When you're out on the Riggin' sometimes you get bored, and try to pull off a practical joke. you try to act it out the best you can. This is a little story about one such time.

I was pullin' Riggin' for Jim Rookard, out of Goshen, Oregon, on a 071 Madill. We had been ridin' the Riggin' out quite of bit. That's when you choke a short log on both ends and jump on. Now we realize that there are dangers in ridding the Riggin', but out on the Riggin' everything is dangerous. Heck you can get smashed by a train on the way home. But when your dog ass tired, and you want to go home, and it takes 45 minuets to walk out, and only 5 minuets to fly. Beep beep beep and go ahead on her.

I could see the glow from an orange vest. It was without a doubt, the man from Oscha. I won't be rude and say he was fat, let's just say, he was overweight. It must of took him 45 minuets to walk downhill to us. he said, "how you boys doing?" No one said anything. He said, "I heard you boys have been riding the riggin'," Again nothing. By then The Riggin' came back, well we had work to do, I sang to the crew "We got time for one more turn, and then it's time to go," We were drop line loggin', and me and my two chokerdogs all cleared out to the other side of the skyline, to avoid the dude. I gave the go ahead, beep beep beep. The yarder engineer gave the ole shave and a Haircut, beep, beep a beep beep, beep beep.

By now the OSHA had made it close enough to us to talk again. "is it true, you boys been riding out of here." I was getting a little pissed. " NO", I shouted at him. "We didn't ride out, we fly out, ride is what we do when we get to the crummy, we ride home". At that point, I raised the talkie tooter so I could talk to John in the Yarder. I told him to "Shipper back, we're flying out of this Hell-Hole". He answered back, beep, beep, (no). Again I said "Let's hav'er", At that point the Chaser yelled over the bank. "The Safety guy is here".

This time I just took my hard hat off and put it right below the talkie tooter and said, "I know, he's right here, don't worry, we ain't gonna let that fat boy fly out with us. Let's hav'er". Now the chaser was only repeating what the Donkey Puncher was telling him when he yelled, "WE WILL ALL GET FIRED."

The OSHA dude had just figured out what was going on, and said, "What's going on, and who are you calling a fat boy?" Almost in an angry tone. "I'm sorry Joe, it is Joe?" (It said Joe on his name tag) "Out here on the Riggin', I'm what you call the' Riggin' Slinger', ‘the head nigger in charge'. What I say happens. If I were to tell my two dogs here, that your ass is the bone, your ass is gonna get buried. You understand fat boy? You give me anymore of your BS they'll be a loggin' accident and you'll be in it. There ain't nothing you can do to me. You could try to fine Rookard, which you can't on hearsay. The most he could do is fire me, and I'd quit first. Then I'd get my unemployment, I'd tell ‘em how unsafe it is out here. It must be unsafe, the crew ‘rides the riggin out', hearsay is ok in the unemployment office. So Joe, why don't you just go on home tonight and have yourself a nice meal, get a good night sleep, and give thanks that you don't have to do what were doing. Time is precious to us. So don't you ever come out here at quitting time and delay us from our families again. "We just started hoofing it out of there, almost a run. We got to the landing, loaded up and were on our way home. I looked down the hill and Joe wasn't quite half way. I couldn't help to think that he gets paid way more than we do. Rookard never said nothing to me, and We never saw Joe again. We Never flew out again either.