Boaz
12-14-2016, 08:37 PM
Just a story , well maybe .
About 20 years ago I lost a good friend . His name was Derrill . Derrill had a poor upbringing . He was rough as they come , fight at drop of a hat . Half Indian could get drunk on a couple of beers . Derrill was an accident waiting to happen . Derrill couldn't write (spell) , he was a driller on an oil rig , had plenty of hard earned common sense but light on education . I think he told me he passed 5th grade in conversation . He was not stupid . He and I respected each other , the beginning of our friendship .....we did not test one another .
I hired out working derricks for him (back then drillers hired their own crew in the process THEY were responsible for them ) . Noticed on the logbook (every rig required detailed info on what happened when on shift (shift being called a tour , lol , Texans called it a tire ) he couldn't spell squat . He spelled motors as mottottors ! He carried constants to new heights of glory . He was a phonetic disaster . I told him I would fill out the logbook , he just said ok ...passing it off as nothing but he was self conscious and embarrassed of his inability to spell .
I worked for him several times , roughnecking jobs being unpredictable , I had 13 w2 forms come in one year back in the 70's . Heck ! I'm not even going to get started with stories of me and Derrill . He got mad at me once and challenged me . I liked him and knew he was having trouble in his own life , I'll not go into that . I talked to him , I tried to understand although in my twenty's I was hard put to leave it lay . We talked it out . It worked out .
He died of testicular cancer , watched him go down , it hurt . It was a long way down , he suffered . He talked to me , he told me many things before he died . He was a good man . I was a pallbearer .
Well heck ! lets flash forward ! Bout 10 years later his wife came to me after he died . She had medical problems and was broke . Derrill went hunting in New Mexico every year . His wife got mad every time , back then working on a rig you pert near had to quit to get time off ....8-12 hours a day 365 days a year . lol , to settle her down Derrill would stop at the Indian reservations in New Mexico and buy her some handmade Turquoise/silver jewelry on the way back as a peace offering .
She needed money , she had bills . She wanted me to buy a batch of this jewelry . Heck , I didn't know what it was worth but gave her $200.00 dollars for it trying to help . I didn't want it and wanted to unload it ...put it on EBAY . Told the story and it brought $1800.00 dollars !!
I called her , she came in , I deducted what I gave her and she got the rest , she was So happy ! God does not work in mysterious ways , he works in HIS way . She still live in a small town near me , she is doing ok and drives a school bus . Yea.....GOD is good .
About 20 years ago I lost a good friend . His name was Derrill . Derrill had a poor upbringing . He was rough as they come , fight at drop of a hat . Half Indian could get drunk on a couple of beers . Derrill was an accident waiting to happen . Derrill couldn't write (spell) , he was a driller on an oil rig , had plenty of hard earned common sense but light on education . I think he told me he passed 5th grade in conversation . He was not stupid . He and I respected each other , the beginning of our friendship .....we did not test one another .
I hired out working derricks for him (back then drillers hired their own crew in the process THEY were responsible for them ) . Noticed on the logbook (every rig required detailed info on what happened when on shift (shift being called a tour , lol , Texans called it a tire ) he couldn't spell squat . He spelled motors as mottottors ! He carried constants to new heights of glory . He was a phonetic disaster . I told him I would fill out the logbook , he just said ok ...passing it off as nothing but he was self conscious and embarrassed of his inability to spell .
I worked for him several times , roughnecking jobs being unpredictable , I had 13 w2 forms come in one year back in the 70's . Heck ! I'm not even going to get started with stories of me and Derrill . He got mad at me once and challenged me . I liked him and knew he was having trouble in his own life , I'll not go into that . I talked to him , I tried to understand although in my twenty's I was hard put to leave it lay . We talked it out . It worked out .
He died of testicular cancer , watched him go down , it hurt . It was a long way down , he suffered . He talked to me , he told me many things before he died . He was a good man . I was a pallbearer .
Well heck ! lets flash forward ! Bout 10 years later his wife came to me after he died . She had medical problems and was broke . Derrill went hunting in New Mexico every year . His wife got mad every time , back then working on a rig you pert near had to quit to get time off ....8-12 hours a day 365 days a year . lol , to settle her down Derrill would stop at the Indian reservations in New Mexico and buy her some handmade Turquoise/silver jewelry on the way back as a peace offering .
She needed money , she had bills . She wanted me to buy a batch of this jewelry . Heck , I didn't know what it was worth but gave her $200.00 dollars for it trying to help . I didn't want it and wanted to unload it ...put it on EBAY . Told the story and it brought $1800.00 dollars !!
I called her , she came in , I deducted what I gave her and she got the rest , she was So happy ! God does not work in mysterious ways , he works in HIS way . She still live in a small town near me , she is doing ok and drives a school bus . Yea.....GOD is good .