Dad comes to the rescue

By Chuck Kajer

The call came from my wife late Thursday morning.

Our son had found a job. After a little more than a month of searching, Josh was going to be working in the service department at Metro Hyundai in Bloomington. Finally, a return on the investment in his education.

Josh got the call just as he and his girlfriend were leaving to visit her parents in Illinois. When Jenny called, I was naturally very happy, but then reality hit.

He starts Monday, and he's going to need his tool kit when he does.

Josh called me from the road about 10 minutes later, because he had just come to the same realization.

And so Friday afternoon, I rented a trailer from the U-Haul dealership at Pete's Repair to take Josh's tools to his new dealership. I opened the trailer and right away noticed something very wrong. The trailer didn't have any ramps. Josh's tool box weighed a couple hundred pounds, and I had to find a way to lift it into the trailer.

We found some ramps for loading a riding lawn mower onto a trailer, but the metal slats were too far apart for the tool kit. Finally, we found some boards to put over the ramps and it worked perfectly.

I managed to get to the dealership about 5:30 Friday, just before it closed, and the tools were in place for Josh when he started work on Monday. And after delivering the tools, I had enough time to get some fast food and make it to the football game in Shakopee to take photos.

Sports notes

Speaking of football, the Trojans football team is off to a good start, with a 2-0 record going into Friday's game at Holy Angels. The Stars, with their overall speed, will be a challenge for the Trojans. Then, the Trojans hit the meat of their schedule, with games against Hutchinson, Northfield and Farmington in consecutive weeks.

Coach Pauline Mankowski's volleyball team has had a rough start to its season, but has played well despite losing to some very strong teams.

Already this season, the girls have played three teams ranked in the top 10 in their classes, in Owatonna, Shakopee and Belle Plaine. The schedule won't get much easier. Each of the top six teams in Class AAA are either on the Trojans' schedule, in a tournament with the Trojans or in Section 2AAA, where New Prague will compete in the post-season.

Finally, congratulations to coach Julie Hull, whose swimming team got its first win Tuesday against Waseca.