My blog description states that I will comment on things that I find highly moronic and, believe me, the guys that I am about to write about qualify. Two years ago the History Channel gave us the first season of the reality TV series "Ax Men" featuring the adventures of four different logging crews. I found it somewhat interesting but I dismissed it as being only a one year show as I really could not see it coming back. You could only take so much of Melvin Lardass, I mean Lardy of Stump Branch Logging, as the Pihl crew found out in season three but I digress. I watched it as I was interested in how the loggers went about their dangerous jobs but after the series' season was over my appetite for this was pretty much sated. Curiosity led me to watch season two as I wondered what they could do to make the show more interesting. Well, boy did they ever come through. They added the adventures of 'S & S Aqua Logging' to the crews that they follow. I can only call these guys 'D & D Aqua Logging'...D & D as in Ding and Dong Aqua Logging. This is a father and son operation that was so dysfunctional it was hilarious. The father is a nitwit whose every other word had to be bleeped and treated his son like crap. The son, well he tries his best, but can be just as tempermental as his dad, and as we have now seen from season three he can do the job well, but I will discuss that later.
'D & D, I mean S & S Aqua Logging' made the show watchable again and they did make some adjustments to how they showed the returning crews that they followed to increase my interest level but I watch the show just to see the antics of these aqua loggers though the antics of the Rygaard crew are highly entertaining too.
In the second season S & S was based on the Hoquiem River in their home state of Washington and and their job entailed pulling out logs from the river bottom that were cut years ago and never made it to the mills. Over the years the water cured this wood and made it more valuable. Jimmy Smith, the father, is a foul mouthed nitwit who his poor son James has to deal with all of the time. No matter what James did it was always wrong and boy did he hear from his dad about it. Their misadventures in that second season could fill a book. The best time was when the father could not steer his boat, because he had a big log tied to it, and ended up putting a hole in it by ramming a log. He made it to a place where he could fix it, and of course, pissed off the guys whose dock he infested. Unfortunately, by being on the show, the state of Washington found out about their business and shut them down as they did not have the proper permits. It does not surprise me that that big moron Jimmy would forget to do that. But did that stop them??? NO! It was not the end of the line for these two goofballs.
In season three they traveled down to the Suwannee River in Northern Florida and joined forces with Collins River Logging (CRL). During their trip down their 30 year old truck died a few hundred miles into the journey and they had to fly the rest of the way down. That should have been a harbinger of things to come. After a few weeks you really felt sorry for the owner, Joe Collins, of CRL as you could just see the exasperation in his face as he was being interviewed. He knew he made a big mistake in bringing Jimmy Smith into the fold. On one episode it was Jimmy versus the alligator, I was rooting for the gator but they brought in an expert who bagged the gator. Too bad. In one of the latest episodes Jimmy was having trouble finding his own logs and decided to bag one of the logs that CRL's other crew had marked for a later pickup and got called for it by the boss. What a ding dong! The next day he decided he had enough and slept in at his hotel. His son James, however, showed up for work. He got paired with one of CRL's other loggers and actually looked like he was enjoying himself for the first time ever. He was finding logs and seemed to be getting along well with his co-worker and even had a little bit of fun. It was amazing to see the transformation with the removal of his fungus father from the picture for the day. The last episode is this Sunday and I hope that they ship Jimmy back to Washington and keep James down there. It would be the best thing that could ever happen to that young man. But if they do that then season four will not be fun to watch. Ding & Dong Aqua Logging has made this show a must see. I never thought a show on logging would be fun to watch but Jimmy Smith, who should be in my MHOF, makes it so. As Bugs Bunny would say "What a Maroon!!!"
4/21/2010
An Addendum to this blog.
In the season finale of this series my prediction came true. Joe Collins offered young James Smith an opportunity to stay on and continue working with them. James did impress them when he had the chance to work with one of CRL's other loggers when with his pickle puss father decided to sleep in. Joe Collins sent his father packing, and of course Jimmy was mumbling and cussing about THAT. To James credit he accepted CRL's offer of continued employment and stayed in Florida while sourpuss dad Jimmy headed back to Washington. Unfortunately the show has ended for this year but I would sure like to know how James fared working a few extra months with CRL. I take my crown off to you James and hope you decide to stay in Florida and continue working with them if possible. You really needed to get away from your pickle puss father and move out on your own.
4/22/10
An additional addendum.
I have just found out the James Jr. did not stay with CRL like the end of the show depicted. He left soon after and that is a shame as that was what he really needed....to get away from that possum puss father of his. He had the chance of a lifetime and turned his back on it.
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