Making it through another year '21-'23

[gspren]

Seems like your becoming famous, or is it infamous? Either way don't forget us peons!

[Old Greenhorn]

Forget the peons? Hah, not likely, I are one. :D :D
 But it is funny, you've touched on something that I have been uneasy with and still struggle to handle. I loved Bill and we were dear friends, but what we had in a friendship was never a public thing. Yet, folks in the business knew that we were quite close and when he became ill, they would talk to me and ask if he was having a good enough day that they could visit with him. I somehow got to be known as they guy to talk to and I never asked for that and never knew how to handle it. I shared those concerns with Bill and he kind of came to enjoy it, we would play games with it. A fella would come up to me at and event, point at Bill and ask "Is that really Bill Keith?!" I would lean over to Bill, and in a stage whisper ask "Are you Bill Keith today?". Bill would loo thoughtfully up at the ceiling or sky for a few seconds and then say "Yeah, I suppose I am". Wherein the autograph frenzy would begin as I handed Bill a pen and word spread through the crowd.
 Bill never ever could accept the recognition as fame. He always felt he was just a pretty good banjo player. Someday I may tell the story of the day I called him a 'flipping' idiot (not the word I used) and berated him for a little bit before I got hold of myself. Not my best moment and certainly did not turn out the way I expected. As I type this I am embarrassed for myself for that whole episode and what followed, which was totally unpredictable. But that would be for another time if it ever comes up again.
 I had thought about writing a small book, and it would be small because I did not have nearly enough time with him, but just for his close friends and family, because every trip and adventure with him was just that, an adventure for me. I was once driving home from a concert and had Bill and Eric Weissberg (look HIM up) in Bill's car on the NYS Thruway and I literally leaned over the back seat and hollered "IF YOU TWO DON'T STOP BICKERING I AM GOING TO PULL THIS CAR OVER RIGHT HERE AND HELP YOU WORK THIS OUT!" They both shut up and played nice. I giggled to myself for 3 days over that. ;D You can't make this stuff up. Few people would understand and even fewer would get it. But for me, it's gold that will glitter for a very long time.

[thecfarm]

Pulley, used for water?

[Old Greenhorn]

Nope.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Pulley used for grinding grain?

[Old Greenhorn]

Nope.

[aigheadish]

Hopefully the teepee building video is shareable! Good luck with GF Tom, I wish you nice cool weather and great music! 

I have no idea what the wheel could be, though I'm a wheel fan! I have several that I've bought at flea markets or have traded backhoe work for. My guess, as it's one of the things I've harvested a wheel from, is an old hay baler? Or, I saw on the TV show Mountain Men, this huge crazy wood planer that had more gears and levers and wheels and stuff than I could imagine.

[doc henderson]

the size makes it nearly a fly wheel, and quit the gear reduction, and yet such a thin looking bracket/bushing.  It may have been on farm equipment that was pulled and took power from rolling on the ground.  

[thecfarm]

You sure do know some people.
Have fun with the teepee.

[doc henderson]

ran the live deck on a horse/tractor drawn manure spreader?  

[Old Greenhorn]

OK, I'll end the suffering because this is a tough one. The family business there was sugaring, full time, year round pretty much. They had the factory building across the road where they made and sold maple candy of all sorts, both wholesale and retail, and they also had the big warehouse on this side of the road for storing sap and syrup and running the packaging operation and shipping.
 This pulley was the top pulley for a mechanical elevator to move heavy product between floors. At some point one of the supporting beams failed and the elevator lost altitude quickly. None of the employees would trust it after that, so they replaced it with a more modern one that had safety brakes, etc. The V-Groove was for the cable to run in.

Cfarm, yes, I have been blessed, even more so because a lot of those folks I mention remember me as years go by and a small number I count as good friends.

 I gotta get back to packing.

[Old Greenhorn]

I took another break and was looking for something else, but found this video shot by Two Tall Pines back in '12 using Bill's tee pee as a backdrop.
THREE TALL PINES: Tire Chains - YouTube

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, after 6 days away, I am back (sorry). I tried to keep up with what everyone was doing, but once the patrons flooded into Grey Fox, it was impossible to hold a connection for more than 30 seconds. So this morning I did my best to see what everyone was doing and after 2 hours reading I am partly caught up.
 I did arrive home to a package which contained a book called "The Indian Tipi" with no note or anything in it indicating who sent it. It looks to be an interesting read when I get unpacked. I hope the guilty party will fess up so that I know whom to thank. I assume it was one of the sneaky folks here?
----
 Starting at the beginning: I headed up to the fahm and arrived about 9am, met my videographer and I set up the tipi while he filmed the time lapse. Setup took 15 minutes and the video is 15 seconds long. It is not anywhere I can find on YouTube but they posted it on the GF FB page a couple hours later. Not sure how this link will work, but give it a try: https://www.facebook.com/greyfoxbluegrass/videos/1081659085795498 And here is the official photo I took as proof.


