Cat Iron

Certain things can remind you of people. There is what looks like a housing development starting up between Calgary and Airdrie. This is one of the many pieces of equipment sitting there.

In another place and time my father worked for Finning Tractor and they serviced and sold Caterpillar equipment. My father loved Finning and he loved Cat equipment. When he went out the door he was never fully dressed unless he had the "Cat Diesel Power" hat on, or the "Cat Hat" as it was commonly known. "Cat Hats" were sometimes better than money. There were a few times he would need something done and throwing in a few new "Cat Hats" would grease the skids. He worked for years as a mechanic, in sales, service, and management. During his time there we lived in different places in British Columbia as my father liked to put in for transfers to out of the way places.

The father of a friend of mine who once lived in the same remote northern British Columbia town that I once did worked as a dozer operator or "Cat Skinner". He works as a university professor and has had to explain the term a few times. It is not nostalgia. A few sights cannot help but bring up some memories of other times and places. If I see a piece of Cat iron somewhere, new or old, I usually find myself stealing a quick look.