Shortly after Monday’s watercolors and lunch-on-porch Willey, having clocked 4500 miles since last seen, appeared at the door, fired up the loader and waded into the worrisomely wet bottoms to finish

while Mark shuttled back and forth collecting cat and then loader, leaving us without heavy equipment on the property for the first time since Hallowe’en

and so quite quiet.

Tuesday early morning faraway tire noise amplified by the cold announced the first of several Dodge trucks,

Keith’s crew…

as promised, on the scene, followed by mud from Cedarville, which was poured by ten…

but no other truck showed.  While they finished that first half I drove up 447 beyond Squaw

and just into the canyon found that the truck, an old Kenworth, the second truck…uh-oh.

had fucken ROLLED.

…uh-oh, and Holy Shit.  Fortunately the driver walked away [more or less] and rode back to Cedarville with the owner’s wife instead of in the ambulance which, this being America, would most likely have set him back most of a year’s wages if not more.

He’d just about made it out but tightening turns caught him by surprise with low brakes. Rolling left the hill stopped him; losing it on the next he’d have been in the gully, a more dire proposition.

I went on home

and eventually took a nice walk in late light around the land,

then Keith was back, throwing straw and tarps over the work against the freeze.

Next morning, despite staying up late towing the Remains of the Kenworth sixty some miles home to Cedarville, Bob [owner operator] drove the second load down in a snowstorm to finish the job which, after some manipulation of frozen valves on the water tank,

went off just fine.

He also brought the welcome information that the driver was ok, just a little bruised and shaken, and that maybe the truck’s motor could be salvaged.  The rest was pretty much a ruin.

 

Just before dark the concrete was to put to bed until Saturday,

last piece, save for the ponds filling, of this long-drawn-out puzzle…or whatever it’s been.

Anyway, whatever; done for the season in time for Season’s Greetings…

M