What day is it?

It's Sunday night and I'm sitting here trying to think of what happened in the week that just passed. I did indeed end up working on Route 100 in Plymouth, Vermont. **For all of you who need useless information to impress co-workers or significant others, listen up. Plymouth, Vermont is the home of Calvin Coolidge, our 30th president. End of useless information. (maybe)

Again, lots of damage- words and pictures cannot truly show what happened. On Monday or Tuesday (they mush together after a while) I was working next to a house on route 100 that had a small stream behind it that had pushed the house off it's foundation as well as pushed most of the walls out. And besides that, the house is/was for sale. I was told that the money the owner was going to get from FEMA would cover the demolishing of the house and then she could sell the land. It's amazing how God can spare her neighbor and totally devastate her. Crazy stuff.

It seems this week the out-of-towners started to trickle back into Vermont to see the damage, see the foliage (which is beautiful, I must say), and find Long Trail Brewery. Even though it makes traveling our roads that much more difficult at times, THANK YOU flatlanders, for coming and buying stuff and paying taxes and fees that will (hopefully) help pay for some of this damage you see before you. I wave to most everyone when I am flagging. Thanking them that they are slowing down and not kicking up rocks (truckers...) and welcoming the out-of-towners to the area. Call me folksy. I'd rather be nice than yell at people for being idiots. That's the VTrans job.

I "took" Friday off from flagging to be a substitute teacher for the day. I would have made lots of money (overtime all day) flagging, but I was requested to sub, and thought I'd at least keep my hand in it a little. One teacher saw me and said, "wow, you're tan". I laughed and said it was because I'm flagging. She was taken a little aback by my new profession. I was later asked by the sub caller if I was done my job. I told her no, that it would be a while, but I'd still take days to sub if I could. Later I began to think of this quandary I've gotten into. When the schools that you sub in don't even bother to interview you for an open teaching position, you still sub there but also take jobs where you make money to pay the bills. It's hard to keep everyone happy. I don't do very well at it, but I'm learning not to care as much.

I do what I need to do. I work as a flagger making great money (as much or more if I was a full time teacher) to pay off my college loans and other bills. I'm not ashamed and I don't care if people laugh at me for what I do. I'm not here to shock (and I have shocked the people I work with- I don't smoke, swear and I have all my teeth) or make people comfortable by just doing the same ol' same ol'. I've been subbing for 6 years. God put this job before me for a reason. I needed money badly. I needed a job badly. I wanted to help my state and community. And here I am- flagging. I don't plan on making a lifelong job of it. I'm just waiting for the good Lord to open the next door of opportunity for me. Teaching? hopefully. I have applied for 2 or 3 long term substitute teaching jobs, so we'll see!

In the mean time, here's a quote for you to ruminate (thank you, thesaurus.com)

Patience is also a form of action.  ~Auguste Rodin
Another fun fact- Auguste Rodin is a sculptor who made "The Thinker".

road construction update

In case you haven't figured it out, I'm alive. Flagging is probably going down on my list of jobs NOT to do again, though I do make pretty good money for putting my life in jeopardy everyday. I don't fit the flagging quota- I have my teeth, I have a college degree, I don't smoke a pack a day, I don't smoke pot, nor am I a man. Construction is really a man's world. Ya'll can pee wherever. I on the other hand have to find just the right tree to hide behind. I do not mind peeing in the woods. Don't get me wrong. I just don't like the truck drivers making comments. And the other flaggers I have to work with- man, most are not the brightest bulbs in the pack. And cocky! They have their flagging sign, a hard hat, and a "traffic controller" neon vest, and think they know everything there is to know about road construction. Ugh. And they have to have the last word about everything. And one-up you when you do decide to talk to them. I know there are people like this in every job- the know-it-alls. I just don't want to be near them more than I have to. Or I'll have to pick up smoking. (I'm kidding, Ma.)