 

 The tipi was a big hit with the festival staff, patrons, and artists that came by. I found myself the recipient of a great many tipi stories of other folks experiences at that tipi with Bill going back several decades, a few even got me teared up a bit. There were also parents who would bring their kids, take family photos, and tell their kids stories about Bill and the tipi and when they met him. It was a bit more than I expected and went on all week. Most often asked opening question: "Is that REALLY Bill's tipi?!" or some variation on that.

One last minute addition to the week was getting a call from Bill's wife on Monday that the family had gone through Bill's t-shirt collection and she was going to donate what was left, about 300 t-shirts, almost all brand new, to goodwill. Then she thought maybe the festival could put them to use somehow and get $1-3.00 per shirt for a fund raiser. When I was done chuckling I told her she would NOT bring them to Goodwill, we would bring them to the festival and suggested the Bluegrass Academy for kids could sell them for a more 'appropriate' price. They exist largely on donations and bring in top notch instructors to teach kids to play during the 4 days of the Festival ending with a performance on the main stage Sunday. Bill was a supporter and it seemed 'right'. So she laundered all of them in a marathon session, folded, sorted and labeled them by decade and continent or region. Mostly NA, Nothern Europe, Chech (sp?) Republic, and Japan. We sold them for 10 bucks a pop or whatever folks wanted to pay over that. A lot went for 20 bucks. I bought 7 and have already given 2 away to folks who had a particular connection to Bill and that particular shirt. Of course, a friend bought and gave me a special one he knew I didn't see when I went through them. We raised over $1,500 for the kids, plus a check that Bill's wife gave them because she didn't think the shirts were worth that much and she had given them more work to do in selling them. Big smiles all around, definitely a huge 'feel good'. I also got some very nice shirts with stories attached that Bill had told me over the years. Also some with mysteries yet to be solved, such as a the shirt from 'The Third Annual Occasional Bill Keith Banjo Workshop' held in Arkansas with no year on it.

 The rest of the week was as routine as any year could be with some bumps in the road after being off for 2 years. Our new radio vendor supplied digital radios that worked through the internet. It was a non-starter and caused major problems all weekend, not the least of which was public safety. I handled the usual variety of things, was involved in 2 ambulance transports and we only had 6 all week. Normally it's higher than that. I did catch my first fire in the ten years I have been doing the fest and it was neat to pull off a quick stop, given the exposures. It could have been a news worthy event had I not read the smoke right. I had just gotten off shift, was overheated, got back to my site and just took off my soaked t-shirt when I saw the smoke column at the far end of the field. I watched for a few seconds and when the smoke changed from white to deep grey, I grabbed my phone and took off in the Mule as fast as I could get through the crowd. I was greeted by a lot of people waving me in. I started to grab a PW extinguisher I carry, but was told it was a grease fire in a smoker. I could not tell, the thing was engulfed in 4' flames and was about a foot and a half from a trailer. So I switched to dry chem. A few light taps and it went out, then re-flared and we did it again. Eventually all was good and I told the owner that he was allowed to clean that drip pan out every year or so. ;D :D Too bad he lost about 30 pounds of pork in the disaster. The whole event was quick enough that word of it never got back to the festival management. I was back drinking my 'getting off shift beer' in about 15 minutes.

 I didn't catch much music this year, just too busy with other stuff. But I did get in a little bit of Rhonda Vincent's set on one stage, missed her on the main stage. Boy that gal can sing and they put on a fun show. I got to chat with her a little when I ran into her between sets. Best dressed lady on the fahm if you ask me.  
 I also got a little time backstage to catch up with Jerry Douglas, man he is looking good. He's lost a lot of weight...on purpose, and I couldn't help but comment on it. In his typical style he said "Well I spent a lot of years as a fat ash and I just decided to try a new look". He looks good. I had a blast listening to his comments about the guys on stage we were watching as we talked. It sounds like he is being critical, but it's all respectful sarcasm and he loves all those guys. This was during Bela's set and Jerry always has little peanut gallery comments that crack me up. An hour or so later I got to catch up with Bela for just a few minutes, he had a plane to catch. I had some comments on his new stuff, which I will spend months studying now. Good stuff and one new tune he wrote using D-tuners I think set a new high bar for banjo players. I call it "The New Nola" and he really liked that. It's probably only something a 5 string player in the melodic style will understand, but I was watching from backstage so I could see his hand working the tuners and it was the most complicated thing I have ever seen. I also ran into several other artists I know and caught up with a few of them. All in all, a very good week.

