Childhood Memories When I was a young boy I got to spend a lot of time with my father during the summer months. He owned and operated his own business along with my two uncles. They were and still are excavators. I idolized my father and his profession. I used to love going to work with him and getting to ride on the bulldozer or other machinery with him or one of my uncles. I also loved to ride shotgun in the big truck, riding high in the air, looking down at all the regular sized vehicles that looked so tiny as they passed. We were so high that when we stopped at a red light a vehicle stopped in front would seem to vanish from existence and then suddenly emerge from out of nowhere again when the light turned green. We would take off again, …show more content…
The box contained a large odd shaped computer (transit). The metal tripod would be unfolded and kicked in the ground just outside the wooden stakes and adjusted by eye sight to make it as level as possible. The transit would then be twisted on the tripod. Then they would watch the green bubbles on each side as they turned knobs, making it perfectly level. When all the bubbles were within the center lines they would push the power button and a red laser beam would continuous circle from inside the transit. Then they would pull out a giant metal ruler (grade stake) from the back of the truck. I would watch as it was extended out from three feet to six. It was taller than me and sometimes I would hold it and try to measure myself as they grabbed the smaller computer from the yellow box. We would then walk to one of the corner stakes and attach the small computer to the grade stake as they stood it up as straight as they could inside the wooden stakes. They would begin to adjust the computer on the grade stake until the red laser from the transit flashed onto the small one. When the laser would flash across the tiny spot on the small computer a loud beep could be heard by everyone on the job site. “That’s the spot”, I would say to myself, as I stared at the ground the grade stake was touching. They would then tighten the small computer on the grade stake with their callused hands so it wouldn’t