Digger and Sand

This posting is one of many I intend to write about my Dad who carried the nickname “Digger” during the last 35 years of his life. He worked at Brigham Young University in charge of many things in the Physical Plant Department of the University. This included roads, grounds, new construction on campus, etc. It was there that he earned his nickname.

In 1954 The University put on a production entitled “Sand in Their Shoes.” It was a play about the Mormon Battalion and was intended as an outside production. The presentation was to take place in the football stadium of the day. At that time the stadium was located just north of the present location of the Smith Field house. The stadium seating was literally built on the side of a hill with bleacher style seating only. (No chair seats) The stadium was able to hold a few thousand people. Little notice was given to the care of the wooden bleacher seats and they showed it from the many years of being put upon by the elements of nature.

As they were preparing the stadium and football field to stage the production, Digger being the one who had the manpower and the means to accomplish this, met at the stadium one day with the school President, Earnest L Wilkinson, Church President, David O. McKay and a couple of other brethren, probably apostles and Diggers boss. The discussion was about the condition of the wooden bleacher seats and whether or not they should be sanded and maybe painted. Whereupon, Digger in his own inimitable style of stating things said: “If something isn’t done, when the people come to see ‘Sand in Their Shoes’ they’ll get slivers in their Butts.” Whether of not the seats were sanded and painted, I don’t know, but the production went on and was, as I recall, a big success – slivers and all.

Digger

It seems that all men have a little larceny in their souls. The following incident occurred in 1954. My Dad whose nickname was “Digger” worked at BYU in the Physical Plant Department. He was in charge of all the campus roads, building appearance, Parking lots, etc. He had a crew of six full time men with an additional twenty part-time students. In the summer of 1954 due to a lot of expansion going on around the campus, the University purchased a truck mounted backhoe used mainly for digging trenches, etc. On the day of the purchase, Digger went to Salt Lake City to take delivery of the backhoe. By the time he returned to Provo it was after five o’clock in the evening. He drove the truck into the fenced area where the equipment was kept and went into his office before going home. While he was in his office, he noticed that the president of the University, Howard S McDonald had driven into the yard and was looking at the new backhoe. Digger didn’t pay him any attention and he, Pres. McDonald soon left, as did Digger, locking the yard gate. This was on Friday and when he went to work the next Monday, he noticed that a set of spot lights that came with the backhoe for night work but were not yet mounted and left in the cab of the backhoe were missing. He thought nothing about it thinking that one of his crew was playing a trick on him by hiding them. About four days later, he was digging a trench on the campus and noticed that Pres. McDonald was watching him. Digger stopped what he was doing and got down to talk to Pres. McDonald. During their conversation, Pres. McDonald said: “Aren’t there supposed to be some spot lights mounted on the machine for night work?” Whereupon, Digger jokingly said: “Yes, what did you do with them?” Digger said that Pres. McDonald had a blank look on his face and said: “I’ll go get them.” He got in his car, left and returned a few minutes later with the spot lights, gave them to Digger without a word, got in his car and left. Just goes to show you all men have a little larceny in their souls. This story was related to me by "Digger" who said "To this day, I'll never know what possessed me to ask Pres. McDonald that question. It just popped out."

Carrying

During my Junior High teenage years we lived in a small city in Southern Utah. For my 14th birthday, my folks gave me a .22 caliber rifle. All of my friends had .22’s and almost every Saturday a few of us would get together and go rabbit hunting north of town. We also did a lot of target practice. If one of us shot a cottontail rabbit, we would take it home to eat. Jack Rabbits were plentiful and we shot a lot of them but just left them there.

One of my friends Dad removed the fireing pin from a .32 caliber pistol and we played with it during our “Cops and Robbers” fantasies. The gun had a scabbard so you could strap it on to your waist. We took turns keeping the gun for a week at a time then passing it along to the next guy. One Sunday evening as my parents and I were preparing to go the Sacrament Meeting, they left to do some errand and said they would meet me in church. As I was leaving to go to Sacrament Meeting, a friend who had the .32 pistol came by to give it to me as it was my turn to have it for a week. Instead of taking the pistol and scabbard in the house, I just strapped it on, concealed under my suit coat and went on my way to Sacrament Meeting. I didn’t tell anyone that I had the gun and took my place with the other boys my age on the Deacons row. I passed the Sacrament with the pistol strapped to my waist! Later, I told my Mom and she just about died at the thought of what I had done. To put it mildly I got a good tongue lashing. After that week, I never had the pistol again.

Contrast what I just wrote about and think what would happen if a young, stupid boy did such a thing in this day and age even if joking. Even if the gun had been a cap pistol, he’d wind up in the Slammer and probably put on probation for a year or so. How times have changed.

