During the fall and winter of ’72, I worked as a roustabout in the oil fields of Gillette, Wyoming. I found myself without work in the southwest corner of the state, and a friend persuaded me to consider working in the northeast part of the state as a roustabout. Hourly rates paled in comparison to the previous job, but the number of overtime hours allowed me to leave Gillette with a large roll of bills in my pocket.
Due to decent pay and the fact that college degrees are not required, a lot of fellas found their way in and out of the various crews in the area. My crew seemed better than some, and I found myself amongst mostly decent, caring people. A roustabout fixes things, and performs maintenance tasks that do not require a great deal of skills, but you use some unusual tools.
We serviced oil pumps, rigs, storage tanks and the connections between them all. Big pieces of metal and three or four inch pipe requires big tools like adjustable wrenches, pipe wrenches and pipe cutters. We once spent a whole week assembling a pipe line to bury underground. That three inch pipe required two 36 inch pipe wrenches to screw together the pieces with couplings. Our crew had two wrenches of that size, one aluminum wrench and one made of solid steel. Skirmishes were fought to be first guy to the aluminum wrench, because wrestling the steel wrench all day proved exhausting.
During the slow periods, my favorite time in the oil fields, we drove around from one oil rig to the next to check and service the units. As the weather changed from fall to winter, the pump areas were soon covered with about six inches of snow. In all that snow, cottontail rabbits stick out like sore thumbs and their normal agility is greatly impaired. As we discussed catching rabbits one day, I took the 15 inch adjustable wrench I was holding and flung it at the rabbit sitting about 20 feet away. My aim was short, but the inertia behind the wrench carried it all the way to the rabbit. We were stunned and elated at my success and prowess when wrench collided with the rabbit.
A lot of hungry critters roam the open hills of that part of Wyoming and we left it there for the first one on the scene. I eagerly wanted to test my wrench flinging skills, and the hunt was on. We quickly learned that a 15 inch wrench is lethal and very difficult for a rabbit to avoid in that much snow.
We easily bagged several rabbits and one of the guys taught me how to field dress rabbits in seconds without a knife and without getting messy. Our best intentions were to leave the freezing field dressed rabbits on the truck, and then take them home to eat at the end of the day. That did not happen. We then shifted our focus to the older, alcoholic on our crew who spent every evening in the bar, and most of his money on drinks for him and his girlfriend. We knew that he did not eat well, and we determined to hunt down food, lots of food for our poor, suffering friend.
After securing a large cardboard box, we took our wrenches and hunted with renewed passion. It truly took only a few days to fill that box half full of rabbits, and the weather was cold enough to keep them frozen on the back of the truck.
Our needy friend Bill spurned our gift. We immediately returned to our senses and the joy of the hunt evaporated. And thus ended a winter of wounding wabbits with wrenches.
We all misuse our tools from time to time, no matter how appropriate it seems at the moment. If you think that a hammer solves everything, or that screwdrivers work the same as chisels and pry bars, you will miss the point. I love having tools, and especially to possess the right one for the need. Sometimes that takes forethought and sometimes it takes patience until you can acquire the right tool. It is pure fun to use the right tool. Take a moment right now, think about what you need, get online and buy it.
Just kidding of course, ask your spouse first.
