How'd it go today?

Heroin Ed. Im going to try again tomorrow to get him help. His brother and I have been in touch. I was the first person he leveled with and spilled it all out to. He told me he thought I was the only one he could trust aside from his brother. He knew it would cost him his job but at this point he is unfit to work and knew that going into our sit down today. I told him in our discussion that at this point Im not dealing with this as your boss, but as someone who loves you. The people I don't like, I'll punch without thinking. But those that matter to me, id do anything for. This has me rattled deeply. Ive fired guys over this before, but they weren't guys that I cared about. Temporary labor that proved to be a problem. This young guy mattered to me and even though he doesn't come to work for me anymore I will be there to help him if he chooses to get clean. I told him today I would cancel work for the week and take him anywhere in the lower 48 to get help if he was willing. He is afraid to break it to his parents. I even told him I would hold his job for however long he needed to go away to get clean and start over. He is afraid to face it right now but desperate to get out of the prison he is in. We spent two hours sitting in the truck dealing with this. He just sobbed and sobbed. A 23 year old kid with a heart of gold and strong brain, made a bad choice.......
 
Damn I knew you were going to say heroin, it is sweeping rural areas everywhere.

Damn rough situation, sorry.

Sounds like you are doing your best.

All I might add is philosophy, re the longer term-

Turn Pain into Wisdom, Suffering into Strength.
 
Dang Chris, That's tough. You did about all you can do it sounds like...good for you. Too bad he wasn't ready to listen and take advantage of your offer of help yet.

Spent the morning torching frozen stuff, loading machines, hooking up trailers etc. then had an uneventful drive this afternoon up to the new job in Cadillac, MI. Rest of the day we moved snow around making landing and a couple skid roads started. Quit when it was too dark to see and am sitting in motel now.

Place isn't too bad so far and not far from the job. I've stayed in way worse before (not by choice). just two of us here right now so I'll probably cut some and then do my own skidding while Tim moves some more snow. I'll teach him hwo to run the skidder when we get what we need cleared.
 
All tools are locked up. Chip truck got pinned tonight. Other saws are in my pickup toolbox. Or in the garage at home. We touched on that topic and while I was compassionate, I offered insight into the ramifications of stealing from me.
 
It's cold every where.Global warming my ass .

So after about 30 days straight of 7 12's I get 2 days off .Mama Dar is in the hospitol tonight for a sleep study .That ought to be a hoot ,she only sleeps about two hours a stretch .Sleep apnea ya know .I think that's the crux or her health issues myself .If you can't get proper rest the old bod suffers .

Oh she's a tough old broad and the best back up I ever had in my bar room brawling days but the old sweety isn't a spring chicken any more .61 the ides of March .Time eventually gets us all I guess .It hasn't got me yet but it's working on it .
 
Damn sorry to read this Chris. Addiction sucks. Hope the door opens for someone that you need as much as they need you. That works out for all around.

Worked kinda of solo today with a tower guy I have as a client. Fun educating someone that "gets" this shit.
He ran a zip line on one side of the tree with 3:1 MA for tension. Then lowered the other side. Then we went and did another tree I could mos of and then he took one good sized top on natural crotch. Little iffy start, but I could take bigger and bigger pieces as the day progressed. He loved the helmets and wished he had them on a tower dismantle recent. Ham tower. Only him and one guy with a gin pole took it down. Now he gets to put it up on his place.
He and I had a lot of fun killin trees so this may repeat sooner than later. :D
I accidentally took Katy's keys this morning leaving her stranded all day at home. Guess she was not too mad as she cooked dinner :lol:
I was too far out to come back and drop them for her. She had been talking about making a spare. Maybe a spare will happen sooner now... :/:
She took Seth to Boy Scouts when I got home. Then the horses got out of the orchard. She has had them over there for a couple days now and they ran out of grass. Tuck mashed a 7 foot tall fence then him and Gunner took a walk down the road. Rob got them back into his yard, called me and we herded the two delinquents back over to here into their pasture.
Tuck cut himself slightly on the wire from the fence. Katy came straight home and we had to dress his wounds. Gunner was being a shit and kept trying to flank and kick me as I was trying to access Tucks wounds prior to Kat arriving.
They are both calmed down now.. both quite upset after their little jail break.
Finally getting to relax now. Whew!
 
