Snapshot

excerpt from 'Little Paul' I have to be careful climbing this time. I have been up on the pump tower lots of times before but never with a heavy rope tied around my waist. The rope is gently tugging at my middle as I continue to climb. I don't wipe the sweat from my face because my hands will get slippery. The water pump tower has a pipe railing about chest-high that runs all the way around following the little walkway on the top. I wrap the rope around the pipe rail and start working out the slack. This is really hard to do because the rope is heavy, especially now that it is almost off the ground. There is a small hill about two thirds of the way to the barn. The rope is still on the ground there. I am trying to pull it up until I am sure that all of it is off of the hill. That will be my landing spot. The rope is tied tight, with a good knot that I learned at 4-H. I look at the long, gray, curving rope stretching the one hundred or more yards from me to the barn. I am really pleased with my work. The view from here is beautiful. Looking over the barn, I can see my house, then the big front pasture and then the main road. It all looks so small from up here. Climbing once more up the pump tower, the snatch block pulley that I found tied to a beam in the barn is now hanging from my belt, which is wrapped around my neck, just like a big necklace. I am very excited as I reach the platform. It only takes a second to remove the belt and snatch block from my neck. I carefully unbuckle my belt and thread it back through my pant loops. Now I open the snatch block and then clamp it over the rope and snap it closed again. It's time.