"Life is like a Box of Choklits"

To quote Forrest Gump's Mom: "Life is like a box of choklits - You never know what you're gonna get." The human body is like that,it's an amazing thing. I'm talking about the resiliency it possesses in regards to punishment., Last Wednesday I had a "Carpel Tunnel operation on my right wrist. Add that to the fact that I've have had or have had done to me the following: 1935 - Got hit be a car. It broke my left leg, left arm, left collar bone and pushed my upper jaw bone out of place. I also received a skull fracture and a brain concussion. The car that hit me was a 1934 Cadillac. (Woman drive) The bumper took my leg and arm, the headlight took my collar bone and my head. That was in July, I think and I was in the hospital until Christmas Eve. I had a body cast on for 14 weeks. In 1936 I had another brain concussion from a fall. That one about took me but my Dad administrated to me and I'm sure it saved my life. I had all of the childhood diseases - Clicked Pox, Measles, Whooping Cough, and Scarlet Fever. Never got the Mumps. Other than there normal cuts, bruises and blisters, a couple of bouts with the Flu and Pneumonia, nothing happened throughout my teens and young adulthood. However in 1972 I broke both bones in my right wrist from falling out of a ski chair lift while teaching my two youngest sons how to ski. But that's another story. In 1962 I became a Type 1 Diabetic. I have been Insulin dependant since the beginning, taking one to five Insulin injections per day. Due to the Diabetes and my stubbornness in not observing a healthy diet, I have no teeth, bad eyesight and have had eight of my ten toes amputated. From my Mom's side of the family, I have Arthritis, miner though it may be, it has caused me some pain. I've had three neck operations to remove pressure on my Spinal Column that was making my arms go numb and lower back surgery to relieve pain in my legs. My last five vertebrae - L1 through L5, are tied together with Titanium rods and screws. Last but not least, in 1993 I had a Quad Bypass Heart operation. I'd never had a heart attack; the heart condition was discovered by a Stress Test. The good news is that my heart is strong, my kidneys and liver continue to function 100% and I am still mobile and able to do anything I want. So, bring on th "choklits" I still have a lot of living to do.

A Temple Excursion

I was discussing LDS beliefs with a non LDS friend of mine and the subject of Baptism for the Dead came up. It reminded me of a time in my life when I was sixteen years old. My friends and I were in a Sunday School class taught by my Mother. The course of study that year included the topic of "Baptism for the Dead." During the discussion, my Mom asked if the class would like to do baptism for the dead. The response was 100% in favor of the idea. We decided on the day to go and my Mom made the arrangements. We decided to go to he Manti Temple to perform the ordinances. One of my friends (I'll call him Dave) who was active in all aspects of the Church wanted to go with us but he was not a member. He went to our Bishop and told him of his desires. The Bishop told him he would, first of all, need to become a member of the LDS church. Dave knew this and ask the Bishop to talk to his parents for permission to be baptized. This was accomplished and so with all of us, Dave got a recommend not only for his own baptism but a recommend to perform baptism for the dead. On the prescribed day, we all got on a bus and went to Manti, Utah and the temple there. My maternal grandparents lived in Manti and were ordinance workers in the Temple. As such, my grandfather supervised the baptism session. First off, Dave was baptized and confirmed a member of the church. We then proceeded to do the baptisms. There were about 18 members in the class about equally divided by sex. All of the boys, except Dave, were Priests and, therefore, could perform baptisms. So, we took turns baptizing each other both boys and girls. The confirmations were performed by the Ordinande workers. As I recall, we did about 300 baptisms that day. It is an experience that I will never forget and a tribute to my Mother that I'll always cherish.

It Happened in Vegas

Over the thirty years that I drove proffessioonally I only had one accident and that one was not chargeable to me. It hapened in 1964. I was driving for a company that transported fresh and frozen foods for a wholesale company in Salt Lake City. On this particular trip, my driving partner and I had come from Los Angeles with a load of Clorox headed for Salt Lke. I had started driving in Colton, CA and arrived at Las Vegas about 1:30 AM The freeway ended before arriving at Vegas and all traffic was channeled onto old US Highway 91. The highway went into Vegas via the "Strip." At this time of the morning traffic was light. Most of the shows had let out at One o'clock. I woke my partner as we started up the strip and he was sitting up smoking a cigarette. As I approached the Sands Hotel, a car pulled out in front of me. I was only going about 30 mph, hit my brakes and turned hard to the right but still hit the rear drivers side of the car. My rig went under the entry canopy of the casino, through a small retaining wall that seperated the main entrance from the cars coming to and leaving the casino. I stopped just short of the revolving doors to the casino. I ran back to the car that I had hit and found that the man driving had a bad cut on his head. Shortly, the police and an ambulance arrived. They took the guy and his wife to the hospital. There were plenty of witnesses in my favor and I was not cited. The star at the Sands that time was Paul Anka who had heard the noise from his dressing room and came out to see what had happened. (Later, my 9 year old son asked if I had gotten his autograph.) When we went to back the truck out of the Sands entrance, we had to pry the bumper away from the left front tire and that was all the damage that the truck suffered. As it turned out, the guy that I hit was from Arizona who was supposed to be in LA to a convention. The woman with him was not his wife, and disappeared when they got to the hospital. The car was registered in his wife's name who was still in Arizona. I called my wife and told her what had happened and about 7:00 AM we continued our trup to Salt Lake City.

That Reminds Me of....

Wizard of Creativity had a posting about footbath therapy. It was great and very interesting. However, sinc I'm a joke teller, it reminded me of one I'd like to pass on:

A middled aged blond woman heard that if you bathed in milk, it would do wonders for your skin in softening it and removing unwanted wrinkles. She ddecided to try it and left a note for her milkman to ring the doorbell when he made his morning delivery so she could order the required milk for the bath. He did as directed and she answered the door. She told him about what she had heard and asked if he, the milkman, could deliver enough milk so she could take the desired bath. The milkman thought for a moment and then said "Would you like that pasteurized?" The blond said "No, just up to my bellybutton."

I'll post more as things remind me of good strories.