A Strong Back: The Adventures of Tom Mc Sherry

[Tom van Brits]

Kansas is known as the Sunflower state, this time of the year you'll see many wild sunflowers all over and apparently native to the area. I did however se just as much in Nebraska on my roadtrip yesterday.

[KiLRoy]

Hey is Dodge City, Kansas also not the place where Wyatt Earp gained a reputation?  Fabulous history, albeit not that old.

[Tom van Brits]

Hey is Dodge City, Kansas also not the place where Wyatt Earp gained a reputation?  Fabulous history, albeit not that old.

Yes that's what I have been told last year, I can recall we have been to the Rodeo and earlier the day a visit at the museum where they have a few actors and reenactment of a gunfight in the streets of the 'Wild West'. I can recall one of the main streets were also named after Wyatt Earp and also if I remember correct some room at the new gambling house. There are quite a few new gambling houses in the West and Panhandle.
Wyatt Earp was rather famous and legend, the movie Tombstone is apparently also based on true documented history and he was a man of many talents but his role in Dodge City was a lawman during the cattle rush. I did touch briefly somewhere on my thread last year - the famous historical Santafe cattle trade route and then 'boot hill's cemetery which tells the story about this story of a couple of years when there was no sheriff and lawmen in Dodge City which was also formerly known as Buffalo city. That I can still recall of a visit to the museum.
Wyatt Earp did not sit long in one place, he was rather restless and almost always on the move. Very successful and respected for it's time and had a long live, no siblings ( that I had to google though)

Something special to the Wild West even today, and I dont know if I have ever mentioned it before;
When i first came here i thought; yes it is a first world country whith all working infrastructure but so many run down buildings, so many old structures and so many....cowboy like features? Yes it may infact be very easy for them to shoot a cowboy movie in many of these towns especially in rural Kansas but he'll yeh I like that!
And then; all these citizens are armed (always) and they can use their guns! There are so many shooting clubs, ranges, gunsmiths and so on. I cant speak for anywhere else in the big cities of America,  I haven't been there except briefly in Orlando and more to the outskirts where Universal studios is located but here in rural Kansas is law and order, and people are armed. I have said it many times already, I wouldn't mind living here.
Live is good in Kansas and Nebraska.

[Tom van Brits]

Herr in our area there are a lot of Amish people, and I often see them with their horse buggies on the road and some Saturdays they will have bake sales at the corner of Highway 36. Yesterday I decided to after work to pull over and see what they got. Got some very nice fresh baked bread, unbleached wheat bread which is just so good (the best ever) and then some hazelnut brownies. All for $8.50 which is market related but different next level quality.
I did take a picture one day of an Amish gent buying pop at a street vending machine but deleted it....it felt like I violated his privacy. I find them rather interesting and our Coop used a 3 men team recently to built a dry fertilizer shed which they completed in a record time, they even worked while it was raining non stop and the quality of work outstanding. They get called in often by citizens to replace shingles on roofs and other construction work.
This picture I got of the www but true to what i see here:

[thabogrobler]

Thanks for the update Tom!

Yes, my experience was also that if you are willing to work in the US, you will have work.

[Tom van Brits]

Thanks for the update Tom!

Yes, my experience was also that if you are willing to work in the US, you will have work.

It is just plain easy to find work in the States if you do have a green card in the Midwest. 

Guys and girls, I'm in trouble 

It is full harvest season now, long hours and think of it as an marathon which I like.
If there is ons area where I excell it's working long hours and under pressure, that's why I have done good in places of conflict as an ops medic like DRC, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan to name a few.
Sadly however my back sort of gave up....yes it sort of just had enough and I cannot perform, I find it hard to sleep and so sometimes have to sit and sleep in the lounge chair. I will just freeze up and get stuck. Evidently my boss has noticed, and great man as he is (he is really the best boss ever other than Woody1) sent met home.
I got medication, pain patches and even spray....all sorts of remedies to try and straighten it out.
Today we loaded train starting at 6am and I have stayed ontop for the duration of the load (8,5hours) because I was scare that I will freeze or seize up when I come down for a break.
It helped being active the whole day, and after the train was loaded I got sent home again.

If I dont soon get some sort of a breakthrough I'll be out, and I understand. This work like all other contract work is like an one man business, its success is partially based on the good health of the owner.

Somehow I'm calm, and will work through it day by day. Whatever happens, I'll take it and move forward in life
Could have been worse 

[roxenz]

Eish Tom, so sorry to hear that your back troubles are not improving. We are all pulling for you - hoping some of the meds will work. Is there a chiropractor nearby who you can try? Good luck buddy.

[Blou Zebu]

Sterkte TOm!

What about some medicinal Mary Jane for the pain? A few drops at night?

[Black_Hawk]

Sorry to hear Tom, I hope that your back will feel better soon and that you will be BACK in business.

[woody1]

I was never a boss. Just a team leader

What about walking down to the grain pit. Slip on some spilled grain.
Fall down an wait for the ambulance to come and pick you up.
Is that not an injury on job?
You do have taken a medical insurance out before you left.
Have that back taken care off over there.
Just thinking

[Xpat]

Tom, have you applied for the Green Card yet, or started the GC process?

[Oubones]

Sterkte Tom, ek gaan jou nou baie snaakse raad gee maar dit mag dalk net help!
Kry vir jou iets soos Calmettes of iets soortgelyks en neem dit so halfuur voor jy van diens afkom!
Ek doen dit en drink dan Mobic vir die inflamasie, die kalmeermiddel laat jou spiere ontspan en dit verlig die druk wat die pyn verlig.
Dit saammet ure voor borrelbad se spuit het my rug so lekker reggekry dat ek net rugpyn kry wanneer ek iets onnosels aanvang.
Ek voel jou pyn en weet wat dit is om so seer te hê en te moet werk en dan stress jy nog of jy more uit die bed gaan kom. Gelukkig is my rugpyn amper heeltemal weg vandag ek uit my ou werksituasie is te danke aan goeie mense op die forum!
Byt vas, jy sal wen en goeie toekoms hê!

