It started with a wedding in Boston. One of my former junior enginerds was getting married, and he invited a few of the old crew to share the celebration. Rather than just go for the day, i invited Studley along and we decided to make a long weekend of it.
It was one of those amazing weekends spent with a diverse collection of friends. i’ve done it before, and wrote about it here.
We hit the ground Friday morning. Managed to meet up with the lovely Amber for drinks on Friday night, after visiting dead relatives in Methuen. The wedding was in Salem, and we threw it down hard. From there? The plan was to drive to New Hamster Hampshire, and spend a couple of days with one of our SCUBA buddies, Chris.
i’ve written about scuba people before. More about divers in this post. They are a unique set of creatures, and some of my favorite folks on earth are divers. We planned to just hang out, have some beer, and maybe do a little hiking.
As he showed us his house on Sunday afternoon, he unveiled his collection of scale-model excavation equipment. He is a collector, as he works in the industry. When both Studley and i sprouted virtual boners at the sight of all those diggers, he asked the innocent question “Would you guys like to go to work with me and play in the big sandbox?”
Took just about five minutes for us to change clothes, fly out the door, and park ourselves in his car like to puppies headed for the bark park!
THIS was the view when we arrived.
…and the steel angels sang “Hallelujah”
With some basic instructions, and a little training, he turned us loose. An excavator. Day-glo orange, diesel-powered lust on tank treads! Joy of joys! That bucket will hold 18,000 pounds of dirt, gravel, or zombies.
Studley and i played. We dug holes. We moved dirt with bulldozers. We giggled, and smiled. Chris coached and cheered. We were giddy! He spends a lot more time in an office than he does in the sandbox, and welcomed the opportunity to share his favorite form of therapy.
We hooted, hollered, and snorted! Smiled until our faces hurt! As much fun as it was to dig a hole? For me, it was FAR more therapeutic to put the dirt back in… A form of Obsessive Compulsive Pattern Disorder (OCPD). The same thing that makes me bus my own table in a restaurant, stacking plates just so. i needed to put the dirt back where i found it.
First attempt? Both Chris AND Studley abused me for being a wimp.
With just the slightest bit of encouragement? i started to knock it the fuck down! Oh, yeah! Who needs a therapist?!?
Glory be! i am the luckiest!
Trailer Park Refugee 
Haha! That’s my girl!
i’m sure you could help me put together a much more fashionable look for the effort – fun, and functional!
Jeeze, Daisyfae! You keep upping the ante! I’ve driven a Lansing-Bagnall electric whizz-about on Paddington Station ; had a brief instruction on a fork lift. I drove a tractor when I was a kid. Rode a quad cycle in the vineyard and a golf buggy in the garden and thought I was doing OK.
Oh, yes…a nice man at the carnival showed me how to start the merry-go-round. Now, dammit! You’ve been playing with the biggies.
Duelling ukeleles?
We still managed to get in a good 4 hours of hiking, too! This was completely unexpected, and unplanned, which somehow makes it more magical. Will take you up on the uke battle – and am adding “merry-go-round operator” to the list of things i still need to do…
Oh, lordy, lordy, lordy but I am JEALOUS. That must have been so much fun. My inner child is a little boy, I think. 🙂
five days later and i am STILL smiling about this! My inner child is also a little boy. which also explains the potty humor…
Glory be! You are a treat!
Wheehee! X
Thank you, darlin’ – i am a very, very lucky woman! If you find good humans, never, ever let them go…
Ha Ha! I know where to send JC to hire a backhoe operator now! Ha Ha! What fun! And what a sport! 🙂
My son laughed at me when i showed him the videos – “Yep. White collar folks play at blue collar work”. Pretty much sums it up… A heavy equipment operator, doing it for a living, may not smile the entire shift, but i’m pretty sure they enjoy some of the moments… a lot more than i enjoy working at my stinkin’ desk for 8 hours a day! i could see doing this for a living… maybe when i retire….
Your son’s got it there 🙂 I’m really jealous, and my girls would love to do something like that (normally hogged by the men).
Studley and i were pretty patient, and took turns, but it helped that Chris gained enough confidence in our abilities that he let me run the bulldozer while Studley was on the excavator!
