Steamroller Blues

The street department was out fixing potholes today. Now the Old Peddler lives in a very rural area. The town is roughly 3 square miles, population 644. I thought our street department consisted of 1 man and a pickup truck, but there were two guys out there today. Like most road crews, one was working and one was watching. The little thin fellow was shoveling hot asphalt out of the back of the pickup, and the 6'4", 350 pound guy just leaned on his rake and watched. After filling each hole Slim would trade his shovel for Tiny's rake and smooth out the asphalt leaving it about 2" above grade. When Slim threw the shovel and rake in the back of the truck, I figured the job was done, but no, now it was Tiny's turn. He waddled over to that fresh asphalt and suddenly came to life. Bam! Bam! Bam! He started jumping up and down, stamping his feet, running in place and anything else he could think of to compact every last bit of the asphalt into that pothole. Bam! Bam! Bam! The leaves were shakin' the ground was quakin' and when the asphalt was level with the grade, the old road was good as new, .... well close enough for government work.