Construction Cowboy

This year I am going to be involved in the relief work that is going on in Florida to rebuild homes damaged from the recent hurricanes. Last year's reconstructive work went very well, and I was pretty involved in that to. Of course I define “involved” as not knowing what I’m doing until the last 3 weeks of work. I also define it as drinking more fluids then a camel would that just walked thousands of miles under the blazing sun carrying all the belongings of nomad family. Besides the fact that I messed up a few houses (giving me the nail gun was a bad idea), I also having to use the restroom every 25 minutes. If there was one word that I would use to describe my work, it would be "labor". So when I heard we had just as many houses this year, I could see just myself turning into a draft animal carrying loads of shingles (with help from girls, I don't like doing it alone) up a ladder. I was shocked though when I got my assignment, I was going to be in the safety committee. Yes, I would not be doing ANY manual labor whatsoever. At first this bothered me; since I liked dressing up as "rugged construction worker cowboy" (I kinda had a cowboy hat…). I also had a workmen’s belt that allowed me to carry hammers, nails, and other needed tools. That would have been handy, but I used the space to carry around my bottles of Gatorade instead. But alas, I was shown that there is a need, a need that I could fill. If that means using my head instead of my back, then so be it. It will be my responsibility that no one gets hurt on the jobsite. Then I started thinking "Oh my Cripes, I can't even keep myself safe throughout the day!" I mean just today, I damaged my cuticles from typing improperly and now I may need a full manicure (Just kidding… I mean… I’d never...). The good news is that I'm going to be wearing a hard hat. If I team that up with some beat up jeans, I may be able to pull off "rugged, safety conscious construction cowboy". I think that my new slogan will be "Hydration is everyone's responsibility".