Here is another great short-term job provided by God. After my freshman year at MSU I returned to Webster Groves, Missouri and worked for the Street Maintenance section of the Public Works Department. I knew it was a great job the very first day.

Our four-man crew consisted of head man Big John, a permanent employee named Mosey, a college student named Dan, and me. Our first assignment was to break up and replace several sidewalk sections that had been shoved aside by tree roots.

We arrived at the spot and spent several minutes looking at the sidewalk before Big John and Mosey decided they needed to get the “sludge.”  Dan and I were left to guard the sidewalk and wonder what the “sludge” was – probably some water powered pressure device for cleaning out the concrete.  When they returned with a good sized sledgehammer, the mystery was solved and Dan and I were assigned to bust up the sidewalk. 

Then we used an axe to carve off the offending roots (we did not have to “ax” for permission), put down a frame of two by fours, placed steel reinforcement bars in the cavity, and mixed and poured concrete. 

The final step was putting up a make-shift barrier to alert people to avoid the new cement. We put four re-rod poles on the corners and John handed Mosey a rope to connect the poles.  The quote of the summer was delivered by Mosey after staring intently at the site.  He had attached the rope to one pole and then asked while gesturing clockwise and counter-clockwise, “Big John, should I take the rope around this way or that way?” 

It turns out it did not matter which way Mosey went because a huge storm tore through town that night, knocked down that tree, and pulled up all of the new concrete that we just laid down. We went back the next day to take away the debris and do the whole sidewalk thing over again.