Near where I live is the oddest theme park. It is a few acres near co industrial park called digger land! Yes diggers galore and dumper truck races! Really popular whoever started that was a genius!
i had to go look! there is ONE place in the US of A. Las Vegas (of course).
http://www.digthisvegas.com/
you can pay ~$250 to drive these bad boys around for a few hours. i think there’s money in this, and may look into setting up my own playground – with equipment for therapeutic hire – when i’m done with my time in the office… hmmm… it is a brilliant idea!
Jealous.
i am the most fortunate woman on earth to have stumbled my way into this… of all the goofy shit i’ve been able to do in my life? this is in the top tier…
That sounds like a blast. The biggest contraption I’ve ever got to run is a rented Bobcat. I’d love to try a backhoe.
Get to Vegas! There’s a big playground there! You’re not too far from there, and i’d think it’s got to be worth it! It’s easy to blow through $250 in a casino – in less than the time it would take to start up the big diesel on one of these bad boys…
Bring your boots and a hard hat, you start for me on Monday!
i’ve got both. you provide the coffee or do i need to bring my own? 😀
Forget the coffeee doll face, I’ve got something that will keep you awake all…night…long.
Oh, Boy! [jumping up and down; clapping] A PUPPY! YOU GOT ME A PUPPY! YAY!
* Jaysus H. Obama Keee-RIST, sir! i get it… but if i allowed myself to hear that stiff bit of innuendo? i would turn into a boiling puddle of estrogen. and we can’t have that, now can we?
“… stiff bit of innuendo …”
*gigglesnort*
“I don’t wanna grow-up ….”
Now, can I just tell you how jealous I am?!
As a child I was the one playing with the dump trucks, diggers, etc.
In my frilly dress and white patent leather shoes (yes, there is a pic of me doing this!)
😀
me too… well… minus the dress and patent leather shoes. i was a little dirtball, and created some rather extravagant ‘cities’ in the sandbox. would then play “Godzilla” and knock ’em down…
erm… actually, it was a puppy, but I can always take it back.
Oh. Right. [blows out candle] Of course! i knew that’s all it was! [removes silk stockings] You are SUCH a funny man! [replaces stockings, and removes 3″ heels FIRST] Probably best if you take the puppy back, as i doubt he’ll survive transit across the ocean [removes restraints from footboard and puts riding crop back in closet]
3″ heels eh? Let’s no be too hasty here hen. It’s just that I thought I heard you say you could do with a little doggy at the weekend. My mistake!
woof!
Joining in the chorus of “I’m so jealous”! I need one of those here for my front yard project.
you can rent one for the day – a small one. highly recommended, not only for the fun factor, but for the ‘don’t wreck your back’ factor! easy to drive, easy to do the basics – but, suspect a LOT of time to get really good at it…
Jim wants to do just that. He’s run one before and is amazingly good at it.
DO IT! It is not only fun, but very efficient!
No idea what your plans are for your “end of the road” service. But I’m wondering if you could persuade a preacher to let, say, Studley, or someone like-minded, to dig your grave and scatter the dirt…
no serious plans for the disposal of my corpse. cremation is preferred, but it is really a matter of what my spawn would like to do. taxidermy may be where i’d draw the line, though, but even that will be their call. just want a big damn party, and they’ve already worked on the playlist for the wake…but having a giant, industrial excavator at the party? and an opportunity for people to dig a hole? we could call it “Daisyfae’s Ash Hole”… i’m liking this. very much!
Ash Hole…brilliant! 🙂
The kids and i have discussed that as an option before… but on a smaller scale. A small wooden frame, with a tiny hole for some of my remains. But i like this better!
so, here’s the deal, next time we have to look at yellow iron, i’m callin’ YOU! 😉 xoxoxox
i’m there, sistah! i still grin like a damn loon when i watch those videos!
You can make a second career doing that. You can make real money! Assuming you can improve your skills.
i’ll need some practice… Chris said that men tend to get in the machines and go ‘cowboy’ whereas women are a bit more delicate, doing one or two moves at a time. i want to be a cowboy…