I'm sorry I haven't been writing much lately. I've been working in the Rutland area since just before my birthday but have come home exhausted and just sit then go to sleep. I drink about a pot of coffee everyday. That needs to stop, but when you're bored and cold, it's all I can do. This area of the state the roads are fixed. East of here and south are still closed and badly damaged. I have to go to Rutland at 6am tomorrow to have a 25 year old pot-head tell me where I'll be working for the day and I'm thinking either one of two things- 1. Some of us will be sent to route 100 (north/south route along the mountains of Vermont) and others sent south to Jamaica area. or 2. We'll be told we're not needed. I'm hoping to stick it out until October at least because the money is pretty good. Not as good as it should be for nearly being killed and yelled at every day. Even the Vermont Transit workers have told me they would never flag. Gee, thanks. That's comforting. Here's a list/map if you have no idea what I'm talking about... http://www.511vt.com/

This weekend I had both Saturday and Sunday off. Whoo hooo! And I have done little to nothing, which is weird, but good I guess. I have to get into my garden and harvest onions and broccoli and beans. I also have to search for pumpkins. I don't think they did well. Bummer. I'm always learning new things about how to make my garden better. Next year, I'm not going to have it so big and not plant so much. (I say that now...)

So as you get ready for work this week, just think- you could be flagging road construction, too. Please be nice and slow down in construction zones. And above all, be kind and rewind. (oh, they don't rent VHS anymore... dang... I'll think of something clever...)

My Memory

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania. The media inundated us with videos of that day as well as vigils and memorials from today. I just wanted to share my memory of the day and let you all share your thoughts as well. (I wasn't on facebook yesterday, so I missed it if you've already done this- enlighten me and do it again, please.)

In 2001, I just started back in college to finish my degree. I had an 8am Spanish class at St. Michael's College that was held everyday. It was a Tuesday, 2 days after my 23 birthday. I can even remember what I was wearing- my yellow tank Patagonia dress with flip flops. We were watching a video in class that went along with our textbook. When Professora Pachman turned the DVD off, the TV was still on and we saw briefly an image of a burning building that a plane had struck. Professora quickly turned it off because she didn't want ANY English spoken (or heard) in class. Many of us wanted to know what was happening, so we went right after class to the library to get online to see what happened. The computers were so slow because the whole world was trying to figure out what was happening. Not able to find out much, other than a plane hit the World Trade Center in New York City. I was thinking it was a Cessna or something like that- not a 737 filled with people. I headed to my next class- psychological statistics (taking psych research and finding correlations and such... it really was an interesting class) where my Richard Gere look-a-like professor had the TV on. Students were shocked to find out it was a 737. We sat and watched the second plane hit the tower. It looked like an obscene movie. We watched the towers fall- not able to move from our seats to leave for other classes. Some students left sobbing. Most were in shock. It was unreal to think that someone, ANYONE, could do such a thing.

Some geography for you- St. Michael's College is located up the hill from the Vermont Air National Guard where my father had worked my entire life to that point (and 4 more years after). If I could have, I would have communted to school with my dad every morning. On September 11th, my father was at Hickam Air Force Base on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Pretty ironic, if you think about it- some 60 years prior, there was a horrific terrorist attack where he was. Only today, it was halfway across the world in New York, as well as DC and Pennsylvania. The Vermont Air Guard (or VTANG as I call them) was alerted and scrambled to go after any plane that didn't respond to the grounding order. I've been told by VTANG members that our F-16's were some 20-30 miles from flight 93 when it went down in Pennsylvania. The next day, VTANG was the first Air Force group to fly over the site in New York to guard against further attacks- a no-fly-zone had been created. As you remember, we were all on edge. we hadn't been attacked for some 60 years- how could this have happened? Why did it happen? Why did so many innocent people die? 10 years later we are still asking those questions.

For my grandfather, it was "Where were you when Pearl Harbor was attacked?"
For my mother and father, it was "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?"
For all of us (3 generations), it was "Where were you on 9/11?" We all know the year- it just known by the month and date. Pretty interesting.

In 2005, I took a friend to New York for my birthday to see the Red Sox play the Yankees. We toured the city and had a great time (except for getting lost in Jamacia, NY after the game... not so fun...) We did go to Ground Zero (where the towers had been). I cried just seeing the flag behind what was left. Here are a couple of pictures I'd like to share.

the hole



Ground Zero, 4 years later



even reading this, I started to cry




a cross from the ashes



 

 

It is now September 12th, almost the 13th. The remembrances and speeches have gone away and it's back to the same old same old. Many thousands perhaps even millions of lives were changed that fateful day in September. For some, it's just a day on a calender. For others, that will be etched in their hearts and minds forever.

What will you remember?