 I remained onsite Sunday and do the safety sweeps around the 80 acres to make sure everyone is moving and healthy. In years past we've had some incidents where folks were found alone in a tent and nobody noticed until it was almost too late. Now we try to avoid that and most years I am doing sweeps until 7pm or so. I do it because I live closest and others on our crew drive as much as 8 hours to get home. It only takes me an hour. This year I was done early and left at 5pm. I arrived home just totally beat. Sunday was HOT and I got a little sunburn on my pasty white legs. I took a shower, had 2 beers, and was in bed by 9pm.
 Today I am waiting for the rain to stop before I unload. I have the mule off the trailer and the truck backed into the shop to keep it dry for now.

 I was too busy to take a lot of photos and I have never been one of those folks that asks the artists for a photo with them. I think I have two in the last 15 years. It just breaks the conversation which is more important for me. So Here are some random photos.
 This is taken from near the top of the hill. If you look close you will be able to see lots of open grass out there.


 

This is taken from the same spot a couple of hours later.


 
 Not much grass left.:D

 This is a poor backstage shot (the only kind I take) of Bela and his band at the main (evening) stage.



 

 And this is an even poorer shot of Jerry on the main (daytime) stage.


 

 One of these years I will get better at this 'photo thing'.

 Sorry for the long post, but now I feel almost caught up after I do some more reading.

[doc henderson]

Neat.  Like a family reunion.

[aigheadish]

Great recap Tom, thanks! This is not an event I'd likely ever go to but it's neat to hear your passion about it. It's super cool that you got to talk to people and share memories with the tipi!

The t-shirt story is great! Good to hear they'll live on and they raised money for a good cause. 

Excellent shot of the before and after of the field, that's a lot of people!

[thecfarm]

Talk about packing them in!!!
Glad all went well.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, they sell 4,999 weekend camping passes usually, but this year I am told we came up just short of a sellout, so we had a little room left. ;D We also sell several thousand a day in day tickets. So yeah, it becomes the largest town in the county for that weekend. Believe it or not, it's a pretty friendly community. We get a minimum number of nutcases per capita. I think we only had 2 or 3 this weekend. The medical tent do get a fair number of folks coming in thinking we set up a full clinic at their disposal for consultations. People come in and ask to see the pediatrician, oncologist, or a dermatologist. This year they wanted covid screening too. Sorry. Our security team are all pro's and very low key, but very effective. They work hand in hand with our EMS crew. We sometimes have issues when zealous LEO's from 'outside' come in to help and don't get the situation right away. Our guys are all LEO's too, but they get the vibe and work more gently because they have the time. Most years the local agencies don't come on the grounds until they are called, this year they just showed up when they wanted which was odd. We did send out one guy with 2 felony offenses, but the hospital needed to do a bunch of work on him first. ;D
 As large festivals go, this is mostly rainbows and unicorn farts. Good folks and lots of families with little kids having a great time. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be there.
 Personally, I am at a crossroad with this event. By next year my EMT cert will be expired. I can either try to find a new certification that will get me on the crew, or find a different job at the festival. Used to be they needed EMT's for the state regs. This year that changed and my crew chief will take me back with almost any training cert that is current. Problem is, I am getting older and this isn't easy work in an easy environment. Working on a patient in the middle of a hayfield on a 95° day with the sun beating down on you is not as easy as it sounds. You can do it once, but the second, third, or forth time takes quite a toll on an old guy or gal. I've got to figure out where to go next with it.

[aigheadish]

Sounds to me like you should be a Grey Fox ambassador and artist chauffeur (man, I don't know if I spelled either that "a" or "c" word properly). A walkie-talkie in hand, riding in the mule making sure things are ok and making calls and being comforting when folks need help. You could be the first line of defense without getting into the emt stuff. Or just get in that tipi and hang out, sweat lodge style!

[samandothers]

I looked up the Grey Fox and some of the artists.  My eye caught The Wildman's from Floyd Va. as their picture was in front of a store in the downtown area.  Now mind you downtown has 1 stop light, the only one in the county to my knowledge, so it was easy to recognize.  There is an upcoming festival near here called Floyd Fest that started in 2002.  It is actually a mix of music some blue grass, southern rock, country .... all kinds.   There is also another Blue Grass festival not too far away in NC, Merle Fest near Wilkesboro NC that has a large draw also.  I enjoy many different music genres but I recon not enough to venture to one of the festivals.  

