"This is a dirty job,
especially when it's muddy," Steve said of his work. "I don't think I could work in a hospital. I don't like the smell. Sometimes my wife's family comes from Illinois to visit, they'll come out and ride with me. They can't understand how anybody can do this job."
"We'll be done by 1:00 p.m. at the rate we're going," Steve predicted. "That's good. I've been so busy, but I've got some stuff to do around the house, I'll be able to do some of it this afternoon."
"My wife and I like to go trail-riding for entertainment," Steve said. "We like to go country-western dancing. My wife is an excellent dancer - two-steps, waltzes. My wife does some line dancing. I say 'What do I want to dance by myself for? I came to dance with somebody.'"
"I tell people," Steve said, "I like it that I'm from Nowhere, Nebraska. It's the peace and serenity. You see the pictures of people in the city, shoulder to shoulder - I don't have any idea how someone can live like that. I just can't comprehend it."
We made another stop. It was a white-face steer this time, legs splayed, belly full of bloat. We were right outside Wisner now. Yeah, out here you can drive for miles and miles and not go anywhere. That's part of its charm.
Leather made from the dead animals Steve picks up is used for wallets, shoes, belts, boots. "Most people don't know that," Steve said. "It's Grade B leather, they use it for cheaper grade shoes. When they render an animal, they get a grease used for cosmetics. You kiss your wife or girl friend, you might be kissing grease rendered from a dead animal I picked up."
"I talk a lot," Steve said. "I like to talk." One imagines he spends a lot of time driving these back roads alone; maybe when he has the chance, he has to talk. Maybe a lot of words build up behind the silence and wait to be said.
"You can see how few people I actually see," he continued. "We've been out here this morning and have seen only four people."
"This is my office," he said.
11:00 a.m. "Three left," Steve said. "We get about forty calls a day. That has dropped off now with the rain. Then when it gets nice out, the cattle will get sick because of all the moisture. They'll start dying and I'll be busy again."
"It goes in cycles," he explained. "The southern part of my area has been busy, now it'll slow down. The northern part is starting to get busy. I can tell from the kind of calls I've been getting where the calls will be coming from."
"We don't do this job to get rich," Steve said. "We do it for a living. Maybe we'd like to get rich, but define 'rich.' I think I'm rich being able to live where I live. I wouldn't change this for the best office job in the city. My philosophy is: you've got to be happy doing what you do. And I am. Millionaires kill themselves - they've got all that money, and it doesn't make them happy."
Of the grader operator we'd seen earlier, Steve commented: "Now that's a lonely job. He probably likes the peace and quiet as much as I do."
To be continued....
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