Voodoo
Well-Known Member
Hi all, I know that I have been gone from this board for a really long time, but I just really need to share and catch you all up on what has been going on in my life. I thought life was going great and on the right track this spring, I was roping alot, spending a ton of time with my parents and my brother Shawn. I had just bought a house and things were going great, but no such luck any more. There is only thing that has dominated my life since that fateful day of June 9th. My Dad, my brother Shawn and I were working on a fence project in Evanston, Wyo (thats what we do for a living). We have all been working the jobs together since Shawn and I were 14 and 13 years old, that means we have been working together over 10 years. Everyone knows their job and we are always always making sure things are safe. The job was a tough one as the fence crossed and recrossed a fair sized river many times in the 12 miles that we were building. We came to the last river crossing of the entire job on the afternoon of June 9th and rigged everything just like always, almost. The river was wider here than the other crossings so when we stretched out the 40,000 pound test tow rope it wasn't long enough to reach all the way from the small 10,000 pound posi track machine to the D5 dozer that would pull the small machine through the river. Now mind you we use this tow strap because if you over stretch it and it breaks it explodes rather than snapping back so no one gets hurt. Well since it didn't reach all the way across the river we covered the remaining distance with a 100,000 pound test rope that we use to pull the bigger equipment. This rope had about 2 feet of heavy duty log chain on each end. We figured that it would work just fine like that. So Dad got into the D5 and Shawn was driving the posi track. I was standing over to the side so I could wave and stop Dad if anything was going wrong. The small machine went right into the river and across just fine, but as it started to pull out the other side it hung up in the heavy mud. Dad saw it was hung up and stopped the D5 and put it in reverse, but before the dozer moved back to loosen the strap, rehook, and start over the 100,000 pound test rope broke about 2 feet from the heavy log chain. Since that rope was hooked to the D5 the pull from the smaller strap pulled that 2 foot of rope and 2 foot of heavy chain back through the cab of the smaller machine. I heard a loud crack and saw that it had hit Shawn in the side of the face. His head was laid back through the back window of the posi track and I knew there was no way he made it. My world just stopped and I fell to my knees crying. After what seemed to be forever, but was actually only a few seconds I stood up and ran across the river (it was about chest deep). Dad and I held eachother and cried for a long time before realizing that we were a long way out into the desert and had no phone signal and no help. So the two of us took him out of the posi track, wrapped his head up because I just couldn't look any more, and then loaded him in the truck and headed for town. The call to the cops, and the mortuary, were a blur. But when I had to call my Mother it took me an hour to get where I could even talk to tell her. When Dad and I got home to Cedar City, Ut 6 hours later we just sat with Mom and prayed for the longest time. Four days later we had a memorial service for him and it was absolutely perfect, or as perfect as things can be when you lose your brother, who was also my best friend. The last months have been a blur, there's not a day that I don't cry, I don't know how to go on. The guilt that Dad I both carry is unexplainable, how could we miss that, how could we let it happen........ However, I know he wouldn't want me to give up so I keep going every day, but life is just an empty shell now. I try so hard to go on, but to walk to the pasture to feed his horses I have to walk past his truck and trailer, the floors in the house are made of slate tile that I helped him lay. Most of the tack I use was made for me by Shawn. The leather seats in my truck are his workmanship, every where I look I see him. That is a good thing but it also really hurts me. I know that somehow, someday, I will see him again, but God it hurts so bad now. I'm sorry for spilling to you all, but I felt the need to talk about it now.
He's gone but not forgotten, cause everywhere I look
I see a part of him he left for me like a page out of a book
Though I can't reach out and touch him he left so much behind
That he's gone but not forgotten in my mind
This was Shawn heading for me about a year ago at a big roping in Las Vegas, Nv
He's gone but not forgotten, cause everywhere I look
I see a part of him he left for me like a page out of a book
Though I can't reach out and touch him he left so much behind
That he's gone but not forgotten in my mind
This was Shawn heading for me about a year ago at a big roping in Las Vegas, Nv
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