I wish you well in your determining what you want to do about next year and your certification.  I hope you can continue to go and enjoy what you get such pleasure from.

[Old Greenhorn]

Floyd Fest and Merle Fest are two very well known festivals and many of the folks I know at GF attend those also. I just don't have the time or $ to be traveling all over the country living it up. There are some folks who spend their entire summer going from fest to fest in a good RV. 
 This was my 10th year doing this one and over that time I have met and worked with most of the senior staff and crew chiefs. I could likely have my pick of a bunch of positions, but I am trying to decide what would be a good fit for me. The Medical group was the perfect fit because my job was to wander with a radio, look for problems and help people have a good safe time. The occasional icky stuff was just part of the job and still better than street medicine.
 I have some contacts around the state and am considering dropping my certification to a CFR but finding a recert class is very difficult. In my stupid state there is no challenging the exam to pass and get it done in a session or two. They make you sit through almost an entire course before you can take the test again. The cost is pretty steep too and would be out of pocket because I no longer run with an agency. My last 2 recerts I did strictly for Grey Fox and I am not going to go through that again. 5 months of weekly classes and some Saturday's plus the test sessions is more driving and time than I can afford. I did send an email off to a connected guy I know who is now way upstate to ask his advice. Maybe he can find me something. Truthfully, if I pre-study, I should be able to do the full CFR class in a weekend with the cognitive and psychomotor exams, but no such program exists.
 I will think on it some more and when I send my follow up note to the director of the festival I will mention my predicament and ask for her suggestions. I suspect she may have a list of options, given my contributions over the years. Artist transport would love to have me as I have been helping them on the side when they are overloaded for several years now. But I am not sure ho I feel about that job with the shifts they work.
 I have time yet, and the ball is in my court. The only rush is if I decide to recert, most classes start in August or September and run into January.

[doc henderson]

it would be tough to be doing a transport, and see a medical issue and be told that is not your department.  

[Old Greenhorn]

I am not following your drift Doc.

[doc henderson]

if you are there, and not certified, and see a collapse, you can stop as a good Samaritan, but a crew may come along and take over.  you would no longer be legal in NY (I assume) to attend a patient like you did before.  that's all.

[Old Greenhorn]

Oh yes, of course you are correct. In NYS, CFR's cannot provide pt care during a transport only assist, only EMT or higher can do the transport. For BLS care, CFR's can do almost everything an EMT-B can do except splinting and a couple of other things. Now I have talked to some higher ups at the state level and they say that if there is a driving medical issue that best serves the pt by doing the transport as a CFR, it would only warrant a warning from the state. But it is 'frowned upon'. I had to ask that question when I was EMS Captain because we had a close call once and I wanted to know how to guide my people.
 For us at the fest, it's a bit different. We do NO transports at all. That is TOT the local agency with a paramedic on board. We used to 'stay and play' with a lot of pts we could assist and get beck to good health (sometimes for hours), but now, with COVID, if they are on the 'line' they need to go in a bus. If we give them O2, they also go to a higher level for care and eval. 
 We all wear the same shirts, nobody asks anyway, they take our turnover reports at face value and like any other providor, they evaluate what we have done. We have a wide range of skill sets on our crew, from ski patrollers (OEC) to a pediatric surgeon, RN's, LPN's, and some weird stuff, plus one EMT who is a year from graduating medical school. Our rep with the local EMS agencies is very high and we draw hem in from 3 districts when it gets busy. I have no ego when it comes to pt care, if you've 'got it' I am happy to turn it over and give you a hand.

 Now the good news is that I heard back from my buddy with the connections, he ran my number (I don't have access to the system) and he sent me back a printed form from the state showing I am certified until June 2024. 8) This gives me one more year. I guess the state extended everyone 2 years, instead of just one. (Of course I can find that policy no where whatsoever in writing, but that is how our state runs.) I need to find a Health Care provider level CPR class to make the whole thing official.

 That just puts the decision off another year. So next year I will begin the new job search hunt during the festival and start interviewing crew chiefs.  :D ;D I have 2 or 3 in mind. If I can find an easy (meaning cheap and short) CFR class, I might do that in the meantime.

[doc henderson]

if the festival is the main/only reason you do this, maybe they can help out with coin.  I know they run on a shoestring probably as it is for the love of the music, and you prob. would not ask anyway, but throwing it out there.