trot back to the porch with a grin thinking, “Suckers.”

Late night swim

Tales from the backyard…One year my sister brought her new beau over to go swimming in the lake behind our house.  We didn't actually live on the lake but had access to it by way of a small alley.  At the end there was a long dock as the lake is very shallow and at the end of the dock the water is only about 30” deep.  As teenagers they were horsing around and Lee threw my sister off the dock.  She landed on her butt, with her head easily out of the water, so she just sat there.  Showing off, thinking the water to be much deeper, mister macho man ran back up the dock and came running full speed to the end, jumped high in the air and came down head first.  Did I mention the lake bottom is hard gravel?  When they got to the house, Lee’s face was almost devoid of skin along with most of that on his chest.   I think my sister married him out of sympathy; it sure wasn't for his brains.