This was the first movie I ever saw with Bob. It was playing the Columbia Theatre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeTKEeyJeU
Bob had told me he was Shovel Operator in Durrah & Martin’s Logging, Inc. (a small gypo logging outfit). I think he took me to the movie to show me what he did.
Before Bob was promoted to Shovel Operator – the gravy train position; he had done it all: started driving log truck, which he was very familiar with because his father owned his own log truck, and his mother had driven that truck for years … until Kerry was born: then she quits, saying, “4 kids in the cab of a log truck is too damned many!” She was as good a driver as most men: and better than some 😉
Bob also was a choker setter, a log skinner, and a tree topper. The first time I saw him thousands of feet off the ground, sawing a tree down to size, I was freaked out – he looked so tiny up there!
Bob also drove the Crew to work every morning in the “Crummy” (the crew van): it was parked in our driveway for 18 years – and the crew was dropped off at our house by their wives. Bob never hauled me out of bed to pour coffee or to see him off, because I was usually dropping into bed as the alarm clock was going off to start his work days. He just kissed me and I mumbled, “I love you, Babe – stay safe and come home to me alive.” My biggest fear was his boss coming by during the day to tell me I was a widow. Logging was a very dangerous job.
His boss, Jimmy Durrah, did drop by the house one afternoon to give me Bob’s bonus (an extra surprise) … and when he saw my face, he never did that again. He was so sorry he scared me, that I ended up consoling him! I loved Jimmy, and he always treated us like family – he knew Bob from birth, and really did love Bob like a son; he treated me like a daughter, and Stacey like the grandchild he never had. When he died, I cried like I would for a beloved family member.
Bob was also the mechanic … so when machinery needed tended too on weekends, we all went to the landing. I loved being in the forests. Stacey never did; but for me, it was a day in paradise. I miss that.
Bob was a jack-of-all-trades, and pretty irreplaceable in his boss’s outfit; as well as in my life.
I don’t know if Bob ever tied logs together in a log raft … but I do know his hotrod Camero ended up sitting on a log raft at the Puget Island end of the bridge that links Cathalmet to Puget Island: he showed me where the log raft sat at the time, while he laughingly told me how his car ended up on the raft in the river. I am glad I did not know Bob at that time – I would have been white-haired before 30! By the time I met him at 17, his wild streak had pretty much burned out. Thank the Lord 😉
Bob would come home with fir dust in his hair, and on his clothes – mingled with diesel oil: I would always breathe in deeply when he swept me up in a bear hug – and he would laugh and shake his head until I had fir dust on me too. We had a wood stove too for half of our married life; I loved the smell of fir: the pungent scent of freshly cut fir will always make me think of Bob.
I watch this movie every time it is available to watch; and I always smile, because though this movie is fiction … the logging scenes, and the log raft death is very realistic, and true to the hard way loggers live – and make a living.
Man! I miss Bob: but, I am not crying tonight
– I am smiling. Bob gave me lots of good memories 😊