View of lower Manhattan



I'm just a working stiff

Whew! Flagging is an interesting/mind numbing job. It's interesting in the fact that you have to be alert and you are in charge of many people's safety- both the construction workers and the drivers. The mind numbing part of it is that you can stand there, get dust blown into your face that all you can taste and chew is dirt, for 12 hours, rain or shine. For my first 5 days on the job (I took Monday Labor Day off), I was assigned to work in the Wilmington area (near the Massachusetts border- literally I could see the sign). It was an incredibly long day- 2 ½ hours down, 12 hours flagging, 2 ½ hours back. The construction crew we worked with was great, which helps. On Wednesday, I got to the site before everyone and no one else showed up to flag with me so I was on my own to flag an area where the crew was working. Not only did I feel like I was abandoned by my new company, it was POURING rain and my rain gear was crap.

Luckily, about at lunchtime, they were moving to a new site further up the road and I could go and get dry and buy some soup at the local store in Jacksonville. (to quote wikipedia "not to be confused with Jacksonville, Florida") While I was getting my soup heated (I had to buy a can of soup and the lady put it in a cup and warmed it in the microwave- it was the best!), the river/brook/stream right behind the building that goes right through town had overflowed onto the road (again) and the construction crew had to do some emergency work there to stop the flow. Here's 2 pictures-



main street, Jacksonville
The excavator in the back is
from the crew I worked with

 

there once was a sidewalk here


The clean up in this town and road was going to take a while to fix. I liked the crew I worked with, just not the commute. My boss came down Wednesday and had brought a new crew to work(at a different site) and told me he was working on getting me closer to Rutland (i.e. closer to home). And come to find out that my boss called me that night to report Thursday in Rutland. Whoo hoo!

But before the Rutland jobsite, I have to tell you about my ride home. Tuesday and Wednesday, I had decided to drive myself (safer that way). Wednesday, I decided to try to take a more direct route home, if I could. Mind you, many (most) roads in these parts are closed for various washouts- shoulders gone, half a road gone, and in some places, the whole road gone. Route 30 wasn't too far from where I was in Jacksonville which would take me on route 7 an open and fast road that I knew was open to get home. So, I went into Wilmington and asked how I would get there (had a free map that helped) and asked if the roads were passable. "oh yeah" was the response I got. Ok. Up the road I go- through mountains and valleys. There were some trouble spots, but no "road closed" signs (which we'd been going around on my other rides through Brattleboro to get to the worksite). I finally did come to a road closed sign and as always, went around it anyways. Well, come to find out there's a dang good reason why the road was closed. Take a look for yourself:

do you see a road? I didn't... last time
I go around a closed sign!



this home really was mobile!

I drove back and tried to figure out the detour around. The local store had just closed (I should have knocked), so I took my trusty map and figured if I go this way... I'd eventually get to the town I needed to be to get route 30 to get route 7 to get home! My trusty free map is only so good...the road I went on turned to dirt/mud and went up and over a mountain. I thought about stopping to ask somewhere were I was going, but was afraid I'd get stuck in the mud! Yes, it did get to the town I needed (Jamaica) where I found a store that was open to ask for directions. The lady that helped me was a bit frustrated (I think she was sick of giving stupid people like me directions). The detour through Jamaica was unbelievable. Seriously, Google or Bing Jamaica Vermont flood pictures. It was unbelievable the damage- whole house washed off a hill with only the pipes and half a cellar left. Up and over more mountains and valleys and finally to route 7. So much for a direct route. The Mainers have it right- you really CAN'T get there from here!

Thursday I got my new assignment in the Rutland area- in the town called Clarendon. It's a pretty easy job, but on a detoured road, which makes it scary. The hurricane washed out the bridge on route 7 (the main north-south route in Vermont) so traffic was diverted to the road I work on where fortunately, the bridge didn't wash out, but washed trees right onto the road and around houses. I met this guy Thursday taking pictures. I asked him what the area looked like right after the storm. He gave me his website to check out the pictures. They're unbelievable. See for yourself: www.mountainmanpics.com The Maine National Guard has been cleaning out the area of trees and brush that had been washed up and rebuilding the river to prevent this from happening again. My job is to slow down traffic through the construction area and stop traffic when the Army trucks come in and out of the worksite. Pretty simple for the most part.

