While we lived in Woodgate Court..and really for most of my childhood my father was a backhoe operator for Consolidated Plumbing. They put in the sewer lines for housing developments. He was part of a two man team… He ran the backhoe and his counter part named Sprigs always did the ground work. Sprigs was a very very. very large black man… think “The Green Mile” and you are close to capturing the essence of Sprigs. My dad loved this man they worked side by side and he would not work with anyone else. It was said that my dad and Sprigs could lay more pipe than an entire crew they were that good together. Even though he was such a big guy I really liked him because he always called my dad Mister Barker but it always came out with his deep southern drawl so it was more like “Mista Bahka”...he was a gentle giant.
On occasion when we would pick up my dad from work he would let me crawl onto his lap and “run” the backhoe which I thought was possibly the coolest thing on the planet. I loved picking him up from work…he carried a black metal lunchbox and every day left a little of his lunch for me… some nibblet or treat for me and Sherri and I swear I have never tasted beef jerky that tastes half as good as my fathers half eaten slim jims left in that box baking in the Virginia sun during the workday.
My oldest brother Donald worked with him for awhile and got real cocky saying he was a better backhoe operator than my father so my dad never being a man to back down challenged him to a test of skill. They lined the backhoe’s up and put a raw egg in front of the large bucket and the both of them had to slowly roll the egg with just the bucket down the road and the first one to break it lost. Needless to say a few inches in and my brother broke his egg… but my father rolled that egg the entire length of the road.. an asphalt road and I remember the whole work crew lined up and watching and when he was done everyone was just in disbelief and my father got out of that backhoe and just looked at my brother and didn’t say a word with his mouth but that smile of his put Donald to shame.
His skill was well rewarded with the company and one day we were sitting at the dinner table and my father came in and told us to go outside there was a surprise and there sitting in front of the house was a green Cadillac El Dorado. It was mint green and the biggest longest car I had ever seen. He piled us into the car immediately and took us for a spin and the entire time never stopped talking about how smooth it rode. He loved that car…and it really did ride smooth.
One year we drove it all the way to Florida, he put a crib mattress in the backseat and me and Sherri hung out lounging on it the entire trip and when my dad got tired we pulled over and sat in the front while he napped in the back.
My dad was really a jack of all trades but his skill with the backhoe in my mind is legendary…He was an artist with it really and to this day I always think about him and that egg whenever I see one at a construction site.
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On occasion when we would pick up my dad from work he would let me crawl onto his lap and “run” the backhoe which I thought was possibly the coolest thing on the planet. I loved picking him up from work…he carried a black metal lunchbox and every day left a little of his lunch for me… some nibblet or treat for me and Sherri and I swear I have never tasted beef jerky that tastes half as good as my fathers half eaten slim jims left in that box baking in the Virginia sun during the workday.
My oldest brother Donald worked with him for awhile and got real cocky saying he was a better backhoe operator than my father so my dad never being a man to back down challenged him to a test of skill. They lined the backhoe’s up and put a raw egg in front of the large bucket and the both of them had to slowly roll the egg with just the bucket down the road and the first one to break it lost. Needless to say a few inches in and my brother broke his egg… but my father rolled that egg the entire length of the road.. an asphalt road and I remember the whole work crew lined up and watching and when he was done everyone was just in disbelief and my father got out of that backhoe and just looked at my brother and didn’t say a word with his mouth but that smile of his put Donald to shame.
His skill was well rewarded with the company and one day we were sitting at the dinner table and my father came in and told us to go outside there was a surprise and there sitting in front of the house was a green Cadillac El Dorado. It was mint green and the biggest longest car I had ever seen. He piled us into the car immediately and took us for a spin and the entire time never stopped talking about how smooth it rode. He loved that car…and it really did ride smooth.
One year we drove it all the way to Florida, he put a crib mattress in the backseat and me and Sherri hung out lounging on it the entire trip and when my dad got tired we pulled over and sat in the front while he napped in the back.
My dad was really a jack of all trades but his skill with the backhoe in my mind is legendary…He was an artist with it really and to this day I always think about him and that egg whenever I see one at a construction site.
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Questions for the day:
• Where did your dad or mom work when you were growing up?
• Was there something your parents were really good at that you remember?
• Do you remember any of the cars from your childhood?
• Did you have a special memory with your father?
• Did you ever go visit your dad or mom at work?
• Did you ever go on any road trips?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
• Where did your dad or mom work when you were growing up?
• Was there something your parents were really good at that you remember?
• Do you remember any of the cars from your childhood?
• Did you have a special memory with your father?
• Did you ever go visit your dad or mom at work?
• Did you ever go on any road trips?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
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