Dad's dad was a big ,powerful man from all the hard work. He worked and blasted in the local rock quarry until he got a job in road and bridge construction. He worked his way up to foreman and built bridges across smaller rivers..and one not so small... Dad and Grandad cleaned up the Effingham Hospital fire ( part of a crew) that killed 77 people. They would never talk about it. It was too gruesome...
Grandad was always proud of his solutions to the problems. He had a acre of BIG tree stumps to take out for a rest area the State was building. He had 2 big cats but they couldn't budge a stump 5 feet across. To one he attached a prong ( 10 inches in diameter and 8 feet long) on the blade. This cat made a hole down under the stump for dynamite. Put the dynamite under the stump and put the cat blade up against the covered hole. The blast would cut some roots and shake the dirt off the rest. That stump could then moved by the cat. A couple of days and that acre was clear...
Another time grandad was destroying some concrete bridge supports in town with dynamite. One man drilled a hole deep into the center of the rebar reinfored concrete for 1/4 stick of dynamite to be put in. Sand was then packed in the hole. Each one of the supports had an 'explosion mat' hanging around it. The cat blade was put next to where the hole was drilled.
On the very first support, grandad was around behind the cat ready to attach the wires to the blaster when a local man walked up. "You gonna use dynamite?" "Yep" "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!! YOU'LL BREAK EVERY WINDOW IN TOWN. " Grandad just let him talk as he attached the wires. The man screamed on and on. Grandad just hooked up the wires and twisted the handle. They both heard a little 'pop' and the concrete support was cracked to pieces. A cat could now take it down.
The man who was screaming said, " Is that all there is to it?" "Yep" ..... "ok...carry on"
Dear Lord....This Country used to be filled with 'can do' people. Let us be this way again. Let us have Strength and Courage and Wisdom to face what we need to Face. Fill us with Love and Mercy. Let us follow Your path...Amen