TRUCKSTOP - By Rich Tatarka

    (In the boat somewhere on Canyon Ferry not long ago…)

Mrs. Tee: “I’m going to fill the live well with water…”

Me: “Not you’re not… No fish in there yet…”

Mrs. Tee: “But I want it full so when we catch one it’s ready…”

Me: “Nope. It’s bad luck to fill the live well before you catch a fish… Every bit as bad as having bananas on the boat…”

Mrs. Tee: “But I know we are going to catch some…”

Me: “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, dear…”

Mrs. Tee: “You and your goofy sayings…”

     I do have dozens of them floating around in my brain at times. Not a clue where I heard them, so probably from my elders when I was a kid.  The “Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk” was not one you wanted to hear growing up on a dairy, or “A Watched Pot Never Boils” (I personally debunked this one during canning season when I was nine… That pot of beets I was watching did indeed boil) and “This ain’t my first Rodeo” was used a lot by the girls when Mrs. Tee would try to coach them and their horses back in the high school rodeo days. Here are a couple sort of logging type sayings: “Let’s Bury the Hatchet” and another about a “Squeaky Wheel Getting the Grease”, I think in reference to the always important grease gun. There are tons of logging terms one doesn’t hear anymore, like “Crummy” (the vehicle used to transport loggers to the woods which must’ve been not the best vehicle in the fleet. Or was it perhaps “Crumby” because maybe they ate lots of cake on the way to the landing…) “The Landing” is one still used today. From the old English word “Lendan” meaning to bring to the land from either air or water. Huh... And don’t confuse “The Landing” with the “Log Dump”… Ever…

Cant is another term that is still used today. It’s what one does to a log to make it square. They did this long ago to keep logs from rolling away. A square log “Can’t” roll, so I guess the name stuck. Also related to this is the “Cant Hook”, a tool used for rolling logs, (or in my case the “Can’t” Hook. I always have a hard time running this particular tool, and it shouldn’t be called a Peavey. Totally different tool evidently. On a log trailer the long part from the trailer itself that attaches to the truck is called the “Reach” and I’m pretty sure it got its name from a couple of guys discussing how long to make it. “Just long enough to “Reach” the trailer” one said to the other and the name stuck.

     Johnny Cash sings a song called “Lumberjack” that has a few old-time logging terms in it. Like “High Climber” which I gather is a guy that climbs up a tree and cuts the top off for some unknown reason. It seems to me that it would be easier to cut the tree down first, but my knowledge is based on east-side trees that are not that tall. Johnny also mentions a “Whistle-Punk” in his song. Upon further review I have learned that this is the communications specialist guy on the logging job. He would pull on a rope attached to a steam whistle and depending on how many times he tugged on the rope the cable pulling logs would move up or down. Technology advanced and the Talkie-Tooter replaced the steam whistle.

Johnny also sings about an interesting fact that he learned from a logger named Ray... Ray says don’t cut timber on a windy day and stay out of the woods when the moisture’s low, or you ain’t gonna live to collect your dough. He also mentions that infamous (unfamous?) pilgrimage taken every spring by several Champions of Our Industry aboard a motorhome of dubious popularity… Johnny sings “On Saturday night you go to Eugene, and on a Sunday morning your pockets are clean…”

     That covered, I have a topic for discussion regarding necessary trucking paperwork. I’m inundated with emails, texts and phone calls from the same bunch hounding us about your car warranty. One in particular is the MCS-150 guys. The MCS-150 is a once every two years form you fill out on FMCSA’s website. I did my last one in August 2024 so I’m good until August 2026, right? Well… According to the 6 emails, 4 texts and 2 voicemails I’ve gotten in the last couple of weeks I’m in grave danger of having my USDOT Number revoked unless I have them refile for me, for a reasonable sum. Upon further review, I checked my current MCS-150 form and its good for another year. The UCR renewal sharks are just as bad now that its time to do that paperwork for 2026. Unified Carrier Registration is another way they use to track us. But it’s for Interstate Carriers and not for those of us who are Intra-state only. Trucks hauling into or out of Idaho need to take care of this registration. Easily done online by yourself in about 5 minutes. Or you can have the “Sharks” do it for you for a fee.

     Anyway, that’s about it for this time. I see fresh snow on the peaks south of town and that always triggers the people that have had all summer to get their firewood for the winter, and the phone now has orders for wood mixed in with calls from the “Sharks”… (On a side note: I see several ads on social media for firewood deliveries… some that I was thinking about calling because their prices are way lower than what I can even haul it for so I’m thinking they haul it here and I can resell it without turning a wheel…  but they sound like “Sharks” to me…)

Until next time,

“Watch Your Top Knot..”

That is All.

Rich T.