[Tom van Brits]

Good morning guys, thank you very much for all the replies since it really helps to have a platform of support and I may find somethin9that work or a combination.
I will go over all of them tonight after work again, but no time now to reply individually.
Baas Kobus although my back got re injured or just worse due to the kind of physical work I do especially repetition like lifting heavy aluminum covers or lids on train cars, shoveling a bit, cranking open and close gran hoppers or so it's still just a normal job requirement and not the company I'm working for faul.
I will never be able to live with myself (you know me very well) to pull a stunt by saying I got injured at work.
In any case; although we have some sort of workmans compensation it's different to that of SA. Maybe relevant to TCN contract workers where you will get stabilized and then either continue work or your contract end.
Some people are just genetically strong or just physically strong and healthy.
I got endurance and can work nonstop without breaks for crazy hours but sadly my body give up....old injuries.
My boss asked what happened and I told him that my back must have been injured so many times in my career as medic hauling patients out of awkward positions, wrecks, mountains and so on but always somehow recovered. Now it's just not recovering anymore....

Xpat I have phoned a very successful emigration lawyer and was advised to think it over before I pay over any money and start the process. 1; my late dad which I never met had different names to me and I have no paperwork to proofe he was indeed my dad since when I was adopted my names got changed from Ronald Eybers to Thomas Mc Sherry. My dad never married my late mom and his name was Noal Johnson.  I know very little about him, not even the state he resided and died.
2: I have this flag on me which the HS officers said will never go away because I have worked in countries of conflict and all the questions they asked every time come back to indicate that I was a mercenary which I never was. I got asked so many questions about my ware abouts and that happens every time I enter
 The officer said that it can happen that upon reviewing they may even want me to leave the country. Maybe they have noted by now that I am walking a straight loyal and patriotic  and honest path for the US which is a country I love.
I dont want to put usd 8k down on a lawyer's table if I dont have a guarantee to be successful,  that's a couple of months wages which I dont want to risk especially on an estimated 3 year process if you are nothing special - skilled qualified person. I am on older guy working with my hands and driving semis when I'm in luck, nothing special about that other than ordinary.

My head is just spinning for now, I'm in a bit of a panic and a bad spot since I want to be here. Made it through the night so off to work and hope somehow hold on and be productive.

Cheers guys 

[DUSTRIDERS]

Kap daai rug Cataflam Tom!!
Sterkte en byt vas.

[woody1]

Ek bedoel nie jy moet FAKE nie.
Maar as jy sou gly en val moet jy nie jou lyf Rambo hou en opstaan en aangaan nie.

[Tom van Brits]

I have made it through a 12 hour day, and at some stage my boss came to me. He has bought me a pop and a few minibar chocolates and insisted I take rest while he continued dumping my line of trucks. I rested 15 minutes and came back out and he literally worked with me for a couple of hours.
At some stage there was a huge spill, just after he left and I had to shovel that little mount of grain into the pit while a line of trucks wait on me!  after about 3 minutes one of the younger farmers got out of his truck and came up to me and insisted on giving him the shovel. So I grabbed a broom and pushed grain while he shoveled. He asked me; dont your back hurt at night 
I said; yes sir, a bit but I'm ok.  feeling embarrassed for telling a lie.... But yes just after 18H00 the last truck came through the probe and I finished my line together with Dan that came from the other elevator after work to help us out.
Tomorrow is full day, 12 hrs and Sunday 1 to 6. However; we are getting a train tomorrow around 14H00 which means well continue till around 23H00.
I was holding up much better today, now a pain patch on the back and some anti inflimatories and hope I'll make it ok through the night. 
Harvest season is madness in a good way, its rather beutiful 

[Tom van Brits]

We are working real hours now, a pay period in the States is 2 weeks.
So it seems every one is on that agreement, I haven't heard of monthly or other arrangements

This pay period started with a holiday, and I though oh wow this will not be a good pay period due to missing on the general 9 hour working day but  I have made 120 hours still. Pay period ends today.

Harvest season is currently 7H30 to 18H00 but then you still need to clear your line which means 19H00. Almost 12hrs a day and then loading trains as well. So yesterday we ran the whole day and then the train came in just after our lines of grain trucks cleared and we worked till 5H30am 

My back is doing okish with the help of a combination of pain patches (expensive  but I'll pay 3 x as much just to have relieve), some tablets , ointments and even a spray😅

Amazing to see how families pull in together; fathers and sons, kids and wifes and some wives also have cdl and come in with these huge long nose Peterbilt and 1000bushel grain hoppers.
Respect to this hardworking community!
Farmers are getting anything between 160 and 220 bushels an acre on the corn which is very good for dryland farming.

Unfortunately no pics but I'll  do at some stage maybe a bit later in the season, goodnight

[roxenz]

Yoh! That's a tough day's work Tom!  Respect.

[Oubones]

Jy kan maar werk! Respek, en dan pla jou rug ook nog!
Wel gedaan en looi daardie ure

[Tom van Brits]

Thanks guys, yes 22 hrs but luckily I was off yesterday to we are back at it, currently loading a train - started at 8H15 and I am dumping trucks at 2 pits till I have to go up the train.
She should be finished at around 16Hoo and then we should probably wrap up at around 18H30

Have a good Monday