Thursday, my walkie talkie worked for most of the day. Friday only half the day. Today, we didn't have walkie talkies at all, which wasn't too bad, but still. Also, today we had a Rutland County sheriff for a short time to help slow traffic. He had stopped up ahead of me (where I couldn't see him) and then came just behind me and sat with his lights. At one point, I had my stop sign up and visible, standing in the middle of the road, looking at traffic, and turning to look at the army guys leaving the site. This pickup truck comes barreling down the road, doesn't even attempt to slow down, and finally comes to a stop about 20 feet or so from me. The sheriff (bless his heart) got out of his car and pointed at him and motioned him up to talk to him. I wish he had given him a ticket for almost killing me (and the day after my birthday at that!) but he didn't. That scared me so much that I started to shake a bit. I have such a greater appreciation for flaggers and all road crews for dealing with crap like this. I know I'm inconveniencing people by making them slow down when they're already late and the detour is making them that much more late, but I'm in charge of the crew's safety and the driver's too. I was very happy to hear that we had Sunday off and were told to stop at noon as well. Some of these crews haven't had a day off since the storm. that's over 2 weeks! Much needed day and a half of rest for everyone!

I'm not sure how much longer I can or will be able to do this, but I'm making good money and I have bills to pay! My words to you all- be kind to the construction workers. SLOW DOWN or I will stick my tongue out at you and yell at you. And no one wants that.

it's been a long... time coming..

What a great Crosby Stills Nash & Young song...

No, I haven't fallen off into one of the many holes on the side of a washed out road. Work has been busy and driving to and from work is work itself. Tomorrow I promise to share a story and a picture of my travels. For now, I'm heading off to dreamland.

Here's a thought for the day:

Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?


And one more for good measure: (I love Carlinisms)

When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts" and you put your two cents in . . . what happens to the other penny?

The job

Wednesday, I was looking for jobs like I've done just about every day. I found this job posted on Craigslist and emailed them back. It was a flagging/traffic controller job (not a mind blowing job, but well paying). I got a call back within 4 hours or so telling me to meet Thursday to do paperwork and training. Thursday afternoon, I head to Rutland to fill out the paperwork. Of course, I'm the only girl and probably the oldest of this bunch. As a rule, we have to watch a video as part of our training. Now I know you think flaggers are just people who just turn their sign from slow to stop and try not to get hit, but it's a bit more than that. It's not rocket science, but communication is important. Knowing when the road crew is out of the way in order to send traffic is probably the most important. (duh) Anyways, the head guy told us he wasn't sure where we were needed for Friday yet, but that he would call us in an hour or so. In a couple hours, I got a call that we are needed in Southern Vermont. I'm to meet up in Rutland at 4am to carpool down past Brattleboro and work for the day. That means that I had to get up at 2:30 and leave by 3:15 from Orwell to get to Rutland. Thankfully, I was tired and went to bed by 7:30-8:00pm.

On Friday, I get up, head to Rutland, carpool down to Wilmington, Vermont which was devastated (not the best word to describe the total destruction of a town) to be told to head to route 112 in the town of Halifax where we would be working. The road has become a major thoroughfare for people traveling from Bennington because a major bridge there was washed out, as well as being right on the border of Massachusetts. The road was a one lane road right by a river and about an eighth of a mile of the road was gone into the river. We worked there 12 hours (6am-6pm), then headed back to Rutland, where I got home around 9:30pm or so. Long day.

Saturday, same thing. 12 hour day. Saturday seemed to go by faster because we had many trucks coming to our worksite to dump instead of just passing through to go to other sites. Here are pictures of my worksite:


The worksite- 6am Saturday



closer view- Saturday am




Here's some pictures of the river right next to the road-

After the numerous dump truck loads throughout the day, here is the result-

Saturday, 6pm

They weren't finished, but they had done such a great job just in 2 days! Just before we left, the foreman told us that we didn't have to be there until 6:30am and that Sunday would be a shorter day. I was happy about that, since the commute was killing me. I don't mind the job, just the commute. So I left my house at a bit after 4am and met up in Rutland to head down. It was a pretty good day- quiet and not much traffic. It started to thunder towards the end of our time, but we kept working. We stopped at 2:30 and headed back to Rutland. I told the guy that I commute with who is kind of a go-to guy for the flaggers that I couldn't work Monday. I was tired and needed a day off. I told him that the job wasn't the problem, just the commute. (it really isn't a hard job, but I do enjoy my 8 hours of sleep...) I was upfront and told him that if I couldn't have it off, that I would have to quit. So here I am, enjoying a day off.

My boss hasn't given me or anyone a schedule (a bit sketchy, but it is an emergency situation) but I'm thinking I'm going to work 3 or 4 days and hope to have a day off. There's tons of work, including work not far from where I live and I hope I get to work a lot closer. And no, I'm not going to make flagging my life work. It's just something to help pay my bills while patiently waiting for a teaching job. And it makes for a good story.