I can work alone for a brief period. I can pick through my jobs and bang out the dummie jobs. Its why I had to dismiss him that crushes me. Addiction. I hate it. Such a good kid. A hard worker. Respectful of my business. A joy to spend the days working with. Out of nowhere he did a 180 on me and wandered down a dark road over the winter and it has become evident since we went back to work. I had to let him go for his own safety. He leveled with me and spent 2 hours talking with me and crying his eyes out. He is not healthy right now. I begged him to let me take him to rehab. I offered to get him into rehab and handle breaking the news to his family. He wont do it. He is insistent on trying to conquer this on his own. My heart if absolutely broken. Tears ran down my face today and Im not ashamed to admit it. Such a good kid and now I worry how long he will be alive.......

I love my workers. The ones that I allow to remain after trying them out, become family to me. They are important to me. This situation has my wife and I devastated.

I hate to read this. Make yourself available......but do not give him anything that will help him get the dope.

Stand tough on that. A using addict will play the sympathy card on everyone that allows it.

I'd also be locking all my crap up as well

Sad, but very true.
 
Sorry, Chris.

Keep going with his brother.

Does the guy accept that he's likely to go farther and farther (percentage-wise) than come back on his own?
Would he rather his parents stand by him at the grave site than at rehab?
Shit, all I know is that he's got a huge monkey.


He won't steal from you, Chris. Heroin will, tho. Keep it all locked up tight. Threat of a gun doesn't scare heroin, not that I'm telling you something new. My accountant's son's heroin steals, just happens to be that its her stuff.

Best of luck. Mechanize. Sounds like a lot of people need someone to take down the uglies that they've waited too long on, which can wait some more.

Maybe advertise for a short term fill-in from here and TB. Any family/ friends that can fill in a bit here and there.

BMS Belay Spool, predictable friction, self-lowering spares the groundie. Get some SENAs!! Especially with a rookie guy, being able to have a calm conversation goes a long, long way.
 
Killed one healthy-ish alder with a hard lean toward the house and propane, one shi&^y alder, and one rotten, rotten alder. Adjacent tie-ins for the latter two. Finished that job, hauled out some cedar and alder logs on my Arbor trolley. Cedar for the D's cooperative preschool sand box walls, and circle time seats. Cedar and alder for starting the fire next winter. I should have all my own wood split and stacked already. Happy for that. I ran a bit short after selling a bit of wood this winter. I have enough, but some of it is a bit wet, but pitchy. Burns hot after is gets going.

You can use the arbor trolley corner to lever and lift lift some logs for loading onto the cart like I do with my modified hand-truck (two small 'horns' welded on the corners). Its not as easy as with the hand truck, but can still keep from having to lift it.
 
When I started out I had a ground guy who was good. He ended up addicted to crack (1980's) and quit work to get help for it, he moved to FL after that. I actually couldn't tell he had a problem but I did notice near the end of his time with me that he would work like a absolute madman as it got close to quitting time everyday. So after he told me he was using I asked him what was up with that cuz hard work like that didn't seem like an addict's MO. He said he worked like that because he was dying to get work done ASAP so he could go home and score.
 
The weather is a little better ,I had a partly successfull day .Fiddled with the old Jeep to no success .Drove to me shop and changed the oil in the Ranger .After first fiddling with my air compressor so I could use my car hoist .Always something .

If it's fit tomorrow I might play Paul Bunyan and attack some more EAB killed ash trees .
 
There seems to be growing numbers of heroin users among the youth, and from all walks of life. Apparently there is a lot around. I read about it, and in upscale areas, parents couldn't conceive of their child being involved. Some wondered where the money from their purse went.
 
I've heard it is getting worse around here. There is a lot of stupid scrap metal thieving going on, and when they get caught, it's usually drug related. I went to my monthly woodworkers guild meeting last week. Both of the employees of the shop we visited seemed to be on something. Teeth rotted out of their heads, eyes not focused, couldn't form sentences, extra twitchy. Nothing as bad as a brush chipper in that shop, but plenty of things to take a hand off in there.:O
 
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